Keeping A Needed Job In The Era Of Social Media

A buddy got fired
from a much needed job
because she posted
under her own name
on social media
about Gaza.

This happens.
Quite often.

Most companies
have slipped
into their employment contracts
clauses stating
if you portray them
in a bad light
that can be grounds
for being fired.

This can impact you
before you’re hired.

Many managers
scour social media
for their job candidates’ accounts
looking for a reason
to disqualify them
from the job search.

They’re looking for stances or beliefs
they don’t agree with,
for photos
they don’t want representing
their companies,
for, heck, any mention
of the job search,
and many other things.

I don’t have a social media account
under my real name
for this and other reasons.
I also don’t have photos of me
attached to my social media accounts
(due to facial recognition software).

If you do have a social media account
under your real name,
know that you can be fired
or targeted for anything
you post.

Weigh the risks
before you post.

Your Mentor Isn’t A Mentor In Everything

When I join a new-to-me company,
I often search for a mentor
within the organization.

I’m not looking
for a mentor
in EVERYTHING.

I want to connect
with someone
who knows the political
and working environment
within the company.

That’s it.

I don’t need
that person
to show me
how to
cook dinner
or how to
be a good person
or teach me
to use a new phone.

Mentors aren’t supposed
to be
mentors in EVERYTHING.
They have one specific area
of expertise
and that’s it.

Multiple areas
require multiple mentors.

Don’t expect your mentor
to cover everything.

Mentoring Is Part Of Managing

If you hire an employee,
especially a younger employee,
that employee will require
not only training
but also mentorship.

They will want to know
what their career looks like,
what their future
with your company
looks like.

They will need to learn
and grow
and become a better employee.

Because they’ll want
salary increases
that at least keep up
with inflation.

And you’ll be d@mn bitter
about those salary increases
if the employee isn’t becoming
better at their job.

Set aside one hour
per week
per direct report
for mentorship.

If you don’t have time
for that,
you don’t have time
to manage them.
And you should consider
hiring a manager.

Mentorship
is part of managing an employee.

The Power Couple

The media recently reported
that most high income couples
only have one person
earning the income.

OFFICIALLY earning
the income.

Because, often,
high income earning jobs
require
two people.
Both people in the relationship
have to be committed to
and focused on
the job.

The unofficial role holder
socializes,
entertains
and networks in other ways.

They research situations.

They are a sounding board
for decisions.

They travel plan
and keep the schedules.

And they complete
thousands of ‘invisible’ tasks
necessary for the role.

NEVER discount
the significant other’s influence
or abilities.

Treat them
with the same respect
you would extend
to the decision makers.

If You Don’t Have Equity…

A loved ones feels he’s super important
at the privately held company
he works countless unpaid overtime hours
for.

They couldn’t operate without him,
he claims.

So I told him
he should ask
for equity in the business.

He gave me a half dozen reasons
why now wasn’t the right time
to make that request.

He has been working
there over a decade.
There will never be
a right time
to make that request.

And the owner
will never give him
equity.

Because he isn’t that important
to the business.
He’s replaceable.

If he was important,
the owner would have tied him
to the business
with a small equity stake.

Don’t voluntarily work
unpaid overtime hours
for a company
you have no equity in.

Use that time
to build your own equity
elsewhere.

Career Security Thanks To COVID

Yesterday, I talked about
how humans are getting
dumber
due to repeated bouts
of COVID.

If you avoid COVID
as much as possible,
that means
you will likely have
career security.

There will be
fewer and fewer people
available to work,
especially in
thinking-intensive jobs.

You don’t have
to worry as much
about aging out
of your industry
or
taking some time off
or
being your unique self.

In the future.

In the short term,
business is only beginning
to figure out
repeated infections
are a bad idea.

But the probability is high
that by this time
next year,
people with fully functioning
ie. COVID-avoiding
brains
will be in demand
as employees.

Protect your brain.
Avoid COVID.

Being Great At Your Job Won’t Save It

There’s a myth
in society
that doing a great job,
that caring,
that working really hard
for an employer
will give us
job security.

I don’t think
that myth EVER reflected reality
but it certainly
doesn’t reflect reality today.

As we discussed yesterday,
salespeople are losing their jobs
because they are landing huge deals,
because they are doing their jobs
TOO well.

Doing our jobs terribly
will likely result
in being let go also.

As would doing our jobs not stellar,
not terribly,
but just well enough.

There is NO job security.

We should assume
we’re daily workers.

Negotiate for the highest
base salary we can.
Use the benefits immediately.
Do the things we want to do
through the employer
as soon as possible.

Save, if we can,
for the jobless days ahead of us.
Invest in financial vehicles,
in our own side businesses,
in ourselves.

Have an identity outside of the job.

Put YOURSELF first,
far ahead of your employer.

We no longer have job security
through an employer.

But we CAN have life security.
Focus on achieving THAT goal.

The Dirt File

With all the firings and layoffs happening
in almost all industries,
it is time for another reminder
to keep a dirt file
on everyone in power
at the company you work for.

That means your manager,
your manager’s manager,
human resources,
executives,
others.

This dirt file contains
documentation,
especially on the dirty
or unethical things
these people in power do or say.

And they ALL do or say things
that could possibly get
their a$$es sued off
in court.

Take photos of messages.
Keep notes on phone calls,
writing down dates and times
and other details.

Anything that is semi-shady
or wrong
gets put in a database
your employer can’t access.

Because they WILL try
to wipe every device
they can
clean.
That is standard practice now.

I’ve only used
my dirt file once.

But that one time
saved a good man
his pension
and gave him a severance
that bridged him to retirement.

He has his house today
because I kept a file
on our unethical employer.

Keep a dirt file.
It will be well worth
the time and effort
involved.

And it is the only income security
we truly have
from employment.

Color Is A Power Move

One of the (many) things
I noticed
when I was playing hard
in the corporate world
was…

I got more respect
when I wore a brightly colored suit.

I had a bright red
power pant suit
I’d wear
when I pitched important projects.
The execs would assume
I was in charge,
which I was.

If I was acting
in a secondary role
and wanted to support the team lead,
I’d wear black or dark blue
or some other dark color.

If I was being a little sh*t
and DIDN’T want to support
the team lead,
I’d wear bright blue or bright green.
And then the execs would
give me enough respect
to make the team lead uncomfortable.

Color is a power move.

And it WILL irritate
the f*ck out of women-hating men
when we use it
to our advantage
because they are restricted
to power ties
and can’t fully use the power
of color.

USE that advantage.
Wear color when you want
to be seen as the leader.

Hiring Newcomers To The Country

A manager told me
she had recently hired
an employee who had just
immigrated to the country.

She was happy,
telling me
that new employee
was unlikely to leave.

Because that new employee
would be trapped.

She wouldn’t have the country experience
or connections
or other resources to move.
And she would likely be afraid
of f*cking up
her immigration status.

The manager didn’t say that
but the situation was obvious.

If that is your reason
for hiring people
new to the country,
you suck.

You suck as a human
and you suck as a manager.

Create a place
people want to work at.
Don’t trap people.