A sudden job loss can feel like a 300-pound linebacker tackling you head-on. And it can be as unexpected as that tackle is on the football field. Downsizing, management change, budget cuts or a one-time mistake can force you to start looking for a job tomorrow.
While this isn’t a situation you want to find yourself in, it’s always better be be prepared than not.
The quarterback who is forced to make quick decisions based on changing situations wasn’t born knowing when to zig or when to zag. His know-how was planned out well ahead of time and refined over and over again.
Every NFL team has a playbook that is religiously followed and refined after every game. It’s a reference point for their wins and losses. This idea can be adopted by a professional preparing for or actively engaged in a job search.
Ready to quarterback your career? Then read on!
Physical vs. Digital
Five to 10 years ago, a physical playbook, composed of printed-out awards, emails and even graphs or charts, was commonplace. It could handed to an interviewer to help showcase accomplishments if additional reference was needed. More often than not, the playbook was a personal portfolio of wins.
A physical portfolio may still be a realistic option for industries such as graphic design and photography, but for most, a move to digital makes the most sense.
The goal of a professional playbook is to have a plan of action ready to be followed as soon as you’re on the job hunt. It will allow you to keep all of your professional records in a single place so that when life zigs, you can zag.
This all starts with planning ahead and collecting your wins. You can use any of the document storage services available for free — Google Drive, Dropbox and Slideshare are all great places to store this document.
Page One: Plan of Action
The day after your job search begins is not when you should start planning. (Tweet this thought.) You need to start planning your job search today, even if you’re not looking to make a switch.
The best way to start planning is to lay out a step-by-step process you will use to find a new job. These steps will be based on your current situation and the kind of job searcher you are, but below are a few ideas to help you get started:
- Make sure your resume is up to date.
- Make sure your LinkedIn profile is 100% complete, with a picture.
- Reach out to any hiring managers you know.
- Get your interview attire dry-cleaned.
- Update your personal voicemail.
Write these steps out in what ever format works best for you: Excel document, Word, PowerPoint — as long as it makes sense to you and you will follow it..
You can also split activities up using a timeline. For example:
- Day 1
- Step 1
- Step 2
- Step 3
- Days 2-5
- Step 1
- Step 2
- Step 3
- Weeks 2-4
- Step 1
- Step 2
- Step 3
- Etc.
Be as detailed and specific as you can while still being realistic. Although you would like to accomplish 25 steps in the first day, it’s unlikely you’ll be motivated to do anything but assess your situation.
Remember, when your career zigs, you want to be ready on day one to zag.
Page Two: Wins & Losses
Watch any football movie and you’ll see coaches and players in a room watching videos from past practices and games. The projection is on the wall, and the team is going over every aspect of the video. They keep records of their wins (and losses) to see what they did well and what they need to work on.
If you aren’t already doing this, start taking record of your wins and losses:
Interview Notes
First of all is a record of interviews. After every interview you go on, write down your observations — what you thought you did well, which stories you delivered on point, which stories you need to practice more.
Whether you get the job or not, you should always follow up with the interviewer to find out their impression of meeting you. Add these notes to your records.
Awards
Of course you’ll want to keep a record of any official awards you’ve received, such as President’s Club or Circle of Excellence. Write down as much detail about the award as you can.
For example:
Presidents Club – 2011
[Company Name]
[Current Title]
[Criteria for winning]
[Point of reference]
The last item will add weight to the award. For example, if you earned the award because you were in the top 1% of your sales team, mention that. If you were 1 out of 97 people to win that award, mention that.
Accolades
If you have emails from supervisors or current/past customers that give you high praise, be sure to save them.
I recommend asking permission to use the email as a reference if you plan to ever share it with anyone. Most people won’t have a problem with it, especially if the praise given was deserved.
Big-Name Wins
As a general rule, if any information relating to a win you were directly involved in is released by the company publicly, you have every right to use it in your professional playbook.
For example, if the details of one of your big wins is in a press release or blog post by your company, you are welcome to use those same details in your playbook. It’s public knowledge at that point.
Page Three: Professional Contacts
Having a list of the people available as references will serve you well if you’re in the market for a new job.
If you’re going on multiple interviews and job references are an early part in the interview process, you may be over-using your references if you only have a few. This can turn a good reference into a bad one.
Have a running list of people who can talk up your different strong points. A past manager can talk about your attention to detail, while a past customer can speak to your outside-the-box thinking.
Keep the name, title, phone number and email address of each contact. Also include a few keywords for when you would use them as a reference, i.e. management skills, creativity, detail oriented, etc.
Page Four: Recruiters
Through the course of your professional life, you have probably touched base with a recruiter or two. When they first reached out to you, it may not have been the best time. You may have been happy where you were or not interested in the position they had to offer.
When you build a professional playbook, you want to have a list of recruiters you’ve dealt with in the past. These will be your warmest leads to a new job. They already saw some spark in you and will be open to working with you again — as long as you were professional with them previously.
Like your professional contacts, you want to record their name, the company they work with, and their phone, email and area of recruiting expertise. Some recruiters specialize in filling sales roles, some do management and others only focus on IT roles.
This is good to know so that when your search begins, you can focus your attention on the recruiters who have the most experience in the role you’re trying to fill.
Your Playbook Is a Never-Ending Story
Developing a professional playbook is not a one-time event; it’s a process.
It is a growing document that will change its focus as your life and career changes. The pages mentioned above are not the end-all-be-all. There’s an unlimited number of topics and pages you can add to make the playbook fit your needs and your style. You can include story scripts that have worked well for you, favorite interview outfits, professional network groups… anything you want.
What pages would you add to your professional playbook? Share in the comments!
Image: Flickr
