Blog Carnival - Networking After Sudden Job Loss

Jason of the JibberJobber Blog, the current "host" of a blog carnival, asks:

Yikes! You just lost your job! You’ve been so busy at *work* that you don’t feel your network is as strong as you would like it to be! What are you going to do with (and to) your network in the next 6 weeks as you begin an aggresive job search campaign? And, outside of your network, what job search tactics will you employ? Or your best networking tips related to job searches.

I was placed in this situation at the end of August this year. I immediately went to my LinkedIn profile, updated it, and started sending emails to my contacts. Unfortunately, I have not been proactive in being my own career manager, and I haven't kept in touch that well with the contacts in my network. So I mostly sent out "touching base" types of emails, mentioning the recent change in my circumstances where I could, and depending on the relationship with the contact.

I've began looking for other people to add to my network, based on the new relationships I'd formed since I'd last updated my network. I think I'm having to continue to explore different ways to find jobs. I hate having to post a resume blindly online and apply for specific job postings blindly. I much rather enjoy the interactivity from social networking. At the same time, I'm finding that I shouldn't limit myself by not going about the traditional methods of networking.

The other thing I've found from recently finding myself back in the job market is that my skills are not as current as I'd like them to be. So I'm looking at ways to hone them.

I guess that's all I have to say right now.

crossposted to Get That Job!

Related tags:

getthatjob get+that+job job+hunt job+search career+advice networking professional+development dan+johnson blog+carnival jibberjobber