Member-only story
291 Days Between Jobs
Long before my last day between jobs, people assumed that I was retired but not admitting it in public. Frankly, I was about to give up on any semblance of an active job search to focus on building my own business.
At 60+, no degree, a retail background, and a pandemic, I knew finding another senior-level job was a serious long shot.
I had to stay connected and busy if I was going to have any chance. So I started writing about what I knew. I found Medium, a place anyone can write and publish on almost anything. Of course, there is no guarantee anyone will read any of it, but still, it’s out there.
Then there is LinkedIn. If I was going to find something or be found, it was there. I posted original content at least weekly, grew my connections, regularly commented on and shared other content.
All that effort paid off in great conversations, and business tips shared both ways. I was privileged to chat with industry insiders— none of those resulted in regular paid work. But I stayed relevant.
After around 250 days, untold resumes, staying active on LinkedIn and Medium, a professionally done resume, and only two actual interviews, I wasn’t hopeful. But I kept going.
Another “top candidate” job came up on my feed. I’d seen that a lot, only one of those resulted in even a first…