Job Search is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

A recent FENG newsletter contained this quote …

“Unfortunately the search process is more like a marathon than a sprint.”

While the author was referring to the length of the job search, it is also a true statement when you think about the search process as a career management strategy rather than a “find-the-next-job” strategy.

As soon as the job seeker lands, the focus is on doing his job … lulled by a false sense of security and/or even misguided corporate loyalty. And far too often, the passive candidate does nothing to prepare for an eventual move … whether that results from working himself out of a job or losing a job.

Instead of training for the marathon while he had the luxury of time (gainfully employed and well-positioned), almost every future candidate chooses to wait until he’s unemployed and then tries to sprint, completely unprepared for the challenge of the job search process, into that next position.

Here’s the new paradigm … shorter tenure means more frequent moves so good, consistent career management habits need to be developed and executed consistently long BEFORE a new job is needed.

What hasn’t changed, and may never change, is that passive candidates are still the most high-value targets. That makes marathon conditioning and training so much more valuable than the short-term sprint (which it rarely is) to the next position.

Learn more about why social media is important for your career as a Finance Executive and what you need to do to leverage it’s power … particularly while you are a passive candidate … at the CFO.com webinar on April 12 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. You’ll learn how to begin training for the marathon of proactively managing your career!