With so much restructuring going on in companies everywhere, this letter from a reader hits home:
“I just found out that my job with [a major telecommunications company] is being surplused. I am 57 and scared to get back out there but I must. I have 60 days to post for positions within and will see what happens. I am hoping for a miracle. Do you have any pointers? I am networking with everyone that I know and I have dusted off my resume. I have an MBA. I have been in IT for the last 15 years and have worked primarily in the role of a project manager. Regards, Barbara.”
One could imagine Barbara is worried about how her age might affect a search for new work. Or, she might be concerned that 15 years in one industry makes it difficult to transfer to other fields. Perhaps she’s wondering whether her network is deep enough to offer real assistance for this sudden turn of events.
All of these issues will have to be faced, along with concerns about the household budget, health insurance, unemployment benefits and a myriad of other topics that suddenly surface when one is given a layoff notice.
To add insult to injury, many people in Barbara’s shoes find themselves invited to apply for their own jobs. At other times, the invitation is to apply for any position within the company -- but with no promise of extra consideration for the role. Thus can start a sometimes humiliating kind of Easter egg hunt with the unlucky employee searching high and low for assignments across a sometimes global organization.
I’m not wild about a situation that stacks so many cards against the candidate, but on the other hand, I have seen many workers make a very good batch of lemonade out of this mess, so I know that a good outcome is possible. For Barbara and others in her shoes, here are some tips for pursuing those internal positions; external job search tips will have to wait for future columns.
1. Meet with an advocate who can explain the consequences of your next actions. For example, if you take an internal position, are you giving up a severance package? If so, what would that package have entailed? Also, if your new internal position doesn’t work out, can you recoup the original offer? In the meantime, will your current manager free you from daily duties to concentrate on your search?
2. Assuming you decide to go forward with an internal search, you need a new resume, pronto. In this case, a professional service is strongly recommended, as you need to have your experience evaluated from the perspective of someone outside the company. Although you want the resume to use enough internal lingo to position you as an insider, you also need it to convey the message that you are competitive in the outside market. If you make the resume yourself, you risk downplaying some items while overplaying others.
3. Conduct your internal and external searches simultaneously, rather than approaching the two markets sequentially. Although this can be distracting, you will benefit from having external feedback to compare with what you’re encountering inside. Also, you’ll be glad later if you don’t have to start the external search from scratch, should the internal search fail.
4. Consider the possibility that a lesser-paying external job might be better than an ill-fitting internal job. This is usually the devil’s bargain facing people during a restructuring, and coming to the best answer is no simple matter. But an automatic assumption that all internal jobs are better than facing the market should really be examined.
5. Pull out the stops when it comes to networking for an internal position. Now is the time to call in every favor anyone has ever owed you. Letters of recommendation, hand-carried resumes, the mention of your name in strategic meetings, and even the creation of a job just for you -- all are within the range of requests to make of your contacts, depending on how highly placed they are. Don’t forget about your contacts outside the company who can exert influence internally. If you have relationships with key vendors or customers, again, now is the time to ask their help.
6. Do everything with a smile on your face and a confident thrust to your shoulders. This tip goes beyond “don’t burn bridges.” If you stay, you want the powers-that-be to heave a sigh of relief; and if you go, you want them to wonder what they were ever thinking to let you go.
Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com or at 626 Armstrong Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102.
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