Yesterday morning I found out what I’ve suspected for about a week now: I’ve been laid off. From the press release with Friday’s earnings call to the disquieting lack of work for my team, subtle hints snapped together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle until I was able to see the full picture. The last piece came when I checked my voicemail Tuesday morning with my leader asking me to give her a call first thing when I got in…
My last date is March 15th — a day which is now approaching like a Dodge Ram approaches a deer on the highway — and I trying to figure out Ken Walker, The Marketing Campaign™. The effort has several angles of approach, and I’m using a Ta-da List account to try to keep them all top of mind. One of my lists, “Overview of Effort,” has these items:
# Search through online job postings
# Leverage a technical recruiter
# Search internal D&B postings
# Use marketing tools to find target companies
# Ask a network of friends and acquaintences
# Read through trade organizations websites and magazines
# Search offline job postings (newspaper)
# Search well-known brands that I like to use
The fact that there are just so many ways to find a job has been encouraging so far — a new job can literally come from anywhere. But the sheer scale of information available out there is almost overwhelming. I’ve intentionally not searched for any job-seeking advice information on the web just to keep a high signal to noise ratio. That, and to keep my approach creatively me.
Just a small example: in order to apply for positions, I realized that I need to provide a cover letter to introduce myself. I know that if I go out to look for something through Google that I’m going to find about 200,000 resources. I’ll look through the top 20 and filter out the crap, only to cut-and-paste some ho-hum letter and sign my name to it because I’m too tired to keep looking. I figure that if I take a stab at it, it will raise the possibility of my voice surfacing through the words (as opposed to sounding like a clone of a copy of a imitation of every other tech-job-seeker out there), and thereby the interest of the potential employer, and thereby the chance of a call-back.
The process is huge, but the wheels are moving. I engaged a technical recruiter — and good friend — on Saturday, and he was an immediate encouragement to me. I had a beta version of a résumé together by Friday night, and a workable version which was posted on Monster, Dice, CareerBuilder, and a handful of other sites by Monday afternoon. Realizing that the recruitment efforts will likely draw large, corporate employers, I’ve also been using some business research tools to dig up not-so-corporate opportunities in local cities along the Path from Newark to NYC. I’ve put together a list of companies whose products I love (I’m sure you can guess) and searched their job sites, and started thinking of a list of people I need to talk to that might have any connection with what I want to do. I’ve even been putting together a portfolio site, the slowest part of this process, at the home of what might someday be the home of an independent consulting firm, Simplificate.
Speaking of what I want to do. the possibilities vary. If I use the Tom Collins “Hedgehog Concept” of finding my passion, my talent, and my employability, I can narrow the list to a handful (in order of preference):
# Information Architecture & Usability Consulting
# Web Development & Design
# Business Analysis & Project Mangement
There’s a lot of overlap between the three, but this list essentially comprises positions that involve my interests, talents and experience. Naturally, the list is also sorted in reverse employability — it’s far easier to get a job as a business analyst than it is an information architect. It’s also far easier to justify my skills as an analyst than it is an information architect. So, when the job possibilities start rolling in, the question becomes, “how long do I hold out until the ideal job comes along?” That means weighing the benefits against the drawbacks.
And all of this against the backdrop of what kind of company I want to work for. The possibilites here are nearly an endless combination of public or private? large or small? technology as a core competency or as a business function? consulting or full time? suburbs or city? high pay or high benefits? The list goes on.
But, even beyond all of that are the number of pieces that are in motion behind this decision for Sarah and me. Despite what we thought after we moved to Newark, there’s plenty more change to experience at this point in our lives. Our lease is up in August — should I be looking in places where we might want to relocate to (likely in New York City)? Sarah is going back to school for vet technition licensing and certification — do we move somewhere that might better accomodate her choice of school? We just got a new car (sorry, pictures soon) — do I look somewhere that I will drive to, or should I take public transportation?
A lot of these questions can only be answered as Sarah and I continue to discuss them and investigate the opportunities available to me. But, some of them can be answered by the sound advice of good friends and acquaintences. I’m curious: what job-seeking advice have you been given that has been helpful to you? If you’ve been laid off before what was it like? Is your company hiring? 
I look forward to what might be one of the most interesting decisions (and blog discussions) we’ve had in a while!
