Young and Employed » job http://youngandemployed.com Perspectives on business from young marketing and public relations professionals Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:56:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Networking for smart dummies http://youngandemployed.com/2009/07/20/networking-for-smart-dummies/ http://youngandemployed.com/2009/07/20/networking-for-smart-dummies/#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:33:34 +0000 Francisco http://youngandemployed.com/?p=91 Not too long ago, a wise man  I truly respect with business advice, told me: “in business, anything you would say during a normal conversation, will be accepted as networking…“; today I got to prove it.

Someone gave my name as a reference for a service I use as part of my marketing efforts (not to mention that I made some profit out of it) and I managed to turn the call into what seems to be a great opportunity in disguise.

It took me 10 minutes on the phone to learn that everything I’ve heard about the Research Triangle Park in N.C. is true, and at the same time I managed to make a contact in the Marketing world over there, someone nice to talk to and who could open some doors for me.

We have all heard about Networking activities, dinners and such, but could it be that just having your eyes open for the right kind of people would prove more successful than walking around with your resume in one hand and a martini in the other to one of those networking cocktails?

I would like to hear some networking experiences.  How do you network your professional career?

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]]> http://youngandemployed.com/2009/07/20/networking-for-smart-dummies/feed/ 1 The Connection Between Happiness and Your Job http://youngandemployed.com/2009/06/25/the-connection-between-happiness-and-your-job/ http://youngandemployed.com/2009/06/25/the-connection-between-happiness-and-your-job/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:27:55 +0000 Francisco http://youngandemployed.com/?p=41 Throughout my career I’ve always struggled with work life balance. I allow my job to become a part of who I am. A somewhat recent event in my life made me realize this might not be a healthy way to live. Like so many others, I was laid off earlier this year (don’t feel bad I found a job pretty quickly). The entire experience made me reevaluate what is important to me, because when you don’t have a job it really makes you think about who you are and what you want out of life. Plus your job can’ t be what fulfills you because you don’t have one.

I’ve had four jobs since graduating from college four years ago and I think part of my problem is I want too much out of my jobs. I want them to make me happy. I’m happy in my home life, but I want every aspect of my life to be perfect. What can I say I’m the oldest child in my family – we tend to be perfectionists who want it all. Then I came across the Brazen Careerist blog by Penelope Trunk.  This post made me realize that I shouldn’t be looking at my job to complete my life. As long as the work is challenging and keeps me busy, as long as I work for a company that isn’t cruel to its employees or the world, and as long as I know what is expected of me in my job I should be happy. And you know what happened – I realized I can be happy in almost any job.  I’m not making six figures, but hey – I’m only in my mid-20s, so few people my age even make what I make.

It’s time I stop looking to my career to make my life complete. I’m still going to be career driven and work hard at my job, but that does not mean I will put my job at the center of my life. Now that I don’t let my job dictate my overall happiness I find that my happiness from my real life (my life outside of work) actually impacts my happiness when I am at work.  My life outside work is pretty great, and very fulfilling . I won’t get too mushy but I have to say that I think I have as close to a perfect marriage as you can get, I have a great family and group of friends, and I play the trumpet still – which really does bring me joy.

So, yeah, I might still have a rough day at work that makes me want to come home and mope on the couch. But from now on, the second I leave the office I am gone. I learned one very important thing from being laid off. I owe my company 40 hours of hard work every week, I don’t owe them my happiness outside of work and I will not let my job decide if I am generally happy or not. Only I have that kind of control over my life – and I encourage everyone else to be the same way.

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