ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 30, 1997 TAG: 9703280042
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SEATTLE
SOURCE: SHANA McNALLY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bernard Haldane is one career counselor who practices what he preaches.
After a quarter-century in that occupation, he switched fields. Now a dozen years later, at age 85, he's still enjoying his second career.
Haldane runs Dependable Strengths Institute in Seattle, which counsels groups on such topics as effective teamwork and how to advance within a company.
``Because you are unique, there's something you are better at than everybody else,'' Haldane said, explaining his business philosophy.
School and work history are only part of a job-seeker's assets, Haldane believes, while innate qualities such as leadership, organization and a positive outlook are also valuable commodities.
Born in London in 1911, Haldane moved to New York as a young man to be near his sister. His plans to become a doctor were sidetracked when he discovered U.S. medical schools would not accept his British credentials.
He tried a variety of jobs before finding his calling by chance in 1945, when as associate editor of The New York Journal of Commerce he became involved in the Society for Advancement of Management, a local business organization.
The society organized a volunteer group called Executive Job Counseling Service to help military officers find work after World War II. Haldane was one of those who signed up.
Haldane found he liked helping people find jobs that made them feel productive and satisfied, and he had a knack for it. He wrote up the volunteer group's accomplishments in 1946. Excerpts were printed in various newspapers and magazines and eventually in the Harvard Business Review.
With encouragement, he founded Executive Job Counselors in 1947, adding executives and professionals to the ranks of potential clients. Haldane said newspapers balked when he first tried to place an ad for the company - one of the first in the new field of career counseling.
Today, Bernard Haldane & Associates, based in New York, has 75 field offices in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Haldane retired in 1974 - sort of. Since then, he's earned a doctorate in management and human behavior from California Pacific University in San Diego, and published ``Career Satisfaction and Success: A Guide to Job and Personal Freedom.''
JIST Works, an Indianapolis-based publisher that took over rights to the book in 1995, said 5,000 copies of the $15 book have been sold in the past two years. Haldane has revised the book twice, most recently in 1996, to reflect the changes facing job-seekers.
The book urges readers to think back over their lives and determine what they've repeatedly done well to find the best fit for their talents.
``It's important to get into what really turns you on, and people are not trained to do that. People need to be trained on how to bring out the best in themselves and how to build on it,'' he said.
Haldane moved to Seattle with his wife, Jean, in 1977, and seven years later started Dependable Strengths Institute, which offers two- to five-day courses at costs of $350 to $750 per person. Classes are taught by Haldane and a staff of 10 counselors.
James Hurd, minister of the Holgate Street Church of Christ in Seattle, recently went through a four-day workshop. He said he was hoping to find ways to apply the technique to the black community.
``It is based on the underlying principle that everyone has something to offer, although we're not always certain what that is. When we know our greatest strength, we can expect the best sense of satisfaction and accomplishment,'' he said.
``I found the process really does work,'' he said.
Jerald Forster, a professor at the University of Washington College of Education, has worked with Haldane for 10 years and applies some of the institute's principles in his own classes.
``The people who have participated in it report ... feeling more articulate about describing their best selves to other people. This results in greater self-confidence,'' Forster said.
Haldane also has served as a consultant for such organizations as Exxon, the YMCA, the Air Force and the U.S. Forest Service.
And he has no plans to retire.
``My work is largely my fun and my life,'' Haldane said. ``I feel I've really contributed to our society and really want to continue to do so.''
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Haldane. color.by CNB