Tennessee Friends

Yesterday the company I work for announced that they will be closing the plant in Tennessee. This is extremely bad news. I simply do not have the words but seem to have a lot of tears.

There are so many people at this location that have been so kind to me. If I lived closer I know we would be closer friends. I am so worried and feel so helpless. How do I express what an impact it is these people have had, even though they don't know it? With the company closing this plant it is likely that some will drift from my daily life.

In the mean time, I am working on a list of job finding action items my friend Shelby and I used during her job search. Here is what I have so far.

• Join LinkedIn.com in addition to several groups inside (the groups are key for job announcements) - Here are the links to my LinkedIn page as well as Shelby's if you want an example http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulahertz - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/8/a33/574
• Update your resume and possibly have 2-3 different ones (it is not enough to have different cover letters anymore)
• Set up an alert/account with Indeed.com - This site retrieves job announcements from several other sites to you don't have to go to several all of the time.
• Create accounts on the job finder websites such as Monster.com, HotJobs.com , Careerbuilder.com, and Dice.com.
• Create a jobsearch tracking spreadsheet with the following columns [company, website link (put in hyperlinks to the job openings page for each company), Date, Action, Notes] - Use this spreadsheet to put in every company you know of in your area in addition to the job finders sites. Your job will be to review the website job postings each week and document any actions taken such as submitted resume on this date, etc. We started the list by putting the companies from the state's top 50 or 100 best companies to work for.
• Sign up with 4-5 consulting/staffing firms - Don't be afraid to take consulting job (this is how I got the job I have now! This was only supposed to be a 1 month assignment and I am on year 6!) - Keep in mind that many companies are likely to take on people from staffing/consulting firms during this employment/economic crisis. Be aware that several firms offer benefits as well!!!
• Networking! - This means you tell everyone you know that you are looking for new opportunities and are available right away. Shelby says this was key for her to find employment. It is a great story so give her a call if this freaks you out.
• Documentation - Always keep a hardcopy or screen capture copy of all job postings you send your resume in for. TRUST US on this, often the employer calls you about a position long after the posting was removed from where you found it. We found that some calls for positions were even 1-2 months after the job was removed.

These are the basics and I will try to add more as I think of other things.