THE REAL LIFE BEGINS NOW

Yes, the real life begins now. In these moribund economic situations the company has to adapt certain strategies (refer: Layoff Ethical or Not previous prose) to cut costs and make up good numbers on their balance sheets. The one such step taken by companies is to lay off people whom they think they are no more needed. The company claims that the people who have been retrenched are on the basis of their overall performance for the year. The part of the blame has to be on the company and they have to streamline their recruitment strategy to intake people of right skills and right quantity with greater emphasis paid on the changing economic situation. There should be certain correlation between the resource requirements and business cycle with regular updating. The person who has been laid off is also to be blamed with not having right attitude. We know the current economic situation is totally bleak and company is looking for some scapegoats. These needs a greater understanding of the company’s moves and align ourselves properly with our commitment to work.

Does the life ends here? No. To me the real life has just begun. With tough time ahead it is going to impart valuable lessons for life for the people who cope up, strive hard and make it to the top. This incident should invoke our dormant thought process to introspect ourselves to a greater extent. Our mind got sluggish with the job and not paying enough attention to our interests. I feel this pink slip distribution would question us enough to get prepared for the survival. Every individual should infer that this is not the only job world is going to offer us and having said that every company offers you good learning which you carry on for your life. The news that Infosys fired some 2100 people should have sent tremors in the minds of people on bench and with relatively lower CRR. People may get panicked and wandering for projects. People should really get flexible to learn new technologies and work on any project that comes on the way. For the real techies Infosys offers a lot of technological learning with their class room sessions, E-Learning and host of other ways to enhance your technical ability. If you want to stay here, learn quickly and show your commitment.

“Tolerance to poor performance is very low given the current economic scenario” is our top brasses claim. True, any company would never want poor performers to stay on when other competitive people are on board. Sometimes policy violation is also cited to be one of the profound reasons to bid good-bye to nice people too. All major IT companies are in a stead to cut down their employees force. These companies are firing and hiring and their main purpose is to keep good performers in their firm. With most of the companies projecting very bleak outlook in terms of earnings prospects the trend is going to stay on.

Job insecurity causes a lot of upheaval on the minds of the people who are still employed. The young people who are not committed to marriage will have the more privilege of taking risks but the married couple will have to undergo a greater sort of discomfort. It’s been always said to hedge your risks and don’t marry anyone of your same profession to avoid falling in love looking at each other all the time back at home jobless. People who are laid off should have been subjected to greater anguish. Allow yourself some cooling off period to recuperate from the shock. In our society the job is considered as a big social status and losing that would bruise the psyche of parents. It will be hard on the minds of gullible parents and you may have to instill that you are optimistic about your life. Also you need to address your psychological imbalances caused with the unfortunate event by consulting a good psychiatrist. Depression and despair would haunt you and you need to stave off these life wreckers from your vicinity. These are stressful times and you need to take care of yourself to keep you motivated and not losing track in life. Think about things that give you some sort of comforting like listening to soothing music, being with friends, comedy shows, exercises, reading books, solitude ness, meditation, wandering around places with no real purpose, dedication to divinity, self talking, meeting strangers and a slew of other things that can evade the bad impact and usher in a positive outlook on you mind frame.

Being prepared mentally and ready to take up challenge, sets the stage for real job. This is a chance to rediscover yourself and what you really wanted to do in your life. The one thing I find in quite a lot of people is that they wanted to do something in their life but being secured and content about the present job they never give a thought about it. I guess the time has come for you to rekindle your interests. Question your interests, strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments, work experience and your skills to get an overall picture of your prepared ness for the new task. Also financial planning is a greater necessity to keep your plans running until you hit upon a new venture. Analyze the savings and unemployment severance benefits you have and discuss with your family about cutting on certain expenses and being frugal to extend the fuel for your renewed chore.

Switching to the new job could be a probability if you find yourself fit into the requirements of the company. There are still jobs hanging out with our economy poised grow at a positive rate. Those may demand new skills and greater qualification. Enroll your self for the courses required and apply for certifications that can substantiate your qualification. Stepping into a different industry could also be thought of. Most of us in the IT services sector are not from computer science or IT background but other core engineering. You could try your hand back on those engineering concepts learnt at college. A career consultant or a professional can aid you in finding new job with your profile. Get yourself abreast with the current trend and update your profile with relevant and enhance qualification. Networking with other job-seekers, visit career and job sites to enhance your scope. Confront yourself as a confidant person with greater composure for the grueling interview that may happen for your new job.

Looking after family business could give a different exposure instead of working under someone. Various business aspects and management attitudes could transform you from a job seeker to a job giver. Take your time to understand the business that has been built over years and look at the current market expectations. Make yourself committed to your own business which is going to reap you benefits in the course of time. Own it, run it with greater dignity, respect, attitude and vision to keep it successful. Pay attention to every stake holder and never turn a nelson’s eye to certain issues on the business front. Again the customers are the king and you will have to reinvigorate the current strategy and look for improvement on the relationship.

Social networking could land you in a job. Some of your best options will often come from some of the most "unlikely" people you met somewhere sometime. With advent of internet, the networking has been made easy and proves handy in times of needy. Friends and family circle will also help you with the new job. What you need to keep in mind is that “Will the new job gives me different learning and exposure rather than the monetary desires?” Learn new skills to add up to your personality.

Questioning few of my colleagues I had found an optimistic outlook on their mindset. They have certain plans for their future. Most of them are likely to pursue their higher studies. That’s a wonderful add up to your qualification. Devote yourself for it and learn new skills in the current company that can corroborate your profile. In the coming years there will be much stiffer competition as most of them are likely to revisit their plans of higher studies and prepare for it. With increased competition you will have to strive hard to differentiate yourself to pluck a place in the institute.

It is said that some of the strongest, longest-lived businesses were started under difficult economic conditions. Most of those businesses were started using private financing, from credit cards, relatives, inheritances etc…The enterprising skills within people would receive a revived outlook now to delve into entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs tend to identify a market opportunity and utilize it to carve out a niche for themselves in the market. Few of the people had showed their interest to start a firm. That’s a good sign and this downturn could augur well for those differently interested people.

People who have been showed doors due to policy violations may have to learn to stick to ethics and policies. There will always be your own mistakes for you to learn from. Learn to value those mistakes, because they will provide the best experience you can find. Self discipline yourself and develop certain values that could epitomize your personality.

You will have certain survival skills that you have developed over the years, without even knowing it. You may need to subject yourself to different jobs to identify your true potential. It may need a greater amount of time and effort to spend on. You may find that you are able to use some of the untapped skills to get a temporary job that you never considered. It may just put food on the table for a while, or it may open new doors. You might be good in teaching people, leading a team in the previous work and host of other things that can land you a job in educational sector. This sector is a very defensive and not subjected very much to the cyclical downturn. Lecturer or a teacher could suit your ability that may provide the gateway to an entirely new career. Likewise there could a bevy of chances which you need to sail across to find yourself. Quite a few people said starting tuition centre, baby care centre and other franchisee routes could also be adapted to test your ability.

Your hobbies and extra-curricular activities could give a new sense of direction to your life. I have read in magazines how the hobbies can possibly turn you into a professional. Like photography, art work, designing, custom made name plates, blogging, creating websites, car and bike remodeling, provisional store with unique USP and lot of other skills that have mushroomed itself into a profitable venture. It’s quite possible that one of you could be seen in a delightful career. Likewise social activity like working for an NGO will give a greater exposure to your ability to manage and help them.

There are huge chunk of possibilities and probabilities to survive. All said and done what we need is greater self willingness, confidence and a positive attitude to traverse through this rough patch with greater difficulty to land ourselves in a greener pasture. These are my personal opinions and from few interactions with people. Let’s keep our hope high and attempt every possibility with greater humility and commitment to be successful. I would like to end this writing with a piece of quote from the internet “Many of them continued to use the attitudes they had developed to survive their ordeals and went on to make a real difference in their lives and in the world.”