Posts Tagged ‘Job Tips’

The People I Work With Are Driving Me Nuts!

Posted on September 10th, 2012 by Kimanzi

I’ve had a few jobs in my working career and I’ve had several co-workers that have driven to the edge.

For a year or so I worked for Quad-Graphics, who I believe is now the world’s largest printer of magazines. The shift was 12 hours long which could be rough and it meant you had to deal with a lot of personalities during those 12 hours.

There were a few times when tempers flared and a few times I was tempted to take the argument to the next level (I was a young hot head). I remember one time when I was placed in charge of one of the machines for a shift, which was a huge honor to an 18-year-old, many of my older co-workers who had been there longer weren’t happy at all.

They did everything they could that shift to create problems on the machine and make me quit, they got close. I made it through that day and learned valuable lessons that I still use today.

Moving on from that job and working at many other jobs and even owning a business has made me realize there’s never going to be a shortage of co-workers that will drive you nuts. You know exactly what I’m talking about, right? (more…)

Sometimes You Just Have To Say NO!

Posted on September 7th, 2012 by Kimanzi

When I got my first real job working for Burger King I was the happiest sixteen year old you have met. I was so proud to tell people I was punching the clock and getting a paycheck.

Naturally I wanted to be the best employee which meant never saying No. If they asked me to work over-time I would beg my parents to let me work. If it meant cleaning up some mess that no one else wanted to clean up, I did it.

I ran into a little crisis when my manager scheduled me to work on a Sunday even though I stated in my application that I couldn’t work on Sundays. I begged my parents but they put their foot down, there was no way they were letting me miss church for work.

When I started my first business, I wanted to go over and beyond for my customers. This meant that sometimes I got calls late night or super early morning to make special delivers.

I charged them for these mini emergencies but because I wanted to get more business, I charged a ridiculously low amount. I did this for a long time before a friend of mine sat me down and woke me up to the fact I was actually losing money.

The common theme in these stories is the fact that I couldn’t say NO.

Fast forward to the present and I’m living out my dreams as a public speaker, I get requests to speak at all kinds of event. At first I wanted to speak at every conference that would have me, but I have a family and get be gone everyday :) (more…)

One Way to Stand Out and Get That Job

Posted on September 5th, 2012 by Kimanzi

This is a guest post by Brian Ciampa who is a data warehouse developer in the healthcare industry.  You can follow his blog entitled Valuable Data which is geared toward helping those who want to enter that industry gain the skills to do so. Be sure to follow him on twitter.

When my wife (then my fiancée) and I were entrenched in planning our wedding several years ago we visited several different vendors for everything from the cake to the tuxedos to the location…and more. Other than the fact that they were all frequented by wedding planners, these vendors had little in common.

For example, a cake decorator is in a very different industry than a store that rents tuxedos.  However, as time has passed I have noticed a common theme that ran through all of them as we conducted that search.  As we approached each one, we asked for, and were provided, samples of their work.  The photographer had some of his best photographs on display.  The cake decorator had pictures and samples of their best cakes.  There seemed to be a common belief among most vendors in this arena:

In order to impress clients, a portfolio of some sort is needed.

When I think about the traditional methods of job seeking in technical industries (I work in the IT industry), I have to stop and reflect.  My experience with job seeking in this arena has usually consisted of looking for an open position, submitting a resume, attending the interview, answering the interview questions, and hoping that something in that entire process impressed them enough to make me a good offer. (more…)

The Depressing Part of a Job You Hate

Posted on August 27th, 2012 by Kimanzi

Several years ago some of the independent operators in our warehouse decided to get together and form a drivers association. There were some disturbing things going on when the company got bought out by a larger company, a lot of new rules.

When we got together to meet, the company was very uncomfortable and wanted to break things up. When we had a private meeting two of the managers showed up to “talk” to guys as they entered the meeting.

When it was all said and done we were intimidated to give up and I was personally called into a “meeting”. I was told I was a trouble maker and that I was banned from coming to their warehouse. (OUCH!)

I had to hire a friend to go to the warehouse everyday to pick up the bread and then bring the truck to me outside of the property lines. At first I just shrugged it off but eventually it all hit me like a ton of bricks.

As the days went on it was harder and harder and my friend was getting tired of waking up at 1 a.m. to pick up bread even though I was paying him. I got really depressed, I wanted to get away from this bad situation and away from this negative environment.

Can you relate? Has your job ever depressed you? (more…)

You Are Not A Number

Posted on July 20th, 2012 by Kimanzi

Note from Kimanzi: I am out of the country speaking at WordCamp Sydney in Sydney, Australia (yeah!). While I’m away I’ve asked several bloggers to guest post in my place, enjoy! This is a guest post by Tammy Helfrich who is a wife, Mom, daughter and friend. She blogs about life, marriage, encouragement, and motivation.  Read her blog here or follow her on Twitter. If you would like to guest post on this blog, email a post to kimanzi@talesofwork.com

Sometimes when you’ve been in a job for a while, you can start to feel like a number.

Sometimes it is your boss who treats you like a number.

Sometimes it is your coworkers.

Sometimes you begin to treat yourself like a number.

You get up, go to work, eat lunch, have the same conversations, and live the same days over and over again. It can feel like the movie Groundhog Day.

We don’t realize we’re doing it. We just gradually get stuck. We stop dreaming. We stop thinking we can make a difference in the world. We get trapped. For many different reasons.

But don’t feel bad. The majority of people have found themselves in this situation at one time or another.

But you don’t have to stay there. You can choose to be you. Not a number.

 

                                                                                   Photo – Creative Commons How do you do it? (more…)

Taking Things One At A Time

Posted on July 9th, 2012 by Kimanzi

For my regular readers I want to share with you some good news. I have joined a collaborative writing project that is all about publishing and everything related to publishing from a Christian perspective. My first post went live today, if you have time I would owe you a HUGE favor if you checked the post out here.

I use to be a TV junkie and one of my favorite shows was “The West Wing”, I absolutely loved that show! I remember my favorite episode, which was about one of the characters (Josh) running the presidential campaign of a new candidate (Matt Santos), a relatively unknown candidate.

As you can imagine, running a presidential campaign even for an unknown candidate can be crazy busy. In the episode, Josh had two cells that were either constantly ringing or beeping from text and email alerts.

He had meetings schedule every three minutes (it seemed like it) not to mention, interviews, strategy and the occasional major crisis, his day was never-ending! I saw this episode and was convinced this was how I wanted my life to be, I wanted to be that busy (I now realize how stupid that sounds).

So even though I was watching a TV show, I went on to try to be as busy as Josh was. I would take on all kinds of projects at work; I would take on all kinds of side projects at home. I actually went out and bought two cell phones, I pretty much lost my mind.

I’m going to make a long story short and tell you that I completely chased and burned, I didn’t get a single thing accomplished. Do you know why that is?

Life is not a TV show. (more…)

When Should You Start Your Own Business?

Posted on June 27th, 2012 by Kimanzi

Note from Kimanzi: This is a guest post by Bill White who is the founder of Succinct Research, a company dedicated to conducting quality research products for business clients and the non-academic public. An enthusiast of alternative health, he is also the creator of “http://www.jobsinayurveda.com/”Ayurveda, which focuses on helping professionals in holistic healing and alternative medicine find jobs and improve their businesses. His most recent book, Resume Writing for Scientists, explains the techniques recruiters use to create killer resumes that help place their clients. It’s an excellent resource for anyone that needs a job. To guest post on this blog email a post to kimanzi@talesofwork.com and I’ll review it.

My job situation got extremely precarious this year. I was laid off and had to scramble to find a new job. With a mortgage and other bills looming large, I had to make sure my job search paid dividends quickly. My family was depending on me. Fortunately, I landed a new job in my career field within a few short weeks. Unfortunately, it only paid about 70 percent of what my former job used to pay. This new job has allowed me to cover the bills, but it fails to provide a few extra funds for all the little things I used to enjoy with my family. Eating out, going to the movies, grabbing a coffee, checking out a MLB game most of those fun activities have been cut from our downsized lifestyle.

Even though I’d found another job, I still felt like my back was still against the wall. I was searching for something that would make up that financial shortfall because my family and I deserve a little fun for all the hard work we put into our lives. That’s when I decided to start my own business as a resume and non-fiction eBook writer and consultant.

What did I know about eBook publishing? Not much, but I knew how to write and research. I had written or contributed to nearly 50 research reports, some of which were more than 2,000 pages long! Also, I had written several articles and done a number of public presentations. My job for the last 8 years has been conducting research and writing-up the results. Research is still what I do today. I decided to take the plunge in order to make things better for myself and my family. My financial situation was the impetus I needed to start getting paid directly for what I already knew how to do rather than keep using my skills to enrich my bosses. (more…)

It’s Time To Get Rid of Small Minded Thinking

Posted on June 22nd, 2012 by Kimanzi

“Never let your small business keep you small-minded” Brendon Burchard

Have you been guilty of small-minded thinking?

 

 

You’re Not Getting Paid Enough

Posted on June 18th, 2012 by Kimanzi

When I was sixteen years old I got my first “real” job at Burger King, I was excited that I was getting $5.25 an hour (minimum wage), it seemed like I was making six figures.

When I was hired I was told that if I worked hard I could get a raise, so I made sure I worked harder than anybody else. My work must have been good because even though I was younger than most of the other workers I was promoted to “crew leader”.

Now you would have thought that the position came with a raise (I found out later that I was supposed to get a raise) but I didn’t get one, the store manager gave himself my raise! At that age I never though about it, I didn’t have any real bills to worry about, I could spend my money on electronics and things that I wanted.

There was several times when I would apply for a certain job and they would ask for my wage requirements, you know how that goes right? I would low-ball the offers to assure myself the job, you know how that turned out right? I did get the jobs because I’m sure I was lower than anybody, some jobs I was practically working for free!

Here’s my question for you: Are you getting paid enough for the work that you do?

Sometimes that’s just the way it is

I realize there are jobs where you really have no control as far as how much you make, jobs that a union has the pay structure already set up, with the raises prearranged. If you really want that job you have to be prepared to go along with that system no matter how hard you work. (more…)

Help Dealing With A Difficult Boss

Posted on June 6th, 2012 by Kimanzi


When I was seventeen years old I worked for Burger King. I started on the bottom of the latter and in a year I had worked my way up to crew leader. I worked hard, I didn’t gossip like the other teens my age (the adult workers gossiped more than the teens) and always did what I was told.

I must have been a really good worker because at seventeen the store manager was training me (unofficially) to be a manager some day. I would regularly run the lunch shift, which was a super busy and stressful time.  All was well with my Burger King career until a new assistant manager was brought in….

Let’s just say that this new manager and I weren’t going to be best friends. She was nineteen years old and thought she knew it all, the only problem was that she was coming into MY store. Quickly she wanted to establish her position as a manager, so there were a lot of random things and rules she would pull out.

She didn’t like the freedom that the store manager gave me so when the store manager was gone, she would do everything she could to remind me who was in charge. It wasn’t easy at first, especially as a hot-headed teen, but I found out how to deal with a difficult boss without quitting my job (believe me, I thought about it). Here are a few tips that helped me: (more…)