Labor Day, 2009 – Questioning Our Assumptions

For those of us who are working, Labor Day is a paid holiday – a free day off from work. For those of us unemployed, this Labor Day is just another day.

As the nation’s unemployment rate hovers around 10 percent, many folks are looking for new answers in their search for jobs. For many, this is the first time they have had to look for a new job in years and they are astounded by the challenges involved.

Submitting resumes to posted positions often results in a black hole of no response. Networking with friends and former associates has been fruitless as well.

For those with jobs, many are questioning their roles and their impacts with their current employers. Many are sticking around just to keep their job. Surveys note that 56 percent of employees are looking to leave their current positions when the economy turns, they are that dissatisfied with their current roles.

For both, the employed and the unemployed, what new assumptions must we question or re-examine about our careers? What do we need to change in our beliefs in order to be successful? What tools, actions and tricks of the trade that worked for us in the past just aren’t adequate for future success? And, more importantly, what do we replace them with?

These are the questions that need to be examined as we move forward in whatever life transition we find ourselves; as Marshall Goldsmith has written, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.”
What assumptions, beliefs and actions are you re-assessing as you move forward?