CAREERS NOW 01-31-07

Good Idea:Part-Time Work In Long-Term Jobs

DEAR JOYCE: Three years ago I co-founded a company with three other college-educated moms - 10 til 2. Totally Internet based, 10 til 2 is, to our knowledge, the nation's only long-term, part-time placement service. Our service specializes in placing college-educated professionals into ongoing part-time jobs.

Denver-based, we now have our corporate headquarters plus three franchise locations in Colorado and one franchise in Michigan. We are now franchising nationally ($20,000) and expect this year to place franchises in Texas, Georgia, Arizona and the Carolinas. We're moving slowly but steadily, doubling company revenue from $537,000 in 2005 to about $1 million last year.

Our original premise was to place college-educated moms in jobs that enabled them to take kids to the school bus in the morning and be there to pick them up from the bus in the afternoon. We've expanded to include any professional, including retirees seeking a less-stressful working situation, who have at least one year of college; sometimes a year of formal vocational-technical education can be substituted. Weekly hours work range from four to 35, 20 hours the norm.

Typical industries in the 10 til 2 database include administration, law, accounting/tax prep, Web development, consulting and insurance. Open jobs on the database in January are heavy on administrative support; others I noted: CPA, interior designer, graphic designer, paralegal, Web programmer, marketing coordinator, information technology technician and sales and marketing director.

The next time you write about part-time jobs, please include our service. - Liz Norwood, vice president of marketing, 10 til 2 Franchising, LLC, Denver

What a good idea! Reading the bios of the four founders on your Web site, www.tentiltwo.com, you creative thinkers turned your own needs into a solution for others seeking work-life balance. And as a group of founders, collectively you're a good fit, covering key bases with your accumulated business experience of at least 20 years each.

You, Liz, have advertising and marketing experience; Jill Ater, vice president of operations, worked in nonprofits; Jodi Olin, vice president of sales, has a sales background; and Heidi Crum, vice president of finance, is a CPA with substantial experience in accounting.

I looked over the range of job openings currently on your Web site and see your database currently is flush with openings for part-time people in administrative support. But other openings recruit for a business development director, CPA, interior designer, graphic designer, paralegal, senior accountant, Web programmer, marketing coordinator, software technician and sales and marketing director.

Hourly rates for current open 10 til 2 positions in Denver pay from $12 to $18, although many jobs have been filled in the $20 to $45 range. None offer benefits. Some can be done at home.

Finding part-time work outside the retail and restaurant industries is like rock-climbing without hands. You're on to something, 10 til 2. I'm pulling for you.

DEAR JOYCE: You've mentioned veterans finding jobs lately. What is the best online job site for veterans, in your opinion? - W.R.G.

For that answer I defer to an excellent resource for career advice and observations: Job-Hunt.org (job-hunt.org), which has just announced its pick for the year's best Web sites for job hunting. Editor Susan Joyce says that rather than hitting the "same old sites," this Job-Hunt.org award list offers a fresh look at the confusing maze of options. Among the key picks:

Best for Veterans: HireVetsFirst.gov. Best for Job Seekers Over 50: SeniorJobBank.org. Best Vertical Job Search Engine: Indeed.com. Best General Job Site: JobCentral.com. Best Personal/Job Networking Site: WorkMinistry.org. Best for Entry Level and College Students: CollegeJournal.com.

Joyce, who's been an online heavyweight since 1995, spots a trend for 2007: "Look for expanded person-to-person connections facilitated by sites such as Jobster, LinkedIn, H3, YorZ, Tutorlinker and Jigsaw."

DEAR JOYCE: Is it really such a big deal to turn off your cell phone in the reception area before a job interview? I understand the need for shutting it down during the job interview itself but the reception area? G.K.

What you do as you wait for an interview is not a private moment. The receptionist may be asked about your activities. This is the time when you should be doing your final mental preparation for the interview - if the job is important to you.

Recommendation: "I Can't Believe They Asked Me That! 110 Tips and Techniques to Quickly Prepare for a Tough Job Interview," a new book by Ron and Caryl Krannich, PhDs, published by Impact Publications (impactpublications.com; $17.95). The book covers lots of questions like yours and can give you a big boost in gliding over potential rough spots.

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