Surviving the recession blues

These are strange times. There is constant news of job losses in the UK and of course in the US, and no doubt in may countries around the world. We hear of “rescue” packages launched by Governments, the most recent being that announced in Germany this morning. I wonder about all these stimulus measures taken by central government. One cannot create large numbers of jobs in sectors where products or services are not in demand, and throwing taxpayers’ money at something is in the end not in the interests of the greater population who have to pay for it.

Let us not get too depressed though, because the real answers will be found by business itself, and by those who may be condemned as short-term opportunists, but whose business acumen in spotting those opportunities will be what pulls our economy and the world’s economy round, Only this morning, Tesco has said it will create a further ten thousand jobs. That’s quite a lot even for a supermarket chain that is by a street the largest in the UK, and was at the last count I saw the second largest in Europe behind Carrefour.

There will be other large companies who will move quickly. Fast feet are useful to have in a changing and difficult market and where there is a possibility of filling in gaps left by failed businesses who were less adaptable. That is where the new jobs will come from, and where the root of the recovery will be.

In the meantime there are a lot of people who find themselves without a job, and many of those are finance professionals who worked for banks, in insurance, and in accountancy etc. I myself worked for various firms of accountants, small and large over the years. There is an irony that many firms of accountants, especially larger ones, call themselves “business advisers” and yet many of those who have been laid off from that sector will not have a clue what to do. It is a big leap from being employed with a monthly salary you count upon having to having no job and not knowing how to start making money again in a weak job market.

I have written elsewhere that when I found myself in the position the newly redundant in our sector are now in; seven years ago I did not want to be without a job and indeed thought I was a pretty good performer. It was all a complete surprise. It took me the best part of a year to reconcile myself to running my own business. Now of course I would not want to do anything else, but it required a complete change of mindset in order to start a business in the area which I knew most about. I had no choice in many ways as it was a question of survival at a time when prospective employers could enjoy window shopping for employees and wasting everyone’s time, whilst discounting those more mature candidates who might know more than them and show them up. You would think they could look beyond that to the valuable experience they could draw into the business, but that is human nature.

My concern for many financial professionals is that their particular skill will not adapt well to a small business environment. One cannot easily set up a bank on one’s own, and corporate finance or even corporate tax on their own are not areas for very small business. This type of work has to be part of a package with other services. I was lucky in that I could adapt much of what I already knew, though it has been a long march. Adaptability is key though, and the sooner our newly redundant can change their mindset the better. After all, being redundant is not to be taken personally. It is nearly always an accident as mine was, and it is important after initially licking one’s wounds to reestablish one’s self esteem. We always have skills someone else will need.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (I can always rely on him) said “We do not live an equal life, but one of contrasts and patchwork; now a little joy, then a sorrow, now a sin, then a generous or brave action.”

The brave action is what is needed and in future pieces I shall discuss the generous element required when talking about my networking experiences, starting with referral networking six years ago.

Jon Stow

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Surviving the recession blues

  1. laurence says:

    hi jon,

    nice blog, is this going to be your personal blog only?

  2. onourbikes says:

    Thank you, Laurence. It is going to be my personal opinion. I will see where it goes, business-wise, but I want to have a separate thread from my tax blog about my experience of the business environment.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge