Out of work? No worry. These are the things you should do to job search when you find yourself unemployed. (after you have checked any severance package, extensions of health insurance, and unemployment benefits.)
First Seven Things to Do When You Lose Your Job
1. Give Yourself a Makeover
After a relationship breakup the majority of people lose weight, get in better shape, buy some new clothes and start looking their best in order to attract a new mate. You need to do the same to attract a new job. You need a positive attitude now more than ever. Your day to day life is about to change. Start off with this change on the right foot by feeling terrific about yourself. Most people who have been in a relationship or on a job for awhile let themselves fall into personal habits that can degrade their appearance. Get out and have a manicure and haircut or new style. Make sure you can dress sharp for meeting people. Spending money is not the first thing to do when you are out of work yet if you can afford just a few new shirts or outfits for meetings and interviews, they are an investment and will pick up your attitude.
In addition any old colleagues or associates you might bump into will see the new energized you. Make a new impression and they will keep you in mind when they hear of an opening. Everyone wants to make a good hire recommendation.
2. Get Your Picture Taken
After your makeover get a great head shot or two of yourself and make sure you are smiling. Get copies and place one where you will see it every day such as on your refrigerator.
3. Become Searchable
If you don’t already have a MySpace or Facebook page, or a website get them. Gear your pages to be professional rather than personal. Spell out your skills and accomplishments. Use that new picture of yourself. Make sure people can leave you messages.
4. Create a Hard Copy Portfolio
This is a one or two page about you similar to a resume though with your picture and a bit more pizzazz. Make 25 copies and place them inside a nice simple folder. Again include a picture of yourself and make sure they contain all of your contact information. Also start working on your resume.
5. Write Some Testimonials About Yourself
Write something about yourself that is a testament to your skills and abilities. These can be one or two sentences each. Make a different testimonial for each of your friends and associates. Customize these so that each of them will be aware of what they are attesting to and have them sign a hard copy.
6. Throw a Party
That’s right. Call all your friends and associates and let them know you are having an “unemployment” party. This does not have to be elaborate.
Be the host of the party with a great attitude. Let everyone know you are job hunting and be clear about what types of work you will accept.
Have your guests sign your personal testimonials. Showing everyone that you are not sitting around sulking will impress them and they will want to help you.
7. Start taking People to Lunch
Look for possible employers. Search the companies within travel distance of your home. Contact a relevant manager or CEO and call them with an offer for lunch. Let them know you would like to do a brief interview for a web article you are writing. Get their contact information and have ten questions prepared about their business. Question could pertain to the current climate in their industry, their growth and hiring status, their long term plans, and how long they have been with the company and their background. Make sure you have included copies of each of your testimonials in your portfolio and hand a portfolio to the person at the end of lunch.
Take notes and write a brief few paragraph about the interview and post them on your website, MySpace, or Facebook page. Send each person a hand written thank you note with an invitation to visit the page and read the article.
Follow up with an email letting them know that you are seeking employment and ask them to keep their ears open. Say in touch with these people every few weeks with a purposeful email for example to let them know what comments you have received on their interview article.
Getting away from staring at the Internet job sites and out of the house into the business world on a regular basis will keep you from becoming a daytime television junkie. Do as many of these lunches as you can afford. If you cannot afford the lunches, ask for on-site interviews and go to them.
This is a great way to connect and network. You will be learning about your industry and specific companies and you will be making contacts that could last you a lifetime and land you a job.
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Copyright 2009 by Phil Baker – author of the bestseller: Employer Secrets and How to Use Them to Get the Job and Pay You Want: http://www.employersecrets.com Also a contributing writer for http://www.resumedictionary.com
2 Comments
Wahrscheinlich ist Stefan Matschiner, so dem Sportmanager der Handel mit Dopingpräparaten nachgewiesen werden kann, auch nur ein kleiner Fisch. Der ehemalige Leichtathlet bleibt zumindest vorerst in Haft, über ihn wurde wegen “Tatausführungs- und Verdunkelungsgefahr” am Freitag die U-Haft verhängt.
Die Ermittlungen in der Doping-Causa ufern geradezu aus, die Staatsanwaltschaft Wien bestätigte weitere fünf Festnahmen. Die Spur führt in die organisierte Kriminalität. Unter den Festgenommenen befindet sich ein “österreichischer Großhändler”, wie Staatsanwaltschafts-Sprecher Gerhard Jarosch erklärt. Der 51-jährige Frühpensionist soll österreichweit Hobbysportler aus dem Fitness- und Kraftsportbereich versorgt haben. “Ein Mercedes Kombi war vollgepackt mit Präparaten”, sagt Jarosch. Gemeinsam mit dem Österreicher wurde auch ein Slowake festgenommen, laut Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) “eine ganz große Nummer”.
Teilweise soll dieser illegale Substanzen selbst hergestellt haben. Weitere Festnahmen will das BKA “nicht ausschließen”. Ob sich weitere Profi-Sportler im Kreis der Verdächtigen befinden, wollte BKA-Sprecher Gerald Tatzgern gegenüber der APA aber nicht kommentieren.
First thing I did when I was laid off is stopped and bought cigarettes. I had been on my tenth day without one. The tears rolled down my 53 year old eyes as I drove the 45 minute ride home. I kept asking myself “why me”. The severance will barely get me by for 2 months. I went the next day to Unemployment it was like a battlefield The lines in Chicago were out the door. I’ve already sent over 96 resumes it has been almost 3 weeks. The phone hasn’t rang once. I wonder as I am single with absolutely not one family member as they are all dead if I will lose my small condo I worked so hard to keep. I know I can’t afford cobra and my company knew my leg was bad. I tried to accumulate enough sick hours so maybe I could get that artifical knee next year that I ever so much needed. They didn’t care, it was one less person off their books. They actually put another woman on the same job I do and kept her. Angry, devastated and filled with grief and despair. I even hugged the woman who laid me off. Remembering how hard I tried to get along with her and how hard I tried to reason with her and discuss any problems I had in the course of 9 years. I thanked her for the 9 years. I recalled she never even came to my Mothers wake, but when my review came up she told me it was because I had taken 5 days to watch my Mom die, bury her and grieve over her death. She could care less for me. She never wanted to hear my side of any story. Company politics. I am concerned about my health and the probability that someone will hire a woman my age who limps. I imagine I will lose everything I have. No one will care. They are just glad they got 40,000 off their payroll. They are glad that the person who came to work every day 20 minutes early stayed late when they needed me too and who always tried to remember everyone’s birthday is now gone. The departed in real life. Probably when I am gone and dead she will still be there with her daughter and they will still stick it up everyones rear end that truly wanted a better way of life. So much for the 150 hours of sick time I accrued to see if I could get a knee replacement one day. I will survive if I have to move to Tent City.
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