Is a thank you letter a nicety or critical business protocol? 

In days gone by, guests of dinner parties penned thoughtful little thank you notes to their hosts and hostesses, in gratitude for their hospitality.  Nowadays, those notes have gone the way of the fifteen-cent subway token, as have most of the genteel manners that we as a society seem to have lost, ignored, or simply trampled in our daily rush through our lives.  Sometimes, however, the tried and true remains valid, and that is the case with thank you letters (also called “follow up letters”) to your prospective employers.

It is not only courteous to thank the person or people who took time from their busy schedules to interview you; it is considered good business protocol.  Of the many would-be employees that flow through the offices of hiring managers, those managers are most likely to remember, and give serious consideration to, a select group of candidates.  Yes, those candidates must display the skill sets required to get the job done.  However, there are subtle differences that set job seekers apart from one another, and the thank you letter is one of those differences.

Keep your thank you letter relatively brief, and try to personalize it as much as possible.  Include the job title for which you had interviewed, and something that you had discussed with the potential employer.  Keep the tone professional and polite; you wish to be considered seriously for the job.

The timing of the thank you letter is important, so write and send it out as soon as possible after your meeting (a 24-hour turnaround time is ideal).   A quick response to the employer’s generosity will show that you are truly interested in the available position.

You can send your letter by email or fax, but for maximum impact, don’t!  Employers are besieged by electronic messages, and chances are, their secretaries will put the thank you emails and faxes at the bottom of the pile.  Instead, send the employer an actual letter (remember those?), written on nice, professional stationery such as 24 pound bond paper of a heavy cream or ivory or white stock, in a matching envelope upon which you place a postage stamp.

If more than one person interviewed you, be certain that every one in the group receives a letter.  Chances are, they are not going to compare your thank you letters, but you never can be 100% sure of that.  Therefore, edit the letters to some degree so that each recipient gets an individualized letter.

Must you write the letter out by hand?  You don’t have to, and if your penmanship leaves much to be desired, we don’t advise it.  But if your handwriting is legible and even pleasant to behold, you may go ahead and pick up your pen instead of pounding your keyboard.

A speedy and well-thought out thank you letter can indeed be the “make or break” factor in securing that great new job! 

Do you remember this scene from the great old movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?  Pursued by the law, anti-heroes Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) arrive at a bluff overlooking a long drop ending in churning waters.   Butch screams, “Jump!”  And his partner hollers back, “I can’t swim!”  Confronted with personal questions on interviews, job applicants can be made to feel like Butch and Sundance at the end of that cliff: damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.

Decades ago, the EEO (Equal Opportunity Commission) enacted legislation to protect job hopefuls against discriminatory practices of employers.  Nevertheless, many companies — either through live interviewers or printed applications — demand to know the following about the candidates who pass or attempt to pass through their doors:

1.       Nationality

2.       Religion

3.       Age

4.       Marital status

5.       Parental status

6.       Financial status / Salary history

7.       Service within the U.S. military

8.       Penal record

9.       Distance lived from the job site

None of these questions are legal.

Some employers ask them “innocently.”   These are the companies that, ironically, must report such statistics to the government, in an effort to demonstrate that they are not subscribing to biased hiring practices.  Others, including certain organizations and institutions, must disclose this information because they rely upon governmental funds to stay in business and cannot afford to tick off Uncle Sam.  Still others ask such questions because they are seeking to weed certain “elements” out of their work force, including but not limited to women who have young children and are thereby deemed liabilities.

The best way to answer these questions is with one of the following responses:

1.       “As the EEO prevents you from asking such a question, I prefer not to answer it.”   It is easier to respond in this manner when filling out an application; you can simply refuse to check off the various categories on the form.  But if led down this road on an actual interview, you are within your rights to give the same answer.

2.       “This question has no bearing upon the duties of the job.”

Queries about ethnicity, religious affiliation, age, and marital and parental status can be addressed in the above cut-and-dried manner.  Employers seriously interested in you will conduct an investigation into your finances; it’s an ugly fact, but true.   As it’s done to gauge how responsible you are in your personal life, it is a cruel paradox for those seeking to clean up their credit histories through gainful employment.

While questions regarding service to the military are unlawful, the employer is allowed to ask if you anticipate the need to be away from the job for extended periods of time (as a member of the Reserves or National Guard might).  Inquiries concerning your criminal record are only sanctioned if the type of crime that you’d committed could impact the business conducted by the potential employer.  And the question regarding, “How far do you live from this company?” can best be answered with, “I will be on time for work, as I have been for my previous job(s).”

If you are seeking employment and feel that the interviewer has been prejudiced against you, you are within your rights to contact the EEO, which will have to make a determination about the legitimacy of your claim.   Understand that no job applicant is truly exempt from some form of bias, including reverse discrimination.  Reverse discrimination, which can be particularly insidious, always recalls a story that a friend relayed to me in the late ’70’s, along with the lesson that he’d learned from it.

Chuck, as we’ll call him here, was a young, healthy Caucasian man seeking a technical position in Washington, DC, where he had recently relocated to be with his fiancé, whose own job had transitioned there.  Chuck possessed the requisite training and experience as well as a glowing recommendation from his former employer.  However, he kept hitting a brick wall in his job search.  Frustrated, he finally asked an employer what he was doing wrong.  “This is Washington, DC,” he was told.  “We are bound to uphold certain legislation, and quite frankly, you are not a member of a minority.”

The next time Chuck was asked to fill out a job application, he came across the question, “Are you a member of a minority?”   He wrote, “Yes; I am an Italian-American,” and was hired on the spot.  Was this luck or coincidence?   We’ll never know, but we do know this. Chuck used his brain, including his knowledge of EEO regulations, to land the job.   Regardless of your skin color or any other superficiality unrelated to the job, you must do the same if you feel that you have reached a similar brick wall.

Oh, happy job hunter, your search has ended!  Your tenacity, ingenuity, professionally written resume and cover letter, and savvy interviewing techniques have paid off.  After what seemed an interminable search, and despite stiff competition, you have landed the job and are about to let your breath out.  Our advice is: “Don’t!”

Don’t take for granted that the position you’ve secured will be safe from future and even deeper economic downturns than the ones with which we’ve been plagued since September 2008.  As the last to be hired, you could very well be the first to be terminated.  To hedge your bets, continue with the strategies that proved successful in locating your new position.

1.       Update your resume to reflect your current position, including new skills and/or accomplishments-to-date.

2.       Do your research to determine which industries and companies are currently hiring or have announced plans to do so (and are therefore already compiling resumes and pre-selecting candidates).

3.       Post your resumes online, on industry-niche boards, company websites, and social networking sites as well as the more obvious mega general job boards.

4.       Keep networking with fellow alumni and members of industry associations as well as anyone who actively participates in the same charitable, community, or special interest organizations as you do.

Back at the office, demonstrate to management why, if worse comes to worse, the axe should not fall upon your neck.  You may balk at some of these suggestions, but it’s better to cringe than to be laid off again.  More to the point, it’s better to grin and bear it.

1.       Eat lunch at your desk; if at possible, pack it at home.  A homemade lunch shows good time management skills, resourcefulness, and thriftiness.  Even if you don’t work (produce) during lunch, you can peruse manuals or an intranet to learn more about the company and its systems.  Informed and armed, you will be less of a target than another new hire who frolics at lunch.  You don’t have to do this each and every day; use your discretion.

2.      Spring for coffee for your manager and co-workers every now and then.  Learn how each person likes their coffee (you would be surprised how far this small, thoughtful detail goes in the office).  You don’t need to be a “brown nose” about it; do it simply because it’s a courteous thing to do.  Take every opportunity to appear to be the team member that you are.

3.       If a co-worker’s child is peddling something to benefit his or her school, buy it, even though you may have no need for it.  A good team player would.

4.       Offer to take on more responsibility, if you honestly feel that you can handle it.  A night or two of overtime per week over the course of a few weeks or months is not going to kill you. Your boss will remember how you went to the wire for the department and the company.

5.         If you offer your employer a new idea that you feel may improve efficiency or cost-effectiveness, follow up face-to-face conversations immediately with emails to your boss.  Print these out and save them to support any claims you need to make in the future as to your proactive attitude and problem solving skills. 

As God is my witness, I once dated a man who admitted on our first (and consequently, last) date that his goal in life was to become a professional student.  When I asked him to clarify this oxymoron, he explained that he’d hoped to achieve the highest level of education and continue to pile on more academic qualifications so as to delay his entry into the “real world” for as long as possible.  The man was intelligent as well as serious.  He was also obviously far out of touch with reality.

Most of us sketching our blueprints for long-term career growth include higher education in our plans.  Over the last few decades, many employers have refused to view candidates for growth-oriented positions if they did not possess Master degrees.  More recently, hungry job seekers have trumped their post-graduate peers through attainment of Doctorates. While a PhD may appear at first glance to be the crème de la crème of academic achievements, it is not feasible, due to time considerations and/or finances, for every job seeker to achieve a Doctorate.  If you are hunting for a job in this economy, then, how do you compete with your more learned peers?

The first step is to examine what, specifically, is needed in terms of additional training/education for you.  If there is a specific discipline that must master in order to appear more competitive and attractive to potential employers, it may mean returning to college in the evenings or perhaps enrolling in an online university.  Such undertakings can be costly.  You will have to weigh not only your current finances against the school’s terms and timetable for remuneration, but the odds of landing a job, upon completion of your education, whose salary will be worth your blood, sweat, and tears.

If you explore distance learning, here is a caveat that comes from a source I trust implicitly.   Said source enrolled in a very popular online educational program, via an accredited school that advertises heavily in mixed media.   Schools are hurting in this economy along with businesses, and what this university did to my friend was fraudulent.  Claiming that she did not fulfill the requirements of specific assignments … a claim they’d made, interestingly, as her graduation date drew near … they demanded that, if she wished to receive her degree on time, she had to complete additional assignments, all of which carried additional fees for “processing and grading.”  I reviewed my friend’s course requirements and determined that she had indeed met every one of them via the assignments that she had completed and submitted to the school.  Between a rock and a hard place, she agreed and complied with the school’s demands. 

At my suggestion, she also reported the school to the BBB (Better Business Bureau), having saved, as evidence, all of her email correspondence to and from the faculty and student adviser.   The moral of this story is, if you are considering continuing your education online, conduct a thorough investigation of the schools of your choice.   And please note my use of the plural: schools.   Do not limit yourself to a single institution; give yourself options.  Check with consumer protection agencies, such as the BBB, to see if others have lodged complaints against the school.  Compare the scope of the educational programs, the costs of tuition, and if at all possible, the statistics concerning the graduates of the programs in terms of their career advancement.  You don’t want rhetoric on this last point; you want hard, supportable figures.  You want some accountability from the school.

If your educational needs do not require as great an investment of time and finances, consider a community college.   Such institutions are beneficial if you are pursuing a more finite training program, for example, one that focuses on a particular software application.   Although usually less expensive than four-year colleges and universities, community college tuition rates are not cheap.  Another option, therefore, would be to check out what local technical-vocational institutions are offering; their rates can be significantly lower.

Before you sign up for any course of study, do examine the qualifications of the teaching staff.   If the instructor(s) or professor(s) have careers that encompass the business world as well as academia, their dual acumen is an obvious benefit for job hunters wishing to apply their newfound knowledge to the world of commerce.

Depending upon what you are striving to learn and the requirements of your target industry, you may be better suited to a Certificate program sponsored by an industry-recognized expert or credentialed organization.  The hours are finite (usually no more than 40 training hours per course) and the programs result in Certificates, which some job seekers refer to somewhat erroneously as “Certification” in a specific discipline (i.e., Hazardous Material Training, Level One, via OSHA).

Bottom line:  you must research what is truly needed to help you reach the next rung of the employment ladder.  Take the school’s promotional literature and sales pitch with a grain of salt.  And try to get referrals from past students, if at all possible, so that you will maximize your time, effort, and hard-earned dollars.

To be perfectly blunt, the economy looks bleak.   American manufacturing jobs sold to foreign corporations, a flailing stock market, and companies paring staff down to the bare minimum: none of this paints a rosy future for job seekers.  Those who are pragmatic will craft alternate plans as their idealistic counterparts search desperately for employment in once-familiar and now deserted quarters.

 The practical among us will begin by asking themselves what they are willing, and what they are not wiling to do, in starting over.  Their questions will include:

1.       Am I willing to relocate?  If so,

a.       How far, within the United States?

b.       Is Europe or another country a viable option?

c.       Am I ready to move permanently or will I accept a project-dictated position for a finite length of time?

d.       How will any type of relocation impact my family?

2.       If I remain Stateside, am I willing to

a.       Learn a new skill or skills to make myself more marketable?

b.       How will I pay for training, and what is the most viable avenue of education?  Does the government provide me with tax credits in return for  tuition or fees that I will incur for new training programs?

3.       Is it feasible for me to open my own business?

a.       Is there a genuine (verifiable) need for my services?

b.       Who are my competitors and how can I capture a share of their market?

c.       Am I eligible for a grant?

d.       If I am eligible, where will I turn for funding (i.e., a bank, an philanthropic organization, the government?)

4.       If my financial situation is truly dire, what are my options until I can secure gainful employment?

a.       Do I have assets that I may sell off?

b.       Should I liquidate investments that I may still have?

c.       Am I legally able to rent part of my house to a tenant, and would I do so?

d.       Am I willing to move in with a friend or family member for a specified, finite length of time?

e.       Am I willing to move in with a friend or friends, or family members, for an indefinite period of time?  Are my partners willing to pool their resources, along with mine, in order to ensure that we will all have a roof over our heads and food on the table?

5.       Am I willing to work for the U.S. government?

a.       Can I survive and possibly thrive within a new and restrictive environment in which job functions are extremely well defined and do not usually provide much room for creativity?

b.       If I make this move, what skills do I currently possess, or can possibly enhance, to make me more attractive to Federal employers?

c.       Do I know how to write a resume highlighting my current skills relevant to a governmental agency?  Do I know the proper format?  Will my wording entice employers to take me seriously?

d.       Can I write KSA’s (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities): essays required by many governmental employers?

e.       If the answer to b., c., and d. is, “I’m not sure”, do I know where to turn for professional assistance in writing such documents?  Will I trust my financial future to an experienced and knowledgeable professional that I have researched and can trust, as opposed to a friend or another non-professional?

Admittedly, none of these questions are comfortable.  However, their answers will help to create the roadmaps that can guide job seekers through new and inevitable territory. 

It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes only one individual to land a job — and that individual is the job seeker.  If this concept seems elementary, as the old song goes, “It ain’t necessarily so.”   Recently downsized job candidates as well as those who have been pounding the pavement for a while are subject to a natural, albeit counterproductive anxiety.

If you are a victim of your own worries, take steps to ensure that you are nobody else’s victim as you conduct your job search.  Protect yourself against those hoping to con you out of whatever may be left in your bank account.

1.       Don’t yield to the heavy-handed tactics of all-purpose resume writing-slash-recruitment firms.   Not all, but many of these companies, tread the tightrope of legality and have already pitched themselves headlong over the ropes in terms of morality and genuine accountability.  Most will actually promise to find you a job within a certain timeframe.  Unless they themselves are empowered to offer you a job and are willing to pay your salary, don’t fall for this one; realistically, no one can make that claim in today’s economy.

2.       Said all-purpose firms will offer to create a dynamic resume for you, adding that their team of “experts” will put their heads together to write something that reflects your individual qualifications and accomplishments.  Should you get as far as actually sitting down with that group, think “snake oil salesmen.”  If a group of people truly needs to collaborate on your resume, rest assured that no single one of them has a true handle on the nature of your job, nor how to accurately portray you through your most critical career document.

3.       The all-purpose firms will support their claim above (1.) by designing an email blast campaign for you.  This means that they will blindly shoot your resume off, via email, to several hundred employers either within your target geographic area or nationally (and they’ll push for nationally to hedge their bets).

 While this strategy may, at first, appear to be a sound prospecting tactic, it’s not.  Employers are already besieged by resumes that they have solicited; they won’t bother to scan the resumes of hopefuls bold enough to try to sidestep the normal procedure — which is, to respond to a job posting.

4.       The price tag for this all purpose service will knock you back on your can, prevent you from paying your mortgage for at least the next two months, and prompt your spouse to walk out on you.  The usual and customary charges, for the actual work involved, are unsupportable.  These services must justify the salaries of that group of resume writing-cum-career experts, and that’s why they can cost as much as $10,000 and even higher!

5.       That spouse we just mentioned?  His or her name will be raised by the all purpose services, in tandem with a not so subtle guilt trip.  You will be told that you have the opportunity to discuss your investment (read: rip-off) with your spouse and that you have 24 hours in which to make up your mind.  The last time I looked, this was still America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Be brave enough to walk away and you’ll find yourself home free.

6.       Refuse to use the services outright or after that 24 grace period, and be prepared to be peppered with all manner of insults, much as if you would have taken advantage of two days in the Bahamas and refused to buy into that timeshare.  This is a particularly insidious and wicked stance, as the service reps know full well how vulnerable you are and how desperate to find a job quickly.  Think about it.  Would anyone who is truly reputable seek to cut you down to size and rob you blind in your weakest state?

7.       Your best job hunting strategies are both are time-honored and fairly new.  Seek out a resume writing service of integrity; one that has a long history of satisfied clients and an expansive base of knowledge concerning various industries, job titles, and job functions.  Use the brains that God gave you to network socially and professionally, and to cull the Internet, posting and searching for jobs that reflect your actual skills and accomplishments.

Whether you serve as consultant in the field of IT, Healthcare, or myriad other industries, your status as a consultant can prove to be a conundrum during the interview process.  As any consultant knows, one of his/her greatest hurdles is employers’ prevailing perceptions that:

a) the consultant’s skills sets are not worthy of permanent employment, and
b) the consultant has bounced around and perhaps even likes bounding around from job to job.

So as not to be seen as so much dandelion fluff blowing in the ever-changing wind, you will have to convince the employer of the benefits of consultant work .. having first convinced yourself of them, of course.  The truth may very well be that you have accepted consultancies simply because permanent positions were not available due to, for example, outsourcing of jobs to foreign markets. If this is the case, you can be honest.  But temper your honesty with enthusiasm, not a “woe is me” attitude.

Nothing can turn an interview against you as fast as a negative mindset.  Before you ever set foot in the hiring manager’s door, create the interview scenario in your mind and put yourself in the employer’s seat  What would you want to hear from a potential employee, one who is applying for any position, project-based or permanent?

1) You’d want to hear that the job hopeful enjoyed the diversity of his assignments; that he was unafraid to embrace challenge in new fields.

2) You’d want to hear that the candidate learned something of each of the industries in which he maneuvered, thereby providing him with an applicable lexicon as well as an understanding of the business cultures (including, hopefully, the employer’s own).

3) You’d want to hear that in some manner, the applicant left his mark upon each of the companies that had utilized his services.  You’d want to hear his accomplishments.

If, for instance, you were assigned a three-month project in which you served on a team charged with developing a new piece of software, you’d want to hear what the software, once tested and implemented, had accomplished.

You would not want to hear a dissertation in Technicalese.  Even technical managers want to know the bottom line.  If the application that you helped developed shortened financial reporting time by a week, and provided greater accuracy over the existing system with a series of checks and balances that was previously non-existent, you’d want to know that.

4) You’d want to know that the consultant could slip like butter into the existing workforce, not be a fish out of water.

5) You’d want to know how the consultant had solved a particular problem, how long it took him to do so, and what clicked the light bulb on over his head in the first place.  You’d want a demonstration or at least a presentation of critical thinking skills.

Think like the employer before you sit down to present your qualifications, maintain a positive outlook, and you’ll do a good job of selling yourself to those empowered to hire.

A tightfisted economy is a strange place to find yourself if you are one of the lucky ones still gainfully employed.   A downsized workforce and increasing competition could very well mean that you are shouldering the responsibilities of two or more employees — and expected to do all of them on time and to perfection.

You’ve been working long hours.  You’ve taken work home.  You’ve missed your kids’ school recitals and baseball games as well as many a family dinner because of your job.  You are wrung out, frustrated, and testy because you assume that your boss should have had the common decency to offer you a raise.  She hasn’t, so you’ve decided to take the bull by the horns and approach her yourself to request a higher salary.   Before taking this step, consider carefully and rationally the following issues.

1.)      Do you truly merit the raise?  If so, be prepared to support your request with documentation that illustrates what you have contributed.  This does not mean a record of unpaid hours spent burning the midnight oil.  This means hard, verifiable data; i.e., costs reduced, risk minimized, productivity increased, new accounts brought on board.  You must give the employer a valid reason to elevate your salary.  He or she may have to negotiate your raise with a higher level of management, so come well prepared.

2.)      Are you being realistic?  Disassociate yourself from the emotional-slash-egotistical aspects of desiring a raise and ask yourself what is the general state of your industry.  What change or changes has your company undergone during this lengthening recession?  If business has been status quo or if it’s declined, you are probably not going to see a raise at this time, and those are justifiable reasons for not seeing one.

3.)      Are you asking for a specific amount or just going in blindly and hoping for the best?  It’s to your benefit to do your research before hitting the boss up.   Don’t even think of asking your colleagues to reveal what they are making; this road is paved with trouble.  In addition to the likelihood of initiating hard feelings and discontent among the work force, you’ll tip your coworkers off and have them running to the boss as well (thereby shrinking the already small pool from which your raise must flow).  None of this is conducive to accommodating your salary increase.

Be smart and visit PayScale.com.  This site will provide you with salary structures in terms of job title, level of experience, and the geographic area in which you are located.  You will know what you are actually worth once you’ve explored this information.

4.)      What if you are denied a raise?  Are you prepared for the consequences?  Will you be angry, unproductive, or even vindictive with your employer if he is unable to increase your salary right now?  Or are you willing to negotiate?

In lieu of a raise, you might ask for a bonus, which may be more feasible.  As a one-time fee for the employer, a bonus usually represents a lower cost to the employer than a salary increase.  Barring a bonus, you might ask to be given a specific title that denotes career progression and reflects your skills and accomplishments.  Or, you might ask for a larger office.  If any of this sounds like scenarios out of situation comedies, rest assured that many such negotiations take place and are successfully concluded within Corporate America.

If all else fails, you might try negotiating for a future date on which you can approach your boss for a raise; i.e., three months from the date of your first request.  Ninety days will go by quickly and will give your manager a little breathing room to try to find and justify the funds within the departmental budget.

5.)      Assuming that raises are based upon past performance, what are you planning to contribute in the near future?  With the coffers so tight and the competition fierce, don’t expect to achieve a raise based solely upon your prior accomplishments.   You work at your company; you know what its problems entail. What are your plans for mitigating these issues, through application of your knowledge and professional talents? 

Once you’ve drawn up your plans, don’t wait for your employer to ask you to reveal them.  After you’ve stated your case for the raise, continue on with your ideas for improving competitiveness, efficiency, and profitability.  Show your boss a positive and proactive attitude; give him a reason to give you the raise! 

My profession as a writer of career documents was heralded by experience encompassing diverse facets of the publishing industry.   As I was being interviewed for my first post-college job, my future boss, who had a wonderful reputation in the field, dashed animatedly around his office, pulling books from crammed shelves, precarious stacks on the floor, and the top of his invisible desk.  He was showcasing his work, of which he was justifiably proud.  I knew that I had a rare opportunity to work with him; I did not want to blow the interview.

After his mad dash around the office, he seated himself before me, fixed me with an inarguable stare, and demanded to know where I thought I might be five years down the road.  Before the interview, I had done my homework on this manic, talented man and knowing that this was a newly created position, told him with a straight face, “I hope to be alive and well five years down the road.”

The man was stunned.  I then countered with, “You want to know where I see myself professionally in five years.  I can’t answer that honestly.  This position is new and publishing represents new ground for me.  You already know something of my work ethic (for he, you see, had done his homework on me prior to the interview).  That’s what I bring to the table.  Other than that, I’m a clean slate; I hope you choose to leave your professional mark on me.”

He thanked me for my honesty, which he said was refreshing, and hired me on the spot.  From him, and from that position, I received an education I could not have received elsewhere, including a strong base of skills that would see me in good stead throughout my career.

The interview of which I speak happened many years ago.  Our nation was just beginning to rebound from a serious recession, initiated by the hostage situation in Iran and subsequent trade embargos, including a shortage of gasoline.  Under those unstable economic conditions, I took a chance in answering my old boss as I did, and the bet paid off.  Now that our country has been plunged into an even deeper recession, I would hesitate to advise any job candidate to respond to an employer as I did.  Employers want to know that potential employees can see the big (long-range) picture and their role within it

But beyond the inevitable “Where will you be in five years?” question that crops up during jobs interviews, those of us who must work for a living need a personal five-year plan.  Without that plan, particularly in this economy, employees can find themselves running on treadmills instead of advancing within their careers and securing their financial futures.

When creating your plan, ask yourself these questions:

1. Are my skills outdated?   Are there trends and technology that I need to add to enhance and ensure competencies?
2. If I require additional training, how will I access it?  Do I need to take a course or courses?  If so, which institution offers the best programs suited to my needs?  If I am unemployed, will the State pay for my training in tandem with Unemployment Benefits?
3. Who is my toughest competition?  Is it younger people fresh out of Master’s programs or is it older employees pursuing Doctorate degrees?  What is the focus of their education?  Am I prepared to compete by way of higher education?  If so, how?  Is online/distance learning an option for me?
4. Is my industry pretty much dead and buried at home?  Is it thriving or at least alive and well overseas?   Am I willing to relocate, and if so, for how long?
5. Are my skills strong enough and general enough to transfer into other industries?  If so, why am I not getting interviews?  Do my resume and cover letter need to be revamped to showcase my skills in a more general manner, or perhaps slanted toward the field that I am now targeting?
6. Have I networked tirelessly (yes, tirelessly: in other words, daily) with old colleagues, employers, professors, professional and personal associates, and all manner of vendors to whom I give my business?
7. Have I branded myself in order to stand apart from and above my competition?

The answers that you form in response to these questions will help steer you in the right direction.  They will position you to better meet your financial obligations in the short and long term.  To discerning employees, they will enable you to appear proactive, dedicated, and savvy.

In our prior article (In the Company of Strangers – Part One), we outlined the unique challenges facing the self-employed entering the untested waters of seeking a job elsewhere.   To wade confidently into this ocean, you will need to apply the very same skills that you applied in establishing your own business!

Before you ever took the leap, you did your research.  You found a gap in the market and determined that you would be able to fill it.  Maybe the gap was simply the fact that there were no pizzerias in a ten-block radius of your target market, so you opened a pizzeria.   Or maybe you bested the existing competition by offering off-site catering services.  Maybe you offered specialized transportation and errand-running services to clients in a predominantly senior market.  Whatever type of business you ran, you located a gap or a lack, ascertained your client base, and then created your product/service offering(s) to meet the clients’ needs.

In this economy, every single employer is either fighting to hang onto his market share or penetrate new markets as a hedge against the economy.  That is his gap.   Remain informed, and retain that entrepreneurial edge, and you can promote yourself as a better potential employee than the usual suspects accustomed to functioning in a more compartmentalized manner.

Read the news.  Check your browser page several times a day for breaking news of job trends, companies opening or navigating in new directions.   Peruse industry journals or more generalized sources such as Business Week magazine.  What are these companies hoping to accomplish?  What is their deadline?  What is their target market, their competition?  Are they branching out overseas or restructuring here in the States?  Have they allotted a chunk of their revenue to a new undertaking?

Once you determine the answers to these questions, understand how you might assist the employers in reaching their goals.  And know that this phase of your search may be the most difficult, due to your own perceptions!

Start viewing your skills as applicable to new environments.  If you don’t, there is no way that prospective employers will consider you a serious candidate.  As a small business owner, you wore many hats.  You were manager/supervisor, buyer, bookkeeper, benefits and payroll administrator, sales and customer service rep.  Perhaps you negotiated the coffers of investors; maybe you convinced a bank to take a chance on you and float you a small business loan — attributes that demonstrate your long-range planning, budgeting, investment/re-investment, and cost control abilities.  You were also a savvy marketing maven and a proactive problem solver.  In the vast soup of skill sets, you have what the potential employer requires.  Understand that, and showcase it.

Craft a resume that highlights your professionalism and initiative.  Include your accomplishments — these are musts!   You may wish to consider two or more resumes, centering on various aspects of your background.  The benefit of this tactic is that you will appear more focused should you apply for a job whose functions are more closely defined, rather than broad.   Write an individual cover letter to each employer.  Tell him or her how you can be an asset to their current and long-term objectives.

Gathering accolades in writing from your business landlord, your vendors, your customers, and if applicable, write-ups in local newspapers, industry awards, and honors bestowed upon you by the community.

If you claim to have taken the business from zero revenue to $175K in the first two years of operation, be prepared to back it up with financial statements or even tax returns.  And if you think this sounds uncomfortably like Big Brother, understand that employers conduct rigorous background searches on candidates, including investigations into their finances.   If you were a regular job seeker hailing from Corporate America, the employer would check your credit history and outstanding debt.  Since you’re an entrepreneur, be prepared for a more thorough check and put yourself in the employer’s shoes; you would do the same in his position.

And feel free to use that line during your interview.  Capitalize upon the fact that, unlike many traditional employees, you do see the big picture, the bottom line.  Tell the employer that your mindset compels you to own a project, a mission, and see it through successfully.  Appear hungry, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and willing to adapt, and you will stand apart from your competition in the best possible way.