08/10/2009 12:00 am
Fired to Hired Author Tory Johnson on the Bright Side of Pink Slips
Tory Johnson
Editor’s note: Tory Johnson is the founder and CEO of Women For Hire, which produces recruiting events for women across the country. She is also the workplace contributor for ABC’s "Good Morning America" and a popular speaker nationwide. For more on Tory, visit WomenForHire.com. Her latest book, Fired to Hired: Bouncing Back From Job Loss to Get to Work Right Now, provides great tips on how to go from pink slip to paycheck. Click here to read an excerpt from Fired to Hired.
wowOwow: Tory, "Get to Work Right Now" is in the subtitle of your book. Given the large and growing unemployment crisis, is this really possible in your view?
Tory Johnson: Absolutely. I see people getting hired every day. Now, let’s be realistic — there’s often some give and take involved. It may mean a pay cut. It may mean a less-than-ideal commute. It may not be the oh-so-perfect long-term dream, but for now it works. Earlier this year on "Larry King Live," a caller asked me how he could possibly find work when 90 percent of the employers in his area weren’t hiring. My answer: Focus on the other ten percent. You don’t need everyone to be hiring; you need just one job at one company. It’s not impossible to find that.
Embrace the blessing — not the curse — of a blank slate. The work for you right now may also be found by starting a business. Even though financing is a huge challenge, women have the best ideas for service businesses, many of which can be bootstrapped with minimal resources and huge heaps of hustle.
wOw: What’s a "job club" and can anyone start one?
Tory: A job club is like a book club, but instead of gathering weekly to chat about chapters, members talk about their careers. It’s an ideal forum to give and get candid feedback from peers who don’t live under the same roof or share the same blood as you. Plus, job clubs keep you motivated to achieve your goals. When you know you’re accountable to fellow members, you’re more likely to stay on target and push for results. Anyone can start a job club — and when you do, tell me about it. I’m interested in connecting with clubs across the country via Skype, phone and even in person. Perhaps I can visit with yours.
wOw: You talk about working from home in your book, and you make a very interesting point that hasn’t gotten a lot of mention in the media, and I think it has real legs in today’s environment. In the book you say, "Employers have found it more cost effective to export jobs half a world away than provide an office for employees to work in. There’s no reason those same employers can’t export that same job to your home office." Tory, between the sub-prime mess and the job losses, people are angry at Big Business. Isn’t this a movement that people could get behind and encourage those CEOs with huge pay packages to embrace?
Tory: Yes! Why should our jobs go to other countries? Even though there is some cost savings to hiring customer service agents across the globe, it comes at a price. There’s no secret about the backlash among customers who don’t like talking to agents who can barely speak English. If a cell phone company, for example, announced that it planned to bring back all 3,000 of its customer service agent positions to the U.S. immediately, I’d sign up — even if it were slightly more expensive than the company that offshores its customer service.
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Hallelujah Tory! Love what you had to say about outsourcing, this is my #1 bone of contention with companies. Why can’t Americans do these same jobs from their homes? I too would be the first one to sign up with a cell company or buy a computer from a company that dropped their overseas customer service reps and decided to go with Americans instead.
What I love about Tory is she give sensible and "doable" solutions for people looking for work and hanging onto the jobs they have.
I was really feeling like my "got up and go" had got up and left… but recently, while I was flipping through the channels, I caught one of Tory’s segments on GMA. I decided to get myself a copy of Fired to Hired.
I’m done with my pity party! Thanks for the inspiration, Tory!
I do an anti-recession site every weekday, Do the Hopey Copey…
Come visit: http://hopeycopey.blogspot.com. We like unemployment, people paid in and should get it.
I had 21 jobs in my life and was fired in 19! It was because I didn’t know/understand that I was an entrepreneur and ran my departments like my own business…. which NEVER fit the corporate culture!
I baked my first cake at 37 and started a dessert business which lead to a very successful career as a restauranteur in Chicago. I’m 66 and realize that everything I learned in those 21 jobs I use every day.
Follow your passion and remember it takes less energy to be courageous than it does to be afraid!
I can completely relate to all of this. I blogged about my own job experiences last week. When I wrote it I was on my 5th job in 15 months and as a result of the blog I picked up another job! I have two now and I think they are both keepers.
http://staceyharrell.blogspot.com/
Best wishes to everyone.
boss" for along time and many of the tips you give really do work. I am retired now and work as a consultant. I am handicappied but you would be suprised how much you can do with a good computer from home. Keep up the good work.