My Gen Y Life

There is a short span of time where you are no longer a teenager and not yet have all the responsibilities of adulthood, marriage, and mortgages. This can be the best time of your life or it can be a waste. Before you plunge into “full” adulthood take my advice as someone who has passed through this era.

You will make more critical decisions in these years than at any other time in your life. Take a second to let that sink in. Think about it – you decide where to get your degree, what career to pursue, where you will go after college (and possibly meet your future spouse), and what friends you will let influence your life. My life would be so different right now if I had tweaked any of these decisions.

Make the most of your college years. Not just the partying part, but take advantage of the opportunities you have as a college student to travel abroad, compete in a sport or club, take part in a variety of eye-opening experiences, and enjoy every day you have. It won’t be long before every day starts to look the same and the years just fly by.

Open up as many choices for yourself as you can. While this could be a detriment by having too many good choices to choose from, it’s better than not having any. Don’t pigeon-hole yourself into one area or one route because if you change your mind, it may be too late. Although I had to turn down a couple great opportunities, I was able to choose the one that felt right and didn’t feel like I was pushed into it.

Lastly, try not to worry about the “what-if’s” too much. There is a sense of destiny that things will happen and opportunities will present themselves as they were meant to be. But who wants to stand around waiting?  You’re more likely to find what you’re looking for if you try than if you just wait for it to come to you.

If you’re like me, you’ve felt the wallet crunch as the gas prices have reached historic highs. I work in the city so parking is not cheap. I’m not ready to give up my SUV for a squash-able Mini Cooper or spacecraft-looking Toyota Prius either, so I take public transportation to work instead – which is virtually FREE, thanks to my employer’s “environmental” benefits.

So here’s what I’ve learned in the last few  years of riding buses, vanpools, and subways –

Learn the ropes quickly. Be ready when the bus/van/subway comes to your stop. If you need to, have correct change or your pass in hand and get on as quickly as you can. Everyone has a place to go and when you are slow, you slow everyone else down. If you have a question, get on and ask it after you sit down. Also be ready for your stop when it comes up, and don’t whine if you miss it because you weren’t paying attention.

Leave as much space as possible. At least in America , we like our space. Generally riders fill up every other seat until it gets too crowded (with people typically preferring the seats in the front or closest to the doors over the backseats). Don’t sit directly next to someone unless you intend to chat (quietly) with them or if there’s absolutely no more seats. I would even take an empty handicap/senior seat before sitting next to someone to avoid the grunts (especially on a bus). If you got on early and someone is coming to sit next to you, politely lift your bags off of the seat next to you and don’t be a seat hog (unless you have really good reason you don’t want that person sitting next to you).

Remember to have 6-inch voices. Nobody wants to hear about your brother’s wife’s friend who has a knitting business or listen to you gripe about how much you have to do for your inept mother-in-law.  Keep the drama to yourself. Even if the person next to you is interested, it’s not likely the rest of the people on board are.

Bring something to listen to or read so you don’t have to stare at people. It makes people feel really awkward when you’re staring in their direction and it’s not clear what you’re staring at. If you must stare, look outside the window closest to you or put your head down.

Leave the driving to the driver. One of the best things about “riding” is that you don’t have to drive. Forget about the traffic and enjoy the ride (literally). The last thing the driver needs is a dozen backseat drivers giving – or yelling - out their suggestions. Public transportation drivers usually have set routes and set detours, and they are paid to be safe drivers. If they need your help, they will ask.

Do you have any to add?

I knew the honeymoon period was over in my marriage when my DH told me to “stop whining” when I stuck out my pouty lip about something instead of him saying that I was “cute”. After the honeymoon period there is a tendency to criticize more and forgive less.

My coworkers that have been at the company for a long time (7+ years) tend to criticize the most. They see the “writing on the wall” and read the “tea leaves”. When they immediately deject an idea because of what they think they foresee, they breed negativity and give up. “We’d never get funding for that – don’t plan on it” or “They never recognize our accomplishments – we’re never gonna be rewarded.” I just want to ask them, have you ever thought about doing something different? Maybe you’re not communicating well enough to the boss – maybe there’s something you can do about it!

Am I just naïve for having optimism about making change? I think not. If there ever needed to be change it’s now when we are in a recession market and need to be more creative with how we spend our money and how we prove our value to the company.

Maybe I’m focusing on the small issues? Some issues that I care deeply about at work may be in the very back corner of the CEO’s mind, behind a door in a box. In order for them to surface I need to be able to connect them to a “big picture” objective, and I need my boss or an executive sponsor to support me and not just put my idea aside. Small issues can become big issues if they are not addressed early on.

Am I in the wrong department? It’s no secret that some departments (usually the sales force or other central business) get more attention than the departments that “keep the lights on”.  Consequently, they tend to be more influential. This group is a key supporter for making a change at work.

Is the honeymoon period over? Perhaps I was coddled as a new employee and everyone smiled and nodded when I would suggest something, and in the backroom say how “ambitious” and “good spirited” I was. Now that I’ve been here a couple years and have gone through the “test of time” they are more honest with me and we can all wallow in our trials together.

Is anyone else feeling this way at work? Please comment.

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.

Last week I saw perhaps the most brilliant interviewing technique and wondered “why didn’t I think of that myself?” I was asked to be one of the interviewers for an opening on my team and was blown away by how well this one candidate did across the board despite being the underdog on paper.

Don’t stress out. “How do you deal with stress?” is one of the top ten interview questions (in some form or another). It’s because no one wants to work with someone who is going to freak out easily. This particular candidate could have easily been stressed out from being at the wrong building and then the wrong conference room (on accident because of last-minute changes on our part) making him 20 minutes late to the interview, but instead he just smiled and said with a chuckle how great of a start it was for the day.

Do show your passion. Despite my frustration with the beginning chaos I couldn’t help but like the guy. His passion and enthusiasm were infectious. I found myself trying to think of how his ideas could work for our team and picturing him sitting in the empty cube across from me. Providing examples of your innovation and strategic thinking do wonders for your interview.

Don’t be perfect. Nobody’s perfect right? If you have the perfect answers and ask the perfect questions and appear to always be successful the interviewers are not going to believe you, even if they smile and nod. Instead, be honest about a time when you were unsuccessful and how you dealt with it. Show your tenacity by examples of how you challenged a manager or project team on something that you knew wasn’t right, even if your idea didn’t win out in the end. Be willing to work in an imperfect workplace and be adaptable to change.

Do brag about how much you’ll be missed. Demonstrate how valuable you are to your company in a casual way. This candidate was the only one who told us how disappointed his teammates said they would be if he left – and how they all agreed to take the others with them if one ever left. I came in to the interview wanting him to prove to me what he could do for our company and left feeling the exact opposite.

Do have recommendations on your Linked In profile. If you don’t have a profile - start making connections now. It’s an easy way market yourself and your capabilities in a less formal environment. The recommendations were invaluable to me as an interviewer – there’s something about reading a spontaneous recommendation from someone that makes it more genuine. Oftentimes the recommendations from your friends and colleagues can demonstrate your true personality better than a 30-minute interview or resume.

Don’t send a thank-you note right away. Don’t skip this vital step, but do wait at least 2-3 days. E-mailing the people who interviewed you the very next day may seem a little too eager. Being seen as overbearing and borderline desperate is that last thing you want. Showing them that you’re in no hurry can be your best negotiating tool (even if you are itching at your heels to leave).

The candidate’s technique to make me feel like we were recruiting HIM instead of him looking for a job with us was exactly how it should be. The hiring process is a two-way evaluation and I think we early careerists sometimes forget that.

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.

One of the greatest pieces of advice I received in college was to develop a relationship with at least one of my professors each semester. This would give me a network of professors that would support me, share advice with me, and (maybe most importantly) be able to write recommendations for me.

The same rule applies to your career, too. If you make the effort to build relationships with mentors you will have greater success both personally and professionally. Here are the tips I recommend:

Build a relationship with at least 2 mentors each year
Logistically, you could start a new mentorship every six months. Some companies help by providing this kind of “service” to their employees to promote career development. Kudos to those that do. If you’re at a majority of the companies that don’t, you can initiate the mentorship either formally or informally.

Choose mentors outside of your bubble
Your manager is likely some kind of mentor to you, but you would enhance your experience by going outside your comfort zone and meeting with someone you hardly know. Use your manager to get suggestions of persons to mentor with. Find a mentor that works in a field or specialty that interests you but that you may not have experience in. You never know, it might be the catalyst for pursuing a new area.

Starts with “me”
As a mentee the ball is in your court to develop the relationship and think of questions and ideas to discuss. As long as the mentor is okay with it, you can gain valuable insight beyond just the basic job information into things like how to negotiate, where to go on vacation, and how they maintain a work/life balance.

Once you have a network of mentors, you’ll find that you get more exposure in the business, become more knowledgeable, and stand out more to your manager.

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.