Ending the Job Hunt in Style
You have the job you want, a good boss, and competitive salary and benefits package. You're done, right? Not so fast. You should still be sure to build on all the good work you've done so far.
One job does not a stellar career make. There will bother searches down the road, and when you begin them, you're not going to want to start from scratch. It would be a real shame to waste all those good contacts you made over the course of your job hunt, wouldn't it? Now is the time to solidify those contacts.
Write to each of the contacts who helped you in significant way. Everyone who gave you important advice or useful lead should hear about your good news. All these people are going to remember you not only because they helped you get a job, but also because you thanked them in writing. (You'd be surprised at how rare thank you notes in the job hunting world.)
If you become a real success in your field, your next job opportunity may not come as a result of your efforts. You may be contacted by a search firm on the lookout for talented people, or one of your contacts may eventually try to steal you away from your present job. This is all very flattering (which never hurts), and may also lead you to examine some interesting career possibilities. Keeping your contacts up to date on your progress is one very good way to encourage such interest in your career.
Planning Your Future and Career
Many people look upon their "career" as the job they presently occupy. Unfortunately, this is a very short sighted perception of the way careers usually develop. Gone are the days when most people stay with one company for forty years. In fact, the executives in many companies depend on turnover for new faces, fresh ideas, and rekindled enthusiasm. It makes good sense to look at each job you hold as one step along a career path that will help you to build a fruitful and fulfilling work life. If you have a plan or at least a broad philosophy of career development you'll find that a career need not be confined to one narrow field or industry.
For example, suppose you're a teacher dedicated to influencing and educating as many children as possible. After ten years of teaching, you might decide that a change would be refreshing. You're now interested in exploring other ways of influencing children. You decide that textbook publishing is another route to the same end (having positive effect on children). So you conduct a successful job search in the field and become a textbook editor for small publishing firm.
Most people would define this sort of move, from teaching to editing, as a career switch. It really isn't. It's continuation of the initial goal.
Suppose that after five or six years of editing textbooks, you decide that you'd like to write them. You become freelance textbook author in effect, a consultant to publishing firms. Again, it really isn't a career switch at all. After a couple of successful years in this area, you decide that you could do a better job actually publishing the textbooks yourself. So, at the age of 41, you begin your own publishing firm. But you're still pursuing your original goal reaching and educating children.
Of course, this sort of industry hopping may not appeal to everyone. It's not unusual, though, for people to hold four or five jobs within the course of one career jobs that can have substantially different descriptions, objectives, and working environments and remain true to a "fundamental "career goal.
Most people remain in the workforce for more than forty years. That's a long time to stay in one job or industry. Even if you do decide that one industry gives you the best long term career, you should constantly set professional goals for yourself, and constantly monitor them.
Suppose you've been with the same firm for twenty years. You're perfectly happy in the shoelace industry, but you find that there is no room for advancement at your present company, New England Lace and Eyelet. Your search may not stray very far from your present region, and you may decide that it makes sense to target New Jersey Consolidated Shoelace as your top employment prospect.
You may feel reluctant to move on after building such strong history (especially if doing so means missing out on substantial retirement package). But it won't hurt you to look. In fact, you may find that the positive reception you find waiting for you at New Jersey Consolidated will not only serve as a big confidence booster, but also provide you with the leverage to negotiate a better deal with your old friends anew England Lace and Eyelet.
Throughout your career, ask yourself the important questions about your continuing efforts in the workplace: Are you happy? Are you still learning? Do you feel accomplished? Are you developing skills? Are you correcting your weaknesses? Are you receiving regular raises and promotions? Are you making more and more friends within your industry?
Changing Your Career Goals
If you can regularly answer "yes" to most of the questions just posed, you probably shouldn't worry too much about analyzing your career path.
However, most people's career priorities do changeover time. Goals are either achieved left unrealized. New opportunities arise. Interests change. If you come into the job search process determined to earn a lot of money, and then win a job which pays you more than you ever thought you'd earn, for a while it's going to be a lot of fun. But there's going to come a time when you have to set another goal for yourself. (For some people, that goal is, "Earn more money than anyone else in the country." It's an interesting goal, with interesting ramifications.)
Eventually, you're going to have to ask yourself, "What's next?" And the way you answer that question will, in large measure, determine what you'll do with your career. The evolution of a career is usually cyclical in nature. Your expertise, skills, talents, and interests will develop over the course of time, and at some point, you'll probably feel that you've explored the field to the limits of your interest. You may decide to begin another exploration process in another field. Some people have the interest and dedication to make one job or field last their entire career. This is the exception, rather than the rule. Most people and careers are ever changing propositions. Sometimes the changes will be ones that you'll initiate; sometimes they'll be beyond your control.
Once you accept the idea that change is an integral element of your career (and, in a broader view, your life), it's much easier to view what might once have been considered "upheavals" in a positive, even enthusiastic, way.
Make no mistake. Career changing can be tough. If you've been in banking for your first fifteen years in the "real world," and at age 36 suddenly feel the urge to explore career as a professional opera singer, you've got a lot of work ahead of you. On the other hand, if you decide to leave banking to help manage an opera company, you may have comparatively easier time achieving your goal.
As mentioned earlier, changing careers takes time and careful planning. Examine your objectives closely, and think twice before leaving your current job. Bear in mind that, unless you are fresh out of college or grad school, any employer will view you somewhat suspiciously if you're unemployed. You'll have to fight off all sorts of stereotypes about jobless people, and you'll make the employer ask number of tough questions that you may or may not be given the opportunity to answer directly: Did this person get fired? If not, why did he or she quit? Were there problems with attendance, morale, or insubordination? How long can this applicant be expected to stay with our company?
Remember: unemployed people make employers nervous.
If at all possible, keep your present job and spend Your don work hours exploring new careers. In the beginning stages of a job search, a great deal of work can be done in off hours, especially if you make your lunch hours, personal days, and vacation time count for as much as possible. Identifying transferable skills is always important when looking for a new position.
