Scrapheap Challenge
I’m forming a theory:
Trips down Self-Employment Street may impair your return to the Full-Time Freeway.
I’m still gathering evidence, but I recently copped a significant anecdotal datum.
Ad
Though happily occupied at Empire House, I’ve long kept a watching brief on copywriting jobs via Seek.
Just as the global financial crisis neared its climax, I received the first job ad that had piqued my interest for years.
If offered $100K to bring exacting leadership to a talented team optimising vital government documents. In short, good loot for great fun.
Application
I reviewed my resume.
Business degree? Check.
Master of Arts? Yep!
30 years work experience? Uh-huh.
Previous time in the public sector? Yes.
Former HR Manager Of course!
A dozen glowing testimonials? Duh.
Published author? Ja!
Web 2.0 savvy. Affirmative.
I applied with high hopes.
Result
I called the recruitment consultant a few days later. She said my background was very interesting and that she’d be in touch the following week.
Just two days later, I got a form email saying I’d been utterly unsuccessful.
Analysis
I wasn’t crushed, but I was very surprised not to have even qualified for a look in. So I considered the likely reasons:
1. The government department had an internal candidate in mind, and the external ad was just for show.
2. The recruitment consultant had someone on their books they wanted to push.
Then I wondered about more disturbing possibilities:
3. I was too old.
4. Being self employed, I was too ‘dangerous’ to consider for a full-time role.
When I was a Human Resources Manager, I proudly employed people with plenty of varied life experience.
I found they generally knew more, worked harder and were more versatile than younger folk.
I’m not sure why No. 4 resonates with me. It’s just a feeling I’ve got. But I need more stats.
Have you ever turned back from your solo pursuit?
Only to hit a brick wall?
Paul Hassing, Founder & Senior Writer, The Feisty Empire
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Hi Paul,
I’ve had similar experiences with State Govt and I’ve never been self-employed. I reckon bringing outsiders in is their last resort; they would always prefer internal recruitment. I know they have to publicly advertise to be fair, but I object to wasting my time and effort when the outcome is effectively already decided.
Thanks, Megan. There are certainly some ‘closed shops’ around.
I’m quite familar with the frustrations of thwarted internal candidates. Some ‘career soldiers’ endure decades of waiting for the right job to come around. However, pandering to internal politics only creates much bigger problems down the track.
In failing to hire the best possible person in the entire market, the whole organisation is weakened. So that one colleague’s advancement literally comes at the expense of everyone’s job security.
Like you, I don’t like to be a puppet in someone’s politcal pantomime. They say truth is best. If ONLY it were more common!
Oh Paul, say it isn’t so! Step away from the light! *heehee*
Only other business owners can understand how tempting the lure of Employment can be when you’re having a tough time and they are flashing $$$$.
Funny thing is, they first thing they’d probably ask for is a CV/Resume and mine’s that out of date that it’s one of the reasons I became self-employed in a new country – so I wouldnt have to update my CV!
It’s funny how employment can take on a nostalgic quality sometimes. Just think back to times when you knew something could be done better but you weren’t in a position to change the company policy etc .. then remember how much you love being self-employed, really you do … just some days you love it more than others
I can’t bear to watch the jobs ads, though a very successful Canadian franchisee I know uses them to pitch his outsourced IT services, pointing out how it can be more cost-effective than employing your own IT person.
-Sonia
Hi Sonia.
You’re funny! And right.
It was a heady combination of good money and fascinating work. Also, I’ve been banging on about wanting to optimise public sector communications for ages. So it felt like destiny calling.
But it was just a recruitment agency parroting a false line about a fait accompli.
I’ve now asked Fonnie to stuff my ears with beeswax and lash me to my ergonomic chair. No longer will the sirens tempt me from my post – however sweet their song!
PS: That sounds like a VERY clever Candadian franchisee. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Folks
Yep! It’s me… Mr. ‘Oh That reminds me of…’ ;-P
Re: Have you ever turned back from your solo pursuit?…Only to hit a brick wall?
Hard to say mate…I didn’t turn anywhere and all I’ve seen is brick walls…does it get worse when I turn away from my solo pursuit?
Geez it’s hard to talk with a mouth full of bricks…and can you speak up a bit…there’s a lot of crumbling brick sounds and I can hear concrete mixers and the slap, ching-ching of trowels, mortar & bricks on the other side…I think they’re busy building more walls…and who says my little dead solo business wasn’t creating jobs?
Mate, I reckon my sorry little saga of a small, small business in a big, big world has pretty much run its course…at least in its current format. I have a few more battles to see through as a matter of honour & principle…
The prospect of facing the employment market at my age with what amounts to a mere ship-load of unfortunately irrelevant life experience (& a failed business), seems, as you put it, pretty much a fait accompli…I’m with you Cobba; from what I’ve seen, things have not improved.
Employees seem only interested in the perfect android (no not Mobile Phones), and prospective employees (most of whom have been churned-out in ever increasing numbers through once proud Universities that once valued ‘edu catus’ and have long since succumbed to the pressures of upward spiralling bottom-lines & the obligatory ‘constant & never-ending insanity’), have the comfort of neatly packaged 3 day ‘Ethics’ Courses appended to their 1.7 year ‘Flexible’ Learning Programs (now called ‘Degrees’).
It would appear that any actual value of actual life skills (let alone ‘Common Sense’), has long been relegated to the scrapheap along with Analogue Gauges & 8 Track Tapes.
It seems there are no meaningful moral reference points against which to hone those funny things we used to have called ’sensibilities’; & ‘Human Resources’ are just software packages for managing pay checks.
It’s a good thing we ‘conquered’ disease in the 1920’s (penecillin), & again in the 1950s (antibiotics), and were long ago handed, by Divine Decree, ‘Dominion over the Earth’ (wasn’t that interpreted by us ‘Sinners’?
).
Anyway, with all this Dominion, Free Market Forces & God on our side, it’s obvious that we can safely continue to completely ignore the fact that Mother Nature is about to kick Father Knows Best, Industrial Progress, Economic Rationalist, Greater Good, Free Market, MA, BA, OECD, OPEC, OBE, Esq’s butt all up and down the street…because we’re qualified… It Is Written!!! Right?
I’m off to the Dole Office tomorrow morning. Tail set firmly between my legs.
I’m pretty tired of bricks…I much prefer trees.
But before I go, as you know, I’m not one to have a big fat whinge without at least making some attempt at offering a constructive solution. And I couldn’t hope to put it more eloquently & succinctly than this chap:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html
Thanks for everything guys…really. And no, I’m not giving up, but I’m pretty buggered right now. And though I love my warm leather soap-box, I think it is important to be able to make a relevant contribution, and it would appear, that at least for now, I’m no longer a ‘Small Business Owner’…I reckon that one could well argue that technically, I never was…she never really got decent a run at it.
Thanks again and happy thoughts to all of you…I’ll keep watching and if I feel that I can make a relevant contribution I will…but there is only so much a Koala can Bear…I need to go to what’s left of the forest for a while…before I face the reality of the Scrapheap Challenge…
Over & Out!
Stephen G
I too saw this job whoosh past, but I remember that the position description called for some specific end-to-end production management experience which I simply didn’t have in depth and couldn’t talk my way around. Due diligence requires that the employer, especially a government employer, tick all the key selection criteria boxes. Though one may be a genius, one doesn’t tend to get far without the ticks. Sometimes, perhaps in your case Paul here, it might be better that it weren’t so, but there you have it. That said, perhaps the freelance life does exclude you ever more from corporate departmental regimen. Not such a bad thing.
If it is the ‘Full-time Freeway’, then perhaps it’s also more properly the ‘Self-employment Scenic Route’.
I prefer the road less traveled.
Thanks for the memories, Ad; I’d forgotten that production management bit. I have one end, and some middle bits, but not the the other end. So maybe I didn’t have the ticker for it after all!
I do have a nervous tic; perhaps I should have mentioned that…
Love your less-travelled Scenic Route. I’ll take it!
PS: Just watching Stephen’s recommended video before responding to his very sad comment.
Dear Stephen, I know you hate to give the impression that you’re ‘moaning’, so I’ll keep it dry. Herewith my views:
1. What has happened to you is bulk not-ace (in the extreme).
2. You don’t need to own a small business to comment on this blog.
3. You are without question the most prolific, interesting, genuine and incendiary (in terms of sparking debates) commentor we have.
4. You’re an extremely valuable member of this community.
5. I sincerely hope you’ll continue to give us the benefit of your ideas, experiences and vision.
6. I grieve your wonderful business and rue the massive kick in the guts the system has given you.
7. When you’re ready, and in whatever capacity you deem fit, I REALLY hope you come back to us.
With full respect and best regards from your mate Paul.
Stephen, mate, all I can say is ‘ditto’ to Paul’s reply.
-Sonia
Stephen, We’d hate to not have your comments. You are truly a gifted writer. We certainly wish you all the very best in the world. Stay with us.
Agree wholeheartedly with Paul, Sonia and Maralyn. Every time someone asks me what this blog is about, I quote you as the example. You’ve been with us since the beginning and we don’t care whether you’re a business owner or not, you’re part of our community and your comments are always valid.
Too right, Sonia, Maralyn & Megan! As I said earlier, Stephen is the golden tapestry in our thread.
Hi Stephen (although I far prefer @noShit)
I’ll try not to be nice (would hate to spoil things) but you are by no means part of the scrapheap. You’re simply a great bloke who gave a dream a go and found the timing wasn’t right…
Time to recover from that particular dream, regain your strength, your wit, your warmth,your laughter and, when you’re ready, get that stirring arm out and stir away.
There is no shame in having given something a real good go – the shame is with those who stay totally safe, trying nothing, doing nothing, saying nothing.
Let’s face it: You had a LOT to say. [I suspect you still have a lot to say...].
Don’t be a stranger.
Don’t isolate and hibernate.
Do stay plugged in. Do stay in touch. If you don’t: you’re depriving us, you Wretch! And we don’t want to be deprived of @noShit!
So there!
*mwah*
Having worked in the recruitment industry and have friends that worked there Paul there is some truth in what you are saying unfortunately. That said it depends on the recruiter and the client.
Stephen, I do not know you but have seen your comments and how people interact with you on twitter and this blog and I think a lot of people would crave the relationships you have formed.
Whilst it is easy to say get up one more time, it is difficult when you do all you can see are walls. I don’t know if you and others are interested but as they say 2 heads are better than one, so if you are willing how about a Skype brainstorm to see if we can help? if you do not feel up to it that is fine.
Susan
Amen, Debra.
Many thanks for your observations, Susan. It’s true the recruiters can only do what the client dictates. And I married a recruiter, so they can’t be that bad. Couldn’t agree more with your comments re Stephen.
Paul, you can influence clients but it depends on your experience and the relationship with the client. Great recruiters as I am sure your wife is build and strengthen relationships with both the client and candidate. Sometimes recruiters forget candidates are potential clients in the future and have very long memories.
Wise words, Susan. I totally agree.
If a client is wide of the mark, I like to push back. But not if it’s against sharpened bamboo stakes!
Smart clients stop and listen. After all: why keep a dog if you’re going to bark yourself?
Sometimes Paul it is lack of understanding due to experience, sometimes company policy etc. I suppose it is worth mentioning that we should walk in their shoes to understand the situation. Age lets you get wiser.
Holy moly!
I dunno what to say guys…but thanks heaps. I’m really honoured.
I’m not dead…just a bit battle weary…I need to listen to the trees & the stars & the breeze for a while, that’s all.
It’s like I said in my last blog – “In the Spirit of noSh-it!, it’s all noble ‘n stuff to say one is being honest and true and saying it how it is, warts ‘n all ‘n all that; but it’s a whole ‘nuther thang’ when the skin starts to disappear under the warts. How much can a Koala ‘Bear’…indeed!”
Wow! All this attention! And for all the ‘lurking’ cynics out there, Paul & I didn’t secretly orchestrate this to get the comments tally up
…that’s just not noSh-it! or me, or Paul!
And Paul…I think someone might have hacked the system mate…there’s someone really nice using Debra’s identity
I truly am gobsmacked and humbled folks…and I apologise if I have caused any undue concern…it just never occurred to me that I would or could generate such a response…but like I said, I’m not dead…just a bit battle weary…
And rest assured that I am not wallowing in a mire of self-pity. Feeling it yes, but not wallowing…and I’ll be back.
And Susan, many thanks for your kind invitation. I dunno about brain-storming though; I reckon I’m just about stormed out & I think I’ve broken my brain ;-P…but I’d be honoured to speak with you on Skype any time.
I’m certain that my business didn’t fail because of lack of demand or ideas. I’m surrounded by great people, with a constant stream of great ideas, experience and a great willingness to share them.
On the contrary, I believe the reason my business failed was very simple…I could not raise enough money in time to execute the ideas made available to me and could not service the demand I had generated…so in a word ‘cashflow’.
It’s easy to blame others when the pooh hit’s the fan; but isn’t funny how quickly our institutions will line up to take credit for things when our fans are pooh-less?
I was given bad advice at the beginning and I knew it..even at the time…but at the time, starting from nothing, with nothing, I chose to go along with the advice; to have a go, to do the best I could with what I had, hope for the best and cross each bridge as I came to it…it was either that or stay with nothing.
Well, there was only one bridge I couldn’t cross…Yep! Cashflow…which of course was the issue that I pointed out was missing from the advice at the beginning…go figure!
Unfortunately, with all of our technology and wise words and endless rules and policies and management and strategies, we still have not achieved a society in which beggars can be choosers…let alone a society without beggars.
Having lost everything a few years earlier, I was starting again from nothing. The fact that I had previously lost something seemed to count for nothing. I had nothing. I was therefore, regardless of my previous experience, a beggar…I could not possibly know anything of value or consequence, because I had no money. Hmmm! And here I am, back again. Crap!
What do we value really? It seems fairly obvious to me…which is probably why I’m always bangin’ on about values & context & people & integrity & stuff like that…would I be bangin’ on about other stuff if I had squillions? I don’t know, but I’d like to find out
But though I haven’t had squillions, I have been ‘comfortable’ and/or ‘well-off’ at times…and I was bangin’ on about the same stuff then…perhaps that’s why I lost everything? 
But here I am still bangin’ on about the same stuff…hoping that we will value each other once again ACTUALLY…and we’d best get our skates on…Mum Nature is pissed right off ey?
Anyway, I’m well pleased that I made it as far as I did with what I had and in the face of what I faced and am facing. I’ve gained a lot of good experience and I would not have met any of you fine folks…and I reckon that’s the biggest and most valuable bottom line of all
Thanks again…I really appreciated it.
Cheers
Stephen G
Hi Stephen
Maybe not today or tomorrow – because those days may just be for breathing space, reflection and well earned time out….though at some stage soon I’m fairly certain you will find the niche that is your perfect fit. Where it all comes together for you…(and I can hear you thinking yes right..can’t see that happening about now) your thinking loudly Stephen and I can hear well. So how you put all those thoughts to the side and take that little time out.
Sometimes it is easier for outsiders to recognise an individuals innate skills and talents, then it is to see them for ourselves.
The brainstorming sounds worthwhile.. how about if others do the brainstorming…even if you sit it out and just listen. You might be really surprised at the directions and solutions that can generated.
Went to DM you …hmm but your not following me..just realised..so hence the message here.
Ensha
Stephen, wishing you all the best and talk soon.
Hello all,
Living the dream can be problematic at best and we’re all tempted to peak over the fence and check out the colour of the grass there. Sometimes it’s thick and lush with promises of freedom, wealth and a perpetual income that allows free expression of one’s soul purpose and time to spend with the kids…….and sometimes it’s a brown wasteland of unforgiving relentless demoralisation with bindies and weeds.
We all know how difficult it can be and I have a number of friends who have taken 20 years of hard work to become ‘over night’ business owning successes. In my case I lasted just 2 years on the self employment front but the lessons learnt were invaluable to allowing me to rejoin the main stream and take the journey to CEO – I believe that my time in the ‘real world’ gave me the edge over the ‘system owes me a living’ mentality of those who have remain cocooned in the protective fold of corporate mediocrity.
For me the answer was, and remains, to be in corporate land but have a number of interests outside that which then become fun, the fear of putting bread on the table is gone and so with no pressure I found it easier to make it a success. I have had great fun creating a surf brand, launching a new brand of potato chips into the Hong Kong market and assisting other businesses to be successful.
In fact I make 400% of the money now in 10% of the time than I did when I was doing it full time (older, wiser, better contacts……..). It also involves working 12 hours in my day job and a further 2 or 3 at night often finishing at 1.00am or later, not for everyone! This is what worked for me but everyone is not the same so find what works for you and have a red hot go!
Thank you, Malcolm, for this sincere and fascinating insight into your personal position. We’re very lucky to enjoy such disclosure.
I’m really happy to get your take on this, as you really have done it all and then some. Best regards, P.