Back Aches and the Job Search

From Clipart

This past February as I was cleaning out the linen closet I lifted and turned my body at the same time and felt a burning pain in my lower back.  I didn’t make things any better later in the day when I lifted the container holding the dry dog food. As the day went by I felt a terrible pain in my back that traveled down the front and side of my leg. I’d had this before but never like this. It was sciatic nerve pain.

Over the next few days the pain got worse. I hobbled to the doctor and was given muscle relaxers, pain relievers and steroids. Nothing helped and the pain turned into numbness, weakness in my leg and pins and needles by my ankle. Another trip to the doctor resulted in a shot in the butt and a prescription for an MRI.  The MRI showed that despite age-related degeneration (thanks a lot), I had two herniated discs, some kind of nasty rip and a pinched nerve and that a trip to a neurosurgeon was in order. He suggested physical therapy (PT) and if that didn’t work; surgery.

I visited my chiropractor as well as the physical therapist and then shared my PT plan with my trainer at the gym.  All three of these people are playing a big role in my healing.

So why am I telling you this in a job search blog? I’m telling you not to put all your eggs in one basket.  Don’t sit at your desk all day applying to job after job on line.  Don’t go to your LinkedIn profile and network within your groups or with your contacts every day either.  That gets old and you could become a nag.  Instead, design a plan where you can combine several different strategies to allow you to get on the road to job recovery. Network socially and also in person.  Use the phone and write emails along with using your social media.  Here are some other tips:

1.    Look for mobile job search apps

2.    Join Twitter and follow companies that are interesting to you

3.    Look for jobs on a company website; not just through job search engines

4.    Volunteer

5.    Let everyone know that you are looking for work and have your resume updated and ready to go.

Just like my disc problem and healing, it helps to have more than one method of improvement. It also helps if all the players in your recovery are on the same page and working towards your positive career health.   

The Plight of the Older Worker

Over the past 24 hours I have worked with two women who are in their late 50s and who work at a couple of well known corporations. Both women asked for some job search advice because both may be on their way out.

One woman works as an executive assistant for four company directors.  She is bright and has great interpersonal and organizational skills. The other woman works as a technical manager within a group of 15 project managers.  She has excellent technical skills including project management, negotiation and she too has excellent interpersonal skills. 

Both women have managers who need to learn how to be better leaders and managers.

Before I go on, put yourself in either one of their shoes.  Imagine being in your late 50s and knowing that you could lose your job at any point.  Imagine thinking that not long ago you were thinking about retiring with the company and now you think that you may have to work way into your late 60s.  Imagine the hours and blood, sweat and tears that you have given to a company only to be coldly dismissed. Imagine worrying about benefits, mortgages, college payments, and savings plans while in the latter part of your career.  Imagine the panic and worry and stress. Imagine finally earning a six week vacation and then having to go back to two weeks.

Imagine walking on eggshells everyday as you wonder,"Will today will be it?”

Both women are planning to reimagine themselves.  They both have good, solid transferable skills. They are aware that they need to continue to be technically astute and stay on top of the technology in their respective fields. They will have current, focused resumes and LinkedIn profiles. They don’t want to but know that if the time comes, they will have to network and start all over. Neither of them want to think about the possibility of working a couple of jobs just to make ends meet. Both of these women are staying ahead of the eight ball because neither of them want to become part of the current and very frustrating job search statistics.

How many others are just like them?

College Internship Help

Summer college internships.... most students need them to graduate but other than asking the career office at your school or word of mouth, where can you find them? The best thing to do is network by reaching out to your family, friends, social, fraternity or sorority contacts and others. If that doesn't work, here are a couple of website suggestions.

http://www.internjobs.com/
http://www.internships.com/student
http://www.quintcareers.com/grad_internships.html A list of valuable of internship sites.
http://www.nj.gov/oag/law/internship.htm 
http://www.indeed.com/ Type in Internship and state in the search area.

Make sure your resume is ready to go and your LinkedIn profile is up to date. Also, remove any unprofessional photos and wording from your social media sites including Twitter, Instragram and Facebook. Also, Google yourself to see what pops up because if it pops up for you, if will pop up for anyone else.

Good luck in your search for the perfect internship!

Interview Thank You Note - Free!

In the spirit of giving, I thought that I would give you a free thank you note that you can email or send to a hiring manager after an interview.  What? You don't send thank you notes? Try it, you may find that it improves your chances of being hired. It doesn't hurt, that's for sure.

Make sure that your thank you covers a few points; it contains the name of person with whom you interviewed (if you interviewed with a few people, they should each get a note and obviously you need to change the wording in each note). Also, make sure that your note includes something in it that will remind the interviewer of who you are. 

Are you ready? Here is a thank you note for you - please tailor it to fit your needs. The red type shows areas that you would want to change to reflect the job, job requirements and your skill set.

Salutation – Add Name, Company, Address, Date

Dear

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today about the (name of) position. Our conversation reaffirmed my interest in working with you at (Company name) and I was eager to learn about the products, services and resources that you offer.

I hope that I was able to communicate to you that my past experience in (specific area) would be beneficial in solving your issues with (some situation or job need that was discussed).  One of my passions is to improve business processes through (list several of your strengths as they match the open position). I would very much like to use these skills to help (Company name) fulfill its mission of helping clients, “build and sustain a successful business.”

If you have any further questions, I would be happy to talk with you again. Feel free to call me at (number).  I am more than ready to move into this role; I am a quick learner and eager to get started. Thank you once again.
Sincerely,