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As Bob Sutton notes on his blog (where I stole this story in the first place):

Unfortunately, many professional service firms – especially those like law firms that bill by the hour – systematically weed out people who don’t think and act this way, as they are less “profitable.”

I have worked for such companies and I know that they operate just that way.

In fact, I remember a major computer company based in Houston, TX who was having a layoff. During this layoff, they forced their Professional Services managers to rank their people by billable hours. The folks with the lowest billable hours got a bonus of a nice pink slip.

The question is who really won in that situation?
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If you work for a consultancy, a lawfirm, or other similar industry, OR are out on your own and billing by the hour, there is a good chance that you’re locked up tight in the shackles of Billable Slavery.

Drs. Stanford DeVoe and Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford University explored how it affects people to bill or be paid hourly and the findings are very interesting.

I regularly do recruiting for technology consulting companies (anyone know a Microsoft BI guy or a Houston-based Sharepoint developer?), but I make sure that my candidates know what they’re getting into.

Do you? Let’s find out with the Top 10 Signs That You’re a Billable Slave!
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I just wanted to take the time to wish all the FRACAT readers a happy Easter!

There are a lot of different ways that folks celebrate Easter, including decorating eggs elaborately like the ones above. If you’re looking for egg ideas, check out Flickr where a lot of people have done some amazing things.

I was looking into the history of Easter recently and it actually gets kinda scary if you look into it. It was originally a pagan festival of fertility, death, destruction, and resurrection.

Like many pagan festivals, the early church decided to try to take this one over. So, today, you have a weird mix of eggs, pagan gods, fertility rabbits, and the resurrection of Christ. I guess we’re a little schizophrenic.

In any case, after reading all about the early Easter, I’m going to try to clean myself inside and out by taking a long, hot shower and going to church.

And then look for Easter eggs with my girls.

So, just for a weekend, forget about job stuff and have a great Easter with your family and friends.


Enjoy the Easter Weekend!

Dan


Photo by: spali

I was rereading Jason Alba talking about his experience with recruiters and was reminded yet again of things that I need to make clear.

The laundry list below doesn’t just apply to me, but most recruiters as well. If you’re going to get along with recruiters and use them to improve your career, these are the things that you need to know.

DISCLAIMER: This is harsh, unadulterated, unaltered truth. It often isn’t pretty, but I’d rather you have the truth and be hurt (but successful) than not know the truth and feel good about yourself (while unemployed).

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Over at Cheezehead, I was reading about whether Jobster is on the way down the tubes and if Jason Goldberg was to blame.

It all reminded me of the dotcom era and all of the fast-growing, highly funded startups we had. There’s nothing wrong with these kinds of companies as long as you know what you’re getting into.

While they’ve sold you on “the next thing” and “a company of millionaires”, it’s probably not going to happen. But it sure is a fun ride!

Below is my Timeline of a High Flier that applies to 90% of startups, both then and now. Take a look and see where your company is. Not because you want to leave. Because you’ll want to be prepared to leave when the time comes.

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I think one of the best things in life is working from home. Even before I went off on my own, I had a home office for my previous corporate jobs.

I currently have 3 girls at home, but I probably worked more from home than I could ever have done at the office.

Many people with children at home will be scared into the office by the prospect of those children interrupting important business. Let me be the one to expose that lie: I don’t care how many children you have, they will interrupt less than your co-workers in the average office!

While there are many upsides to working from home, there is one significant downside: You won’t be promoted.

Let’s talk about the reasons for this and, perhaps, what you can do about it.
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For those of you who haven’t been looking for a job, you’ve missed the lucrative late year hiring that goes on every year. As reported over on Six Degrees from Dave, there were about 167,000 jobs added in December.

And before you start whining to me about, “Yeah, Dan, but they were low-paying jobs! Nobody is making any good jobs! The economy sucks and the world is coming to an end!”, don’t.

Here are the facts:

1. The U.S. is at Full Employment - Generally speaking, below 5% unemployment is considered “full employment” because some people aren’t looking, some are students, some have left the job market to have babies, etc.
2. The U.S. Economy Continues To Grow - Whatever your opinion about the economy has been in the past, there is no way to deny the strength of the economy today. It has been growing since 9/11 and sometime over the last 2-3 years (depending on who you ask), it has become the strongest economy ever.

   Yes, including the peak of the dot com era.

3. Any Added Jobs At Any Level Are Good News For You - Since we’re at full employment and the economy is growing, any added jobs means that there is increasing competition for employees. Increased competition for employees means that wages and benefits start rising.
4. It Is Now a Choice To Be Unemployed - Yes, this is rather harsh. But it’s also true. If you can’t get a job now, you either aren’t really trying or you need new skills.

   If it’s the latter, get the job you canget (which won’t be your dream job) and go to school to get the skills you need.

5. Now Is The Time To Figure Out What Your Dream Job Is - Since the clamoring for good employees is going to get worse (or better, if you’re a candidate) from here, you need to sit down and decide what your dream job is.

   Work from home? Located in Katmandu? Whatever it is, figure it out. There’s going to be a bunch of headhunters like me coming your way and if you can tell them exactly what you’re looking for, there’s a good chance you’ll get it!

A large part of success is being at the right place at the right time. Now is the right time. Do what it takes to be in the right place.


Enjoy the Search!

-Dan
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Daniel R. Sweet
Owner / Author / Chief Cook-And-Bottle-Washer
FRACAT.com - Free Resume and Career Toolbox
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielrsweet
Call Me On Jaxter: http://www.jaxtr.com/fracat

Photo by: cell105

So, here we are at the conclusion of Crawl Around Inside The Boss’ Head Week.

But we still haven’t gotten to the really positive steps that you can take to get that raise and get that promotion.

So, as our final day in Climbing Around Inside The Bosses Head Week, let’s see what the boss is looking for to promote.

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At this point in Crawling Around Inside The Boss’ Head Week many of you are saying, “But you don’t know what my boss puts me through!”

I have had and heard about some of the worst bosses in the world. And I know the drive that many workers have to expose / get rid of their bad boss.

But I’m here to tell you something a little counter-intuitive: The best thing to do with an empty-headed boss is to make him look good.

Allow me to explain.
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For those of you who have just joined us, this week we’re Crawling Around Inside The Boss’ Head to improve our careers.

On Day 1, we learned about Crawling 101

Yesterday, Day 2, we read about what an example of NOT being inside the boss’ head looks like.

As we crawl around inside several bosses’ heads, you’ll notice something similar: Any “Boss Man” that has been the boss for more than a month has stereotypes of employees that cause him the most trouble.

He probably even makes fun of anyone who looks like those stereotypes when you’re not around. And, generally speaking, being made fun of by the boss is a poor career development strategy.

So today, we’re going to talk about The People You Meet Inside Your Boss’ Head.

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