Lazy Man and Money

I’m Being “Furloughed!”

by 9 Comments

This is from regular writer Kosmo. I put furloughed in quotes because when he first told me about it he said he was getting a mandatory week off of work without pay.

We got news that we will be furloughed for a week – either in July or September. This was a bit of a kick in the wallet, as it’s basically a 2% reduction in pay for the year. On the flip side, we won’t be working that week, so it’ll be time to recharge the batteries a bit. In normal circumstances, that wouldn’t be bad. Right now, honestly, my batteries are pretty well charged. I’m no longer spending 60-90 minutes per day commuting, not taking the kids to their activities, and not going out to restaurants and stores. We’re even getting to kids to (reluctantly) do some household tasks. That has free up a lot of time.

Many companies have been hit hard by COVID-19. If a one week furlough ends up being the only impact I feel, I’ll be pretty happy. More realistically, my bonus will take a hit, because it’s tied to company performance. I assume we’ll still get raises next year, but that’s not certain. Hopefully, this is the only furlough week we’ll have, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we have another.

My wife’s employer is the major hospital in the area. Since basically all non-emergency care was banned for a couple of months, they had a huge drop in revenue. They’re going to be doing something to cut expenses, but it’s not clear what. Hopefully, it’s just a furlough of a week or two.

Overall, my employer has been handling the situation very well and has been very transparent about the whole process.

What is the financial impact?

My wife and I are pretty secure in our jobs. Nobody is ever perfectly safe, but we’re both positioned pretty well. The impact on us will be mostly short term. We’re going to lose thousands of dollars in income. Hopefully, this is in the low single digits. Bonuses and future raises could also be impacted.

Unlike many people, we’re not living paycheck to paycheck. We’re both mid-career, and we don’t have particularly expensive tastes. While we don’t save quite as much as we’d like (largely because we have kids) we put a pretty healthy chunk into retirement savings every month, have a great start on 529 plans for the kids, 50%+ equity in our house, and have enough in liquid assets to weather a short-term storm.

We also qualified for a partial stimulus payment, which we put into savings. Our expenses have also dropped quite a bit in the past few months. Our driving has dropped to almost nothing, which should delay the purchase of a commuter car to replace my 2007 Elantra. Additionally, I’m pretty sure I’ll qualify for unemployment during the furlough(s). Put this all together, and it’s likely that our financial picture won’t be impacted too much – with the lower expenses offsetting the decreased pay.

How will I spend my time?

I’m going to have several days where I don’t have to think about work at all. How will I spend my time?

First of all, I’m going to take some naps. Why not? [Editor’s Note: I highly recommend naps.]

The garage could use a cleaning. Mostly, I just need to get rid of random crap that I no longer need and organized all the containers of screws, bolts, and nails I have. I have no idea what the school situation will be like, but if the kids are home, they can pitch in.

We have a ton of stuff to drop off at Goodwill. There’s a decent-sized mountain in our storage room, and it would be nice if we could reclaim that space. Again, the kids will be able to help with this – sorting things into piles so that we can get everything properly categorized and logged for tax purposes.

I’ll probably spend a bit of time writing. I’ll probably write a couple of articles for this site, and maybe dust off my novel.

Time for stamps?

Will I have time for stamps? Of course.

One activity that has taken up quite a bit of time lately is my jump into philately. I’ve been scouring auction sites for good deals and spending quite a bit of time and money getting my collection off the ground. What do I have to show for it? A lot of half-empty album pages. Many of the early pages have only a few stamps.

There are 665 New Zealand stamps issued between 1855 and 1970 if you ignore specialist variations (which I do). At this point, I have specimens of 298 of those stamps in my album (in some cases, multiples of the same stamp) and another 30 are currently in transit. COVID-19 has been brutal on international mail – I’ve been waiting 40 days for some of the albums, and 25+ for several. So I have purchased about 330 of the stamps I’ll need.

When I get those stamps in my album, I’ll be halfway done – in just two months. That means I should have the whole collection wrapped up by about Labor Day, right? Not quite. Although I’ve picked up a few higher-end stamps, most of the stamps in my album are the cheaper ones. I’ll probably be able to fill another 200 spots in my album without spending too much on any particular stamp. But as I get close to the finish line, it’ll start to get a lot more expensive.

Also, I’ve picked up an interest in covers (envelopes). Each cover is somewhat unique. A different addressee, postmark, or even physical placement of the stamps. I actually have my eye on several that I’ll be purchasing soon. Now I just need to figure out how to store them.

An interesting note: I’ve become irrationally drawn to postage due stamps.

Working from home until next year

Other big news from my employer is that we’ll be working from home until next spring. Some employees might start coming back to the office in September, but it’ll be a slow trickle for a long time. I’m in IT, and since we should know how to be productive with remote tools, we’ll probably be last.

I’ve been getting by with a single 22″ monitor for the last few months. When I was last in the office (March 12), we weren’t allowed to take equipment with us. They relaxed the restriction a few days later, but at that point, I had no desire to go back into the office.

We bought a spare monitor and dock for my wife so that she has two LCD monitors in her workspace upstairs. I really didn’t want to repeat that expense downstairs. Most of my recent work has been analysis and planning. Lately, it’s been shifting into testing work. Testing is a lot easier with two monitors, and if we’re going to be working from home for nine more months, I needed another monitor.

So I got my manager’s approval to go back into the office to grab stuff. I grabbed a monitor (24″), a dock, and my Lazarus Android tablet, which had died for several weeks, been replaced, and then suddenly came back to life. I had Lazarus stashed at work since I had a better tablet at home. I also grabbed my stash of cables, and my Cyclones hoodie and jacket. Then I went to work cleaning. I always have a lot of food stashed in desk drawers. Everything was sealed and had not yet attracted rodents. Pretty much everything was expired. The whole lot went into the trash.

How are you being impacted

How are you being impacted by COVID-19? What changes have you had to make in your daily routines?

Job Search Journey: Management Potential?

by Leave a Comment

This is a continuation of Kosmo’s Job Search Journey, but you can read it as a standalone article.

The Whole Job Search Series:
1. You’re Fired
2. Assessing the Situation
3. Networking
4. Learn
5. The Interview
6. Frustration
7. Success
8. Sink or Swim
9. Search for Stability
10. Job Search Journey: The Interview the Lasted for Seven Months
11. Advice

Two years ago, I was facing the impending loss of my job.  I was nearly three months into my job search, and barely three months from the point where I would no longer have a job.  Panic had begun to set in – I was wondering how long we might have to survive on one salary, and how I would avoid getting bored while unemployed.  For that matter, what was the process for filing unemployment?

Happily, it never came to that.  I ended up finding a job about six weeks before the clocked stopped.  I coordinated my start date with the termination date for my old job, so that I’d qualify for my severance. After eight months as a contract employee, I transitioned to permanent employee status.  My employer is one of the most prestigious companies in the area.  Overall, things worked out really well.

Now, I’m looking to take the next step in my career.  My boss left for another job.  I applied for his job, interviewed for the position, and am awaiting the decision.  My interview wasn’t perfect, but went well.  I was able to make most of my key points.  I think I have a decent shot at the job.  If not now, I think it’s just a matter of time.

Why become a manager?

I was a regular employee at my previous job for more than twenty years.  During that time, I never had an interest in becoming a manager.  Why not?  Mostly because I was always surrounded by very experienced teams members on autonomous teams.  Honestly, as a manager, if you have a twenty year employee with a track record of success, you should have a fairly hands-off approach.  Be available for guidance, make them aware of any new information (changes in policy, etc), help remove roadblocks, but don’t micro-manage.  Stay out of their way and let them get work done.

At my current company, there are a lot of people who are less experienced.  Many of these people are bright, but they simply don’t have the experience to have learned some life lessons.  You learn a lot by making mistakes – and often times, they haven’t yet made those mistakes.  They may need explanations of why things are done one way and not another.  Many times, the answer is that the approved way has more safeguards and exposes the company to less risk.  They may also be unsure of what their career path will be, and may need someone to show them the options, and help them take the next steps.

I’ve spent my career helping to build IT systems for people.  This work is akin to picking the fruit from a tree.  When you retire, your legacy disappears fairly quickly.  I want to become Johnny Appleseed (Johnny Careerseed), helping employees become productive and happy (akin to planting fruit trees instead of merely picking up the fruit).  The legacy of Johnny Careerseed will live on after Johnny has retired.

How to become a manager

Obviously, you can’t simply decided to become a manager and have your wish granted.  You have to take some steps to prepare.  Here are a few of those steps.

Be good at your current job

If you have a reputation as a poor performer in your current job, you’re not going to be seriously considered, even if the jobs are completely different.  If you’re a mediocre performer at your current job, focus on improving your performance, before applying for manager positions.

Initiative

The analyst I replaced wasn’t someone who showed a lot of initiative.  I was able to make an immediate positive impression by jumping in and taking some initiative to move my project forward.  At this point, I am the project lead, and I do many of the task which typically fall to a project manager.

Interpersonal skills

You don’t need to become best friends with everyone you work with, but it’s helpful to at least have a positive or neutral working relationship with everyone.  In your current role, you might be able to avoid interacting with certain co-workers.  As a manager, you won’t have that ability.  You’ll need to interact with all of your employees in a fair, non-partial way.

My boss also “volunteered” me to work on a committee for his boss.  This ended up being a good opportunity to have face time with his boss – the guy who happens to be the hiring manager for the job I applied for.

Interview experience

If you become a manager, you’ll have the opportunity to hire new employees at some point.  Interviews look very difference from the other side of the table.  If possible, gain some experience on an interview panel.  Be an active participant, but also pay attention to the other people in the interview.  If you hear an insightful question steal borrow it for future use.

In the past year, I’ve been involved in about a dozen interviews.  Recently, my project manager asked if I’d be interested in being on the panel for a position she was trying to fill.  It’s not even a position on my team, so it helps bolster my reputation as a team player, while also gaining me valuable experience.

One thing I always try to do is smile and nod a lot during the meeting, to help put the interviewee at ease.  The goal of an interview is to determine if the applicant can do the job; often, nervousness during the interview makes it more difficult to determine how well the person can do the job.

Fun fact: the project manager was initially interested in poaching me for the position, until it became apparent that she couldn’t afford me.  That made me feel better about my negotiating skills – I’m apparently doing quite compared to others in my role.

Training

Take advantage of any training your company offers.  I was able to take a course on “difficult conversations” that I found useful.  Historically, I haven’t been great at confrontation, but I’ve improved pretty dramatically in recent years.

Advice

Finally, look around you and get advice from family or friends.  I have several friends who are IT managers, serving in similar roles to the position I’m seeking.  I’ve reached out for them for their thoughts and advice, and I’ll continue to do that in the future.  Shared information makes everyone stronger.

How to Bribe Your Coworkers

by 2 Comments

I have long subscribed to the adage that “you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.”  If you’re nice to people, they’re more willing to work with you in the future.  Keeping them happy makes your own job easier.  It’s not fun going to work when you have to pull teeth to get information from people.

Toward this goal, I make efforts to be flexible, and to be available for any questions.

I’m also the guy who occasionally brings in donuts.  Not every week, but probably once every 4-6 weeks.  It’s not terribly expensive, but you can buy a lot of goodwill for the cost of a donut.  Recently, when our business partners (accountants) were in the middle of their month end processing, I brought them a box of donuts, too.  These people aren’t actually on my team, but on a team we interact with frequently.  Imagine if someone in an adjoining department brought in donuts for your team.  My small gesture was very well received – even the second level manager thanked me.

Was there an ulterior motive?  Sort of.  I knew that those people would be testing our new system soon.  My company is in the middle of changing a lot of processes, and software deployment is currently not a smooth process.  So I was giving them a positive impression of my team weeks before they got to the point of testing.  In hindsight, this was a great idea, because the deployment is taking forever.

I also have candy at my desk.  Most of the time, I’ll go to Costco and buy big containers of M&Ms, but I’ll occasionally mix things up a little bit.  I recently found a great post-Halloween deal on Reese’s mini peanut butter cups.  I bought six pounds.  On a couple of occasions, I’ve handed out ice cream bars in the afternoon.  Once, my boss’s boss was talking to my boss, and I handed an ice cream bar to both of them.

[Author’s note: I also have an incredible sweet tooth, so this is not entirely altruistic.  So I end up consuming a lot of donuts and candy.  I’ve been gaining a few pounds, but managing to still stay on the slender side of the spectrum.]

The end result of all this bribery is that when I have a question, others members of the team are always willing to drop by my desk and help resolve the problem.  Chocolate has become the lubricant of productivity.

In the next few months, I will begin pursuing a position in management.  There are many management styles.  I’m more of a mentoring type of manager.  My overall philosophy is that happy employees will be productive employees.

There are many ways to help an employee have job satisfaction.  Donuts, chocolate, and pizza are definitely the easiest.  But it’s also important to work with them to upskill and gain expertise in their areas of interest.  I firmly believe that there is an art to finding the balance between what an employee wants and what is best for the organization.  There will be time when an employee just needs to suck it up, because every job has tasks that aren’t fun.  But it’s also important to work with the employee to identify that work they enjoy doing – or want to learn – and finding where they intersect with the company’s goals.  Sometimes overall productivity might take a dip in the short term, but this may be necessary to build a base for higher long term productivity.

Because happy employees are productive employees.

The Art of Hiring an Employee

by 2 Comments

I’m away on vacation. I’ll be back with original articles after Christmas.

Loyal readers may be familiar with my Job Search Journey series.  While I saw much of the job search process from the point of view of the searcher, I was also on the interview panel several times, as my company searched for even newer employees.

You’ve all searched for a job at some point, and you know how difficult and stressful it can be.  What you might not realize is that it’s a difficult and stressful process for the employer as well.  Quite often, they are looking to hire someone because someone has left the team.  That means the remaining members are taking on extra work until the position can be filled.  The company wants to fill the position quickly, but doesn’t want to rush into hiring someone, either.  Hiring the wrong person can cause lasting problems.

So, what can you do to increase your chances of hiring the right person?  Here are a few tips.

Don’t search for a unicorn

Let’s say that there are three skills that are critical for the role you’re looking to fill, and seven other skills that would be a nice bonus.  If your job posting has something along the lines of “the ideal candidate will…” and then list all ten skills, you will invariably scare off some candidates.  A candidate might be a rock star at the three critical skills, but have zero experience in two of the bonus skills.  You don’t want to exclude that candidate from your pool.

Instead, list those three critical skills as the required skills and the other seven as additional skills.

Make the candidate comfortable

Interviews are incredibly stressful for the candidate.  In many cases, you end up finding out how well the candidate can navigate an interview process rather than how well they can actually do the job.

Do what you can to make the interview painless for the employee.  If you’re setting up an on-site interview, make sure the candidate knows where the location is, and offer directions if they aren’t sure, so that they aren’t reliant on the whims of their GPS unit.  Make sure they have the phone number of someone they can contact if they get lost or stuck in traffic.  When they arrive, ask if they would like to use the restroom.  (The nervousness always make me need to urinate.  I’d always make sure to stop at a gas station close to my final destination).

During the interview process, don’t try to “catch” the candidate with “gotcha” questions.  If you get an answer that doesn’t seem to be correct, ask it in a different way, to make sure the wording didn’t confuse the candidate.  If there are multiple people on the interview panel, engaging in some light banter may make the candidate more at ease.  Even a smile can help.  The overall goal of the interview process is to be conversational, rather than adversarial.

Communicate timelines clearly and honestly

As a candidate, nothing is worse than being told you’ll be contacted in three days and not hearing anything for weeks.  Be transparent with the candidate about the timing of the process.  If you run into an unforeseen delay, shoot them an email and let them know it might be another few days.

Never “ghost” a candidate.  When I interview with a company and don’t hear a peep out of them, I make note of it.  When I’m talking with friends about job searches, I’ll mention certain companies that aren’t good at communicating.  If your company has a habit of doing this, you can be certain that this is public knowledge among job seekers.  You could have some rock star candidates who don’t bother to apply because of your company’s reputation.  If you’ve decided not to hire a candidate, let them know.  Even a simply email is acceptable.

Don’t go overboard with negotiations

You definitely want to hire the candidate at a salary your company can afford – but don’t go overboard when you’re negotiating.  If the candidate is looking for $100,000 and you only want to give $99,000, don’t draw a line in the sand.  You’re better off paying the ideal candidate $100,000 than paying a meh candidate $95,000.  Good employees create substantial surplus value for your organization.

Support the new employee

When the new employee starts, help them get up to speed.  If your organization doesn’t have a formal orientation program (or even if it does), have them shadow another employee to help them get an understanding for how your organization functions.  They’ll certainly have some questions (and the other employee’s productivity will dip as they take time to assist the new employee), but think of it as a long term investment in the employee.

Lazy Man’s Thoughts

I was on the hiring manager a couple of times in my life. Both times I was 24 years old with just a couple of years or real job experience. These were the kinds of wacky things that happened during the dot-com expansion of 1999.

One thing I learned in recent years is what Kosmo mentioned here. Interviews generally tell you more about their ability to interview and communicate, which might not necessarily be the most important skills.

Similarly, the headmaster at my child’s school said that standardized tests often reflect the student’s experience in preparing for them. Some students pay a lot of money for prep classes and my understanding is that they produce very good results. Families who may not be afford such services appear to be at a disadvantage.

Get back to the actual process, there’s one thing that stood out from when I was a hiring manager. We were strongly encouraged to conduct our interviews in a neutral location rather than behind a desk in your office.

Job Search Journey: Advice

by Leave a Comment

This is a continuation of Kosmo’s Job Search Journey.

The Whole Job Search Series:
1. You’re Fired
2. Assessing the Situation
3. Networking
4. Learn
5. The Interview
6. Frustration
7. Success
8. Sink or Swim
9. Search for Stability
10. Job Search Journey: The Interview the Lasted for Seven Months

The timing of this update is particularly helpful as I’ve been extremely sick the last couple of days and all my other responsibilities have been piling up.

Now that I have arrived at the successful conclusion of my job search, it’s time for me to turn my experiences into advice for other job seekers.

Get started immediately

Fired Cartoon

If you’re getting a severance payment, it can be tempting to take a few months off and live off the severance.  I know several people from my previous job who did this.  I’d caution against doing this.  Get started with the job search immediately, because you never know how long it will take you to find a job.  If you get an offer, you can always negotiate a start date with the new employer.  Most employers won’t mind delaying the start date a week or two if you want to take some time off.  I found out that I would be losing my job a full six months before the termination date.  Despite having this much notice – and a healthy severance – I started the search immediately.  I applied for a job that night.

What did I do with that severance payment?  Invested it in an index fund, where I’m not tempted to spend it.

Explore all your options

At first, I was only looking for permanent positions.  It hadn’t even occurred to me to consider contract work until a staffing company happened to email my wife, asking if she knew anyone interested in a business analyst position.

I also left no stone unturned when it came to submitting resumes.  I submitted resumes for nearly every opening within a 70 mile radius.  (Note that I live in Iowa, so 70 miles is roughly a 70 minute drive).  I submitted resumes at companies that employed thousands, as well as companies that employed dozens.  I submitted resumes to companies hiring teleworkers.  I did avoid a handful of companies that had incredibly toxic reputations, but only a few.

Look at all the benefits

Salary is the thing that most people focus on.  Let’s compare two hypothetical job offers.

  • Employer A offers a salary of $100,000, 2% 401(k) matching, and two weeks of PTO.
  • Employer B offers a salary of $95,000, 5% 401(k) matching, defined contribution pension (5% of salary), and four weeks of PTO.

Which of these benefit packages is better?  It’s B.  The 401(k) matching, pension, and extra PTO easily offset the $5000 difference in salary.

Often, it’s not as clear cut.  You might need to choose between a higher salary and a more flexible schedule or choose between a nonprofit and a large multinational corporation.  In the end, you need to determine what is important to you.

Focus on your strengths

If you’re like most people, not all of your responsibilities fit nicely into a specific role.  In my case, I had begun my career as a business analyst, but had taken programming classes and had done coding work on large projects that deployed enterprise level tools.  For much of my career, I had functioned in a hybrid role, doing whichever tasks were needed at the moment.  Most companies aren’t looking to hire hybrids, though.  They’re looking to fill a specific role.

I had to decide whether to advertise myself as a programmer or a business analyst.  In my case, it wasn’t particular difficult.  My somewhat limited experience and background as a programmer meant that I was was somewhat weaker on those skills than I was as a business analyst.  So I pitched myself as a business analyst who had some bonus technical skills.

Interview often

If you have the opportunity to partake in mock interviews, do it.  I didn’t do this (despite having ample opportunity), and wish I had.  Interviewing is a nerve-wracking experience, but it gets easier with repetition.  It helps you get prepared for certain types of questions, as well as getting comfortable with the interview process itself.

Remember that the process is just as difficult for the hiring manager as it is for you.  They aren’t trying to trip you up; they’re just trying to get a good feel for your skills.  I’ve been on a few interview panels at my current job, and it’s very difficult to determine if someone is a good fit based on a short interview.  Getting an insight into the person’s thought process is often more important than the specific answer.

Be positive

Always be positive in an interview.  When asked why you’re leaving an employer, put a positive spin on it.  In my case, I said that my company was consolidating its IT workforce into four locations, and that I preferred not to move because of my strong roots to the local area.

Enter the interview with a smile, exit it with a smile, and try to keep a positive demeanor during the interview, even if the interview is stressing you out.  A key thing to remember is that the interviewer wants you to do well.  They want you to be the candidate they hire, so that they can wrap up the expensive and time consuming search process.

The positivity shouldn’t stop when you get the job, especially if it’s a contract position or the job has a probationary challenge.  See obstacles as challenges to solve rather than negative aspects of you job.  How someone fits into a team is very important.  We recently lobbied our boss to have a new team member assigned to a solo project.  The team member wasn’t much of a team player and was killing morale and productivity.  The boss agreed, moved some people around, and productivity skyrocketed.

Help others

So you found a job?  Maybe you leveraged some connections to get a leg up.  Remember that this is a two way street.  If you become aware of former colleagues who are looking for a job, reach out to them.  Offer to be a reference, a sound board, a resume reviewer, anything.  Not only will this produce good karma, but you never know when you might need help from that person.

Final Personal Thoughts

It’s Lazy Man back for this section.

I think Kosmo hit on many things that were important for my job search journey. There was a big tech layoff in 2001 and the whole department was let go. I got a sizable severance, but I still did everything I could to find a new job. Unfortunately at the time, there were so many programmers and no one was hiring. That’s what happens when there is a technology bubble bust. The supply and demand was simply not on my side.

This experience played directly into me creating Lazy Man and Money with the idea of exploring financial independence and alternative income streams. It wasn’t like I could live at the time on just my dog sitting income, but it definitely extends your emergency fund.

Unfortunately for me, perhaps the advice that hit home the hardest was to focus on strengths. Though I have a background as a software engineer, I get bored doing one thing and got bored doing that. I started the blog and that has been good for awhile. However, I’m midway through year 12 and it’s getting more and more difficult to find interesting topics to write about.

Dog sitting isn’t a skill that’s in high demand. One of my other new gigs is being a blog editor. That’s interesting, because it’s a little different than writing personal all the time. Another gig is customer service for a cloud company. I don’t know too many people who love customer service jobs. However, they are necessary and the one I have is some people I like, which is good.

At the end of the day, my strength is almost like not having one. I am kind of good at blogging, very good in personal finance, below average in programming (I’ve forgotten a lot and technology has changed), good at dog sitting and customer service, and very good at reading legal briefs on defamation. Only a small company is looking for that kind of diverse skill set.

In the short term, I’ll probably just keep juggling the same hodge-podge of stuff. Financially, it’s been working for us and it gives us the flexibility we need with two very young kids and my wife’s demanding military job and college career.

About

Learn more about Lazy Man and Money, how the site developed over the years, and more at the About page.

Recent Posts

Connect