Warning: Hard Drive Not Found

That’s what I woke up to this morning.  Not what I had in mind.

My tech friend asked if I had my backup disks.  Of course he would ask that.  Of course, I have had them, kind of, but I’m not sure where they are now. I honestly don’t know if they would even work.

It’s not entirely my fault that I don’t know where my backup disks are. You see, I’m moving, and we thought our house would be under contract about four weeks ago. So we packed EVERYTHING.  We almost even packed the toilet paper.  Not really, but it feels that way.

When I say we packed everything, I concede that is an exaggeration. Honestly, we only packed anything and everything that is useful.  We’ve had this conversation many times:

“Where is the __________?”

“It’s packed :(“

So, my backup disks are probably packed in some box that is somewhat well-labeled.  To find them would mean carving out at least two hours of time to go through the piles and piles of boxes in my garage.

Of course, this made me think about my career “backup.”  When I got laid off, I had NO “backup disks.” I had no network connections, no one knew who I was, and I was not educated in or practiced with any networking and job search tactics and strategies.

I was ill-prepared.

I’ve learned a lot in the last ten years.  It’s important to have that backup, ready to go. So, while my computer is writing new backup DVDs, I’m thinking about what a career backup DVD would include. They would have to be things you can start doing now, and continue to work on over time. Every minute you spend on your career backup will help you have an easier, less-stressful job search.  Unfortunately, the job search might start as abruptly as my morning did, when I saw the dreaded message “hard drive not found.”

What would you say is important to add to your Career Backup DVD?