Please Feed The Animals

Monday Morning Coach

Note from Erik: The following is the fourthin series of career coaching articles written by Jeanne Schad. This feature will appear every Monday.

So you just got laid off.  If you missed last week’s blog, check out Part 1 to take you through some necessary stages for the first month.  While it’s tempting to skip this step and move straight to finding the next gig, chill for a month.  You can find your way through a driving rainstorm by inching along slowly; or you can wait a few minutes for calmer weather and have a faster and easier journey.

Once you’ve taken some time to clear your head, connect with your old colleagues and begin weaving your web of networking, it’s time to start putting yourself out there.  Here are a few next steps to take on:

Day 30 – 40:  Start practicing your “I just got laid off” speech. You’ll be having this conversation soon with prospective employers so it’s important you feel confident and comfortable in discussing what’s probably still a very painful event.  Start off easy with a few friends and family just to get comfy with the words you’re using.  Then try it out in one of your toughest settings: among your former colleagues.  Every agency has a hangout bar where people often meet for an after-work drink.  Invite yourself to one of those happy hours and get comfortable having the conversation with your former coworkers about your current status.  Keep in mind each of them are now former colleagues, but still very much part of your network. So, though it’s tempting, try to keep the company bashing to a minimum.

Day 40 – 50: Get clear on what you’re looking for. If you are unsure about what qualities your next job needs to have, click here to do an exercise that will help you begin clarifying.  If you have an idea of what you want, I recommend putting it in writing in a form you can give to people who want to help you.  This is not your resume; it’s your networking document.  It should list a paragraph summary of the qualities of the next position and the industry/sector it will be in.  It also lists your strengths so that your network contact can speak to them.  Finally, it lists the target companies you’d like to go after.  This document will make it easy for you to answer the question “how can I help you” when people ask. It can also exist as your own website if you want but be sure to have something in writing you can give to people when you meet for lunch, coffee or happy hour.

Day 50 +: Look in all unexpected places for that new position. Follow up on all leads – even if (and especially) the indirect ones.  If your mom’s friend wants to introduce you to her son who does something completely unrelated to your business but she sees a connection, call him anyway.  Your job now is to connect with as many people as possible. Give them your networking document and broadcast who you are and the results you get.  In simple advertising terms, remember to extol your benefits, not your features.  Your features are X years experience on X kinds of accounts; your benefits are how you can transform a brand, a team, or a piece of business and how your client was better off having you.

Following this process will get you through the first two months and on track toward your next step – employment, freelancing, entrepreneurship.  You might notice nowhere in here did I say “update your resume”.  This is a vital part of the process but not the most important.  Hire it out (www.blueskyresumes.com) or do it yourself when you feel most powerful, confident, and capable.  If you’re not feeling that way, make sure you’re doing something to get you there.  Having confidence and a true belief that you’re of value and benefit will help the resume update and the job search go more quickly and easily.

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Jeanne Schad is owner of Internal Relations Professional Coaching Resource.  This former agency account service suit now works with companies to coach their people to have more fulfilling careers.  You can join Jeanne for a webinar each Wednesday for out of work ad agency professionals on topics like: defining your own success; designing a job search action plan and staying accountable; finding fulfillment and a paycheck.  Jeanne can be reached at jschad@internalrelations.com or (310) 823-8607, @jeanneschad, or http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanneschad.