Amy Lindgren
We’re hearing that the job market has tightened, and I’m seeing the signs myself. Between layoffs in nonprofits and government, and downsizing for corporations affected by tariffs or other factors, hiring is slowing noticeably.
Job seekers who want to prevail will need to do more than respond to postings. One option might be hiding in the document you’ve been emailing with all your applications: Your résumé.
“Shopping your résumé” is what I call the process of looking for new work opportunities by reviewing each position you’ve held. While anyone with a work history is a candidate for success here, this is one of those times when older workers have an advantage. They’ve simply worked more places and with more people than younger job seekers.
To get started, gather up your current and previous résumés. (By the way, this exercise is reason enough to save all your old résumés. Even though the oldest jobs may have fallen off the page, so to speak, they still represent your personal and professional history.)
With your work history in hand, the next step is fairly simple: Look at all the employers and rank them — which would you work for again? That would include your high school jobs, by the way. I once had a client who snagged a manager role in a grocery store after completing his driving career. He had enjoyed working in groceries as a teenager and found it even more satisfying in his 60s.
But what if you don’t find an employer in your background that you would work for again? Or what if they don’t really exist anymore?
No worries, the shopping can continue. By my count, there are four categories that can be exploited for potential leads or employment when you sift through your work history: The employer; clients you served for the employer; vendors, partners or consultants you worked with on behalf of the employer; and co-workers / past managers from your time with the employer.
As an example, I introduced this concept to participants in a daylong workshop a few years ago. One fellow took me seriously and when we broke for lunch, he began calling past co-workers. In just an hour, he was able to nail down a meeting with a co-worker’s new boss, at a different company, based on her referral. That was a big grin he was wearing for the afternoon session.
You might have a more intuitive or efficient method, but here’s how I might organize things: On a word processing page or piece of paper, I would list each employer, with subheadings for co-workers, managers, clients, vendors, etc. Then I would populate the sub-sections as best I could.
All kinds of things are going to happen as you do this. First, your memory will play some tricks — was Sally the CPA at XYZ company or was she at Acme? Who was that consultant you were assigned to help back at Acme?
Next, you’ll realize that you don’t know how to reach most folks, or that some have retired or even passed away. This is normal, so keep going — there will be gaps no matter how hard you squint and try to fill them.
Now you have decisions to make. If there’s an employer in your past that you would work for again, do you still know anyone there? If so, you don’t need a complicated plan — just reach out and ask if they’d have time for a cup of coffee or phone call.
If you can’t find a past contact, you can try to make a new one. The gold standard would be the current manager of the department where you’d like to work. If you can find that name and contact information, your outreach could be a short email where you introduce yourself as a former employee who has added skills and industry knowledge, while retaining an understanding of how that company works. Ask for a meeting and attach your résumé, then move on to the next one.
In addition to contacting the employers themselves, don’t forget about the other people on your list. For example, if you regularly attended meetings with people from other companies, they could be good contacts. In all cases, your goal is to have a conversation, ask if they or their departments need help, and ask who else you should contact.
Does shopping your résumé work? In my experience, sometimes it does. Since you can’t know until you try, you’ll have to jump in to find that answer yourself.
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Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.
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