Yesterday, I was speaking with a senior manager who was referred to me by someone for a position. Although he did not fit the role, as often happens, we got to talking about a broad spectrum of things and then evolved our conversation to his job search.

"Right now," I said, is the key time for you in your search for this year.

"Why is that?"

"Because your old friends are creating their budgets for next year and they can carve out a place for you. More than anything for a senior professional, the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth are the key times in their search when they can leverage some of their contacts and really make something happen."

If you wait until December, budgets are already in place for the next year and it's too late for them to be creative.

Instead, get on the phone and/or get together with as many former colleagues as you can who are in leadership roles with their firms or joining new organizations in leadership roles. See if there is space for you or can be space for you in their new budget. If not, see if they can point you to someone who they hear may need someone like you.

Use your time wisely now. If you do and are fortunate you can bank your severance and land in a new role with a halo around your head.

© 2009, 2011 All rights reserved Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

 

The Job Search Universe Bookstore is carrying all of my ebooks and guides to job hunting in PDF format Each is easy to understand and contains a lot of information about different elements of job hunting.