Your company has shut down. You and your boss just didn’t see eye to eye. There was a consolidation and your position was eliminated. There are many reasons why you could be frantically looking for your next job. I know – I’ve been there myself plenty of times.
Last week I was chatting with a friend that had lost his position through no fault of his own. I asked him my typical question, “What do you want to do?” And his response was, “Anything but commission sales.” We discussed his “Jack of all trades, master of none” career journey and it was clear that he was desperate to start bringing home a paycheck and that he was getting a lot of pressure to start working again ASAP from his wife.
While the fear and desperation are common and understandable, please try to stay calm and put together a strategic approach to your job search. Applying willy nilly to any job that you see is a sure-fire way to feel even worse about the situation since employers can quickly tell if you are not a fit, not truly interested and appear desperate.
Instead, here are a few tips to try to get you through this difficult time AND to land a job that will bring you financial and career satisfaction.
- First, figure out what you want to do. Read career related books. Do informational interviews. Talk to a career counselor. There are plenty of free and low cost tools available.
- Second, figure out which employers in your geography would hire you to do what you want to do. Do research, network, check out postings on Indeed and MiTalent.org to get a sense for the job titles, organizations, etc.
- Talk to people at those companies. Position yourself for success by getting to know the hiring managers before a job becomes available. Sometimes, they might even create a role for you!
- Take care of yourself! This is a marathon, not a sprint. But the results will be much better with a proactive, strategic plan that puts you in control.
Advice from Amy Cell, President and Chief Matchmaker at Amy Cell, LLC. For more employment resources click here.
