Do you have a career network database?

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are staying cool. I'm attempting to, but my AC broke and it's taking forever for it to be repaired. In the meantime, I am sitting still and staying hydrated.

Last time I wrote to you all, I shared the importance of restoring your environment and being mindful of mayday signs. I took my own advice and decided to take some time to rest before writing another narrative letter to you all.

I noticed that by the time Spring arrives, I need a break from writing. While this is a monthly newsletter, I sometimes have nothing to say. In an ideal world I would write all my newsletters in advance and just schedule them so that I never miss a month. But in reality, I write these newsletters about a week before the 1st and sometimes I write them the night before. I usually write whatever lesson I am feeling I should share in that moment, and I haven't figured out how to prewrite that just yet.

Since I last wrote:

• I took some time to relax and tend my environment.
• I became an officiant and was able to marry two of my friends in Austin, Texas.
• I found a local printer for the Intellectual Will guided journal. Hopefully, I will have pre-orders for you all by the Fall.
• I started posting on Instagram (@LimaPeaCo) stories, guides, and videos inspired by my blog posts.
• I also have been reflecting a lot on my career strategy and things I have done to get to where I am now and where I would like to go in the future.

Something that has helped me is keeping track of interactions, opportunities, and people. Having a network is important, but how do you keep up with all the people you meet and interact with daily?

How do you prepare for interviews and remember all the questions that are asked of you? Keeping a database is my latest strategy for organizing my interactions and opportunities.

Before I graduated, I started a spreadsheet of 100 organizations where I wouldn't mind being an employee. I made a private list on Twitter and kept track of what they were doing and periodically would go on their jobs board to see if they had openings. If I got called in for interviews, I kept track of things like if I wrote them a thank you email or who I submitted the application to.

One time I was called to interview at a place that I was excited about. I was getting ready to prepare and when I went to the link that I saved, it was gone. I could barely remember what I applied to and what the duties and responsibilities were. That's when I started to keep track of and save all the job postings. I copy and paste all the postings into a new document, so that if I get a call, I have a record of what I applied to.

As I prepared for jobs, I would look online at sample interview questions, but I felt like they didn't apply to me and the situation I was in - transitioning out of academia back into industry. So, I started to write down the questions I was asked during interviews (and those I asked) and I used that to practice for the next interviews.

When I got my current job, I make it a habit to periodically keep notes about the work I am doing and the wins that I have. I do this so that when I need to update my resume, I will remember everything that I have done.

Eventually, I realized that I had a bunch of separate components that could act as one database. I made an Airtable to keep track of it all: opportunities, organizations, interview notes, career notes, and contacts.

I hope that it helps you as it has helped me.

How do you keep track of your contacts and opportunities?

***Dr. Lisa-Marie