A Year in Transition:Securing a Career in a New

Community

January 2010

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/johnmatechuk

My Desire Live in the Okanagan Valley and escape the BIG CITY.

Meaningful employment that would continue a successful career:

1. Engaging - mentally challenging2. Appropriate pay3. Entrench my reputation in the community4. Further build my experience and skills

I did not want to have to:

5. Re-train for a new career6. Earn less than what I thought my skills are worth7. Work in a discouraging environment

My Approach Pre-CBD • Find Associations where I could network – meet the decision makers!

• Seek out and provide volunteer effort in suitable associations

• Cold call and introduce myself

• Buy lunch and discuss my prospect list

• Apply for suitable positions (www.indeed.com) and follow up

CBD • Somewhat skeptical – “I know how to land a job, Really….Umm…. Not everything!”

• Oh, my resume is bloated?

• Can you say interview prep?

• Informal/formal support and many more resources

• Helped me to help myself

Gave me insight to improve my search experience

My Approach During CBD There is no magic formula but:

• Network, network, network and cold call

• Dust off and use LinkedIn (early adopter but didn’t utilize it correctly)

• Twitter

• Apply for suitable positions and follow up

• Treat my search as a full-time job!

• Seek out opportunities to promote my personal brand

My Biggest Learning • People don’t mind if you call them - be yourself

• People are scared of making a poor hire

• It really is who you meet

• The searching never stops – networking is now a way of life

• Dig deeper, and then dig some more, and then a little bit more…

• My personal brand + determination = opportunity

What Really Happened • Networking and LinkedIn landed me at VeriCorder

• We allow reporters to produce recorded content and multimedia podcasts, and distribute this content automatically into a newsroom system, company website, YouTube, iTunes, RSS feeds, web-mounted IPTV, iTunes U, and a host of other destinations in minutes.

Future Opportunities • The world is a rapid place and we all have to stay current and think of new ways to work

Did you Know?

Karl Fisch (High School Teacher)Scott McLeod (University Professor)Jeff Brenman (University Student)

What Does it Mean?Career Longevity:

• Life long learning – career training will be continuous

• Change is so rapid that I have to progress just as fast

• What I know and who I know are very important

• Opportunity knocks once!

keeping current + training who I know = career resilience