Ask the Business Coach Joyce K. Reynolds is an expert Business Coach who works with CEOs, Sr. Execs, entrepreneurs and countless others providing knowledge, solutions, motivation and support that assist her clientele in successfully meeting workplace challenges. Find out more about Joyce's coaching practice. Lack of Job Offers Question: What am I doing wrong? Am an award winning journalist who, as an American, spent a decade working for the British national media (no small feat). However, since returning home to the New York area, and searching for a full-time job since January, I'm getting nowhere. Final insult was to be offered a reporter job at my local Gannett paper for a token salary of $25,000....only to have that offer evaporate. I assume they found someone they could pay even less. Have other good, but low-paying, freelance work at the moment but miss the prestige and salary of my last full-time position which was in London. Eileen Answer: There's certainly nothing here that could be characterized as your doing anything wrong. And, your frustration at having reached such elevated career heights only to find yourself starting over is quite understandable but altogether common in our fluctuating job market and economy. Rather than falling victim to wanting things to be as you wish rather than as they really are, let's take a look at a few things that you can, in fact, change about your approach. First, I would suggest that you strengthen your resume by replacing phrases such as: 'comfortable working with rolling deadlines' with more empowered language such as 'particularly skilled in meeting rolling deadlines;' 'trained in' with 'expertise in'; 'And am covering news' with 'current responsibilities include.' In other words, formalize your resume and tighten up your language. It's also a good idea to bullet your accomplishments rather than present them in casual, paragraph form. As a journalist fully acquainted with the power of the written word, you will surely not be surprised to hear that one of the most effective ways to achieve your desires is to write out exactly what you want to have happen. Where you want to be. What you want to be doing there. Who you want to be working for. How much you want to be earning. Once these objectives are clearly detailed on paper, there's a much-improved chance of accomplishing all your targeted goals. Next - rather than taking the attitude that you're 'getting nowhere,' enduring the 'final insult' or - perhaps - very incorrectly assuming that companies not choosing you are finding 'someone they could pay even less' - put your skills to work writing a compelling cover letter that will make it impossible for an journalistic organization to pass you up - even at your price. That means identifying what a prospective employer might need, want or value in a new staff member - especially things that are, currently, noticeably absent. Fill in any such blanks with solutions that your being on staff would provide. Do so in a powerful, positive, diplomatic frame of mind. Eliminate - root and branch - any attitude of superiority or snobbery regarding your London experience as you present yourself for possible employment here in the U.S. Bring that side of your career over as a bonus rather than a belittlement of those who do not bring the same. If you portray yourself as confident of your capabilities, proud of your accomplishments to date and grateful for the opportunities you have had to gain your current expertise along with an obvious respect for the organization you are approaching, you will be far more convincing as a key addition to another 'prestigious' and well-paying organization. Charles Swindoll had it right, "The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life...It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do....I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes." Combine your obvious talents, credentials and skills with a respectful, cooperative and eager attitude, and you will soon find yourself in equal company. Also see: • Ask Joyce your workplace questions • More questions • One-on-one business coaching Disclaimer: The information in this column is intended to provide the reader with general ideas or concepts to be used as part of a broader base of knowledge they collect to determine their own best course of action and solutions most suitable for solving their workplace challenges. The information in this column is not guaranteed to be the appropriate solution for each individual.