Few people expect to have an orgasm just by looking at someone. They know that foreplay is required. Yet career seekers somehow expect that, immediately upon considering an appropriate career, they’ll feel “Eureka, I have found it”: “Oh, dentist. That’s it.! Perfect! I know I’ll love it.”
For most people who end up passionate about their career, that’s not how it works. As with sex, foreplay is usually required before passion erupts.
Here are the four steps in career foreplay:
Step 1: Choose a career. After a reasonable amount of career exploration, choose something, even if you’re not passionate about it.
Step 2: Become expert at the career. Get solid training. That doesn’t necessarily require a prestigious university. In fact, many less prestigious institutions provide more practical career training.
More important to your training is that you make the most of the program: choosing courses and professors most likely to teach practical skills, asking career-related questions in class and during professors’ office hours, selecting term paper topics most likely to make you proficient, and choosing fieldwork and internship assignments with master practitioners.
Becoming expert usually also requires on-the job training: asking a good supervisor or coworkers to observe or review your work and answer your questions, attending workshops from your professional association, reading professional magazines, Web articles, and books written by master practitioners.
Step 3: Customize the career to fit you. A career is like an off-the-shelf suit: it won’t fit well unless you tailor it. So, for example, let’s say you’re a manager in a dashboard manufacturing plant. If you’re naturally good with your hands, try to spend as much time as possible fixing problems on the factory floor. If you’re more of a people person, maximize the time you spend on helping your employees to be productive. If you love investigation, spend time researching new ideas. If you’re more of a word person, focus on writing and verbally presenting plans and reports. If you’re more entrepreneurial, work on creating collaborations across divisions or with other firms. If you’re more of a detail person, focus on creating and evaluating budgets, surveys, and other quantitative data.
Step 4: Find people who value what you do. After you’ve become expert at your career and tailored it to maximize your strengths and preferences, your current employer and customers will probably praise you and pay you well. If not, find another employer who will, or become self-employed.
After the four steps of career foreplay, many people can expect to experience career passion, even in a field as unsexy as dashboard manufacture.
http://www.martynemko.com/articles/career-passion-requires-foreplay_id1473
Friday, August 17, 2007
Do What You Love -- And Starve?
If you are a star—very bright, talented, motivated, and personable and you have a passion, even if it’s in a competitive field, sure, go for it.
This is an article for everyone else.
Based on the 2,500 clients I’ve worked with, the hundreds of callers to my career-centric radio show, and my countless other conversations with people about their careers, I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve been sold a bill of goods when we’re told to “Follow your passion, “ or “Do what you love and the money will follow.” Fact is, if you do what you love, you’ll probably starve.
Yes, some people do what they love and the money follows. But millions of people have followed their passion and still haven’t earned enough money to even pay back their student loans, let alone make even a bare middle-class living doing what they love.
The problem is that too many people crave the same few careers, for example, the arts and non-profit work. Employers in these fields get dozens if not hundreds of applications for each job. So, you have to be a star or extremely well connected to get the job.
In other cases, salaries tend to be low or non-existent. Do what you love and volunteer work may well follow.
The irony is that the small percentage of people who do make a living in “do-what-you-love,” “follow-your-passion” careers, are, on average, no happier than people in less sexy jobs. Here’s why. Plenty of “cool careers” sound better than they turn out to be. Actors, for example, spend very little time acting. They spend most of their time trying out, sitting around waiting for their turn at rehearsals or on movie shoots, etc.
More important, not only do salaries in “cool” careers tend to be low, employers in those fields know they needn’t treat their employees with kid gloves because zillions of other capable people are panting for the opportunity to work 60 hours a week for $27,521 (with no benefits) for the good feeling of knowing they’re playing an infinitesimal role in saving the spotted owl or whatever, even though they may never get closer to a spotted owl than a pile of accounts receivable statements.
Other people’s passion is status. So, for example, they endure years of boring law school and accumulate boatloads of student debt for the privilege of slaving under a 2,000-billable-hour quota for the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe, with a futon in their office so they can sneak in a few zzzs in the middle of the all-nighters they pull to boost the chances of another lawyer’s corporate client giving money to their corporate client.
Other status seekers prostitute themselves to climb the corporate ladder. They work 50+-hour workweeks and kiss up to their bosses, smilingly willing to uproot themselves and their families for a few years inwhateverGod-forsakenplace the Company wants to dump them. They endure two years of impractical arcana in an MBA program so they can put those three letters, M,B,A, on their resume. And for what? So they may finally get a title of director or vice president, and after their 12-hour cover-their-butt workday, be one of the many execs who collapse on their sofa, get blitzed, and stare at their oversized living room in their oversized neighborhood wondering, “Is that all there is?”
In contrast, if your job is mundane, for example, marketing manager for the Ace Soybean Processing Company, the employer knows there aren’t hundreds of competent people champing at the bit for your job. So, to keep you, the employer is more likely to offer decent working conditions, reasonable work hours, kind treatment, opportunities for learning, and pay you well. Those are the things that—much more than being in a “cool” career-- lead to career contentment.
You say you want status? Unless you’re a true star (brilliant, driven, great personality, or have great connections), give it up. Status is often the enemy of success. You’re more likely to find career contentment in a not-high-status career. In my mind, someone who’s an honorable assistant manager for the Ace Soybean Processing Co. is more worthy of respect than many lawyers, investment bankers, and business development VPs I know. If someone thinks less of you because you’re job isn’t high-status, they don’t deserve to be your friend.
Advice I’d Give My Child
If you’re at all entrepreneurial, I recommend starting your own business. Yes, I know, only 20 percent of new businesses are still in business after five years, but you can beat the odds. Just remember is this one rule: Don't innovate. Replicate. Copy a successful simple business.
Innovations are too risky: Your product might not work, may not be popular with the public, or a competitor could beat you to market. Why be a guinea pig? Unless you have deep pockets or are truly brilliant, the risks are too great. Many people have ended up in poverty because of their innovations. Even Tivo, a wonderful new product lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the first few years. Last I checked, you don’t have oodles of money to lose. Leave the innovations to corporations or the independently wealthy.
Where to find a business to copy? Drive around to find a simple business at which customers are lined up out the door. For example, see a successful burrito shop or espresso cart? Open a similar one in a similar neighborhood. Your chances of success will be a helluva lot higher than 20%. You will find happiness in providing an in-demand product at a fair price. Confine your urge to innovate to your hobbies.
Another approach to finding a good business is to pick a grungy one, for example, automatic transmission repair or mobile home park maintenance. Few top-notch people go into such businesses, so if you do it competently, you’ll probably make good maybe great money. And you’ll feel better about your work, having people coming to you and thanking you, and owning your own business rather than slaving away for some boss ever fearing your job will be downsized or shipped to India.
You say you don’t have the knowledge to run such a business? No problem. For example, I don’t know a thing about transmissions, but if I wanted to open a transmission shop, I’d find the best transmission mechanic, pay him well and hire a consultant who is the owner of a successful transmission shop located far enough from my store that he wouldn’t fear my competition. The two of them would teach me how to set up my business. Then, I’d spend my time building relationships with car repair shop owners so I’d get their referral business.
If starting a business from scratch seems too scary, consider a franchise. According to Robert Bond, author of Bond’s Franchise Guide, some of the best include Jani-King commercial cleaning and Aussie Pet Mobile, a grooming service. When you find a franchise that sounds appealing, be sure to speak with at least 10 of the franchise’s franchisees at random before signing on the dotted line.
If you’re not at all entrepreneurial and want to be well employed, go far from the madding crowd. Here are some areas where the job market is not hypercompetitive: Court reporting, car finance & insurance, accounting, insurance, sales of little known commercial products, health care, health care administration, fundraising, financial services, anything serving Latinos (entertainment, schools, hospitals, criminal justice system), anti-terrorism, and biotech regulatory affairs.
Remember, you’re more likely to find career contentment by being a contrarian.
http://www.martynemko.com/articles/do-what-you-love-and-starve_id1380
This is an article for everyone else.
Based on the 2,500 clients I’ve worked with, the hundreds of callers to my career-centric radio show, and my countless other conversations with people about their careers, I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve been sold a bill of goods when we’re told to “Follow your passion, “ or “Do what you love and the money will follow.” Fact is, if you do what you love, you’ll probably starve.
Yes, some people do what they love and the money follows. But millions of people have followed their passion and still haven’t earned enough money to even pay back their student loans, let alone make even a bare middle-class living doing what they love.
The problem is that too many people crave the same few careers, for example, the arts and non-profit work. Employers in these fields get dozens if not hundreds of applications for each job. So, you have to be a star or extremely well connected to get the job.
In other cases, salaries tend to be low or non-existent. Do what you love and volunteer work may well follow.
The irony is that the small percentage of people who do make a living in “do-what-you-love,” “follow-your-passion” careers, are, on average, no happier than people in less sexy jobs. Here’s why. Plenty of “cool careers” sound better than they turn out to be. Actors, for example, spend very little time acting. They spend most of their time trying out, sitting around waiting for their turn at rehearsals or on movie shoots, etc.
More important, not only do salaries in “cool” careers tend to be low, employers in those fields know they needn’t treat their employees with kid gloves because zillions of other capable people are panting for the opportunity to work 60 hours a week for $27,521 (with no benefits) for the good feeling of knowing they’re playing an infinitesimal role in saving the spotted owl or whatever, even though they may never get closer to a spotted owl than a pile of accounts receivable statements.
Other people’s passion is status. So, for example, they endure years of boring law school and accumulate boatloads of student debt for the privilege of slaving under a 2,000-billable-hour quota for the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe, with a futon in their office so they can sneak in a few zzzs in the middle of the all-nighters they pull to boost the chances of another lawyer’s corporate client giving money to their corporate client.
Other status seekers prostitute themselves to climb the corporate ladder. They work 50+-hour workweeks and kiss up to their bosses, smilingly willing to uproot themselves and their families for a few years inwhateverGod-forsakenplace the Company wants to dump them. They endure two years of impractical arcana in an MBA program so they can put those three letters, M,B,A, on their resume. And for what? So they may finally get a title of director or vice president, and after their 12-hour cover-their-butt workday, be one of the many execs who collapse on their sofa, get blitzed, and stare at their oversized living room in their oversized neighborhood wondering, “Is that all there is?”
In contrast, if your job is mundane, for example, marketing manager for the Ace Soybean Processing Company, the employer knows there aren’t hundreds of competent people champing at the bit for your job. So, to keep you, the employer is more likely to offer decent working conditions, reasonable work hours, kind treatment, opportunities for learning, and pay you well. Those are the things that—much more than being in a “cool” career-- lead to career contentment.
You say you want status? Unless you’re a true star (brilliant, driven, great personality, or have great connections), give it up. Status is often the enemy of success. You’re more likely to find career contentment in a not-high-status career. In my mind, someone who’s an honorable assistant manager for the Ace Soybean Processing Co. is more worthy of respect than many lawyers, investment bankers, and business development VPs I know. If someone thinks less of you because you’re job isn’t high-status, they don’t deserve to be your friend.
Advice I’d Give My Child
If you’re at all entrepreneurial, I recommend starting your own business. Yes, I know, only 20 percent of new businesses are still in business after five years, but you can beat the odds. Just remember is this one rule: Don't innovate. Replicate. Copy a successful simple business.
Innovations are too risky: Your product might not work, may not be popular with the public, or a competitor could beat you to market. Why be a guinea pig? Unless you have deep pockets or are truly brilliant, the risks are too great. Many people have ended up in poverty because of their innovations. Even Tivo, a wonderful new product lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the first few years. Last I checked, you don’t have oodles of money to lose. Leave the innovations to corporations or the independently wealthy.
Where to find a business to copy? Drive around to find a simple business at which customers are lined up out the door. For example, see a successful burrito shop or espresso cart? Open a similar one in a similar neighborhood. Your chances of success will be a helluva lot higher than 20%. You will find happiness in providing an in-demand product at a fair price. Confine your urge to innovate to your hobbies.
Another approach to finding a good business is to pick a grungy one, for example, automatic transmission repair or mobile home park maintenance. Few top-notch people go into such businesses, so if you do it competently, you’ll probably make good maybe great money. And you’ll feel better about your work, having people coming to you and thanking you, and owning your own business rather than slaving away for some boss ever fearing your job will be downsized or shipped to India.
You say you don’t have the knowledge to run such a business? No problem. For example, I don’t know a thing about transmissions, but if I wanted to open a transmission shop, I’d find the best transmission mechanic, pay him well and hire a consultant who is the owner of a successful transmission shop located far enough from my store that he wouldn’t fear my competition. The two of them would teach me how to set up my business. Then, I’d spend my time building relationships with car repair shop owners so I’d get their referral business.
If starting a business from scratch seems too scary, consider a franchise. According to Robert Bond, author of Bond’s Franchise Guide, some of the best include Jani-King commercial cleaning and Aussie Pet Mobile, a grooming service. When you find a franchise that sounds appealing, be sure to speak with at least 10 of the franchise’s franchisees at random before signing on the dotted line.
If you’re not at all entrepreneurial and want to be well employed, go far from the madding crowd. Here are some areas where the job market is not hypercompetitive: Court reporting, car finance & insurance, accounting, insurance, sales of little known commercial products, health care, health care administration, fundraising, financial services, anything serving Latinos (entertainment, schools, hospitals, criminal justice system), anti-terrorism, and biotech regulatory affairs.
Remember, you’re more likely to find career contentment by being a contrarian.
http://www.martynemko.com/articles/do-what-you-love-and-starve_id1380
When You Want to Make a Radical Career Change
You're sick of your job and are ready for something different. Very different. Unfortunately, most employers won't hire you to do something very different. Say you've been a salesperson an insurance company and you'd like to do marketing for a winery. No non-stoned employer would welcome you aboard.
You usually need to make a radical career change in two steps. The above person should probably first aim for a sales job for the winery-he should be able to convince some winery that his sales experience would be useful in a winery sales gig. After a while in that job, he might have a realistic shot at that winery marketing position.
What can you do today?Realizing that your next job can change either your industry or your job title but not both, which do you want to do?
http://www.martynemko.com/articles/when-you-want-make-radical-career-change_id1131
An Easier Route to Changing Careers
Yes, you want a new career, but if you're like most people, you're not eager to go through the standard process: take a bunch of career tests, get trained in the new field, and then try to convince an employer that she'd be wise to hire you even though you have no experience.
There may be an easier way. Just tell everyone in your personal network that you're looking for a job in which you can, for example, use your people and organizational skills. That approach is easy and likely to expose you to new options that you mightn't have thought of. Plus, it reduces the chances you'll need to undergo major training. If someone knows you, they're more likely to trust that you can learn on the job. Of course, that's not true if you're looking to become a brain surgeon.
What are the few things you absolutely want in your next career? The ability to use your skill in XXXX? The option to work at home? What?
http://www.martynemko.com/articles/easier-route-changing-careers_id1130
Clues to Your Ideal Career
Most of us think there's some perfect-fit career out there for us. Fact is, most people are about equally well-suited to many careers. But you never know.
What can you do today?
Ask yourself these questions. Do any of your answers suggest a career for you?
- If you didn't care what your friends or family thought, what career would you pursue?
- What do people say you have a knack for?
- Have you experienced an adversity that suggests a career for you?
- What tool(s) do you love to use?
- What's one thing your job absolutely, positively must have?
- When talking about what topic(s), does your voice get passionate?
http://www.martynemko.com/articles/clues-your-ideal-career_id1129
Digging up a Career's Downsides
“I’m verbal and like to argue, so I’ll be a lawyer.”
“I’m good in science and I want to help people, so I’ll be a doctor.”
Many people make cavalier career decisions after they graduate because they’re eager to finally settle on something. TV certainly doesn’t help. Do you really think most lawyer gigs are as fascinating as those on Law and Order? Or physician jobs as glamorous as those on Grey’s Anatomy? Official career resources aren’t very revealing, either. The American Chemical Society’s 2,000-word profile of a career in hazardous waste management, for example, mentions not one drawback. Its fluffy summary: “This fast-paced line of work is challenging, profitable, and dynamic.”
Yet every career has downsides, and unearthing them early could save you from having to restart your career in a few years. The good news is that some basic career detective work isn’t difficult. It might even be fun. Here’s a three-step process for determining if that perfect-sounding career really is.
Step 1: Read. The simplest way to learn about a career is to read what’s been written about it. Here are some resources. To filter out biases, don’t rely on just one:
--The Occupational Outlook Handbook www.bls.gov/oco provides definitive if dry profiles of hundreds of popular careers..
--Best Careers, 2007,. www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/best_careers_2007, by U.S.News. Read profiles of 25 top-rated careers (including their downsides), plus revelations about ten overrated careers.
--Career Resource Center. www.acinet.org/acinet/crl/library.aspx?LVL2=4&CATID=13&LVL3=y&PostVal=1. This federal government-sponsored site offers information and videos on hundreds of careers, culled from numerous private and public sector sources. Invaluable.
.--UC Berkeley Career Center. http://career.berkeley.edu/Infolab/CareerFields.stm. This consists of a wealth of links in a dozen career areas of interest to college grads
--Vault.com and wetfeet.com offer fee-based insider profiles of popular careers. They are worth the money because they usually include personal opinions, which, in concert with more objective information, reveal the career in full dimension.
--Cool Careers for Dummies offers quick takes on 500 careers. (Disclaimer: I am the author. Like I said, seek multiple sources of information!)
-- Google.com. It seems obvious, but this can be invaluable. Type in the name of the career and the word “careers’ and you’ll likely find lots of information. It’s worth doing four of Google’s searches: web, groups, blogs, and news. In assessing an article’s credibility, note its source: The rantings of a disgruntled individual may be worth considering, but shouldn’t be given disproportionate weight unless the same concern is raised elsewhere.
--Amazon.com. Among its four million books are thousands of career titles. To find the right ones, again, type the name of the career plus the word “careers.”
Have an appetite for even more? Visit a college’s career center or public library’s career section. There, a pro, with research expertise and access to expensive databases, can help you unearth additional information.
Step 2: Ask. Once you’ve read up, talk with professionals in the field. The information they offer might be less thorough, but you’ll get a local perspective, plus nuggets unlikely to find their way into print. Speak with at least three people to o avoid getting too narrow a perspective. In addition to people you might know, try members of a field’s professional association (Its membership list may be on its website). Email or phone them, or attend the group’s next convention or a local chapter meeting
Uncomfortable about approaching people you don’t know? No need to be. Haven’t you ever stopped a stranger on the street for directions? Asking for career advice is no more of an imposition. Some people might be crabby and beg off. But most people like to talk about their careers. And by reading up in advance, you’ll sound informed.
Here are some questions that might help unearth the dirt about a career, as well as its delights:
-- Would you walk me through your own experience in this career, from your training through today?
-- What should I know about this field that might not appear in print?
-- Are there particularly desirable and undesirable ways to get trained?
-- Does this field have particularly desirable and undesirable niches?
-- Why might a person leave this field?
Step 3: Try. There’s no better way to assess if you’ll really like a career than by experiencing it first-hand. Here’s the easiest approach: Ask people in that career if you can watch them at work for an hour or two. Identify candidates just as you would when asking questions about the career.
After that, if the career still excites you, consider taking an internship or job www.martynemko.com/articles/one-week-job-search_id1374. in which you get to work with people in that career.
How do you know when you’ve done enough career snooping? When you can answer yes to all four of these questions. Do you believe you will:
--Get into a good training program for this career?
-- Get hired in this career?
-- Be good at it?
-- Enjoy the work?
If so, congratulations. You’ve found your career!
http://www.martynemko.com/articles/digging-up-careers-downsides_id1527
“I’m good in science and I want to help people, so I’ll be a doctor.”
Many people make cavalier career decisions after they graduate because they’re eager to finally settle on something. TV certainly doesn’t help. Do you really think most lawyer gigs are as fascinating as those on Law and Order? Or physician jobs as glamorous as those on Grey’s Anatomy? Official career resources aren’t very revealing, either. The American Chemical Society’s 2,000-word profile of a career in hazardous waste management, for example, mentions not one drawback. Its fluffy summary: “This fast-paced line of work is challenging, profitable, and dynamic.”
Yet every career has downsides, and unearthing them early could save you from having to restart your career in a few years. The good news is that some basic career detective work isn’t difficult. It might even be fun. Here’s a three-step process for determining if that perfect-sounding career really is.
Step 1: Read. The simplest way to learn about a career is to read what’s been written about it. Here are some resources. To filter out biases, don’t rely on just one:
--The Occupational Outlook Handbook www.bls.gov/oco provides definitive if dry profiles of hundreds of popular careers..
--Best Careers, 2007,. www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/best_careers_2007, by U.S.News. Read profiles of 25 top-rated careers (including their downsides), plus revelations about ten overrated careers.
--Career Resource Center. www.acinet.org/acinet/crl/library.aspx?LVL2=4&CATID=13&LVL3=y&PostVal=1. This federal government-sponsored site offers information and videos on hundreds of careers, culled from numerous private and public sector sources. Invaluable.
.--UC Berkeley Career Center. http://career.berkeley.edu/Infolab/CareerFields.stm. This consists of a wealth of links in a dozen career areas of interest to college grads
--Vault.com and wetfeet.com offer fee-based insider profiles of popular careers. They are worth the money because they usually include personal opinions, which, in concert with more objective information, reveal the career in full dimension.
--Cool Careers for Dummies offers quick takes on 500 careers. (Disclaimer: I am the author. Like I said, seek multiple sources of information!)
-- Google.com. It seems obvious, but this can be invaluable. Type in the name of the career and the word “careers’ and you’ll likely find lots of information. It’s worth doing four of Google’s searches: web, groups, blogs, and news. In assessing an article’s credibility, note its source: The rantings of a disgruntled individual may be worth considering, but shouldn’t be given disproportionate weight unless the same concern is raised elsewhere.
--Amazon.com. Among its four million books are thousands of career titles. To find the right ones, again, type the name of the career plus the word “careers.”
Have an appetite for even more? Visit a college’s career center or public library’s career section. There, a pro, with research expertise and access to expensive databases, can help you unearth additional information.
Step 2: Ask. Once you’ve read up, talk with professionals in the field. The information they offer might be less thorough, but you’ll get a local perspective, plus nuggets unlikely to find their way into print. Speak with at least three people to o avoid getting too narrow a perspective. In addition to people you might know, try members of a field’s professional association (Its membership list may be on its website). Email or phone them, or attend the group’s next convention or a local chapter meeting
Uncomfortable about approaching people you don’t know? No need to be. Haven’t you ever stopped a stranger on the street for directions? Asking for career advice is no more of an imposition. Some people might be crabby and beg off. But most people like to talk about their careers. And by reading up in advance, you’ll sound informed.
Here are some questions that might help unearth the dirt about a career, as well as its delights:
-- Would you walk me through your own experience in this career, from your training through today?
-- What should I know about this field that might not appear in print?
-- Are there particularly desirable and undesirable ways to get trained?
-- Does this field have particularly desirable and undesirable niches?
-- Why might a person leave this field?
Step 3: Try. There’s no better way to assess if you’ll really like a career than by experiencing it first-hand. Here’s the easiest approach: Ask people in that career if you can watch them at work for an hour or two. Identify candidates just as you would when asking questions about the career.
After that, if the career still excites you, consider taking an internship or job www.martynemko.com/articles/one-week-job-search_id1374. in which you get to work with people in that career.
How do you know when you’ve done enough career snooping? When you can answer yes to all four of these questions. Do you believe you will:
--Get into a good training program for this career?
-- Get hired in this career?
-- Be good at it?
-- Enjoy the work?
If so, congratulations. You’ve found your career!
http://www.martynemko.com/articles/digging-up-careers-downsides_id1527
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