I have been meeting with a lot of marketers lately. All, of course, have been hit by what is now being called The Great Recession.
As I meet with marketer, after marketer I hear the same phrase, repeated over and over: "I never thought I would be at this place, at this point in my life."
Senior executives are out of work, others are taking jobs out of necessity rather than out of passion. Marketers are staying in jobs they hate, and/or taking pay cuts and title demotions just to keep a job.
The idea of climbing a corporate ladder has given-way to hanging on to the ladder for dear life.
The words "I never thought I would be at this place, at this point in my life." have a defeatist tone in the delivery. And, in most cases, colleagues are dealing with this emotion at a personal level, as if they were the only one's dealing with this new reality.
Of course they...you? are not alone in trying to cope with the change in economic climate, and we all should know that this seismic shift in the current environment is temporary.
But change is scary. The unknown has little comfort.
To sort all of this out, I turned to some experts in the field to understand how I might help colleagues cope with their current job prospects and career.
Gladys Stone and Fred Whelan are partners in Whelan Stone, an executive search and coaching firm. Their business is about working with marketers and the companies who need them.
This past April they came out with a book on the topic of coping with changing career goals. It is called "Goal! Your 30-day Career Plan for Business and Career Success."
I asked them for a few helpful words on how to deal with the current job crisis many marketers are experiencing.
Take a look at what they have to say...after the jump.
