Job Hunting: Times Have Changed

I haven't written for the last couple of days, because I have been wrapped up in my job search. Yes, I was down-sized. That's the bad news. The good news is that within minutes of getting home from the office, I went online, notified everyone in my network, and had a phone call for an interview within 15 minutes!

Yes, 15 minutes - and then there were emails, and more inquiries, In-Messages on my LinkedIn account, and text messages, too. And to think, only a few years ago in this same situation, I would have had the telephone, maybe email, and of course snail mail to conduct my search. Today I have the world at my fingertips and things are moving along much more quickly than I expected.

In my position as a college administrator I have counseled hundreds, if not thousands, of students about job hunting. I have always given the same advice that I would follow myself. And now it's paying off. In just 4 weeks since being laid off, I have been on 4 interviews (and only 2 no's), have 7 recruiters working on my behalf, and have found several dozen positions which match my profile. I can revamp my resume and cover letter quickly, even on the fly, with my laptop or iPod Touch. I can text recruiters to stay in touch more easily. I can use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and a dozen other sites to promote myself, plus my blog and other websites, depending on the job.

And the best part is, that no matter how long the search takes (even at my level, it could take a few months), I have developed several internet products out of it, met more interesting people than you can shake a stick at, and had fun in the process! In fact, when people ask me how the job search is going, and I say, "It's fun!", they think the shock of the whole situation has cause dementia :)

I'll let you know when the first product comes out and continuing blogging about my experience!

Peace,

Shelly