Employment Do’s and Don’ts
Employment Do’s and Don’ts 7 Comments
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Several years ago, after I had only been a recruiter for around six months, I went out to dinner with a few people. I will never forget the dinner because at the time I was very caught up in recruiting, and was working seven days a week. In fact, all I could think about were my candidates and the people I was working with. Throughout the dinner, which was on a Friday night, I remember that I even took a few phone calls. I considered each of my candidates to be like close friends, and I made it a point to learn and know everything there was to know about their careers.
I was sitting with my wife, her friend and a businessman, who had been jumping between jobs for years and had had a real average career so far, in all respects.
I am sure you know lots of people like this because they are everywhere. It is a certain mentality that is all about making as much money as possible, being dominated by consumerist messages, and not having a “soul” that is truly connected to the work that one does. This is a product of our consumer culture; for some people the obsession with material possessions becomes all encompassing. I see it all around me and I am fascinated by watching how fads influence people. What is in from one moment to the next is anybody’s guess, and some people spend all of their efforts keeping up with the trends.
“I hope you are making a lot of money on this recruiting thing, since you are taking calls on a Friday night,” he told me. I still remember the exact table I was sitting at when the guy made that comment, which I found to be highly offensive.
“I actually love the work I am doing. Believe it or not, I could not even tell you how much money I have made this year, because I do not think about it. I am too caught up in enjoying the work. I feel so connected to what I do,” I said.
“That’s the biggest crock of shit I have ever heard! The only reason anyone works is to make as much money as possible. I bet if you could make more money working in a McDonald’s, you would. Everything is all about the money, baby….”
This particular comment upset me so much that I got up from the table and went to take a short walk. Unfortunately, I had to spend the evening in the same house as the guy, and I remember that all through the night I felt like punching him. I have very rarely had violent feelings like this, but this guy’s comments really offended and upset me. Even at 11:00 that evening I found myself taking a walk with my wife, discussing how crude I thought this man was, and how strongly I disliked this sort of personality.
There are a lot of people out there like this. I have been burned by some of them. Several years ,I bought life insurance from a guy, which was supposed to be a safe long-term “investment”. After “investing” in the insurance to the tune of nearly $50,000, I called the agent after six months, to check my balance in the insurance account. He told me the balance was zero because the entire first year of my insurance “investment” had gone towards paying his commissions.
“Are you kidding?” I asked him. “You told me this was an investment.” Incredibly, he then said some familiar words back to me, referring to his commissions:
“It’s all about the money…”
This is an episode that has stuck out in my mind to a degree that is hard to believe. This particular insurance agent tried the same thing with one of my friends, who has since had a vendetta of sorts, for years telling everyone he knows that the guy is a total criminal.
One of the worst things that I see occur time and time again is when people choose their jobs based on monetary considerations only. In speaking with the most successful people in insurance, accounting, sales, law, medicine and virtually any industry, one will find that these people have a deep emotional attachment to their work, and to the people with whom they work. You need to care about the people with whom you are working. You need to care about your work on a deep emotional level. Your focus needs to be on the work that you do, and the meaning it has–to you and to others. You should not be doing something if you cannot speak about it with passion and if it does not get you instantly excited, just thinking about it.
Have you ever seen a really good runner getting ready for a race? Or a really good boxer getting ready for a fight? They both are jumping up and down, twisting around and so forth because they are that excited to start their “work”. The race, or the fight, makes these people incredibly exhilarated and focused. They are in an intense and productive mental zone, just from thinking about the tasks on hand.
When you love something and care about the people you are working with and for, you also have that contagious enthusiasm that gets you excited. You can hardly wait to start your work. Since I started in the recruiting and career, I have never been able to either (1) sleep in late or (2) sleep soundly the whole night. By 5:30 or 6:00 am each morning I am awake, excited to start the day. I am brimming with enthusiasm, thinking about all that needs to be done. I need to force myself to go back to sleep, regardless of whether it is a weekday or a weekend. At night, it is difficult for me to go to sleep many times because I feel like I would rather be taking care of some work-related task, connecting with someone regarding work, or doing something else. Some time ago, I was so excited to get to work that I started having staff meetings at 7:00 am each morning. We only stopped doing this when some of my staff told me they had been working until midnight each night because they too were so enthusiastic about their jobs, and they needed more sleep–or to stop working so late. Now our meetings start daily at 8:00 am.
I am trying to communicate to you that you need to care about your work with a great deal of passion. The people you work with should also share your passion for what you do. If you do not have this passion, your coworkers may grow to resent you.
On the old TV show, Seinfeld, there is a serious immigrant man with a Hitler-like mustache called the Soup Nazi, who is known throughout Manhattan for his excellent soups. The Soup Nazi has procedures that all of his customers need to follow, in order to stand in line, place their orders, and pay. If people do not follow his rules, then he states, “No Soup for You!” and refuses to serve the people. What is so fascinating about this character is that, like all people that are extremely focused on their work, the Soup Nazi has an excellent product and a passion for doing things a certain way. Despite the strictness of the Soup Nazi, he nevertheless has the most sought-after soup in Manhattan. The Soup Nazi is an example of someone with passion for his work, and he demonstrates what this passion can do for you: It can make you sought after. Could you do your job with the same passion as the Soup Nazi? If you cannot do your job with a high level of passion, then you might be doing the wrong kind of work. You should be able to get incredibly excited about whatever work you are doing.
The problem with the guy I had dinner with that night, who was so focused on money, was that this focus was something that will prevent and did prevent him from ever reaching his full potential. Instead of being focused on what he liked to do, and what was truly important to him, he had allowed consumerism and money to dominate his consciousness, completely overshadowing any passion he might have had for his work. Money should never be the controlling focus of what you do: What you do should be the focus of what you do.
Employers, and customers, do not care about how much money you want to make. They care about what you can do for them and how much you care for them. These are the main things that they care about whenever they come to you. If you do something for them that has tremendous value to them, then they will pay you for it–but you need to create value. You simply cannot create value without placing 100% of your focus on doing good quality work. Also, keep in mind, no one cares about:
No one cares about any of these things, despite what you might think. All they care about is what you can do for them. If you can give them the best soup of their lives, they will care about this. If you can find them really good jobs, they will care about this. If you can give them really good investments, they will care about this. If you care for them and look out for them, they will care about this.
But at the end of the day, no one gives a crap about how much money or prestige you want for yourself.
Throughout my career, I have interviewed various people looking for jobs. One of the most unusual interviews in my entire career was with a man that was seeking a recruiter position, who lived in Beverly Hills, had a live-in nanny, had several expensive foreign cars and more. I will never forget the long interview I had with him, during which he shared with me how much money he needed to make on a monthly basis in order to pay for all of this. He was not at all concerned with the work he would be doing. When I went through how much money he was generating for his current company, I realized that the company was paying him far more than he brought in. In addition, he was expecting the same of me, if I were to hire him. Recently I looked him up and saw that in the seven or so years since I interviewed him, he has had a new job just about every single year. He is chasing dollars and has absolutely no interest in what he does.
You need to stay focused on the work–and the work only. The more focused you are on your work, the better results you will achieve.
THE LESSON
You need to stay focused on your work – and only your work – in order to achieve the results that you want. Bring passion to your work, and surround yourself with similarly passionate colleagues. Your coworkers may resent you without this passion. Employers care about how much you care about them and what you can do for them rather than how much money you hope to make. When you offer employers a tremendous value, you will be compensated accordingly.
About Harrison Barnes
Harrison Barnes is the Founder of BCG Attorney Search and a successful legal recruiter himself. Harrison is extremely committed to and passionate about the profession of legal placement. His firm BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys. BCG Attorney Search works with attorneys to dramatically improve their careers by leaving no stone unturned in a search and bringing out the very best in them. Harrison has placed the leaders of the nation’s top law firms, and countless associates who have gone on to lead the nation’s top law firms. There are very few firms Harrison has not made placements with. Harrison’s writings about attorney careers and placements attract millions of reads each year. He coaches and consults with law firms about how to dramatically improve their recruiting and retention efforts. His company LawCrossing has been ranked on the Inc. 500 twice. For more information, please visit Harrison Barnes’ bio.
About BCG Attorney Search
BCG Attorney Search matches attorneys and law firms with unparalleled expertise and drive that gets results. Known globally for its success in locating and placing attorneys in law firms of all sizes, BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys in law firms in thousands of different law firms around the country. Unlike other legal placement firms, BCG Attorney Search brings massive resources of over 150 employees to its placement efforts locating positions and opportunities that its competitors simply cannot. Every legal recruiter at BCG Attorney Search is a former successful attorney who attended a top law school, worked in top law firms and brought massive drive and commitment to their work. BCG Attorney Search legal recruiters take your legal career seriously and understand attorneys. For more information, please visit www.BCGSearch.com.
Filed Under : Employment Do’s and Don’ts, Featured, The Role of Jobs in Today’s World
Tagged: career advice | a harrison barnes, focused on work, insurance investment, job search guru
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When faced with difficult times, you must develop the ability to transcend the trouble around you instead of giving up or assuming that nothing can be done about your situation. Keep your wits about you and take charge of the situation, and you will find yourself on track for constant improvement and career success.
It is extremely important that you enjoy your job. Most people find themselves in jobs that they resent, and eventually make this resentment known by appearing disinterested and distracted. Success comes from being engaged in and grateful for your work. You can define your job according to your own vision; you can either choose to engage with your work, or avoid and despise what you do. People recognize and appreciate those who are enthusiastic about their work.
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In this article Harrison discusses how persistent pursuit of something you believe in, against all obstacles, is one of the most important keys to success. So many of us just decide at some point not to push through and not to keep going even when a little bit of extra effort would push us through. The secret to being incredibly good at everything is pushing through and getting better and better when others around you are quitting. Even while hiring, employers want experts and people who are the best at what they are doing–they do not want dabblers. They want to hire the person who is incredibly committed to a job and has persisted against odds in one direction when others have given up.
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When I was an attorney, I stopped going out to lunch with other attorneys during the day. The reason was not that I was not hungry. Instead, I stopped going out to lunch because just about everyone I worked with would want to dedicate the lunch to a critique—whether it was critiquing our bosses, coworkers, or others. When these people were not being critiqued, the job itself was being critiqued. When the job was not being critiqued, the attorney’s home life was being critiqued.
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Think about your ultimate purpose in life, and what you are currently doing to accomplish it. Everyone is gifted with unique talents, and a failure to identify and utilize yours would be tragic for your life and career. The greater purpose you identify in your life, the greater the obstacles you will face. If you persevere and push through these hurdles, you will find the rewards to also be correspondingly greater.
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I wish Harrison Barnes was my recruiter!
I have created millions of dollars in value, and I expect to be compensated for all of it. I pray for the Jewish God to remove all the bullies and people that tried to steal my value, projects and contacts. I believe BJC/WUSM will terminate Patty S the bully, anyone who has made my life difficult or harmed in any way, anyone responsible for the July 5 mistake, and anyone who acted with ill will toward me. I believe BJC/WUSM will compensate me for all the value I have created and meet all the expectations in my August 5 letter.
Mr. Barnes, I have trained for years in the HR field. At 54, I was laid off. Now at 56 I am still unemployed with a heart for HR that still beats, but more faintly now.Age seems to be the focus….not the heart and the love of the profession. I feel I have wasted so much time and heart and now its too late.