It’s worth a look.

If you are considering a job somewhere in commerce, here are some possible weaknesses:

· Marketing
· Finance
· Accounting
· Management (in a commercial context which can be very different)
· Operations process
· Human resources
· Economics
· Statistics
· Strategic development
· Regulations over target industry
· Basic law in contract, property, banking, corporations, labor and securities

Bunker Busting:  Do NOT be intimidated by these subjects. You will be amazed at how much of this material you have actually practiced over the last 20 years. You will often need only to recalibrate your thinking and not learn everything from scratch. Dive in, the water’s fine! And never forget that if you come up with a solution to a critical need, it is likely to be so powerful that the new employer builds a team around you with wizards who understand the subject matter of your weakness better than you ever will. A drive-by self study could be all that is required.

C. Opportunities—Temporarily on hold.  You are just now in the first stage of a multi stage exercise that is all about spotting your opportunities and closing on that one deal for the best job in the best location.  When you have completed the ten stages, this sector will have been solved. The reason why we are proceeding with the exercise without your knowledge of the “Opportunities” is because of the value of knowing your strengths, weaknesses and threats as we proceed.

D. Threats — What threats do you see against your success? These tend to be external because the internal threats to your progress have already been identified in the section on “weaknesses.” These items are often things over which you have no control. However, you can avoid circumstances that would be most vulnerable to a threat that actually pops up. Here are some possibilities:
1.) Recession—when the economy tanks, it’s not easy to sell much of anything.
2.) Competition—this could threaten the products you have mastered.  Competitors will steal your consumers/customers and your employer’s sales will go “poof.”  What happens if you cannot generate enough revenues to swamp your costs?  You look around fast for a place to land, hopefully with the same enterprise.
3.) Technical obsolescence—yes, your product could be bypassed but in these industrial times, mastery of one product that has been sideswiped by another is nearly always loaded with tools and contacts with which to return the “favor” with an even newer product.  As the old Apostles Creed mentioned, there are the quick and there are the dead.
4.) Poor health—keep up the exercise, lose the weight, and dump the bad habits.  How often do you need to hear that?
5.) Financial problems at new employer—this is why you go to trade shows, join trade association committees, and keep business cards. Network. Network. Network. Just leap to a winner when the time is right.

3. Essay

Jot down a quick essay on who you are. What is your personality?  What are your strong points, how can you enhance your arsenal of strengths, what weaknesses need to be avoided or conquered, and what threats do you foresee?  What, briefly, is your plan to conquer weaknesses?  In sum, who ARE you?  

Bunker Busting:  Write the essay. Honest. Don’t slough it off. The writing effort will be powerful reinforcement. Have your spouse or someone really close to you edit it — they’ll often add or soften things that you believe about yourself.  Address the stuff that is missing because it’s almost automatic that a void in your background will be used against you — unless you come up with something so powerful that your weakness will be overcome by other team members. Think.

The next stage:  Occupations

Copyright © 2005 Thomas Kerns McKnight