With national unemployment hovering around 10%, most of us feel lucky to have a job. What if you are among the millions of Americans who were laid off in the last year and needed to make ends meet by taking a job...even a Ghost Job?
What's a Ghost job? As our good friend put it, it's a job that's not a part of your bigger career aspirations, but one that will certainly tie you over and cover the bills for now. It's the job you took with the intent of leaving when the job market picks up again, whenever it picks up again. Most importantly, it's also the job that stays off the resume.
Why a Ghost Job? Here's a scenario...over the last decade you have been on a well-designed career trajectory as an operations manager. The hand of fate however, has other plans and you have found yourself sucked into the morass of today's job cutting economic climate. You land a job in sales to cover your bills. This new sales gig will look awfully strange to hiring managers that you hope to woo in order to land a job in your chosen field. You don't want to risk the question, "So I noticed you are currently in a sales position." Maybe you are not in a Ghost Job situation, but you can probably imagine your own scenario for why this incongruence might be awkward.
What's the big deal? Some of us are concerned about how the Ghost Job may be seen by others? For instance, could it be interpreted as a lowly job and you must've been pretty desperate? Or could others interpret that you were a bottom performer who couldn't land another job? So the conundrum arises...do you not even put it on your resume or do say you were unemployed for 18 months or more? Your concern is that the Ghost Job could hurt you more than help you.
Or do positively spin it to say you weren't too proud to take another job to make ends meet? More importantly, you picked up new skills along the way. You could be looked upon favorably as a person who does what it takes to get the job done. You are a hard worker. You deserve to be hired. Maybe, its about getting any job with the hope that once you are in the system you can migrate into a position of your liking that's better aligned with your career trajectory.
It's a tough situation in which to find yourself. What do you do? Everyone's situation is different. There is no one right way to handle a situation like this. What is true for everyone living a Ghost Job is that there is an opportunity to leverage the new skill sets you picked up along the way (oh, darn, that's that pesky optimistic side talking again). Let's face it; at the end of the day, we're hired for our skill sets.
Our hope in writing this Ghost Job blog is that we bring attention to the reality that many people are facing today so that hiring managers and organizations will acknowledge and welcome resumes with jobs that may seem out of place. This would acknowledge the character building that such an experience requires from a person.
We think it's a shame that people are even put into the position of considering not to disclose their job out of concern that it will undermine their ability to find a position in their chosen field.
Are you working a Ghost Job? Would you consider revealing it in your resume? Tell us your Ghost Job story or your thoughts.
