Also titled Getting a Second Chance

This post was written to help new starts get started and to help mid-career professionals restart their careers.

MID CAREER INDUSTRY CHANGE

 Climbing the corporate latter is topsy-turvy and full of surprises, both good and bad.  When I came back from Europe, I became general manager in an electronic business that Engelhard had purchased. It was a disaster when I got there, and still one when I left a year later. Engelhard had done a total re-organization nationwide. My support network was gone. I left, too, and became a Vice President & General Manager at the Sprague Electric Company.  My work there was a major success, but US manufacturing was downsizing and moving overseas. My job was shipped out, too..

Few job openings existed for my expertise as a plant manager.  With the loss of industry in America, there were too many industrial engineers with MBA’s and too few factories to manage. I wound up in the unemployment line with everyone else. That made a Democrat out of me. Everyone needs a social safety net

The conventional wisdom for unemployed industrial managers like myself was to become an entrepreneur. I started a business providing guards and security systems. I knew little about either. The guard service would provide cash income to pay the bills. The electronic security side of the business had long term upside potential. Creating a business allowed me to make a mid-life career makeover.  The security industry turned out to be the right one, but there were unexpected twists and turns there, too.  

These were lessons from starting my own business:

• All businesses have a lore that needs to be learned. The guard business seemed simple enough, but the headaches of managing guards drove me nuts, and it became a Frankenstein monster. I did some creative things with it, like opening a franchise in El Salvador, and establishing myself as the US sales agent for bullet proof armor imported from South Africa. After 3 years of break-even work, I sold the business.
• An industry can be learned from its suppliers. I picked the security industry, gathered trade trade journals, all of which are free., then called equipment suppliers. They taught me to design and sell security systems. I attended trade shows where I found sales reps and established a network of industry contacts. Grom there, anything that I needed to know was never more than two phone calls away. This was an important step. It will launch you into a new career.
• Marketing is the most expensive and tricky part of owning a business.
• Entrepreneurs fall so in love with their own idea that they become blind to its perils.  The advice given by Kevin O’Leary on Shark Tank is harsh but realistic.
• Anyone can be a salesman. There is no mystique or special quality that you have to have to be successful. Just work hard. And, Sales people are the best paid employees.in any company if you go back to corporate work, as I did..
• When I started my security business, I learned more of the technology and lore asI solved day-to-day problems. I became a confident salesman.

These new skills allowed me to go to back to work for a big, nationwide company.  The security industry was the right place at the right time.  

PROBLEMS ARE OPPORTUNITIES

After selling the security business, I went back to corporate work. My start was as a low rung commercial salesman, assigned to Greenville, SC. My base salary so low that my wife’s divorce lawyer thought I was hiding my income.

Shortly after my employment started, the company did a nationwide re-organization. That was the problem. All its sales people were angry and quitting and creating sales job openings. That included national account managers (NAM’s) who handle sales to big chain businesses. NAMs were by far the best paid sales people. That was the Opportunity.  I applied for one of the national account manager vacancies that everyone else was quitting and I got the job.  With all these openings, they offered me any location I wanted in the southeast. I choose Atlanta. Always go for the big ones. While other salesmen around me were dithering over the salary dispute, I remained cool headed and seized the opportunity. When the dust settled, I had the best job of my life. Pay, benefits, and office support were excellent. I stayed in the job for the next 15 years until retirement. Lesson: where there are problems, look for opportunity.

National account managers (NAM’s) handle customer decision makers s at their headquarters and then get sales credit and commission for installations at all their multiple locations. My accounts were the with Outback Steak and Applebee’s restaurants and Target stores got sales credit for every new location from Maine to Hawaii. Lesson: Set a goal to get a national account manager job.

All industries need national account managers. I met NAMs from other restaurant suppliers such as for meat, bread, kitchenware, and even the grease-trap service. Many national account managers start as local salesmen or technicians and then grow in to the job. 

My last fifteen years before retirement were successful. I was recognized as an account builder with award winning projects. Detail are available in a another story.

Back to advice for a younger person:

CHOSING A NEW CAREER FIELD

There are hundreds of industries and thousands of job titles out there. Many luck and chance determine where your career will go, but the process can be made more directed.

First, expand your horizons to learn more of what is out there.. Talk to people like me who can inform you of more opportunities that you might not see. Research industries at their trade association websites. Subscribe to the free trade journals from which to get ideas, and info on their trade shows.  You don’t need to know a job to get your first job. The companies will give you tons of on-the-job training in their product or service.

            Avoid signing onto unpaid “internships”. They are a modern version of indentured servitude.

  Looking back, if I could it over again, I would have gone in to sales earlier. Sales jobs pay well. Sales is about solving problems. It is not about playing golf.  Business customers have business problems, and they want a salesperson that can give them a system that works with good service follow-up. Rarely have I seen golf played on the job.  

A good entry level title is technician. Community college training is perfect for getting a technician job. There are many different types of technician jobs, e.g., electronics, lab, equipment maintenance, broadcasting, aviation, medical, alarm installation, medical equipment, computer equipment, etc. The pay is good.  Technician work is interesting and varies. It can be a life-time career, or a good lead in to sales or management.

Attend trade shows to learn about jobs and companies.. All industries have them where companies demo their product. Trade shows are a good way to network. Google “trade show” for the industry of industry. Always free. Finagle your way in.

Look for jobs at big companies, for instance ATT. Big companies have more benefits.

Set up a good profile on www.LinkedIn.

It is said that “networking” is the best way to get a job. That’s true, but networking is a nebulous term and not easy to just apply. Call me for more discussion on networking.

CARER STORIES

Tom N.: My company needed a new entry-level technician, I asked around for names of someone capable but down on his luck, as I had been. I found and hired Tom N.. He was a college drop out working on a farm. He needed this second chance. Today Tom is a professional engineer with 5 PE licenses and his own agency.

Matt A.: Matt was working as an assistant restaurant manager at age 19.  He took a one course in electronics, and went on to get an  A.S. in electronics. CNN hired him straight out of a community college.  At CNN, he completed his education in night school. He got a BS in a useful and practical field, Construction Management. He was age 29. Today, he is a logistics manager. Matt considered working on an MBA.  My advice is that it cost too much and has too little payoff. He has done fine without it.

Tim A.:  Tim was a fire alarm system salesman extraordinaire. He dressed like a slob. He had only a high school GED  and some training in the Navy.  But, he learned the national fire alarm code forwards-and-backwards while on-the-job.. Selling commercial fire alarm systems became his niche as a salesman. He went from $30K per year to over  $100K/year job at Siemens. Compare his credentials to mine. I was a registered Professional Engineer and Tim was a H.S. GED and we were doing the same job for the same pay.  Lesson here: find a specialization and a niche, then go in to sales. PS: His slovenly appearance matched well at construction site field offices that he sold to..

Rick R.: Rick had more class than Tim, but did the same thing. He learned fire alarm and security systems forward and back. He created his niche by cultivating relationships with decision makers, in this case, Vice President of Operations in construction companies.  Today, Rick owns his own alarm business and deals with clients across the world.

Bob H.: He dropped out of college and drifted along until he was 28. At the time, he met with an equipment manufacturer and they taught him about selling electical capacitors. Today he owns a company selling just capacitors and makes a good living. Bob was the son of my mentor, Bill. Coincidently I had become vice-president of the company manufacturing capacitors. Once again this demonstrates that manufacturers can be a source of free product education, and that there are many industries out there that most people have never have heard of.

Tom W.: Tom had a degree in electrical technology but wasn’t all that good at it. I told him that sales engineers have be knowledgeable, but they don’t have to be brilliant. He used by advice to get a job selling specialized wire manufacturing equipment. Last I knew he was touring Europe doing so.

Chris W.: Chris graduated high school in New York state where the Rust Belt jobs are draining away. He got an associate degree and set up his own manufacturer’s rep business out of a store front in Cortland. Soon he was operating worldwide. Lesson: Foreign manufacturers need sales reps and offices in the US.

Steve A.: Steve, my brother, joined the US Air Force when the factory closed down. He became a master sergeant> When he retired at age 47, he got a G7 job in government and his pension and pay together put him over $100K/year. For someone with just a high school degree, that was great.

Patrick S.:  Patrick was a clerk at the Publix store for years and eventually he got his BS in Industrial Engineering, whereupon he was promoted to being an Industrial Engineer at their distribution center. As a former Ind. Engineer, I gave him advice on dealing with unions, i.e., just treat them as the opposing team. .

Jason S.: Jason has a degree in psychology and an MBA from a fine university. He worked as an administrator at an on-line education school. He lost his job, his car, and his house, when that business closed. He was age 40 and had a family. He then got a nursing degree and start a new career in health care. Smart move. His goal was to climb the ladder to become a well-paid is administration. Lesson:   Be prepared to shift to another field or specialty to get  a job.

Mike P.: Mike was a young man who joined the security company directly after getting his associate degree in business. They gave him some basis training in security and commercial sales and he  was soon earning $60K/year. The lesson: get a job selling commercial systems and products. Do NOT do homeowner sales.

Charlie W.: Charlie is an example of a failure He was a young payroll clerk back at the steel mill where we worked. He went  to night school as I did.  Instead of working toward BS degree, he got three AS degrees. That would have assured him a clerical job in the accounting department. He aspired only to senior position. Three AS degrees and a BS    not equivalent. .

Randy C: Randy at age 65 joined the company where I worked. He never learned the technology, but made his sales by virtue of pleasing personality. Jokes and a big smile were not enough. He was given 6-months to improve. He used the time to fix his boat  He was fired and got another job at age 67.  Déjà vu, he did the same thing again age 69. Each time he got great base salaries and big starting bonuses. Before they could fire him the third time, I explained some legal maneuvering to him and he kept that job, at least for a while. Lesson: Most companies do not look hard at who they are hiring for sales. Getting in is easy. Staying in requires results.

HAVE A PLAN

 You’re intelligent, clear headed, talented, well spoken, and confident, and have charisma. Formulate a plan:

• Get an associate’s degree from a community college.  
• Any degree related to business, technology, or medical is good enough to get a job.  
• Join big name companies because they are more stable. Or get a government jobs. By the time your 40, you’ll make $100K/year. Sounds unbelievable, but the county head dog catcher job paid $105,000/year in 2014.
• Join  clubs like the Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions, JC’s, local Democrats, and trade associations to  do some networking. .    

Be careful about SALES jobs, though. Never ever take a commission only sales job. Do not do consumer sales. Do business-to-business only.

CONCLUSION

            You’ve got the talent. The world is waiting for you. Take some lessons from the folks who preceded you to the same place. Set a goal. Let others know where you are heading. They will help you get there.

             Hopefully, these stories will help you, too.

            Good luck.

Allan