Lazy Man and Money

Job Search Journey: Networking

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This is part 3 of Kosmo’s job search journey. While this article stands well by itself, it will be even better if you read You’re Fired (Part 1) and Assessing the Situation (Part 2) for the full context.

I’ll share a secret with you: I’m terrible at networking.  Mostly, I hate asking people for favors.  The local grocery store has someone push the cart out to your car (yep, it’s you, Fareway) – you don’t have the option of pushing your own cart.  Most people love the service, but I’m so uncomfortable with this that I’m the guy attempting to carry ten bags out to the car.

Unfortunately for me, networking plays a key role in many job searches these days.  Knowing someone can be critically important to getting your foot in the door.

LinkedIn

The social networking du jour for job seekers is LinkedIn.  The announcement that my former company was going to eliminate teleworkers wasn’t a complete surprise.  Prior to the announcement, I felt there was probably a 50% chance it was going to happen.  So I had set up a LinkedIn account, but not done much.  Since the announcement, I’ve been feverishly “connecting” to people on LinkedIn and asking colleagues to “endorse” my skills.  After all, these are the people who have worked with me over the years, so they have the best understanding of what I’m capable of doing.  One step beyond endorsing is to give a “recommendation” – a free text blurb about the person.

Find a Job Search Partner

Coincidentally, a friend of mine was looking for a job at the same time.  Let’s call him Bryan, because that’s his name.  Bryan was working at corporate headquarters.  He and I had worked very closely in the past, supporting an aging system that we kept alive barely long enough to be replaced.  The circumstances forced us to be in almost constant contact.  I was continuously monitoring the system and was communicating any bad news to Bryan so that he’d be prepared to inform the tens of thousands of users of any adverse impacts.

Bryan’s wife landed an important job with an employer in my area.  Our employer wouldn’t allow him to become a teleworker, so he started looking for a new job a couple months ago.  I’d tried to give him some help, introducing him to a local colleague who had some connections.

When I learned that I needed to find a job, I piggybacked pretty heavily on Bryan’s experience.  I mentioned the companies that I was looking at, to see if I was overlooking anyone.  I shamelessly asked for specifics on a variety of topics, including the probably salary for the role.  I flooded his Facebook IM box.  After all, Bryan and I were looking for the same type of role, in the same industry, in the same local area.  If I could learn from his experiences, I’d be a step ahead of the game.  The was no point in trying to reinvent the wheel.

Some people might say that finding a job search partner and trying to help each other might be counter-productive.  What if they get the job that would have otherwise gone to you?  This is only an issue if you were the top two candidates for the job, which is somewhat unlikely.  Most often, using each other as a sounding board will help both of you.

Up to this point, it sounds like the relationship with Bryan was pretty one-sided.  I was doing all the asking and he was doing all the answering.  Things changed a bit when I applied for a job at a local company.  It turns out that not only had he applied (several weeks prior) but he was going on site for an interview the next day.

Network, Network, Network

I went into turbo mode, trying to find other people who could help us.  While coaching my kid’s football team, it occurred to me that a guy a few houses down worked in HR for this company.  We weren’t exactly friends, but we were always pleasant to each other.  After the game (and after his NFL team’s game was over) I dropped by his house and chatted about the situation.  I mentioned that Bryan had applied, and talked him up.  My neighbor wasn’t in charge of the hiring for this position, but he worked right next to the guy who was.

After a few conversations with colleagues, I remembered that one colleague’s husband worked for the company.  It turns out that he was good friends with an analyst that was on the interview panel.  I mentioned that Bryan and I were both applying for the job.  She also knew Bryan, and was happy to have her husband talk to his friend about us.

Success… of Sorts

The next week, there was good news.  Bryan got the job we were both trying for.  There were two positions, and both were now filled.  I was the victim of bad timing.  By the time I applied (the night I got the bad news), they had already picked the candidates to bring on site.  Nonetheless, I was happy for Bryan.  He was a good guy, and I knew he’d be a great fit for the job.  Also, it meant that I know had an ally inside the company.

The World Has Turned and Left Us Here

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It’s Sunday, late afternoon, around 4:45PM. I’m enjoying one of the highlights of our summer, an early bird dinner at a local hotel with a live jazz band. My wife and I are the youngest people there by about 20 years, with two notable exceptions… our 3 and 4 year old kids. They’ve been properly napped and are behaving so well that several people will later come up and compliment us all. (If they only knew!)

I pause to reflect… How much are they paying this 5-piece band? Is the restaurant making its money back on this crowd of around 20 tables?

Finally… “I MUST teach my kids how to play the steel drum.”

New Job Funny
Maybe a new job will be finding better images than this one.

(Side Note: I know that’s not a normal segue from a jazz band, but I’ve always been partial to how the steel drum reminds me of vacation.)

I remember when parents would worry if their children too much interest in guitar. The common refrain was, “You need to focus on something that is going to pay the bills.”

How did I come to a place where I’m thinking about just the opposite when it comes to something like music?

The World Has Turned

The world is changing very fast and it will continue to do so. I have been thinking about a couple of those big changes lately.

Retail Stores are Being Hit Hard

Hours before the jazz brunch I read that Benny’s will close all 31 stores by the end of the year. You’ve probably never heard of Benny’s because it operates in the freckle of the Unites States called Rhode Island. After 93 years in business the owners decided to retire. However, in their very short statement they emphasized:

“In a short period of time, the retail landscape has changed dramatically – especially for ‘brick and mortar’ businesses. The decision to retire was strongly influenced by this changing face of retailing.”

This was before Toys R Us announced its bankruptcy filing a few days go. It was also after a string of other retailers closing stores. There are so many that Clark Howard keeps a running list of store closings. This isn’t exactly groundbreaking news.

What’s also not news is that Amazon and online commerce is the changing face of retailing that Benny’s owners were referring to. Earlier this week, I read Best Buy’s Secrets for Thriving in the Amazon Age (NYT’s paywall). A retailer has to have secrets (one of which is to “get lucky”) to survive in this Amazon Age.

When thousands of retail stores are closed every year jobs are lost. Jobs may be created in other places (such as Amazon warehouses and delivery services), but one has to wonder if enough jobs are being created.

Self Driving Cars will Change Everything

A few months back, I read an incredible article in Quartz about the small US towns that will be crushed by the trucking revolution. Essentially truck drivers are almost entire economy of many small towns across the United States. In the near future, self-driving trucks will mean that truckers won’t stop at the dinners, gas station marks, hotels, etc. They will become the next Radiator Sprints before Lightning McQueen came to town.

Self-driving trucks are just the tip of the iceberg. Self-driving car fleets (such as the ones I’ve described here), will mean that few people will buy cars, which means car makers won’t make as money. Cars will last longer as electric cars can be almost maintenance free.

It might not be a good idea to work in the auto industry. It might not be a good idea to become a mechanic. It might not be a good idea to be a driver of any kind. It might not be a good idea to be in auto insurance sales. I’m not even touching half of the industries covered in CNBC’s list of 10 disrupted industries.

Finally, many (or all) of those delivery jobs created by Amazon and online commerce may disappear due to self-driving delivery cars, drones, and even self-driving STORES.

On the bright side, nearly everyone should be able to save a lot of money as transportation is one the biggest expenses in the United States (#2 after housing).

So Where Are the Jobs?

I’ve only touched on a couple of the big things coming down the pike (or already here). The easy answer to the jobs question is that there will be more technology jobs created. That may be true, but I’m not entirely convinced. Software that powers self-driving cars will mature in the same way that word processing software matured.* Once it does all the core functions really well, there’s not much else to improve on. There’s no need to employ thousands of software engineers when everything just works.

I’m sure there will always be new things for the technology people to work on. However, a vast majority of those jobs seem to be centered in a relatively small area in northern California called Silicon Valley. Maybe that will change in the future, but maybe it won’t. If all the new jobs are there, it’s not going to help 99.9% of the rest of the country find employment.

Years ago, I started this blog because I wanted to explore how to become financially free. The driving force behind that was the large push to outsource software engineering jobs to foreign countries where workers could work for a fraction of the pay. It was that same year (2006) that my wife’s pharmacy convention keynote focused on how pharmacists will be outsourced. I haven’t followed the outsourcing of either industry in a long time, but it seems like those predictions haven’t come to pass… yet. That doesn’t it won’t happen in the future.

Final Thoughts

This brings us back full circle to the steel drum. While the restaurant could have cued up a few MP3s, it wouldn’t be the same experience. That band, like many in town, have paying gigs at least a few days a week. It wouldn’t be enough to live off of, but I bet it pays well for a hobby… and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

One more thing occurred to me. In this future, many of the principles around financial independence will become even more important. If you’ve accrued some dividend income, have a side steel drum gig, and know how to live frugally, you’ll be a few steps ahead of the pack.

I didn’t intend for this article to be all doom and gloom. We enjoy getting things delivered to our door for very reasonable prices. I’m looking forward to being product while traveling and letting a robot chauffeur my kids to soccer practice, especially when it comes cheaply.

A different world isn’t necessarily a bad one. We need more steel drummers, don’t you think? Let me know in the comments.

* True story: I still use Microsoft Office 2001 as my office suite.

** You score major points if you recognize the title of this article as a Weezer song off their first album. While the lyrics are obviously about something completely different, I admit that I’m a little haunted with how some of them apply:

“And in your place an empty space
has filled the void behind my face
…
You remain, turned away
Turning further every day
…
Do you believe what I sing now?”

Working From Home

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For a couple of years, it was known that my employer would be closing my office.  Last July, I began working from home full time.  What has the experience been like?

Advantages: Financial

Gas / auto – I reduced my daily driving by 46 miles.  There are 260 work days in a year.  After accounting for vacation days and holidays, that leaves about 230 days.  230 days X 46 miles is a savings 0f 10,580 miles per year.  I would get about 32 mpg and the current cost of gas here (Iowa) is about $2.099 per gallon.  (10,580/32) * $2.099 = $693.98 in fuel savings.

However, there’s also much less wear and tear on the car.  The car is a 2007 Hyundai Elantra with 138,000 miles on the odometer.  I’m (hopefully) extending the life of the car a few years by driving it less – allowing me to push back the purchase of a new(er) car by a few years.  Lazy Man wrote about the cheapest cars to own a few months back.  The very cheapest cars to own cost about 40 cents per mile.  40 cents per mile X 10,580 miles =  $4,232.  That’s the equivalent of getting a raise of about  $7,000 (since the automobile cost savings is a direct cash-in-pocket savings).  (Are you wondering if it’s possible for us to get rid of one of the cars and cut that expense entirely?  Good idea, but just not feasible with kids and schedules.)

Food – When I worked out of the office, I ate out a lot.  I’m often up until 1:00 AM or so (for work) and was getting up at 6 AM.  Getting the kids (8 and 5) into the car was enough of a struggle without worrying about packing my own lunch.  I didn’t eat at extravagant places, but even at fast food places, it’s not hard to spend $7 on a meal.  I’d often end up buying a snack (or two) from the Goodie Box at the office.

When working from home, it’s easy to make a sandwich or some other quick meal that utilizes ingredients in the house. When I began working from home, I also planned to walk around the block during my breaks and eat healthier – ham sandwiches and the occasional salad instead of so much fried food.

Advantages: Non-financial

Sleep – I can sleep until almost 6:30 and still have plenty of time to get ready, corral the kids, drop them off, and get back home in time to start the work day.  That’s a net gain of about 25 minutes of sleep per day – for both me and the kids.

No driving – I hate driving.  I’m not subject to big traffic jams, but I simply don’t like driving.  Cutting the drive time out of the day makes me happier.

Flexibility – I’m always home if a repairman needs to drop by.  I’m always there when a package gets delivered.  I can throw a load of clothes into the washer every once in a while.  I can pick up the kids and have them working on homework by the time my wife gets home.  It’s much easier to make it to after-work appointments.  It’s been a big win not just for me, but for the family.

Disadvantages: Financial

Utilities – I’ll use more water, gas, and electricity since I’ll be home more.  We have a pretty energy efficient home, which keeps heating costs reasonable in the winter.  I don’t run the A/C much during the day (I prefer it a little warm), so that’s not a big factor.  My two laptops use  electricity, but that’s a much smaller impact that you may think – computers actually don’t use much electricity.

Disadvantages: Non-Financial

Social interaction – I live in a neighborhood that’s solidly middle class.  Almost every family has both spouses working.  It’s a young neighborhood that has only existed for about a decade, so there aren’t many retired people (by my count, there are exactly two).  The net effect is that it’s dead quiet during the day, and there’s no face to face contact unless I run to Amoco for a bowl of chili.

This would bother some people, but I’m a bit of a loner, so it’s fine with me.  Also, I’m in a lot of conference calls, so I do have a lot of mouth to ear contact.  Additionally, I’m often listening to podcasts while I work, so there are plenty of voices in my head.  Some of them even intentional.

How is it going?

OK, I’m nine months into the arrangement.  How do I like it so far?  I absolutely love it.

I’ve driven the Elantra about 3600 miles in those nine months.  I’m spending a lot less money on meals and snacks.  I defrayed the increase in utilities by taking a few minutes one day to replace about 20 light bulbs with LED bulbs.  (We have a lot of bulbs in the house – we have a combined 2700 square feet).

I’m able to get a lot of household tasks done.  I can throw in a load of clothes in the morning and fold during lunch time.  It’s much easier to get to appointments.  I’ve been able to volunteer at school several times.  Explaining my job to second graders was a fascinating experiences – I was peppered with questions, very few of which related to the specifics of my job.

Has everything gone perfectly?  Not exactly.  Remember the plan to eat healthy and walk around the block during my breaks?  That lasted about three days.  I have a lot of difficulty pulling myself away from work during the day.  I’ve found that I strongly prefer something hot for lunch.  For $4.50, I can get a bowl of delicious chili and a 44 oz Pepsi from the local Amoco (a country store type of place that sells everything from fried chicken to minnows and power tools).  Sometimes I do throw a Hungry Man meal ($2.50) or a Totino’s pizza ($1.25) into the oven.   Sometimes I actually do have a ham sandwich or a salad.  Last week, I made Stove Top and threw in a can of chicken, a bunch of shredded cheese, and some A-1.  Not the healthiest meal in the world, but pretty tasty.  Overall, I’m probably eating slightly healthier than I was before.

And I’m famous.  The employees at Amoco all know me as the guy who likes the chili.

Factors To Consider When Making Money Working Overseas

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The following is an article by Justin Grossbard from 457VisaCompared. I invited him to discuss the financials involved with looking abroad to work and moving overseas. A few years ago I read from a personal finance blogger (I forget who) that you can make a lot of money overseas.

Many of the world’s great entrepreneurs and successful business people are those who not only find opportunity domestically but also abroad. While it’s common for multinational companies to send individuals overseas for temporary posting, another growing trend has been professionals moving to countries on skilled visas such as the UK’s HSMP visa or Australia’s 457 visa. When considering making such a move, it’s important to weight up the key elements which are discussed below.

Ease Of Receiving The Working Visa In The Host Country

Surprisingly worldwide immigration even for skilled individuals is very limited with many countries remaining virtually closed to prospective employees. While a visa such as the HSMP UK will allow an individual to move to the UK and then find a job, other schemes such as the 457 visa in Australia require you to find an eligible job first. Some countries migration scheme’s will also favor prospective workers from one area compared to another, so it’s important to first understand if you can get an actual visa first before researching further.

Ease Of Getting A job In The Country Chosen

A common mistake is individuals who move to a country only to find out that either they can’t find a job or that they are earning relatively less than in their home country. Going to the international labor organization website can be helpful to understand wage levels combined with local job sites. It’s critical to also factor in the cost of living as well naturally. Additionally, the unemployment rate and the demand for jobs in the area you are skilled in must be factored in as most countries will pay no unemployment benefits while you are looking for a job.

Hidden Immigration Costs

It’s critical to understand the true cost of becoming a working visa holder in a host country. An example is health insurance with 457 visa compared highlighting that for a family in Australia has to pay up to $300USD. Migrants also are not necessarily going to receive the same entitlements as locals such as school fees with cost skilled migrants $4,000 per child in Western Australia.

Ability To Gain Permanent Residency

While your move abroad may be purely financial, it’s important to think long-term as:

  • You may like the location you have moved to and want to live in the are permanently
  • Your pay may increase over your stay and it may be a financially poor move to relocate back to the country of origin

Working visa’s will vary in length with some allowing extensions while others will allow the visa holder to become a permanent resident. It’s really worth researching these areas as the last thing anyone wants is to move back home only because of a visa requirement. Employers may also be less willing to hire an applicant which can only work in their country for a set period.

Overall, any working professional should keep an eye on opportunity and consider relocating if the opportunity presents itself. Working overseas can be  a lucrative one and enjoyable but extensive research should always be done first to ensure its right for you and worthwhile.

Unemployment Adventures: Dealing with Debt and Cash Flow

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[Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post by Elizabeth West. She’s been recently unemployed and has agreed to share her experience with Lazy Man and Money readers. You can catch more of her writing at Graphomaniac and follow her on Twitter as DameWritesalot.]

Being unemployed means I can’t pay my bills as easily as I did before.  The money coming in, even on unemployment insurance (UI) payments, is sharply reduced.  It’s oh so easy to get behind.

While it’s tempting to just shove bills into a file folder and not even open them, it’s not a good idea.   That won’t stop them from coming.  It also won’t stop them from piling up.  So what’s a girl to do?

First, call creditors and let them know what’s going on.  Many times they will work with you.  Mortgage companies are a pain—they have illogical policies on accepting partial payments of any kind.  “Just tack it onto the next payment” doesn’t work very well when it takes two checks to make the payment in the first place.  But calling them is better than not saying anything.

Tax debt?  Believe it or not, the IRS people are super nice if you call and talk to them!  I got on a payment plan and was actually able to negotiate something affordable.  So many people are afraid of the IRS, but the agency is made up of human beings.  They do understand that things are rough sometimes, and they will work with you.

Second, I’m trying to keep very good records of what I paid and what I owe.  Paper gets messy, so I try to do as much as possible electronically.  A spreadsheet is a good tool for tracking payments.  Microsoft Office has lots of free templates to download.

I also save my confirmation pages in case a payment doesn’t go through.  I use CutePDFTM Writer, a free tool, to save them as a .pdf file on my computer.  It works for web pages, Word docs and other files.  In case there is a dispute, I can produce the confirmation.

Third, when I can, I pay something, even if it’s only a few bucks.  If I can sweeten the minimum payment, that’s even better.  At least having a minimum that I can actually reach makes me feel less like a total deadbeat loser.

Student loan debt is another animal entirely.  Right now, I’m on a deferment.  I had trouble paying anything for so long, because my income potential is rather limited.   I hope there is a change in the future.  Otherwise I’ll die still owing money.

Getting debt paid down is one thing.  Coming up with the cash flow when you’re unemployed is another.  Sure, you can take a part-time job while looking for something better, but for me, this is difficult.  Part-time jobs are 20 or 30 hours a week tops, and if that’s only $7.00 or $8.00 an hour, it basically works out to less than my UI check.

UI has drawbacks.  It’s usually way below what you were making before, and if you get a job, even a crappy, underpaid one, it stops.  As long as I’m getting it, I think the best thing I can do is concentrate on finding full-time work that will allow me to pay bills and get caught up again.

I’ve sold possessions here and there.  Nothing worth much, unfortunately.  But a pot rack netted some dough, and I may do the tag sale thing again.  I keep that part of my garage clean and ready so all I have to do is price and place merchandise.  Tag sales are a lot of work for little money, but you’d be surprised what people will buy.  I have a lot of craft stuff I’m not using.

Which, of course, I could be using to make crafts I could then sell at my garage sale and online.  That is definitely a possibility, as is exploring more freelance writing options.

I cut my own figure skating music, and I’ve cut some for other skaters.   This only nets me gas money, but it’s better than nothing.

Lastly, I’m lucky my parents are still able to help me out now and then.  I hate that, but sometimes you have to do it.  If I had kids, I’d probably help them too, if they needed it.

These options aren’t for everyone, of course.  Some people do odd jobs, and there are a lot of door-knockers who ask to mow my lawn or pick up my brush pile for a few bucks.  If you think outside the box, there are lots of ways to make a bit of cash here and there.  But they won’t replace a job.  And that is still the goal.

[Editor’s Note: If you enjoyed this article you can read more of Liz’s “unemployment adventures”: How I Could Have Been Prepared for a Layoff, Unemployment Adventures: Shall I Ditch This or Keep It, and Unemployment Adventures: Jobs Aren’t the Same Anymore]

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