Communicate Well to Separate Yourself from the Job Search Pack: Try These 2 Key To-Dos

Just prior to being laid off from my former employer, several influential colleagues explicitly told me -- and reaffirmed a few times -- to stay in touch. Now, there are ways to stay in touch that put you ahead of the curve should rehiring happen. As of late, several instances of small and medium firms rehiring former employees have been reported in my large network. Additionally, proactively staying in touch can get the necessary information to sincere people in your network who ask you to keep them posted.

 

So staying connected to your network is key. Why be out of sight, out of mind with the very groups of people who knew and supported you professionally before the layoff and are now willing to extend themselves in your post-layoff phase?

 

I’ve taken to a fairly regular cadence of reconnecting every 25 days. I craft an uplifting, eye-catching subject line to start my staying-in-touch message. I well understand that many of the employed folks are hurting, having taken on monumental workloads and very often welcome an uplifting message to start or end their day. For example, “sending sunny summer greetings” -- who wouldn’t want to read that?

 

Of course, your staying-in-touch message should be crafted to account for unique points in your relationship with that person. A brief update (as positive as possible) about your recent activities is the meat of the message. Most people are genuinely interested in hearing about “whatever happened to so-and-so (meaning you)?” Satisfying their curiosity gives you a lot of mileage. To date, I’ve had 100% response back, as well as some encouragement for my job search quest.

 

The other key action item to set yourself apart from the swells of job seekers is to send out thank-you notes promptly, not just after interviews but also to folks who have extended themselves to you. These thank-you notes must be handwritten -- gasp, not an email! Slowly writing with good penmanship is a good idea to clearly spell out your appreciation.

 

Cleverly following up your dialogue with that contact also gives you an opportunity to reinforce a positive about yourself. It is all too rare these days to receive a thank-you note that has a personal touch to it. It can work wonders and pay off dividends in the future, even unbeknownst to you at that particular time.

 

Call me old-fashioned in my upbringing, but I’ve carried thank-you cards in my work bag for years. As soon as my little tykes can write words in roughly a straight line, thank-you notes will be in their homework plans. It will be a lifelong asset for them, putting them in good stead whether Mom is employed or not.

 

What key actions do you routinely do to stand out from the crowd?

 

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