Who among us hasn't at least once
during our careers felt we'd like to
"take this job and shove it," and
just work for ourselves? This issue
of QuintZine explores the entrepreneurial
career option of consulting and freelancing.
KEEP THOSE PROFILES COMING...
We've had some great responses
to our request for readers to profile ...
now we want to hear from YOU!
We plan to launch a new feature to
coincide with the first anniversary
of QuintZine in March. "Quintessential
Career Profiles" will feature readers
of QuintZine who have interesting
career stories to tell. Did you obtain
a job in an unusual way? Has your career
path been out of the ordinary? Have you held
one or more unusual jobs? Has your job search been
especially troublesome, inspirational, or
remarkable? We want to hear from you! Tell
us a little about your career story, and
we may contact you for a full profile. Write us
at quintzine@quintcareers.com
and let us know about you.
We use different words to describe them -- free agents,
consultants, freelancers, independent contractors,
e-lancers, gurus -- those professionals who have left
the safe confines of corporate life to venture out
on their own in search of more professional and
personal satisfaction.
And whether it is the impact of the Web, a new series
of rightsizing, a desire for increased flexibility,
or a growing sense of wanting to work for oneself,
there is no denying that
consulting is a hot career path. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that 8.5 million
people identify themselves as consultants or freelance
workers -- and other sources have number as high as
30 million, and growing. Corporations have embraced
this trend because it allows them to hire experts
on a temporary basis, avoiding all the costs associated
with recruiting and hiring full-time employees.
The wonderfully user-friendly Guru.com
is probably our favorite site for the
independent consultant/freelancer. We even
somewhat modeled QuintZine on Guru.com's
e-newsletter. Founded in April 1999, Guru.com
bills itself as "the leading online marketplace
connecting freelancers and consultants with contract
projects. With more than 300,000 independent professionals
and 30,000+ hiring clients, Guru.com has
been recognized as a top-ranking resource by PC Magazine,
Yahoo! Internet Life, Forbes.com, PC Data, and Media
Metrix.
"By providing freelance project opportunities and
making it easy to find smart gurus, Guru.com is
dedicated to empowering independent professionals
and the clients who hire them."
Registration, which is free, is required to use Guru.com's
wealth of resources, including project or "gig" listings,
articles on how to thrive as a free agent, an Ask an Expert
feature, and the opportunity to develop a Guru Profile
that prospective clients can view when seeking to hire someone
on a per-project basis.
Is consulting right for you?
Only you can answer that question.
Our new Consultant/Free Agent Quiz can help you
make an informed decision. Take our quiz and see what the results say about your tendencies toward consulting.
Consultants-on-Demand.com
-- a place for information technology consultants to find everything you need for your business, including
billing and record-keeping, health and liability insurance, and marketing, promotion, and client development.
Fees for all these services is 10% of your billing.
MedZilla --
a leading job site exclusively for job-seekers in seeking jobs in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals,
science, medicine, and healthcare. Several thousand jobs listed. Job-seekers can post your resumes and CVs,
search for jobs, and sign up for a job matching service. Free to job-seekers.
SalaryExpert.com
-- a comprehensive salary site offering salaries, benefits, and cost-of-living information for
30,000 positions in more than 45,000 locations. Job-seekers can find accurate salary data -- the site
even shows its sources for the information. From Baker, Thomsen Associates Insurance Services, Inc.
Free to job-seekers.
StepStone
-- one of Europe's leading career and recruitment job sites, currently offering more than 130,000 job vacancies
in 16 European countries. Job-seekers can browse jobs by country and industry, post your CV, and sign up for a
job search agent. Free to job-seekers.
Find even more additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest
Additions section.
Brian writes: "I have the resources that make me available
for contract work in other cities. I have a toll-free number,
top-of-the-line laptop, and all the programming tools I can
think of. I cannot get even a nibble from recruiters
(even for a smaller project that was an exact duplicate
of one I worked in the past, and got high-praise for it).
What do I change?"
"Anonymous," who is looking to make a change after seven years
as a travel agent, wonders if there are employers that would
be willing to train him/her in Web design.
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
From Guru.com: "When it comes to marketing and
promoting your services as an independent professional,
you may wonder how you can manage it with authenticity
and integrity. Many gurus have been culturally conditioned
to see marketing and selling as necessary evils --
borderline sleazy behavior they just have to accept
so they can succeed. But 'authentic marketing'
is not an oxymoron. It starts with unlearning
many of the misconceptions we have about marketing.
Robert Middleton explains how
to get new business without selling yourself out."
A never-ending issue for free agents, consultants,
telecommuters, and those with a home business is time
management. Alice Bredin, a nationally syndicated
newspaper columnist and home business and telecommuting
commentator for public radio has devised "The
Secrets to the Good Life in the Home Office," which are
synopsized here:
Learn to say "no" a lot because there will always be
more demands on your schedule than you can manage.
Don't answer the phone. It's more
efficient to collect messages and call people back
when you've had a chance to prepare an answer.
Get a lot of sleep. You cannot be effective during
the day unless you are rested.
Don't tolerate inconvenience. If you have a
problem, find a solution for it right away.
Delegate. Find people to do for you
what you don't do well yourself.
Expect a lot from any employees or associates.
Keep your standards high, and refuse to work with
people who cannot live up to them.
Be explicit in your instructions and
communication. Take the time the first time
to make sure instructions, requests and
communications are clear, so you don't have to explain
things again.
Be honest. Don't be afraid to tell someone when you have a
problem. Don't waste time beating around the bush
to spare someone's feelings.
One of the hot new arenas for freelance work centers
around providing online content. The Web sites mediabistro
and Content Exchange have teamed up to provide a job
listings service focusing on employment in the
online/new media field.
Read more about it.
Win Fame, Recognition, and a Teeny-Tiny Prize!
We are beta testing an exciting new Job Interview
Response Composition Exercise. Test it out by responding to as many job-interview questions as you wish.
The author of each BEST response will be permanently
credited in a "Best Response" e-mail reply
that will guide jobseekers in composing optimal
responses to interview questions. Each Best Response
author will also receive a small, token
Quintessential Careers gift.
Career counselors, try your hand at responding
to these questions, and encourage your students to try!
QuintZine: Topics in Upcoming Issues
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming
issues of QuintZine:
* Case-based and behavior-based interviews
* Headhunters, Recruiters, and Executive-Search Firms
* Online Assessments
* Phone etiquette in the job hunt
* Guide to the company visit
* Letters of recommendation and references
* Completing a job application
* How to land an internship
* Temping
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
. . . and much, much more!
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RESUMES * JOB SEARCH CORRESPONDENCE FROM TRUSTED EXPERTS * COVER LETTERS
Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters is up and running,
providing quality job-search correspondence at some of
the lowest prices on the Web.
We create resumes,
cover letters, curriculum vitae, thank-you and
follow-up letters, and list-formatted documents,
such as salary histories and reference lists.
We also can provide critiques and makeovers of
your resume or cover letter. Credit cards accepted.
Check out Quintessential Resumes
and Cover Letters!
QuintZine
A publication of
Quintessential Careers
Publisher: Dr. Randall S. Hansen
Editor: Katharine Hansen
ISSN: 1528-9443
