…It’s never going to get any better.
Think about it. When you order fish in a restaurant and it tastes or smells “fishy,” what do you do?
* Ask for extra sauce to cover up the bad taste?
* Offer to trade dishes with your dining partner?
* Take it home, put it in the fridge and try it a couple of days later?
Most likely, you will send it back to the kitchen and order something different.
In a down market, it’s easy to overlook signs of potential problem areas.
Candidates and companies are vulnerable to the instinct of jump-starting the revenue stream and jumping into a new opportunity that may be fraught with peril. Will you have the time/tools to be successful?
Now, it’s even more important to be alert, heed instincts when something doesn’t look or feel right. Due diligence is critical. A robust pipeline increases odds for success.
In the last downturn, many top careers were derailed with a series of short hops into jobs that didn’t pan out. When the market picked up, they didn’t compete well in comparison to other candidates who had more longstanding tenures. Consider temp/consulting assignments while searching for the right fit.
The fish analogy can be a helpful decisionmaking tool.
June 30, 2009