By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

While your resume is a concise 1-2 page marketing piece intended to showcase your skills as they apply to a specific job, LinkedIn is your professional billboard to the whole working world. 

When actively searching and applying for a job, you’ll include your LinkedIn profile on your resume. Hiring managers and recruiters will often view your profile to see which connections you might have in common and to learn more about you in general. Furthermore, recruiters may source you (invite you to apply or interview for an opportunity) based on the content of your profile.

Whether you are actively applying for a new job or simply building your professional network, it's a good idea to review your LinkedIn profile regularly and make updates to ensure your information is current and complete.

Filling in these fields on your LinkedIn profile will make it an even more valuable tool as you build and grow your professional network:
​

• Profile Photo: This is the primary image, displayed in a circular frame, that represents you on LinkedIn. It should be a headshot—a photo featuring a recent picture of you focused on your face. You don’t need to suit-up for this either. Make sure you’re pictured solo, and the photo has the look and feel that best represents you.

 

• Background Photo: When someone views your LinkedIn profile, they’ll see your profile photo, front and center, and your background photo along the top of your profile. Be sure to include a background photo aligned with your professional brand. You can even use a tool like Canva to personalize your background.  

 

• Headline: Your headline defaults to your current job title and company name. Since this is a high-value space, I suggest personalizing this text based on your LinkedIn goals. For example, if you're job searching, consider including your target job title and your most relevant skills. Keep in mind that when you comment on someone's post, they will see your name and the first part of your headline. Overall, the keywords in your headline impact your findability on LinkedIn.
     
• Experience: List your recent work experiences and share a few details on each role. For each job, fill in the required fields, including your dates of employment. For the description, include a sentence or two about what you did and keywords to highlight your skills further. Consider focusing on your last 10-15 years of work experience.

 

• ​Education: Include the schools attended and degrees earned. I suggest leaving off years since they may cause people to speculate on your age or form opinions on your experience level. Adding schools attended here is a great starting point for connecting with others who attended those institutions. 

Here are a few ways to make your LinkedIn profile even more impactful: 

• ​​About Section: The About section is at the top of your LinkedIn profile and gives you a chance to tell. If you're job searching, this is a great place to include details about who you are and what you are looking for in your next role. You also have room to add additional bullet points if you like. Write this in the first person (using “I” language) and further showcase who you are professionally. 

 

• Customize Your Profile URL: By default, your LinkedIn profile's URL (web address) will be long and not very meaningful. You can customize your URL to make it friendly. I suggest using some version of your name. This minor update will look more professional on your resume—and make your profile easier to find. 

 

• Emojis: While you don't want to add too many cutesy emojis, using these tiny graphics is a nice way to break up longer bodies of text. Using a unique graphic for a bulleted list, an envelope next to your email address, or a splash of color to divide up long bodies of text, you can leverage emojis to liven up your profile and posts. 

​

• Skills: Within LinkedIn, you can select up to 50 skills that will be included on your profile. This is another great opportunity to look at keywords you commonly see in job listings for your target role. For added impact, you can indicate which skills you used in the experience section, too. 

What information do you include on your LinkedIn profile and why? What details do you skip and for what reason? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

Whether you're searching for a new role or thinking about your professional development, not having the right words to describe your skillset can hinder your progress. Identifying your career keywords will help you create effective messaging for your LinkedIn profile, resume, conversations with colleagues, and other written communications like email and social media posts. 

Here is my recommendation for how to begin gathering keywords that align with your chosen profession:

• Identify a job title that interests you.
• On LinkedIn, search for job openings for that job title. Make a note of the specific variations on job titles you see in your search results.
• On LinkedIn, save 5 or more jobs that resonate with you. 
• Make a list of the 10 top skills for 3 or more of those roles you saved. 
• Identify which keywords you saw more than once and look for trends.
• Make special note of keywords that resonate with you. Keep a running list of terms and update it as you encounter new terminology. 

Let me take you through an example.

I searched LinkedIn's Jobs section for Business Partner Organizational Development in the United States. From the results, I selected ten currently open positions to review further (because I'm an overachiever like that). Here are those job titles:
​

1. ​Director, People Experience
2. Lead People Business Partner
3. Learning and Development Business Partner
4. Organizational Development Partner
5. Organizational Development Program Manager
6. People Business Partner
7. People Business Partner Director
8. People Partner
9. Principle People Business Partner
10. Senior People Success Partner

Lesson Learned: When you search for a job title, your results will include a variety of titles different companies use. Be sure to review the job description to learn more about what that company expects from that role. The duties for the same job title might vary widely from company to company, as might the terminology they use to describe it.

Total Number of Different Skills Returned for All Ten Jobs
For the 10 jobs I reviewed, 69 different skills were included in the results. For context, if all roles had the exact same skills, this number would be 10. If all of the roles had different skills, this number would be 100. 

Lesson Learned: ​Not only will job titles vary across organizations, but what skills they value can also differ.  Be sure to review the job description to learn more about what skills the company thinks will help make someone in that role successful. 

Specific Skills Returned For More Than One Job
Several skills came up more than once across those ten jobs. Here is the number of times a specific skill appeared for more than one role:
​

• Communication: 6
• Human Resources: 6
• Employee Relations: 6
• Employee Engagement: 4
• Problem Solving: 4
• Talent Management: 3
• Confidentiality: 2
• Group Facilitation: 2
• Organizational Development: 2
• Succession Planning: 2
• Teamwork: 2
• Workforce Planning: 2
• Written Communication: 2

Lesson Learned: ​Even if there is not widespread agreement on the terminology used across organizations, some keywords will show up more often. Consider including popular keywords in your skills section on your LinkedIn profile and in your resume.

Different Keywords for Similar Skills 
While specific keywords like "communication" and "problem solving" appeared more than once within the 10 job descriptions, several related terms might be included instead. Here are a few groups of terms that take different approaches to describing similar concepts:
​

• Succession Planning, Workforce Planning, Talent Strategy
• Communication, Written Communication, Interpersonal Communication
• Build Strong Relationships, Relationship Building, Relationship Development
• Consultation, Consultative Approach, Influencing Others
• Facilitation, Group Facilitation, Presentations,
• Flexible Approach, Free Thinking, Problem Solving
• Performance Planning, Performance Consulting, Performance Review
• Confidentiality, Sensitive Information, HR Policies

Lesson Learned: When you look at the groupings of keywords, you can see the broader areas where roles like this would operate. Each company may use slightly different terminology regarding the skills that they value. When you talk about the work you do, consider weaving some of these words into your stories. 

How do you identify the right keywords to use to describe what you do? How could you loop in AI into this process? Share your thoughts in the comments.

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

Whether you're actively job searching or just trying to build your professional network, sharing content on social media is a great way to demonstrate your value. By identifying topics that people with your professional focus care about and sharing related content, you will help people associate your name with those areas of expertise. 

While regularly sharing content is valuable, it can also be time-consuming. Here are three tools I regularly use to organize and streamline this process.  

On LinkedIn, you will share some content that you directly create. This might include a post about an event you attended, your career news, or your observations on a given topic. When it comes to LinkedIn, most of my content includes articles on critical topics of interest, with some introductory commentary framing the value I see in the article. 

This means I need to locate and collect those articles to post them as needed.  

One way I locate helpful content on each topic is to set up a Google Alert for keywords or phrases relevant to my professional skill set. Each Google Alert sends you an email with new online content regularly. Here are a few examples of what Google Alerts you may want to set up:
​

• As a project manager, you may set up alerts for keywords like these:
  agile, change management, project management, scope creep, Gantt Chart.
• As a salesperson, you may set up alerts for keywords like these:
  social selling, prospecting, lead generation, territory management.
• As a learning & development specialist, you may set up alerts for keywords like these: instructional design, e-learning, facilitation, training needs analysis.

After you identify the keywords for topics that people in your industry talk about, create alerts to keep a steady stream of content coming to you. 

Flipboard serves two essential purposes. First, you can follow exciting topics and see content other users share. Second, you can use Flipboard to create magazines on a given subject area and bookmark content that interests you for later use. 

Here are a few ways you might find content to save in a Flipboard magazine: 
​

• As a project manager, while scanning a newsletter from the Project Management Institute, you read an article entitled "Top Five Causes of Scope Creep." You save the article in your Project Management magazine for later reference. 
• As a salesperson, one of your team members mentions an article they found on Hubspot about sales prospecting techniques you should use according to data. You Google the phrase and save the article you find to your Prospecting magazine to review later.
• As a learning & development specialist, while reading through blog articles from your favorite talent development blogger, you run across a great article  about the importance of choosing the right graphics for an e-learning course to minimize learner cognitive load. You add it to your Instructional Design Best Practices magazine to share on LinkedIn or with collegues at a later time.

Gathering possible information to post when you run across it, organizing it, and making it easy to access will save you a lot of time figuring out what to post.

While the other two tools are about finding and organizing possible content to post, now let's look at a tool to schedule those posts.

There are several tools available to help you manage social media posts. Currently, I use Buffer. This online platform has a free version that will enable you to manage posting on up to three social media platforms. When my goal is building my professional network and job searching, I focus on LinkedIn. 

Buffer enables you to create, schedule, and update posts as needed. When searching for a new role, I may post as often as daily. When focusing on building or maintaining my network, I may post once or twice a week. The Learn More section includes recommendations on how often and at what times you may want to share content for the greatest impact.

Creating  A Post

When I create a post to share an article, I often include the following details:

• A short statement framing up the article I'm sharing.
• A link to the article.
• One to five hashtags to drive viewership.
• Optional: a call to action.

​
Here are a few examples:

• As a project manager, you might post the following:
  
  I'm a project manager who leads enterprise-wide software implementations and focuses on keeping my projects on time and within budget. Part of that is staying clear on what is "in scope" and "out of scope" for projects.
  
  Check out this article on the "Top Five Causes of Scope Creep" for a reminder on root causes and how to manage them. Number three is the one I battle constantly: http://www.scopecreeparticleurl.com
  
  #projectmanagement #scopecreep
• As a salesperson, you might post the following:
  
  As a high-performing salesperson, I'm always learning new ways to find new potential clients. This article from HubSpot outlines data-driven sales prospecting techniques you should add to your overall prospecting strategy: http://www.salesprospectingarticle.com
  
  What is your go-to strategy for prospecting?
  
  #sales #prospecting #pipelinebuilding #sellallthethings ​
  
• As a learning & development specialist, you might post the following:
  
  If you've ever taken online compliance training, I'm sure you've seen courses where the content is not aligned with the graphics. Why in the moment, those "group of people in suits with their thumbs up" pictures may just seem oddly placed. In reality, those unrelated pictures make learning harder. This is due to the additional cognitive load required for the learner to grasp the information. 
  
  To learn more about cognitive load and how to manage it well, check out this article: http://www.cognitiveloadarticle.com 
  
  ​#learninganddevelopment #instructionaldesign #elearning #cognitiveload​  

When it comes to job searching, professional networking is a critical component of success. Ideally, you make initial connections with people through LinkedIn (maybe even after meeting them in person or at an online group event). While this is a great start, there is value in building relationships beyond that initial connection. A 1:1 meeting can significantly strengthen a networking relationship​ and help you learn how you and your new connection can help one another succeed.

So what exactly is a networking meeting? Back in the day, I remember hearing people talk about doing "informational interviews." In short, if you were interested in having a particular job or working with a specific company, you would contact an organization or individual and ask if they would meet you for an informational interview. In this 1:1 meeting, which could take place via phone or in person, you might learn about the company, what they are looking for, skills to acquire, and more. It also allowed you to start to build a relationship with a company--or a possible advocate in the person doling out said information. 

Fast forward to now. Today, a networking meeting is typically between you and another person deciding to spend a half hour-ish together. This meeting, sometimes called a coffee chat, could happen virtually via Zoom or in person, often over coffee.

If you're job searching, the typical focus will be on how to progress in your job search. Someone may agree to a networking meeting because you have things in common (like a field of work, background, professional goals), because they are generally committed to helping people when they are job searching, or because you have a mutual acquaintance to ask that person to meet with you to help you out.

Whenever you have an opportunity to meet one-on-one with someone, remember that you are taking part in a type of informal interview. Whenever I meet with someone in career transition, my goal is to help them figure out their next steps, offer advice (if they ask and are interested), and give them ideas on further steps they might take, including who they should speak with next 

While I go in with this idea, the amount of help I'll provide also depends on how this networking meeting goes. Ideally, we have a good, productive conversation, and I think to myself, "I totally want to help this person more."

If the meeting goes well, I'll refer them to specific resources that might benefit them (like a networking group they might want to join, a company to check out, someone to follow on LinkedIn) and even put in a good word for them to have a networking meeting with someone else who might get them closer to their goals.

In addition, if it goes REALLY well, this is a person who I'll refer to others for openings, pass on job opportunities, and maybe even hire someday. If the meeting doesn't go well, I'll share a few resources, but I may not be willing to help them as actively moving forward. 

Remember, any interaction you have with people will impact their desire to help you in the future.

Here are a few best practices for networking meetings:

• Thank the person for meeting with you and for their input.
• Let the person know your goals for the networking meeting.
• Let the other person talk. Remember, you're there to learn from them. Be sure to listen to what they have to say!
• Ask them for the advice they wish they had received.
• Ask them for their recommendations on the next steps you should take.
• Ask them what you can do for them. Remember, they typically meet with you because someone they value asked them or they genuinely want to help. Be sure to return the favor!
• Be ready to help that person in the future--whether it's liking one of their LinkedIn posts, sharing a post they made, or helping them promote a job opening they have. Be a good LinkedIn/professional networking neighbor. 
• Send them a quick thank you message afterward and reiterate any next steps you talked about.
• Follow up with anyone who they introduce you to. Even if you end up not doing a lot with that connection, be sure to be professional about it all. 

When people talk about how they "networked" into a new job, typically, that means they leveraged their initial connections to help make inroads with new contacts, who helped them get closer to a new position.

​The holy grail of networking meetings is when the person you meet with agrees to introduce you to someone else they know who could help you. That process repeats until you're talking to a hiring manager or influencer who can help you get an interview for a job. Having good networking meetings is a critical step in that process.

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

Whether you are actively searching for a new role, or just have an eye out for a new position, it's important to do your homework. It's important to remember that the company is not just interviewing you for a position. You are also interviewing the company to make sure they meet your requirements for what you want and need in an employer.

When researching, remind yourself of the value of seeking information from multiple viewpoints. You'll gather different, yet often equally valuable, information from the company website, news sources, online review sites, and speaking with individuals who have direct experience working for the organization. 

Let's examine why, when, and how to conduct your vetting process.

When researching a company, start with the online sites that the company runs. This includes their company website, their LinkedIn company page, and their other social media presences. Your main goals include finding out more about the company and the logistics of working there to help you decide if the company seems like a good fit for you and is aligned with your career goals. 

Here are a few ideas on what to look for: 

• Is their online presence complete and professional? Is the information current?
• What details do they have online about their value proposition for employees? Do they mention employee perks, benefits, or their company culture?
• What industry are they in? How many people work there?
• ​What are their working arrangements?
• Have they won any awards?
• How are they active in the community?
• On LinkedIn,  are you connected with any of their employees?
• What is their address? If applicable, do they have office locations near you? For a possible remote position, is anyone else in the state in which you live employed there?​ 
• Is there recent company report on the website? How have their financials been recently?

Once you have looked at company-run sites, it's helpful to do an online search to see how and when they are showing up in the news. You're looking for good and not-so-good information on the organization, as reported in the news. To do this, you could type in the company's full name and the word news, all in quotes, in your favorite search engine. Alternatively, you could type in the company's name in quotes, then click the news link on your favorite search engine. 

Here are a few ideas on what to look for: 
​

• Company accomplishments and recent awards.
• Leadership and key staffing changes.
• Good works in the community.
• Activities or events they sponsored.
• Any legal news or actions.
• Previous or planned layoffs.
• Announcements about changes in company structure or ownership.

After looking at the news, it's helpful to look at online reviews for the company. Remember, often, when people write reviews, they are either ecstatic or disgruntled--sometimes without much in between. For comparison, think about how you would rate a recent employer based on the best day you ever had at work there as compared to your worst day at work--and that both were valid in those moments.

Here are a few places to look that are focused on gathering and sharing opinions about organizations:
​

• For general impressions of the company, visit The Better Business Bureau.
• To see history or plans for layoffs, search for WARN notices and your state.
• To hear what current or past employees have to say, visit Glassdoor.com.
• To hear what current or past employees have to say, visit Indeed.com.
• Search for review sites of the company's products and services.

In addition to the news, reports on websites, and anonymous feedback, reaching out to people with experience at a given company for additional insights is also valuable. This is where you can leverage your professional network to connect with people who have firsthand experience. 

Here are a few ideas for how to find out more: 
​

• On LinkedIn, look at the company's current employees. Search those employees for someone who is one of your current connections. Reach out to that person to ask about their experience working with the company. 
• On LinkedIn, look at the company's current employees. See if you have a second-degree connection with any of the company's current employees. Reach out to that person to ask if they are willing to introduce you to someone at that organization.
• Contact key members of professional organizations where you are a member. Ask if anyone there has insight on the company or knows someone who does. As for either an introduction or any insights they have to share. 

What else do you do to research a company? Include your ideas in the comments. 

Pre-pandemic, "networking" typically meant attending in-person events, shaking a few hands, and having a somewhat meaningful conversation with another human. While in-person opportunities are again plentiful, webinars continue to be popular since they are a flexible way to bring people together to learn. Be sure to think of your network during virtual events, too.

Like many people, I have attended (and delivered) approximately a bijillion online meetings, trainings, and interactive instructor-led sessions. I've been approaching these sessions with a mind towards not just attending, but also making new connections. Although the process differs from in-person interaction with people, I have managed to connect with more people (and often form more meaningful connections) than attending in-person meetings and “working the room.” As someone who is introverted by nature, and communicates effectively in writing, this was an opportunity to turn webinars into a bonus network-building exercise.

When attending a webinar, I make sure that people are able to see who I am, my full name, and a picture, if at all possible. I use the same photo I use on LinkedIn so that people associate me with that picture. I also make sure that my first and last name are present so people have a chance of being able to find me after the session--or will recognize my name. 

In addition, during the webinar, I interact during the session. This usually involves commenting in the chat when prompted--which is also an opportunity for other attendees to see my full name. During any small group interactions, I'm sure to turn my camera on so people can see my face, hear my voice, and see my name. If the presenter asks people to share out loud, I usually turn on my camera, and share my thoughts. Again, this is another opportunity for people to hear my voice, see my face, and see my name. Each of these "impressions" helps people start to get to know me at least a little bit. 

During a webinar, I often take a screenshot of the participant list and a gallery of attendees if people are on camera. Whenever possible, download the chat from the session. This helps me identify who was active in the webinar and gives me additional information on anything they might have shared during the session. I also often write handwrittern notes to help me remember attendees and their conributions during the webinar. These details can help me build a personal connection with these people later when I sent LinkedIn connection requests.

Now that LinkedIn limits the number of personalized connection requests those with the basic membership receive each month, sending everyone a personalized connection request might not be an option for you.

In those cases, here are a few other ways to show your value to a potential connection: 

• Send a non-personalized request right after the event ends. This way, people may associate you with the webinar you just attended.
• Take a moment to react to and/or comment on recent LinkedIn posts made by your potential connection. This way, they may recognize your name and be more likely to accept your connection request.
• Make sure your headline is descriptive and up to date. This way, when people receive a non-personalized connection request, they at least have a better sense of who you are from your headline.

How do you further nurture that relationship? Here are a few ideas.

• React to other people's posts.
• Comment on other people's posts with your insights.
• Share someone's post to your feed and @mention them to thank them for sharing the information.
• Send a quick message to a connection sharing helpful information they will appreciate. 
• Congratulate people on their career milestones and successes.
• Wish them a happy holiday/Friday/weekend on occasion.

After connecting with people initially, be sure to continue to nurture those connections. Posting useful content or occasionally messaging them are two ways you can do that. Ideally, you can add value to the relationship before you are in a position where you need to ask those individuals for help. 

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

Connecting with someone on LinkedIn is a great way to start a formalized relationship with someone in your professional network. While that is a great start, deepening those relationships is a helpful next step to get more value out of LinkedIn. Let's look at a few ways to do just that. 

Interacting with  posts on LinkedIn is a great way to continue to build relationships with your connections and demonstrate your professional value. Not only is this a great way to build your credibility with many connections at the same time, it also gives you an opportunity to showcase your knowledge without having to choose the initial content for the post. You can also use your comments to interact with others and even use this as a starting point to invite other commenters to connect. 

If someone posts something of value to your connections, you may want to comment on the post itself and then consider reposting it with your comments. When you repost content, first, you'll see anything you typed, then LinkedIn will include the entire original post. This helps the original post get additional views and also enables you to share useful content with your network.

​When I repost content, I usually include "Thanks [original poster] for sharing this information!" To include the original poster's name, include the @, then type the first part of their name, and choose their name from the options provided. (This is often called an "at mention." This will tag them in the post so they can interact with your new post, which will help boost the number of people who see the post. 

Sharing content on LinkedIn is a great way to engage with your connections, add value to your professional relationships, and promote who you are and what you know. Unfortunately, very few people ever post anything at all--which is a huge missed opportunity to differentiate yourself from others in your field. 

Another question that comes up is the frequency of posting. I recommend posting on LinkedIn no more than once a day and posting one to four times per week. Use your favorite search engine for recommendations on the best times and days of the week to post to get the most views on your posts.
​

As for content, you don't have to write a lengthy, original manifesto to post on LinkedIn and make an impact. ​Personally, most of the content I share on LinkedIn includes some version of the following:
​

• Context: A sentence or two introducing information and sharing context.
• A Resource: A link to an article, post, or eye-catching graphic.
• Keywords: 2-4 hashtags to make my post more findable.

Once you make a post, be sure to like any comments other people make on your post and even reply to each comment. The more likes and comments you receive on your post, the more people will see it. This will continue to build your professional brand and add value to the networking relationships you are fostering through LinkedIn. 

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

When I think about building my professional network, adding new LinkedIn connections is one of my markers of success. I use LinkedIn as a tool to create, build, track, and maintain my professional relationships. 

When I first started using LinkedIn, I connected with people I had met in person. At that time, my network mainly included the following people: 
​

• Family and friends
• Current and former coworkers
• Current and former business associates (vendor contacts, customers, contractors)
• Colleagues from professional development groups
• People I met in person or via phone/webinar in a business setting
• People I met through introductions from my current professional connections

When the pandemic hit, I realized I needed to shift my approach, or I would not meet anyone new--and I've continued to add to my professional network. I also realized that since more companies were open to hiring remote people, I needed to broaden my network beyond the people I would encounter in person. In addition to the people I used to connect with, I now also started proactively sending connection requests to the following types of people:
​

• Other members of my LinkedIn groups
• People in my geographical area
• People in the fields of talent development, change management, instructional design, and organizational design
• People who work for companies that interest me
• Recruiters
• People with common interests or experiences
• People with mutual connections
• People who presented at sessions I attended
• People who attended online sessions that I also attended

Again, the more people I meet, and the more people I connect with who know about my professional value, the better I will be able to find a new role that meets my requirements more quickly.

I often connect with people when there are specific reasons to connect that are noteworthy, including the following:
​

• People recently laid off:  I empathize with their job loss, mention job search-related resources, and invite them to connect.
• People recently hired: I congratulate them on their new role, mention our commonality, and invite them to connect.
• People who just completed a degree, certification, or other educational program: I congratulate them on their accomplishments, mention any commonality we have, and invite them to connect. 

Since LinkedIn now limits the basic account to only 5 personalized connection requests per month, I adopt multiple strategies to build rapport with people. In some cases, I still send a personalized connection request. This can be especially helpful when I send a connection request to someone I have not met before. 

I include the following components when personalizing a connection request:
​

• Greeting: Hi, [person’s first name spelled correctly].
• Personal Note: Include details on how you met, compliment them on a previous post, share a helpful tip, comment on their situation, or point out something we have in common.
• Invitation to Connect: I’d like to add you to my professional network. and/or Let’s connect!
• Signature: [Your Name] 

Personalizing a connection request isn't the only way to help you gain that new connection. Here are a few tips you can use without a paid LinkedIn subscription: 
​

• Make sure your profile headline is descriptive. When people see your connection request, and look at your headline, seeing "Looking for my next opportunity" tells them far less about you. Instead, starting with your area of focus, industry, desired job title, or other specifics will give them more reason to connect with you.
• Interact with one of their recent posts. This helps boost how many people see their post and they will see your name, profile picture, and start of your headline. This name recognition make them more likley to accept your connection request. 

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

After nine months of career transition and a few unexpected twists and turns, my seventh post-layoff job search ended successfully in gainful employment. 

Take a look at my lessons learned this time around. 

​People often ask how long a career transition lasts. To give a partial answer to that question, here is my unscientific, skewed-sample-size data on how long each of my periods of post-layoff career transition have lasted.

The time listed starts with my last day of work with my previous employer (aka "Layoff Day") and ends with my first workday in a new role:

• October 10 - April 8, 180 days (6 months)
• February 2 - May 27, 114 days (not quite 4 months)
• June 5 - August 14, 70 days (just over 2 months)
• October 16 - March 12, 147 days (not quite 5 months)
• September 22 - December 2, 71 days  (just over 2 months)
• March 8 - April 27, 50 days (not quite 2 months)
• September 21 - June 12, 264 days (not quite 9 months)

Overall, my average time in career transition is 128 days (just over 4 months). 
Layoff #7 was the longest one I've had so far, and 3 months longer than my previous record.

There are a few key factors that made this period of career transition longer than after my previous layoffs:
​

• Time of year: 3 of the 4 times I have been laid off in the fall, I have not found a new role until after the holidays. In general, I find that if I have not accepted a new role before Thanksgiving, it takes me until at least March to land a job. Being unemployed over the holidays adds 1-2 months on to the total time in transition. 
• Other layoffs: The flood of mortgage company and tech company layoffs starting in the fall of 2022 made the market very competitive with lots and lots of job seekers.
• Initial focus on remote work only: Early in my job search, I was focusing primarily on roles with 100% remote work. I learned that many of these roles had hundreds of applications since now people from around the country, not just one localized geographic area, were applying. 

In April, when I re-launched my job search, I changed my overall approach. 

• I was open to a wider variety of job titles and placed a heavier focus on core responsibilities. 
• I focused on companies with a presence in Nebraska.
• I was more open to hybrid roles. 
• I relied more heavily on formal and informal referrals. 

At this point in my job search, I had also built stronger relationships with my colleagues in my Omaha-area professional development groups. When I first launched my job search in the fall, I had only been in the area for 2 months. Between then and April, I had met more people in person, talked with them in meetings, presented to groups, and helped a few of them solve business problems. I'm sure getting to know me better and working alongside me helped them to feel more comfortable speaking to my skillset and recommending me as my job search progressed. 

Whether you are employed and searching for a role that is a better match or in a post-layoff career transition, job searching has many challenges. Perhaps the most frustrating part is that you can't control when you will get a new job. The whole process takes as long as it takes. To make the waiting and uncertainty more bearable, focusing on the aspects of your job search you can control is helpful. 

When working toward a goal, it's always helpful to identify your goals and track your progress toward those goals. This will also help you to evaluate what you are doing and adjust as needed to help you see greater success. There are two kinds of indicators to help measure success: leading indicators and lagging indicators. 

When working toward a goal, most people focus on lagging indicators. In a work setting, if I deliver a training session to help boost product sales, future sales numbers are a lagging indicator. Many factors contributing to future sales are outside my control—like what competing products exist, commission rates, or market conditions. Ultimately, sales numbers are a lagging indicator of success because they show up later on.

Focusing on lagging indicators is how we are encouraged to measure progress in much of life. We look to the scale to show us if we lost weight, our temperature to see if we are healthy, and an accepted job offer as proof of results. While these are all the ultimate measures of success, they are the outputs of many tangible factors we can track and control. Which brings us to...

Along the way, it’s more helpful to focus on leading indicators. These are the easily measurable, countable, check-off-able items that are within your control. In my sales training scenario, leading indicators of success would include holding the training session, the number of attendees, knowledge check results from each participant, and the presence of a reference document. I can control all of these things, count them, and check off tasks completed.

Focusing on the right leading indicators doesn't guarantee I'll achieve my lagging indicators of increased sales, but that success is more likely to happen. Similarly, if I commit to the daily tasks of walking for 30 minutes, eating 5 servings of vegetables, and drinking 64 ounces of water per day, I am positioning myself for more success in my weight loss goal. Those right actions, and tweaking them as needed, will eventually lead to that number on the scale moving in the right direction. 

Within the context of a job search, here are a few lagging indicators of job search progress. You can also not directly control these actions happening:

• Finding a current employee to refer me for a specific job at their company.
• Getting a collegues to put in a good word for me with a potential employer.
• Hearing back from an employer about an initial interview.
• Being invited to a follow-up or final job interview.
• Recieving a job offer.

All these lagging are definitive, and are indicators of legitimate progress toward getting a new job. You also can not directly make any of these things happen. 

During your job search, it's important to focus on activities that can position you to reach those milestones. Here are the broad areas you can impact:
​

• Build or strengthen networking connections with people who work in my industry or for a possible employer (which may lead to a referral)
• Highlight my professional skillset through my LinkedIn profile (which may lead to an employer reaching out about an open position)
• Apply for jobs that are a good fit for me (which may lead to a call back)
• Improve how I position my work experience (which may lead to my resume being selected for an initial phone screen)

Now, turn those squishier ideas into leading indicators. Do this by creating specific, countable, check-off-able tasks on your to-do list. Here are a few examples: 

• On LinkedIn, spend 15 minutes each weekday reacting to and commenting on posts made by my connections and companies that I follow.
• On LinkedIn, make a post each Tuesday at 10:00 am that starts with a sentence about a valuable skill I have and includes a link to an article about that skill. 
• On LinkedIn, make a post each Thursday at 2:00 pm that includes a work-relevant inspirational quote.
• On LinkedIn, send five requests to connect with new people each week.
• Identify five jobs that meet my job search criteria.
• Apply for three jobs with tailored resumes.
• On LinkedIn, follow the LinkedIn page for each company where I apply.
• Take part in at least one professional development activity per week.

Having this list of tangible actions to take will keep you on track to achieve your goal of finding a new job.

Some weeks, you do a lot of waiting, which makes you feel like you are terrible at everything and destined to be stuck right where you are. Other weeks, people will trip over one another clamoring to talk with you about yet another amazing job opportunity. During those weeks, you feel like this is all easy and you can do no wrong. Stay the course and keep on keeping on knowing that eventually something will pop.

How do you sustain momentum during your job search? Share your thoughts in the comments.