Taking Care of Business - Part 5

Do you remember listening to your grandfather tell you the stories about his work? Maybe he had just come home from the war and he was looking for a job, hoping someone would take a chance on an uneducated farm boy. Perhaps the local factory was hiring that summer and he was lucky enough to get a job and he only hoped he wouldn't let them down. Your grandpa may have given his blood, sweat, and tears for the "company," and ever since his retirement he has been living well off their pension plan and stock options. Perhaps your grandfather's story is a little different. Perhaps everything was "wine and roses" until one year before retirement. Maybe his golden parachute wasn't quite as gilded as the company told him it would be. I guarantee that our parent's story of company loyalty is even worse than our grandparents. I'm sure you can see where this is going? If you can't than you need to keep reading.


Today's installment on working for The Man is about the illusion of company loyalty and how at the end of the day the only person that is going to watch out for you...

...is you.

That's why I like to call this one:

- Looking Out For #1 -



I work in a business where I meet people from a wide array of different industries and business acumen. I can't tell you how many stories I've heard about their company forcing them to retire early, causing them to miss out on thousands of dollars in benefits. I can't even remember the number of times I've heard about people being laid off because they have outgrown their usefulness. My own uncle was the victim of a layoff, in no small part due to the deadly combination of a bloated pay-check and obsolete knowledge in a technical industry.

There was a time in my life that I thought I might give more than a decade to one employer. I no longer believe that will happen. Thankfully I've never been fired, or laid off, or let go, but I can tell you that I've come damn close. Luckily that new offer came at just the right time and I made the switch on my own terms. And even if you are prepared for the worst, sometimes the market just doesn't give you the chance to leave before the boom falls. I consider myself lucky. But I also consider myself a realist.

Ultimately you have to watch out for your own skin. Everybody is replaceable and none of us are an exception to that rule. So here are a few tips to keep in mind as you navigate the shark infested waters of your career path.

1. Play hard ball when you negotiate salary in a job offer. You'll never get another chance to be better positioned to get what you want. That's money in your bank today and that's better than money in your bank tomorrow. Don't make me explain the time value of money to you.

2. When your old boss leaves, take the opportunity to influence the filling of her position. Nothing can turn a great job into a shitty job more completely than a tyrant supervisor.

3. Somebody in your organization is getting tired of you so attempt to reinvent yourself every few years. That could be taking a promotion, making a lateral move into a new area, identifying a company problem that you have a solution for, or even leaving the company for a new position someplace else.

4. Watch out for crazy people, especially if they are in charge. Nothing can wreck a career more than really fucked up managers - even if they are not in your department.

5. Always keep your resume up to date and never turn down an opportunity to interview somewhere even if you aren't looking for a new job. You never know what surprise might be in store for you.

6. If you are tired of working for The Man... become The Man. But be warned, everyone eventually rises to the highest level of their own incompetence.