Enjoying Getting Back to the Fundamentals

Enjoying Getting Back to the Fundamentals

For almost 10 years now, I have facilitated a small job search support group at my local library in Maplewood, New Jersey. Attendees have come and attendees have gone during that time. Our format is usually to have a speaker on one aspect or another of job search transition. For some sessions, where we do not have a speaker, I will lead an open discussion of the attendees on any topic they want to discuss about job search.

Our group in Maplewood has met regularly on Monday mornings, (usually on an every other Monday morning basis) since 2009. Our last in person meeting was March 9, 2020. Three days later, news about the Coronavirus pandemic really started becoming serious in the United States, and especially my area of the country in the Northeast. Sporting events were cancelled. The same with activities such as theatre and shows. A couple of days’ later stores were asked to close, and at most deal in take-out business if they were considered essential to the welfare of the public.

Libraries were among the institutions asked to close their doors. As such, our job search group was put into limbo. My group is one of several throughout New Jersey. Many moved to make their meetings virtual and online. And, admittedly they provided a valuable service to those in job search who needed guidance in moving their search forward.

I myself was reluctant to make my group virtual initially. First, I wanted to get a sense of how long we might need to close. Then I debated on if I were to conduct meetings how should I go about them. Should I seek out guest speakers? Should I make them open discussion? Additionally, there were meetings where I had been our presenter or discussion leader, but there was a slight problem.

For all my years as a coach, I had relied in capturing my material in the form of Word Documents, and passing out copies of the material for participants to follow along. I always said to myself, at least I am giving the attendees a take away from the meeting. In addition, they had a place to capture supplemental notes from the material presented. However, it was hiding the real reason I provided items in Word Documents. I had never learned to use PowerPoint slides, and was reluctant to learn how to use them.

In addition to my own group, I sometimes presented at other job search groups around the State of New Jersey. I had made 2 such commitments for dates shortly after the pandemic. I knew I could not back out of them, and leave the host without a speaker. But, I needed assistance to get my material to PowerPoint. Fortunately, my gracious host helped to accomplish that for me in the first of the presentations I had committed to him. That presentation, done in a PowerPoint, virtual format, went very successfully. After the presentation I vowed to learn PowerPoint. It admittedly was not hard to do. I found a few YouTube videos. I learned many of the basics. When my next presentation for the same host was 2 months later he was pleasantly surprised to see I had created my own slides, (and that they were good and professional looking).

By May, my local library in Maplewood were able to provide their plans for reopening. And, when hearing them it became abundantly clear that waiting for them to open for “in-person” sessions was not an option that was going to be immediate. They had a six step opening program, and the type of group presentations I led were not going to be allowed until Stage Six, which projected into 2021. That signaled to me that it was time to provide virtual material to my attendees. But, what material?

As I looked at what was being offered in other groups the answer came to me. Again, there were a lot of great presentations, on “How to Search during a Job Search Pandemic,” to “Interviewing Online,” to “Keeping Your Energy Positive during the Pandemic,” etc. However, from the beginning of the pandemic and subsequent changes in how people conducted their daily life, two things struck me.

The first was that pandemic, or no pandemic, many of the fundamental principles of job search remained the same. Yes, they might have to be done differently, (interviewing online as opposed to in person, or networking by connecting with people virtually as opposed to meeting in person for example), but the things one needed to do in search were still the same. The second was that the pandemic, and subsequent impact it would have on the employment market, would be bringing a number of people into the job search process that had not been in it for a very long time. The presentations I was seeing seemed to be telling them, they must use certain tools or approaches, or they were doomed. They did not necessarily “explain the thought process and the why behind the approaches.”

I had my answer. Fortunately, I had kept copies of all those presentations I had done in the Word Document format. Many of them were built on the premise of the “fundamentals” of job search methods that I had learned when I had trained to become a “Career and Job Search Strategy Coach”. There was an audience that needed these messages. So, I have converted many of my past presentations to PowerPoint, and began delivering them. I have been doing this every other week since the middle of June 2020. They have been well received. I was right there was an audience for them. And, I realize I am helping a lot of people in search learn not only the process of job search, but the whys behind it.

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the details of what we are doing, we forget about the fundamentals behind them. If you find yourself overwhelmed about what is going on around you, especially during this time of ever evolving change, take a step back to analyze the situation. What are the fundamental steps behind what you are looking to do? And, if you are not sure, are there experts, or guidance to help you learn what they are? Perhaps like me you will find that going back to the fundamentals and applying them to the items you are doing in your life become more enjoyable and fulfilling to you.