In a recent article on Inside Tech: Laid Off? Five Tips to Bounce Back they provide 5 very introspective tips to help deal mentally with being laid off and get yourself back to a positive state of mind to begin your search again. The tips are good if the layoff has affected you personally, but there are no real practical answers or help for someone who is not taking it personally and is ready to start working immediately.
Grieving Time, No More Excuses, Time for Reflection, Invest in a Career Coach, and Develop a Plan are the five tips that are recommended. For someone who is really distraught about losing their job, he/she may need to go through steps like these in order to move forward. But what if you’re over it and you know exactly what you want in your next job? My advice is to maintain the same work routine as if you never lost your job. The only difference is now you are working from home or in a coffee shop.
In this market you need to start the job hunt process immediately. Depending on your career level, your job hunt will take as little as 6 weeks for individual contributor positions, and as long as 6 months for Leadership positions. If you take a month or two to deal with it, take time off for vacations, or wait for the market to turn you could lose the better part of year before you are back in a desk. Trust me, you’ll have plenty of time off from the corporate life to get yourself back to a good mental state, do all those side tasks you’ve been putting off, or joining that gym for your New Years resolution.
The general trend over the last year is that hiring managers are taking their time to add or replace staff on their teams. The perception of the job market is that there are several top level candidates who are out of work. Hiring teams are making sure they absolutely see all of them before making a decision. Hence contributing to the slow cycle times. The good news for you is that this is mainly a perception. The bad news is you may be the best candidate for a particular job, but companies are going to interview 5 to 10 more candidates to be 100% certain. And that will take a lot of time before you reach the decision point.
So where do you start? In Part 2, we will discuss a thorough game plan on how to attack your job search in this market. Being aggressive, diligent, and consistent will be the key to landing your next position. Finding a job these days is no longer about posting your resume and waiting for someone to call.
