Near the end (Layoff). Part I

  Yesterday, I interviewed for the permanent position that I have been working at for the last 9 months in a temporary capacity. Thought this would be a good time to do an overview of the journey that I have been through to this time.

I may be near the end of this part of the journey; a journey that started almost 2 years ago, when after 23 years of very dedicated service, I received the 60-day Warn notice from Boeing. I had no pre-warning that I understood. It was a shock to my system to say the least.

In ways, I was a by-product of the Great Recession, the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930’s, this one brought on my greed in banking and finance communities just like that one.

D282-Transition-Remaining Active in My Network

In an earlier post I started covering how I remain active in my network, and this second post will conclude this topic.  

My favorite networking tool in LinkedIn has to do with groups and adding to the dialogs taking place.  Best to listen to the conversation for a while and learn what is going on.  After feeling comfortable, bringing resources to the group, or adding to a discussion that is going on is a great way to network.  Over time you build up a relationship with the other members.  I find that I’m currently a member of too many groups, and it has spread me out a little more than I like.

It is hard to find a group that both relates both professionally and has a good dialog taking place in the group.  Some groups are all recruiters, some have no discussions, and some have discussions are of a tenor that I would rather not be involved in, but it is possible to find groups having a good dialog involving a good sized group of people.  Networking in this way if fun and there are some great people to learn from—some of the discussion are quite good.

I try to check in to LinkedIn several times per week.  And try to quickly scan the  the LinkedIn Status emails when they arrive.  I try to participate a couple time a week in groups and read the emails of discussions that I’m following or started.  I also pay attention to all comments on anything that I post, in order to learn from and better understand what people feel has value.

Day 268-Networking VI Remaining Active in my Network

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The human brain is a good analogy of  the relationship you have with your network.  We now know that at any part of your life you can form new brain synapses—new connections between information and emotions.  Somewhat like a muscle, if you do not use your brain, the unused synapses with wither and die—a pruning to reduce useless complexity.  If you abuse your body, or fail to keep it in shape it will have negative consequences on your brain.
You can at anytime, grow your network and add to it.  No surprise here.   We have always had networks of relationships in our lives.  And we have always had  tools to help us manage these relationships—tools like calendars, day timers, and the infamous little black address—tools that help us to remember things like the addresses, the names and ages of kids, and the anniversary of Jim down in accounting.  Studies should that those with a more active social network are happier and healthier.
I remember the expanding power when I could add all the birthdays I wanted into my Outlook calendar and I didn’t to fuss with them at the beginning of the year by transferring them to a new calendar.  This allowed me to track many more birthdays than I ever had before. Those times when I could say, “don’t you have a birthday coming up?” or “didn’t your son just turn 9?” made the little bit of effort to record dates well worth it.

Day 228–Transition–Breaking the Code?

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It has been busy last few weeks.  I have wanted to continue on with my networking series of posts, but have not had the time to get back to it.  There are several reasons for this.  It is the beginning of the Holiday season so going through Thanksgiving took some time away from my normal activities.  I also pushed to get the remodel to the point that the sheet rocker can come in.  All the cabling and electrical work in the walls is complete.

But the larger reason is two fold.  The first is that I think companies are more interested in hiring people, maybe it is a end of the year push or a beginning of the year push, but it has seemed to change in the last couple of months.  Companies who are hunkering down to weather bad times, tend not to hire people like me that help with improving their efficiency and productivity.  They need people that can keep the factory up and running and not much else.  Now people are looking at capturing efficiencies so that they don’t overhire people and so that they can work on the backlog of improvements and changes that have piled up over the last couple years.

The second area that I think has changed is the way that I am applying for jobs.  I think I may have finally cracked the code on getting my resume to be seen by people.

Day 212–Transition–Networking Part III

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It’s a conspiracy of sorts.  I started the idea for this series of post on Networking; got into the middle of it and then got lost.   I had a plan, but I’ve been hesitating on moving forward.  Mainly, my plan bored me, so I’ve been waiting for something better to come along.
Sometimes networking sounds like a conspiracy of sorts.  Sometimes it seems so contrived and dishonest.   We all have seen those people that are overly self promoting; people the come on so strong you want to run and hide from them.   Now looking for work it seems that everyone is saying that I need to become this person.  That I need to be putting myself out there.  I think I have been guilty of this at certain times in my life, times that I look back on as a lesson in how not to be.
I’m a bit strange in that I like to  be in front of groups; I like facilitating groups.   This is more strange because I a somewhat introverted person.   Introversion doesn’t mean that I don’t like to be with people.  A great definition given to me a few years looks as introversion/extroversion from the perspective of energy:  an extrovert is a person that gains energy by being with more people and feels depleted when isolated and an introvert is a person who gains energy with fewer people around and expends energy when with larger groups.  Introversion and extroversion are the two ends of a continuum;  each of is unique in where we fall on the scale.  This changes depending on particular situations and can also go through major shifts through out your life.
As an example of particular situations making a difference, I become much more introverted in situations in which I’m unfamiliar.  Attending an Networking Event , at a place I have never been, filled with people that I don’t know is a recipe for me becoming a uncomfortable wall flower.   While if I was attending a family or a work pot luck you would find me in the thick of the party  talking to many people and catching up on the latest in their world and updating them on mine.  Both of these are examples of networking.  We all do networking, and I think for the most part many of have an edge where the networking becomes uncomfortable or unnatural for us.
Part of my hesitation in moving forward with this series was in being able to understand and articulate this discomfort. 
Another part that has been holding me up is in having a concept of the whole.  As a systems thinker,  I need to see the whole before I can understand the parts.  This is synthesis, it is the reverse of analysis.  In analysis you take something apart and examine each pieces in order to gain understanding.  In order to understand the whole I need some sort of definition which defines the scope of what networking is.  I ‘m sure it includes the new tools like LinkedIn and Facebook but these aren’t all of it. It must include these things called business mixers that have become popular of late.   What else should be included?
A friend sent me a note this week and it crystallized a few of the ideas that I was struggling with:

you've blogged a couple times about "networking". that word and that concept just bugs me. strikes me wrong.

Day 192 – Transition – Networking Part I

Image by Robert S. Donovan via Flickr

Everywhere I turn for knowledge in this job search the term networking comes up and how important it is in today’s job search.  I think it always has been important but even more so today.
I’m thinking of doing a few blog entries on networking because this is such a big and seemingly amorphous topic that I hope that I can bring a little shape to the subject.
First, what has happened in the last few years that makes networking so important?
It has always been the case that knowing people helped in getting a job.  The son of the owner, a friend of a manager, or just friend putting in the word that you are a normal person and not some whacko off the street has always made a difference; maybe not if you are that whacko off the street, but otherwise it has.
But what they are talking about now is a change has taken place where knowing someone makes a crucial difference 30 % to 40% of the time.  The internet has made deep changes in how people look for a job and how companies screen and this has caused a overwhelming job for hiring managers. 

Day 186 - Transition – Additional Elevator Speech Resources

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The exercise of creating an elevator speech is a fantastic exercise.    In the time since I have created mine, I have not repeated the full speech yet, but I use it on a regular basis.  I my LinkedIn site rewrote using information from this.  I constantly rewrite my resume with each job application using the knowledge of my elevator speech to keep the words sharp and crisp.  And I have used the information in interviews (in person and on the phone) and other person  to person interactions. 

The exercise puts your thinking into a concrete form that is readily accessible.  Reducing the number of words you are using forces you to prioritize and reduce to your truly essential message. 

I’m learning that I did of lousy job of marketing my talents in the years leading up to my layoff.  This lack of marketing has made it much harder to play catch up now in trying to convince people of my skills and talents.  For this reason, I highly recommend this exercise, even if you are not looking for a job now, as a tool to use in developing and maintaining your network and in marketing your skills and aspirations now.