Don't worry WE can Get Out of Global Recession

This is the question in everybody's mind. What should we do to get out of this time of global economic slowdown ? To understand this we have to know where did it begin and what has been happening since then. My intent is not to explain the cause of this slowdown but to get rid of it. The current situation is jobs have become unstable, businesses are shutting down, people are afraid to spend, liquidity in market had dried, profits going down, jobs cut, etc.

Global economic slowdown nothing but a cascading effect of a series of events.

Lets take a simple example. One big company goes down and companies associated with them are shut and jobs are cut. People get afraid of the security of their job and start saving more and more and spending less. One may think yes this is what has to be done as you never know that the next day you may be jobless. So let me save enough to protect my family.

This is the beginning of the cascading effect. Example of this is an exceutive earns 50000 per month. Of this he spends 15000 in essentials, 15000 for loans , 10000 for savings and 10000 for luxuries like outing, eating at hotels, a movie, etc. When he fears that jobs will be cut he reduces his expenses and increases savings. This means 12000 for essentials, 15000 for loans,18000 savings and 4-5000 for others. Since people are saving more the bank deposits go up and the bank is unable to pay interest as they are not able to lend it to anyone outside. In the bargain interset rates dip.In the bargain what is happening to the economy. As people are spending less those businesses are impacted. Shopping reduces and malls which survive on volumes are forced to reduce costs which is easily done by reducing resources. Jobs are cut as business does not require that numbers and the cycle goes around.

The aftermath of a global meltdown is increasing crime, faltering businesses, poverty, increase in prostitution, anti social activities, robbery, etc

So does that mean you should not save more considering you might lose your jobs. The answer is no. Its a common man's behaviour to safeguard his family based on the current crisis. However before retrencing or cutting expenses think about people who thrive on that business. Simply speaking one might shop in a Big Bazzar or DMart every month suddenly switches over to a local kirana. What happens is obvious as said above. In this the low income group gets affected bigtime and he can do anything to feed his family.

Let see whats the solution to this. From above you have understood that the starting point is lack of job security. So all the organizations have to promise their employees that they will not cut jobs. In a situtaion which demands job cut they may reduce a % of salaries but job will be secure atleast for the next two years. The organisation can save some costs by cutting salaries of top management as everyone knows that 80% of salaries expenses goes for 20% of the people on top.This will bring some life to the economy and people will slowly start spending. This will not happen in a day but if everyone does it consiously things can stabilize as fast as a year or 6 months.

From a goverment perspective they should try to reduce taxes as much as they can to increase the spending ability of individuals and bring in more foreign investments to gain the confidence in the minds of the people. Talking about recession again and again will not help but working towards coming out of it helps. In such times the worst impacted is the comman man and the only person to get him out of it is he himself.

Its not a one man's job or a one thousand men job. It would require efforts from every person in this economy to contribute his part. This is possible only if this message goes across to everyone in India and the world.

Lets make a beginning and you can make a difference.....Times will change and we will be back from this black night to a bright sunshine if everyone makes the effort.

Planning a focused job search

The current recession has seen the finance sector hit earlier and harder than many others. Redundancies in the financial markets have been larger and higher profile, and while everyone hopes for a quick recovery, it is possible that early 2009 might see further cost-control measures being initiated.
Losing your job with little warning is a miserable experience and naturally causes concern to those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of redundancy programmes. During a growing or stable market, retrenchment of staff is often used as a vehicle to exit average to poor performers. In the current market , mass redundancies have been necessary for companies to stay afloat and, as a result, they are being forced to release some of their most talented people.
While it is a challenging and competitive job market, some companies and sectors remain stable and others, while not hiring in high volume, will continue to want to attract top talent. This means that:
• As an employer, now is a great time to identify and attract A-class players.
• As a prospective employee, now is the time to differentiate yourself from the crowd and market yourself smartly.
The job market has evolved considerably and for many this may be the first time in years that you have found yourself actively looking for a new role. There are numerous channels (job boards, search firms, print advertising, professional networking, pro-active marketing etc) to find and identify job opportunities. In addition, there are many ways to make contact (directly and indirectly) with hiring stakeholders and decision makers.
If you are about to embark on a focussed search for a new job, planning and preparing well will considerably increase your chances of securing a new opportunity.
It is not possible to cover in detail all the key elements of job searching here, but the following planning advice might be useful.
1) Define the product (what is your value to a new company?)
• What are your core competencies? - go online and search for competency libraries (they help you articulate what you are good at and why)
• What sectors have you worked in? – investment, wealth, retail, etc
• What is your tangible value to a company? – revenue, cost control, building capability etc
• What countries/regions do you have experience of operating in? – Singapore, HK, SE Asia, Australia etc
• What transferable skills and competencies do you have? – management, planning, sales, design, training etc
• What outcomes have you achieved? – saved X, generated Y, designed Z resulting in...
Conduct this exercise before writing your CV or career profile. The temptation on a CV is to create a chronological list of activity and tasks. Firstly, define what is accurate and valuable about you as a product (potential employee) and then make sure you stick to referencing these unique selling points when writing your CV. A short, accurate and clear CV has far more penetration than a long document that dilutes your key value and attributes.
2) Map out your target companies and key hiring stakeholders
Spend time researching and listing all the direct and indirect companies that you believe could benefit from your value. These may be obvious competitors to your previous or current employer but think “outside of the square” too.
When mapping out your value and attributes you will have listed your transferable skills. Think how these could be of value to alternative sectors and role types and then research and list applicable companies. More than ever you need to think about marketing yourself to a broader audience than the sector or role vertical you have recently been working in.
In addition to mapping company name, try and identify the names and contact details for relevant hiring stakeholders in these companies. People you can consider contacting directly to pitch your value and attributes to.
The activities listed above can be completed thoroughly in two to three days, after which you will be clear about your value to a new employer, you will have a list of direct and indirect target companies, and you will have identified key hiring stakeholders to make contact with.
You now need to identify the best method of making contact (directly or via an agency). If you are going to approach targets directly, then a short e-mail introducing yourself, followed by a call is a great method of bringing your value to their attention, so don’t be afraid to pick up the phone.
Planning well will not guarantee success but it will give you an excellent start point in your job search and will put you well ahead of most others who will not have invested the time.