Fire Your Boss Part 4

The buddy. This is the boss who just wants to be one of the guys. He's always asking people to go to lunch with him. Whenever groups of employees gather he wants to be a part of whatever is happening. He wants to join in outside activities and sometimes will even organize. He talks a lot about his personal life, and wants advice on personal matters. He may love to hear himself talk and not be much of a listener, so he needs an audience. This is the boss who just wants to be one of the guys. He's always asking people to go to lunch with him. Whenever groups of employees gather he wants to be a part of whatever is happening. He wants to join in outside activities and sometimes will even organize. He talks a lot about his personal life, and wants advice on personal matters. He may love to hear himself talk and not be much of a listener, so he needs an audience.

For the past eight years Tim Kalamos has been one of the most productive insurance adjusters in the New York area. A former building contractor, he's expert at a.s.sessing how much and what type of repairs will be necessary, and then accurately projecting the costs. Because of his experience, he's also able to write up more reports in a week than almost anyone else at his company. Yet when he came to see me he felt his job was in danger. A new regional manager had taken over and seemed to have it in for Tim. When Tim came to me with his notes on his boss's behavior, we found an interesting pattern. The boss, who had just been transferred to the New York area from the Texas office, was constantly asking people for tips on where to go for lunch, where to shop, what doctors his family should use. Tim and I decided the boss's biggest need was for a buddy who could teach him about life in New York. Tim, a native New Yorker, was perfect for that role.

The loner. This is the boss who just wants to do her job and not be bothered with everything else. She's miserable about attending social gatherings or meetings that don't directly pertain to what she does. She issues directives to subordinates and wants not to be asked questions or to have to do any hand-holding. She's wants to avoid small talk and wants new challenges to tackle so she can keep busy. This is the boss who just wants to do her job and not be bothered with everything else. She's miserable about attending social gatherings or meetings that don't directly pertain to what she does. She issues directives to subordinates and wants not to be asked questions or to have to do any hand-holding. She's wants to avoid small talk and wants new challenges to tackle so she can keep busy.

Jon Halladay is a mechanical engineer working with a consulting firm that specializes in the aviation industry. Having been recruited to work for the firm from a major manufacturer of aircraft engines, Jon thought he'd be greeted as a welcome addition to the firm. But he soon realized the supervisor of the project he was working on was problematic. He came to see me for advice. Jon's discreet notes on the supervisor revealed someone who got angry whenever he was interrupted by a call from the company's management. The supervisor routinely let internal company paperwork slide and seemed to feud with every other manager, from the head bookkeeper to the director of sales. The only time he seemed happy was when he was staring intently at the screen of his workstation. It was soon clear to Jon and me that we were dealing with a loner. To thrive, Jon would need to serve as a gatekeeper.

The stickler. This is the boss who carries a huge rule book and needs to refer to it often. He wants everything done according to an established pattern he has set up, either in his head, or on paper if he's an obsessive. He focuses more on how and when things are done, than on the result. He cares a great deal about how the work area and the people in it look to others. This is the boss who carries a huge rule book and needs to refer to it often. He wants everything done according to an established pattern he has set up, either in his head, or on paper if he's an obsessive. He focuses more on how and when things are done, than on the result. He cares a great deal about how the work area and the people in it look to others.

Joan Kent is the daughter of one of the other partners in my law firm. Her father suggested she talk to me about the problems she was having at her first job after graduating college. Joan had studied landscape architecture at a prestigious Ivy League university. Her faculty adviser helped her land a position with a well-known architectural firm headquartered in the northern suburbs of New York. Joan became a member of the staff that drew up plans for the landscaping around the firm's corporate headquarters and shopping-center projects. Being a free spirit and creative, Joan just a.s.sumed she'd find a supportive environment. But rather than getting artistic feedback and input from her manager, all she heard was how her wardrobe wasn't professional, her rendering wasn't pristine, her lettering wasn't clear enough, and her designs didn't fit the firm's style. Eventually, she and I realized her manager, despite being in a creative field, was a stickler.

The glory seeker. This is the boss who has to be a hero, even if it means creating the crisis herself. She needs to be at the center of everything. She seeks out flattery. She always needs an audience and loves to hear herself talk. She may be very concerned about her appearance. She is jealous whenever anyone else gets credit or recognition. This is the boss who has to be a hero, even if it means creating the crisis herself. She needs to be at the center of everything. She seeks out flattery. She always needs an audience and loves to hear herself talk. She may be very concerned about her appearance. She is jealous whenever anyone else gets credit or recognition.

Nancy Bell was ready to quit when she first came to see me. She and her husband, a member of the New York City Council, had first come to see me when they purchased their co-op apartment. Now she was looking for advice about her job as development director for a small, specialized museum. A gifted schmoozer with a large social network, Nancy was a very good fund-raiser. Yet her boss, the director of the museum, seemed to have problems with her work. She and I went over her observations. He typically took the slightest snafu - most recently, sitting two antagonistic people at the same table at an event - and blew it up into an epic catastrophe. He then personally intervened, and finally, very publicly talked about how he had saved the museum from disaster. Nancy explained that he did this, not just with her, but with everyone from the curator to the building superintendent. She and I agreed he was a cla.s.sic glory seeker who needed to be seen as a hero, always riding to the rescue.

The fighter. This is the boss who's always seeking conflict. He's confrontational and has to get in the last word. He sets himself and his staff in compet.i.tion with other individuals, departments, or companies. He seems to thrive on putting others down. He seems to enjoy expressing anger.

I first met Tom Duffy when I appeared as a guest on a consumer news and information program he produced for a fledgling cable channel. He was an easygoing and very professional producer, so I was surprised when he called to tell me he had almost punched his boss the day before. I told him to come right in to see me. Tom was working on a new show at the same network, directly under the executive producer who had created the show. The executive producer, referred to by some as "a programming genius," had actually screamed at Tom in front of the entire cast and crew after a recent show. I calmed Tom down, walked him through my approach to work, and asked him to prepare an a.n.a.lysis of his boss's actions. When we went over them, it sounded like the man was a maniac. He not only ranted, raved, and insulted everyone from the cameraman to the hosts, but he seemed to have a vendetta against other shows on the network. He was the prototypical fighter boss.

The coward. This is the boss who's always afraid. She's frightened of anything new and every potential change. She's always seeing the potential risk or downside; for her there's a cloud around every silver lining and the gla.s.s is always half empty. Because she's so fearful she's always blaming others for problems.

When I told Janet Crosetti to figure out her department chairman's needs and wants, she really took the task to heart. She jotted down her observations for a week, and then when she realized there was no departmental staff meeting that week, continued making notes for another week. Janet even went to a PTA meeting and a school board meeting, both of which she knew her boss would attend, in order to observe her in different environments. She said she noticed that whenever a new idea was proposed, her boss reacted negatively, but using a different rationale depending on which audience she was facing. At a staff meeting she said the new idea - one of Janet's proposals - would take too much prep time. At the PTA meeting she knocked down one parent's idea by saying it could detract from the time spent with each child. And at the school board she responded to a question about creating a literary magazine for the school by saying it would be too costly. Janet said her boss's two favorite phrases were "We've always..." and "We've never..." Janet needed no help from me to see her department chairperson was a cowardly boss.

So Many Needs, So Little Time Once you've figured out your boss's needs, you have a simple mission: do whatever you can to help him or her meet one or more of those needs.

If you've found your boss has one pressing need, your task is clear. But if your boss has multiple needs, you'll have to do some prioritizing. You probably won't be able to meet all the needs you've uncovered, at least not right away. That's not a bad thing, however. Multiple needs offer multiple chances to curry favor with your boss. Once you've learned the technique, you can tackle one after another, growing in your boss's admiration each step along the way. But right now, let's concentrate on deciding which need you should address first.

Back in the 1950s a psychologist named Abraham Maslow developed a theory of human behavior based on needs. (See the box on page 90: Maslow's Achievers And Optimism.) He believed that individuals are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and that some needs must be satisfied before others. He arranged categories of needs into a pyramid shape, which he called the hierarchy of needs. The current model of Maslow's pyramid has eight stages, or types of needs.10 10. In the 1950s Maslow's initial model had five stages: biological and physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization. During the 1970s the pyramid grew by another two stages, adding cognitive needs and aesthetic needs as two new levels between esteem needs and self-actualization. Finally, in the 1990s, the current eight-stage model was adopted.

MASLOW'S ACHIEVERS AND OPTIMISMMaslow's hierarchy of needs has become a favorite of those looking for psychological insights that can be applied in pragmatic ways. That's because, unlike most of the other major psychological theories, Maslow's is an optimistic philosophy based on high achievers. Freud based his theories on his study of mentally ill and neurotic individuals. B. F. Skinner studied how pigeons and rats learned. Both were determinists, seeing little difference between the motivations of humans and animals. Maslow, on the other hand, based his theory on his studies of exemplary individuals such as Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frederick Dougla.s.s. Maslow didn't believe humanity was destined for an endless cycle of violence and other evils. He theorized that as long as we're able to move toward satisfying our needs, we'll also move toward self-fulfillment and helping others fulfill their dreams. That's an excellent lesson for us to apply to our work lives: learn from the successful and believe your goal is within reach.

At the base of the pyramid are the most basic needs: those that are biological and physiological. These would include the basic needs to sustain life, such as air, food, water, and shelter, as well as being warm, sleeping, and s.e.xual urges. I think it's safe to a.s.sume your boss's most basic needs are already satisfied. And to be honest, if one isn't, there's nothing you can do that's appropriate to a work relations.h.i.+p.

Once those basic needs are satisfied, people move on to try to satisfy safety needs. These would be the needs of feeling physically safe and secure. I believe this is the first category of needs you may have to address. While they're not actually physical fears, I believe that any of the needs typical of the cowardly boss fit at this level. If your boss needs to be insulated or protected from change, that's the first need you should address. Maslow's theory is that people will only progress on to one category of needs after having all their "lower" needs satisfied. That means if you try to address a higher-level need than your boss's fear of new things, you'll probably be unsuccessful.

After someone's basic needs are met and he's feeling out of danger, he moves on to address needs of belongingness and love. These would be the desire to feel part of a family or group, to give and receive affection, to have relations.h.i.+ps with others. If, for instance, your boss shows signs of wanting to be part of the group or develop friends.h.i.+ps, that would be a belongingness need. Here's where most of the buddy-boss needs fall.

When belongingness and love needs are addressed, people next move to what Maslow calls esteem needs. These are the needs to achieve, to have status, and to gain others' approval. You can divide esteem needs into two types: first are those that boost self-esteem, like being good at what you do; second are those that represent the need for the esteem of others, say, wanting to have a good reputation. The loner-boss traits fit the need for self-esteem, while the stickler, fighter, and glory-seeker-boss traits fit the need for others' esteem.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs continues on to include cognitive needs (self-awareness and knowledge), aesthetic needs (beauty and order), self-actualization needs (self - fulfillment and growth), and finally transcendence needs (helping others to grow or become self - fulfilled). However, I don't think any of these steps actually fit into the workplace relations.h.i.+p. In the previous chapter I stressed that you shouldn't look to the workplace for emotional, spiritual, and psychological satisfaction. Well, neither should you try to satisfy these needs in your boss. If he needs self-awareness, he should go into therapy. If she needs beauty, she should take up her brush and paint. And if he needs self-fulfillment and to help others grow, he should go to a house of wors.h.i.+p.

Applying Maslow's hierarchy of needs to your goal of securing your job means addressing cowardly-boss needs first, buddy-boss needs second, and only then any of the loner, fighter, glory-seeker, or stickler needs. Turn back to the page on which you've written down your boss's needs and wants. Rank them according to how they fit in with Maslow's hierarchy.

Janet Crosetti, for example, realized that her department chairman exhibited both safety and belongingness needs (she was always looking for someone to go out for a drink with her after school board meetings). Applying Maslow, Janet decided she had to address her boss's safety needs before her belongingness needs. But she still had to figure out exactly how she would go about making her department chairman safe.

Meeting Your Boss's Needs There's really no mystery to how to meet your boss's needs. Simply provide what he or she is looking for. For example, if you find that your boss needs to feel like part of the crowd, invite him to every group event you're attending. If she wants to avoid certain meetings, offer to attend them in her place. Let's say your boss wants to be a hero. Well, make sure to give him credit for all your own accomplishments. Maybe your boss is obsessed with her staff's appearance. In that case, dress exactly like her. Have a boss who needs to compete? Find him a target. And if your boss is afraid of risks, help her identify and eliminate new hazards. In most cases, figuring out how to meet your boss's needs will be easy. Let's go back to the six types of bosses I outlined earlier and see how to meet their needs and wants.

The buddy. Go to lunch with this boss whenever he asks...and ask him him sometimes as well. Make sure to make him part of every group activity. If all the junior staff are planning to go out for drinks after work on Friday, ask him to come along. If he demurs, saying he doesn't want to horn in, a.s.sure him he's not...even if he is. Make sure he knows about the plan to form a company softball team, and if he wants to become manager, welcome the idea. When he talks about his wife and kids, listen attentively and ask for more details. If he wants personal advice, offer the best you can muster. sometimes as well. Make sure to make him part of every group activity. If all the junior staff are planning to go out for drinks after work on Friday, ask him to come along. If he demurs, saying he doesn't want to horn in, a.s.sure him he's not...even if he is. Make sure he knows about the plan to form a company softball team, and if he wants to become manager, welcome the idea. When he talks about his wife and kids, listen attentively and ask for more details. If he wants personal advice, offer the best you can muster.

Tim Kalamos had determined that his boss's biggest need was for a friend who could teach him about, and help him adjust to, life in New York. Tim invited his boss to lunch. Over corned beef sandwiches Tim explained that his brother was a doctor and he'd be happy to get some suggestions from him for a good family physician. Tim's wife was a teacher who could help with ideas about private schools. And, coincidentally, Tim was going to Barneys for clothes at the end of the week. Did his boss want to come along?

The loner. Do all you can to help your loner boss avoid others' influence. Offer to run weekly staff meetings on her behalf, providing her with a written memo afterward so as not to bother her. Suggest you'd be happy to attend the monthly after-hours industry get-togethers she loathes. Listen to her orders and follow them, asking for any clarifications in writing only. Say you're willing to show the ropes to the new hire and hold his hand while he learns the job. Bring your boss ideas for new projects and challenges.

After a.n.a.lyzing his boss, Jon Halladay thought he was a loner whom Jon could serve by being a gatekeeper. Jon offered to serve as the department's liaison with the company's other departments, and to handle all the requests for reports from company management. Jon offered to help manage the routine paperwork to free up his boss's day for engineering work.

The stickler. Follow the stickler boss's rules to the letter. Show up on time and, as subtly as possible, imitate your boss's appearance. Follow his favored procedures to the letter, whether or not it's necessary or even productive. It's the process that matters to the stickler, not the outcome, so do things by his book. Whenever a new situation comes up, suggest he establish new rules to follow. Help him codify everything and follow his rules religiously.

It took a bit of persuading to get recent graduate Joan Kent to accept that she needed to follow her stickler boss's rules. Joan gave up her funky wardrobe for professional suits that mirrored her boss's garb. She asked her boss for help and advice in getting her lettering up to snuff. Her most effective move was asking for a meeting with her boss to go over all the architecture firm's landscape style rules and attentively taking notes, and immediately following the rules to the letter.

The glory seeker. When working for a glory seeker, make sure every one of your triumphs is attributed to your boss. Ask her often to share her wisdom and advice, alone and in group settings. Flatter both her actions and her appearance. Make sure to ask how she is feeling and what she is thinking, in order to offer her a ready platform.

Nancy Bell decided that the secret to managing her glory-seeker boss was to beat her to the punch. Rather than letting her turn every minor situation into a crisis and then resolve it, Nancy began coming to her with "problems" only the boss could solve. Nancy took to bringing her in to finalize donations that had actually already been finalized, and then made sure to give her all the credit.

The fighter. The real key to dealing with a fighter boss is not to become his target. Suggest opponents, both inside and outside the organization. Offer scapegoats and targets for his anger. Whatever type of compet.i.tion he perceives, do your best to help him win, whatever that means. Encourage him to express his anger by subtly goading him into action.

Tom Duffy had a hard time playing up to, rather than punching out, his fighter boss. Still, after some careful reflection he started working to meet his executive producer's needs. First, he told him how a rival show on another network had stolen one of their potential guests, setting it up as an adversary. Then he suggested that some of the advertising staff inside their own network weren't giving their show its due.

The coward. When dealing with a cowardly boss, try to show her that what at first appears to be new really isn't new, and therefore is nothing to be feared. Try to eliminate or mitigate anything and everything that causes your boss fear. Offer to accept the blame whenever she's afraid of something going wrong. Identify risks for her in advance of their becoming immediate problems, and either remove them or show how they can be overcome.

Janet Crosetti resolved to come up with ways to overcome her cowardly boss's fears. Instead of presenting proposals as being her own new idea, she began framing them as modifications of things the department chairman herself had done years earlier. When the chairman was about to deny approval of a new software suite for the writing lab, Janet offered to accept the blame if the board questioned the cost. Finally, prior to the creation of a student film festival, Janet warned about inappropriate subject matter and suggested the department narrowly define the types of film that could be entered.

Two Ways to Pretest Your Plans If you're unsure whether your plans for meeting your boss's needs will work, there are a couple of things you can do.

First, look around the organization for someone, anyone, who handles your boss well. It could be a peer of your boss or another employee who's clearly the favorite. Spend a few days paying careful attention to how he or she interacts with your boss. How does she respond to your boss's troublesome behaviors? What does he say when your boss lashes out? Consciously or not, this person has figured out how to manage a problematic boss. Learn from him. By the way, this is also a terrific tool if you're at a loss for ways to meet your boss's needs. Just do whatever the boss's favorite does and you'll be fine.

Second, you can cloak your ideas in a memo that suggests a response to a problem or proposes a new initiative, and see how your boss responds to the memo. For example, you can finger potential rivals in a memo for your fighter boss and see if that diverts his anger away from you and marks you as an ally. Or you can write a memo that spins your new idea as actually being a very subtle updating of your boss's brilliant original concept of years back, and see if that a.s.suages the cowardly boss's fears. (See the box on page 97: Janet Crosetti's Memo.) Although the written word is actually more permanent than the spoken word, its impact on your boss's perception of you is much shorter lasting. That means if you were off target you won't have to suffer for very long. If your written trial balloon works, follow it up as soon as possible with a similar face-to-face effort to solidify the positive perception.

JANET CROSETTI'S MEMOHere's an excerpt from Janet's memo to her department chairman:To spice up my cla.s.ses this year I spent some time going back over some of the great things the department has done in the past. I came across information on a terrific diary-writing exercise you used in your cla.s.ses. If you don't object I'd like to use your idea in my cla.s.ses, just subst.i.tuting the design and writing of blogs (Web logs) for the diaries. I'd love to speak with you to get your advice on what parts of the diary exercise worked best, and what you did to make it so successful. I can speak anytime after 2:00 p.m. this week.

Isn't This Obvious Brownnosing?

At some point in my discussions with clients they usually have some reservations about working to meet their boss's needs.

Many will hesitate about directly doing whatever it is their boss appears to want. "Won't it be obvious?" they ask. "My boss will see right through it and I'll be in a worse situation than I am now," they worry. I know that's what lots of people think, but, in all honesty, people never see through these efforts. Why? Because there's nothing to see through. You are actually trying to help them meet their needs; you're not pretending. Sure, your motivation is to help yourself, but that's not what your boss will see. While you aren't really putting his needs first, he will think you are. That's because he is always putting his needs first. Rather than being skeptical about your motivation, he will like you...no, love you.

And that leads right to the other objection. "Isn't this just brownnosing?" I'm often asked. My answer is, yes...but what's wrong with that? You aren't doing anything to harm anyone else. You are helping your boss meet his needs, and in the effort, you're meeting your own. I call that a win-win situation. Even in situations where you are dealing with a fighter boss and you're offering targets other than yourself, you're not initiating the attacks. Those attacks will come regardless of what you do or don't do. All you're trying to do is deflect them from yourself and perhaps steer them somewhere justified.

Most important, this type of behavior works. A recent survey of executives conducted in the Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal showed that, in retrospect, all had been swayed by subordinates who played up to them in one way or another. The key words are "in retrospect." All the executives admitted that, at the time, they didn't think it was flattery or, if you like, brownnosing. And when pushed, most of the executives admitted that they behaved similarly in their climb to the top. That's because it works. showed that, in retrospect, all had been swayed by subordinates who played up to them in one way or another. The key words are "in retrospect." All the executives admitted that, at the time, they didn't think it was flattery or, if you like, brownnosing. And when pushed, most of the executives admitted that they behaved similarly in their climb to the top. That's because it works.

By working to meet the needs of your boss you do further your own goals. By appearing to put him or her first you actually put yourself first. Don't have any moral qualms over these kinds of actions. Remember, you're not at work to save the world or to further your art. You're working to make money. I don't think you should feel any guilt over this. But in the off chance you do, you'll have plenty of time to make up for it with all the free time you've gained by putting your boss first.

Don't use up all those extra hours, however. Because from now on you're going to be spending part of every week, even every day, fis.h.i.+ng for a new job. You'll cast your net in the next chapter.

Chapter 5.

Go Fish

If one does not cast a big net, one cannot catch big fish.- CHINESE PROVERB FOR THE FIRST time in his life Joe Gargery has a choice of jobs. Joe's a mild-mannered guy. In fact, his wife sometimes accused him of being not sufficiently aggressive at work. In the past, Joe always waited until his current job became intolerable, or he was let go, before looking for work. And then he was usually so desperate that he took the first job he was offered. But in the last year, despite the economy's being in the doldrums, Joe has been offered two different new positions while still holding his job as a field technician with a cellular telephone company. Joe is in the enviable position of deciding whether to take one of the two offers, or to hold on to his current job. While he's still undecided about which job to take, he's certain that from now on he'll be approaching the job market like a commercial fisherman, not a big-game hunter. Joe will continue to do what he did this past year: constantly solicit job offers rather than setting out, only when necessary, to land a specific job. time in his life Joe Gargery has a choice of jobs. Joe's a mild-mannered guy. In fact, his wife sometimes accused him of being not sufficiently aggressive at work. In the past, Joe always waited until his current job became intolerable, or he was let go, before looking for work. And then he was usually so desperate that he took the first job he was offered. But in the last year, despite the economy's being in the doldrums, Joe has been offered two different new positions while still holding his job as a field technician with a cellular telephone company. Joe is in the enviable position of deciding whether to take one of the two offers, or to hold on to his current job. While he's still undecided about which job to take, he's certain that from now on he'll be approaching the job market like a commercial fisherman, not a big-game hunter. Joe will continue to do what he did this past year: constantly solicit job offers rather than setting out, only when necessary, to land a specific job.

ARE YOU ABOUT TO BE FIRED?There are always signs you're about to be fired. Most people, however, fall into denial and refuse to pay attention to them. By the time you finish reading this book you'll be a practiced job fisherman, so you'll always be looking for work. But until then here's a checklist for spotting impending termination. Check off every box that applies.

You are asked to compile a report on all your ongoing projects.

You are pushed hard to finish one or two specific projects.

You are encouraged not not to do your usual long-term planning. to do your usual long-term planning.

You're neither informed of nor invited to meetings.

You receive a critical review for the first time.

Your expense reports are questioned.

Your typical expenditures are criticized.

Your direct superior keeps his or her distance from you.

Conversation stops when you enter a room.

You have a vague sense of unease.

If you checked one box or none your job is probably safe for the near future. But don't let that lull you into complacency. This is the best time to start your job-fis.h.i.+ng efforts, since you've enough time to rely primarily on long-term efforts.If you checked two to five boxes your job is in danger. Your boss is laying the groundwork to terminate you at a time of his or her choosing, though it may not be for weeks or months. This is the time to accelerate your job-fis.h.i.+ng efforts, both short- and long-term.If you checked more than five boxes you're already fired...you just don't know it yet. The decision has been finalized, and you're just a "dead man walking." Unless you've got enough money in the bank to keep you and your family afloat for six months, find yourself a stream of income as soon as possible. It will be easier to get another job while you've still got this one.

Like Joe, you can go from being a despairing, out-of-work job seeker to being someone who is in demand on the job market.

You can s.h.i.+ft from taking the first job that comes your way to having your choice of which jobs, if any, to take.

You can stop being a supplicant at job interviews, signaling your weak position to potential employers, and instead become a finicky job shopper who, by playing hard to get, ends up with far more.

Just as with the previous steps in my new approach to employment, the secret to turning your work life around this way is to adopt a new att.i.tude: job fis.h.i.+ng.

The Desperate Hunter The traditional way people look for work has led to a job search that's reactive, inefficient, and enfeebling.

If you're like most of my clients, you start looking for work only after you've been laid off or fired. Maybe, if you're like a handful of my more a.s.sertive clients, you start looking for work when you pick up signs at work that your job may be in danger, and you refuse to fall into denial. (See the box on page 100: Are You About to Be Fired?) In either case you're in trouble.

CAN YOU NEGOTIATE SEVERANCE?In a word, yes. There's no legal requirement for an employer to pay a terminated employee severance. However, it's an accepted standard to provide a minimum of two weeks' pay to anyone who has been fired without cause. The problem is the two-week tradition started half a century ago, when it might have been possible to land another job in two weeks. Fat chance doing that today.That's one reason why you shouldn't hesitate to try to negotiate a larger severance package than the one you're offered. Another reason is that the worst that can happen is they say no. They've already fired you, so what's the risk? Believe me, they won't take back their severance offer just because you ask for more. It's another story if you launch a lawsuit.Do not sign or agree to anything when you're informed of the termination. The human resources person and your ex-boss will push you to take the check they've already cut and sign a release right then. Resist. Say you're too distraught to comprehend anything and ask for a meeting the next day instead. There's nothing they can do except say yes. Do not say thank you when you leave or shake anyone's hand. Just nod and say, "I'll see you tomorrow."If you believe you're being discriminated against, call an attorney as soon as you get home and let her handle it from there. If you think your termination, while unjustified, is legal, take matters into your own hands.That night, call your former boss at home on the telephone. Don't ask for your job back. Just say you'd like his support the next day. Lay the guilt on as thick as you can. After hanging up the telephone, come up with a counterproposal. Ask for at least a month's severance for every year you've worked for the company, for use of the office for your job hunt, for outplacement counseling, and for the company to pick up the cost of your health insurance until you're reemployed.Be as businesslike as you can at the meeting. Be ready to do some horse trading. You don't want this to drag on any more than they do. Get as much as you can and get out of there.

Back in chapter 1 I introduced you to Jared Edwards, a client of mine who has been a successful salesman for his entire working life. Beginning by selling photocopiers, then moving on to woodworking and finally music-room fixtures for schools, Jared had always managed to land sales jobs. When he lost one job, for whatever reason, he soon was able to land another. But when the music-fixture firm was purchased and its entire sales force was let go, Jared's luck ran out. While he spent hours a day on the telephone, contacting all his old sales networks, and day after day trolling the Internet for leads, it took him eighteen months to land a job. It turned out that the merger of his former employer was caused by an industry-wide downturn. By the time Jared and the other laid-off workers. .h.i.t the job market, all the most likely employers were also downsizing, not hiring.

By waiting to be fired, or until you pick up the hints you're about to be fired, you've handed control of the timing of your job search to someone who thinks so little of you as a worker that he has, or is about to, let you go. Believe me, your boss won't be choosing the time of your termination based on when you'll you'll have the best chance to get another job. He will terminate you when it fits have the best chance to get another job. He will terminate you when it fits his his needs. He may go to church every Sunday, but he'll fire you on Christmas Eve if he needs you there for the last-minute rush of shoppers, but not after. Whenever he fires you, or starts preparing for it, you can be sure business in your industry or profession will be down, just as it was when Jared was laid off. (See the box on page 102: Can You Negotiate Severance?) needs. He may go to church every Sunday, but he'll fire you on Christmas Eve if he needs you there for the last-minute rush of shoppers, but not after. Whenever he fires you, or starts preparing for it, you can be sure business in your industry or profession will be down, just as it was when Jared was laid off. (See the box on page 102: Can You Negotiate Severance?) ARE YOU ELIGIBLE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION?Unemployment compensation is a federal program administered by the individual states. As a result, eligibility and the amount received is affected by both federal and state rules. Let me go over the general rules. For specifics you'll need to contact your state's department of labor.To be eligible you must first meet your state's minimum requirements for wages earned and time worked during the prior year.You must have been fired through no fault of your own. That means you're not eligible if you quit, were fired for cause, or are on strike.

You must be able to work during each day for which you're claiming benefits.

You must be available for work immediately.

You must have transportation.

You must not be required to stay home to care for dependents.

You must actively be looking for work.

If you quit or were terminated for cause you should try to negotiate with your former employer asking him to say you were fired without cause so you'll be eligible for benefits. The worst he can do is say no.To maintain eligibility you'll need to report to an unemployment office as often as the state requests to file a claim and show evidence that you've been looking for work. Some states will let you file claims by mail. If you're offered a suitable job you must take it. Otherwise you'll lose your benefits.What's suitable? Generally the rules rely on common sense. A former comptroller of a company won't be expected to take a job as a fry cook, but might be expected to take a job as a staff accountant.Benefits generally are 50 percent of what you were earning, up to a ceiling set by each state. Benefits usually last for twenty-six weeks but are sometimes extended because of high unemployment rates.

Most bosses hate to terminate people for performance reasons. It's a sign they made a mistake in hiring the person in the first place. There are times when layoffs are a legitimate response to economic trouble. But lots of times bosses use a downturn in business as a rationalization for termination so they feel better - "I hate to let you go, Steve, but business is bad." Whether your being canned was a legitimate response to economic doldrums or a rationalization doesn't matter; either way, you'll be left with little chance of finding anything else soon, since all your prime candidates will also be experiencing slow business. (See the box on page 104: Are You Eligible for Unemployment Compensation?) The average terminated employee then launches a desperate short-term campaign to land a job. My clients would send out hundreds of resumes, make dozens of telephone calls, and send out countless e-mails. Their goal was to land a job as soon as possible. Rather than carefully picking their targets, they flooded the market, contacting anyone and everyone with whom there was a remote possibility of getting a lead or a job. As soon as they got a response, they fixated on that position. They often stopped sending out resumes, making calls, or sending out e-mails, and instead boned up on the company and person with whom they were interviewing. Desperate at not having any money coming in, they usually grabbed the first job they were offered without negotiating.

That's what Jared did. After eight months of not even a glimmer of a new job, Jared had run through all his savings, and then took part-time work as a cabinetmaker to help make ends meet. His wife's civil service job provided health benefits for the family, but things got tight quickly. With his daughter about to start college, his son needing braces, and his wife growing increasingly nervous, Jared felt desperate. When he got a lead on a job selling a computerized reading-education system to school districts, he borrowed money to fly to the company's headquarters for an interview. His willingness to take on a very underperforming sales region cinched the deal, and he grabbed the job when it was offered. As he himself told me, all he cared about was that "the first paycheck didn't bounce when I rushed to cash it."

The metaphor that has been used for the job-search process is a hunt, and it's an apt one. The typical job seeker is like a desperate hunter who decides to set out for game when his family is starving. He heads off into the forest looking for something to shoot and bring back for the family table. It doesn't matter what he finds, as long as it's edible. Reacting in this fas.h.i.+on isn't a very good way to go through your working life today.

GET USED TO JOB HOPPINGI think it's vital for you to come up with away to deal with the decline in job duration. This isn't just a short-term phenomenon related to the bursting of the Internet bubble or the postSeptember 11 recession. Those factors had some short-term impact, but the real causes are much more long lasting. The life cycles of products and services are getting shorter, and compet.i.tion is coming from all over the globe. That has led to a s.h.i.+ft in the way businesses are structured. Most jobs today are with small service firms, not large manufacturing companies. Those small firms are more nimble, but far less stable. They probably have no more than three layers of hierarchy and concentrate on just one core function. Since they have little financial cus.h.i.+on, these small firms are much more likely to let people go to compensate for changes in their business. Things are going to get worse before they get better, so if you plan on working in the next two or three decades you'd better adjust your thinking and actions.

Job Hunting No Longer Makes Sense Approaching the search for work as a hunt makes sense if you're going to go through the process only a handful of times in your life: when you leave school and get a first full-time job, and then maybe the one or two times you're either fired or have to move to a new location. The job hunt used to be a rare thing, like buying a home. That was the typical pattern for workers decades ago, back when there was corporate loyalty and when you could count on keeping your job if you kept your nose clean and did your work. But that pattern doesn't fit today's world. We know there's no corporate loyalty anymore and that doing your job, even excelling at your job, isn't enough to ensure that you'll even have a job. Looking for a job is no longer something you'll have to do just a couple of times in your life. Today you'll have to do it frequently.

According to the Economist, Economist, the average thirty-two-year-old American has already worked for nine different firms. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that job tenure - the length of time someone stays at a particular job - is dropping, particularly for men aged thirty-five and over, the very individuals who we used to a.s.sume were at the most stable period in their work lives. (See the box on page 107: Get Used to Job Hopping.) the average thirty-two-year-old American has already worked for nine different firms. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that job tenure - the length of time someone stays at a particular job - is dropping, particularly for men aged thirty-five and over, the very individuals who we used to a.s.sume were at the most stable period in their work lives. (See the box on page 107: Get Used to Job Hopping.) The rule of thumb used to be that traditional job hunts took one month for every $10,000 you earned. I've found that today it's taking twice that long. It's taking a person who was earning, say, $90,000 a year about eighteen months to find a new job, using the traditional techniques. And that new job invariably pays less than she was earning before - sometimes a lot less. The market is no better for those earning less, or more.

I have some new techniques that can help cut that time down, which I'll go over later in this book. But the best first response to the new job environment is to abandon job hunting altogether and take a different approach, one I call job fis.h.i.+ng.

The Savvy Fisherman Rather than waiting to look for a new job until you've been fired, or you've spotted the signs you're about to be fired, you need to be looking constantly for a new job. And when I write constantly I do mean constantly. The job search isn't something you start when desperate and finish when reemployed. It's something that should be a part of your daily work life. Businesses don't stop advertising when they land a customer, and start again when they have no customers - at least smart businesses don't. They advertise constantly, looking to create a steady flow of customers so there's never a time when they're without business. Your goal should be the same: a steady flow of employment offers so you're never without a job.

I used the word "offers" intentionally. That's another part of the job-fis.h.i.+ng program. Rather than looking for "a job" per se, you should instead focus on getting job offers. Then, after having been offered a position, you can decide whether or not you want to accept it.

The metaphor I like to use is job fis.h.i.+ng, not job hunting. Rather than waiting until there's no food on the table and then setting out to kill anything you can to feed your family, you go out every day, cast very big nets into the ocean, see what you catch, and then sort through the haul, choosing which to keep and which to throw back.

Think about what a difference this kind of approach makes.

If you're always looking for a new job while you're already employed, you'll be under little if any pressure to take a position that doesn't meet your needs and wants. You'll be able to s.h.i.+ft jobs at a time when the economy is in your favor: say, when there's a high demand for people with your skills. Rather than the potential employers having the leverage in the situation, you'll be the one with the power. The burden will be on the potential employer to convince you her company is worthy. You will no longer have to go on job interviews with your hat in hand, begging for a position.

Everyone knows that it's easier to find a job while you're still employed. Partly it's because the potential employer sees hiring you as a double positive. Not only does she get your services, but she also gets to deprive a compet.i.tor of your services. I think a less appreciated advantage of searching for a job while you're employed is the impact it has on your att.i.tude, and as a result, your presentation. It's human nature to want what you can't have. When you go into a job interview not yet convinced you even want the job under discussion, you broadcast that to the interviewer. Rather than this creating anger, it actually entices the interviewer. That's because you project confidence, not arrogance; and that's intoxicating to a potential employer. (See the box on page 111: How You Should Act on Interviews.) She suddenly is working hard to talk you into taking a job you haven't even been offered. It's remarkable how many times clients of mine come back from interviews for jobs they really didn't want and report that they were offered the moon to take the spot.

Contrast that with the number of times people go into interviews desperate for the job and don't get the offer. I think that's because the interviewer reads desperation rather than confidence. Desperation is not an attractive trait. The best response it can generate is pity, and that's not sufficient for most employers to offer you a position. Instead, he'll feel uncomfortable with your desperation and will cut the interview short just to get out of the situation. An hour later he'll turn around and offer the job to someone who doesn't really want it.

Alex Linderman knows the effect att.i.tude can have on an interviewer. A banquet manager for a large catering operation in the New York suburbs, he has been a client of mine for many years, stretching back to when I first began practicing law. Alex was making an excellent living at the suburban catering hall when, out of the blue, he received a call from the human resources director of a famous old New York City hotel that was being renovated. The hotel was looking for a banquet manager. Figuring he had nothing to lose, Alex went on the interview, even though he didn't want the job, since it would mean a long commute. He blew the interviewer away, and was offered the job on the spot. He called the next day to turn it down, after using it as leverage to get a raise from his current boss. Two years later the catering hall on Long Island had been sold, Alex was out of work and desperate, and he got another call from the same hotel in New York. In fact, he was interviewed by the same person. But this time the interview clearly didn't go well at all. In fact, the interviewer asked if Alex had had health problems recently, since he didn't seem like the same person he had met with before.HOW YOU SHOULD ACT ON INTERVIEWSThe reason why people always come across best in interviews for jobs they don't want is that they're signaling self-confidence rather than desperation. The best ways to do that are behavioral.Make sure your dress and grooming are impeccable and your cologne and jewelry are understated.Arrive on time. Being there too early conveys desperation. Being late means you're either rude or disorganized.Smile, shake hands firmly, and make eye contact with everyone you meet.Don't sit until invited to.Lean forward in your chair and maintain eye contact when making a point.When asked a question, sit back and break eye contact to indicate you're thinking. Then reestablish eye contact and lean forward again when answering.Don't slouch, cross your arms or legs, or touch your face. Keep your hands from fluttering about.Don't be afraid to use humor. It's a sign of intelligence and cuts the tension.Have questions of your own. Make this a give-and-take rather than an inquisition and you'll get an offer.

"But What If My Current Boss Finds Out?"

When I explain to clients that they need to look for a job while still employed, many express fear that their current boss will find out. I'm sure some of you have that same fear. My response is: "So what? What can your boss do?"