Recently, along with my colleague, Carol Norbeck Miller, I conducted what we called a “Career Cafe” at our local coffee shop. We brought together those looking for jobs, those concerned they would be looking for a job soon, and those seeking a career change. Through the interaction, I think we learned as much as our participants. Key points:
1) Isolation is Not Your Friend It is so easy to spend too much time alone, or too much time in your own head. It can be so discouraging to put yourself out there, looking for an opportunity, and then get no response. You start making up stories in your head, taking it personally. This sends you further into a downward spiral. It makes you want to pull back. You might even feel needy. But this is exactly the time you want to talk with people more than ever. Which brings us to:
2) Have Fun Being a Sleuth. It’s time to expand your circle and contact people you’ve lost touch with. First, get over yourself. So you haven’t kept in contact – so what? Think about the person and why you like them — they will probably be delighted to hear from you.
Now, make a list of people to reconnect with (people you know) and people who represent something you want to know more about, e.g. a company, an occupation, an industry. Contact at least one every day, or every week. The key to maintaining energy and a feeling of momentum is to regularly contact someone. This also helps you to feel like you don’t have all your eggs in one basket.
Here’s a great idea from TheLadders.com. Use 4-quadrant frame to brainstorm four lists that TheLadders labels as your Pronet, Lifenet, Orgnet, Worknet. (Details here. Scroll down to the paragraph starting with “You’ve got four networks.”) Also, checkout LinkedIn, Classmates.com or even Facebook to find people you may have lost track of. Add them to your list.
Why bother to go to this trouble to revisit these loose connections, i.e. casual, informal connections. The fact that they are loose connections is exactly the reason. Research tells us that those close to us occupy a world very similar to ours. But loose connections allow us access to places we would not normally go, thus improving your odds of finding a real opportunity. (Thank you Cameron Schaefer for a simple interpretation of Granovetter’s and Gladwell’s work.)
3) Reach Out – Just don’t let the first thing out of your mouth be, “I’m looking for ____. Got anything?” I know, you want it to be easy. You want to feel stable again so you go right for what you need. But when you think about it, it’s sort of like a telemarketer approach, i.e. asking for something before you’ve earned the right to ask. So, what do you do?
First, don’t go into the discussion with the intent of asking for a job. Prep some questions that you are legitimately curious about. Ask them about things that are easy for them to answer, like how they got interested in their current occupation or what’s its like to work at their company. Let the conversation evolve. Let the person get curious about your situation and come to wanting to help you on their own. This article by Lewis Lin at Careerealism.com can guide you right through it.
When you are seeking a change, seeking a job or developing a backup plan, it doesn’t have to be all drudge. Probably the most important “job” you have in this period is to remain encouraged. Try to follow the suggestions above, and always notice what is going right. Your attitude can make all the difference.
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