Five Ways To Beat The Recession Part 2: Reinvention

Published on December 12, 2008
Commentary by Carole Copeland Thomas

The economy keeps spiraling downward with no real way to determine when it will bottom out. Every day a new company announces massive layoffs because of bailout blues, credit freezes, or consumer hesitance. Just this morning Bank of America, who recently bought out Merrill Lynch, announced 35,000 layoffs over the next three years.

And you’re thinking…that next pink slip or business contract cancellation could have my name on it.

Should you cry and crawl in the nearest hole …or should you do something else?

My recommendation to you is to do something else…

Reinvent Yourself.

If the Big Three auto manufacturers in Detroit should do it…why not you?

Reinvention is a personal overhaul of the way you project yourself to the world and the manner in which you do it. It’s not developmental plastic surgery…it’s a complete reconstruction of the professional package you present to the world.

And it takes work to get there.

Let me use myself as an example.

I had established myself as an office based diversity and leadership speaker and trainer working with large and small organizations to help enhance their developmental potential at work.

After considerable soul searching and research I have become…

A professional communicator specializing in the fields of global diversity, empowerment, multiculturalism, and leadership. I run a virtual operation that can serve the needs of a worldwide audience through my Multicultural Symposium Series and communication services.

Everything I do now filters through a virtual world since I do so much online. I use an iPhone, carry my laptop everywhere, and check in with friends and colleagues from New York to Nairobi.

That’s reinvention on a small business scale.

Perhaps you work for a large and small company and you’re trying to figure out how to reinvent yourself.

Take a look at every single thing you do on and off the job and prioritize their importance. With your “day job” talents, figure out a way that those strengths can LOCK you into your next job, a promotion, or your current positions. You should OWN those skills and learn how to communicate your strengths to everyone around you. No, I am not asking you to become a human brag machine. I want you to learn how to package and market your skills so that YOU are the preferred employee of choice when that next opportunity comes your way. You can’t expect someone else to do it for you. You must learn how to market your assets so that your organization realizes what a value you are to them.

And if you are continually overlooked at work…you must develop the courage and the GAME PLAN to move on to a new organization. That doesn’t mean quit your job in the middle of this recession with no job prospects. It means that you must develop a plan of action that will lead you to a smooth and effective job transition…either to a new department or a new company.

That’s the beginning of reinvention.