Last night I gave my inaugural presentation, Journey Through Desert Time, building on Bill Bridges’ concept of The Neutral Zone, the pause between your old job and your new one.  The audience was great - attentive, engaging and encouraging. They also gave me several suggestions for improvement which you will see developed in these pages going forward. Thank you North Coast Job Seekers! You’re encouraging me to expand!

Here is part of the outline from the presentation:  

Bill Bridges’ Three Stages of Transition*:

Ending

Neutral Zone

New Beginning

 *From William Bridges, Transition: Making Sense of Life’s Changes.

Job Seekers Need Guides

There are no maps in transition, but there are Guides. People show up along your way as long as you need them. Guides lead you away from walls and closed doors. They keep you safe.

• They take you along a more scenic route. You learn new things along the way that interest you and you become more interesting.

• They introduce you to more people. (They’re expanding you and your network.)

• They encourage you to have fun along the way, to lighten up, which is more attractive.

• They make you aware of the strengths you already possess and are proud of you for using them.

• They go with you, introduce you to people, tell you you’ll be fine, and “go get ‘em!”

• Finally, Guides tell you when you have arrived. 

The Progression of Phases in the Neutral Zone:

The Neutral Zone, or what I call Desert Time because it reminds me of wandering in the desert, is the journey from the last job to the next one. It has four phases that mostly happen in this order:

• Grieving (feeling)

• Processing (thinking, analyzing)

• Learning (Typical job search activities: resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, job market research, how to network, etc.)

• Reorienting and Integrating 

Thought-Starters to Use for Your Processing Phase

1. How did you get here?

2. How did you know the change was coming?

3. What did you hear before that makes sense, now that you know the end has arrived?

4. If you were part of the reason you were laid off, what was your role in it? Is that true?

5. What do you fear?  If you are hanging on to your old job, taking reassignments, is it because are you afraid you will fail at finding new work? Fear is debilitating; it cuts you off from friends.

6. If you want, you can look at your life in terms of layoff – who has laid you off before? Who have you let go of? How were relationships in your last job like your family of origin?

7. Was the job you lost a good job for you when it began?

8. After you started, did the job change along the way? Did you take promotions that led you away from the work you really love and are suited best for?

9. Finally, before you knew it was the end of a job, did you hear rumblings within yourself that it was time for a change?

A Note About Repeating

It’s important to fully commit to grieving and processing so that this phase is as complete as you can get it. You want to get clear about your inner knowing by the time you get to the Learning Phase. One of the reasons to consciously grieve and process is so that you can stop repeating the wrongs and harms that have happened and move on. If you continue to process unnecessarily, you will trigger your amygdala and fear responses. As job seekers, it’s important to reduce your regrets and fears so that you feel confident in your expanding.

If you are having trouble with this, here is a short video about reducing your anxiety.

The Six Creative Intelligences for Job and Career Transition

1. Expanding

2. Needing and developing interests

3. Encouraging

4. Using Competencies I already posses

5. Connecting

6. Reorienting and Integrating