Part 3: Preparing for Your Next Job Search
You've Landed Your New Job! YEA!
Congratulations! Celebrate, and enjoy your success!
Then, make your next job search easier by keeping your successful job search "foundation" alive.
It has taken a lot of effort to find and build and nurture your job search network. These are people and resources that may help you succeed in your new job, and now you can help them in their jobs or in their job searching.
- Important: Go back over your diary to see sites where you have left your resume,
registered for job sites to send you e-mailed opportunities, etc.
Return to those sites to delete or "inactivate" your resume and to stop those e-mails so that your new employer doesn't think that you are still job hunting. If a site won't let you delete your resume (some don't), change the name on the resume to something that is jibberish - a string of letters and numbers or something else unfriendly, so you won't be connected to that resume by your new employer.
People do get fired by employers who think that they are job hunting, so make sure that your job search is suspended when you start your new job.
- Note in your
dairy or tracking log the job site(s) led you to that job and/or had
the most promising leads, best responses, most interviews generated,
etc.
- Keep track of
the versions of your resume that were the most "successful,"
particularly the one that led you to the new job.
- Note which techniques were the most useful (search criteria that brought exactly the right jobs in the right places, etc.); you may never need them again, but just in case you do...
- List the Web
sites that had the most useful information for finding good employers
and preparing for interviews.
- Note the name and contact information of the people who helped you, and then stay in touch with them so that you can help them, when and if they need help, and they can help you, again, if you need it.
For Your Next Job Search
These days, very few jobs are secure. So, now that you have established a good foundation, including an updated resume and online presence in the social networking sites, don't let it die. You don't want to start all over for the next job search.
And there will be a "next" job search. Count on it!
1. Keep Your Network Alive (So It Will Be Ready Next Time)
As a savvy networker, you'll want to help them any way you can, too. Remember the new networking mantra for the 21st century - WYGIWYG: What You Give Is What You Get!
Your network will make your next job search easier, and you want to help them, too. So stay in touch. Contact one or three members of your network every week, even if only to send an emailed joke (assuming they like to receive goofy emails). Tweet out news about your profession or industry, even have one Twitter account for informal contact with friends and another one that is your "professional" Twitter account that stays alive and on-topic.
NOTE: Continue to update and improve your LinkedIn Profile! Add more connections and recommendations; join appropriate LinkedIn Groups and participate in the Group Discussions; continue to Tweet, etc. These activities can help you be more successful in your current job, as well as laying the ground work for that next job search.
2. Keep Track of Your Accomplishments
Keep your resume up to date, or, at least, maintain a list of accomplishments in your current job that will enable you to update your resume very quickly, if necessary.
3. Maintain Your Profiles
Your LinkedIn Profile and Google+ Profile will actually help you do your job better, too, helping your employer succeed. You will also be able to learn new things, meet new people, find out about new technologies and competitors, stay ahead of (or at least even with) the competition, and more. And, fortunately, you will be better prepared should you need to launch another job search.
4. Continue to Use Your Tracking System
It will help you keep your network alive and well for next time
When you have your new job, check out the hints for maintaining your job search network for next time because this will probably not be your last job search...
IN CONCLUSION
Yes, it is a LOT of work to find a new job! There are very few true short cuts, but the Internet has increased the apparent size of the job market, automating the application process while also adding some new complications (like protecting your privacy). In a way, the Internet has made it more difficult to find a job. For more on job hunting, read the articles written by Job-Hunt's Job Search Experts on everything from resumes to networking to social media (including LinkedIn, of course), working with recruiters, successful job interviews, and personal branding.
Back: Part One or Part Two
© Copyright, 1998 - 2013, Susan P. Joyce. All rights reserved.
About the author...
Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. Since 1998, Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt.org. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg and on Google+.
