Being laid off was a shock to me. I had not anticipated that I was at risk. For the first two weeks, I was in shock. I went through the normal stages of grief. Since graduating from university, I had never been without a job. On top of that, I had not interviewed for a job in 20 years. Technology had come a long way. I quickly realized that I was unprepared to find a new job.
I had a LinkedIn account that I rarely looked at. I updated my resume and applied for 10 or 20 jobs. But, I was also vulnerable. I was contacted by a company that trolls LinkedIn for recently laid off professionals and offered assistance for a fee. They helped me write a much better resume, gave me training on how to interview, helped me write an "Elevator Statement", and gave me some training on how to use LinkedIn.
Shortly thereafter, I also discovered that there were groups in Houston that were run by unemployed professionals whose purpose was to provide morale support, training, and contacts to help unemployed people find new jobs. I discovered that I could have learned everything I did from the company I hired from these organizations, for a lot less money. It would have taken longer to learn the same things, but would not have impacted my wallet near as hard.
I also posted my resume to Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and any other resume web site I could find. I started publishing articles on LinkedIn about my experiences and managing people. I was doing everything I could think of to get favorable attention and make new connections. In a few months, I went from 200 connections to over 3000. I did have about a dozen phone interviews and half a dozen companies had me come in for face to face interviews. Most of them came from recruiters I contacted or who had seen my resume on one of the web sites. The others were from job applications I had submitted.
The most serious opportunity came from an application I submitted for a job advertised at a company where I knew a former colleague of mine now worked. I let him know I had applied and he contacted the HR department the same day. I was contacted the next day for a phone interview. I was asked to visit the office three times for multiple face to face interviews. In the end, I lost out to another candidate. This was another low point, but I redoubled my efforts and soon had more phone and face to face interviews.
After 8 months, I was called by a recruiter that had seen my resume on ZipRecruiter. As it turned out, she and I were connected on LinkedIn, but nothing had come from our connection. She was searching ZR trying to find matches to a profile for a company who had hired her to find candidates. She submitted my resume and I was hired a month later.
Condensing my experience into advice,
1) Get help, both help on how to do things and get morale support to help you through the dark days.
2) Make finding a job into a job. I worked 6 to 8 hours a day for 5 days a week looking for job postings, submitting applications, attending training, etc.
3) Don't spend thousands of dollars for help. Resume writers cost a couple of hundred dollars. I used three, learned from each, and have modified my resume several times to highlight certain aspects of my work experience to match job listings. Check for free training on how to use LinkedIn. Check for free groups that do things like practice interviews and advise on resume writing. One of the groups I joined brought in people to make presentations about how to dress for an interview, how to sit and act during an interview, how to answer common questions, what not to say, what is your personality type, etc.
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Dave Ferguson
Pearland TX
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-18-2019 15:48
From: Loraine Kasprzak
Subject: What advice would you give someone facing a layoff?
For an upcoming Career Connection column, I'll be talking about coping with a layoff or forced early retirement. What advice would you give someone facing either of these challenges?
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Loraine Kasprzak MBA
Managing Director,Advantage Marketing Consulting Services
Advantage Marketing Consulting Services
Westfield NJ
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