Tag: job search

Being the new kid…

I have an interview next week! I’m trying not to get ahead of myself but naturally my mind has raced ahead to what the first day at a new job might be like.

My last first day was in September 2018 and it was not what I had expected. The culture at Walgreens at that time was that when you introduced yourself to anyone, you told them how long you had been with the company. And my team was all very proud of how long they had been with the company. It was a little bit intimidating because I was the first person to come from outside Walgreens in a long time and to be honest, they were not as welcoming as they could have been. There were also a couple of people who weren’t selected to be promoted into my role so I get why they were less than thrilled to meet me.

However, I’m always in it for the long run. It might have been a slow start but about a year later, my team was MY team. I’m a firm believer in getting the lay of the land and figuring out how people/processes/systems work before I make any pronouncements about making changes. That way, when I initiate a change I know where the pitfalls might be and I don’t make changes that just can’t work because of systems or process constraints.

I think you need to know why things are the way they are before you try to change them. I also think this is something that too many managers don’t do. Managers, Directors, VPs, CEOs – too many times they make pronouncements about change and they don’t take the time to understand how things got to where they are. I understand business urgency – but if you don’t know how things really work, how do you really know how to change them for the better? This is my BIGGEST business pet peeve. What’s yours? Tell me in the comments!

Wellness on the Job Hunt

I went to dinner with an old friend last night and she made a point about asking me how I was doing mentally through the job hunt. And I have to say, I think I’m doing surprisingly well. I’ve been referring to my mental health since I restarted this blog to help capture everything around my job search. I won’t lie – during my last job search, I didn’t do as well.

But I’ve approached everything differently this time. It’s helpful that my personal life isn’t as stressful as it was last time. And oddly, I think a silver lining of Covid is that I’m so used to being at home alone with my computer, that this job search is really just a shift in what I’m doing and on what computer. I mean seriously – one of my biggest challenges to date has been to get used to using my Macbook again rather than my old Walgreens PC!

This time, I haven’t been shy about reaching out to old friends. Last time, I was really embarrassed about being laid off and I shouldn’t have been! This time I have no shame about it. What has happened at Walgreens was nothing I could control so I am having no problem saying I was impacted in a mass layoff. That doesn’t seem like a huge shift but for me, it has been. My friends have been nothing but supportive too. So while I’d like to be working, I’m also loving having the time to meet up with people I haven’t seen in years.

The other thing I’m doing differently this time is being much more balanced in my job search/life activities. Last time, I sat at the computer for HOURS AND HOURS at a time scrolling job boards and making myself crazy second guessing what I wanted to do next. This time, I’ve narrowed down the types of roles I want to look at. I’m being thoughtful about what industries I’d like to work in and I’m alternating looking at job boards with taking training that will either sharpen existing skills – or is just about something I’m interested in. I took a seminar on AI last week that was fascinating! (I’ll be following up on that one – I’m having too much fun playing with ChatGPT now!)

And I’m scheduling time for me. I take walks. I’m doing some long delayed projects around the house. I’m crocheting like crazy and even selling some of my work. I’m planning some travel. I’m perfecting my recipe for Oatmeal Raisin cookies. So the balance between the stress of looking for a new job and spending time doing things that make me happy is really keeping things in perspective. Am I thrilled to be unemployed? Certainly not – but I’m keeping the mood swings the job search can cause to a minimum and that feels like a victory.

Are you in a job search too? Need a little advice on keeping your mental equilibrium? Try the tips at this link! https://www.nlsnow.com/resources/the-impact-of-mental-health-on-your-job-search-and-career

Busy Day!

To-do Tuesday and I have a lot of to-dos today! Which makes me happy! Take it from me – there’s nothing worse than only having scrolling job boards as the priority for the day. I’ve been doing some on-line training series to fill time and sharpen up my skills, but I LOVE having a real to-do list for the day today.

It’s a networking day – for brunch, I’m meeting an old friend who is also on a job search. And for dinner, I’m meeting an old friend who is now a CMO so both ends of the job spectrum? It will be good for me mentally to see both of them and I’m really looking forward to seeing both of them.

In between, I have some sanding to do on the wall prep I did yesterday for painting, a trip to the grocery and a couple of other errands planned. So it will be a full day, I’ll be out of the house and the sun is shining. It’s a GOOD DAY!!!!!

Happy President’s Day!

For all the Presidents from George to Joe, I hope you’re having a Happy Holiday Monday! I’m catching up on a little paperwork and then in time-honored 3-day holiday tradition, I’m going to be doing a project from my home DIY list. Today? Paint prep!

I had my living room painted last spring and I’ve been procrastinating at finishing up. The painter did most of the room – it has a 15 foot vaulted ceiling so you know I’m not tall enough to manage that! But I wanted to do the painting around the hall closet and stairway – and between work, travel, the weather and not being able to pick the exact shade of yellow I wanted, it’s been put off way too long. Today that comes to an end.

See you all back at work tomorrow!

Old Thinking?

I attended a webinar yesterday about how job searching has changed and was REALLY surprised by some of the old thinking of some of the attendees. Some of them had never heard of the Applicant Tracking Systems! That was frightening.

I have been writing and rewriting and rewriting my resume and then tweaking each resume to use terminology and highlight my past achievements to match every job description for each role I apply for.  I’m trying to crack the code for the ATS every time I apply. It’s time consuming and can be frustrating to try to second guess the systems that screen you before a human ever sees your resume.

That’s why I’m networking so furiously. Some days the networking is fun – I’m loving catching up with people I worked with during my agency career in New York. Some days it’s just hard – and I get it. People are busy with their own work, their own families, their own passion projects and spending time letting me pick their brains is far down the priority list.

So this isn’t much of a throwback, but I’m hoping if anyone ever reached out to me for help in a job search, I at least tried for you. I think I have – but if I ever let something fall through the cracks, I apologize here and now. Pay it forward people – if you have an opportunity to impact someone’s career and life, please take it!

Mental Health – Decluttering

You can always tell where I am mentally by how clean my house is. I tend to be a clean freak – but when I’m stressed out or down, I stop cleaning. Apparently that isn’t uncommon. And I often find that cleaning will lift my mood. Right now, the house is pretty good – but today is the start of Lent and I’m diving into the 40 Bags in 40 Days declutter challenge.

I did this a few years ago and it was fabulous mentally and for my home. All you do, is every day during Lent, target an area of your home and fill a bag to either sell, donate or throw away. It encourages you to have discipline about some extra attention to your home – and gets rid of a LOT of clutter. OCD person that I am – I’ve made a simple spreadsheet to track what I clean and what I’m doing with my bag every day.

Don’t freak out – the bag can just be a grocery bag. Or it can be a Waste Management bagster if you need an industrial size bag! But at the end of Lent, you’ll have a clean house and a leg up on Spring Cleaning. And I bet you’ll feel a lot better without the clutter too.

Need some more info about this kind of challenge? Check out these links!

Rewriting my resume…

My big to-do today is to rewrite my resume. Again. I met with my outplacement coach yesterday and we went through my resume. I thought I had done a good job updating it but BOY did she point out some places that need improvement. So I have work to do….

I’m also deep networking again. I spoke with a friend of mine yesterday that did a career change a couple of years ago. He’s in a good place now but says it was rough. I’m still all in on marketing but I always think it might be a good idea to get a project management certificate. I’m generally VERY organized, deadline driven and love to write presentations so project management always seems like an attractive alternative to marketing. I just can’t give up my love of figuring out how to connect a brand and a consumer though!

If I had my life to do over though, I’m wondering if I should have followed my first career ambition and went into physical therapy. The therapist at the hospital where I volunteered might not have done me any favors when he told me I was too petite to be a therapist. And life happened with my Mom passing away so going to college for business administration/marketing seemed like the right thing to do at the time. But it isn’t illegal to wonder is it?

OK – gotta go. I have a deadline to get my resume back to my coach!

New Week – New Start

So the weekend was kind of a downer – I got not one but TWO automated “thanks but no thanks” emails on job applications on Saturday night. What’s up with that? The automated systems just want to ruin our weekends? 

So now it’s Monday and I just certified for unemployment for the first time. That was weird. I’m still VERY uncomfortable with the whole unemployment thing. I want to work, not collect. Sigh….

And because it’s a new week and I’m logging the “no thank you” emails, I’ve opted to put all my job search activity into a spreadsheet this morning instead of the notebook I’ve been using. Nothing like a little digitizing to get my week off on a good note? 

I’m the queen of organizing. I’ve color coded my new spreadsheet to reflect what version of resume I used and I’m toying with using a drop down menu to make logging the source of the job lead easier. It’s certainly going to be easier to use the spreadsheet to track the followups I’ve been doing. So now I’m off to start my weekly follow ups – wish me luck please?