The Unwritten Rules

My copy of Orville Pierson's The Unwritten Rules of a Highly Effective Job Search arrived from Amazon.com on the day I got a job offer after my first layoff in late summer 2008--which lasted 7 weeks when all was said and done. Since I had a job at that point, I didn't even crack the binding. Pierson's book had been a recommendation from my older sister, Elena, who is smart enough about professional life that I should know enough to pay attention. As the younger sister, I am usually not smart enough to do so. The first time around.

When I got my second pink slip in a year this past spring, I tore up my study looking for the brown cardboard box with the Amazon.com branding. Not finding it, I went to the library, found and checked out Pierson's book, and have been using it both as a job search guide and a talisman (I carry it in my bag at all times) ever since. Two renewals so far.

One of the best lessons of The Unwritten Rules is that most jobs aren't filled from postings--online or elsewhere. So you can apply for jobs you see listed someplace until you are blue in the face, and have only a 25% chance of success.

So, it's networking. Which everyone says is SOOO important...and it really is. The idea is, you make a list of all the companies you are interested in, and then contact EVERYONE you can think of who might be willing to help you and ask them if they know anyone at any of your target companies to whom they would be willing to make an introduction for you. So, obviously, the more people you know, they better off you are. This approach feels laborious and hopeless at first--but I've had a few little successes I'd like to share which I hope will inspire anyone out there who is unemployed to use this approach.

My Mom

One of the first contacts I made post-employment this time around was through my mom. I had not sent my mom my list of target companies, but of course she's my mom, so she's very interested in my job search and I talk to her about it a lot. Mom is a retired minister, but keeps herself busy in a variety of church-based organizations. Her spirituality group, it turns out, included a person at a large financial organization in town going through a complex transition due to a take-over, with large-scale project management needs. I knew about this project through the recruiters I was talking to, but hearing about my situation from my mom inspired this person to quickly meet me for lunch, pay for it (lovely!), and give me all the information she had about the project as well as the recruiting organizations. I continue to stay in touch with her whenever I hear about a new job for this organization through a recruiter. Although she couldn't immediately connect me to a hiring manager, I know that knowing this person gives me an invaluable edge.

My Previous Employer Who ALSO Laid Me Off

I was professionally traumatized by both of my recent layoffs, and I'm sure this is a nearly universal experience. Although I was told in both cases that the layoffs were due to downsizing forced by the poor economy and not my work, I felt I had been singled out. These were not mass layoffs--it was only me in one case, and me and one other junior employee in the other. The layoffs made me question the work I had been doing for the organizations, and all the relationships I had made with colleagues who I now felt I could not approach, and who in some cases weren't free to recommend me due to corporate policy.

So, when it came time to send my target list to someone from my previous company, I sent it to the one person I had the best and most successful business relationship with. We hadn't talked since the layoff, but despite the fact that she was on long-term leave, she responded within a day with possible contacts for nearly every company on my list. The most important thing about her response to my request for help, was that her contact list for me included people at that company who had believed in me when I worked there. Because I was so upset by the abrupt end to my career there, I hadn't been able to see the value of the relationships I already had. Both of those people responded immediately and warmly to my request for help, each providing a list of their own of people for me to contact.