Navigating the Career Marketplace: Preparing for the Marketplace Engaging in “Situation”/Position Search

By Len Rishkofski

The book you are about to read is basically the same process I used for my career transition; and I still have my original manual, assessments, and notes from my transition support.

Although a career transition, many times, is driven by external issues out of your control, it also can be a positive opportunity to gain insight about yourself and, like myself, end up doing something you never thought you would or could. In my coaching of clients, my encouragement is always to take the opportunity of a career transition to find something you enjoy doing and find a way to do it. Following the process in this book will help you accomplish that goal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984546531

Book preview

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Nurturing professional relationships and community involvement

while providing exceptional personalized services and solutions.

Navigating

the

Career Marketplace

Preparing for the Marketplace

Engaging in Situation/Position Search

LEN RISHKOFSKI

Copyright © 2018 by Len Rishkofski.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2018909749

ISBN:                Hardcover                          978-1-9845-4655-5

       Softcover                            978-1-9845-4654-8

             eBook                                 978-1-9845-4653-1

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 permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/11/2018

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Contents

Preparing for the Marketplace

➢   Chapter One: Managing Change

➢   Chapter Two: Know Yourself / Assessment

➢   Chapter Three: Know the Market

➢   Chapter Four: Know How to Market Yourself

Engaging in Situation/Position Search

➢   Chapter Five: Job Search Market Plan

➢   Chapter Six: Phone Calls, Letters, and Interviews

➢   Chapter Seven: Resources for the Journey

Thank you for choosing Snowden Associates for your career transition.

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Len Rishkofski

President/CEO

Snowden Associates

Why This Book

After a successful thirty-five-year career with a major retailer and having decided to retire at the end of my thirty-fifth anniversary, I realized I was not prepared to do so. The challenge of working full-time in a competitive environment is that companies have only one goal in mind, and that is to keep you productive and focused on your job and responsibilities.

During my career, there were multiple times when I felt I could and should leave and do something on my own, such as opening my own sporting goods store or leaving and refocusing my career on teaching and becoming a football coach, which was my original plan in life. However, I swear that every time I got to that point in my career, the company must have anticipated my discontent and gave me a promotion and an opportunity I could not turn down.

The company was very good to me both personally and financially, and as a result, I was able to finally choose what I wanted to do. So with one year before I retired, I began my process of determining my future.

Never having had a résumé or looked for a career before, I had no idea how to proceed. One day, as I was playing golf with a friend of mine who recently was in transition because of his bank closing, I asked him how and what he was doing. He indicated that he was working with Sheila Kabat, a career transition counselor with Snowden Associates. He suggested I contact Sheila.

I contacted Sheila, and she outlined a career transition program the company had. It consisted of counselling, assessments, résumé production, career planning, coaching on interviewing, and networking. As we progressed through the process, I got a clear understanding of who I was, what I was capable of doing, and what options were available to me.

We established multiple avenues of job pursuit, careers, and industries to search. I remember selecting the automotive industry, sports industry, construction industry, and because of my experience with human resources in the corporate world, areas within human resources.

As we moved through the process, it was clear that my interest and experience in human resources was a real strength.

We established my overall goal was to either own a small company or run a small-to medium-size company, and based on my work history, that was a distinct possibility. We decided to move in that direction.

As I began the process of identifying target companies in the industries chosen that were a fit, Sheila indicated that the owner of Snowden Associates was interested in retiring and transitioning from the business.

Following the Snowden career transition process, I began my due diligence of learning about the company, industry, and the potential for success.

Gerrit Vandervere, my predecessor, was open to discussion on my potential to purchase the company and suggested I do some research and talk with some of the employees in the company to get a feel for the culture. I indicated I would do that.

While Sheila and I continued with the transition program, I began to focus on learning about Snowden, the industries it served, and the company’s products. Snowden, at that time, focused heavily on corporate outplacement, coaching, and executive search.

My first responsibility was to put a business plan in place since I was going to be financing the business through either a bank or the small business administration. Since I was still serving as a full-time store general manager for a large retailer at the time, the business plan had to be accomplished in the evenings and weekends. In 1999 when the process began, the internet was in its infancy, so the resources were not as available as they are today. Library research, books, and feedback from personal contacts were my sources.

It took three months to put a comprehensive one-year and three-year strategic plan in place that I felt would be satisfactory to support my desire to purchase the company.

The next step was to interview the employees of the company to see if we would be compatible and whether they would stay with Snowden should I purchase the company. I asked them if they would commit to staying at least one year during the transition. At that point, there were five full-time and three part-time employees, and all agreed to do so.

Once the preliminary work was complete, the process of negotiating the purchase began in December of 1999. One thing I learned is that whether it is a small company or large company, emotions play a very important part of any deal. What I thought would be relatively simple became very complex as to how to value the business. It took until April of 2000 to finally settle on the purchase price. Being a conflict-avoiding person, it was very stressful for me. Negotiations broke down many times, and I walked away in the end, having become very frustrated with the whole process, leaving the owner with a message to never contact me again.

So how did it resolve itself? After about a month, the owner reached out to me again, realizing he lost a great opportunity to sell his company, and he assured me that if we met again, we would work through any issues remaining. I agreed to one more meeting with the stipulation that we would not leave until all issues were agreed to. We did so, and yet again, late in the evening, we did not have an agreement. As it turned out, the price was not the deciding factor. The owner was so emotionally tied to the company that he was fearful he would not have anything to do if he sold the company. For me, that was an easy solution. I offered him the opportunity to stay on as a contract employee doing executive search and working out of his home. Finally, we agreed, and the agreement was signed in Snowden’s Portsmouth office that evening.

Now being in the position to buy Snowden, financing became the focus. Snowden had been in business since 1979, so the company had many banking contacts. Although the company had been in business for a while as a consulting company, the assets were the people. In the end, financing was secured through an SBA loan, and the final contracts were signed. Sowden came under my direction in August of 2000.

There were many things learned through the process, and what was most important to me was the relationship developed with Sheila Kabat as my counselor who worked with me through all steps of the process.

The book you are about to read is basically the same process we used for my career transition, and I still have my original manual, assessments, and notes from my transition support.

Although a career transition many times is driven by external issues out of your control, it also can be a positive opportunity to gain insight about yourself and, like myself, end up doing something you never thought you would or could. In my coaching of clients, my encouragement is always to take the opportunity of a career transition to find something you enjoy doing and find a way to do it.

Following the process in this book will help you accomplish that goal!

Len Rishkofski

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Introduction

Does the road wind uphill all the way?

Yes, to the very end.

Will the journey take the whole long day?

From morn to night, my friend.

—C. Rosetti

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

—Lao-tzu

Getting a Job Is a Job!

Finding a new situation/position demands a very similar approach to the method the solo entrepreneur adopts to market a new product or service. It requires a very single-minded, assertive, multifaceted sales campaign, with you as the product.

Your career transition should be busy and thought-provoking. Most of all, it will involve hard work. In order to find the right situation/position/job, not just any job, you will need to be fully prepared for this endeavor.

Your career transition process will involve

➢ discovering what is right for you,

➢ making a crucial decision,

➢ preparing a market résumé and targeted résumés,

➢ conducting your research and search,

➢ interviewing and negotiating, and

➢ securing a situation/position.

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Chapter One

Managing Change

Recognizing Predictable Reactions

Change always brings about a variety of emotions that impact us in many ways. Predicting how you or others will react to change is impossible. However, what is most important is that you pay attention to your feelings throughout the transition process. You must understand that what you are feeling along the way is perfectly normal and that we all adjust to change at different rates, and with different emotions.

Recent changes in your organization will transport you and your coworkers through phases of the transition process. Think of this process as descending into a valley and then climbing back out. The transition leads from the way things were done in the past toward the future.

As we look at the transition process, it may be helpful to use a model that breaks transition into easy-to-identify stages. Dennis Jaffee and Cynthia Scott have devised such a model with four stages: denial, resistance, exploration, and commitment.

During change, people focus on the past and deny the change. Next, people go through a period of preoccupation, wondering where they stand and just how they will be affected. This is normally where resistance occurs. As they enter the exploration and commitment stages, they start to look toward the future and the opportunities change can bring.

Most people move through these four stages in every transition. However, some may go quickly or get bogged down in different phases. Effective self-management can help individuals move through the phases from denial to commitment.

Difference between Change and Transition

As mentioned, people react in a variety of ways whenever change occurs. Yet most feelings and reactions are not due to the change itself but to the transition we must make to adapt to the change. The difference between change and transition is not generally understood.

Change: Occurs in Our External World

Change can be described as an external, physical happening.

It is usually visible and normally involves a repackaging of our external world. Change can often be marked on the calendar as a specific event, circumstance, or happening. It occurs at a moment in time.

Transition: Occurs in Our Internal World

Transition is an inside-out process, involving our individual ways of adjusting and interacting with a physical change that has taken or is about to take place.