A Bi-Monthly Newsletter
Volume 6, Issue 2, March 2003
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Career Advice from the Oregon Employment Department

“The law of survival states that that which does not change with its environment eventually becomes extinct! Since work is about people, then people need to change to adapt to their environment as it changes.”

So concluded a presentation by Dusty Moller of the Oregon Employment Department at the February Contractor’s SIG.

Technology, globalization, and business practices such as just-in-time production and marketing, team-based work, telecommuting, and outsourcing are leading the changes in the landscape of our livelihoods. Skills that once sold a prospective employee are now becoming stale in the competitive face of the recession.

Moller recommends “12 stealth skills for conquering the millennium”:

1. Self-awareness. You must identify your core strengths and take a hard look at your skills inventory. Resume scanners are looking for skills, so make sure yours are all listed and clearly identified.
2. Self-confidence. Self-esteem should not be based on external factors.
3. Self-promotion. Identify customer needs and present benefit statements.
4. Exploring and creating opportunities. Be someone who knows how to add value in any situation.
5. Coping with uncertainty. Know what you don’t know, and be able to adapt to changing circumstances.
6. Development focus. Learn from other people’s mistakes. Know what you want to be.
7. Political awareness. Knowing the target company’s work ethic, dress code, and culture can help you avoid making alienating mistakes.
8. Matching and decision-making. Be able to match your skills with an opportunity.
9. Networking. Develop a network of contacts with your communication skills.
10. Action planning. Know where you are going, where you want to be, and how to get there.
11. Negotiation. Be able to create a win-win situation from a basis of nothing.
12. Migration skills. Know that transferring to another kind of work doesn’t happen automatically. For example, an airplane pilot becomes a commercial pilot through extra training and certification, not just practice and experience.

Moller reminds us that we have four basic choices when making a job change:

1. Get the same kind of job in the same kind of industry.
2. Get the same kind of job in a different industry.
3. Get a different job in the same kind of industry.
4. Get a different job in a different industry.

And if you are out of work and taking stock of your marketability, Moller says be sure to do a skill assessment. What can you do? What do you want to do? In what industry do you want to work?

The PCC Capital Career Center in Beaverton is another resource flush with services for anyone needing some grounding while seeking re-employment. Check it out at http://www.workforceallianceonline.org/capcenter/partners.htm.

Ann Whitley is a senior member of the Society for Technical Communication. She recently experienced job loss through a broad corporate restructuring and is currently seeking contract and freelance opportunities. Ann has been a technical writer in the Electronic Design Automation industry for the past seven years. Ann can be reached at awhitley.home@verizon.net.