Matt Durfee - The Job Search Navigator: An Experts Guide to Getting Hired, Surviving Layoffs, and Building Your Career

PRAISE FOR MATT DURFEE AND THE JOB SEARCH NAVIGATOR

Matts expertise in this space is unmatched. We live in a world where constant reinvention is the rule and The Job Search Navigator is essential reading for those who want to take control of their career trajectory.

Scott Westerman, executive director & associate vice president for alumni relations, Michigan State University

What the world doesnt need is another academic, theoretical, and philosophical treatise on the job marketand that is exactly what The Job Search Navigator is not. Well-told personal stories, an authoritative and clear voice, and tested tactics make this book refreshing and tremendously useful. Eventually, youll want to move up or youll need to move on and The Job Search Navigator is both chart and compass for the journey.

Bob Allen, chief storytelling officer, IDEAS Media & Experience Design

In The Job Search Navigator, Matt Durfee has succeeded mightily in creating a compelling, educational, and entertaining work that draws from his own deep experience on both sides of the employment desk. You will be both inspired and informed by this read.

Thomas D. Christopoul, former chairman of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, partner and cofounder of 54 Madison Partners

Unsurprisingly, Matt Durfees book is absolutely spot on. He is a well-trained professional with real experiences on transition. No one is more capable of helping people reconnect. Read the book and this comes through clearly. His passion and knowledge of how to help people reconnect or find the next opportunity is unmatched. He is The Man when it comes to career transitions.

Dave Loeser, sr. vice president of worldwide human resources, unisys

Finding a job is hard to do... finding the right job even harder. The Job Search Navigator is the guide job seekers of all types can use to navigate the ever-changing employment process. Matt has provided a business plan with examples that are critical, on point, and actionable. His insights are refreshingly honest, deeply personal, and provide easy-to-follow steps that will make anyones search more successful.

Rick Walsh, chairman & CEO, The Knob Hill Companies, chair emeritus at University of Central Florida

This book rocks! Comprehensive, relevant, emotional, honestthe perfect set list for getting your career back to rock icon status.

Jim Knight, author of Culture That Rocks: How to Revolutionize Your Companys Culture

A no-holds-barred view of career management in a turbulent world. The Job Search Navigator provides a reality-based perspective that should be of value to all who read and follow its insights.

Len Schlesinger, president emeritus at Babson College, Baker Foundation professor, Harvard Business School

Matt Durfees model for finding a new job provides just what job seekers need to move through each phase of the human change process. By providing expert insights, he makes it possible to get excited about and focused on future opportunities and to let go of the emotional constraints that confront change.

Tim Galusha, vice president of human resources, Matrix Absence Management

Copyright 2016 by Matthew J. Durfee

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without express written permission from the publisher.

Trademarks: LinkedIn, the LinkedIn logo, the IN logo and InMail are registered trademarks or trademarks of LinkedIn Corporation and its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries.

Photo on p. 60 Sherri Andresen.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Durfee, Matt.

The job search navigator: an experts guide to getting hired, surviving layoffs, and building your career / Matt Durfee.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-57284-768-2 (ebook)

1. Job hunting. 2. Career changes. 3. Career development. I. Title.

HF5382.7.D87 2016

650.14--dc23

2015033427

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 16 17 18 19 20

B2 is an imprint of Agate Publishing. Agate books are available in bulk at discount prices. agatepublishing.com

To my daughter, Jacqueline Durfee, whom I love to the moon and back, and to my mother and father, Midge and Jerry Durfee, whom I love to heaven and back.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

William N. Cooke, PhD

PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITYS SCHOOL OF HUMAN RESOURCES AND LABOR RELATIONS

T odays global marketplace continues to become ever more competitive, unpredictable, and unforgiving. In this new economic world order, companies are struggling earnestly to sustain competitiveness by adapting in a variety of ways. These adaptations include adjusting to the digital age, pressing for greater efficiencies and productivity, eliminating unprofitable products and services, downsizing and closing operations, investing and outsourcing abroad, brokering mergers and acquisitions, dumping CEOs, and otherwise restructuring and shedding employees. Losing the competitive edge, even briefly, is too costly to company fortunescostly, in particular, to hardworking and talented people spread throughout organizations, including in the treasured C-suites.

Even during periods of full employment, this volatility and the consequent displacement of employees has become the way of life in the marketplace. Indeed, even high performers can no longer expect lifetime employment within a single enterprise. The best personal strategy, therefore, is to prepare oneself to deal with the disruption inherent in the new economic order and to take advantage of opportunities hidden within it.

Do you have a plan for achieving your own long-term career aspirations in an unpredictable world? If you learn tomorrow or next year that you have been displaced, do you have an effective career transition plan that will take full advantage of the talents and skills you have to offer? Most of us do not, but we all need one if we hope to turn disruptions in our careersand in the lives of our familiesinto opportunities for growth.

In The Job Search Navigator, Matt Durfee, a seasoned and expert navigator of these uncertain waters, shows us the way. Within its pages, you will find much more than a few standard guidelines on how to search for job opportunities, write a resume, conduct interviews, and negotiate job offers. These topics are addressed with detailed analysis, sage advice, and rare insight from Durfees vast experiences as a job candidate, recruiter, and career-transition coach. He challenges readers to think strategically about their career aspirations and guides them to develop their own long-term career plans that will prepare them to continue pursuing these aspirations even in the wake of displacement.

In Chapter 1, Durfee addresses the emotional turmoil and stress that accompany an unexpected discharge and shares firsthand accounts of these experiences. He discusses the importance of understanding and accepting unanticipated change and of developing a healthy attitude toward it. This mindset can help readers to better their current career paths or pursue new ones, as well as achieve personal growth and happiness.

In Chapter 2, Durfee explains that a moment of transition is an especially good time to take a fresh look inward. At this critical juncture, the fundamental question is whether to stay on your current career path or find a new path that aligns better with your personal aspirations. To answer this all-important question, Durfee walks us through how to thoroughly research options and objectively assess our own skills and interests. He warns against the short-term impulse to simply secure a steady paycheck. In this chapter and throughout the book, testimonials from executives, recruiters, and associates bridge the gap between theory and reality.