How to Find a Job: When There Are No Jobs (Book 1) a Necessary Job Search and Career Planning Guide for Today's Job Market (Find a Job Series)

How To Find A Job

When There Are No Jobs

Paul J. Rega

Copyright © 2013 by Paul J. Rega

Cover design by tatlin.net, Copyright © 2013

www.paulrega.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

To the many memories of my father, Paul Rega Sr., who passed on June 4, 1997. He taught me the meaning of hard work through dedication, example, and personal lessons. His incredible work ethic enabled him his greatest asset, freedom. He was and still is my definition of the life of an entrepreneur. I miss his spirit greatly.

Chapter 1: A Hyper Competitive Job Market

Chapter 2: A Personal Career Journey

Chapter 3: Intuitive Personal Assessment

Chapter 4: Education, Your Key to Success

Chapter 5: Building Your Network

Chapter 6: Securing an Interview

Chapter 7: Your Resume, a Personal Sales Tool

Chapter 8: Cover and Follow-up Letters

Chapter 9: Interview Skills and Techniques

Chapter 10: Job Search Organization

Chapter 11: Executive Recruiters, Friends or Foe?

Chapter 12: Salary and Benefits Negotiation

Chapter 13: College, I Graduated, Now What?

Chapter 14: Start and Succeed in Your Own Business

Chapter 15: Finances, What Finances?

Chapter 16: Reflections

A Hyper Competitive Job Market

I
n December 2007, the United States was thrust into the country’s worst recession since the Great Depression. As most workers in the United States realize, these statistics do not begin to tell the entire story regarding the challenges they currently face while struggling to stay employed or seek new employment. The current job market has nearly collapsed, with millions unemployed spanning across nearly every segment of the economy. The manufacturing and service sectors of the US labor market continue to be amongst the hardest hit, as more and more jobs are exported to foreign countries such as China, Mexico and India each year.

How To Find A Job: When There Are No Jobs,
is a necessary and effective guide for those who are in the process of making a career change or looking for a new job and want to survive and prosper in today’s hyper competitive job market. In order to conduct a successful job search in a weak labor market, it is imperative that you first identify and determine your individual career path. Once established, it will act as a map to further guide you through your job search.

As president of a retained executive search firm for over twenty-eight years, I have developed a unique twelve-step career assessment and goal setting process called “Intuitive Personal Assessment” or IPA to help accomplish this important first step in your job search. The twelve steps and exercises of the IPA process will guide you through the discovery, acceptance and implementation of your desired career path. The IPA self-assessment program utilizes an individual’s intuition and incorporates their ideas, skills, interests, values, and life experiences to determine one’s career path.

Coupled with the IPA process are hundreds of proven job search techniques and career planning strategies I have developed as a recruiter, including how to effectively market your background, interviewing skills and techniques, networking strategies and more in a practical and easy to read format.

Nearly everyone is keenly aware of a friend, relative, neighbor or coworker who has been laid off or fired due to corporate restructuring and subsequent downsizing. The job market and the economics of the United States continue to change at a staggering pace. To be successful and prosper in today’s rapidly changing hyper competitive job market, you must be armed with the proper job search knowledge and skills. It will be imperative to identify your specific career path and be able to quickly adapt to a continuously changing job market by increasing your job search knowledge and by making proper adjustments to your skills and career.

There are a myriad of complex theories and explanations for the current state of our weakened economy and the lackluster job market that continues to plague our country. The devastating collapse of our housing market when without mercy thrust millions of families into foreclosure, homelessness and subsequent bankruptcy has had a profoundly negative impact on every worker’s job security. The United States has experienced a massive number of job losses over a period of several years, affecting millions of people in the country’s worst economic downturn since the 1930’s. Despite what appears to be an economic recovery beginning in June 2009, the country’s dismal lag in job creation is the slowest post-recession rate since the Great Depression and has added more fuel to an already out of control firestorm of joblessness.

Many US companies continue to restructure and in some cases have moved their manufacturing operations to foreign countries seeking lower labor costs. Some unfortunate companies unable to compete in today’s global marketplace have completely shut down their operations and have been forced to eliminate entire workforces. All of these changes continue to have a devastating effect upon nearly all individuals who make up the American workforce. US companies in an effort to become more productive and compete with lower manufacturing costs have invested millions of dollars on state of the art automation.

Manufacturing data indicates that US companies have in fact become more productive as the result of automation coupled with improved manufacturing processes. However, competition across the globe for lower cost products and services has forced American companies to continue to export an ever increasing number of manufacturing and service type jobs to Mexico and companies overseas. As a result, fewer products are being manufactured in the US causing a continued and precipitous loss of manufacturing and service jobs in this country.

A Personal Career Journey

A
t the age of twenty-six, I personally became a victim of corporate downsizing and restructuring. I remember the day all too well. I had received a promotion ten months earlier and was working extremely hard learning and perfecting my new position as Chemical Marketing Manager. In August of 1984, I was called into my boss’s office after a meeting we had just both attended. He said, “Paul, we are having an economic cutback, and you are going to be affected by it.” I asked him in somewhat of a shocked voice, “What does that mean?”  “It means you are going to lose your job!”

I was immediately thrust into a state of disbelief. I was ten months into a promotion, owned a house and drove a company car. They took my car away that day. Taking the only wheels I had was a bit brutal to say the least. They tried to temper my job loss by stating they had technically “let me go,” and that I would be fully vested as opposed to them firing me and not vesting me. I can recall saying to myself as I hurried to collect my personal effects, “Thanks, but please don’t do me any more favors.”

What resulted from my abrupt layoff was a forced review and thorough analysis of my career path. I remember saying to myself at this point, “I’m marketable, and I will find another job.” What transpired during my job search process is that I quickly realized selling laboratory equipment and chemicals was not my desired career path. Thus began my continued journey towards the discovery of my personal career path.

It has taken me nearly fourteen years to complete this book. During the latter part of 2004, I thought I had finished writing and in fact self-published the first edition. However, since that time many significant life-changing experiences have caused me to alter my thoughts regarding my career path. My personal experiences have had a profoundly positive affect on my life as I continue to adjust and make changes to my career. As my life progresses, I will gain more knowledge about myself and as a result, my career path will develop further and change will be inevitable. As one’s life changes, so often does one’s career change.

As a young boy growing up in Wood Dale, Illinois, a small suburb near Chicago, I learned a very valuable rule of life and important lesson. Quite possibly it was the result of living with my father, a very strong, independent business owner and teacher. My father’s many lessons derived from his values and principles have remained with me throughout my entire life and career. It is a very basic rule of life, but one that most people do not follow. It simply states that we alone are responsible for our actions and the resulting consequences of those actions. What this really means is that no one except you are going to or should take action and ultimately be responsible for success in your life. It sounds like a simple rule, almost too simple, but unless you follow it and take responsibility for yourself and your actions, no one else will or should. 

This does not mean that you shouldn’t seek out the assistance and advice of others, but rather you and only you can and should initiate all action towards your career goals and be responsible for your success. Realization and acceptance of your true career path followed by action is the essence and message of this book. 

Throughout the past thirty plus years I have been in the process of exploring my personal career options and am continuing to make changes regarding many aspects of my career. As my life has progressed over several years, I have experienced a number of major changes. My perspective regarding my career has significantly changed and I have continued to make adjustments to my career. In my experience, if you do not make proper adjustments to your career as changes in your life occur, your career may stagnate. As a result, you may not grow personally or professionally. Change throughout your life is inevitable and as your life changes so often does your career.

My personal career journey began when I was quite young. I have always had a love for animals and science from the early age of fourteen and knew that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I was lucky because the state of Illinois where I lived had one of only twenty-four veterinary schools in the entire country. It is infinitely more difficult to become accepted into a veterinary program than a medical school simply because there are far fewer veterinary colleges than there are medical schools. I realized at the time it would be very difficult to get accepted into the University of Illinois undergraduate programs and even more challenging to become accepted into the veterinary college. I did not let that fact dissuade me but rather decided to do all I could to prepare myself for acceptance into these elite programs.

When I was a sophomore in high school my father realized that I wanted to become a veterinarian and helped me to land a job at a local veterinary hospital in Bensenville, Illinois. The veterinarian and owner of the clinic at that time was a gentleman by the name of Dr. Bill Freeman. He told my father that he had already hired someone to assist him. My father persisted, and told Dr. Freeman that he would personally pay my wages if he would allow me to work for him on the weekends. Dr. Freeman being a real gentleman agreed to my father’s proposal. As a result I was employed as a Veterinary Assistant. I loved working at the veterinary hospital and absorbed a great deal of information about my chosen field. I continued to work at the Bensenville Animal Hospital as well as at the Bolingbrook Animal Hospital for several years throughout high school and college.

To further prepare myself so I might be admitted into the University of Illinois, I studied extremely hard in high school and often received straight “A’s.” The University of Illinois is a Top 10 school and has very high standards for acceptance into their undergraduate programs. Despite a very low ACT score I was accepted into the university’s undergraduate program through the Agriculture Department. My high GPA as a result of my efforts in high school had spared me. Agriculture was not my first choice in terms of curriculum as this particular department’s focus was large animals and my interest was in small animals. Nevertheless, it allowed me acceptance into a very prestigious college where I needed to be in order to attend veterinary school.

Shortly after I was accepted into the University of Illinois, I asked my father to assist me in writing a letter to the Dean of the University of Illinois Veterinary School. In my letter I asked for a tour of the campus and veterinarian hospital facility. The Dean wrote back to me with several dates granting me a tour of the school. I was doing everything possible at this point in my life to prepare myself for admittance into the veterinary college.

I graduated from Driscoll High School in Addison, Illinois in 1976 and started my college career at the University of Illinois in August of that year. I was on my way to becoming a veterinarian. I studied very hard during my first year at the university but despite my hard work my grades began to suffer. The University of Illinois was particularly hard on first year students and as a result my girlfriend at the time and two of my best friends literally flunked out in their freshman year. I was alone and realized that my entire support function was not going to attend my second year in college.