Changing jobs can be intimidating, anxiety-inducing, nerve-racking, and just plain hard. At times change is forced on you by a layoff, and at other times it is by choice. I’ve survived both and at the end of the day, both situations lead to better opportunities.
Over the arc of my career, I have been laid off twice. I’ve changed jobs, and industries multiple times. The first time I was laid off was unexpected and the second time I saw it coming, but both were very challenging. The other times that I switched jobs and industries were also challenging, and the older I get the more challenges and barriers I’ve faced.
For the times when change is forced on you with a layoff, seek and accept help. There are resources that you need to tap into. Take time to “lick your wounds”, but not too much because you have a lot of work to do. Don’t neglect your family and what they are going through during this time with you. Even though this happens to you, it has an effect on those around you.
When you make the decision to pursue other opportunities you still face a lot of challenges and you will need to develop a plan to overcome those challenges. A quick Google search will turn up a wide array of articles that have good advice on how to tackle the first 90 days of a new job. Most of the top job search websites have blogs dedicated to starting a new position off on the right foot.
A recent blog by Rebecca Carnahan, a career coach at Harvard Business School, lays out a quality, high-end approach to the first 90 days. The five steps she covers in the blog include:
- Detail What, Why, and How – what you plan to learn and contribute, why you are approaching it this way, and how you will execute the plan.
- Identify stakeholders – set time to talk with key stakeholders and prepare questions that will give you a better understanding of the strengths, goals, and opportunities.
- Conduct interviews with stakeholders – have a plan to make the most of the interviews with the stakeholders and make sure you capture the information in a way that you can reference in the future.
- Synthesize (and share) – conduct your own mini SWOT analysis and make adjustments to your plans as needed.
- Build, Share, Work the Plan – write out clear goals and how you plan to tackle them – ACHIEVE – action-oriented, consequential, hard (not herculean), integrated, explicit, visualized, and endpoint-focused.
On the job search website Indeed, one of the top articles lays out a little more basic approach to the first 90 days:
- Introduce yourself frequently
- Prepare ahead of time
- Pay attention to your surroundings and other people
- Do you best to remember names
- Think about what you want to know
- Prioritize the information you need
- Write down your questions so you don’t forget
- Seek out a friend
- Learn how to navigate and enjoy your new workplace
- Add value
- Ask your manager what their biggest pain point is
- Think back to your interview and what were the topics that made you stand out
- Get to know your team better
- Get organized and set good habits
- Define success with your manager
- Come prepared and use time effectively
- Put yourself in your manager’s position
- Identify early wins
- Be humble and open-minded
- Challenge yourself
- 21) Don’t burn bridges and stay in touch with old colleagues
- There are books and articles that go into greater detail about
- how to approach the transition to a new position or company.
- Be prepared, even though you have a plan, things will go
- sideways, but they don’t have to stay that way, and a new job
- can be a great opportunity. And when all else fails, take the
- advice that my grandson gave me “You got this”.
