OT: Career advice Part II

[NCRanger]

So Apple has decided to attempt to destroy me. They suspended my AppleID for "spam".

In my line of work, I text leads (which I have bought). These leads are not cold. These people have responded to solicitations and have agreed to getting called or texted.

I guess people complained about getting texts that they agreed to receive because Apple flagged my account. Apple doesn't seem to care that I have done no wrong.

And because I had consolidated all of my email into one account, I do not have an additional active email account to get a new AppleID. If I were to create another email, I have to wait 30 days to use it as an AppleID.

So my phone, while I can still call and text, I cannot use iMessage, and I cannot download any apps.

I'm going to have to get an Android phone that I cannot afford just to be able to try to run my business.

 

[Machinehead]

I have an "only child; wait till dad croaks" portfolio.

 

[NCRanger]

I have an "only child; wait till dad croaks" portfolio.

Just hope mom doesn't die. Dad starts with early dementia. Gets a golddigger "girlfriend" who robs him blind for over a million dollars. When she realizes he's too far gone, she leaves him. We find out he's a couple hundred grand in debt. Sell the house, put him in a facility. Pay for it with what's left after the debt gets handled through a lawyer. Social Security is used to pay for the facility. He dies 6 years later. I inherit an acoustic guitar.

 

[Machinehead]

Just hope mom doesn't die. Dad starts with early dementia. Gets a golddigger "girlfriend" who robs him blind for over a million dollars. When she realizes he's too far gone, she leaves him. We find out he's a couple hundred grand in debt. Sell the house, put him in a facility. Pay for it with what's left after the debt gets handled through a lawyer. Social Security is used to pay for the facility. He dies 6 years later. I inherit an acoustic guitar.

She's already dead and he's not interested. Plus, we've already got the paperwork.

 

[kovazub94]

Just hope mom doesn't die. Dad starts with early dementia. Gets a golddigger "girlfriend" who robs him blind for over a million dollars. When she realizes he's too far gone, she leaves him. We find out he's a couple hundred grand in debt. Sell the house, put him in a facility. Pay for it with what's left after the debt gets handled through a lawyer. Social Security is used to pay for the facility. He dies 6 years later. I inherit an acoustic guitar.

This is terrible.

 

[SickNice]

My therapist referred me to another therapist and I might work with that one on this. I think I had two jobs where I thought I was hot shit and everywhere else I just thought I was shit. Never in between.

That may be true or may be in your head.

Regardless, in my opinion, when it comes to work stuff you should always be asking yourself 3 questions: (1) Am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing? (2) Is how I'm doing it providing a material impact on the business? (3) What is my value proposition to the company / what am I providing that is unique or differentiated? If you have positive responses to those Qs you will thrive.

 

[CasusBelli]

I have no idea what any of these words mean.

What would you say is your financial literacy / experience? I’d like to help where I can, but please do note that I am not a financial advisor.

Just hope mom doesn't die. Dad starts with early dementia. Gets a golddigger "girlfriend" who robs him blind for over a million dollars. When she realizes he's too far gone, she leaves him. We find out he's a couple hundred grand in debt. Sell the house, put him in a facility. Pay for it with what's left after the debt gets handled through a lawyer. Social Security is used to pay for the facility. He dies 6 years later. I inherit an acoustic guitar.

My goodness. I think my eyes popped out of their sockets reading this. I’m so sorry to hear that, friend. Some people are just evil.

 

[NickyFotiu]

I'm generally seen as smart by my peers and a lot of my peers are the same people I mentioned here with the fancy jobs. But every now and then I wonder if I'm not smart enough for corporate America period.

Im sure you are as smart as they are but you may not have found a way to process or organize some things as well. You can get there.

 

[Gardner McKay]

I'm generally seen as smart by my peers and a lot of my peers are the same people I mentioned here with the fancy jobs. But every now and then I wonder if I'm not smart enough for corporate America period.

I say this with the utmost respect, care and I want you to know it is coming from a place of honesty and I hope that it helps you improve. You are a SMART person. Very smart. However, you have a deficiency in what is known as emotional intelligence. We have all seen it over the years, your tendency to go off the deep end after one bad game by the Rangers/Henrik/Igor/etc.

Those who advance in their careers often demonstrate poise and an ability to avoid overreactions. They are able to reign in their emotions and not succumb to the immediate desire to lash out. Back when I was an HR Manager, the Head of HR had her entire team read this book. There are other wonderful books that are more recent, but this one impacted me the most. If you don't want to read, there is an audio version.

You clearly possess the required IQ to advance and have a successful career. But, as someone who has interacted with you regularly over the last decade-plus, your EI is what will hold you back in my opinion. The good news is EI can be developed and learned!!!

Amazon.com

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I say this with the utmost respect, care and I want you to know it is coming from a place of honesty and I hope that it helps you improve. You are a SMART person. Very smart. However, you have a deficiency in what is known as emotional intelligence. We have all seen it over the years, your tendency to go off the deep end after one bad game by the Rangers/Henrik/Igor/etc.

Those who advance in their careers often demonstrate poise and an ability to avoid overreactions. They are able to reign in their emotions and not succumb to the immediate desire to lash out. Back when I was an HR Manager, the Head of HR had her entire team read this book. There are other wonderful books that are more recent, but this one impacted me the most. If you don't want to read, there is an audio version.

You clearly possess the required IQ to advance and have a successful career. But, as someone who has interacted with you regularly over the last decade-plus, your EI is what will hold you back in my opinion. The good news is EI can be developed and learned!!!

Amazon.com

Well, I think it's related to anxiety that I have. And that's one of my issues. It kind of spills over into lots of different areas of work.

 

[Ben Grimm]

I am not a financial advisor. I've been doing a lot of research and have been doing very well in the markets. I'm just gonna share what I have for possible ideas for you guys.

MSFT
MICROSOFT CORP

IVV
ISHARES CORE S&P 500 ETF

DFAU
DIMENSIONAL US CORE EQUITY

DFAC
DIMENSIONAL U S CORE EQUITY

ITOT
ISHARES CORE S&P TOTAL US S

GLD
SPDR GOLD SHARES ETF

DFAS
DIMENSIONAL U S SMALL CAP ETF

SPMD
SPDR PORTFOLIO S&P 400 MID

SIVR
ABRDN PHYSICAL SILVER SHARES

SCHH
CHARLES SCHWAB US REIT ETF

FBND
FIDELITY TOTAL BOND ETF

 

[sbjnyc]

I am not a financial advisor. I've been doing a lot of research and have been doing very well in the markets. I'm just gonna share what I have for possible ideas for you guys.

You misspelled NVDA.

 

[Machinehead]

So I wanted to get some thoughts on this.

I'm currently looking for a job. I have a job but f*** 'em. I wanna leave.

So I've always read, and the conventional wisdom has always been, that you put some effort into an application. Tailor your resume. Write a nice cover letter. This will lead to more success.

That's all fine and dandy, but I'm finding that it's an hour to apply to two jobs. And what gets me is, you do everything "right," and 95% of them don't respond to you anyway.

So I've been experimenting with the Rick Nash approach the last few days. I'm just volume shooting. I have one resume and that's the one they get. Cover letter? *fart noise* I haven't done a cover letter for my last like, 20 applications.

These are not random jobs, mind you. They're in my field(s) and I'm qualified for them to varying extents, but they're getting a low-effort application. I can do 10-20 in an hour.

Sure enough, I have an interview Friday and I'm speaking to two other recruiters. Out of the three jobs, I only remember applying for one of them.

 

[Profet]

So I wanted to get some thoughts on this.

I'm currently looking for a job. I have a job but f*** 'em. I wanna leave.

So I've always read, and the conventional wisdom has always been, that you put some effort into an application. Tailor your resume. Write a nice cover letter. This will lead to more success.

That's all fine and dandy, but I'm finding that it's an hour to apply to two jobs. And what gets me is, you do everything "right," and 95% of them don't respond to you anyway.

So I've been experimenting with the Rick Nash approach the last few days. I'm just volume shooting. I have one resume and that's the one they get. Cover letter? *fart noise* I haven't done a cover letter for my last like, 20 applications.

These are not random jobs, mind you. They're in my field(s) and I'm qualified for them to varying extents, but they're getting a low-effort application. I can do 10-20 in an hour.

Sure enough, I have an interview Friday and I'm speaking to two other recruiters. Out of the three jobs, I only remember applying for one of them.

Yeah... When I'm looking I usually create three or four resumes paired with some canned cover letters. Which resume I send is dependent on the job posting.

Are they looking for a Principal Engineer? You get that resume/letter.
Director of Engineering? You get that resume/cover letter...
etc.

If I were to apply for jobs today, I'd probably be using openai to write the cover letters based on my resume and the job posting.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I'm officially out of a job 9/5 but am currently on garden leave so am being paid but doing nothing. Hoping to get into the for profit space. Looking at FP&A Manager roles which is corporate finance.

 

[Machinehead]

Yeah... When I'm looking I usually create three or four resumes paired with some canned cover letters. Which resume I send is dependent on the job posting.

Are they looking for a Principal Engineer? You get that resume/letter.
Director of Engineering? You get that resume/cover letter...
etc.

If I were to apply for jobs today, I'd probably be using openai to write the cover letters based on my resume and the job posting.

Yeah, I'm doing something similar.

Running an entire department at my current job, I can do 3 or 4 different things very well, and I look into those 3 or 4 different things.

I've also been applying to a lot of jobs with the city and federal government. Good health insurance, pension, vacation accrual. These are things I'm starting to think about now that I'm *whispers* 33.

 

[Profet]

Yeah, I'm doing something similar.

Running an entire department at my current job, I can do 3 or 4 different things very well, and I look into those 3 or 4 different things.

I've also been applying to a lot of jobs with the city and federal government. Good health insurance, pension, vacation accrual. These are things I'm starting to think about now that I'm *whispers* 33.

Good on you. Remember the biggest wealth building tool is time in the market.

Buy low cost, broad market index funds constantly and consistently. You won't get rich quick... but you WILL get rich slowly.

 

[Machinehead]

Good on you. Remember the biggest wealth building tool is time in the market.

Buy low cost, broad market index funds constantly and consistently. You won't get rich quick... but you WILL get rich slowly.

Oh, I'm definitely gonna be back to talk to you guys when I get the house

I need to turn that however many hundred thousand I clear into more money.

 

[frozenrubber]

So I wanted to get some thoughts on this.

I'm currently looking for a job. I have a job but f*** 'em. I wanna leave.

So I've always read, and the conventional wisdom has always been, that you put some effort into an application. Tailor your resume. Write a nice cover letter. This will lead to more success.

That's all fine and dandy, but I'm finding that it's an hour to apply to two jobs. And what gets me is, you do everything "right," and 95% of them don't respond to you anyway.

So I've been experimenting with the Rick Nash approach the last few days. I'm just volume shooting. I have one resume and that's the one they get. Cover letter? *fart noise* I haven't done a cover letter for my last like, 20 applications.

These are not random jobs, mind you. They're in my field(s) and I'm qualified for them to varying extents, but they're getting a low-effort application. I can do 10-20 in an hour.

Sure enough, I have an interview Friday and I'm speaking to two other recruiters. Out of the three jobs, I only remember applying for one of them.

To optimize this process, there are paid tools that speed this up.

Such a product is Teal (tealhq.com), tailoring and customizing your existing resume to 'fit' the position. It's not going to fix positions that aren't an actual skills fit, but a way to translate you have the skills into a vary opaque process.

If your resume is going to be read by a computer, damn straight you want a computer to do the talking for you. I did some A/B testing for a friend, and this model had the highest efficacy by far.

And if you are really going to embrace the 'Rick Nash approach', don't forget to make unending eye contact with a distant, unseen viewer, not the person asking the question.

 

[Machinehead]

To optimize this process, there are paid tools that speed this up.

Such a product is Teal (tealhq.com), tailoring and customizing your existing resume to 'fit' the position. It's not going to fix positions that aren't an actual skills fit, but a way to translate you have the skills into a vary opaque process.

If your resume is going to be read by a computer, damn straight you want a computer to do the talking for you. I did some A/B testing for a friend, and this model had the highest efficacy by far.

And if you are really going to embrace the 'Rick Nash approach', don't forget to make unending eye contact with a distant, unseen viewer, not the person asking the question.

Yeah, I messed around with Teal for a bit. It's pretty good and I used it to optimize the resume I'm sending out to the best of the skills I have on there.

The problem I have with Teal is that a lot of the AI suggestions are like "I managed X" and like, I absolutely did not do that.

It too often crosses from optimization into making shit up.

 

[Crease]

Entering the management phase of my career, which has been fun but also very challenging. Doing the work is easy. Getting others to do the work and do it well is harder, at least for me.

 

[Machinehead]

Entering the management phase of my career, which has been fun but also very challenging. Doing the work is easy. Getting others to do the work and do it well is harder, at least for me.

Imagine that, but they're 17 and you're not paying them.

This is why with each job, I have less teaching and more admin.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Yeah, I messed around with Teal for a bit. It's pretty good and I used it to optimize the resume I'm sending out to the best of the skills I have on there.

The problem I have with Teal is that a lot of the AI suggestions are like "I managed X" and like, I absolutely did not do that.

It too often crosses from optimization into making shit up.

No one fully tells the truth in resumes or interviews. You embellish, they even tell you this in school.

 

[Machinehead]

No one fully tells the truth in resumes or interviews. You embellish, they even tell you this in school.

Embellishing is one thing. They were suggesting stuff like "decreased budget forecasting error by 55%." That's not at all what I do. There's no way to even embellish it.

Teal is very geared towards business and finance and always suggests actionable results.

I don't have actionable tasks. I've always worked in the type of roles where somebody just has to be there to do a particular thing and it gets done. Output volume depends entirely on enrollment and enrollment isn't my department.

Like, if I was a surgeon, I wouldn't put "only 14% of them died!"

 

[frozenrubber]

Imagine that, but they're 17 and you're not paying them.

This is why with each job, I have less teaching and more admin.

If you got a 17 year old to do ANYTHING, while not paying them, sounds to me like an infinity efficiency/output improvement metric