STEPS TO: search and find a new career....

I told you some exciting and new things are happening in our household. I can finally tell you. My husband has made his first major career move since college (10 years).  He got a few offers within just 2 months and had a TON of leads. Today I would like to tell you the steps we used to searched, found and networked to get interviews for a major career move.  I will be posting details at a later date, I will add the links as I post.  I am not going to lie, it is A LOT of work and it creates stress. But the outcome can be so rewarding. To be honest, it has brought us even closer working as a team together.

As you may know I am a stay at home mom, I haven't worked in about 6 years. I became my husbands assistant. I basically found opportunities for him, sent in his resume, networked for him. As you probably have heard..finding a new career is a full time job, my husband still had a full time job so I asked him if I could help. If you have someone to help you, it will really help you out. One of the biggest lessons we learned is USE YOUR RESOURCES!

STEP 1:
The first step is to ask yourself if your ready for a change?
Here are some points to see if you are ready.
1, Is there any more room for growth in my current position?
2. If the answer is No, am I happy doing this job for the rest of my career?
3. Is my job fulfilling?
4. Do I feel like I am making a difference?
5. Am I heard at work?
6. How do I feel about my company's mission statement or vision for the future?
7. Am I happy with the benefits?
8. If there is room for growth, where do I see myself in 5 or 10 years?

STEP 2:
After that you must make a killer resume and cover letter. I will post about this in a later post.

STEP 3:
Find 3-5 professional references that will speak highly of you.

STEP 4:
Begin your Search. Post your resume on career builder, indeed and Monster. Many of my husbands opportunities were by companies FINDING HIM!
Sign up for search engines to send you emails on your job searches.
USE RECITERS! Network on them on linkdin. Make sure you have a killer linkdin profile, with your main points from your resume. Many employers check out my husbands. Be careful with social media. Keep it professional as well.

STEP 5:
Spend every morning sending out resumes, filling out applications for the jobs you received in your inbox and also do your own search. This could take 2-4 hours or more per day. It really is a full time job. The first day we began to search we spent a whole saturday.

STEP 6:
Don't get discouraged. It take a couple weeks to get some solid leads. Stick with it. Follow each lead and do not cancel any of them out until you found the perfect job for you.

STEP 7:
The Interview. I will give tips from my husband in a later post. There are two interviews you will most likely have a phone interview and a face to face interview. My husband also had a working interview and a presentation. Use recruiters as coaches. They do this for a living. They will give you great advice. We never paid for any services, most recruiters get paid from the companies. Remember they do not get paid if you do not find a job, so they are routing for you and will help you however they can.

Also use your friends and family for advice. We got a ton of help from others. We basically knew nothing until starting this process, we had a ton of help. Thank you to those that helped us. They know who they are!

STEP 8:
Follow up after interviews with professional with a personal touch about what you talked about thank you note.

STEP 9:
The offers!!! Know that nothing is in stone. We learned employers can back out at anytime with an at will contract. Its a bit scary. You may be able to to get a contract with a guaranteed amount of work time depending on your field of work. My husband was looking at  Operations Management type jobs they are mostly "at will" jobs.

STEP 10:
examine your offer very closely. Make sure you look at EVERYTHING. The benefits especially, my husband was actually offered a job that made more money but the benefits were not as good...so really the less paying job was a better deal.

You should have EVERYTHING in writing.

STEP 11:
If you  become in a multiple offer situation, it is ideal. You can use the other offers to increase your salary, benefits or vacation time at the job you prefer.

Make sure you get all your details about the job you are looking to take..what is the dress code (am I going to have to purchase a lot of items for this job?) What are the hours? Do I get a cell phone? What is the rate of promotions? What are other jobs I can look forward to in the future? When are reviews done? If their are bonuses, what are the details--When? How much? what needs to be accomplished? Has this goal been accomplished in the past few years? These are some of the questions you might ask.

STEP 12:
I highly recommend some time off in between jobs to get geared up for your next career move if possible.

STEP 13:
Start your first day and enjoy a break from the job search!!!

I hope these steps can give a clear outline. In the next few weeks I will fill in the details. Remember to breath throughout this process. It can be consuming.

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