I don’t care how old we are, going through our first major career transition is dramatic. You could be 22, 29, 35, or 40. No matter what the age making a shift in our careers brings anxiety. And a shift can be as straight forward as shifting industries but staying in a similar role. For some that is hugely dramatic.
I vividly remember the early years of my career. Yes, like many young professionals today I went through similar challenges. I too started my career in the middle of a recession. I began my career in human resources. HR has been the constant through-out my career in various forms, but early on, I bounced around to various jobs within HR around the Boston area.
Employers were really beginning to change regularly and layoffs were becoming more common. About 3 years out of college I landed a great recruiting job. After about a year of that I transferred to another office, within the same company, but as an assistant to the benefits manager. Well, I just thought that was crazy. Of course I was experienced enough to actually do benefits job, not the assistant. Why was I the assistant? I hope you are getting my humor here.
The thoughts that filled my head were of confidence but very arrogant. Fortunately I had a wonderful VP who was kind enough to set me straight and gave me the option to either stay, and buckle down, or leave without any recourse. She offered to be a reference if I needed one. After a long stressful weekend of debating my options, I decided to leave and head out looking for something else. A year later I was being laid-off from a great HR job. More drama.
How To Deal With Your First Career Transition
My time out of work, fortunately, was not too long. I did struggle to figure out where to go. The one thing I did know is I wanted to stay in human resources in some fashion. So I kept my job search with that target in mind. I picked my top companies for the two locations I wanted to check out, Boston and New York City. I did a couple of trips to NYC in my job hunt. It was fun but I decided to not venture there. I opted to stay in the Boston area.
So I had a target, human resources. I had a location, Boston. I pulled my resume together and my elevator pitch with the help of a career services consultant. This was the first time I had heard of such a thing, an elevator pitch, in regards to a job search. It was the most important skill I learned while working with him.
What else did I learn through my early career transition? First, that I needed to always be connecting with others. I never knew when I would need to move onto another job either because of my arrogance or the economy. (more humor - not so arrogant anymore - I hope). Building your network and nourishing it are keys to success in any era.
When I say to build your network I don’t mean just online with Facebook either. I mean, use more professional online tools such as LinkedIn and definitely get offline. One point on LinkedIn, it may be boring but you need it, so get over the “boring” and build a branded profile.
On the offline network, get out and meet people. You never know who knows someone else who has a job of your dreams open and waiting for you. Attend networking events. Attend events outside of your normal circle of friends and family. It could be an art exhibit opening or a unique community event. They are fantastic opportunities to interact with new people.
Secondly, I had to learn to be resilient and not take all of this too personally. I learned to manage my attitude. To see the glass half full. To look for opportunities. Opportunities were not going to come out of thin air. I needed to be aware of them and to look for them. Which I did.
I learned to surround myself with positive people, read good books, keep exercising, and find a good healthy hobby. So rather than being out at the pubs many nights a week eating bar food, drinking beer, and spending money I didn’t have I took up getting to a gym and hanging with a different crowd. I eventually picked up golf which was wonderful when I worked in sales. I still love the game but hardly get a chance to play. I am hoping to get my boys on the golf course soon so we can play as a family.
With time I was gainfully re-employed at an human resources systems company training clients. I had my own single bedroom apartment. I loved it! It was the best job. I made new friends. I traveled. I built up my professional skills and especially learned to love giving workshops and presentations. I began to learn what my strengths were.
What are you dealing with in your career transition? What are you learning about yourself through it? Are you building your network? Do you know what you are targeting next? Do you need someone to walk alongside and guide you like I did? If so, ask for help. With the right career coach you can get to your next job with confidence and faster.
Remember, "the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Journey on.
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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