What I Learned About My Career from Selling a Vintage Fiat - Career Pivot

What I Learned About My Career from Selling a Vintage Fiat - Career Pivot Selling a Vintage Fiat? When I was a young man in late 1970s, I wanted a convertible. I was also cheap! The first car I bought was a 1972 Triumph Spitfire from a woman I worked with at IBM. It needed a clutch and a throw out bearing. I had just received my engineering degree from Northwestern University and I wanted to teach myselfauto mechanics. The Triumph was a good challenge to fix. I drove it around for six months and then sold it. Now I wanted a bigger challenge. I bought a wrecked 1972 Fiat 124 Spyder. I was told that Fiat stood for “Fix It Again Tony.” The car had been in a front end collision but was still drivable. I spent the next 18 months replacing fenders, the hood, a bulkhead, pulled the heads and valves, and much more. The challenge was when I went to sell it. Rebuilding and Selling Hondas Around the time, I was working on that Fiat 124 Spyder, I started rebuilding Hondas. I bought several Honda Accords and Civics which I would fix up, drive for a while and then sell at a profit. This was the mid-1980s when Honda’s were still fairly new on the scene and were in high demand because of the quality and the gas mileage. When I was ready to sell, I would put an ad in the classified section of the local newspaper for three consecutive weekends. Remember the classified sections where you looked for jobs, garage sales, and other things that people wanted to sell? The key was to be in the Sunday classifieds. Because of the high demand for Hondas, I would get four or five people come out each weekend and finally I would get a single buyer. Many would try to negotiate the price and those 3 weekends were pretty busy. Selling Fiats When I went to sell my Fiat is was very different. This was somewhat of a cult car. Listen to the most recent episode I would put an ad in the classified section of the local newspaper for three consecutive weekends. That first weekend I had only 1 person looking at the car. They test drove it and said they would think about it. The second weekend came and the same thing happened. Only one person came out to look at the car but they did not even want to test drive it. The third weekend I got several calls but no one came out to look at the car. The following Monday, I got a call from the original prospect from the first weekend asking if the car was still available. I told him yes, we did some minor negotiating and I offered to throw in an extra 5-speed transmission I had. We had a deal. Only two people came out to look at the car and only 1 of those test drove the car. You Only Need One Buyer! Only one person test drove the car and he bought it. I later rebuilt several more Fiats and I rarely had more than two or three people test drive the cars, but one of them always bought it. Applying for More Jobs is not Better Do you apply for many jobs hoping to get an interview? Or, do you carefully investigate each company by strategically networking to meet the right individuals? When a position becomes available, you find someone internal to the company to submit your resume. You submit your application when the time is right. You end up submitting very few applications. This is called the Targeted Job Search. What I learned from selling the Fiat is that it is not how many people who come out to test drive the car. If I prepared the car properly and priced it fairly, the car would sell. I only needed one buyer. Similarly, when you are managing your career, you want to be selective. Preparation is key. You want to approach a prospective employer when the time is right. You only need to apply and interview with one company to get that next gig. Proper Targeting Long before I started Career Pivot, I started counseling individuals who had been laid off. There is one employer in Austin who is quite large and layoffs people at the drop of a hat. I would ask these individuals what they were looking for and what they commonly say is ” I can do product marketing, product management, project management, sales, program management,…….”. What they were telling me is they were good at such wide range of disciplines that my only assumption was they were not good at any of them. They were feeding me a line of BS. I would immediately tell them to pick one and only one discipline to target. They would often complain that was too limiting. I would go okay pick two but no more. Quantity Versus Quality Just like when I sold that Fiatâ€"it was not quantity but quality. Only people who knew about Fiats and truly admired the Italian engineering would come out to look at the car. (By the way, Fiat was at least 10 years ahead of the rest of the industry with many features like four-wheel disc brakes and dual overhead cam engines.) You need to determine what to target. Most of us grew up when generalists were king. We live in an age where specialists are king. What is your specialty? What companies are in need your specialty? Do your homework. Pick the companies that are a good fit for you. You only need one company to hire you for that next gig! More is not better! Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

Networks Are Like Bridges

Networks Are Like Bridges Today is the 100th anniversary of the Queensboro Bridge (also called the 59th Street Bridge) that connects the boroughs of Queens and Manhattan. I have a special attachment to this bridge because for me it represents the link between my past, present, and future. As a kid growing up in Queens, I remember the first time I was allowed to travel by bus to Manhattan over that bridge and how magical it was to leave the more suburban feel of Queens and quickly be transported into the hustle and bustle that is Manhattan. And I remember traveling over that bridge again when I moved from Queens to my first apartment in Manhattan, excited about leaving my childhood behind and coming into my own. These days I spend a lot of time going back over the bridge to visit my parents and friends who still live in Queens. I often walk or jog across the bridge and I frequently think about the bridge as a great connector as I watch the cars, buses, and subway cars whiz by. It might not be the most beautifu l bridge in the world, but to me it is spectacular, despite the rust, grittiness, and what seems like endless repairs and delays. Networks work in a similar way.  A good career management strategy requires a comprehensive look at all your connectorsthose that link you to your past, current relationships, and the relationships you should be building to help your career grow and prosper. Like the bridge, not every relationship is perfect, you may experience delays, and you shouldnt expect all things from all people. Look at every relationship for its potential and be forgiving of what your contacts can and cannot do for you. Bridges connect people and places and make many things possible. So do networks. Nurture yours, travel across it frequently, and enjoy the view!

What Can You Do Today That Makes Your Job Better

What Can You Do Today That Makes Your Job Better Have you noticed that small things can affect the way you feel? For instance, when I look at this picture of spring flowers, it makes me smile and think about Spring (if it ever comes back). I like looking at certain things, and when I arrange my surroundings to include those things, then I feel better about my job. Ive learned that I need to do certain things to be productive and content. The things you do every day make a difference in your job, dont they? Of course they do! And those little things add up because a contented, productive worker is valued. When I say contented, I dont mean you have no ambition. You can be very ambitious about your career and still be content in your daily surroundings because you have exercised control over your workspace. Here are a few ideas on how to do that: Control the clutter. There are at least 3 ways clutter affects your career: you lose important information, you get overwhelmed, and you look inefficient. It is worth the extra minute or so at the end of the day to restore order to your desk. Keep things clean. Use the canned air to get the crumbs out of the keyboard, and wipe off the mouse and anything else that you touch all the time. If you have disposable wipes in a fragrance you enjoy, all the better. Clean spaces feel better. Maybe because you arent breathing all that dust. Put some plants around. There are plants that will do OK in office environments. If you cant do that, put something you like to look at in the spot you stare at while you ruminate. Keep a fun glass of water at your desk. Most offices have water dispensers, and you can pick up some beautiful goblets and tumblers at thrift stores because you only need one for yourself. You arent running a marathon. You are sitting at a desk, so you can add crystal elements to your work space if you find something you like. Mix it up and keep it fun have a collection to choose from. And drink more than one glass of water a day because office environments are dry. Exercise. Getting your body moving is going to have a positive effect on everything you do. Forbes has a list of the 10 best exercises to do at your desk,  and they are entirely doable. I did a few of them and felt it the next day. Definitely worthwhile. Cut people a break. Their grumpiness probably has nothing to do with you, and a smile exercises your cheek muscles. It also gives you more control over your response to the situation. The job you have today might be temporary. Your job might be searching for employment, You may not currently have a desk to put a crystal goblet of water on or a workspace to call your own. But you do have a daily environment that you can begin to control, and that will make your day better.

How to Write a Resume Summary - Key Tips to Give You a Quick Introduction

How to Write a Resume Summary - Key Tips to Give You a Quick IntroductionIn the resume writing process, the resume summary is generally the easiest part to create. It has the simplest job description and provides a quick overview of the work experience or education you have to offer. This part of the resume also provides you with a better chance to sell yourself, and it gives the reader a little sense of what your strengths are, your weaknesses and how the employer may view you. Thus, the summary statement is very important.Writing a resume summary can be challenging. You need to give your reader a quick overview of your abilities and skills, and explain the key benefits and objectives of the employer that may be hiring you. You must convey the message clearly so that the reader can easily get caught up in what you have to say. However, in order to write a compelling summary statement, you must know the basics of it and not try to go overboard with it.A resume summary is essentially a 'note' of what you have to say in career planning, and how the information provided in your resume is relevant to the potential employer. Your resume summary should include your goals, desired career path, educational history, awards and accomplishments, and any other relevant information that will provide the employer a basic idea of your potential as an employee. With this kind of information, the employer can get a better understanding of who you are, what you are looking for, and how you would fit into the organization's culture.One of the most important parts of a resume summary is to include the essential information about you. After writing the content, the rest of the resume writing process is very similar to that of creating a resume in general. As mentioned earlier, it is very important to put the information in a summary statement. However, you cannot keep your readers from seeing it at all. This is why a resume summary statement must be a very brief one, however, the s ummary must still be very appealing to the reader.Resume writing summary is a good starting point if you want to get started on your own. There are many ways to outline your information and put it in the resume summary, but not all of them are necessarily good. There are only two basic methods, and they are the bulleted list format and bullet lists. Remember that in bullet lists, you are being asked to summarize the information and list all the relevant information so that the reader can easily see what is written.In bulleted lists, the writer simply has to list the items in a single column. This form is much easier to read, but the writer still needs to clearly state the information. This is especially true if the writer is writing a lot of information. If your resume writing summary is lengthy, you will have a hard time getting the attention of the reader.Besides being a form of writing, resume writing summary is also a form of marketing. It is usually used by recruiters and hirin g managers to find out more about applicants. This is another reason why it is so important to be precise in describing the information in your resume. After all, this is how the hiring manager will find out what you have to offer the organization.

Gender Pay Gap Why the Next 18 Months Are Critical for Closing It

Gender Pay Gap Why the Next 18 Months Are Critical for Closing It Back in January, a proposal was put forward by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Labor that would require employers with 100 or more employees to report earnings data by gender, race, ethnicity, and job category. The 60-day period for public comments closed on April 1. If this proposal moves forward, the reporting requirements will go into effect in September 2017. The agencies say they plan to use this new data “to assess complaints of discrimination, focus agency investigations, and identify existing pay disparities that may warrant further examination.” Whether you support the EEOC proposal or not, this is a game changer. That’s roughly 18 months for companies to get their houses in order. And even companies that publicly lend support to gender equity in the workplace may not have turned the microscope inward to ensure they’re paying equitably to a degree they’d feel comfortable reporting to the federal government. Many object to the new EEOC reporting proposal, citing issues such as the requirement to report W-2 earnings vs. base salary and the lack of detail on how the EEOC plans to use the data to enforce pay equity. But it’s unclear at this point whether any opposition will prove persuasive enough to forestall the 2017 deadline. Video Player is loading.Play VideoPlayMuteCurrent Time  0:00/Duration  0:00Loaded: 0%Stream Type  LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time  -0:00  Playback Rate1xChaptersChaptersDescriptionsdescriptions off, selectedCaptionscaptions and subtitles off, selectedAudio TrackFullscreenThis is a modal window.Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal DialogEnd of dialog window.PlayMuteCurrent Time  0:00/Duration  0:00Loaded: 0%Stream Type  LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time  -0:00  Playback Rate1xFullscreen So what should employers do to ensure they can comply if and when the proposal goes into effect? Many organizations have worked to tackle potential gender discrimination by providing diversity training for employees or creating committees to focus on diversity and inclusion. Unfortunately, those programs haven’t worked. According to Harvard Business Review, “A study of 829 companies over 31 years showed that diversity training had ‘no positive effects in the average workplace.’ Millions of dollars a year were spent on the training resulting in, well, nothing. Attitudes â€" and the diversity of the organizations â€" remained the same.” What does work is data. Do you have any existing gender pay gaps you can’t readily explain within your organization? If so, dig in to figure out why. Address it. And, then figure out how to ensure it doesn’t happen againâ€"by doing things like ensuring pay increases and bonuses are tied to market data and measurable results. Equitable pay doesn’t necessarily mean 100% equal, but it does mean that the reasons for the differences are clear. And if you’re having trouble selling the ideaâ€"up or down the corporate ladderâ€"keep this in mind: Gender equity in the workplace isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s good business. Ensuring all workers are paid fairly puts your organization in a better position to attract and retain talent and protects against any liability issues. In the war for the best talent, a visible commitment to equitable pay is a competitive differentiator, so don’t wait for the 2017 deadline. The more vocal you are about your organization’s commitment to equitable pay, the better. READ NEXT: Your Company Can’t Close the Gender Pay Gap Equal pay for equal work is step one, however. There’s also work to do to ensure equal opportunities for all workers when it comes to access to the best-paying positions within an organization. If women are underrepresented in leadership positions or specific in-demand jobs, the organization can suffer. It’s been definitively demonstrated that more diverse teams lead to better business outcomesâ€"increased revenue, more innovation, etc. According to an analysis by McKinsey Company, companies in the top quartile for gender diversity were 15% more likely to outperform those in the bottom quartile. The bottom line: Now’s the time to take action on this. Ensure that your pay decisions are data-driven, documented and defendable. Businesses can’t afford to get this wrong.

Zebit Challenge Day 2 Budgeting 101 - Work It Daily

Zebit Challenge Day 2 Budgeting 101 - Work It Daily Okay, I survived Day 1 of the challenge. The biggest thing I noticed was how much more I was thinking about money. Your thoughts get easily consumed with weighing the pro’s and con’s of even the smallest of purchases. That’s why I had to go into research mode… Related: Zebit Challenge Day 1: My Financial Stress Reality Check Instant budgeting blows my mind. When Zebit mentioned they had a free budgeting calculator, I thought, “That’s nice.” However, it wasn’t until I actually tried it that I got hooked. I can’t even begin to emphasize how valuable this would have been to me early on in my career. I decided to play with the calculator to see how much it could help me prioritize my finances. Below are a few screen shots to show you how easy it was to work with. Single, making $45,000/year. Once I set up my free account, I was brought to a screen where I could put in my zip code, an annual salary, and how many people were living off that income. From there, it instantly gave me a basic budget for all my necessary living expenses. When I clicked on the question mark next to each one, it shared with me what that portion of the budget covers. After that, I could continue on in the process and put in my actual expenses to see where I could be over-spending. It was a quick, easy way to instantly assess the health of your current budgeting. It’s your turn… My challenge for you is to go to www.ZebitInstantBudget.com and use it (for free!) to assess the health of your own budgeting. Don’t be afraid. Remember, you can’t reduce your financial stress and get on the path to financial freedom until you know (and, take accountability for), your current financial situation. Then, come back tomorrow to see my own progress on the seven-day challenge and what I’m learning next. Don't miss out on Day 1 of my Zebit Challenge! Related Posts 5 Tips To Uncover Company Culture 3 Sneaky Ways To Research A Company Company Culture Is Important To Hiring Managers 18+ years of experience in the development of professional HR tools and resources. Has delivered 200+ presentations to more than 10,000 professionals on a wide variety of career topics. Managed teams of 50+ with budgets of $35M+. Launched www.CAREEREALISM.com, which is now a top 3 career blog with 2,300,000+ monthly pageviews, 1,000,000+ visitors/month, 1,500,000+ social media followers, and 100,000+ daily email subscribers. Founded the first Career Improvement Platform, www.CareerHMO.com, an online resource that helps users solve their career problems faster and better than they could on their own. Currently has 5,000+ active members..   Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert. You can learn more about expert posts here. Photo Credit: Shutterstock Have you joined our career growth club?Join Us Today!

Why 30-Something Women Leave Their Jobs

Why 30-Something Women Leave Their Jobs 30-something men and women. Are we really so different when it comes to why we leave our jobs?Depending on what you read, theres quite a sortiment of opinion and theory on this. Clearly there is some evidence for the idea (and also sometimes bias) that women in this child-bearing age cohort leave to take care of our families. Theres some data to show that this generation of millennial women are more likely to take career breaks for family care-taking than previous generations of women. Anotlageher theory, published by Fast Company last week suggested that millennial women (even childless ones) are more likely to burn out at work due to an (impossibly) high self-defeating set of expectations about our performance and achievements at work. Then, barely before the ink dried on that theory, a study published by ICEDR (the grenzberschreitend Consortium for Executive Development Research) found that men and women in their 30s actually leave their emp loyers for many of the same reasons. zu siche were the top 5 reasons women left their employers1. I found a job elsewhere that pays more. (65%)2. There are not enough opportunities for learning and development for me here. (62%)3. The work here is not as interesting and meaningful as I would like. (56%)4. There is not a fair balance between how hard I work and the compensation I receive. (56%)5. We are starting a family. I would like to spend more time with them. (54%)For men, the ICEDR survey found a similar set of reasons1. There are not enough opportunities for learning and development for me here. (65%)2. I found a job elsewhere that pays more. (56%)3. The work here is not as interesting and meaningful as I would like. (50%)4. There is a not a fair balance between how hard I work and the compensation I receive. (44%)5. I do not fit in well with the team. (41%)Putting aside the last answers for men (which we found quite interesting), its clear that a majority of women do cite fam ily concerns when leaving an employer. However, its also eye-opening to see that these family matters ranked below 4 other reasons that primarily had to do with compensation, fairness and personal growth. Overall, the two lists look strikingly similar.Its easy, then, to understand the reaction Ann Friedman had to this data. Her conclusion (Pay women more) sits well with us, and will probably make you smile.Fairygodboss is committed to improving the workplace and lives of women. Join us by reviewing your employer