March 29, 2007 4:55
Think Your Job Is Tough? Try Being a Pastor's Wife
In this week's TIME magazine, I write about pastors' wives in an article titled "What God Joined Together." You may not think of this as a workplace topic; in fact, it runs under the "religion" section banner. But make no mistake, being the wife of a minister is a job--and a doozy of one at that. The story begins:
HELP WANTED: Pastor's wife. Must sing, play music, lead youth groups, raise seraphic children, entertain church notables, minister to other wives, have ability to recite Bible backward and choreograph Christmas pageant. Must keep pastor sated, peaceful and out of trouble. Difficult colleagues, demanding customers, erratic hours. Pay: $0.
The story continues,
The basic job description for pastors' wives hasn't changed in a century. But pastors' wives have. The rise of megachurches, dual-career couples and women's independence have complicated the role and in some cases intensified the frustrations. A recent spate of scandals involving prominent pastors has underscored the challenges their wives face. Eight in 10 pastors' wives say they feel unappreciated or unaccepted by their husbands' congregations, according to surveys by the Global Pastors Wives Network (GPWN); the same number wish their husbands would choose another profession. "Wives' issues" is the No. 1 reason pastors leave their ministries. The divorce rate among ministers and their wives is 50%, no better than that of the general public.
In recent years, pastors' wives have found a place to vent. PWs (in electronic shorthand) from Fargo to Fiji reach out to and support one another in lively fellowship via Web-based networks, blogs and online discussion forums. On websites like PastorsWives.org SarahsTent.com and GPWN.tv, they share their thoughts on topics of unique interest, from the banal (recipe ideas for a mother-daughter prayer brunch) to the intimate (how to confront a pastor husband who is addicted to porn). When a Seattle pastor blogged that Ted Haggard's wife was to blame for his infidelity, PW chat boards lit up in her defense.
Curious about life as a pastor's wife? Or perhaps you're a pastor's wife eager for Internet connections? Following is a guide to the online networks and blogs I reported on in the story.
PASTOR'S WIFE WEB SITES
GPWN.tv
This is the web site of the Global Pastors Wives Network. The web site, launched last September, features lots of video clips instructing pastors' wives on dealing with issues unique to them--such as how to build a youth ministry, raising children in a pastor's household, and facing marital issues.
PastorsWives.org
This lively, extensive and popular site features message boards, lessons on how to prepare a devotional, a section on "marriage matters" that includes an article on how to confront a pastor husband who is addicted to porn, and, of course, recipes.
Love, Life and Living Ministries
Stephanie Elzy, the wife of a former pastor, runs this web site for other FPWs--be they divorced from pastors, widowed, or married to men who are no longer pastors. She and her husband Rod also offer marital counseling to pastors' wives and FPWs.
Stephanie Elzy, FPW and creator of Love, Life and Living Ministries. / Photo courtesy of Stephanie Elzy
PastorsWife.com
Idaho PW Janice Hildreth runs this fun, sweet site. She writes: "I, no doubt, have a lot in common with you. I took a job for which I was woefully unprepared and have fashioned it into a life I love." I interviewed Janice and will post her very interesting experiences later.
LoisEvans.org
Lois Evans, a prominent PW based in Dallas, holds forth here. The site and her efforts seem to focus on "senior" PWs, or those with experience in their roles whose husbands lead large congregations.
Family in Focus
This is a collection of articles helpful to pastors' wives from the satellite site of the Denver-based Christian support group, Family in Focus.
SarahsTent.com
Here's a site founded way back in 1997 by illustrator Shannon Parish. She writes: "As a wife we often fall between the cracks, have hurts and struggles and unrealistic expectations put upon us that only another pastor's wife could understand and other women would never dream of! After all...Who better to share our experiences, cry, laugh, vent, pray and encourage, than other Ministers' Wives?" Sarah's Tent is "a ministry devoted to gathering together God's silent warriors, the wives of pastors and ministers of all denominations and cultural backgrounds, as well as their families, for fellowship, support, laughter and prayer."
PastorsWife.net
Like its name, this is a simple, sweet site with recipes for entertaining and ideas for banquet themes.
PASTOR'S WIFE BLOGS [Lisa's favorites]
Not Your Typical Pastor's Wife
I love this blog by Amy Andrews, whose intro to her site, WithPurpose.com, reads: "I'm Amy. I've got issues. And I'm the pastor's wife." She blogs with honesty and believability about issues big and small from her post in Rochester, N.Y.
Not your typical pastor's wife: blogger Amy Andrews. / Photo courtesy of Amy Andrews
Rebellious Pastor's Wife
PW Lora Horn blogs here from her lonely post in rural Garrett, Ind. She's a homeschooling mom (as is Amy Andrews) with deep, complicated thoughts about faith, knitting and baseball.
March 29, 2007 3:11
Working Parents in Germany Struggle With Childcare, Too
I always envied those lucky working stiffs over in Europe, with their luxurious pensions and endless holidays and unthinkably generous maternity leaves. It turns out it's not so easy across the pond, either. Knowledge@Wharton, the excellent online magazine by the Wharton Business School, reports in an article today that though German employers do indeed offer admirable childcare policies, working parents can't take advantage of them. Why? A few reasons:
• There's very little paid childcare available.
• German society still frowns on women who stray from their traditional roles, which center on "kinder, küche und kirche"--children, kitchen and church.
• German schools apparently let out at noon.
According to Wharton:
The lack of an extensive day-care infrastructure is partly due to the government itself, according to Katja Seim, a German native and professor of business and public policy at Wharton. "Until very recently, German laws were geared to enabling women to stay home with more children for extensive periods of time at the expense of having a widespread day-care system for young children. Statistics show that fertility is lowest among college graduates. The opportunity cost of being a working mother is high."
To her credit, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who doesn't have kids, has made access to childcare an issue. Of course, her hand is kind of forced: Germany has suffered a swooning birth rate since the 1960s. The government launched a program this year that offers financial incentives to encourage working women to bear children.
Interestingly, the biggest problem employers face isn't retaining their child-bearing employees--it's getting them back to the office. Because there's so little childcare available, many parents are forced to take long, unpaid leaves to stay home and raise their kids--while holding on to their jobs in absentia.
Overall, corporations have a difficult time keeping mothers on their staffs--due in part, ironically, to generous government programs for parents. "In post-industrial societies such as Germany, we do see that some women and men freely choose to take time out for their kids, particularly if their financial situation allows it," notes Hoegl. "This is further supported by long-standing laws on unpaid maternity leave and by guaranteeing the job of employees for quite some time after childbirth. Taken together, all of this makes it tougher for companies in Germany to keep highly productive female employees on their staff as they start to have families."
Any European readers out there? Tell us what your experience is.
March 26, 2007 3:33
Daycare Is a) Good, b) Bad, c) Necessary
My mornings are a blur of diapers and sippy cups and tupperware tins of strawberries and meatballs packed in a ladybug backpack. In other words, I'm readying my kid for her day at daycare. So it was with approximately 7% focus that I saw this headline in my local paper:
"Poor Behavior Is Linked to Time in Day Care"
Great. Just great. And good morning to you, you ink-stained piece of bird-cage lining.
The good news continued:
A report from the largest, longest-running study of American child care has found that keeping a preschooler in a day care center a year or more increased the likelihood that the child would become disruptive in class--and that the effect persisted through sixth grade. The finding held up regardless of the child's sex or family income, or the quality of the day care center.
My husband likes to blare news radio in the bathroom, and as I walked past, I heard this snippet:
"...and more good news for working parents: children in daycare were also found to have higher vocabulary scores."
Hah? Could it be two studies were released the same day--one pro-daycare, one anti?
No. It turns out both news items referred to the same study, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. The study's web site says it tracked about 1,300 children--some who stayed home with a parent, others cared for by a nanny or a relative, still others attending a day care center. It followed the subjects through phases, including when they reached school, where it relied on teacher ratings to assess behaviors.
I haven't slogged through the whole study yet, but as far as I can tell, the results were fairly mixed. That became clear upon reading the newspaper story, too; in fact, in paragraph two, it read,
The effect was slight, and well within the normal range for healthy children, the researchers found. And as expected, parents’ guidance and their genes had by far the strongest influence on how children behaved.
The study came up in our morning meeting, where one of my editors expressed frustration with the media's dramatic interpretation of the study. (That's right--we in the media can gripe about "the media" too.)
Back at my desk, I Googled "daycare study," and found this headline, from The Telegraph in the U.K.:
"Babies thrive in formal child care"
Oh, come on, now. This actually was a different study, conducted in England released just a few weeks ago. The story says:
Babies who attend formal child care, such as day nurseries, at the tender age of nine months are better behaved and less likely to experience a wide range of developmental problems at the age of three than the average child, according to new Government-funded research today.
The findings, in The State of the Modern Family report, will come as a relief to thousands of middle-class mothers who use nurseries within a year of giving birth so they can return to work. There are now more than 500,000 children in group day care.
The U.K.'s so-called Sure Start program apparently is pushing for more day-care centers; the number of families using formal child care there has jumped from 31% in 2001 to 41% in 2004.
I don't know about you, but I've had it. Stop telling me the way I raise my baby sucks when I don't have another alternative. Stop attacking me with your opinions on breastfeeding, potty training and appropriate levels of Dora the Explorer consumption. Stop it--just stop it with these ulcer-triggering studies that just make me want to karate chop the authors. I'm not frontin'. I'm a brown belt, you know. I'd have my black belt by now if I weren't rushing from office to home to raise and support my family.
We've got to do something, working moms and dads. Stage a rally, maybe. Preferably a sit-in, with decaf and donuts. Are you with me?
March 23, 2007 2:41
In Defense of Office A**holes
My brother George is a popular guy. In high school, he was the jock with the pretty girlfriend who could also hang with the dorks. In college, he was the life of the rowdiest (and filthiest) frat house. This natural likability extended, naturally, to the workplace. Despite atrocious grades (the second lowest in the history of Villanova, or so the lore goes), he somehow scored a career in the shark-eat-snake world of bonds.
Everybody loves George. So we always assumed he was the office sweetheart. We'd hear him on the phone to clients, all buddy-buddy with the people whose millions depended on his buys and sells. Colleagues and their families were always over for barbecues.
So we were shocked to hear the story of the picture frame.
It happened one day as George was handling a sensitive trade. A colleague misread some numbers and gave him an erroneous quote. When George discovered the error, he fixed it before it ruined the trade--then he hurled a Nerf ball across the bullpen at the guy. It missed him but hit a picture frame on his desk, the one enshrining his family. The frame shattered.
George is not an asshole. But that day, he was, without question, an office asshole.
In this week's TIME, I wrote about the No Asshole Rule. It's a hot management topic that's also the title of a terrific book currently riding business bestseller lists, written by the equally terrific Stanford professor and organizational psychologist, Robert Sutton.
Bob Sutton, author of The No Asshole Rule. / Photo courtesy of Bob Sutton
Much as I liked and admired the good professor's work, I admit to you that I pitched the story in no small part to see if I could get the word "asshole" in TIME magazine. And I admit to you that I continue to blog about it to milk--and test--our apparent newfound corporate comfort with epithets.
After reading the book in one sitting (it's a perfect airplane read, if you can stomach the grandma peering at the title from across the aisle), I found myself thinking about the office assholes in my life. There've been a few. There was that cold-eyed recruiter who bait-and-switched me into taking a job that couldn't have been more ill-suited. There was that trio of frat boys who ran their newspaper group like a roadside prison work gang. There was that friendly colleague who deeply enjoyed outing my freelance work to our boss.
Because we come to know our colleagues, bosses and clients in only one setting, our understanding of them is also two-dimensional. I wasted plenty of hours seething over their assholeyness. But that backstabbing colleague, those frat monkeys and the snakey recruiter are somebody's family, too.
What I mean to say is that my brother George is not an asshole. He may have behaved that way in the office that day, and maybe even altered one colleague's perception of him irreparably. But in most other contexts, he's a really good guy.
The office assholes I've known are probably not the spawn of Satan, either.
I'm not condoning asshole behavior at work--far from it. But I am saying that we ought to look beyond the behavior at the person. That's not always easy, or even possible, in a workplace setting.
I'll tell you where to start: by reading Sutton's book. It's a window into the minds and workings of office assholes. Even Nerf-throwing jerkwads can use a little understanding. (Self understanding, of course, being the most important kind. I'm giving my brother a copy. Oh, and a post-script: after breaking the frame, George went out at lunch and bought his colleague a new one. See? None of us are all asshole all the time.)
March 23, 2007 10:28
One Reader Juggles Work and Life With the "Four Ps"
Reader Anne Witkavitch writes in a comment to a previous posting about the valuable commodity that is time:
As one who is juggling family, career, and graduate school pursuing my dream to write and publish, I hear the same comment over and over again: “I don't know how you do it.”I cringe each time I hear this phrase. Although it's meant as a compliment, what bothers me most is the implication that this special talent comes naturally, easily, and with no sacrifice or price to pay.
Time management and work/life balance is all about what's important to us and how that ties into the choices we make. It's about the 4 Ps--purpose, passion, priorities, plan. Understanding our purpose--or why we do what we do--correlates to our passions, the things we are just plain crazy about. From there, we can better prioritize all of the things that bombard us in our lives--papers due, project deadlines, meetings, school plays. And once priorities are clear, we can structure a plan to stay focused to ensure that we meet our goals.
Having the 4 Ps down pat helps take the stress out of work/life balance because we're not trying to do everything--just the things that matter most.
March 22, 2007 12:14
What Would Happen If You Mucked Up at the Office?
My friend Simon Robinson, our esteemed South Asia bureau chief, sent me this story. He wrote:
What should you do when you make a mistake--a genuine mistake--that impacts your company in a minor (or major--read below!) way? I assume you should take the route my three-year-old does and 'fess up with the line, "It was an accident!" Pretty hard to be angry with her when she's so honest. Sounds as if the Alaska Department of Revenue handled this pretty well, and the fact that they didn't blame anyone must have morale up there. But would that happen in the private sector?
Great question. Here's the story, from the AP:
Perhaps you know that sinking feeling when a single keystroke accidentally destroys hours of work. Now imagine wiping out a disk drive containing information for an account worth $38 billion.
That's what happened to a computer technician reformatting a disk drive at the Alaska Department of Revenue. While doing routine maintenance work, the technician accidentally deleted applicant information for an oil-funded account--one of Alaska residents' biggest perks--and mistakenly reformatted the backup drive, as well.There was still hope, until the department discovered its third line of defence, backup tapes, were unreadable.
Panic alights! Hysteria ensues! Blame abounds! ...is what you'd think would happen. But no. Instead, the unit reportedly went into disaster mode, calling up seasonal staff and outside consultants to retrieve mountains of information. The only backup was apparently stored in 300-plus cardboard boxes.
Not even the big boss melted down:
Former Revenue Commissioner Bill Corbus said no one was ever blamed for the incident. "Everybody felt very bad about it and we all learned a lesson. There was no witch hunt," Corbus said.
And here's the kicker: thanks to the code-blue incident, the department now has a rock-solid backup procedure.
In trying to relate this to my job, I tried to imagine what would happen if I, say, somehow found and pressed the one button that would erase an entire issue of TIME magazine from the computer systems before it went to press. I think before anyone threatened me with anything, I would just die from the guilt. I'd have to kill myself. Not to make light of suicide. But really. I'd never get over it.
The lesson in this Alaskan debacle is that one employee can cause a whole lot of damage to an organization. But if the organization is healthy, cohesive and has the will, it can right almost any disaster.
Right, boss?
March 20, 2007 5:00
Never Staple Your Resume, and Other Sins of the Job Hunt
I recently attended a job fair. Not because I was looking for work; I am, as of 4:19 p.m. on March 20, 2007, still, to my knowledge, employed. I went on assignment to talk to a particular set of jobseekers. I can't tell you who just yet--not until my story meets its usual fate, bludgeoned to a mangy pulp and left for dead in the morgue we keep here at TIME for stories that never see the light of print.
But I thought to mention the job fair because one jobseeker I interviewed proudly handed me her résumé, the first she'd written perhaps ever.
As you might guess, there was a lot I could fault in that résumé. The thing that jumped out at me, though, was the staple.
That's right. This eager, talented and experienced jobseeker had committed the cardinal sin of the job hunt: she'd submitted a two-page résumé.
If I could figure out how to do audio on this blog, this is where I'd enter a horror-movie shriek. I'll substitute text: AIIEEEEEE!
Hm. Not quite the same effect.
Anyway, imagine my surprise when I opened my e-mail this morning to read this release from staffing company Accountemps: "Survey Shows Longer Resumes Becoming More Acceptable."
While more than half (52%) of executives polled believe a single page is the ideal length for a staff-level resume, 44% said they prefer two pages.
What? They prefer two pages?!
I just don't buy it. Not that I don't buy the study; it was a national poll of 150 senior execs at some of the country's largest companies, and I'm sure the results are above board and all that. What I don't buy is that the two-page CV is preferable to the single pager. Now, I'm not a recruiter or even in a position to hire. But I do know from lots and lots of experience that it's much harder to write short than long--and, invariably, writing shorter produces better results.
Uh oh. I think I'm having a deep thought. Allow me to try it out: what is a résumé, anyway, but a list of accomplishments and skills? And whose career--if you really, really try--can not be condensed to a single sheet of A8 paper? I bet even the president of the United States could state his experience on a single page if pressed. (It might even work to his benefit; he could leave out the stuff that didn't go so well.)
Furthermore, it would take a poet of divine ability to express all of his career--all his skills, all his responsibilities, all his knowledge--on even two sheets of paper. It makes no sense to try. Why not simply present a bulleted list of jobs held, degrees acquired and skills possessed in the accepted résumé jargon? Does any recruiter want much more on that initial how-do-you-do?
Okay, so it wasn't that deep a thought. Whatever.
All that said, Accountemps does include a rather helpful list of do's and don'ts in resume writing:
DO • Describe key contributions you made at prior roles and how they impacted the bottom line.
• Summarize software expertise and other specialized skills.• Devote extra space to describing work experience that is most relevant to the job description.
• Use terms referenced in the job description if they apply. Firms often scan resumes for key words included in the job description.
• Reference your activities with professional civic associations, community involvement and knowledge of a second language--if they relate to the job opportunity.
DON'T
• Use exact dates of employment. Months and years are sufficient.• Include irrelevant details about your personal life or list your hobbies.
• Misrepresent your education or career experience.
• Use professional jargon and abbreviations.
• List references or include a lengthy objective.
• Use complete sentences; short bulleted statements are better.
Allow me to reemphasize the third DON'T, based on some news today: DON'T lie on your frigging résumé. Sheesh. We can't say this enough, it seems. Thelma Wills Foote, slated to become the chair of African-American studies at Ohio University, was abruptly yanked from the roster when it was discovered she had claimed co-authorship of a book to which she had only marginally contributed.
And that, to me, is a far greater jobseeking sin than stapling your two-page résumé.
March 19, 2007 11:17
Buy Ken Lay's Desk!
We've heard about the $6,000 shower curtains and the gilded umbrella stand. So we're not exactly gobsmacked to hear former Enron head Kenneth Lay's office was decked out in similarly tasteful style.
Now you, too, can experience the sensation of steering a multibillion-dollar corporation into the ground! You--yes, you--can buy the late Mr. Lay's desk on eBay for the low, low starting bid of $25,000.
Ken Lay made poor corporate decisions here!!! / Saving Animals Across Borders
The auction is being held by Saving Animals Across Borders, a nonprofit animal protection organization to whom the custom furnishings were donated. Don't ask me why. Ken Lay--founder, chairman and CEO of Enron--used the one-of-a-kind design from 1987 through 2002 (Richard Kinder and Jeffrey Skilling also had their own). Says the organization in a press release:
The desks were designed by Gensler Architects and fabricated by Brochstein's, one of the nation’s premiere manufacturers of custom architectural furniture. According to Brochstein's, the desks, with an elegant Makore Pommelle veneer, would cost well into five figures to replicate today, in addition to the iconic value and the historical significance of the pieces.
Hear that? They'd cost well into the five figures to replicate today! But they can be yours for--let's say it again--the low, low starting bid of $25,000!
Never mind that Lay and Skilling were convicted in May 2006 for masterminding an accounting fraud that led to the crash and burn of Enron in 2001. Never mind that the two men symbolize Satan for the thousands of Enron workers whose jobs and pensions evaporated, and for countless investors whose savings went poof.
It's for a good cause! All proceeds will go toward Saving Animals' programs to help animals and community improvement. The group is apparently in such dire need that the desk is currently being used to house some of the dogs as well as a human volunteer:
Homeless dogs slept here!!! / Saving Animals Across Borders
The charity began on eBay March 16 and will conclude on March 26. So hurry! Click here!
March 16, 2007 2:27
Changing Careers Might Help You Find Passion for Work
What's the point? What's it all for? Where's my life going? When do I get there? Is this all there is? What do I really want to do?
When these are the questions that keep you up at night, you call a man named Curt Rosengren.
Rosengren calls himself a "passion catalyst." He's a Seattle-based career counselor who works with up to 50 clients a year, 100% of whom wind up switching careers. He also runs a web site called PassionCatalyst.com, a popular blog called TheOccupationalAdventure, and he's just kicked off a newsletter tackling the same subject.
Every last one of career guide Curt Rosengren's clients wind up switching careers. / Courtesy of Curt Rosengren
We had a long talk a little while ago about why people change careers, and what that says about why we work (I wrote about it in the current issue of TIME in an article titled The Zeal for the Job). He says:
"Over the past four or five years, I really started seeing this notion taking off--this idea of wanting, needing to find passion in what you do. There were two catalysts. One is the dot-com boom and bust. People just had this idea they were going to get rich, and they went into the tech industry and worked 80 hours a week--and then the bubble burst. They were like, What did I do all that for? That wasn't what I signed up for. I rolled my dice and lost. So what is it I really want to do?
"Then there was 9/11. It was this big, huge shock--just an enormous shock wave through people's lives. What am I doing? How am I spending my days? How am I spending my life? ...one of the things tragedy does for us is it makes us stop and reflect."
Those two seismic events, he theorizes, created a "perfect storm" that "started to create this unwillingness to put up with being unhappy."
It was true for him. Once a successful but stressed out marketer, Rosengren stopped short one day and asked himself why. "I realized, Curt, you're on the fast track, all right--to becoming Dilbert."
So he took the leap. He quit his job, hung out a shingle and reinvented himself. When I spoke to him today, he was recovering from his regular Thursday night of dancing and was preparing to go kayaking. He's just launched a blog called HappyRant, which apparently is just that.
Why does Curt work? To trigger change in other people's lives, and thus find joy and meaning in his own. Why do you?
March 15, 2007 4:32
Why Do We Work? One Career Changer's Answer
Why do we work?
On the face of it, that's a stupid question. We work to put food on the table and a roof over our heads, of course. We work toward the prospect of children in college and ourselves in rocking chairs. In other words: we work because we have to.
TIME is running a series of stories called Why We Work in which we explore the question more deeply. (Send me ideas if you've got 'em: lisa_cullen@timemagazine.com.) I kicked things off with an article called The Zeal for the Job, in which I looked at people who change careers--and what that says about why we work.
As the deadline approached, I sent out a panicked e-mail to some friends with a "desperate plea" for leads on anybody they knew who had switched careers--a banker turned baker, a lawyer turned landscaper, a violinist turned victrola-maker.
I was amazed at the response. It turns out all sorts of people have played switcheroo with their careers, abandoning longtime and extremely successful work to do something completely else. My friend Karen's sister-in-law is a landscape architect who became a teacher. My friend Alan knows an oboist turned interior designer. My friend Gerry knew a teacher who he thought became a vintner, but when he checked it turned out the guy was less a winemaker than a wine drinker.
And those are the ones I didn't even profile.
The assignment really got me thinking. Working for the sake of putting Wonderbread on the table doesn't explain these people's careers. They were bringing home plenty of bacon before they decided to toss their pans aside. Sue Parks, a lovely lady whom I found through my friend Jane Haas (who herself is a journalist turned founder of Womansage.com), ditched her dazzling career as a traveling top executive to pursue her passion: walking.
Sue Parks, a top exec for Kinko's, decided to pursue her passion in her next career. / Photo courtesy of Sue Parks
She describes her epiphany to me thus:
I was leading this crazy lifestyle, working in Dallas for Kinko's and flying home to my husband in California. Between the hotels and airports, the one consistent theme was the walking. Everyone wondered how I stated fit and sane. I mean, I was eating out for every meal, getting on planes at 6 a.m., getting to the hotel at 6 p.m. What I did was everywhere I went, I put on my shoes and walked--outside, inside, in the airports. When I started trying to detertime what I wanted to do, that was my a-ha moment. This was my passion.
So that's the ticket, at least for Parks: she works for passion. The next step was figuring out just what to do with that passion. Parks settled on WalkStyles, a primarily Web-based company offering equipment, apparel and networks to walking enthusiasts.
Sure, she needs her new venture to succeed financially. If it doesn't, she may have to go back to working for Kinko's in retirement--maybe this time running the copier instead of the entire corporate operations.
But her current work means more to Parks than a paycheck. You can hear it in her voice. It goes all squeaky in excitement as she tells me about new products, partnerships, staffing, culture. She says to me:
It's a passion that comes from every bone in my body. It's a bit different than when I was talking about office culture. Now it's about developing a culture and a philosophy from scratch, about how we treat customers--it's all part of me. I've been so fortunate to work at great companies in my life. But this is different. It's in my fabric.Tomorrow, passion guru Curt Rosengren talks to me about finding it in your work. Stay tuned.
March 13, 2007 11:26
Networking Tips for Workplace Wallflowers
I was in Chicago yesterday covering a conference. My job there involved walking up to strangers in an unfamiliar if not totally hostile setting, introducing myself, and engaging them in intimate conversation. This is, in fact, pretty much what a lot of my job entails.
There was a time when the prospect would make me sweat like a sumo wrestler. Even though I'm not shy, I was raised in a culture that places high value on privacy and respect. And here I found myself in a line of work that required treading, deliberately and frequently, on other people's space and lives.
It took me years of practice to overcome my mortification. I just kept doing it and doing it until one day I realized the prospect didn't frighten me in the least.
Early on, I developed little tricks. For instance, I'd spend a lot of time settling on my targets. And I'd set goals. When I was reporting in Japan, where man-on-the-street interviewing is akin to flashing in public, I'd stare at a crowd to pinpoint friendly looking strangers least likely to shriek and run away. I'd talk to men first, as for some reason they seemed more approachable. I'd smile--a lot. I'd tell myself at the beginning of a reporting excursion: get three interviews. Then I'd work up to five. Then 10.
Yesterday, I needed no such tricks. I accosted dozens of strangers with ease and got my job done beautifully. If I may say so myself.
Even if your job doesn't involve prying private information from complete strangers, all of us have to associate with other people in unfamiliar situations--say, at an alumni networking party or a job fair. Fran O'Brien, chief underwriting officer for Chubb Insurance, was once a workplace wallflower of sorts. Not so today. O'brien hosts a monthly business forum for junior employees. She also meets with senior colleagues to advise them on advancement and development. In other words, she's a poised executive who's overcome her inner awkwardness.
She sent me a list of tips she uses to help younger colleagues handle networking, career advancement or interviewing situations. Here they are:
• If you don't know what you want, at least know what you like. "Where do you want to be in five years?" is hard to answer. Focus on answering this question: What aspects of the business do I really enjoy, and what do I want to learn more about? Look for jobs that focus on those aspects, then determine if they offer advancement.
• Start safe. Find a person who does not intimidate you. Do some research on their background; find out if they have met with any of your peers and if there is any instruction they can share.• Don't assume you know what's best for you. Some people need to show their work to shine. You may need to take on a seemingly undesirable assignment that will groom you for future growth and give you the opportunity to work with others you normally would not.
• Chatting about the weather isn't enough. One lunch is not an automatic "pass go" to promotion, but it will give you a head start. Use networking opportunities to ask for advice about a specific business issue. And have your 30-second personal commercial ready: "These are the important business issues I am tackling this year."
• Ask for help. Don't be afraid to approach senior executives who agreed to mentor you. It is part of their role to give you their time and attention. And understand it is your responsibility to make sure you manage the relationship.
• Don't box yourself in. Don't label yourself while networking; avoid saying things such as, "I am not good with numbers," or "my weakness is X." Don't limit yourself by saying all you want is to achieve a certain level or title. This is a surefire way to limit developmental opportunities once you've reached that short-term goal.
• Multiply your knowledge base. To prepare for your networking opportunity, ask others about their efforts. When you go to lunch with a senior manager, share their likes, dislikes and pet projects with your networking colleagues. The more you know, the more you'll grow.
March 12, 2007 9:00
Disney Wants Your Video Resumes
I got a nice note from Brodie, star of the video résumé I featured here. I had posted his TVCV, which he'd sent to CareerBuilder's Disney Dream Job Contest for pirates, parade performers and the like.
Thanks for the link and the kind words. My Haunted Mansion video was not chosen to be a finalist... because my Jungle Cruise video was. Thanks again!
Here's his winning submission:
Now here's the vidumé as it was meant to be: creative, a little kooky and totally watchable.
Most importantly, it showcases Brodie's charisma and acting skills in a way no laser jet on A8 paper could. Check out the other finalists, too, by clicking here.
Inspired? Dying to slap on some pancake and share cubicles with Mickey? The contest is open till March 30.
March 9, 2007 10:10
All Work and No Holiday Makes Us Lousy Workers
I'm about to take a holiday. If you can call it that. For the first two weeks in April, my sister and I are going to visit our very ill mom in Japan. It's a 24-plus-hour trip, and factoring in (our kids') jet lag, we'll have maybe one good week of doctor visits, housecleaning and grandpa-sitting.
At many jobs, this one trip would gobble up the whole of my yearly allotment of vacation time. According to a report I just read:
Surveys show American workers average 14 days of vacation per year, compared to 39 in France, 27 in Germany, 24 in Great Britain and 19 in Canada.
That came from an employer called HomeAway, an online vacation rental company. Normally, I don't get press releases from employers announcing how much vacation time they give their workers (good grief--who cares?). But this one is making a point:
Designed to buck national trends of overworked, stressed-out and vacation-starved employees, two-year-old HomeAway, Inc. today announced a forward-thinking vacation policy that gives its 100 U.S. employees four weeks of vacation a year, regardless of employee tenure.
My own employer stacks vacation time according to tenure, but, in line with my industry, holidays tend to be on the generous side. There's a clear benefit for the employer: my colleagues and I might earn more elsewhere, but we stick around for the vacation time. It's that big an enticement.
There's another less quantifiable but anecdotally strong benefit: staffers come back from their jaunts to India, Africa or Maine visibly refreshed, rejuvenated--and more often than not, brimming with story ideas. Case in point: TIME science writer Christine Gorman filed many stories from her recent trips to Africa, including this excellent video.
March 8, 2007 6:00
Advice to Job-Hunting Grads: Keep Your Handbag Smaller Than Your Skirt
Here's some unusually fresh--and wise--advice to job-hunting new grads, courtesy of the University of Southern California's planning and placement center:
1) Your handbag should not be bigger than your skirt.
This one's for the ladies, but men, take heed too: Interviews are not the place for trend-setting. If you want to dress to impress, take time to know what the office culture is. You may not need a suit for a start-up but showing up in jeans and flip-flops, even if that's what the CEO wears, may not be the best choice either. Let your personality and smarts be what they remember--not your outft.
2) You've gotten an offer. Don't take it!
2007 is shaping up to be a hot job market once again, which means you have more power than you realize. Yes, it is great that the first place you interviewed wants to hire you, but look before you leap. When companies pressure grads to accept an early offer, they are doing both a disservice. Take the time to find the best fit for you, and both you and the company will win in the long run.
3) Memo to the Me Generation: It's not all about you.
If you really want to stand out, be a team player. Ironically, that is what will make you unique. You may be a future leader, but right now you are applying for an entry-level job. In the workplace you are part of a large, diverse community and your success will depend on how well you work with those above you. In their eyes, you are not entitled to anything until you prove yourself through hard work and cooperation.
4) Loyalty isn't only for dogs.
The average grad stays at his or her first job for 18 months. It's not that we think you owe them more, but think of what you could get out of a longer stay. Corporations are increasingly offering two-year management training programs for grads, and we think they are worth considering. Here you get opportunities to work in all areas of a company, so you can learn on the job, whether sales, marketing or finance fits for you. Also, you get management experience early on. Hopping from cubicle to cubicle, it may take you years longer to break out from the pack.
5) Parents are not a reference.
Of course they think you're perfect for the job and can go on and on about your strengths. But take it from us--we've seen it before and we know it doesn't work. Your parents should not:
a) Call the person you'll be interviewing with before or after the interview
b) Call the HR director and demand to know why you didn't get the interview/job
c) Call the career office and tell the counselors you are looking at all the wrong jobs
Helicopter parents, take note: you've given your wunderkinds all the skills they need. Now let them fly alone.
6) Your major is a minor thing.
Yes, we want our doctors to understand science, and our accountants to be able to add--but for the vast majority of post-college careers, being well-rounded and well-versed in a variety of topics is the key. Liberal arts majors often bring creativity, and an ability to write and an analyze that set them apart from other candidates. Also they have broad background that allows them to talk about just about anything for five minutes, which is useful in developing and maintaining customer relationships. In school and in your job search, find what you are interested in and success will follow.
7) Think outside your area code.
College may be the time to expand your horizons figuratively, but in your job search you should do so literally. Big cities offer more choices--but more competition, too. Smaller towns may not be as exciting, but may allow you to do more in less time--not to mention that you might be able to afford a nicer place to live once mom and dad aren't footing the bill. Here at USC, grads are increasingly being offered jobs in cities like Vegas and Phoenix. There is no right answer, but remember that it is not your address that determines your quality of life.
8) Know when to say when to technology.
Do: Get your résumé to a real person even if you have to hand-deliver it. Those electronic job applications put all the power with the employer and don't allow you to highlight your strengths.
Don't: Spend your time at work text messaging on your cell phone with your iPod plugged in your ears.
Do: Use company websites and podcasts to get information about companies you are interested in. They are increasingly offering more and more data online so you can get a sense of the company culture and philosophy so you can learn it the fit seems right for you.
Don't: Forget about the importance of penmanship. Employers tell us a hand-written thank you note still means something. An e-mail will do, but make sure you say thank you one way or another.
March 8, 2007 10:55
More Reasons Why Interactive Portfolios Rock
From reader Jennifer Gerlach:
1. No more paper cuts
2. Hard to convey charisma in 12 point Times Roman3. Two pages not long enough for both valedictory speech and Who's Who entry
4. No need to spell-check portfolio videos
5. Digital portfolio pictures could save many a rain forest
6. You might actually land a job because a resume says what you do but a portfolio proves it
March 7, 2007 12:00
Drama Aside, Women Workers Still Struggle in Japan
The thing about working at TIME is that some days you find yourself chatting over coffee about foreign policy; other days, you find yourself chatting over coffee with the people who make the policy.
That's what happened late last month, when a senior adviser to Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe trooped into our conference room with his entourage. (The chat was on the record, but he asked not to be identified by name.)
Earlier in February, I'd written in this space about a case of foot-in-mouth disease that afflicted another cohort of the PM, health and labor minister Hakuo Yanagisawa:
On January 27, Yanagisawa told his supporters in a speech touching on Japan's low birthrate: "Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask for is for them to do their best per head."
I didn't have to ask about it; the politician brought it up. We had asked about Abe's plummeting popularity ratings in the Japanese public. The adviser smiled a little and shook his head. The so-called drop in popularity, he said, was due to a number of scandals that had befallen the administration--among them, Yanagisawa's little verbal booboo.
Yet many women still struggle in the workplace, I said, despite their growing numbers. Economic realities dictate that they work; yet, if they do, there are few social safety nets in place to help them raise their children. Thus Japan's abysmally low birth rate. (That, and the fact they allow no immigration--but that's a different topic.) "So what is the Abe administration doing to ease working women's burden?" I asked.
Again the pol smiled. Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, had launched some initiaitives, including opening more state-subsidized childcare centers and offering tax rebates to parents of young children. "But that didn't address the real problem," he said.
We leaned forward.
"The real problem," he said, "is that young Japanese do not want full-time jobs anymore. Everyone has a part-time job, and, of course, if you lead such a lifestyle, you do not want to have children." Why, just this week, he said, grandly, Abe had appointed a commission to study the problem.
Okay. He's not totally wrong here; Japan does have an enormous youth employment problem. In this terrific story, TIME's Bryan Walsh and Yuki Oda report on a new hit drama in Japan on exactly this point. In the TV show, a young "freeter"--which sort of translates to freelance, part-time worker--showcases her prodigious skills and work ethic during a stint at a failing company, yet rejects offers to go full-time there. She's the model of a generation, many of them women, brought up with no expectation of the lifetime jobs promised--and taken away from--their parents. Full-time work equals responsibility without reward; part-time work equals freedom.
But the joke may be on full-timers and part-timers alike. Although the salaryman's lifetime employment is still considered the Japanese ideal, today nearly one-third of workers in Japan are part-timers like Haruko, up from 20% in 1994. The change is the result of a painful transformation that saw Japanese corporations drastically cut back on hiring while shedding tens of thousands of workers during the economically disastrous years of the 1990s and early 2000s.
As our Tokyo team reports,
The trouble is, few temps can actually earn a living wage. Almost 40% of contract workers receive salaries that are less than 80% of a full-time wage, contrary to government guidelines. Haruko may command top yen on TV, but good luck jetting to Madrid on your off days when you make less than $11,000 a year, as 34% of male and 55% of female part-timers do.
This doesn't excuse the Japanese pol of such obfuscatory malarkey. Working women in Japan need help if they're to raise families as well as hold jobs. On the job front, they need access to decent opportunities, something approaching equal pay, and chances to advance beyond tea-serving roles in the office or bento-making stints in the factory. On the home front, they need access to decent childcare, something approaching equal caregiver status from their husbands, and a chance at what most of us in America take for granted: both family and career.
It's a crying shame that a country as advanced as Japan isn't there yet, nor even close.
March 6, 2007 3:00
Why Interactive Resumes Are the Future
1. It's so much cooler than ink on paper.
2. It's multimedia.
3. The format engenders creativity.
4. Young people don't write; they text. And design. And code. And video.
5. More jobs in this creativity-driven economy will call for the kinds of skills best showcased interactively.
6. Wha?
7. Just shut up and watch this YouTube video, by Michael Wesch, assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University (thanks, Peter Altieri of RecruiTV/62ndView):
March 5, 2007 7:44
Wanna Work for Disney? Master the Video Resume
I'm telling you, this vidumé thing (thanks again, Gerry) is catching on. I just got this notice:
Workers across the country are competing to live out a dream job for a day at Disneyland and America votes on who makes the cut.From March 6 to March 30th, the public can go to www.careerbuilder.com/disneydreamjobs and vote for their favorite in five Disney Dream "Job" positions:
Haunted Mansion Butler or Maid
Jungle Cruise Skipper
Apprentice Pirate
Fantasyland Princess-in-Waiting
Disney Park Parade PerformerFive winners for each position will live out their Disney Dream "Job" for a day while sharing a 4-day/3-night Disneyland vacation with their families.
Here's one submission. Careerbuilder/Disney says he's not yet a finalist, but I bet he makes the cut. I know I'd pay extra to hear that mwah-ha-ha laugh in person.
March 5, 2007 9:00
Need a Career Boost? Get a Ph.D.
Ph.D.s get a bad rap. Whenever the economy's raging and Wall Street/Silicon Valley/stay-at-home blogger types are dragging in buckets of cash, those eternal students with their carefully collected knowledge of 15th century French love poetry get slathered with the sniggers.
Eternal students (and your parents), rejoice. Your time has come.
A spate of recent studies seems to show the job market's in your favor. An analysis of jobs for post-doc historians indicated that 2006 saw a record number of job postings--though a more careful look showed the demand was hottest in certain, specialized sectors, such as Asian and African history.
The Ph.D. shortage is affecting staffing at the country's top business schools. From a recent WSJ article:
AACSB International, the accrediting organization for business schools, estimates a shortage of 1,000 Ph.D.s in the U.S. this year that will grow to 2,400 by 2012. Some universities, particularly public schools, have cut back on Ph.D. programs because they're costly to operate. In addition, AACSB found in a survey of deans that many have limited their enrollment because of fewer qualified applicants.
The Scientist magazine just announced its top five best places to work for post-docs:
1. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
2. The J. David Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC
4. Genentech, South San Francisco, CA
5. The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
More employers are valuing super-high education these days, meaning post-docs no longer have to narrow their employment sights to academia. That said, if all the Ph.D.s go to work for Google or P&G, who's left to teach our kids Bio 101?
Maybe I'm naive, but I like to think people pursue six years of post-college schooling because they really, really care about the subject. I recently interviewed a guy named Josh Ruxin who got his post-doc from University College London in medical history. He went on to become a management consultant. Then he started up a nonprofit applying those management practices to hospitals in Rwanda. And he still finds time to teach at Columbia.
Ph.D.s are really just intense, slow-cooked versions of ourselves--the workers we'd be if we'd taken some extra years and studied the snot out of a topic. They deserve to be on the winning end of the job market. Even--or especially--if all they want to do is teach French love poems.
March 2, 2007 5:00
...and I'm Addicted to Oprah
Whoa. I nearly missed this AP headline from a few days ago:
"Man Sues IBM Over Adult Chat Room Firing"
In sum,
A man who was fired by IBM for visiting an adult chat room at work is suing the company for $5 million, claiming he is an Internet addict who deserves treatment and sympathy rather than dismissal.
James Pacenza, 58, of Montgomery, says he visits chat rooms to treat traumatic stress incurred in 1969 when he saw his best friend killed during an Army patrol in Vietnam.In papers filed in federal court in White Plains, Pacenza said the stress caused him to become "a sex addict, and with the development of the Internet, an Internet addict." He claimed protection under the American with Disabilities Act.
His lawyer, Michael Diederich, says Pacenza never visited pornographic sites at work, violated no written IBM rule and did not surf the Internet any more or any differently than other employees. He also says age discrimination contributed to IBM's actions. Pacenza, 55 at the time, had been with the company for 19 years and says he could have retired in a year.
Here's the take-away: the man claims he violated no written IBM rule. IBM disagrees:
International Business Machines Corp. has asked Judge Stephen Robinson for a summary judgment, saying its policy against surfing sexual Web sites is clear.
The lesson here is clear, even if the policy isn't. Employers, get those rules in writing now, in as specific language as possible. Otherwise, who knows what we working scoundrels will try to get away with?
By they way, don't bug me from 4 p.m. My Oprah addiction is the doctor-certified result of traumatic attention injury suffered sometime during the last congressional elections.
March 2, 2007 11:47
Help Wanted: Warren Buffett's Hiring
The other day I attended a luncheon for Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers nominees, which is just a way for me to mention I, ahem, was one in 2006 for my first book--though not, tragically, a finalist. At the lunch I met a lovely fellow who runs a Nebraska furniture business owned by Berkshire Hathaway (his partner was a fellow nominee; check out his work here). This fellow delighted me with stories of how the second richest man in the world personally attends ribbon-cutting ceremonies of local furniture stores, and I thought, wouldn't he be a great guy to work for?
What a coinkydink: it turns out Warren Buffett is hunting for a #2.
In his rambling, folksy annual letter to shareholders, Buffett includes a help-wanted ad of sorts. He's looking for a chief investment officer to take over after he croaks (I'm not being rude--he puts it just as bluntly); the man slated for the job being just six years younger, Buffett's looking for some fresh blood. Even if you're not packing your bags for Nebraska, the job description itself is a lesson in what one of the greatest businessmen alive looks for a top investment manager. You can download the whole letter here, or read the section I refer to below (bolds mine):
I have told you that Berkshire has three outstanding candidates to replace me as CEO and that the Board knows exactly who should take over if I should die tonight. Each of the three is much younger than I. The directors believe it’s important that my successor have the prospect of a long tenure.
Frankly, we are not as well-prepared on the investment side of our business. There’s a history here: At one time, [vice chairman] Charlie [Munger] was my potential replacement for investing, and more recently Lou Simpson has filled that slot. Lou is a top-notch investor with an outstanding long-term record of managing GEICO’s equity portfolio. But he is only six years younger than I. If I were to die soon, he would fill in magnificently for a short period. For the long-term, though, we need a different answer.At our October board meeting, we discussed that subject fully. And we emerged with a plan, which I will carry out with the help of Charlie and Lou.
Under this plan, I intend to hire a younger man or woman with the potential to manage a very large portfolio, who we hope will succeed me as Berkshire’s chief investment officer when the need for someone to do that arises. As part of the selection process, we may in fact take on several candidates.
Picking the right person(s) will not be an easy task. It’s not hard, of course, to find smart people, among them individuals who have impressive investment records. But there is far more to successful longterm investing than brains and perfo