Authors offer advice on finding perfect job

"Get a Life, Not a Job" (FT Press) By Paula Caligiuri, Ph.D.

The author of "Get a Life, Not a Job," Paula Caligiuri, is a professor of human resource management at Rutgers. In this book, Caligiuri talks about how the social contract between employer and employee has changed.

In today's world, our work takes up most of our lives. Caligiuri encourages people to manage their careers not by changing jobs, but by nurturing their talents. By doing so, she wants people to think seriously about how they spend their lives.

I have read the book and the reviews of some others and have to agree with the majority of reviews. Caligiuri doesn't realize that people spend their lives in companies because getting out of a company, at a senior level, and devoting yourself to freelance means making an irreversible decision -- labeling yourself as one who "could not make it." If you are over the age of 45 you will be labeled as someone who is washed up.

While getting out of corporate America sounds like a dream come true, following your passion is a fool's choice if you don't have a solid business plan, financing and sound knowledge base and clientele for your business. If you don't have all of this, you probably will not survive in this economy.

One of the harshest reviews went as follows: "Don't believe me? Try submitting a resume to a corporate giant with 30 years of stellar progressively responsible management achievement followed by two recent years of selling stuff on eBay or selling your handmade jewelry from a website. Generally it would be tough. In this economy its career suicide so you had better be 100 percent sure that that jewelry business is going to come through for you."

I have to agree that such a move would be professional suicide.

As stated in some of the prior reviews and as an executive recruiter, if a 45-year-old executive asked me if he should slowly cut back his corporate responsibilities at his $150,000 job to pursue photography, writing and his eBay business, I would ask him or her:

1) Are you aware that if you leave company X and do not follow it up with another similar $150,000 management job, that your corporate career is probably over? (You can recover from a layoff much easier than a career change to something uncorporate.) Do you understand that corporate HR people will assume that you aren't an "A" player because you didn't pursue another corporate job?

2) Are you aware that the company will probably start looking for a replacement if you ask to cut your hours, and that no job with shorter hours will be offered because you are "overqualified"?

3) As a full-time freelancer, your taxes will be far more than what you have been paying? Can you make a living wage taking that into account?

4) Are you prepared to pay for health insurance for yourself and your family?

"Get a Life, Not a Job" is a very positive sounding book written by a professor in academia. However, working in an academic environment is to work in a place that tolerates far more freelancing than the corporate world. Caligiuri uses a lot of cheery anecdotal evidence to back up her case.

I wish that she spoken to many of the people who come to me after changing their minds -- people in their 40s and 50s who now want to go back to working at that big money center bank or that Big Four accounting firm. The large corporations won't look at them in part because the people who are doing the hiring there don't appreciate people who leave.

Also, the longer you stay away from corporate America, the more remote your experience is. So, for example, if you are a hot shot CPA in the finance world and do a startup business for three to five years, you will have to start at a lower position most likely and work your way up to the level that you left. This is especially true in the present economy when so many are out of work and jobs are scarce.

If you are considering this strategy, do get a life. Love that wonderful thing that you do. And, yes, if you can afford it and you really hate corporate life, take that chance. But do it with your eyes open and a lot of financial support to sustain you through the startup phase.

If you can't afford the risks that I outline, do what Caligiuri does not suggest, find a better more interesting corporate job.

There are a couple of things that this book does suggest that I do agree with, especially in this economy. You should try and become excellent at what you do. The more qualified you become, the more of a resource you are for your company and the more marketable you are to other companies.

While you are employed, you should join worthwhile organizations that offer you an opportunity to network with people in your field and who you can show your value to. Remember: It's not who you know, it's who knows you.

Regularly attending such meetings and becoming a resource or leader in these groups will set you apart in your field. If your company offers benefits to pursue education or certification in your field, you should by all means take advantage of that.

You would be surprised at how your career can suddenly take off when people see you as an expert or problem-solver. Suddenly, the dull career that appeared to offer nothing has taken off. This can occur at levels such as administrative assistant on up.

Oftentimes going out on your own takes a great deal of planning and a great deal of cash. I am not suggesting losing the entrepreneurial spirit, but instead of exploring it in the manner that this book suggests, explore it over a couple of years while still maintaining a solid interest in what you are doing.

The one thing that you do know is that you are employed and drawing a paycheck. You don't want to lose that opportunity until you are sure you can at least replicate that with the new company.

This book is an interesting read but I would say it is an academic exercise rather than a real life dream come true. In our company, we were not prepared for the roller coaster ride of a startup and all of the associated expenses.

I would realistically take what you estimate your expenses to be and multiply that number by three. Yes, three! You would be surprised at the number of fees, licenses, insurances, etc., associated with your new business and the costs associated with that. Take it with a grain of salt when you go through the exercises and keep your expectations in check.

Hopefully all will come right and your new company will take off. But just in case, keep both feet on the ground.

"Knock 'em Dead: The Ultimate Job Search Guide 2010" (Adams Media Corp.) By Martin Yate, CPC

Personally and professionally, at last here are all of the basics that you need to get through your job search all in one book. As a recruiter, I have always liked the "Knock 'em Dead" resume books and used them as a resource for some of my candidates who could not provide adequate details on their job functions.

The "Ultimate Job Search Guide" is broken into sections that are a quick reference and easy for the job seeker to extrapolate the information that they are in need of without wading through a great deal of useless or uninformative text.

The breakdown of the book's sections are as follows:

The Well-Stocked Brief Case

This is a perfect section to tear down all of your skills and job descriptions and credentials and reassemble them into a well-crafted resume that is complete and readable. It will speak volumes to any employer, and you will be able to defend all of your skills during any interview with confidence.

The other part of this section talks about networking: where to network and how to network. This is vitally important to the job search. After all, it's not who you know, it's who knows you.

Networking is essential to this process and to the process of finally landing a job. I think that you will find this section a valuable tool in your search.

Getting the Work Out

This section is vitally important to your search as it goes into detail about making contact with employers through a variety of different venues and tactics. It also gives you great strategies for the telephone interview and how to turn the telephone interview into a "face-to-face" meeting.

As a reminder, this book covers dos and don'ts for men and women with regard to "dress for success" for the interview. It is true that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. You need to be appropriate for the environment for which you are interviewing and be ready to go at a moment's notice to make that great first impression.

Interestingly enough, this book also covers body language, including eye contact, head nodding, hand shaking, positioning of your arms, etc., some of which can be subliminal signals to the employer that you are not interested in what they are saying, too anxious, bored or whatever. It may convey something negative that you did not mean to convey and that can seriously hurt your chances of getting hired.

This is a very worthwhile section to read as we all need reminders to not get so comfortable during the interview that we forget our manners and that we are not yet part of the team. We have taught some classes and spent a great deal of time with potential candidates on handshaking and the normal pleasantries of being social. These are just as important to the interview as your resume because if you are not someone that they can see themselves working with on a daily basis they will move on to another candidate. So put the cell phone and text messaging away and learn or relearn the basics of being social again.

Great Answers to Tough Interview Questions

This section covers tough interview questions and how to know what's behind them. This is a fantastic section that will help you through the interviewing process. It dwells on the types of interviewers.

Usually there are two specific types of interviewers. There are those people who really know how to interview and concentrate their questions on a situation or task, the action you took to resolve the situation or task and the result. These questions are very unlike the inexperienced interviewer who will spend a lot of time describing the company and job and asking you leading questions about your comfort level in that situation.

Although you may feel that you have dodged a bullet to get an inexperienced interviewer, should you get the position, you may find yourself in a situation where the job has not been adequately explained and you are not at all comfortable with the requirements or do not have the knowledge expected to handle the job. Once you realize that this may have been a bad decision, you may find yourself back in the job market, so it does pay to make sure that if you do have an inexperienced interviewer, all of the bases of the position have been covered in one form or another.

This section also covers how to exit a job interview with grace and in the same manner you entered. Often times people become so anxious about the interview, they want to pin down the interviewer for specific dates that they will receive communication regarding their candidacy, or worst, they may expect an offer right then and there. Immediate offers are rare so if your did receive one, I personally would be a bit suspicious, especially without benefit of checking references.

This section describes how to maintain control regarding the follow-up, which will keep your candidacy for the position intact with the employer.

Finishing Touches

The section discusses about how the last person getting interviewed usually gets the job offer. It gives you tips about how to keep your impression fresh in the interviewer's mind. I don't necessarily agree with that order but I do agree with the fact that you have to have a presentation and style that is memorable to the employer so that he or she will want to continue a dialogue with you. This is best accomplished by thank-you notes, e-mails of interesting articles or meeting at a local function or event.

Where the Jobs Are

This job section tells you where the top job markets are and how to break into them. This section is good for those who are currently employed as well because it addresses the changing job market and the economic climate.

"What's Next: Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job" (Chronicle Books) By Kerry Hannon

"What's Next: Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job" by Kerry Hannon is a book written explicitly for those changing careers in midlife. I have to tell you that in this economy this would scare the heck out of me unless I had absolutely no alternative or a great deal of money in the bank.

This book talks about people who have outgrown or become bored with their careers or who want to start a second career and how they get the necessary qualifications to accomplish this. This is a great and passionate thing to start if the economy is in a positive state and if your personal economy is in a positive state, but I think for most of us it is like jumping off a building and hoping that you land on your feet.

Of course if you have no alternative but to start a new career, this book is hands down a complete guide to handle all of those steps.

I will list some of the career changes mentioned in this book to show you that they are not the simplest of changes to make.

n From tough cop to Nashville music agent

n From CNN TV producer to becoming a winemaker

n From Fannie Mae to acupuncturist

n From retired Navy to the big top circus

n From head of big firms to VP of homeless shelter

n From high-powered patent attorney to farmer

n From Microsoft executive to Athena bottled water company founder and CEO

n From professor of biology to co-owner of a chocolate company

n From New York Port Authority to The Transition Network for women

n From management consulting executive to unpaid COO for organization that cares for children in India.

n From health care nursing professional to knitting pattern design professional

n From mortgage broker to teaching professional

n From investment banker to restaurant owner

n From AT&T executive to Episcopal priest

n From Capitol Hill to comedy

As you can see, none of these are easy or natural career transitions and require a well thought-out plan; some require additional education. This book is for those that are seriously looking to make a significant contribution to society with a career change. This book is not for the faint of heart looking for survival in a struggling economy or those that lack a passion or direction for their next step.

This book is inspiring to those that have a dream or burning desire to break out of the current mold of their daily life and reach far beyond the boundaries of what they are doing. These careers, as you can see, are not necessarily an advancement in salary; some of these careers are for a lot less money or unpaid.

To take this step, you are changing careers for the love of the work and the mission of your life and not for the money, status or power associated with a job title. If fact, some of these positions require you to invest a great deal of your own money in a gamble of working in your passion. That is the truest leap of faith.

I would not advise this to the many readers with growing families and who are struggling to make ends meet in the current economy. I would not recommend this to those who lack the personal and professional commitment to work at new professions without the undercurrent of passion that they must have in order to get through the hard times.

Conversely, the people written about in this book have done phenomenal things with their lives and have taken the biggest leap of faith without knowing if they would land on solid ground. They did it because they were in a time of life when they could: They were financially solvent and they had the support of family and friends and well wishers. Their accomplishments have been substantial and have touched many people around them and set an example for all of us who have read this book.

As with all career books, the choice is yours. There are a million people out there giving suggestions about what skills you have, what skills you need and what you can become. Only you can decide your comfort level in regard to making a change unless the change was not your idea and you are being forced to make a change. In either case, you need to understand your skill set, your comfort level with your skills and what you are looking for in your next job.

With the current economy, it might not be the time to stretch outside of your comfort zone, but you can start to move toward some of your passions daily so that when the time is right, you don't miss the opportunity to follow you passions and create your own empire and legacy to leave behind.

I am sure if you do this in stages, it will be very rewarding and you will get to know and understand abilities that you didn't realize you had. When you accomplish this, all things are possible; you have indeed turned a new page in your life as you will be able to give back to society and to the many people who need your help.

Laura Egan is the principal of LRG Partners with 25 years in health care management. You may contact Laura at laura@lrgpartners.com.