Today, I met with a woman I know who runs her own web company. While chit-chatting, she mentioned that she was having problems hiring salespeople. The last guy she hired sold her product / service to one customer in the entire last year, all while on a mix of commission and salary. She told him earlier this week that he was now all commission. She's not holding her breath for his next sale. "Honestly," she said, "I just don't know how willing some people are to, you know, work." In the meantime, she's sold her product / service to several companies and organizations in just the last two months.Sales isn't for everyone, that's for sure, but it does take work. From contact to interest to demo to sale... and then to implementation and follow-up and service... it's a lot of contact and relationship management. It's work. Even being unemployed is work. Or at least it ought to be... as Robert Scoble says in his advice to those newly laid off: "Don't get lazy. It might seem dire, but if you work it you WILL find a job. Some of my friends went on vacation, started drinking, or generally just hung out with their families. Those people took a LOT longer to find a job than the friends of mine who approached their time off [wisely].Make sure you spend at least 30% of every day trying to find a job. That means working on your resume. Getting your cover letter finished. Sending out resumes. Searching the web for work. Networking. Etc. At first your time spent on these tasks should be a lot higher, but after weeks of watching the job sites for jobs and having your resume checked over by 10 of your friends you will naturally have more time to spend on other things. In talking with a former manager earlier this week, she remarked how she has heard that the Millenium Generation will not get the urgency of life. Their parents take care of most everything for them. They won't be as accountable for their actions. I don't know where she heard all of this, but if true, bummer for them.Work... it's a good thing. Personally, I like work. I like the accomplishment of creating what wasn't there before. I try to teach my kids to like work. What they like most about work right now is the paycheck they receive. But there's more to work than that. I suppose that awareness comes with experience. Is work celebrated by most folks? Anticipated and desired? If not, how do you teach that? |
