If you decide to do this study on your own, begin with several sheets of paper. Head one sheet Skills, another Strengths, a third Weaknesses, a fourth What I Want Out of a Job, a fifth Life Style, a sixth Accomplishments (subdivide this one into past, current and what I hope to do in the future), a seventh Goals and Objectives (subdivide this one into past, current and projected), and an eighth Problems I Had on Earlier Jobs. Keep a couple of other sheets handy for additional headings and for notes. Then answer the following questions for yourself on the paper with the appropriate heading:
- Is my existing career obsolete? Must I change careers because jobs are no longer available in my existing one?
- What skills do I have? What do I do well? What do I enjoy?
- What are my weaknesses? Have these caused me difficulty on the job? Which ones can be corrected-or should be corrected? Will this be costly in terms of time, effort or money? What training or self-improvement efforts have I undertaken to increase my value to a prospective employer?
- What problems did I encounter in earlier jobs? If I was fired or terminated, what are the reasons? (Be honest here. If it wasn't due to weakness on your part, say so.) What can I do to avoid these problems in the future?
- What time spans are built into present decisions? (For example: How long would additional training take? How much longer are your kids going to be in college? What risks are built into those decisions?)
- What goals, values and priorities do I already have?
- What do I want to accomplish before I die? What do I perceive my life's mission to be? What have I already accomplished? (Include both business and personal accomplishments.)
- What do I want out of a job? (Do you like line or staff work, large or small companies? What about nonprofit organizations or government? Do you prefer to be a specialist or would you rather have broad responsibilities? What kind of people do you like to work for and with? Can you be satisfied with a restricted job or do you require continual challenge? Do you prefer to "do" or to manage those who do? What about going into business for yourself? What about travel? Overtime or long hours on the job? What about long-term prospects for advancement?
- Where do I want to work? (In a major city, a suburban or rural area? What region of the country-the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Mountain States, Northwest, West Coast? International? If so, where?) Will I be willing to relocate or do I want to stay where I am?
- What about my life style? (Are you willing to make changes in it, or are you happy with your current life style and unwilling to change if you don't have to?)
This activity is not ''make work." You're dealing with the rest of your life, and a little soul-searching is in order. As an older executive, it's especially important that you rethink your life goals and objectives. You're not the same person you were 10, 15 or even 30 years ago. You may be shocked to discover that you've been conducting your life on out-of-date, even archaic assumptions about yourself. Time spent in getting reacquainted with yourself can be invaluable.
Make Valuable Contacts
Since it may have been years since you've looked for a job, let's review the importance of using your contacts. This is an important part of surveying the market and determining the market segments that currently exist. It is also one area where you as an older executive have a leg up on younger job-seekers. You already know' many people in your industry and your community, and have most likely developed a larger range of acquaintances and business associates than the younger person.
As you're aware, two job markets exist, the visible job market, represented by jobs listed in newspaper advertisements, with state employment agencies, through executive recruiters, employment agencies, trade associations and college placement services; and the invisible or hidden job market, containing jobs which will soon be available due to retirements, expansion, under staffing, budget increases, or which might become available if the right person applied. These latter jobs are usually known to only a few people within an organization. Even the human resource departments are often unaware of their existence. At any given time, about 75 percent of the job potential is in this invisible market. Entry to this market is largely through personal contact. (Not what you know but who you know is often what counts here!)
In the early stages of your job search, you may not yet be aware of possible employment opportunities. You may have been so buried in your own job or situation that you haven't kept abreast of employment options in your industry or area of specialization, let alone in the general world of employment. Your first inclination is to buy the Sunday paper and begin searching there. That's a valuable activity, but not nearly as likely to be immediately productive as is looking for information through the people you know. In keeping with the idea that you are marketing yourself, you should survey the job market-and part of that is to survey the market through the eyes of your friends and acquaintances.
Your purpose: to get whatever information they might have about the job situation. You aren't begging them for a job, but just their assessment of what is happening in their business or industry. Ask them to give you the names of friends or acquaintances of theirs who might be willing to provide information and possible leads to companies that are hiring. Then use the first group of friends' and acquaintances' names as an entree to the next group of people.
Don't restrict the number of people you talk to. You need to get the big picture of the job market. Almost all your managerial skills are transferable to other businesses and industries, so don't just investigate the business or industry you've recently left. You also need to be aware of possibilities which you could qualify for with minimum additional training. Investigate small businesses of all types; city, local, state and federal government possibilities; the nonprofit sector; and start-up industries as well as big business.
Most of the new jobs these days are in small- and medium-size business and industries where you will have a better opportunity to access decision-makers directly. And whereas an older employment prospect-you will have a better opportunity for employment.
