Job axing is done almost everywhere. In the last recession, where almost the whole reeled under severe economic downtime, many professionals lost their jobs. Job losing is not an easy event to face for a well-doing professional, who is dreaming almost everyday to achieve higher and higher goals.
There are dreams to enrich the expertise, deliver wonderful results, and win appreciations and awards from peers, seniors and the company’s top-management. But how to handle when you are shown pink slips? How to gulp down the feeling that you are not allowed to sit on the desk that you decorated so lavishly? How does it make sense that the gates that seemed “welcoming” are now creating a barrier to reach the spot where you squatted so proudly?
It is never easy. For someone who is dreaming to live a easy life with the smoothly-going job, axing could be a thunderbolt, almost impossible to bear. However, it should not mark the end of the story or journey. It could happen to everybody. The point in to start afresh and get back on track quickly. It is like driving a 4-wheeler. While running in the top gear, you suddenly hit the red lights. The point is to pick the speed once again from the very first gear. You can’t expect to start right away from the top gear. From the first gear, you will have to settle in the new feeling (perhaps the new job) and quickly achieve the speed that you are capable of.
ILostMyJob.com is one of such resources that provide professional help in dealing such a situation.
We had an email interview with Robert, the president of ILostMyJob.
Q1. This seems to be a very unique concept. How you thought of starting iLostmyjob.com?
In 2000, my father was laid off from his job. He’s always been a technically-inclined person, and he decided to use the Internet as a tool for figuring out what to do next. At one point, he typed “ILostMyJob.com” into the address bar of his browser, and no site came up. Since I was a webmaster and web developer at the time, he decided to buy the domain. He thought it would be great to have a web page with a clickable map, which would connect with local job transition and employment resources. It is a great domain name, easy to remember, and that is how the website and company got started.
Q2. Do you feel this concept has a universal approach apart from being limited to a country which just faced an economic slowdown?
Yes. The resources at ILostMyJob.com have been specifically structured to be universal in nature. However, we know that there are specific concepts and practices in individual countries and cultures that we have not accounted for at this time.
Q3. Who are your targeted customers or audience?
Anyone who has lost their job or is dealing with extended unemployment.
Q4. What is the business strategy that you have adopted in this venture?
Our main strategy, and our mission, is to do good for people who have lost their jobs and are in job transition. We believe our success will come from the accumulation of millions of good deeds for people, and not in a windfall. Therefore, we have built a foundation of expert and helpful content, upon which we aim to help inform people about as many relevant options for their personal job transition as possible. At all times, we remain present for people who put trust in our information, allowing them to contact us and our Career Doctors for help and resources when needed. Additionally, we are committed to the newest forms of media, and our video, audio, blogs, mobile content, and social media are designed to be accessible in ways that people are needing and using nowadays.
Q5. What exactly do you do for your clients?
We provide a free job-seeking resources as well as act as a conduit to other services that can benefit job-seekers. We like to think of ourselves as a one-stop shop to meet all of the job-seekers needs.
Q6. Do you feel there is a space for competition in it?
Yes, I am sure that there is, however at this time we do not feel that there is another website that provides the robust offerings that we do for free.
Q7. What you feel is the value of innovation in your business?
Part of the reason that global economies have had trouble in the past decade is that we are between two technological ages… There is an older way of doing business that relied more on printed materials (newspapers, magazines) and centralized ways of distributing information (news media, broadcast television). In previous times, things may have moved more slowly, less activity happened outside of regular business hours, and people generally shaped their lives around the ways government and business operated. Part of this outdated way of operating includes the traditional understanding of resume, cover letter, and job networking activities.
Today, the Internet and digital age have provided the ability for people to get more information from each other (sometimes less reliable information, but it is certainly actionable information). If a person is highly motivated, he or she can now work productively through the night, connecting with other like-minded people around the world, and getting more things done more quickly (for a period of time). For example, a stock market is still open during business hours, but stock trading can continue virtually 24 hours a day; this reality has changed how stock markets work, and older approaches are not as efficient as they once were. The point is that the new digital and “media” age that we are now in brings new realities and opportunities for the business of job transition and employment. With all the automation that exists today, a clear danger is separating people who need help from the experts and specialists that can provide it, by assuming that just making information available through digital means is equal to providing service and helping people problem solve and develop.
Providing information can be a great service, but ILostMyJob.com seeks to go the “extra mile”; we see innovation as a platform for helping virtualize the relationships between experts and service providers and the people who want and need them. In our case, we focus on innovation and new services that allow job seekers and people in job transition to spend more time on activities that are meaningful and effective for this new age. Realistically, and since governments are so involved in the unemployment arena and aren’t always cutting edge in their systems or approaches, people must be able to navigate and “straddle” both old and new ways of operating if they want to truly maximize their opportunity during job transition.
Q8. Do you have a stand-out story where your venture helped somebody who said ‘iLostmyjob’?
Yes. We have hundreds maybe thousands! Here is one article that a job seeker wrote for us when he got another job http://www.ilostmyjob.com/Christmas-in-July
Q9. On personal note, how you liked the journey till now as an entrepreneur, being able to start an online concept that appears unique?
It has been an awesome journey so far! Being able to help this many people who are struggling is very rewarding.
Q10. Any advice for future entrepreneurs from your personal and professional experience?
I think the following article sums up any advice that I would want to give an entrepreneur – http://www.ilostmyjob.com/Entrepreneur/QA-with-a-seasoned-entrepreneur
