You may be too old to be a Scout, but being prepared is a good thing If you’re like most older workers who are in a job search after losing your job. You didn’t see it coming. Few do and even they strive to ignore it until it happens.
Now you’re out on the street trying to figure out how job seeking has changed over the past decades and how to cope with it all the while trying to make it work.
And what have we learned from this? One thing you can be sure of is that there is nothing that you can be sure of. There is a fear lurking in the back of every older job seekers’ mind is that it could happen again.
And you’re right. It could.
However, the next time you could, and should, be better prepared. And what better time to start preparing for that possibility than now – before you’ve even landed your next job.
The mantra is to always be prepared to find another job. Even after you get a job. Even if you like that job. That doesn’t mean that you have to actually be looking for another job, but in this day and age, it never hurts to be ready.
Of course hindsight is 20-20 but if you had done that before, you might not be struggling so much trying to find another job now.
What does it mean to be prepared to find another job? Bone up on the basics. Keep your resume up to date. Keep in touch with key contacts (and by now you should know who they are.) Keep abreast of what’s going on in your industry, in your market.
Also, after you land your next job, take every opportunity to speak with those who are still looking. Learn from them the ins and outs of how the job search process has and is continuing to change.
And change it will.