This came up, recently, as a question on a professional network. There were about 30 answers .. out of which 20 were rated good by the author.

Mine was rated Best.

 Well, no matter how modest one may like to be projected, it does feel nice to know that someone found your advise worth a second look. So, thought of cross blogging it here.

First, who asked the question?

A  lady named Kimberly White King from Greater Memphis Area. Kimberly is an ambitious and motivated employee who has worked as an office professional with varying degrees of complexity and increasing levels of responsibility for 15 years. She has served in such areas as Office Manager, Office Assistant, Human Resource Assistant, Payroll Assistant, Accounting Assistant, Bookkeeper, and etc.
When she is not in the office, Kimberly, who is a proud mother of 3 (Olivia, Julian, and Malcolm) is an active member of the Memphis community spending her “free time” on such activities as serving as a member of the Communications Committee of the Parent Assembly of the Memphis City Schools, serving as a member of Gardenview Elementary’s Parent-Teacher Leadership Council, and volunteering her time and talents to the Memphis Black Arts Alliance Firehouse Community Arts Academy.

Now her Question?
What would you do? You’d probably want to dust off the old resume, right? Maybe have a professional or someone look at it for you? But then what? Six weeks and you still have to work and have a life…what are your priorities? What do you do to maybe minimize your time of unemployment? Networking? How do you get into that?  Also, do you stick it out the full 6 weeks? If someone offered you a position to start immediately and you still have 2-3 weeks left before your job was supposed to be ending? Do you take it? Do you turn it down (they are unwilling or unable to wait until your current office closes in 2-3 more weeks)? You aren’t under contract. Everyone knows your office is closing. Is it realistic for current employer to expect you to turn down a job knowing you will soon be without one? Of course, their office will still need to be maintained up until the last day but…  what advice would you give to someone in this situation?

After a few days she gave a clarifcation too,
Thanks to everyone for such good answers! I really do appreciate the responses. Unfortunately, I’m sure, these types of things are happening all over. I hear about people who have no idea it was coming…or, maybe, knew it was coming, but hoped it wouldn’t affect them…people who can see the writing on the wall, and people who get advanced warning. For many of us, time is of the essence. 6 weeks is still better than no notice at all. What does a person do with that time to help them land as quickly as possible?

Then My Answer/s:
You have wonderful suggestions above and here are TEN practical tips besides that:
These are as they come to mind and not in any order of preference

1. Download all your personal information from the Office Computer on your personal one. You have no idea how badly you would need it later. This MUST include your professional address books and emails that establish your competence.

2. Do NOT send a general mail to all the head hunters. Remember their business is to find a Person for a Job not a Job for a Person. If you forget this, some of them will disappear from your good friends list since expectations will not managed.

3. Do not “appear” desperate. Notice I am saying “appear”. Its natural be desperate unless you are Gods incarnation, but the worst thing to do with desperation is to show it

4. Network as much as you can but, remember networking is a long term investment and return can take months if not years. But let that not stop you from networking.

5.Look for jobs that match your skills not your needs. Remember no ones hires you for your need, you get hired for their needs and your skills.

6. Stick all of the 6 weeks unless you have an alternative that would make sticking back senseless. Don’t give much of damn to what’s happening to the company that wont be there after 6 weeks. Your sticking back will neither help them stay on longer nor hasten the closure. Like they say “Love your job not your employer”

7. Plan a long “waiting period” and if you get hired faster, you have a reason to celebrate

8. Discuss the reality with your Family – suffering a job loss alone is sure way of increasing your suffering. Prepare everyone for lesser income for some time.

And last two that would sound like sermons but are a good permanent advice.

9. The worst time to seek a good job is when you need one. So always keep your eyes and ears open for better opportunities and know your market value.

10. Try to keep your expenses down to about 50% of your income, develop a saving habit – that will make the job lossless stressful.

Need more tips ? Take a long walk by yourself everyday! It really helps!

Ravinder

PS: Besides a natural need to brag, this post is made as a small attempt to help young working professionals, impacted by the Slow Down, with some practical tips that would make it less stressful. So, do add your comments please