Mark Twain was right: “History does not repeat. But it does rhyme.”

That means this recession will be a lot like past recessions. That means you can learn from history while you adapt to the unique features of this recession.

Expect the environment to become even more competitive than it is right now. There will be more applicants chasing fewer jobs. That puts employers in a strong bargaining position.

If you’re younger, you’ll find that you’re competing for jobs with men and women who have a lot more experience than you do. Be prepared to stress your lower compensation needs and tech savvy.

If you’re older, you’re going to be competing with younger workers who have lower salary and benefit requirements and are as sharp as you can imagine. Be prepared to stress the value of the experience that an employer will get from you. Mention stable work habits and the fact that you’ll probably stay when the recession is over.

Whatever age you are, take the opportunity of being between jobs to work on your connections and your education and training. In addition to picking up a salable skill or two, you’ll also show employers that you’re interested in self-development.

Everything above is good advice today and it would have been good in any of the last few recessions. But you also need to be aware of how this downturn is different.

Most recessions in the US have lasted less than a year. This one probably will be longer. That’s because one of the economic problems right now is credit. And without credit it’s very, very hard to do business. So plan for the long haul.

On the plus side, online news, education, and networking tools give you options that simply weren’t available in prior downturns. Use them.

Nobody’s pretending that the next couple of months or years will be easy. Your challenge is to make the best of it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 9:41 am and is filed under Tools and Strategies for Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.