In the current job market, finding a new career is as hard as it has ever been. The secret, says local recruiter and career coach Therese Boldt, is applying an entrepreneurial attitude to the search.
Boldt has written a book offering her advice to job seekers, titled Yes! You Can Land a Job (Even) in a Crummy Economy. She plans to hold three seminars on job-hunting strategies next month, sponsored by the Wayne State University School of Business Administration. (See inset box.)
Admission to the seminars is $15 and includes a copy of the book, which was funded by Wayne State. For more information on the seminars, visit www.alumni.wayne.edu/event.
Boldt, founder of West Bloomfield Township-based Meet Therese L.L.C., offers career coaching and specializes in placing executive assistants with executives at Southeast Michigan companies. A veteran of human resources and staffing, she gives on-air career advice during segments for local Fox affiliate WJBK-TV Channel 2.
Crain's sat down with Boldt to get her advice for job hunters.
You're probably pretty accustomed to hearing that "there just aren't any jobs out there right now. When people say that, what do you tell them? There are jobs out there, and there are careers out there, but what has to happen here in Michigan is a culture shift. There's a culture that we have built through the industries that we have large companies, organized labor. I'm not saying that these are bad things, but they have produced a mindset that "it's not ultimately up to me; it's up to somebody else. You have to create the next step in your career.
How do the current economic circumstances in Southeast Michigan change the game for job seekers? How it changes the game is that there are now more resources available to people building their careers than there ever have been. The state of Michigan has put forward all kinds of money to help people get retrained, so while it may be difficult to find a "job, it's the best time to reinvent yourself and find a new career.
In the book, you're trying to teach readers how and where to market themselves. How can job seekers get the most out of networking? It's not about saying, "Here's what you can do for me. That's self-serving. If I'm networking, I will ask, "How can I help you? There's this thing called the law of reciprocity: When you do things like that and it's from the heart, it comes back. Sure, your final motive is to get a job, or in my case, to get your book published. But it's about building relationships, and you don't do that by being a self-serving individual.
Any advice for interviews? When there are so many people looking for jobs, how can applicants set themselves apart? If you're unemployed, you ought to be volunteering somewhere. You just should. If you're unemployed and you go into an interview and an employer asks what you've been doing, "nothing shouldn't be your answer. If you can say, "Here are some of the projects I've been involved in, it's going to help you.
This is your first book. How did you decide to become an author? Everything that's in the book, I did as a recruiter. I had never written a book before, but I had an inspired thought. I knew that there wasn't enough of me to go around. There were a lot of people who needed what was in my head, and I didn't have enough time in the day to take care of them. So I thought, if I can put this in a book, I can help people on a broader scale.
Copyright 2009 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Source Citation
Nelson, Gabe. "Career coach shares tips through book, seminars." Crain's Detroit Business 25.38 (2009): 13. Popular Magazines. Web. 3 Jan. 2010.
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