Manging Your Re-employment

When suddenly unemployed there are several shocks to deal with.  Of course getting over losing your job is one.  Another is to manage your new daily workload; the tasks to help you find and secure a job.  Previously your daily schedule was laid out, now it is your job to organize a schedule of practical steps to get you back to work.

You decide what are the important tasks in your job search and there’s the dilemma.  What’s top priority, what actual tasks will bring you the best payoff to getting re-employed.  The onus is on you, but you don’t have to do it alone.  Find support, family, friends, and counsel from helpful acquaintances or community resource centres.  In job searching as in life we all need feedback on our progress.

How-am-I-doing feedback is the breakfast of champions.  You’ve probably had bosses who forgot to give you feedback and it’s demoralizing not knowing whether we are performing well or not.  Are we doing better or worse?  You, as the boss of your job search mustn’t make the same mistake, give yourself feedback to keep both spirits and energy up.

So important is feedback, if you can’t find others to give it, do it for yourself!   Don’t operate in a vacuum, which seems bleak and endless.  If there are others who can provide positive feedback ask them to ask you the following questions on a regular basis.  If you have no one then write answers down to these questions for yourself on a regular basis.

        Am I making headway, treading water or getting nowhere?  Be objective, not negative.

        Of the things I am doing, which are helping most?  Which tasks advance your search.

        What have I liked best about what I’ve done.  Note the ‘best’ not the worst!

        What might I change or do differently to get better results?  Be specific to improve.

Review and summarize the answers to recognize the good results and where change is needed.

It’s better to be asked these questions and you respond.  That way the ‘asker’ keeps you focused and keeps your confidence high.  It’s all too easy to dwell on negative experiences so they dominate your job search landscape.  What you need most of all is to know what right things are you doing, how well are you doing them and how can you change things to do them better.  Some right things are sending resumes to people, networking for non advertised jobs, rehearsing interview answers, keeping tabs on applications by following up for status reports.

A key question is ‘who can help me in this job search and how?’  Don’t be afraid to ask friends, former workmates, and relations to provide specific help.  Do they know people you might contact?  What ideas do they have?  Many people have been in your shoes, and perhaps learned lessons to pass along to you. 

Networking is the job search major tool.  Between the people you know very well, to those you are barely acquainted with there is knowledge of, or contact with a potential job for you.  Tell people generally what you seek.  You don’t have to be too specific.  Tell them the work you enjoy doing, i.e.: fixing problems with your hands, your head, or dealing with people, animals or machinery, that sort of thing.

Potential employers think of positions to fill in these general terms.  Call yourself a steelworker for example and they’ll immediately reply “I don’t employ steel workers”.  But say you are experienced in material handling or finishing or storage and you may get called for interview.  Then go to your interviews ready to find out if you and the job fit well together.

Peter Soderquest