Surviving Layoffs: How-To Guide

The economy has claimed countless jobs and the tech sector is certainly not immune. With a recession on our hands, companies are slashing workforce and tightening their belts. Local employers are also trimming their payrolls.

First, the (grim) news:

• Wall Street Journal: Burn Rate: Even More Tech Layoffs To Come
• TechCrunch: Layoff Tracker
• CNET: Tech Layoffs

The news locally isn't much better:

• Silicon Florist: More sad news: Iterasi layoff
• Mike Rogoway's Silicon Florest: Updated tally of tech layoffs

For those recently unemployed -- my condolences... I've been there. After your week of decompression and relaxation, I'd like to offer some tips for finding that next job (even if you're not subject to a layoff):

A) Network. A tough economy and record-setting jobless rate is no time for being an introvert. Meet as many people as you can and get your name out there. (Why wait for the pink slip? Start networking NOW!) Join a group, attend a meeting, get to know your neighbours (physical or virtual). These are great times for tools such as Twitter (follow me!), social networking sites such as LinkedIn (add me!), Facebook (ditto), and countless professional social networking communities.
B) Attend local events. Important enough to warrant it's own bullet, but extremely related to the above tip -- get out there and meet your local community at area events, many free. Portland is fortunate to have many great meet-ups (I'm a huge fan of Beer & Blog linked to the right) and even more fortunate to have them aggregated in one spot thanks to Calagator: Portland's Tech Calendar.
C) Refresh your skills. Portland is a great place to learn. Teachstreet.com, a Northwest startup in Seattle, Portland, SF Bay Area (and soon more), is one of my favorites: You can literally learn *anything* on this uber-directory-of-all-classes. While the site has lots of yoga and karate instructors, there are also valuable career-oriented classes available.

If you've got more advice, or resources, for jobless listeners... pass them along, I'll post them here.

And if you're hiring, like local techie OpenSourcery (as posted on Silicon Florist), let's spread that news as well...

To hear this story, as broadcast on Newsradio 750 KXL on 11 Dec 2008, click here (MP3)

Future employers read your online profile too!

KXL Tech Expert Segment for 27 August 2007

Information you share in an online profile is read by more than your friends and family – what a prospective employer reads about you in your social networking profile could keep you from that dream job.

College students are accustomed to sharing weekend recaps, blogs about trips, and photos from parties with their peers … but more and more employers are searching employee hopeful profiles – and are marking an application “no hire” as a result.

According to a March survey by the think tank Ponemon Institute (as quoted by MSNBC.com):

Thirty-five percent of hiring managers use Google to do online background checks on job candidates, and 23 percent look people up on social networking sites. About one-third of those Web searches lead to rejections.

What can those looking for a job do to keep from scaring off potential employers?

• Be careful what you post. Details of sexual experiences, use of illicit substances, and frequent drinking may be best left out of your online blog posts, profile updates and photos.
  
• Watch what you do write. Even if you “keep it clean”, sloppy grammar and poor spelling could give an employer a misleading representation of your skills and professionalism.
  
• Talk to your friends. Ask they respect your privacy in their own profile updates and when posting pictures from parties.
  
• Consider an alias. There’s no reason you need to give your real name online, your friends will find you – but employer’s might be unsuccessful.
  
• Hide your profile. Sure it’s more fun to let anyone read your posts, but if limited to your network of friends you may keep that hiring manager from snooping.
  
• Call in the professionals. Online services such as reputationdefender.com will monitor what information is available for you and, for a fee of course, work to remove undesirable content – if it’s not too late.

Online privacy requires diligence, careful consideration and constant monitoring. A good rule of thumb is to consider that anything posted on an online profile is not private – avoid sharing details you would not want a prospective employer to use in considering whether or not to hire you.

Further reading:

• Job candidates getting tripped up by Facebook (MSNBC.com)
  
• MySpace Is Public Space When It Comes To Job Search (CollegeGrad.com)

Have you been rejected from a job because of what you had posted in an online profile? Ever pass up a candidate based on information found online? I'd love to hear from you!