When is the right time to look for a job?

Now! In fact you should always be on the lookout for your next job. It could be with your current company or another but you should never stop looking. Don’t get me wrong. You should do your current job well and learn all you can to be the best at what you do. However, never stop networking. In today’s job market networking is the key and you should never stop. This does not mean you have to apply for positions all the time but you should stay aware of who is hiring and for what positions (both inside and outside your current company).

I often hear the complaints that people feel qualified with skills and experience, but still don't get the opportunities. I often respond to individuals with suggestions and ideas that can better address their particular situation, but this generic problem is much deeper.
Opportunities will fine a certain group of people, often termed as "lucky" or "kiss a_s" and other types of references to this same effect. I hate to be the one to tell them that luck is only a component of what is required to be what I call the "OPPORTUNITY EQUATION".

Use this equation to populate your own real numbers and see how you score. Notice that the most effective improvement area's are motivation and energy. Paste this simple formula on your screen, print it and read it every day:

Opportunity = ((motivation³*energy _natural) + (visibility + experience_skill + education _relevant)+ current career movement techniques

If you throw your own numerical representation (1-10) into this equation you will see the most prevalent factors are motivation, energy and visibility. Without this combination you might find yourself working harder to find these opportunities. A focus on visibility is required to expect the opportunities to follow you.

Too often we blame our employers on our own misfortune, using all of the old excuses for being miserable. I clearly understand that this is a very natural human nature thing to do. It feels good no doubt but rarely fixes the problems that ails us.

One single action you can take to rid yourself of this feeling is to develop a trade or business that you can build to remove you from the work drug, called "paycheck". Like any other drug addiction, you must work hard at finding another more healthy replacement for the "paycheck". Please don't misconstrue my message as easy, it's often harder than just showing up for work every day, but the feeling is much more gratifying.

Decades ago this would have been very hard, but with the advent of the Internet we have so many opportunities at our fingertips it's much easier than one would ever imagine.

Write poems, books or blogs, sell products that interest you, design store fronts for others, become independent and advertise, be a counselor, stock trader or anything that interests you.

Decide what interests you, google it! Follow-up, make it happen ..

Refer to recent "The Opportunist" article.

Happy Fishing

Loyalty?

When you're looking for a job, where should your loyalty be? A friend of mine called me the other day to get the coaches opinion on a specific predicament. My friend is in an industry that is large, but upward mobility is scarce. He has an opportunity to move back to his hometown in his dream job. He's taking great care of his career, and currently is in great standing with his current employer.

In the last few weeks he was called to interview for that dream position, but then ran into a specific conflict of interest between his current and hopefully future employers. Read more: Loyalty

What would happen to you if you were to lose your job? Do you have a backup plan? Studies show that a graduate just joining the workforce now will work for seven or eight companies during their career. There will be some gaps in employment and not all the gaps will covered with a severance package.

I recommend that you create your own severance plan. First, you need to know how much you will need to survive per month. Then you will need to understand how long it will take to find another equivalent job. Most studies agree that for every ten thousand dollars you currently earn equals the number of months it will take to find your equivalent job. Of course this is just a rule of thumb, some will take longer and some less.

Now you have an idea how much money you will need survive while looking for your next job. So while you are saving for your retirement, you should also create a ready cash reserve. This cash can be invested but must be able to be liquidated quickly. Work with your financial planner to create a plan.

Having a safety net at your disposal will free you of being tied to your company. You will be able to leave your job at any time for any reason and also be prepared for any unexpected gaps in employment. This will create a feeling of independence that will allow you to focus on “doing” your job without worrying about “keeping” your job.

As you may have read from the coach before, social and business networks are a great way to meet and network with direct and indirect contacts. These can be very useful when looking for a job, obtaining general information or finding the right personnel for your business. However these same networks can be very dangerous to your career.

Linkedin is one of the best business networking tools available to you. You need to ensure your profile is kept current. Many recruiters as surfing Linkedin while searching for their next hire. If you do not keep your profile and skills updated with your latest information, you could be looked-over. Worse yet, you could be a final candidate for a position and during the final background checks your resume does not match your Linkedin profile setting off red flags to the hiring manager.

The social networks such as Facebook and MySpace are the most dangerous. You must be careful of the content that is posted by you and about you. Showing too much of your personal and private life could be detrimental to your career. Imagine a recruiter doing a final background check sees pictures of you from a bachelor party? A night out with the boys? Other compromising situations? A recruiter could have second thoughts. Just as bad as pictures, are your words. Controversial postings and foul language would also set off red flags to a recruiter or your current employer.

Always be careful about what gets posted about you on the internet by googling yourself regularly to see what is out there. Be sure to check all social sites to ensure your profiles are current. Always make sure you use the proper security settings to ensure only the people you want to see your information is allowed. In the event you find something you would not like anyone to see, you have the right to ask them to remove the information.

It's not until you see what a great job and your son and daughter are doing with their children, then you get this warm feeling that you've done a good job in life. Life is crazy and priorities change year after year , decade to decade, we often measure our life success on many things, financial capability and career growth is how a large part of we measure success. I offer to resurface one "new" measure, its "what you leave behind". When you're able to sit back in a chair and watch your children raise and play with your grandchildren, then you'll finally recognize that the those little success factors simply merge into one. Unfortunately we all have to see this for ourselves to understand and believe it, but If I am judged by what I left behind, I feel I have been very successful. Just ask the elderly gentleman that has been retired for 24 years how he will measure success? I don't think it will be the position he held when he left the job market. I am blessed, thank you very much to my loved ones that continue to make me feel successful. Food for thought, then we have to get back to business....