Unless you’re a tenured professor or a Supreme Court justice, you probably already know that job security has gone the way of the three-martini lunch. Put another way, you are as secure as your ability to get another job. So keeping yourself current on everything from industry trends to technical skills has never been more important. But if you attended every networking function, took every computer class and read every book on career management, you would be pulling a second shift just managing all the schmoozing.
Daunted, many women opt to spend time on more pressing work and personal concerns. “We see women all the time who are so busy making a paycheck and taking care of their families on the weekends that they can’t go to professional organization meetings or they won’t spend money on club dues,” says Jane Tobler, spokeswoman for Business and Professional Women/USA, a Washington-based advocacy group. Tobler learned firsthand about the consequences. As a communications specialist for a trade show company four years ago, Tobler composed the company president’s letter to employees that warned of coming management changes. At the time, Tobler’s boss assured her that her own job was safe. “My boss said, `Over my dead body’ will you be out the door. When I was asked to leave, I asked her how she was feeling,” Tobler smirks.
Today, the 29-year-old is far less trusting of organizations, but she’s also a more valuable worker, gobbling up company training and participating in professional groups. She also has dinner regularly with mentors and colleagues and grants informational interviews to younger women.
Clearly, many workers don’t have the time for that much interaction. But take heart: There are a few key moves to make now that can help keep you marketable without overwhelming your life.
Start by being a little more choosy when a headhunter calls, says Jean Carwell, a veteran Chicago executive recruiter. Rather than knocking on several recruiters’ doors, ask a colleague who recently took a job through a recruiter to arrange a meeting with the one he or she used to get a job, she suggests.
Though she makes her living helping people write resumes, author and consultant Yana Parker says workers who aren’t actively job searching shouldn’t waste their time writing a brilliant resume. “There’s no point in fiddling around with a resume until you’re antsy to make a move. Otherwise, you’re going to write a wimpy resume and send something out that’s half-hearted,” says Parker, who also edits a resume Web site at www.damngood.com.
She suggests keeping a running file of resume points, adding to the file with just a quick note each time you take a class or make an important sale. Then use the time you’d otherwise waste on resume mailing to develop an electronic mail relationship with a business leader at a company you imagine one day you’d like to join. “Or if you see an article in a trade journal on a topic of interest to that organization, fax it with a short note. It’s giving people something they can use without the burden of them filing your resume away,” says Parker.
And don’t forget to network within your own company, notes John Challenger of Chicago outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. “Most of the people I see (say) . . . their leaving was precipitated by some event that changed their relationship with their boss. Maybe it was a public meeting where they made their boss look bad, or they kept fighting for something and didn’t let it go. A lot of people just don’t create good relationships at work, and that’s critical when there’s a downsizing.” Pressing for performance reviews in writing is also time well spent, he says. It leaves a paper trail of your accomplishments even if your boss leaves the company. And if you’re interviewing discreetly, it gives a potential employer a third-party assessment of your work without calling references who might accidentally spread the word you’re looking around.
Signing up for too many courses is another mistake, warns Kathy Hoar, a Crystal Lake career coach who holds a doctorate in psychology. Too often people take the courses simply to get validation that they have valuable skills, when it’s really just a dose of self-confidence that they need, she says. “Simply by taking stock of your skills and abilities, you realize you are more than your job title.” And that knowledgment, she says, can be far more useful in plotting your next career move than by loading up on community college credits.
