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Submitted by pmoriarty on
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I've just accepted an offer for a job that I am excited about, working for a company that makes a great product, and for a boss who can teach me new things. I am so psyched!

I'll be spending the coming week re-reading The First 90 Days and making some initial notes as well as reviewing the casts on "Managing Your Boss" and "Jump Starting Internal Customer Relationships".

For those of you keeping score at home, March 12th marked the beginning of Month 6 of my unemployment/job search. If you listened to the "Getting Laid Off - Finances Rule" cast, Mark says it takes, on average, 4-6 months to find a new job. It took me 5 months and 2 days. Mark is right again! If you haven't started planning for the day you unexpectedly find yourself unemployed, start now. It may make the difference between finding the job you want and selling insurance door-to-door to make ends meet.

I'll put this as plainly as possible: the interview series works. Key things for me from the interview series:
- There is no such thing as over-rehearsing your answers.
- Handwritten thank you notes do make a difference.
- CLOSE EVERYBODY!

During the past five months I've learned just how much of my identity is tied to what I do for a living or, more specifically, what I achieve over time. The key to not going crazy was to find other things to accomplish and feel good about while job hunting. Some of the thing I did:

- Volunteered in my daughter's kindergarten class twice a week. 20 kindegartners look forward to me being there. The hugs and compliments from small children are beyond value. I'm going to miss them a lot.
- Refined my cooking skills from following a recipe to creating great-tasting food using available ingredients.
- Improved my photography skills by learning how to take pictures of verbs instead of nouns.
- Learned to ski the black runs (ok, at least some of them :) ).

rwwh's picture
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Paul, congratulations on your new job. And: can you post a link to your Flickr page :lol:

rthibode's picture

Congratulations, Paul! It's always so reassuring to hear another example of success in the MT community.

It sounds like you combined MT advice with a very energetic approach to making the most of your time off. Very impressive. I'm sure you'll carry the MT advice and your very own P.M. energy into your new job and knock their socks off!

jhack's picture

Congratulations on both the job and the personal fronts!

John

eagerApprentice's picture

Excellent! That is great news and it's also nice to see how you spent your time beforehand.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the first 90 days and how it works for you. A lot of people here really like it, but I just couldn't get into it for some reason... too many documents and graphs and charts about influence maps and learning plans to make... I do like some areas, especially the "easy wins" section.

Again, congrats!

mauzenne's picture
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Paul,

Congratulations ... sounds like you found a great fit (no surprise there, my friend).

Best of luck ... and let us know how we can help!

Best Regards,
Mike

WillDuke's picture
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Way to go Paul. And how great that you used that in-between time to develop in other ways too. Much better than languishing on the couch!

yahtzee's picture

This is great news, Paul. Congratulations!

asteriskrntt1's picture

Well done Paul

Lord knows the job hunt isn't easy. Going in with a plan makes so much sense. May you continue to build on this success!

*RNTT

pmoriarty's picture
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Thanks everybody! I'll keep you updated over time on the first 90 days and beyond.

krguy33's picture

Nicely done Paul!

kklogic's picture

Paul,
I am absolutely THRILLED for you! I hope this company is equally excited to have you on board - because you are an excellent human being and will be a huge asset to them. Kudos!