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Tips to preserve current job while
seeking another

By Roni F. Noland, Globe Correspondent, 3/9/03

Need advice about managing your career or your workplace? The Job Doc can help. Our specialists can answer your questions on topics ranging from career transitions to management issues. E-mail queries to jobdoc@globe.com, or send letters to Job Doc, c/o the Boston Globe, P.O. Box 2378, MA 02107-2378. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.

I know my current employer would give me a good reference. I think that I really need to be able to provide it to prospective employers, as I am looking for work in industries different from the one I am working in. My resume may look good, but if I'm coming from a background prospective employers know nothing about and they can't call my employer of the last four to five years, I am worried that I'd be less likely to get the job. How do I get the reference from my boss without giving notice? Do I wait until I get called for an interview for a job I really want, then tell my employer I'm looking for other work and that someone may call him the next day? Promise to give three weeks notice when the new job is landed? What if he immediately starts looking for my replacement, finds them after a couple of weeks, then asks me to phase myself out by training the new person for a week? I don't want to indirectly get my job eliminated, and don't want to leave before finding another job.

You are wise to be sensitive to the consequences that job hunting can have on your present employment. Let me assure you that with your track record at your present place of employment, I doubt that your employer would take a preemptive strike and fire you.

I assume that you have been a value-added employee at your company to be retained for the past four to five years. However, if your company is looking to downsize and your employer learns of your job hunting, you may suddenly find yourself at the top of the next hit list. Make sure that you are spending more time actually doing your job than looking for a job.

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Here are some strategies that will help you preserve your job until you are armed with another position and ready to leave and treat your current and prospective employers fairly.

As you have been with your present employer for several years, you may have worked for more than one supervisor. Ask one of your former supervisors if he or she would be willing to serve as a reference for you. An ideal situation would be if the supervisor were no longer with the company. Then he or she would not have any potential conflict of loyalties in providing a reference for you.

If you have had the same boss for your entire employment, then perhaps a former colleague who has left the company could serve as reference for you. Choose someone with whom you worked on a project and/or an individual who had the opportunity to view your work closely.

As you are a career changer, try to think ''out of the box'' about the people that you choose as your references. If you have been retraining for your new career, it would make sense to include some faculty and/or mentors from your new field of interest. Again, as you are a career changer, you may want to include some individuals who have known you for a long time in other capacities, perhaps through volunteer or community work.

The key to assembling strong references is to choose wisely and well. Choose the people who are most willing to help you, and who are the most articulate. Look to vendors, customers, and business acquaintances. If you present a strong enough group of references, a future employer may never need to contact your present supervisor.

If your prospective employer insists on speaking with your present supervisor, make sure that you have a written job offer from the new company before you allow this to happen. Most employers will respect your rights as a professional and your reluctance to do anything to jeopardize your current employment. Sometimes an employer will provide a ''contingent'' job offer, one contingent on receiving a favorable reference from your current employer.

A final strategy that has been successful in cultivating favorable references is to meet individually if you can with each person whom you select to be a reference. Each reference should know how to present you as positively as possible. Some references may require ''coaching'' as to what ideally they should be saying about you and your work style, especially if you are changing careers.

Arm your references with as much information about you as possible: the resume that you are using, job descriptions of the positions you are applying for, performance evaluations if relevant, samples of your work, the accomplishments of which you are most proud. Your references should know you, your work ethic, what you have accomplished, and what you want to do.

Without completely ''scripting'' the conversation, you are suggesting ways that your reference can link his or her experience of you with the realities of the position you are seeking.

Business cards are key marketing tool

I recently attended a job fair, and I noticed that some other job seekers were handing out business cards in addition to resumes. Is this something new? Is it required now? The only business cards I have are some old ones with my old company name and logo on them. I wouldn't know what to put on a business card, as I am not now affiliated with any company or organization. Also, what job title would I use, as I am looking for more than one type of position?

Business cards, while not required, are a classy, professional touch for the savvy job seeker. Once you have some cards made up for yourself, you will wonder how you ever functioned without them.

I strongly suggest that your business card be simple, with only your name and contact information: address, telephone number, e-mail address, and cellphone number if you want to publicize that. Use white or off-white good quality card stock, and an easily readable font that emphasizes your name - the most important piece of information for the employer to remember.

There are several computer programs that you can use to design your own business card. Or, you can go to one of the many copy chain stores that offer this service for a modest fee.

Your business cards will come in handy at networking events, where you can exchange them in lieu of resumes. A typical scenario would be for you to give a potential network contact your business card, get his or hers in exchange, call or e-mail the network contact to set up a time to talk, and then come in to the networking meeting armed with your resume.

One caveat: it doesn't make sense to go to the expense and bother of printing business cards if you forget to carry them with you at all times. There is nothing less professional than the person who searches frantically in pockets, wallet, and/or pocketbook for an elusive business card. Splurge on a professional-looking business card case, and keep that with you at all times. You never know when you will want to give out a business card - at the gym, on the subway, or while waiting in line at the grocery store.

Business cards are not just for attorneys and real estate agents any more, but an effective marketing tool for knowledgeable and successful job seekers.

Interviewing for undesirable job

I have been called to interview for a position at a local university, but it turns out to be at an extremely low salary and little responsibility. The hiring manager made it clear over the telephone that she could tell that I had made much more than this. I said that I would like to go ahead and interview. I know that I will not take the job because the salary and responsibilities are so far below what I would be happy doing. But I would like the experience of the interview and the exposure to personnel (it will be a panel interview and a half-day process, so I will meet quite a few folks). My husband says it is unethical to take their time and energy when I know I won't accept the job if offered it. What do you think? Am I wrong to go ahead with it or should I do it for the experience and the exposure?

Your question poses an interesting conundrum. More often, readers complain that, because they are viewed as being ''overqualified'' and ''too expensive'' for a position, they are not even given the opportunity to interview for a lower position, even if they would be willing to take it.

You sound as though you have the luxury of being more discriminating about which job offers you accept. In that case, I suggest that you be equally discriminating about the interviews that you go on, especially as this one does involve numerous participants and a half-day, not a half-hour of interviewing.

To avoid this dilemma in the future, you may wish to be more selective in your choice of jobs to which you apply. Do some homework before sending your resume to determine a position's salary and responsibilities.

If your goal in applying more broadly to ''whatever is out there'' in your field is to get interviewing experience and/or to get to know people in your field, then I suggest that you do so by scheduling networking and exploratory interviews, rather than pretending to be engaged in a hiring interview. This is a more direct and honest approach.

Were you less clear about your decision not to take the position were it offered, my advice would have been different. I know of numerous examples when an applicant has been pleasantly surprised by the ways in which the realities of the job - and compensation - as developed during the interviewing and hiring process, exceed the applicant's expectations. Although a job description may appear to be set in stone, it rarely is, and through the give and take of the interviewing process, an applicant and a hiring manager may be able to create a mutually advantageous compromise.

A note to readers in the Lawrence area: After answering a question about job search support groups in Greater Boston, I heard about another free professional networking group, this one in Lawrence. The group meets on Mondays from 1-3 p.m. at the Valley Works Career Center, Heritage Place, 439 South Union St., Building #2. According to Ann Shaw, the group facilitator, ''the group is designed to help those in career transition'' by offering ''opportunities to network, sharpen job search skills and stay motivated.'' Guest speakers from a variety of industries are often featured. For more information call 978-722-7000.

Roni F. Noland is a career counselor and coach in private practice with over 20 years of experience helping people find meaningful work. She can be reached at RoniNoland@attbi.com.

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