OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE

Q: Dear Dr. Culp, I've jumped around in my career because of bad choices. Even after I explain my reasons for changing jobs, I'm perceived as a job hopper. I've missed out on many opportunities I might be qualified and a good fit for.

How do I best identify what position is right for my personality, skills and personal values? I've asked this question at many job-seeking seminars without getting a satisfying answer. Adrift

A: Dear Adrift, You're smart to keep asking this critical question.

First, there's a possibility that you should be an entrepreneur. Often people who've changed jobs frequently do better creating their own employment structure.

If you're certain this isn't the case, try this exercise: Write down the ten work activities you enjoy doing most that you'd be willing to do to earn money. If you get stuck, look at the activities and ask yourself what you do prior to them and after them. For example, if you coordinate projects, you gather resources first. Afterward, you analyze how to improve the process.

Select the one you could stick with if you were on a desert island with the resources to do it.

Walk away from your results and try the exercise one more time, to confirm. If they jive, identify the occupation you're describing. mlc

GIVING TOO MUCH

Q: Dear Dr. Culp, In my field, companies are increasingly requiring applicants to submit projects to gain further consideration. They often withdraw the position or you hear nothing. I'm beginning to feel as if these companies are getting free work, then implementing it in-house.

Often times, I'd feel my projects were sub par. The next company would contradict that.

It should be mandated that if you're going to issue projects to prospective employees that you should pay them as freelancers. There should be some copyright protection involved so that your work cannot be replicated and sold for profit without your consent. Discouraged

A: Dear Discouraged, Put the copyright sign at the bottom of the projects, along with the year and the name of your company (or your name).

You raise a compelling question. How much do you give away before you persuade an employer to sign on the dotted line? If you're feeling like a freelancer, you've gone too far, releasing critical information without being paid.

Identify a person in your industry who knows how to give just enough away to pique interest, then close on the employer, whether you're angling for a job or consulting contract. mlc

**BlogTip**

INNOVATION

Everyone says to work your contacts when job hunting. If you've tried friends so many times that you can't again, consider giving your job hunt a back-row seat.

Alexandra Porto (siedc.org) had a friend in finance who was determined not to be unemployed. "She volunteered at a museum on weekends, received invitations to the exhibition openings and spent time there networking," Porto says.

Networking by itself wasn't enough, however, and the woman knew it. Networking had to take her somewhere. A little inspiration goes a long way, especially when it leads to a strategy.

She let her friends know that she'd accompany them to any work function or charity event when they were short a person. It turned out that one of them "works for a company that's a client of a major accounting firm," Porto explains. "The friend invited her to fill a last minute opening in their foursome at the accounting firm's outing." The job seeker made contacts at that event, heard about an opening for a senior associate, interviewed and landed it.

If you're sick of networking, try something new. Oh, by the way. The woman also met her current boyfriend at one of these events.

(Dr. Mildred Culp welcomes your questions at culp@workwise.net. © 2011 Passage Media.)