Skip to main content

How to look for work if you had your own business

Did not work out. Business had to be curtailed, and you want to return to employment. For a short period, you have delved into many processes: I want to realize a versatile experience, albeit within the framework of a foreign company. How to convince employers that you are not a loser, but a candidate with rare experience in various fields?

Former entrepreneurs are wary: there is almost always a risk that they will not be loyal to the company and return to their business. As a rule, the ambitions of such employees are much higher and not everyone can work under the guidance of others. All these are risks for the employer, which he carefully avoids. An expert at the Successful Resume service Anastasia Zhukova shared tips on how to look for work for former entrepreneurs.

Soberly evaluate the offer
Former entrepreneurs are not liked in companies with streamlined processes: returning from “free swimming”, people feel uncomfortable within the framework of job descriptions and strict work mechanisms. But in places where you need decisive, responsible and independent employees, former businessmen and startupers are really waiting. This is confirmed by the story of one of the applicants whom I hired.

His transportation business went bad, and a significant portion of his property had to be sold to cover his debts. He decided to get a driver to feed his family. Our production company just needed an employee with the machine. At the interview, it turned out that he was well versed in procurement, and we proposed to deal with them as well.

The employee showed himself perfectly, and he was gradually entrusted with the conduct of major transactions. And after a while, the company vacated the position of head of the production and economic unit. The owner carefully selected people for this position: not everyone would handle a large amount of work, and they searched for a suitable person for a long time.

By that time, our candidate worked in the company for about six months. Everyone agreed that he should be given the opportunity to show his skills and abilities in this position. Now he leads the logistics, procurement and production unit, taking the post of deputy director.

Conclusion: do not lose faith in your strengths and skills. You have a significant advantage over other candidates: you look differently at the processes and the work itself, as the experience of entrepreneurship expands consciousness and perception. This is your strength: you know what it is like to make decisions, right or wrong, and be responsible for them.

Describe entrepreneurial experience
There are some tips that will help you not to scare away the recruiter in the first stage.

In the employer's office, the responses are displayed in a list with a brief excerpt from the resume. Recruiters set up the type of the list themselves - usually there is their working experience, the desired salary and the names of the companies in which the candidate worked. If this information is of interest to the employer, he opens a resume and reviews it in full.

Therefore, if you had an IP, in your last job it’s better not to write “IP Ivanov Stepan Semenovich”, but simply “Entrepreneurial activity” - it sounds better and is easier to read. Be sure to indicate the industry and your line of business.

If you are not applying for a managerial position, avoid the words “owner” or “owner”: they may suggest that it is difficult for a former businessman to work under another manager.

Think carefully about choosing a position, especially if your business line and previous experience diverge. You can develop further in a new industry or return to the profession: both are absolutely acceptable.

If the business did not last long, pretend to the position level that was before its opening, or slightly higher. A common problem is overstated expectations: former businessmen hope to get a managerial position, although at the previous place of work they did not rise above an ordinary specialist. It will be difficult to leave immediately for a managerial position. But rapid career growth in this situation is also possible.

Describe responsibilities based on job requirements. Move relevant functions to the beginning of the description. Formulate everything in detail: brevity is not an assistant. Check the number of employees of the company, if any, especially if you have not held senior positions before.

Get ready for an interview
In addition to standard questions, former interview businessmen like to ask the following.

“Why did you decide to return to hire?”

Do not take this as an attempt to humiliate or insult you. It’s really important for the employer to know what your motivation is.

The answer must be honest. A perfectly acceptable option is this: “I decided that I was ready to start my own business, because I did not see growth prospects at the previous job. He collected the necessary information and chose a direction of activity (explain why exactly this). Organized the work process. But at a certain moment difficulties arose ”, - and to tell what exactly went wrong.

Your task is to convince the employer that you did not come to receive the missing experience or temporarily wait out the bad period in the country's economy, but are ready to develop in the framework of the new company and use all the acquired experience for its benefit.

“Do you plan to return to business?”

You came to get a job, and your goal is to grow within the new company. That's exactly the answer.

“You did not succeed in your business. Why do you think things will go better in a new place? ”

Honestly outline the situation, tell us about the reasons why the business "did not go." Focus on the fact that you have gained this experience in your own company and will be able to prevent similar errors in another organization. Indicate that you can accomplish complex tasks and hope to become part of a successful team - of course, if you really want to.

For those who doubt that they have described entrepreneurial experience correctly, there is a “Successful Resume” service. HR and recruitment experts will look at the resume through the eyes of the employer and help make it more attractive for the company of your dreams.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Get professional career assistance

Experts of the Career Consultant project regularly help applicants with advice and recommendations. This and your opportunity to get professional help absolutely free of charge in matters of resume writing, employment and career growth. Today we want to share with you specific examples of how this happens. So, what can experts ask about? 1. Evaluation of the resume. Get valuable suggestions for improving your resume. For example, here the user asks to see a resume in which there is a long break in work. Here they ask about the attractiveness of the resume, and here they ask for expert opinion. There is also an answer to the question of whether freelance experience should be indicated in the resume. 2. Cover letter. Not sure how to write a cover letter? You can also ask about this, as, for example, this user. 3. Career growth. Sometimes it is not easy to decide on a conversation with the leader about the promotion. Here, experts help prepare the user for such a conversation.

Summary: employers about your skills

First of all, they expect to see hard skills in the list of skills - technical skills and knowledge that are easy to demonstrate. For example, driving a car, knowledge of professional programs and working methods. And such competencies as managing people, persuading, leadership or managing time are unlikely to inspire confidence in a recruiter if they are not proven by experience. To understand the issue, we asked HR expert recruiter participants to comment on the skills that are most often found in resumes . Will such a candidate be of interest to them and what do they advise the applicants? Skills: MS Office, communication skills and sales Olga Solodkova, Danone: “Most often, I conduct an intensive selection. The flow of resumes is very large, and most of all I focus on the block related to the experience of the candidate. Since all my activity is related to selection in sales, it is these 3 competencies that are found in every resume, my view of them does not stop. The recruit

Good resume

When you have work and stability in your pocket, you don’t even want to remember the suffering over the resume. But in vain: a resume is a great way to look at yourself in a new way. Of course, if the resume is made up correctly. A good resume can: Talk about you as a successful professional A good resume is the story. The story of a person who is moving towards his goal, or the story of an erratic search. The story of an underrated professional or the story of an amateur resented at all. To find out what story your resume tells, show it to a friend, relative or colleague. Set new goals Work on a resume - analysis of your career path. Approach this consciously and in a good mood. Even if there is nothing interesting in the experiment, just honestly and calmly describe it. And then think about what you would like to add there: these are directions for your development and future work. Recall past achievements Over 30 years of work experience, so many events take place - both