Starting Over After a Layoff

Hello C.J.,

I have attached my resume so you can take a look at my experience and career history. I also attached my referrals and references from past employers and consultants on LinkedIn. I was very athletic in my youth (I am 47 now) and have a love for sports. I suffered an injury in my senior year and my career in athletics, in my mind, went down the drain.

I went right into retail and was successful but was never happy with the hours, nights and weekends. I went back to computer training and attained my Microsoft A+ and Net + certifications. I realized that again I was working nights and weekends, this time doing computer work. I worked with several recruiters and most of them were not very good. I like helping people so I changed careers again and went into recruiting.

I have been very successful and enjoy helping and working with folks. The market now is very tight and I was laid off from my last employer due to the economy. I am married and have two children and my wife and I are both unemployed and currently applying for unemployment. I have never had a problem finding work and am in panic mode. As a recruiter I always seemed to know what to say and do to help the person looking for a job. I have been applying, networking, emailing and beating the street to get a job....and I mean any job, just to cover the bills.

So now you know all of the details, now to the question. With this economy, what can I do now? Staffing? I do not have a degree for HR or corporate roles. I am at my wits end. I would love to pursue some type of work in sports or for a pro sports team or minor league team. I am not sure how, or if, I can transition.

I would appreciate any advice you can offer.

Sincerely,

Frank

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Frank,

Could you resend your resume? Based on reading your response, you impress me as someone who is pretty resourceful. There are few people who could successfully reinvent themselves in three separate careers and have the discipline to go back to school and go after what they want. This tells me that you can do anything you want as long as you set your mind to it.

While the economy is tough, as a recruiter you know how to sell yourself. My sense is what may be taking a hit, due to factors outside of yourself, is your confidence. This is, generally, the biggest problem most people have. While it’s easy to take things personally, this is the kiss of death. Read my article on Surviving Job Loss that offers some tips on how to recover from your recent layoff.

It seems your short-term goal is to find a job quickly. I would not worry that you do not have a degree in HR. Just focus on selling what you do have in terms of experience. One thing that jumps out as a temporary transitional job is to do recruiting for developers either in the US or abroad. There are very few recruiters who have the technical background that you offer and few recruiters in HR are men. Both of these work to your advantage. Another short-term idea to pull in money is to offer resume review and other selling skills to the folks out there looking for a job for a fee.

Please send your resume and I can offer more ideas.

Sincerely,

C.J.

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C.J. Liu is a Seattle-based career coach with over 15 years experience in helping people achieve happiness at work. She takes a holistic view of her clients needs and seeks to ensure they feel good physically, mentally and spiritually in their work. Check out her site, to learn more about C.J. Liu.

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