Lessons Learned From the Job Search
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011Peter Fitzgerald has been chronicling his process of navigating from losing his job to a new and brighter tomorrow. To read other posts from the series, see “Job Transition: A CareerSherpas’ Odyssey”.
As with any project, it’s crucial to take the time after the dust settles to consider the lessons learned in the effort. Assessing what worked and what didn’t work, what you would have done differently and what activities hit the nail on the head gives you better starting point for the next time around.
What Worked?
- Networking: Keeping touch with people I know and doing my best to help them while I was employed meant that I had a great support structure when I needed it. Moving quickly to contact my network and ask for ideas made for leaps and bounds in the progress of searching.
- Recruiters: Contacting recruiters was, as almost always, a big benefit. By being both selective and as good a candidate partner as I was able to made for very productive working relationships with a handful of good recruiters. This isn’t to say that I didn’t talk to more, but discerning which recruiters were reliable and working hard with them was a good use of my energy. Communicating what I was looking for and setting boundaries around what I needed to make a position work also made for much better opportunities.
- Feedback: Both getting and receiving feedback made the time go faster. The best experiences I had were with the opportunities and recruiters who were most able to share feedback as it came in. Being able to share what was working and refine the types of roles where I had an interest and get leads on more!
- Keeping Track: Making (copious) notes about what positions I had applied for, who I’d applied for them through, and what the next step and timeline was helped plan my days. It also helped to be able to see who had relationships and who didn’t since the groups who didn’t have the relationships were offering the same opportunities with the same few companies. (As a side note, the groups without relationships also offered the lowest rates for the same positions.)
What Didn’t Work?
- Job Sites: Not a single nibble came from a position posted on any job site. Posting my information on two of the big names actually led to more noise from the body shops without actually helping the search. Your mileage may vary, but anecdotally I’m finding a lot of folks with much the same experience.
- Free Resume Review Services: I’ve now tried three, and in each case was told that the industry standard was something completely different. I actually went through and built resumes following each of the recommendations and asked for commentaries. The result was that my original resume was deemed the most effective, although I’m still planning on cleaning it up. I have to admit that I have not paid to have my resume professionally re-done, but haven’t been instilled with confidence by the people I spoke with.
What Would I Do Differently?
- Negotiate Before an Exit: Hindsight is 20/20. Even so, knowing that I was going to be kicked to the curb beforehand didn’t provide the motivation I needed to negotiate my way out. Next time I see the writing on the wall, I intend to be more proactive in talking my way through the layoff.
Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and (periodically) attempting to learn the bagpipes.
