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Archive for January, 2009

Your boss got fired! Is it time to panic?

Monday, January 19th, 2009

When your boss gets fired, you might panic that you are the next victim but sometimes having your boss fired, especially if he or she wasn’t a pro, is the best thing that could happen to you (and to the company as a whole).

When a manager is given the sack, this usually suggests that not everything has been going on smoothly. It depends on the company, but generally managers are not fired for things such as not wearing a suit, or arriving 5 minutes late every day but for more serious sins like lack of results, bad managerial skills, abuse of power, etc. Of course, there are exceptions and it is not unlikely that a top manager is fired because of the intrigues inside the company and if this is the case, this should ring a bell that this company is not good and you should try to escape from there as soon as possible.

However, I am not discussing the situation when a top manager gets fired because of intrigues. I am discussing the situation when a poor manager is finally shown the door. If this is the case, you should jump with joy because getting rid of such a boss is a wise step and it can help your company achieve better results. When one more top parasite is kicked out, this is good for all the pros who are in.

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Submit a resume even when no vacant position is advertised

Friday, January 16th, 2009

Job search is a very time-consuming activity and if you can’t easily find an acceptable job, the whole experience gets very frustrating. Sometimes a good position requires more than you can offer, or you are a perfect match for a position but unfortunately, just right now, the company doesn’t seek people with your qualifications.

When a vacant position is advertised, you can bet that many people will apply. Competition can be fierce and even if you offer a lot, there will always be somebody else who offers more and he or she will be hired. Sometimes when you are a good candidate but you are not hired right now, the employer will keep your resume and will contact you in the future – of course, this will hardly be at a moment when you are searching for a job. In one case a company where I had applied 3.5 years ago contacted me to offer me a position, which quite naturally was of no interest to me because I was already working as a freelancer and couldn’t care less for the offer.

So what can you do? Watch for hiring companies, or just for good companies and when you find one, submit a resume, even if they don’t advertise a vacant position you are a good match for. This is a great approach – I have done it many times and it worked for me amazingly. I have found some of my best jobs exactly that way. When you submit a resume (and you are a good candidate, of course), even if there is no vacant position advertised, you still might be invited to an interview and offered a job. And since you have no competition, this additionally increases your chances to get the job. This approach works greatly especially for mid-size and large companies with hundreds and thousands of employees, where the chance of a vacant position is higher.

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How frequently should you change your job?

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

There is hardly an employee who has never felt the urge to quit his or her job right away. Yes, there are really nasty jobs you can’t and shouldn’t stand but changing your job frequently is not regarded as a good sign of your personal and professional skills. HR Managers don’t like people who change their jobs frequently but what does “frequently” mean?

If you are a serial job quitter – i.e. you change your job more often than once a year, this is bad for you because potential employers will look at you with suspicion. You might have good reasons to change your job – i.e. there were external factors, which made you quit but still for employers you look unreliable because the message they get is that you are easily pissed off and if they hire you, you might be gone in a couple of months or so – right after you have became useful for the company.

On the other hand, if you have been working for 5 or 10 years in an unrewarding job, this is also bad because it says that you either are no good and had no any other alternative and that’s why you have spent so much time in a nasty job, or that you have been getting more than you are giving – i.e. you don’t work hard but you are happy to get whatever cash you can for your lazy habits. Of course, this does not mean that people who have worked for 10 years for one company are worthless because if they have hold different positions throughout the years, this is different.

Now you might ask what to do. Changing your job frequently is as bad as changing your job once in a decade. So, as you guess, generally it is best if you change your job once in 2-4 years. To put it simply, 2 years is not a short period of time – i.e. you have done a lot for the company and 4 years is not too much – i.e. you haven’t become useless.

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Have you considered freelancing as an option?

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

When you feel you are stuck in your career development, one of the first ideas that comes to your mind is that it might be time to change your company and you start looking for greener pastures. However, even in times of economic boom, not to mention the current state of the economic affairs, there aren’t always many companies where it is better to go. For some professions, i.e. writers, lawyers, accountants, dentists and doctors, software developers and designers, becoming your own boss might be the best career choice you will ever make.

Starting (and running) a company is too much of a hassle, but you don’t have to do it in order to become your own boss. For many professions there is a really viable alternative – freelancing. Freelancing is not a bad choice but it is not for everybody. Still, many people, who will make great freelancers, haven’t heard of this opportunity.

One of the best things about freelancing is that you are your boss. So, you can’t complain that the boss is an idiot or that your coworkers are stupid and malicious. As a freelancer, it is up to you to arrange your schedule and decide which projects you will take and which you won’t.

Freelancing has many advantages and if you haven’t considered it up to now, maybe you should give it a try. As a freelancer you might have to work more than you used to in your full-time job but certainly freelancing is times more rewarding than an underpaid dead-end job.

Be sure to check the freelance job board for freelance opportunities.

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