Jack Molisani - Be the Captain of Your Career: A New Approach to Career Planning and Advancement

Practical Information That Works!

As I was listening to your presentations on resumes, interviewing, and portfolios, I had a feeling that I was getting wonderful advice. Now I KNOW I got great advice. Your presentations gave me some really good tips and those changes were a key factor in my getting the position.

MK Grueneberg, Chicago, IL

Because of you, I just received an offer for a permanent job that I think I am going to love. Your advice was invaluable. I just wanted to let you know what a difference you made and how grateful I am.

J. Hamrick, Austin, TX

To get the job of your dreams and succeed in your chosen career, look no further than this book. Molisani has written a terrific, no-nonsense guide full of great advice and smart tips, from resumes, to interviewing, to landing and succeeding in that great job. Filled with entertaining stories, its a fun read, too. Bravo!

Chellie Campbell, author of The Wealthy Spirit

Whether you are a new graduate or career changer, Jacks challenge to be the captain of your career will motivate you. Read the book, follow his tips, and youll have the career of your dreams.

Victoria Koster-Lenhardt, Global Employment Advisor European Region, U.S. Department of State

In this straight-talking, insightful book, Jack tells you what you how to create a career you love. His wisdom, gained from years as a top recruiter, will guide you in a positive, clear direction. Whether you are a new job seeker or an experienced candidate, I highly recommend Jacks book to steer your career the right way.

Pamela Paterson, author of Get the Job: Optimize Your Resume for the Online Job Search

Introduction

Do you feel that you are the captain of your career, going exactly where you want to go, when you want, and the way you want?

Or do you feel more like a galley slave chained to a job you hate, perhaps one that pays slave wages?

This book is about creating the standard of living youve always wantedeven if you think that goal is unattainable.

If you picked up this book then I bet you feel just like I did early in my career:

You know what you want and where you want to be.

Youre just not sure how to get there.

Does any of this strike a chord?

If so, this book is for you.

Keep Me Posted

Consider this not just a book, but more like a conversation between us: Ill share some career- and life-changing realizations Ive made over the decades, and youll let me know how youre doing applying these lessons in your own life.

Keep me posted on your successes and challenges, new outlooks on life, and new prosperity achieved!

Email me at Jack@BeTheCaptainOfYourCareer.com, or follow me on Twitter @JackMolisani .

Contents

Section I: THINK ITHow to Get Your Career Moving in the Right Direction

The first section of this book is about change.

I am a firm believer that you not only choose the path you want in life, you create the path you walk in life.

Not happy with your current path? Create a new one!

Heres how.

The First Thing to Do When You Find Yourself in a Hole: Stop Digging

One of the things I do to make money is IT staffinga headhunter for engineers, project managers, technical writers, etc. In fact, I have owned my own staffing agency for years.

My company (like many) was hit hard in the economic crash of 2008. As a headhunting agency, we only get paid when our clients hire our candidates. And in the blink of an eye, our number of jobs to fill went from 123 to 0.

Zero.

And while the companys gross income went from $1.8 million a year to practically nothing overnight, I still had employees to pay, contracts I couldnt break, lines of credit I used to cover the bills when clients were late paying me, etc. Many of my employees were literally my friends, so I didnt want to lay them off. Plus, I (mistakenly) thought that the hiring freeze was only going to last a month or two.

So I started borrowing money to cover payroll, pay the rent, pay the bills.

I burned through my savings, then my lines of credit. I borrowed from friends, from my parents, from associates. I even went as far as to use funds that were earmarked for subcontractors to pay other bills, leaving me unable to pay the subs when their invoices were due. I was digging myself deeper and deeper in debt and knew if I didnt stop, Id pass the point of no return, if I hadnt already.

So I stopped, did an honest assessment of the mess Id made, then started to put things right.

I told my employees that if they didnt find jobs to fill, I wouldnt be able to pay them. They couldnt, so I finally let them go.

I then confronted just how deep in debt I was: $480,000.

Next, I took the brutally painful (but equally necessary) step of calling all the subcontractors to whom I owed money and confessed that I had spent the money meant for them. I promised Id pay them back every dime I owed themplus interestbut they had to give me time to turn things around.

I then called my other creditors and let them know I was dangerously close to bankruptcy, and I was offering them a choice: they could either work with me and reduce the payment terms, or Id be forced to declare bankruptcy and theyd get nothing.

Fortunately they all agreed to modify my payment terms, and I was able to avoid bankruptcy.

So I found a technical writing contract I could do myself (one of the jobs Ive had in the past), put myself on a super austerity budget, and got to work rebuilding the staffing business.

It took years of hard work, tight belts, and giving hand-made presents to family at Christmas. But I made it.

So can you.

There is more I learned from this time period that Ill share later in the book, but for now take away these two important lessons:

The first thing you should do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging .

No matter how bad things are, you can make things right.

Stay Positive

Ive observed over the years that fear of losing ones job is a deep and powerful emotioneven more so for those who have families to support. Ive also noticed there are those who would prey on that fear for their own advantage, such as the media to get ratings and politicians to get votes.

It seems like there is always a reason to be fearful: economic recessions, threats of war, continued unrest in the Middle East (which is probably done on purpose to prop up world oil prices).

So the first bit of advice I would share with those concerned about their jobs is this:

Stay positive.

Why?

Because you cant fix what you believe you cant control.

In other words, if you think finding a good job in this economy is hopeless, you might as well just sit at home all day watching TV, as nothing you do will matter anyway. Ditto for were heading into a recession, as that is a classic example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If enough companies stop hiring and begin laying off workers out of fear of a recession, their actions end up causing the very condition they feared would occur!

So whats a person in need of a job (or a better job) to do?

First, stop thinking like a victim (if you have been) and realize that no matter how bad things seem, no matter how bad the media says things are, there are actions you can take right here and right now to increase your standard of living.

Lets look at a few.

Never Lose Faith

In the book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Dont , a team of researchers identified how some companies made the leap from bad to great, while other companies (when faced with similar challenges) didnt.