May 22, 2009
I’m going to be VERY vague because I don’t want to be a) disappointed or b) jinxed by speaking too soon.
But, I could use some good wishes over here. I’ve applied for a position with a company that I’ve always wanted to work for. Same industry, different … genre, let’s call it.
The job description is in line with my experience, minus some management.
I’ve got an insider in the form of a higher up in the company who is willing to vouch for me, or help nudge the hiring person towards at least giving me a phone interview because it’s located on the East Coast and no one would usually bother to call back an applicant on the West Coast. No promises, but it’s better than the usual resume-in-the-fray situation.
So, for this to happen, I need:
~ an acceptable salary. I don’t mean minimum wage, I mean more than I make now since I have to be able to live in that pricey city, send money home, AND save.
~ the person I would report to be Not Crazy. I don’t care if that person is a workaholic, or creatively abstract. As long as their goal is to do their job, I’m good. As long as I’m not expected to sacrifice my entire life to the company [a la The Devil Wears Prada], not expected to read minds [a la current job], and not expected to accommodate hourly shifting priorities and make insane major changes happens just because the Boss had a whim or forgot what was decided that morning, it’s fine.
Work is supposed to be work, not play: challenging, demanding, and ultimately rewarding when you achieve your goals. But not insane.
~ there to be room for advancement. I will work my tushy off for a job I like, I don’t even need to love it all the time though that’d be nice, but there needs to be room for promotion when I’ve clearly demonstrated ability and reliable competence. Which I will. You can set your watch by that.
~ to impress the heck out of the interviewer, whoever it may be. That part’s on me. I just need your good wishes for all those things above that are out of my control because I’d really like to take a chance on this.
February 20, 2009
Stacking Pennies talked about avoiding money hacks, except for two, the other day, and J.D. shared the monthly checkbook sweep.
I wouldn’t call myself a money hacker since I enjoy playing with money and methods to maximize savings with minimal effort. There’s no need to thwart myself, unless we’re talking about cash which just up and disappears, I just need to develop more efficient systems. Then again, a very efficient system kind of takes the fun out of the money bit, so if there’s thwartion afoot, it’s much like how I create messes because it’s fun to clean. [Uh, yeah, I know that’s weird.]
In that vein, I do a few things that allows me to create good surprises instead of obsessively tracking every penny.
1. Ignore the windfalls: they all go into savings. Tax refunds, money saved for specific goals that goes unused, extra paychecks, reimbursements, overtime. All go into savings.
2. Allocate money to be spent: After calculating monthly expenses down to the dollar, that total is all the money I get to keep from paychecks. Everything else goes into some kind of savings. This is akin to the monthly checkbook sweep, except the sweep happens immediately. A little remains as a cushion against uncashed checks – finally learned my lesson with this one – or is outgoing for bills.
3. Divert some e-fund savings into specific accounts: this way neither my e-fund nor my expense fund gets gypped when a regular, non-monthly expense crops up.
This works for me right now, but I’m looking forward to landing a job with regular salary and streamlining the system further.
February 11, 2009
Gripey: Upon receiving my email about feeling worse than yesterday, I got a call from work: “Well, I just wanted to talk to you about [whole slew of projects] before [that person] leaves.”
Yeah, no. I’m not going to remember anything from this conversation so let’s try this later. I might even be less grumpy about it. C’mon people, I’m home SICK. Not home until you think of something for me to do!
Gravy: Food! There’s food in the house. I so love food. Whole wheat bread, peanut butter, eggs. Leftover tofu soup. Leftover pasta and meatballs. Bin bin rice crackers? Where have you been hiding? Peach carrot juice. Um, what? Whatever, tastes fine.
I’m going to be eating myself into oblivion if you don’t mind, and perhaps even sating the craving for an awesome bacon cheeseburger later this afternoon if my friend will indulge me and go with. In my diseased state of mind, $4 doesn’t sound bad at all for what I’m assured will be a Fantastique! burger experience.
P.S. I love Twitter right now, it’s slowly making me feel human again after not talking to anyone for what feels like days on end.
January 21, 2009
Psst, is anyone else up? No?
*sigh* I thought not.
It’s been awfully quiet around here because, uh, I’ve been doing all my blogging in my sleep. Between huge commitments at work – trying to complete two weeks’ worth of projects in 4 days, ‘hunting, revising paperwork, prepping wardrobe attire, catching up on the occasional news update (Hello, Mr. President!) and all, it’s no wonder I haven’t been coherent. It’s hard to see through your eyelids…
Little update:
Truck
Looks like we have a buyer! We’re holding a $300 deposit pending the receipt of the title. I was first told it’s a standard 10 biz-day processing before the title is sent, but I’ve been looking for ways around that. Initially, the only thing they suggested was to provide a FedEx account number so that at the end of the 10 days, Toyota could just overnight my title, but that only saves me a day or two, and costs money. Meh, not a fan. After making another call to the same call center, I got a nice lady who suggested that I fax her a copy of my bank statement showing the payoff amount debited from my account. With that information, she could begin the paperwork for the title immediately. She gave me a fax number and I’ve pulled that paperwork together.
Being the suspicious sort, though, I made one more call to see if there was anything else she needed to complete the paperwork. Also to verify that this one lady wasn’t trying to pull any funny business with getting my bank statement. 🙂 No, guess it’s standard -expediting- procedure.
So: Faxed. Done! That buyer better not back out! *glare*
The Hunt
Rescheduled the appointment again: first, had to change the flight itself for an earlier arrival. Then had to change the arrival time again. Bah. Is this disorganization on their part? Or just scheduling issues? Whatever the case, I’m on a mission to knock their socks off tomorrow, wish me luck! *singing* “On the road again ….”
Finances
Picked up another little overtime check, and finally received my holiday check as well. That’s e-fund and moving money.
Ok, I’m starting to get a little dotty. Better sign off and get on going!
December 30, 2008
It feels like I’ve been on a 12-step program for pending resignations and layoffs. Despite recession fatigue, and family nonsense, the following plan has kept me on track even while I internalized the news, and updates on a daily basis.
1. When signs point toward instability, tell no one connected to your current workplace that you’re looking unless you absolutely trust them and they’re a good resource. Commence resume polishing and editing.
2. Contact mentors and trusted colleagues for feedback on resume and verify that your previous references are still relevant and willing to serve.
3. Form a mental target: what are you looking for and why? It’s very important not to look at it as something you’re running to, in desperation, or a means of escape from something awful. It can be, there’s no doubt, just don’t let that be the motivation that fuels your search. Make it positive: make it about where you want to go next, what new challenges you’re looking for, what inspires you? This may not be concrete in your mind. It certainly wasn’t in mine three or four months ago, but it’s solidified as I’ve refined my search and dealt with the everyday challenges.
4. Speaking of everyday challenges, don’t forget to do your job to the best of your ability while you still have one! If you’re using this 12-step program, you’re still employed so you should stay that way until you are ready to move on. Give your employer no reason to target you for an early layoff and derail the plan. Paychecks are good.
5. Search relevant job boards, selecting possibilities that most closely match your new goals.
6. Refresh: take a few minutes a day, or a lot of minutes every couple of days to refresh yourself: take a walk, play with your pets, do anything that’s not work and job related. Juggling job hunting with maintaining your existing job and keeping everything together can be intense.
7. Cover letters! When you have a group of possible jobs that you’d like, write or edit your existing cover letters to address the requirements of each job. It took me about three months and several fresh starts to hit my stride. Templates are great, but only once you have a strong basic template to work from; some of those standard letters I’ve seen are weak sauce. You’re not weak sauce, don’t let your letter say otherwise!
8. Request recommendation letters. I prefer to keep hard copies with my resume in case of interview.
9. Prep your interview skills: review possible questions and answers with a friend. Mentors are wonderful people – if they’re able and willing, draw on this resource! This is great for your confidence in phone interviews which should then lead to face to face interviews.
10. Prep your interview wardrobe! I nearly had an aneurysm when I was asked to pick an interview date, and I still didn’t have a THING to wear. (I’ve outgrown the old suit.)
11. Repeat steps 4-7 until you have need of 9 and 10. Very importantly: keep on saving your pennies, nickels and dimes while working toward your next step. The healthier your emergency fund, and the safer you feel financially, the more confident you’ll be. That directly translates to better negotiations, and a more discerning job hunt. Remember, if employers can smell your fear or desperation, you’re either a less respected candidate or not a candidate at all. Either way, bad times for you!
12. Knock ’em dead!
Aside from some fretting, (or a LOT of fretting sometimes) it’s been slow but steady progress. I count my blessings where I can find them:
~ I’ve got strong recommendations
~ I’ve got great skills in my area, and a very strong work ethic
~ I’m setting up freelance work starting now to keep an income stream no matter what happens here.
~ I’ve got my readers and fellow bloggers for moral support and cheerleading – priceless!
If anyone has advice or stories to share, please feel free to do so!
December 27, 2008
Many young folks are advised that when starting out, if faced with the choice between a lower-paying job with more opportunity, and a higher-paying job with less opportunity to learn or less mobility, experience trumps money. That makes sense, to a point. You probably want to choose the lower paying job that offers the chance to learn and grow because you’re building the foundation of your career and will be able to make better money as you move on if your skills are good.
The opportunity to develop is essential if you expect to move up, around, or through your current job to the next step, whatever that is. Since I enjoy working, I want that movement to be upward to more responsibility, challenges, and of course, money! [Caveat: It has little to do with lifestyle inflation, but, see note below. I simply enjoy achieving in the workplace as long as it’s in line with my values.]
But at what point, or what age, does the experience stop trumping the money?
The premise of that choice only works if you eventually take that experience and make it pay off by working for a company that will pay you what your experience is worth. [Allowing for the fact that it’s commonly said that people always think they’re worth more than they really are. It’s a subjective measure, I understand, and I refer to industry standards when I refer to “worth.”]
Based on the “experience = bonus points” theory, I stuck with the post-college job for much longer than expected, despite the frustrations, because I was gaining managerial experience without risk. Made sense at the time: no one was going to hire a kid in my field with no command experience, so why not try it on for size and experiment while I could? And it worked out: the money did come because taking on that work made me an MVP, but only to a certain extent.
Now that I’m ready to step up to a whole new level, and with it, a huge step towards a six figure salary, I’m facing the same question. Do I pursue the job that offers some major development in management accompanied with a much more restrictive budget? Or continue searching for a position that offers more money?
The limiting factors on that “huge step” towards a high salary, of course, is the availability of jobs, the economic environment, and the industry norms. For example, I’m realizing that if I want the money to follow my experience, I have got to stop working for non-profits, they don’t have money to throw about. FB’s a great example of someone who parlayed her training from an employer into consultant work with, thus far, some pretty fantastic success. I’m not interested in going the freelance route with my niche, for various reasons, but it is one way to go for those with skills in high demand.
In this economy, the answer is: both. But at some point, I’m going to have to make a choice. And at some point, I’m going to have to take the job I can get, because it’s still at least three times better than being unemployed for who knows how long.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On lifestyle inflation: I keep saying I’m not interested in lifestyle inflation, but reading MoneyMonk’s post on the perception of a $100k income, I got a funny thought. Moving to take a new job while continuing to support my family IS lifestyle inflation. And not the fun kind, either!
Note: I’m not against nice things. I like nice things, but only in moderation. I mostly like freedom of choice which is muuuch more accessible if you’re not poor.
December 5, 2008
An official announcement hasn’t been made, but the word is that our entire staff is likely to be laid off in a few months. You might know that SOP for layoffs is denial until the moment of truth, no matter how wrong I think that is.
Call it naivete, but I certainly did not expect to run a gamut of emotions when my prediction months ago was confirmed. Keeping in mind the huge numbers of people being laid off, at best, I expected frustration, a little tiny bit of vindication that I was right, and a readiness to move on. It turns out I’m not that simple. And that I play devil’s advocate with myself even when I’m upset. Read on ….
Exasperation
There are about ten thousand ways that this could have been prevented. Really. This is not a poor-economy related issue, this was a bad management issue, and it’s no surprise.
Anger
Unsurprised or not, it ticks me off, royally, that management wouldn’t change their ways even when we were in a poor negotiating position. They continued to act as though they had the power to make demands, break promises and generally acted the fools. That led directly to the current situation.
Anxiety
I’m not ready for this! I associate unemployment with (immediate) brokeness. Even though I know approximately how many months I would last without a drop of income, there’s still a visceral reaction that a major emergency will eat up all that money and I’ll immediately go into debt trying to survive without a steady paycheck. That’s silly. I’ve taken a few months off between jobs, without having a job, having less in the bank before. Yes, that was four years ago when the outlook wasn’t terrible and I wasn’t paying all household expenses. But I’ve got the budget, the e-fund, the cushion. And it’s not like I haven’t supported other friends while they downsized and job-hunted and become re-employed in the last six months. This is survivable.
Shame
Even though I brought my A-game every single day, regardless of the politics and turmoil, I’m actually a little ashamed that I didn’t manage to save us. And is there stigma attached to being laid off? Even in this environment? There shouldn’t be, and I can confidently state that it’s through no fault of my own. My performance and abilities are respected, even if it feels like management’s failures reflect on me.
Helplessness/Depression
This wasn’t advertised except to a select few but I’ve been preparing and job-hunting during the last few months. My tolerance for the BS was about to crack spectacularly so I took steps to prevent going postal. The resume was perfected in August, and I’ve been quietly applying to new jobs while working insane hours and trying to keep up with everything else. Nothing has resulted so far, and even though I know, intellectually, that the job search while holding a full time job combined with a downturn in the economy means that it’s going to take longer, I still can’t help but mentally wring my hands for a minute. Or file this under frustration.
Confusion
How are the people who DO know the intimate details managing to pretend everything is status quo?
Loss
There’s a sense of regret that a huge part of my life is going away. Why on earth would I feel like I’m losing something leaving this job? It’s been a major source of frustration and negativity for months. Yet, there it is.
De-motivation
I’m not at all inspired to work, work hard, and work well today. Considering I work through natural disasters, this is a little different. Because of the combination of the above emotions, I just don’t care today. It doesn’t matter whether or not I perform well today, as I did yesterday or the day before that. I’m still going to be out of a job. Except that’s not true. I still have my pride and self-respect, and at the end of the day, that’s what I’ll be taking home with me. Among other things I’ll be taking home with me: my work laptop, that lovely new spindle of CD-RWs, and a lifetime supply of pens and toilet paper. Nick at Punny Money says it’s ok.
I’m kidding!!!
So the other side of all this? Barring the part where I’m not making any money because that’s not good no matter how you spin it, this is motivation to search even more diligently for a new job while I still have one.
Opportunity
This is a chance to start fresh, and that’s not such a bad thing. Sure, being the bottom of the employment totem pole is not where I want to be, but there’s nothing saying that that’s the only place I’ll get hired. I’m not entry-level, I’ve got great skills, I work damn hard, and have an excellent reputation. Now I have to learn to sell whatever doesn’t shine through in a cover letter and resume.
At the end of the day, Pandora’s Box still had one important thing to give, and that’s what I’ll hold on to: Hope. Hope that better things are still to come, hope that I’m resilient enough to handle this change, hope that this isn’t the straw that breaks this camel’s back after all the nonsense that’s gone before. (Hope that this time next year I won’t be reporting that I’m completely broke, in debt and at the end of my rope……!)
Faith
Despite all the negativity and doubt, deep down, I still have faith that there are ways to get past this rather ugly situation. There are, I just have to find and implement them.
Relief
In my frustration after my farce of a review early this year, I decided that I wanted to be ready to pick up my purse and saunter out without a moment’s regret. That’s how ticked I’ve been with the poor team building, blatant double standards and favoritism-based policies. I cleared out my desk then, and have only kept food here since. Not having to “stick it out” under this sort of stress because it’s practical is kind of a huge weight off. Or I’m trading for a different weight. 🙂
Determination
Did I say I was de-motivated? That’s only in terms of this job right now, not the next one. I’m absolutely charged with the energy to find the next place where I can give my time and dedication to a good cause. (And receive a good check, in return, of course!!)
Alternate plan
If I don’t land anything before the layoff? I’ll take my severance, and my unemployment, and go nanny my best friend’s newborn for a couple months while I continue to job hunt. The timing’s about right. They’ll “pay” me room and board, and I’ll pay for COBRA. And thank PF-blogging for a good emergency fund. But what to do with my parents …..
Edit: I forgot to link to this great article guest posted by Jacques Sprenger at The Digerati Life: Are you in Financial Trouble? Money Tips to Cope with Hard Times.