We've been talking about the moment or moments in everybody's career when the ax falls and we don't know where to go next. Last week, we discussed the emotional part of handling the crisis. Now let's get into the mechanics.

A Transition Strategy

The first thing executives and managers need to do when losing a job is to gather their emotions and reflect about what they want to do next. After making these difficult decisions it's a matter of going out and getting the right position. Action strategies in a search process include:

Defining the target market(s): Who are the potential employers in a particular industry? How many exist nationally or in a targeted geographic region? If that number isn't large enough to make it realistic to find a position, you'll need to broaden the scope of your search.

Developing your personal brand: The essence of a job campaign can be reduced to two words: "Why you?" So ask yourself: Why you? What is the value equation you offer to your target organizations? How do you differentiate yourself from other candidates?

Promoting the brand: Create "marketing materials" such as a résumé, cover letters and references that support your brand. Distribute the materials through the distribution channels that are central to any job search: published openings, recruiters and networking.

Developing your story: "So why did you leave your last job?" Every recruiter and potential employer will ask you that. Make sure you have a well thought-out response that is short, credible and positive. Prepare for follow-up questions.

The Happy Ending

The final phase of career crisis management is the happy ending. Be ready to make a smart decision when the right opportunity presents itself. I tell people not to take the first job offered just because it's the first job offered, nor to turn it down just because it's the first job offered. Develop criteria for evaluating offers.

Maybe you'll decide to use your termination experience as a springboard for a completely different career track like working at a nonprofit, pursuing entrepreneurship, consulting or engaging in a "portfolio career" comprised of multiple components. Again, the key to the happy ending is to choose wisely.

Conclusion

Let me leave you with these final thoughts. Life goes on after termination. There is always a next job even if that next job takes a while to find. And very often that next job is much more rewarding and exhilarating than the previous one. Years later, when you look back at the course of your career, you might come to realize that getting fired enabled you to grow, change and advance. You might even chalk up the whole termination experience as not only a positive but an essential one.

Wishing you career success,

Lauryn Franzoni
ExecuNet
www.execunet.com

QUIZ

Posting Your Resume on the Internet

By Glenn Demby

I set out to write a quiz to test how much you know about posting a resume online. But I found that somebody had beaten me to the punch-a company called Cobblestone Career Management in the historic New England town of Framingham, Mass. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I've taken the liberty of editing this excellent quiz. I also highly recommend that you check out their site, www.cobblestonecareer.com, for career guidance. It's a gem.

TRUE OR FALSE?

********

ANSWERS

1. FALSE --You don't win extra points for getting your resume in early. Organizations often wait days or even weeks before responding to job postings. Some career coaches even say that your chances of being seen are better if you wait a week before responding, after the initial crush of responses.

2. FALSE -- You should be very selective about where you post and keep your expectations low.

3. TRUE -- When employers and recruiters search sites for resumes, they often consider how recently they were posted. Resumes that have sat for a while move to the bottom of the list, and may not ever be seen. So, resubmit your resume on a weekly basis (sometimes you can accomplish this by "editing" your last posted resume.)

4. TRUE -- Never assume that a human being has actually looked at your resume. Internet postings can yield thousands of responses. Applying again increases your odds that someone will find you when they dip into the candidate pool over the course of their search. Allow one to two weeks between responses even if you've received an "auto-reply" acknowledgment of your first application.

5. FALSE -- The universally readable format is plain (or ASCII) text. If you use Microsoft Word, consider providing your resume two ways: Paste the text version right into the body of the email (after the cover letter), and attach the Word file. In the cover letter, say, "For your convenience, I'm providing my resume both as inline text and as a Word file." Don't send a blank email with a cover letter attached; write the cover letter into the body of the email.

6. FALSE -- Treat each opportunity separately; it's rare that an organization would retrieve your earlier response to a different job.

7. TRUE -- Cobblestone's suggestion: Use one "meta-search" site such as www.wantedjobs.com or www.alljobsearch.com. These will search multiple big-name and regional sites in one fell swoop. Supplement these with good industry-specific or function-specific sites. You won't capture all potential opportunities, but you will capture most of them without burning up all of your search time.

8. TRUE -- "Key words" are the words and phrases that employers specify when searching for candidates. The resumes that score high in "relevancy" are the ones that will likely be viewed first; these resumes will have the right words, appearing early in the document. So make sure those words appear in a "Summary" statement at the top of your resume.

Source: Cobblestone Career Management, http://www.cobblestonecareer.com/quiz.htm

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