I graduated in 2008 and entered the job market during probably the deepest recession in my country. I was lucky that I landed a grant which ensured my job for the next 4 years. This was both a blessing and a curse. Let me explain.
During and after the recession unemployment rate soared past 25%. 2/3 of my company got laid off during that period. At some point more than half of my friends were unemployed. Having a stable job you can count for years to come was an incredible perk.
However this security bred both complacency and toxicity. My boss started saying things like "you are lucky you got a job", "we are doing you a favour letting you work here" or "there are no jobs out there" (BTW I'm seeing echoes of this in some managers these days). Although the job was terrible, I was conditioned to have extremely low expectations.
At the end I spent the first 7 years of my career in a low performing and toxic organization. I was so severely underpaid that when I finally changed jobs, I 4x my pay without trying too hard. The rest is history.
So if I had to capture my lessons in a tip is: do whatever you need to "survive" the recession, but keep an eye on the market and be quick to jump when the tide turns.
I'll never know how much I would have turbocharged my career if I had jumped at the beginning of the longest bull market in history rather than languishing in a career dead end.
During and after the recession unemployment rate soared past 25%. 2/3 of my company got laid off during that period. At some point more than half of my friends were unemployed. Having a stable job you can count for years to come was an incredible perk.
However this security bred both complacency and toxicity. My boss started saying things like "you are lucky you got a job", "we are doing you a favour letting you work here" or "there are no jobs out there" (BTW I'm seeing echoes of this in some managers these days). Although the job was terrible, I was conditioned to have extremely low expectations.
At the end I spent the first 7 years of my career in a low performing and toxic organization. I was so severely underpaid that when I finally changed jobs, I 4x my pay without trying too hard. The rest is history.
So if I had to capture my lessons in a tip is: do whatever you need to "survive" the recession, but keep an eye on the market and be quick to jump when the tide turns.
I'll never know how much I would have turbocharged my career if I had jumped at the beginning of the longest bull market in history rather than languishing in a career dead end.