We recently watched a highly skilled pilot land a huge airliner on the Hudson River.
His actions, courage and experience combined with emergency landing training and procedures resulted in saving all souls on board.
As a former military bomber pilot, I have seen disastrous results when pilots deviated from the checklists designed to bring the aircraft home safely while dealing with unexpected conditions.
The fact is that most aircraft accidents continue to be the result of pilot error and checklist deviations.
As an executive search consultant, I see many professionals crash during job searches.
Seeking a better opportunity or re-employment can be strewn with challenges that could be overcome with a proven "career search checklist" for professionals.
I offer these sequential checklists with the confidence that it will help guide the career search candidate to a safe landing in the job they really want.
Pre-search Checklist: 1) Conduct a skills and career accomplishments self-assessment 2) Create competitive professional presentation materials 3) Develop categorized references 4) Research the industries that you know 5) Research other industries that you want to consider your qualifications 6) Create a script for initial contacts with potential employers 7) Develop responses to expected objections 8) Build your call performance plan Checklist for Creating Interviews 1) Execute your calls to defined hiring managers 2) Establish rapport with all internal employer contacts 3) Set appointments to follow up by phone or in-person 4) Develop insights into position openings, culture, company goals, plans, challenges and history 5) Create assessments of employment potential based upon captured insights and direction 6) Refine contacts network to include discovered and mined contacts 7) Interacting with 3rd party recruiters to maximize placement potential 8) Perform follow up calls to everyone who you have determined to be an asset 9) Re-assess contacts, shorten the list to most productive contacts and referrers 10) Establish meetings with key-decision-makers onsite or offsite 11) Establish interviews for both position openings and exploratory meetings Preparation Checklist for Interviews 1) Pre-Interview research actions.

• Define position requirements
• Determine expectations of the successful candidate
• Quantify the challenges, goals and initiatives of the role

2) Determining your "Candidate Valuation"

• Match job description to self skills assessments
• Align goals, challenges and initiatives to career accomplishments

3) Provide all requested information, documentation and validations to recruiters to include appropriate references as requested.
In a word, be cooperative and open.
4) Interview techniques and tactics

• Adopt the role of "seller"
• Ask qualifying questions
• Be prepared to extend quantified, monetized results of past accomplishments as evidence of your potential contribution
• Demonstrate your professionalism by being cordial but stay on point

5) Discovering leverage points for later negotiation advantages 6) Prepare for overcoming objections Post Interview Action Checklist 1) Post Interview contact including follow up by phone and email/written note 2) Research position location and personal needs 3) Continued action calls to contact network 4) Dealing with alternative interviews and recruiters 5) Seizing secondary interviews 6) Follow up procedures including any requested documentation or proof of credentials 7) Early negotiation techniques 8) Pre-offer research steps Checklist for Gaining the Offer & Opportunity 1) Negotiation technique application 2) Managing acceptance/rejection of an offer 2) Post-offer follow through 4) Resignation process management 5) Post-resignation techniques and procedures 6) Starting your new position with your new employer 7) Relocation management Points to consider Every professional should anticipate that no search for a better opportunity is standard.
They are a dynamic project.
The variables of an effort to change employers often include relocation, particularly in a challenging economy.
This will most likely be fraught with separation issues and anxieties.
Where one's family is involved, either accompanying the candidate or being left behind, many issues must be resolved in the most appropriate manner and to the satisfaction of each individual involved.
Failing to do so will likely lead to a growing cause for anxieties and distractions from total performance in a new role.
Some issues cannot be anticipated but the majority will be by clear and open communication between all parties.
Like infections these issues are best handled by early detection and treatment.
No checklist can be a universally effective tool to consider the vast variables possible in relocating a family or simply just changing employers, work hours and commutes.
When in the stage of transition from one employer to another, take advantage of the experience and resources of the human resources department professionals, hiring manager and, as the case may be, third party recruiters.
Remember you smooth transition and earliest performance in an unhindered start to new employment is in their best interests too.
Finally, in a competitive hiring environment, many employers will exploit the candidate's guilt, vanity and greed by extending a counter-offer.
The odds are stacked against the candidate who falls prey to a counter-offer.
Statistically, you stand a 1 in 5 chance of remaining with an employer once you accept their counter-offer for the first six months.
You can expect a 1 in 25 chance in twelve months and 1 in 99 for 14 months.
Counter-offers often create a veil of distrust by both parties; political ousting, colleague jealousies and frankly, you are often being kept by the counter-offering employer until they can release you on their timetable.
When you resign, you are firing your employer.
It is likely never at a convenient or expected time for the employer.
When you accept a counteroffer, you give back to that employer the right to fire you.