Entrepreneurial Job Hunting

I'm current looking for a job. Not the lot of an entrepreneur you say. Not so I say. Job hunting is an entrepreneurial activity. "Entrepreneur" used to mean one who organizes military expeditions. Looking for a job has a lot of parallels with undertaking military expeditions and with undertaking a company. I have organized an enterprise called "Tim's Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe."

So how am I being entrepreneurial?

I have to craft my voice. That defines how I differ from the kajillions of other searchers out there. It defines how I present myself and what kind of job I'm willing to accept. I know what my voice is (or what I want it to be) but it's taken me a few months to figure out how to make that manifest in an employment search context.

I have analyzed my assets and liabilities. My assets are my health, my education, my varied and interesting background, my curiosity, lots of connections and so forth. My looks not so much. I don't have a lot of money which means hiring a fee-based employment agency is out. I wouldn't do it anyway. I have a lot of other non-pecuniary assets but I won't go into them.

A big liability is my age. So I have to go for positions in which my age is an asset. Senior this or that. There are problems there I won't go into either. There are more but you get the picture.

I have figured out what resources you have at your disposal. This puts parameters on my job search.

I have figured out what I have to offer. This tells you what I'm "selling."

I know how long you have to look. If you have 5 years to look you can be pickier than if you have to have one within the month.

And so on and so on.

The problem with job searching is that the way it is usually done is that the searcher places himself or herself in a supplicant position. Prostitutes are placed in a supplicant position. He or she has in the back of his or her mind, "Please Mr. Employer, won't you take on poor little pitiful me?" This is depressing to the searcher and what employer wants to hire a down-in-the-mouth person.

You have to have to put yourself on a level with your potential employer. You have to have a plan and a way of showing the person you have something to offer. Maybe you have something to offer that that person didn't even know he needed.

You have to have a plan. You have to know what your objective is because these days you have to put it on your resume. A goal has been called a dream with a date attached. You have to know where you are now. You have to identify the things that have to happen before you can successfully find one. And you have to determine the actions steps you will take to make sure those things come to pass. You have to market your product (a.k.a. you) and have to have an evaluation period at which time you will evaluate your progress.

It helps to have a coach. I have one, but he doesn't really have a good idea of what a mentor or coach is. Fortunately I'm pretty much self-directed and a self-starter.

Entrepreneurship is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. And go read my mystery for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.