| There are three goals that most people seek in their life. They are Longevity, Happiness, and Money $ecurity (which I call $ecurity). Without money, you can’t eat, own a home, rent an apartment or even have the basics of life. Knowing how to get a new job, keeping your current one and knowing when to move on are very important skills for your Job Security. Unfortunately, they are not taught in school. This book will teach you the proper way to gain Job Security. I discuss the other aspects of $ecurity in “Investing Wisdom of a Scott” and “Business Wisdom of a Scott.” Job Security is dead. Gone are the days of getting hired into a job and then 40 or 50 years later retiring to play golf. My father worked at the same camera store, Willoughby Peerless for 41 years. Those days are over. With outsourcing, downsizing, global economy and other economic problems such as the trade deficit, terrorism, and an aging population, finding and keeping your job is more difficult than ever. This book will help you if you are:
I have been working at various jobs for 33 years. From my first job, as a paperboy delivering the New York Post, to my current job as a Software Developer for a small hedge fund, I had many successes and some failures. This book will help you avoid some of the pitfalls I have run into and help you get the dream job you deserve. In my life, so far I’ve had 15 jobs.
I’ve been laid off five times. I know the pain that is felt when you’re downsized. I’ve worked retail, wholesale, big companies and little companies, public and private and the government. I’ve managed others and have been a worker. I’ve gone on hundreds of interviews and have learned the dos and don’ts of Job Security. I’ve also hired many people and know the problems that go with this task, which may be the most important task a company does. Currently, I work for a hedge fund and makeover a six-figure salary. A hedge fund takes money from rich people and tries to make them more money while doing it with lower risk. Being able to sell and market yourself is one of the most important skills you can develop to improve your Job Security. In college, my first job interview was with Salomon Brothers, which is a very large brokerage firm, now owned by CitiGroup. The company came on campus to interview the students. On the interview, I was extremely nervous, this being my first interview. I flunked out of the interview when I was asked if I had ever heard of the company and said: “No, but I had heard of Merril Lynch.” I didn't get the job but had another interview on campus with a company called Marwood Distribution Sys-tems Inc. I had a decent resume, due to part-time work I had done during college and did much better on this interview. I landed the job. The company was started by an overweight and almost cartoon looking man named Marvin Woods. With his brown curly hair, long sideburns and double chin. His company was a six-person shop, but he made it as if it was a big corporation. The company’s office was in a food warehouse in the Hunts Point part of the South Bronx. This was a bad neighborhood. Prostitutes would open their fur coats and flash their naked body at you as you drove by and often kids would throw rocks at my car. I was living at home with my parents and only 21 years old. We would work in the warehouse and on Fridays; meet at Marvin’s home in Bethpage, New York. One Thursday, Marvin asked me to speak on a subject at his house the next day. That Thursday I worked late and didn't have a chance to prepare for the topic. So I arrived at his house on Friday, the group sat together and went over the day’s plan. Marvin said, “Scott, you’ll go over the subject with the new employee today.” I interrupted, “Marvin, I worked late and didn't have a chance to prepare for it.” He said, “You’ll do it anyway.” I said, “No I'm not.” With that, he asked me to go home. On Monday when I arrived at work, he gave me a letter that said that he was giving me one month’s notice that I was terminated. This was very devastating to me. It changed the way I approached work. |