Sunday, July 25, 2010

Get out of your house! Go, now, yes, immediately...

This will be short and sweet. This isn't new news but if you haven't been in search for a few years and you weren't afforded outplacement services, it's possible you haven't heard this...so here it is. The plain truth. You will not likely find your next new job in your house sitting behind your computer screen.

My suggestion to you is that you spend about 30% of your time in the first few weeks of your search building your job search network on LinkedIn and IRL (in real life) and then cut that time back to maybe 10% for maintenance throughout your search. It will take you a few weeks to get your new resume in order, create a couple versions, establish a few themes and variation of your cover letter and develop a plan on how you will approach the market and your search in particular. Once you've done all of this, most (80-90%) of your time should be spent out of the house meeting with people.

I would suggest a good balance and combination of group networking meetings (join a group or two - there are many to choose from), networking events, informational interviews (contact me if you don't know what this is all about and how to make them productive) and actual interviews.

It may make you "feel" more in control of your search by applying for countless jobs online and scouring job boards for positions that are posted. Keep this in mind. Jobs posted online most likely have a pipeline of candidates ahead of you, so I'm not suggesting you shouldn't apply, but do so with this knowledge. Also, take time to match up your applications with your network...find out who you know that works at the company you are applying to and ask them to support your efforts.

People want to help you, but you have to tell them how! Like the Yellow Brick Road, job search is scary, uncertain and long, but there are people along the way who can help!

You can do this!

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