This morning I was going to predict that after the Washington Mutual implosion that Wachovia would be next since they are in negotiations to be purchased by Citigroup. Since I’m on the Pacific Time Zone, I woke up this morning to see that Wachovia’s bank operations (not their brokerage and wealth divisions) were already purchased by Citigroup.

The infamous bailout continues to be worked in the United States Congress – while the financial markets take a hit. Whether they are taking a hit because they are finally realizing that $700 billion is a lot of money – or not enough – or they realize that the problem is even bigger, I don’t know. But the US market is down, European markets dropped from four to five percent (and the Ireland Dublin market a record 13% in one day!), and now a couple of failing banks and mortgage companies in Europe are starting to be taken over by their governments. National City, a regional bank looking to be the next on the list, has its stock price drop 50% today.

In short, whether you believe in a bailout or not, whether this is the right bailout or not, it is obvious that something needs to be done. This, in spite of both liberal and conservative chatter on the Internet and talking heads locations. You just don’t have this magnitude of failure in the financial markets this quickly unless there is something bad going on.

What is a Cubicle Warrior to do?

On Friday in my world, it was very hard to stay focused during the day (contrary to all the blog posts I wrote) because everything was imploding – the financial markets, the government bailout, the Presidential debates…everything was changing every 30-minutes. It was tough to keep up with the news, much less have any perspective on what it all means.

But, there are some conclusions we can draw for all knowledge workers:

The worse is not yet over. Until the bailout package is passed, we won’t see the implementation to see if it works. If it does work, events will calm down. If it doesn’t, this credit crisis will hit all sorts of industries outside of finance (as in we already this weekend gave a huge loan to the auto industry…).

Even if the bailout works, nothing will truly be solved until housing prices start to line up with incomes again and the backlog of homes is knocked back to around three months sales. Starting in 2001, housing prices started to go higher than incomes. If incomes hold steady at a value of 100, for example, then home prices peaked in 2006 at about 175. They are currently back to about 130 with incomes still flat-lined. When 2 of 5 homes in California are sold as foreclosure and many others sold with losses, it isn’t like we can just pick up and move any more.

Even after housing gets back in line, people will need to rebuild their own personal balance sheets to get rid of the debt and build up savings. Just as banks and other companies need to preserve capital, so do we.

Of course, we all take hits on retirement accounts. I don’t have any good answers on that one. But one of the trends happening in the market is that everyone is predicting the end of the world. That means we’re close to a bottom in the market. While I don’t time any market moves, as one who got out of the market in May, there are plenty of opportunities to the financially strong. Another reason for getting your personal finances right.

For our jobs

Regardless of where you work, you need to get your work completed. If you focus on the crisis, you won’t get your work done and that is a poor prescription for success.

If you work in these distressed industries, especially financials, you not only need to keep doing the work, but also insure that you have everything you need to have in case of a layoff.

For everyone else, you also need a clear understanding of your accomplishments and what they meant to your department and company ready to state to the next hiring manager. Those without accomplishments won’t get hired.

The worst advice is to “look busy when there is nothing to do.” If there is nothing to do in your workplace because of the chaos going on, now is the time to work hard on your stuff: your resume, your accomplishments, your networking, your personal brand details, and your financial situation to maximize cash and minimize debt. If your company doesn’t have work for you to do, what do you think the next step is?

Despite the mess out there, have a great week.

Scot

Related posts:

1. Career Management Monday, September 8, 2008
2. Career Management Monday, September 15, 2008
3. Career Management Monday, October 06, 2008
4. Career Management Monday, October 27, 2008
5. Career Management Monday, October 13, 2008