1 Great Article

Wow, what a great read. Not only does this article apply to our community, but it applies to anyone with a job.

Every one of the techniques mentioned is a great way to evaluate where you are, what you’re doing and if a job is right for you.

In my opinion it’s always better to leave a job a year early than a year late. You’ll have less stress, won’t be rushing into another job, and you’ll be more apt to leave on good terms.

As much as most people hate changing jobs, it’s usually a fact of life; and when it’s time, it’s time. Constantly evaluating your situation will give you assurance that you’re where you want to be, but will also throw up red flags when you’re not where you want to be.

thanks for writing Keith

my2cents

posted at 04:21 pm on May 20, 2008 by Tim Wright

2 Don't forget about internal change ...

I was surprised not to see one of the more obvious responses to finding yourself acting outside your job description: change the environment you are in until you are doing what you want to be doing.

Organisations are just groups of people – they can be analysed and influenced over time, just as other groups of people can be. If you find that you’re working with inadequate authority, become a recognised expert within your group, and eventually the formal authority will follow (or not – sometimes it’s more useful to be the informal team leader than to be the boss.) If you are working with inadequate tools, change the organisational culture until your preferred tools and philosophies win out.

Of course, such organisational change from within takes exactly the same skills that it takes to manage the change of any client. You must document, plan, organise and lead, often with considerable patience. It will take every ounce of your project and time management skills to succeed, because internal culture and distractions can easily sidetrack you. But in the end, internal reform can be much more rewarding than client work, in part because you will know that you’ve created an environment that will be, with luck, more humane, organised, fun, task-driven (insert your goal here) than the one you found yourself in. Such a change will help lots of other people accomplish their goals as well, even if they’re not as motivated as you are to change things.

posted at 04:24 pm on May 20, 2008 by Breandán Knowlton

3 Discussing Salary

I have to say that at least in the case of the full time employee I completely disagree with the idea that you shouldn’t discuss your salary with your coworkers. There are tactful and tactless ways to bring it up, but having that data helps to prevent employers from making unfair hiring practices, lets younger employees understand what they’re worth, and in general keeps things honest.

I’ve always felt the “don’t talk about your salary” line was one propagated by employers to keep employees from organizing, and still don’t see any reason why that data should be private.

posted at 05:39 pm on May 20, 2008 by Anders Conbere

4 Interal and Salary

Brendan:

You are on target. The internal change can happen if you start in your “circle of influence” and are effective as a manager (whether that be time, project or creative). Even when behemoth organizations aren’t ready to accept what they’ve done to an employee or contractor, it’s extremely rewarding to positively affect the environment; especially if it helps you do your job.

Anders:

I speak only for myself when I say this, but I have so many bad experiences as a staff manager that when the discussion of salary comes up it gives me the willies (no offense intended to anyone named Willie).

When I was a young employee, I probably felt as you did regarding how powerful it can be to have knowledge about the financial environment. As I went on in years, I realized that it actually hurts negotiations and can actually cause a manager to focus on something negative (“this person just wants more money…”) rather than a positive (“this person is tremendous and probably deserves an increase”).

Just my take.

posted at 06:39 pm on May 20, 2008 by Keith LaFerriere

5 Use your "brand" value wisely

Don’t forget that when you get hired the employer has usually conducted an extensive search and decided to hire YOU.use this position to your advantage. Establish yourself early as the internal “expert” and coworkers will continue to think of you that way well after the honeymoon phase is over.

Make sure you don’t stop there. Keep learning and pushing new ideas forward from the start. Once people expect this behavior it won’t come as a surprise when you come to them with your opinion or suggestions.

posted at 06:44 pm on May 20, 2008 by Sean Landry

6 Untitled

I can imagine it was a tough decision to either stay working in a position that in the first instant did not felt good. But in every situation it matters what you make of it. And as you said; the experience of working with a company is valuable because it helps you understand how companies work and the mechanics that influence decision making.

posted at 01:17 am on May 21, 2008 by niels goos

7 Discussing Salary

This is a topic that raises strong feelings for me. Although I’ve had some wonderful jobs and managers where I felt I was getting paid fairly, I’ve also had the opposite. The last case was where I and the other female designer discovered that we were making considerably less than our male counterparts. Not surprisingly, shortly afterwards all the females at that company left except for a lone accountant who is currently pursuing other job leads.

This leads me to thinking, would I have been happier if I had not known? I can honestly say no, because management was terrible to begin with and I wouldn’t have remained in a job I didn’t like regardless of pay. It just irks me that we were paid less. But at the end of the day, I think that current employees have much more freedom to switch jobs than previous generations and if someone thinks that they’re underpaid or unappreciated they have the opportunity to go somewhere else.

posted at 07:48 am on May 21, 2008 by ericka wright

8 Completely agree

I have been a manager for over 20 years and I couldn’t agree more with what Keith had to say in this piece. Too often do situations surrounding conflict between job description and actual tasks happen where no one (even a manager) can fix it. The employee or contractor should be aware of their surroundings and adjust to it.

On salary, it’s always been a hot topic and I think that while there may be times when sharing a salary with a coworker seems beneficial, it almost always ends up creating problems. It’s personal data. Share it if you want, but it certainly isn’t wise to openly discuss it.

posted at 02:37 pm on May 21, 2008 by Jim Schuk

9 Insightful, Relevant, Well-Written

Thanks for a great article. This addresses quite accurately a current situation I have with a client. This has proven to be a worthwhile read.

posted at 07:31 pm on May 21, 2008 by Kyle Hayes

10 The flip-side

The flip-side of not doing what you were hired to do is the opportunity to grow and expand your skill set. Being an expert in one area is great, but being versatile gives you the upper hand. Showing willingness to take on new responsibilities outside your comfort zone is invaluable. Versatility is key in a competitive job market.

posted at 08:15 pm on May 21, 2008 by John K