Networking is one of the most trite terms floating around right now, mostly due to social networking sites exploding. There is myspace, facebook, twitter, linked in etc etc. As much as I hate to use the word, its one of the most important things you can do for your career and your life. So lets dive in.

The first thing to understand is that every where you go, you are networking. Networking is simply this: building relationships. I know that kind of sounds weird…well, am I networking when I go to the store to buy groceries? Potentially, yes. The other day I was at Albertsons buying some groceries. I don’t normally buy any groceries at Albertsons because its not near my house, and its not near my girlfriends house. I went to the back to buy some tilapia and struck up a conversation with the guy working the seafood counter. Even though I knew I was going to get tilapia I asked him what his favorite fish was and how he liked to cook it. I told him I was going to get some tilapia because I like less “fishy” fish at which point he told me “Oh you’ve got to try this shark!” I said thanks for the recommendation but it was kind of expensive so Id just stick to the tilapia…so he said “well, we are having this special and shark isn’t included, but Ill toss it in for you, you’ve gotta try it!” So I went home with some shark instead.

Now take that and dissect it. Networking is about learning things about other people. You are doing yourself a major disservice if you do all the talking when you meet someone. People have had great experiences and everyone has some sort of wisdom that they have gained. The vast majority of people are dying to share their wisdom and expertise with you and help you in any way they can, provided you are actually building a relationship with them and are interested in what they have to say.

Networking in person
What you want to do is ask questions to learn about the person. The truth is for anyone in the world there is some sort of common ground. The real key is listening to what they say because you can then build on that to ask another question. Most of us do this naturally in everyday conversation when we are interested in what someone is saying but sometimes you have really make yourself focus.

Applying this at work
For some reason most of us have divided what we do for work and what we do daily into different buckets. This is fine for some things but when it comes to networking we should be doing the exact same things. For instance my talk at the grocery store was just natural, yet these kinds of things don’t necessarily happen at work - especially in large corporations. Get to know the people you work around…don’t think of it as “networking” so much as connecting and finding common ground with people. Talk and get to know them, just like you would meeting a friend of a friend for the first time. The trick is breaking through the “work” layer when you are networking into the “personal” layer.
What is the payoff?
Luckily I have a story about this as well. When I was 16 I started working at Hewlett Packard doing web design for an internal web page and ordering office supplies. I was outgoing and got to know all of the people around me. Now fast forward 7 years. I am working for my current company and someone from my old team called me because they heard a position was opening and a lady I knew from all those years ago was the hiring manager. As it turns out the job req was already closed and they had all the candidates they needed. All of which were people with MASTERS degrees (I have a Bachelors). Well, the lady recognized me and brought me in to interview anyway….skipping the first two screening interviews. I got the job. Now, in the end, I did not take the job and decided to stay at my current company but look at what it can do for you. If I had not been so proactive in networking all those years ago I could never have had an opportunity just get handed to me like that.

No matter what you are doing or where you are, always keep in the back of your mind exactly how powerful networking is.

There is an episode of the TV show South Park where there are a group of “underpants gnomes.” The “Underpants Gnomes” are a community of underground gnomes who steal underpants, notably from Tweek (one of the characters).

The Underpants gnomes have a three-phase business plan, consisting of:

1. Collect Underpants
2. ???
3. Profit

None of the gnomes actually know what the second phase is, and all of them assume that someone else does. This sounds surprisingly like a lot of people I know. And it seems to be pervasive in EVERYTHING.

The Bad Career Plan: In my life I have probably asked at least 3000 people “what is your degree?” and a there was a good splattering of every major you can think of. Unfortunately outside of the engineers, who are a very minor number of total people I know/grads (so we shall ignore them) I would say 80% had NO idea what they were going to do when they graduated.

The Worse Career Plan:
A very large portion of those graduate and STILL don’t know what they are doing

The Ugly Career Plan:
A good portion end up working doing the exact same thing they were doing DURING school, or doing something making comparable money.

The Insane Career Plan:
16% of Americans said winning the lottery is an important wealth building strategy. I should add that you are 4X more likely to DIE driving to buy a lottery ticket than you are to win the lottery.

The Lesson:
If you don’t have one already, make a career plan. No matter what you got your degree in, figure out where you want to be in twenty years and make a plan to get there. The magic-career-fairy is too busy to help you so help yourself. If you are in the career you want to be then for your twenty year plan ask yourself these questions:

1) Is it possible to get there in my current job?
2) What salary do I need to achieve to get to that place?
3) Am I building the necessary connections to help me get there?
4) Where do I want to be living?
5) Does this fit with my family/life goals?

Next up on our list of “plans people don’t seem to think they need, but they are so wrong I want to give them the business end of a cattle prod” is retirement planning. Most peoples retirement model looks like the picture on the right. This one is both simple and extremely complex at the same time. The simple part: download my 401k/Roth IRA calculator and go to town assuming 8% rate of return (conservative). The complex part: deciding how to setup your portfolio, deciding what age you want to retire at. If you want to retire early, deciding how you are going to get by before you can withdraw from your retirement accounts (and don’t tell me you WANT to pay those huge tax penalties unless your retirement portfolio contains the united states treasury). Next make a plan (just like the career plan….how’d you guess I was heading that way). Ask yourself the following questions:

1) What age do I want to retire?
2) At my current rate of contribution can I retire at that age?
3) How much more can I afford to contribute to retirement?
4) Am I being aggressive/conservative enough considering my current age?
5) What is my favorite golf course?

Just remember, plan your career, plan your retirement, and when we are retired we can crack open a high quality beer on the golf course and talk about how smart we were to plan.

At the career fair I attended today yesterday. I really wanted to take a camera with and photograph the worst dressed interview candidates but I couldnt quite figure out how to 1) do it without getting caught and 2) ethically justify it to myself. Ok mostly #1. Anyway I couldn’t do that so there went idea number 1 for funny random post of the day. The good news is there are enough stories to make an entire post! (And let this be a lesson to act professional)

Conversation with one computer science major:

me: “Hey hows it going? So what kind of employment are you looking for”
kid: “well I want a summer internship doing no more than 5 hours a week.”
me: “Why only 5 hours? I spend 5 hours a week washing my car in the summer”
kid: “I hate working”
…

Then there was the kid walking around in the always classy flannel pajama pants, flip flops and a tshirt with messy hair wandering around asking for interviews. hmmm.

Another great conversation. A girl comes up to me very professionally dressed with a nametag that reads “mathematics”. Ok a math major that wants to talk to a software/consulting firm interesting, but Im game for listening to her pitch. “Hi, so what kind of employment are you looking for”
“well Im not really sure but I saw your website and I had a dream that I fit in perfectly with your company I can’t quite explain it, I felt a strong core attraction to your company. I feel something telling me to work here.” “Well we have development openings, some marketing openings, etc etc do you have any experience with anything there?” “No” “Do any of those things interest you?” “No” “How do you see yourself fitting in at our company” “I dreamt you would know” “Huh. Well, let me pass you off to our recruiter” Wherein I took great joy in seeing him go through the same thing. There is something cathartic about torturing friends/co-workers.

Here are a couple bonus career/finance related quotes:

baseball great Yogi Berra, on the Broadway show Biloxi Blues:
“It reminds me of being in the Army, even though I was in the Navy.”

Overheard:
“I like investing. Mostly money.”

“If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.”
JP Getty.

“I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor: Rich is better.”
Sophie Tucker

“Part of the $10 million I spent on gambling, part on booze and part on women. The rest I spent foolishly.”
George Raft.

And Ill leave you with:

“Beyond its entertainment value, Baywatch has enriched and, in many cases, helped save lives. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to continue with a project which has has such a significance for so many.”
- David Hasselhoff, Actor

Baywatch saved my life, how bout yours?

As I have previously mentioned in my article Top 5 tips to land a good job one of the most important skills you can have is to be able to interview well. You can have the best resume in a huge pool of people and it won’t make a bit of difference if you get out interviewed. On the flipside of that, if you have an average resume but killer interview skills, you will pass the entire field ahead of you. So, its about that time in the post where you are probably saying to yourself “Wheres the beef?” Well, heres a nice step by step process that will work well for you 99.99% of the time including THE MOST underutilized interviewing skill that quite frankly can take EVERYTHING else out of the equation that I really think has the most to do with 100% interview record. Yeah, that big time.

1) Do your research on the company
The very first thing you need to do is study up on the company that you will be interviewing with. The very first thing you want to do is figure out what their “style” as a company is. It may be somewhat difficult just using outside information but it is good to at least try. Every company is different and sometimes the differences have a very strong influence on who they will hire. For example, are they more concerned with only your specific skills or are they the kind of company that wants to “get the right people on the bus” ala Good to Great. More on this later.

2) Think ahead of time what kinds of questions they will ask you
If you are interviewing for a technical job, think about what kind of questions they will ask you about technical details. For example they might ask a programmer about inheritance, or they might ask a crane operator about procedures. Whatever your particular field is, think hard about what kinds of tough questions they might come up with.

Bonus: a lot of companies do variations on a test that my company calls the “who” test. These kinds of questions are open ended questions designed to try and figure out what kind of person you are. They might have to do with integrity or ethical situations. An example might be “Describe a time when you thought something a manager was doing was unethical and what you did about it.” They are not meant to be “trick” questions with a right or wrong answer, but rather a way of probing personalities.

3) Dress nicely/appropriately
As tempting as it might be to show up in jean shorts, tshirt and sandals it really isn’t a good idea. Well, its a good idea if you want to be laughed at after you leave, or maybe not even let in…but otherwise not so much. It might sound like a no brainer but for my most recent position apparently one of the interview candidates actually did show up in sandals. Showing up naked also not advised…stick to business attire. If you don’t have any nice clothes go buy some.

4) Arrive early for your interview
This is somewhat obvious but there are other reasons aside from just looking good. When I went into an interview for HP I showed up at the building (actually it was one of the mods onsite) and there was no front door. Thats right, a corporation and the place I was supposed to meet at had no front door. Not only that but EVERY DOOR WAS LOCKED. Luckily I was about 30 minutes early and after about 15 minutes someone saw me standing outside. If I had been running late I might not have ever had that interview…and that job for six years.

5) Stay calm and confident
You want to show you are poised, relaxed and overall a badass that is up for tackling everything. They want someone ready for challenges? Bring it on. They want a team player? You’re their man(or woman). They need someone who wrestles alligators? You make crocodile dundee look like a wuss.

6) Establish Rapport and then turn the interview around
Here is your secret weapon. This is your fourth ace when theres a flush on the table. Every other sucker in the interview room is being interviewed, you are interviewing. Here is what I mean. Several years ago my friend, roommate and former coworker was interviewing for a job. He came home and I of course asked him “Howd it go?” - “Great” - “What did they ask you about” …….. “I don’t really remember but I know the hiring manager’s life story. I start next week.” Even the most seasoned hiring professionals are susceptible to this. Why? People love having things in common with other people and people love talking about their company and then themselves. In a group interview environment this is much harder but still has an opening. Ask about the company and their group. You surrender information about yourself gracefully and answer technical questions to the best of your ability, but when it comes discussion time, pour it on. You can BOMB the technical part of the interview and save yourself here. I had an interview with Dell (that I didn’t end up taking the job) and they never even got around to asking me more than two questions, and (no joke) ended with the senior interviewer telling me “well, we will have to have a beer at <a pub in houston that has belgian ales> when you get down here”

7) Most interviewers ask about your weaknesses. Answer with Strengths.
Here are two different examples that I have used before:

“Name a weakness that you have in your day to day working environment”
-”Well I would say my main weakness is that I do sometimes get frustrated with people that do not pull their full weight and put in 100% effort.”

“Name a personal weakness”
“Sometimes I drive myself too hard. I am a perfectionist and so I tend to be hard on myself at times.”

Two things you should never say:
“I don’t really have an weaknesses” -It comes off as an arrogant lie.
“I am not really sure” -The employer point of view is: you mean you don’t know yourself?

8] Follow Up
This is HUGE. I have had one job where I did not think I got it, only to be surprised when I followed up with a phone call. “Oh yes, we haven’t been able to send out the formal offer yet, but we are extending one to you.” Always always always follow up. Always.

In an ideal world we would all be paid what we think we are worth and no one would ever have to ask for a raise. Then again in an ideal world I would be in cabo drinking a life size margarita right now. Unfortunately it’s not a perfect world, I am not in cabo, and gas is still 3 something a gallon. Anyway so you’re underpaid and unhappy. You haven’t had any automatic increases you say? Well it is time to take matters into your own hands, so here we go.

Before asking for a raise you should be doing some prep work. First of all you should be asking yourself a few questions. Remember the real goal is to align your paycheck with your value to the company.

“Am I making a contribution toward my employers goals above and beyond what is expected or SHOULD be expected from someone in your positions?”
This doesn’t mean you are working 14 hours a day. It means that either your employer is demanding more of you than average or you are doing work above average.

“Have I been given a reasonable raise lately?”
If yes, maybe its time to wait a while, if no, then you are a go.

“Am I completely prepared for everything the boss might throw at me?”
Before you go in its good to understand that when you do go in there are three different things that could happen. One, you get a raise. Two, you do not get a raise. Three, you work out a deal where the boss evaluates your performance in a certain time frame and agree to meet back in the future. Ive read some sites on careers that say be careful, you could get fired. Quite frankly, I have never heard of anyone getting fired merely for politely asking for a compensation review.

Ok, so you are sure you are going to do it.

Steps to prepare:

1) Gather up all of the data that you need to present yourself in the most positive light possible.

2) If your company has peer reviews, collect peer reviews.

3) If your company has a development plan then make sure yours is filled out.

4) Gather data about all the things you have accomplished. This is important to have on hand.

5) Decide exactly what you think is a fair raise for your current situation.

6) Research the market for pay rates for your job. Salary.com is a great place to check out what other people withs imilar experience and jobs are being paid in your area.

7) Read your employee handbook. See if there is anything in it about development and pay increases. Its good to know when you actually go in.

8] Try and network with other people at other companies to get a feel for what people are making. Once again, its good to know. On a side note, apparently 8 followed by ) makes a smiley face.

9) Make a list of your current responsibilities in your job. This is something it is good to compare to what you were originally hired on to do. There are cases where people started out doing an administrative or basic type job and have moved into doing jobs that include much more responsibility but are still getting paid based on the original salary curve!

10) Read up on negotiation tips.

Ok, now you have all the things you need. Next up on the agenda is to schedule a meeting with your boss. Its good to have specific time set aside so that you get your fair share of time. You don’t want to get into a situation where you just drop in on your boss and try and squeeze it in.
Meeting with the boss:

1) Be direct. Say something like “I scheduled this meeting today because I want to discuss my performance and compensation with you.” Raise is a harsh word for managers to hear so don’t say it.

2) Review your contributions and responsibilities. Be as specific as possible and show how your contributions have really benefitted the company. They aren’t going to want to give you more money for no reason.

3) Stress your loyalty to the company. They want to know if they give you more money you are going to show them loyalty.

4) If you are pressed on it, show data comparing your salary to that of other people in similar situations. The truth is most employers follow things such as salary.com as well.

5) Remember chances are you will not get an answer right away. Remember to be respectful and thank him for his time. You want your boss to be your ally, not an enemy.

What not to do:

1) Drop in on your boss without scheduling a meeting. You really dont want to get cut off halfway through your pitch

2) Make it personal. You want to stress value to the company but you dont want to try and guilt trip your boss.

3) Being general. “Ive been working hard and doing well and would like a pay increase.” Thats sort of like saying “um so, like, give me money, mmmk?”

4) Stressing NEED instead of value. You do not want to tell your boss “I can’t make house/car/child support/crack dealer/whatever payment unless I get a raise”

5) Threaten to quit (unless you really do have another job lined up). Chances are this will backfire and then instead of rolling in a money pile you will be hanging out at the local commune.

6) Throw a fit for any reason. Remember calm is power.

7) Ask for a raise at an inappropriate time. If the company is cutting back and things aren’t going well, DON’T ASK FOR A RAISE.

Now lets examine the three possibilities and figure out what to do next:

1) You get the raise -Thank your boss. Be happy. Buy a puppy. Then throw a party and have a beer. Buy your friends a beer. Buy me a beer. Take your significant other out to celebrate. Do whatever you want, be happy. OH and keep working hard.

2) You are told straight out no
-Ask your boss why and what you can do in the future to deserve further compensation. Inquire if there are other ways, sometimes you can negotiate a bonus or more time off or something along those lines. If not and you are unhappy, it may be time to start looking for another job.

3) Not right now
-Ask what needs to happen for it to happen. Ask what you can do and if there can be progress tracked. Set tangible goals to figure out further action. Remember that there is a difference between an employee who is doing a job as expected from a good performer and and employee who is really giving superior performance. They will most likely be looking for the second to give raises to.

When it is all said and done, regardless of what happens you will be glad you did because there is nothing worse than working thinking you are not being treated fairly and having no direction. This way you will at least understand where you stand in the companies eyes which will allow you to re-evaluate your situation. I can’t reiterate enough how important it is to take responsibility for your career, no one else will do it for you.

Good luck. And if you get a raise because of this article, my favorite kind of beer is Belgian Ales. Abbey Grand Cru if we are gonna get specific.

This is something I am traditionally not great at. I have always just sort of taken care of things as they come and sorted things when I needed to. As I get older and older this works less and less. If I had a nickel for every time I said “I cant find…” I could buy half the stock in google.

There are a lot of reasons to get organized but lets go over a few:

1) It looks more professional
A clean desk and working environment makes you look (and feel!) more professional. Same thing with car and house. I don’t think I need to go into a lot of reasons why thats important.

2) Its easier to find things
There are few things more frustrating than trying to find some document that you put somewhere but have no idea where. I have a bad habit of misplacing bills and then forgetting about them. Not good.

3) It will save you time, money, and a lot of stress
And in more ways than just *ahem* avoiding late fees. There was a CD that in my college days I think I bought THREE times because I had no idea where it went. Well in relation to your career, lets say you have to leave on a business trip and you need all your business shirts. Now where is that black one? Is it in the pile of laundry? No? Ok maybe under the bed? No? Better go hurry and buy something to wear…

4) Studies have shown organized people earn more and are more likely to be promoted

…and by that I mean either obvious or just plain wrong. I have seen a lot of career advice on the internet and quite frankly a lot of it is BS. Here are some of the gems I found from various blogs, msn articles, and webzines:

“Be innovative” aka “Be creative” aka “Try new things” aka “..introduce new ideas”
-Written a thousand ways, and always I respond: ‘Ya think?’
“Volunteer for boards”
-Im not sure about you but there are no ‘boards’ at my work to volunteer for. Oh and the kind of companies that have boards generally SELECT people for them.

-”Don’t ruin your reputation”
-And here I thought getting super drunk and dancing around on the table at the company Christmas party was a good idea.

-”The best strategy is to just be the best in your area. That makes you indispensable”
-Wrong. In fact, I’ll give you a bunch of reasons why:
1) I worked at Hewlett Packard for six years. During the first threeish years I worked there, I did very little more than I was asked. Sometimes not even that. For the last three years I worked there I worked my ass off. During the last year I was there I was working on a large project and people around me were dropping like flies during the layoffs. I was originally supposed to be support for the project but because of the layoffs I turned out to be the only engineer on the project. Keep in mind I was in college, and so receiving college level pay, I was not a huge liability. Just as we finished the first phase of the project I was laid off. I was the ONLY engineering resource left on the project and the only one who knew fully how it worked. And I was let go before I could finish completely or do any documentation . There is no such thing as being indispensable. It doesn’t matter what you are doing or what you are getting paid or where you are on the ladder.
2) Now, its a good idea to be an expert in one area but you should also understand as much as possible in all aspects. Being rounded is a good thing. What if your area of expertise goes away, what then?
3) Getting pigeonholed into doing one thing all the time sucks. You know Bob in department B thats been doing the same thing for 30 years….do you really wanna be him?

“Do what you were good at in school”
When my dad was in college he was pushed hard by councilors to go into physics because he was REALLY good at it. As it turns out he hated working in a lab and went on to do other things. Just because you are really good at something doesn’t mean you should do it. This problem is particularly big when still in college. I switched majors somewhere in the range of four times before I finally settled on something. Just because a class is fun and you are good at the subject does not mean you should bank your life on it. Being good at something in college does not equate to real life success. Plus, there are very few jobs directly related to drinking beer.

As much as possible I try to keep politics out of this blog because for the most part I try to reach out to every audience.  I think everyone has a right to be informed financial matters, and for the most part politics have nothing to do with it.  However once in a while, something comes up that absolutely frightening.  Something that has the ability to absolutely destroy our financial freedom in this country, to destroy any hope you have of retirement.  Here is a quote from Nancy Pelosi:

When questioned about recent stock market highs she responded “Only the rich benefit from these record highs. Working Americans, welfare recipients, the unemployed and minorities are not sharing in these obscene record highs”.

“There is no question these windfall profits and income created by the Bush administration need to be taxed at 100% rate and those dollars redistributed to the poor and working class”.

And that my friends, is one of the scariest quotes I have ever seen from someone in a position of power in the United States. Social Security WILL run out before most of us retire.  In fact, it will be, by definition, bankrupt by the year 2042.  What does that leave us with?  Our Roth IRAs and 401ks.  For anyone currently under the age of 60, we are at least partially banking on our retirement savings growing in the stock market.  Even if you don’t care at all about politics, at least pay attention to this because this has the potential to ruin your retirement.  It doesn’t matter what party is trying dig into your pockets, this is something to fight back on.

 You and I, as a working americans, DO share in these record highs.   

If I were giving advice to someone, I would tell them not to buy a new car. I would also tell them not to finance a car, but instead to save up and buy a late model used car. I would also advise someone to buy a car with low insurance premiums that gets excellent gas milage. All of that said, this weekend I bought a new car with higher insurance premiums that gets average gas milage (though much better than my previous car). I also financed it through my credit union. However, it wasn’t an impulse buy, it was something I did a lot of thinking about.

There were several reasons I went the route I did:

Professionalism - my previous car was fun (A Dodge sports car) but was more akin to something a high school kid would drive than a college graduate working for a consulting firm.

Need to get rid of my previous car - I was almost up on my warranty and did not wish to pay for an extended warranty. Also private party sales of my car are very slim.

Low interest rate - I was able to secure a very low interest loan through my credit union.

Personality - The car I got is very much a reflection of my personality.

Carpe Diem - I actually deteste this saying, but for me to have a new car, this is the time.

Budget - It fits into my budget

Resale value - It is one of the highest resale value cars on the market…which was actually one of the reasons I decided to get one new instead of used. The used prices were not much lower than the new prices.

Color - As odd as this sounds, the color I wanted was only available on the ‘07 model.

Without further ado:

#1 - Start your job search early
A mistake a lot of people make is that they dont start looking for a job until they are well into their senior year of college. A much easier route to take is to get an internship while you are still in school. Most interships anymore (at least in tech fields) are paid internships. My entire career has been built on starting as an intern and working my way up. It has worked even better than I ever thought it would.

#2 - Apply for a lot of jobs
This one seems like it would be obvious, but I have known people who applied for two or three jobs and then complained when they didn’t land one of them. There is absolutely no reason NOT to apply for a job. Hell, apply for CEO of General Motors if you want, the worst a company can say is no.

#3 - Learn to interview well
If you make it to the interview, make sure you are prepared. I have never interviewed for a job and not received an offer. This is NOT necessarily because I was the most qualified candidate or the best fit for the job. It’s because for every interview I was prepared. This means know what you are talking about, do your research, dress up, and get their early. Another kind of overlooked point is to make the interviewer comfortable and relaxed by being relaxed yourself. I had one interview where they never once ended up asking me a technical question because the interviewer and I BSed about common interests the whole time. Thats an extreme case, but as a general rule, the more the like you personally, the more they are likely to pick you over someone with slightly better qualifications.

#4 - Build a good resume
This is the first thing potential employers see and for most people, the last. Even the most qualified, intelligent individual can destroy their chances at a job with a poor resume. My brother once had a perfect chance for an internship he really wanted but his old spell checking program didn’t check the spelling on his bolded words. That was enough to disqualify him from the job. Make sure its thorough, correct, and clear.

#5 - Be flexible
Just because you got your degree in X doesn’t mean you HAVE to apply only for jobs doing X related things. Lots of jobs look for a degree, any degree. My dad has his degree in physics, but he didn’t want to work in a lab so now he is a marketing specialist. There are a lot of jobs out there in a lot of different fields….don’t let yourself get pigeonholed.