14 Reasons to Make a Sideways Career Move

14 Reasons to Make a Sideways Career Move

by Dawn Dugan, Salary.com contributing writer (source: www.Salary.com)

When it comes to your career path, sometimes "up" isn't the only direction in which to travel.

A sideways or "lateral" move -- defined as a move either within your current company or to a new organization with similar title, pay, and responsibility -- can often pay off in the future.

Here are 14 reasons to make a lateral move.

Reason #1: You want to enhance your value and be more marketable

A lateral move often gives you the opportunity to gain additional skills and knowledge.

Reason #2: You'll work with a better boss or supervisor

Sometimes making a lateral move is a good way to cement an opportunity to work with someone who will be a great mentor. These relationships can often have a positive and lasting effect on your career path.

Reason #3: You want more visibility

If you are working in a peripheral part of the company, making a lateral move to a more vibrant part of the company can give you the responsibility and visibility you desire.

Reason #4: You want to track yourself for a high-level position within your organization or industry

The more you learn about all facets of a particular company or industry, the more broad knowledge you'll possess to perform senior roles to your fullest capacity.

Reason #5: You want to facilitate work-life balance

Whether you want to remain in a particular geographical area, spend less time commuting, or free up time for family or personal passions, a lateral move may allow you to maintain other things aside from work that are important to you.

Reason #6: You want to build your network within the company

Moving from one department or organization to another means working with new faces and making new contacts, both of which are integral to your career.

Reason #7: You are burnt out, and want to revitalize

Changing departments or organizations is a good way to ensure you have new challenges to face, and are once again excited about going to work.

Reason #8: You want to avoid a layoff, or enhance job security

If your department is being downsized, or you don’t perceive it as being high up on the value chain, making a lateral move to another department can increase security.

Reason #9: You want to break out of a stagnant situation

You're feeling at a dead end, or not quite sure where you want to go from here. Making a lateral move will help you explore new possibilities.

Reason #10: You want more opportunities for advancement

If you have stiff competition in your division and are constantly getting passed up for promotion, moving away from your current environment can provide new opportunity.

Reason #11: You want better benefits

Sometimes making a lateral move from one organization to another can provide you with significantly better benefits, such as health insurance, retirement plans, and employee perks.

Reason #12: You want to better match your values with that of the department or organization

You may not get a fancy title or more money, but having values that align is invaluable when it comes to your motivation and happiness

Reason #13: You want additional education

Many lateral moves come with training and additional education that only increase your value, both to your current employer as well as to future employers.

Reason #14: You are still searching for your dream job

If you find you don't love what you do, exploring a lateral move can help you find a job you are passionate about.

Sometimes sideways is the best way

When considering your next career move, don't discount the lateral move. Just like chess, sometimes sideways is the best move to get you to where you eventually want to go.

12 Tips for Generating Strong Job Leads

12 Tips for Generating Strong Job Leads

by Dawn Dugan, Salary.com contributing writer (Source: www.salary.com )

Whether you are unemployed or simply looking to make a move, in a world where jobs are more competitive than ever, finding a job is a full-time job.

You can up the odds of landing a good gig by creating an organized, systematic plan to generate job leads. This article explores 12 active ways to ensure the leads keep rolling in.

1. Use your network

Only about 25 to 30 percent of jobs are advertised in the newspaper. The rest are "hidden." The best way to access these hidden jobs is through friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and contacts in your industry.

Identify and reach out in an organized manner to people who can help you, and let them know what kind of work you're looking for. If they can't help you, they probably know of someone who can.

2. Make it personal

Remember the days when you sent out a pile of generic cover letters and resumes, then waited for the phone to ring? Gone.

Replace this passive activity with a more action-oriented effort to establish relationships. Make sure every contact you make, whether it is by snail mail or email, references something you've learned about the contact or organization, and reveals something memorable about you.

3. Try the foot-in-the-door approach

Instead of asking for a meeting to discuss potential jobs (it's too easy to say "no" if there aren't any), try asking for a meeting for advice or information. Approached this way, most people are happy to help.

This approach gets your foot in the door, regardless of whether there is a job currently available. The person you meet with will remember you in the future if a suitable job opens up, may know of a person or organization that needs someone just like you, or may even be impressed enough to create a position for you!

4. Make cold contact

Make a list of potential employers, research each one carefully, then send each one a custom-tailored, personalized cover letter and resume describing what you can do for them.

You could possibly connect with a job that hasn't been advertised yet, or remind a company that they need help in a specific area.

5. Build your own website

Highlight your education, accomplishments, skills, and knowledge. Most important, make sure your website is properly optimized.

Quite often, employment agencies and human resources departments will do keyword searches in an attempt to find ideal candidates for certain jobs.

6. Join professional and trade organizations in your area

Many of these organizations hold regular meetings, seminars, and conferences. Joining these organizations will give you credibility, will increase your education and knowledge, and will allow you to rub elbows with some of your industry’s movers and shakers. It will also get you in front of the people and companies you want to work for.

Being active in professional and trade organizations is one of the best ways to get a good job quickly.

7. Contact your college career/alumni office

One of the most overlooked benefits of your college degree is the large network of people you acquire upon graduating.

Contact your alma mater's career department to find out what kind of services they offer. Chances are they can put you in touch with fellow graduates in your line of work who would be more than happy to lend a helping hand.

8. Attend job fairs

Search local publications for job fairs happening in your area. The key to generating leads at job fairs is to know who is attending ahead of time, and to develop a planned approach for visiting these potential employers.

Even if you are a high-level employee and the job fair is focusing on low-level employees, attending so that you can meet specific hiring managers is a good way to find out if there's a good fit now, or to ensure you're remembered if there's a good fit in the future.

9. Use online jobs sites and boards

Many job seekers neglect this route, thinking they will get lost among the throngs of other job seekers. While job boards shouldn't be your only way of generating leads, used correctly they can yield results.

Using the right keywords and truly understanding the finer points of how to use these sites can help you stand out in a crowd. Online job sites and boards are also a great resource for company information, which can help you custom tailor your outreach.

10. Align yourself with recruiters and headhunters

Find out who specializes in your industry or area, send them your information, and arrange a meeting. Headhunters and recruiters have tons of contacts, and it's in their best interest to find these contacts the best possible employees.

If there's not currently a potential match, be sure to keep in touch frequently. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

11. Stay linked in

Ask new contacts to join your LinkedIn network, or other online business-related networks you belong to. This will keep them abreast of what you're up to, and will keep your name fresh in their minds when that perfect position becomes available!

Joining groups in LinkedIn is also a terrific way to meet people who are in your industry.

12. Follow up each lead

Finding a job is more difficult than ever these days, but the formula for successful lead creation remains the same. In addition to making as many contacts as possible, through as many avenues as possible, it's important to follow up on every single lead.

Even if there's not a current match, following up will allow you to cultivate the relationships that may lead to future employment.

Persistence pays

You'll up the odds of finding your dream job if you generate as many good leads as possible. Follow the 12 tips in this article, leave no avenue unexplored, and be persistent.

It may take a little longer these days, but eventually, with the right strategy, your hard work will yield the results you're looking for.

About BestLogic Staffing:

BestLogic Staffing (BLS) is a full-service staffing search firm that has diligently emerged itself in recruiting and placing qualified and quality candidates with expertise in Accounting, Finance, Executive Management, A/E/C, Engineering, Environmental, Manufacturing, Energy, just to name a few.

Our Services
* Temporary Staffing * Temp-to-Hire * Direct Placement * Executive Search * Payrolling * HR Consulting

Whether you are looking for a job, adding to your staff, or need any advice within the scope of hiring-we will do whatever it takes to help you succeed!

Responding to Job Postings

Responding to Job Postings

(Source: www.rileyguide.com)

The fastest way to respond to Internet job listing is to e-mail your cover letter and resume to the person or organization indicated.

However, there are some simple rules to follow before hitting the “send” key. Look at it this way.You have 15 or 20 seconds to get someone’s attention using email. In that time, you must convince the recipient to

• open your email
• read your message
• not delete your email

Do it wrong, get into the wrong mail box, or make someone’s job harder, and the best resume in the world from the most qualified person in the world will be trashed.

Getting your email opened, read, and actually considered really comes down to some simple rules.

1. Use the right Subject. “Seeking employment” is not an acceptable subject. If you are responding to an advertisement, use the job title or job code cited in the advertisement to make it easy for your e-mail to be recognized and routed to the appropriate person. If you are “cold calling” an employer, put a few words stating your objective or in the Subject line.
2. Include a cover letter in your email and address it to the recipient. “Here’s my resume, please tell me if you have any jobs I might fill” is not a cover letter and does not encourage anyone to look at your resume. Whether or not you are responding to an advertised opening, the cover letter will introduce you, specify how you meet the needs of the employer, and will encourage the recipient to read your full resume.
3. Always send your resume in the body of the e-mail message, not as an attachment. Force someone to open an attachment just to get to know you and your 20 seconds are over before they even start. Put that resume right in the message so the recipient will see it as soon as he or she opens the message. This technique also helps you get through e-mail systems that reject all attachments in this day of rampant computer viruses.
4. Make sure your resume is properly formatted for e-mail. Plain text resumes not formatted for email can be unreadable, and unreadable resumes will most likely be deleted. Take the time to make sure it will look as good on all computers and in all email systems as it does on your screen. This means shorter text lines, spacing between sections, and text-based highlights.
5. If responding to an advertisement, read the application instructions and follow them. Failing to follow application instructions not only delays your resume, it labels you as someone who doesn’t take direction well. It’s the Trash bin for you. They might specify an email address and job code to use. They might even actually ask you to send your resume as a Word attachment. Whatever they want, you do.

Always remember: It only takes a second for someone to delete an e-mail message. Don’t give them a reason to trash you! Think before you respond!

Check out our websites:

BestLogic Staffing www.BestLogicStaffing.com

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