brip blap» career

a bird in hand, or two in the bush…

Steve — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:31 +0000

OK, think fast: two jobs. One pays $50,000 this year; it will have a steady raise keeping pace with inflation (more or less) for the next 20 years, but there will be no spectacular bumps up. The other job pays $15,000 this year. In 10 years it might give you the experience to make $100,000 per year – or, if you haven’t done that well, it might pay you $15,000.

What do you do?

I would argue this is at the core of your personality for many reasons. If I told you that I would give you $5 straight out, or we could flip a coin and heads you’d get $10 or tails you’d get $0, what would you choose? Investing works the same way: conventional thinking tells us that index fund investing is the way to go. You can’t beat the market! Hang in there – there has never been a 15 year period where the market didn’t go up! Be average – hope for the swelling tide to lift you along with the rest of humanity! Bet on the sure thing – take the $5!

So what does that tell you? Do you want to make money now or make money later? Would you take a job for free today with the promise of making more tomorrow? Or do you want cash in hand, thank you very much? Honestly, both are legitimate arguments. I’ve turned down two jobs in investment banking because they were bonus-based compensation and I knew that even though they might be worth 150% of what I was making from contracting, they also might be worth 70% of what I was making. You know what? That’s weak thinking.

Risk taking is fundamental for wealth building. I’m sure Warren Buffet would argue that he doesn’t take any risks: he studies exhaustively and then invests without concern because he’s done his homework. My grandfather did awfully well (until 2000) in the stock market, too, although he certainly didn’t have access to the type of research that WB does. It’s possible to take some measured risks and achieve success as long as your definition of success doesn’t mean being the wealthiest man (or woman) in the world.

I want to make money in the future. I’ve set up my lifestyle to make money in the future. I claim to want money in the present so I can retire now, but I spend a lot of time talking about making it now and coasting along on a decent contracting income without building my investments aggressively or a business or even my own knowledge (which deteriorates every day).

Here is the question: what’s the main thing you need to do? Invest better? Build a business? Or just continue to slowly build income and plow your increasing income – through maintaining your standard of living and putting the excess into savings – into slowly building wealth? One of my favorite reads is was Get Rich Slowly (I don’t feel it’s worth reading anymore), but do I want to get rich slowly? Depends on how slowly you mean…

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Control Your Financial Destiny – Be Your Own Boss

Guest Writer — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:30:37 +0000

Most people are concerned about money. If you aren’t a millionaire, you are most likely part of this group. Money – we never seem to have enough of it and are always looking at ways to spend less of it.

For the average person, the concept of taking control of their financial destiny consists of little more than having a 401(k) at a job they most likely don’t care too much for. Few people take true control of their financial destiny.

One way to have greater control over how much money you have is to be an entrepreneur. While not the right option for many (if not most) people, being your own boss has been the key to financial security for a large group of people. If you are looking for a way out of the grind of your 9-to-5, you might consider being your own boss. While the risks involved are many, the potential payout is exponentially greater than anything most people will ever see working for the man.

Below are some pros and cons of being an entrepreneur:

Pros to Being Your Own Boss

It is easier to get a raise when you are in control versus being an employee.
Your entrepreneurial success is generally tied to how hard you work. When working as an employee, most times your hard work is not recognized. Employees that work hard are rewarded the same as those that do the bare minimum to get by.
There is no greater freedom from being your own boss, having the ability to do what you want, when you want, without someone telling you what to do.
The upside has a huge potential. If you are a successful entrepreneur, you can have huge financial gains that are beyond the imagination of the typical employee.

Cons to Being Your Own Boss

No certainty that you will succeed. As a matter of fact, most small businesses fail in the first 5 years.
Uncertain income can lead to a great deal of stress.
Most likely, you will have to put in a lot of time and effort before you see any results. A successful outcome is never guaranteed, even if you put in the time and effort.
You deal with everything, good and bad, which is something most employees don’t have to worry about.
You never really get away from your business. Even when you are on vacation, you are the person in charge.

Never As Easy As It Seems

Being a successful business owner is a lot of hard work. Period. Don’t believe anybody who tells you otherwise. There is no such a thing as getting rich overnight as your own boss.

Most people are not cut out to work for themselves. Most people should be employees, working for someone else. But, for the fortunate few that take the risks and become a successful entrepreneur, the potential payoffs are worth the pain it took to get there.

Take Control of Your Financial Destiny

While you are clipping your coupons and shopping for the best deal to try to stretch your dollars, just keep in mind that there may be another answer for you. Maybe you should take some time and consider if being an entrepreneur might be something that would be a good fit for you. Fortunately, you can explore your options while you keep your day job. You can even get your feet wet while you continue to work for the man, though doing so will be equivalent to working two full-time jobs, at the very least.

Entrepreneurs control their financial destiny. They don’t spend their time clipping coupons or shopping for a deal. They spend their time building a business that will give them the financial freedom they yearn for and deserve.

You have the choice if you want to be an employee or if you want to be the boss. Choose wisely, as the decision you make will greatly impact your financial future.

About the Author:

Guest post by Marshall Davis of Business Service Reviews, a website that reviews products and services that help entrepreneurs start, grow and maintain successful small businesses. His new interview series, Talking Small Biz, will shed some light on how different entrepreneurs are finding success in their chosen field.

Photo Some rights reserved by buddawiggi

3 Things I Wish I Was Told As A College Freshman

Guest Writer — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:00:55 +0000

Today’s guest post comes from Jenny. In her own words: “I am currently a junior in college and living in New York City. Going through the job recruitment process now has made me reflect a lot on the past 3 years of my life. Here are some things I wish I had been told on day one:”

Pick a major you love, not necessarily one that is related to the career you think you want.

There is a very simple reason for this: if the subject is something you enjoy learning, you will inevitably be good at it and that will lead to a high GPA. From experience, I can say that GPA has been the very first factor used by both large and mid-size firms when screening applicants’ resumes and thus is a deciding factor in landing your first internships and full-time jobs. It is to your dual advantage to have a high GPA while studying what you enjoy.

But what if I am a biology major and want to go into the financial services industry, you ask - shouldn’t I major in economics or finance? Not at all.

See, with all of the competition in today’s job market, companies have grown to love the “story hires”. These are people who have a story as to why they have decided to change their career path or explore other options and that makes them more interesting to employers and well-rounded as individuals. I know for a fact there are people working at one of the top investment banks on Wall Street right now who actually have medical degrees and used to be surgeons.

You can major in whatever you want, as long as you are able to talk about “transferrable skills” you acquired along the way that are relevant to the job.

Have a 5-Year Plan.

Although this is not Soviet Russia under Stalin, it is important to have an idea about what the next 5 years of your life will look like. I was blind-sided when my junior year of college rolled around, summer internship recruitment season was in full swing, and all of sudden all of the interviewers expected me to know exactly what location, what division and what group I want to work in. I felt like I had to decide the rest of my life in just 2 weeks.

Very often when young adults start college, they are advised that they should use this time (all 4 years) to explore. Though I am in no way against this, I do believe that “exploring” should be done in a specific direction. Because at the end of those 4 years, everyone will want the same thing: a job to start their career. The people who have done the research, know what to expect, and have a clearer sense of the direction of their career are in a much better position.

Take a few minutes to plan what classes to take when, which school clubs may be good to get involved in, and start talking to upperclassmen about their experiences so you know what to expect.

Start Talking to Upperclassmen About Their Experiences

Upperclassmen are a seriously under-valued and untapped resource for underclassmen. These are people who were just recently in your shoes and have survived it unscathed and that much wiser. Why not ask them about it?

A lot of times first-year (and second year) students are intimidated by upperclassmen and tend to shy away from interaction, let alone asking for advice. I remember I used to think upperclassmen were so much smarter and so busy that they could not possibly relate to me. Well, with time I have learned that all it takes is some courage to ask a question and the rest works out. You would be surprised how incredibly willing people are to give advice if you just ask for it.

I recently adopted a freshman buddy in this way. I was at an event and this girl sat down next to me, we started talking, and she later asked for my telephone number so that she may call me if she needs advice. I gladly gave it to her and now she texts me whenever she has questions.

The next time you’re in class, at a club meeting, sporting event or a company presentation, approach an upperclassman and ask a question. They were in your shoes just a year or two ago and can give you so much information about the right classes, professors, clubs, and internships that you would never be able to find on Google.

Jenny is a undergradute finance major attending college in New York and a first-time contributor on brip blap.

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the cost of commuting

Steve — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:00:03 +0000

Click image to enlarge

Via: Streamline Refinance - the stats above were compiled courtesy of Mr. Money Mustache.

are you selling your life to your employer?

Steve — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:00:15 +0000

When I was a young buck, fresh out of accounting MBA school, I had a prestigious job working for one of the (at the time) six biggest accounting firms in the world. It was a small office, but it was the second biggest of the six in the city I lived in at the time. It was a well-respected firm and I was lauded by my school, friends, family and peers for landing a position there. The future was so bright, I had to wear green accountant’s eyeshades.

If you aren’t familiar with the work-life structure of the big accounting firms, a little background is in order. I’ll refer to them as the Big 4 (today there are four – during my professional career one has disappeared – Andersen – and two have merged). In the Big 4, the corporate culture is up-or-out. What does that mean? Nobody remains in static positions. There are three basic levels: staff, manager and partner. Staff and managers have a number of subdivisions, but a new joiner will progress, inevitably from junior staff to senior staff to junior manager to senior manager to junior partner to senior partner. You either get promoted on schedule or you are pressured to leave… or fired.

Everyone works hard in the Big 4. I have worked until 6 am, showered and gone back to work. I have worked week after week, 12-14 hour days every day including Saturdays and Sundays. The deadlines are unmissable and the pressure is enormous. The staff and seniors are typically devoted to no more than a few clients at once, and they have very little discretion in which clients and which areas they work. Managers have more latitude, but typically take on far more responsibility. They are responsible for training, mentoring, reviewing and organizing the staff on the project, and at the same time they must manage the clients’ expectations, pursue collections and billings and meet firm expectations on landing new business. Partners’ responsibilities are intense; mistakes on their part can destroy the firm. They must be technically proficient in accounting principles, “rainmakers” and office leaders. The days of the cheerfully drunk partner who shows up for golf and cocktails are long, long gone.

Staff and managers work exceptionally hard, though. I had a decent salary compared to my peers but I also worked 100 hour work weeks. My hourly wage was approximately $9 per hour as a staff person. Babysitters in New Jersey typically demand a minimum of $10 per hour. By the time I was a manager things weren’t much better – when I jumped to private industry I received a huge pay raise for nothing other than getting out of the grind. Had I stayed until I was a partner, I would have received a partnership income in the (I guess, depending on the market and a million variables) range of a quarter million per year. Retirement at 50 would have been achievable with a partner’s pension. I always knew I didn’t want to stick around to make partner. My intention was to stay two years then bolt – but then I stayed another – and another – and the next thing you knew I realized I was facing a big choice.

The Big 4 payoff is like a lottery, like many other industries – consulting, financial services, you name it. You make partner, you get rewarded for those awful hours and those long busy seasons. If you leave before then, you have been suckered. You gave up a lot of hours at minimum wage to build someone else’s firm; someone else’s client relationships; someone else’s partnership share. I spent years toiling at an awful salary to strengthen my firm and enrich the partners.

Don’t work like this for an employer.

I regret those hours now. I have a good consulting gig, don’t get me wrong. Leaving at 6 pm is a late day for me. I have few responsibilities and very little pressure. But if I had taken my 20s and poured those 100 hour work weeks into my own business, or even a small firm where I could have shared in the growth, I would have benefited enormously – more than just having a six-figure salary. I do have a fearsome resume to show for it; people in my field generally know what it means to have been in the offices and firms and fields and industries I was in, and it makes a difference in landing consulting jobs now. But I built no assets for me.

So the point is this: if you are working insane hours, stop and figure out your hourly wage. Stop and ask yourself: if I quit today, or I quit 3 years from now, will my resume look much different? Am I building something for someone else or for myself? It may be that you’re happy with your position as an employee – but if you’re working past the 9 to 5, you’re donating your irreplacable time – YOUR LIFE - to your employer, free of charge. That’s an awful nice present. Think about whether you’re happy giving it. You could probably spend a lot of those spare hours – which can never be replaced – doing a lot of things for yourself.

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how to succeed at work

Steve — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:00:13 +0000

Years ago, after a month of unemployment when I was, for all intents and purposes, a professional writer I found that I started to miss my corporate consulting gig. I missed the contemplative time I had during my long commute. I missed the fear I felt as I walked into the lobby, past heavily armed police officers with assault weapons. I missed the early morning routine of standing in line before being run through a gauntlet of metal detectors and passing not one but three security checkpoints. The bitter instant coffee. The fluorescent lights! And the meetings, oh the meetings!

That’s enough sarcasm for one post. I started missing the big checks, but it took a while. If nothing else during that time period I saved $400+ on commuting costs a month. I got my final load of dry cleaned clothes from the cleaners, and I didn’t need to buy my lunch once because I’d been too lazy to pack one the night before. I had more time to spend with my kids and for the first time in years I’d actually slept until 7:00 am (until Little Buddy careened into our bedroom). I’d managed to start exercising again – albeit not on a regular schedule yet – and at that point I would have called unemployment an unqualified success.

You only need two things to succeed at your job. It doesn’t matter if your job is working retail, corporate consulting or even just being a stay-at-home parent. Everyone has “a job.” The vogue these days (at least in most of the blogs I read, which are a bit of a self-reinforcing bunch) seems to be to look down on jobs. I have written my fair share of articles expressing that view. Yet everyone has a job. Some people are luckier than others: their job pays more, or allows more free time or comes closer to the definition of an avocation than it does to the definition of a job.

The two things you need to succeed at your job are:

the basic skills necessary for the job: You can’t be a plumber if you don’t know how to unclog a drain. You can’t be a lawyer if you can’t pass the bar. But you CAN be a good consultant if you can solve problems and present that solution clearly. You can do many jobs quite well with just the basic skills necessary for that job. If you can clear that minimum threshold with your skills, you can succeed… if you also have thing #2.
a (net) enjoyment for what you’re doing: Forgive me for being an accountant. The idea of net enjoyment is probably peculiar to an accountant, but it’s an accurate description of a basic condition: the positives outweigh the negatives. Every undertaking in the world, be it a corporate job, an entrepreneurial endeavor or a family picnic has SOME positives and SOME negatives. The balance in one direction or the other is often quite clear, but sometimes it is close to balancing. The trick is to understand those close-to-balancing situations. Are you in a position, work-wise, where the positives outweigh the negatives? If not, do you see that situation reversing itself in the future? And if not, when are you quitting? Every day you have to make that assessment, considering the long tail of your work over the last few years, or even over your entire life – has it been, net, a good undertaking?

If you don’t have the basic skills for a job (be honest with yourself, but chances are you do since you’re doing it already), or you don’t have a net enjoyment for what you’re doing, I don’t think you’re going to get far. People who are highly skilled but hate their jobs don’t get far. People who are incompetent and love their jobs don’t get far, either. People who are moderately skilled and like what they do for a living can often do quite well. I don’t think they will be millionaires, necessarily, but they should be successful at that undertaking. Make sure you can assess your own skills, and your TRUE level of enjoyment for your work, and you’ll be able to make an accurate judgment as to whether you’ll succeed eventually – or not.

photo credit: Chovee

Steve Jobs wouldn’t hire Steve Jobs

Steve — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:00:39 +0000

Here’s an absolutely fantastic career/work idea I got via This Week in Tech: Steve Jobs would not have hired Steve Jobs. There are multiple reasons.

Steve Jobs wouldn’t have wanted to go to work for a big corporation like Apple. He was an entrepreneur.
A strong CEO like Steve Jobs wouldn’t have wanted to hire someone like Steve Jobs who wanted the #1 job. He wanted to be firmly in control.
People wouldn’t have wanted to work with someone like Steve Jobs, because he would have been too focused on becoming the #1 guy.

The list could go on. I thought the point was brilliant. On This Week in Tech they were discussing whether there was a guy like Jobs at Apple and they pointed out – quite rightly – that there most likely couldn’t be a guy like Jobs at Apple. That kind of guy would exist outside Apple. He wouldn’t want to be part of Apple – he’d want to be part of a small startup.

Here’s a relevant point: after Walt Disney died, the Disney corporation spent decades trying to do “what Walt would’ve done.” Guess what? They couldn’t figure it out, and nothing good ever came of that thought process. Eventually Disney reinvented itself as a media company that had – as a side business – some of Disney’s theme park/animation business.

This could be applied to almost anyone: are you a startup person, or a corporate power-struggle person? There are skill sets suited to both, and reasons to be proud of both, but they don’t overlap at all. The kind of skills that make someone successful in their own business don’t make someone successful in a large corporation – they can actually hurt. And a corporate employee might be lost as a small business owner.

I don’t like Apple, to be honest, but I admire Steve Jobs: not as a “visionary” but as businessman and a marketer. He figured out how to sell a product and sell it well. He was not a visionary like Ted Hoff or Steve Wozniak, who actually INVENTED personal computers. He was a master marketer. But marketing is a large part of making a product come alive, and how companies succeed. Understanding why Steve Jobs wouldn’t hire Steve Jobs is a good way to understand how companies transcend the marketplace and become exceptional. Companies don’t hire entrepreneurs or innovators: they hire good workers.

Photo Some rights reserved by Annie Bannanie 06

how I became Russian

Steve — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:00:32 +0000

Patrick, of Cash Money Life fame long ago tagged me to give my best financial move in college. I posted this long ago, but it’s worth reposting. How I came to become a Russophile is an interesting story – I think.

(me, in St. Petersburg, circa 1997)

Learning an “exotic” foreign language, and how it changed my life.

If you read this blog, you probably know that I’m a Russophile. I lived in Moscow for several years, I can read/write/speak Russian fairly comfortably and my wife is Russian. Even more: I have been interested in Russian long before I “knew” Russian or Russia. Key the computer geek theme music: I mentioned that I was a finalist in the International Science Fair: I wrote, in Basic on a Tandy Color Computer with a cassette-tape drive, a very primitive artificial intelligence program that reliably translated English into Russian, grammatically correct. I even had to develop the Cyrillic font. I did all of this after buying a Russian grammar book at a public library for $.10 and using it to set it up – I didn’t know Russian at all. Pat, pat, pat on the back, Steve. Score one for geeky computer boy. The US Army liked my program, gave me a commendation and took the code. What happened with it after that, I dunno.

Anyway, after the ISF my interest in Russian waned. I always joke that my ancestry is German with a little German mixed in. Even though the Original Blap Ancestor ventured to the new world in the 16th century, my paternal ancestors clung to German ways and traditions and language. And I mean they clung. To the best of my knowledge, my dad was probably part of the first generation of Blaps to speak English at home rather than German. So in high school and college I had a strong motivation to take German, and I did. I loved it. I had a great teacher, and I spent a summer semester in Germany as an exchange student. To this day I speak, read and understand German quite well.

But I always liked foreign languages in general. I took French and Latin as well and decided in my sophomore year that Japanese would be a good challenge. Keep in mind that this was the mid-80s: Japan appeared to be well on its way to becoming the dominant economic power of the 21st century. We know now, in retrospect, that Japan’s economy tripped and stumbled and has never really recovered, and China and India are now careening past it, but at the time it seemed that Japan might become an economic superpower at a minimum and THE economic superpower if everything fell right.

I decided to take Japanese. It was a new course at the University of Mississippi, where I went to school (yes, we had Japanese courses in Mississippi) – only one class was offered. So on registration day I woke up and strolled over to the registrar only to find that it had filled up in minutes and no slots were available. I was disappointed, but I still wanted to take a language. I thought Spanish might be useful, but boring (I didn’t care for French when I learned it – romance languages don’t appeal to me). I skipped through the catalog until I saw Russian and remembered my little project at the ISF four years earlier. And best of all, it was at 10 am so I could sleep late – back in college I had yet to discover the benefits of waking up early.

Russian was fantastic. The teacher was a guy straight out of PhD school, passionate about the subject and the culture. He invited his students to his home, showed us Russian movies, introduced us to actual Russians (quite the novelty in the Deep South in the 80s, let me tell you – we were in the midst of the cold war and that was amazing) and managed to get Russian food. I loved the intellectual challenge of the language – a different alphabet but more importantly a language completely removed from the European languages’ interrelationships.

So why was this a good financial move? I’ve already mentioned it in 8 steps to a six figure career, but here it is in a nutshell: it gives you instant credibility as a smart person (deserved or not). Employers and contacts and almost everyone I meet expresses shock that I can speak Russian, read it and write it. I don’t think it demonstrates much intelligence, personally. Language acquisition is more of an inborn skill, I think. But I do think that learning Russian demonstrated some intellectual curiosity and the fact that I stuck with it indicates some intellectual discipline. I have benefited hugely in my career from knowing Russian. It meant that I was plucked out of obscurity as a junior staff member of a Big 6 (now 4) accounting firm and hurled into the middle of the mid-90s Russian economic explosion. It opened up opportunities I would never have had as just another staff person.

But that’s not the biggest part of it. Without developing my Russian skills I wouldn’t have met, pursued and married my wife. Maybe if I had taken Japanese I would have lived in Japan, developed a fondness for all things Japanese. Hard to say. But I do know that the decision to learn Russian set in motion the life process that brought me to where I am today: with a wife who is focused on the same things I am, personally and financially. So that’s actually the single biggest reason why that was a great financial move.

So what was your best move?

we are all consultants now

Steve — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:00:22 +0000

In trying to understand the way jobs are evolving, particularly for white collar professions, I find two phrases quite useful:

We are all between job searches.
All jobs are now contract consulting jobs.

“Whoa, wait a minute!” you might exclaim. “I have a steady job! I’ve been there for 5 years, and I’m a full-time employee with a load of benefits! There’s no way I could consider myself as a contract consultant, and I don’t plan to search for a new job anytime soon!” Well, I have news for you are: you should, and you will.

We are all between job searches

The average person born in the later years of the baby boom held 10.8 jobs from age 18 to age 42. according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. That’s people a little bit older than my age group (I’m early Gen X). The rates are even higher for milllenials. So think about that: the average person changes jobs approximately every two years. That’s the average, which means that many people change jobs more frequently than that. Even if we discount the “can’t hold a job” types, it’s a safe bet to make that most people will change jobs within the next few years.

Anecdotally, I’ve met a number of people who worked for a company for 30 years who suddenly find themselves back in the hunt due to downsizing, sale of the company, mergers, etc. It’s simply unrealistic to assume that with today’s rapid changes in technology, high unemployment and global competition that employers will be loyal to older, higher-salaried employees. They won’t be. So even if you’ve held that job for years, there’s someone there who will do it cheaper, and maybe better.

All jobs are now contract consulting jobs

This is a point I’ve heard made by a lot of career coaches. It’s not so much that structurally we are all contract consultants. I happen to be a contract consultant, which means I lack a lot of the benefits of an employee: I don’t get medical insurance partially paid for by an employer, I don’t have 401(k) matching funds, I don’t have vacation time and I don’t get a company car. I do get time and half pay for overtime, a much more flexible schedule and I get paid substantially more than my full-time colleagues, meaning I can take care of those other ‘lacks’ with the far greater gross salary I get. But the benefits are just a smoke screen, and easy access to them is one way employers try to distract you from the reality of your job: you are not in business for your employer; you have to think of yourself as being in business for yourself, even if (especially if!) you are a full-time employee.
My average contract runs about 9 months to a year. As we noted above, the average employee changes jobs every two years. Do you think the need to define yourself as a ‘brand’ isn’t important if you change jobs? You need to create the same selling proposition if you’re an employee that a consultant does. You aren’t someone who can afford to latch onto one good company and then throw yourself into that company’s business to the exclusion of your own career. You need to network and sell just as aggressively as a consultant. Nobody has the time to take time off from preparing for the next job anymore. I’ve seen it happen too often: people who get comfortable at a job and let their network fall apart. They don’t stay abreast of changes in their industry. They don’t think about keeping an eye out for the next job, and then WHAM! Here comes a downsizing after the company missed earnings in the latest quarter.

Conclusion: Always think two steps ahead

It’s said about great chess players that their greatest ability is the ability to think multiple moves ahead. A grand master isn’t looking at her opponent’s move and reacting to that: she’s looking at that move, her move, her opponent’s potential counter moves and so on for 7-8 moves into the future. That’s how you need to think about your job. Don’t just find “the next job” – think about how that could position you for the next job. Think how it’s going to look on a resume five years from now. And don’t think you won’t move on. You will. I’d be willing to bet that almost no-one who’s an employee reading this post who is less than 40 years old will retire working for their current company. But I am willing to bet that anyone who learns these new paradigms (1. We are all between job searches and 2. All jobs are now contract consulting jobs) will prosper in the challenging job markets in the years ahead.

the best time to start a new job search? today

Steve — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:00:26 +0000

How is this for your dream job? Awful, boring, mundane work, lots of travel to uninteresting box buildings located in bland office parks, pay that’s not competitive, poor benefits, long hours and uncomfortable, privacy-obliterating cubicles that smell like Windex. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? Piling on further, though, let’s throw in a few broken promises for promotions and raises. Top it all off with a boss who dislikes you. He doesn’t invite you in his office, he doesn’t ask you to meetings and routinely complains about your work to you and your co-workers. I can’t imagine a scenario that would be much more dehumanizing, but what’s truly depressing about it is how so many people endure this office-of-horrors for weeks, months or years without trying to change it.

I’m not talking about leaving corporate life for a blissful career as a social media guru or cheerful organic tomato farmer. I’m not talking about stalking through the cube farm with an AK as a solution, either. I’m just talking about taking a stab at another job for a minor increase in happiness. I see people lower their heads and return glumly to work after being dismissed, humiliated and almost broken every day. I tend to get a lot of miserable employees complaining to me about their situations (since I’m not an employee, I’m “safe” to talk to). When the picture gets as grim as described above, the conversation almost always plays out like one of those dream sequences in which you watch the monster running towards you, but your feet remain planted in concrete – something terrible is coming, but it’s inescapable:

Glumkins: “I hate my job, I hate everything about it.”
Me: “Too bad. You can’t transfer or anything like that?”
Glumkins: “No, I’d need help from my boss.”
Me: “Well, life is short and it’s not worth putting up with a situation like this forever. Maybe you should think about quitting.”
Glumkins: “No! The economy is terrible! Plus I have a mortgage/2.3 kids/credit card debt/a new car payment/etc.”
Me: “Yeah, but since you’ve been looking for a new job for a while, you’re bound to have some leads…”
Glumkins: “I’ve been MEANING to start looking, but I’m just so busy – plus it’s hard to interview, my resume is outdated, I have this big project here…”
Me: “You hate your job, your boss hates you, you have no future and in all likelihood you’ll be the first head on a platter when the layoffs come… and you aren’t actively looking for a new job?”
Glumkins: “But nobody’s hiring!”
Me: “Nobody’s breaking into your home at night while you’re watching American Idol and offering you a job, if that’s what you mean.”

Why is it that people wait for a good time to look for new work? Why, if you were in a terrible job like the one I’ve described above, would you worry about how “difficult” it might be to sneak away for an interview? Why would you give a second’s thought to trying to stick it out?

I suppose an optimistic person might hope for their boss to quit and Sandra Bullock to swoop in and become the chirpy, best-buddy boss in a romantic comedy. Yep. That happens almost everyday, according to the movies. When I see employees stuck in a dead end job, I feel badly. I try to help by offering advice or encouragement. When I see the same employee sit on their hands month after month without looking for a new job – but talking on the phone about last night’s episode of CSI – I want to knock the stupid out of them.

If you aren’t keeping a What-I-Done-Did file, start now. Update your resume. Sign up for LinkedIn. Get on Twitter (and yes, I’m getting as tired as everyone else of oh-so-important-Twitter but hey, if you can’t beat ‘em…). And most importantly, start looking! One of the worst feelings you can have related to your career is a sense of powerlessness – a lack of choice. If nothing else, a job search gives you back a tiny bit of control and forcefeeds a drop of hope into your system.

We all know Milton from Office Space. We all laugh at him, but sit back and look in the mirror. If you skip washing your hair for a few days, dress like a doofus and mumble a bit, could you fit the part? I could. But if so, go grab that red stapler and flee for the hills as soon as you can.

would YOU take a pay cut?

Steve — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:00:26 +0000

In discussing contract consulting rates with two recruiters in the past, I was forced to face an interesting question – is a recession the time we should be willing to accept reduced rates (or salaries)? Can you justify making 66.67% of what you once made, just to keep making money? Or is it better to grit your teeth and keep searching for – at least – pay equal to your previous position?

This question first of all depends on whether you’re in a position to weather a long downturn. If you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck, this question is answered with a resounding “yes.” If you have some money set aside, you may be able to hold out longer for a better rate.

But what about taking that lower rate when you move on to the next job? Do you think the excuse that “it was just a filler” or “I just needed to keep working” will work to explain the pay cut to the NEXT company you work for? Do you think the next company will bump you back up?

And what about titles, or responsibilities? Does it appeal to you to work your way back up the line? For most people it is not desirable if avoidable. Nobody wants to be the 40-year old supervised by a 23-year old. No-one.

It’s not always easy. I know plenty of people who, for one reason or another, have had to make the decision to scale back in their careers, either salary-wise or responsibility-wise (or both). People do it out of fear or desperation or sometimes simply out of a desire to work, no matter what the level. It’s admirable if it’s done out of a position of self-confidence or honor, and heartbreaking if it’s done out of desperation.

Many people may see this as an analytical question: should you accept an X% reduction in pay during economic hard times? I think this is a question that can only be answered by the individual in each case – what is your balance of pride versus need to work versus will to work? Can you be effective knowing you’re working as hard (or harder) for less? Can you make do? In the end, it’s not something a career blog or a coach can help you with; you need to know whether you can handle the reduction, and live with the consequences.

photo credit: Libertinus

my life up in the air

Steve — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:00:16 +0000

I’ve written about this before, but digging through my files I found my schedule from the early 2000s on a European business trip. The headlong hectic nature of the trip is almost unbelievable to me today.

Sunday

evening: Depart from New York, headed to Frankfurt.

Monday

morning (German time): Arrive in Frankfurt, go to hotel, shower up, work a 10 hour day.
evening: out late for drinks with colleague from Frankfurt office, don’t make it to sleep until 2 am-ish.

Tuesday:

morning, afternoon: meetings with Frankfurt colleagues; separate off-site meeting with consultants
evening: fly to Paris

Wednesday:

morning and afternoon: meetings, meetings, meetings
evening: fly to Istanbul

Thursday:

morning: meetings at consultant offices, quick lunch with partners and managers before heading off to local office
afternoon, evening: on-site meetings with local office, carried on into dinner

Friday:

12 hour day; mercifully left alone for the evening

Saturday:

work, both at consultant’s offices and in my hotel; a mere 7 hour day

Sunday:

day off, flew to Warsaw in evening

Monday:

meetings with Warsaw office in the morning
in the afternoon, met with officers from the Moscow office who happen to be in Warsaw – schedule meeting in Moscow in a month

Tuesday:

morning, fly to Bucharest; spend day at work (approximately 10 hours)
evening in local sports bar (befriending Romanian bartender named Magdalena), moving on to a casino

Wednesday:

14 hour day at the local Bucharest office; return to local sports bar where said Magdalena provides far too many free glasses of tuica.

Thursday:

take 14 hour connecting flight from Bucharest to New York wishing tuica were not so strong. Preparing reports and memos for most of flight back.

Friday:

Back at work at corporate headquarters in New York.

That’s 5 international cities in 10 business days (12 days total). Most of the days tended to include approximately 14 hours worth of “work”. That might mean 4 hours of meetings, 4 hours of email/calls to New York HQ, and 4 hours of report writing either in the office or in the hotel room (2 hours of “other”, natch). I usually took a break for 2-3 hours starting at 7 or 8 for a trip to the hotel bars (which tended to be quite fun, filled with other business travelers and local cheerful bartenders and waitresses), then return to my room for another 2 hours of work before collapsing. I saved the drudge work for those last two hours – updating my assistant on travel plans, filing expense report info, dealing with the non-technical emails, formatting reports (gotta get the TPS just right).

I contrast this with my schedule now:

Monday: leave for work at 8, home at 6.
Tuesday: leave for work at 8, home at 6.
Wednesday: leave for work at 8, home at 6.
Thursday: leave for work at 8, home at 6.
Friday: leave for work at 8, home at 5:30 (skip out early).

I look back and think that my previous schedule was certainly glamorous from outward appearances. I was the very definition of a jet-setting businessman. I had an American Express Corporate Card and no limits on spending. The horrific demands of traveling (physical, mental and emotional) meant that the company was willing to make every single last creature comfort available, because otherwise people just wouldn’t do it. I didn’t mind so much because I was single (and likely to stay so, with my “2 weeks in New York, 2 weeks overseas” schedule. I never understood how the people who were married with kids tolerated it. Now that I’m married with two kids, I couldn’t tolerate it. I don’t even vaguely understand how it could work, although I know married guys with kids who do it.

So if you’ve ever wondered what a big-shot corporate international travel itinerary looks like, voila.

photo Some rights reserved by viZZZual.com

is it a good idea to be a consultant?

Steve — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:00:01 +0000

I don’t think anyone can prove this, but there’s probably a rising prejudice against the job description “consultant”. The reason is that as long-term unemployment becomes more and more common amongst professionals, many of them have started calling themselves consultants during their unemployed tenure. They don’t actually consult – they have no clients, they have no portfolio and what they really want is simply to be able to call themselves anything but unemployed. Is it fair for Human Resources departments to almost automatically flag people with the “consultant” title as “probably just an unemployed person who didn’t wish to label themselves as unemployed?”

It’s easy to take up both sides of this argument. One, anyone can call themselves a consultant. In a society in which you need permission to label yourself a person who administers health care to birds, it’s amazing that anyone can present themselves as an expert in a field in which they may have no expertise at all. I could advertise myself as an “expert Excel consultant” tomorrow and there’s no chance my state or country would blink an eye. If I proclaimed myself an expert accountant (CPA) or expert tooth extractor (DDS) I’d have state agencies knocking at my door tomorrow. It’s not fair that anyone be able to label themselves as a consultant – that word should imply some recognized expertise.

On the other hand, why not? I’m expert at many things, in my own opinion: I’m a decent writer, I’m quite good implementing, training and using several internal audit software packages, I’m a good trainer (in multiple languages) and I am better than many in the use of Excel and Access. Shouldn’t that give me the right to call myself an expert? A consultant? A coach? Whatever the term, why can’t I offer myself up and let my skills speak for themselves?

I think it’s a disservice to the title “consultant” that so many people these days grab on to that moniker the second they are unemployed. HR departments are justified in assuming that many consultants are simply unemployed people who hang that title around their necks once they lose a job. I sympathize – simply labeling yourself as “unemployed for 6 months” is much worse, of course, than labeling yourself as an “up-and-coming consultant” over that time period. But I would recommend that anyone who calls themselves a consultant be ready with a few things when coming to an HR department:

A portfolio. Anyone can prepare a portfolio, of course. But the simple fact that you prepared it means you’ve put at least that much effort into it. If you don’t have a portfolio – be it online, hard copy or even just a well-constructed LinkedIn profile – you’re not a serious consultant, and nobody will take you seriously.
References. If you don’t have at least 2 or 3 former supervisors or past consulting clients who can enthusiastically vouch for your work, I wouldn’t hire you as a consultant. A consultant lives and dies off the quality of their past work. I’ve hired consultants solely off of recommendations from colleagues and acquaintances I’ve trusted, and I’ve rejected consultants who couldn’t provide those references. It’s quite simple: consultants with references thrive; consultants without references die.
Proof. If you don’t have a portfolio and your don’t have references, what do you do? Have proof. Be able to back up your skills. If you claim to be an expert in Access, ask for permission to demonstrate it. If you know SAP backwards and forwards, show it. Don’t claim to have expertise in an area you don’t know. But be ready to show total command of any area an employer/client is looking for: have an idea how to amaze them ready to go. Certification is a great help here, too. If you can show certification in an area, you’re well along to convincing an HR department that you’re qualified to provide services.

It’s not an easy thing to tell people you’re good enough to fix things. I’ve been doing it since 2005, full-time. I’ve sold to Wall Street and the Fortune 500. It’s hard to convince smart people you’re going to bring something to the table they don’t have. They don’t like to hear that. But the simple fact is that if you’re going to present yourself as the mystical “consultant” you have to bring that little bit extra. You have to sell, you have to convince, and most of all … you have to DO. Consultants have a narrow margin for error. Employees can blame politics and teams and all kinds of things, but a consultant – especially a standalone consultant – has to show results, and soon. Don’t worry about the unemployed who call themselves consultants – distinguish yourself through your portfolio, references and proof and you’ll be on your way to a six-figure career in no time.

Photo Some rights reserved by markhillary

the job as identity

Steve — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:00:42 +0000

I’ve known a number of retired and unemployed people in my life, and each one of them has said that after the initial euphoria of sleeping late and avoiding surly bosses that they’ve struggled with a number of issues. These include the obvious financial impact, but also finding a schedule or a pace to daily life, dealing with reduced interaction with others and – most importantly – a sudden realization that they’ve lost part of their identity.

I’ve read the observation in more than one blog/book/newspaper that a reasonable and common conversation starter in America is “what are you?” meaning “what is your profession?” In many Western cultures, but particularly in America, what you DO is a large part of your identity. Other people can form instant judgments and like to categorize you by your profession. Professors are tweedy, calm lecturers. Wall Street bankers are high-powered, intense and stressed. Construction workers are sexist, self-reliant and tough. The problem is, of course, that the construction worker might be a fan of Shakespeare and the professor might enjoy watching an occasional boxing match. A person’s profession doesn’t define them to themselves, but it does define them to others.

Yet your profession does define you. I wrote about feeling liberated when I said I was a writer back in 2008. That changed a lot of what I thought about myself. But then we moved to a new city, and I immediately began working as a consultant and returned to my previous life, a corporate 9-to-5er. That redefined me as a certain type of person. What type? I’m not sure, but certainly not a writer – a free spirit, a person unregulated by schedules. I do not create in the way I imagine I could. So once again, my job is shaping me.

I know some people are crushed by the lack of identity when they lose their job. It (the job) meant a lot, far past the monetary gain. My neighbor back in New Jersey seemed crushed by losing his marketing job. The job represented HIM. He was a marketing guy. I know plenty of people who search for identity and realize that outside of the context of a job, it’s hard to find. I’ve found it difficult when I’ve been between clients. I flinched the first time I had to say that I was unemployed after the financial crisis in 2008. I even flinched the first time I said I was self-employed. It’s not part of my mindset; I have never thought of myself as a self-employed person. I was a senior manager, a manager, a supervisor, a Wall Street consultant – a professional.

But the reconstruction of identity, separate from a job, is a critical part of the unemployment process, or the retirement years. I know that for me to become a writer (or whatever else I want to become) I would have to think of myself in those terms. I can’t think of myself as a consultant; I would have to think of myself as a gainfully self-employed writer. I like to think that would make me much happier. But at least for the time being my identity is still caught up in my job rather than in my aspirations.

Whether or not your career should mean something about your identity, it is a critical part of who we are and what we strive for. For many people, what they “do” – their job – is not enough. We want to be defined by what we hope to achieve in this life. Determining what – if anything – we can achieve is the first step to understanding whether our job is a part of that achievement, or merely a sideshow.

photo credit: chantrybee

Corporate coffee cost cutting

Steve — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 02:04:02 +0000

Over the course of my audit and consulting careers I have worked in a number of different office environments. I have worked in polished-steel and black marble floored high rises in Manhattan. I have worked in banks, in suburban office parks and in drab skyscraper cubicle farms. I have worked in hotels, in family-owned businesses and even once in a closet which had been converted to an office.

Most of these offices spaces shared one characteristic, which seems to be dying away: a coffee maker. I am not a huge coffee drinker, although I like coffee. I have a cup at home and maybe one more when I arrive at the office. However, I have recently cut back on my one cup at work and drink tea I buy at the supermarket instead. Why? Because in the last 4-5 years I have noticed that coffee makers are disappearing.

There may be a number of reasons, first among them safety hazards. But I think the root problem might be a horribly misguided corporate cost-cutting effort. I think most corporations look at a coffee machine and think:

We must be spending a fortune on Maxwell House!
How much does all of that filtered water cost?
Think of how much it costs to replace a coffee machine once every decade – it might be $25 or more!
Think of how much time we lose when employees meet at the coffee machine and chit chat while pouring milk, adding sugar and stirring!!

Three of the last four corporate offices I’ve worked in did not offer coffee. One had a horrific machine that dribbled out some instant powder and then some hot water to make some swill. One served Starbucks coffee, brewed with filtered water and changed out by the office staff once per hour to keep it from getting burnt or stale. And two simply had no coffee available except in the company cafeteria on a different floor.

So how much is keeping a coffee machine on each floor costing the company? At the company where Starbucks was provided, I would linger occassionally talking to someone at the machine, sure, but usually I walked over, got a cup, and was back at my desk in 2 minutes holding a nice, pleasant cup of coffee. It made me more enthusiastic about the work and the company (stupid, I know).

However, at the two companies offering nothing I had to go downstairs to the cafeteria, get some coffee that’s been sitting in one of these giant brew-pots for hours (so it’s too harsh) and pay approximately $1.50 for a small cup. I have to wait in line to pay, and the whole process probably takes 15 minutes or more. I am irritated at paying the money. I am irritated because if I want a splash of hot coffee to perk up my cup after it’s cold, I can’t. You don’t get the friendly hanging-around-the-coffee-pot chatter that’s one of the few bearable moments in most cube farms. And the company loses far more productive time from me.

I understand there may be safety concerns, but I doubt it. I see microwaves and hot water dispensers in break rooms. The technology is there to buy safety or timed coffeemakers.

Going outside the office isn’t an option – the nearest coffee shop is a 5 minute walk away so by the time you go out, wait, come back you’ve wasted even more time. Plus, I just don’t like going “off campus” because then I really feel obligated to go off the clock on my hourly rate. I know I should just switch to drinking tea (hot water is free, still) or water, but I really enjoy that morning cup of coffee.

So what do you think? Am I being unreasonable and whiny or are these corporations being penny wise, pound foolish?