The hubby and I went on a fantastic vacation last month - our last trip before we move! We need to save money, energy, and vacation time from now on so we can be ready for this big life change. The trip was amazing, truly the trip of a lifetime. Someday I will need to post pictures on here! Right now we are trying to keep a low profile so we can do all this without setting off alarms with our coworkers. That part is hard - I'm used to sharing major life events with those close to me, and who is closer to you than the people you spend 8-10 hours a day with? Unfortunately in the corporate world that doesn't always work. You start telling people your plans and maybe they start planning for you not to be there sooner than you'd like.
Even before we decided to move, I started getting that itchy feeling at work you get when you've outgrown a role. I knew I was ready to move on, whether that meant a new company or just a different role at the same place. I was hiring anyway, so I started looking for a suitable replacement to start grooming. Talk about a comedy of errors! My favorite candidate turned into a diva during negotiations. The one who made it through 5 rounds of screening can barely write an email (how does that happen?!). Someone else I was counting on left for personal reasons. My succession planning is not going well! I don't want to leave my company, my team, and my leadership in the lurch but trying to get things ready for me to leave without letting people know too far in advance that I'm leaving is turning into a Herculean task.
It brings up interesting questions, though. I mean, we all rely on each other at work. I want to give more than two weeks notice, but depending on where you work, you really don't want to tell them too far in advance, because if they start their own succession planning the timing may not work out in your favor. It could take months for me to get a job in Portland, and a lot of people are leery of hiring someone who plans to relocate because, unless it's one of the rare company that just covers it for you, it can be a big headache for everyone. It's also incredibly distracting to be looking for jobs and taking calls while helping plan for 2016 - a 2016 you are hoping not to be there to see.
I was dying to start my job hunt before we left on our trip but we agreed that would only stress me out, and I'd be wanting to check emails and calls instead of relaxing - and I'd be worried about getting calls, worried about NOT getting calls - basically I'd be my usual tightly wound ball of anxiety, just in a different place. Waiting was the right decision, but it was tough.
I updated my resume and spent a ton of time on it. I had some trusted allies review it, and they had minor changes. What's funny is that I changed jobs a few years ago but I was basically recruited away from my previous job, so while I had a resume, I hadn't gone through this process of finding jobs and sending in applications or resumes. I haven't really job hunted in WELL over a decade! My friend suggested working with recruiting companies but I wasn't sure - do people still do that? Is that still a thing? Besides, I was enjoying looking through the postings and picking and choosing. It was like shopping online, and I am INCREDIBLE at shopping online! We have found our own house and apartments that way too, even when working with a realtor. We just love it.
Fast forward to two weeks later - ouch. Only 1 call back. Clearly my amazing resume is not painting a picture that people want to buy! The recruiter who called me back on behalf of the company I was applying to gave me some helpful information:
Most companies are using databases and software to screen resumes. I currently work for a pretty small company, and we manually screen resumes. This, I have found, is not common any more. For those of you who blog or are involved in social media or online marketing, you are familiar with SEO. Apparently we need to approach our resumes the same way. After talking with the recruiter I visited with a friend and colleague and ran my thoughts by him - he's found a number of jobs all over the country and recently went through this process, so he has expert credentials. Here is what we've concluded:
1) Yes, you will need to have different versions of your resume for different types of jobs. I have a very complex job history and am applying for multiple levels and functional areas - I need resumes for each.
2) Stock your resume with appropriate keywords. I did this wrong. I mean, obviously I THOUGHT I did it right, but I didn't. I had keywords that showed the breadth of my experience - which is valuable for some roles, but won't help me with the keyword algorithms most companies are using. In my targeted resumes I need to stock each resume with a ton of keywords and hit the right frequency so the database search will LOVE me. That means reading those postings carefully. Is the posting for IT Architecture? Great. Don't just say Architecture 500 times - I mean, yes, do that, but also throw in a ton of other keywords in that field.
3) Use local headhunters. Apparently, even in this day and age of total information access online, a headhunter is helpful, for both you and the company you are applying for.
4) Have your story ready. Weird gaps in your timeline? Left a company voluntarily to take a lesser role but for more money? Have experience that doesn't relate to your primary role? Have a good story and be prepared to sell it authentically
5) Be ok with being ignored. You want a good fit, not 1000 first dates that go nowhere.
6) Decide if you are willing to settle if it leads to your greater goal. I know what my dream company is in Portland. I know what type of role I want next. But am I willing to take a 50% paycut to be in the PNW? Am I willing to accept a job with travel if I get the salary I want and I get to move? Am I willing to take a job at the wrong level if it gets me a foot in the door, or if it's just a temporary thing so I can move and keep looking? Know your priorities and know what compromises you are willing to make.
So - with all that said - now I need to get back to work. I will have at least 4 different versions of my resume, well stocked with the best keywords in the industry, and I will make sure my story is clear and shows off what I've accomplished. I will also prepare a few different cover letters. I was too excited about my well-crafted resume and all the shiny jobs out there and I started doing what I said I would not do - I got complacent and over-excited and just started throwing my resume at any job that caught my interest, without taking the time to add compelling cover letters or tweaking the resume for the job and industry. Not a terrible mistake, but definitely a learning opportunity that I intend to maximize immediately. Because, on this journey we take in our lives, if we don't learn from our choices and we don't grow, what the hell are we doing? Just killing time.
And I don't want to kill time. I want to grow, and learn, and constantly improve - and I want to move our butts to Portland!!
