Category Archives: Promotions

How to get that job they don’t want to give you or don’t have

Posted on May 14, 2014 | Leave a comment

You may get a job by thorough persistence.  Don’t be pestilential and persistent, be pleasant, nice and thoroughly persistent.  Let me demonstrate.

My daughter Merrilee has Down Syndrome.  Her IQ is 43.  She has a lot of advantages over job seekers with down syndrome.  Job seekers with down syndrome accept what happens to them fatalistically.  My daughter with Down Syndrome got an extra half chromosome that makes it impossible for her to be fatalistic.  For example:

Merrilee loves cartoon videos.  We limited the time she spends watching them.  We locked them in the boys’ room so she couldn’t get them.  Yet she showed up with a cartoon video in her hand while I was at the computer or reading and handed it to me almost every day.

How did she get the video?  She knew that eventually one of her brothers would leave the door unlocked or the key down where she could get it.  She checked the door several times a day.  Not obsessively, just whenever she went by their room.

She can’t talk clearly, but I knew when she handed me a video that she wanted me to play it.  She gave it to me when I was busy so I wouldn’t go upstairs to lock the room.  I would hand it back and say, put it on the TV stand.  She did.   10 or 20 minutes later she brought another.  This went on until I played a video for her or put the videos away and locked the boys’ door.

She is how you should be in your job search. If I tell her, “No,” she’ll be back.  If I lock the boys’ door, she’ll be back.  She’s gentle and loving.  She’s quietly persistent.  She’s not unreasonable.  I want to help her.  She does what I ask when I tell her to put the video on the TV stand.

A job seeker with down syndrome sadly lacks Merrilee’s gentle persistence. Job seekers who feel down, just give up at the first, “No.”  There may not be a job today, but there might literally be one tomorrow.

Be persistent.  Don’t give up on the job or promotion you want.  Figure out how to gently and kindly get your qualifications before the decision maker.  Be reasonable, persistent, helpful and nice.  Take your resume to HR every time they ask.  Ask what you can do to qualify for and get the job.  Then do what they say.  After a month or two, try again.

If you make yourself qualified and have a great attitude, eventually someone will leave the door unlocked.  Someone will quit or the department will expand.  If you are kindly persistent and not irritatingly pestilent, you’ll have a great shot at the job.

You can’t have the blessing of the extra half chromosome that Merrilee has.  However, you can develop her persistence, love and patience.

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.  The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.  (Coolidge)

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Something To Do Today

Is there a promotion you really want?  Are there companies you really want to work for?  Go to your job journal and write a plan for getting what you want by being persistent in a nice way.  Decide how often you can try again.  Set appointments on your calendar to try again.

Tomorrow:  Down Syndrome vs down syndrome part 2

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

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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.

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

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How to be sure of your career direction. Can you?

Posted on January 27, 2014 | Leave a comment

It can be difficult if not impossible to know where your career should go.  It’s not that you can’t pick a direction, it is making sure it is the right direction.  You may climb the career ladder of success, only to find out it is leaning against the wrong wall.

Here is a great article on how to figure out where you should go.

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Posted in Focus, management, Perseverance, Promotions, Quitting or Fired

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What will happen in this summer’s recession

Posted on January 14, 2014 | Leave a comment

I expect there to be a minor recession this summer.  We will be out of it before the year ends.

Three things will surely happen to companies in the next recession:

  1. Companies will have layoffs and close.
  2. A lot of people will retire.
  3. Musical chairs will become the biggest game in corporate America.

In a recession, companies close down divisions and lay off people.  Many will offer early retirement to their older and more expensive workers.  A lot of those retirees will decide to really retire.

I saw one estimate that half the US workforce is over 60 right now. I’m suspicious of that number.  However, there are a lot of people who will retire and won’t look for another job.  They are highly skilled.  Someone has to take their place.  Prepare now and you will find the coming decade to have incredible possibilities.  There will be more openings at high levels in companies than there have ever been in the history of America.

Take advantage of the future retirements.  In your company and division decide who is going to retire in the next 3 years.  Someone will fill their job, and then a domino effect will happen.  It will look like musical chairs as everyone scrambles to fill open seats created by the guy who just got promoted.  Musical chairs in the corporation is going to be incredible.  Prepare now and position yourself.

There is no such thing as luck. There is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe.  (Robert Heinlein)   

Something To Do Today

 

Figure out who will be retiring where you work.  How can you take advantage of it?

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Later:  Some jobs give you a bad reputation, no matter how good you are.

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Posted in Economy, Promotions

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What a big house or a great job costs

Posted on January 10, 2014 | Leave a comment

I was at a gorgeous house.  It had radiant heating, an indoor basketball court and swimming pool, wonderful view, and enough room for anyone’s desires.  I loved it.  The hosts were generous and kind.  Then I decided to tally up the cost of owning a house like that.  My estimate is $24,000 per month without mortgage payments.  Owning that great house had a price tag that I can’t ever see myself paying.

Last week I also talked with people in jobs that paid $100,000 – $250,000 per year.  They are wonderful jobs.  Nice offices, private secretaries, authority over others, and a sweet lifestyle come with the jobs.  They are leading financial and accounting people. 

There is a price those people pay.  First is education and certification.  Then comes an apprenticeship with 60-90 hour weeks for months at a time during peak seasons.  Without that apprenticeship with the “right” companies, they would be earning half of what they are.  The “right” companies now means choosing from 4 major CPA firms and toiling there for at least 4 years.

With all that hard work, we still need to mention another 5-20 years of always putting in 50+ hours per week. There is a very high price for those jobs, and there is high pay. Many people try to get around the education, certification, and apprenticeship.  Notably, a few people make it without those exact experiences.  But those who get around it are either obviously geniuses, or have worked even more to rise from obscurity to notoriety than the path I outlined would have taken.

If there is a high and mighty job you want, there is also a price to be paid for it.  Go ahead, get that job.  As you earn that job, make sure that you always understand the price of the next step or two in your progression.

Both a big house and a great job have fine rewards.  They also have their own unique costs.  It can be worth it.  Is it worth it for you?

Something To Do Today            

Invite to lunch a person who has the job you want. Ask them about the price they paid in the past and they price they pay now for that job.

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Later:  What may happen in the next recession

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Posted in Focus, management, Perseverance, Promotions, Raises, talent, Time management

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How to get your pay above $125K

Posted on December 6, 2013 | Leave a comment

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)

I talked in depth with salespeople earning over $200,000 per year.  I asked, “How did you get into the position where you won’t even consider taking a base salary under $100,000?”

The answer is very simple he said, “It is all in how you position yourself.”

I talk with accountants, programmers, managers, salespeople, engineers, and others every day who would never take less than $100K.  Others doing similar jobs can’t conceive of earning over $40K.

The difference is that the well paid people are always trying to develop the skills and experiences that are rare.  One salesman said, “I’m highly paid because of who I can get in to see.  I can talk to people in research laboratories and CFO’s of companies all across America.  I know how to get their attention and sell to them.  In Philadelphia there are thousands of salespeople who sell well in Philadelphia, but can’t or won’t sell in New York or Boston.  If you are competing with a thousand salespeople for that Philadelphia only job, guess what?  You may think you are worth $200K, but there are at least 500 other people willing to do it for $50K-$80K.  You will never get paid $200K because you have positioned yourself wrong.  Too many salespeople have positioned themselves to sell in Philadelphia for $50K.”

The same applies to computer programmers, managers, accountants, and even call center technicians.  I know a lot of people earning over $100K because they have looked at their business carefully for years.  They constantly ask, “Why is Joe earning more than me?  What jobs are paying big bucks?  What do I have to do to get there?”

First you need to position yourself at entry level so you can get experience. Then you have to see where the rare talent is.  What are people doing that earns them the money you want to earn.  Then you need to educate yourself, volunteer to help on projects, and get involved in decision making.  Eventually you will work up to the rarefied air of the best paid people in your field.

So how are you positioning yourself?  How will you be positioned next year?

Something To Do Today            

Make a list of 5 people who are doing what you want to do and earning what you want to earn.

Now go invite each one to lunch.  Whether they accept your invitation or not, ask them for help.  Ask them how you can join the rarefied company at their level.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Focus, Negotiating, Promotions, Raises, talent

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11 reasons you are getting a miniscule raise

Posted on December 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

It never seems fair when you get a cost-of-living raise or less.  But there is usually a reason.

Here are 11 reasons you may not be getting what you think you deserve.

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Posted in Negotiating, Promotions, Raises

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Use the 3 career phases to decide if you should take that job

Posted on October 30, 2013 | Leave a comment

Job offer?  Will you take it?

  1. Don’t turn it down because the pay is $2000 too low
  2. Don’t take it because you get a 30% pay raise

If you only think of what is happening short-term, you will make a lot of bad decisions.

This article goes into a lot of the things you should ponder before saying yes or no.

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Posted in Negotiating, Promotions, Raises

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Are you paid enough?

Posted on October 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

I help people get paid enough.

A lot of folks are underpaid.  I’ve gotten a few people 50% pay raises.

I try not to get them paid too much.  If they are paid too much they get laid off.

This article gives some good answers to the question, “Are you paid enough?”

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Posted in Negotiating, Promotions, Quitting or Fired, Raises

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One huge secret to escape a stalled career

Posted on September 13, 2013 | Leave a comment

Nerds don’t just happen to dress informally.  They do it too consistently.  Consciously or not, they dress informally as a prophylactic measure against stupidity. (Paul Graham)

My partner changed the career of a man stuck in a job rut.  He was looking for a job and no one would hire him.  His current boss wouldn’t promote him.

Dress for your career, not your job

He was a banker.  He had a great personality, was a hard worker, smart, self assured, and educated. He got things done. He was going nowhere in his career.  His white shirt under that nice suit and tie was slightly wrinkled and just didn’t look sharp.  Karen gave him one piece of advice that made all the difference, “Get your shirts done at the dry cleaners.” He got the job and rose like a rocket in his new bank. 20 years later he came into our office and expected her to notice that he still got his shirts done at the cleaners. She noticed.

The secret

If you are applying for a job, you have to be dressed in at least the same crispness as the hiring manager.  A little better is okay.  The hiring manager has to get the first impression that you will work as hard as he does.  That first impression is often the only real thing that keeps a job candidate from being hired.

When you dress up to the level you want to rise to, you are seen at first glance as someone to be reckoned with.  People will automatically figure out where you want to go. Your clothes need to be clean, pressed, and sharp.  Your shoes need to be nicer, cleaner, and shinier than the shoes of your boss’s boss. And wear nice socks that never show skin at the bottom of your pants leg.

Look at how your boss’s boss dresses.  If you want to impress him, you are going to have to look like him.  Sorry. That is just a fact. If you are of the opposite sex, it only applies more strongly.  You have to look like you are in his circle of acquaintances in order to be invited to work directly for him.

The way you dress will actually change your performance.  Other people will subconsciously give you more respect and more opportunities.  Take advantage of it.

Instead of dressing like all the rest of the nerd herd doing your job, dress like the person whose career is going places.

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Something To Do Today

Ask your boss to tell you how you should dress.

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Later:             Resume blasting

Certifications – gold and lead

Recruiter motivation

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Posted in Interviews, management, Promotions, Raises, talent

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