WALL STREET JOURNAL: September 25, 2009

By: Christopher Janc

Christopher Janc was most recently a senior vice president at Madison Capital Funding LLC, a leveraged debt provider to middle market private equity firms. He spent seven years at the company and was laid off in January 2009. Mr. Janc, 41, spent the previous seven years with three other middle market financial services firms. He earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2000. He lives with his wife and two kids in Elmhurst, Ill. a suburb of Chicago.

I often get asked what I am doing to keep busy during my time off. Do I get bored? How do I fill the hours? I have found that, with just a little effort, it is very easy to fill the hours while also preserving and building upon the skills I have developed over the years. Not going in to the office every day can result in a rapid atrophy of some basic business skills. However, it also represents a great opportunity to work on other skills that were not necessarily part of my old job, but vital nonetheless.

My first area of development has been networking. Although my prior position involved new business development, my networking skills had fallen off considerably from the time I first entered the workforce. Chalk this up to years of crunching numbers and taking on jobs and responsibilities that were much more analytic in nature. Once I got back into a role requiring much more client contact it took me quite some time to get comfortable constantly being in front of people in a sales capacity. My time off has significantly improved those skills as constantly meeting new people has taught me what does and does not work for me.

In terms of keeping my analytical skills sharp, I have started working on the CFA program. I find the challenge of learning new material and refreshing the knowledge from my M.B.A. program is enjoyable and fulfilling. The great thing about these programs is that there are so many out there for whatever your chosen field that finding a relevant one is easy. The other great thing is that I will have a new credential to show for it as long as I stick it out and complete the program.

One of the easiest areas to work on has also been the most rewarding. The time away from the office has led me to step up and volunteer. Activities related to my kids and their school, such as Cub Scouting, school boards, and church committees has been eye opening, rewarding and excellent way to keep my organizational and project management skills working. It also helps with decision-making, which requires practice, just like any other business skill.

I am sure that there will be plenty who respond that I should be focusing every waking hour on my job search — I would agree if these were normal economic times. However, I have also seen what that can do to some people. Banging my head against a brick wall for 60 hours a week instead of 30 will only do more damage to my head and will have relatively little effect on the wall. Additionally, some of the activities that I have undertaken have led to interviews as I get the opportunity to demonstrate some of my professional skills to others. We have all heard that balance is a necessity to being happy in life. This is especially true during the stress of a prolonged period of unemployment. But there is no reason that we can’t also stay sharp and practice our skills while helping others as well as ourselves.