Jason has had 3 promotions in 2 years. His pay has gone up 50%. His attitude is a delight. If there is a tough job, he’ll rally the team and get the job done. Jason not only gets the chance to fix disasters, he fixes the problems behind the disasters. No one has ever done that before. He is having a huge impact. He seems to whistle a magic tune that improves attitudes and gets unbelievable results.
Jason also just quit. He took a new job that pays a little less than he earns now.
Two things happened. First, Jason realized his boss would always be a loose cannon and Jason would always get to clean up. Second, with a boss like that it was obvious the company would never go out of business, but it would never get much bigger either.
The best part is that all the things he did looked great when he applied for a job. He applied at their strongest competitor. Jason is going to a company that is really growing. It is a company with a plan and a history of doing things right the first time.
Wherever you are, whistle a happy tune. Put an accomplishment list together that will carry you into a better job, and if necessary, get that job in a better company.
Something to do today
Just for the record, all the stories I tell are true, but the names are changed.
Document your accomplishments for each week. Give a copy to your boss in a format he can use for his reports. That way you can be sure he knows why you are the best employee he has.
When I was 17 I bragged that I had gotten every job I applied for. That was 5 jobs at the time. I set my own expectations and hit them. I continued to get every job I applied for. Looking back, I was lucky and that luck kept me from doing better.
I always had enough money to survive and my desires weren’t huge. I was going to college by then and just wanted to graduate. That is why my luck hurt me so bad.
After I left college I found out that my Geology Department would have gladly given me jobs while I was at school. I just never asked. I could have gone on to graduate school and jobs would have been lined up for me so I could afford it. I never asked. During the summer break there were jobs available for aspiring geologists, but I had already lined up something else selling books or working in the library. It was so easy to get the jobs I applied for that I never got the jobs that would advance my career.
Even when I graduated I applied for a job in geology that was being filled by high school graduates at the time. Of course I got the job. And I earned less than I could. And I didn’t look for another job until I was laid off.
It took me 3 years after that lay off to get a good job with a bright future. It took me that long to learn that if I accept every job I can get, I get jobs without a future.
I was a slow learner. I didn’t start failing until after I was laid off. I finally learned. Sometimes getting every job you apply for means you aren’t aiming high enough.
Something to do today
Do you have a real career plan?
I have talked with programmers earning $50,000 per year and others earning $120,000 per year. They had the same basic talents. The better paid ones had chosen to work in SAP instead of Visual Basic. They really had to pay a price to get into SAP. Now they are reaping amazing rewards compared to the programmers who applied for jobs they knew they could get.
Do you really have a career plan? Or is it just a downhill career path?
If you focus on the innovations happening around you, it can change your career. When an idea, technology or procedure is new, it takes a week to become an expert. A year later it takes a year to become an expert.
I became a database expert in a week when Oracle 1.0 (yes, I’m that old) came out. I talked my boss into springing for $100 to get a copy. I parlayed that into becoming a DB2 guru by buying a book. One book. I became a data modeling expert because no one else had a clue what that was. One innovation led to another, and my bosses had no desire to stop me. All the industry magazines and experts were using the buzzwords I could implement. I was on the leading edge. I was riding the wave of innovation. Every career progression was caused by taking two weeks to prepare for an upcoming, essential, mystifying technology.
Do a little internal innovation and focus on using other’s ideas and new technology. It is always easier to become an expert when technology and techniques are new. What is new in your field?
Something to do today
Try it again. The greatest lunch topic you can talk about with your boss is, “What is the emerging world changing technology, technique or skill in our field?” Figure out what the buzzwords are that people are barely starting to define in your field.
Do you pick up money you see on the ground? Do you stop your career in order to do a menial project or take a job someone else should do?
Bending over to pick up a hundred dollar bill is a bad investment of your time if you are Bill Gates. He has averaged earning more than that every two seconds since Microsoft started. I did the math.
Imagine you’re the fastest pizza maker in the world and make the best pizzas ever. However, your name is also Tom Monaghan, and you founded Domino’s Pizza. Is the best use of your time to make pizzas and sell them? No. Not even close. No matter how good your pizzas are, or how many you can make, if you focus on making pizzas instead of making a corporate empire, you will be wasting your time.
Just because you are the best person for the job, doesn’t mean the job is the best opportunity for you.
Something to do today
What are you doing that keeps you from tackling more important projects? Who can you get to do that job for you?
Google puts first things first. They figured out how to rank pages by how they are connected. They put the page that will be the most useful to you at the top of your list. That saved so much time that people abandoned the other search engines.
Connecting web pages is a simple concept. A web page links to my website. Another site links to that first web page. Now, all three are connected.
There are simple and complex strategies to being ranked highly by Google. All of them are forms of networking. The two most common strategies are: 1) you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours, and 2) become the expert.
You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours
You offer to list their web page on yours if they list your web page on theirs. That way you both get a lot of recognition.
It works in job hunting, too. Although it’s not as simple as with websites, the basic idea is to help as many people as you can, and they will help you.
Getting articles published in trade journals is one example. There are literally thousands of local, state, regional and national associations and publications that need authors. Call up one and tell them you want to write an article. Local newsletters are especially useful. If you do a great job, they’ll publish it. The people who get those newsletters will then consider you an expert. They may just call you to help them with a question. They may offer you a job.
If you have something interesting to say, and already know you are a good speaker, contact your chamber of commerce and get on their speaker list. If you would like to be a great speaker, contact Toastmasters. I know there is a club near you. Go to https://www.toastmasters.org/. They are the best speaker trainers in the country.
Become the expert
When you are the expert, everyone seeks to be connected to you. You can get to be known as an expert by getting certifications or doing consulting work.
Certifications are available for almost every field: sales, HR, accounting, real estate management, security, law, computers, etc. Often hirers search resume databases for the certifications and assume a good person will be attached to them.
Consulting work can really mean just getting a temporary job in the field. If you are unemployed, you have little to lose. Contact all the temporary staffing agencies and ask them if they place people with your skills on temp jobs as well as permanent ones. If they don’t, ask them who does. I was surprised that there is a market for temporary doctors in Antarctica, temporary electrical linemen in Alaska, and temporary environmentalists in Butte, Montana.
Figure out how to get connected to as many people as possible. It is a Google job search method that gets you in front of the competition. It could eliminate all your competition.
Something to do today
Make a list of ways other people have connected to you in your job, even people who you might not have worked with directly. Track down how they got connected to you. Think of ways you can use that to connect with more people.
Every few years a hiker in the United States finds a large raw diamond. Usually it was carried down by glaciers from Canada when sheet ice covered the north. A raw diamond is interesting, but not exciting. To reach its true value that stone must be turned over to an expert. It will have scores of facets polished into it until it catches the light and sparkles with fire. It is the expert polishing that makes people cherish diamonds. Diamonds in the rough don’t stay that way for long after they are discovered.
My old partner got a Thank You note from a candidate she first placed 20 years ago. She convinced a bank to take a chance on him. He has worked his way up the corporate ladder and gotten promotion after promotion. He was a diamond in the rough.
At the bank he first decided to stand out less while working more. He watched closely how others dressed and acted. How did they succeed with sales and politics? Banks are calm on the outside, but full of opportunity and excitement behind the façade. Mentors appeared as he looked for them. Some were his managers, some were higher up or lateral to him. They gave him advice and helped him acquire polish. Over the years he kept on polishing new shining facets into his skills and character. He learned management and leadership. He figured out ways to fix problems instead of just enduring them. Instead of being noticed for his rough exterior, he now stands out for his ability to make things happen and his polish.
If you get a job based on being a diamond in the rough you will only progress a little if you don’t acquire some polish. You may have to get rid of the nose stud or the blue jeans you always wear. It may be your technical skills that need work. Effective management and leadership abilities need training and practice. Look for mentors, people above you who can lift you up. Move away from the group that is stuck in a rut. Find the stars that are rising and do what they do. Learn constantly.
You can tell a human diamond in the rough from an average person. If you truly are a diamond in the rough, you will embrace change. You will actively seek polish and improvement.
Something to do Today
Where can you polish up your skills? Write ideas down and think of ways to polish up on those skills.
A while ago I talked to a very good programmer whose skills are hopelessly out of date. She was hoping to get a job as an intern so she could upgrade her skills. She has only one problem in her job search.
Only antique collectors say, “I like things that are outdated, frustrating, inefficient and dangerous.”
Luckily she knew she might only be hired as an intern. Some people think that they should be hired as rocket scientists even though they have outdated skills. I have people severely infected with archaic abilities approach me every week. They freely admit their problem and then tell me they deserve a great job, a raise and happiness without their own effort.
Bosses want to hire the best people they can. They aren’t social workers. Some companies train the people they hire, but they are going to try and hire the best worker who needs the least training. It is pure common sense; they hire the best person.
If you are a master of buggy whip technology, don’t expect a job at NASA. There will always be a few buggy whip makers scraping by, but you won’t get rich working for them. Invest in yourself. Get the updated skills you need to be employable. Get out of the buggy whip age and into the computer age. Leave the stone arrowhead tools behind and become an engineer. Learn to be an expert.
That means YOU need to invest in yourself. It may be as simple as asking your boss for training. More likely YOU will have to study on your own. Read a new technical, sales or business book each month. Subscribe to journals and websites about what you do. There are community and online colleges that you can use to get a degree or advanced training.
You can’t make a silk purse out of a buggy whip, but with time and patience you can turn a mulberry leaf into a silk purse. It takes specialized knowledge and a silkworm. Learn the specialized knowledge you need for your job. Go make a silk purse.
Something To Do Today
Think about what skills YOU have that are outdated. What can you do to update those skills or replace them?
Do you mistrust “Positive Attitude” mentors? Do their programs sound good but make you depressed after a while?
The answer is found in liquid Helium vs Helium II.
Helium II is a very unusual liquid. In the next paragraph I’ll use two people to show the difference between liquid Helium and Helium II.
Jim applied to be a space shuttle astronaut. He practiced his positive mental attitude and visualizations twice a day for an hour. He knew that would get him the job. Somehow he ended up getting a rejection letter. Jim thought that being a 35 year old, out of shape, high school dropout out without a job or a desire to get one should have been overpowered by his “positive attitude”. A 77 year old man had more of a positive attitude than Jim, so he got the job. John Glen flew into space as an old man because he figured out a way to overcome the huge obstacle of age. It involved getting a job in congress and deciding how much money NASA got.
Attitude is really about preparing, contributing and finding your way around obstacles. Jim did not have a positive attitude. He just liked to think he did. John Glenn had a positive, unstoppable Helium II attitude.
Norman Vincent Peale, Maxwell Maltz and other attitude masters always said that attitude is NOT everything. Attitude just helps you figure a way around obstacles or a better direction to go with your energy. Positive attitude was never meant to be a replacement for reality and effort.
Helium II is an example of gas with an attitude. Helium II is supercooled helium that is not just a liquid, but a very special liquid. It will slip through molecule sized cracks in a container. If you leave it in an open beaker, it will climb the walls of the beaker and get out. Swirl it into a little whirlpool and it won’t stop swirling because it has no internal friction. It is practically unstoppable in many ways. The only way to really stop it is to let it warm up just a little bit. Then it becomes a normal liquid and all those fascinating behaviors stop.
You can have a Helium II attitude. Use your positive attitude to look for ways to escape the container you are in. Is there a crack you can exploit? If necessary, can you climb out of any career pit you have fallen into? If nothing else, you need to keep moving while waiting for your next opportunity. Don’t ever stop improving yourself and doing outstanding work. If you let yourself get hot under the collar about what has happened to you, you may become stuck right where you are, or slip even lower. Prepare and grow while keeping your eyes open for the next opportunity.
A while ago I helped a man get a much better job. For years he has been struggling with jobs that were below his skill level. The reason they were below his skill level is that he has always been educating himself. He has been spending his own money to better himself. His jobs have not measured up to his constantly growing skills. Since he was overqualified he decided to do the jobs he had exceptionally well. It wasn’t easy. But with his preparation I finally found him the perfect opportunity. I doubt he will stop now. He’ll keep studying and preparing. Pretty soon he’ll be too big for this job and have to find an even bigger opportunity. For now he’s just grateful he kept on moving and kept up a really positive attitude. The kind of attitude that always finds a way.
Something To Do Today
Writing in a job journal is a great place to start, you can write about what you want to do better. Writing it down rather than saying it reinforces your decisions.
When I started at EDS I was learning at an incredible rate. Pay raises came quickly and easily. By my third year things slowed down. By my fifth year I settled into a dreary cycle of little new personal growth and cost of living raises. I managed to get assigned to a new team using a new technology and my growth accelerated for a year, then it dropped back to the dreary level. That’s an example of my personal growth curve.
How fast you are growing to get where you want to go is your personal growth curve. Once you stop growing you are flat-lining. In hospitals flat-lining means there is no pulse, you are dead. In your career, flat-lining means that your career has stopped completely and the business world is starting to pass you by.
To get growing again you need to learn, get new responsibilities and get recognized. At EDS I volunteered and pestered my managers for the chance to use new technology. Since no one else had a clue and I had read a couple of books on the subject, I got to become the “owner” of that technology. Preparation and repeatedly selling myself to my managers preceded my advancement.
Whether you want to grow as a manager, salesperson or technician, you need to follow these steps:
Find out what is going to be needed IN THE FUTURE
Study and prepare to fill that future need
Sell yourself repeatedly to get the new responsibility
Excel at your new job
Start over
Step 1 and 2 can always be done at your current job. Often they will pay for the training and help mentor you. Step 3 should be attempted with your current company. Sometimes it just can’t be done where you are.
Companies have their own growth curves. At a company that is flat-lining, your chances to grow will be limited. While you are preparing to grow, open your eyes. Is your company ABLE to let you grow? Do you need to move to a company that is changing its growth curve while you change yours?
A job change becomes a career enhancing move when you move to a company whose growth curve will allow you to accelerate your own growth curve. If you are willing to learn and grow, you will have growth in your career. If you are willing to change jobs when necessary to re-accelerate your career growth, your future has no limits.
Something To Do Today
What is going to be needed in the future? What interests you? What will help you accelerate your growth curve?
Don’t expect your boss to magically know what you fail to tell him repeatedly. Expect him not to understand. Even if he sees you doing something new he may not recognize what it means or its usefulness unless you have told him five or six times in the last six months.
Each Friday is the time to write down what you did this week and this month in your job journal. Give a report to your boss in a format he can use for his own reports to his boss.
When I started at EDS I was learning at an incredible rate. Pay raises came quickly and easily. By my third year things slowed down. By my fifth year I settled into a dreary cycle of little new personal growth and cost of living raises. I managed to get assigned to a new team using a new technology and my growth accelerated for a year, then it dropped back to the dreary level. That’s an example of my personal growth curve.
How fast you are growing to get where you want to go is your personal growth curve. Once you stop growing you are flat-lining. In hospitals flat-lining means there is no pulse, you are dead. In your career, flat-lining means that your career has stopped completely and the business world is starting to pass you by.
To get growing again you need to learn, get new responsibilities and get recognized. At EDS I volunteered and pestered my managers for the chance to use new technology. Since no one else had a clue and I had read a couple of books on the subject, I got to become the “owner” of that technology. Preparation and repeatedly selling myself to my managers preceded my advancement.
Whether you want to grow as a manager, salesperson or technician, you need to follow these steps:
Find out what is going to be needed IN THE FUTURE
Study and prepare to fill that future need
Sell yourself repeatedly and constantly to get the new responsibility
Excel at your new job
Start over
Step 1 and 2 can always be done at your current job. Often they will pay for the training and help mentor you. Step 3 should be attempted with your current company. Sometimes it just can’t be done where you are.
Companies have their own growth curves. At a company that is flat-lining, your chances to grow will be limited. While you are preparing to grow, open your eyes. Is your company ABLE to let you grow? Do you need to move to a company that is changing its growth curve while you change yours?
A job change becomes a career enhancing move when you move to a company whose growth curve will allow you to accelerate your own growth curve. If you are willing to learn and grow, you will have growth in your career. If you are willing to change jobs when necessary to re-accelerate your career growth, your future has no limits.
Something To Do Today
What is going to be needed in the future? What interests you? What will help you accelerate your growth curve?
Don’t expect your boss to magically know what you fail to tell him repeatedly. Expect him not to understand. Even if he sees you doing something new he may not recognize what it means or its usefulness unless you have told him five or ten times in the last six months.
Each Friday is the time to write down what you did this week and this month in your job journal. Give a report to your boss in a format he can use for his own reports to his boss. A written copy of your accomplishments will reinforce what you have told him
