Getting a second chance to restart career

By Career Advisor

Question:

After I left a position in 2006 where I was at for 1.5 yrs,
I accepted an offer to work for another company. A medical injury
happened during the transition, no insurance coverage, left me
bankrupt. These last two yrs I've undergone another surgery that
left me temporarily immobilized again. During this period, I had to
find  jobs where ever I could sit so I did take a few  altogether I
have been at three companies no longer than 4-6 months. This appears
to  alert or raise concern with hiring Managers or professional
temporary agencies.  What do I need to do, to show this on the resume I
never get a call back and a opportunity to explain it. I was a
manager 4  3 yrs. for wireless retail sales & 12 years in Customer
service & Business to Business sales.

 

Answer: Lump this time together in one general statement. Your resume should only be relevant to the position that you are seeking. If you have been working outside your chosen career field for 4 to 6 months just simply list that time as one position with the title of "Working outside of career field". In the paragraph state that you worked at temporary positions while you continued to search for work in your career field.

Example:

11/08 - 02/09

Temporary work not related to career field

 

 

You can elaborate later if you are asked directly what you were doing. Chances are that you won't be asked except to maybe put it on an application.

Feeling lost in my career

By Career Advisor

Question:

Hi, here's a bit of back ground info. I'm 27 yrs old. I
currently have a bachelors degree in business management. For the last
4yrs(since graduation) I have worked for a rental car company.
Recently they down sized and I decided to move back home to MS. This
is starting to feel like the worse decision because everything is so
far away. We live in the middle of nowhere. My problem is that I have
no idea what I want to do. I have experience in retail, sales, office
support, and customer service. Because of my experience I now realize
that I hate retail and sales. I was thinking of pursuing a masters in
accounting. I have no related work experience in the field and have
only taken a couple courses in undergrad. I'm currently searching for
work but have gotten no good news yet. Most jobs seem to want more
experience than I have. I'm just not sure what to pursue at this point
and am very disappointed regarding my current situation. Any advice
would be greatly appreciated.

Answer:

Your experience reminds me a lot of mine. I tried to move home one time and like you, it was in the middle of no where with no jobs. Sadly, many of us can never go home again due to economic realities.

I probably could guess which rental car company you worked for. I too, worked for a company that promised the world at the start but in reality had very few opportunities past the initial position. The company had a 90% turn over rate in the first two years of employment.

Here's the plan:

First: Come to the realization that you're probably going to have to move again. It's easy to tell from your tone that you want more out of life then working at the local Walmart. That's probably the only job openings near you. There's nothing wrong with that but it's not for everyone. If you make this choice, make a list of places cities where you would like to live. You will need to also save up at least a first months rent on a new apartment.

Second: Make a list of the type of jobs that you know you do not want to do. You have to remember that you hate retail and sales. This may sound crazy now but if faced with finding a job to pay the rent you may forget that you hate them. The good news is that you have a great degree. It's broad and can apply to many different positions.

Third: Apply to jobs that you want to do, where you want to do them. Be patient. Don't make it harder then it really is.

Fourth: Why do you want to pursue a masters in accounting? Would you enjoy being an accountant or are you just grasping at straws because you feel lost. You have ask yourself that so you don't make the mistake of spending thousands of dollars for a degree in something that you don't want to do.

Position canceled due to budgetary reasons

Question:

I recently applied for a job and things seemed to be going VERY well. I had two successful panel interviews, sent personalized thank you letters, they had me take a personality test, they ran a background check, called my past employer to verify employment, and even called my references. I thought it was a sure thing. Then a week goes by with no contact and today I get a letter in the mail that said for budgetary reasons they've decided not to hire this position until later in the year, but that I was a strong candidate and they'd keep all my information until that time. It didn't read like a generic rejection letter.

So my question is, what do I do now? This is a place that I'd really like to work for, and not just some company that had an opening, so if I have to wait then I'm fine with that. I just don't want to be waiting around if I've just been blown off.  Do I send a response to the letter and if so, what do I say in it that I haven't already said? Do I keep in touch or would that just be bothersome? And if so, how often do I call? I'm usually very good at the whole job search process but I'm just completely lost here.

 

Answer: 

Job openings being canceled due to budgetary reasons happens a lot in a down turn business environment. This is because things change so quickly. Every company is looking to cut costs and hiring is first on their list. They may need to fill the position but they will probably get a current employee to pick up the slack.

Send a letter to everyone that you interviewed with. Tell them that you understand that hiring for this position has been postponed for now, but you want them to know how much you want to work there. Let them know that they can contact you at anytime once the position re-opens.

Contact them monthly to check on status of the position. Contact them if your contact information changes such as new cell phone number or email address. Bookmark the companies job page to keep track of their current job openings.

You can set up a Job Alert email at www.simplyhired.com to let you know when they re-post the job. Here's how:

1. Go to http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobs/advanced-search
2. Input the Company's name where it says "within company name:"
3. Input the job title where it says "within job title:"
4. Click Search Jobs
5. Click on the "Get email alerts for this search" Link at the top 

 

Now you're all set. Once they post the job you will receive an email notifying you so you can apply.