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BY JOEY TREBIF

CAREER ALLEY

A slightly different approach today. A short story to start my slightly longer post. Please stay with me, there is a point to this . . .

You are swimming in the ocean. It's a beautiful day, the water is calm and you can see palm trees on the beach. Serenity — all is well, not a care in the world. All of a sudden, a large school of small fish swims past you, apparently in a hurry. That's strange, you think. You wonder why they are in such a hurry? You look out over the horizon and you think you see a large shadow in the water about 100 feet out. Must be a cloud partially covering the sun. You are so relaxed, the ocean is wonderful. You look out over the horizon and now you see what must be a shark's fin cutting through the water. How could you have been so foolish? All the signs were there — fish swimming away, a shadow in the water, and you ignored the signs. Now what? Should you stay very still in the hope that the shark will not see you or should you make a break for the shore? You decide to make a break for the shore, not knowing if the shark will spot you or if you will make it in one piece. You are committed and the race is on . . .

Okay, maybe a little melodramatic, but we've all been there (and I'm not talking about the ocean). You are feeling secure in your job, not a worry in the world when all of a sudden the signs you've ignored over the last few months come together for you and you realize that your job is at risk. Do you stay very still or break for the shore?

Times are not what they were 20 years ago when there was relative job safety the longer you stayed in your job. Mergers, bankruptcies, a change in management, a brutal recession. It doesn't really matter why. The water is not always as safe as it seems. You can fast track your job search in a number of ways. While this does not necessarily mean that you will find a job before the shark catches up, getting yourself in motion will increase the likelihood that you will find a job sooner rather than later.

You should take a quick look at my post "I lost my job, now what?". We are going to start with #2 on the list of "what to do first" (hopefully you wont need number 1).

Update Your Resume — As a rule of thumb, your resume should always be up to date . While you may not have updated it to include your current role, it certainly should have everything else you've done so that the remaining effort is minimal. Listed below are a number of links to previous posts on resumes.

• Job Search Marketing Toolkit — Building Your Resume
• How Many Resumes Do You Have?
• Visual Resumes — Do You Have Yours?
• Resumes

Cover Letters — Another important part of your Job Marketing Toolkit, this should be the second thing you prepare after your resume. Your cover letter will be the first thing that a recruiter, hiring manager or corporate HR will see before they look at your resume. Give them a reason to read your resume.

• Job Search Marketing Toolkit — Cover Letters
• Cover Letters

Companies You Want to Work for — It's not just about getting a job, it's about getting a job with a company you want to work for doing what you do best. I could easily list 50 links, but instead will list some of the lists that I leverage for my posts.

• 100 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR
• 100 FASTEST-GROWING COMPANIES
• WORLD'S MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES
• Top Companies for Diversity (2009)

Networking and Business Social Networks — Just as the Internet has become the focal point for job search, so too has the importance of social networks grown as a resource. The best known is, of course, LinkedIn, but that is not your only choice and you will be surprised at the value of contacts.

• Leveraging Social Networks for Career Management
• Have you Refreshed your Relationships Lately?
• Are you LinkedIn?

Make a Plan — Starting a job search without a plan is a little like running with a blindfold on (and potentially just as painful). You need to have a "plan of attack". Specifically, what is your approach and how do you balance the use of networks, job search sites, recruiters and company career sites. You could easily spend hours on any one of these. You need to diversify and spread your time across multiple types of resources.

• Out of work, trying to focus on your job search?
• For Job-Hunting Success, Develop a Comprehensive Job-Search Plan
• Spin Strategy's job search ToolSet^TM

Electrical Engineering Jobs

Good luck in your search (and watch out for those sharks!).

CAREER ALLEY