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It’s been a year and a half since I was, uh, “in transition.” In hindsight, it taught me a lot. But I didn’t stop to think about the bright side until I saw the above tweet from Kelli Schmith, @marketingveep.

Victim, Survivor or Beneficiary?
Kelli’s tweet is a great idea – whether or not you were or you are between jobs. Odds are good you’ve been impacted by the period of forced change we’ve been through.

So what can a recession teach you?

Always On Networking: It’s easy to put your head down and skip industry events — there’s never a good time to attend them. You need to make time. It’s true that the best conversations usually happen in the halls between presentations. It’s content you can’t glean from SlideShare after the fact. It’s a balance of course — you have to prioritize and pick a tight list of events most relevant to you and your job. But they help keep you informed and connected.

Smart employers support this networking. It’s continuing education and smart employees tap into this network to the benefit of their current job. I’ve seen folks wait until they need to network for a job before actually doing so. It’s very difficult to get momentum for your job search trying to quickly go from zero to sixty.

Keep Your House In Order: In a good market, it takes six to eight weeks to find a new job. A perfect storm found me at my current gig in six. So if you came in to work tomorrow to learn you were out of a job, what would you do? I’m not trying to freak everyone out here. I am suggesting that you take the prep work you put into your annual review and use it to stay current on LinkedIn at a minimum. If you’re not keeping a list of awards, milestones and results for your annual review? You should.

Create Career Momentum: Having a blog or other non-work projects to discuss is momentum. If you’re networking, you’re probably involved in some sort of extracurricular. This gives you something to discuss other than unemployment. Being in transition can be like having a death in the family. Everyone handles it differently, but it can make a conversation awkward for all involved. If you’re looking for a full-time gig, be clear about it. But it doesn’t have to be the center of the conversation.

You can ignore the above advice, but don’t ignore the fact that you’re best work is usually the best answer. It adds momentum and it keeps you on the front end.

I learned a lot about myself during my transition. The above tips are basics based on my own experience. But I’m tagging four Cincinnati Social Media members with backgrounds in talent attraction, recruiting, human resources and career performance. Hopefully they’ll comment about on how folks can approach Kelli’s hiring tip: Jennifer McClure, Anne Castleberry, Benjamin McCall and Margo Rose.

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