Blogosphere on Recession Strategies

I collected an interesting set of posts from the blogosphere on strategies for tiding over the recession. There are many job seekers out there, so here is a summary of some of the best advice from career coaches:

* HUNTERS OR FARMERS – WHO IS GETTING HIRED: Perry Newman says:

The bottom line is the Farmer generally works twice as long as a Hunter and a Hunter works twice as smart as the Farmer. Now considering that a successful job search requires 400 to 16,000 productive hours, you will see why it pays to become a Hunter, and if you are already a Hunter why you should improve work at improving your hunting skills.

Addressing the youth unemployment issue, Rebecca Thorman writes Who hires in a recession? offering three places to look. She also suggests How to get a raise in the recession.

* In Maybe we need a workplace Moses, career diva Eve Tahmincioglu threatens:

I’m going to scream if I hear from one more person that they’re working for free to gain experience or they hope for a big payoff down the line.

This is entirely contrary to what my experience has been in the last three years managing large numbers of interns, including working professionals, who have successfully used my blog to gain visibility and credibility and access opportunities. Read: Building Your Personal Brand. Especially for engineers and junior marketers, gaining visibility and differentiation is key, and I am afraid, I have to say Eve is wrong on this.

Eve, however, is a good writer, and has a superb post on layoffs titled BEWARE: Zombies in Cubicle Graveyards. Indeed, employers need to be careful about morale getting devastated.

Tim Walker advises on The discipline to say “No,” even when times are tough and Divorce your emotions from the economy.

Mike Figliuolo offers a call to action that is close to my heart: Courageous Decision-Making – Quit Being a Wimp and Lead.

Tough times like these demand leadership. I’m sick of hearing how organizations are “hunkering down” until the storm passes. Guess what people? It won’t start to pass until leaders like you make decisions that take us toward a solution.

And you already know what my take on the topic is: Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship! I did two great radio shows with Marty Nemko, one of the top career coaches around. You can listen to them here and here.