The Monster Blog

Could Starting Your Own Business Give You the Job You Want?

I recently spotted a sign in a small business’s window: “Help Wanted.” So there are firms hiring right now. While it is a small, local business, it is robust enough to add another employee.

 

As I go through the job seeking process, I am struck by the depth and diversity of businesses in the US. While attending to various responsibilities on the West coast last week, I was amazed at the hustle and bustle of the economies in the LA metro area. I noticed many ongoing construction sites further expanding small business shop outlets in outdoor strip malls in the LA neighborhoods.

 

Being a small business owner or entrepreneur is one way to make your own paycheck. Several friends run viable small businesses (they have been in existence more than 5 years). Not only do these small firms exist, but they thrive. So perhaps I should take a page from all these firms and tie it to the economic engine of recovery and start up a new small business. But having worked so many years in a multitude of large corporate settings, it is almost daunting to consider setting up my own business. Three months into my job search quest, I am not anywhere remotely close to having an idea for a firm or business service. So far, nothing has leapt out at me as a screaming market gap to address with a business offering. I need more data, time and observations to percolate through my creative processing center. That said, I have thought about what I would need to do once the idea hits.

 

One of the first things that has to happen is to be sure to have a solid business plan set up in writing. It is one thing to have a great idea for a business or service, it is another thing to deliberately execute the steps required to bring a business to life. Start-up capital could be another consideration, if the business requires a storefront presence as part of its offering. And these are just the tip of the iceberg. Fortunately, free assistance is available to those who seek it out. The Small Business Administration has ties to branches called development centers. They provide free counseling and guidance along the way of starting up your own business.

 

The possibilities for employing yourself as a small business owner are endless. However, many responsibilities accompany such an existence, including being willing to work many unpaid hours upfront. But not being paid is already an experience under my belt after being laid off. Then there are the benefits, including the basic one of health insurance -- and in my case, not just for myself but also for my young sons. This normal benefit can be quite costly from a self-financed standpoint, so working for a company is attractive in that regard. However, it is almost impossible to lay yourself off, so employment is guaranteed.

 

How does working for yourself sound as a possible employment opportunity for you? Why or why not?

 

Combat Job Search Rejection with Resilience

Resilience. Stick-to-itiveness. Takes a lickin’, keeps on tickin’.

Just a few thoughts that stay top of mind as I ride the ups and downs of the quest for a new job. Admittedly, it takes a pretty tough coating on your ego to handle the repeated rejections. Not all rejections are an outright, “No, we are not offering you the position.” Rather, a good quantity of rejections are more subtle, yet still take their toll.

So how do I dust myself off, pick up and just keep going? While it sounds really simple, it takes a good deal of emotional and psychological strength to pull myself up by the bootstraps every morning and go at it again. For me, I think about analogous experiences whereby I learned to go for the goal again and again.  I have built up my personal resilience over the years through a variety of lessons. As I scroll back in my memory banks, I think of my years in competitive swimming. Every day, I was back in that pool for two more hours to perfect my strokes and improve my strength. Negative feedback in swimming comes to you every time your swim mates beat you to the wall.  If you don’t persevere in improving your swimming, you don’t go for the gold (or in this case, goal).

If you didn’t play sports, perhaps you can leverage other challenging situations as training for the rollercoaster ride that is job seeking, like something as straightforward as making the world’s best pancakes for your kids. My boys, Owen and Evan, are always amazed at their Mom’s various attempts at improving this Saturday morning ritual. Perhaps my being trained as a chemist makes my pancakes way too scientific and not yummy enough? The various ingredients that make up the world’s best pancakes are analogous to the various job experiences that make up your resume. Just as you need the right balance of job experiences showcased just so on your resume, you need the right balance of ingredients to make fluffy pancakes. Too much flour (or bland job description details), and the result is too dense and dry. An extra flourish, like vanilla (or using numbers and bullets to highlight accomplishments), and you’re providing something tasty for consumption.

As a bit of a history buff, I’ve always admired Teddy Roosevelt’s difficult youth given poor health and how he took hard consequent steps to build up his robustness. So much so, that he ended up with the toughest job in the country. Lastly, I may be a bit of a romantic or slightly pollyann-ish, but I always thought that Scarlett O’Hara did a fine job in summing up her resilience: “Tomorrow, is another day.”

How do you pull yourself together after rejection? Or how do you best bring a positive, fresh start to again charging up the mountain of finding a new job?

The 3-Month Checkup: What Is New and Improved in My Job Search?

Today marks 3 months to my last day at my former employer. So what has changed since my layoff, and what am I doing differently in my job hunt?
 
I’m thinking about these topics in a pro/con analysis. On a positive note, I've been able to drop approximately 10 pounds given a little more flexibility in the start time of my “working at finding work” days. Mostly, I've been able to exercise more, which, consequently, has helped with the weight loss. Additionally, I've been moving between so many appointments and events that often there isn't time to fit in a full meal. I strive to avoid filler foods and eat healthy, and often truly healthy foods can’t be easily found while on the run. As often as is practical, I pack a lunch. So fitting in the interview suits is easier these days. Plus being energized is an important trait when presenting yourself in interviews.
 
I spent the first month of my job search laying the foundation for the actual job hunt. As with a foundation for a house, the support structure for the job search needs to be solid. I spent several weeks tailoring my resume to be sure it incorporated state-of-the-art resume writing tips and could be used in a variety of computer formats. That same month, I also attended several classroom seminars on networking, interviewing, negotiating and other job search skills. To round out my calendar, I volunteered my marketing expertise for a global conference on sustainability.
 
After the global conference finished, I had most of the seminar learning bolted into my brain as well as a nicely fine-tuned resume. So I was all set to tackle the second month of my journey. The foundations I had laid in those first 4 weeks were critical in preparing me to actively job seek. Perfecting the resume was a really important step and truly well worth the time invested. It doesn't make sense to float out a resume that isn't as stellar as possible. Plus, it’s hard to keep track of various versions that just aren’t the best reflection of your capabilities.
 
What did my very active job seeking look like? At the very least, I have learned not to multitask as much as I had been doing previously in my professional life. I simply focused on the task at hand. This involved:
 
     • Contacting a wide variety of industry-related recruiters.
     • Contacting my old firm's business friends via professional social networking sites.
     • Participating in industry special-interest groups.
     • Enrolling in and using various job boards.
     • Networking in new business groups.
     • Practicing public speaking in local business forums.

So all cylinders were on fire and I was hitting my stride in my job search, and then a new opportunity arrived in my third month. This was the chance to gain certification in project management at a local technical university. The training was being funded by a grant I qualified for, and it mandated I start the coursework almost immediately. Fortunately, the coursework is just part of the week and I can devote the rest of the week to my job search. As a result, the quest is on a slightly slower path while I partake in this formalized training that certifies work I had done for the past 9 years.
 
I recall a couple short years ago my twin sons had various immunizations at their start-of-life checkups: 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, etc. With that cadence in mind, my job search’s 6-month checkup will be next. Hopefully, any shots I have to take in the arm (or to the ego) will be well-placed to bolster my ongoing health and maintain my well-being while I seek a new position. Or, more optimistically, maybe I'll be reemployed prior to the next checkup!
 
Looking back at the first three months of your job search, what is new and improved in your life now?

Smile! It Will Do Your Job Search Good

So I'm entering my 9th week of unemployment and contemplating the murky future of an ill-defined path towards my next job. Any cause for being downbeat isn't in my vocabulary. I was also bolstered by a conversation earlier this evening with a fellow job seeker who is entering into his 50th week of unemployment. He was most encouraging in his job search experiences and shared some key contacts. He also took a creative step in bolstering his own job search: He created a niche, yet very diverse group of job seekers who convene twice a month for special job-hunting seminars.

 

He was also curious to learn why my perspective is so relentlessly optimistic in the face of the horrible economic climate. While I can't precisely pinpoint one single item in my outlook, I remain confident that a blend of factors in my background will serve me well in my job search. In fact, I've been pleasantly surprised over and over again at the kindness of various folks who seek to help me out in my job quest. Even if they don't know me that well, these folks extend themselves in well-meaning ways.

 

I often receive helpful suggestions from friends, relatives, etc., who say, "Why don't you reach out to so-and so?" and proceed to give me a contact. While I don't approach any referred resource directly about job openings, I am always curious to learn more about certain targeted employers and the dynamics within their walls. One of my mini-goals is to get to know a targeted company so well that I find out where their happy-hour hotspot is located and get to know the folks that way. It’s sort of like a detective’s challenge, to fit all the missing bits of information together about a company's culture and background. Once I'm employed again, I wish to be very, very certain this new professional home will be a moderately happy place to spend a majority of my waking hours.

 

Fundamentally, I always wake up happy that I am healthy and capable of doing things in my simple life. About 8 years ago, I received a rather strong message to value my health and happiness whether employed or not. I was misdiagnosed with MS due to a very faulty MRI interpretation of a head scan after a minor accident. This misdiagnosis caused me months of medical second opinions, fact checking and rescans. I thought the MS was the end of my capabilities to be fully employed and to have a family. Fortunately, the advances in MS treatments, had I needed to avail myself to them, do enable people to lead full lives with some adjustments along the way. So losing a job isn't quite the same experience and lifetime impact as a major health challenge.

 

Many years ago, I took to heart that other people do not wish to work with a grumpy or unhappy person. Fortunately, I've been blessed with a get-up-and-go clear-headedness every morning, so being grumpy hasn't factored into my lifestyle. I also learned that I much prefer to work with cheerful or positive-minded folks, simply because it makes it so much easier to achieve team goals. Who wouldn't want to work with happy campers? So carefully monitor yourself for one week and see how your countenance is received by others at the start of your job-seeking workday.

 

Granted, it is tough to be introspective while under the stresses of job searching, but it is a worthwhile reality check. If you know that you are not a morning person, take the time (10, 20 even 30 minutes) by yourself to adjust your outlook in your own personal space before interacting with others. While this process may sound silly, it will pay off when you see how other people wish to interact with you and lend you a helping hand in your job hunt.

 

So being unpleasant or having a negative demeanor is not an option. Too many people have gone out of their way to enable me to be successful in landing my next employment possibility. So being out there and putting on my happy face is one small way I can repay them as I progress forward.

 

How do you find your inner strength or inspiration to continue in the job quest?

How to Positively Leverage the Changes in Job Search Techniques

About 10 years ago, I was offered the opportunity to take a voluntary severance package from a world-class employer. That was the year before the Internet bubble burst. Somehow this employer wanted to shed employees despite a robust bottom line and job market. After three rounds of these offers, I took one, and it enabled me to relocate to a desired location. As part of that voluntary downsizing, I undertook a job hunt in a new region of the country.

Fast forward to now, and I’m in the midst of a non-voluntary downsizing, going through the job quest again. It is a big change from 10 years ago. Foremost is the sophistication of the various technological tools to support your job search. I am just amazed at the amount of change in this regard.

Just a short 10 years ago, almost everything for the job search was done by hand and paper. The only thing really done on computers was the composition of the resume and cover letters. Listings of recruiters and company demographics were all found in libraries and thickly compiled directories and books.

Having the ability to do searches on the Internet and access online databases (either free or for a small fee) has sped up some aspects of the job quest. The job boards employ very helpful software algorithms that you can adjust to help you find the types of job postings you’re looking for and then can customize how you want to hear about jobs by setting communication and frequency parameters. Even working remotely with resume writers allows you to tap into expertise that isn’t necessarily in your backyard.

Also the ability to network professionally is now assisted by various Web sites and computer databases in the marketplace. It lends another facet to meeting people virtually first and then in person. In fact, you know so much more about a person before you meet him that it almost doesn’t feel like a first meetings. As they say in certain parts of the country, a stranger is a friend that you have not yet met. This saying may become more of a national point of view as the social aspects of the new IT millennium develop.

And now the ability to join groups of like-minded professionals in various industry organizations is much easier. One really helpful group has been my alumni association online -- a most delightful surprise. I’ve received a number of small, part-time serious inquiries based on the common passion/history for the college. I would have never met these folks 10 years ago and the diversity of the interests and job possibilities never ceases to amaze me.

Also in the last 10 years, my personal life has changed in a small way. My two young sons factor in the employment possibilities I am considering. Having the Internet 24/7 allows me to work at the job search when they are fitfully sleeping. Since being laid-off, I’ve rearranged my job search hours to allow more of their waking hours spent with me. The flexibility is much appreciated and important for their summer educational development. Ten years ago, this balance of family support and job-seeking activities would have been nearly impossible. In sum, the technological changes in the tools and usability of these tools in my job seeking have made such a positive difference.

How have you been pleasantly surprised by a result of an Internet or another job search tool?

Finding the Right Job or the Right Job Just Now?

About 70% of the opportunities I am coming across as potential positions are leveraging the work I’ve done for many years. While this in itself is encouraging, it also raises a number of questions I am struggling with. Should one of these possible positions materialize, would I be taking a job that is basically treading water in the career path?  Would I be settling by taking a job that is right for just now and then continue a sideline job search while gainfully employed, yet slightly underutilized?

 

Many firms are seeking to employ exact fits for positions in today’s market, and crafting one’s self into that exact fit takes a good bit of finesse and care.  So with that approach, chances are that I am creating my candidacy to be geared to a right-job-just-now fit. Consequently, finding the right job for my skill sets to poise myself for forward career progression may not be the most realistic approach in today’s job market. Many of my fellow job seekers who were laid off from the same firm are basically saying it is OK to just take a job for a paycheck’s sake. I really struggle with that concept, but I see it may be the most practical solution given the reliance that my little boys have on me as their sole provider.

 

The market indicators that I am seeing and hearing are telling me now that it may be just fine to settle into a no-stretch type of role. Of course, there is the change in my life status that hadn’t been a factor five years ago when thinking about career advancement. It may be a better balancing act to adjust my attitude toward work and just earn that revenue stream. Focusing on the next big career adventure can perhaps wait until the job market conditions are more robust. Additionally, being able to do a job with my hands tied behind my back could allow me to devote lots of creative energies to my boys, more so than I am already doing. On the other hand, having had a long series of forward-moving positions that assembled into an interesting career progression compounds the dilemma.

 

After noodling through these thoughts and listening to inputs from the marketplace and wise counselors, I’ve come up with a strategy for the short term. I’ll continue to focus both on the Right Jobs (30%) and the Right Jobs Just Now (70%) and see which pans out in the next two months. And at the end of two months, I’ll do a reality check of where I am in the job search to determine if I should solely focus on the paycheck variety of jobs. Plus there is always the solid chance that I may end up with a job that lets me earn my living practically blindfolded, prove myself as an outstanding worker and then have that progressive career movement in a new work environment. Sometimes that Mr. Right Now does end up being Mr. Right forever.

 

How do you address deciding between progressing in your career vs. just landing a paycheck position for now?

 

Check out these articles to determine your work values and possible next steps in your own career:

     * "Work Values Checklist"
     * "When to Target a Lower Position"
     * "How to Get Ahead While Balancing Work and Family"

 

Top 6 Things Missing in Life Due to My Job Search Bubble Existence

After the holiday weekend, the summer seems to have taken off on a positive note with a mixed but perhaps slightly brightening economic picture. Nonetheless, I feel as if I exist in this limbo state, encased in a job search bubble just floating along on a breezy hazy summer day. While I have an established routine and a disciplined approach to the quest for a new position, I have a sense of loss in missing out on things or events that occur in the average workday while living in this job seeking bubble. Am I missing out on something important? Could my absence make a difference now and perhaps longer term?

So here they are, the top things I’m missing by looking for work instead of going into work:

 

1. The routine camaraderie of entering into the security gates at work with all the other lunch-bag carrying folks. The quick hellos and how-are-the-kids to those folks you have seen for years, day in and day out. In short, I miss that sentimental feeling. While we now have all sorts of e-media to keep in touch, it is not the same as seeing the familiar faces you know and trusted. However, I do know all these people are there for me and would be happy to lend an encouraging word or reference, if I reached out to them e-wise rather than seeing them in person.

 

2. The routine drive to and from work listening to my favorite radio personality’s jokes and funny perspectives to start the day in an upbeat fashion. Now I listen to business radio to make sure I am abreast of current business conditions and monetary policies that could affect my job search.

 

3. The coffee breaks and finding 10 or more fascinating folks to catch up with about their work projects. I miss the intellectual stimulation and how many of the threads knit together in very interesting business possibilities. My current laser-like focus on the job search doesn’t leave that much room for intellectual creativity, so I’ve put that on the backburner. Granted, I am refocusing some creativity in novel approaches to the reemployment tasks at hand.

 

4. Having a sense of accomplishment in reaching goals on projects that are building steadily to a revenue outcome. The hunt for a new position just seems to be an ongoing stream meandering through a forest without a visible horizon or endpoint. Although, you could take the longer term view in that landing a new professional slot is the end goal and that having a new income cadence is the desired revenue outcome. In essence, the project is me, not a business case.

 

5. Being part of various teams on many different levels is something that has been really missing in my life for the last two and half months. While I still have my running club, it is just not the same as being on the same teams and having the same mission to attain a deliverable. The support and funny exchanges while working hard are just not the same coming from one or two individuals over a week compared to the daily work life within team frameworks.

 

6. Missing out in participating in the corporate blood drives and other charity events as part of the company identity in the community.  Of course, I volunteer my blood and time to good causes as an individual contributor now.  Somehow the impact of me just donating a pint of blood doesn’t seem to compare to the company effort of 108 pints collected during a blood drive. Still, one pint of extra blood could make a significant difference to another individual in surgery, so I keep that important thought in my mind.

 

How do you feel about your status in seeking a new job? What catalyzing ideas have you leveraged to step out of the job search bubble?

 

Working on your own job search? Check out these articles for expert advice:

·        "Sizzling Summer Job Search Tips"

·        "Refresh Your Resume"

·        "Improve Your Job Search"

·        "6 Tips to Enlist Your Friends in Your Job Search"

·        "The 5 P’s of Job Search Progress"

 

The Top 5 Worst Pieces of Advice Given to Me During My Job Search

So while I am conquering my anxieties with positive action steps in my job hunt, I've received some rather amusing bits of advice. I've managed to always graciously smile and say thank you outwardly, while inwardly wondering what is occurring in people's minds as they share these bits of advice.

 

#1: Take the Summer Off

 

So my top piece of bad advice received still has to be "take the summer off." Somehow this suggestion of taking a 3-month hiatus from job seeking doesn't suggest that the well-meaning friend really understands my position in life. While it would be a dream to take the time off, having to be 100% financially responsible for my young sons, Owen and Evan, makes it clearly not an option. Then I get the funny look as if I had been reckless in the first place by having my children. Somehow that was even less of an option, and unbeknownst to many, I pushed off motherhood as long as I possibly could -- until I was secure in my professional life. HA! Lesson learned: There is never a perfect time in life to have children from a "settled" professional standpoint. Moreover, the job market looked very robust several years ago. The tides have changed, and this summer is not the time-off one for me as I am using my savings.

 

#2: Stick to a One-Page Resume

 

Another bit of advice after a somewhat helpful review of my resume was to shorten it to one page. This piece of input really had me flummoxed. Having had a logical and progressive 20-year work-life, suddenly squishing it all down to one page seemed to be a disservice to any firm considering employing me for my seasoned expertise. I promptly went out to 5 more (actively employed) friends and double-checked my resume style and approach by using two pages. I was reassured over and over that my experiences deserved two pages, and I had creatively already shortened it with special mentions. Additionally, I had received great guidance with rationale explained in writing up my resume by using Monster's Resume Writing Service.

 

#3: Become a Nurse

 

The third bit of slightly off-the-mark advice was to consider training as an RN or LPN. While nursing is a great skill and a very much in-demand profession, it would take about two years or more (and personal funding) to become licensed or registered. On one side, having the technical degree would simplify some of the requirements, but many of the basic courses would have to be taken at night (while working in some fashion during the day), further complicating the child-care coverage. Of course, anything is doable, although this avenue seems laden with lots of undesirable trade-offs (make less money, spend more time away from the kiddies). There is the possibility of finding at least some scholarship monies for the coursework, but that doesn't begin to cover living expenses.

 

#4: What About Teaching?

 

Along those same lines, someone suggested I revisit my educational background and augment it with teaching credentials (again self-funded). Already possessing a technical degree does lend itself to being quite employable -- once the additional teaching credentials are in place. Here again is a dilemma of having to go an additional 6 months without a revenue stream as student teaching is a key requirement. The other rub is that a starting teacher's salary is about 66% less than the bottom end of my current profession’s salary range. It would take 7 years or so to perhaps be on par again. The one obvious benefit of a teaching career would be having summers off.

 

#5: Forget Working Altogether

  

And my last or least favorite bit of advice received while I’ve been searching for a new professional home: Just drop out of the job market altogether and be a professional mother to my sons. Clearly this advice is an extension of #1 (Take the Summer Off), and my family's financial support considerations are unchanged from the first paragraph. However, this bit of advice would indeed work out for me if I suddenly won the lottery. As the New York Lotto tagline goes, "Hey, you never know."

 

How have you dealt with or reconciled unusual bits of advice during your job seeking? What’s the worst advice you’ve been given?

What's Keeping Me Up at Night During This Job Search?

It’s about two months into my hunt for a new professional home. Kicking my job search into high gear has been an intense start-up process. Fortunately, there is a substantial variety of tools for all types of job seekers. Nonetheless, these thoughts cross my mind every night: "Will I ever find another job again?" or "What if there's no real fit for me at local companies, and I'll have to pull up stakes and move several states away?" or "How much more to the bone can I live without jeopardizing my well-being or that of my two young sons?” After all, I am 100% responsible for them. So lots and lots of "what-ifs" along those lines run through my mind.

 

On the more positive side, I also have thoughts attached to various promising job possibilities, interviews and networking moments. For example, if this one particular likely job application and its interviews come through to a job offer, what will it mean to my altered professional life? The permutations cover thoughts such as longer commuting time, having to possibly engage an additional part-time sitter, more expenses associated with a long commute, etc., etc. Then I sit back and say, "Whoa, Jane, just take one day at a time and cross those bridges when you get there."

 

I’ve also heard on the radio that some firms are rehiring many of the same folks they let go in past months or last year. They’ve discovered they laid off the folks with experience (and larger paychecks), giving up the expertise to remain financially competitive. So now another thought that keeps me awake is the possibility I could be rehired by my former employer. Is it better to go back with the devil you know rather than the one you don't? Or should I just never look back and seize this opportunity to move forward in my professional life? So many folks have said to me that there is certainly something better awaiting me, and they say it with great confidence.

 

Most of these anxious ideas running around in my head come at the end of a long job-hunting day, whereby it is not clearly evident I am making progress. Despite my best efforts of tracking all conversations, networking opportunities, linking into new contact points and going on interviews, I still sometimes get bogged down by my worries. My gut instinct to squash those worries before bed is to become physically active in cleaning my house. I can’t go out for a late-night run, which would be my preference, since I can’t leave my sons alone in the house.

 

Recently, I've been encouraged by a wise gentleman who tells me that while the job quest progress may not be self-evident right now, it will all gel together in a most surprising way when I least expect it. Meanwhile, I just keep trying to direct my thoughts in a positive direction despite the late-night worries and strive to run all other things in my life in the same direction to a happy end.

 

What is your key worry that prevents you from getting fitful sleep at night while unemployed?