Destination Beantown
Boston in January, not exactly a dream destination, but in this case a trip with a purpose. As my partners and I continue efforting to launch our career consulting business, we realized that conference calls spread across the country were fine for weekly progress updates, but they weren’t effective for real roll up your sleeves planning. So off to Boston I go for 2 days of offsite planning.
I can’t fire my travel agent because it’s me –after navigating 55 minutes of traffic I arrived at the check in counter only to find that I’d mistakenly booked my trip to depart on Sunday instead of Monday. Immediately visions of increased fares and long multi-stop flights popped into my mind. Gotta love Monday’s. Kudos to US Air for re-booking me on my desired flights without any increased cost. They even found me a non-stop for the return flight. Yes, I was floored.
Blind as a bat…almost –ticket crisis avoided I head to my gate and begin boarding. As I trek down the jetway I realize my glasses are still in the car. Now I really love Mondays.
Friends and family, but no expense account –After arriving at the home of my friend and business partner we hook up with his partner and my brother, who is also in town on business, and head out to dinner. I usually love nights out on the road, I especially love that I have an expense account that pays for it. However, as this is my business, and we don’t have and expense account, I realize dinner is actually on me. Ugh, must find corporate backing soon!
20 Jobs you may or may not want to pursue
If you’re mired in your current job and asking yourself, ’surely there’s something better for me out there’, here’s a list of 20 jobs that are either much better or much worse than you might have thought. Some times it’s a good idea to revisit some of those jobs that seemed cool when you were kid or just take a look at a job you’d never thought about before. Whatever your current situation, it’s time to take a look outside of the box by giving freelancing or tattoo artistry a chance. You just might discover your true calling. With special thanks to HRWorld, here’s 20 worth checking out.
10 Jobs That Are Worse Than You Thought
The glitz and glamour of these 10 jobs overshadow the disadvantages of long hours, minimal recognition and high-stress environments. Think twice before you set up an interview for one of the following jobs.
- President of the United States: OK, so even if you wanted to be the next president of the United States, you probably wouldn’t get elected. But ever since elementary school, hasn’t every kid dreamed of one day becoming the leader of the free world? If you’re still envisioning yourself at the podium, you might need a serious reality check. World leaders get very little sleep and are blamed for every negative trend in security, taxes, the economy and health care. Plus, they almost never have a day to themselves for their entire term. Sure, you get to travel the world and have access to the best food, doctors, airplanes and exercise equipment around, but is it all worth it if you don’t have time to enjoy it?
- CEO: CEOs are awarded huge salaries, attend great parties, work in a big office all to themselves and earn respect in their field from co-workers, business partners and even competitors. But just like the president of the United States (although on a lesser scale), CEOs represent their companies in the public eye and are forced to accept the blame and responsibility for whatever goes wrong in their business. CEOs may also get special perks like trips on a private jet or invitations to extravagant parties, but they also sacrifice time with family and friends in the name of work.
- Spy: A sexy spy might make a great Halloween costume, but unless you’re seriously ready to dodge real (not plastic) bullets and are willing to sacrifice your identity for a mission no one will ever hear about, enlisting in the CIA to get your kicks isn’t a good idea. Officers take a pledge of confidentiality that goes way beyond sharing trade secrets with competitors: Your entire identity is fake, and even if you manage to pull off a blockbuster-worthy performance on your next mission, you won’t receive any recognition for it. In addition to jetting off to other parts of the world and keeping your life a secret from friends and family, spies can find themselves in extremely dangerous situations involving prison time, assassins or worse.
- Artist: The romantic ideal of an artist’s life includes sipping lattes, napping often and creating wonderful masterpieces, whether in print, on stage or on the canvas. However, most artists could barely afford a latte and have to perform “sellout” jobs in order to support themselves until said masterpieces are complete. An artist must be completely devoted to his or her craft before settling on this frustrating, though sometimes rewarding, career.
- Public-Relaions Executive: Throwing fabulous parties, schmoozing with the media and hanging out with high-profile clients is all in a day’s work for the fabulous public-relations executive, is it not? It is not. While some public-relations firms specialize in event planning, many executives find themselves begging newspapers and magazines for a few lines of copy and a photograph, crafting editorials for clients, and basically trying to satisfy everyone at once. The cherry on top? Public-relations executives get almost no recognition for their overtime: All of the praise goes directly to the client.
- Read more
Jobs 2008 Update
Seems I’m not the only one who’s not 100% sold that the labor market is all we’ve been hearing it is. Namely that there’s jobs everywhere for the taking. Yesterday Jay Hargis at HRCleanup posted a great update on the market in general and points out that some areas like IT, Accounting (thank you Sarbanes-Oxley), Human Resources, and Interactive Marketing seem to be doing just fine, while areas like purchasing, payroll, and finance are somewhat in decline.Additionally, here’s 5 great tips to assist you in your job search:
- Figure out your value proposition
- Network, network, network (and don’t ask for a job)
- Refine your skill set…go back to school if necessary
- Don’t spend more than 20% of your time on-line posting for jobs
- Finally, make sure you let every one your friends know that you are in the job market
Good advice.
Until next time…[tags] job market, jobs 2008, hot jobs
