Would you give your employee a massage? April 9, 2010

Last week I had a massage while I was ‘on the clock’.  Before you start thinking that I’m either an unethical employee who turned in a false time sheet or about to tell you about a disturbing incident of sexual harassment, let me explain.  In property management you get to wear a lot of hats on any given day I may be a financial advisor, lifeguard, relationship counselor, fireman, crisis response coordinator, IT Helpdesk, concierge, baker, garbage collector, referee, and a social director.  It was in my role as the latter that I had the opportunity to experience a brief but wonderful chair massage by a fantastic massage therapist named Sunshine.  No, I’m not making his name up, it really was Sunshine. 

Like many apartment communities, we have parties and activities for our residents periodically both as a way of saying “We’re glad you’re our neighbor” and as a way to allow our residents to connect with one another.  Last week we hosted a ‘spa night’.  We had vendors for spa-type products and services like massage, skin care, and cosmetics available in our clubhouse for a couple of hours after the leasing office was closed for the day offering free services to our residents while we served refreshments and chatted with those who stopped in to enjoy it.  We also joined in and just had some fun with our residents.  While some of our staff chose to talk make up colors while getting a makeover with a resident, I decided to try out the chair massages to loosen up the knots in my shoulders and broaden the welcoming smile on my face.  The night was a success with our residents and something I’d consider a perk for all of us on the staff.  I mean if you’re going to have to work late I guess it could be much worse than getting a massage, right?

That lead me to start thinking about how most jobs have some sort of perks.  Little extras that probably weren’t even listed in the benefits section of your employee handbook.  As an employee, what are your favorite job perks?  Are they things that would impact your decision if you were offered a position with another company?

I’ve had a number of different perks over the years at various jobs some official like employee discounts and some unofficial like bosses who would spring for pizza on Friday just because it had been an unusually long week.   Actually this wasn’t the first time I had a massage at work.  I once worked at a medical practice where the physician paid a massage therapist to come in once a month and give the staff 15 minute chair massages as a way to say ‘Thanks’ to his staff.  Pretty smart idea if you think about it, for an amount that would almost seem insulting as a ‘bonus’, he was recognizing employees in an individual way while at the same time reducing their stress level to make them more productive…win-win.  I’ve worked in jobs that allowed an element of flexibility by allowing employees the option to come in early, stay late or take a shorter lunch break in order to ‘make up’ time that they needed off on another day that week. (I must say that’s a personal favorite…but that’s probably because I tend to come in early, stay late and skip lunches a lot anyway so it’s nice to occasionally get some of that time back.)  While I was in college, I worked at a preschool daycare center where I received a reduced rate for my own daughter which meant I could afford to have her in daycare while I was in class and could even spend my break times at work with my daughter…that was an awesome perk as a busy young mother, and it certainly created a loyalty to that job I would not have had otherwise.

I read a blog post this morning detailing all the ways in which employee turnover can cost your business and all things considered it can be a staggering blow to your bottom line.  Those little extras, that employees don’t get at other jobs can be a good weapon in your employee retention fight.  I know of more than one employee who is loyal to their employer because of a job perk.  As a manager, what kind of perks do you offer your staff?  In today’s challenging economy are you cutting perks to save a few dollars or are you looking for additional creative but low-cost perks that will help you hold on to your most valuable business asset…your people?

Bringin’ Home the Bacon April 3, 2010

Just finished reading a blog post with the basic premise that everyone who has a job is only working for a paycheck.  I completely agree that a paycheck (and therefore the ability to keep a roof over my head and food on my table) is certainly at the top of the list of reasons why I, and most everyone else, go to work each day.  I don’t know about you but I like to eat, truth be told probably like it too much!  The author also noted that we are living in a society that teaches us that we should like what we do and, while ideal, that isn’t reality for a vast majority of workers.  I certainly can’t disagree with that point because I know way too many people who are miserable in their jobs to believe that everyone is able to find work that they love.

It’s also true that there seems to be an unfair bias against anyone who is honest enough to admit if his or her only motive for work really is just collecting a paycheck.  If an employee is truly passionate about making money and knows that being the best at their job is the way to achieve that goal, then wouldn’t they be just as motivated of an employee as one that likes their job?  In fact, the admittedly money-motivated employee may even be more motivated than the employee who professes to “love” their job.  Why?  Two reasons come to mind.  The first is that they may not even be telling the truth, they may be simply saying what they’ve been conditioned to respond when asked about their work in order to score points with the boss.  If they are being honest and actually do work hard mainly because they like their job, then their performance is much more likely than the money-driven employee to be affected by factors such as office politics or inter-office relationships.

However, I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say it’s the only reason anyone has a job.  Even though it may be extremely rare to find someone who doesn’t (at least some days) dislike their job, most people could find something about their work that fills a need other than money.  I believe that for many people a sense of self-esteem and personal worth are gained through their jobs and that a large number would work in some way or another even if they did not need to work for money.  I think that often plays out in the retiree who just can’t stay retired, sure some people come out of retirement because they find their retirement savings weren’t as adequate as they thought they were but many people retire only to return to the workforce because they felt they lacked a sense of purpose without a job.  And I think the same is true for a large number of people currently in the workforce, that above and beyond a paycheck their job provides them with a sense of identity and purpose that they need regardless of financial circumstances.  That’s not to say they’d choose their current jobs if the paycheck wasn’t a factor but they would likely still work.

For me, I have a personal need to help other people.  It probably comes from growing up with a stay at home mom who worked more hours volunteering than many people do at paying jobs, and I often tagged along when I wasn’t in school.  I’ve long said that I would love to not have a financial need for a job, not so I could just stop working and do nothing but so I could do volunteer work instead without ending up homeless myself.  I do some volunteer work now, but the responsibilities of my ‘day job’ often mean that I’m unavailable for volunteer opportunities I would otherwise be a part of and enjoy.

So I guess it’s true that I’m working in my current job mostly because of the need for a paycheck, hey a girl’s gotta eat you know!!  Would I keep showing up here if they stopped paying me?  No, because to keep having a roof over my head and food on my table so I’d have to go find someone who would pay me.  Yet, there are frequently days that I’m able to do something that really helps someone else and that’s a whole different kind of pay to me that always makes it worth it to have been at work that day.  Thinking back over my career as a whole, I have tended toward positions that rarely paid well but in which I was able to help people in some way or another.

In fact, if my only reason for working were the paycheck, then I probably wouldn’t have accepted many of my previous positions.  There have been times in my career when (costs associated with working considered) I could have quit working and accepted housing, food and other assistance that is available and have been living better than I was on my salary.  I can promise you that no one takes a social service position with the state of Alabama just for the paycheck!  (And they sure don’t leave it for a better paying job and then return for another ‘tour of duty’ because of the paycheck!)  Which leads me to wonder how many other people out there who are working for a paycheck aren’t just working for the paycheck?

How about you?  What’s your story?

Would you marry your boss? March 31, 2010

Recently, I decided to temporarily take a part-time job with the goal of using the extra money for paying off some specific debts.  Before I even began applying anywhere, I mentioned the decision casually to someone close to me and within an hour she called back to tell me that her manager wanted to hire me and would like for me to stop by to fill out paperwork that evening.  I have to say that is one of the easiest jobs I’d ever landed, no application (until after I’d already accepted, just as a paperwork formality) or resume, no interview, just an offer.  Considering that this was to be a temporary, part-time position I wasn’t going to be picky about it so I simply said yes.  Is that how most job searches go?  Of course not, at least not in my experience from either end of the process!

 So what was this easy to land position?  A Wedding Consultant for a well-known bridal retailer.  Despite the fact that I am married, I never really did the whole big wedding thing.  I simply ran off to my Pastor’s office one night after work in my business suit and tied the knot.  So I quickly got a crash course in all things bridal.  The job was actually a lot of fun despite the insanity that sometimes goes along with brides-to-be (and worse, their mothers).  I really enjoyed helping someone find their dream dress.  For those of you out there that love all those bridal shows and might be wondering, reality is much more like ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ than ‘Bridezillas’, but I’m wandering off my intended topic now. 

 I tell you about what I refer to as my ‘hobby job’ to explain why weddings and marriage are currently such a big part of my thoughts.  I’m all about giving credit where credit is due, so before I even get to the topic at hand I must confess that the idea for this post largely came from a conversation with a twitter friend, @HRMexplorer.  We discussed the idea that finding a job was much like getting married because you’re looking for happiness and a good fit without really being able to be certain, so you have to look at all the indicators that you’d be good together.

 The more that I thought about that analogy the more I thought that the same could be said for finding an employee as well.  The employer and the job seeker can easily be compared to a traditional courting couple.  When an employer posts a job opening it’s much like a single girl dressing up and going somewhere to meet other singles.  They are letting everyone know that they are willing to be courted.  The job seekers who like what they see and are interested in finding out more submit applications and resumes in the same way that a guy might ask her for a date.  They think it’s worth finding out if there’s more there than an initial interest or attraction.  If, at first look, she thinks he might be what she’s looking for then she agrees to a date, just as an employer might schedule an interview. 

 An interview is a chance to size up an applicant (and for the applicant to size up the employer too) they find out if they have similar goals and would compliment each other, in the same way a dating couple would discover if they have compatible interests.  Sometimes it’s obvious that there isn’t a match and things end there, but if there is still interest the process continues.  For the couple, there are more dates and meeting each other’s friends and families, which allows for gathering additional information to make a decision about the potential for long-term compatibility.  For the employer/applicant, there are possibly more in-depth interviews and background checks or research, which helps each of them to decide if they are likely to meet one another’s needs.

 Most of the time this process repeats itself multiple times before a match is made but if all goes well, the applicant gets the job and the guy gets the girl and a wedding or a starting date is set.  Everyone is excited and filled with hope for the future, but just like with a marriage, if you go in blind without getting to know the person courting you or if either party misrepresents itself in the process then in the end neither of you is likely to be satisfied or fulfilled.  Which is exactly why the employee/job search process is so important, even though most employers and job seekers would agree that the process itself is sometimes frustrating when the ‘right one’ isn’t coming along.  However, just like an employer rarely finds the perfect applicant with the first resume they receive, most girls don’t find their prince charming on their first ever date.  After all, I’ll bet most of you didn’t marry the first person you dated either, did you?  Most likely what you did was learned something from each of those mismatched relationships that eventually helped you find the right one.  Why not apply that same strategy and patience to looking for your next employee or your next job?

How do you reward your staff? March 29, 2010

I don’t know about you, but around our office it has been a rough year.  Budget cuts, extra work for everyone, and little or no bonuses for the people handling it all.  After taking a couple of vacation days to enjoy March Madness, I have started to think about getting back into the swing of things.  As I began planning for the week ahead, I’ve started thinking about how I could show a little appreciation to my hardworking staff.

In the past I’ve done some pretty random things.  I regularly declare it ‘doughnut day’ and bring in doughnuts for the whole staff.  Once I got the girls in my office gift certificates for manicures.  I’ve ordered in pizza for the whole staff.  I’ve had leasing contests with prizes, everything from some time off to a Starbucks gift certificate.  I’ve cornered employees significant others and bragged on their sweetie, a little good talk behind their back.  Living in the ‘Land of the Iron Bowl’, I’ve had ‘jersey days’, where everyone got to ditch their suits for jeans and their favorite teams jersey on the Friday before the big game.  We’ve played silly but entertaining games at meetings, such as using chopsticks to stack valentine hearts with little prizes.  I’ve even bought flowers.

I’m always looking for new ideas (especially low-cost ones…we are in a recession you know!)…but somehow, this week I’m running low on ideas.  Maybe it’s the vacation brain setting in…but I just can’t think of anything.  So, let’s hear it!  How do you reward YOUR staff for a job well done?

Why do I have so many profiles? March 18, 2010

With so many online ‘communities’ today, you may find it hard to keep up with all your usernames and passwords or even where you already have ‘profiles’. I’ve heard those who are less social networking addicted than myself lament “Why can’t there just be one place for all of this stuff?”. I can sympathize with their frustration as they log on to three different places to keep up with friends, family and co-workers because they can’t get them all to just join the same one. However, many of us have profiles on multiple sites because they serve different purposes and uses to us.

Perhaps you’re asking yourself what in the world I’m talking about right now. I’ve seen many people who post the same things everywhere they post. The same status updates, the same pictures, the same links so basically if you’ve seen one of their profiles you’ve seen them all. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that exactly, there’s something to be said for consistency I suppose. Besides if you are one of those people who only have multiple accounts because you can’t get all your ‘peeps’ to sign up in one place then that suits your needs. For me, I like to use different sites and accounts for different things.

Facebook, well that’s pretty much friends and family stuff. I don’t use it to meet new people, I use it to keep up with people I already know. Sure I do have a few of those people who are somewhere between a professional connection and a friend on there too, but for the most part that’s where you’d find pictures of my friends and family and status updates about the next vacation I’m planning or what I’m doing this weekend. It’s set to private and I don’t add random total strangers. It’s my personal profile, the place to let my hair down…within reason of course!

Then there’s LinkedIn, which is all about business. It’s the button down professional side of my life.  My professional credentials are on there and I use groups and my current connections to meet new business connections. It’s a place to get to know people who I can help to get ahead or vice-verse. I visit group discussions and read or post and invite people who’s contributions to the discussions with whom I’m impressed or agree to join my network. I am able to find people within my current industry or in industries of interest to me and expand my horizons.

I actually have two twitter accounts but both are primarily used as a way to read and/or share news and blogs with others and find new people with shared interests. One I use for professional work related things and the other is mostly about the non-work things I love like the Kentucky Wildcats and classic muscle cars.

The most recent addition to my regular sites is Brazen Careerist.  Which is kind of like LinkedIn and Twitter got together and had a baby or something.  It’s great for not only sharing an idea/article/blog but discussing it as well.  Settings allow for you to have your blog and your twitter feeds display on your profile, which is a nice way to pull it all together.

Beyond those basics I’m on several other more topic specific sites and message boards.  Some are professional, like Multifamily Insiders, while others are purely recreational, like Cats Pause, but each serves a particular purpose in my online world.  How about you?  Do you use different social media sites in different ways or are they all the same to you?

You made a mistake…now what? March 9, 2010

Let’s face it, we’re all human, we all make mistakes.  It’s what you do afterwards that can make or break your business.  It’s at those times that customer service really takes center stage.  Leaving your customers with a feeling of good customer service is relatively easy when you are able to exactly meet their needs in the first interaction. 

That’s not to say that quick, mistake free service can take the place of all the other important components of customer service.  That smile is still crucial.  Minding your manners and personal attention still mean a lot.  However, even without your customer service ‘A game’ your customers are often likely satisfied if you meet all their needs the first time.  Of course, what you really want to do is not just leave them satisfied but rather blown away, which is why you can’t replace good customer service by simply meeting their needs.  But what about those times when you don’t meet their needs?  That’s when customer service really separates the success from the failure.

There is a lot of talk about customer service these days.  Just about every business mentions it in marketing and advertising.  Many larger companies will even have a ‘customer service department’ or designated ‘customer service representatives’.  Personally, I feel like everyone in the company should consider themselves customer service representatives…but that’s another topic for another time. 

For all the talk about customer service, how often do you feel like you really receive it?  Think back over the last month, can you think of any examples of either really good (or really bad) customer service?  I recently read a news article about a VP of a chain of movie theaters that replied to a complaint from a customer with an obscenity filled email.  Wow!  Now that’s really bad customer service!  While I personally have some of my own bad customer service experiences, I can’t say I have any that top that one.  I have recently had a very good customer experience, which actually followed an initial mistake on their part.

For those who don’t know me, I’m a huge college basketball fan.  Truth be told, you could probably accurately call it an obsession.  Perhaps I’m not your average girl, but for me basketball tourney time means vacation time in my world!  So My husband and I booked a travel package with an agency that included some lower level seats to the Southeastern Conference tournament and a hotel in downtown Nashville within walking distance of the arena a few months back.  The excitement has been building ever since.  Until last week when we received our travel packet from the agency that showed us in a totally different hotel that is certainly not within walking distance.

I was sure they had just sent us the wrong information and a quick phone call would clear it up.  Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, we had indeed been booked into the wrong hotel and to make matters worse this close to travel time there aren’t any hotels with available rooms in downtown Nashville.  Needless to say I was not very pleased.  It’s what the company did after that mistake that, to me, sets them apart. 

At that point they set about finding a solution and a way to somehow make it right.  They called other travelers and offered them compensation if they wished to voluntarily switch hotels.  Of course no one wanted to take them up on it for the same reason I wasn’t happy, who wants to fight finding a parking place multiple times over four days in downtown Nashville during the tournament.  After unsuccessfully trying to find someone to switch so that they could correct the mistake and give us what we expected in the first place, the VP of the company called us back. 

He apologized for the mistake, but didn’t try to make excuses for why the mistake happened.  He then told us that he felt very badly that they weren’t successful in finding us another hotel room within walking distance of the arena.  He told us that he would give us our choice of all the tickets for the event so that we would have the best seats of anyone who booked with them and overnight whichever ones we chose to us now instead of us having to go through the planned pick up process on the first day of the event.  They also gave us a significant amount of money (in the form of a American Express gift card) to cover parking or cab fare and just our own inconvenience for being several miles away.  Even though I’m still disappointed that we won’t be staying where wecan just walk back and forth like we wanted, I do feel satisfied that they provided me with excellent customer service.  I wouldn’t let that one mistake stop me from doing business with them, because I understand that mistakes happen but it’s how they handled things afterward that really speaks for how they value their customers.  They did overnight us the gift cards and the tickets we chose, just like they said they would.

The company further added to that confidence in their customer service today, a week after they knew that we were no longer angry.  How did they do that?  They followed up with us and it was obvious that they were still trying to find us a room downtown.  A representative from the company called and said that they had been notified of a possible cancellation at the original hotel and asked if we would still like to be put there if the spot did indeed open up.  We told them yes and offered to return the gift cards if they were able to get us into the original hotel but they said they would still like for us to keep them ‘for your trouble’.  Turned out later in the day that the person didn’t cancel after all, but at least I know that they are still trying to make it right even though I’m not still an in-your-face-angry customer anymore.  Now that’s customer service.  So the next time you make a mistake that affects one of your customers, ask yourself (and them) what can I do to make this right?

Lessons learned… March 4, 2010

It is said that we are the sum of our experiences. There is no area of our lives in which this is more obvious than in our professional lives. Few jobs are obtained by way of an open audition, where you simply show up and perform the job as others watch in order to demonstrate that you are capable of the job. Instead we submit applications and resumes that detail our past experiences as a way of demonstrating who we are, in a professional sense. Our job experiences can open doors for us or corner us in little niches from which it can be difficult to escape. Whichever of those situations you may be in right now, to a company for which you hope to work, you essentially are your experience as they read it on a sheet of paper.

Sometimes, however, it very well could be the experience that isn’t listed on your resume that a future employer will find the most useful if they do hire you. What is that experience? It’s the lessons learned. I recently took part in a discussion about lasting lessons from first jobs. It left me thinking about just how important that first venture into the working world really is in terms of shaping the future professional.

The first ‘lesson’ that came to my mind was the importance of ‘dressing the part’. In a way the lesson came from my mother, but it was driven home by my boss. My first job was working after-school as a teenager in a drug store. Before I set out to the local malls and shopping centers to start searching for my first job, my mother had wisely instructed me to put on a conservative and simple dress instead of the clothes that would have been considered ‘in’ at school. She told me that I wouldn’t be asking other high school students for a job, I would be asking adults for a job and that they wouldn’t be impressed by the same clothes as my friends. So off I went in my neutral colored dress and basic flat shoes and I came home with a job.

It was nearly a year later when I found out that I probably had my mom to thank for that job. One day after a particularly sloppy looking young man had stopped by the store looking for a job, my manager commented that he knew we weren’t a fancy store or anything but that the guy could have at least made an effort to look like he cared about his appearance before he came in to apply for a job representing the store. Then he told me: “That’s why I hired you, out of all the people who had stopped by that day for an application you’re the only one who wasn’t wearing blue jeans!” That’s a lesson that has stuck with me. You represent your company to those you come in contact with and companies want people who represent them well.

Way beyond the image lesson, I learned a lot of other lessons at that first job. For instance, I learned that a friendly smile and willingness to listen can go a long way with a disgruntled customer. I also learned the value of recognizing and/or greeting people by name whenever possible. (That lesson I actually learned from one of my ‘regulars’ a shoe salesman from a store in the mall who always greeted me by name as I reached for his pack of Kool Menthols before he even arrived at the counter) I learned to keep your personal life at home and not to let it follow you to work. I learned that when you’re sick, just because you feel lousy doesn’t mean you can treat people that way. I learned that the people I enjoy being friends with outside of work aren’t necessarily the people I enjoy having on my team at work. I learned that the people who were only in it for themselves and who couldn’t be depended on rarely won in the end. All of those lessons shaped the professional side of me and still benefit me today. What did YOU learn at your first job?

What motivates you? March 1, 2010

Recently while discussing a potential business opportunity with someone, I was asked a seemingly simple question. I was asked: “What motivates you?”. The answer in a nutshell is simply me. I motivate myself. What do I mean by that? Honestly, I’m extremely competitive and I don’t just mean with others, I’m extremely competitive with myself. If I’m given a goal, I don’t just want to meet it…I want to beat it, and next month I want to beat what I achieved this month. I need that personal satisfaction of beating my previous self like a junkie needs his fix. I need to be challenged. If I can do something without even having to think about it and do it perfectly everytime with no room for improvement, then I’m probably not interested in doing it. I like puzzles to figure out.

When presented with the question, I answered “gaining a sense of accomplishment”. That seemed to be the most simple way of stating it. Even after I answered and we moved on to other topics the question rolled around in my brain. The more I explored the fact that self competition is one of the best motivators for me, the more I kept thinking how beneficial it could be if all employers actually knew the real answer to that question for each of their staff members. How much easier would it be to meet business objectives if managers could use the most effective way of motivating each individual on their team?

I have one staff member who is strictly money motivated, if you dangle a possibility of a bonus of some sort out there in front of her she will run you down trying to get to that goal. I have had others in the past who were more motivated by some flexibilty, if you offered an afternoon off to whoever achieved “X” you could make a really safe bet (if you were the wagering type) that she was going to do it. I’ve worked with those who loved recognition and the more praise you gave them the more they put into their work. We all have different things that motivate us…why not use that to your business advantage? Do you know what motivates your staff? What motivates you?

Social Media…here to stay or gone tomorrow? February 27, 2010

Yesterday I decided to be nice to the rest of my office and offer to run down to the quaint little market that recently opened down the street who’s great little deli counter has fast become a favorite and pick up lunch orders for everyone. I placed all the orders, grabbed a drink for myself and headed to the small seating area to wait for the food. Finding a stool at the counter facing the street, I pulled my iPhone from my pocket as I took a sip and started scrolling though the tweets since I’d last checked. There were well over 100 and it had been less than an hour since my last quick glance. I began reading, replying and retweeting as I waited for my order to come up.

As I was switching apps from checking out my ‘business’ Twitter account on Echofon to my ‘personal’ (in other words: all about the Kentucky Wildcats) Twitter account on Twitterific, I overhear a random comment from the lady sitting at the table behind me. Before you go thinking I was listening in on someone’s lunch conversation, I really wasn’t because I was too focused on reading tweets to eavesdrop. Perhaps I heard her at that moment because I was no longer reading but just navigating between the two, who knows. I can’t even tell you a single other thing either her or the guy she was sitting with said during my ten minute wait but the tables are extremely close together and for some reason the one statement caught my attention. What did she say, you ask?

She said: “I don’t know why businesses are fooling with Social Media at all, it’s nothing more than a fad and ten years from now no one will use it and they will have invested all this money in trying to use it for marketing. I think it’s just a big waste.” I have no idea how her lunch companion responded or if she continued that train of thought further or not, after all by then I was back on Twitter. Today as I was reading a post from Terri Norvell on the Multifamily Insiders site that was titled “Social Media A Fad?”, I was reminded of that overheard comment and wondered how many people out there feel the same way as the woman in the cafe? Are you one of them? Or are you one of the many people who can’t imagine going back to a world without Twitter or Facebook to keep up with your friends, family and business acquaintances?

Personally, I think these statistics which Terri pointed out in her MFI post tell a pretty good story:

• It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners
• TV took 13 years to reach 50 million
• Internet took 4 years to get to 50 million
• Facebook…. in less than 9 months added 100 million users
• If Facebook was a country it would be the world’s 4^th largest
• And… social media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the web (so good to know!)

I can’t help but wonder what all this says for the social media doomsday predictions of the lady in the cafe. What do you think? Does your company currently use social media? Do you think they should?

If I’d have known then… February 24, 2010

First off let me say, I’m certainly not a ‘fresh out of school grad’ just beginning my professional life.  That being said, I do read a wide variety of blogs and articles dealing with business topics, some general and some which are more directly related to the industry I’m currently working in or have an interest in working in at some point in the future.  Yesterday while doing some online reading I stumbled across an article that was essentially a ‘reality check’ for new graduates.  It outlined some ideas they would need to throw out of their thinking before they began their search for their first job.  Among the misconceptions discussed were the ideas of landing your ‘dream job’ immediately upon graduation, commanding a high salary (or big title) in your first position, or that having been (insert random student leadership position here) automatically guaranteed you’d be offered whatever job you applied for, and similar youthful delusions of grandeur. 

While those are all potentially helpful to some students with little or no knowledge of the outside world, I was aware of all of those truths before I graduated.  As I pondered the implication of this article that today’s college students must be perceived as clueless dreamers if these are the kind of things that they really need to receive as advice, my mind began to wander to what sort of tips I’d include in such an article if I could go back in time and write one for my new graduate self.  My list would start off something like this:

• Unless you are just starving and simply must have a paycheck, never take a job that doesn’t either challenge you or have an opportunity for future advancement to one that will challenge you.
• Use your network, and be willing to help them as well.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want.

I’m sure there are other things that I could have benefited from being told way back then, but that’s a start to my list.  What’s your list?  What do you wish someone would have told you when you were just starting out?