Every person that I have attempted to coach over the past few years has their own social style and they conduct themselves very differently. Many mature workers have never had to conduct a job search. They may have worked in the same industry for 20 to 25 years without ever conducting a sophisticated job search. The jobs just seem to happen at the right time. A colleague would call and ask if they would consider changing jobs or they were recruited away by another company based on their reputation. You might say that their career was managed by serendipity not by any conscious effort by the mature worker. 

 

Let’s assume that you are one of those intelligent people who find themselves facing the prospect of conducting a professional job search for the first time. Assuming that you have recovered from the debilitating emotional setbacks that everyone encounters, you are ready to tackle the problem of finding a new and rewarding position. This is a problem to be solved and you have solved many problems in the past. Say for example, you decide to rebuild your deck. You take out a piece of paper and rough out a game plan. You talk it over with your partner to get buy-in and set out to estimate the costs. Step by step you do your research, gather your facts, build your plan, set your goals and get ready to execute.

 

Developing a career plan for the mature worker in today’s environment requires new tools. If you had decided to build your own deck, it is doubtful that your old hand tools would be adequate for the job. Let’s face it that you are not as strong and there are newer tools to make the job easier. Our Experience Counts has new tools for the mature worker such as our “Job Seekers Tool Kit” found in our download tab. This tool kit will help you to develop your job search plan.  If you were building your deck you would quickly find out that you need help with moving materials and for thinking through unexpected problems that occur. You will need a “search buddy” or a career coach, someone to help you with the heavy lifting and someone with whom to discuss your job search strategy. 

 

Targeting is a new concept that is really basic to conducting a responsible job search. Most people build their resume by updating the old resume with the last job and consider that adequate.  But, it is not adequate with today’s sophisticated communications. If you were building the deck you could use a hand saw to cut the composite decking material, but it would be very hard to do and time consuming. In this day of nearly instantaneous communication, having an old school resume without a clear job position targeted is like using a hand saw to cut your decking material. Be kind to yourself, take the webinars Our Experience Counts offers, find a trusted advisor to be your “search buddy” and find a career coach. Finding your new job position is a task that you can accomplish, but you need to arm yourself with modern tools or the process can wear you out. 

 

Over and over people tell me that they do not feel comfortable calling people that they hardly know to ask for an informational interview. And I have to answer that the longer you take to become comfortable with this process, the longer it is going to take for you to land a new position. The longer you refrain from learning the new tools, the longer you will be out of work. It is a proven fact that networking is essential to finding your position, but it is not enough to network with family, friends and old colleagues. Effective networking in today’s job market means targeting organizations that have the job position that you want, and then contacting people that work in those organizations to find out the inside information needed to land your job. That means you have to use LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) to find the profiles of people who work in your target organizations, find out where they work, and call them and get their agreement to help you in your search. Let’s face it, everyone has felt the sting of this recession, and most people are willing to help. You have to have a refined approach, however. It is not good form to call some one you hardly know and put them on the spot to let you know when their company is hiring for your specialty. Take a tip from Dick Bolles, the elder statesman of career coaches, only ask for 10 minutes time and make it clear that you are only doing research. Be respectful of the other person’s time and be gentle, after all you are only doing your homework. People are kind and willing to help, but be thoughtful and have a plan for your search. Others will respect you for being thoughtful. Be ready to share your information; networking works if it is mutually beneficial. 

 

My colleague, Ken Shepard, recalls that he went to 11 networking meetings a week, Monday through Thursday, and then took Friday off to take his wife to the movies. In the meetings that I host with Ken, he always asks, “What did you do for fun this week?” Let’s face it, finding your new job is hard work, if you are doing a responsible search. You have to make lots of calls and go to lots of meetings where you are constantly meeting people. Make no mistake about it; you must be constantly contacting people personally by phone, email or in person. Face to face is the most important because you get the “real” information from people. 

 

This is where the HALT concept is so helpful. You simply are not going to do your best if you are hungry, angry, lonely or tired. So be honest with yourself, before you pick up the phone to contact someone you only know through the social networking internet sites, make sure you are at your best. Take the time to rest, eat properly, and admit that you are frustrated by the search process. Talk to a friend before calling a new networking contact. Who knows, you may make another new friend and, Lord knows, we all need as many friends as possible. Bring a gift of information to the person you are calling, try to be as helpful as you want them to be with you. This old adage should help you, “I looked for a friend and none were to be found. I went to be a friend and friends were everywhere.”