Career Management Basics - You Know Them, Do You Practice Them?
By Jason Alba
Two years ago I was laid off from my job. Before that I never had to be in a job search - in fact, all of my job changes were simply a result of opportunities that found me. This means I never knew the stress, amount of time required, level of detail to manage, or pre-preparation that would go into my job search.
You know what's funny? I had been giving advice to a couple of close friends about what they should be doing. I regularly said stuff like this:
"You really need to network! Go to some chamber meetings, or find meetings where your customers go and do some real networking. They should know who you are, and even though you aren't looking for a job, just knowing you and your skills will really help when you need it most."
Little did I know, I needed that advice more than they did. By the time I lost my job I had done zero networking, had no personal brand, and had no clue what a real job search entailed.
It's been two years and I've learned a lot. In fact, I've been blogging almost every day since I started to figure this career stuff out, and I've tried to stay on top of many career issues, just like thousands and thousands of career professionals, including coaches, resume writers, HR and recruiters. We all know this stuff, but what I find interesting is, we are not all practicing what we preach. I bet most career professionals are not doing things they tell others to do, and are essentially neglecting their own career management.
Here are some ideas of what we talk about to others. Go ahead and give yourself a grade (A through F) for each of the items below, and let's see how you score. After all, how much more secure is your job than the job of the last person you advised?
Traditional Networking. If you got laid off today, how long would your list of contacts be that you would feel comfortable reaching out to? Even though your Outlook contacts has hundreds of names, or your employers CRM system has thousands of contacts, realize that when you get laid off it's a lot more awkward to contact these people. Really, how much relationship nurturing have you done in the last six months? If you are well known and respected in your community, and people regularly say good things about you, give yourself an A.
Online Networking. Do you have an account on at least one social network? For 99% of you, an account on MySpace doesn't count ;) Aside from signing up for sites like LinkedIn and/or Facebook, do you actually login to do anything aside from accept new connections or friends? Have you ever got business, or a job lead, or a candidate from the online network? If you actively participate in Facebook or LinkedIn, in a professional capacity, give yourself an A.
Personal Branding. How "Googleable" are you? Go to Google right now and search for your name. Does it come up often? Do the results reflect any positive attributes about you as a professional? If you "own" the front page of Google, give yourself an A.
Current Resume. I'm guessing you have advised at least one person to have a current resume. How current is your resume? Do you even have a version that is current enough so you don't have to contact old employers or universities to get official names of job titles and degrees, and dates? If you have a "master resume," give yourself an A.
Current Education on Career Principles. A job search today is not what it was five years ago, much less fifteen years ago. Do you follow any career or networking blogs? Have you read any career or networking books in the last year? If you have read more than two, and regularly follow at least one career blog and apply ideas to your own career management, give yourself an A.
Okay, one last thing. Take all of your grades and subtract a letter grade from each one. I say this not because I think you weren't honest with yourself. I say it because the job search is a lot harder, and more stressful, than you think it will be, especially if it is under unfavorable circumstances.
I found that giving career advice was easy, but I was so unprepared for my job search is was almost embarrassing. I hope that you can take a few minutes to take a personal inventory on how prepared you would be and make any adjustments necessary.
