Career Decisions – How Much is Enough?

When do you know you have enough money? Do you always need a higher salary, or an increase in revenue? To some these are moot [aka “dumb”] questions because of the belief that “more is always better.”  Much has been written and espoused on the Scarcity vs Abundance perspectives and their impact on the way we live our lives and relate to others.

A recent interview on NPR brought this issue back to me. Mag Instrument Inc. (MagLights) could make much more money if they off-shored production. But that is not what is important to the owner.  Keeping people employed is a higher priority than excessive profits.

Earlier in my career I was faced with a choice of earning 10% higher salary doing the same kind of work, or staying at current salary and increasing my professional knowledge and capabilities. At that time in my life I was satisfied with my lifestyle and income.  More money would not have increased that satisfaction. But learning new things was  more enticing and would offer longer-term marketability.  I’ve never regretted that decision, even when a year later I was job hunting. I found another fantastic job because I had the additional expertise.

There are times when we do need to strive for greater income to meet basic needs.  Are they really ‘needs’ or ‘wants?’ What do you trade-off for money?

Career Path for Hitting the Slide

We have a new term for those who dramatically quit their jobs, thanks to the JetBlue flight attendant, Steven Slater: “Hit the Slide!” With so many people picking up the work of 3-4 or more jobs that have been eliminated, the frustration and stress levels are very high in many organizations.  Who doesn’t want to yell at the top of our lungs, “Enough is enough!” ?  Whether you post whiteboard messages on you tube, yell profanities and storm out, or dance on your desk (noted as one of most embarrassing acts) it is quite cathartic, but can hugely effect your reputation.  Here are some potential future career paths:

1) Your employer sees how they have wronged you, begs you to return and offers huge salary increase (Do you really want to return to what drove your nuts?)

2) You are denied unemployment and references when you look for a new job

3) Your reputation precedes you via social networks  and recruiters avoid you like the plague

4) No one responds to your job applications or other work related requests

5) You get picked up for the speaker circuit by an enterprising agent and maybe even get a book deal out of it

6) You become a [business fill-in-the-blank] consultant

7) Become next contestant on “So You Want to be A Chef” and make a total career change

For others who have made dramatic job exits, what’s been your experience?

Recruiters Using Social Networks

In addition to keeping your resume up to date, be sure your online presence is giving you the visibility you need.  The 2009 Jobvite Social Recruitment Survey shows that recruiters are using online methods for finding candidates more than ever.

  • LinkedIn use grew from 80 percent in 2008 to 95 percent of respondents in 2009 and Facebook use grew from 36 percent in 2008 to 59 percent in 2009
  • Twitter, ranked third with 42 percent of recruiters using the tool to source candidates
  • 66% of respondents reported that they had successfully hired a candidate who was identified or introduced through an online social network.

    “Companies are in a very different economic situation now than when our first Social Recruitment survey was conducted last year. Now, not only are recruiters engaged in social networks, they are investing in social recruitment in place of more costly and inefficient methods,” said Dan Finnigan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Jobvite.

    Most Critical Career Skill – Trend Spotting

    “In this era of accelerating change, knowledge alone is no longer the key to a prosperous life. Trend Spotting, or Foresight is the critical skill. Knowledge quickly goes out of date, but foresight enables you to navigate change, make good decisions, and take action now to create a better future.” From the World Future Society’s Forecasts for the Next 25 Years

    This doesn’t mean to quit school or drop your courses.  It means to take your knowledge and put it into context with other things that are going on in the world, right now, to spot new opportunities and potential problems you can help resolve.

    1. Scan the environment by reading various media and looking for trends – government, economy, environment, demographics, education, and other areas that you may not usually associate with your knowledge base.

    2. Consider the potential impact of those trends on your profession and lifestyle.

    3. Play around with some scenarios and simulations – in your head or on the web.

    Whole new industries are created this way. Think about the industries and jobs that didn’t exist 20, or even 10 years ago, such as  App writers.  Our dynamic demographics are creating new opportunities in not only health care, but in housing, transportation, education and leisure activities to name a few.  What skills and knowledge do you have to address some of these issues.

    This is how you can make a difference.  Exercising your foresight is a way to show your value to your existing or potential employer….or even starting your own organization.

    Raised by Wolves

    That phrase has become an ear-worm for me recently.  It generally refers to someone who has misbehaved in a social or work setting.  I recently read a book about how our bosses sometimes act like they were raised by wolves.  At first I took issue  defending the wolves.  Their system works for them…because they live in a different society than we do.

    Yet, the author makes some interesting observations of the alpha wolf behaviors. “Because you are exposed to your boss every day, it is possible that you have become accustomed to his or her wolf-like behavior. “

    What is important is to effectively manage your boss, based on whatever wolf-like tendencies are shown, so you both win. The wolf pack is governed by a hierarchy of power and aggression. Know your place in the pack and the interdependent relationships. Bosses want you to understand what has to be done, what your role is in doing it, and are self-starters. It is only then that the leader feels truly comfortable in working with his staff member as a partner and collaborator.

    My muse posed the question about the mythical Romulus and Remus.  Were they raised by the She-wolf as her pups, or for food?

    Volunteerism and Career-Building

    While you are looking for a job, or while you are working full-time, stay off the couch and do something for others. Volunteering improves your career.  Here are the stats:
    According to CareerBuilder, 63% of hiring managers said that volunteer work is relevant experience when it comes to evaluating a candidate. And according to a study done in the UK, 73% of employers would employ a candidate with volunteering experience over one without. When it comes to internships, employers offered jobs to 70% of their interns according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
    What is it that makes a Volunteer attractive to an employer?  We give of ourselves to others without expecting anything in return.  We often do things as a volunteer that we don’t get paid to do at work, so we are using other skills or learning new ones.  We generally volunteer to work with groups or on projects that bring us a sense of satisfaction.
    Some of use a volunteer opportunity to try out or demonstrate our skills in organizing, fund-raising, cat-herding (leading), etc.
    Why do you volunteer?
    What have you learned through volunteering you were able to take into your work?

    Disengaged in the Middle

    Managers have an on-going challenge to see that their staff are working to their optimum – doing interesting, challenging and things that engage many of their skills. The recent Gallup Journal  article shows  that the “Frustrating Forties” is a time when we’ve past learning the ropes and often aren’t getting much professional development. Not surprisingly, the trend of disengagement with this age group is  higher  for service workers performing routinized tasks.

    An IRS report recently showed that IRS employees most likely to sneak a peek at a tax return other than their own have 10-15 years of experience. So it’s not like they didn’t know it was illegal.  The consequence of looking at their favorite celebrity, neighbor or ex- just didn’t seem to bother them.  “No one gets fired in the federal government.”

    The aging process also influences how employees view their work, as demonstrated by psychologists’ findings that life goals and motivational factors tend to shift as people grow older. And as a multitude of career switchers can attest, midlife is a time when many people reevaluate their goals and make changes accordingly.

    Managers must continually talk with staff to avoid career ‘ruts.’ Remember that what is important to you isn’t necessarily valued by others. Check in. You don’t know if you don’t ask.

    Are Your Management Skills Up to Date?

    I’m not talking about knowing the latest ‘flavor’ of management or the buzzwords. “Retention” is the battle cry once again. Many organizations are now using engagement survey stats for managerial performance measures. Your management skills along with to your technical credibility keep you viewed as a valuable contributor, not just a place holder, by your peers and execs.

    Here are 5 things that may give you a clue to your people-management success:
    1) As your organizations upgrades its systems and processes, are you self-sufficient with your own technology? Can you create and print your own reports? Can you map drives to the printer from your laptop? Set up and run an effective teleconference? Do you use e-mail and IM productively? Can you create effective power point decks, graphs and other frequently used documents? Constantly asking for help can drive your staff nuts.

    2) Do your meetings make good use of your staff’s time and talents? Do you share the information from your manager’s staff meeting that needs to trickle down? Does everyone know why they are in the meeting and what they are to contribute? Everyone should have a meaningful action item that moves your project along after each session. Hopefully you’ve shared a laugh and highlighted some successes (team building). Weekly meetings should be less than an hour, max.

    3) Do you share your staff’s good work with your peers and manager, or take just credit for having “a good team?” If someone has been especially helpful or had a pivotal idea that has led to the project success, give them the credit. Don’t be worried about losing your talent. If you don’t share their talent, they’ll leave anyway. Some of the best corporate leaders are known for the talent they grow.

    4. Are you proactively reducing or minimizing conflict? What are the issues that continually flare up? We often avoid issues, hoping they will evaporate. Lay a safe groundwork to resolve the issue, then get to the root to find common ground. Don’t jump to a solution until both parties have fully understood the other point of view. More productivity is lost through avoiding conflict, rather than effectively addressing it.

    5. Does your staff punch your buttons? Personality style differences can be maddening, for both parties. Schedule time and get assistance so everyone understands individual preferences and expectations. Then help each other to communicate based on that knowledge. At minimum, give them a warning sign if you are in a bad mood.

    These tips are based on a few of the items that keep bobbing to the surface in most engagement surveys. They cross all types of workplaces and generations. For each of these five areas there are specific skills you can develop to keep up to date with what your team needs from you.

    What other management skills or Competencies for your organization have you seen that need to be updated?

    Hidden Jobs = Buried Treasure

    There are at least five reasons that many jobs are never posted on job boards or even on company websites. It isn’t that the company is trying to be sneaky, its just that ‘things happen.’
    1. An unexpected letter of resignation
    2. The maternity leave that becomes extended, permanently
    3. The Trump card is played when someone seriously misbehaves with the resulting, “You’re Fired!”
    4. The Slide – someone is in the performance discipline process, and the boss needs someone waiting in the wings to take over
    5. The Landing of a big contract and the organization needs specialized skills and knowledge (yours)
    And then there is the person who has the talent for identifying a problem to solve and having the skills to solve it. They literally create their own unique job with the organization.

    Veteran career advisor, Jack Chapman, sums it up nicely in his e-zine article this month.

    Staying visible and keeping your network active and growing is how people land these unadvertised jobs.

    Managing Across Commonalities

    “They weren’t necessarily as different as the media had been portraying.” Kristin Murray, HR director, Presbyterian Support New Zealand, is researching the generations for a PhD thesis entitled, Diversity Management. Her surveys, based on a card-sort methodology, turned up a striking degree of similarities across the generations.

    For example Veterans (1922-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Gens X and Y all wanted roles that gave them quality of life, a supportive manager, job satisfaction and fulfillment. She said that as people moved through life, their generational personality impacted on how they approached each life stage and that the constructs that were in common with other cohorts might look different to different generations.
    “Armed with this knowledge managers can better understand an employee and what motivates them to gain better levels of employee engagement. However, it should be remembered that like any type of diversity there are individual differences within each group (in this instance within the generational cohort) and any attempt to manage employees using this information should take this into account.”
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