The "Hidden" Problem Or Disadvantage Of The Entrepreneur In A Job Hunt
When an entrepreneur goes into the job market, she is usually greeted with mixed feelings. On the distrustful and negative side, there is often the perception on the part of prospective employers that the entrepreneur is not really interested in working for other people and isn't accustomed to having a boss. On the positive side, there is respect for the creativity and industry of anyone who can start a business "from scratch" and keep it running, and many large companies advertise that they are seeking "entrepreneurial instincts" when they advertise for certain positions.
The Advantage Of The Entrepreneur In A Job Hunt
One advantage the entrepreneur has in a job hunt is that she has lots of achievements and accomplishments to put on the resume! Another advantage entrepreneurs have is that they are usually outgoing individuals accustomed to dealing with people, so they are often comfortable talking to people in a job hunt.
Job Titles Of The Entrepreneur
Even though the entrepreneur usually owned the company he worked for, it's often wise to forego words like "owner" in job titles and choose words that describe the functional area of involvement such as "General Manager" or "Sales Manager." This will tend to (1) make the entrepreneur look more like other people in the job hunt and (2) decrease the emphasis on the ownership of the business. Prospective employers are looking for people who "need" to work, and they would turn away from a prospective employee who appeared to have made a lot of money in his own business and didn't need to work.
The entrepreneur is well-suited to the direct approach. Since the direct approach implies a process of imagining where you want to live and what types of companies you'd like to work for, the creative entrepreneur is instinctively in tune with the notion of directly approaching employers using a resume and cover letter. The idea of being persistent and following up on resumes which she sends out is "second nature" to the entrepreneur.
Based on nearly 15 years of serving job hunters, we have found that an all-purpose resume and specific cover letters tailored to specific fields is your best approach to job hunting rather than trying to create different resumes for different occupational areas. Usually, you will not even need more than one "all-purpose" cover letter, although the cover letter rather than the resume is the place to communicate your interest in a narrow or specific field. An all-purpose resume and cover letter that translate your experience and accomplishments into plain English are the tools that will maximize the number of doors which open for you while permitting you to "fish" in the widest range of job areas.
Your resume will provide the script for your job interview.
When you get down to it, your resume has a simple job to do: Its purpose is to blow as many doors open as possible and to make as many people as possible want to meet you. So a well-written resume that really "sells" you is a key that will create opportunities for you in a job hunt.
This statistic explains why: The typical newspaper advertisement for a job opening receives more than 245 replies. And normally only 10 or 12 will be invited to an interview.
But here's another purpose of the resume: it provides the "script" the employer uses when he interviews you. If your resume has been written in such a way that your strengths and achievements are revealed, that's what you'll end up talking about at the job interview. Since the resume will govern what you get asked about at your interviews, you can't overestimate the importance of making sure your resume makes you look and sound as good as you are.
So what is a "good" resume?
Very literally, your resume should motivate the person reading it to dial the phone number you have put on the resume. (If you are relocating, that's one reason you should think about putting a local phone contact number on your resume, if possible, when your contact address is several states away; employers are much more likely to dial a local telephone number than a long-distance number when they're looking for potential employees.)
If you have a resume already, look at it objectively. Is it a limp, colorless "laundry list" of your job titles and duties? Or does it "paint a picture" of your skills, abilities, and accomplishments in a way that would make someone want to meet you? Can people understand what you're saying?
