Many job seekers are agonizing over the question of whether to take a step backward to get through this recession. Perhaps you've worked your entire career to attain a certain level, and now you're finding jobs in your strata few and far between. It's a painful thing to contemplate, but sometimes real world financial issues force the "step backward" question to the forefront.
The old way of looking at a career was the "ladder" metaphor, where your focus was always on the next rung. In today's economy, a jungle gym is the better metaphor. Sometimes you have to move sideways, or even down, to climb up to the top.
While there's no easy answer to the "step backward" question, here are a few factors to weigh as you make your decision:
Be realistic about the amount of recovery time left in your career:
A career isn't a sprint, it's a triathlon. If you're 35 and contemplating a step backwards for 2-3 years, this means you'll have 25-30 years to "recover." Whether you are old or young, you need to consider how taking a "step backward" will impact your long term career goals.
Adopt a "what will I learn?" philosophy:
I don't put much into previous titles or levels when I'm interviewing someone. Rather, I really care about what knowledge the person possesses. If the lower-level job will allow you to gain valuable knowledge or experience, it's probably a good bet. Perhaps it will allow you to learn a new customer type, a new market, or a new software package. When you're eventually interviewed for a promotion back to your old level, you'll be given credit for both your old skills as well the newly acquired knowledge.
Balance the financial impact of being out of work for a longer time:
Let's say the step backwards job pays 15% less than you were making. If you make $75K per year, this means the step back salary will be about $64K, or an annual reduction of $11K. If you wait around for your current level job, and it takes 6 months to find it, you'll have lost 6/12ths of $64K, or $32,000. That means it'll take you almost 3 years to make up the difference if you wait around for a job at your present level.
Balance the resume impact of being out of work for an extended period of time:
I wish I could tell you that everyone who reads your resume will infer that it was a nasty recession and that jobs at your level were tough to find. Unfortunately, that's not a promise I can make. More often than not, you'll get dinged for this time gap by a corporate resume screener.
Choose employer quality over ego gratification:
A consistent mistake I witness is a job seeker going to a much lower quality employer, just to preserve his present title. In reality, this is a fool's bargain. Not only will the lower quality employer do nothing to enhance your resume, it may also put you in a position of needing to make yet another career change in the near future. If the recession persists, the last place you want to be is at a weak company as the new kid with the inflated title.
Jobfox.com
