The Day After Coronavirus – or Losing Your Job

How to Prepare for the Day After

Career | LinkedIn | Networking

Posted on April 24th [as a Guest Post ] on JobMob

The worst time to work on your LinkedIn profile, CV and networking is probably immediately after losing your job. Why?

(My Clients page features LHH. It’s a special relationship – the first networking workshop I ran for LHH/DBM was in the 20th Century! So this Article is dedicated to all the talented people I met through the company. Yes – you!) 

Step One: Choose a Direction

Ask yourself this question: If your company went bust tonight, what job will you want to move to? 

Are you qualified for that job? 

• If you are qualified, can you start building a list of growing target companies? Don’t put it off until X happens – now is the time to do that research. Are you looking into companies in a certain field? of a certain size and location? Don’t focus on companies’ careers section, just ask: if this company had the position I’m after, would I be thrilled to join it?

If you aren’t qualified for the job you want, deal with the gap. First, you must understand if it’s bridgeable or serious.

• If the gap is just a skill you can acquire rapidly, consider taking an online course – there are plenty of courses offered for free, including career-related courses and resources related to hybrid work from LinkedIn. Running video information interviews is just one of many ways quarantined job seekers can act proactively.
• If the gap is significant, consider a Gap Job. What is a gap job? Say you want to become VP R&D. You see that companies regularly require three qualifications: prior management experience, cyber/security credentials and significant cloud knowledge. But even though you’ve got plenty of the first two, you have zero experience in the third (cloud).
  Starting a management position in a cloud environment can qualify you for your dream job.
  How do you recognize an ideal gap job? It should be both easier to land than your dream job AND qualify you for it.  Other jobs may be higher-paying than your gap job, but taking a job that doesn’t enable you to add critical cloud skills might only make things worse down the road.

Step Two: Infrastructure

The secret? Define a system. 

Here’s a simple system – feel free to tweak it as radically as you wish to suit your specific needs. 

15 minutes every week: 

• Send 1-2 customized LinkedIn invitations to people you feel you now know well
• Leverage 2 LinkedIn notifications: birthdays & new jobs

Reach out to the few meaningful people you’re connected with who either celebrate a birthday that week or updated their profile with a new job.

I. Birthdays

Birthday notifications represent a fine way to reconnect. If you do it right.

Instead of ignoring it or clicking on the default “Say Happy Birthday!”, why not treat birthdays as a way to strengthen or maintain your relationship with that person? Here’s how:

(a) Visit their profile

(b) If you haven’t been in touch recently, see where they work and what they’re up to. Have they moved to a new position in their company or to another State? Does their LinkedIn Activity present an item you can intelligently refer to?  

(c) Click on your connection’s Contact info, and copy their email.

(d) Go to your email, paste the address in a new message, and shoot a short nice message. In some cases, a phone call could work. Anything but LinkedIn. If the person answers but sounds busy, aim for a very quick happy birthday. Maybe agreeing to a chat at a later date. Listen. Make it about them. 

II. New Jobs 

Much like birthdays, when done right, new job notifications are an excellent opportunity to touch base. 

What not to do: Do not click on the default “Congrats!” – the person might receive dozens of such meaningless congratulations.

Visit that person’s profile, look for new things.

Important: scroll down to see when the person has actually started the new job. Never assume it’s now. The notification just means the person has updated their profile, not necessarily that they just started out there. It could be that they have joined that company months ago (even more). 

It only takes a minute, but it’s worthwhile. Gain a competitive advantage by cultivating your network.Your email message can say “I see you’ve updated your LinkedIn profile. It looks like you’re at XYZ Corp for 6 months. How is it going?”.  

Copy their email address from the Contact Info section, and shoot a short  email genuinely congratulating the person, wishing success, and add a personal note [If the new position is in a new field, maybe ask something about it. If you’re curious, you’ll often find something]. If relevant, end with a meaningful question. Snooze the answer to ping the person down the road…

30 minutes every month:

• Pick the best piece of content you’ve read in the past month, and share it on LinkedIn. 
• Reach out to 1-3 dormant Connections, specifically people you liked but lost touch with. Call it operation Sleeping Beauty. 

Unless you do it soon, you will feel much more awkward on the day you really need to. Most people don’t appreciate folks who only remember them when they need them. If you touch base 2-3 times a year when you don’t need anything, and down the road have to reach out to that person, then both of you will feel more comfortable. You’d rather pay for your car insurance before and not after having a road accident, right? Your warm network is your insurance policy: invest in your important relationships ahead of the time you need them. Staying in touch means less time – and more opportunities!

30 minutes every quarter

Review your profile (and, if you still have one, a CV). How has your job changed this quarter? If it does, reflect it and update both. 

Step Three: Engine Overhaul or Crisis

4 hours every year [or when you lose your Job]

Map your LinkedIn network :

I. Identify 30-50 people you like but weren’t in touch with. Consider reaching out to them in the coming weeks in a casual way. Listen without asking them for help, just asking how they’ve been, and if you could help them in any way. Being proactive will also help you cheer up and not feel down during this period.

• Benefit N. 1: You’ll remember plenty of people, and your head will spin with possibilities and opportunities. No one can really see all updates once you have many connections. Great!
• Benefit N. 2: You’ll notice that X people moved to other companies – some of those companies interesting in themselves!
• Benefit N. 3: You’ll have a better understanding of the number of people you don’t know – and decide about reconnecting/disconnecting.

II. Once done with the 30-50 names, analyze the list. Classify those connections into a few groups,such as:

• VIP Connections : the top ~10-15%, VIPs you want to immediately reach out to, chat or meet
• Recruiters and headhunters you’ve connected with in the past
• Important Connections: you may want to use something less intensive, like email
• Problematic influencers that you feel less comfortable reaching out to
• Connections you don’t know but look interesting
• Those you may want to disconnect from
•  (or any criterion you like: Influencers, partners, people who live in a certain metro area) 

II Review/update your profile: is your headline selling you? Isn’t it time to add new Rich Media? Plan LinkedIn Articles- maybe incorporating videos?

Have you felt unclear about the effectiveness of your actions? Do you want to take more control of your career, maybe reaching new decisions?