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Nick Armstrong is using Brazen Careerist to share ideas. Join now to become a member and start networking with Nick Armstrong and other professionals just like you. Learn more.
Times are tough and jobs are sparse.
There seems to be two distinct lines of thought about what the unemployed should do.
One line of thought says, “The Spice Must Flow” - in other words, go out and get any job you can that will keep the roof over your head and food on the table.
Another line of thought says, “Every Person Has A Calling” - that is, you should get a job you like since that’s the job you’ll be best at.
My personal thought on this is that if you take on a job you don’t like, even if it pays well, you’re going to bring yourself and the company a whole lot of hurt.
First, the company has to pay to establish your benefits - and they have to pay for a month after you leave. More than that, if you qualify and participate in COBRA (a program to continue your benefits after you’ve been laid off/leave the company) the company will pay for a portion of those benefits or at least partially share in the cost increase for any healthcare you receive (in later years).
Second, the company has to pay the costs to train you. This is time and productivity lost on their part - especially if you don’t like the job or take longer to train for a position that could have been better acclimated to than someone else.
Finally, lets say you are completely bored with your job and end up working only 90% as hard as you could have. The company is losing that productivity from you - you’re, in essence, cheating the company because you chose poorly. Even if you swear that you’re going to do the job, do your best, give 100% - you’re eventually going to slip.
Not to mention, if you’re dissatisfied with the main task you’re responsible for, you’re more likely to make mistakes and less likely to correct mistakes when you make them. Middle school dance lessons, anyone? We’re not a nation of ballroom or square dancers.
You might feel differently when you have to buy ramen noodles rather than the spaghetti noodles at the grocery store, but you will most definitely like your job and be happier with your life.
It takes less time to become experienced in something than Gen X or Boomers will have you believe. The fact is, WE'RE ALL STRUGGLING TO GAIN THE SKILLS THAT GEN Y HAS and retrofit it into what we do. WE FAIL AT THIS A LOT, because we're trying to pull it into our outdated view of the world -- which you're not burdened with.
Find a company you want to work for and engage the owner, boss, manager. If he/she is over 40, propose being a (modestly paid) intern or contractor for 90 days to help them understand and leverage social media -- if they agree to provide mentoring related in their industry.
Work your ass off and learn what you can from this professional. After 60 days, you'll have a good sense whether the company will create a real job for you. If not, 1)use part of your remaining days to identify ANOTHER leader in the industry. Approach them with the same 90-day contractor/intern proposal. Have it begin when your previous commitment ends 2)end your internship/contract after 90 days on a good note. You've got a good professional reference in the industry!
In less than a year, you'll have experience, a professional network, and a job.
@ Social Meteor - interesting idea. You did overlook one thing. Gen X'ers and Boomers actually use more social media than the Millenials. Go figure.
While I agree that you really should focus on finding the right job, there are situations and outstanding circumstances that sometimes prevent that from happening.
If you absolutely have to take a job you don't love, make sure to supplement it with projects outside the workplace that continue to build the skills you want to build in the field you want to be in. That way, you satisfy your need for work you love, and in doing so you'll probably offer a much better work ethic and attitude to your employer.
@Social Meteor - I would agree with you on the internship idea. However, this is not financially possible for those of us who've graduated college a while ago or have failed to build up sufficient savings (Hi, my name is Nick and I'm horrible with money). Also, if you keep track of Willy F's OneDayOneInternship, he has a nice series about companies taking advantage (in the negative sense) of their interns. So, buyer beware, as they say.
@Kimberley - you're quite correct when you say Gen X and Boomers use more social media, in terms of tools. In terms of a specific tool, Millennials have dominated Facebook - a realm which continues to elude any real attempts to market there. iTunes is the only one that has come close, with those free music releases every 3 months.
@Teresa - What you're describing is what I've been doing for the last two years. Psychotic Resumes, GitNit Right, Giant Gnome, these have all come out of "side projects" because I ultimately become so dissatisfied with the direction many of my programming jobs take that I have to find an out... do something that has meaning besides programming functionality into yet another button (as I like to call it, creating misery).
What ends up happening is that at the point of maximum misery, after you've exhausted all your avenues of making the situation better - talking to your supervisor, taking on additional responsibilities, or taking on fewer, focusing on the parts of the job you like - you tend to just do the bare minimum to get by. Once you get home, you know you can do the work you want to do, so there's no reason to try harder at something you hate.
This is a pattern I've seen repeated for millennials - the volunteer work or whatever they do for side projects tends to take precedence over everything else. So the employer may never see the better work ethic.
I don't disagree that you should give it your all - if you're miserable you should still try, even if you're best effort is finding an escape outside of work... but remember that you're spending 1/3rd of your day doing this job. You'd better enjoy it - or the other 2/3rds of your day are going to be spent making up for it.
-Nick Armstrong
PsychoticResumes.com
If you have to take a job that you don't like to simply pay the bills, supplement it with something you do like. Volunteer, take an internship etc. Most of my internships lead to jobs. And nowadays, college grads (even those a few years out) can apply.
Are you really a graphic designer looking for work? Have you applied at Aquent? I did a lot of temp work for them as a print production artist, web designer, photoshop artist, etc. That's a really great place to start for a designer.
Also, pro bono work for local non-profits is a great way to build your portfolio. Offer to design a logo specific to a particular fundraising event, and help with invitations and posters, website landing pages and email appeals and reminders.
Great post Nick. I agree with all your points. In the long run you cost yourself and the company quite a bit by taking a job you hate.
@Nick--I'm not really an advocate of taking a job you hate and staying with it for more than a year or so. What's made you stay?
As hard as it is to juggle all the trajectories in life, it'd be best if you took the job long enough to save up 6-9 months worth of living expenses, progressed with those supplemental projects in such a way that you were able to meet new people and dig up opportunities, and then, when things seemed at a good point, jumped ship.
Take those 6-9 months to find something you really want to do, and hopefully some of the connections you drummed up from your side projects will be able to lead you in the right direction, possibly into your next job opp.
I'm not planning on doing this but I know it's a possibility because where I want to go in life isn't where I've been up to this point; I might have to take a job I don't love for a little bit to make ends meet while I build up my portfolio and skills. Yes, that can absolutely suck the life out of you, which is why I'm not advocating doing it for an extended period of time. 18 months max, and if it really hurts, leave earlier.
I just think there are inevitably times in life when you're not going to be able to love your day job. Make the best of it, and strive to find something you love, but don't grind yourself and your finances into the ground holding out for perfection.
It's all a matter of perspective, though. :) To each his/her own.
I completely agree with Teresa - there's times when we HAVE to take on a less than dream job if we are going to pay the bills. That's just something that many people don't have the choice about: we have to pay off student loans or support ourselves until the next thing comes along. I know what I love, but if it's not going to happen as a job, I'm also not going to sit idly and stay in that job forever.
If a job isn't right for you, I agree with what Teresa said -- work on side projects you enjoy and in the meantime, continue applying for opportunities you see that seem more appealing and exciting. And when a good opportunity comes along, I would take that. It's your life and you can't spend it doing jobs you don't like. It's definitely not worth it to you OR your company in the long run like you said.
At the same time, we have to understand that not everyone is in a financial situation to do what they love.
@Srinivas - Thank you :)
@GenXMom - No, I'm actually a Web Designer/Social Media marketer. I have a dual degree in Computer Information Systems and Marketing, so for the last two years, I've held mostly programming jobs. Each one has blown up in my face. :-(
@Jason - I agree, but the problem is that when your hobbies are what you really want to do, they become so important that they will eventually take over everything else. You won't study to advance in your job, and you WILL cheat your employer out of that improvement.
@Akhila - Yes, agreed... but the longer you spend in jobs doing things that you kind of like rather than your true passion, the harder it is to leave. I guess the article is sort of a... rally cry to myself to have the strength to not take on another computer programming job.
@Teresa - I took on Computer Programming jobs because I have a dual degree in Computer Information Systems and Marketing. My dad was, and is, a computer programmer, database administrator, etc... and he got me to go into the CIS degree. It WAS something I really enjoyed. I eventually followed my own track of Marketing through DJing at a radio station in college, which turned into creating the promos and ads...
Of course, even though I tried to apply for a variety of jobs when I left CSU, I ended up at HP, so it just naturally happened. Since my skills were in programming, I moved on to another and another and another, each one blowing up in my face, until my present situation of unemployment :)
In my spare time, I did everything related to marketing I could think of. I blogged, I podcasted, I created websites and volunteered to gain marketing experience. I find that I can talk for hours on end about marketing strategy, promotion... much more than I care to talk about programming.
I've hopefully wizened up a bit - and from now on I am only looking for marketing jobs. Haha, hopefully that wasn't too much of an overshare.
-Nick Armstrong
PsychoticResumes.com
Don’t judge based on popularity or blind reciprocity, instead make sure they “get it” and just as importantly, that their followers “get it”. More...
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