I’m a linker. Ask my best friend, who can attest that on a slow day, I send out oodles and gobs of links for review. It’s my version of sitting around with the newspaper and a cup of coffee, trading sections and commenting on stories. We trade links back and forth, asking opinions and sharing ideas, connecting to one another all day long.
In a world of quick and easy connection, it’s perhaps the least stressful way to keep a tenuous social connection alive.
Recently, though, I have been inspired to link in a different way. I’ve joined LinkedIn.
The main reason for this is, I need a job. Preferably, a job that pays actual, real money.
My company, like so many around the country these days, has struggled in the face of recession. Most anyone in business will tell you, when faced with budget issues, one of the first things that gets cut into is the advertising budget. From this side of the fence, it’s a little like cutting off your nose to spite your face, for it’s advertising and marketing that drive business. But advertising is for the most part something of an intangible, and because companies can’t hold it in their hands, it seems immediately expendable. And when ad budgets get trimmed, agencies feel the pinch.
I’ve been pinched so much this year I’ve got permanent bruises.
Too, my boss has been talking retirement for the past couple of years. He turned 65 this year, and his approaching desire to take it easy, combined with slow sales, has made it hard for us to meet expenses each month. There have been pay periods that came and went in which I did not take home any pay. This is not acceptable, but in this economic climate, I’m thankful to at least have a job. I’ve been casting about for a new gig and there just aren’t any out there.
I’ve been pondering Act II in my career, what I’ll do when this gig comes to an end, and frankly, I’ve got no idea. Part of me thinks it would be a good idea to stay in this industry, since for the past 18 years it’s been what I’ve known and done. Another part of me is tired of the whole thing, and would like to use my skill set in a different way. Trouble is, in this little podunk market, I’ve no idea how or where to do just that.
So I figured a good place to start getting feelers out would be LinkedIn, to at least make people I know aware that I’m out there and feeling about.
And that has been my entire focus on this rainy, gloomy Monday. We all know how I feel about rain, gloom, cold, and Mondays. Yippee.
– Mox
There’s no better time to reinvent yourself than now. I’m saying that because my husband’s business (the film biz) has flatlined. I never thought that I, the teacher, would be the goose that laid the golden egg, but that’s what it’s come to.
You’re in a boat the size of the Titanic with other people looking to explore options they’d never thought they’d have to. It’s harder in a smaller market though, despite all the talk about doing everything on-line. Good luck.