Are you really taking your job search seriously?

I went to London recently.  My first night there, I attended a going away party – complete with champagne, cake and parting gifts – for someone who was leaving the company where my friend works.  I can’t remember the last time I attended a going away party.  Do we have these anymore?  I thought companies just got rid of people, let them put some personal belongings in a cardboard box and escorted them to the door – just before grabbing their access badge.

The headlines in London were similar to the U.S.  Except they use the horrible term “made redundant.”  I’ll take being “riffed” or “downsized” over being “redundant” any day of the week…unless of course, it includes the champagne, cake and parting gifts…in which case I just might be forced to reconsider.

Either way, it got me thinking how we say goodbye to our company and our colleagues.  The farewells are in haste.  We gather our belongings.  We rush out of there.  And then what?

Where’s the training for this particular moment?  For this particular situation?  If you’ve been fortunate all of your life, you’ve never had to look for a job.  You now find that you’re in no way equipped to embark on a job search.  You’ve never been taught to do this.  You don’t have the first clue as to where to begin.  And you get frustrated when, after a couple days, a couple weeks, a couple months, you still haven’t found anything.

And to tell you the truth, it’s hard for me to have a lot of sympathy for you, because quite honestly, I don’t think you’re trying very hard.  I don’t think you’re really taking this job search serious.  I don’t think you’re creating a plan and implementing it.  I think you think it’s going to be easy.  I think you think that someone will magically call you and offer you a job.  I think you think that “while it might be hard for others, it should be pretty easy for me…because it always has been.”  I think you need to face reality. 

You’re never going to find a job without having a conversation.  You’re never going to find a job without actually meeting someone.  You’re never going to find an opportunity by sitting in your house and “networking electronically” – which someone recently told me today that’s the way they’re going about their job search – to which I just thought:  Is that the way you’d go about doing your job?  Sit at your desk all day?  Hide behind a computer sending emails all day?  Who’d want to hire you?

So what are you really doing to take this job search seriously?  Do you have a plan?  Are you getting out of your house and meeting people?  Are you having interesting conversations?  Are you finding out which companies are interesting – and who’s expanding in areas where you might provide value?  Are you really making an effort?  Are you approaching your job search like you would a job?  With an actual plan, follow up, and accountability?  Perhaps if you did, you might find that job sooner than expected.  And then uncork the champagne…because that’s certainly something worth celebrating!