Tips & Tricks

by Bill Clerico, guest blogger

Deciding to start a company is no small consideration.  It requires vision, patience and confidence (or arrogance).  When one has spent years working for someone else, receiving a steady paycheck in exchange for doing specific tasks, it can be downright daunting.

Last fall, I left the salary (and brutal hours) of an investment banking analyst for the life of an entrepreneur.  With a partner and close friend, I am building WePay.com, a new type of online bank that looks and feels like a social network.  The salary is gone, but the hours haven’t gotten much better.

There were more sacrifices to be made.  I moved from the downtown Boston neighborhood of Beacon Hill to the much more “modest” suburb of Revere, MA.  My credit card balance has seen better days.  My weekend beverage of choice (Hendrick’s on the rocks) has been replaced by dollar drafts.  I couldn’t be happier.

For me, the creative freedom of starting a company has far outweighed the sacrifices.  I wake up every morning to work on a problem I am passionate about: making it easy for groups of people to collect and manage money.  I was always “that guy” collecting the checks for ski trips and hounding people for their march madness pool money.  When Rich and I are done, “that guy” will be obsolete.

Though I am still learning as I go, I’ve scraped together a few thoughts to impart to would-be entrepreneurs:

• Find an idea that you are truly and utterly passionate about.  Some days, you’ll have nothing to cling to but that passion.  If you don’t believe in the success of your business unconditionally, how can you expect someone else to?

• Find investors, alternate sources of income, or both.  If your business won’t generate revenue right away, make sure you have some cash to pay the rent.  These days, investors are hard to come by, but it might be worth checking out angelsoft.net for some ideas, or searching for entrepreneurial networking events on meetup.com.  Think about skills you have that can help you make money.  Can you help build websites?  Tutor?  Walk dogs?  Craigslist.org can be a great resource to find odd jobs.

• Participate in the community.  Find local events in your area, and join Twitter and other social networks online.  The relationships you build in the both the real and virtual worlds will pay dividends in the form of customers, partners, investors and employees.

• Build a great team.  Someone who claims to be good at anything is usually mediocre at everything.  It’s a competitive world out there, and mediocre companies rarely do well.  Give yourself an honest self-review, find your weaknesses, and find partners, employees or advisors that can help you overcome them.

The good news is that few people have the guts to strike out on their own, so the mere act of going for it sets you apart.  And hey, if all else fails, you can always go get a job (though the title on your business card might take a hit).

Bill is the CEO of WePay.com, and maintains a personal blog at www.billclerico.com.  He can be followed on Twitter at @billclerico and @wepay.

The news media industry is changing. Long gone are the days when ratings and earnings weren’t required and massive staffs of old hawks were employed to create 30 minutes of perfected, unbiased fact. Here to stay are the days of digital journalists, predators (producer/editors) and one-man bands (a correspondent who can write, shoot, edit and be on camera).

Rising costs and diminishing ad revenue have forced the industry to change its model, but this doesn’t mean that the flashing sign next to the news studio is reading “no access.”

There is no question that the media industry has always been a difficult market to break into, and with the current job market, you might think it would be a bad time to try and get in. But, while the industry has been shedding many of its tenured employees, they have actually been adding less-experienced, entry-level type personnel. Plus, with less employees around to produce the same amount of airtime, more is being asked of everyone on board.

So what do you need to know to help you get your foot in the door?

First and foremost, be prepared to start with freelance work. Media companies, specifically production-based companies, are notorious for having their entry-level employees start on a temporary basis. It is partly a rite of passage and partly that financial costs have outgrown ad revenue (specifically for network news). But this shouldn’t be viewed as a total negative. Most freelance work has a specific end date; you will know if you are going to be promoted or canned. While this may seem daunting, it will give you a set schedule of promotion. Work your ass off for six months and you will be rewarded. Read the rest of this entry »

Economy plunges, grad school applications increase. This time around, business school applicants are leading the surge, which is no surprise given the carnage on Wall St.

B-school costs a ton of money and takes two years. Is it worth it?

Last Spring I saw a lecture from Frank Brown, the Dean of INSEAD.  For those of you who don’t know it, INSEAD is one of the most prestigious international business schools in the world. Promoting his new book, The Global Business Leader,  he offered some timeless guidance to prospective applicants.

Brown said that there are three possible reason to get an MBA:

1. the network: people often cite this as the single most important aspect of a b-school
2. the knowledge: the information acquired at b-school is often cited last in the order of importance
3. the credential: in many industries (consulting, for instance) there is only so far you can go without an advanced degree

A lot of people go because it’s “the next step” or, as Lee Sure pointed out, because “it’s a versatile degree.” Both of these may be true. Dean Brown said that an MBA is only worth the time and money if you need any two items on the list above. Network, knowledge, credential. Pick any two.

If only one of those perks applies to you, then you should reconsider the best use of your time and money. This sounds simplistic, but that’s the beauty of it. It’s a perfect litmus test. Think about it before you dismiss it.

by Lee Sure, guest author

After a few years of working and several failed attempts at getting in to med school, a friend called me telling me she applied to law school.

Her dream had been to become a doctor, to stitch up bodies, to write prescriptions, and to make her family proud. She called me to ask what my experience was like (I’m a second year law student at Georgetown). When I asked her why she applied to law school, she said it seemed like the second best way to work in the health care industry. “A law degree is so versatile,” she said.

Reasoning such as “it’s a versatile degree” or “this is the best way I can engage such-and-such a field” are the types of conclusive and generic reasoning that show law school was a fallback for her. Add mediocre LSAT scores, loads of debt (say $180,000 over three years), and an embroiled legal industry and you have front-row tickets to a boring, slow-motion train wreck. She was misguided by the idea that “more is better.”

The flaws in her reasoning aren’t confined to law school. For thousands of people each year, this short-sighted thinking overlooks the real price of getting a graduate education. Read the rest of this entry »

by Ben Deacon, guest author

Having just dusted myself off the scrap heap of unemployment last week, one would think that my new government job wouldn’t allow me the time to write a missive for TheCanned.com. It’s exactly that kind of thinking that is holding you back from landing a job in Uncle Sam’s extended family.

Today is St. Patty’s Day in Boston, a county holiday, and I spent my morning soaking at the Chinatown YMCA and listening to Annie Lennox’s Walking On Broken Glass on my iPod. These ideas came to me around minute 30 in the jacoozi.

The trick to landing a job in government is talking to people in government. Most open jobs are not advertised because there are people on the inside waiting to poach. A best practice for landing a government job is to bug the hell out of any of your friends who work in government. Call them every other day and say things like “I can’t believe that earmark is going to make it through committee. That garbage wouldn’t fly on my watch.” Government people love to hang out with each other so invite yourself out for a night of PBR’s. In short, become the insider.

Jobs can seemingly open up at random so be persistent in reaching out. In Massachusetts, the ascension of a new Speaker of the House meant that all chairmanships were shuffled. Staffs expanded and contracted across the government in one week. To the layman this might come as a surprise, but for people paying attention it was a fantastic opportunity to get a foot in the door. Read the rest of this entry »

“So what have you been doing with yourself since getting canned?”  Whether asked in an interview or built into a resume screen, the question can be damning.

Your resume takes on the monumental task of summarizing your professional self and selling strangers on your fit for their job opening.  Many firms use a two-stage process to screen resumes.  The first screen will usually be based on facts or keywords. These screens are quasi-mechanical and typically very fact driven.

For the human screen, the narrative that your resume tells can be important.  Gaps in your work record break the continuity of your narrative.  In tough times, however, gaps aren’t necessarily a deal breaker.

One interviewer even pointed out the lighter side — that an employment gap can highlight a purposeful, selective job search.  In a climate like this, it’s hard for employers to differentiate a genuine interest from an I’ll-take-anything attitude.

I spoke to some professional career counselors and resume analysts for advice on how to structure a resume in a way that explains these gaps.  Here are three nuggets of wisdom

1) Segment your work history

In our poll, 23 percent of voters said they intend to work odd jobs to pay the bills during unemployment.  For those of you who have taken on unpaid, part-time, or short-term contracts since becoming unemployed, it may make sense to list these positions under a “short-term positions” section.  Even if these positions are less than glamorous, it shows how you have spent your time since getting canned while drawing a contrast between your career and your temporary work.

2) Draw attention to volunteer work or independent projects

It’s hard to get canned from volunteer work.  In our current poll, over 10 percent of respondents indicated that they intend to do some charity work while they look for their next employment opportunity.  Volunteer work is a great answer to the “what have you been doing with yourself?” question.  Most people relegate this information to the bottom of the resume.  When your work history reveals an employment gap, you should consider moving it closer to the top.

3) State your objective, clearly

Lots of people add an “objective” line to the top of their resume. Objectives usually read something like this: “A senior-level position at a talent management company.”  Where you have been unemployed for some time, this is a chance to passively emphasize how selective you have been. Think: “A chance to leverage my experience in talent management at a small- or mid-sized agency that is positioned for growth in the theater industry.”

I created a section on my resume called “Volunteering, Hobbies, and Fixations” to draw attention away from a five-month employment gap. In almost every interview I had, it drew commentary.

A successful friend — my career advice maven — offers the following advice for recession job hunters: don’t worry about the salary. In good ‘ole 2006, when job hunting was like fishing with dynamite, salary (and therefore opportunity cost) was more important. Today, a job hunt requires less explosives and far more tactical skills.

Few candidates have leverage these days when it comes to comp. negotiations. This doesn’t mean you should accept a pittance; it just means that there are more important things to focus on. For times like these, he recommends that people look two to three years down the road and make career moves that put them in good shape for an economic upturn.

A good job during a recession showcases one of the following characteristics:

1. The ability to develop skills and connections that help you get your dream job when the economy recovers
2. The opportunity to benefit financially (and directly) from a surging economy

These suggestions are straightforward, but the implications are far-reaching. Thinking about these two maxims, the following four strategies emerge as attractive options:

1. Work for the government
2. Start your own company
3. Get involved with a non-governmental organization (NGO)
4. Start freelancing

Each week we will publish an article on one of these four strategies. To keep it relevent, each article will be guest-authored by someone who has been successful with one of these strategies. Stay tuned!

Headhunter. Staffing agent. Recruiter.  Or my personal favorite: poacher.

For those of you looking for a service job, you’ve probably encountered a headhunter or two during your job search. There are literally thousands of them in this country. Increasingly, they act as gatekeepers between job seekers and the best opportunities out there. I’ve worked or spoken with about 20 different staffing firms. In the end, I got my new job thanks to one (props to Joanna).

Working with headhunters is tricky, though.

First off, headhunters are paid by the employer. Their commission is typically a percentage of a candidate’s first year salary. This creates an incentive for them to place you, but do not be mistaken: they do not always have your best interest at heart. Once you’re interviewing with a firm, it is common for unscrupulous headhunters to lie their faces off to sell you on taking the job. There are exceptions (again, props to Joanna), but this seems to be the norm.

A good headhunter will make you feel like he or she is working for you. Keep in mind that despite the title of “staffing solutions professional” or “human resources consultant,” headhunters are essentially salespeople. Likewise, it is always your job to sell yourself to them as you would in an interview. The more likely they think you are to get hired, the better an effort they will put forth.

Lastly, it is always in your best interest to work with multiple headhunters. You don’t need to tell them, but the more lines you have in the water, the more likely you are to catch a jobfish.

We got a few questions following our post “COBRA Subsidy in Stimulus Package“. Here is the in-depth explanation of how this works. We will start with a crash course on the COBRA program and then describe how the subsidy will change things.

COBRA is designed to help people maintain their group health insurance following involuntary job loss (pretty much everything except gross misconduct). If you used to get group health insurance through your employer, and that firm had at least 20 employees, then you are eligible for COBRA. In many states, eligibility extends down to firms as small as two employees.

Employers are able to negotiate discounted rates because they can bargain on behalf of large numbers. If an individual looked to purchase a comparable plan, it would cost far more. Many employees don’t realize this because their employer pays all or most of their health insurance premiums. When they get canned, however, they find out the hard way how pricey insurance can be. With COBRA, you traditionally had to pick up 100 percent of the tab to maintain your health insurance. Although this rate is significantly cheaper than the rate you would pay on your own, it can still be hundreds of dollars each month.

The subsidy, as provided in the stimulus package, will pay for 65 percent of the cost of COBRA coverage each month for up to nine months. This amounts to thousands of dollars per person. For example:

When I got canned, I received a letter from my former employer explaining my COBRA option. It would have cost me about $575 per month for COBRA, but the alternative was even worse: an individual plan would have run me about $750 per month. To enroll, I would have needed to make my initial payment of $575 directly to my former employer. With the stimulus package, I would only need to pay $201.25 each month (35 percent of $575) because the government would pick up the rest. Over nine months, this would amount to a savings of over three thousand dollars!

Anybody who got canned after September 1st, 2008, is eligible for this subsidy.

Instructions:

When you lose your job, your employer is legally required to tell you about how to enroll in COBRA if you are eligible (see above). You will make payments each month directly to your former health insurance plan administrator (usually you human resources department). If you already opted out of COBRA, you are still eligible. Contact your the HR department of your former employer for instructions on how to enroll.

This Friday we received the latest numbers on unemployment from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Do yourself a favor and don’t pay attention. These numbers have policy implications, to be sure, but they really don’t affect our job searches.

Lots of jobs have been lost and lots more will be lost. But this is a huge economy, and there will always be a certain number of openings as people move, retire, die, quit, get promoted, etc. Also, large corporations aren’t perfectly efficient with their human capital. Just because a firm cut a thousand jobs doesn’t mean it’s not hiring.

Check out this article from Fortune Magazine which profiles 20 large companies that are planning to hire serious numbers in 2009. Edward Jones, Cisco, Wegman’s, KPMG– some of America’s beheamoths are still adding headcount (notice that Microsoft makes the list, even after announcing plans to cut 5,000 jobs).

Most importantly, you can glean from this article the best industries to focus your job search:

• Health care
• Super markets
• Accounting
• IT engineering

Competition increases naturally with the unemployment rate, but there are still thousands of job openings nationwide. So screw the unemployment figures. These statistics are backward-looking, and if we’re going to beat the competition we’ll all need to do a better job of looking in the opposite direction.