Don’t be surprised by a change in your job status. It’s smart in this economy to watch the market all the time, even if you feel safe.  Sign up for search engines to send a weekly email with local jobs in your field. Keep in touch with people in your network and make new contacts.

If you don’t want to make a move, at least be prepared. It’s smart. Just ask any Boy or Girl Scout. It’s even smarter in the present economy, because it takes much less change in the economy to tip a company the wrong way.

Here are three key tips:

1. Have a savings account. If that’s not possible, have a list of what you could sell quickly and easily if the worst happened.

2. Know your local resources. I’m not just talking about employers. Where are the church food banks? Clothing help for the kids for school clothes? Is there a pet food bank for dog food? Assess your needs and find the resources now. You won’t have weeks or months to search them out if you need them, and you don’t want those needs to interfere with your job search.

3. Set up job searches online now. Try different services and find out which ones pull the most in your field. Experiment. You can turn them off, or limit the updates once you find the best of the best. But, best of all, you won’t waste time going through all that when your next meal depends on finding a new employer. In the process, you may find the perfect job too.

Good luck.

Need more info? Go to Resume Tips or contact me at penny@pennyleisch.com.

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Interview Tips

Older workers, who are going back to work, may not know that many interview questions that used to be routine are now illegal. However, this also applies to job applicants of any age. Don’t volunteer information about family, age, or health. If those questions come up, it can be awkward because you know you probably won’t get the job if you tell the interviewer his questions are illegal. So you can handle it several ways. You may nicely respond that you prefer not to discuss information that’s unrelated to the job. If you are not comfortable doing that, use a friendly, positive tone and say, “I’m sure I won’t have any problem meeting your expectations”, or “I’m totally prepared to devote my time to my job”.

Resume Distribution Services

Don’t blast resumes to hundreds of companies that may not have an opening for someone with your skills. I’m sure there may be a success story someplace from someone doing that, but there are a lot more failures. A simple delete is all it takes, and your resume is never seen. You usually waste time and money paying for that type of service.

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