Finding a Great Job in a Weak Market

Blogger's Note: I haven't given you much in terms of career advice, but here is a good one from www.wetfeet.com - a great company, but one that is expensive unless you know exactly what you want to do before you start buying their .pdf booklets. For graduate students and postdocs, this advice applies if you are thinking about a career change or thinking about applying your current skills in an unconventional way, or thinking about being an entrepreneur.

Getting a Great Job in a Weak Market

Faced with a still-soft job market, many incredibly talented people are still scrambling hard to find a job. While it’s natural to have moments of anxiety and disappointment, you can work past these emotions by focusing your energy on different job-seeking tactics. Here are eight creative approaches that just might net some worthwhile results.

1. Take a time-out. If you’ve been working almost nonstop with your job search, take time off to reenergize, redirect your focus, or revise your plans. Whether it involves taking a minibreak or vacation, do what you need to do to gain inspiration and motivation, and to continue your momentum. See a movie, host a slumber party, go for a run, play Myst, or start writing in a journal. Do what makes you happy. Clear your mind and relax. Use this time to reflect on your job-search efforts and match them up with your bigger lifework vision.

Reality-check questions to consider are:

Am I being realistic with my target goals and objectives? What’s working and what isn’t? What haven’t I done that I can start doing? Whose help do I need? Is it time to change directions, move to a contingency plan? For example, instead of trying to switch to a new industry as well as a new functional role, target the same role in a new industry or a new role in the same industry. Alternatively, think about taking an interim step that will get you closer to the job you want. Though you may not be able to reach point S from point A, you could get from point A to point M and then to point S. Or, you may want to return to your former company –- if this is still an option –- with the understanding that you’ll have the opportunity to pursue new responsibilities, build new skills, or take on different clients in addition to your original job responsibilities. 2. Work for free. Identify, from within your targeted industries or companies, the decision-makers with whom you best connected during interviews, recruiting, or networking events. Contact at least five to ten people –- by e-mail is fine. Let them know that while you’re still in your job search, you want to continue building experience and stay productive. Offer to contribute your time. This could be for a pet project that lacks resources, a discrete chunk of a larger project, or something your contact just needs an extra pair of hands or expertise on. Agree on the project scope, deadlines, and deliverables. Then run with it, taking as much initiative and working as independently as possible. Exceed your manager’s expectations. At minimum, you will have gained solid experience in your choice industry to add to your resume; this can make all the difference in landing the job you want. At best, your manager will actively create a job for you, connect you with others who can, and/or serve as a solid reference. 3. Volunteer for a nonprofit or for your city government. Besides the feel-good factor of doing something that matters and giving back to others –- no doubt a great way to keep your attitude positive, volunteering is good for job searching. Fellow volunteers can be a diverse new source for contacts in new industries and organizations. As well, volunteering can develop a skill or competence that will make you a stronger candidate for your next job or your career toolkit. City government and nonprofit roles may also open up outstanding career opportunities you may not have considered previously. 4. Write an article. Contribute to your alumni magazine, the local newspaper, a trade journal, industry magazine, or professional association newsletter. This could lead to a broadening of your job-search horizon by generating reader feedback, job leads, an expanded network, and increased exposure or recognition as an expert. 5. Rely on your friends. Depend on your friends and family for emotional support and reality checks throughout your job search. Keep your circle of friends and acquaintances aware of what you are looking for and ask them to keep you in mind. Actively pursue leads from classmates, professors, alumni, former and current work colleagues, family friends, friends of friends, and even people at your gym. 6. Discover new opportunities. Look for opportunities that others may miss. If you know someone is leaving a job, follow up to find out if you might be considered for that job. If a company is doing a lot of trade or service marking or filing for patents, it’s most likely in growth mode and will be hiring. Even though a company is in lay-off or merger mode, an opportunity may arise for someone with your strengths and experience. For example, a company going through lay-offs may need to hire someone with human resource planning skills to integrate roles and responsibilities, career coaching experience for its laid-off employees, or strong writing expertise for the extra communication needs required to do damage control. Such positions could be offered on a project basis. 7. Do projects or consulting gigs. Think about whether you want to take on a project to tide you over while you are in your job search or whether you want to develop a portfolio of projects or consulting gigs à la career portfolio. Take something you really excel at and/or have a passion for, and translate it into cash flow. You may have talent in: conducting research or financial analysis, teaching, planning, writing, giving presentations, cooking, planning events, or designing for the Web. Use one or more of those competencies to cobble together meaningful work. 8. Go with the flow. Embrace the fact that job markets are cyclical. Soft and boom markets have come and gone, time and again. This down cycle won’t last forever. In the meantime, use this time as a gift. Make a living, but more important, take the time to reflect and to build valuable skills that are recession-proof. Work on developing high-priority skills and competencies that are portable wherever you’re working –- communication and presentation, teamwork, and project management skills, for example. Explore and think about what really matters to you. What’s your purpose? How does work fit into your total life vision? How can you create a bold, meaningful, and dynamic work life? Author Bio Sherrie Gong Taguchi is an author, educator, and HR executive. Her experience coaching managers and individuals on their careers includes serving as VP of University Recruiting for Bank of America, Director of Corporate HR at Dole Foods, and Assistant Dean of Career Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Taguchi’s book, Hiring the Best and The Brightest … A Roadmap for MBA Recruiting, has been an incredible resource for job seekers and employers. She is at work on a second book for McGraw Hill, for individuals seeking bold, meaningful, and dynamic careers over a lifetime. Taguchi is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Career Section, Worker’s Dozen Panel. She is based in London and the Bay Area.