Part 6 (1/2)

An avid golfer, Fred joined a second foursome and began spending more time at the clubhouse both before and after his rounds of golf. One of Fred's son was active in a youth hockey league, and after years of being only peripherally active in the youth hockey organization, Fred volunteered to join the board. During college and for a short time after graduation, Fred had been active in amateur theater. He decided to return to that interest and got involved in a small local theater company. To help him get his ”acting chops” back, he signed up for an improvisation cla.s.s given by a local community college. Meanwhile, Fred kept an eye on the want ads and tried to stay in touch with his business network.

While he was able to navigate successfully the changes made by the incoming university president, Fred didn't let that temporary respite deter his job fis.h.i.+ng. One afternoon after a round of golf Fred struck up a conversation with a guest of one of the fellows in his regular foursome. It turned out that, like Fred, the guest was a Cincinnati native. They had gone to neighboring high schools, though a few years apart. They also shared painful memories of being Bengals and Reds fans.

About six weeks later they met at the club again. It turned out that the fellow had been in town for a job interview before and had just taken a job as general manager of a large printing firm headquartered nearby. He told Fred he had been brought in by the printing firm's parent company to update and upgrade the operation. Fred spoke to him about his experiences integrating new technology into the university's publications program. They had a follow-up meeting for lunch. A month later Fred was offered the job of a.s.sistant general manager of the firm, in charge of modernizing the prepress arm of the business.

I know it's ironic that while on the one hand I preach separating your work and personal life by looking to one for money and the other for satisfaction, on the other hand I advocate using your social life to generate job leads. It's also ironic that I've found my clients get far more job leads by not not making that the priority in their social life than if it's obvious they're using a social setting to find a job. It has taken me a long time to accept these kinds of inconsistencies in the way the work world appears to function. making that the priority in their social life than if it's obvious they're using a social setting to find a job. It has taken me a long time to accept these kinds of inconsistencies in the way the work world appears to function.

I take comfort in Ralph Waldo Emerson's aphorism that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. I know what I'm suggesting can seem ironic and counterintuitive. But what matters is that it works.

One element of my approach that isn't isn't counterintuitive is that if you're looking at work as a way to generate money, you've got to make money a priority. Putting money first is the subject of the next chapter. counterintuitive is that if you're looking at work as a way to generate money, you've got to make money a priority. Putting money first is the subject of the next chapter.

Chapter 7.

It's the Money

Work though we must, our jobs do not automatically determine our priorities concerning our marriages, our children, our social life, or even our health. It's still life, constrained as it may be by limited disposable income or leisure time, and we're still responsible for making it something we enjoy or endure.- MELINDA M. M M. MARSHALL THE FIRST SURPRISE for Will Sykes was that his job fis.h.i.+ng actually worked. He found himself weighing two job offers simultaneously. A lieutenant in the police force of a small city in the New York suburbs, Will was offered a job as director of security at a television studio as well as a job as a.s.sistant director of security at an aviation industry facility. Will's second surprise was that, after weighing the two jobs, he chose the one at the industrial facility. The studio job offered more amenities, more of a challenge, a better t.i.tle, chances for advancement, and a great deal of status. But the industrial job was closer to his home and paid a bit more. And when weighing job offers today, Will realized he had to focus on financial issues. for Will Sykes was that his job fis.h.i.+ng actually worked. He found himself weighing two job offers simultaneously. A lieutenant in the police force of a small city in the New York suburbs, Will was offered a job as director of security at a television studio as well as a job as a.s.sistant director of security at an aviation industry facility. Will's second surprise was that, after weighing the two jobs, he chose the one at the industrial facility. The studio job offered more amenities, more of a challenge, a better t.i.tle, chances for advancement, and a great deal of status. But the industrial job was closer to his home and paid a bit more. And when weighing job offers today, Will realized he had to focus on financial issues.

Look for emotional, psychological, and spiritual fulfillment in your personal life, and you won't need to choose jobs that offer psychic rewards at the expense of material rewards.

Work to live rather than live to work, and you won't need to choose jobs that make your working hours more comfortable. Instead, you can focus on factors that give you more time at home.

Accept that your route to advancement is through changing jobs rather than climbing a ladder, and you'll see chances for personal development are more valuable than chances to move up in the company.

Follow the fire-your-boss philosophy and your priorities will s.h.i.+ft dramatically.

Fabulous amenities and a supportive culture won't be as important as more paid personal and vacation days.

A great work environment won't carry the same weight as being closer to your home.

And an impressive t.i.tle and lots of status simply won't compare to a better salary.

Today, when it comes to a.n.a.lyzing which job offer to accept and which to reject, you need to remember the sixth element in my work philosophy: it's the money that matters.

That's what I had to explain to Debbie O'Leary when she came into my office for the first time. If you recall from chapter 1, Debbie was a program director at a midwestern rock radio station. She moved to New York City in order to be with her new husband, Bruce, a well-known deejay at one of the city's premier rock stations. Debbie had never had any problem with paying her dues and working her way up the ladder during her twenty years in radio. But she had always worked at rock stations and had always had her own show. It was love of rock music that had drawn her to radio in the first place, and it was the thrill of being on the air that kept her in the business through the many lean times. And moving back to New York, where she had been raised, led to another of those lean times. It took more than eighteen months for Debbie to find any potential jobs; then, as fate would have it, she received two offers: one as a part-time weekend replacement deejay at one of the city's rock stations, and the other as a jazz programmer at a satellite radio network. Her reflexive reaction was to take the job at the rock station, but Bruce urged her to come see me before making her decision.

Isolating the Twenty Factors Whenever most people are faced with having to choose between two alternate courses or paths, they make a list of the characteristics of each option. Let's say you're trying to decide where to go for dinner. One choice is the local diner, the other is a French restaurant. If you're like most of us, you mentally go through a checklist of the factors that enter into your decision making. The French restaurant has a more pleasant environment and the food is more substantial, albeit specialized. The diner is less expensive, closer to your home, and offers more choices.

The same holds true for choosing between job offers. The first step in the process is to make a list of the characteristics of each job, based on a set of factors. Over years of consulting and helping people weigh job offers, I've found there are twenty main factors people consider. Here they are in alphabetical order:

Amenities: services provided by the organization for your use at no or very low cost.

Auto: a car and its a.s.sociated expenses provided for you at no charge by the organization.

Challenging: the degree to which the job provides you with intellectual stimulation.

Culture: the beliefs, customs, practices, and values of the organization as a whole and the specific department of which you'd be a part.

Disability insurance: a policy that pays a benefit if you become disabled, paid for by the organization.

Environment: the comfort and aesthetics of both the general and your specific work s.p.a.ces.

Expense allowance: a regularly provided stipend given to you for business-related expenses.

Health insurance: a policy covering all or part of the cost of medical, dental, pharmaceutical, psychological, and lifestyle counseling services, paid for entirely, or in part, by the organization.

Income: how much money you're paid in wages, salary, or bonuses.

Life insurance: a policy that pays a benefit on your death, to beneficiaries you select, paid for by the organization.

Opportunity for advancement: the potential for your moving up the organization's hierarchy.

Opportunity for learning: the potential for you to acquire new skills and knowledge.

Paid time off: how many days you can take off work for vacation or personal reasons and still be paid.

Proximity: the distance or time required to get from your home to the job and back.

Retirement plan: an investment or pension plan that the organization sets up and to which it may contribute.