Category: Your Career (Page 24 of 62)

      The crippling cost of college

      September 11, 2012 /

      One of the themes we keep emphasizing has to do with the crippling costs of a college education today in America. Sure, college campuses are much nicer with all the new buildings and new technologies, but they are failing in their basic mission if students leave there with massive student debt that will hang over them for the rest of their lives.

      More publications are doing good work discussing these problems. In Newsweek, Megan McArdle asks whether college is a lousy investment.

      Why are we spending so much money on college?

      And why are we so unhappy about it? We all seem to agree that a college education is wonderful, and yet strangely we worry when we see families investing so much in this supposedly essential good. Maybe it’s time to ask a question that seems almost sacrilegious: is all this investment in college education really worth it?

      The answer, I fear, is that it’s not. For an increasing number of kids, the extra time and money spent pursuing a college diploma will leave them worse off than they were before they set foot on campus.

      Given the costs, it’s hard to argue with her on this point. She discusses how college was critical for many families in building a better life for the next generation. But sitting on an English degree with $150,000 of debt seems like a pretty bad deal.

      That said, we can’t overreact to the current economic conditions. When the economy improves, more of these kids will get jobs with their degrees.

      Yet something has to give, and it was very encouraging to hear President Obama challenge colleges to slow down tuition inflation.

      Also, the future of free college courses looms on the horizon. Universities would be wise to start figuring out how to lower costs, or they might really have a problem in the future.

      Your Career, Your Compensation, Your Education

      Negotiating your salary in a lateral move

      August 23, 2012 /

      Here are some interesting tips on how to gain maximum leverage in negotiating your salary when you are making a lateral move:

      If you’re about to make a lateral move, you should list and monetize everything your employer has to pay for in order to secure your services. You may not have stock options, but you probably get a yearly bonus, vacation time, medical and dental benefits, life and disability insurance, free or low-cost parking, continuing education, professional fees and dues, subscriptions to professional journals, and the like.

      To escape the strong anchor of your current salary, estimate how much each of those benefits would cost if you had to obtain them in the local market. The final number you calculate will be your “total compensation package.” That is the figure to use when your prospective employer asks you what you’re making now. And the term to use is “my total compensation package” or simply “my compensation.”

      When you’re asking for more money than you’re currently making, you’ll also want to take a look at what you’re leaving behind. You might, for example, be giving up retirement benefits that haven’t yet vested, earned vacation, or a year-end performance bonus. You’ll want to ask your new employer to compensate you for the benefits you’ll be leaving at your old firm by making the transition to your new one. In Mayer’s case, that accounted for $14 million of her total compensation.

      Read more about using that power and information to your advantage.

      Your Career, Your Compensation

      Open-ended vacation policies

      August 19, 2012 /

      The lines are blurring between work days and off days, along with workplace and home environments, as technology makes us more accessible. One trend emerging has to do with open-ended vacation policies.

      Unlimited paid vacation is the new trend, as you encourage workers to be responsible and take the time off they need. This makes workers more productive. The idea is a Results-Only Work Environment. Not many companies are doing it, but it’s becoming popular in the tech field.

      Your Business, Your Career, Your Team, Your Workplace

      The importance of focus for entrepreneurs

      August 16, 2012 /

      Many of us are guilty of this. Instead of focusing on the execution of our most important initiatives, we keep coming up with new ideas. In some ways this is critical in the new economy, where everything moves very quickly. You have to be alert and opportunistic.

      That said, there’s a real danger in spreading yourself too thin. You have to learn to focus on what’s important. This article explains the concept in the terms of domain names for Internet entrepreneurs. If you have over 300 domain names, maybe you’re brainstorming too much and not executing enough?

      Your Business, Your Career

      How to get a job at Google

      August 12, 2012 /

      The interview process at Google has become legendary, and many people are curious about what it takes to get a job there. William Poundstone explains the secret to getting through the interview process there. Here’s an example of one question:

      What is the single hardest question they ask you when interviewing at Google?

      “What number comes next in this sequence: 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66…?”

      This question is hard because you either see the “trick” or you don’t. Nothing you learned in school is likely to help. Try spelling out the numbers—you’ll see that they are in order of the number of letters in the word. “Sixty-six” has eight letters, so the next number must have nine. One possible answer is “ninety-six.”

      Poundstone goes on to explain what Google is looking for in interview answers and the type of people, extremely bright extroverts, that Google wants. Your thought process is just as important as your answer. Read the whole article and see if you might fit in.

      Your Career

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