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> I don?t have a snowball?s chance of being hired, do I? Any advice that you
> might have would be greatly appreciated. I know that you are problem
> solvers, but I don't think that even you can solve this one.
Hi, Kirk:
I can understand why you feel discouraged. However, you can't let the
difficulties get to you.
For one thing, I believe that, on some level, people can sense depression or
desperation, and are put off by them. By projecting these emotions, you may be
making your job search harder.
For another, even in good times, consulting work is a series of rejections
punctuated by the occasional success. That's true no matter how experienced you
are. Things get a little easier with experience because you build up repeat
business, but even experienced consultants have to face a lot of rejections. And
these are not the best of times, by any means, although compared to 2002,
they're not bad.
I suspect that your main problem may be that you are remote. A lot of available
work in any local market simply isn't advertised. You have to know people to
hear of the jobs.
Is there any way that you could make regular visits to the nearest tech-centers?
Do some research and set up informational interviews with consulting companies
and companies that sound interesting to you, cramming as many interviews as you
can into the time you spend on the visit.
Both diversification and specialization can help, too. If you can do some design
work, and some marketing and business work as well as straight technical
writing, you are generally much more employable. Having specific technical
knowledge can also help.
Think about how you can market your services, and you may be able to resist
feeling discouraged, at least to a degree. You'll be controlling what you can,
which usually helps to keep panic at bay.
Finally, remember that it takes time to build up a personal consulting business:
time, and a very thick skin.
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