My dear friends, colleagues, clients and students:
Don Sutaria, Founder, President & Life-Work Coach - CareerQuest - was quoted in The Wall Street Journal of Thursday, January 11, 2007, by Sue Shellenbarger. Shellenbarger is a popular columnist for The Wall Street Journal. In her column, Work & Family Mailbox, she answers readers' questions. In order to preserve the full flavor and impact of the question and answer, we are quoting it here verbatim.
Q: I'm a 49-year-old dad who stepped out of the work force for several years to care for my son, who has Asperger's syndrome. I've relied on part-time consulting work. I'm now looking for a job, but I sense my resume is finding its way into the recycling bin due to my "walk on the child side." Any suggestions?
A: Your resume may not be presenting you in the best possible light, says Don Sutaria, president of CareerQuest, a Union, N.J., coaching concern. Consider redoing it, perhaps with input from a career coach, to emphasize your transferable skills and experience in a functional context, playing down the chronological dimension. Consider getting some business cards printed with a brief, bulleted list of your accomplishments, Mr. Sutaria suggests. "Feverish networking" should help; at your level, it's often the most effective tactic, he says. Also, line up at least two strong references among your clients.
Your attention to your son's needs is laudable, but you don't need to dwell on it in job interviews. Be truthful, but provide information "in a controlled fashion," Mr. Sutaria recommends. There's seldom any way to predict how individual interviewers will regard the choices you've made. But think positive and be persistent, he advises. A growing number of men and women are returning to work after career breaks for family reasons. And moving back and forth between consulting and corporate jobs is increasingly common.
CareerQuest's fourth annual
"Boost Your Career" Day, on Wednesday, December 27, 2006, was a resounding success, with a 71% increase in the volume of calls compared to last year! We provided free career advice on the telephone during this five-hour marathon-telethon, in public interest. The limit was five minutes per caller. The farthest call was from London, England. The majority of calls were from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
"Career Doctor Don Answers Your Questions" appears as a regular feature in the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) - New Jersey Chapter newsletters. The November/December 2006 newsletter can be viewed
here. CareerQuest has provided interesting answers in this issue to unusual questions asked during interviews. These are regarding accents, animal you would like to be, 'survivor' type interviews, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, your obituary, and a special from Jack Welch, author of
Winning.
Don Sutaria, Founder, President & Life-Work Coach—CareerQuest—was quoted in
The Wall Street Journal of Thursday, January 11, 2006, by Sue Shellenbarger. Shellenbarger is a popular columnist for The Wall Street Journal. In her column,
Home & Family, Work & Family Mailbox, she answers readers' questions. This question involves a 49-year-old dad in Chicago who took several years off from fulltime work to care for a son with a medical problem but did part-time consulting work. He seems to have difficulty making a successful reentry into the world of full-time work. He is asking for advice.
Please keep your feedback coming as usual. We really appreciate it and we reply to each one of the writers individually.
Until we meet again through the magic of e-mail, greetings in the new year.
Peace! Love! Shalom!
Don Sutaria, MS, IE (Prof.), PE
Founder, President & Life-Work Coach
CareerQuest
How to Unleash the Incredible Power of Persistence in Job Hunting
by Don Sutaria
It Couldn't be Done
Somebody said it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried, he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That "cannot be done," and you'll do it.
Edgar A. Guest
Wow! What a movie! It just blew me away as a career coach! It inspired and motivated me to write this article.
On New Year's Eve (12/31/06), my wife Elizabeth and I saw the movie,
The Pursuit of Happyness, starring
Will Smith and his five-year-old son in real life, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith. Both of us enjoyed it very much
and were teary-eyed during the movie. She has already put it on her list of gifts to be received this year when it is
available on DVD. I am no film critic, but as a career-motivator, my advice is, go see it!
Why did this movie grab me so much? It was powerful and uplifting, heartfelt and compelling. First of all,
it was based on a true story of a real person named Chris Gardner. It also provides a role model for fatherhood,
life-work balance, and highly-focused extreme career change. Even under extraneous circumstances of being
homeless, Chris never once thought of abandoning his son. What a tribute to an enduring relationship between
father and son! The last great movie in this area was
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) with Dustin Hoffman and
Meryl Streep.
In 2002, another movie about
persistence which enchanted us was
Bend It Like Beckham. It was a wonderful movie which wove into its cross-cultural plot the central idea that sometimes, to follow your dreams,
you've got to bend the rules! It is a simple story like bubbling champagne, about a young girl in England who is torn
between adhering to oriental family traditions, and attaining super-stardom on the soccer field.
Much has been written on
How to Discover Your Passion and Calling in the World of Work, including my
article in the December 2006 CareerQuest Newsletter. If you missed it, you can go to CareerQuest's
website at
www.careerquestcentral.com. I promise you will not be disappointed.
Recently Oprah Winfrey asked Chris Gardner what was the most singularly important factor that contributed
to his phenomenal success. Chris replied instantly without flinching or a second thought:
I finally found the work I was meant to do. What an insight! He was good with numbers, he was good with people-relationships, and he
had incredible persistence in spite of all odds!
Chris was an electronic technician selling bone-density scanners to doctors and hospitals with very little
success, barely making $13,000 per year. Family finances were in a state of bankruptcy and his wife left him.
He took custody of his son. In this all-American rags-to-riches story, Chris ultimately becomes a stock broker,
finally owning his own firm that does $100MM plus deals.
Several months ago, I had the honor and privilege of giving a talk,
How to Start a New Job on the Right
Foot, to a large group of well-educated job seekers in Princeton, New Jersey. The amazing thing that
evening was not my talk, but the fact that three professionals had landed new job, a true cause for
celebration! The local ritual called for each of these three people to bring chocolate chip cookies for the
whole group! We had chocolate chip cookies coming out of our ears! This had happened during the peak
of high unemployment, which some of you may find hard to believe! What was the secret ingredient?
Persistence! Persistence! Persistence!
My point here is that there is no one right time during the year to get a job. Eternal vigilance throughout
the year is the price of getting a new job, especially if you have been looking for a while. If you snooze any
time during the year, you will certainly lose. Remember how persistent you were when you were three years
old and asking you mom for a candy bar when she took you shopping to the supermarket? What prevents
you now from harnessing the same power of persistence in job hunting?
Even in my private practice, every week during the summer, and the year-end holiday season, I am
coaching professionals in interviewing and salary negotiation techniques. They come from all walks of life,
from Information Technology to Investment Banking, and from Law to Journalism.
My point here is that there is no one right time during the year to get a job.
Why does this logic fly in the face of conventional wisdom? Based on my personal experiences and
those of others I have coached, I can tell you confidently that holiday and slowdown periods are the
most productive times for job hunting.
Why is that?
Just think of it as seeds being sown during the slow periods. Even if you don't reap the harvest
immediately, you will be first in line to be hired when the hiring peak arrives, since you have kept the fires
stoked! You are way ahead of the game. Executives in position and power to hire you are generally
traveling less during these so-called slow periods and taking leisurely vacations with the family.
This may place them in a better frame of mind than other times during the year.
Effective managers admire your persistence, may like your attitude, and be more
willing to see you because they are relaxed and are spending more time in their offices. You have
broken the paradigm of slowing down in your job hunt like your competitors have. Statistically, fewer
people are actively in the job search mode, and that alone gives a boost to your job search
effectiveness.
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not;
nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not;
unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of
educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
Calvin Coolidge
So, I hope I have convinced you that this is no time to waffle in your job search. If you still don't
believe me, follow the dictum of the great international philosopher
Nike, who said 10,000 years ago,
"
Just Do It Now"...or something to that effect...I just don't remember!
Don't Quit
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must—but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow—
You might succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out—
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt—
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit—
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.
Author Unknown
Don Sutaria is Founder and President of CareerQuest (formerly New Life Career Counseling), located in New York and New Jersey. CareerQuest is also mentioned in "What Color is Your Parachute?" Sutaria is a consultant to individuals and various corporations, offering executive coaching and career management services. He has developed unique methods for capturing jobs in the new millennium. He appeared on a Phil Donahue TV special on unorthodox methods of job hunting. Known as "Career Doctor Don", he has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Star-Ledger, The Union Leader, WorkingSmart, SmartMoney, Fortune, and on WINS and WOR radio. He specializes in counseling of international professionals, Generation X (age 20-29), career changers, freelancers, consultants, mid-career executives and people over age 50. He really believes that your career is a pathway to your soul.
Mr. Sutaria has over forty years of diversified industrial and management experience, complemented by training in career development and hands-on experience in career advising. He is an international cross-cultural trainer. He has also served on committees of several organizations, and conducted courses, seminars and symposiums at Columbia University, New York University, Nyack College, Alliance Graduate School of Counseling, and Rutgers. He is a member of the Association of Career Professionals International, Career Counselors Consortium, and Society for Human Resource Management.
Don earned his MS degree in Management from Kansas State University, an IE (Professional) degree in International Management and Personnel Relations from Columbia University, and obtained New York University's postgraduate Certificate in Adult Career Planning and Development.
