How’s your career doing, girlfriend?

Recently I lead a class on Linked In and job searching for job seekers and 150 people showed up (which far exceeded my expectations). There are a lot of people who are looking for jobs or are concerned about the potential of having to look for jobs in the near future. It’s a tough time, and that’s not news, we’re all dealing with the uncertain job market.

So, what can we as girlfriends do to help each other? For one thing, we can help each other with ideas and support. My girlfriend Julie is a career coach as well as a mentor, speaker and thought-leader on jobs and career development, so, being the girlfriend that she is, she shared this to help us all out:

Career Aha! of the Week, by Julie Bauke

Worried about your Job? You’re in good company, as 85% of people are.  We all know that living in a worried state is not a good place to be. It can cause us to make very short term, not-so-wise decisions.  Instead of sitting in your office, waiting for the other shoe to drop, take action.

Of course, your resume must be up to date and ready to use immediately. That’s the lowest hanging fruit. What else? Step back and evaluate your network. Have you done a good job of keeping in touch with those key professional contacts? If not, it is so much better to start now, before you really do need them. Pick five people and commit to reaching out to them THIS WEEK to get coffee or lunch scheduled over the next few weeks. Find out what’s going on in their professional lives and share your updates. Chances are, they’ll be very glad to reconnect with you. (they’re probably also part of that 85%!)  Not convinced? Imagine really losing your job and then reaching out to those same five contacts Tha- feels much better to do it as a proactive strategy doesn’t it?

Julie Bauke is a Career Strategist who is wildly enthusiastic (some would say obsessive!) about the importance of Networking- Building Relationships to build your career and reach your goals. She has spent her career educating, inspiring and guiding successful professionals, senior executives, and professional athletes to even greater “life and career” success.

She started her firm, Congruity Career Consulting in 2007 and spends her time speaking, training groups and coaching individuals to “be career happy”. You can sign up for her Career Aha! of the week at http://www.congruitycareer.com

So girlfriends, we’d love to hear from you how you’re doing with the volatile career environment and how you’re helping each other. What advice do you have for other women? How can we help each other? Be a girlfriend, like Julie, and share your ideas and inspiration.

Girlfriendology, the online community for women based on girlfriend inspiration, appreciation and celebration

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Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Tags: Business, Employment, girlfriends, Job Search

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Be a Better FRIEND. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.