I have to say I expected to be fully employed by this point, but it just hasn’t happened that way. It’s actual been an incredibly fruitful job search. I continue to get solid feedback from all of my interviews with multiple firms wishing they could create a position for me. I’m in talks with 2 of them right now, but the reality is that everyday I wake up jobless. Eventually, it starts to get to you. The only way out is to keep grinding though. I’m continuing to learn important lessons along the way too:
- If your company offers outplacement help, use it. Leverage it. I find the firm I’ve been working with is fairly cookie cutter in it’s approach, but you know what? They still have tidbits that are useful. The resume writer they assigned to me really improved my resume in ways I had not thought about. It spins my skills and experience in new ways that I know come across better than how I had written. In addition, she’s revised my cover letter approach, my LinkedIn profile, and created a corporate bio. Totally worth my efforts.
- Don’t stop applying for positions just because you have interviews you feel are leading to an offer. Twice in this process I’ve wasted a week in this kind of limbo. There is nothing to be gained by this. If you get interviews after accepting an offer, you can simply turn them down. Don’t use anticipation for an offer as an excuse to stop working on your job search.
- Keep networking! I say it in every post. It continues to hold true. Every week I am trying to get out there. Sometimes, like last week, they really lead to nothing more than some new contacts on LinkedIn. Other times they’re really opening doors.
- Apply for unemployment. Once you are out of severance/vacation pay, you are eligible to apply for unemployment benefits. Do it! It’s not mortgage-sustaining income, but it will keep food on the table and the lights turned on. For me it amounts to $350/wk. It does take time and effort to get the process moving so I recommend understanding the process in your state while you are still milking any exit pay you received – that certainly helped me. Do not let your pride get in the way. You paid into this system for years just in case an emergency like this ever came up, and now it has so consider part of your uncertainty fund that you don’t have to refill!
- Never, ever think this couldn’t happen to you. If you work for anyone other than yourself, you could lose that job. To that end, I do have some good news. The Project X startup I began mentioning in my net worth posts over 2 years ago has finally gotten external seed funding. It isn’t a ton of money, but once you have one group that believes in you, it’s often easier to convince others to join in the funding party. The current funds should cover our servers for a year and a very minimal viable product that we can then showcase. It’s not my day job yet, but it’s a step in the right direction!
Alright, that’s about all I have time for today. Keep valuing the jobs that you have and striving for something better! I hope to be back soon with good news.
