Business (or Professional) Advice Offer!?

[MarshalStealth]

In our current settings of economic uncertainty, what profound business (or professional) advice could you offer to the various members and the myriad of visitors of YW?

[drydem]

Economic instablity can bring trouble but it can also bring opportunity.

Economic values are based on intrinsic/physical or virtual needs.

Intrinsic/physical needs are grounded in physical world needs.
Virtual needs are those that are based on non-physical world needs.

physical world need evaluations are objective in nature.
nonphysical world need evaluations are subjective in nature.

economic = symbotic relationships.

[MarshalStealth]

/// "THE MERCENARY'S 10 COMMANDMENTS"

I remembered this interesting note from the S/F Examiner (06.21.91), ran a back search and found it.

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[The following words of advice were submitted anonymously by an Apple employee to Denise Caruso's _San Francisco Examiner_ "Inside Technology" column at the time of Apple's last major layoff, back in 1991, when 1,500 were let-go. -Ed.]

"The Mercenary's 10 Commandments"

1. Never forget that taking a new job means auctioning your services off to the highest bidder. Although money is not the only thing of value in the auction, it is the most important.

2. Loyalty and bitterness are manifestations of the same obsolete emotion, at least in the context of the job market. Never do anything based on either - do what is in your interest.

3. Take new job assignments based on how much they will add to your value and flexibility on the job market. If your employer attempts to force you to do work that is inconsistent with career advancement, leave. Try to leave on good terms, but leave.

4. Network as much as possible with co-workers, be they peers, supervisors or subordinates. Contacts and good local references are very important things in finding a new job, nearly as important as your qualifications.

5. Save your money. Corporations love employees who can't afford to do what they want to do, rather than what the corporation wants them to do. And don't be too quick to buy a house. If you wouldn't be able to take at least a 10 percent loss on the house in order to move for a new job, you're making yourself a slave to your house, and probably to your employer.

6. Don't be afraid of temporary work. If you have 10 or more years of good technical experience, have kept up with the field and haven't burned out, then you're probably contributing more of value to the company than your boss. The only way to get what you're worth is as a temp (a.k.a "consultant").

7. Be optimistic in selling yourself in interviews. If you have some background in a particular specialty, don't be afraid to talk it up aggressively. Your responsibility is to tell them what you know; it's their responsibility to find out what your limits are.

8. Specialize, but don't over-specialize; you should have at least two specialty areas that you could sell to a potential employer. Job seekers who are "willing to do anything" go to the bottom of the resume pile, along with the people with obsolete specialties.

9. Expect to be lied to. Our economic system provides powerful incentives for corporations, especially small ones, to lie to their employees.

10. Above all, remember that there is no such thing as a permanent job. Job security means being able to get a new one.

Read, review and reflect.

[LaiSteve66]

1. Never forget that taking a new job means auctioning your services off to the highest bidder. Although money is not the only thing of value in the auction, it is the most important.

I'm not sure I totally agree with this one. I turned down a more lucrative offer with a great industry company to go into consulting as my first job out of college and it turned out to be one of the best things I ever did.