Oracle of NY

The Paloma Method

Paloma had initially contacted me out of the blue.

However, in the few short weeks we had been in regular contact, she had advised me to broaden my goal from finding a job to managing my career, coached me on how to manage the interview process, convinced me to rewrite my resume in a non-chronological transferable skills format, taught me how to efficiently and effectively compose a cover letter and suggested that I write articles to include in thank you notes.

Everything she had told me to do took some effort to accomplish, but as I performed each task and went through each process and much self-reevaluation, her advice had proven itself to be shrewd, effective and even prophetic.

I soon sensed that something major was happening at every level of my being and started to feel much more positive than before about myself, my potential and my prospects.

I had been optimistic and determined all along, but I had also been cynical.

Paloma helped me strip away the cynicism and replace it with a renewed sense of confidence and creativity. She helped me elevate my personality and aspirations to the forefront of my resume and job search. She enlightened me to a paradigm shift and coached me through an extremely powerful and effective transformational experience.

Yet, without missing a beat, Paloma turned her attention to my blog and social networking profiles. She told me clean them up, identify my brand and unify my blog, LinkedIn and Facebook profiles—and all my professional communications.

“But first,” she said, “post your new resume on your blog. Once we identify your brand and instill it in all your communications, we will start turning your leads into solid job offers.”

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Excited by my new resume and cover letter writing ability and wanting to get some feedback from people with whom I had already been in touch, I emailed my new resume to a number of contacts, including an executive recruiter.

That very same day, after a flurry of emails, the executive recruiter forwarded my resume to a large accounting firm, submitting me for the position of Senior Manager Valuation & Corporate Finance.

I had no idea at the time that this was the lead which would work out, but in retrospect, it was quite amazing. A week after I had completed a reasonable draft of my new non-chronological transferable skills resume—and the very same day I had become comfortable enough with it to share it with my professional network for feedback—my resume was submitted for the job which I was subsequently offered and accepted, the dream job which was to become my “Happy Ending Holiday Story.”

As a further coincidence, no sooner had I finished composing my new resume when I received an email from Dr. Okuno stating that he wanted to know more about me and asking for my curriculum vitae.

I emailed my new resume to Dr. Okuno and two weeks later—after he apologized for the delay in his response—I was asked to confirm my journey to Yokohama.

Although Paloma knew exactly what she was doing and sensed my transformation and excitement, we had no idea what was in store for us or how quickly things were going to work out.

We had to keep moving forward.

“After you submit your resume for a job,” Paloma advised me, “or have any kind of interview or professional meeting, you’ve got to follow up. You want to stand out and be put on top of the stack. We’ve been taught to follow-up with a phone call or a thank you note. It’s the polite thing to do—but it’s not effective.

“To be effective, you should write an article and include it with your thank you note. Show people you’re a thought leader. Write a few paragraphs about your field or their company or even current events. Do some research and write about AIG or Lehman Brothers. Write about Mutual of Omaha Bank. It’s best to produce something fresh—but you can also include an article you’ve already written. You can use the valuations article you posted on your blog. You’ve got to stand out!”

Incredibly, a few days later I received an email from Reuters asking me to write an article.

Dear Mr. Persky,
We’ve started a new blog at Reuters about careers in global finance after the Wall Street crisis and are looking for people to write about their experiences adjusting to the new order. Would you be willing to write 400 words of advice for the newly unemployed? It could be in the form of ‘10 things I wish I’d know a year ago’ or whatever format you feel comfortable with. We’re trying to make this blog, called Trading Places helpful and honest without being too depressing. Give me a call if you wish to discuss further.
Regards,

I received the email in the morning, wrote the article within a few hours—and it was published on the Reuters.com blog in the early afternoon along with my picture, contact information and a link to my blog.

My cell phone went into convulsions and my blog hits increased exponentially.

Transferable Cover Letters

Once I had a reasonable draft of my transferable skills resume, Paloma coached me, “Stay focused on your goals and your objectives. Make sure all your professional and public communications stay true to your values, your perspective and your target audience.

“We will next work on cover letters and thank you notes composed from your resume and transferable skill sets. These are the few times you will be able to present yourself to your perspective employer or recruiter—and we want them to have meaning and be effective.

“The cover letter introduces you. The resume informs people you can do the job. The thank you note is good manners, reminds people of who you are—and its other purpose is to cover any ground not previously covered or to repair mistakes made in an interview—the do-over’s people tell you that can’t be done. You will use your new resume as a master list resume to create job-specific cover letters and resumes for each position to which you apply.”

Paloma sent me list of job leads she thought might interest me and told me to compile a list of target companies for which I would like to work and career sites which I typically used to find leads.

I compiled the lists, added some commentary relating to the distressing state of the financial services and banking industries in New York City and sent it to her.

“OK,” responded Paloma. “This is your list of potential targets, right? What you need to do is find a person at each of these places with whom to talk who is not in HR. Call the reference line at the Library in New York and ask for names of people who might be in the departments you think would best suit your job potential, people who are in responsible uber-management positions—not the CEOs or Presidents—but not the first line supervisors either. If they list email addresses great. If not, just get names and I'll see if I can get the emails.

“We will target these people for personal phone calls and emails. What we want to do is to set up informational interviews for a possible career change. Therefore, along with the targets for financial positions, choose companies from other industries in which you would like to work—and we will set up interviews with some of their top level people. We will get information as to how they work and what they want—and then we can target them and their industries as well. This is the type of interview where you ask what they do and how they like their company and career—and then end the interview with a request for them to forward your resume to a colleague who might have an opening.

“Send me a job description that suits you from one of your job boards—and let’s evaluate what cover letter to send and how to customize your resume for the position.”

I immediately started surfing my job sites and on the MIT Sloan Alumni Job Board, I came across one of the most amazing job descriptions I had ever seen.

I forwarded it to Paloma.
 
“This looks tailor made for you!” responded Paloma. “Were they looking over our shoulder when we put your new resume together? Now you’re going to learn how to write a cover letter using your new master list resume.

“Take their job description and any marketing material from their web site that jumps out at you—and address it line by line using your resume. Also, please read the last few articles on their blog site and be prepared to respond to them.”

Paloma was always a step ahead.

It took a bit more explanation for me to understand what she was getting at and several rounds of drafts, but I soon had in my hand more of a cover letter than I had ever written before—and it had been easy and fun to produce.

Paloma reviewed my cover letter and told me I was on the right track.

After a few minor revisions, when she told me to go ahead and send it to the firm along with my new resume, I was convinced I had found my next job.

However, we did not wait around for a response.

Paloma pointed out that this was not a typical job description and not a typical cover letter, even according to her methods. She suggested I find a more representative job description and perform a similar exercise.

I returned to my job boards and quickly found a more standard job description for the type of position I was targeting and forwarded it to Paloma.

“Now that you have seen the potential of a cover letter produced from your master list transferable skills resume,” responded Paloma, “take this job apart and see if you can answer it. I would, however, treat this as more of a typical professional cover letter and not employ the totally creative approach we took with the first one. Just include a few of the most relevant power statements pulled from your skill sets. It should be quick and easy.”

I went to work and with a little cutting, pasting and editing, I quickly and efficiently produced a targeted cover letter from my master list transferable skills resume and the company’s own job description.
Senior Associate – Investment Banking
 
I forwarded the cover letter along with my new resume to the firm—and figured I had another job in the bag.

The Transformational Resume

After a few days of introspection, writing and revising, my resume and I were transformed.

I did not immediately appreciate what had happened, but over the next few days, as I started applying to new jobs and following up on old leads, I more and more adjusted to the new format and started realizing its transformative and transitional powers.

My work experience was no longer a bland, chronological list of job titles and job descriptions but a colorful and powerful statement of my skills, experiences and achievements—while better reflecting my personality, goals and desires.

I also noticed a distinct change in my mood. I felt a surge of self-confidence I had not felt in over a year, since I had strut my pride as an investment banker on Park Avenue. I had achieved much in my life, had a great education, world-class work experience and excellent skills—and I was not going to be defined by a chronological list of job titles and tasks.

I was going to let my creativity, bravery and integrity shine through. I was going to unleash my full potential and pursue my dreams.
 

Joshua Persky   Mobile: 917-650-8700   joshua.persky@sloan.mit.edu
__________________________________________________________________

  
  
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE IN BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, COMMERCIAL AND INVESTMENT BANKING
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin
Fortis Capital Corporation
Spear, Leeds, and Kellogg, a subsidiary of the Goldman Sachs Group
Gilat Satellite Networks

Investment Consultant – Asset Management – Financial Entrepreneur
Business Development – Management – Writer
________________________________________

INDUSTRY TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

ANALYSIS

Determined the fair market value of companies and investments. Identified mispriced investments and calculated accurate pricing. Initially reluctant, my clients came to see my advice as worthy of their attention and an excellent truthful analysis of market conditions.

Produced mark-to-market valuations for over one hundred different hedge fund investments in a variety of private companies and assets, including debt, equity, aircraft engines, movie libraries, oil and gas royalties, CDOs and real-estate holdings. I was hired as a consultant for 3 to 6 months and stayed for 2 years, because I enabled the efficient, accurate and profitable servicing of hedge fund clients in a new and growing market niche (hedge fund portfolio valuations).

LEADERSHIP

At Fortis Capital, as the CEO’s right-hand man, I helped manage a commercial lending group with over 60 bankers, freeing up the CEO to focus on building relationships and sourcing new deals. I also founded and managed the Agency for Syndicated Loans.

At LiveLinx, I managed and mentored a team of technical writers, helping the start-up company grow from 3 to 15 people.
 
FINANCIAL

I can fluently read and understand financial statements and models. At Houlihan Lokey, I interpreted and analyzed the financial statements of companies in a wide variety of industries, quickly learning and clearly communicating the stories behind the numbers. My work helped the company retain existing hedge fund clients and service a growing number of new ones.

At Fortis Capital, my familiarity with financial models helped me monitor the financial performance of our clients and enforce covenant compliance. By raising red flags, I enabled the company to address issues proactively and prevent costly developments.

At Gilat Satellite Networks, my advice and due diligence concerning start-up companies helped guide Gilat’s investments in those companies.

COMMUNICATIONS

I can make complex issues easy to understand. From producing user-friendly technical documentation to high-level financial analysis, I have taken mounds of information from a variety of expert sources and presented it clearly, concisely and in a well-organized fashion.

Gilat Satellite Networks could not find anyone who had the skill to both understand their cutting edge satellite communications technology and write about it clearly. As a technical writing contractor, I took on the project and within six months, Gilat hired me full-time as their Marketing and Product Manager based on my results.

After working for two years as Marketing and Product Manager, I was put into a Business Development group run by an investment banker. For two years, I did market research, wrote business plans (Microsoft and Direct TV invested $50 million each), searched for strategic partners and invested in new enterprises.

At Fortis Capital, I was the point of communication among the other banks in the syndicate, our bank, the borrower, legal counsel and technical consultants. I facilitated communications among all interested parties and made sure we were all on the same page. Due to my efforts, Fortis Capital gained an excellent reputation as an Agent, and we were granted new mandates for Lead Arranger and Underwriter by both new and existing clients.

I have experience communicating with CEOs, CFOs and other high-level executives. At Gilat Satellite Networks, Fortis Capital and Houlihan Lokey, I spoke with and corresponded with high-level executives concerning their company’s financial status and business strategy.

ENTREPRENEURIAL

I tried to raise money for a start-up computer company but ultimately failed. The experience left me with some valuable lessons learned. At Fortis Capital, I employed the lessons learned, started up and managed an Agency for Syndicated Loans, growing it within four years to a $2.5 billion portfolio.

At Gilat Satellite Networks, I successfully managed an R&D project sponsored by the European Union with a $2 million budget. My proposal was chosen and accepted over those produced by our company’s top engineers. The project brought in R&D funds which were used to develop the company’s technology in a strategically beneficial direction.

MULTI-TASKING

At Fortis Capital, I was hired by the CEO to wear several hats: marketing coordinator, liaison, enforce financial covenant compliance, start syndicated loans agency, write policies and procedures, facilitate re-banking, implement internal audit recommendations. Although asset management (managing the fast-growing Syndicated Loans Agency) took up most of my time, I continued to successfully wear multiple hats for four years, helping the company to grow its portfolio of loans by approximately 20%.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

I am an international businessman.  I have conducted business in Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Israel, Japan, Singapore, South Africa and Spain. My eagerness to travel, international skills and experience, helped Gilat Satellite Networks win new contracts and increase sales around the world. I helped the bankers at Fortis Capital maintain a smooth working relationship their European colleagues and European Senior Management.

I have become a global brand and am being noted for my integrity, creativity and courage to obtain results in an outside-the-box type of manner.

WRITING

Published articles in Business & Economy and The Human Factor (leading Indian business journals), Reuters.com and efinancialcareers.com.

Created a blog: www.oracleofnewyork.com which was selected to be part of the Forbes Financial Blog Network.

Produced numerous proposals in response to request for proposals (RFPs) from national and international telecommunications companies.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Citibank School of Banking – Advanced Credit Management II, Risk and Credit Management

B.S. Management Science – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) / Sloan School of Management – 4.5 GPA

Within a week after creating my new resume, I was a new person. What I had initially regarded as a futile exercise turned out to be a powerful and liberating experience. I felt as though I had emerged from a cocoon and was about to take flight—and I was both figuratively and literally about to fly over the North Pole.

The Chrysalis

The resume rewriting started with Paloma asking me to send her as many previous versions of my resume as I had on file. I took a look at them, and they were pretty much the same. The only difference was a new job title and job description added for each of my past few positions. I had not altered the format of my resume since the turn of the millennium.

JOSHUA PERSKY
Mobile: 917 650 8700
Email: joshua.persky@sloan.mit.edu

Work Experience:

2005 - 2007  Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin, New York City - Investment Banking Consultant

• Produced over 100 valuations (“Opinions”) for pricing hedge fund investments in a variety of companies and assets, such as bank loans, aircraft and aircraft engines, oil and gas royalties, CDOs, real-estate holdings and developments, and private equity. 
• Used methodologies such as discount cash flow, weighted average cost of capital, Black-Scholes analysis, EBITDA and revenue multiples of comparable public companies, comparable transaction prices for private companies, and fundamental analysis.

2001 - 2005  Fortis Capital Corp., Stamford, CT - VP Organization and Control

• Established and ran Syndicated Loans Agency. Managed project finance portfolio, maintained syndicated commercial bank loans, mitigated operational and reputation risk, over $2.5 billion portfolio
• Enforced compliance by centralizing covenant monitoring for all loans (syndicated and bilateral), over $10 billion portfolio
• Liaison among commercial lending groups (Shipping, Oil & Gas, Electric Power, Commodities Trading, Global Corporate) and operational areas (Accounting, Legal, Compliance, Internal Audit, IT and Loan Administration)
• Implemented internal audit recommendations by gathering information, clarifying issues, producing policies and procedures, project management
• Participated in re-banking efforts, familiar with Federal Banking Regulations, Basel II, Sarbanes-Oxley and Patriot Act
• Coordinated interest rate SWAPs for commercial bank loans
• Marketing Coordinator

1997 - 2001  Gilat Satellite Networks, Petah Tikva – Marketing and Business Development

• Member of in-house investment banking group
• Evaluated companies for potential strategic partnership and investment
• Conducted legal and financial due diligence, worked with consultants from KPMG and McKinsey
• Performed market and corporate research and analysis
• Produced business plans
• Identified new markets and applications for satellite-based network communications
• Member of Product Management Group and R&D Management
  
  ….

1982 - 1983 Spear, Leeds, and Kellogg, N.Y.C. - Assistant Options Trader

• Assisted a specialist (market maker) on floor of the American Stock Exchange
• Used Black-Scholes pricing model to set options prices 
• Developed in depth understanding of complex financial instruments, strategies and risk management

Education:

2002  Citibank School of Banking, Advanced Credit Management II, Risk and Credit Management

1977 – 81  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) / Sloan School of Management, B.S. Management Science

Paloma reviewed my resumes and instructed me, “List your job categories. You are no longer limited to the typical resume format. Put the most critical job categories to your job search near the top of your resume.

“Then list your transition or transferable skill sets. In bullet points, list what the job was and what you brought special to the table for that job category. You can readily see that these skills are important on any position. Hence, they are transferable to any job you might seek—whether financial, marketing or business development.”

I took a deep breath and tried to understand what she was getting at. I was not sure what I was supposed to do or what she expected as an end result—but I knew I had to try something different because my standard resume was not doing its job.

First, I stripped out all the dates, company names and locations, so I was left only with job titles and bullet point descriptions of what I had done. It looked kind of strange, but then I noticed that some bullet points fitted better under other job titles, so I moved them.

I did not know it at the time, but I was starting to reorganize the DNA of my work experience, self-perception and career path.

After reviewing what I had done, Paloma reminded me there was no reason to limit myself to typical resume job titles. She suggested I think in terms of broader job categories and list them near the top.

Beneath the job categories, I should list the companies for which I had worked, not necessarily in chronological order—but in order of wow factor. She also reminded me to focus on bullet descriptions demonstrating how I had made my employers money, saved them money and solved their problems.

After a stretch of angst, procrastination and creative editing, I was no longer confined by my previous job titles of Investment Banking Consultant, VP Organization and Control, Business Development and Chief Project Manager. I was able to identify myself with the broader job categories of Investment Consultant, Asset Manager, Financial Entrepreneur, Business Developer and Writer.

I no longer worked for one company for five years and another company for four years, one company for two years and another company for one year. I worked for a collection of impressive companies: Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin—Fortis Capital Corporation—Spear, Leeds, and Kellogg, a subsidiary of the Goldman Sachs Group—Gilat Satellite Networks.

Paloma remarked that I was off to a good start but reiterate we were aiming for a transferable skills resume and suggested I identify my skill sets such as Leadership, Financial, Entrepreneurial, Analysis, Multi-Tasking, Global Perspective, Customer Satisfaction and Communication.

“Under these transferable skill sets, you will make power statements via bullet points,” she instructed me. “A power statement consists of identifying a skill, value, strength or accomplishment that relates to a particular job category.

“For instance, I am…. I have…. I can…. Give at least one specific example for each skill set. Show a result, usually a percentage, dollar amount or some sort of number value. As a territory manager, I was dedicated to customer satisfaction by meeting with customers on a monthly basis and forming an evaluation report card. As a result, I was able to increase sales by 42% in the quarter.”

Frankly, the process of rewriting my resume became excruciating. In the middle of my efforts, I became more interested in playing with Skipper in the back yard than continuing with the work at hand.

To ease the process, I took frequent breaks, but I kept at it, revising my resume according to Paloma’s instructions, sending her drafts, incorporating her comments—and wondering where it was all going to lead.

Non-Chronological Transferable Skills

After eight months of passing out the same resume, I still did not have a job. Although acquaintances who read my resume sometimes made suggestions, I received enough positive feedback from prospective employers to make me feel as though my resume was as good as it was going to get.

Typical responses included: “Excellent resume!” “Strong cv!” “Great experience!” “You are certainly qualified—perhaps overqualified!”

Then why wasn’t anyone hiring me? I thought I had a great resume—other people had told me so. I was famous—yet, I still could not land a job.

Paloma was insistent. “Your resume needs to stand out. You need to do something different. You have to write a non-chronological resume and you need to base it on your transferable skills.”

Transferable skills made some sense to me. Those were the skills I could apply to a variety of tasks, jobs and environments. But a non-chronological resume? Wasn’t my resume supposed to be a sequential, orderly documentation of my work experience? What use could there be in writing a non-chronological resume? What would a potential employer think if they received one?

I was hesitant, but I was also intrigued.

“Forget about the chronological order of your jobs,” Paloma explained. “Concentrate on your transferable skills and remember the mantra: I can make you money. I can save you money. I can solve your problems.”

Paloma had shown herself to be sensible with the advice she had given me so far, so I figured, what have I got to lose? Obviously, whatever I was doing was not working. I had everything going for me—a degree from MIT in Management Science, world-class work experience in business development, commercial and investment banking and more international publicity than money could buy. Yet I had been unemployed for eight months—and two months had passed since I had been gifted with my publicity.

At Paloma’s behest, I agreed to reassess my experience and rewrite my resume. I spent several tortuous days working on the new format and even more importantly, working on myself.

Once I got past the initial angst, writing a non-chronological transferable skills resume released me from a lifetime of constraints. It allowed me to consider and include all my skills and experiences, not just the skills that were most obvious from the jobs and tasks I had performed. I was able to include in my resume the skills from my education, hobbies and life experience—the skills that set me apart, defined my individuality and emphasized my greatest accomplishments—the skills that could help me land a new job.

The results were startling and transformational. Instead of having a dry, chronological resume which listed job titles and job descriptions in a standard format with monotone content, I was able to clearly express the breadth of my skill set and achievements and the depth of my personality and capabilities. It was my land-in-Oz-and-everything-turns-to-color moment. Instead of merely citing my job experiences and education, I was able to express my capacity for experience and learning.

As a result of my efforts and self-evaluation, I produced a non-chronological transferable skills resume containing examples under each skill category demonstrating how I had used my talents to make money, save money and solve problems.

My new resume could even be used as a master list template from which to create an endless variety of job-specific resumes and targeted cover letters. It also included a personal touch, my photograph—a simple but wonderful improvement.

Lesson Learned—Get Professional Help!

• It is too easy and there are too many people sending out resumes by email. Unless you are a perfect match, it is hard to get noticed—and even then, you still need a lot of luck to get a response. 



• It is imperative to follow up when you send out your resume and follow up with impact. Remind your potential employer how you can make them money, save them money and solve their problems.



• It is much more effective to speak to people on the telephone than to contact them via email—and it is much more effective to meet in person than to speak on the telephone. Ultimately, it is who you know and who knows you. By far, most jobs are found via personal networking.



• You may not think you need or can afford professional help when you are searching for a job, but if you are struggling—or even if you are not struggling but want to be as successful as possible—get professional help. It may be one of the best investments of time, money and effort you ever make.



• Especially if you are a professional, get professional help. It is a competitive world out there. A career management coach can help you bring out the best in yourself and release your inner creativity. A coach can help you market yourself better and produce a resume that will stand out and get you called in. A coach can also act as a shoulder to lean on when you are down and out.

Business Valuations

I gave a business valuation webinar the other day for ExecSense.com.

Speaker: Joshua Persky 

Media: Audio, PowerPoint, Computer, iPod, Mobile Phone, Printed Out  

ISBN: 1291

Price: $250.00

http://www.execsense.com/details.asp?id=767

The webinar is led by Joshua Persky, an expert at helping corporate/M&A lawyers understand the most up-to-date valuation methodologies and the subsequent legal issues, and focuses on: 

• Everything you need to know in 60 minutes about interpreting and analyzing valuation methodologies.

• Step-by-step explanation of the main valuation methods (discounted cash flow, market value, earnings multiple valuation and assets), including a discussion of the pros and cons of each method in different circumstances.

• Comprehensive analysis focusing on how to interpret and analyze different valuation methodologies in the context of valuing a target company, intangible assets, an early-stage business and a distressed company.

Please let me know if you would like me to give a business valuations presentation to you, your company or your organization.

Job Hunting Tips

After I started working, I did not have time to speak with Paloma as frequently as before, but she remained my confidant and career coach—and I kept her updated with my activities and relationships at work.

As she had advised me, finding a job was not the end of her work as my coach or the end of my quest—it was just another step along the way. I still had to manage my career.

In fact, when I told Paloma that Cindy Perman wanted to interview me for a job-hunting tips article for CNBC.com, I asked for her advice. After all, she was the professional job-hunting expert, not I.

Paloma got her wheels turning and sent me an email summarizing what had taken place over the course of my unemployment.

First was the job termination. I had always depended on my network and my family’s network to obtain jobs in the past. However, my previous network had not been effective this time. I thought the search would not take a long time. Time marched on and on and finances became problematic. I had bills to pay and the responsibility to support a wife and children.

The old ways were not working as well as before. Networks were drying up. People were worried about their own family’s needs. It took you almost a year to become re-employed—and this is the new rule, not the exception.

Cindy (my wife) and I decided to cut our expenses and provide security for her and the children. Our plan was for me to stay in New York while she moved back home with her parents. Our last hurrah together was to have a small dinner out. We brainstormed. What haven’t we done? What would help me get recognition from outside our standard network? Thus, the Sandwich Board Guy was born. I did not plan on it being a lengthy career move. I just wanted to hand out my resume and get a few new leads. It was a cry for help.

You have got to try something new to increase other people’s awareness of your needs. You have got to brainstorm for ideas that will help bring your cause and need into the market in a fresh way. It did not get you a job but it did get you a job coach.

My wife and children left for Omaha and I felt a loss, but also maybe I was relieved that my expenses and needs were lessened. Time was still a problem. I received some publicity—great!—but no job. I cut my expenses and conserved my financial resources but still needed an income. I became famous but remained unemployed. I moved in with my sister. My sister and her family provided me with food, shelter and emotional support. If not for her, I could not have stayed in the area where Cindy and I wanted to live. I would not have been available for interviews in New York City, and I would not have gotten my job at Weiser LLP.

You have got to lessen your financial drain. Barter, negotiate, find a second stream of income, lessen your obligations and increase your security by tapping into your family and extended family. It is difficult for families to give financial support, but most families can help by taking in one or more family members and sharing resources directly. Everyone can assist if they only have to increase their utility bills and food budget marginally to take in one or two family members—while the bread-winners hunt for jobs.

Then there was the professional coach. Paloma Bowland worked as a career coach and business strategist. She had read my story, watched it on television, read my blog and recognized I was becoming a poster guy for all that wrong with America and the lack of support for people out of work. My image and story resonated with the Great Recession and hinted at the Great Depression. I elicited sympathy from around the world but not much from the good old USA. Everyone figured it was someone else’s responsibility and few rose to the challenge. Some people took my resume and tried to help, but time marched on. Paloma was relatively late getting to my story since she had recently moved and was busy writing a book. She examined my resume. That was the most obvious starting place.

If you are a professional, get professional help. Hire someone to analyze and re-write your resume. Writers do more than make sure it is grammatically correct. This is your image, your first impression. Make it as good as can be—the best. Get a career coach, someone who holds your feet to the fire. Find someone who motivates you and can see the obvious when you are standing too close to the picture. If you truly cannot afford to hire someone, turn to the Internet and books from the library. Some web sites are offered free of charge—and blogs have realms of good information on the process and what to do.

We did an assessment of strengths. Paloma conferred on me Sterling Bateman’s mantra, “I can make you money. I can save you money. I can solve your problems.” She told me everything should be tested against that. Employers want to know what you can do for them.

Once you have done an assessment, rewrite your resume in a transferable skills format and think along those lines when you speak with potential employers. Be able to answer the questions, “How can I make you money? How can I save you money? How can I solve your problems? Why should I hire you as opposed to the thousands of people who want this job?”

Next we focused on my blog. It said Oracle of NY but read more like Poster Guy of What’s Wrong. It was a continual reminder of what was not working. It did not showcase my career or what I personally brought to the table. After I gave my blog a makeover, Forbes.com was impressed with my writing and the blog’s professional look. An executive recruiter was impressed with my skill-set, primarily my writing skills which had not been showcased before. A potential employer was pleased with my resume, experience and professional approach to the information I posted.

Link all your networking to your blog. Make sure the blog is a continual showcase of your talent and ability and reflects what an employer would get if they hired you.

I shifted my job-search paradigm and accepted that I needed a career for a lifetime. The paradigm shift was thinking in terms of continual career management not just filling an immediate need for a job.

Think in terms of career! Take back your career! Manage your career! Adjust your strategy to reflect that you are in control. You are the CEO of Me, Inc. You do things differently when you look at the big picture.

We reconsidered the importance of networking.

Keep people engaged in helping you. The best advice is that it is not the amount of contacts you have but the quality of network you have in place. Offer to help your contacts. Serve others. If needs be, remind people how you used your resources to help them with their needs.

Another missing piece of the puzzle was to be better organized. Most people have their search information scattered as I did in several locations and in multiple formats.

Get organized. Put all your information to work for you in one place that is accessible no matter where you are, such as JibberJobber.com. It also has a blog to give professional points, keep people informed of the most current research on career management and lists tips from top professional resume writers, coaches and recruiters.

The rest, so they say, is history.

It took time and effort. It took working on my finances and lessening my obligations—getting help from family—brainstorming creative approaches to getting noticed—getting professional help in order to understand my assets and present them—networking through friends and family, blogs, social networking sites and professional organizations—and having one place to focus everything together.

It was also about hope and keeping my spirits up. I recalled the few really down days when my well-wishers and Paloma renewed my energy—and I went out to slay the dragons again.

You are limited by time and strength but must get through the marathon. Hope and faith will get you through.

“It’s been quite a ride so far,” Paloma said to me. “Since you have become a friend and work associate, we will have more endeavors in the future. This is how valuable the quality of a network becomes, rather than the quantity of a network.”And that is the value of a professional career strategist like Paloma!