•  

Trouble Finding a Job? You May Have to Change Your Perspective…

10 Comments

Topics: Business

trouble finding job
Trouble finding a job?
Consider changing your perspective. I hired a personal assistant earlier this year after running the numbers and realizing that I was spending a lot of time doing housework — time that I could be using to grow my business. She spent approximately 8 hours a week doing everything from filing papers to working on Quickbooks to doing our laundry.

Unfortunately, my assistant had major family issues in August, and quit to deal with them. Last month, with tasks that I didn’t want to do stacking up, I decided to hire a new assistant.

With all that I read in the media about people being out of work, I thought it might be easier than earlier this year to find someone who wanted to work a few hours a week from my house.

I was wrong — and what I discovered from a hiring manager’s perspective will help you, if you’re currently looking for a job, or even if you’d like to do some consulting to make some extra money on the side.

My Journey

Since I had success finding an assistant on craigslist previously, I started there. Just as I had done last time, I typed in “assistant” and sent out the following email to those who had posted resumes:

Hi! I live on the south side of San Jose and am looking for a personal assistant. Right now, what I need taken care of is laundry, filing, bookkeeping, light cleaning (I have a housekeeper, so this would mostly be tidying) and perhaps some shopping. I’m looking for someone 2 days a week, 3-4 hours each day.

Can you send me the following?

. Your full name
. Your resume
. Email and phone number contact information
. Details on what hourly rate you are looking for

I’m looking to hire within the next week, so I hope to hear back from you soon.

Thank you,
Erica Douglass

You might be surprised to hear what the most common response I got back was: “Sorry, I’m only looking for a full-time job right now.”

Additionally, you may be blown away (as I was) when I called the one person on craigslist (one! out of over 50 resumes I went through!) who said that she was interested in part-time work. Here’s what she said:

“Oh, I’ve been so busy. I was meaning to take that ad down. I’m completely booked right now, but I’ll call you back if I get availability.”

It shouldn’t surprise you to hear that I never heard back from her.

What does this mean for those of you who are looking for a job?

It means that the traditional notion of a “job” — that is, where you work at one place of employment for 40+ hours a week — is fast becoming extinct. If you simply post your resume from a myopic “must have a single employer” point of view, you will be out of work longer, and have far fewer opportunities, than if you take it upon yourself to create your own series of jobs out of thin air.

It may be difficult or impossible to find a job if you think of it traditionally. In this climate, it may be a lot easier to find 5 people willing to pay you for 8 hours a week of work each than to find 1 employer who is willing to pay you for a full-time job. In addition, if you’re smart about it, you can demand a correspondingly higher hourly rate from those 5 people.

Most employers near where I live pay $8-$12/hour for receptionists, assistants, etc. I pay $16, and would go to $20 or more for a person who is computer-savvy and can help me with my business. It’s the same with any business — you can, and should, demand at least twice the hourly rate you would normally expect to get at a salaried job in a freelance environment.

Think of it this way. At 4.3 (average) weeks in a month, times 8 hours a week, the difference between $16 and $20/hour is $138/month to me, the employer. Not that much, especially if the difference is someone doing my laundry (a cost center) vs. someone helping me on my business (a profit center.)

Objections to a non-traditional work arrangement

I can think of a few objections you’d have regarding this arrangement. Let’s address those:

  1. No healthcare benefits. This is the biggest stumbling block to freelancing. Fortunately for you, with Obama in office, the government will probably introduce some form of nationalized healthcare. Until then, check into low-cost, high-deductible plans that cover catastrophic claims, and build your budget for that into your hourly rate. Also include a small monthly budget for healthcare that covers basic things like dental checkups, which you will have to pay for out of pocket. Yes, it’s more annoying to do this than to have someone else cover it for you, but the benefits of working (vs. getting up for another day of posting resumes endlessly) outweigh the annoyance.
  2. Getting paid on time and correctly. Many people who hire for only a few hours a week — especially if you are their only employee — don’t do a very good job of sending you 1099′s, writing you paychecks, etc. There are ways to get around this. First of all, you can negotiate a once-a-week payment schedule instead of the more common twice-a-month or biweekly arrangements in a traditional employment situation. Do this up front — in the interview. This will make you quickly aware of any cashflow issue, and prevent you from getting behind and being owed a lot of money from someone who won’t pay.

    You can make things easier on your employer by tracking your own hours and expenses and adding up exactly how much he or she owes you. It’s much easier for your employer to write a check for a specific dollar amount than to spend time tallying hours and expenses. Your job is to make your employer’s life easier (no matter what your job description is!)

  3. Doing your own taxes. Discuss this up front with your employer. Most will simply 1099 you, which means you need to hold back some money for taxes. Don’t wait on this, or take an hourly agreement so poorly-paying that you need 100% of the money you make just to make ends meet.

    Every time you receive your paycheck, make sure that you’re stashing away 20% of it in a special account reserved for taxes. As a self-employed person, you may also need to pay quarterly estimated taxes. Consult the NOLO Press book Working for Yourself: Law & Taxes for Independent Contractors, Freelancers & Consultants for more information, or check with an accountant.

    On the flip side, you get a lot more writeoffs as a freelancer, though again, you will have to track all of these. For instance, every mile you drive to each employer can be deducted at 50.5 cents per mile! (It’s 58.5 cents a mile for the second half of 2008.) You can also deduct business expenses like computers, pens, minutes used on your cell phone to talk to employers, etc. Check the Working for Yourself book or consult an accountant to find out exactly what qualifies.

Conclusion

If you’re having trouble finding a job, particularly in competitive industries such as being an administrative assistant or a graphic designer, it’s time for you to get more flexible. Working smaller contract jobs with multiple employers can not only give you more free time, but also more money. If you can’t find a “job”, consider freelancing opportunities to make even more money and have a more flexible schedule.

Recommended Reading:

Email This Post Email This Post   | Print This Post Print This Post

Previous post in this category:

Posted on Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

  • Brad Trnavsky

    Erica,
    What a great post… Every time I start hiring the first thing I learn is why so many of the unemployed are still unemployed. They frequently do not return calls or respond to requests for interviews in a timely manner (I once had a woman call back 2 weeks later that was mad I no longer wanted to interview her), and they show up late to interviews, or dress grossly inappropriately. I was even yelled at by one lady for calling at 7PM to request a interview because it was rude to expect people to behave in a professional manner at this hour. She did however, request that I call back tomorrow between 8 and 5… I didn’t!
    One important thing to remember is as employers in a down economy we can afford to be VERY picky because there are so many quality people to choose from. Make yourself stand out for the positive as a freelancer or employee and we will probably be excited to hear from you!

  • http://www.cathlawson.com/blog Cath Lawson

    Hi Erica – Merry Christmas. I used to have an assistant to do housework etc 8 hours a week. But because I was based in an office, she was working alone a lot. My house started to get less and less tidy and I called home a few times to collect things and caught her sitting watching TV. I fired her before I began working from home again and decided not to replace her.

    As you say – folk who are willing to do a great job would pick up plenty of work freelancing. But many just aren’t willing to do so, because they’re not business savvy and don’t want the additional responsibilities. And the ones who are would probably employ others and hire them out, which makes it more expensive to those of us who want to hire them. I paid my last assistant well but an agency was going to charge me almost double to replace her.

  • successwantsyou.com

    Erica, Another great post and Merry Christmas. My brother-in-law has come so close to being laid-off recently that the reality has hit very close to home. However, there is at least one industry that is not feeling the pinch, but in fact exploding – Personal Development!!! The home-based business is the answer for a lot of folks…I know many that are making a multiple 6 figure income. The home-based business idea has been a topic with such giants as T. Harv Eker, Tony Robbins, Bob Proctor, Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump and others. They have encouraged and endorsed the idea themselves. I look forward to your posts. My favorite has been the post about business cards. Felice Navidad!!

  • http://cgervasi.blogspot.com/ http://cgervasi.blogspot.com/

    Regarding the health insurance objection, being stuck in a single employer’s health plan is more annoying that taking care of your health purchases yourself. You know at some point you’re going to have to leave that job and get new insurance. Controlling your own health purchases is preferable.

    BTW, I wouldn’t count on a politician to take care of anything. I hope Obama does great things, esp for people who can’t help themselves. Your readers know how to take care of business and should do so in the case of their health needs.

  • http://www.gypsywriter.multiply.com Prime

    This post renminds me why I love reading your blog. Useful info, well written. this is also why I want to work for you as an assistant. i just sent you an email. Hope you’ll consider my proposal. Thanks and have a great 2009.

    Cheers!
    Prime

  • LenaD

    The main problem with this post is that it confuses W2 and 1099 status. Calling someone who is a 1099 contractor an employee right away gets you into trouble. It means you’re not thinking of this person as an independent contractor but rather as an employee who should be put on payroll.

  • Kate

    Great post. I just want to say, however, that many who are on unemployment are afraid to take a part time job because they will lose their benefits and they are most likely making more on unemployment. So, perhaps they system needs to be fixed to allow up to a certain amount of income while on unemployment? Also, LenaD is right people have discovered skirting the employer tax issue by hiring independent contractors who have absolutely no independence and are thus employees.

    TOOT: If all of the home based business owners keep going offshore for help, bragging about paying $2 an hour for their new assistant – how will Americans be able to buy their products? Henry Ford made his employee wages higher so that they could buy HIS cars. Food for thought.

  • http://www.stacybrice.com Stacy Brice

    I love the spirit of your post, Erica, and wanted to add to a couple of the points in the conversation.

    There are only two work models in the US: employee, and business owner. Freelancers are business owners, but too few of them know that, or have taken the time to actually put firm foundations under their businesses.

    Likewise, too many people looking for part time help pay people as freelancers (1099 contractors), when, if the IRS looked, those people would be classified as employees, and the people who paid the workers as contractors would be in a whole heap of trouble.

    If the person with the work to be done has the worker in her home, more-or-less when she wants the worker there, tells the worker what needs to be done, how to do it (how the person with the work wants it done), provides the supplies/equipment for the work to get done, and tells the worker how much she’ll pay for said work, the person with the work is an employer, and the worker is an employee.

    It doesn’t matter if that worker does similar work for other people with similar work needing to be done in their own homes. What matters *most* is that the worker is either treated like an employee, or as a business owner. Employees are dictated to. Business owners are not.

    I’m not sure why this gets muddy with things like personal assistance, or domestic help. If a plumber is needed, the person with the need doesn’t tell the plumber how to do his job, or when, or provide equipment or supplies, or dictate the rate the plumber will be paid. It just isn’t done. The plumber–the business owner, and expert service provider who provides plumbing services–calls the shots, and the person with the need either retains his service, or not.

    So should it be with domestic workers or assistants *unless* they are actually going to be employees, and are going to be paid as such. And to be clear, an “employee” never gets a 1099.

    As for advice to follow for those who want to actually be service business owners with regard to setting fees–and more specifically to those who are providing specifically as assistants doing mostly administrative work, it’s really not as simple as charging twice the hourly rate one would be paid as an employee, because whatever that figure is may simply not allow a person to be profitable in own’s own business. It’s critical to be profitable.

    To see what assistants are paid, The Bureau of Labor Statistics offers up the 2007 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates. You can see the most appropriate wage table here: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#b43-0000

    In my 12 years as a professional business coach, and as the person who formalized the Virtual Assistance profession and has trained nearly 1000 people to own their own successful (and profitable!) Virtual Assistant businesses, I’ve never found anywhere (in North America) where anyone could be profitable in business for him/herself for less than $30/hour. There’s simply no way to do it. AND, depending on one’s expenses, $30/hour may not be profitable, either.

    Bottom line–a person needs to be in business for herself, or be an employee, but should never assume that the person with the work is going to steer her in the right/best/sound direction. Workers should never abdicate their responsibilities to do what’s best for themselves. When they take care of themselves, they’ll also be better able to do great jobs for employers–or clients.

    Thanks for the opportunity to contribute, Erica!
    Stacy

  • http://sampath.dassanayake.name/ Sampath

    And not to mention the minimizing of risk. If you are working for a single company, if you get fired or laid off, you are out on the street. But if you are doing multiple gigs, then you will be laid off only partially, as you will still have your other gigs to fall back on!

    Great post!
    Sampath

  • successwantsyou.com

    Fantastic, E. I am an Entrepeneur and Businessman and want to share my two cents worth (as if that is worth much these days). My team received over 500 resumes from Ladders for professionals who are looking to make a change out of choice or by force. I was surprised by the replies. They all wanted paychecks and a benefit package. Most of these that I interviewed were out of a job or soon to be out of work, but were so selective as to what they would do, even after I offered them the possibility of making 6 figures per year!!! My business partner employed only 7 out of 600 resumes! What is wrong with this picture?