By Jack Mulcahy
Why is it that the resume business seems to dry up during the
months of July and August, and again during November and December?
"That's easy," you'll say. "Everybody goes on vacation during those
times. Nobody's hiring."
While it's true that quite a few
vacations happen during the aforementioned periods, one thing that never
takes a vacation is job openings. The widget assembler who gets a
better offer in July isn't going to wait til September to leave the job
and create the opening, right? Nor is the CFO going to hold off a few
months until "vacation season" is over to announce her retirement.
So
why aren't you taking advantage of the summer months? Job-hunting is a
full-time job that doesn't take time off for vacations or sick days. You
should be doing something every day that pushes you close to your
employment goal.
As noted at the beginning of this article, the
resume business dries up during July and August, and again during
November and December. If your competition's out taking those months
off, doesn't that improve the possibilities for you, even if only
slightly?
Successful people develop a talent for seeing
opportunity where others do not. It's reminiscent of the story of two
rival shoe salesmen who were on the same ocean liner. The ship suffered
some mechanical upset and they found themselves on the proverbial desert
island, populated by friendly people who wore no shoes in the tropical
weather.
At the end of their stay on the island, each salesman
communicated to his home office. The first one's communique said simply,
"Desert island with no opportunity. Nobody wears shoes." The second
salesman's communique said, "Unlimited opportunity here! Everybody needs
shoes!"
Opportunities exist everywhere; you simply must learn to
discern them. Some cases will be fairly obvious; an island full of
barefoot people just waiting for you to come along. Others won't be as
easily recognized; a vice president who steps down, enabling a manager
to take his place, which leaves an opening for that manager's job which
you just know you could do. The job you know you want to do.
The
point is, job openings don't go on vacation. You must follow the news
from every company that might be a target every day, and be aware of
every move, every opening created by a move. How else are you going to
know when that vice president decides to leave? "