I really enjoyed and appreciate Bruce Kasanoff's 7/17/14 LinkedIn article, "The Human Side of Microsoft's Layoffs." Companies like Microsoft face such tough
decisions as they struggle to remain viable and accountable to
shareholders. Businesses are just that.
The human aspect is sadly and too often far less of a factor when such
decisions are made.
My heart and thoughts go out to these employees and their
families. As a career coach and
recruiter, I urge any of those affected to take a few days or a week or two to
deal with their emotions, but as soon as they can reasonably get back on the
horse, do the following:
1. Join laser-focused LinkedIn groups AND WORK THEM. Get a "weekly digest" of jobs and
Discussions. Your chances are far better
on these homogeneous groups to find, qualify for and land a suitable job. You may also be able to "reply
privately" to those who post jobs and other discussions.
2. Those in engineering and other professional or management
capacities can call a Reference Librarian and see if they have a
"Recruiters Redbook." Pick
10-25 recruiters that service your job type and desired geography(ies), and
send them your resume after warming up your email with a phone call introducing
yourself.
3. If your library subscribes to "ReferenceUSA," a
database of companies throughout the U.S., do a "custom search" and
target companies by identifying their "SIC" code. Once you have that, go after similar
companies within a comfortable radius of where you live or wish to work.
4. If your library carries a "Book of Lists" for
your desired city(ies), copy some pages to identify the top 25 or 50 companies
within your target industries. The Book
of LIsts also compiles lists of top non-profits, top women-owned businesses,
top minority-owned businesses, etc. (Some libraries also have a 2-volume set of
the S& P Registry of Corporations and Executives.")
5. Grow your LinkedIn network by inviting those you know
and/or those who have specifically asked you to LinkIn. Give yourself weekly quotas (e.g., reach out
to 25 people per week).
6. Attend "career transition" and professional
events as soon as possible and network, network, network. (This is the very
best way of landing a job, provided that you attend with a positive attitude, a
crisp elevator pitch and a pay-it-forward spirit.) Most studies cite networking success in
landing jobs between 66-88%.
7. Feel free to reach out and LinkIn with me or access the
many documents listed on my "Speaking /Other Events page:
www.TheECC.com. One such tool each job
seeker should have in their arsenal that has an 86% success rate according to
"What Color is My Parachute," is the one-page Profile and Target List
(aka, a Marketing plan). In general, the
top portion is your resume and the lower portion are companies, industries, job
titles and the geographies you are targeting.
After a job loss, it's understandable to feel lost and/or
withdrawn and have diminished hope, especially given this tough job market, but
there are many jobs out there and even more unpublished, so it's important to
remain optimistic and vigilant. Someone will get these jobs, so why not
you? It is imperative to put structure
in your days. It will help give you a
sense of purpose, help you make progress, and fend off depression. Most of all, be kind to yourself.
For now, I’m sending positive thoughts and support out to
all, and my sincere wishes for resilience, hope and faith that this is just a
bump in the road that you will get past.
