For people who are pink slipped, here are some pieces of sound advice.
Number One: Keep your chin up. And walk your head up! You haven’t lost your job because of non-performance; but because of some stupid economic conditions. You are not alone. You’ve got company. If you had been good for many years, you cant't be bad overnight.
Number Two: Don’t waste time searching for another job right now. Just post your resume in portals and forget it, for the time being. Be selective in your Social Networking lest you will end up doing only networking without doing any business.
Number Three: Organize your portfolio. Let your Money earn money for you. Engage yourself productively, as soon as possible. Get out of your house, take a no-frill office space at low rent, start your own work and go to work, Monday to Friday, nine am to six pm. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.
Number Four: Stick to knitting; meaning, stay broadly within your area of expertise. Do not dabble with unrelated work like Real Estate, Restaurant business etc unless they are within your frame work.
Number Five: Start a small project in your core area of expertise (Eg a mobile application). To look at how you can do the same job outside what you had been doing inside a company. You can sell off your project to other companies once developed.
While doing Number five, associate yourself with a Trainer in teaching. This is very important. It will not only keep you abreast of your technology but also earn you some money. And there is an inherent value to you when you teach or train. I tell you, when you come back home, you will be a proud man.
Are you not able to find work within your frame work? Some thing is wrong. Go back to school.
Remember, you just heard from a guy who was pink slipped, ten years ago. And from my side, I can share my office at Koramangala with you, at nominal cost, provide you guidance in your venture, provide you forums for presenting in Technology events and help you put your act together. Because, I don't have much to do and on the verge of retiring. When things improve, you know you had added expertise to your domain and you will be the top choice for the companies.
Good luck!
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Mar 27, 2009 12:30 pm re: Beat the Pink blue
ReplyDeleteNagarajan B Very good practical advice from Kumar
Apr 06, 2009 6:34 am re: re: Beat the Pink blue
Musa R Kaiser Hi All,
The obvious challenge of getting a pink slip is the loss of income and just as Kumar has so rightly mentioned, there is probably not much point in hunting for a job, better just place your profile on job sites and wait & pray! In the meantime however the issue of a regular cash flow is always there and generally causes a lot of stress about which more than enough is known and has been said in the media.
I invite potential pink slipped folks (and others of course!) to look at the financial markets as a source of steady income. Of course if you have a flair for the markets then things are much easier but for now I would like to focus on the income part... The markets of course have fallen and many folks have lost money but certainly that is NOT the whole truth. There are sufficient folks who have made money in the markets in the last 12-15 months.
The only reason they have been able to do this is because they have really studied the stock (& other) market and acquired the necessary knowledge & skills that enable them to generate a profit - something the vast majority of retail investors do NOT have. The markets for many years now have been the only place where you can make money irrespective of whether they go / down or stay flat. (I will leave out the technical details here for now) and hence in many ways totally recession proof in terms of opportunities to make money. It's always a question of finding the opportunity and knowing how to take advantage of it.
By way of proof, I have my own experience and know a number of regular / irregular traders. Some have regular jobs, some trade 1-4 times a month, others are active day traders from 9.55 to 3.30 everyday. We all make money. (Note: I did not say investors, i said traders).
I am in no way trying to say that success is guaranteed or that everyone will make money or that it is as easy as it might look, but i certainly do know that if folks spend sufficient time & effort to acquire the requisite knowledge, skills and experience then a steady income of a few to many thousand on a regular (daily, weekly, monthly) basis is most certainly possible. And btw, this, like other practical knowledge & skills is something that stays with you for life and therefore you can generating income & wealth for the rest of your life.
If anyone would like to know more, do get in touch and I will be happy to share my experiences and put you in touch other folk who have made money - recession or no recession, pink slip or no pink slip! Also do visit http://www.bangaloreinvestorsclub.com to know more.
Wishes & Riches,
Musa
Apr 06, 2009 12:32 pm re: Beat the Pink blue
Girish That's really some wonderful piece of practical to-do's, Mr. Kumar. Thanks a lot for sharing it.
Pink slip or not, it'll help me immensely.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Girish
Apr 07, 2009 5:37 am re: Beat the Pink blue
mithee Basu I really like all the discussions. Pink slip or not, I am determined to start off my own small business. Although it means I will lose a regular income. I am giving all options a careful thought and feel that it is better to stick to my own competency than to nurture a dream.
Folks, I have a sales & marketing background in S/w and am now developing my network for assigments on sales & marketing on a free lance basis. Let me see where does it take me to?
regards,
mithee