{"id":42364,"date":"2013-10-02T15:29:33","date_gmt":"2013-10-02T19:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=42364"},"modified":"2014-04-29T14:41:49","modified_gmt":"2014-04-29T19:41:49","slug":"furloughed-and-job-hunting-why-strategizing-first-is-still-the-key-to-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=42364","title":{"rendered":"Furloughed & Job Hunting: why strategizing 1st is the key to success"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Naomi House, MLIS<\/a>, INALJ Founder and Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Furloughed & Job Hunting: why strategizing 1st is the key to success<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"naomihouse\"<\/a>On Tuesday I went into work as instructed.\u00a0 My day job is as a reference, marketing and acquisitions librarian working for a federal contractor at a federal library.\u00a0 We showed up to shut down and then we all went home.\u00a0 We had no idea how long we would be not working for but many of us went home wondering if we should patiently wait or begin a new job hunt.\u00a0 I spent much of yesterday and today really thinking about this and wanted to provide some tips to those furloughed or even just those out of work on how to job hunt successfully.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Strategize FIRST<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is easy to let panic set in when you know you will have either no paycheck, or less of a paycheck or even a delayed paycheck coming in.\u00a0 You might rush to INALJ Jobs <\/a>or other websites and instantly become overwhelmed at what is (or in some states) what is not out there.\u00a0 We are only on day two of the shutdown so I challenge all potential job hunters to look at this situation and spend the rest of this week evaluating just what it is you are looking for and crafting a strategy for how you will approach this.\u00a0 You need to have a plan in order to use your time efficiently because wasting time is not a luxury any of us should take for granted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WHAT am I looking for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Usually I encourage job hunters to approach their job hunting strategy with ‘where’ they want to live or ‘where’ they are willing to relocate to.\u00a0 But furloughed workers more often are geographically trapped by mortgages or leases or even familial ties like a spouse’s job.\u00a0 These job hunters are often looking in the same geographic area but now need to look in other sectors.\u00a0 Government experience is highly sought everywhere from colleges and universities to law firms to news organizations and other private sector businesses.\u00a0 In the case of librarians in the federal workforce many of us are already not working traditional 1400 series jobs, but as social media and web content managers, program analysts, etc.\u00a0 The doors open to us are much wider.\u00a0 But if you are seriously considering a new career then the first thing you need to do if figure out not only what types of jobs would make you happy but what types of jobs could you really contribute to.\u00a0 This isn’t something that can be figured out in a day so really brainstorm and give it some thought.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WHAT do I want BEYOND the Job<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also remember that work life balance might be something to reevaluate.\u00a0 Will you be able to go from an alternative work schedule into a more typical 9-5 Monday-Friday job?\u00a0 What benefits or flexibilities are you seeking?\u00a0 Really think these through as well.\u00a0 Know what you will and will not compromise on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Come TOGETHER<\/strong><\/p>\n

One lucky thing for me about being in the metro DC area is that many of my friends are in the same boat as me.\u00a0 Use these days off to come together either in person or through social media like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.\u00a0 Find out how your colleagues perceive you and what skill-sets they think are your key ones.\u00a0 This can help you as you strategize what types of jobs you should be looking for.\u00a0 Also reach out to friends outside of government (like universities, etc) who are in your same geographic area for their advice and opinions on the pros and cons of their sectors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NICHE and KNOWNS<\/strong><\/p>\n

We all know that their are library jobs in universities and colleges, special libraries and public libraries.\u00a0 Finding those job on SLA<\/a> and ALAJobList<\/a> as well as INALJ<\/a> and local listservs are great places to start.\u00a0 But what about the jobs that librarians can do because of our skill-sets but are non-traditional and harder to find?\u00a0 This is why I put a list called “Keywords for Job Searching” on the left sidebar of each page of INALJ.com<\/a>, so that you can use these as a spring board.\u00a0 These job titles are some of the ones you can use when using job scrapers like LinkUp<\/a> and Indeed<\/a> to look for jobs.\u00a0 Also remember that many startups and fab businesses list their jobs on the Daily Muse<\/a>.\u00a0 Niche sites can include association sites as well.\u00a0 One of my favorite competitive intelligence job searching sites is the SCiP<\/a> jobs page, the strategic and competitive intelligence association site.\u00a0 Definitely worth checking out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RESUMES (not just one)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember that you need to make multiple resumes for multiple types of jobs you apply to.\u00a0 The government standard of including everything and the bare bones structure that we are used to does not fly in the private sector.\u00a0 For librarians like me it is good not only to update our resumes (see mine here<\/a>) but also check out Open Cover Letters<\/a> for tips on crafting a good cover letter based on the various sectors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ASSOCIATIONS and Volunteering<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you aren’t already volunteering with your local or national associations, or anywhere frankly, now is the time to do so.\u00a0 We all have a few hours in the week we can give and this networking also helps keep us in front of potential employers or at least people who know of job openings.\u00a0 Giving of your time strategically does not mean that you expect that you are giving just to get a reward or potential job, rather I think of giving in a strategic way as showing your best face and helping potential employers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nothing can guarantee you that finding a job will be easy but it is wasting time mass mailing resumes for everything out there and spending time on cover letters if you haven’t first considered what your needs and wants are first is inefficient.\u00a0 Job hunting requires taking the time so you can be your most efficient.\u00a0 Who knows, we may all go back to work this week or next week?\u00a0 But if this shutdown was enough to get you thinking about other possibilities then you owe it to yourself to do a good job of planning first.\u00a0 After all, as anyone in government knows moving slowly is often the choice we make so we make the right choices and understand all risks.\u00a0 You work hard for a career you can be good at and that means taking time to consider everything and make a plan first.\u00a0 Maybe in the end you will realize that this shutdown is a rare occurrence and that your job you are in is the right one for you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Naomi House, MLIS, INALJ Founder and Editor Furloughed & Job Hunting: why strategizing 1st is the key to success On Tuesday I went into work as instructed.\u00a0 My day job is as a reference, marketing and acquisitions librarian working for a federal contractor at a federal library.\u00a0 We showed up to shut down and…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[5457,5455,5454,5456,10,6,6152,5099,5458,5459],"class_list":["post-42364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-federal-libraries","tag-furlough","tag-furloughed","tag-government","tag-inalj","tag-naomi-house","tag-naomi-house-mlis","tag-strategies","tag-strategize","tag-strategy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/naomi-house-cropped2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-b1i","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}