by Carol Fishman Cohen
A recent conversation with a relauncher (person on career break
looking to return to work) who is very focused and active in her
search went like this:
Relauncher:
“I signed on to use [reputable on line job
board firm] for three months. Yesterday, they gave me a “free”
resume critique and pretty much slammed
my resume as weak and ineffective. Of course they want
$725 to rewrite it. I simply can’t
determine if I am being railroaded or really need help on a
rewrite.
What do you
think?”
Us:
“We think [reputable on line job board
firm] is a high quality organization. However we do not think
you
should spend $725 for them to work on
your resume. We think relaunchers tend to spend a
disproportionate amount of time on the
resume when ideally the resume is going to be the second
connection a person has to you -- the
first being a personal introduction.
“We'd rather see you put that
money toward going to professional conferences in your field,
other
networking events, or taking classes,
than toward this resume workup. The most important thing to
do at this point is to try to get
out of the house as much as possible and meet people who might
have contacts that lead to a
connection for you that results in a job. Don't
spend hours in your
house poring over your resume.”
So, rather than just assume “what’s the point, there are no jobs out there anyway.” think differently. Get out of the house! Use this time to meet people both informally and in more professional situations. Here’s what our relauncher reported back about her “out of the house” activities:
“I am attending a free media seminar sponsored by several local radio stations next week. I amgoing tomorrow to a meeting of the policy group for the local nature conservancy. Last week, I
attended my first city council meeting to show support for an environmental initiative. I took lots of
notes and got the names of a number of local groups, which I will start to contact.”
Whether it’s a school committee hearing, a women’s conference, a PTO meeting, a lecture at a university, a writer’s workshop, or sitting on the sidelines at your child’s sports event, make sure you are getting out of the house on a regular basis and talking to people. Engage them in a conversation about their work. If their work is something in which you are interested, find out what their biggest challenges are, what they are doing differently as they tough out the recession, how their business has evolved during past economic cycles, etc.
Listen carefully and let the conversation wander to topics they
initiate. Perhaps you can help them get
information about something they need and you know
about. Relationship building takes time, it’s a
give and take, and it often progresses in a disjointed series of
conversations which sometimes circle back to the same person at a
later point. So be patient and make constant
networking a cornerstone of your relaunch strategy.
Photo credit: http://irelaunch.com/images/uploads/acc060.jpg
Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin are the co-authors of the acclaimed career reentry book Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work, and the co-founders of iRelaunch , a company providing career reentry programming, events, and information to employers, universities, organizations and to mid-career professionals in all stages of career break. Their signature product is the Career Relaunch Forum, a one day return to work conference offered around the country.
Carol and Vivian can be reached at info@iRelaunch.com.
