I recently landed a position with Alterra Capital Services in Windsor, CT. I started work on February 28.
Alterra is a small specialty insurance and reinsurance company with a presence in Bermuda, Dublin, Ireland, London, U.K. and here in the United States.
I am a Business Analyst Lead and will be working on the Enterprise Risk Management System (ERMS).
My sincere thanks to my friends and network contacts from the Breakfast Club and other networking groups. Your support and advice have been particularly helpful during this latest transition after I was downsized from my position with AIG on November 9 last year. I want to particularly thank Mike Szot, Guillermo Merino and others who took the time to offer suggestions for my search and who were very generous with their time. I also thank my wife Vivien and my family for their constant love and support.
This is the 3rd time since 2003 that I have been downsized and I am sure that it will not be the last time. As Marty Latman often says, your job is to always be looking for a job and to be networking so that when the downsizing happens, you are prepared for the search. I spent alot of time over the past 8 years networking and I believe I barely scratched the surface of the network that I have built to identify opportunities and assist other Jobseekers. I want to also thank Alina Trigub who is another network contact of mine who referred me for great positions with Avon and Toys R Us.
Here are a few of my comments, suggestions and opinions regarding my search and being in transition. Perhaps they might be helpful to you.
1) Maintained a positive attitude.
2) Maintained as regular a routine as possible.
3) Developed a spreadsheet with metrics to track my productivity to make sure I stayed on track.
4) Attended a minimum of 2-3 networking meetings and events per week.
5) Reached out to people and told them I was looking.
6) Tried to help people to help me by developing and distributing a list of target companies and industries that I was interested in.
7) Expressed gratitude.
8) Prayed and asked my family to pray for me.
9) Went to the gym when I had the energy and time. Tried to get a good night's sleep...job search is hard work and is a full-time job !
10) Tried to have fun as much as possible and to reward myself for working hard at my job search.
11) Spent approximately 40-60 hours per week on job search and networking activities.
12) Avoided negative people and situations.
13) Tried to avoid staying at home in front of the computer all the time.
14) Read and researched companies that I was interested in.
15) Created and improved my resume to be better using input and feedback from trusted network contacts.
16) Helped recruiters whenever possible. It is important to remember that recruiters do not work for a jobseeker, rather they work for their clients. If a job was not a good fit for me, I attempted when possible to be a resource for the recruiter in finding other qualified candidates. Recruiters are like elephants...they have a good memory for a good resource (me) and by building good relationships with recruiters and helping other jobseekers, I attempted to help both groups.
17) Realized that getting an interview was positive and then prepared diligently for the interview.
18) Follow-up, Follow-up,Follow-up. There were occasions where a phone interview did not happen when scheduled. I would follow up with the recruiter or hiring manager and attempt to reschedule the interview.
19) Remained flexible.
20) Reminded myself that this was just another experience and storm that I would survive.
Everyone will eventually land. I believe that you can shorten the time in search if you work hard at it every single day and remain positive, focused and determined.
I wish everyone success. I will remain involved in networking as much as possible. If I can assist anyone with advice, information, referrals or Business Analyst specific knowledge, please let me know.
Lastly, please connect with me on Linkedin if we are not already connected. Follow me on Twitter. I am also on Facebook and Foursquare and on other social networks since I am a big believer in using these platforms as much as possible as tools in job search.
Best regards,
Peter
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Peter Lutz
(908) 672-9150
"Bridging the gaps between Business and Information Technology"
email - lutzpf@gmail.com
Linkedin - www.linkedin.com/in/peterlutz
Twitter - twitter.com/peterlutz
Facebook - www.facebook.com/peterlutz
Resume - peterlutz.emurse.com
