Beating unemployment

What a month has been November. After looking for work for over a year and being unemployed for eleven months, I finally connected with the job market. I accepted an offer from AppliedMicro (AMCC) and start today. It's an exciting role managing next generation products. This is exactly the type of position for which I obtained an MBA five years ago.

By the time I accepted the offer I had received another offer from a different ottawa-based company. I received both offers within an hour last Wednesday. I had also obtained sweat-equity positions in two other start-ups, submitted a funding proposal to the Government to earn $68,000 for the Ottawa Talent Initiative and was working on a second proposal. I was also booking an interview with another company for the following week.

My recent interviews went really well. I learnt to create a dialogue about what I can do, then work with the hiring manager to determine how this would fit with the organization. As a result, the jobs I talked about were customized for me.

This is what I learnt during my time off
1) Being busy is good. Sitting around waiting for the phone to ring is not. At times I got depressed but having work-like projects were key to my sanity
2) Get connected. Attend networking events, phone old co-workers for a coffee meeting. It's hard to get out and in front of people but realize that people are the key to the jobs
3) Think about what you're good at and how it adds value to a business. Jobs are evolving quickly, being unemployed involves changing to meet their needs. It's not what you call yourself or what you did before, it's what you can do now.
4) Get out of the house. I owe a huge debt to my parents for weekly lunches, my buddy for the weekly Guinness and most of all to my girlfriend for her unwavering commitment. She was there when I needed someone to hold me an tell me everything will be OK.

In hindsight, the time I spent at the Ottawa Talent Initiative was somewhat distracting. The idea was right and I used the opportunity to connect with hiring managers from different companies. It also helped me stay fresh and work-ready. I just spent too much time trying to find other people jobs and solve the employment problem and not enough time on me. The advantage was that I built a fantastic new network and got more involved in the high-tech business community.

I intend to remain connected with the high-tech community. I'm going to attend networking events and venture talent fairs (part of the lead-to-win program). I'm also going to continue to volunteer to finish a research project I started with Carleton University. We are going to determine the extent to which poor social skills limit a high-tech worker's ability to find employment.

It's nice to feel wanted and connected to the system again.

In this down economy so many people are suffering through unemployment. Send this link to them. It might provide the inspiration they need. If you have faced unemployment or know someone who has, why not share your observations here so we might all benefit.