I see the effects of this slow-down everywhere. Recession talk, recession thinking and recession actions... it's driving a lot of change.
Having been through one of these before, it's important to remember a few things:
- The economy only turns when it reaches the bottom.
- The bottom is not the point where people see hope for improvement, it is where the outlook is bleakest and the situation appears hopeless.
- Recession talk is temporary - the recruiters that are bashing job boards now will be competing for visibility on them as soon as the economy is growing again.
- Recessions purify the waters by eliminating weaker competition.
- Recessions make jobseekers more attentive, more willing to try new things and invest time on a job board.
- Recessions enforce clear thinking and management discipline in your company.
- Recessions bring extraordinary opportunities that do not arise in ordinary times.
- The field you sow during the recession, you'll harvest when it ends.
Keeping this perspective is not easy. I got a little help from Seth Godin recently when I read his fascinating blog post about the secret of success on the web -- PATIENCE
I discovered a lucky secret the hard way about thirty years ago: you
can outlast the other guys if you try. If you stick at stuff that bores
them, it accrues. Drip, drip, drip you win.It still takes ten years to become a success, web or no web. The
frustrating part is that you see your tactics fail right away. The good
news is that over time, you get the satisfaction of watching those
tactics succeed right away.The trap: Show up at a new social network, invest two hours, be
really aggressive with people, make some noise and then leave in
disgust.The trap: Use all your money to build a fancy website and leave no
money or patience for the hundred revisions you'll need to do.etc...
It is going to take us at LatPro more than 10 years, but, it took more than 10 years to build Rome and the pyramids too!
