St Cajetan's Job Hunting Workshop

Big pay rise

2005-08-30T10:06:00.000Z

Has anyone else tried a search for the phrase 'big pay rise' in Google? Here, I've done it for you: big pay rise

Is it just me or are the results a bit, well, iffy? They all seem to be either:
(a) this group deserves a big pay rise because they are underpaid and do great things for the community (nurses, teachers), or...
(b) this group demands huge pay rises because they have the power of collective bargaining (any unionised and militant trade), or...
(c) these people have got huge pay-rises they just don't deserve ('fat cat' bosses, actors/actresses)

But none of them are, hey, this guy has got a huge rise, wasn't underpaid before, but deserves it because they do a good job. It's almost as if there is some sort of snobbery about salary, that you can earn too much.

I noticed it when I was looking through jobs that I had/hadn't considered applying for. I realised that I had set a salary factor sub-consciously. Whenever I looked at the advert I would have, in my own mind, a salary increase of about 8-9%. If it was higher I wouldn't consider the job, even if I was a perfect match for the spec because something inside me was saying "uh-oh, that's too much money, you aren't worth that, they want someone better."

In fact, reading through the specs of jobs I've not applied for I've missed some really great numbers because I was applying for a salary match rather than an ability match.

That changes this week... I'm going to apply for a job that would give me a humongous pay rise.

What a spreadsheet

2005-08-16T20:57:00.000Z

Lifehacker comes up with the goods again with their download of the day - The Job Search Spreadsheet courtesy of Work Magazine.

Cool, except clearly intended for the US market (hey, that's where everyone who reads this is!) and doesn't work for those of us with Mac OS.

But it did start me thinking that I don't log jobs I look at and consider. Hell, I don't even log jobs I apply for. I simply do the usual trick of looking on websites, putting my name around and networking and making sure headhunters know I could be available. When something comes up I go for it, see what happens, and move on according to the result.

Yet, given all I've been writing about assessing jobs, talents, desires, etc. surely I should be logging the jobs I apply for (or even strongly consider) to look for trends in employers, titles, descriptions, compensation, availability. You never know, the patterns that development might point to my dream job!

When is good good enough? Toss a coin

2005-08-15T12:46:00.000Z

Another thought provoked by Worthwhile mag - this time by their Thought for the Day which gives eight rules to live by, seven essentially involving research, commitment and patience - the eighth being a telling

Then, finally, break free from the seductive pull of book learning and research and the million other preparatory steps that could delay for the entire span of a life and immerse yourself in the doing.

And therein, lies the problem.

I'm currently spending a lot of time thinking and researching about my career. I'll be quite honest, at the moment I'm still thinking about my current job and trying to learn all I can about it and my attitude and thoughts towards it. From there I'm planning on thinking about what I want to do and after that start applying (there is some action, I applied for a job that was too good to miss the other day).

However, when does research and careful planning become mere procrastination? Assuming you can never have total knowledge of the job market or (assuming you are continually developing) your skills when do you decide it's time to make the leap and, that you are confident enough to start dipping your toe into the water with a view to taking the plunge - if you forgive the extended metaphor?

This, again, is something I'd thought long and hard about. And, realising there is no hard and fast rule, developed the very simple approach of tossing a coin to make the decision.

The secret is not to abide by the coin's result, but to take careful note of how you feel about the result.

Try it. Boil a major decision you are undecided about down to a simple yes/no or heads/tails answer. Flip that coin and then base your actual decision on whether your heart lifts or sinks when you see the result.

I've gone with this on a lot of major choices I was internally debating, and have never regretted a choice yet.

Dream jobs

2005-08-11T21:51:00.000Z

Wortwhile Mag provides a list of the top ten dream jobs for children and adults.

TOP 10 DREAM JOBS FOR KIDS

1) Doctor/Nurse
2) Vet
3) Footballer
4) Teacher
5) Actor/Movie Star
6) Writer
7) Dancer/Ballerina
8) Pilot
9) Pop Star
10) Astronaut

TOP 10 DREAM JOBS FOR ADULTS

1) Writer
2) Teacher
3) Landscape Gardener
4) Paramedic
5) Photographer
6) Police Officer
7) Physiotherapist
8) Movie Director
9) Restaurant Owner
10) Musician

What is absolutely fascinating is that all the adult jobs are either service orientated or creative. But what portion of the job market is falls into those two categories?

Too clever by half...?

2005-08-10T09:12:00.000Z

The Guardian's website has a rather fun little test that supposedly matches your IQ against your salary and calculates whether you are paid too much or too little for your brains.

I'm not sure whether I'm boasting that I've a really high IQ or mourning a crappy salary, but quickly doing the test resulted in:

You got 24 questions right out of a possible 25. This gives you a cash/cleverness coefficient of...

13
Wow. Your IQ is as far above the average for your salary level as the scale permits. What are you doing with your life?

Damn. What was 25???

Of course, the test isn't that accurate, and salary is not an indicator of job satifisfaction - but assuming that salary has a broad relationship to the challenge and stimulation of a job, and that IQ has a broad relationship to the need for challenge and stimulation it does rather suggest something has to change, and I suspect many will get the same result.

What's my motivation?

2005-08-09T12:48:00.000Z

How many ways can I answer that? Or how many ways can't I?

The reason I started this blog, and, I assume, the reason you are reading it, is because of a vague, ill-defined, discontent with our current jobs or careers. And therein, for so many, lies the problem. How do we go about defining the discontent?

And oddly that is something I've never seen addressed on any job related website. Instead of addressing the issue of why you want to change careers or move jobs they seem to jump right into job search strategies or CV hints and tips, as if you already know what to avoid. Just try typing "career assessment" in to Google (in fact, I've done it for you - career assessment) and the common thread from the results is that (a) they want to part you from your money and (b) they are all concentrating on the next step, rather than the direction of your last step.

But if you know what to avoid how come you are in the job you are in now?

Someone's ideal job?

2005-08-09T08:05:00.000Z

I've grown disillusioned with job sites recently (which is disappointing for someone who hoped to confine their job-hunting to standard working hours - more specifically, his employer's standard working hours) but came across this (via SlackerManager):

BOOK PUBLICITY GIMMICK. Looking for a professional businessman to runthroughout downtown D.C., Dupont Circle and Georgetown with a toilet seaton his head, preferably during hot weather. Job entails dressingprofessionally and handing
out toilet paper to interested residents. Jobwill pay 35 dollars, or 7 dollars
an hour, for one afternoon's worth of work.

I need to check the relocation benefits I guess.

Interested? Pop along to the Craig's List ad

Fate... although a day late

2005-08-08T15:44:00.000Z

I've been thinking about my 'career' for a while.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my job, I don't spend every moment cursing my boss or my staff under my breath (although I have been in jobs where I have) but I am feeling that there's something missing, something else I could be doing - something else I should be doing.

...and I wanted to have a blog.

So here we are, I'm blogging about my job hunting, but more generally I'm blogging about job hunting. I did a quick search on the internet and couldn't find anything similar - so this serves two purposes. The first, purely egotistically, as a personal presence on the internet. The second, more altruistically, as a resource for anyone else going through the same process. If it is helpful, let me know. If it isn't helpful, let me know. If someone else is doing it better, then you may as well put me out of my misery as well.

And the name? Well, I wanted something unique but meaningful, and a search revealed that St Cajetan is the patron saint of job-hunters, not only that but his saint day was yesterday. I'm not religious but couldn't ignore a coincidence like that - I mean, how often do you realise you missed a saint's day by 24 hours?