Shotgun or sniper rifle?

So, my content advisor suggested that I opine about whether one should apply for anything and everything or just specific types of positions... shotgun or sniper rifle. In some respects my post from March 17th (Intensity of Focus... not activity) was about that very issue, but since I have actually gotten two other emails about this, so I will be a touch more definitive about it.

When asked by an interviewer whether he worked out or exercised, Neal Armstrong said:

"I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises."

Career development in general and job hunting in particular fit this metaphor. One of my areas of responsibility is managing the Letters of Reference Service for the university, so I have a fairly good idea of the number of reference letters that go out for grad school and med school applications as well as applications for teaching positions. Two or three years ago, I was approached by a graduate student who asked if we would consider giving her a "bulk rate" for her requests . Thinking that she might be sending out 25 or 30 letters, I replied that we had little margin in our charge and it would not be feasible for us. She became quite adamant and said,

"I have already sent out 82 applications and I have another 70 ready to go. I don't want to let a single position get by me without applying for it."

I shared that I had been in higher education for 20 years and I could never remember a time when there were 150 positions available in her discipline of Asian Studies. Her quick response,

"Oh, I'm not applying just for Asian Studies positions, I am applying for Sociology, Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, and Chicano Studies. I'm also applying for anything that has humanities or diversity in the title."

Her rationale was flawless. Asian Studies was a subset of Ethnic Studies and Ethnic Studies departments had formed on most campuses in Sociology or Anthropology departments. She had majored in history as an undergraduate and since her mother was Latina, she should be considered for Chicano Studies. I saw her on campus several more times over the next couple of years and she told me that she had maxed-out at 320 applications before she could not sent out another application and need to get back to the dissertation that she had fallen behind on. I held my peace, but remain convinced that her shotgun approach kept her from putting an appropriate amount of effort into positions that she might really enjoy, relegating all jobs to the same degree of watered-down effort.

During my first application frenzy after graduate school, I will admit that I threw out a lot of paper... nothing approaching 320 or even 150 for that matter. It only took two horrible trips... one to a small coal-mining town in the hills of Virginia and another to a long-forgotten cattle town in West Texas, to get me to rethink what I was doing. During the dying weeks of that job campaign, I zeroed in on positions that I knew would fit me and my family. Since that time, I cannot remember a time when I had more than two job feelers out at a time. (Several years ago, when the university I was working for closed four departments, including mine, I sent out only one resume in a four month period, got an interview, and took the job as a transition to my current job which I found out about from a friend... not because I was looking.

Friendliness is next to Jobliness.

For the record, my last three jobs came to me in the following fashions.

Weeks ago I told the story of moving to Alabama to accept a teaching position and then realizing that I really, really needed to stay in California. After I handed in my resignation, I began to contact department chairs and deans to see if there were any part-time teaching slots available. One guy in particular dodged my every attempt to make contact, until he foolishly picked up the phone one day and got me. We chatted for a few minutes and he was very negative about the possibility of having any teaching for me. At that point I mentioned talking with a friend at the University of North Alabama. He asked who I knew there and, of course, we both knew the same person. The next day he called and offered me two classes. I got four more classes a week later when a friend of mine at San Jose State was in town and introduced me to his college room mate who was a psychology professor getting ready to leave for sabbatical. Midway through the year, I was offered a permanent slot at one of those schools.

I was commuting 60 miles to this job and it was okay, but I would have preferred to be closer to home. One day at a U12 soccer game, I ran into one of my old professors from my Masters' program... his grandson was playing on the opposition's team. We chatted for a while and I told him that I liked my job, but that the commute was brutal. About three weeks later he called told me about a position that was open in another department to be in charge of a Career Counseling Masters' Program. I was not looking for a job, but it was 10 miles from home. I took the job when offered.

This was the infamous job that was foreclosed along with three other Masters' programs. That was the bad news, the good news was that one does not simply cease an academic program, the current students have to be "taught out", which we decided would take two years. During that time, the university offered me a couple of slots, but I declined them as not being exactly what I wanted. One afternoon, my friend Lea Beth (Who I swear I will call, because I know she reads my blog and I feel all guilty and stuff about not calling her weeks ago!) called me out of the blue. She said,

"I was thinking about you yesterday because there is a position at UC Riverside that would be perfect for you."

I told her that I was not looking to commute 40 miles away. She paused for a minute and said,

"Okay, it's like this, I have a friend on the committee there and and they are really looking for a specific person, which I promised her was you, AND I promised her that I could get you to submit a resume."

Anyone who knows Lea Beth knows that when she's on a mission, she does not give up easily. I sent my resume and the rest, as they say, is history. All three of these jobs were secured in a reasonably casual, low-key fashion. I went through a formal application process and was not the only qualified applicant. I doubt I was the unanimous choice and I don't think that my "source" was able to exert any influence over the selection process. The deciding fact is that I was able to focus on the positions before the interviews and do well because I didn't have 320 other applications crowding the stratosphere for me. Yes, it is important to have an active, evolving network, but it is equally as important to have time to exploit that web of relationships.

The other day I suggested that focus was more important than activity, but perhaps what would clarify that recommendation is this restatement.

If all of our energy is spent on the mechanics of researching postings, revising resumes, crafting cover-letters, or designing elaborate ruses to "network" with others, then we will have no time to let those "best fit" opportunities find us and little time to research and prepare a strategic self-presentation.

What color is a chameleon?

House, MD is one of my favorite TV shows. Having done psychiatric diagnoses for years, I appreciate the fact that his final decision is built on mistakes and “rule-outs.” Often the process for determining what something IS centers on determining what it ISN’T. My biggest single frustration as a career development professional is contending with people who come to us with the belief that there is a single thing that they can be… one perfect job. I tell people all the time about the interactions I have with students and alumni who seem convinced that I am hiding jobs and careers from them and if they just ask in the right way, I will ceremoniously retrieve their long-lost career path from its hiding place and they will never have to worry about this decision again. Today’s post? What color is a chameleon on a pane of glass?

Running with the pack.

When I was younger there was something oddly comforting about dressing the same way as everyone else, although I really didn’t want to put that much thought into things. Jeans and sneakers (there were no cross trainers back then) would have been fine, but there was that whole peer pressure deal and this extended to how I saw my future. My father was a chemical engineer, my friends were generally smart kids, and my teachers thought I should be something important… like a doctor or lawyer. So, when I went to college I started as a pre-med student and found out that I freakin’ hated the funky smell in the labs and was not particularly fond of the fact that memorizing the 206 bones in the body seriously cut into football and beer drinking time. So, I switched to pre-law.

In point of fact, I just changed my major from biology to political science, because apparently the only difference between a pre-law student and a political science student was that the pre-law student would actually TELL people he/she was pre-law. Imagine my happy surprise when I discovered that I could major in English and just continue to say that I was pre-law and it was exactly the same. Cool, huh? The bottom line is that what I claimed as aspirations were largely configured by others’ expectations, as opposed to interest on my own part. I became a career chameleon in college, just choosing protective colors that matched the background.

Give me that test that tells me what I am good at.

I will spare you all the gory details, but my freshman year I took a career inventory called The Kuder Occupational Interest Survey, that told me that the occupation with which I shared the most interests was… farmer. I have tried several things over the years, but farmer has never been among them. Perhaps I would have been satisfied as a farmer, but the fact is that I have not suffered great discontent in my rambling journey to where I am today. You can imagine, then, how I feel to be on the receiving end of the following question:

"I’m having trouble deciding on a major and my mom told me come here and ask if you had that test that tells me what I am good at. So, do you have that test?”

One summer when I was doing parent orientation for incoming freshmen, I ask the 200-300 parents that were assembled that day for a show of hands for those that thought their son or daughter would benefit from a test to measure their interests. I would estimate that 250 hands went up. I then asked how many people in the room had taken such a test and saw about 25 hands. When I asked how many people were satisfied with their current career, again I got about 250 hands. Asking them to keep their hands up, I asked all people who had taken an interest inventory to raise their other hand. Of my original 25 or so, only half were included. The unscientific survey does not suggest that interest inventories do not work, but that people do not pay attention to them unless they get the information that they wish to get.

Yeah. I can do that… I think.

I will also suggest another hypothesis; we are highly unlikely to attempt anything that pushes us past what we think we are good at. Some of us have wildly over-estimated our ability to succeed, while others of us are crazy low in our estimates. The counseling literature is awash with research regarding this where it is referred to as perceived self-efficacy. There is some pretty cool research, but generally it does not push us much beyond the intuitive notion that we are much more likely to try things that we believe we will be good at doing. The source of these believes range from things as simple as “My father did it, so I should be able to do it, too,” to the much more complex cultural determinations of what is “women’s work” or “men’s work.” Ultimately, we are like little career chameleons changing our color and appearance so that we do not stand out too much, because birds only gobble up the lizards that they can see.

A chameleon on glass.

Very early in my career as a clinical supervisor, I was working with a group of novice counselors discussing a case in which the client seemed to adapt his personal style to match those around him. He drank heavily with one group, was racist in another group, and even acted “dumber” when around a group of friends that he considered “dumb.” Intriguingly, with the counselor, he had deep, rich insights into his behavior and seemed to understand the things that he was doing that were self-destructive, but as soon as he left the session, all that insight evaporated. The counselors very quickly picked up on the fact that he was a chameleon and most of what he did was reflexive and for self-protection. They were surprised when I pointed out that he also mimicked the counselor and they asked if the counselor should “mirror” this behavior to the client. In one of my rare moments of lucidity, I said,

"No. It’s not the counselor’s role to mirror anything. The counselor should be transparent, like glass… no purpose, no opinion, no bias. What color is a chameleon on a pane of glass?"

This led to a hearty discussion about the purpose of counseling (which I will spare you) and eventually branched off into thinking about how hard we as human beings work to be what others want us to be. I have grown to believe that one of the most salient challenges that we face daily is that of being ourselves, largely because we spend so much energy trying to accommodate others. Don’t think, by the way, that this is a completely bad thing. Much of the truly good stuff I have done over the years is because I did what I thought my wife and kids wanted me to do, and most of the truly bad stuff I did when I ignored their wishes for me. The only thing that astounds me more than how often people are wrong about me, is how often they are right.

Sadly, when the dust settles, there is no test that tells you what you are good at because you are the only one who will ever really know that. You have two basic choices as you make decisions about life and career… you can be the chameleon on the wall or the chameleon on glass. The chameleon on the wall is safe and secure with no real highs or lows. Imagine that chameleon on glass, shifting from one color to another, trying to figure out how to do “clear.” Sooner or later, its stops with its “real” color.

In case you missed the comments section...

Often the comments section in blogs are reasonably personal comments that I appreciate, but am not sure that everyone else will. One came in today, however, from Katharine Hansen that gives a bit different view point than mine on informational interviewing. Katharine is actually the author of that huge list of questions from Quint Careers that I referenced. Since I have entrusted hundreds of students and clients with Katherine's list, I thought her opinion should get some airtime as well. Here is her comment.

Thanks for the shoutout for my collection of informational interview questions and tutorial. Informational interviewing is such a fantastic technique, especially in these tough times. I don't totally agree with you about the interview NOT being a way to get a foot in the door or about not bringing a resume to the interview, but these are perfectly valid viewpoints that lots of professionals share. I think it's OK to ask an informational interviewee for a quick resume critique -- IF you've established excellent rapport with the interviewee.

I'll have to say that I agree on the rapport with interviewee, but am probably a bit more adamant about maintaining boundaries in most informational interviews.

Please check out Katharine's book, A Foot in the Door at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, or any other online book seller. Chapter 18 is a much more thorough treatment of informational interviewing.

Katherine Hansen, A Foot in the Door, ISBN 1-58008-140-1 51495

Can We Talk? Informational Interviews.

About fifteen years ago, when I was the clinical director of small mental health agency, I answered a phone call from a graduate student at a nearby university who asked if I would mind give him some time to discuss how I got into the field of counseling. I was very flattered and immediately began to rehearse in my head what wonderful insights about a life in counseling I would share with him. As I recall, he asked exactly one question about me and then the interaction descended into "I-need-a-job Hell." It was over a decade before I did another informational interview and it was very difficult for me to recommend info interviewing as a means of finding out about a field. I have recovered somewhat and will occasionally grant time to someone who makes such a request. What follows are a few pointers for those of you considering added info interviews to your career development arsenal.

Foot in the door... NOT!
This is the starting gate of this post and I wish to inform you clearly and unequivocally that an informational interview should never be about getting your foot in the door. Your visit should be fairly structured with a definite time limit. Here's the deal. The person you wish to talk to is likely to be at least moderately successful or you wouldn't even want to talk to them. If they are moderately successful, they are likely to be moderately busy as well. Respect their time and schedule by being organized and thoughtful.

This is not to say that these interviews do not sometimes become networking adventures, but that is rare and should never be the primary purpose of the meeting. I encourage interviewers to not take resumes or CV's with them. If the interviewee asks to see your resume, politely say, "Thank you, but I did not bring it with me today because my primary purpose was to talk with you about this field and get an idea about whether or not I would find it a good fit. I would be very happy to email it to you later for your feedback." This actually accomplishes three things. First, it makes you appear to be a principled person of your word... you asked for an interview and that is what you came to do. Second, it gives you a reason to contact him or her later. Finally, it creates a context for real networking.

Where do I find these folks?
In many of our career workshops, I do recommend info interviewing in passing and inevitably someone will stay after and ask how to find people to interview. On one hand, it is very easy and on the other hand, very difficult. I am on the gregarious side and talk to complete strangers all the time, others break out in a cold sweat at the idea of asking a cashier for change. So, if you are like me and want to interview an architect, then you plop open your MacBook, Google "architects," and start calling and emailing.

If you are at the other extreme, talk with your family members and ask if they know an architect. Another strategy might be to put together a group email from some of the folks in your email address book and send out a simple message like:

Hi! I have been considering several important career decisions lately and would like to know more about architecture and design, but I cannot think of anyone with enough of a background to help me in my process. I am hoping that some of my friends and family might know of someone in the field who would be willing to talk to me to answer some basic questions about how one prepares for a career in architecture or design. If you know of someone, I would be very grateful for a shove in their direction. I have a list of 10 questions to ask and would not take up more than 30 minutes of their time. Thanks in advance. Sally Job Hunter

I guess you could Tweet this if you can figure out how to get it down to 140 characters, but Facebook and MySpace work equally as well. (For the record, I quickly scanned my LinkedIn Page, Facebook, and my email address books and came up with four architects.)

If you are a college student or an alum, many colleges and universities have alumni career networks that try to match students or alums with graduates in specific fields. The UCR Career Center routinely brings in panels of individuals in a variety of fields for this very purpose. Many other career centers do the same thing. Alumni are almost always welcome and sometimes guests are allowed to attend on a limited basis.

Professional associations are another good source of referral. For instance, the American Institute of Architecture California Council website has a page devoted to "becoming an architect," an extensive directory of architects, and listing of county associations which have more local information. The side benefit to searching through professional association websites is that they have a ton of information that would answer many questions long before you secured an interview.

When, what, where, how?
Since my first disastrous info interview, when people contact me about an informational interview I always say, "Because my time is limited, it will help a great deal if you could send me an email with some of the questions you will be asking. That way we can make the most of our time together." A few years ago, one of my students wanted to interview a university dean and sent an email request with questions included to four or five deans in the surrounding area. Only two scheduled time for her, but one other actually took the time to answer her questions even though he could not set aside time for her.

This is one of those areas in which the World Wide Tubes comes in so handy. I could give you a list of questions to ask, but Quintessential Careers has already done a superb job of putting toget a throng of when, what, where and how questions for you. Go to Quint Careers Info Interview page and harvest questions from there. (Heck, their whole informational interviewing tutorial is pretty darned good, too!)

Two heads are better than one.
My path to my current career was not very straightforward and the stops along the way configured how I do what I do and how I see what I see in the field. My time in the insurance industry makes me more tort and risk aware than more career counselors and my time as a psychotherapist and professor has made me more clinically focused than many career counselors. If you only talked to me about career counseling, you would have a very one-sided view. Find at least two people who seem to have had different paths and ask your questions.

The Myth of the Hidden Job Market

Depending on who you decide to trust, either 20% of jobs never posted (Seneca) or 80% of jobs are never posted (Career Intelligence). With a statistical gap that large, it seems to me that we are better off just assuming that neither are correct... other than the fact that there are jobs that are not advertised. Although we have no clue about the exact percentage, it would seem that there are SOME jobs that are not advertised and perhaps there are some strategies that would help erstwhile jobseekers as they careen through the chaos of job hunting.

Why does it matter?

One reader commented on my post on INTENSITY OF FOCUS a couple of days ago,

I like what you have to say about job searching, especially as it reinforces for me that it's not silly to only apply for jobs that I actually want ... But I do find it a bit frustrating to hear things like, don't look where you're "supposed" to look, because I don't know where the other places are or how to look there.

Also, what about all those job listings that exhort applicants, in all caps, not to call please? Should one call anyway?

Allow me to do a Zen commando thing for a moment. If we have are convinced that there is a single path that we are supposed to take, we will take it and do only those things we are supposed to do and look only where we are supposed to look. Doing this, we will find only those things we are supposed to find. The person who understands that supposed to is an illusion will look in places that he/she is not expected to and will find things he/she is not expected to find. There are no hidden jobs. There are unexpected jobs.

Several years ago, a young scientist came to my office. He was winding down six years of graduate study during which he had amassed prodigious skill working as a molecular biologist with proteins. When asked about his future, he said he'd really like to work in vaccine development, but lamented his lack of experience. As we began to talk about his specific job search, he showed me the labs to which he was applying and I commented that none of them did anything that was remotely connected to vaccine development. His response, "Well, I've never done vaccine work, so I figured that I should just stick to the labs that might need my kind of training." I asked him where he would want to work in if he didn't have to stick to labs that needed his kind of training. He named a medical research center on the East Coast, but quickly added that they would never take him.

We surfed out on to the website and began looking in places we weren't supposed to be looking. Suddenly he said, "I know her. I went to school with her." As it turns out, a former classmate was a scientist in one the labs in the Center. She was not doing vaccine work, but she was there. I tasked him to contact her and get information about how she had landed there and when he came back two weeks later he told me that he had spoken with here and had sent her his CV. At this point, he became a bit glum and said, "She was gonna give it to the guy in Infectious Disease that does the vaccine work and he hasn't called, so I guess he is not interested." While he was wallowing in his self-pity, I quietly went to the website and got the guy's number and at some point mid-wallow, I asked, "So. Do you wanna talk to him?"

Long story, short. We did call and the guy did not have room for him, but thought someone else might. He put the phone down (not on Hold... he put the sucker down and you could hear postdocs laughing and talking in the background) and apparently walked down the hall to talk to the "other guy" who not only had a place, but was specifically looking for someone who knew protein translation and synthesis. Boy meets lab. Boy marries lab. Boy becomes vaccine researcher.

What is YOUR Supposed To?

Finding unexpected jobs is all about finding your "supposed to" and stepping outside of it.

The Specific Requirement Supposed To. For the last twenty-plus years I have watched people develop "kitchen sink" job descriptions. Those are the ones that include every possible skill under the sun that might be used in commission of the job. (One of my favorites was a job description at a sister university for a management position that included: Squat=Occasionally. Bend=Frequently. I envision an interview in which a seasoned manager in his/her mid-forties is asked to squat and bend for the selection committee and then the committee members would hold up scorecards like they do for Olympic diving competitions.) Applicants will invariably read the 22 item requirement list and say, "I can't apply because there are two things on the list I have never done."

The 3-5 Years Experience Supposed To. If you are a 21 y/o recent college grad and you have never had a full time job please do not run off and apply for jobs that require 10-12 years of experience. If, however, you are finishing college and worked full time and part time for three or four years while in school, you might think seriously about positions that request 3-5 years of experience. I don't think three years of part time work is the equivalent of 3-5 years of experience, but with the right sort of experience showing advancement and progressive responsibility, you might fit the bill. I would let the hiring manager make the decision. I have hired people who have had years of experience only to find out that the experience had not prepared them for the position that I was trying to fill. Ultimately, if you decide not to apply for a job because you have two, instead of three, years of experience, you are turning down a job that you have not been offered.

The They Don't Have Any Openings Supposed To. Back in the day, we used to say, "If you are only looking in the newspaper, you will never find a job." These days we say, "If you are only looking at the newspaper and online job boards, you will never find a job." You at some point, you have to go directly to company websites and bricks and mortar buildings. Several years ago, I visited an organization's website and saw that they were seeking a part-time personal counselor and a part-time career counselor. It took me about two days to find out who the hiring manager actually was and made direct contact. I told him that I would be able to do both jobs and could save them a significant amount of money in benefits and administrative time and even submitted a written plan showing how both positions could (and should) be combined. I got an offer for a pretty cool job that did not exist that I got to create myself.

The I'm Just Using My Network Supposed To. To go Zen again, you have to master the art of finding without searching. My very first part time job in California came about when I was at a party with friend. One of his friends worked at a local men's store and at some point during the evening, I said I was looking for a seasonal job. About three days later, I hear, "Hey, Dude!" and looked up to see the partygoer and an older guy. We stopped and chatted and he asked me to have lunch with them. During lunch, he remembered I was looking for a job and turned the older guy and said, "Lee, when are we gonna hire our Christmas staff." Lee said that even though they had not posted the jobs yet, he'd hire me right then, if I wanted to start before Thanksgiving and I started two days later. Now, I realize that a Christmas job is not a career position, but the concept is the same.

Part of the problem about constantly being on the prowl is that we forget what people actually want in a co-worker... somebody they enjoy being around for eight hours a day. One of the things we tell students in interview skills training is, "Employers do not interview you to see if you can do the job in question. They already know that from your resume, application, and references. They interview you to make sure that they can sit with you eight hours a day five days a week." If you make every social gathering an opportunity to recite your 30-seconf elevator speech or whine about your fruitless job search or talk about all the interviews that you have had, you will quickly find a large empty space around you at parties. It's okay to mention that you are looking for a job. It is okay to answer a question or two about your job search, but keep it low profile. Ask people what THEY do. Ask what they like and dislike about their jobs. Ask how they found their jobs. But don't ask, even jokingly, if they know anybody who is hiring. If they like you and feel confident about your abilities, they will let you know about openings that exist.

Thinking outside the supposed to.

I believe this brings us to that final question:

"What about all those job listings that exhort applicants, in all caps, not to call please? Should one call anyway?"

I refuse to give a definitive answer on this one, but here's my sketchy advice. If you have a genuine question to ask, then call. If your idea is that by calling you might be able to exert some Svengali-like influence over the hiring process, then don't call. Thinking outside of the supposed to does not include willy-nilly ignoring others' wishes, it is about stepping outside of our typical habits and finding unexpected opportunities.

The Perfect Resume.

Okay, before this gets out of hand let me say that there is no such creature as a perfect resume. Better yet, if you go to Amazon.Com and type in "resume writing" you get no fewer than 5,782 options, while Barnes and Noble.Com renders a much more discriminating 817 entries. My job requires that my counselors and I see literally thousands of resumes each year, which range from exceptionally professional to awesomely awful. With few exceptions, each student will say, "I really want my resume to stand out and be seen." As a result, we see resumes on pink paper with magenta-colored type, tiny pictures of the job aspirant, bullets in the shape of smiley-faces or pointing fingers, horizontal rules with elaborate arabesque curly cues, and high-fashion fonts that make a resume look like the entree menu from a 5-star French bistro. After years of this, my one request is "Make It Stop! Please!"

Bottom Line at the Beginning.

For those of you tired of wading through my manifestos, let me give you the bottom line at the beginning. Most recruiters tell us that they do not particularly care what a resume looks like as long as they can easily read it and figure out what you have been up to and whether what you have been up to fits their needs. Additionally, they tend to think that the pink paper, arabesque rules, and pointy fingers are over compensation. In other, those tactics may make you stand out, but in the wrong way. Bottom line formula is: simple+professional = effective.

Paper. I have never chosen interview candidates based on fanciest paper. I have sometimes wondered how a candidate's paper got wrinkled and messy, but I seldom attribute that to the applicant. I generally go with the sort of "standard inkjet" grade of paper, but if you want the high cotton fiber bond with the custom watermark... knock yourself out.

Font. It has to be readable so getting below 10 points is pushing the limits. Likewise anything above 12 points is a bit over the top. I am a sans serif guy. I really like plain, simple Helvetica or Arial, but I know confirmed serif freaks who love Times and Times Roman stuff. Once again, I pay little actual attention unless its some freaky cartoon or cursive font and then I toss it.

Complete Sentences. Hate 'em. Don't want to read 'em. Keep it brief. To the point.

Bullets. A little controversy here. I don't particularly care for them, but I see them all the time. Many of my colleagues love them. Ultimately, if it is professional looking and communicates your experience, it will be okay. (For the record, smiley faces are only professional if you are applying to Clown College.)

Contact information. I know you see examples all the time with home and business contact information. I even have industrious graduate students who will list home, departmental office, and laboratory information. In a bad economy, when I have hundreds of highly qualified applicants for every position, I am looking for reasons to exclude candidates from the pool. If you make me choose from three or four numbers, I know what I am going to choose... No. List one address and one phone number.

Action words. I guarantee that if you type "action words resume" into any search engine you will gain immediate access to hundreds of lists with thousands of action words. Use them.

Examples. What can I say? Most college and university career center websites have hundreds of examples online. Try ours if you wish. Go to our Virtual Career Center and select "Resume Writing." Not only are there online examples, but there are streaming workshops to help. They are among the few things that you don't have to be a student to use. The public website that I use most often is Quintessential Careers.Com where you can find a good mix of free and fee-based resources... I like the free stuff.

Resume Services. I suppose there are times when paying for someone to help you craft a resume would be worth it, but I want to add a proviso. When you pay someone else to pimp your stuff, you do not learn how to do it yourself. Then, when you are in a pinch, it is tough to shoot from the hip and create a resume or cover letter on the fly. For folks who absolutely have to spend money, then check out community education options or buy one of the 5,782 books available on the subject. After you get your first draft, invite a friend who routinely hires people to a working lunch to critique your resume. If you are gonna drop cash on this, you should at least get a cheeseburger out of it.

Can I have a little success with that?

Remember that whole Peter Principle thing from a few years back. You know, we rise to our level of incompetence. I get daily reminders that it is a plausibly accurate description of world of work. I would like to add two corollary to Peter’s observation and then a few pointers on how you can measure your career success while accounting for both phenomenon.

The Perpendicularity Corollary
Somewhere, lost in the archives, is my dissertation research on clinical supervision. The clinical supervisor is the person who meets with counselors, psychotherapists, and social workers to consult and advise on their approach in specific cases. Sort of like House, MD. As footnote to our research, we found that people were given clinical supervision posts, not because they were good clinical supervisors, not because they had additional training in supervision, and not even because they were particularly good at counseling or psychotherapy. They were given supervision posts because they were the most senior staff, hence the Perpendicularity Corollary… He/she who remains perpendicular to the floor for the longest period of time gets to be boss. The importance of understanding the Perpendicularity Corollary has to do with a common yardstick for measuring success… being the boss. Even being in charge, however, is subject to the chaotic rules of social order.

The Dr. John Corollary
Some of you may be seasoned enough to remember the Dr. John song, "Right Place, Wrong Time." The opening lyric is,

"I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time."

Early in my career, I worked at a residential treatment facility for adolescents. Like most people in the non-profit world, I was grossly underpaid, but committed to social change. One day my boss told me that I was being promoted to Assistance Counseling Team Supervisor. He clapped me on my back and said,

"We're all very proud of your success. You've made it to Assistant Counseling Team Supervisor faster than anyone except Bruce! Congratulations."

I was quite proud and chanted my new title over and over, "Assistance Counseling Team Supervisor, Assistance Counseling Team Supervisor, Assistance Counseling Team Supervisor." It conveyed power and majesty. Then I ran into Bruce... the only person to become an Assistance Counseling Team Supervisor more quickly than me.

"Bruce, I just got promoted! Cool, huh?"

"Dude. Check it out. Who is on your team?" he asked.

"Uh, me Ann and Bill."

"So, you're, like, assisting supervising one dude, right?"

"Uh huh. But I got a raise, too," I said, at this point, clearly expecting another shoe to drop.

"Yeah, about that. You used to be, like, a non-exempt dude and now you are, like, an exempt dude, which means you used to get overtime, but now you don't. You're, like, screwed, dude."

Bruce was, like, right. My take home pay dwindled as my time at work increased. The source of my rapid rise? Three people resigned the week before. Had they not left, I would not have been successful. The Financial Times of London has suggested that "successful entrepreneurs" are no more successful than I was. That is, experience has little to do with having the insight to start or fund a "successful" business plan. A significant amount of luck is involved. As Nick Brisborne says, "It is not possible to learn how to win the lottery."


Tenacity and Luck.
So if bossing is your measure of success, be advised that bossing is often conferred based on the length of one's tenure with an organization (Tenacity) or how quickly those ahead of you bail for greener pastures. If this is a less than satisfying way to measure your own success, let me suggest a few others.

Expertise. I would say that a person is successful if he or she can make the following statements about their skill set.

• I am pretty good at what I do and understand what resources are necessary to be effective.
  
• My colleagues and peers at other institutions seem to respect my opinion on professional matters.
• My supervisor/boss values my input on new projects or my feedback on problems.
• I have been able to mentor others who are new to my field.

I get a kick out of somebody asking my thoughts about a new project or plan and while I would rather have more money, I try to use these occasions to remind my boss of my value. That may be the subtext here. If someone taps you for advice, information, or guidance, be sure that the person you report to knows about it. I have been doing some things for the University President's Office and you can bet that I have shared that with my boss and it will also appear on my end of year self-appraisal.

Innovation. As above, I would say that a person is successful if he or she can make the following statements about their creativity and openness to change.

• I am an early adopter.
• I am up to date with current trends and techniques.
• My co-workers presume that I understand technology and ask for help.
• I Facebook, blog, Tweet, Email, PowerPoint, etc. (and even if I don't, I'm not afraid to!)
• I call the Tech Department often because I tend to push technology to its limits.
• I don't like change, but I enjoy the challenge of change.
  

Perhaps the secret here is the openness to change. I have been knocking around in the workforce for more than two decades now and I remain flabbergasted at the folks my age who steer clear of technology and change. A few months ago, I contacted someone to tell them about changes in our programs to correct misinformation that had been given to students and alumni. The response I got was, "You can tell me, but if it is more than 50 words, I will probably just keep saying what I am saying, 'cos I have been doing this for 18 years and changing is just too hard now."

Leisure time. I would say that a person is successful if he or she can make the following statements about their leisure time.

• I have enough time away from work to act as a supportive parent or spouse.
• I have been able to develop interests that are different from my work (Day trading doesn't count if you are a broker.)
• I have volunteered for several different community programs or projects.
• I am able to take a nap without feeling guilty or anxious.

In one of my sociology classes years ago, the professor made the point that an indigenous tribe in the Amazon was the most successful culture because they seldom had to work for more that two or three hours a day to supply food and clothing for their village. (I somehow think that all that was being counted here was the time the men spent hunting and fishing and not the women's tasks of cooking, sewing, gardening, birthing babies, etc. I will leave that for another post.)

A few days ago, I shared that I had initially been in the insurance industry and opined that if I were still there that I would likely be making more money. However, by choosing the path that I did, I got in more fishing, camping, and hiking, had more time with my kids when they were younger, volunteered more frequently as a coach, teacher's aide, board member, etc. I will also add here that I have friends who have very time-consuming, high pressure jobs who still find the time to do most of the things I did. Success in this arena is not measured by the raw amount of time one contributes or relaxes, but the degree of fulfillment that one realizes from these efforts.

Making it up as I go along.
One of my favorite counselors was a young woman, named Maria, fresh out of her Master's program. She worked as an intern counselor in a couple middle schools doing family interventions to help stabilize student performance. After two or three particularly difficult sessions with a family, she and I decided that my direct observation might help her figure out what to do. We actually collaborated for two sessions and things turned around pretty quickly.
"How do you do it?" she wanted to know. "Why are you so successful at this?" I thought about it for a while and said, "I'm not sure, I think a lot of it I just make up as I go along."

This is, I think, a key element in anyone's success. The openness to change mentioned above girded with the occasional willingness to improvise will create opportunities for you to see yourself as successful. While I am sure that some people "earn" their success, I think that many of us are more able to accept and see the moments of success that we stumble into.

Intensity of Focus... not activity

Sometimes I am not so clear. Okay. Often I am not so clear, but I occasionally I realize it and am able to redact my comments into a more comprehensible offering. Today is one of those days. A few days ago I offered the suggestion that rejections in a job hunt are depressing and they tend to make us slow down our process. (March 8th, "Perhaps you have noticed the economy spinning out of control") Comments from a couple of people have made it clear that I did not make it clear. So, here is the clarified version with a few additional insights.

Frequency, Intensity, Duration.

When my work life consistently mostly of doing psychotherapy and supervising psychotherapists, I realized that most people came to counseling because the solutions that historically worked for them had begun to be less trustworthy. Likewise before they appeared for counseling, they had typically adjusted the solution by application of the Frequency-Intensity-Duration Triad. I am sure you know this gambit. What I am doing is not working because I am not doing it often enough... So, I obviously need to increase the Frequency with which I do it. What I am doing is not working because I am not doing it hard enough... So, obviously I need to increase the Intensity with which I do it. What I am doing is not working because I am not doing it long enough... So, obviously I need to increase the Duration with which I do it. It really is a basic human flaw that we seldom sit back and accept that the solution doesn't work because it is the wrong solution.

Don't bother me, I'm busy applying for jobs.

I was reading a few of my favorite blogs the other day and I ran across a post by Peter Bregman on the Harvard Business Blog Site. I've always like what Bregman says, but was struck by the title of the post: Need to find a Job? Stop Looking so Hard. I encourage you to read his post because I am about to give a very condensed and far too trite a version of it. In essence, what he says is that when we devote very intense energy to our job hunt (and I suppose career development) we create an environment in which we are more likely to miss those "out of the blue" job offers. Think about it. The more time and energy you devote to a job search, less time and energy you will have to prioritize what you really want out of life.

I worked with a PhD student last year who had sent out hundreds of CV's and cover letters. The student told me that she would spend 18 - 20 hours each week researching and following up on positions.

"So," I asked, "how much time is left over for teaching and completing the dissertation?"
"None of that will make any difference if I don't have a job," she said with grim determination and added, "I've sent letters to every state except Hawai'i and every kind of campus"
"Gee, that's a lot of work. Have you ever visited any of the campuses?"

"It doesn't really matter, you know. A college is a college."

Ultimately, when the first offer finally trickled in, it was in a very small school in a remote area of the Midwest, that did not even have a department in her major. The student looked at me and sighed, saying that the salary was so marginal, that it barely boosted the teaching assistant pay she was now receiving. Worse was the realization that a colleague had heard about, applied for, and secured a postdoctoral position at a nearby college and he would not have to move in order to take the position. When I asked if she had applied for the fellowship she said,

"You're kidding, right? I was way too busy trying to get a real job and never saw the announcement."

This student had absolutely no priority targets. Harvard and Klamath Community College were all the same in her book and she devoted the same amount of energy to applying for each. She had made the fundamental F-I-D Triad error, mistaking energy output for discipline.

Priority Targets.

Let me start by saying that it is very easy critiquing others' job searching techniques from the position of having a relatively secure job that you like. I don't envy the daily angst that is part and parcel of the hunt. Having said that, one should think in terms of having priorities that help apportion the energy outlay. Following are a few ideas that can be starting points.

Time frame. Bregman is right about one thing. "At most spend 1-2 hours a day." I have watched one job aspirant after another burn out long before the job announcements do. I will add to what he has said by offering that it is not only important to limit your activity to a couple of hours, but to do it at a time of day that makes sense. During my last "real" job search a decade ago, I realized that I while I worked better late at night, if I had questions about a recruitment, offices were oddly closed at 11:00pm. Shifting the bulk of my searching to early afternoon meant I could ask questions... which is the second idea.

Ask Questions. About twice a week, I will have a student who wants me to review a cover letter or resume or some other "supporting documentation" for an application. As I get into the meat of the request, I will ask, "So, what are they looking for?" Almost universally students answer either "I don't know," or they will hand me a hard copy of an online announcement. When I suggest that they actually personally call to find out, they respond, "Can I do that?" Here's the deal. With much of the job posting and announcement process having migrated to the Internet, it is increasingly difficult to find the appropriate person to talk to about the position. Difficult, but not impossible. When you have a question or are unsure about a job announcement, spend five or ten minutes locating a sentient human being rather than twenty minutes fretting about all of the possibilities.

Stereotypical quick story. Two years ago, a student told me that he had seen the perfect job in a lab in another state, but applications had closed two days earlier. I suggested that he call, which he decided was far too much effort. Two months later, he ran into the researcher at a scientific conference and shared that he had considered applying for the position but that it had closed the week before he saw it. The researcher said, "Wow. That's too bad. We had a devil of a time filling the slot and kept applications open until a couple of weeks ago. We finally hired somebody last week." Call. Ask questions.

Look under the cushions. Our fancy DVR has a big remote... a VERY big remote. One that is far too big to get stuck in the cushions of the sofa, but inevitably when I am freaking out because I cannot find it, my wife will say, "Have you looked under the cushions?" Which, of course, is where it always resides. Do not rely on the Internet as your sole purveyor of jobs. Jobs and promotions often hide in the most curious of places, so if you are continually where you are "supposed" to be looking and never looking under the cushions, you'll miss the good stuff.

Cleverosity rules. John Krumboltz is simply one of my favorite "career guys." I wrote a little bit about his "Happenstance Theory" a couple of weeks ago (Feb 28th, Not only are your friends wrong... I'm wrong, too.) His basic precept is that we sort of stumble into our successes and while he does not say this, I think our failures result from uber-planning... like sending out 121 applications each week for jobs we don't really want.

Here's the deal. If good things happen when we least expect it, the clever person will cultivate moments when he or she is more open to follow through with an "Ah hah! Moment." You can increase your cleverosity quotient by being available to listen, instead of being buried in the process of redesigning resumes or crafting perfect cover letters. I said Peter Bregman was right about one thing... well, he is actually right about many things another is...

Don't waste this time. The job search. The client search. Do it. But do it in a way that excites you. That teaches you new things. That introduces you to new people who see you at your natural, most excited, most powerful best. Use and develop your strengths. The things at which you excel. The things you love.

The one about goal setting...

As promised, this is the one about career goal-setting. The four questions that I asked are essential to configuring career goals and moderating your satisfaction along the way. I have discovered over the years that we have a knack for setting goals that are at the extremes of two axes: One is anchored by goals that are either very specific or very general and the other with goals that are easily attainable or well out of reach. Worse, we seem to forget that the nature of goals is that they exist in the future and yet we aspire to things with the most relevance to the present.

Case In Point.

Several years ago, during a career counseling graduate class, I asked the class to explore the difference between the terms “job” and “career.” They readily understood that career was a dynamic process, while job was nominal construct. One differentiation that I appreciated was “career is what we do all the time, job is what we are doing right now.” The question came up about how counselors should go about the process of choosing job, so I asked the students how they had decided on their current job. One student said, “I really liked my last job a lot better than the one I have now, but I wanted a better car and bigger apartment, so I jumped ship. I hate my job now, but I was able to get a new car and we are in a three-bedroom.”

After some discussion, it became apparent that she hated her new job because she never left the office and the reason that she had wanted a better car was because she had previously been in the field all the time. Likewise, her she had wanted a bigger condo because she wanted more space at home, and ironically, the new job kept her at the office longer. She easily attained her very specific goals, only to discover that they left her a bit dissatisfied. Perhaps she would have made a different decision if she had thought about the four questions we posed last week.

1. Where do you want to be living five years from now? (Ten years, if you are under 35.)

A couple of weeks ago, I made the point that the willingness to relocate was terribly important to increasing your job prospects. Embedded in that advice was the notion that leaving your home grounds may be important to the possibility of doing WHAT you want WHERE you want to do it. When I first sit with career seekers, I pose this question a bit more obliquely by asking, “Where do you want to be five years from now?” I do this intentionally because I realize that most people will interpret it as career process question and they give answers like: “I want to be a professor,” or “I want to be a manager with ABC Widgets.” I then say, “No. I want to know where you want to be GEOGRAPHICALLY,” explaining that if they wish to be living in Minnetonka, Minnesota and they wish to be a nuclear physicist, they will likely have to rethink the where they wish to be or the what they wish to be.

I grew up in small towns in the Southeastern United States and while I remember those small towns as warm and welcoming, from early in my life I loved our trips to big cities. After twenty years in the Los Angeles metro area, I moved back to teach in a small college in an even smaller town. I had a great job that I loved with colleagues that I really liked, but I found myself constantly driving to “the city” for entertainment, culture, and the vibe. I lasted less than two years. It became very apparent to me that I having a great job in a place that didn’t fit me made it… well, not a great job. I have managed on my return to Southern California to find a great job and I get to be in a place that fits me well.

Where you do what you do is incredibly important… as important as doing what you do.

2. Do you REALLY want to complete another degree?

This has become much more salient in the past 18 months. As the economy faltered and failed, more and more students are coming into our center and asking about going on to graduate school. They do this for two reasons: Some think it will increase their chances for that “dream job,” but others are simply trying to ride out the storm in school. I am not sure that either serves as a good reason for pursuing an advanced degree. This is a prime example of my suggestion that we often set goals that are relative to the present rather than the future. Having been in higher education for the past two decades, I have been surrounded by folks who set the goal of a graduate degree with very little planning beyond that. I consistently see PhD students who are approaching the end of their degree program only to realize that they will not be able to stay in the area because the jobs are elsewhere (see #1 above) or they will be thrown into a system which is highly unpredictable (see #3 below). Worse, they find that while they have been in school living as a starving student, friends have begun careers and families and are several rungs ahead of them on the corporate and social ladders.

The essential questions to ask about further education have to do with the extent to which it is requisite for one’s career path. Certainly if you really want to be a doctor or lawyer, education past a bachelor’s degree is a mandatory, but if you are drawn to a career in corporate logistics and planning, it is not as clear that an MBA will be of benefit. Likewise, if you are seeking a career in social work or counseling, it does not appear that a PhD will add any flexibility or earning power to your Master’s of Social Work or Counseling. (Indeed, one of my fondest memories is that of a PhD colleague who chaffed at the fact that the director of county mental health that we worked for only had a master’s degree and made twice as much money as he did.)

The other thing to remember is that graduate degrees, particularly in professional fields, cost a great deal of money. For instance, if you pursue an MBA at a relatively decent school, expect to spent between $40K and $50K per year. (MBA Costs) That means between $80K and $100K to complete a two-year program. While MBA programs claim their degrees increase one’s earning power, it appears that holds true only for the top twenty or so full-time MBA programs. I would suggest that anyone who can get into Harvard, Wharton, or Haas, was likely headed up the corporate ladder anyway, so it is always difficult to say how much a person’s earning power has to do with their MBA and how much should be attributed to their skills and abilities.

Education should be an investment, not an encumbrance.

3. What is more important to you... salary or stability?

This one is quite simple. When I graduated from college, I went to work in the insurance industry. I am quite convinced that had I stayed there (perhaps earning an MBA along the way) I would be making considerably more than I do now. However, during my first three years, I was transferred four times, spent almost thirty hours a week traveling, and was pretty much at the beckon call of my corporate office. This was not how I wanted to live my life. Since then, I have pursued a path that has been offered me more independence and stability. I own a lot fewer suits and ties, but I make considerably more of the decisions that affect me on a daily basis. I have moved during that time, but primarily because I wanted to, not because I had to. I once sat down and figured that these things were probably worth about $20K a year to me.

The biggest myth that people adhere to when setting career goals is the mistaken belief that more money means more stability. Certainly poverty is inherently unstable, but more money is not causal to stability… ask the four or five-thousand investment banker who are looking for a new career because of the current economy. I am not suggesting that financial security is not important, nor am I recommending that you never select based on monetary considerations. What I am saying is be sure when you begin to set your goals that money is not the ONLY consideration.

Although the value of lifestyle is largely intrinsic, it is worth exercise to set it's value concretely.

4. What are the three most positive and negative aspects of your current job?

Here, I’ll model this one for you.

Starting with the negatives.
1. I work for a large institution and that makes change and innovation difficult.
2. Because we are a public institution, resources can often be difficult to come by.
3. The day to day waste is very frustrating for me.

The positives are as follows.
1. I am given a great deal of independence in basic decision-making.
2. The people that I work with on daily basis are bright, creative, and pretty darned cutting edge.
3. Continued education and training are highly valued and generally supported.

Notice that both the negatives and positives issue from the fact that I work at a large institution of higher education.

In some respects, we cannot have the positives without the negative and this understanding is critical to setting goals.

What Does It All Mean?

When I left the insurance world thirty years ago, I violated every single point that I have made in this post. I didn’t think about where I wanted to be, I just thought about where I didn’t want to be. I just assumed more education would help me, instead of calibrating the actual need for education. I made choices based on making money, instead of thinking about the lifestyle that fit me best. Instead of focusing on both the good and the bad of my insurance job, I sought to eliminate the bad. My first real job was in a very small non-profit agency, with very little protocol, that let me wear sandals and shorts to work. After a couple of years, I realized that all of the other pieces were important, too.

As you look to the future and begin thinking about goals, remember to do them holistically. I sometimes remind students that the present only exists as the intersection of our past and future… the plans we make based on the experiences we have had. Change is inevitable, so it makes sense that our goals and expectations will change as well. Better yet, our goals must be created so that they are concrete enough for us to aspire to them and flexible enough to change when the wind comes from an unexpected direction.

Oh yeah. About that tree thing. I'm pretty sure I would be a magnolia tree.

Career Goals - An exercise.

It's Friday and for all you poor suckers who don't live in SoCal (where it is currently 77 degrees and not a cloud in the sky) I would like for you to do something for yourselves. Set a goal or two.

The problem that most of us seem to have when we set career goals is that we use career-speak to formulate them. Let's try something a little different this time. Answer the following questions.

1. Where do you want to be living five years from now? (Ten years, if you are under 35.)

2. Do you REALLY want to complete another degree?

3. What is more important to you... salary or stability?

4. What are the three most positive and negative aspects of your current job?

5. If you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

Okay, #5 is BS, but the rest are very important to establishing long term goals. What I want you to do is spend the next two days thinking about them and my next post will focus them for you and help you use them as touchstones for setting career goals, not only now, but ten, fifteen, or twenty years from now.

Have a cool weekend, dudes.

Let me put it this way... NO!

Early in my career, when my daily requisition of energy and ideas far exceeded the number outlets supplied by my workday, I thought it made me a loyal and valued employee if I simply did everything that I was asked to do and then some. Certainly, when I began to supervise others, I favored the Energy Junkies (EJ's)over the Energy Vampires (EV's). In time, however, I found that I was almost always having to deal with the EJ's in a frenetic manner to help them complete the multiple commitments they had taken on, while the EV's were often plodders who, in fact, did what they said they were going to do in about the time frame they said they would require. Don't get me wrong, I would rather have a colleague who steps up and solves problems before they become crises or does things without being asked, but there is a fine line between genuinely agreeing to help and saying "yes" because "no" is not in your vocabulary.

I recently observed two of my younger colleagues handling their work day and realized that one of the things that I had finally gotten better at in my old age was something that they struggle with. It is the seemingly simple, yet ineffably difficult challenge of saying, "No." In honor of the fact that NO is such a short, teeny-tiny word, I am committed to making today's post likewise short... not teeny-tiny, just short. Today's Topic? No.

Of course I can.

Several weeks ago, I was in a meeting and one of committee members asked if I could impose on someone in my office to complete a specialized task. I agreed to ask, joking that I had immense powers of persuasion. In reality, I was quite senior to this individual and when I asked the favor, the answer was, "Of course I can." I asked if they were certain and that it shold not be seen as a priority. Again, there was resounding confidence that they would "do it for [me]." Over the next few weeks, it became increasingly obvious to this person that there was simply too much on their plate. Afraid to let me down, they approached another senior administrator to help figure out what to do. He quickly answer, "Just say no." Had she said something to me, I would have said the same thing, perhaps not as quickly, but I would have said the same thing.

I tend to forget that when I was just starting out, I almost never said no. Much like my brief skiing career, I never met a run that I wouldn't take... until I was halfway down. It is doubly hard as a young professional to disappoint a mentor or superior who obviously has faith in your because they asked you to do something. There is a lesson here for both mentor and protege. The lesson is the same for both: It is very hard to say no to your boss.

Come on down!

The second episode occurred as one of my counselors was walking in from a meeting. Her next appointment was sitting in the waiting room and as she passed him, she said, "Hi! Come on down." The student followed her to her office an she sat down, without catching her breath or organizing her thoughts and started into her consultation with the student. Exceptional customer service, right? Well, maybe not. I spoke with her later about it and suggested that it was alright to acknowledge the student and instead of saying "Come on down" she could say, "Hi. Give me a minute to unpack and I will come back and get you."

In the same way that it is difficult to say no to a senior colleague, it is tough to say no to a client or customer. On most occasions, creating a boundary for a client also creates value. Think about it this way, if you always say yes or drop everything you are doing to deal with my issues, why should I worry about what you may or may not have on your schedule? On the other hand, if you are not always able to attend to me at a moment's notice, then maybe you have other things do... like you have a life and stuff.

Five easy pieces.

Here are five ways to start building your resistance to reflexively saying yes.

For whom the annoying electronic beep tolls. Do you know anybody who carries a PDA that beeps when they have an upcoming appointment? They are really dorky at meetings when they pull out their little stylus and squint at the screen and say, "No. Can't do it then. Nope. Not then either. Wow. Can't do it then."? Do you ever wonder how many of those dates would be open if everybody could see their screen? I am an iPod dork. I have my calendar on my Touch and I will almost never commit on the spot. I say things like, "That date looks open, but I don't know if Elizabeth has scheduled something else for me. Let me get back to you." Once you have time to think about it, you can then say yes... or no... from the relative safety of your office.

Can I get change for the meter? Dealing with the boss is much different than dealing with your peers. You can tell your co-worker no and there are few repercussions. Not so easy to do with the boss. If you are asked to take on an assignment, ask, "What priority should this have with my other projects?" Bosses seldom remember everything you are doing, so they will likely say, "Top priority, of course" to which you reply, "Okay, I have the Clay Feet Project and the Infinite Circle meeting that were due by the day after tomorrow and the Giant Green Bug planning meeting for the first of next week, should this move ahead of those?" One of three things will happen, you will be told to move the previous projects lower on the list or move the new project lower on the list or someone else will be enlisted to help you. (If the fourth thing happens, which is "Get them all done at once" you are working for an idiot and you should begin looking for another job. Now.)

Mr. Postman is there a letter in your bag for me? This is sort of a corollary to the above. Anytime I am asked to take on new tasks and juggle old ones, I will send a quick email that reads something like this...

Thanks for talking about the Skynet System Report with me today. Per our conversation, I will reschedule the green bug planning meeting for early August, ask Sheila to assist in completing the Clay Feet project on time and I will indefinitely postpone the Infinite Circle Meeting until after our other two projects are complete.

This functions as a reminder to both of you and is darned near as good as a well-intoned "no" in the long run.

Are you talking to me? My counselors will tell you that my pet peeve is managers from other units who approach my employees directly to perform tasks for them. They have all been empowered to say, "Gee, you should really talk with my supervisor about that." This works well internally. If a co-worker asks for you're help, just say, "Sure, let's clear it with Darryl first." You will be surprised how many requests dissipate when you present them with a less amiable target.

Just say no. With apologies to Nancy Reagan, this is really the end all. The variations are: I really don't have time right now. I am am close to swamped and this would negatively effect the quality of all my projects. Depending on the source of the request, you can also say: That's just not a priority for me (my unit) at this time. I realize it is important to you, but it will take more time (resources, money, etc.) than I have available. You have to set the limit, because no one else will.

So here we are at the end and despite my promise to keep it short and I have failed. I hope that you will forgive me, but at least I said "no" to teeny-tiny.

Negotiation skills during an economic downturn

Counseling is a very odd profession. Odd because we are largely given the societal task of being experts at broad range of things at which we are unlikely to actually have expertise. If you want proof of this go to an online bookstore and type in “parenting” and look at the hundreds of how-to books that you will be given. I am always amused when I go to a career development conference that there will be no fewer than five presentations or seminars on building the perfect resume… all different, but all guaranteed to “make your application stand out.” (We’ll get to this topic next week sometime.)

The same can be said for negotiation. Dozens of experts claim to have the foolproof method for getting what you want from anybody. Adding to this problem is a fable that seems to be drifting through our culture that any job offer is a lowball offer and should be countered. Nothing could be further from the truth, but that does not mean that you should never ask for more. The question is what “more” should you ask for. First, a cautionary and true tale. The names and places have been changed for standard reasons.

When I was in graduate school, my friend Norbert went to Sheboygan to complete his predoctoral internship. As you are aware, Sheboygan is a town rich in academic history and as his internship was ending he secured and interview and eventually an offer with a well-known university. He was happy, they were happy, everybody was happy. Okay. Not exactly true. His advisor, upon hearing that Norbert had accepted the job without any negotiation scolded him and told him that he ought to at least ask for moving expenses. Norbert is one of the kindest, gentlest people that I know, so I am certain his request was likewise kind and gentle. The department chair told him he would have to talk to the dean and he would get back to him. Two days later, Norbert received a letter from the chair and the dean expressing their great disappointment that he would ask them for more money after their generous package of salary and benefits and rescinded the offer of employment. (Did I mention that this was very late in the game and that Norbert had already turned down two other offers? Brrrrrr. Chilling, huh?)

Today’s lesson? What can you negotiate in a very, very bad economy?

Please sir, can I have some more?

First allow me to dispel a common myth about job offers. Most entry-level and mid-level job offers are made “on the nose.” That is, typically what you are offered is what you are going to get salary-wise. This is particularly true in large organizations where pay ladders and job categories are tightly controlled. Universities are horrible about advertising a pay range of $36,000 to $48,000 for an entry-level professional position when they know that they will be limited to offering $38,000-39,000. Any wiggle room is quite minimal.

This is not the case for seasoned mid-level and senior managers. Most often, these salary ranges will be posted as “Commensurate with experience.” One word of caution here. The current economy has made the candidate pool for these jobs much more competitive, resulting in less room to negotiate.

So, am I saying that only more experienced applicants should negotiate? Absolutely not! There are, however, a few ways to prepare yourself before you do ask for more.

Knowing is understanding.

The single most important fact to have at your fingertips is the typical salary for the position for which you are applying. The most commonly used these days seems to be Salary.Com. It takes a little tweaking, but I finally managed to get a reading for my current position and found that I am at about the 80^th percentile. (About what I would expect.) For broader ranges, you could use either O’Net or California Career Zone (Even if are not in California), both have decent salary snooping tools. If possible call a few HR departments even before you begin your job search and find out the going rate for a widget salesperson.

This also goes for knowing your “salary requirements.” A common question that we get is whether or not listing a salary that is too high will result in you not being considered for a job. I always respond with the flip side which is, “What if your requirements are too low and they offer you what you ask for. Spend time making a list that includes car payment and insurance, rent/mortgage, groceries, annual clothing expenses, entertainment, medical payments, charitable gifts, etc. You don’t want to be resenting your boss a year from now because you screwed up the math now.

Compensation vs. salary.

Story #2. A few years ago a colleague at the university asked my advice about an offer her husband had received. It was about $250 more per month, but they were unsure about the company compared the large well-known company where he was currently employed. I asked about medical coverage (didn’t know), paid time off (wasn’t sure), commuting distance (30 miles further), and retirement (didn’t know). I said that I didn’t have enough information to make a decision, but it didn’t sound like a good idea. My friend then shared that he had already accepted the offer.

Over the next few weeks they found out that the new company made no contributions to the employees retirement, while the old company matched contributions up to 8% of their salary. Since he made about $4200 per month, this amounted to as much as $320 per month in additional contributions. The medical coverage was more expensive by $70 per month and did not take effect for 90 days. The additional commute time and distance cost them 15,600 additional miles on their car and between $2000 and $2500 per year in additional gas and maintenance. Finally, left a job that gave him three weeks of vacation for one that gave him two weeks, but only after he had worked a full year. Adding all of this up, his $3000 annual raise was offset by $6680 in lost benefits from his previous job.

Do a full inventory of compensation or compensation necessities before entering into negotiations with a prospective employer.

What’s on the table?

Let’s assume for a minute that salary is not on the table. Certainly, if it is within 5% to 7% of the average for the position, it is not likely that it is on the table. Following is a short list of things that you should put into play before you even begin working for your new employer.

Time Off. Many places have set standards for differentiating between sick time and vacation time. One earns x hours of vacation per month for years 1-9 and x+4 hours per day for 10+ years. If you are offered two weeks of vacation and are told that salary is non-negotiable, ask if it would be possible to have an additional 4 or 5 days of paid leave each year.

Professional Memberships and Educational Leave. Several years ago, I attempted the gambit above and was told that it was against the organization’s policy to give additional vacation time. I asked if I could have 4 or 5 days per year for “professional development” and it was granted. I have also had my professional memberships paid by my employer and consistently seek out continuing education to roll off on the boss.

Technology. This can include a range of things from smart phones to laptops. I have been a MacIntosh user for 15 years and at every job since 1995, I have negotiated the replacement of my foul Windows box with a Mac. Likewise, I have asked for laptops instead of desktops. Think about cool toys that will make you more efficient and ask for them up front.

Medical coverage. Most companies will not pay you to decline coverage, but some will. My wife works in the healthcare industry and we have exceptional coverage through her job. At two previous stops, I have negotiated to have the company’s contribution that would have otherwise gone to my policy given directly to me.

Schedule. Over the years, I have worked an assortment of flexible schedules for a number of reasons related to family, hobbies, or community involvement. In fact, I currently work a 7:30 to 4:30 day which puts me on the freeway before absolute ground-zero traffic conditions. Other options include a 9/0 schedule which is 9-hour days with every other Friday off or a 4/10 which is 10-hour days with every Friday (or Monday) off.

Telecommuting. For five years while working for one employer, I had a monthly report to write which I did from home. It gave me the flexibility of one day off per month and I generally wrote the report during two or three late evening sessions. I have a friend who has negotiated ten days a month of work from home. His roundtrip commute is 110 miles, so his ten days saves him 1100 miles of wear and tear on his car and gives him back 20 hours (1/2 week!) that he would otherwise be on the road commuting.

What’ll you give me if I eat that whole thing?

Story #3. My best friend in college was Allen. He was constantly scamming and knew every way under the sun to get money. He sold blood regularly, knew the places to take textbooks to get the best prices, and was always on the prowl for a score. The local truckstop had one of those monster steaks… 42 ounces or something… that they would give to you free if you ate it in less than a two hour sitting. One night we went in and Al ordered the steak. When it arrived, it was mountainous. Before he started, he stood up and asked everybody to come look at its towering majesty. “What’ll you give me if I eat that whole thing,” he asked everyone there. Most people just went back to their seats, but four or five offered $25 dollars if he could do it. I held their money and his, while he gnawed away at muscle, fat, gristle, and French fries. Al finished the meal with about 10 minutes to spare. As we were walking through the parking lot, he waved his newly won $125 dollars at me and said, “I probably couldn’t have finished it if it weren’t for the motivation.”

If you ask for more money or vacation or benefits and are denied, ask your new employer what you have to do to be worth the extra. Get it in behavioral terms. “Start a new program with the elementary school” or “Double the billing on the Blankenship account” or “Pass the CPA license exam.” Then get a time frame. At you first convenience send a note or email that goes something like this.

Thanks for talking with me today about my role in the organization. It was very helpful. In particular, I appreciate your willingness to reconsider my request for additional time off and professional dues after I complete my CPA exam.

Print and save this document for your first performance evaluation to jog your boss’s memory.

Here’s the deal. When it comes to getting paid it’s not just about the Benjamins.