A fellow scholar I know recently posted a heart-warming appeal to help him find a job. Mind you he was a veteran, a scholar on conflict resolution,  a Volunteer Corps, and an educator.

He found himself without any savings after taking care of his mom and her health bills for six months. He doesn’t have the runway these few months until the next job which, if he did get that, would be for fall of next year.

What a sad predicament for those who think that these jobs will be there when they need them and they will get them when they apply. In one job posting, there will be 500, close to 800 applications in Canada for a great job, not even counting the US statistics. You’re very lucky if you were even short-listed and interviewed.

People are addicted to the paycheck, and once this goes away, they don’t know what to do. They didn’t plan to become business owners or entrepreneurs in their minds. But this denial of the insecurity of employment is grave.

Getting a degree or, in my friend’s case, a double PhD won’t give you a free bus ride to downtown. Maybe just a reservation at the nicest spot in a restaurant. But you will not enjoy that if you can't pay for a nice meal and always feeling worried about how to pay the bills.

This is what I would do: 

Instead of posting for help to donate to my personal appeal page or ask for a job from colleagues on Facebook or LinkedIn, I would be resourceful by getting a short-term contract work in the community. Maybe the library can use a hand when it's peak season. The community college might need a substitute teacher or a researcher for a funded project. Maybe the municipality needs event organizers for an upcoming festival. I would go out, call people, and visit the office and ask directly to help. I would be pro-active and will not rest until I find something in the meantime. I'm pretty sure that there will be somebody out there who wants what I can offer and take me in willingly. 


Offer to help for a fee. No one rejects that.

If you ask to people to donate to you, who are actually strangers, it takes a toll on your personal brand and it harms your self-worth too.  The latter is more damaging. 

Have the courage of your skills, talents, and value. 

Hit the road, knock on offices, call people.
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I hate to say this but certifications added to your name doesn't give you free meals or free rides on a public transport.

If you have a great personal brand with a million following but, posting  low-level content doesn't make you more attractive or entertaining to work with.

If you think that another course on top of the last will prepare you for your next assignment, this too will not be useful. 

If you have a double PhD, guess what you need to know how to use these degrees in the workplace and become an authority in your field. 

There's so many mediocre people playing mediocre games at the lowest level.

Get out there as fast as you can.

The higher-level playing field is never crowded.

Aim for the big game. 

Excellence, mastery, and more courage to take new stretch projects. 

You've got to provide value in your industry, fill the gaps,  and lead without asking. 

And never take no for an answer.

They just do the work and their resourcefulness brings them to the next stage.

Again, there's no perfect time, resources, circumstances to act on things that will propel you forward.

Quit getting ready, fire the cylinders. 

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I was one of the community organizers for a conference a few weeks ago.

One thing that I noticed was the content was a bit-off with the audience.

As this was a watch-and-discuss kind of event, the watch part was a missed opportunity.

I submit that if we were going to do another event, meet with no pre-planned agenda, no heavily facilitated sessions, just a broad mandate.

Just meet, talk, and connect.

Whatever can happen, will happen.

Focus on convening the right people, who are ready to take action and deliver on that commitment.

Easy peasy.

​Why do we make things complicated? 
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