Out of Work for a Year
Do Companies Hold Jobs for the Right Candidate?
Dan Hix, 59, with 18 years’ medical device sales experience, had been out of work for a year, from 2013 to 2014. He plowed on coping financially and emotionally, until, he met Dave O’Farrell, a career coach and founder of O’Farrell Career Management.
Dave and his marketing director, Stephannie O’Donnell, helped Dan to restructure his resume and highlighted his major accomplishments. They leveraged LinkedIn with the aim to attract any potential employers to his profile.
Dan provided the names of 15 medical companies that he would love to work with. Dave and Stephannie reached out via LinkedIn to these companies. With this new resume, his connections jumped from 250 to 500+. Dave and Stephannie conducted mock interviews and role play to get Dan ready for the interviews.
In mid-Oct 2013, he had two job offers. But a sudden heart-attack took him to the hospital and during his recuperation; he called the two companies to explain the situation. One company had to restructure, so the opening was closed but the other company, his current employer, offered him the job in January 2014.
By Umah Papachan Hewitt — Guest Blogger