Miss Manners and Ann Landers have long been my favorite syndicated advice columnists. I was a tutor at Miss Manners’ son’s Harvard house and met her at his graduation. She wore a hat and gloves and was charming when I, alone of all the tutors who noticed her, approached her to say I was a huge fan and to ask if and when one removes a hat and gloves at a graduation ceremony. I like advice columns, in general, and I decided to write my own today because I received a question from a friend that many people have asked me before, especially of late.
Dear Lisa,
Since my instructional design position at X was eliminated, I’m job hunting. I’d appreciate a chance to brainstorm with you about my interests, my presentation, and leads.
Signed,
J.C.
Dear J.C.,
I’m sorry to hear about your position. Since this is a tough time to be job hunting, the best thing to do is to develop shorter and longer term strategies. For the latter, it may be a great time to go back to school, whether online or in the classroom. Do you have unexplored or dormant talents, interests, or dreams? You never know where they might take you. Look at me: if someone had told me even ten years ago I’d be teaching in a medical school, I would have laughed, but I’ve never had more professional satisfaction.
The obvious short term strategy is networking. I recommend giving a talk or writing a paper about an area of expertise and letting (or hoping) people come to you because of what you know. If the topic is instructional design, don’t just present or publish in e-learning circles but also consider verticals. (This was advice Margaret Driscoll gave me. Oh, no, does she have an advice column too?) In this way you can get attention from people who may know nothing about your topic and will learn just enough to know that they need you.
Finally, lots of people come up to me when I give talks or email me after reading something I write and ask about jobs. Come up with a great way of presenting yourself. (I noticed that you mentioned presentation in your letter.) I will never forget the guy who asked me about jobs – at least I think that was what he mumbled – and then took 3 minutes to locate his home-printed business card. And this was after I had given an evening talk and just wanted to get home. I went to a fantastic seminar Ilise Benum gave about elevator pitches. Practice in front of the mirror and then ask your friends to critique you.
Good luck and let me know if my advice helps,
Lisa