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As a recruiter, I had recommended Ben for a job as a programmer. He’d been programming constantly for 6 years. He could prove his skills with C++. He had produced a video game that was more complex than many in the stores at the time.

I was enthusiastic and said he was a junior, which is perfect for a simple 3 month programming job. The hiring manager agreed to interview him. I forgot (seriously just forgot) to mention that he was a high school junior, not a junior in college. Out of courtesy, the manager let the interview go on anyways.

Ben’s portfolio (the game), enthusiasm, and knowledge
were so great that the 16 year old kid got hired.

Let’s not forget he was cheap, too.

How can a high school junior get a job meant for a college junior? An enthusiastic mistake and a portfolio. You create your own enthusiasm. Don’t try to make mistakes, but do capitalize on them. The portfolio is not as easy as it looks.

Your portfolio is separate from your resume. Your resume is a list of accomplishments. It says what happened while you were at a job, a list of improvements.

A portfolio is proof. Graphic artists will take a folder (nowadays, probably electronic) full of the best examples of their work. Programmers can share websites they’ve built, or other programs that actually run, like Ben’s game. A portfolio is demonstratable. Use your portfolio to prove that you have amazing abilities.

Collect your best examples and put them together on a thumb drive, a folder, online, or somewhere else. Show people your portfolio! When I talked previously about building enthusiasm so people recommend you, this is how to do it! Talk about how awesome and fun building your favorite project was!

Take your favorite thing you’ve ever worked on, what brings
a smile on your face just to think about, and share it.

Employers have interviews to make sure that you can do the job. If you lack the qualifications that they “require” they won’t hire you. You don’t fit the job description. But here’s a secret:

If you can prove to them you can do that job,
they WILL hire you anyway.

 Years later, Ben ended up using his portfolio to get a previous high-level Google executive to co-found a business with him. His portfolio this time wasn’t a game. It was LucidChart. How good was his portfolio? Take a look here.

Ben had a college level programming job in high school.
Then he had a man from Google asking to start a business with him.

 This all happened before he graduated from college. There is an amazing amount that can be done with a portfolio that can’t be done with a resume.

Something To Do Today

 Ask your boss what you could put in your portfolio that absolutely proves you deserve a raise. Put together that portfolio and see if he gives you that raise. If he doesn’t, show that portfolio to other employers. Maybe they will give you the raise (or rather, a job) when your boss wouldn’t.

Prove you deserve it and they will give it to you.

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Do you want to work with someone who is unhappy being there to work?

Would you recommend someone who is grumpy about their job for a different job in that field? Who is only working for the money even though they despise their job with a passion?

No one else would either.

Love to work

People love to waste their passion hating their job instead of loving their work. There is a big difference that is noticeable to everyone when someone is excited to work. Painful drudgery for money is too common. These people stay stay stuck where they are and no one wants to recommend them. Ever.

I suppose I shouldn’t say never. Their co-workers might recommend them… to get that person out of their office.

These people drain energy worse than incandescent light bulbs.

Who you are at work

At AGI, we place a lot of people. There are a few groups that everyone tends to fall into: excited kids, total grumps, or average Johnsons.

You know how kids are. They’re excited by all the new stuff around them. They love what they get to do. Life is an exciting adventure, and they can’t stop finding new things to do even if its on the exact same playset for years and years.

People like this do their job off the clock, not getting paid for it. They love what they do, and they are happy to do it outside of work. They have so much energy that is infectious, and these are the people that come to mind whenever a job opportunity gets mentioned. They talk about their job with love, and their friends share that passion because they care.

These people get recommendations for jobs. And a lot of them. These are the people that come to mind when a hole in an organization comes up. These are the people that get called about a new job instead of having to do the calling themselves.

Average Johnsons are average. They use their skills whenever it’s useful. They don’t hate their job but they are far from excited about it. If you ask them about work, you get a “it’s not bad” from them. They might get recommended every now and then, but they aren’t the first person who comes to mind.

Everyone knows a grump when they meet them. They hate their job and everything about it. They avoid it whenever possible. They make the worst workers because they don’t want to be there. A grump goes off like a bomb about how awful their job is. They whine and complain, and no one ever wants to work with them. Maybe they drudged through their classes, got their degree, but there is no person willing to hire them.

There is a huge difference between each of these groups. The biggest difference is excitement, but another is how much they use their job outside of work.

People who are excited get jobs.

FREE BONUS POINTS BELOW

 Do your job for free or for charity

 Use your job and work to help someone! Decide, and act. Helping people will help you become more energetic about your job. It will make you happy about it like you’ve never been before.

Are you a computer technician? Rip apart electronics in your spare time. Offer to help a local church or charity with issues. They might not have a job for you, but give them your number to let them call you if something comes up. Offer to teach at a library, a school, or nursing home.

Are you a salesperson? Do what my partner did, become a charity “hit woman”. Get the job of calling on businesses for donations. You will talk to a lot of leaders of industry. And guess what? If you do a good job, they’ll be impressed.

Your friends, family, and acquaintances will see what you are doing. They’ll tell other people. Your friends, family and everyone you meet and help will recommend you if they ever have the opportunity.

Be excited. Love your job and do it for free. Help others and show them how you love your job, or what you want your job to be. Your excitement will get everyone to help you get a job.

Something To Do Today

 Sit down and seriously evaluate how you’ve been acting. Are you a member of the “beef and whine club”? Find something you enjoy that is related to the job you want. Do it with enthusiasm, for free.

Experience and recommendation get you a job where a degree won’t. Job and work recommendations are great, but also getting them from the community will make you stand out.

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“Jim barely went home for the last two weeks.  He saved the Membership Project.  Our customer was screaming because of the implementation problems.  We are giving Jim a bonus and a week of vacation for his efforts.”

Jim is a firefighter and an arsonist.  He led a project down the path of failure.  When his inept leadership nearly sank the whole division, the manager two levels above him stepped in and salvaged the project at implementation.  Jim worked like crazy.  His whole team did.  It really bothers me when guys like that get praised and rewarded. In some companies that is the culture.

I may not agree with what you say, but I’ll fight to the death for your right to die in a fire of suspicious origin. (unkn)

One man’s job arson causes a whole team to burn.

Has an emergency caused you to work nights and weekends?  Did a job you were the finalist for disappear because of a disaster? Was it filled by a firefighter who is an arsonist?  Do your bosses know the arson root of a lot of job fires?

Root causes of job arson are going to be a continuing subject for a few days.  Career building and job hunting both have firefighters who are also arsonists.  Don’t think you are safe because you are job hunting.  It’s amazing how many job hunters destroy their own chances of success.

 Something To Do Today

Make a list of the times you have had to work late and on weekends due to unforeseen problems or disasters.  There is probably an arsonist somewhere.  Who is it?  Make a list of arsonists.

The list you are making may help your career and your job hunting.  It can help you see how you aid and abet arsonists.  That tendency may be why you have missed more than one job or career opportunity.

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Job arson examples:      The Mythical Man Month

Doctor No

Dead fish

Poisons

Liars

And later:    How to work a convention

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Networking?  It is leadership.  Some of the best connected network creators I know have never been managers, but they all have been leaders.

Seize Opportunity to take charge of a group

90% of opportunity is seized, 10% is granted.

So who decides where you go for lunch?  In a group of 10, 8 people will meekly suggest a restaurant, one person will call for a vote, and one will decide where to go without a vote. How does that one person get the whole group to follow her? 

1. She makes decisions that are desired by other natural leaders of the group.
2. She finds out who has a strong bias against her decision and deals with it.
3. Occasionally she goes somewhere she doesn’t like, to please others.
4. She pulls or pushes people out the door to get them moving.

It is not just a matter of having a strong personality.  It isn’t just being decisive or insistent. Seizing opportunity requires a decision you really care about, dealing with all opposition, and getting people moving.

To seize opportunity you have to care, move yourself and move others.

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Something To Do Today

Take the lead or watch a leader take charge of a group.

Starting tomorrow I’ll be giving at least one suggestion each day for networking.

For a few days:           The first step towards leadership

How to network at the top.

Creating networks

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Should you quit your job to look for a new job?

NO!

Hiring someone who has a job is always easier for managers than hiring someone who is unemployed.  The reason is that they figure 90% of the people who are unemployed have one of 3 problems: they are incompetent, they are troublemakers or they are never satisfied.  I talked to a manager about a very competent programmer.  She asked, “If he is so good, why is he unemployed?”  Because she feels uncomfortable with that question, it looks like she won’t hire him.

Since you shouldn’t quit your current job, what should you do?  Become a model employee.  Treat your current job like you expect a big raise in a couple of weeks.  Document how well you are doing and let the people you interview with know how well you are doing.

Here are 8 things you should do at your current job:

1. Arrive a little early and stay a little late.  Just a few minutes makes a big difference.  It is job insurance.  Track it.
2. Do your job interviews before work, at lunch or after work.  Future employers like to hire people who are still looking out for their current boss.
3. Use a personal email account for job hunting.  Go to Yahoo or gmail for a free account if you have to.  Your next boss may be turned off if you are using company assets (email) in your job search.
4. Figure out ways you can make more money or save more money for your current employer.  Document it.  Then use it in job interviews.  How will an interviewer react if you say, “In the last 2 months I’ve saved my company $3452.”
5. Track how fast you do everything, and do it faster.  Compare yourself to others.  Use your improvements in interviews.
6. Go out of your way to help people beyond your job description.  Write down what you do and who you help.
7. Absolutely stop bad mouthing your current employer. Stay away from people who gossip.  Get out of the beef and whine lunch group.  Why?  You will do better in interviews.  Your attitude towards work will be better.  A person with a good attitude always gets the job over someone who hates their job.
8. Look for ways to get training on the job or in classes.  Prepare yourself for the next job you want.  Volunteer for assignments that will make you stretch.

WARNING:  If you do all of the above, you will probably be offered a raise or a promotion to stay when you quit.  Turn it down and go to the new job.  Trust me, it never works out unless they offer you the raise and promotion BEFORE you quit.  Much better to come back in a year or two than expect your boss to forgive your accepting another job offer.

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Something To Do Today

Improve your performance at your current job.  Track the improvements and use them in your interviews and on your resume.

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