Aug 28, 2008

BUSINESS MATTERS: Revitalize career with new skills

By Mildred Culp / Daily News Columnist

Q: My employment background is retail sales and management, but I was fired from my last job at a bank after one year. What kind of references will they give? What employment avenues should I pursue with a high school education? I'm 45 years old and a single parent. I feel too old to go back to school.

In a Pickle



A: You can get out by taking charge of your career. Follow these steps: Take charge of yourself. If you feel too old for school at 45, but you have only a high school education, you might well be confining yourself to a series of entry-level jobs. Talk about something that will make you feel old. Getting new skills could revive you. Get help for depression. Read back issues of this newspaper for information about references.

What type of work should you explore? Write down the five tasks you enjoy doing most. These could be tasks you used in retail sales, management, banking or other activities. Ask yourself what kind of job those tasks add up to. Develop a resume so that your background reflects your ability to do that kind of job. If it doesn't, find the resources to make your job hunt possible.

SNOWSTORM

Q: I was laid off in May 2007 from my job as sales manager. Since then, I've signed on to every sales-related Web site and networking extensively, contacted recruiters specializing in sales of all kinds and paid a marketing firm to upgrade my resume, improve my cover letter and broadcast 155 letters to companies I targeted. A few weeks later I followed up with a resume and cover letter to every hiring manager I could find at those companies. Part of the package I bought got me a resume blast to 6,000 recruiters and companies.

I must have about 8,000 resumes on the street, garnering few interviews and no attractive offers. I'd like to find a position paying about what I was making in the grocery industry, one that is interesting, challenges me and uses my skills. I have a B.A. in Psychology and am a 56-year-old Caucasian. Help.

Stumped



A: How could someone with a career in sales management invest most of his energy in targeting companies and recruiters by sending out paper and following up with more? Develop contacts in companies where you don't have them. Pick up the telephone. Do a cold call in-person appearance. Get feedback on your resume.

CONVINCING

Have you ever noticed that people good at convincing others are more successful at work? You can have fun convincing, too.

Social psychologist Robert Cialdini and two colleagues, Noah Goldstein and Steve Martin, want you to persuade effectively. Their book, "Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways To Be Persuasive," is both insightful and amusing (Free Press, $25). For example:

- You can drug colleagues or potential clients before a presentation to make them receptive without going to jail. What's the drug? Caffeine! If your proposal is well-thought-out, a couple of espressos' worth of the elixir earns you a chance of better than one in three (35 percent) of getting a favorable reaction. But if your presentation wilts, Martin advises, do the opposite: "Switch to decaf."

- Remember how sticky buns stuck to your hands? There's a little piece of paper that will get people stuck to you - the sticky note, Martin indicates. "When researchers sent office workers a survey along with a cover letter requesting that they complete and return it," he says, "only 36 percent did. However, a handwritten request on a sticky note" garnered 75 percent response. Why? It lent the appearance of the personal touch.

Oh, go ahead. Express yourself, personal or not.



E-mail your job-hunting questions to Dr. Mildred Culp at culp@workwise.net. Copyright 2008 Passage Media.