How to Move Forward When You're Between Jobs
Learn how to transform a layoff into a savvy
sabbatical -- a time to recharge your batteries and learn new skills
without sabotaging your résumé. Author Hope Dlugozima offers tips for
taking six months off smart.
Spin
doctors call it a "forced sabbatical." Your ex-boss used the
term "development hiatus." And you tell your folks that it's a
"severance retreat." Whatever the euphemism, the time between
jobs need not become a lost era of SportsCenter, classified ads,
and Danielle Steel novels. In fact, an unexpected layoff could be the
best thing that ever happened to your career -- if you value a pink
slip's hidden opportunities.
Ignore
Monster.com's job board. Let the résumé languish. Use this downtime to
build up rather than keep up, thrive rather than survive, and seek
rather than hide, suggests career coach Hope Dlugozima. She encourages
the recently downsized to defer cover letters and networking parties for
a few weeks -- or a few months -- to unearth new types of opportunities.
The smartest career move that you can make after a layoff, she says, is
a move out of town -- on a sabbatical that will restore self-esteem,
independence, and drive.
"Successful
sabbaticals begin when people take advantage of the upheavals in
life," says Dlugozima, author of Six Months Off: How to Plan,
Negotiate, and Take the Break You Need Without Burning Bridges or Going
Broke ( Henry Holt, 1996 ). "Don't spend the next three months
watching Oprah, drinking pineapple juice out of the can, and
waiting for the phone to ring. Don't wait for fate to determine what
happens next. Grab hold of your future. Make a proactive move, and you
will recover the freedom and strength you lost after that layoff."
That all
sounds good on paper. But aren't sabbaticals only for rabbis and tenured
professors?
Hardly,
says Dlugozima, who took an 18-month sabbatical in Prague that helped
her leapfrog careers and gain perspective on life. She says that a
productive sabbatical should live up to the participant's specifications
and goals, not outside expectations. A sabbatical can be cheap or
expensive, exotic or domestic, extended or brief. But, according to
Dlugozima, it absolutely must be personal and guilt-free.
"Think
of yourself as a horse that's stopped by the side of the road to
rest," Dlugozima says. "If you linger, another saddle will be
put on your back, and you'll rejoin the wagon train. But if you take off
running now, you'll be able to choose your own path because no one else
is driving you."
Here,
Dlugozima offers five steps for blazing a brilliant trail during your
forced sabbatical.
Start
From Scratch
Whatever
you've heard about sabbaticals is wrong. Sabbaticals are neither a
luxury of the wealthy nor a plaything of the selfish. Above all, they
need not compromise your financial security -- you don't have to lose
your house while trying to find yourself.
Dlugozima
recommends four strategies for financing a sabbatical: "Win it, beg
it, save it, or do without it." Her book estimates that about
50,000 scholarships, fellowships, and grants exist in nooks and crannies
around the globe. The exact number is difficult to verify, but the fact
remains that potential sabbatical takers have a tremendous range of
options from Fulbright
scholarships,
to professional-development
fellowships,
to artistic
and philanthropic grants.
Most of
the abruptly downsized can't take advantage of corporate sabbatical
programs or lifelong sabbatical savings, but everyone can think
creatively. Dlugozima suggests timing a sabbatical with the end of your
apartment lease or subletting your place for a few months. Swap
houses
with a home owner in Buenos Aires. Lend your car to a friend who will
pay its insurance while you're gone. Choose a relatively cheap
destination like Portugal or Costa Rica, rather than France or
Switzerland. Or transform your sabbatical into a family-bonding
experience by choosing a kid-friendly destination like Ferry
Beach
or LEX
America.
( For more sabbatical recommendations, see the sidebar Get Lost. )
"You
can even take a sabbatical in your own backyard as long as you have a
goal or accomplishment in mind," she says. "Money is the
smallest challenge for people who really want to take a sabbatical. The
largest hurdle is your mind-set -- the fear of diverging from the status
quo, the fear of telling others, the fear of returning to normal life.
Money is manageable; fear of the unknown is harder to deal with."
Dlugozima
argues that now is an ideal time to get lost. As more smart people flood
the talent pool this summer, job hunting will get harder before it gets
easier. Why compete in the decade's tightest talent market if you can
use the time to expand your career in creative ways? In the end,
Dlugozima says, a smart applicant can leverage her sabbatical to score a
better job.
"Suppose,
seven months from now, I'm considering two résumés from two equally
skilled people who got laid off around the same time," she says.
"One applicant has been making phone calls, going on interviews,
worrying, collecting unemployment checks, and trying to find a job. The
other person has been pursuing some personal goals -- working for a
nonprofit, taking a sabbatical in Thailand, expanding his vision of the
world. In my mind, it's a no-brainer. I'm going to hire the person with
a sense of adventure and risk, because chance takers attract like-minded
people. And I want captivating people working for me."
Declare
a Panic-Free Zone
You just
packed your entire career into a brown cardboard box and joined the
COBRA brigade. Now, don't freak. Panic seeps into cover letters, phone
conversations, and email correspondence. Employers can smell it a mile
away, and they will take advantage of a candidate's terror -- or recoil
from it.
Dlugozima's
advice? Don't bother thinking about résumés and paychecks for 30 days
after your layoff. Declare a panic-free zone in which you can
contemplate next steps, new goals, and old hang-ups without feeling
pressure to attain any tangible, revenue-producing results. Use this
time to ask yourself, "If I could do anything, what would I
do?"
"The
question becomes, 'How do you eat an elephant one bite at a time?' In
other words, how do you whittle down the universe of possibilities into
a manageable list that you can tackle in 30 days?" Dlugozima says.
"I think Bill Murray said it best in What About Bob?: It's
all about the baby steps."
Begin by
jotting down realistic goals. Research four museums in Cairo. Find four
environmental groups that work with children. Price five rental
properties in Spain. Comb your brain for every whim, wish, and wasted
opportunity that's ever flashed by. As you take inventory of those
dreams, patterns will appear, and the perfect sabbatical will emerge,
Dlugozima says.
Then
seek out former colleagues and friends of friends who have taken
sabbaticals, and listen intently as they gush. Connect with
organizations that offer fellowships, and ask to speak with past
participants. Hook up with groups that solicit volunteers, and begin to
infiltrate their ranks. Dlugozima recommends sparking conversations with
big thinkers, not with former coworkers who will undoubtedly just want
to compare job-hunting notes. When the 30 days are up, you should be
ready either to launch your sabbatical or to sketch it out and save it
for a better time in life.
"Think
selfishly in your panic-free zone," Dlugozima says.
"Oftentimes, an incredible job walks in the door when you least
expect it. Resist the temptation to jump back into work right away. Give
yourself this gift of 30 days, and really use it to think only about
your time and your next steps."
Compose
a Cover Story
Before
you leave, think about your return.
Devise
an elevator pitch that champions the merits of your sabbatical. If you
plan to spend six months backpacking through Australia, concentrate your
cover story on the two weeks that you will spend working with Habitat
for Humanity in Perth. If you hope to bum around the Italian Riviera all
summer, bring a diary and set the goal of starting your first novel.
"Don't
worry about sticking word-for-word to your cover story," Dlugozima
says. "Just devise a story that thrills you when you say it out
loud. State the accomplishment first; make the steps to get you there
second."
The best
cover stories inspire envy, curiosity, and admiration while
communicating some universally valued goal or ambition. They intrigue
others while inspiring you. Half of that challenge lies in choosing the
most provocative language.
"Nomenclature
is everything in life," Dlugozima says. "Harness the power of
the word 'sabbatical.' Don't call it a 'leave of absence,' because that
sounds like a stay at the Betty Ford clinic. Don't say that you're going
to figure out what you really want to do in life. That speaks of wealthy
parents and no gumption. It implies that, until now, you haven't tackled
anything really worthwhile. 'Sabbatical' holds a certain power and
intrigue to it. It denotes a plan of action and a deliberate path."
Once
you've fine-tuned your cover story, practice saying it out loud and
putting it down on paper. Include your sabbatical at the top of your résumé.
Dlugozima says that future employers will value and appreciate a
sabbatical description that suggests personal initiative, ambition, and
practical experience -- regardless of the destination or specific goal.
"Plan
to return from your sabbatical in a position of power," she says.
"Having a solid cover story in place connotes an aura of success.
If you emit a winning attitude, people will perceive you as a
winner."
Share
the Adventure
When the
pink slip stops at their mailbox, most people seek sympathy and
validation from family and friends, so they compose a
"good-bye" email under the guise of passing along new contact
information. Dlugozima encourages you to resist the temptation. She says
that those email messages, which often solicit job leads and suggest
financial woes, only succeed in making your loved ones feel guilty about
not being able to help.
Instead,
wait a month or two, and write an upbeat, newsy email containing
exciting information about your planned sabbatical. Make your trip sound
meaningful and appealing, but don't rub it in that you'll be learning to
hula in Maui while your friends endure yet another PowerPoint
presentation at work.
"Keep
the email straightforward and businesslike," Dlugozima says.
"Above all, trust no one. Even if you're scared to death of
embarking on a six-month sabbatical, don't confess those fears to anyone
except your closest friend. Keep your outside appearance
confident."
Once
you've embarked on your sabbatical, keep friends and colleagues engaged
in your adventure through periodic correspondence that stresses your
personal growth and social contributions. "You want people to live
vicariously through you -- and you want potential employers to know that
you're out there acquiring the skills they need and becoming a more
fascinating person at the same time," Dlugozima writes in Six
Months Off. "Cultivate a larger-than-life image."
Keep
Hope Alive
The most
stressful aspect of taking a sabbatical may be the return to
civilization. Dlugozima says that postsabbatical depression plagues the
majority of people who return from fantastic voyages to the same old,
same old. Her antidote? Begin by planning your next sabbatical
immediately.
But
assuming that mortgage payments and career aspirations will prevent most
people from launching one sabbatical after another, Dlugozima offers
more practical advice for combating the real-world blues. First,
schedule at least one week of transition time between your return home
and your return to career obligations. Use that time to reorganize your
life and to acclimate yourself to postsabbatical living. "Treat
yourself tenderly," Dlugozima advises.
Next,
commemorate the end of your sabbatical with a ceremony of your own
design. Host a welcome-back party at your house to share stories and
photos. Set aside one evening to reread your travel diary. Treat
yourself to that bottle of Merlot you picked up in France. Somehow,
achieve a feeling of closure, so you can effectively advance to the next
chapter.
Finally,
institute personal rituals designed to keep you in touch with the
people, places, and adventures that you encountered during your
sabbatical. If you worked at a newspaper in Moscow, make contact with
the Russian-American organization in your region. If you volunteered
with an environmental group in Peru, offer to write an article about
your experience for the Greenpeace Web site. The greatest benefits of
your sabbatical may emerge from something you do while seeking closure.
"Courage
was my greatest sabbatical take-away," Dlugozima says. "Talk
of layoffs just doesn't bother me anymore. I became more resourceful
during my sabbatical, and as a result, I lost my fear of the unknown. By
thinking back to my days in Prague and the risks I took there, I evoke a
feeling of fearlessness and confidence that permeates my work and life.
My sabbatical will never truly end."
Hope
Dlugozima currently works as the creative director for WebMD
and as a career-shift coach for iVillage.com, where she contributes
expert advice to the career-shifting
message board.
Anni
Layne ( alayne@fastcompany.com
) is the Fast Company senior Web editor.
