Our Best Advice 
By: Kate Wendleton and
Dale Dauten

“Kate & Dale Talk Jobs” is a nationally syndicated newspaper column appearing in The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Washington Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston Chronicle and approximately 100 other newspapers.

It’s time for our annual review of our best advice of the year.  Here’s hoping that 2003 is your best year yet.

ON EXPECTING YOUR DEGREE TO CARRY YOUR CAREER
Your college degree is like a driver’s license:  After you’ve had it a few years, you want to be talking about the places you’ve been, not the test you passed.

ON GOING BACK FOR AN M.B.A.
When people quit their jobs to get an M.B.A., being out of the job market for two years is more of a negative than the M.B.A. is a positive.  When having the credential is essential, then go to school at night.

ON TRYING TO GET INTO A NEW FIELD
If you’re only “chasing openings,” you are likely to be rejected for someone who has the exact experience. It might seem backward, but you want to meet with people who have no openings. Your best hope is finding someone who’ll create a spot for you or who thinks of you when something comes up. Your résumé can’t compete with those who have experience in the field, so you have to look where there’s no competition.

ON NEGOTIATING WITH A NEW EMPLOYER
Don’t be TOO clever. It’s OK for you to win, but you mustn’t let your new bosses lose. If they do, they’ll have the management equivalent of buyer’s remorse, and in stead of helping you succeed in your new job, they’ll set you up to fail, thus evening up the score.

ON HOPING AN EMPLOYER WILL FIND A PLACE FOR YOU
It seems so logical to say to an employer, “Here I am.  Here’s my education and experience.  Tell me where I would fit in at your company.”  But that’s not how it works.  Managers aren’t job counselors.  Managers hire people who already know what they can do AND what they want to do.

ON THE PURSUIT OF FAIRNESS
Being right is not the same as being successful.  In fact, spending time “being right” might just be one of the secrets of failure.  Your job is not just your work.  You aren’t given fairness; you create it. If you think that’s not fair, you’re right.

ON NOT GETTING THAT JOB YOU WERE PERFECT FOR
Asking hiring managers to explain why they didn’t choose you  will only make them defensive.  Instead, tell them, “I really had hoped to work with you. I’d like to stay in touch, just in case you need someone else or the person you picked doesn’t work out.”  That way, rather than thinking of you as one the people they passed over, they might consider you the perfect backup.

ON LEAVING A LOUSY JOB AND LOOKING FOR REFERENCES
Calling old bosses to ask them to serve as references is a wonderful way to network  — perhaps one will ask you to come back, or refer you to a friend.  Moreover, calling them is a chance to remember how good you are.  You can’t let one lousy boss start you wondering if your career is ruined.  Reconnect with your successes.  Then, as you wait to go into an interview, instead of worrying, sit there recalling those great times.  You’ll walk into the interview smiling, full of your successes.  YOUR successes. No one can take those from you.

THE BEST QUESTION TO ASK AN INTERVIEWER
Ask, “What would you like to be able to say one year from now about the person who takes this job? ” You might be surprised at the answer, such as, “I’d like to say that she never had a fight with Accounting.” Whatever it is, you can be sure that it’s near to your future boss’s heart, which is exactly where you want to be.

ON WORK/LIFE
Plenty of people think that if they cram enough pleasure into their off hours, they can compensate for stultifying work.  The result is so much pressure that the non-work hours feel like work.  The only good career is one that is a rewarding part of a satisfying life.

* * *
Kate Wendleton is the founder of The Five O’Clock Club and author of several books including Targeting the Job You Want. Dale Dauten is an entrepreneur, speaker and author in Phoenix, Arizona. His latest book, on how great bosses and great employees find each other, is The Gifted Boss (William Morrow). Please write to them c/o King Features Syndicate, 235 East 45th St., New York, NY 10017, or email Kate@FiveOClockClub.com. Copyright, 2003 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.