Job Seeker's Handbook: Don't Wait!

Education, family, the workplace, the Internet - there's a lot of information out there about how to be a good employee, but did anyone ever teach you how to be unemployed? This is the first installment of an ongoing series of advice from people who have been there.

When a job comes to an end, it can be easy to find yourself stunned and dazed. Looking at a buyout offer, a severance check or an unemployment award letter can take the pressure off, giving you a chance to breathe and a few months before paying the bills will be a problem. Some people use it as an opportunity to take time off.

Tip #1: Don't wait. 

Yes, by all means, take a short breather if you need to, a week or two, think about what your next step might be, and work through the emotions associated with whatever happened to bring your career to a temporary halt. But be careful of taking too long, and extending that time beyond what you should.

Why?

• It will take time to land another job. Employers, mindful of the cost of a poor hiring decision, are taking longer to make decisions than they have historically. There are often multiple rounds of interviews, tests and even assignments. In the same time that you spent interviewing with 5 or 6 companies in the past, you may be lucky to interview with 1 or 2. 
• You risk creating a gap on your resume that gets more difficult to explain as it expands. Job interviews can be nerve-wracking under the best of circumstances - why make it harder?
• Employers want workers who have their head in the game and are ready to jump in with both feet. If you're in the groove of scheduling meetings (interviews), getting reports (resumes) out on time, drumming up business (job leads) and treating the hours of 9-to-5 like business hours, you're more likely to present yourself as someone who can make a smooth transition than someone who's gotten used to sleeping late and watching TV until noon.
• In our culture we tend to define ourselves by our jobs, so the further we get away from doing that activity on a regular basis, the less confident we feel and act. Put yourself in the employer's shoes: would you want to hire someone who's unsure of themselves, or someone who presents confidence that they can get the job done? The more connected you are with the memory of yourself as a working professional, the easier it will be to sell yourself as one.
• The longer you wait to ask friends and family for help, the harder it is. Yes, pride will be a factor. How many job seekers have heard that awful line, "You still haven't found a job?" or some form of it! Your network will also need time to understand what you're looking for (yes, not everyone understands what you do, even when it seems like it should be perfectly obvious), and to get feedback from their network.
• If you're tapping in to government resources, like unemployment payments or state-sponsored training, that takes time too. You may run into unexpected delays due to paperwork that's required, or you may miss the start of classes by putting off investigating your options, for example. Contact your local EDD or WorkSource center as soon as you know you're looking for a job (even if you're still employed) so that you will know what's available to you and what's required.

Instructors in the LA Fellows program will assign "action steps" to help the participants keep momentum. In our experience, the LA Fellows who land fastest are the ones who jump on the job search the fastest, try everything they know to do, are open to learning. Getting employed takes time. Start now, treat your job search like a job, and be prepared to put in a full week of search related tasks and activities every week. And don't wait.

The Power of a Cohort

Another powerful component of the LA Fellows program is the cohort experience. Each of our classes, which we call cohorts, is chosen for a variety of factors including commitment to finding employment, willingness to get out of their comfort zone and try new things, attitude and an ability to work in a team environment.  The program is designed to not only give strategic and temporal structure to the job hunt but to also create a supportive diverse social structure to provide encouragement, accountability and inspiration far beyond the instructional portion of the program.

Members of LA Fellows Cohort 8 at a recent breakfast meeting at Corky's Restaurant in Sherman Oaks.

 

Cohort 8 is a shining example of how that works. They graduated in August of 2013 but despite new jobs and all the activity and responsibilities of day-to-day life, they keep in touch via email and phone and periodic get-togethers. They organized the first LA Fellows all-cohort mixer last Fall (http://lafellows.blogspot.com/2013/12/first-la-fellows-reunion-mixer.html) with great success. They pass on job leads and help each other with freelance projects, they touch base with where they are in life and in the career arcs that they are pursuing.

 

They took to heart an important part of what LA Fellows teaches: job search does not end when you sign on the dotted line and start you first day at a new job. The world has changed and jobs rarely last for decades any more. It's important to be ready for the next job when you need it, and an important part of that is the people in your network, the people who will support you in your journey.

 

LA Fellows will soon be looking for a new group of job seekers who are ready to change the way they see and prepare for the future and we hope that we will find a dedicated group like those in Cohort 8. You can find more information about LA Fellows, including how to apply, at www.lafellows.org.

 



Accountability

I have a box of comic strips I’ve collected over the years that make me laugh. One strip dates back to the last time I was unemployed. The recently laid off hero of the strip is shown typing at his home computer in the first panel looking fresh and professional, thinking “Scan all recent job postings…” That panel is labeled First Week. The second panel is Fifth Week. He has traded the dress shirt for a T-shirt, his face is stubbly and he stares at the newspaper pondering “Which sounds cooler, CIO or COO?” By the third panel, Week Eleven, still stubbly, he’s kicked back on the sofa, in the same rumpled T-shirt, hair looking shaggy, eating potato chips and thinking “Oh, what would Mayberry do without you Andy?” as the TV blares in front of him.

Does this sound familiar?

When we’re punching the proverbial time clock, there’s always someone or something keeping us accountable for staying on task, whether it’s a client calling, another widget coming your way down the conveyor belt, or the reminder that your review is coming up. Too often when we lose our jobs we find ourselves alone at home with no structure, no set schedule and no one to say, “Is that resume ready yet?” or “Did you research your list of target companies today?” It’s easy to succumb to the siren song of that big box in the kitchen  that lights up when you opens its door and hums appreciatively afterwards, or that wicked temptress of the internet known as Hulu (Did you know they have 58 full episodes of Project Runway – FREE?).

Without accountability, it’s easy to get sloppy and waste time as you lose focus on your job search. Being a part of LA Fellows is a great way to get back on track and keep your eyes on what’s going to move your search forward. Having those 3-4 days per week where you have to get dressed in your work attire (most cohorts agree that PJ’s and bunny slippers are not acceptable), be on time and be engaged really helps to put you back in the headspace of being a professional with a mission.

Moving on when those classes are over is easier too. There are classmates who are willing to check in once a week for coffee and an accountability meeting: we’ll practice interview questions, go over updated resumes (we’re still working on out non-profit internships --- brand new bullet points to add!), update each other on progress, and brainstorm on how to get over the snags we may hit along the way. You can reach out to other jobseekers too, whether from other cohorts, job clubs at LAVC or the Work Source centers, or if there was a layoff at your last job you can reach out to former coworkers and help each other through this new adventure of unemployment. As long as you don’t let it devolve into a “woe is me” whine fest or gripe session, and you focus on the goal, accountability sessions are a wonderful tool.

For Cohort 7 there are weekly accountability emails to our caseworkers at EDD, CC’d to Allison and Keri at LA Fellows describing our job search activities and what we’re doing to work the program and move forward. Even if you never join LA Fellows, keeping your caseworker informed can be a great practice. They have resources you may not know of or have access to on your own. If you don’t have a caseworker, make a pact with an unemployed friend to exchange an email at a set time every week. The act of writing it alone helps. Even if you’re not going to ‘fess up to the Mayberry marathon in print, you’ll think about it and be more averse to taking on that guilt the next week.

Mary Turner

LA Fellows Cohort 7