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Look out for your health benefits and those of your dependents. Investigate the possibility of joining your spouse’s health insurance plan. Look into continuing your group insurance coverage under COBRA for up to 18 months. Keep in mind that with COBRA, you’ll have to foot the entire bill. If you’re a member of a professional or trade organization, you may be able to buy insurance at a lower group rate through the organization. Some college alumni associations also offer this benefit. Take advantage of tax deductions You may be able to deduct job search expenses, whether or not you get a new job. Eligible expenses can include the costs of travel, resume preparation and employment agency services. Keep detailed records to support these expenses. When you get a new job Now that you’ve gotten a new position, don’t start overspending. Continue to reduce debt and rebuild your retirement nest egg. Reestablish an emergency fund and start planning for the future again. Some companies are tapping their pool of retirees for hard-to-fill temporary jobs. These jobs are often short-term, high-paying, independent contractor-like positions. You can sometimes negotiate the terms and be very specific about what you want. Name your salary and the other benefits you want. This previously unforeseen income can make you even more comfortable in retirement. Conclusion Job displacement, transitioning and re-entry is often an anxious time. Make your situation as comfortable as possible. Manage your emotions in a healthy way, use your professional contacts, create a new family budget, and save your money. For a complimentary budget worksheet go to www.efs529.com/ieeefinancial. IEEE Financial Advantage Program (FAP) and Grogan Advisory Services have partnered to provide financial planning services to IEEE members in the United States. For more information about this or other Financial Advantage Programs, please visit us online at www.ieee.org/fap. Larry N. Grogan is president of Grogan Advisory Services, an independent financial services firm in Malta, N.Y. Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org. Opinions expressed are the author’s. 22 ieee-usa eBooks
Five Steps to a New Job By Debra Feldman It would be so much simpler if job hunting didn’t require intensive, time consuming personal commitment and wasn’t so emotionally draining. However, the reality of today’s highly competitive job market is that to be effective, you have to get out there, promoting yourself strategically and selectively to those who are likely to be most receptive. Not only do you need to present yourself outstandingly well, but you also have to focus your search on those employers who can appreciate your value and are able to hire you. In other words, to be efficient, a job search campaign has to be purposeful. Job search is mostly about marketing. While you may think that skills and credentials should speak for themselves, if the message describing your abilities and the benefits you bring to a prospective employer isn’t compelling and clearly portrayed, other candidates who do a better job at marketing themselves (i.e.,communicating their value) will slip in ahead of you. Does this mean you need to “play the job search game” to be successful? Yes, it does require you to be proactive, take initiative, and package yourself favorably to attract the employers whose attention you want to command. Be purposeful in your job search activities. Having a great résumé is not necessarily enough. You still need to hit the pavement or the phones to establish direct, interpersonal chemistry. Good rapport can produce a dialogue about shared interests and generate new career opportunities. Herein lies the work of looking for a new job. If most candidates could land a new challenge simply by sending out scads of letters or clicking on enough online job postings, then job hunting would be transformed from the bear it is to something we all enjoy and anticipate eagerly. Maybe we’d even volunteer to do it for someone else. The very fact that no one is offering implies that job hunting is indeed a major effort. Sure, friends and colleagues are prepared to provide assistance — making introductions, suggesting referrals and providing recommendations — but the nitty-gritty, day-to-day tasks of designing and conducting a carefully planned and thoroughly executed, results-oriented job search campaign rests on each candidate’s shoulders. Self-promotion can be a huge challenge for many otherwise savvy, capable executives. The following five steps will help simplify the job search process, accelerate campaign progress, and alleviate some of the stress associated with finding your next career challenge: 1) Brace yourself for the job search. There is work to be done and no easy way out. Ideally, you’d like to have a headhunter or recruiter find you. But you can’t count on that, especially in today’s environment where more and more recruiting is handled internally to reduce expenses. You have to rely on your own personal initiatives to open doors and get your name into circulation. You are your own best sales representative. Even if an agent gets your toe inside, you have to put your best foot forward and prepare for an appointment by learning as much about a prospective employer as you can. The, you’ll need to communicate the problem-solving and revenue-growing skills you will bring with you. Even if the employer seeks you out, you still need The Best of Today’s Engineer: On Career Survival 23
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