Know what you are looking for

This past Tuesday afternoon I checked in with the VP, Rob, of the group I used to work in at eBay Motors. Over my tenure at eBay I have developed a great relationship with Rob who always has a steady hand and mind to guide a business or colleague through a challenging time period.

"Be sure to know what you are looking for before you begin your search. Don't just apply for jobs to get a string of interviews," be began. "You will waste your time. By the time you interview, they will be selling YOU on the opportunity as well...and you will lose perspective if this is a job you REALLY need to grow. Take some down time and think through what you want to do next...and what factors are most important to evaluate a position against."

Hmmm....what are the most important factors? Well...decent money is important!! He he. Factors may include: industry, size of company, money, scope of position, career path growth, title,geographic location.

"Whatever your criteria," he continued "be sure to rank them and give yourself a time period to find a position. If at the end of the time period there is nothing doin'...then re-scope. Let's say industry is really important to you...but if over 6 months there is no job, maybe reconsider that #1 factor."

Given the economic times I think it's important to jump on an opportunity that has cash in the bank and is in a "growing" (at least not declining) industry. These two attributes will enable me weather the storm for a few years. A third attribute is growth opportunity to expand my marketing and leadership abilities within the organization. The money...well there are salary ranges that I'm well aware of...but to what end of the spectrum is negotiable looking at base, bonus, stock (yeah right) etc. I do have a magic number though...don't we all?

Over the next three months my job search criteria will be...

1. Well funded organization (most likely a brand name)
2. Company is "growing" (or at least not expecting to downsize in the next six months)
3. Opportunity to grow in my role
4. Compensation (within ranges)
5. Title
6. Geographic location

Five years ago my list would have been different...many companies were well funded and growing. My how times have changed!

What's is your criteria?

What to do when you get canned from your job...in 7 easy steps!

Going through the process of getting laid off sucks...to say the least. The process is really disruptive to the daily routine, the bank account and the psyche. Now that I've been through it, I've realized a few must-do steps to ease any transition out of company...when you only have a few hours to collect your stuff and get out of there.

Please feel free to add steps that I may have missed. Your input will be appreciated.

Step 1: Verify final payment, severance and 401K distribution

Be sure you have received the following info from HR before you leave the office. These items are typically covered during the "your job has been eliminated" conversation, but the HR team at my company is far less organized and I had to cover these myself...

• When is your last "official" day of work when you are on the payroll? When will you get your final check? Will the check be a hard copy or will it be direct deposited?
• If you get severance pay, and thankfully I did, how much is the severance and when will you be sent payment?
• What is the process to handle 401K roll over? Do you need to reach out to the provider or will the provider reach out to you with process details?
  

Step 2: Save your personal docs and contacts to a thumb drive
Before you turn in your laptop, be sure you save the following to a thumb drive or email the following to your POP account.

• All personal files,pics
• Export into a .csv or .xls file your Outlook Contacts
  

Step 3: Talk to IT about turning off your PDA account without deleting contacts

Ask the IT team how to handle turning off network access to your iPhone or Blackberry..without deleting all of your stored contacts. Doh! I deleted my employers account from the iPhone...and thus deleted all emails, calendar invites and contacts. Luckily I had saved my Outlook Contacts before hand!

Step 4: Pack up your cube

• Pack your memorabilia into the boxes HR provided...even that hula girl you brought back from Hawaii
• Ask the most senior person left in your team what hard copy files he/she would like saved. Go through the remaining files and place all papers in the tall recycle box that we all have in our cubes.
  

Step 5: Say goodbye...quickly

• Saying goodbye just after a lay off sucks...is awkward..and is no fun for anyone. I recommend just saying goodbye to your close office "posse" who probably already know your personal email address.
• Find the person that laid you off and give them a kiss and a pat on the ass.* I so wanted to do this to the person who let me go...I would have been killed instantly, but my name would have lived in infamy.
  

*exercise this option with extreme caution. I would not really do this :-)

Step 6: Get the hell out of the office

• Jump into your car and drive to the nearest bar to compare notes with your fellow victims.

Step 7: Sign up for Unemployment benefits

• Sign up for unemployment benefits as soon as you get home. You qualify to receive the government checks the last day that you are on the company payroll. The application process is all online and takes a few minutes to complete...but it takes a few weeks to start receiving the checks.