A buddy of mine recently returned to the great state of Pennsylvania after a two year adventure in Los Angeles.  He moved out to Hollywood land to chase his music and acting dreams, but Dave came back to PA to save up some money and decide if/when he’ll go back.  Dave is the exact definition of freedom.  Since I’ve known him he’s always done the shit that he loves to do.  There have been times he’s admitted to maybe being envious of his friends that have set careers and maybe more of their shit in order, but I can’t see Dave ever wanting to change places.  My friends and I have enjoyed Dave being home, and last night he stopped over and we checked out Judd Apatow’s newest film, “Funny People”.  Don’t get me wrong, the movie was full of giggles, but in the end it turned out to be a dark life lesson movie, similar to the feelings I had after watching “Garden State”.  Through the movie I couldn’t help but think about how the lessons in it could be related to my career philosophy that I’ve shared a few times on Corn On The Job.  Here goes nothing…

You have an 8% chance of living, what does that mean to you?

Before presenting my quick review of the movie I’ll mention that nothing I say will spoil the ending or give too much away.  In the movie, Adam Sandler plays a successful older comedian that finds out he has an 8% chance of living after being diagnosed with a rare disease.  Maybe a bit cliche, but when his life flashes over and over he starts realizing all that he’s missed in life.  While he can say he owns an entire garage full of exotic cars, he can’t say that he has one meaningful friendship or relationship established with another person.  Let the dark humor begin…

Adam Sandler’s character, George Simmons, goes back to his roots in stand up and performs an incredibly depressing routine where he meets Ira Wright, a young, struggling comedian (Seth Rogan).  Their encounter leads to a friendship between them when Ira takes on a position as George’s assistant.  Ira travels with George becoming his opening act, his only friend, and the one person that knows about his illness.  Like most movies, this one eventually becomes about a girl, and in this movie it’s about the one that got away.  George’s career success, fame, and money blurred his priorities when he was younger and now its all crashing down on him.  When George finds out from his doctors that the alternative medicine has miraculously made him ‘better’, he finds out it may have been too late in his life to build what really matters in life.  Relationships.

How I want to be remembered

My favorite scene in the movie is one that takes place after Sandler finds out he’s going to make it.  He’s sitting outside of his ridiculous house facing the water and he says out loud to himself “I’ve played it all wrong”.  My whole life I’ve been taught that hard work pays off, and there is no denying that.  What I won’t allow is hard work to ruin my life.  Maybe I’ll have a wife someday, maybe a family, or maybe I’ll just always have great friends.  Whatever happens, I always want to be remembered for the people I’ve kept close around me.  Sure, maybe I’ll invent something ridiculous, or maybe more and more Corn Heads will join me here on COTJ and I can grow us into a career blog mecca and be remembered for that, but the people around me will always be most important.  A career is just a job and money.  Isn’t that what it comes down to?  When you are told life isn’t going to last much longer, your job and your money won’t replace the comfort good people can give you.

But what is surely different from what you want, and probably different from what my friend Dave wants in life.  To break into music or acting would be everything to him.  While I’m sure he’d keep his relationships, I could assume he’d be willing to sacrifice them for a while in order to carry out his dreams.  We are all different, and we all have different paths to happiness.

How do you want to be remembered?

We all have our prerogative.  What’s important to you?  I know us Generation Y workers must continually prove our worth to the older generations in the work place.  Should our long term happiness be sacrificed for that?  If you were put on the 8% list, what would you do, how would you be remembered?

The embarrassing decline of Joaquin Phoenix

Towards the end of 2008 shocking reports surfaced that Joaquin Phoenix was switching careers.  Phoenix declared that his accomplished acting career was over, and immediately focused on pursuing a hip-hop music career.  Anyone who saw “Walk the Line” and his excellent portrayal of Johnny Cash might not have been too surprised when hearing the news.   What did come as a shocker to mostly everyone was that it was specifically a hip-hop rap career he intended to pursue.  Let me be the first to ask you Joaquin, where’s your street cred?

Everyone needs street cred - every serious  rapper has it, Joaquin.  It’s critical in gaining respect, as well as record sales.  Ask Curtis Jackson, AKA 50 cent about street cred.  The man was shot 9 times at close range and lived to tell about it.  What happened to your brother was terrible, but unless you’ve been shot at, sold drugs in the projects, or stole a microphone away from sweet Taylor Swift then I’m not sure you’ll be respected amongst the hip-hop community.  The video below points out the lack of respect Phoenix received during his appearance on Letterman.

On February 11, 2009, Joaquin Phoenix appeared on David Letterman to promote a new movie.  At first many thought this could be a hoax, but really its just Joaquin Phoenix on drugs.  If you haven’t seen it, check it out now, then come back for a bit more on this topic.

Making a switch?  Make sure you have Career Street Cred

Career Street Cred (you heard it here first) is absolutely critical when making a change.  Without it you’ll surely fail to be noticed/respected by recruiters, hiring managers, or peers.  Often times I’m contacted by people who truthfully hate what they do, but have no way out.  Sometimes a career or industry change can do wonders for someone’s job satisfaction.  Unfortunately, when the actual job and essential functions of that role are the problem, then there aren’t too many options for them.

Let’s chat about what to consider before making a career switch:

1. Are you good at what you do? –  Be honest with yourself.  Do you excel in the career you’ve chosen?  If yes, then do your best to stick with it.  Talk to your supervisor, or your supervisors supervisor about job enrichment opportunities.  Maybe management is in your future?  How about a different company?  Do you have the knowledge, skills, and financial backing to open up your own shop?
2. Could you handle a pay cut? – Switching careers usually means starting over.  If you are fresh into your career than maybe it won’t hit your wallet so hard, but those with even just 3-5 years experience could see a large drop in pay depending on what they switch to.
3. Do you have experience or education in the desired position/career? – How are you qualified?  Without direct experience, most people choose to go back to school.
4. Do you have friends in your desired position? – Talk to your connections about your idea and see what they think.  Ask them what you need to do in order to gain the respect of recruiters and hiring managers.  Ask what you’ll need to do to get started and where you should go for experience and/or education.

What people sometimes don’t realize is that everyone at some point hates there job.  The sad part is that many people are too lazy to do anything about it and that frustrates me more than anything.  If you find yourself hating your career, and also the career path ahead of you, then take a seriously look at the 4 items above and decide if it’s time to switch.  Doing that will clearly point out how you can gain the Career Street Cred needed to catapult successfully into a new career.  Without education and/or experience it’s virtually impossible to gain the respect of your peers, recruiters, and hiring managers.

So, whatever happened with Joaquin Phoenix and his new rap career?

It’s not going so well for Joaquin.  Not only is he a terrible rapper, but he responds to criticism poorly.  The video below shows his ear wrenching performance, then at the end you can clearly see him attack one of the audience members.  Yikes.

Since I haven’t had a chance to really sit down and write, I figured the least I could do was send a comical clip from “The Office”.  Enjoy!

For those not receiving an invite to the  joyous Human Resources buzz word party, employee engagement is a phrase used to describe how motivated, or excited employees are in their role.  Organizations with a strategic HR function run surveys on their employees to understand the level of engagement at  the company.  Certainly, other items are measured, but without actively engaged, motivated, and excited employees, is their really a company at all?

Besides the famous “PC Load Letter” scene, the below clip from Office Space is my favorite.  Not because it’s full of goofy giggles, but just because it just hits spot on with how a disengaged employee feels.  Mike Judge, director of Office Space, knocks it out of the park.  Watch this short clip (just under 4 minutes), and then go down to the bottom for a quick review:

So, how do we know Peter is disengaged?  That’s easy.  He comes right out and confesses to coming in late, and spacing out for a couple hours a day.  But, the absolute best quote is when Peter explains that while he has a fear of losing his job, that fear will only make someone work just hard enough to not get fired.  Oh Mike Judge, you are so profound!

Can you imagine how many of today’s workers just do whatever they can simply keep their job?  With the job market the way it is, employees realize they basically need to just suck it up, and do the minimal amount of work required just to get by. What a nightmare.  But, hanging on like that does eventually get noticed by the employer.  So, what is the employers course of action?  Hopefully, they choose to have  an open conversation with the employee, which can lead to a resolution.  In this case, the employer becomes a hero, simply using words.  What unfortunately happens most often is warnings are fired out at the employee and nothing changes, eventually leading to a termination.

So, what should YOU do if you are unmotivated, and disengaged at work?

1. Don’t be bashful.  Have a conversation with your supervisor look into an immediate resolution, if there is one.
2. Look for a position internally in an area that excites you.  Talk to someone in HR, or recruiting about what may be opening and what you could be qualified for.
3. Do your best to perform above the minimal level.  Minimal gets noticed, but a middle of the road employee does not.  No need to take on every extra project, but try one or two.
4. Smile as much as you can and visit my website daily for a good time.

Don’t want to give anything away, but I’ve actually heard horror stories from job seekers that mildly resemble the below interview clip from Monty Python.  This scene is gold, 18 kernels of pure gold.  Enjoy.

Maybe not the most HR friendly video clip, but its Wednesday, and I bet my Corn Heads could use a laugh. If you are able to, take a ten minute break from whatever you’re doing and watch this glorious 10 minute video clip of various pranks on Dwight.

Then reply back letting me know which one was your favorite!

Enjoy this classic scene from Tommy Boy!

Thanks to Jen for suggesting COTJ use this scene!

When making your final exit, try to stay calm.  This will be the last time many of your co-workers see you, so try to smile and not ‘flip out’.  Maybe freaking the hell out works for someone like Jerry Maguire.  In the end he gains a few fish friends, helps bring his client the contract he deserves, and gets the girl.  Freaking out like he did usually just means you’ll have security called and everyone will have an office joke for years to come.  View the video clip below and enjoy your weekend!

While certainly hilarious, this short clip from Step Brothers teaches us exactly how not to interview.  Below you’ll find the link to quite arguably the funniest scene in Step Brothers.  Watch as Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly tag team the interview, then come back for my take:

What have we learned:

1. The interview is not the most important day of your life like they say in the clip.  Don’t put that stress on yourself.  If it doesn’t work out, you’ll find yourself on another interview before you know it!
2. Never wear a tuxedo to an interview.  Hilarious, but some organizational cultures will even allow a candidate to wear jeans to an interview.
3. Bring a fresh copy of your resume, however, leave your best friend at home.
4. Not understanding a name is common, if that happens just move away from the topic all together.  Oh, and who knew there was no D at the end of Pam?
5. Never, absolutely never tell your interviewer to shut their mouth.  You saw what happened.
6. Most times candidates receive a few parting gifts after their interview, usually a pen or folder.  Asking for a souvenir will only bring you a rejection letter in the mail.

Cheers!