Making people and ideas findable
So...you were "self-employed"...
But when does being "self-employed" become a liability?
Take into account some of the following issues....
1) Self Employement tax...now you not only get to pay the normal taxes that every one else does, you get to have an additional percentage thrown on for good measure.
2) Insurance benefits...as we've seen from some previous posts (including Pat Coyle's piece on getting charged more for taking preventive care of his family), for the independent / small firm, it's pretty much being on the "Pay More, Get Less" program.
3) What happens when you decide to go back "mainstream"?
And that's a big part of this post. What roadblocks have you run into by having that "self employment gap" in your resume? Of course, that really means you've had to do EVERYthing to run your business: marketing, sales, operations, management, fulfillment, customer service, etc. etc. And you would think that would give you some credibility (especially if you ran your own business successfully...). So...does it help? Does it NOT help? What's been thrown at you? How have you successfully presented the experience to a potential employer? How have you presented it, where it was NOT well received? And did the experience of trying to get a "mainstream" job just make you throw up your hands and go back to being self-employed...where (hopefully) you were making more money anyway?
I'd love to hear your thoughts...If you would, post some of your feedback comments in the Solo Pro group area (this post is copied there)
Tags: employment, job search, jobs, recruiting, self-employed
3 Comments
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Comment by Matthew Theriault on July 22, 2008 at 9:21pm - Good point regarding the taxes issue, and I know that being self employed gives you more tax deductions than an employee. So perhaps it balances out (especially if you have a good accountant). And you would think that experience, good or bad, with running your own company would be a good thing, but I've spoken with others that have indicated that it was difficult to validate the experiences as equivalent to having a "regular job" in the eyes of the employer/interviewer. So I'm more wondering how (if?) anyone here was successful in presenting those experiences in a positive light. And if not, what would they do (would have done) differently?
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Comment by sean goble on July 23, 2008 at 12:43pm -
I am in the real estate finance business, even though I am a W2 employee of a company (6 people) I still consider myself to be self-employed as it is my responsibility to generate business. I am the only one responsible for my success! Being a small company we have no marketing dollars to work with, its all based on referrals and established relationships. its no secret that in the last 12 months it has taken a sharp down turn. Here is a short version of a conversation I had with one of my good friends, Mike who has had his own appraisal firm open for the past 8 years. His business has dried up so much that he has been posting resumes all over town trying to find some form of professional position to support his family. The biggest objection that he has not be successful in overcoming is this: “But Mike, if you have owned your own company and have made a good living, what will happen when your industry picks back up? Where will your loyally be if you know you can make more money running your own company then working for us? Why should we offer you a respectable salary, benefits, and put you thru training knowing that within the next year or two you will be leaving?”
How do you over come this objection? If you were the one behind the desk asking these questions what would you expect to hear?
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© 2008 Created by Pat Coyle
And regarding your item number three, I would think that should be helpful. Even someone running an unsuccessful business probably learned an awful lot and their chances the next time around might be much better with the new wisdom.