by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

Who says losing your job has to be a bad experience? I don’t mean to be glib about it because I know personally that getting laid off or let go can be a very unpleasant surprise. However, I also know many people who have turned job losses into positive career changes and/or  profitable new business ventures.

I recently shared my views on this subject with a CNN.com reporter for the article Make Getting Fired Work for You. My bit is near the end (under the subhead ‘It’s OK to be happy  about it").

The article also provide some other interesting insights. One tip is to thoroughly analyze why the job loss happened. While I agree that it’s generally useful to reflect on what you can learn from an experience,  I also think it’s important to make a distinction between getting fired and getting laid off. If you’ve been let go for performance issues, then it certainly makes sense to think about how you can avoid making the same mistakes in the future. However, when it comes to trying to understand the reasons for getting downsized, you can drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what you did to "deserve" it. In most cases, it absolutely was not you, it was them. You’d be better off using your analytical skills and your valuable time to figure out your next career move.

by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

Back in May, I posted about an interesting article by Tammy Erickson on the Harvard Business Review blog. Tammy provided an overview of Ten Reasons Why Gen Xers are Unhappy At Work and most of them rang very true for this Gen Xer (yeah, I hate the stupid term too but I’ve accepted that it’s never going away).

Anyway, BusinessWeek picked up Tammy’s story and recently published a selection of very insightful responses from Gen X readers who are rebelling against Corporate America. These are most definitely my  people.

Here are a few interesting selections (though it’s really worth reading all of the reader comments):

"If you truly value authenticity and aren’t motivated by ‘increasing shareholder profit,’ and you wind up in publicly traded corporate America, at some point you’ll probably leave."

"Many of us want to do work that we believe in. We want jobs that fulfill us on more than just a financial level. We don’t want to spend our entire lives with our respective noses to the grind[stone] only to retire or semi-retire with small pensions and little or no means to enjoy our later years… We want to work for places that value us as human beings."

"Corporate America needs me? Then I suggest that they, as a group, clean up their act, because as it stands, as my good friends Wayne and Garth say, ‘They are not worthy.’"

And then there’s Amy W., a precocious  member of Gen Y who has learned from the pain of Gen X:

"Fortunately, we may be better equipped to set out on our own and avoid the whole sordid mess altogether. I’d rather struggle now at 25 and be reliant on myself for my income at 30, than get a "great job" now and have some corporate snafu rip the rug out from under me at a similar time."

Read Gen X Talks Back at BusinessWeek.com

P.S. Critically acclaimed actor Emilio Estevez is a man always in search of new challenges in his life and his work. Read more.

by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

Think you can’t afford to escape from Corporate America? I’ve found that money fears keep many from pursuing their dream careers.

That’s why I recommend taking the time to make a detailed Escape Plan and build up an Escape Fund before you quit your day job. Escape from Corporate America has lots of advice on how to do that.

But what if you have specific questions or issues? Friday is your lucky day . Sherrill St. Germain, a financial planner who specializes in financial planning for career change, is hosting a free call-in session for career changers this Friday, July 18th from 1PM-3PM EST.   Sherrill is the founder and principal of New Means Financial Planning and a successful career changer and corporate escape artist herself (her valuable financial advice is also featured in my book). 

Sherrill is also offering free 10-minute individual consultations to the first 12 people who dial in for the session.

Find out more about Sherrill or contact her for more information about financial planning for career changers.

by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

A reporter for a major media outlet is interested in interviewing people who were recently downsized/laid off and seized the opportunity to start a business (or expand a sideline business).

If this sounds like you or someone you know, drop me a comment or email me ASAP. This could be a great media opportunity for a new entrepreneur.

by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

On Friday, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Womensphere Women’s Entrepreneurial Summit. It was a great event with lots of terrific panels and presentations.

I also had the opportunity to meet a number of amazing women  — including many successful entrepreneurs who escaped from Corporate America to pursue their entrepreneurial passions.

Check out some of their stories for a bit of inspiration to keep you going next time you start wondering if your dream is really possible.

Analisa Balares is the founder and CEO of Womensphere. She is also a Harvard MBA who served in senior roles at Goldman Sachs and Microsoft before launching her career as an entrepreneur. Analisa was recently selected as one of 35 “young leaders” to join the New York City Young Leaders Program, a public-private partnership between the New York City Government and private NGOs.

Joan Coukos is the CEO and chocolatier behind Chocolat Moderne, an award-winning chocolate maker that has been featured on The Today Show. Joan was a banker for many years before she fell in love with the art of chocolate making. She started her new career by experimenting with chocolate recipes in her tiny New York kitchen and testing them with her banking colleagues. Pretty soon, she was ready to turn pro and start Chocolat Moderne (I happily sampled some of her wares and can attest to her talent!)

Nadine Vogel joined the conference fresh from a speaking gig at the United Nations. She is the founder and CEO of Springboard Consulting, a firm that helps companies communicate with the one third of the U.S. population that either has a disability or is the parent of a child with a disability. Previously, Nadine had a long and successful career as an executive for a large financial services company.

Feyi Boroffice is a cofounder of 2 Hats Network, a consulting firm devoted to helping companies retain and advance emerging leaders, particularly mothers and women of color. Feyi is a Harvard MBA who spent years in senior corporate roles before leaving to start 2 Hats. She and partner Simi Sanni Nwogugu (a former investment banker and media executive) boast an impressive list of Fortune 500 clients.

Read more daring tales of corporate escape or check out my corporate escape artist directory.

by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

How do you know if you should escape from Corporate America? How can you determine if it’s time to make a major career change or if you’re just having a bad week?

I put together my Are You A Corporate Casualty? quiz based on the  research and interviews I conducted while writing Escape from Corporate America.

I would love it if you could spend a few minutes taking the quiz. We are compiling the results to try to get a better sense of just how many aspiring corporate escapees are out there (and what is driving them up the cubicle wall).

The quiz was debuted online a few weeks ago by the amazing Guy Kawasaki (thanks again to Guy for taking the time to speak with me) and the response has been great so far.

Please pass the quiz link along to any disgruntled friends who might welcome an opportunity to vent!

by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

The media is full of stories about summer vacation fun and the annoyingly named stay-cation trend, but what about those poor schlubs who have been spending all of their sunny days at the office this summer? Are all Americans entitled to paid vacation time?

A recent poll by Take Back Your Time/Opinion Research Corporation found that 69% of Americans support a paid vacation law while 27% are opposed. And how much vacation is enough? The majority of respondents said three weeks sounded about right. Read more about the poll.

American workers are obviously sick and tired of  "vacation starvation" and the burnout symptoms that often result from a non-stop work schedule. U.S. companies offer the stingiest vacation allotments in the industrialized world — an average of 8.1 days after a year on the job. Meanwhile, our French colleagues average 25 vacation days per year and German employees take off for 30 annual vacation days.

And those of you with 8.1 days off each year are among the lucky. 25% of Americans receive no paid vacation leave at all.

But wait, there’s more. Recent studies have shown that half of U.S. workers don’t even take the vacation days they’re given. U.S. workers forfeited approximately 421 million vacation days in 2005. Often, employees postpone their much-needed vacation breaks due to heavy workloads and/or concerns that employers will disapprove. But what if your employer was required by law to give you a break?

Take Back Your Time is a U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork. Take Back Your Time believes that the lack of vacation time in the United States is a serious problem and that a law guaranteeing paid vacations would lead to higher hourly productivity and reduce the escalating cost of health care by making all Americans healthier.

According to their research, men who don’t take regular vacations are 32% more likely to die of heart attacks, and 21% more likely to die early of all causes.  Women who don’t take time off increase their risk of heart attack by 50% and are twice as likely to be depressed as women who go on vacation.

Evidence also indicates that workers who take regular vacations are more productive and loyal employees.  Read more about the Take Back Your Time initiative.

Has any of this convinced you to take some of those unused vacation days already? Do you believe that every hard-working American should be lawfully entitled to a few weeks of paid vacation? Would a paid vacation law put undue burdens on employers?

I’d love to hear opinions from all of you who are currently sitting at your computers instead of sitting on the beach (and all of you freelancers and telecommuters who might be currently sitting at your computer WHILE sitting on the beach).

by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

I hope you enjoy lots of fireworks, burgers, and cold beer this July 4th weekend.

Although Independence Day is meant to be a celebration of American independence from the British, it’s also a great opportunity to celebrate your independence (or impending independence) from Corporate America.

Or maybe you’ve been looking forward to July 4th weekend as a break from thinking about work at all.

Either way, have a great three-day weekend. Now step away from the computer (or put the BlackBerry down) and go out and enjoy some fresh air and sunlight!