Present Letter of References at Interview?company.

 Yes, I wouldn't  want the distraction during the interview. Good point....

Along those same lines, how about if I have a separate manilla folder with my resume, letters of recommendation, and published industry articles and gave this to the interviewer at the end of the interview. Only when the interview is clearly wrapping up. thoughts?

Carl

 Much appreciated. I won't use any of it. I do have the published articles as a point of reference on my resume, so I will leave it at that.

I have listened to all the interviewing podcasts, so that, along with my prep work should be fine. Seven interviews, all in one day (Friday). Should be a fun day!

thanks again.....

I started this thread and wanted to give an update/closure on this subject.

As I mentioned above, I was in the finalist stages of the interview process at a large company. After going through 12 interviews, it came down to two. When it comes down to a select few, it has already been determined that the few have the skills that are at the most senior level in the profession, so I knew the I was up against someone at the same level in many ways. Ultimately, they got the position. Was I frustrated? Not at all. 1) I knew it was going to someone just as worthy of the position, 2) I had the mindset that it ‘just wasn’t meant to be’, that the position I end up with was going to be a better fit.

Fast forward a couple of months, and I landed a great position for a much larger company with a better position and a nice increase in salary from the company I was ‘released’ from back in the Fall. The nice twist was the offer was made(and accepted) on Christmas Eve.

In hindsight, and talking to many folks in the same situation, I wanted to share some of the high level things that not only got me through, but I felt positioned me to be ready when the position presented itself.

Get healthy - Exercising daily, walking, jogging, eating healthy. Help you take a step back to see how much the job was taking away from you taking care of yourself. This gave me two things. A physical healthier lifestyle and mental cleansing that lead to decisive action plans.
Listen to Career Tools while you exercise - Which ones? ALL OF THEM! You never know when a tidbit of clarity may comes from an off topic than the one you are listening to. It not only provides great insight, it keeps the negative aspects out of the thought process.

What these two actions do is prepare you for the day ahead in getting focus on your approach as well as guidance in longer term approaches. These also help in how you ‘face the public’ in your new ‘in between opportunities’ role. I can’t tell you how much the Career Tools podcast help me during the interview process as well as the overall approach to the job search.

Other things that were just as important in the career search include:

Volunteer - Find a local organization that could use some help. you will be not only providing a great service to others but it will give you a great sense of accomplishment by adding value to something other than your world. Work it into your job search schedule maybe a couple of times a week.

Provide free services in your profession - Assume you are connected on Linked In, make use of your networks to not only help find a position, but by bringing the awareness to others that a ‘free’ service is available to them. Don’t overwhelm yourself with free work, but it is important to stay ‘in the game’ professionally. It shows you are dedicated to your profession by transcending yourself above your situation and keeping focus on being the best at what you do.

Get recognized - Write a White Paper on a specific topic that is challenging in your industry. Find something that many in your profession may face and write a 3-4 page ‘solutions document’. Get it posted on your Linked In account and better yet, get it on a professional blog. Employers do look at Linked In and Google searches. Lead them to more validation as to why they are choosing the right person.

These are some high level topics. The important in all of these is, that these are things you can do regardless if your phone is not ringing or your resumes are not being answered. As one podcast said, opportunities happen to people that prepare themselves to take advantage of those opportunities.

Thanks for everyones comments during my career search. They say there is always something positive you can take from a bad situation. Career Tools is one of those positive things, as well as many others that are hard to put into words...

Carl