Today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn 4 unconventional tactics to land your next role — before you need it.

Plus, the best links and resources… you’ll learn:

• 📊New data on the product job market

• 🇺🇸The best U.S. city for remote work

• 🧰15 keys for success when building a remote company

⏩ Quick updates

• 🇺🇸 I’m back in the States for the rest of the summer!
• 🚗 A friendly reminder: book car rentals with a credit card. Many credit card benefits include car rental insurance — even when overseas. Glad we did this in Ireland.
• 🇭🇷 Finally, my friend Kristie is leading a two-week “Workation” in Croatia with The Executive Remote Worker. It’s an amazing opportunity to combine work with a vacation in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Dates: August 31 to September 14, 2024

👨‍💻 4 unconventional tactics to land your next role (before you need it)

My client Kevin landed an offer. It met 90% of his requirements. I thought he’d be more excited. I asked him what was wrong.

He hesitated. Then said:

Nope. This is normal.

We’ve seen unprecedented thrash and turmoil in the job market these past 18 months. And seemingly random stock market plunges on random weekdays… as recent as last week.

It’s normal to feel skeptical about the job market, even after you’ve landed your next role. But this moment is an inflection point.

Because the best time to land your next job is immediately after landing your current job. This is how you create a recession-proof career.

Let’s dig into the 4 unconventional tactics to land your next role (before you need it).

0/ 🍾 Pop the champagne

Before you do anything, celebrate.

Take a moment to acknowledge your hard work before rushing into onboarding. Landing that next job can be an absolute grind. You pushed through.

So celebrate the way you do. Have a drink. Buy yourself something. Go out with the boyz or gurlz. Do you, but celebrate — you did it!

1/ ⛰️Thank the shoulders you stood on

Go back and thank everyone who helped you along the way.

Make an actual list so you don’t forget anyone. Check:

• Emails

• Whatsapp

• Texts

• Messenger

• LinkedIn

• Etc.

…so that you don’t forget anyone.

Anyone who helped you along the way gets a personal thank-you message.

And no, a LinkedIn update post does not count. A LinkedIn post is about you — not them.

Here’s an example of what mine looked like:

Yours can be shorter or longer. Make it personal. Make it yours.

Why is this so critical? 

Your career is a long-term game. You want to play long-term games with long-term people. Winning is more fun together 🏆

2/ 🗺️ Build your 90-day plan

Your hiring manager may or may not build this for you.

Either way, you should build your own. This is your opportunity to define success and get alignment between you, your manager, and the rest of the company.

What’s included in a good 90-day onboarding plan?

• Clear goals and objectives. Objectives should be specific and measurable.

• Facilitate relationship building. Spell out who you should meet and why

• Define your role and responsibility. Spell out your job, why you’re here, and how your work fits into the company’s strategy

• List apps and tools. List out everything you’ll need to be successful in your role

Here’s an excerpt from the 90-day onboarding my manager, Scott Tousley, put together for me. What I liked about this: the specifics on the time frame and the conversational tone:

3/ 😳 Put together a WTF Doc

WTF is a “WTF Doc?”

This is a document I learned about from Nat Bennett. I’ve been doing this in my last few roles, but never had a good name or specific process. I love the name that Nat came up with.

Your “WTF Doc” will help you spot and record problems, then decide which ones are urgent and/or important before you speak up. This way, you can gain trust and make effective changes.

How does this help you land your next role?

First impressions matter. They also last. A WTF Doc is a terrific way to impress on your colleagues you’re someone who gets shit done and you don’t whine.

How it works in a nutshell:

• Start a document. Call it your “WTF Doc” (or whatever you want to name it)

• First 2 weeks. Write down odd or inefficient practices. Observe without suggesting improvements

• Evaluate the list. Remove items if there’s a good reason, if they’re already fixing it, or if it’s not a priority.

• Make easy fixes. If there are easy fixes, go ahead and just make these.

• Start conversations about not-easy fixes. Talk to your team and company leaders to understand their context. This builds credibility as someone who respects the team’s expertise.

This process sets you up to be seen as someone who’s proactive and listens, not just someone who complains about “how everything is done around here.”

These are the type of people others want to work with again.

4/ ☕ Meet your future allies

In his book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams shares the best career advice he got:

To be clear: I don’t think Adams means this literally 🙃

After you land this job, you don’t need to update the resume and then apply for another 20 open roles. That doesn’t make sense for many practical reasons.

My clients and I call this “inside tracking”: getting on the inside track for future roles, so you’re in the know before roles are even posted for the rest of the public.

How to execute this:

• Pick a baseline. For example, 2-3 coffee chats per week

• Make a list. The list is a mix of old and new colleagues

• Reach out. Your new job is a built it excuse to reconnect. You’re meeting new colleagues and you’re updating old friends about your new role

All these people will eventually move on to new roles and companies — where you may be interested in working later.

(If you need more tips on how to have these coffee chats, I’ve written a guide here.)

Conclusion

The best time to build a recession-proof career is immediately after you land your next role. Take these 4 steps ☝️to help you.