You might be out of a job but don’t think you’re necessarily out of work. You can even be making money during this downtime. As a knowledge worker, your toolkit remains in your head—it’s not like you had to turn it back into the company at your last punch-out. And, because almost all of us have some sort of computer access, you have everything you need to continue building your visibility and even prestige while you’re waiting for the employment side of things to turn around for you. In fact, ironically enough, now that you’re a free agent, this is your chance to hit major professional goals for yourself. Your time is your own, and you don’t need anyone’s permission to step right up and reach up a little higher than you could when you were embedded inside a team that was bound by politics, egos, and layers of authority that you had to kowtow to.
When companies begin hiring again (in fact, someone could be considering you right now), they’re going to wonder what you’ve been doing with your brain during these months when you’ve been on your own. The projects that you undertake right now, the thought leadership that you drive while you’re on your own will far outweigh any old, outdated handicap that you might have felt that kept you from “A” player status before (like the pedigree of your college degree, for instance).
This is your chance to build new relationships and rack up the successful completion of projects. This is your chance to stand out from the crowd and have great stories to tell of your adventures as a free agent.
Be a Thought Leader
Keep up with your industry and keep your opinions coming. You have a lot to share, and the value of your perspective hasn’t changed simply because your title has. Renew your professional memberships and create presentations that you can deliver to your local chapters (as well as the chapters in other regions where you might like to build awareness of who you are). Write articles for your chapter newsletters. Make yourself available to mentor newcomers to your profession.
Be Googlable
If you have a gmail.com or aol.com or yahoo.com address, I have only one question for you: What are you thinking? Domain names are so cheap these days—not to mention even Web design services—you should have your name as your domain name at the very least. I’m sorry if your name is John Smith—that name might be already taken. But surely there’s something that you can figure out so that you can create an online identity for yourself that is yours and yours alone. Sure, the free email addresses are free, but they’re costing you big in terms of your public image as someone who takes him- or herself seriously.
Be Expansive
Once you have your domain name, get a Web page and put it to good use. At the very least, have your resumé posted online as a Web page. And make sure your resumé is tagged with all the keywords any recruiter would use to search for someone just like you, with your talents, abilities, and background. But don’t stop there. Start building out your Web site with professional events calendars, book reviews, commentaries on professional developments, white papers. Start a blog. (Blogs are free.) Make it smart and original. Maybe even make it a little controversial. Start a conversational bonfire (just a little one, and nothing actionable against your former employer, for instance) and invite your readers to get in on the action. Be nervy enough to ask some especially prickly questions in your profession and stand back to watch the comments fly. Weigh in on other peoples’ blogs as much as you can. And post a great, professional headshot of you wherever your professional persona appears—on your own site, as a regular on other peoples’ sites, in online communities.
Be Opinionated
Be informed, certainly, but have a consistent point of view that people associate with you.
Be Generous with Your Connections
One of the advantages of being a free agent is that you have the freedom to build your network like you never have before. You’re going to be meeting new people everywhere, and pretty soon you’ll start thinking about how certain people would benefit from knowing certain other people. Start putting them together. There’s a weird sense of power and satisfaction that comes from knowing that you’re the one who introduced these people. That’s a largesse that costs you absolutely nothing, and the ROI (return on introductions) is immeasurable.
Be Generous with Your Talents and Skills
It would be nice to actually get paid for what you do and know. But there are plenty of people and organizations who can’t afford your professional services and desperately need you. Isn’t it nice to feel needed? Not to mention appreciated—especially by causes you care deeply about. True, most nonprofits of any significant size have their own paid staff, and I’m not suggesting you take jobs away from these people. But you can certainly augment what they’re doing with additional time and expertise. Or perhaps you can teach them the latest techniques that you picked up in the corporate world. Take on projects that you can lead from start to finish, and then publish reports on what the group accomplished on your Web site.
Be a Consultant
Even though you have absolutely no intention of starting your own business now that you’re a free agent, some of your colleagues may be cultivating those dreams of independence. Good for them! They’re going to need your expertise to get off the ground. They may or may not be able to actually pay you, but surely you have the time, interest, and bandwidth to lend these dreamers and help them achieve their next goals. It will help you remember your value and keep you away from the remote control and the refrigerator.
Remember That Your Former Employer Might Also Value Your Skills and Abilities
The work still has to get done, and they might be able to actually pay you more by the hour on a contract basis than they would have been able to when you were just overhead. You don’t have to be a consultant forever. It’s just for now.
Be Curious
If you’re a knowledge professional, you’re going to want to keep growing your knowledge. And you’re going to want to make sure others know you’re committed to growing your knowledge—and growing your profession’s body of knowledge at the same time. What burning professional questions could you research the answers to and write white papers about? Which of these questions would be most likely to give you a good reason to contact your peers inside “A” player organizations as part of the research process? Which conferences would be thrilled to feature you as a presenter of your breakthrough findings?
Be Willing to Be a “B” Player
Many employers are discovering that some of the so-called “A” players aren’t all they are cracked up to be. The superstars may be just meteoring through the workplace, not lasting long enough in any one position to really contribute significant value on a lasting basis before blasting on to the next high-profile, better-paying job. Because employers are looking for some stability themselves (it’s not like they’ve been enjoying these hair-trigger times, either, you know), they’re going to want to hire people they can depend on. Recruiting and retaining is still expensive. So a modest, steady-Eddy posture could be the very thing that makes you stand out from the crowd of crowing preeners.
Be There
Get out of the house. By which I mean, go to professional meetings, conferences, and lectures. Going to the supermarket doesn’t count (but, as long as you stay out of the candy and beer aisles, it couldn’t hurt). Go to where the smart people are and hang out after the event is over. Mingle at receptions, talk about what you’re doing. (Hedge trimming the poodle is off limits, though; try to keep it professional.) Get people’s business cards; make sure they get yours.
The best thing you can do:
• Assign yourself a research project, and then build up a list of all the people you would like to encourage to work with you on it.
The worst thing you can do:
• Convince yourself that you’re no one without a company title.
The first thing you should do:
• Remind yourself that you may have lost your job, but you haven’t lost your reason for being.
Excerpted by permission from Rebound: A Proven Plan for Starting Over After Job Loss (FT Press; $16.99)
