My Gen Y Life

So you scrounged up a suit for the interview, but now you have to wear business attire five days a week! Suddenly you seem to have nothing to wear (okay, so you have clothes, but they’re mostly from college with Hollister branded all over them). The business suits I did have were juniors-department-store-polyester-rayon ones, not made to last more than wearing them once or twice a semester.

You don’t have to sacrifice your style to wear business attire, but you also don’t have to spend a fortune. Here are some tips to building up your first corporate wardrobe:

Refresh your sewing skills. No, not to make your own clothes (unless you’re really brave) but to repair them. Do an inventory of your closet and see if you can find any work-type clothes that are of decent quality but maybe just need a button replaced or a hem re-sewn. You can also use a sewing machine to alter your clothes for the perfect professional fit.

Find wardrobe staples. These are the basics of your wardrobe that you can mix and match to create different looks. Depending on whether your work is business professional attire or business casual, you should invest in at least one nice black suit, a few pairs of trousers or slacks, a few blazers, a couple pairs of khaki pants, and some button-up shirts and cardigans or sweaters. I always make sure I have long-sleeve shirts or sweaters to wear even in the middle of summer so I don’t freeze in my cube!

Don’t break the bank. Go shopping during big sales and download coupons from online or get added to their mailing list. You don’t have to go to 5^th Avenue to shop, but try for the nicer department stores. Another thing I have done is to allocate myself enough money to buy one or two nice pieces of clothing each month. After a year or so you’ll start to have a really nice wardrobe coming together.

Don’t skimp on the shoes. Some nice black pumps or boots are essential for work. Find a pair that you can wear for a while, made of real leather and no more than 2.5 to 3″ high. If you are dying to get some new wedges or that cute new sandal, don’t spend a lot of money on them because you know you aren’t going to wear them longer than a year.

Buy trendy accessories. As I mentioned above, if you want to be trendy go for the cheaper items that you can use and not feel bad about throwing away after a year. Spend the bigger bucks on basic things that will last. No one will know you picked up that necklace at Forever 21 if you are dressing it up with a nice suit or pants. Be careful though – you don’t want to cheapen your look with items that are too teenager-trendy and make you look like you’re still in high school.

Take care of your nice clothes. Maybe I was lazy in college but I rarely ever brought anything to the dry cleaners. Sure, your clothes can be washed and dried with everything else, but they will wear down faster and compromise the quality of your new duds. Do yourself a favor and follow the directions on the tag so that you can wear them longer and keep them looking new.

To sum it up, put your money in the quality not the quantity. It’s so embarrassing when you get to work at realize that your lapel is unraveling or when you notice that you’re the only one with huge 4″ chunky heels! Being a professional means looking the part, and building up a nice corporate wardrobe will give you more credibility and self-confidence.

It’s that time of year again where I must send my accomplishments of the year to the Big B in hopes of a raise and bonus. This brought me to remember my first salary negotiation all of two years ago. I can’t stress enough how important it is that you negotiate for a higher first corporate salary. Sure you are grateful that they are actually going to hire you, but you also have to think about your future salary and annual raises.

In a Forbes.com article, Chris Fusco, vice president of compensation at Salary.com, says negotiating often results in “about 10 percent improvement on the initial offer.”

If you start at $35,000 annual salary, then with annual raises of about 3% you will still be making under $40,000 in 5 years. If you start at $40,000 with the same raises you’ll be over $45,000. That’s almost $10,000 difference between where you would have started to where you could be in five years.

Do your research first. Go to salary.com or industry journals to find out the average salary for that job. Also do research on the company and take into consideration the benefits that the company might consider compensation as part of the offer. Some employers offer up to 30% of the salary in benefits and most salary calculators don’t take this into consideration.

Ask for a day to think about it. If your employer won’t let you take at least a day to think about the offer, then they are not worth your time. This gives you time to sleep on it and refer back to your research. After all this is a big decision for you and even if you’re really excited, you still need to sleep on it.

I had an experience once where I was offered a part-time job and I asked the manager if I could get back to her within 24 hours so I could think about it and make sure I wouldn’t have any conflicts with the hours, but she said that I had to tell her right then and there. Well I said I couldn’t accept it and the hiring manager was upset that I had “wasted” her time. Then lo and behold two weeks later she couldn’t find anyone else with my qualifications and asked me if I was still available, but unfortunately for her I had already taken a job with someone else. I hope she learned a valuable lesson.

Give yourself a confidence boost. Before you go in to negotiate do whatever you need to do to get that extra boost. Penelope Trunk tells about what boosters work for her, such as dressing up for work. It might be a special caffeine drink, wearing your “power” tie, or getting up early to eat breakfast (early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise!). The extra boost will go a long way.

Remember the least they can do is say no. My mom always said that. When you go in to negotiate remember that they have given you an offer and they want you to work for them. Fusco recommends saying something like “Based on my understanding of the job, the company’s needs, and the skills and experience I bring, I feel I’m worth $5,000 more than what you’re offering me.” Usually they will meet you somewhere in the middle. At the very least, they would say no and you will still have the original offer. You might be able to negotiate other things than just the salary, such as vacation days, flexible schedules, or a hiring bonus.

It may be nerve-wracking, but you will be proud of yourself that you negotiated well and were professional about it. Your manager will be impressed (and usually expect) that you will negotiate. Your wallet will thank you, too.

If you’re a young professional, you have likely been asked by your boss (or you asked them) to attend an industry conference to expand your knowledge and receive relevant training. I recently attended a week-long conference in New England and by the time you hit Hump Day your head starts to hurt. Instead of getting overwhelmed by all the information and “useful” techniques, try to focus on how to get the most out of it for yourself.

1. Be adventurous. The conference will be more memorable if you can enjoy your surroundings. Being that you’re far away from home you will have a lot of time to spend outside the conference and should take advantage of that opportunity by exploring the city. Ask the locals where the best places to eat or favorite sites to see are.

2. Attend a session that is completely off the subject. It’s easy to overload yourself with information that is tied to your job. Hearing about other topics outside of your sphere can actually stimulate you to think differently about what you do in your job. It’s also refreshing to change your frame of mind and think about something else.

3. Think practical. Oftentimes speakers hype up the topic and give you best-case scenarios for fixing a problem. Ask yourself if this is something realistic and accomplishable at your organization, and if not, how can you tailor it to meet your organization’s needs. Seeing and doing are completely different things.

4. Do a brain dump. Even if you took good notes on the slides, it’s hard to remember what it meant six months later if you just stash your conference materials into the bottom of your file cabinet. As soon as the conference is over and you’re back in the office, compile your notes and the concepts you learned into a document, sorted into categories that are relevant for you.

5. Don’t try to boil the ocean. It’s cliché, I know, but seriously don’t try to accomplish the impossible. Pinpoint a few simple things from the conference that you can implement right away, and then prioritize 2-3 larger concepts for implementation.

Your boss won’t expect you to come back and revolutionize the workplace. You can prove the value of the conference by implementing a few key concepts that you may not have thought of otherwise. Hopefully the conference exposed you to new ideas or paths for your career and new people that helped you grow not only professionally, but personally too.

Most companies don’t use the word “secretary” anymore - companies have become more creative with terms like “administrative assistant”, ”client service representative”, and my favorite, “project coordinator”. I don’t care what they call it, it means you’re going to be answering calls, setting up meetings, doing paperwork, filing, and copying. If that’s you’re calling in life - great, we can’t live without you. If the sound of doing that the rest of your professional life makes you cring, read on.

You know in college when they chanted the alumni phrase: “Once a [insert mascot here], always a [insert mascot here].” Now insert “secretary” into that blank. I received sound advice from a former employee who told me not to take a secretary job for the company just to get in. Big mistake, she said, because from that time forward everyone thought of her as the go-to person for completing the daily administrative duties regardless of what her job description said. She was even turned down for other jobs because of her perceived limited abilities.

Thankfully to her, I passed over the secretary jobs and waited for the right opportunity to come up. It took me interviewing for 4 positions before I was offered a job as a web specialist. It wasn’t my ideal job (who’s first job is?), but it was something related to my skills that would teach me a lot and open up more opportunities.

Unfortunately, I still had to fight the label as the secretary of the group. I don’t know if it was because I was young, blonde, or sat in a cube outside a conference room, but people would ask me where the manager was, ask me to setup meetings, and assumed that I knew how to fix the copy machine. After feeling a little peeved at first, I would tactfully respond with the name of the actual secretary for the manager and send them on their way.

Luckily, over time, people took the hint, I focused on my real job, and did work above and beyond. Proving that I could handle project management, write well, and think outside the box were key in distinguishing me from any previous perceptions people had about me. My manager was also my champion, and would include me on projects that would give me greater exposure in the company. Now I feel that I have created a good persona for myself and it shows with the promotions and projects that I’ve been given.

Your first year or two in the company in crucial for developing your persona, and if you do it well you will be rewarded. Do yourself a favor and don’t make secretarial duties the main focus of your job - let the real secretary do what he/she does best.