A thought that has occurred to me in the past (and a blog topic in and of itself) is “Do Entrepreneurs Make Good Employees?”. It is clear that I am entrepreneur. I have been since a young age.
Entrepreneurs, like myself, may not be the best fit for most jobs as some employers may view this as a negative. It is probably for the best as most employers DO want only a cookie cutter employee that is molded for specific tasks and does not escape their cubical. I am definitely not an in the box kind of person. I thrive on contributing ideas and bring them to fruition. I thrive on collaborative ideas, excitement, and teamwork.
I also get that entrepreneurs by nature are not job seekers. Let’s face it, we really want more than anything to be part of contributing to a very successful business venture like the next Apple, Google, Facebook, etc. We often, however, just need income to pay a few overdue bills or debt that we find ourselves in. We don’t really want to be tied down in a job that we probably hate – at least one that meet our own criteria of business or financial success.
Looking through job ads for us is a necessary evil as you can’t live day to day without income. We need to eat, need clothing, electricity and at least some degree of comfort on the journey.
I feel like I am Superman, but Job Searching is my kryptonite. I am never happy with my resume. I am sometimes ashamed to send it to the jobs I actually would want, or I am not or do not feel qualified. Don’t get me wrong, I am confident in who I am and the broad expertise and experience I have, however I am not always sure how that fits into the box employers are looking for.
I have in the past made adjustments on my resume for each job and what I think they want to read. I have spent hours writing cover letters and tailoring a resume for a single job and in MANY cases I do not even hear from them once. I’m not going to do that anymore. No. I am now Unapologetically Me.
Sometimes I would find something that is a close fit. Here is an example of a job and my reply to them.
Marketing Assistant and Media/Video Production Assistant (Uptown Dallas)
We are a growing media production company based in Dallas and Los Angeles. Our focus is on media/video production for businesses. This position will involve travel for out-of-town productions.
We are seeking a rock star to fulfill a number of challenging but very rewarding positions in the areas of marketing, creation of marketing materials, market research, video production coordinating/managing, and personal/executive assistance.
There are some qualities that any candidate MUST naturally possess. Please understand that if this does not describe you, this position will be your nightmare and not a long one. For a naturally organized, well-spoken, well presented, detail-oriented, enthusiastic, driven, creatively-talented and detail-oriented person this will be a dream position working with a team of like-minded creative visionaries.
If you have outside career goals and/or commitments such as entrepreneurial ventures, acting auditions or band rehearsals etc. this will not be a fit. You will be fully consumed supporting the company’s two principals, one who is Dallas-based (Central Time) and the other in Los Angeles (Pacific Time). We recognize talent in our team and have over 20 years of business experience and long term staff. We promote from within and value dedication and ‘can-do’ attitudes.
We love working. We love what we do. We love what we are building. Every single person within our team feels the same way about what they do with us. Everyone works as a team and is as amenable to supporting others and handling unexpected situations when they arise. Any new member must fit to this level.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT QUALITIES FOR YOU TO POSSESS:
Detail oriented, punctuality, self-organized, clear-mindedness, enthusiasm, and a can-do attitudeSome main activities you will be performing:
• Creating the creative aspects (formatting/design) of marketing material
• Publishing/managing the publishing of e-books
• Coordinating schedules and project management for our media productionsBonus marks for:
Knowledge of cameras/editing software (Adobe Premier/Final Cut), Final Draft, PowerPoint,
Assistant editing skills (categorizing footage, and tagging/logging into our database)
Film degree, film school attendance, media production training experience
Communications degreeMust haves:
• Proficiency with Excel
• Proficiency with Word
• Google Drive
• Extremely good market research abilities
• Intermediate level of understanding of film/media production
• Extremely interested in working in print (e-books/newsletter creation) and video content creation
• Personal/Executive assistance experience
• Ability to anticipate
• Event planning/organizing/scheduling/coordinating
• A strong personality and ability to clearly communicate with others
• Strong leadership and collaborative skillsAlso – You will be on set and will ensure adherence to our standards including being a liaison between clients and our team. We need to be able to describe a new initiative/project and for you to take charge of it.
Compensation: DOE
Full time salaried position — health insurance after 3mosPlease respond with the following title in the Subject Line: Enthusiastic Marketing Assistant and Media/Video Production Assistant
Create a link to max length 60 second introductory video clip of yourself explaining why we should hire you. Place the link on Vimeo with an appropriate URL. Password protect if you would like. And please include your resume in the body of the email. Attachments will not be opened.
The fourth paragraph that mentions “entrepreneurial ventures” is THE ONLY reason I would not qualify for this job. I believe strongly that I could enjoy a job like this so I decided to write them.
Hi,
My name is Jared Farnum. I saw your ad and feel I am a good fit, except just one thing. I am a entrepreneur. Based on the fourth paragraph of your ad, I would not be a good fit, but let me ask you this – would there be the possibility to buy into or earn a share of the business? If not, then you’re right, it would not be a fit for the long term because I do not want to feel like some employee working for someone elses dream, I rather be a partner and work to build all of our dreams.
The last company I worked for was an app development company. It was a startup and I worked mostly in a Project Manager capacity.The owner promised me a portion of the company. I LOVED THIS JOB! I put all my other entrepreneurial ventures on the sidelines while I focused and got things done. Unfortunately the startup did not work out.
I could see myself LOVING the job you describe, but you did call it well in that fourth paragraph. I want to submit this idea to you: while I agree that someone pursuing an Acting career or who has pipe dreams of their band hitting it big, I believe if you offer enough incentive for an entrepreneur to shelf their entrepreneurial ventures, then the right entrepreneur may be the EXACT fit you need.
I am attaching my resume’ in case you’re interested.
To our success,
Jared Farnum
214-529-1816
I would bet that I do not hear back from this company. But the ad did stick out to me because it is the type of job I could LOVE but as eluded to, it could also be a job I could HATE. To truly feel like part of a company, it helps to actually own part of the company.
The search remains for a job where I can be Unapologetically Me.