IF OPPORTUNITY KNOCKs–I AM NOT READY

REPOSTED FROM MY THOUGHTS (hshawjr@blogspot.com/haroldshawjr.com)

With all the rain we have been getting in Maine this week, when we are not doing work around the house projects, it has given me the opportunity to reflect and think about many different things.  As part of this reflection process, I participated in a webinar on making your Resume stand out this morning and while I learned some good information, it also caused me to ask myself a lot of questions about my future and what I want from my career.

Does this mean that I am actively going out to look for a new job somewhere starting today – no I am not.  I like what I am doing for the most part and believe that it is an important position that can help make a difference for people in Maine.  At the same time if an opportunity does come around that is unique or particularly interesting for me, I have to be prepared to put my best foot forward, because that kind of opportunity will probably only present itself once.  Just think that I used to give this advice both as a former Military Career Counselor and as a teacher to my students and that I have neglected to follow my own advice.

The worst thing that I or anyone can do is be in a rush to apply for that “dream job” or opportunity.  I don’t want to be in that predicament, that opportunity knocks and then be in a hurry to update my resume, create a new cover letter, ensure when my name is searched in Google – what is supposed to show up is what is there (so that there are no surprises when someone does search my name or at least be prepared for it), that my LinkedIn, Facebook and othersocial media accounts are up-to-date.  Doing all of these things at the last minute will lead to mistakes or omissions, that could remove me from consideration for my dream job.

Right now if that opportunity knocked, I simply am not ready (I would be in rush mode) and I don’t know what kind of opportunity that I am actually looking for.  I haven’t done due diligence for planning my own future career goals, to determine what I want to do if I was no longer in the position I am now or something that I would want to do more.  I know that I have strengths, weaknesses, abilities and interests, that will lead me in certain directions when it comes to what I consider to be the right opportunity.  After participating in the webinar I “remembered” that I have to decide what kind of opportunities that I am looking to target if they do become available.

I have a bit of homework that I need to accomplish before I am ready for that opportunity to knock on my door:

• Decide what my future career goals actually are.
• Update my resume, it has not been updated since March 2008 and desperately needs some serious updating and format change.
• Review what happens when Google searches for Harold Shaw and all the other variations of my name
• Update my LinkedIn and Facebook accounts.
• Ensure that my blogs all work and if they are discontinued that they reflect that fact, instead of one being inactive for a long period of time with no updates.

Does anyone have any further suggestions or ideas that I should do as part of this getting ready “just in case opportunity knocks” preparation?

This I believe is a good first step, I have now acknowledged that I am not ready if opportunity knocks today, but can be ready in a relatively short amount of time, I just have to make it a priority and take the time to do it.

Question for you – If opportunity knocked on your door today would you be ready to answer immediately?

This work by Harold L. Shaw, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.