Click image to enlarge Via: Streamline Refinance - the stats above were compiled courtesy of Mr. Money Mustache. Read more »
are you selling your life to your employer?
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 [...] Read more »
how to succeed at work
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 [...] Read more »
Steve Jobs wouldn’t hire Steve Jobs
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 [...] Read more »
how I became Russian
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 [...] Read more »
we are all consultants now
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 [...] Read more »
the best time to start a new job search? today
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 [...] Read more »
would YOU take a pay cut?
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 [...] Read more »
my life up in the air
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, [...] Read more »
is it a good idea to be a consultant?
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 [...] Read more »
the job as identity
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 [...] Read more »
Corporate coffee cost cutting
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 [...] Read more »