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) (2 page)

However, I persisted and was able to secure housing for my sophomore year. Shortly thereafter my father paid me a visit at the college. I expressed my displeasure and doubts about attending the university for the coming year, and he simply said, “Then don’t go here.” That’s all I needed to hear and I immediately started to investigate other colleges in Illinois. After visiting several schools, I settled on Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. WIU was a much smaller college and better suited to my personality, as I had attended a small high school.  I quickly landed a job with a professor in the biology department and my grades began to take off. I was getting mostly A’s and B’s and back on track working towards becoming accepted into the University of Illinois Veterinary School.

I was able to maintain my grades at WIU for the first two years but shortly thereafter, I started to have some difficulty as the result of a broken relationship with a former girlfriend.  My grades began to suffer after I failed two core curriculum classes, one being a dreaded five-hour organic chemistry class. My dreams of attending veterinary school were fading fast. I started to accept the fact that as a result of my poor grades I would not have a real opportunity to be accepted into the veterinary program at the University of Illinois.  I became distraught and very depressed over the loss of my lifelong dream to become a veterinarian.

However, as more time passed, I adjusted my thought process and became more and more interested in my other passion of writing. I decided to declare my major in biology with a minor in journalism. I also started to write for the college newspaper. My grades started to improve dramatically and I was much happier as the result of my decision to focus on biology and writing. Still, I was not quite sure what my career path might be with such a combination of degrees. I loved to write but also enjoyed the sciences.

I have always been an excellent athlete and involved in many different sports throughout my life. In addition to my college studies, I was very involved in the martial arts. In an effort to stay in good physical condition and relieve the stress of college life, I had taken up Shotokan, a Japanese style of Karate. I fell in love with the sport as it offered a great way to stay in shape, reduce stress and learn the art of self-defense.

When I started my sophomore year at WIU, I was introduced to a fellow student by the name of Greg Rushin. Greg was an outstanding individual and martial artist. He was a very accomplished and talented black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a Korean style of martial arts. I started to train with Greg and a few of his friends, one of whom was Ed Hammond. Ed later became my college roommate and martial arts instructor. Ed was also an excellent athlete and martial artist. He held a black belt in Judo and after training extensively with Greg became a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Ed and I trained nearly every day with a great level of intensity and commitment. My love for Tae Kwon Do was increasing each day and I literally became obsessed with improving my skills. During this time I was also introduced to many other martial artists including a very talented young Korean by the name of Sukchin Kim, a black belt in Hapkido.  “Sutch” as I still call him today was born in Seoul Korea and came to the United States with his family when he was just ten years old. Sutch and I became very good friends during my last two years in college. Together we worked out and practiced the martial arts on a daily basis.

In 1980 during my fall semester at WIU, the college was going through a very painful and difficult period in its history. It had begun the process of integration. Unfortunately the experiment went very badly and as a result, rape and assault became a grim reality on the WIU campus. There were numerous cases reported to the police and campus public safety of women being raped and men attacked. Panic struck many WIU coeds. Fraternities began offering escort services as students band together to avoid attack. An alarming message was sent out to all WIU students and faculty, “Don’t Walk Outside Alone After Dark!” 

Sutch and I were very aware of the problems facing the student and faculty body and saw an opportunity to make a real difference. We formed a martial arts school called the Self Defense Academy to teach our fellow students and faculty how to defend themselves. The business was an immediate success and benefited hundreds of people. The academy was also a boon to Sutch and I personally as our efforts helped to pay for many of our college expenses.  In fact, profits from the business paid for my entire senior year of college. 

As I neared my graduation date of May 1981, I was still unsure as to what my career path would be as I had decided not to pursue veterinary medicine.  It was sometime during this period that my partner Sutch, came to visit me while I was finishing a dreaded organic chemistry lab. He took one look at me in the lab with my safety glasses and said, “Paul, you are not a scientist wearing goggles, you’re a businessman!” It was then I realized that he was correct in his observation. He knew me well as we had been business partners and friends for quite a while at this point.

I graduated from Western Illinois University in May 1981, with a BS in Biology and a Minor in Journalism. Still unsure of my career path at this point, Sutch’s comment continued to ring loudly in my ear. As my job search progressed, I began to focus my search on more business related positions. However, the US was unfortunately entering a major recession that started in the summer of 1981. My prospects for a good job were slim as most new college graduates quickly found out. During this time I was still very involved with the Self Defense Academy and continued to train nearly every day. Then tragedy struck. I was involved in a sparring session with another black belt in my backyard when my knee was swept. The devastating blow caused major damage to the tendons supporting my joint. The pain I felt was excruciating and my martial arts career was instantly put on hold. I faced a major surgery to repair the damaged tendons in my knee.

The timing of this accident could not have occurred at a worse time, as I was deeply involved in my job search. Although I could not train during this time, the Self Defense Academy continued to support me as I pushed forward with my job search. I sent out several hundred resumes and literally limped to many of my interviews. Finally after several months of job hunting, I landed an entry-level sales position with the Fisher Scientific Company in December 1981. The company had been recently purchased by the Allied Corporation and was expanding its sales force in spite of a raging recession. I was very fortunate to have found such a good position during this difficult economic time. Fisher was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but the position was located in the Chicago area relatively close to my family. 

My first job with Fisher Scientific was an entry level Sales position with a territory that covered the south side of Chicago. I had decided that I would focus a great deal of attention on the Illinois Institute of Technology as I saw a vast amount of untapped business. To increase sales I created a unique newsletter for my clients called the “Fisher Highlighter” to help promote Fisher’s product line. The sales in my territory increased tremendously throughout my first year as the result of my marketing efforts.

My boss at the time was promoted into a newly created position of Chemical Marketing Manager. He was six months into the position and senior management decided to move him into another area leaving a vacancy for his position. I have always had a strong interest in marketing dating back to the promotion of my Self Defense Academy in college. I immediately expressed an interest in the Chemical Marketing Manager position and after several intense interviews was promoted. I worked extremely hard in my new position to promote Fisher’s brand and grow our chemical sales. However, after about ten months, I was called into my boss’s office and told that they were having an economic cutback and that I would be losing my job.

After much soul searching I decided that I did not want to sell chemicals or laboratory products. I started to research and talk with other businesses regarding my background. Prior to having started with Fisher Scientific, I had been introduced to a few executive recruiters, one of whom specialized in the food industry. After I lost my job with Fisher I made contact with each of the recruiters indicating that I was actively searching for a new position. A recruiter focused in robotics made the comment that he felt I would do well in the field of recruiting. I was intrigued by his statement and began to earnestly investigate the possibility of joining his executive search firm. I soon realized that this type of business was of potential interest to me. It combined my sales and marketing ability with the opportunity to make a good deal of money. However as I drew closer to accepting a position with this particular search firm, the owner was tragically killed in a surfing accident while vacationing in Hawaii.

I decided to establish a meeting with one of the other recruiters I had been introduced to who specialized in the food industry. I indicated to him that I was potentially interested in his business and wondered if there might be a possible opening with his company. Ironically, his longtime business partner was in the process of leaving the business. Through further discussion he decided to offer me a recruiting position as an independent contractor. He was unable to pay me a salary but would split any fees I generated. It was a risky move on my part as I only had approximately six months of money saved. Recruiting is a tough business but it can also be very rewarding in terms of freedom and the amount of money you can make. After having spent approximately a year as an independent contractor, I decided to start my own firm due to differences in our business philosophy. 

It was mid-1985 when I started my executive search firm, only a month after turning twenty-eight years old. I was initially attracted to the money I could make and the freedom of owning my own business.  I wanted to be in control of my own destiny. I was extremely successful and personally earned over $100,000.00 per year at the age of thirty. I worked extremely hard to develop the business over a period of eight years and hired and trained a staff of seven individuals during this time.

However, soon after I passed the eight-year mark in business, I came to the realization that my success was not being driven by my interest or passion for this type of work.  I was allured by the amount of money that I was making at an early age and my dream of building a larger business. After considerable reflection and numerous discussions with my friends and family members, I decided that it was time to sell my company. My decision was not an easy one considering I was making a sizable income and had a very comfortable lifestyle supported by my business.

I realized a change was inevitable, but was unsure how to make it a reality. I decided to make some staff changes because a certain individual who had worked for me from the beginning was driving me mad. I thought at the time a change in my staff would help and ultimately solve my problems, but things only got worse after I fired this person. What ensued was a type of mutiny within my company, and I ultimately ended up firing two other employees and the fourth left the company. My feelings were mixed, as I felt relieved from the pressures of having employees, but anxiously realized that for the first time in many years I was alone. It was an extremely difficult time in my business career.

Nearly a month after all my employees left my company, an amazing thing happened.  I had been diligently working on placing a former Vice President of Research and Development from the Quaker Oats Company into Sara Lee. I was informed that an offer was forthcoming. Shortly thereafter an offer was in fact made by Sara Lee and accepted by the Vice President. My fee for this placement was nearly $30,000. At that time it was the biggest placement of my executive search career. I was very happy to say the least, but an odd feeling ensued as this relatively large placement didn’t change my attitude about my search business. I had made a decision to leave the business, but did not know how. I decided shortly afterward that I would take six months away from my business and try to discover my true career path.  I have since called this important time away a sabbatical and search for the truth.

I am a planner by nature and as a result, a consummate saver of money.  My business had been good to me and I accumulated a sum of money to sustain myself for approximately four years without having to make any major changes to my lifestyle. Throughout my six-month sabbatical, I spent an enormous amount of time planning, reviewing my past goals and searching for areas of interest. I also started to write this book, during this time, as writing had always been a passion of mine. In addition to my long time practice of goal setting, I had started to keep an idea file several years ago. I began to study this file where I kept a record of any idea that would come to mind over the last five to six years. Combining the notes from my idea file with my goals proved to be exactly what I needed to help discover my career path. 

I reviewed my idea file and found that the majority of my ideas interested me but did little to inspire me. Only a few of my ideas that were of interest, both inspired and excited me.  I realized that these were my values, the things that I care about and feel are important.  Further, as I studied my goals, I discovered my unique skills, some innate such as my need and desire for organization as well as my learned skill of running a business.

A Final Decision

I decided after several months of planning and endless discussions with friends and family that I was not ready to sell my executive search business. However, I was ready for a change within the structure of the business. I decided to expand on a program I had previously developed called “The Executive Marketing Program.” The principal idea of the program was to market executives to my contacts within companies the executives themselves choose. The initial program I had started several years ago resulted in tremendous sales for the company.

However, due to the state of the economy at the time, the new program over the following six months was mildly successful. I soon decided that in order to survive in the raging recession, I needed to revert back to recruiting, but maintain the Executive Marketing Program. I was once again, doing what I didn’t want to be doing!