When you lose a job, you are in panic mode. Layoff trauma is real - I know, I lived it personally in February.
Your first reaction is to update your résumé and apply to every job that seems a halfway-decent fit. This is normal and natural. You need a measure of control in what is otherwise the chaos of unemployment.
However blindly sending applications - spray and pray - does not work.
You need to follow a structured approach that emphasizes both self-assessment and strategic engagement to find a new job fast, that also satisfies you.
Laura Wigglesworth and I developed seven critical steps that will guide you towards a role that matches your skills and your passion for social impact.
Each step aids in clarifying your own goals, making you a better candidate for future employers.
Invest in a Career Pivot Profile Clinic
You should follow the 7 steps below to improve your job search process. However, not everyone wants to do this process alone or you may need help and motivation to move along this path.
Your session will be customized to your experience and job search goals and include:
Discussing your candidate/market fit and dream role
Accelerating your job search process and focus on productive actions
Analyzing your resume based on your desired job role with replicable tips
Improving your LinkedIn profile and optimize it for recruiters
You’ll also get an email follow up 10 days later to see how you’re doing and what you can improve. Bonus: I’ll make networking introductions for you!
Table of Contents
Step 1: Uncover Your Hidden Triumphs
Start by listing out your career highlights. The work accomplishments that you are most proud of. Do this step for two reasons:
You’ll find pride in your work. Layoffs come with a stigma that you were somehow a failure. Counter that narrative by listing your accomplishments.
You’ll identify what you like doing. What comes to mind first is often what you’ll want potential employers to care about also.
For example, I wrote an RFP for USAID/Zambia that would mobilize funding with local investment management companies. It only took me 11 months (!!) to go from idea to procurement when it typically takes years for an RFP to be drafted and released.
That shows my ability to navigate large bureaucracies, find mutual advantages across competing teams, and deliver high-quality results in record time. Note, not a single “development” word in that sentence!
It also shows that I care deeply about locally-led development. I want to see countries and their citizens lead their own development efforts.
Now dive into your proudest moments. Discover the gold in your career story!
Step 2: Transform Triumphs into Talents
Next, break down your previous job roles to identify your strengths - your marketable skills. This exercise helps in understanding what you have that is in demand.
First, list three of your most recent or most interesting jobs
Then create two columns under each job
Now write down what you liked and did not like in each role
Make a summary list of 3-5 positive and negative qualities overall
Finally, reflect on your list—what are the patterns, trends, and roles you seek or avoid?
I did this last year and the results were surprising for me. I learned what I did and did not want in my next job (that I just lost). So I did this exercise again, and the results were similar. My deeply held beliefs have not changed in unemployment.
Your result will be unique to you—and that’s the point. You are on your own employment journey.
Step 3: Craft Your Career Blueprint
With your skills identified, focus on pinpointing the perfect role, industry, job, and peers that ignite your passion.
Define your role.
This is often best thought of as a generic job title, like “Project Manager” that can be applied to many employment situations. Be sure to translate your Federal title into a public or private sector role.
Keep and open mind when looking at roles. For example, MERL professionals can transition into data analysis roles. All companies want to use data to enhance their reach and efficiency with business intelligence. This is MERL by another name.
You can also ask Google Dreamer to dream up new roles for you.
Define your industry.
Here you can be flexible, yet you may still want one that aligns with your interests and social impact goals. For example, I was approached by an Air Force contractor, and although the role was interesting, the industry was not.
If you’re unsure which industry calls to you, read Lindsay’s experience and ask ChatGPT for ideas. Both can be great at helping you find industries that support your mission-focused goals.
Define your companies.
Within your selected industry, go deeper and identify 10 companies you want to work for. You can ask Perplexity to find 10 companies to research or ask it to find 10 companies that are similar to one you like.
Next, read their annual reports and websites to understand their history, size, niche, and funding sources. Do their values fit yours? Are they healthy and hiring? And will you be happy working there?
Define your peers.
Finally, research the staffing activity at your target companies. Look at their LinkedIn page and see who works for them. Then find who has the role you identified above at those companies.
Document the companies and who has roles similar to what you want. This list is your starting point for each of the remaining steps.
Step 4: Expand Your Circle of Influence
See that list of people you identified in Step 3? This is the start of your new professional network.
You now need to do the hardest step on this list - you must engage with them and other industry professionals. You must informational interview your ass off.
Informational interviews are key!
Informational interviews—where you interview a key industry leader—are the number one way to enter the hiring process from the side door and get ahead of everyone who tries to get in through the front door—job ads.
With an informational interview, you are learning about an industry while making a connection with a key leader. You are tapping into their network by asking them who else you should speak with. Everyone important loves to talk about themselves and name drop.
How to start info interviewing?
You know the answer by now. That list of future peers from step 3. Reach out to them through a mutual friend. LinkedIn is awesome at this!
If you click on anyone’s profile, there will be a handy list of connections you have in common. Not seeing a connection? Connect with me, and let’s use my 12,000 connections and 45,000 followers (!!) for good - getting you informational interviews!
How to get an interview?
How you ask for an informational interview is key to getting an interview. Never ask for a job or send your resume!
Instead, work your network and send a request with an implied social obligation for them to respond to you. For example:
Dear Susan, I was speaking with Mohammad recently and he said I should speak with you about project management careers with the New York State government. He said you were an expert on the topic and would give me critical insight. Could we have a short conversation (say 30 minutes) next week?
See what I did there? I flattered Susan and made a clear social obligation for her to meet with me. Then I gave a clear and flexible call to action.
Even with this approach, you’ll not have a 100% success rate. People are busy and you’re not the only one asking for meetings. Still, those that do respond will be priceless in testing your employment hypothesis.
Accelerate Your Job Search Networking
Networking can feel… well, icky. Use my AI-Accelerated Networking Toolkit to connect with hiring managers and their influencers in ways that feel easy and natural.
Built for career pivoters like you - job seekers who are done wasting time. This toolkit helps you:
Craft better outreach messages in seconds.
Know who to talk to using power-mapping prompts.
Use AI to prep for impactful informational interviews.
This is the practical playbook I wanted when I was laid off in January and hearing nothing but silence in February. Don’t waste months of time like I did.
Step 5: Put Your Ideas to the Test
It is now time to test your employment hypothesis. Yes, you have one now, though you may not realize it.
Your employment hypothesis
I should be hired by [company] in [industry] for [role] because I’m great at [what you like], which is proven by [your accomplishments].
Test your hypothesis with your network
Remember from your science classes that a hypothesis is an untested idea that can be validated (or not) through testing. Informational interviews will be your market test of your employment hypothesis.
Like any test, you may have to re-calibrate your hypothesis multiple times. As you conduct informational interviews, you’ll gain new insights on what employers want and your peers expect in an employee.
This will change your hypothesis - and that’s okay! For example:
I started out thinking that I would be great at using Generative AI to increase nonprofit fundraising. I was quickly dissuaded of that direction from my initial informational interviews as being too junior a role for me. Plus, I didn’t want to be in sales full time.
Then I thought about being a digital product manager at non-tech companies. After multiple informational interviews, I learned that this role was both too junior for me and too narrowly defined. I would’ve bristled at being that constrained.
Now I consider my next role to be a Strategic Digital Transformation Director, and I’m on my third round of informational interviews with potential new peers.
Test your hypothesis at events too
Networking is key in any industry but particularly when you are trying to break in. Attend conferences, seminars, and webinars to connect with industry leaders and potential employers.
You don’t have to pay to attend either.
You can strategically volunteer in exchange for free access. Or stalk the halls of the conference venue. You can even go to the after-party to meet people you researched online before the conference.
I did all three of these hacks to make connections in digital development. How do you hack the in-person conference racket?
Step 6: Polish Your Professional Persona
Okay, now that you know where you want to work, and what you want do do, and you’ve confirmed your employment hypothesis with multiple people, you can now tailor your resume and LinkedIn profile to reflect the industry lingo and highlight your relevant experiences.
You can update both using the terms and keywords you’ve heard in your informational interviews. However, I’ve found a faster and better approach using Generative AI.
How to improve your profile with GenAI
This is the easy five-step process I used to create a great resume and LinkedIn profile that speaks to the career I want to have next:
Find 3-4 job advertisements for roles that you want in your target industry.
Upload them into ChatGPT and ask it to find the key terms and keywords that are common across all the job descriptions.
Incorporate the key terms into your experiences on your resume and LinkedIn - within reason. Keywords populate your LinkedIn skills section - all 100!
If you don’t know what to change, put each experience section into ChatGPT and ask it to re-write it based on the job description findings.
Change the job titles on both from the ones your company used to those in the job ads. Include the official titles in the company description.
Get Step-by-Step Guidance
Building your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn is hard. Take the easy route and download my step-by-step toolkits to getting hired with AI.
These easy guides help you:
Craft better resumes that recruiters read now
Write cover letters that excite hiring managers
Optimize your LinkedIn to invite job offers
Handle ghosting (and bounce back fast)
GenAI turn grueling work into easy and fast accomplishments!
Step 7: Network Your Way Into a New Job
Finally, be proactive in your job search.
As you conduct informational interviews, offer to solve a small problem for your target employers. Find ways to show—not tell—your relevance and importance to them.
For example, you can develop a volunteer consultancy with them. A traditional consulting engagement, complete with a formal contract, where your payment for deliverables is not a cash payment, but insights, connections, and new skills that you can use in your job search.
Another option is fractional employment, where you are brought on for a specific role, but on a part-time and time-limited basis. This way, they can learn more about you, and you about them, without the complications of a full-time role.
These direct engagements can often lead to job opportunities that aren't advertised yet. You can even help them write the job description that you then apply for!
Bonus: Career Pivot Profile Clinic
If you’re having trouble with these steps, or you’re struggling in your job search, then please invest in a Profile Clinic.
I will work with you to:
Discuss your candidate/market fit and dream role
Accelerate your job search process and focus on productive actions
Analyze your resume based on your desired job role with replicable tips
Improve your LinkedIn profile and optimize it for recruiters
You’ll also get an email follow up 10 days later to see how you’re doing and what you can improve. Bonus: I’ll make networking introductions for you!
My goal is the same as yours: get you employed!
When I decided to get a job in international development, I did exactly that… it took a little time until I started getting interesting missions, but it’s definitely the right path.
Truly insightful. Thank you for the great tips shared.