The Underemployment Trap

Dear Liz,

I lost my job as the VP of Communications at a software company, back
in August. I applied for a bunch of things but the competition is
fierce. Last week, I accepted a job as the Director of Communications
for a not-for-profit. Punchline: the salary is 40% of what I was
earning before. I am not sure how to proceed. Of course I'm doing my
job, and my not-for-profit employer is getting a heck of a bang for
its buck. I don't know whether to park here to sit out the recession
or keep looking for something more in line with my background and
comp level. Thoughts?

Thanks,

Maricel

---------- LIZ REPLIES:-------------------------------

Dear Maricel,

So sorry about the layoff, and hats off to you for rebounding
quickly. Paying the bills is central to every single one of our
personal Maslow's hierarchies. I don't blame you a bit for taking
that job. However, let's look at what comes next. You are
underemployed, and you don't want to stay that way.

If you do, you say to the world (via your resume) "I thought I was
worth $X and so did my employer, but now I find that I am worth
$.4X." You can stick around and help these guys for a short time and
keep your antennae up. Beyond some point -- a year to 18 months,
let's say -- you can't stay in a job like that without massively
devaluing your resume. If it's more than a job, if it's a calling for
you, that's one thing. You can adjust your lifestyle and do this work
until you retire. If it's a less-than-optimal job that you took
because optimal jobs weren't available, you can't afford to get stuck
in the underemployment trap.

The reason underemployment is a trap is that it has its advantages.
Sometimes, the hours are nice. The people are nice. The pace can be
refreshingly slow after a corporate job. Again, if all that really
suits you and you're willing to give up the pay trajectory you once
knew, fantastic. If not, you don't have an infinitely long time to
hide out in your port-in-a-storm situation while the rest of the
talent pool accumulates resume fodder and salary growth.

If you approach the nfp situation as a consulting gig and essentially
donate several hundred thousand dollars worth of communications
consulting to them for several months or a year, beautiful. You'll
describe your time there in the same consulting-assignment terms on
your resume. It would be great if you had time and energy to keep a
hand in the for-profit world throughout, perhaps by doing some
consulting alongside your full-time job. I want to caution you in the
strongest possible terms about getting stuck in an underemployment
rut; I hear from at least five or six people a week, across the U.S.,
who regret taking an underemployment assignment and gradually getting
caught there like a sabre-tooth tiger in a prehistoric tar pit.

I'm not talking strictly about not-for-profits, of course; you can
fall into the underemployment trap believing that managing a local
branch of a massive retailer for a year will get you promoted to a
lucrative Regional Manager position. You can get stuck underemployed
in a healthcare organization where you're told on a regular basis
that more senior roles open up all the time (yet, strangely, it's
always external candidates who get hired for those jobs). Once you
set the level of your value, expect it to stay fixed throughout your
tenure.

Many of us will find ourselves underemployed at some point - or more
than one point - during a career. The trick is to see underemployment
for what it is, and not to stay in that zone a minute longer than
necessary.

Cheers,

Liz