Author says don’t ask for a job, offer something of value.
By: George Frey
The "Princeton Management Consultants Guide to your New Job" by Niels Nielsen, founder of Princeton Management Consultants, shows readers how to start their new businesses.
New business? You’re thinking, "The book is supposed to be about finding a new job" and it is. The fact of the matter, says Mr. Nielsen, a Princeton Borough resident, is that people looking for a new job have to go into the business of themselves.
"How do you get better than the competition?" Mr. Nielsen asked the crowd of about 50 people who attended his book signing at the MarketFair Barnes & Noble in West Windsor Jan. 16.
"You have to become an interim entrepreneur. Instead of asking, offer a value and a service that’s good for the employer," said Mr. Nielsen, who is also the founder of JobSeekers, a local job search group.
"This is the same process that a start-up company goes through when the company is looking for money. This book shows you how to market yourself and approach your job hunting," Mr. Nielsen said. "If you change the company, you change the business model. You have to reinvent yourself time and time again."
The same holds true for the job search. The book outlines how those seeking jobs can succeed by treating their job search as a start-up business, and themselves as entrepreneurs.
"Princeton Management Consultants Guide to Your New Job" (John Wiley & Sons Inc., $16.95) describes how to set up shop, develop an entrepreneurial strategy, write a business plan, develop a catalog of services, define target markets and sales techniques, write advertising and sales plans, price and sell the services (you) and land the ideal job.
Mr. Nielsen knows about the re-invention of people and how they should sell themselves to companies. He’s encouraged more than 6,000 people who have passed through JobSeekers to find new jobs. The group, which has met at Trinity Church in Princeton since 1982, is the longest running job search group in the country, Mr. Nielsen said.
"Everything we do at JobSeekers, I outline in the book," he said.
In a later interview, Mr. Nielsen said the group has a special speaker one week, then the following meeting is a general discussion in which people can ask about the topics that interest them. The meetings also serve as a networking and support group.
"Don’t get discouraged," he said. "We show people how to work smarter."
A few years prior to founding JobSeekers, Mr. Nielsen started his principal business, Princeton Management Consultants, a firm that provides general management consulting, HR consulting, business and marketing strategy and start-up strategy consulting to a long list of area companies.
Before that, his career encompassed jobs at corporations like Massey Ferguson, Allis-Chalmers, Johnson & Johnson and J. C. Penny; experiences that have given him an in-depth understanding of how businesses work especially in the high-technology, manufacturing and service industries.
Is all that experience translating into book sales? "Barnes & Noble has already said it’s a hot seller," he said.
Others also are predicting success.
"I thought Mr. Nielsen was very on target," said Nancy Nicholson, the community relations manager with Barnes & Noble who arranged the signing.
"He was compassionate. Hosting hundreds of these, I get to see who’s altruistic. I saw that he truly wants to help people."
Ms. Nicholson said the book is well organized, easy to read and innovative.
"I agree with Mr. Nielsen that this book is not really for someone out for their first job. This is for the more seasoned and experienced business person looking for a job."
Mr. Neilsen’s book-sale success is bittersweet in a sense because it means a lot of people are still unemployed Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment rates are up 14 percent from last year in the executives, managers and professionals category. On a brighter note, the sales and clerical category rate is down about 2 percent, he said, but for the unemployed, the overall duration of unemployment is lengthening.
Mr. Nielsen is also the author of "Managing Human Resources: Forms and Reports," and has written numerous articles for periodicals like World at Work Journal, The Wall Street Journal’s CareerJournal.com and the Financial Post.
JobSeekers meetings are held every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Church, 33 Mercer St. in Princeton. The meetings are sponsored by the church as a public service and are free and open to the public. For information call (609) 924-2277.
For information about the book or Princeton Management Consultants, visit the Web site at www.pmcnielsen.com

