Give Me Back My Five Bucks a quest for financial independence

Over the last six years since graduating from college, I’ve quit, been laid off, gotten fired, and had contracts end. I’ve had horrible bosses, evil co-workers, and I’ve also left jobs that I loved. Still, even when I’ve hated my job, hated my co-workers, hated the company environment – I still had a hard time with the idea of leaving.

It can be difficult to know when the perfect time is to leave a job. Sometimes certain factors outside of work can force you to make that decision (like moving to a different city), and sometimes it’s what happens during office hours that pushes you to make that life changing decision (layoffs, ending contract, incompatible co-workers).

But as a new graduate without much work experience, how do you know when to make the move?

Here are some signs it might be time to look for a new job:

Less hours or reduced duties

It can really put a strain on your finances, and it will be hard to stay satisfied at work if your hours are being reduced, or if your duties are being scaled back. A lot of employees depend on extra hours to supplement their regular pay cheque.

If your fellow co-workers are maintaining their hours and daily tasks, while yours have dropped off noticeably, it might be a sign that your job is at stake. If you think this is a situation that can be worked on, try talking with your boss about your performance.

About eight years ago, I worked in a call centre because I knew I could count on at least two or three extra hours of overtime every day. That extra money each month was crucial for someone like me – who was living pay cheque to pay cheque. When the overtime opportunities suddenly dried up for people in my work group (while other groups maintained overtime hours), I was left scrambling to find a new job to supplement my income.

The temporary solution

For 20-somethings fresh out of school, the job market can be tough. A lot of new graduates end up taking jobs in retail or customer service just to make ends meet while they look for a career job. But if the job hunt takes longer than expected, it might be tempting just to forget about your career and start living life with the temporary job.

I once took a job knowing that I only wanted to spend a year there, gain some experience, make some money, and move on. But when the work was easy and the pay was good, it became too easy to get comfortable. I left that job having stayed there almost a year longer than I had anticipated. While it was a job in my career field, I felt like I had missed opportunities elsewhere that could have been more valuable to advancing my career. And while I’m glad I recognized what I was doing as soon as I did, I can see how I could have let myself stay there for years – it was just that comfortable.

Loss of enthusiasm

While there is no requirement that says you have to be passionate about your job, you do have to like it enough to want to do it every day. If you wake up every morning and absolutely dread the idea of going to work, or you spend most of your day in the office surfing the internet, you might want to start searching for a new job. When you are bored at your job, chances are you will start to get careless and make mistakes – which isn’t good for your career, and isn’t fair to your employer.

You’re pigeonholed

If there are a few tasks that you do very well, or if you have a unique skill set that nobody else has in the office, you might get stuck with those tasks – even if you don’t want them.

Being a “specialist” can be good or bad, depending on the way you want to shape your career. If there is a high demand for your skill, becoming a “specialist” will work to your advantage. However, if you are looking to develop new skills and become a more well-rounded employee, being pigeonholed into a “specialist” role can be a huge detriment to your career.

I had to make that decision early on in my career. I had the option of specializing as a graphic designer, or positioning myself as an all-around marketing professional. Even though I loved the idea of designing, being creative, and working with my favourite software as a graphic designer, I knew there would be more opportunities to grow in marketing.

You’ve outgrown the position

Going to a job every day that doesn’t provide you with engaging and challenging work can be extremely discouraging if your goal is to learn and constantly improve your skills. The best thing to do is voice your concerns to your boss. Ask if there are opportunities to attend conferences or take courses in order to build your skill set and keep on growing as an employee. If there aren’t any, it might be time to update your resume and start networking.

You might get let go

If the company is going through a restructuring process, or is in the middle of being sold or merged, you might want to dust off your resume. Even if you don’t think your job is in jeopardy, it might not be a bad idea to throw a few resumes out there just in case. When a company goes through any sort of massive change, there is always the possibility of cutbacks and layoffs – no matter how secure you think your job is.

For me personally, even if I’m happy at my job, I’m always interested in new opportunities. While I might not be actively applying for positions, I do make sure to occasionally sweep through the list of employment links I have saved, and I’m always networking … because you just never know what might come up.

At what point would you start looking for a new job?

I think that most of us – at some point in our lives – have thought about quitting our day jobs to try and start our own business, or to become a freelancer. But as I embark on month four of fulltime freelancing, I have to say, it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. And even though I feel grateful that I’ve had success so far, there’s nothing wrong with staying in a corporate job, and I’m beginning to realize that for a lot of people (maybe myself included), freelancing will never be the right career move.

If you’re thinking of making the move to freelancing, here are a few things you should think over:

You need experience

If you’ve just recently graduated from school, chances are you won’t have the experience, the portfolio, or the network you need to become a successful freelancer. Sure, some people can make it happen immediately, but it’s extremely difficult to prove your value and show clients that you’re capable of taking on their projects if you have nothing to show them but the work that you’ve done in school.

I would suggest starting a freelancing career in your spare time, and woking a full-time job in order to gain experience. That way, you will start to build a freelance client base, and still keep money flowing in to pay the bills and help fund your business. It might be more difficult this way, but it provides much more security, and you are more likely to succeed at freelancing once you do decide to go for it full-time.

It is not easier than a corporate job

Did you hear me?! :) A lot of people look at freelancing as a way to make more money with less effort. After all, you get to keep all of the money you bring in, and you don’t need to share it with the employer. But becoming a successful freelancer takes time, and it’s not for anyone who is looking to make fast money.

When most freelancers start out, they can’t be picky about the work they receive. So if you think freelancing is a way to get out of the tedious and boring assignments your boss at your day job gives you, think again. You will definitely get your chances to be creative and unique, but ultimately, if your client wants to go in a completely different direction than what you’ve proposed, you have to suck it up and do what they want – even if you don’t like it. Not only that, but all of a sudden, you will have to do everything that comes with running a business.  You will speak with the clients, create the marketing campaigns, pay the invoices, and do all of the administration work – including filing, answering phone calls, and replying to an endless sea of e-mails.

Time management skills are essential

This is one of the most important aspects of freelancing, but it’s also the hardest. When you work for yourself, you can forget about working a regular 9-5 schedule at the beginning. You will most likely end up working long hours for the first few years until you get more established. It’s also likely that you will end up wasting a lot of time in the first year, as you set up processes and ways to keep track of everything that works for you.

When I quit my full-time job, I thought I’d open up so much more time to write. But I think I average about 40% of my time on administration duties. It’s insane! But the administrative side of the business is extremely important, and if you don’t keep on top of it all, you will miss out on a lot of opportunities, and probably piss people off in the process. And I realized that a “regular” schedule just isn’t going to work for me – especially being on the other side of the world and fighting the time difference.

The competitive edge

You likely won’t be be the first in your line of work, and you certainly won’t be the last either. So in order to succeed, you will need to market and promote yourself harder than anyone else who is already doing it, and better than those who are coming up behind you. So if competition scares you, then freelancing is not the right career move for you.

Check out your competition and see how you can stand out from everyone else. Think about ways you can show prospective clients why you are the best option, and if you can tap into a niche market, or find some sort of hook, try to see where it will take you.

It can get lonely

Being by myself all day, every day was a really, really hard adjustment for me, and I know a lot of people end up back in the corporate world just because they can’t handle the loneliness and isolation. While social interaction does happen as a freelancer, you probably won’t have co-workers around to joke with, or anyone to bounce ideas off of. Some people just work better and are more creative when they have people around them.

I expect that when I move back to Vancouver, I will have more interaction with people during the day, but the thought of going back to a full-time job has crossed my mind more than once. Because while part of my hesitation with continuing as a freelancer is the lack of interaction with people, it’s also the income (or rather, the savings) that I miss. I consider myself to be one of the lucky bloggers who has been able to make a living from blogging and writing, but the opportunity to work long hours won’t be around forever (children will eventually come, and I won’t have the energy to work 12+ hour days). So if I can stretch myself, work more, and save more towards the future, I should do it while I can. At least, that’s my thought right now. We’ll see what happens in four months when I get back home.

Most of us use some form of social media every day. And if you’re anything like me, you’re on all the time. :) But how many of us are utilizing the power of these social media platforms to advance our careers?

While many job hunting tips talk about cleaning up social media profiles, making accounts private, or using a false name, often times our social media presence can work for us. In fact, Reppler – a social media monitoring service – conducted a survey of hiring professionals, and found that nearly 70 per cent of employers would hire a candidate because of what they saw about them on a social networking site.

Social media has helped me countless times before. My Moneyville/Toronto Star editor found me through my blog. I got my Canadian Living job through contacts via Twitter. I found and hired both my real estate agent and my blog web designer from Twitter. Now, I’m working for my real estate agent as his Marketing Manager. A few months ago, I inquired about a freelance job posting on Craigslist. The employer contacted me about 20 minutes after I submitted my resume, to tell me that he already follows me on Twitter, and felt like he already knows me and what I am capable of. Having an active Twitter account automatically gave me an advantage over any other candidate, because of the connection I had already made with that employer online.

Having a social media presence can positively impact your face-to-face networking activities, and can also help you tap into the hidden job marketing of positions that are not advertised. Maybe I go a bit overboard, because I don’t just have to standard Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts. I also have Tumblr, Pinterest, Goodreads, FourSquare, Vimeo, and Formspring. :) But I use them because I like them, and I know that if I’m not on those websites, some other person is – and they could one day be going for the job that I want!

Here are a few tips I’ve found to using social media effectively:

Understand how you are perceived

Creating a social media presence takes time. It is not an overnight employment fix. But, if you utilize it correctly, it can be a huge benefit to your job search in the future, and to your credibility as a professional.

In order to make sure you are conveying the right message about yourself to other people online, consider using a social media monitoring website like Reppler. It’s a completely free service that scans through the biggest social media networks – like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, and YouTube – and comes up with an Image Score, shows you any inappropriate content, and advises you of any privacy or security risks in your profiles.

Here are a couple of screen shots I took of my profile to show you how effective Reppler is in analyzing how you are perceived online.

Build your connections

Gone are the days where you have to show up at every face-to-face networking event in order to get business cards and build your professional network. This is arguably one of the biggest benefits of social media, so take advantage of how easy it is to make connections!

There are a few ways to grow your network online: friend or follow those with common interest, participates in Twitter chats, engage in discussion on Facebook pages, and send personalized messages to people you would like to connect with on LinkedIn.

Position yourself as an influencer

As a job seeker, marketing yourself on social media is about crafting your personal brand. And a great way to impress potential employers is to have your own blog about the industry that you are most interested in. Not only will you be able to establish yourself as an influencer and expert in your field, but good content will always get shared and spread throughout social media networks.

I am most interested in personal finance, so that’s what I write about. And within personal finance, my niche is the 20-something crowd. I don’t think this website will ever become one of those broad all-encompassing sites that talk about everything, and I like it that way. When people think of me and my blog, I want them to think about frugal living, how to get out of debt, and growing up. Those are the categories I think I’m most influential in.

Find opportunities

Social media isn’t about pushing out messages and waiting to attract followers and conversation. It’s about pursuing and networking with people – especially those who are more influential than you. As a job seeker, it’s not very often that you get the opportunity to directly communicate with high-ranking executives, CEOs, and industry influencers. Use this to your advantage to connect and engage with the companies and people you want to eventually work for.

You can use the Twitter search function to look for jobs using industry hashtags, or recruiters posting job ads. You can also use LinkedIn or Facebook to look for jobs through company pages. And don’t underestimate the power of your own network. Let people know that you’re looking for work. Word spreads around quickly – and someone might think you’d be the perfect fit for a position with their company.

Take your networking offline

One of the main functions of social media is to build your connections. But you have to remember to take your networking offline and meet face-to-face. That’s where the real magic happens. Attend Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter meet-ups. Check out industry-related conferences, or just invite someone out for coffee to chat and pick their brain. One of the best things about having a blog, and being on social media is getting to meet people in person. :)

How have you been able to utilize social media for career advancement?