Unemployment Chronicles, Day 14: Anticipation

In the past when I have looked for jobs, it seemed like the thing to do was to contact people as soon as possible.  Start getting your name out there and hope something clicks.  This time feels different.  Maybe I am just not moving as quickly, but I think that working with the outplacement firm has changed my approach.  This time there is more prep, so that when I do start looking at actual jobs and employers, I'm ready.

The outplacement people have an approach, ten steps to getting the job you want.  They also have a 1.5-day class designed to power through all of those steps, and I will take that class tomorrow and Thursday.  The class is supposed to help me figure out what I want to do, get a resume together, and set up a marketing plan to sell myself.  If I'm going to follow their process, it seems reasonable that I should take the class before I contact too many employers.  After all, I should have a new resume, an "exit statement" to say why I left Farmers, and a networking approach all figured out by the time class ends, so it makes sense to have that stuff ready before I talk to employers, right?  Before I just updated the resume and launched, but apparently that's a bit crude.

So up to now, I have worked on my LinkedIn profile, linked to everyone I could think of (36 now, not bad), drafted a resume, and gotten in touch with a few people.  After class ends Thursday, I will meet with my coach, and perhaps there will be some homework.  Then, no more excuses, time to find some employers to talk to.

Except I'm going to California next week to visit family.  But when I get back, really, time to start sending out resumes.