Career Ideas

If you are thinking of a new job or have new career ideas, or if your company may force you to think of a new job or career, now is certainly the time to get ready, not after you’re already out of work. 

But once you’re out of work, how should you spend your time?  Many people say spend at least 40 hours a week on your job search–after all, it’s your new full time job.

If you can find 40 hours of productive work, and it’s not wearing you out to the point you’re headed for an illness or exhausted presentation at your next interview–then that’s fine.  IN the first weeks of unemployment you probably need to spend that much time on your job search.

But this is the real world folks, and in the real world, you may be a lot better off taking time off from your job search in planned ways than pushing yourself unproductively for 40 hours a week every week if you don’t find a job right away.

I’m just not convinced from what I see that most people can put in 40 useful hours, but some do this out of a desire to prove to themselves and others that they are doing all they can.  So they spend hours in social media trying to make new connections, or reply to job ads they know don’t fit what they want or what the company really wants–simply because it’s putting in the time.

What should you do?

Focus on the basics.  Assuming you will be staying in your same field/career/job area, focus on

1.  Networking–always the big daddy of job search and no different today except for the new ways to network. 

I like to think of this as building and tapping into your community of support where you find ways you can help others at least as much as you seek help.  Even during your time of need when out of work, helping others should remain important.  If you are not contacting most everyone you know and asking for new leads from them, you are not doing your job.     

2.  Customize and complete your profiles

Profiles include your

• Resume (standard and portfolio style as on visualcv.com)
• Cover letter
• Online presence in LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, etc.  

Don’t skimp on these, especially your resume and cover letters.  Each resume and cover letter you send out to particular jobs should be customized with KEYWORDS from the job description so you can at least get past the computer/human screeners for the first round of screening.

3.  Research job openings and company profiles at companies you might want to work for even if they don’t have openings now.  Do what you can to get past the HR managers even if only to get an email, phone call or brief intro meeting with some decisionmakers in a company you like.

These are not the only things to do, but they have by far the biggest impact.

And Then Do…

If you are doing these 3 well, don’t spend hours at your computer searching for some new Twitter group or contact, some new job lead, some new way to tweak the resume again–just to put in your time.

Instead, make sure you spend the time in other activities, things that maybe you couldn’t when you were at work:

1. Exercising
2. Meditating or doing something to stay centered and focused
3. Taking your time with healthy vs. fast food rushed meals
4. Sleeping adequately, probably about 8 hrs a day
5. Catching up in the key skill or knowledge areas in your field of expertise.
6. Learning something new in another field.  Very often, creativity and innovation come about from applying an idea from one field to a new field.  Get creative–you’ll also be more employable.
7. HAVING FUN

When people are out of work and can’t afford some of the fun things they normally do, they often just shut down all fun or else beat themselves up for wasting time in front of the TV.  Reconnect with hobbies and with family and friends in ways that don’t cost money but share good, upbeat energy. 

These 7 non job search actions are necessary, not fluff.  They will improve your mental, physical, and spiritual health.  And there’s a bonus–they are also what will keep you energized, motivated, and positive and confident.  If you can display these qualities when networking and on job interviews, you are MUCH MORE LIKELY TO MAKE THAT ALL IMPORTANT CONNECTION that makes people say, this is someone who I would like to work with, that can get things done, who stands out.

In other words, sure–do the due diligence tasks of jobhunting.  These will take time.  Don’t avoid them.  But see the opportunities that are there to further your well being in other ways and to not waste time with busy work.  After all, when you get that new job, you will probably find it a lot harder to get all that exercise, sleep, meditation, learning, and family and fun time back into your life.

–Career changers, jobseekers–Be sure to sign up for free career and creativity ezine and bonus

© 2009 Leonard Lang.

Technorati Tags: career_coach, career_ideas, creative_job_search job_search career_help

A Newsweek article recently reported on research showing how powerful rejection by a group can be.  A mere 15 minute exercise leading to complete strangers apparently not including some people in a group led people to become more aggressive, less social, more likely to misinterpret neutral statements as negative, and have less self control (with chocolate chip cookies–hard to blame them).

This, the researchers say, is due to the evolutionary value of staying in groups and rewarding those who can stay together.

I guess I didn’t find these results terribly surprising.  We all know firsthand how painful such rejection can be, in our personal or professional lives.  The question is whether or not we’ve learned to move on and keep up our confidence in spite of this tendency.

But when it comes to careers, it’s vital we don’t just go with the group.  Groups are essential to all we do—we can’t succeed alone—but we also need to beat our evolutionary tendencies.  We need to find out what will bring out our best, what will engage our passions, what will be meaningful and rewarding to us, what satisfies our sense of values and vision. 

Here are a few things I see people do all the time that stops them or sets them on the wrong course due to fear of group rejection. These activities are fine to do, but you need to be aware that you might run the risk of triggering off a desire to conform and a fear of rejection that can get you off track.

1. Asking friends or family what is the best career for you.

That can be useful If your family and friends offer new career ideas or identify passions of yours you are ignoring in your planning.  Do ask for help, but in most cases, make sure it’s primarily about brainstorming or networking or for support.

Too often, though I hear how friends and family are saying what they think someone else should do.  For some people, that’s fine.  It’s just more useful information.  But in line with the studies and common experience, it’s clear we’ll tend to want to go along with our families and friends, at least losing some judgment.

2. Asking people online for career help in forums. 

This might seem a lot safer since you don’t have to turn to your spouse or mother and say, no I’m going in the opposite direction you suggested.  But it still can trigger off some irrational feelings of going against the group, especially if a number of people all offer the same answer, and no one disagrees.  Studies show it’s much easier to go against a group if even one other person is doing so too, but when you’re the only one, it’s very tough.  .

3. Not applying for positions.  That can be a fear of failure or a fear of rejection because you think it so unlikely you’ll be accepted at a company or in an industry–even though this is what you’d love to do and think you could do well.

So often in coaching I see people simply toss out of hand the idea of approaching someone or switching to a particular career because they assume they will get rejected.  They’ll have excuses about how it’s unrealistic or they don’t know quite how to do it, but when we examine it, they find that fear is behind it, often fear of rejection and failure.  

To overcome this tendency to conform, remember:

• Let your passions and energy motivate you more than external opinions. 
• Don’t avoid groups, but ask for the support you really want or need from groups  
• Keep the big picture in mind about finding or achieving your lifework and how that’s more important than a momentary fear
• Simply being aware of the potential problem can give you some distance from it so you can take your time and not make hasty decisions or statements.

See related post on understanding failure

© 2009 Leonard Lang.  http://choosingacareerblog.com .  Feel free to reprint this article as long as you include this entire copyright notice. 

Remember to sign up for my free creative problem solving and career ideas ezine for more articles and special offers.  You can also email me with your questions about career change here

Technorati Tags: career_coach, career_ideas, choosing_career, job_rejection

A friend of mine just missed getting laid off as 23 of his coworkers were let go with no notice.  In fact, the company had indicated it wasn’t having a tough time.

So how could he or his coworkers have been more ready?  How can anyone prepare for layoffs?

1.  The best preparation is to find ways to avoid them.  Companies can take the first step, so if you are an exec or manager, think of ways to creatively keep all those good employees you have.  Check out this article for more on that.

2. Don’t get caught off guard.  Notice what’s happening– in news reports about your company, in stock prices if your company is publicly held, in loss of clients, in industry trends.  Don’t get caught in a Chicken Little water cooler panic, but do look at the facts. 

3. If you have a decent or good relationship with a boss, definitely have a sitdown talk about your role and your department’s role as the recession lingers.  It doesn’t have to be about whether or not you are getting laid off, but getting a sense of what’s likely (by what the person says and doesn’t say, by the way).  You may also find out how you will have to take on roles you do not want and so it will be time to look for a new job anyhow.

4. People are irrational in interesting ways.  They will look at you as more employable if you now have a job than if you are unemployed.  So if you are thinking you might like another job, or if layoffs seem somewhat likely, then the time to start searching is right now–before the layoff.  Make the decision to find other work.

5.  Starting a job search in advance means doing ALL the things you’d do if you were already laid off, except getting unemployment insurance.

This includes the basics for starters–make an up-to-date resume (see article on visual resumes here), cover letter (or template you can customize as needed), and start expanding and tapping into your networking list, if only to see how everyone else you know is doing and what you can do for them.  If you don’t know about all the online resources, start finding out by searching online, getting help at your library or talking with state support services.

Do not work on these things or store resumes, etc. at work.  Look at this job search as a second after- hours job. 

Finally, as part of your networking, make sure you have a good support community of people to help you keep on track and motivated.  If you do get laid off, don’t waste time blaming yourself for not seeing it coming, just get moving ahead.

Technorati Tags: avoiding layoffs, career ideas, layoffs, preparing for layoffs

I confess I didn’t watch most of the Superbowl ads.  I did see the end of the game and all of the Boss of course.  But I did look later for the career ads just to keep up my career coaching cred in some weird way.

The careerbuilder ad made me laugh with its clever repetitions and images.  But with my coaching hat on, I also saw that it was containing some basic emotional truths about career or job change.  The ad showed a woman screaming in her car when she arrives at work, bosses showing no respect, people crying and punching toy koala bears.  Actually, doesn’t sound too funny when you just write it down.  But it’s through the humor that we can get to the tougher emotional truths sometime.

Most of us do wait until we feel incredibly angry, sad, frustrated, disgusted or dissed before doing anything about our jobs.  Studies show we are more likely to act in response to getting rid of pain that going for pleasure, getting rid of unhappiness than going for happiness.  That can keep us in so-so positions, which eventually will also drag us down emotionally.  It just takes longer, like water dripping until it finally makes a hole in the stone.

I Twittered about this today, how the ad showed some basic situations and feelings that revealed underlying emotional truths we need to notice and deal with.  A colleague, Shaun Jamison, replied that the problem is we often then jump from the frying pan to the fire.  I agree.  In trying to end our pain we might take rash action, having probably waited to

It’s not that the pain we’re feeling isn’t a good indicator about what to do.  It’s just incomplete.  What’s missing in part is our careful thinking about what else we can do, what jobs are better fits–but what’s also missing are the happy emotions.

The happy emotions of joy, peace, contentment, excitement can guide us to envisioning a job we’d really like.  In my coaching, I always start out finding out what really gets people energized, passionate, excited.  Doesn’t matter if it’s nonwork stuff.  First get to that connection with your energy and passion and desire, and we can then use our thinking to figure out how to apply those passions into a better career and job.

And yeh, it doesn’t hurt to be able to laugh at our problems sometimes too, as with the ad.

Technorati Tags: career coach, career ideas, career passion, careerbuilder ad, superbowl ad