First Post: Quick Start

Recently a lot of people have reached out to me because they're looking for jobs.  I've looked for a lot of jobs in the last couple of decades, and I found myself giving some advice that I wished I'd gotten a long time ago.

This blog is an effort to put some of that advice into writing, in one place, so I can refer people to things I've written, rather than frantically struggling to find a piece of e-mail, thinking, "I'm sure I told someone about this before!"

To start off the blog, here's some quick advice about starting up a job search:

• Start by updating your resume.  There's tons of advice on the internet telling you how to write a resume, and I don't consider myself an expert, so I won't go into a lot of detail here.  The main idea, though, is that you want to have a resume ready.  You'll probably need a copy in Word (or in a text editor that can export to a Word document), and a PDF file.
• Join LinkedIn.  If you're already on LinkedIn, you will find that as soon as you update your resume, headhunters will seek you out.  If you are connected to people at work, and don't want them to see that you have updated your resume, there is a way to do this.
• I also recommend joining Glassdoor, so you can read reviews of companies.  I have a personal hatred for the fact that they let people post interview questions (I might blog about that later), but the reviews of companies can be useful.  Take any individual review with a grain of salt, but if there are a lot of people are saying something, then you should probably take it seriously.
• Reach out to people you know, who might be able to pass your resume to their HR department.  Please keep in mind that many companies these days make people sign something saying that they won't recruit former co-workers, so they may be dying to talk to you, but are worried about getting sued.  If you make the first contact, and specifically ask, then they aren't recruiting you.  (Note: I am not a lawyer, this just seems like common sense to me.)  Also, many companies offer referral bonuses these days, so people may have a financial incentive to refer you, as well.
• As you start to apply to places, choose a few references, and reach out to them early to ask if they'd be references.  I've actually been named as a reference by someone who hadn't asked me.  I was happy to say good things about the person, but a bit of a heads-up is a nice thing.

That's really it, to start.  It's both simple, and sometimes very difficult.  I've had a few times in my career where starting a job search made me feel like a kid standing on the edge of a swimming pool, trying to psyche myself up to jump.  It can be difficult, but you'll feel a lot better when you're in the pool.

Jump!  Jump!