When is Financial Disaster OK?

Posted on June 3, 2009 
Filed Under Book Reviews, Career Development, Must read | Leave a Comment

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It’s no secret that the economy and job market have been in the tank for some time and while both appear to be showing signs of life, it could very well be some time before things can again be called ‘robust’.   A result of these times is the financial struggle many families find themselves in.  With so many living paycheck to paycheck while carrying credit card balances, mortgages, and other obligations, it doesn’t take much to upset the financial apple cart.

Whether it’s a sub-prime mortgage, a mortgage reset, rising credit card balances/rates or some combination, thousands now find themselves facing foreclosure and/or bankruptcy.  Whether it’s the fault of the consumer or the banks behind the loans is of little consequence, Americans from all classes are suddenly finding themselves in a place they prayed they’d never be; financial failure.  It isn’t pretty and for many it’s a source of severe shame and embarrassment, but take solace my friends, you are not alone.

While I’m definitely not here to spout financial advice, I will say that bankruptcy and foreclosure are not the black mark  they once were.  True, many employers run pre and or post credit checks on employees, but in today’s market having a bankruptcy or foreclosure in many cases can be easily explained away.  Granted certain fields in the financial world will have tougher standards, but for most a foreclosure or bankruptcy needn’t be a career stopper.  Frankly, if there was ever a time when it was OK to say ‘Hey, I screwed up.  Shouldn’t have taken out that mortgage’ or ‘Go caught with too many rising credit card rates’, now is the time.  We’ve all seen the news stories on unethical lenders and credit card companies and how they’ve become the scourge of our time.  I believe most employers won’t hold it against the employee if they’ve gotten caught up with a bad decision.  Even NY Times economics reporter Edmund Andrews got caught in a sub-prime mortgage.  He even wrote a book about it.

The bottom line is if you’ve made some mistakes, do what you can to correct them and move on.  If the house has to go, let it go.  If the new car has to go, drive a junker for a while, but no matter what, make the hard decisions.  Cut up the credit cards, start saving what you can (even $25 a week is something) and never go back there again.  Your finances can be rebuilt and your career should escape unscathed.

As I said I’m no financial guru and lord knows I’ve made my share of bad financial decisions, but I can recommend a great book to help you get started.  If your in a deep hole and looking for help, check out Dave Ramsey.  He’s a well known  TV host and author of several good books on smart financial planning.  You can read more about it here.  He’s no nonsense and hard hitting, but he puts the emphasis where it should be, on saving and using cash and NEVER EVER using credit again.  It’s really helped our family and I believe it will help yours too.

Until next time…

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Throwing It Over The Wall

Posted on May 15, 2009 
Filed Under Career Development, Cold hard career facts | Leave a Comment

If you’re not familiar with the term ‘Throwing it over the wall’, it’s essentially a variation of passing the buck, as in ‘I don’t want to deal with this, so I’ll throw it over the wall and make it someone else’s problem’, and it’s all too prevalent in today’s workplace.

Let me give you an example.  A customer wants to buy your product, internally there have been 4-5 people who have worked on the deal, but usually only one who gets a commission, the sales rep.  So the customer wants to buy, but there’s still some work to do to close the sale.  Usually this consists of getting a contract, plus other documents approved and transitioning the customer to the appropriate personnel.  At this point, whatever piece requires the most work, usually something related to internal process,  is what gets ‘thrown over the wall’.

With the contract is signed, the sales rep is going to get paid, so he/she has moved on.  The remaining details get passed around like a proverbial hot potato.  No one owns it (which is another post), and no one wants to deal with it so around and around it goes until someone up the ladder gets pissed off enough to assign it to someone.

So what can you or I do?  Although it’s not the popular choice, the best thing you can do is take ownership, but do so to your advantage.  If someone just does it, that person will likely catch the job each and every time going forward.  So instead of just blindly doing it, do it, but then take it to management.  Explain the problem and that you solved it this time.  It never hurts to mention that your motivation is to keep the customer happy.  Also, come prepared with a new process that will increase efficiency and reduce costs going forward.  This shows that you not only took initiative, but also thought through a bigger picture solution.  You’re now that much more valuable to the company.  Which is never a bad thing and hopefully the next time it lands in someone elses lap.

Until next time…

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We’re Baaaack!

Posted on May 13, 2009 
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to drop you all a quick note to let you know that after being down a few days, the site is back up and running.  My apologies for the technical issues and downtime.  I’ve got some new stuff I’m working on and look forward to sharing it with you in the next few days.

-Scott

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