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I really wonder what employers think when they find out that a current or last employer is the person submitting the resume? One thing for sure, not all "home-based" small businesses make it........ours didn't!
Look at this:
You fill out an online app and where it asks "Supervisors Name", you put your name!
When it asks for the address of the business, it's your address (in-home business).
When it asks for a phone number, it's your phone number!
When it asks for "Salary" you put.......a number (your income depended on sales and sales were very low).
Hummmmmm, guess nobody on this forum has ever had their own small business that didn't work out. Actually, I've only known one person who had a small business, closed it and went back to work for someone else. Perhaps many people out there think "once self-employed, always self-employed".......that sure doesn't always happen!
It would depend on what the business was and how otherwise qualified the person is. We actually recently hired a guy who owned his owned business in a similar but not identical industry with a few employees for a number of years, then decided he just didn't like being a boss anymore, so he sold it and went looking for a job. We got a great employee who knows what he is doing and has good people skills out of it. By the way, he's in his late 50's, maybe even early 60's.
The obstacles to overcome:
1. Are you still planning on running this business and it will take time from your job--or even compete with us--if you are hired?
2. Was the business a failure because you didn't have the skills to run it?
3. Will you come in with the "I ran my own business, you can't tell me how to do things" attitude?
And of course:
4. Are you qualified for the job you are applying for, and are there others who are more qualified or a better fit?
#1: No, we aren't going to run the business anymore.
#2: Not enough money to buy better equipment or advertising. It was a hobby I had that we decided to turn into a business.......should've kept it a hobby!
#3: No, not that attitude at all. BUT, I am pretty strict in doing a job right and others doing there's right as well. Former military done that to me.
Qualified? I'm qualified/experienced as a Jr Buyer and in Inventory Management, but don't have a college degree or certification.
Anyway, I'm only looking for a part-time job since I'm now getting SS/Early Retirement and my wife make a nice salary. She doesn't want me to work a full-time job anymore and lose my SS benefits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk
It would depend on what the business was and how otherwise qualified the person is. We actually recently hired a guy who owned his owned business in a similar but not identical industry with a few employees for a number of years, then decided he just didn't like being a boss anymore, so he sold it and went looking for a job. We got a great employee who knows what he is doing and has good people skills out of it. By the way, he's in his late 50's, maybe even early 60's.
The obstacles to overcome:
1. Are you still planning on running this business and it will take time from your job--or even compete with us--if you are hired?
2. Was the business a failure because you didn't have the skills to run it?
3. Will you come in with the "I ran my own business, you can't tell me how to do things" attitude?
And of course:
4. Are you qualified for the job you are applying for, and are there others who are more qualified or a better fit?
#1: No, we aren't going to run the business anymore.
#2: Not enough money to buy better equipment or advertising. It was a hobby I had that we decided to turn into a business.......should've kept it a hobby!
#3: No, not that attitude at all. BUT, I am pretty strict in doing a job right and others doing there's right as well. Former military done that to me.
Qualified? I'm qualified/experienced as a Jr Buyer and in Inventory Management, but don't have a college degree or certification.
Anyway, I'm only looking for a part-time job since I'm now getting SS/Early Retirement and my wife make a nice salary. She doesn't want me to work a full-time job anymore and lose my SS benefits.
If I were interviewing you, your response to #3 would be a red flag.
You sound inflexible in how you do things, and how my other employees do their job is none of your business. I'd definitely find a different way to respond to that question.
I'd also be concerned about your being inflexible with your hours. If I needed you to work a 50 hour week once a quarter due to inventory, that's what I'd need. I'd word your response differently so that you state you aren't looking for full time but could be flexible with your hours during peak periods with no further explanation offered. And mentioning you spouse and what they want or don't want you to do during an interview is not a good idea.
By the way, you might be qualified, but again it's not always based on qualifications. It's more a question of are you the best fit for the position, which takes into account qualifications, personality, and flexibility.
When my job is affected by mistakes that co-workers could make, yes, I want to work with people who do their job right!
Example: For a company I use to work for, I'd enter amounts/locations into an inventory module for all items that came into Receiving. The Material Handler would do a Receiver with the info on it and give it to me to put into my computer. A number of times he would write down the wrong amount and/or location, but I had to go by what he put on the Receiver! Come to find out, the dude had dyslexia, but was hired for the position anyway. There were times he made my job difficult b/c I would issue an item out of inventory for a Requisition and he would come to me and say the quanitity or location was wrong.......why......because of what he wrote down from me to enter in the computer! Our supervisor/director didn't want me using extra time to check his amounts/locations out. This is why I say what I do!
When on SS/Early Retirement, as I am, just can't work a lot of hours. There's a "cap" as to how much I can make per yr.
I wouldn't say a thing about what my wife wants, but I'm only looking for a part-time (20 hrs or less) job and no weekends and would state that in an interview. This is what I require and if an employer doesn't like it, the interview would end right there! Wife and I TOTALLY agree that if I can't find that, I will then be fully retired and not work again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk
If I were interviewing you, your response to #3 would be a red flag.
You sound inflexible in how you do things, and how my other employees do their job is none of your business. I'd definitely find a different way to respond to that question.
I'd also be concerned about your being inflexible with your hours. If I needed you to work a 50 hour week once a quarter due to inventory, that's what I'd need. I'd word your response differently so that you state you aren't looking for full time but could be flexible with your hours during peak periods with no further explanation offered. And mentioning you spouse and what they want or don't want you to do during an interview is not a good idea.
By the way, you might be qualified, but again it's not always based on qualifications. It's more a question of are you the best fit for the position, which takes into account qualifications, personality, and flexibility.
When my job is affected by mistakes that co-workers could make, yes, I want to work with people who do their job right!
Example: For a company I use to work for, I'd enter amounts/locations into an inventory module for all items that came into Receiving. The Material Handler would do a Receiver with the info on it and give it to me to put into my computer. A number of times he would write down the wrong amount and/or location, but I had to go by what he put on the Receiver! Come to find out, the dude had dyslexia, but was hired for the position anyway. There were times he made my job difficult b/c I would issue an item out of inventory for a Requisition and he would come to me and say the quanitity or location was wrong.......why......because of what he wrote down from me to enter in the computer! Our supervisor/director didn't want me using extra time to check his amounts/locations out. This is why I say what I do!
You seem to be mising the point. The interview is about you, not about other employees. Don't rock the boat before you've even been hired! What happened in a previous job has absolutely zero bearing on the one you are interviewing for, don't even bring it up.
Quote:
When on SS/Early Retirement, as I am, just can't work a lot of hours. There's a "cap" as to how much I can make per yr.
I wouldn't say a thing about what my wife wants, but I'm only looking for a part-time (20 hrs or less) job and no weekends and would state that in an interview. This is what I require and if an employer doesn't like it, the interview would end right there! Wife and I TOTALLY agree that if I can't find that, I will then be fully retired and not work again.
You are so rigid in your demands that I just can't see any employer being interested in hiring you. I wish you well.
Well, annerk, wife and I can see you aren't SS/Early Retirement, right? I earned my SS for retirement and won't do a thing to lose it. I get it each month and don't have to do a thing about getting it! It's money that I earned from years of working and it automatically shows up in the old banking acct each month. I really have to say "I love it"! So, in that respect, I will be rigid in what I want from a part-time job.
BUT, we are straying away from what my Thread is about.......aren't we now? It does appear that there is nobody on this forum who has owned a small in-home business, stopped it and wants to go back to working in the public sector are on this forum.
Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk
You seem to be mising the point. The interview is about you, not about other employees. Don't rock the boat before you've even been hired! What happened in a previous job has absolutely zero bearing on the one you are interviewing for, don't even bring it up.
You are so rigid in your demands that I just can't see any employer being interested in hiring you. I wish you well.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I did this in 2009. The job I applied for was in the same kind of work I did prior to my 16 years as a small business owner. Though the work was really not in the same industry, I was able to sit down and analyze the
work I did and find ways to demonstrate the benefits of my experience as a business owner to the new position, along with my previous experience which was stale. I used references from my previous career and some that were customers of my business that were in businesses related to the new job. I did get the job, and was promoted to management within about 18 months when an opening came up that required a lot of supervisory experience. Small business owners gain plenty of good experience in hiring,
training, evaluating (and firing) which is valuable to any company.
That's all well and good, but double check, you won't lose the SS for working extra hours, they will take $1 of SS for every two dollars you make. Also it doesn't go week to week or month to month, but rather what you make in an entire year. So if your prospective employer wants you to work overtime one week but less hours the next, it's not going to make a hill of beans of difference.
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, guess nobody on this forum has ever had their own small business that didn't work out. Actually, I've only known one person who had a small business, closed it and went back to work for someone else. Perhaps many people out there think "once self-employed, always self-employed".......that sure doesn't always happen!
