Job search start

A job search is daunting stuff. On one hand, once I allow myself to consider anything that might capture my interest, the field of possible futures is really interesting, even exciting. On the other, because I don't precisely fit most descriptions, I feel like I am a hopeless incompetent.

So instead of getting on the emotional roller coaster right now, and while I have the luxury of time and resources, I am considering what I want and need.

First of all, some background: I am in what can be considered technical sales in an industry where there is general trend of different divisions consolidating. I am talking about very large multibillion dollar companies with several divisions. These companies have several divisions but there is no formal coordination across division. So multiple sales reps from the same company may be literally bumping into one another at sites. Clearly this looks very bad for a company. Consequently, these companies are sensibly realigning their respective sales forces to create more coordination. (By the way, this is not what happened with me; my business unit decided to shut down commercial operations for a while for other reasons.) My scan of jobs in my industry on a site like Careerbuilder.com shows a great deal of openings for director-level positions, which makes me think these companies are still in the process of realigning at the top and will be working their way down, so I might not expect to see many postings from these places until next year.

To have a long, successful career in sales or marketing, I will need to be highly networked with the customer base as well as understand the subtleties of the field being sold into. This is what garners the value in pay and status. Someone who can say he or she has worked with an influential decision maker (at the C-level) and can use those connections for the company is immediately more valuable than a run-of-the-mill hard worker. Also valuable are those who understand strategy and have proven themselves capable of creating and successfully executing a plan.

With these concerns in mind, here is my list of qualities my next job:

1. Reasonable expectations. I have a tendency to become consumed by the job I do. Unlike sane people, I have a great deal of difficulty differentiating myself from what I do. Separation was more difficult when I was in academia, but industry is more accommodating of work-life boundaries. For the next position, I like to think that I can be happy at a position where reliability and diligence are most prized. I like to think I'll be able to help homeschool our kids or make some progress on my dream business.

Basically, I think I will be happy if I can achieve my goals and am not micromanaged. 

2. A "nice" culture. To me, "nice" is actually a composite of other qualities like compassion, honesty, and morality, certainly not the practice of observing everybody's birthday. It's debatable whether this is a necessity for "success" as we all have heard stories of those who can conveniently overlook the truth but still be extremely successful at their jobs. Competence and niceness certainly aren't the same. I might value this because I am a terrible liar, but maybe I do because being nice amounts to doing the right thing and being kind and fair. It is the foundation on which to build lasting, productive relationships. Think Stephen Covey's tenet, Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Civility and open-mindedness are aspects of a workplace that are worth a lot and I would take a pay cut to be part of such a culture.

Of course, this should translate to good management. I have a track record of leaving bad managers.

3. Access to knowledge and expertise. One of the highlights of my last year was the opportunity to attend conferences as a means to network and to become current with a field. When I listen to talks and see who asks questions, I put together a picture of who's who and who's doing what. It is a tremendous disappointment to me that I might need to start over building my knowledge base as this is something I had to rebuild after leaving academia, so I am doing a lot of thinking about how I might avoid such a possibility. I will think very carefully about the relationships I will foster and how they will play out over the long-term.

I want to be really good at what I do and build relationships with a lot of very smart people, so much so that one day I want to be in the position where I will be able to predict what will happen next in a field.

4. Solid product, solid company.  You would think this would be a no-brainer, but I think people put on the rose-colored glasses for an interview and hear what they want to hear. I will be spending a great deal of time investigating what I'd be selling and to whom. When I've talked to people who were applying for a job as part of their interview schedule, I've always let them know that they can contact me with any questions. I can't say anyone as ever taken me up on the offer, and it's still surprising to me.

5. Compensation. I saw an article that said beyond $75K, money does not improve happiness. I don't believe it, plus I am the sole bread winner for a family of four, so that number should probably be more. Still, having health insurance and the benefits with having a retirement program does mean a lot. At some point, the search will be about what we absolutely need.

My older colleagues have talked about ageism in the workplace. After many years with a company, their base salary becomes too high and when cost-cutting happens, it is the more experienced who are the first to go. Companies don't seem to value experience, so it's difficult to find work at the same pay scale. I have some difficulty sympathizing here as I know they make quite a bit more than most of the world and are sounding a bit too entitled for my taste. I truly believe that we will all be hitting income ceilings working for a company and don't believe I will be at a company for more than four years. It's the move up or out model. Sounds heartless, but makes sense. My strategy for increasing net pay is to create multiple income streams. 

6. Opportunity for growth.  This one is tricky to define as one can take growth to mean many things. In my case, I want to have evidence of success in moving a project forward or in exceeding sales and I want to know it is recognized in a way that will get me more responsibility.

At the same time, I don't want to get too far ahead of things when I am interviewing. It's probably better to ask about other people's career trajectories at the company.

So there. Not an outrageous list at all. I'll be using it as a way to critically evaluate possibilities before getting carried away. I am telling myself that I don't have to take the first thing that comes along as there will be reorganizations coming.

I've sent my resume to some of my connections, but I have yet to actually apply to a job online. I have a pretty solid generic resume, but my next challenge is writing a killer cover letter and creating customized resumes.