Career Opportunities with Douglas E. Welch

Silence If you want to anger, frighten or infuriate someone, often the only thing you need to do is remain silent. Failure to respond to questions, support requests or complaints allows the client/customer to think the worst about you, your skills and your services. Yet, this is exactly how some companies, and their workers, function from day-to-day. For the sake of your own career, you need to avoid the silence or you may just find yourself out of a job. Listen to this Podcast  Like Career Opportunities on Facebook If you visit my web site (http://welchwrite.com) to read my blogs, you may have seen mention of the web hosting problems I was having recently. In fact, just yesterday, I moved to a new company in the hope of finally solving my problems. Having been on both ends of the telephone during my career, both providing tech support and utilizing it, I am always quick to notice when things are not quite right. Of all the issues I have had with this company, though, silence is probably the worst. When you are in the depths of a technical problem, silence is the last thing you want to hear. Even bad news is better than no news at all. Think of the extreme example of waiting for a doctor's diagnosis when you are ill. In the most recent case, my web site was down for over 36 hours. During that time, email requests for information were ignored and calls to the support phone lines only provided the information that "They are working on it." There was no further information -- no estimate for how long until service could be restored nor even an explanation of what had happened. Left to my own devices, I did what most people would do in this situation -- I thought the worst. This is quite natural in the absence of any information. We start to worry that we will lose all our data or that service might never return. We start spinning scenarios of all the work we will have to do to get us set up and running once more. As a worker or business owner, you need to be aware of this behavior and how it can damage your relationship with your customer or your management, sometimes irreversibly. I know, we think to ourselves sometimes, "Do they want me wasting time on keeping them informed or do they want me to fix the problem?" The truth is, though, you must do both. You must fix the problem AND do as much as possible to preserve your relationship. It is a simple fact that the customer won't care if you solve the problem or not, if they are no longer your customer. As I sat waiting to hear about my web hosting issue, I began to develop the idea for this column. What was my biggest problem, as a customer? What would have been their best response to me as a company? For myself, the best action the company could have taken was to open the lines of communication. No one says that the network admin themselves has to communicate with the customer, only that they communicate with someone who can share the information with the customer. If it were my job, I would have taken one operator from the telephone support group and given them direct access to the admin. I would have instructed them to get regular updates from the admin and report that information to all customers whose sites were on the effected servers. They would have provided, at the minimum, hourly reports as to the cause of the problem and the steps being taken to restore those services. I know for me as a customer, this would have gone a long way towards limiting my concern and my dissatisfaction. I wouldn't have been happy the site was down, but the regular communications would have allowed me to monitor the situation and gain some idea as to the severity of the problem. It is the "not knowing" that causes stress and anger. The only communication I ever received from the company regarding this issue was this: " I apologize for any inconvenience this issue may cause on you. The administrators are updating the machines and servers that is why your website are not working.

An Interview with barista, Kate Schroeder Links mentioned during this interview: CoffeeGeek.com Alt.coffee newsgroup via Google Groups World Barista Championships Listen: An Interview with barista, Kate Schroeder   Videos: Latte Art - via YouTube Photos: Latte Art via Flickr  

We have all seen them in nearly every place we work -- employees that should have retired years ago. They do their work as if they are living in another era. They are left to plod along  in the same way they have for years while others have to work around them. What is odd is they are often old before their time. They might still be in the 40’s, but their ideas, preconceptions and actions are old, tired and ineffective. Worse still, what if you are the employee that everyone wishes would just retire? What does it say about you, your attitudes and your work? What can you do about it? Listen to this Podcast   One-To-One Career Consulting with Douglas E. Welch   Now available exclusively to Career Opportunities readers and Listeners. Click for more information and pricing It is human nature that we can all become set in our ways. Over the years we discover our likes and dislikes -- what food we want to eat, what movies we like to see, what music we listen to. In many ways, that is not an issue. We are all allowed our likes and dislikes. In work, though, change is more intrusive. We are presented with new ideas, new methods, new systems and expected to embrace them, use them, understand them. This is simply part of working as part of a group. We have to find a balance between our own desires and the goals of the company. For many, though, change becomes a battle of wills. They cling to the old ways and refuse to adopt the new. In the worst cases, they actually sabotage efforts to adapt to change. For many people, change threatens their place in the world. New technology may route around the hard manual labor they once did. New accounting systems may reduce the importance of their day-to-day work. New computers may require the learning of a new set of skills and software. This is where rebellion and rejection sets in. So, how do you make sure you don’t become the person that everyone wishes would retire? First and most importantly, you must understand that change will be constant no matter what work you do or where you do it. Sometimes it will be dramatic change and at other times it will be slow and steady, but change is not something you can avoid. Embrace change in your life and your work and you will be happier and more effective. Stress rises when we try to ignore or sabotage change in a misguided effort to protect our position. In the workplace, there are several important ways of addressing change. First, do everything you can to keep your skills and knowledge current and useful. No matter what you do, certain parts of your skills and knowledge will be made obsolete on a regular basis. This isn’t something to fear or hate, but rather accept. It is simply part of today’s work and life reality. Take myself as an example. With each new version of Mac OS X or Windows, huge swaths of my knowledge are no longer as useful or necessary as they once were. Add in the slow decline of other software, Internet services and social media sites and I would say that perhaps 10% of my knowledge or more is rendered obsolete each month. While I have my preferences in what technology I use in my personal world, life (and technology) moves on -- at an ever faster rate. Next, when presented with change at work, see it as an opportunity to grow your knowledge and your career. If you are involved early in the process you can have a great effect on how it is implemented and spot any potential problems. You’ll be seen as someone who is ready to take on new challenges instead of being one of those known for resisting the change (and probably complaining about it loudly in the break room.) It is easy to see on which side of that equation lies advancement, pay raises and promotion. Third, take on the role of advisor, not adversary when presented with new change. Show clearly and unemotionally where the change may cause additional problems, but do not become a roadblock. After my 30+ years in the work world,

This is the audio from my talk A Year of Visibility at BarCampLA-5 on March 1, 2008.  One of the most important career moves you can make today is to "Show people what you do and how well you do it!" This call for visibility began in 2008 and continues as one of the main tenets of my carer building to this day. Listen: A Year of Visibility More on Visibility... Video: Visibility and Your Career from LaidOffCamp LA Audio/Text: Raise your visibility to protect and enhance your career - Visibility in a down economy Video: A Year of Visibility from BarCampLA-5 Visibility for You and Your Career from Career Opportunities Column A Year of Visibility Talk from BarCamp San Diego Douglas appears in “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” Segment

There can be many reasons for choosing a particular career. It might meet with your intellectual interests and native talents. It is an area of work that is becoming more necessary and more in demand. It has a large impact on your community and the world at large. It is satisfying to you personally and helps you to accomplish your personal, family and community goals. If these are some good reasons to choose a career, what is bad reason for choosing a career? Choosing a career because you think it will make you rich, famous or a combination of both. Listen to this Podcast   One-To-One Career Consulting with Douglas E. Welch   Now available exclusively to Career Opportunities readers and Listeners. Click for more information and pricing While being rich and famous are certainly not inherently bad, using them as the sole, driving criteria in your career choices is nearly a sure road to failure, frustration and financial ruin. When you are chasing the rainbow of fame and fortune, you ignore the better reasons for choosing a career. You begin to make choices based on dollars and cents instead on fundamental human needs like happiness, security and health. A far better approach is to a choose a career you truly desire and seek out fame and fortune within that career. If you have a deep love and interest in a career, then you will produce your best work and increase your chances of success. You’ll work longer, harder and better than you ever would -- or even could -- on a lesser career. When you don’t love your career, you are simply putting in time, doing what you think needs to be done and not really accomplishing anything beyond providing for your basic monetary needs. I am sure you know people personally who have decided that a job or career they hate is worth the money (and perhaps, notoriety) they gain. Look closely, though, and you will notice that they always complain about being too busy, too tired, or too fat. They themselves know that something is wrong, but they have no idea how to change things or escape the cycle that traps them in a career they dislike. It is obvious that they know their situation because they are constantly talking about the bad aspects of their career and talk very little about the enjoyable parts. They use vacations to exotic locales as an escape from their career -- a place to avoid their work entirely for a short period of time. They try to escape, but quickly find that their work invades every aspect of their life, including their vacations. When you decide to run the rat race that is fame and fortune, you are also in danger of becoming what we in the writing world describe as a person that doesn’t want ‘to write’ but rather wants to ‘have written.’ This person wants all the trappings of success while doing as little as possible. They will often admit to actively hating the work that their career requires. They will dream of future success, but yet do little to actually accomplish that success. They will talk for hours about “the book I’m going to write” but then fail to write even one page. For them, dreaming of the successful career they want to have is much more pleasurable than actually accomplishing it. While I may see more than my fair share of this type of person here in Los Angeles, I believe they exist everywhere and in every possible type of work. Years ago, when IT was “the place” to have a career, I would often talk with people from all aspects of life who would tell me they were going to move into IT. When I questioned them about whether they actually liked dealing with technology, most responded that they didn’t care. They were going where the money was. They didn’t want to learn about DOS, network servers, Internet routers or deal with angry customers whose computer wasn’t working. They instead saw themselves as the manager (or even better, owner) at a large company with many minions at their control to deal with the “real work.” I am fond of saying that,

Originally appeared on BiggSuccess.com Career Success with New Media We were happy to visit with Douglas E. Welch today on The Bigg Success Show today. Douglas is an expert on building the career you deserve and spreading the word about your talents using social media. Among other things, he’s the host of two great blogs and podcasts: Career Opportunities and Careers in New Media. Here’s a recap of the conversation: Read Douglas talks with George & Mary-Lyn on The Bigg Success Show! with complete text transcript. Listen to Douglas talk with George & Mary-Lyn on The Bigg Success Show!

How long are you willing to wait for your company to get its collective "act" together? How long will you suffer through hiring freezes and a moratorium on raises? How long will you suffer a company whose planning, and treatment of their workers, is abysmal at best? How long will you wait before you look for a better job and a better company? You might be surprised at the answer. Listen to this Podcast  Like Career Opportunities on Facebook When? Your problem is, when most companies propose a hiring or salary freeze they have no idea how long it will last. You never know if or when the next layoff is coming and the company will do everything in its power to keep that information from you. You never know when you might see a raise again. When faced with situations like this, where no deadline is given, you need to insure that you establish your own deadlines. How long are you willing to wait? When does a temporary setback turn into a long, slow slide to the bottom? It has been said that those who are caught up in a layoff are actually the lucky ones. They are given a clear cut reason to go off in search of new work and, hopefully, new opportunities. It is the one's left behind that really suffer. Workload increases as fewer people are expected to do more work. They worry about when the next layoff is coming and whether they, or their friends, will be on the list. The can foresee that raises and promotions will be a long time coming. Still, they hold on. They listen to every word hat comes out of the executive suite, trying to find meaning where there is often little to be found. They want to believe so badly that this is the last layoff and they convince themselves it is true, even when there are clear warning signs. Don't fall into this trap and let your career stagnate or collapse along with your company. What? The next time you are faced with a layoff or other setback, start the clock running. Set your own internal deadlines. Will you look for a new job if there is another layoff in 3 months? 6? 12? How long will you go without a raise or promotion. A year? More? It might be a firm deadline to leave the company or a softer deadline to re-evaluate in x number of weeks or months. The truth is, there are no hard and fast rules about how long you should wait. You have to decide for yourself, based on your knowledge of the company and its current situation. This means that you have to revisit your deadlines again and again. New information will allow you to re-evaluate your position and adjust your deadlines accordingly. Anything is better than ignoring the problem and hoping it goes away. What you want to avoid, at all costs, is simply moving from day to day and week to week with no idea when or if you need to find another job. I have known people who have survived 4 and 5 layoffs who still express surprise when their turn comes. How could they not see the writing on their friends' pink slips? They, and many like them, simply chose to ignore the oncoming storm. They found it more frightening to contemplate a job or career change than face the reality of a faltering, and perhaps even failing, company. They simply waited until they were engulfed and only then started thinking of a way out. How? Take note of what is happening around you. Are your expense reports taking longer and longer to process? Are small perks like coffee and tea going away? Are there news stories of lost contracts, failed initiatives and executive turmoil in the newspapers? Are new projects being delayed or cancelled? There are more warning signs than I can possibly list here, but you already know what they are. If something feels bad, then it probably is, regardless of what spin the company might put on it. You must always remember that your company's first purpose is to perpetuate itself. You need to behave in the same way. You must do what is best for yourself, based on the best information you have. Will you make mistakes?

As you get to be older -- I just turned 49 myself -- there is a problematic thought process that can creep into your daily thinking. When you are faced with a new career challenge, a new career idea, a new career thought -- you balk. You think about al...

Dr. Rosanne Welch speaks on "Presenting Yourself Well on Paper" for CareerCamp Online 2009. More video from CareerCamp and Douglas E. Welch

From the archives, here is a video of Douglas E. Welch presenting on "A Year of Leadership" for the very first CareerCamp, CareerCamp Online 2009. Can't see the video above? Watch "A Year of Leadership" on YouTube   Subscribe to Douglas' YouTube Channel | Watch the Career Opportunities YouTube Playlist Subscribe to the Career Opportunities podcast using iTunes

What do you need to have a successful career? I think one of the most important parts of any career is finding work that you love to do. Great careers are not built on work you don’t mind doing or work you can do without any effort or work you can tolerate. Great careers are built on doing work that you love to do -- work that you can’t imagine not doing -- and work that excites you, invigorates you and gets you out of bed each morning ready to tackle whatever comes your way.  Listen to this Podcast Check out DouglasEWelch.com Does this sound like a fantasy? Does it make you think, “There can’t possibly be work like that for me!” The fact is, though, that everyone can and should find work that they love to do. Your future -- indeed our future as a people -- rests on more people finding life’s work through which they can dramatically heighten their effect on the world. The past is past and will not serve us anymore. America -- and many other industrialized countries -- are no longer worlds of manufacturing and hard, physical labor. The work world is now one of thinking and dreaming and acting to make those dreams come true. If you want to find your place in this new world, finding work you love can be an important first step. I know, many of you might be thinking, “but work is meant to be onerous, dull and difficult. That is the way it has always been.” While that may have been true in the past, I don’t think it is a requirement for the future. Sure, you can stunt your career growth by failing to develop skills, failing to find your niche in the work world or failing to understand how the work world has changed. If you do these things it is nearly assured that you will have the type of career that was prevalent in the past. A career that is “nasty, brutish and short” to quote Thomas Hobbes. Today, though, you have a choice. You can work hard for someone else or you can work hard for yourself and your career. If you believe that your work and career must be onerous, dull and difficult, then that is exactly what you will achieve. We are all burdened with concepts from the previous generations -- and previous centuries. Some parents and other elders might explain to us that work is meant to be unpleasant -- something you merely tolerate -- rather than a place to find fulfillment. While this might have been more true in the past, here and now in 2013 there is no need for this to be true. We have more freedom and more ability to develop the careers -- and lives -- we deserve than ever before in history. We only need to reach out and grasp the opportunities we are given and stop trying to develop a career with a 19th Century mindset. How do you find work that you love? First, you have to discover what work you are most capable of doing. You’ll need to do some hard thinking about what natural skills you bring to the table. Are you good with mathematics, spatial concepts, logic, empathy, interpersonal skills? Then you need to think about how you might apply your natural skills to your life’s work. If you are empathetic and have good interpersonal skills, you might go into caregiving, psychology, medicine or a host of other people-related careers. Do you excel at logic and math? Careers in statistics, investing, and programming might hold interest for you. The best thing about starting with this approach is that when you discover and think about your natural skills, it often points the way to your desires, too. If you have natural skills in one area, you may find that that is also work that you would love to do on a daily basis. This isn’t always true, of course, but following your natural skills certainly leads you in the right direction. Too many of us never think about our skills and our desires when building a career and we often end up in jobs that go against our own interests. Once you have discovered your natural skill set, you can begin to look for work that builds on those natural skills as much as possible.

When we are working, we often think about what those hours will buy. Is this part of a new car, a new HDTV, a new house? We think in terms of money -- how much per hour, how much we need to cover our credit card bills, how much to pay the mortgage? I believe, however, that we are buying something much more important with our work hours -- something much more precious. We are not just making money or buying "things", we are actually purchasing little pieces of freedom. When you think about work in this way, it takes on even greater importance in our lives.Not money or things Listen to this Podcast  Like Career Opportunities on Facebook While we might like to believe we have unlimited freedom in today's society, if you look at your life you will see that that is not quite the case. We have to make compromises every day. We have to make enough money to support ourselves and our families. We have to live where there are sufficient jobs. We have to live in houses that look like all the others. We systematically sell pieces of our freedom so that we may live. That said, we also need to consider the possibility of buying back some of that freedom every day. Saving money, under-consuming and focusing on those things that are truly important to us can take back moments of freedom that money alone cannot buy. Sometimes we even have to sacrifice money and possessions to regain large chunks of freedom that our friends and neighbors only dream about. The freedom to... So what are these moments of freedom?. I will use a few examples from my own life. Over that last 10 years, both my wife and I have "sacrificed" a more "normal" lifestyle in order to achieve a large degree of personal freedom. Sure, we have to work. We have to make money. We have to pay our pills, but we do this more as necessity rather than a focus of our lives. We have given up the stability, prestige and monetary benefits of corporate jobs, but we have gained much more. We gain the freedom to be available to pick up our son each day at school. Since we establish our own work schedules, we can decide to go to the beach on a Wednesday when it's less crowded and work on Saturday. To a large degree we can choose who we work for and the work that we do. Each hour I spend working yields even more hours of freedom. We also gain the freedom to be able to work wherever we might be. Sure, my computer consulting business mainly ties me to the city, but I often support clients who travel all over the country. I am also confident that, if necessary or desired, I could reestablish my business in any city of significant size. I have the freedom to work for one person, one company or many, which keeps me from depending on any one source for my income. Too often, people give lip service to the concept of a balanced career. They complain that they want more time with their family, but they aren't prepared to give up the 100 inch plasma TV in order to have that time. They feel trapped in their jobs because they have so over-extended their income in buying the trappings of a good life. They HAVE to go to work, otherwise what little outside life they have will falter. It doesn't have to be that way. If you want to have more time with your family, then you have to work fewer hours, not more. Working more hours, to make more money, actually reduces your free time. Instead, you need to decide to spend less, so you can work fewer hours, and then spend that time with your family. You need to buy freedom, not things. You cannot buy freedom with money, no matter how hard you work. You can only buy freedom by reducing the amount of money you need to make to support your lifestyle. Once you achieve this, your time with family, the time to explore your interests and the time to live the life you wish will arrive. Remember, you are not simply getting a paycheck each week for your labors. You are buying your freedom. ***

A conversation with Andrea McClain, owner of M Street Coffee (http://mstreetcoffee.com) in Sherman Oaks, California. Recorded for CareerCamp Online 2009. We talk about Andrea's career path and the challenges of running your own business and being an entrepreneur. Subscribe to Douglas' YouTube Channel | Watch the Career Opportunities YouTube Playlist Subscribe to the Career Opportunities podcast using iTunes

I was invited out to speak to the career group, Tuesdays with Transitioners, in what has become an annual presentation. This year I present "A Year of Self Preservation." You can watch the entire presentation below in this YouTube video. It is a fact of nature that we often spend many hours of each day focused on someone else. We focus on our boss, our job, our family, our projects -- but one person is usually left out of this focus -- you! We can easily lose ourselves in the clamor for our attention. This year, though, I call for "A Year of Self Preservation". A year of returning the focus to ourselves and our own lives, so that we can continue to help others. It is my firm belief that we can only, truly, help others when we ourselves are in a good position. If we try to do too much, without the support of friends, family or a stable income, we risk placing our own life, work and income in jeopardy. This isn’t selfishness. Self preservation is about establishing a firm foundation where you can stand so you can offer a helping hand to others. The tenets of A Year of Self Preservation are: Taking care of yourself first -- not last Learning when and how to say -- No Distancing yourself from negativity and avoiding the downward cycle  Attendee Comments "Valuable information, superbly presented. Time well spent." "Very good subject and some great insight on the topic. I enjoyed it." "Today's meetup was very thought provoking. Douglas's presentation was wonderful and very timely. We must constantly be reminded of this "self preservation" and the importance it plays in our happiness throughout life." Watch "A Year of Self Preservation" on YouTube Books by Douglas E. Welch     

In these days of global, instantaneous, communication, we are much more aware of what is happening in the higher circles of government. We know what bills are making their way to the House floor, what debates we will see in the House of Commons and how the latest tax law changes will effect us. That said, due to this better communication, we often overestimate how much effect these large governmental organizations have on our day-to-day life. In the worst cases, we can begin to ignore what is happening in our own backyard, in our own families, in our own careers. It is important to remember that your daily actions will have far more effect on your life than nearly any governmental action.  Listen to this Podcast    When we over-focus on what the President, Pope or Prime Minister is doing we lose sight of more immediate -- and I would say, possibly more important -- issues close to home. Should you ignore government entirely? Of course not, but you also shouldn’t let it become the daily driver of your thoughts and actions. I can guarantee you that there are much more pressing issues close at hand that desire -- and require -- more of your attention. In some cases an excessive focus on high-level, external issues is often just a way to avoid facing the issues that are close at hand. Every day I see people worried about this policy or the other -- and how it might effect then -- when their own immediate household is in disarray. Sure the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve is certainly important in the grand scheme of things, but shouldn’t you be more concerned with the fact that half your staff is so unhappy they are on the verge of walking out? Shouldn’t you be more focused on the fact that a big order for very important customer is about to be late and cost you thousands of dollars in future sales? Yet, I still see people spending hours of their time discussing, arguing and even obsessing over the big picture while ignoring the small. In some ways I think this behavior comes from a bit of arrogance. We like to think that since we are aware of these governmental policies more than ever before, we can effect them more than ever before and they effect us more than ever before. The truth is, governmental policies often only effect us in small, incremental ways and we can often effect them in very small ways. It is rare (although not unheard of) that a policy will remove your ability to do business. On the other hand, though, a major crisis in your own office, factory or startup could effect your viability directly and quickly. Where should you be devoting more of your attention? You have the power in your hands to directly effect your life, your business, your career every day. The actions you take -- from the smallest to the largest -- will decide how successful you are in all of these areas. Don’t allow yourself to get too tied up in the machinations of governments (and large, far-flung corporations). Focus on what is happening right in front of you first. It is here where you can have the deepest impact. In some cases, your immediate, local, direct actions can have effects far up the chain of government. Just as employees are challenged to “manage from below”, your actions at the local level can have far reaching effects. The world can be a frightening and confusing place sometimes. As we gain access to more and more global information, we can feel somewhat powerless to effect higher level policy and actions. While it would be great for all of us to feel more powerful in the management of our government, that fact is our biggest power still lies within us. It lies in the direct effect we have on the people and and world immediately around us. Don’t lose sight of how important that can be to both your life and career. This direct effect -- not the actions of Presidents, Popes and Prime Ministers -- is what will define your life and legacy. ***