Part 7 (2/2)

Debbie O'Leary Prioritizes the Factors in Her Two Job Offers Debbie went back to her chart and highlighted the five important factors. On the income line, the satellite job had the advantage. On the proximity line, the radio job came out on top. While the radio job also had the advantage of offering more unpaid time off, the satellite job provided more paid time off. The satellite job also offered opportunities for learning. Since neither job offered disability or life insurance, or tuition reimburs.e.m.e.nt, those factors weren't important. Debbie already had health insurance coverage through her husband, so that wasn't an important factor either. However, the satellite radio job had a retirement plan that included an employer financial contribution, effectively adding to her income and making it an important factor to consider. Weighing the factors that really are important today, Debbie surprised herself (and her husband) by opting for the satellite radio job...the offer she had almost reflexively turned down. I gave her a round of applause, both in congratulations and as a small subst.i.tute for the public fanfare she'd be missing. But then I told her she still had more work to do: she had to figure out when she'd be leaving the job she'd just started.

Chapter 8.

h.e.l.lo, I Must Be Going

h.e.l.lo, I must be going.I came to say,I cannot stay,I must be going.- GROUCHO M MARX IN A ANIMAL C CRACKERS AGGIE WICKFIELD HAD never felt so empowered when leaving a job. After eighteen months as administrative a.s.sistant to the comptroller of an outdoor-clothing manufacturing firm, Aggie was leaving, of her own volition, to take a job as personal a.s.sistant to the president of a labor union. Every other time she had left a job it had been because she either hated the job or was laid off. But she didn't hate her job with the clothing manufacturer. In fact, she liked it. It paid well and provided her with the chance to learn some new skills. And far from laying her off, her boss was sad to see her go, fearful of not being able to replace her. Aggie was leaving because she had found something even better; a job that provided more of the benefits of her current job, as well as some things it lacked. The job with the labor union paid better, provided chances to learn even more new skills, gave more paid holidays, and was located closer to her home. For the first time in her working life Aggie felt as if she were moving toward something, rather than away from something. She realized she was moving toward being happier. never felt so empowered when leaving a job. After eighteen months as administrative a.s.sistant to the comptroller of an outdoor-clothing manufacturing firm, Aggie was leaving, of her own volition, to take a job as personal a.s.sistant to the president of a labor union. Every other time she had left a job it had been because she either hated the job or was laid off. But she didn't hate her job with the clothing manufacturer. In fact, she liked it. It paid well and provided her with the chance to learn some new skills. And far from laying her off, her boss was sad to see her go, fearful of not being able to replace her. Aggie was leaving because she had found something even better; a job that provided more of the benefits of her current job, as well as some things it lacked. The job with the labor union paid better, provided chances to learn even more new skills, gave more paid holidays, and was located closer to her home. For the first time in her working life Aggie felt as if she were moving toward something, rather than away from something. She realized she was moving toward being happier.

You can choose the time you leave a job, rather than waiting for the ax to fall.

You can repeatedly move from good jobs to better jobs, instead of moving from one bad job to another.

You can guarantee you get more of what you want from work simply by choosing to s.h.i.+ft jobs in order to improve your situation.

You can turn your work life from a reactive process in which you feel pushed around by chance and uncaring bosses, to a proactive course in which you are in charge, moving when and where you want.

To achieve this you need to adopt the seventh and final element in my work philosophy, one I call ”h.e.l.lo, I must be going.” What this means is that, having gone job fis.h.i.+ng and landed a number of job offers, and having chosen the best one, you enter that job with the clear sense of why and how you'll leave it. You accept that every job is temporary, and plan accordingly.

We Are All Hired to Be Fired In professional sports leagues, only one team wins a champions.h.i.+p. That means every other team in the league ends up a loser, regardless of how entertaining its games were, or how much its record improved over previous years. Because of this, coaches or managers are constantly being fired. After all, unless they win the champions.h.i.+p they've failed at their job. The adage is that a coach or manager is hired to be fired.

What's true of professional sports is true of all work today. We are all hired to be fired. A company brings in a group of people to, let's say, create an e-commerce operation for the company. If it generates immediate profits or boosts the stock price, they keep their jobs and keep the operation going. If after, perhaps, two years, the e-commerce operation isn't working, or hasn't helped push up the stock price, the whole project is shelved and everyone is fired. This goes not just for new ventures, but for long-standing elements of an organization. Outsource the bookkeeping department. Replace the sales staff with independent reps. Computerize customer service and fire the whole team.

People used to be viewed as a.s.sets of a business, a part of the long-term wealth and value of the organization. Today, people are seen as expenses, to be added or cut depending on what's needed to impact the short-term revenues, or worse, stock price, of the company.

You can blame this on the acceleration of the business cycle, the globalization of commerce, or advances in information technology. You can blame it on the current presidential administration, Congress, or Wall Street. You can even blame the tides or the signs of the zodiac. On the practical level, where and who we work for a living all exist, it doesn't matter who's to blame. What matters is the facts on the ground...and how you react to them. This what I tried to explain to Bill Kaplan when he first came to see me.

As I noted back in chapter 1, Bill is a recent college graduate who led a pretty unsettled and nomadic life up until graduation. The son of a longtime client of mine, Bill is a charming and very creative young man. At times it seemed his creativity was more of a curse than a blessing, since he could never quite figure out how to harness it.

After high school he went to a small private college in upstate New York with the intent of being a fine-arts major. But while there he was bitten by the acting bug. Convinced that was where his future lay, he transferred from the arts school to a state university, where he became a theater arts major. After a year studying theater he decided the only way to really become an actor was to act, and so, despite his parents' pleas, he dropped out of college, moved to New York City, took jobs waiting on tables, and tried to line up acting work. After two years of struggle he went back to school at a city college, this time to pursue his love of writing and reading. He became an English major and finally graduated.

Having become fascinated by the bookstore business, Bill was thrilled to line up a job as an a.s.sistant manager at one of the large chain bookstores. He came to see me for a life-planning session, at the suggestion of his parents. After hearing him wax enthusiastic about his new job I explained that everyone, including him, had actually been hired to be fired, and suggested he start laying the groundwork to leave.

Leave Before You're Pushed Out I don't think anyone who's been in the job market for the past few years, or who has read the newspapers or watched the news recently, can disagree that today we're all hired to be fired. No one's job is secure for the long term, whether you're the last hired or a lifelong employee, a star performer or a slacker, making minimum wage or six figures. As a result, I think it's essential that you leave before you're pushed out.

As I've touched on earlier in this book, if you wait until you're terminated to look for work, you'll find yourself a seller in a buyer's market. If your employer is cutting staff, you'll be competing with your former coworkers for any job openings elsewhere. If your old company is cutting back, odds are that other firms in the same industry are doing the same, making the number of job seekers out there even larger and the number of potential employers lower. And if multiple companies in your industry are cutting back, that could have a ripple effect on support industries and businesses, adding to the number of unemployed and subtracting from the number of possible openings. In addition, an industry-wide cutback could be indicative of a larger economic trend, meaning many other industries are ailing too. That means still more job seekers and still fewer potential employers.

Greg Horn loved his job as a pilot with a small commuter airline in New England. He enjoyed flying the company's small turboprops and being able to spend almost every night at home with his wife and newborn son. That's why, when he began sensing things weren't going well with his employer, he hesitated to look for another job. By early 2002, when he was laid off, all the other small commuter airlines in New England were cutting staff as well because of the industry slowdown. It wasn't until the middle of 2003 that he was able to find another flying job.

On the other hand, if you leave on your own you'll be a seller in a seller's market. You won't be competing with others from your company who were fired. There won't be a slew of terminations from other companies in your industry. In fact, they may be interested in stealing away people from a compet.i.tor when times are good. If your industry is doing well, the support industries will be fine too. And unless your industry runs counter to the business cycle, other industries will probably be doing well too.

John Carpinose had been in the private security industry for more than a decade. After graduating college with a degree in criminal justice he had joined one of the country's larger commercial security companies. A skilled manager who was willing to travel because he was single, John became one of the company's ”firefighters,” rapidly responding to divisions or regions that had problems. The growing pains in the business after September 11 had sp.a.w.ned more than the usual number of crises. Yet John still made time for his job fis.h.i.+ng. It yielded four offers from other security-related companies in the span of six months. John was able to get a 50 percent increase in salary by jumping to a compet.i.tor in the midst of the business boom.TIPS FOR GETTING RAISESThere are only four arguments you can make to get more money from your boss:

Your income hasn't kept pace with the cost of living because of inflation.

You're making an exceptional contribution to the company's bottom line. You're making an exceptional contribution to the company's bottom line.

You've taken on new tasks and responsibilities, so your job has changed. You've taken on new tasks and responsibilities, so your job has changed.

You're not being paid the market rate for your services. You're not being paid the market rate for your services.

There's no acceptable reason for an employer to turn down a cost - of - living increase. However, it's not actually a raise, since all you're doing is keeping pace with inflation.If your contribution is a onetime occurrence, you're liable to receive a bonus rather than a raise. Still, that's better than nothing.Having taken on new responsibilities, you're due added compensation, but only if the company values your increased contributions.Showing that you're not being paid market value puts the company on the spot. To keep you they'll have to give you a raise. Whatever they do, there will be a positive outcome. If they value you as an employee they'll come across with more money. If they don't give you a raise it means they don't value you, they don't have the money, or both. Whatever the reason, this means you should take another job as soon as possible.

Leave Something on the Table Over the past couple of years some of my more enterprising clients have come to me for help in trying to perfectly time leaving their job. They accept that they were hired to be fired and need to leave before they're pushed out, but don't want to miss out in the process. They want to keep their job as long as they're still likely to get raises and bonuses, but leave just as their potential for increasing their income has peaked. (See the box on page 179: Tips for Getting Raises.) These people are trying to do in the job market what others attempt in the stock market or in financial negotiations.

Stock market timers try to hold on to a stock as long as it continues to increase in value, only selling it at its top price, just before it starts going down, so they get every single penny from it they possibly can. Greedy negotiators want to hold out until they either get every last dollar the other party was willing to spend, or force every last concession possible. They want to sell for the highest price possible and buy for the lowest price possible.

I tell my clients they should feel free to time their job status this way...just as soon as they've shown me they can do the same with the stock market or in negotiations. I don't mean to be flippant, but no one has ever figured out how to consistently time the stock market in this way. People always sell before a stock reaches its top price - and kick themselves for missing out on a few dollars more - or sell once it has started going down in price - and kick themselves for not selling sooner and missing out on a few dollars more. And no one has ever figured out how to always get every single dollar out of a negotiation. My advice to those trying to time the job market is the same as those trying to time the stock market or max out their negotiations: don't.

Most people make the mistake of thinking there are discrete, readily apparent moments in the rise and fall of something they're watching closely, whether it's a stock price, financial concessions, or earnings potential from a job. High and low points can be seen only in hindsight. It's only after something has started going down, after it has pa.s.sed its tipping point, that you can see where and when it reached its peak or hit its bottom. The only way to be able to discern the high point or low point is to wait until it has pa.s.sed. That's why, whether it comes to the stock market, negotiating, or deciding when to leave a job, I advocate ”leaving something on the table.”

Success in these situations isn't getting every last penny; it's getting a result with which you're happy. When it comes to the stock market, that means selling or buying at a price which works, not just at the highest or lowest price. When it comes to negotiating, that means reaching an agreement with which both parties are comfortable, not just when one side has gotten everything possible out of the other. And when it comes to leaving your job, that means, if possible, leaving while you're still valued, while you're still getting raises. In all these instances, greed will get the better of you if you let it. Instead, be willing to settle for less than everything. Believe me, if you leave a job at a time when you might have been able to get another raise, you'll make up for it in your next job.

Elizabeth Stoerdeur felt a bit guilty accepting the employee of the year award from the specialty cable network where she worked, because she knew she was going to be leaving in less than a month. Elizabeth had just been promoted and given a raise for being the driving force behind the network's surprise hit of the fall season. At the network's annual Christmas party two executive producers had separately pulled her aside to pa.s.s on the rumor that she was in line for the next executive producer opening. She bit her lip and didn't tell either that, knowing how fleeting success in the media business could be, she had already accepted an executive producer job at another cable network.

Covert Versus Overt Approaches You and I and everyone else in the world who's been conscious during the past few years realizes there's no job security anymore, and that employees are hired to be fired. But that doesn't mean bosses are ready to admit it - at least not to all their employees.

If you're a lower- or midlevel worker, bosses will show you no loyalty and will fire you at the drop of a share price, but they don't want to see that you're preparing for that to happen and, heaven forbid, could beat them to the punch. Bosses are very uncomfortable with a.s.sertive and empowered workers. Despite all evidence to the contrary, they will preach to you about loyalty and secur

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