Double Journey

Today, I found out that one of my coworkers is doing what I did, quitting without another job lined up. He is about my age, maybe a little bit younger, but he just didn’t feel that the opportunity was right at our company and has decided to go and try it on his own. He doesn’t have a real plan but knew that he had to move on. I know a few more people who have done this or are planning to do it. Most of them are younger without a lot of obligations. Most of them however have really good paying jobs. Free Money Finance just recently had a post on whether or not you should quit your job without another one lined up. He came down on the side of you should definitely not.

I however, having done it, really do see both sides of this argument. It really just depends. Most people are probably unhappy with their job in one form or another, especially younger people. I think my generation more so than any other before take job satisfaction to be very important. Our parents understood that a job was just that, a job. You didn’t like your job, you did it to put food on the table. But somewhere along the way that changed. A job became who you were, it defined you. We constantly heard our parents tell us, “Do what you love” and we took it to heart. That has caused my generation to job hop until we find something that really makes us happy. The problem is that it is always still a job, and many people don’t ever come to realize that. They jump from job to job always hoping to find something better. I know very few people my age that haven’t had at least two different jobs. I myself am on my fourth while only being out of college for a little under eight years.

I disagree with the conventional wisdom for a few reasons.

1. You can be doing a lot of other things besides a 9-5 job to earn money - This didn’t use to be the case, but you can spend your time coming up with alternative ways to earn income. In the end, this might actually be smarter if you can make it passive, and then return to the work force. You will have double income!
2. It really depends on your financial situation - If you are like me with no obligations or debt, and could survive years unemployed, than you have little to worry about. Believe me, the fear is bigger than the reality most of the time. This is where living frugally really pays off.
3. Depends how much you make and how in demand your skills are - I make a lot of money. There aren’t a lot of jobs that pay what I make now. It isn’t easy for me to just find a job that will pay me what I want to make. However, I have the advantage of having skills highly in demand, so most of the time I have very little trouble finding a new job when I really want one.
4. Money isn’t everything - Coming from a guy who highly values money, this may be shocking, but it’s true. I would rather have a job I liked and get paid less for it than a job I hated and got paid more for. So I would be willing to take a job that paid me less if I ever got so desperate. That being said, a lot of people are miserable no matter how much they get paid, so this makes the argument that perhaps you should just stick it out. Might as well get more money than less money for the same level of misery!

So what do you think? How bad of an idea is it to quit a job without another one? Do you think it really is an epidemic among the younger generation?

Do you know a guy at work who seems to always have a lot of work, but in reality you know he doesn’t?  They appear in most companies.  There the guy running around all the time complaining about how much work they have and how they can’t get any of it done.

I’m not saying that everyone who does this doesn’t actually have a lot of work.  Many people are genuinely overworked.  However, I’ve come to the conclusion that most people do this to themselves.  I will admit, that sometimes I probably made it seem like I had more than I had simply so it would look like I was working hard.

But I’ve decided to go the other way on this one.  I want it to appear that I’m always in control.  Think about this carefully.  I’m at a point in my career where I want to make the move from middle management to upper management.  This is a big jump, and the rules at the top aren’t the same at the bottom.  While working your ass off is what it takes to get where I am, I don’t think it will get me much further.

Executives need to always be in control of the situation.  Things can not be hectic around an executive.  Having “too much work” is a sure way to cause chaos.  Things get missed when you are overworked, and when things get missed at the top, they have a BIG impact on everyone else.  Further, it is crucial that management always be able to do more with less.  If you can’t manage your own workload, how are you going to be able to manage the workload of others.  How are you going to manage it when you inevitably have to cut staff and produce even more?

This isn’t to say I’m not going to work hard.  Of course I am, it’s just who I am.  But I’m going to be sure not to make it seem like I have “too much work”.  What are your thoughts?  Is it more important to look busy or look like you can manage your time effectively?

The comic for Dilbert yesterday was fantastic and it actually covers a topic I’ve been wanting to talk about. I’ve done a lot of thinking about how reviews work in corporate America and how they fail miserably at achieving what they are set out to achieve. Reviews should be set up to give honest feedback to someone about their job performance, set clear goals going forward, and to motivate an employee to reach their full potential.

Everywhere I’ve worked, there has always been a mantra that “Our people are our most important asset”. This is particularly true in the tech world because your business is based on information and knowledge which must be created by smart and creative people. So, on the surface, there is at least some recognition that for a business to succeed in this space, they must have great people.

But almost every employer bases their review system on a bell curve. Now think about that. A bell curve represents a normal distribution. It is supposed to represent a nice AVERAGE population. For every “great” person you have, you must have someone who is not so great. The majority of the people will be “average”.

Now, I’m all for differentiation. I believe people need to be ranked within an organization and under-performers need to be pruned. But to go into a review with the expectation that your employee pool must come out “average” is laughable. If you are a knowledge based business, and you have average people, you are going to get average results. It’s a simple equation.

But differentiation does not mean that there needs to be winners and losers. I think the only incidence that I have heard of someone getting this right is Netflix. Netflix has a policy of keeping only the best. There are no “average” reviews. Getting an “average” review means you will be shown out the door. They openly advertise that they pay more than market rates. And I agree. If you want great people, you need to pay for it. Great people know they are very hard to replace. You may pay these people 15% more, but you will get 100% more work.

It reminds me of a controversy at Princeton when I was there. Grade inflation was a big topic there and at other Ivy League schools. It seemed that too many students were getting A’s and B’s. At the time, I agreed. I thought more people needed to get lower grades. But now being removed from the situation, I kind of see how ridiculous that is. Almost every single person at an Ivy League school was a top performer in their high school. Giving someone an ‘F’ because someone got an ‘A’ would be ludicrous. Someone else’s success should not diminish yours. Certainly, their success needs to be recognized and appreciated. They should get better rewards. But the notion that the only way to succeed is to make sure your peers fail is a very dangerous path to go down. But it is something that corporate America hasn’t seemed to figure out yet.

So now you have that great Ivy League Degree, now what? How do you go about finding a job? Well, it isn’t always as easy as it sounds, even for those with great credentials. Here is my advice. Diversify. No, I’m not talking about your portfolio. I’m saying that there is no one single way you should go about looking for a job. You need to look under every rock you can and try multiple methods to try and find that perfect dream job. (I think the same thing applies to finding the right woman, but that’s another story)

I’ve had four different jobs in my life. I found each job differently. Here is how I did it, and what I would recommend.

College recruitment - If you are still in college, this is the way to go. Many larger companies will come to the university and recruit right on campus. This tends to be great for new college grads because you know that they are looking for good entry-level positions. This is especially helpful, because a lot of time, these are treated as informational. If you are like me, you might not know what you even want to do out of college and this can be the way to go.  Word of advice though, just because you don’t know what you want to do, don’t let on to the recruiters that you don’t know what you want to do.  Employers want to know that you will have a passion to do whatever it is they do.  If you go for a banking interview, you must show you love to bank.  If it’s a tech job, computers need to be your life.  It’s fine to go on lots of different types of interviews, just don’t let it on that you aren’t sure where you will go.

Post your resume online - Probably the least effective way to go about getting a job, but I’m living proof it works. I posted my resume on one of the job boards, either Dice or Monster, and I was contacted by a person in a company looking to fill a position. Most of the time, this method will get you lots of calls from recruiters looking to present you to a company. I have had very little luck with these types of placements but some luck with companies directly. The big advantage here is that if they contact you, they already like your resume, so chances for success here are very good. However, this has the strong disadvantage that you have little or no control over who is looking at your resume or when they might contact you.  Make sure you resume has lots of keywords in it, but still presents well.  You will be found by people searching for keywords, but you will be called because your resume looks great.

Networking - Everyone says this is the best way to find a job. Ask your friends and see if they know of anyone who is hiring. I found my last job this way, and I will agree it is the easiest way to find a job for most people. Getting through the many layers of HR and decision makers can be very hard. Having a friend on the inside can only help you. My advice to all people is this, be friendly at work. You never know who can help you land the next job. Further, be friendly with the right people. While it may sound underhanded, attach yourself to smart people who are going places. Chances are, they may take you with them if you are ever looking for a change of scenery. Not only will these people always have a good job at a good company, but their recommendation tends to carry a lot of weight wherever they go.

Apply directly to jobs you find either on a company’s website or one from a job board - This is how I found my next job but it can be very difficult. Most people will not be able to duplicate my 40% success rate at getting replies back from hiring companies. You would probably be doing well if it was closer to 10% or even 5%. You have to understand, these companies may look at hundreds of resumes. I’ve been a hiring manager. Believe me, I may look through fifty resumes before I find one I like. You have to be able to stand out from the crowd. That’s where a great corporate pedigree comes into play. It can make you stand out. If you don’t have it, you need to be sure that you stand out in some other way. I’ll get to that later when I talk about resumes.  The one very strong bit of advice I can give here is to put some work into each resume you said.  Read the job description, make sure you are a good fit, and then customize your resume to fit the job description.  You don’t have to rewrite the whole thing, just make sure that within 3o seconds, the employer knows you can do the job.

There are still some other ways, but I haven’t found too much success in them. How about you? What ways have you looked for jobs and how successful were they?

So Ningpo makes a good point, I never really discuss what I think “good” is vs. “great” So what is my definition of “good”?

First off, when doing this comparison, I’m going to talk strictly from a financial sense. There is not good or great without great friends, family, and if you are lucky enough, someone to share your life with. So that being said, this is what I consider to be a “good” life. A good life is a life where you are very comfortable, have all the things you need, and with a little bit of work, will continue this way indefinitely. This implies

• Having no debt outside of your primary residence (bonus if you have none of this).
• Having a job you like.
• Having a job or income source that allows you to live an upper-middle class life and afford a few luxuries.
• Having enough savings such that you could choose not to work for one or more years and still be OK.
• Having a savings plan that,if continued, will allow you to comfortably retire at your current consumption level by the age of 60.

So what makes something great?  Having all the above, but not having to work at it anymore but taken to a whole new level.  You can quit your 9-5 job, and just enjoy doing whatever it is that you want to do, even if that is to work.  You can afford pretty much whatever reasonable luxury that you want i.e. you could afford the BMW but maybe not the Ferrari.  You are probably “good” if you are in the top 15% of the population in terms of income and wealth, you are probably great if you fall into the top 1%.

So what is your definition, from a financial perspective, of good vs great?

My girlfriend was reading a book called The World’s Greatest Resumes by Robert WM. Meier. In it he talks a lot about having the perfect corporate pedigree and how his book can help those that don’t have a perfect corporate pedigree. It tells you how to emphasize certain aspects of your resume, and how to work your way around some of your weaknesses. Overall, I think she would recommend the book, as her resume looks pretty good now.

I write about this because when I asked about the book, she told me I didn’t need it, because I have the perfect corporate pedigree. I laughed when she said this, except she was serious. I’ve never really thought of myself this way despite the fact that I’ve always seem to be able to find a job, and a good job, when I want one. So just what does make a perfect corporate pedigree? While not coming out and explicitly saying it, Meier seems to suggest that a great pedigree involves

• Having an Ivy League Degree
• Working for a big Fortune 500 Company
• Having a continuous work history that shows good career progression

I fit the bill because I graduated from Princeton University, I have worked for two Fortune 500 Companies, Accenture and Microsoft, and I have no large gaps in my resume. I believe I took a small step backwards with my move to Microsoft, but I can easily explain the move and to outsiders it looks like a smart career move. So having these “qualifications” supposedly makes me more desirable to potential employers. Is it true?

Hard to say. I would say there is no doubt that many doors have been opened to me because the Princeton and Microsoft name carry some clout. I have a pretty high success rate of responses to people who I sent my resume to. I would say that of all the resumes I sent out in my latest job search, I had about a 40% response rate. This is a phenomenal number. But I want to stress this. I think this allowed me to get a call back, I don’t think it helped me all that much to actually get the job. But considering the fact that getting the call back might be the hardest part, then this may indeed be a key success factor.

HR and hiring managers might look through hundreds of resumes to fill an important position. Lots of times, they will only scan your resume and look at your eduction, job history, and previous titles. It is important to have something on your resume that will let you stand out from the crowd in this case, and having the above criteria certainly won’t hurt you.

The point of me writing this post is that you need to understand what many employers are looking for in order to prepare for it accordingly. If you have the above pedigree, great, you are set. Just make sure your resume looks decent and that you use the advantage that you have wisely. If you don’t, you need to be sure that you are showing off your qualifications in some other way to stand out. Further, if you have the opportunity to enhance your resume in some way, like going to get your MBA at a top-tier school, or to go work for a Fortune 500 company, you need to seriously consider it.

That’s my admittedly bias perspective. What do you think? How important is having a good “corporate pedigree”?

Free Money Finance wrote a post the other day about when to not take a job offer. I actually think it is a pretty interesting topic. I’m touching on it a little bit earlier than I want but when I take into account that I just accepted a job offer, it makes sense to talk about why I took this one as opposed to other job offers.

As I started writing this post, I realized it really depends on the particular situation. Therefore, I’m going to write this post in a few different parts to address each situation. The situation I think most people will find themselves in is that they still are at their current job (company A) and they are looking for a change in scenery. For this exercise, I’m going to assume you are trying get as high on the corporate ladder as you can in the shortest amount of time. So given this situation, imagine you receive a job offer from Company B, should you take it? Here are situations I would not take a job offer.

You are not 100% sure that whatever is bothering you about your current job is not going to happen at the new job - Most people fail to realize that a lot of problems they have with their job is not specific to their team, company, etc. They fail to realize that whatever they hate about their current job is going to exist at their next job and so get stuck in a vicious cycle.

You are going to take significantly less money for the same role - This is actually an extension of above. If you are going to switch companies to do the same work, why would you take a pay cut? Pay is important. It isn’t strictly about what it will buy you. It’s the fact that it is a signal to you how important the job is to the company. If one company is going to pay you less, you have to wonder if it really is the same job.

You are going to take a lesser role - I have actually fallen trap to this. I was eager to leave Company A and took a position where my role would be less than what it was at the time (the money was about the same). While it worked out for me, this is generally not a good idea. If you want to reach the top of the corporate ladder, it is critically important that you have steady progression upwards. If you take a lesser role, and it doesn’t work out, this will impact you as you look for a new job at Company C. Here is a little secret. Changing jobs is often the BEST time to go for a promotion. That’s right. Often, it is easier to get a BETTER role going to a new company than it is at your own, so you should almost never take a lesser role. Keep looking if this is the case.

You haven’t mapped out what you want in your career - If you don’t know what you want, hoping to find it at your next job is the wrong way to find it. Changing jobs should be a very thoughtful exercise, you need to do it for the right reason. You should not jump from job to job hoping that someone will tell you what you should be doing. Nobody cares about your career more than you do. If you think you are going to find a manager who is suddenly going to tell you what you should be doing and how you will get there, you will be looking for a long time.

You haven’t really tried to make it work at your current job - The grass isn’t always greener. A lot of people just move from job to job hoping to find that “perfect” job. They don’t actually realize that their current situation isn’t all that bad, and haven’t tried to work out the issues they have. Most companies and managers want to retain good people and don’t want to see you leave. If it can be worked out, you should at least explore if staying is a legitimate option.

Despite all these reasons not to take a job offer, let me give you something to think about that was said by a friend of mine just last night. If the only reason you are at your current job is inertia, you need to get out. I can’t tell you the number of people I have talked to who have told me that they are “comfortable” at their current job so they don’t want to look for another. They only reason they are where they are, is that it is “too hard” to find another job or they are too lazy. That is the absolute worse reason to be at a job, and a sure sign you need to be looking hard to go somewhere else.

Those are my reasons not to take a job offer if you are deciding between your current job and a new one, can you think of any more?