So, you lost your job. Now what?

You lost your job. Take a deep breath and know this: This happens to just about all of us. It is no reflection of you and your skills. Just inhale. Hold for a second or two, now let it go. Life is a journey not a destination. Your journey is about to deliver you into the next chapter of your career. You may not realize it, but you just landed a new job. It is called “getting your next job”, and it is a full time gig. Ever heard that it is easier to find a job when you already have one? Not true! it is often easier for a company to hire someone who is currently not employed than one who is. They don't have to worry about non competes etc. You may not have one for the job you do or your career field, but companies think this way. Both companies and hiring managers only care about one thing: Are you available, right now, to fill their needs? Now that we have all of that out of the way, what are the next steps? In a nutshell, you need to update your resume, apply for that dream job, get an interview, and get an offer.

The Resume: 

Your resume has one function: To get you an interview. To do that it needs to do a few things. First, it needs to showcase your skills and talents as they apply to the role you are seeking. Then it needs to get through something called an ATS, or Applicant Tracking System. This is an automated system that looks at all the resumes submitted in response to a job posting and filters them to find potential matches. How does it do this? It takes the requirements for the job, uses keywords, and looks for the highest correlation. This happens before a human actually looks at your resume. So how do we match those? The best way is to look at multiple job postings for what you are looking for, then make sure that those keywords and catchphrases are in your resume. If you haven't job hunted in a while, the terminology used now is different. Even across industries, terminology differs.

The person who sources parts and components used to build products is called by many names. A “Buyer Planner” purchases things to allow this month's build to happen. Their goal is to not run out of stuff while simultaneously not filling up the warehouse with unused parts. A “Supplier Quality” person ensures that what is purchased meets the requirements for what is built. Meanwhile a “Strategic Sourcing” person figures out where to buy the stuff for the next generation products that you will build next year. They may be called “Advanced Sourcing” or “Vendor Management”. A “Product Manager” might own an entire product line, own the P&L for it, and live in marketing. Or, they may live in operations and own it once it is launched. They are responsible for ensuring that parts and components are available for the life of the product, short and long term forecasting, possibly a decade or more. They all speak the same language but sometimes different dialects. In a real small company, they might all be the same person, in a behemoth company, they may be centralized and not even be in the same facility. When a company wants to hire someone to buy things for them, they use their internal terminology. If you are a purchasing person, you need to know what to call yourself, and know that the job title you had may not match what is being advertised for. 

I can't tell you how many people say “I’m industry agnostic! My skills are transferable to any industry”. They may be. You may be the absolute best person on the planet to ferret out a source of left handed titanium bolts. But if the company calls it “Advanced Sourcing Engineer” and your resume says “Strategic Supply Chain Manager”, you're not going to get an interview for that role. Or, you source these bolts for the oil industry and the job posting is for a medical device manufacturer, your terminology is likely to be different. The commonality here is that both are regulated industries, with defined quality attributes for left handed bolts. Most likey, the bolts come from the same vendor. But based on the industry, they may think they're the only ones who understand bolt requirements. 

There are many resources available to help get your resume up to par. One thing you should do is create a document for each skill or talent, then have multiple examples for each. Have the same example worded differently so you can copy and paste. This lets you tailor your resume for a specific job. This all lets the ATS find you, and send you onward to the hiring team. Then you start the next phase of the process, interviewing.

Interviewing:

Congratulations! You got an interview. This means they determined from your resume that you have the skills and talents to match the job. In other words, they think you can do the job. They are now looking for three things: Do they like you? Are you a fit for the culture of the company? Finally, are you the best candidate? You need to convince them of this in an interview. You need to be able to clearly answer: who you are, how you achieved what they liked on your resume, and finally, why you are the best candidate. All with a bit of passion and a smile on your face.  

Starting with who you are in two minutes or less. “Well, I’m really excited about this role at Spacely Sprockets, it really meshes well with what I did and learned at Cogswell Cogs. I also know this job will be sourcing cobalt for the next generation sprocket set, which is great because cobalt is really durable. It is really hard to get without a long term contract, which I am sure you know. One of my professors was an expert on cobalt mining. I did a summer internship with him and we helped increase the extraction efficiency of a South American mine by 20%. While down there, I really increased my proficiency in Spanish and amazingly; I learned how to roast wild boar. Every weekend, the local miners had a big outdoor barbecue and roasted something. At first I was the firewood fetcher. By the end of the summer I was one of the master chefs. The relationships I built with the local team while cooking, really helped get buy in for some of our ideas in the mine. That is what really helped with our efficiency improvements.” So, would you hire them? I would. Breaking this down you described how you understand a bit about the role. You showed, without being asked, that you take on new things, forge relationships, and achieve results. On a lighter note, you included information showing that you are both hard working and fun. 

For each of the accomplishments or skills on your resume, you need to be able to describe how or what you did. And, how you overcame obstacles along the way. Companies hire people who can solve problems. A great method to do this is the STAR format. Situation or Task, the Actions you took, and the Results you achieved. You should be able to tell these stories in two to three minutes. 

Interviewer: “Describe a time where you were able to overcome a challenge and the actions you took”. You: “Well, one time at Cogswell, we received a rush order for a set of Cogs that normally had an eight week lead time. It was also the end Q4, crunch time all around, so pulling in orders would be difficult. The customer needed them in just five weeks. The Purchase Order was for 20 sets of Cogs that were sets of 8 and 16 teeth. I was the customer service manager at the time. When the PO came in, the sales rep called me to tell me how important it was and to see if there was anything that could be done. I reached out to the production team and they said we had extra sets of 6 and 12 teeth, but not enough 8 and 16. We got the customer on the phone and learned that they needed 20 sets where one Cog had twice the teeth of the other one. I asked if they could use six sets of 8 and 16 and the rest 6 and 12. We let them know that if they could, we could deliver everything in five weeks. They agreed. Our sales team hit quota and the production team was able to reduce inventory.” The final piece to communicate is why you are the best fit for the role. Ideally you get to touch on three things. You and your fit, the company itself, and the greater good. Along with describing how you are a great purchasing person, throw in how excited it will be to work for Spacely Sprockets because they were just selected to make all the sprockets for the new multinational mars lander. How great it will be to be part of the effort to put that on Mars. What an achievement for all mankind!

So, how do you polish your resume and interview skills to make all this happen? And how do you find out that Spacely Sprockets is looking for a strategic sourcing person? That is a process as well and where the bulk of your time will be spent until you complete the “find a job” job, and start your next job!

How will you make this all happen? You need a few simple tools, you may already have them or know of them, in any case, here is a refresher. First step, find a networking group in your area or even a remote one. In North Texas we have the Southlake Focus Group. Most metropolitan areas have similar groups. There you will find resources to get your resume polished and brush up on interviewing. Then find or start an accountability group. This one is essential. An accountability group is 3-6 souls in search of their next opportunity as well -- a new job. It doesn't matter if they are in the same field or profession. It helps if some of them are not. What is critical here, is that they are going through the same thing you are. Meet at least once a week, discuss what you are doing, what they are doing. Then as you depart, commit to each other the things you plan on doing before you meet again. Hold each other accountable. After all, that's why they are called accountability groups.. Friends and family are great, but they are not the same thing as finding a compatriot on the journey. Your accountability group is a little team. You have each other's back, cheer each other on, and together, land jobs. 

Finding open positions

There are multiple sources online for job postings. Indeed, Career Builder, LinkedIn etc. For larger companies, their own websites are a fantastic source of what is available. For many companies, once you are in their applicant system, your information is already there, ready for the next role that becomes available. Cross referencing postings really helps. If you see something on Indeed, look for the role on the company's web site as well. And get ready for a lot of no responses, passes, and other discouragements. This will happen, many times. Until it doesn't, you get a call, then an interview, only to get passed on for an internal candidate. Here is the reality of Indeed, Career Builder and other sites like these. Companies pay to list positions there. Additionally, they need job postings to lure people to them and build their brand and reputation. Some of them pull company postings from company websites, and then list on their site. What this means is that a company may have already filled or cancelled a posting, yet it is still on Indeed. I have been on both sides of this. You post a position, start scouring for resumes, and get several applicants lined up to come in. Then there is a hiring freeze. Or a “Push this till next quarter…” This is all too common. Don't get discouraged. It is part of the process. 

Put a plan together. Get your resume polished. Improve your interviewing skills. Make a list of target companies you would like to work for. Find or create an accountability group. Now go land that next job and start the next chapter.