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Time to Trade your Bathing Suit for an Interviewing Suit

It’s that time of year again.  Good-bye lazy days of summer, hello school!bizsuit

The same is true in my house.  My son is starting his first year at West Point and my daughter will be a sophomore in high school.  Yikes!

Even though my son will be “issued” all of his clothes and supplies, there is still that last minute frenzy going on with my daughter.  We need to check the backpack, fill out the registration forms, buy a few school supplies, and carefully plan out the perfect “first-day-of-school” outfit.

It’s the last week of summer, and there’s so much to do!

The same frenzy exists in the job market.  No matter how old we get, I think we still operate according to the school calendar to a certain degree.

A lot of job seekers relax over the summer and take time off from their job search.  They spend more time with their families on vacation than actively looking a job.  Then there is that frenzy at the end of summer to re-activate and re-energize the job search.

It’s important to recognize that the seasonal hiring trends also follow the same patterns.  Not only are job seekers on vacation during the summer, but so are hiring managers.  Decisions are slow moving during the summer, and then there’s often a flurry of hiring activity right after Labor Day.

Knowing that there is usually a spike in activity in the early fall, you want to make sure you’re ready.

Just like we have a back-to-school check list to help ease the transition, there also needs to be a back-to-work check list for job seekers.  Not to worry…I’ve put together a quick list to get you started:

  • dust off and update your resume
  • revisit your LinkedIn profile
  • practice your Elevator Pitch
  • print out some transition business cards
  • reconnect with your network
  • research new companies
  • clean out and organize your home office space
  • trade in your bathing suit for an interviewing suit

Transitioning from an unstructured to a structured schedule is not always easy.  It takes everyone a couple of weeks to get back on track.  The trick is getting organized, focusing on the goals, and getting back to work. Get back into the swing of things this fall, and you’ll be earning “Straight As” in your job search in no time!

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