Careers and Growth

We change over time. Our jobs change over time. If we are lucky, the two change together and in the same direction: our jobs continue to be satisfying, the pay keeps getting better and we look forward to going to work every day. But too often, our jobs don’t change at the same rate that we do and we find ourselves less and less excited about Monday mornings. I have found this especially true of cubicle workers in large companies, including me. At first, as we’re learning it’s all exciting. We’re challenged to prove ourselves and apply all the skills we acquired in previous work or in college. That paycheck keeps us smiling as we plan ways to spend or save it. That first raise causes us to beam with pride and work even harder to show we deserved it. Eventually the newness wears off and we settle in, and often the job becomes easier and somewhat routine. If we are lucky, we might have a manager that is also a mentor, one who is secure in his/her position and puts effort into helping us grow in our careers. We are given more responsibility and more autonomy and eventually earn a promotion. If the work environment is good and the company is performing well, we may stay in our position for a long time.

Unfortunately, things don’t always work out that well. Reduced profits force large corporations to trim expenses and employees are a big liability, so staff gets cut. Those remaining are left to pick up the additional work and hours become longer and meetings multiply. Employees start to feel the strain.

I have witnessed this happening to my company over the years. Ten years ago, most people you spoke to here were proud of their jobs and work and never considered leaving. Today, the environment is different: everyone is seeing their collegues get layed off and all conversations are around promising jobs at other companies or early retirement.

I have done a lot of soul-searching over the past several months, after dealing with two really bad managers in two years and unending indigestion and loss of sleep. Fortunately the web is a great resource when you’re looking into alternatives to your current job. Not only are there numerous sites for posting your resume, like monster.com, dice.com and careerbuilder.com, there are resources for researching most larger companies, from their own corporate web sites and finance.yahoo.com to employee surveys on vault.com. You can even set up a Google news alert on the companies you’re interested in to stay up to date on their latest news—a handy bit of info as you head into that interview.

I am new to the online job searching game and can’t recommend one site over the other yet, but as I dig deeper into the process I’ll post my favorites here. I’d love to hear your experiences as well. Please post your comments below.

Celebrate Your Good Manager!

October 16 is Boss’ Day

There are a lot of less-than-perfect bosses out there, for various reasons. One of the most common causes is lack of experience. A new boss has something to prove and has to deal with a lot at the same time. Balancing your time and support between your higher up boss and your team is indeed a challenge and can become quite daunting for the new manager. Sadly, some managers never learn this skill and focus all of their efforts on advancing their own position further at the detriment of their team. They want to prove to their bosses that they are valuable and smarter than the individuals on their team, which they are constantly worried about losing their new and higher position to. This insecurity puts a strain on the team and often causes the new manager to constantly degrade the work of his or her own team. These bosses will put all of their efforts into finding something wrong with your work, no matter what. If you create a presentation with perfect wording and data, they will tell you the fonts are too small (or too large, or the wrong color, …). They will also try to control your time as a way of watching your every move. They’ll schedule a meeting with you and then force you to reschedule at the last minute, or they’ll show up 10 minutes late. They’ll send you an assignment on Friday at 4:30PM that takes you at least 2 hours to finish so they can assure you don’t leave early. The most neurotic will send you questions or demands on the weekend to see if you are logging in and working. They may copy their own boss on these emails to show how dedicated they are vs. you. Sadly, some new bosses never learn to become more secure and drop these manipulative tactics and go on finding new ways to control their teams to the point of micromanagement.

Unfortunately, I have had my share of these types of bosses. They have helped make cubicle hell what it is today. But, luckily I have had a few good ones, too. I don’t call them bosses--since they aren’t really bossy—I call them mangers, since they manage to keep their team happy and are successful and secure in their own positions. They take the time to ask how your family’s doing and encourage you to take a break from time to time. Good managers direct their team on activities but don’t take complete control. They know that a happy and effective team will only add to their position as a good leader and so they give their team opportunities to grow and to take credit for their own work, realizing that their own viewpoint is not always the best. These managers are true role models and I recommend you seek them out in a company and stick with them if you can. Show them you appreciate their help and remind yourself how lucky you are to have found one of these unique individuals. Remember them on Boss’ (‘good managers’) Day, which is October 16, and give them your gratitude year ‘round. They are few and far between and will help make you successful and happy in your career.

Some Interesting Links:

• National Boss Day
  http://www.iaap-hq.org/national_boss_day_2005.htm
  
• Blue Mountain Boss Day eCards
  http://www.bluemountain.com/kwsearch.pd?strSearch=boss+day
  
• About National Boss Day & Gifts for your best manager http://www.almorale.com/calbd.html
  
• Cookies for your favorite manager
  http://www.cookiegiftdelivery.com/
  
• The Mark of a Good Manager (Washington Post)
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/17/AR2005061700446.html
  
• The top 10 things that make a good manager
  http://topten.org/public/AE/AE186.html
  
• How to be a Good Manager
  http://www.thegoodmanager.com/