Less Social Networking, More Professional Networking
One of my work friends and I have made New Year's Resolutions for, I dunno, 3 or 4 (5?) years now to update our resumes. We've both been at the company for 10 years and have never updated them. Since I wasn't in the market for a new job and the whole process seems so daunting, I still haven't done it.
However, my friend apparently woke up one morning about 3 months ago and decided it was time for a change. She not only updated her resume, she went and got herself a new job! Overachiever.
That made me think about a lot of "what ifs". What if I was talking to someone and they said they had the perfect job for me? "Just send me your resume right away." What if something happens to our company and we make cuts? What if I wake up tomorrow and decide I need a change?
OK, all highly unlikely propositions. It's not like people are walking around handing out jobs these days. My company is weathering this economy pretty well and I haven't wanted a change for 10 years so I don't see it happening tomorrow.
She told me I would find peace of mind if I just did the resume as that alone brought her a great sense of relief. Then, she told me it took her three weeks to get it done. Yikes! I've had even more job changes at our company than she has so who knows how long it would take me?
Trying to avoid that at all costs, I thought about what other, less painful, ways to be prepared for the unlikely scenarios.
One thing that came to mind was to improve my LinkedIn presence. Well, fix it first. Somehow, I got two accounts and whenever I got an email saying someone had invited me to join their network (or however they phrase it) it wouldn't work when I clicked on the link. It said, "this message wasn't meant for you" or something to that effect.
So, I figured out the two accounts and, fortunately, one of them only had 4 contacts. I sent new invites to those folks then closed it out. Next step was to fill out more of my info. I was doing well until the picture part. I don't have any professional head shots (I haven't written my book yet!) so I had to go through my "regular" photos.
Cowboy hat, out. Visible adult beverage, out. Head on shoulder or arm or next to head of other person, out. Bad hair, out. Glare on glasses, out. Visible NASCAR lanyard, out.
Fortunately, I had exactly one picture that didn't get filtered out so up it went.
Next step was to find peoples. There were a lot from my current job, nearly none that I could find from my previous job (huge company where I worked 13 years - until I can figure out how to find just corporate headquarters people, I'm screwed), Parrot Heads and...OK, I find this amusing, a large group from The Rocket Scientist's company. Where I have never worked but I know mucho people through my boys poker game.
The next, next step is, apparently, to start joining LinkedIn groups and commenting there. I'll get right on that. Probably right after I start on my resume.
However, my friend apparently woke up one morning about 3 months ago and decided it was time for a change. She not only updated her resume, she went and got herself a new job! Overachiever.
That made me think about a lot of "what ifs". What if I was talking to someone and they said they had the perfect job for me? "Just send me your resume right away." What if something happens to our company and we make cuts? What if I wake up tomorrow and decide I need a change?
OK, all highly unlikely propositions. It's not like people are walking around handing out jobs these days. My company is weathering this economy pretty well and I haven't wanted a change for 10 years so I don't see it happening tomorrow.
She told me I would find peace of mind if I just did the resume as that alone brought her a great sense of relief. Then, she told me it took her three weeks to get it done. Yikes! I've had even more job changes at our company than she has so who knows how long it would take me?
Trying to avoid that at all costs, I thought about what other, less painful, ways to be prepared for the unlikely scenarios.
One thing that came to mind was to improve my LinkedIn presence. Well, fix it first. Somehow, I got two accounts and whenever I got an email saying someone had invited me to join their network (or however they phrase it) it wouldn't work when I clicked on the link. It said, "this message wasn't meant for you" or something to that effect.
So, I figured out the two accounts and, fortunately, one of them only had 4 contacts. I sent new invites to those folks then closed it out. Next step was to fill out more of my info. I was doing well until the picture part. I don't have any professional head shots (I haven't written my book yet!) so I had to go through my "regular" photos.
Cowboy hat, out. Visible adult beverage, out. Head on shoulder or arm or next to head of other person, out. Bad hair, out. Glare on glasses, out. Visible NASCAR lanyard, out.
Fortunately, I had exactly one picture that didn't get filtered out so up it went.
Next step was to find peoples. There were a lot from my current job, nearly none that I could find from my previous job (huge company where I worked 13 years - until I can figure out how to find just corporate headquarters people, I'm screwed), Parrot Heads and...OK, I find this amusing, a large group from The Rocket Scientist's company. Where I have never worked but I know mucho people through my boys poker game.
The next, next step is, apparently, to start joining LinkedIn groups and commenting there. I'll get right on that. Probably right after I start on my resume.
