Remember, even in the credit crunch, there are still Births, Deaths, Marriages – and SEX!

It’s tough times now, and it is going to be even tougher times ahead in 2009 – I think we are close enough now for me to be able to write that. Many people are losing their jobs, and those who are unemployed can’t find jobs – so what hope is there?

Last week, there was a lot of bad economic data either side of the Atlantic, even after Barack Obama became President elect:

• Car sales down a record 26% to a 20 year low. The big three are hurting, and GM has said it will run out of cash in early 2009
• House sales down a further 20%, effectively now down 48% in the UK from just two years ago
• Retail sales down 12%
• Unemployment at five year highs, and heading higher

But please note – although the figures are DOWN, they are not ZERO. Why is this? Let’s take a simple scenario:

Young man on a rare night out that he can afford meets a young lady, takes her back to his place and ….. nine months later, after getting married and buying a family car, they welcome a child. His apartment now won’t suit their needs, and nor will hers, so they need a house. Houses require mortgages, and after doing a deal with both fathers on a 20% deposit, he needs a better job to pay for it while she will do some part-time work from home for the next 12months – or perhaps she employs a nanny? The house needs decorating…

One thing that is always constant, whether we like it or not, is the fact we are time-limited biological life forms on this earth. You can check this out by reading your local BDM column – it might be shrinking a bit now in the M section, but B and D are still at pretty much the same level they were last year.

These life forms are also emotional, made up of complex calculations and mixtures of chemicals which play a huge part in the micro-second calculations we each make to stay alive on this planet – including the answer to the immortal question of time, life and the universe of “do you want fries with that?”

This is because every one of them needs energy, and hence has to eat, drink, sleep – you can check this one out at the local supermarket: I still see people buying food. And every so often, because no man can be an island from his fellow man – and certainly no lady can resist the odd bit of male company, accepting that shirt doesn’t match his trousers – we all need to get merry with a few other people out there.

And every so often, when people on the odd occasion make a single mistake, they need new cars. And even if they don’t know they need a new one, the old one is also time limited through a form chemical interaction between iron and oxygen which is as old as the earth itself.

So, why are the economic figures not zero? Because life carries on – check BDM, check the supermarket, check that the sun goes up and down, and the moon comes out: life carries on.

So if life carries on, are people still being hired – Ah, YES! Why – do I have to explain BDM again? And now your question is – and how do I make myself one of those people?

Honestly, its simple – and here’s the answer: realise who you are, what your skills are, what you like and could do even if it means doing something different from what you are doing now; and then get a PLAN and IMPLENT IT.

If you have a plan and a goal, and the gumption to stick to it, something inside you picks up and wham – you ace the interview. If you don’t have a plan or know what you want to do, then you need the world’s largest economic boom to stand a chance of being employed at all.

And the amazing thing is – you don’t need to be great to get employed right now, just focused and resultantly enthusiastic; about the job, and the employer:

• If you just did 15minutes of investigation of the employer you are about to apply for a job to, your chances of getting the job would rise by 25%
• If you rang to enquire about the job before applying, your chances would rise by 50%
• And if you re-read the night before just the stuff you printed off of the computer before the day of the interview, and prepared six questions about the employer and the job, your chances of getting the job would rise by 100%.

You have just trebled your chance of getting employed, and all it took was an economic down turn to learn how to do.

Still, even now that I have told you that, I bet there’s a 66% chance you won’t change and hence do it. I know that, because I do read the BDM column and I am still interviewing candidates on a weekly basis – and both tell me that probable outcome.

So, stop reading and take some action – life is still going on, people are still getting hired.

Good Luck!