TWO THINGS – In our experience, (helping more than 17,000 people land since 1998), this process will take longer than you want it to.
So, First, you need to practice SELFCARE. It is every bit as important as interviewing. In fact, our experience is that you won’t interview well otherwise. Selfcare will help you moderate all the negative that hits you during job search. Selfcare is planning and doing things that make you feel better about who you are. I can’t tell you what will work for you; we’re all different. But, it might include family time, exercise, hobbies, gardening, time with friends, etc… It does not include drugs, alcohol, binge watching, or shopping, because those are things that you will regret, long-term. You want to things that make you feel valuable. Keep a few business cards handy. We’ve seen a lot of people land when they happened to talk with someone they met by chance, and gave them a business card.
Secondly - Target Companies, Not Jobs! I specialize in helping mid-to-late career professionals such as you. The way that the roles you’re looking for get filled is nearly always internally. Only if they can’t, do they ever get posted, and then they get buried under a “Tsunami of Spam Applicants,” few of whom are qualified.
A common problem that we see is that mid-to-late career professionals have done many different things and done them well. They often find it hard to focus. They think that a general approach will be more likely to be found. WRONG. You’re trying to paint a picture with a paint sprayer, not a paint brush. In a world where the ATS is used to filter out the flood of Spam, these people get filtered out as well. So target your search on a specific job or two.
Build a large target company list by starting at the Department of Labor’s CareeronestopDOTorg website. Click on Job Search, and then on the lower right side you will see Business Finder. Click on it. Type in the job title you want and the zip code. It will tell you every company that reported to the Federal Government in the last fiscal year (2021) that they employed someone with that job title. It’s driven by reports from Data Axle. It doesn’t mean that the company has an opening, but it means that that they did employ someone with that job title. It will blow your mind how many companies there are. In a recent class, I typed in “Mathematician.” We’re in Houston so I put in that zip code. I expected to find a couple of dozen schools. I was wrong. There were > 6600 positions. NASA, every Engineering and Architectural Firm, Insurance Actuaries, International Finance Organizations, and, oh yes, some colleges and universities. Nearly all the company listings will have a website link, the name of the officer who hires or signed the report, locations, etc…
You can download the list to a spreadsheet.
Next, go to your public library and get a library card and speak with the Reference Librarian. You will make their day as they show you how to use their professional tools to research those companies and decide which ones to check out further. A very powerful tool is Data Axle’s “Reference Solutions.” It pulls from multiple sources, including state and federal governments. It will tell you the names of the officers, company history, finances, spending, locations, recent announcements, current job postings, and who their competitors are. That will help you narrow the list, and add more because their competitors should get added to the list. BTW - We teach that "Your public library makes google look like a 2nd grade reader." That's because the library often has access to commercial research resources while google is limited to publicly published information.
Now, work with your master list of networking contacts. Who do you know that works there? Your most important contacts will be former coworkers, and that list should include ALL of them, not just your friends. Note that studies have repeatedly shown that the ones likely to refer you to a hiring manager aren’t those who worked most closely with you, but only professionally. That’s because those who worked most closely to you remember some negative things as well. (You used to cook fish in the breakroom microwave on Fridays. You tended to get loud on phone calls while working in a cubical farm….)
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t spoken to them in 20 years. In fact, it might be an advantage. They remember you from those days. So reach out, and ask how they are doing, what’s happening, and ask if you can help them. Don’t mention your job search, yet. Let them respond, and if you can help them, do so. Along the way, some will offer to help you back. In my experience, about one in three. Give them a short, specific way that they can the specific job you want. If it takes more than 30 seconds to say – it’s too long.
Too often we see people like yourself who are suddenly out of work. They always do the same thing. Update their old resume and start applying online. Studies show that has a less than 3% probability of landing an interview, and it gets worse, the more you apply. The one exception to that is if you have a license, degree, certification, or special skill that is locally in demand. That method can work for folks like that, but I rarely see them.
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