Business, Interrupted

Omaha has gotten pounded by storms over the past few weeks. Last Thursday night, we had tornadoes and high winds. Sunday morning, I was awakened by tornado sirens at 2:30 a.m. (two tornadoes damaged the suburb areas of Omaha, causing $20 million in damage). And then on Wednesday night, we had more tornadoes (including a twister that killed four Boy Scouts at a training camp less than an hour north of the city), plus marble-sized hail, and enough rain to start a river running down my street.

Weather is an issue wherever you live. From earthquakes and wildfires in California to hurricanes in the South, to tornadoes in the Midwest, there's a high likelihood that sometime during the course of your business ownership, something will happen that will interrupt your business.

In Nebraska and in Iowa, saturated ground can't handle any more rain; flooding is already a problem.


A couple of years back, I wrote an article for Resume Writers' Digest about this subject. Rather than dig it out again, I'm just going to give you the highlights of what you should do to make sure you're protected.

• Make sure you have adequate insurance. You should have a separate business policy to cover yourself -- and it should include business interruption coverage. In the event of an extended event, it will replace some of your lost income. Make sure you also have adequate coverage for your business equipment. Some personal policies have a "cap" on the total amount of computers and similar equipment covered (could be as low as $2,000-$3,000). If that's the case, add a rider to your personal policy to increase your coverage.
• Inventory your home and office. Most people are unaware that if you have a claim -- especially an extensive one -- your insurance agent will need a list of all of your possessions, including purchase dates and serial numbers. Not only will having this information readily available increase the likelihood that you are reimbursed for everything you lost (who can remember everything you own in a time of disaster?), but it will also speed up processing of your claim. I recommend hiring a member of the National Association of Home Inventory Professionals to do this. (Otherwise, it's one of those items on your to-do list that you "always meant to" get around to, but didn't.) Make sure you keep a copy of your inventory offsite too (mail it to a friend who doesn't live near you, or a relative). Keep it updated -- check it at least every six months and add new purchases.
  
• Back it up. This is another subject I've talked about before -- and honestly, I'm not as good about it as I should be. So make it automatic! Subscribe to an online service that offers automatic backup capabilities. For the stuff that can't be backed up online automatically, make it a habit to back that up on the first day of each month. And be sure to keep a copy of your backup offsite!! It will do you no good to have a backup in your basement if it floods and everything is destroyed.
  
• Buddy up. I've talked about this concept before in terms of having a professional will, but it's also vital in an emergency. Partner up with a colleague in another part of the country who would be able to take your calls and handle new business and projects while you're in recovery mode. Keep an emergency list of contacts, including your buddy and the phone number (and passwords) you'd need to transfer your phone service and give your colleague access to your e-mail and website.

No one likes to think about this kind of disaster affecting your life -- but if you're in business long enough, it's inevitable. In the past week alone, we've dealt with wind damage and power losses. In the past, an ice storm knocked out our power for 12 days.

So take a cue from the Boy Scouts -- and BE PREPARED!

Have You Been Critiqued by TheLadders?

There has been some controversy in the resume writing community lately as clients of a few resume writers have submitted their new resume to The Ladders for a free resume critique and come back to their resume writer with the feedback that the client's resume needs further help.

I received an e-mail from a member of the Career Management Alliance that TheLadders is concerned about this issue, and wants your feedback:

IF YOU'VE BEEN UNFAIRLY CRITIQUED…THELADDERS WANTS TO KNOW:

Daniel Cohen from TheLadders writes the following:

TheLadders.com is committed to providing the best possible services to our current and future members. We are equally committed to working to promote goodwill in the resume writing community.

If you feel your work has been unfairly critiqued please send an email to Daniel.Cohen@theladders.com. The following information, while not required, will allow him to investigate the matter and make sure that all necessary action is taken;

Please provide:
-Client name
-Client email address
-Copy of the resume you provided (so I can verify it is the same one sent in
for a critique)

If you are one of the resume writers involved, and you want to share (anonymously, of course) what the situation is ... call me at (402) 393-4600. I'll report the details, but will keep your specific information confidential.

World's Best Resume Writer (WBRW)

It's the ultimate bragging right: World's Best Resume Writer.

Career Directors International is launching a worldwide search for the "best of the best" -- the top three resume writers in the world with their new "World's Best Resume Writer" competition.

The contest is open to any English-writing resume writer in the world. You do not have to be a member of CDI to enter. The contest will be judged by a judges panel comprised of HR managers, senior recruiters, OD specialists, and several certified resume writers.

Unlike other resume writing contests -- including CDI's Toast of the Resume Industry (TORI) competition -- all entrants will be working from the same client information. You will receive a note file on a target client in the sales and sales management field.

Laura DeCarlo will be lead a free 30-minute Q&A call tomorrow, Tuesday, June 10 at Noon Eastern time. The conference dial in number is 651-715-3300. Your participant access code is 506334#.

The entry fee is $39.95 (one entry per person) and you'll receive a copy of the CDI Resume Writing Guide, a $39.95 value, with your entry.

Visit the CDI website for more information. The entry deadline is Nov. 1.

You can also read more information about this contest in the May/June issue of Resume Writers' Digest.

The Resume Addendum

At the NRWA conference in Scottsdale in 2006, the icebreaker at the pre-conference welcome party was a game where a resume term would be affixed to your back, and you'd have to ask other guests questions to see if you could identify what you were.

I was a "resume addendum," a document that I rarely produce (and wasn't able to guess in Scottsdale, despite some great clues from my husband and others).

But Friday, I saw a client situation that clearly called for a resume addendum. My client, Joe, is an executive with a 30-year work history. His early experience was in developing international markets -- in his words, he was "the guy that gets off the plane and sets up the company's office in Dubai." This was in the early to mid 1980s, mind you. He later became a guru in the world of franchising, creating the systems that sustained hundreds of franchise outlets for a couple of different franchise companies.

Joe came to me with the challenge of turning his bio (the only career document he had) into a resume -- actually, two resumes, at my suggestion. The first resume I created targeted franchisor systems development, where he'd spent the bulk of the last 20 years. The second was a chronological format that included his earlier international business experience.

Joe loved the first resume -- and got immediate, positive feedback on it from several recruiters and hiring managers, including a few outside the franchise field. And that led to a phone call in which he expressed his disappointment in the second, international-focused resume.

Upon further exploration, we initially came up with a solution to his major complaint: that his international experience was "buried" in the resume, since it was chronological in nature -- despite my highlighting the relevant experience in the Qualifications Profile.

My first thought was to make the second section of the resume (after the Qualifications Profile) into an "International Business Experience" section, minus the dates that would clearly who that this experience was almost as old as I am.

But in further conversation with Joe, I discovered that he really loved everything about his franchise resume -- he just wanted an extra page he could add on when he wanted to target a position using his international experience.

Aha! A situationg fit for a resume addendum! So this weekend, I'll be working to create a page that fits the formatting and style of the original franchise resume, but that highlights his early international business experience.

I'll let you know how it all works out ...