Lessons Learned during the career transition

I was on a vacation day during the last week of February when I received a panicked call from a work colleague, saying that management was swinging the hatchet. Jobs were being cut.

The week earlier, my boss had asked me to transfer all of my job responsibilities to another colleague. That seemed suspicious, but being the good corporate citizen, I, of course, agreed to do it. I read the tea leaves, though, so when my colleague called me, I knew that my name was on the cut list.

I first calmed my colleague down and encouraged her to watch out for herself. I then called my office to see how my office mates were faring, which confused them, as they knew my fate but didn’t know if I knew my fate. Finally, I called my boss, who was planning to wait until I returned to work before letting me know, but I forced the issue. I was cut. Downsized. RIFed. Laid off. However it was labeled, after eleven years with my company, I was about to receive my last paycheck.

Forward to the second week of October, over seven months later: I just received an offer for a position as an Employment Specialist for Goodwill of Central Arizona. I will be working in a Workforce Investment Act funded program to assist clients who may experience barriers to employment to find jobs.

This is a brand new field for me, but one for which I have developed a passion during my own career transition. I am qualified for it, by using my marketing and market research background in new ways. In fact, my background allows me a unique perspective that others in my new field may lack.

I feel blessed. In my career transition period, I have met many wonderful, talented, and encouraging people I would not have otherwise met. I have gained new skills. I have a much greater knowledge of, and appreciation for, the Phoenix metro area. And perhaps most importantly for my new career, I have learned several lessons to increase the likelihood of success in a job search:

1) Leave the house. If your job search strategy consists only of hitting the “submit resume” on various job boards, you are in for a long and frustrating search.

2) Define what you want to do, even if it is not directly related to what you used to do. I truly believe that those of us facing a career transition have been given a gift. Are we doing what we want to do? Are we doing what we were meant to do? If not, now is the perfect opportunity to correct course. And even if we are in our chosen field, then the opportunity to practice with a new company will only enhance our careers. I fully embrace that it is no fun being unemployed, but I also know that pain may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

3) Find some reason, every day, to take a shower – either before or after an activity (or, both). Get out of the house. Join groups, whether they are “job search” related or not. Go to the museum on free-admission days. Play with your kids. Explore the public library system. Hike the metro-area mountains. Mow your neighbor’s lawn when you do yours. Anything. Just don’t let your couch form an impression of the seat of your pants.

4) Volunteer. Find a cause you believe in. Help those who are less fortunate than you. Not only is it good for the soul, but you also can practice your skills, or learn new ones. On a practical level, if you do the good job you are capable of, then the organization staff will go out of their way to recommend you to their network.

5) Allow yourself permission, every once in a while, to take an afternoon off. Read a book for your book club. Watch a DVD (the public library has a surprisingly robust, and free, selection), or go to a movie at matinee discount prices. Go bowling, or play a round of mini-golf. It’s okay. Even God rested on the seventh day.

6) Never give up. On your darkest day, when you’ve received the rejection notice or did not get the call back you hoped for, end the day on a positive. Write the thank you note finding something positive to say about the company. Force yourself to go to the networking meeting you want to blow off. Muster up the courage to make the call to the friend of a friend to set up a coffee date.

I am highly analytical by nature. Many times during my transition I have said that while I take no great joy in being unemployed, I do find the career management and job search process to be fascinating. Now, for at least the next little while, I get to turn that fascination into a vocation.

Dear readers, I wish you the success you desire. Please let me know how I can help.

Job Searching in today's economy -- my thoughts

As many of you are aware, my (former) company, like many companies in today’s economy, recently went through a reorganization that resulted in shedding 10 positions, including mine. So, along with 4-million-plus other American’s, I am now actively and aggressively looking for a new position, taking only occasional time outs to keep current on the Jon Stewart vs CNBC "Welcome to Brawl Street" brouhaha.

True to my nature, I’ve spent the past few days researching my options, reading as much as I can about the current economic and job-search climate, talking to friends, associates, and former colleagues about their experiences, and basically thinking through options. And while I am no expert, having been at this for only a couple of weeks, I have discovered, or considered, a few things:

1. No one owes us a job. Those of us looking for, and competing for, new positions are not going to be given a job because we “deserve” it, no matter how well we think we are qualified. There is simply too much competition for the few openings.

Even for those of us who currently have a job, we are owed only for the time that we have put in. History with the company, past performance, or even just getting along with everyone really don’t mean much in today’s economy.

This is not a gripe. It is reality. Sometimes we get a little lazy or a little complacent and we pay for it. Sometimes we do everything right, get to work early, stay late, produce, and still conditions are such that we can not be kept on.

Life is not fair, but it’s not meant to be. Life is about how we respond. Do we sit back and complain about our lot in life? Do we work to bring others down as we try to climb back up? Or, do we hold our heads up, roll up our sleeves, and get to work on our current situation? I choose the latter.

2. Responding to job postings (CareerBuilders, Monster, etc.) is akin to playing the lottery. It’s like throwing chum in shark-infested waters: every open position that is advertised generates hundreds of responses and resumes. Logically, no hirer is going to objectively evaluate every response that comes across; a company would have to hire extra help just to weed through resumes. More likely, a hirer will scan the first 10 – 20%, pick out a few that match what they are looking for, and invite them in for interviews, leaving the remaining 80%+ unread.

“That’s unfair!” scream some on Internet message boards. “There ought to be a law! I’m exactly qualified for that position!”

So, what? Refer back to Point 1. No one owes us a job.

It's not that these sites are useless. They do provide some good advice, some practical tips, salary ranges, and even a five-minute sense of accomplishment every time you do reply to an ad.

3. Internet message boards, on any topic, are largely a waste of time. On one thread I read (research, mind you), posters were trying to one-up each other: “I’ve sent 300 resumes since October, and haven’t had a single interview.” “Well, I’ve sent out 500 resumes, and have only had two interviews!” I don’t know who these people are, but I am willing to bet that they are sending 300 or 500 or however many resumes to Internet job posting sites (see Point 2).

4. I don’t know this to be true, but if I were a hirer, I would be very hesitant to advertise an opening on an Internet job-posting site. Who wants to read, hundreds of times, “I’m exceptionally well qualified,” or “I match your requirements exactly,” or, “Experienced marketing professional with seeks (fill in the blank)” (this was mine, by the way; I changed it because it bored even me).

5. My theory is, for those of us looking for a new job, we need to work at it. It’s going to be hard. The latest figure I saw was 4.4 Million out of work, and it’s growing every day. And let’s face it, unless we are Michael Jordon, Tom Petty, or the guy who beat the computer at computer chess, there is always someone more qualified than we are at whatever we do. But, there are also 2 Million unadvertised jobs (so I have read) that we’re not going to reach by posting a resume on HotJobs or by simply updating our Facebook page. We need to get out every day and beat the bushes and find the people who are hiring, who are exhausted from reading hundreds of resumes, and we need to get their attention.

How to do this?

I’ll let you know once I figure it out. Or, I’m open for suggestions.

Oh, I am looking for a new job. If anyone knows anyone who’s looking for a creative and performance-driven market research or public relations account executive, analyst, or manager, please let me know. You can find out more on my LinkedIn site.