I use to wear hats all the time as a kid, baseball hats that is. Remember when it use to be a big deal to buy a fitted hat rather than one with the adjustable strap. It was always cool to figure out your head size so it fit just right. If I could have, I would have had a hat for every team in Major League Baseball.

I don’t wear hats like I use to anymore, but I definitely wear many different hats when it comes to the game of life. How many different hats do you wear in life?

Here are some of my hats: (they are in no particular order)

1. technology sales professional
2. entrepreneur
3. business owner
4. author
5. blogger
6. professional speaker
7. father
8. husband
9. home owner
10. youth pastor / preacher
11. bible student
12. mentor
13. one who is being mentored
14. son
15. board member

Tim Ferris over at The 4-Hour Work week would not be impressed with all of my hats but you just can’t outsource everything.
What about you dear reader, how many hats are you wearing? How do you make it all work?
Have a great weekend
Justin

One of my favorite blogs, Get Rich Slowly, has a great post by a guest writer Lilly from The Honest Dollar.  Read the whole article here.

Summary points (I recommend reading the whole post here)

• 401k Match
• Employee Referrel Program
• Ask for a better 401k
• Improve your skill set

Non Cash Rewards 

• Ask for more vacation
• Ask for a flexible work arrangement - telecommuting / flextime
• Volunteer within the firm

The following example comes from Lily’s full post that you can read here, but I thought it was worth embedding.  She outlines how to give yourself a $20,000 raise on a $60,000 a year salary.  She calls it the Virtual Raise.

Virtual Raise Example From Lily 

On a $60,000 salary, in a single year:

• You can get $1,800 by getting the maximum 401(k) match if you company matches 50% of employee contributions up to 6% of salary.
• You can get $1,500 for referring a candidate who is later hired by your company. (Payouts vary, but the number seems reasonable given going rates in technology, nursing, and chemical engineering.)
• You can get $11,000 more out of a 401(k) contribution of $10,000 this year if you manage to lower your investment cost by 0.5% per year for the next 20 years by convincing your company to cover administrative fees or offer lower cost funds.
• You can get $5,000 in tuition reimbursement. Of course, you also get the benefit of additional education and accreditation.
• You can get the equivalent of $1,200 in salary if you get one additional week of paid vacation.
• You can get priceless career opportunities by expanding your network through volunteering opportunities within your firm.

What do you think?  Have you tried any of these techniques?  Does it work?

Thanks

justin

Before you read this article feel free to check out the first three articles in this series.

How to Be Guranteed a Job After Graduation

Freshman Year Career Plan

Sophomore Career plan

So far we have talked about a number of experiential educational opportunities.  Let me emphasize that I am a true believer in the classroom learning environment but real life experience cannot be found in a classroom.  I guess the exception might be if you are going to be a full time researcher or professor but if you are planning on working in corporate America you need to obtain as much real life work experience as possible to realize what you are passionate about.

Some of the items we have covered thus far include:

• Consulting with Career Services
• Career assessment tests
• Meeting with your academic advisor
• Local company visits (company tours)
• Job shadowing experiences
• Writing a resume
• Company Research
• Summer Internship
• School Year internship
• Job fairs
• Networking events

Co-Ops

For this next year of schooling I would recommend focusing on a co-op work experience that will span the school year and the summer.

A co-op is an internship with a company in your field that spans the school year and throughout the summer.  A good co-op can last a year or longer.  I cannot think of a better way to land a full time job after school without having to go through the job search process than a co-op.

Many institutions will have a co-op department or facilitator.  Make sure you find that out within your school.  Also, a co-op can be a great way to get credit toward graduation.  Some schools will even give six to 12 credits depending on how long your co-op is.

I know co-ops are very popular within more technical fields such as engineering but even in education the student teaching experience could be considered a co-op.  Even if your school does not offer an official co-op experience I would recommend trying to work with your career services or professor to set-up a co-op like experience with a company in your field.  This is nothing more than ensuring that the company will guarantee you employment during the semester and throughout the summer.  When you are interviewing with the company try and make that clear that you are interested in a long term relationship with them if everything goes as planned.

Please understand that even if the company commits to a long term experience there isn’t a legally binding contract that will prevent them from going back on their word.  The fact is businesses change rapidly and that can cause them to change their mind on keeping you on for the whole commitment.

A co-op is a great experience that all college students should consider.

Internships

By this time in your college experience you should have had one or two internship experiences, maybe during the school year but most likely during the summer.  If you haven’t done an internship yet make sure you work with your career center and network of friends and family to try and land an internship during your junior year or at minimum the summer between you junior and senior year.

Benefits of an Internship

• Short term experience with a company in your field
• Your get PAID!  Show me the money!
• College Credit
• If you don’t like the company you can leave at the end of your term and never have to think about them again
• EXPERIENCE, EXPERIENCE, EXPERIENCE!!!
• An internship is also a great way to figure out that you don’t like what you are studying in school.  The earlier you figure this out the better.  For example, an internship may make you realize that you hate accounting even though you are studying to be an accountant.  Get out before it is too late.
• An internship can help you find your passion in life and not just a job!

Finally, please consider continuing your efforts in the 11 items mentioned above.  These items are really apart of your four year plan and should be continued the whole way through.

The final installment in this series is the Senior Year Career Development Plan!

Stay tuned!

I am not a career counselor; however I have become fascinated with the career development industry.  My view of career advice and comes from experience and the experiences of others.

Today I want to focus on career development and planning.

Did I ever take a career assessment?  Sure, who hasn’t?  All of us sat in the guidance counselor’s office in high school completing those meaningless tests to try and tell us what we should do for a living.  To be honest with you I cannot remember what my results said, do you?  If that is the only opportunity for career assessment or if that is the only time we ever think about your career options how does that prepare anyone for their future?  How do you choose your career?  How do you know what you want to do if a high school career assessment is your only opportunity for consideration?

I currently work at the Pittsburgh Technology Council in Pittsburgh, PA.  I often say in speeches that I did not wake up one morning and say, “I really want to work at the Pittsburgh Technology Council one day!”  I landed there because of an internship that a professor in college helped me get.  My career assessment was not very thorough or planned.  My own career journey happened with much inquiry and on the job assessment.  I was willing to try just about anything.  My internship was enjoyable, I enjoyed the work, I enjoyed the people I worked with and I believed in the mission of the company.  And now I have been there almost five years.

These three principles has kept me at the Council and are the three principles that keep most people at their employer or makes them want to work for a particular company.

1. Enjoy what you do
2. Enjoy who you work with
3. Believe in the mission

Has your career happened because of much planning and pre-assessment or did it happen by a random or probably divine set of events?  It would be an interesting study to determine how many people in the workforce are working in a field they studied for or planned for and how many are there for reasons they cannot explain.

How about you?  Are you in a company or job you planned for or did it happen in a seemingly divine series of events?

I recently participated in a blog carnival with Jibber Jobber.com.  The creator/moderator of that site sent the carnival question to the infamous Seth Godin for his response.  He did not write a whole article but I thought what he said was worth sharing.

Here is the question:

Yikes! You just lost your job! You’ve been so busy at *work* that you don’t feel your network is as strong as you would like it to be! What are you going to do with (and to) your network in the next 6 weeks as you begin an aggresive job search campaign? And, outside of your network, what job search tactics will you employ? Or your best networking tips related to job searches.

Click here to read Seth’s answer over at Jibber Jobber.