Category Archives: Attitude

Giving your way into a job.

Posted on April 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

Do you know how hard it is to get an administrative job with a symphony orchestra?

A symphony administrator told me how to do it.  A woman called him and asked for a job.  He said, “I can’t hire you, there is no budget.”

That’s not the end of the story.  She said, “I’ll work for you for free.”  It was a wage he could afford.  She did a great job for 3 months and went back to school.  What do you think will happen when she applies for her next job and has experience and great references? 

You can’t afford to work for free.  Not forever, anyway.  Can you do it for a few hours or days?  Over the weekend?  Helping people out of a bind is a great way to network your way into a job.  They will feel compelled to let others know how much you helped them.  In the programming and computer networking field it is a very common way to work yourself into a company.

I can point to specific examples where this worked for accountants, secretaries, company presidents, salespeople, office managers and more.  These were jobs worth anywhere from $6/hour to $250,000/year. These people all helped someone who mentioned they were snowed under with work.  After a few hours they offered to come in the next day.  After 2 days they said they’d help out the next weekend.  The boss, owner or chairman of the board heard about it and hired the person.

If you are unemployed, what’s the damage?  If you have a job, why not spend some of your evening and weekend time helping out with something you don’t normally do?  I know people who got promoted because they came in a few extra hours to their regular job to help their boss out on the boss’s project.

————————-

Something To Do Today

Do you know someone who needs help?  Seize the opportunity.  Go on in and see if you can help.

Tomorrow:     Giving 30 seconds away can get you a job too

Leave a comment

Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Followup, Networking, Perseverance

Tagged , ,

I Really Saw A Crab Do What People Do

Posted on March 24, 2014 | Leave a comment

Our family had stopped for lunch on a pretty little beach in Hawaii.  A family was there fishing.  The father was throwing a net and had some crab pots out.  The kids were fishing with a stick and a hook.  They invited us to join them.

Eventually the crab pots were brought in.  There were 3 crabs in the pots.  The dad grabbed the crabs with his bare hands and plopped them in a bucket.  I was 9 years old at the time and I remember telling all the adults that those crabs were going to get out.  I was scared.  They showed me how a crab can grab a stick with those claws.

One crab did get part way out once.  An adult came over and knocked it back in.  Other than that once, it was never a problem. You see crabs won’t let another crab get above them.  They pull them back down into the bucket. 

As a recruiter I’ve interviewed a lot of people who are like those crabs.  They complain about how unfair things are.  I can get lists of offenses they have suffered at work.  I can also get ingenious methods of retaliation they used.  They concentrate more on what they want than how to help the business make a bigger profit.  They expect someone to appoint them to lead and for everyone to meekly do as they say. 

Frank Fox told me, “Leadership is 90% seized and 10% granted.”    I’d say opportunity is also 90% seized and 10% granted.  Networks?  90% seized and 10% granted.

————————-

Something To Do Today

Look at your work group, church, friends, etc.  Who always decides where the group is going for lunch?  Who picks what you are going to do?

Who decides where you will meet?  How do they seize that control?  Write down some thoughts in your job journal.

——————–

For a few days:      How to network at the top.

Creating networks

Seizing opportunities

How natural leaders do it even if they have no titles.

Leave a comment

Posted in Attitude, Focus, Networking

Tagged

How to get $50,000 more than your coworker

Posted on February 21, 2014 | Leave a comment

I talked to a network technician who is supervising a few others.  He is earning just over $100,000 in salary.   The techs under him are stuck at $50,000 to $65,000 in salary.

So what’s the difference?  He knows what is valuable to his company.  Every week his job reviews always include a list of the ways he made money, saved money or speeded things up.  His resume is a list of the same things—his value to his company.  He knows how much money the guys on his team make for, or save, the company.  He knows how fast things used to get done and how fast they get done now.  He knows the retail price of every piece of software and hardware he buys and he shows how much his negotiations saved off that price.  He proves to his boss and puts on his resume exactly how often the network used to be down compared to today.  He also gives how much more it used to cost when 200 unionized assembly line workers stood around for half an hour each week waiting for the network to get fixed.

His current and past jobs are his most valuable assets.  Each year he gets $50,000 more than his coworkers.  Why?  Because he proves he is worth it every week.  He keeps his eye on what will make the biggest financial difference and tackles that problem.  The funny thing is that he definitely is not the best person technically on his team.  He’s the one who tackles and gets credit for the most valuable accomplishments.

Yesterday I asked you to make a list of things you did in each job that PROVE your will to succeed, your positive attitude and your desire to constantly improve.  Now that you have that list, here’s the next step.

————————-

Something To Do Today

You need to prove how valuable you are.  How do you compare to others doing the same job?  Prove it with solid numbers.  Have you improved a process? How much time does it save every day for how many people?  Do you do something faster than someone else? What does that translate into saved time and money over a month or year?  Have you brought in more work or new customers?  How much is that business worth in a year? Put down solid numbers.  Make good guesses if you aren’t sure.  Remember that 200 people saving ten minutes a day is worth a lot of money.  Estimate how much it is.

Next week I’ll show you how to make this list of successes bring you a lot more money.

Leave a comment

Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude

Your Most Valuable Assets

Posted on February 20, 2014 | Leave a comment

This true story directly applies to your job search. The heir apparent of a large family company was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Africa by his brothers. As a slave he rose to be the president of a large privately owned company. Then, falsely accused of a crime he was imprisoned. In prison he soon became the deputy warden, running the whole place. Eventually his hard work was recognized and Joseph became second only to the pharaoh of Egypt. Finally, his brothers who originally sold him into slavery came and went to work for him. Tumultuous? Yes. Fun? Not really. Slave and prison were terrible jobs. Two assets were used in every situation to create a third asset.

  1. His will to succeed. His attitude. His desire to constantly improve.
  2. His current job, no matter how bad it was.

Those two assets were used to create a third asset. 3. A great reputation. If you are still employed and want to find a new job, your current job is a valuable asset. If you are unemployed your previous job, part-time job and your job search (your current job) are valuable assets.

————————-

Something To Do Today Take your resume and make a list of things you did in each job that PROVE your will to succeed, your positive attitude and your desire to constantly improve. Tomorrow I’ll give you a way to leverage that information.

Leave a comment

Posted in Attitude, Perseverance

What can I do to double my income?

Posted on January 30, 2014 | Leave a comment

Here is the truth no politician, few economists, few teachers want to tell people, and that few people want to hear: certain jobs are only worth a certain, maximum number of dollars per hour, whether you’ve been there doing it for one year, ten years, or thirty years. Longevity does not necessarily merit more money because the individual’s length of time on the job does not necessarily increase the real value of getting that job done. (Dan Kennedy)

Many helpdesk people would be happy to get their income up to $35,000 per year. They are doing a helpdesk job that requires a few months of education and some ability with computers. 

I am doing a search for a helpdesk person who will earn $75,000.  If I can find the right person, they will be hired in 2 weeks.  There will be no quibbling about the salary.  It really is just a helpdesk job.  But this job requires experience setting up security between servers and applications.  This helpdesk person is going to be helping experts. 

I know CPA’s who are Controllers earning $45,000 per year and others earning $250,000 per year.  Some of those $45K Controllers work longer hours than the ones earning $250K.

The difference is that the people earning less are easy to replace. They have prepared themselves only so much, and demand only a little from their jobs and themselves.  Those earning the big bucks have taken risks, educated themselves, taken responsibility, and proven that they will make or save a lot of money for their company.  

How you double your income is to prepare yourself for a job where you will be hard to replace.  And you will have to be willing to change jobs, if not companies. You have to become a people person and a problem solver.  If someone believes you will make them $4,000,000 in profit this year, they will pay you a $250,000 salary without blinking.  If you work for a company with total revenue of $250,000, you couldn’t possibly be worth that much in salary.  If you can be replaced by a smart person with a month’s worth of training, you will probably earn less than $40K, no matter how good you are.

You can double your income.  I have seen it done in one or two years by people earning $20K and $100K.  It took, training, people skills, hard work, focus on what’s important, and earning or saving their company a lot of money.

Leave a comment

Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Negotiating, Promotions, Raises, Time management

Tagged , , ,

Can you outlive a job at an evil company?

Posted on January 16, 2014 | Leave a comment

Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will.  And outlive the bastards. (Lois McMaster Bujold)

I know two accountants who were in leading positions when something went wrong: fraud.  Both did exactly the right thing.  Both had to pay a price.  Both will recover.  The folks who were actually at fault are ruined.

One accountant didn’t like the basic morals of the company leaders.  He quit.  Two years later massive fraud was discovered.  He got out because he didn’t like the feel of the place.  Because the fraud started under his rule he was investigated.  He had done everything right, but his reputation was still blackened by association.  He’ll be fine in five years.  If he had stayed, it would take a lot longer even if he was not at fault.

The other accountant discovered massive fraud at his company.  His bosses were doing it.  He took a briefcase full of evidence and his lawyer to the Feds. Some of the bad guys went to jail. A year after the leadership was replaced, he was fired.  It took him a year to get a job and five years to clean up his reputation.

Both men guarded their honor.  Their reputation was sullied for a while, but they did outlive the bastards.

There is always time to do what is right, to be honorable.  Your reputation may suffer for a while, but you’ll recover.  It is worth quitting if the morals of your company are questionable.  It is never wrong to turn in your company for breaking the law.

Something To Do Today            

Do what is right, let the consequence follow.

————————–

Later:  We’ll see.

Leave a comment

Posted in Attitude, Quitting or Fired

Tagged , ,

Beat the job boards – 4 ways to get a call

Posted on January 8, 2014 | Leave a comment

How do you get people to pay attention to your resume when there are 100 others just like it?

You can’t.  You have to be different.

The best way to be different is to be obviously well qualified.  Another great way is to prove, not just say, that you have a great attitude.  You can also solve their problems.  Being bizarre even occasionally works.

1. Being Bizarre

Unless there is substance behind your resume, being bizarre just gets your resume trashed.  So, try bizarre for fun and personal entertainment. Try the others for results.

2. Solve Their Problems

Most managers hire someone because they have a problem.  If the first two bullet points under your current job prove you can solve the manager’s problem, you’ll get an interview.  You figure out that problem by reading the ad, and also by calling up and asking.  You can call Human Resources, or you can call and ask for the “Manager Of Computer Systems”. If you can find out the real problem, prove you have already solved it for someone else.  Make it impossible to miss the fact that you can solve his problem.

3. Prove You Have A Great Attitude

How did you help lead the team?  In what ways were you provably the best?  How was your attendance?  You need to figure out how to show that everywhere you go the teams work better.  Don’t just say, “Everyone works better when I am around”, say “When I joined the team turnover dropped from 60% to 10% per year.”

4. Be Obviously Well Qualified

Prove you have done that job very well in the past.  Don’t say, “Worked on the Accounts Receivable team.”  Instead say, “Highest collections rate on the Accounts Receivable team.

You need to prove that you should be hired.  You also have to make it impossible to miss that fact.

Something To Do Today            

Call up a company about a job you know they have open.  Ask for the manager of that area.  No matter who answers the phone, ask why the job is open and what problem the person hired will solve.

————————–                                    

Later: Beat the job boards – beating hundreds

Now to get past the human filter

Leave a comment

Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Finding jobs, Job Boards

Tagged , ,

How to deal with absolute idiots, bosses, and 6 year olds

Posted on December 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

Into everyone’s life comes people who just don’t get it.  There is even a chance that you will be that person for someone else at some time.  The fact is, no one sets out to be an idiot.  They are always well intentioned, they just don’t get it.  So how do you deal with an absolute idiot? What if he’s your boss?

Pretend he is 6.

How do you deal with a 6 year old?  If they are not causing any real trouble you just smile and ignore them.  Sure, you correct them occasionally, but you let them mature until they understand something about life.  Smile and enjoy it.  You don’t spread malicious gossip.  Why should you?  They are only 6 after all.

And what if the 6 year old just gets too annoying? Do you gossip behind his back? Do you shoot him for target practice?  No.  You give him chores.  If you can, you give him chores that will educate him and make him less of an idiot. Otherwise you just have him do a lot of things that need to be done.  That gets him out of your hair, and gets things done.  In the end he may even learn that if he is annoying, he gets more chores to do.

If that 6 year old is destroying property or reputation, you take him aside tell him to stop, and tell him what the consequences are if he doesn’t stop.  Then you follow through.  He may consider it a threat.  You should just consider it a statement of fact. You essentially tell a 6 year old, “I love you too much to let you do that.”

What if the 6 year old isn’t yours?  Then you politely draw boundaries with the kid.  If the kid goes past them, you rudely let him know. You call his mom if he won’t cooperate.

Can you do that to your boss?

What if the idiot is your boss?  Same thing.  I mean, do the same things.

Sometimes you just have to smile at your boss and let him go about doing whatever he wants.  If he is doing something destructive, give him chores – try to help him see that there are things he can do that will help, or at least won’t slow people down.

If your boss is destroying property or reputation, take him aside and tell him what the consequences are if he doesn’t stop.  Are you telling his boss?  Leaving the company? Asking for a transfer?  Let your boss know that what he is doing is absolutely unacceptable and you will not allow him to continue doing it.  Be prepared in case he fires you.  Think about it, if your boss is damaging your reputation, won’t you be better off looking for a new job?

Of course there is always the final way to get rid of an idiot.  Move.  Get a new job or a new house.  Maybe you should try the other things I mentioned first. Treat the idiots in your life like a 6 year old.  It will preserve your mental health.

Something To Do Today

Don’t get mad at idiots.  Get an attitude change.  Look at them as really big 6 year olds.

————————–

Later: Did you notice that job boards are mostly ads by agencies?

Leave a comment

Posted in Attitude, management, Quitting or Fired

Tagged , ,

Proof you are really good at getting the job

Posted on December 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

When you don’t get a particular job, sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and think about past successes.

Very few jobs are awarded to the only candidate considered.  In most situations, even internal promotions, at least 3 candidates are considered.  For the majority of outside hires more than 10 resumes are reviewed.  You never have a chance of getting the job.  But somehow, you eventually win.

Look at your current or last  job.  Who were the competitors? Why did you win? See! You are good at getting the job.

Now look at the next job you want to have.  What can you do today to give yourself the winning edge over the other candidates?

Goals can be used to give you that winning edge in an impossible competition.  Yesterday I talked to someone who spent $6000 last year to finish his degree while working full time.  Now he not only can win the jobs he looked at more easily, but he can look at a whole new level of jobs.

Set a goal to give yourself an unfair advantage in you next career move.

The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser — in case you thought optimism was dead.  (Robert Brault)

Something To Do Today

Figure out when you can spend some time with your goals every day.  Just sitting with a pen and paper for 15 minutes each day can change your life if you are thinking about where you want to go.

Make sure the goals will give you a tangible advantage in your career.

————————–

Have a great New Year.

Leave a comment

Posted in Attitude, Focus, Perseverance, Time management

Tagged , , , ,

The most common bad career goal

Posted on December 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

The only thing worse than not reaching your goal, is reaching it.

The most common bad career goal

As a recruiter I talk to some people who are miserable that they reached their career goals.  Of course I also talk to those who have reached their goals and are loving it, so they set new ones.  What’s the difference?  Setting the right goals. What is the most common career goal?  I do/do not want to be a manager.

It is a terrible thing to climb the ladder of success, and find out it is leaning against the wrong wall.

I want to be a manager

This is the biggest misery making goal I see.  As a programmer, accountant, salesperson, or engineer you get to regularly do something concrete.  You can see what you did.  It is obvious.  Managers often work a whole week resolving problems and dealing with emotional issues.  At the end of the week, they often cannot point to a single thing they really accomplished.  When someone quits, it is their fault and their responsibility to fix the problem.  Then someone else quits.  They also feel isolated from their coworkers. Managers have to discipline, give raises, and fire people.  It gets lonely at the top.

It can also be the perfect job.  Some people thrive as managers.  If you want to be a manager find out if you will like it.  Lead some projects.  Lead a team.  Reflect on what it will really be like if you no longer “get your hands dirty”.  Ever.

I want out of management

It’s funny that this too is a common bad career goal.  Be honest, do you really want to get back to the daily production grind, or is your current position the problem.  Sometimes you have to change what you are doing, change your boss, or change your company.  If you loved management in the past and did well, but you are no longer allowed to succeed, getting back to a production job isn’t the solution.  Figure out what else must change, and change that.

Being a manager can be great if it fits your personality and you are in the right place.  Before you get out of management, make sure you should be out.  You can volunteer for a project leader job where you go back to work in the trenches for a while.  Get your hands dirty in a temporary assignment to see if that is what you really should be doing.

Be careful that you set goals you will be happy with. See if you can try out that promotion or production job before you take it full time.

Something To Do Today

Figure out when you can spend some time with your goals every day.  Just sitting with a pen and paper for 15 minutes each day can change your life if you are thinking about where you want to go.  Figure out how to try out your goals.

————————-

Have a great New Year.

Leave a comment

Posted in Attitude, Focus, Raises, talent

Tagged , , ,