R. William Holland Consulting

I, of all people should know better. But every time I hear a radio or television blurb telling me that “affordable” health insurance can be mine by just calling some 800 number, I call and hear the same old story.

If you have to pay for your coverage without the benefit of a company contribution, like I do, you know very well just how expensive it can be. But you should also know it is more than that. And, why it is more is the same reason those ads for “affordable” coverage are so misleading. Here is the deal.

I wrote in Are There Any Good Jobs Left? Career Management in the Age of the Disposable Worker, that in a real sense the American system of health care coverage is one that distributes coverage to people when they need it least (i.e., when they are healthy and have a job) and keeps it from them when they need it most (when sick and out of work). The reason is quite simple. Health care is a private enterprise solution to a pubic issue. As such, it is a system motivated by profits more than health care. When the two conflict, guess which one wins—profits win every time.

Look at it this way. It is expensive to provide health care coverage to people who are already sick and without income. Companies that are motivated by profit, certainly have no incentive to cover people who cannot pay and are already sick. They cannot make money behaving this way. This has historically been known in the business as the problem of adverse selection.

It is helpful to understand that private enterprise has played an important role in developing medicines and treatments for people. So this is not a plea to take the profit out of the system. It is a plea however to resist accepting the outcome of private enterprise as a substitute for public policy. When those two conflict (the public good and private enterprise) in a substantial way, action is required.

Fortunately, that is where we are today. As health care has gotten prohibitively expensive, private employers large and small are anxious to control the burden. As greater numbers of white collar workers feel the sting of job insecurity, they too see the issue as an appropriate focus of public policy. The choir of voices calling for reform is beginning to span the political spectrum.

But we are not there yet. Meanwhile understand that those ads for “affordable” health care are largely private enterprise initiatives that are willing to take you on only if you are relatively young and perfectly healthy. Furthermore, if you become covered and get sick, they are likely to look to jettison your coverage as fast as they can. Good businesses—ones that attract capital and provide good returns—look to control cost. Otherwise, those who run them join the ranks of the unemployed looking for relatively inexpensive coverage but probably won’t be able to find it.

So the next time you are tempted to respond to one of those ads, remember they are on your side as long as they can make a buck.

Share This

I recently spoke to a group of about 90 people looking for work and anxious to network with others who might be able to lend a hand. I asked them the same question I ask others: If you had your choice would you choose employer who had a reputation for laying people off or one that was known for just the opposite kinds of behaviors? It does not take an audience long to weigh in on the side of no lay-offs. Those who have experienced being downsized are understandably anxious to avoid that experience again; and the best way to avoid it is to go to work for an employer for whom “lay-off” is a dirty word.

Not so fast. Not only is that not necessarily the right answer, just the opposite may be true. Consider the matter from the prospective of the company for a moment. Today, the competitive landscape is more intense than ever largely because of advances in technology and globalization. Technology makes it possible for work to move with relative ease to its most economically rational location. In this way, companies take advantage of lower-cost modes of production and pass the savings through to customers. This is not done out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s done because doing so creates an advantage in the marketplace.

Further, while technology may make it possible for jobs to relocate to their most economical locations, it is globalization that makes it imperative. When outsourcing becomes an industry best practice within a given industry sector, others are obliged to participate or risk shifting the advantage to those that play the outsourcing game.

The sword of course is double-edged: Remaining profitable and competitive by allowing companies to chase low cost modes of production may also mean allowing some measure of job instability and personal income insecurity. So what kind of company do you want to work for: One that chases efficiency or one that hangs onto more expensive employees when more effective avenues are available?

In reality, our employment choices are seldom presently as starkly as the example used here. Most of us would opt to work for companies that seek to maintain its competitive advantage while at the same time has employee friendly policies that minimize the job insecurity characteristic of today’s work place. There are times, however when both objectives cannot be maximized. Still, most of us would probably opt to work for employers for whom lay-off is a dirty word but we should be careful to add as long as they are smart enough to stay competitive and remain in business.

Share This

cowritten by Daniel Gross

What is a college degree worth today? According to the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE), in 2006, the three most lucrative college degrees were chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering, all of which reported average starting salaries upwards of $50,000. But what if courses in thermodynamics and kinetics are not your cup of tea and you pine for the teachings of Kant, Rousseau and Aristotle? Then, as a liberal arts major, you can expect an average starting salary of roughly $30,000, a far cry from your engineering peers.

While the cost of college has risen over 50% since 1990 including a 7.1% increase at four-year public schools in 2005-06, never has the link between a college degree and a lucrative first job been more tenuous. In a survey of human resources executives conducted by career placement firm Hayden-Wilder, almost 9 out of every 10 executives reported that entry-level candidates are inadequately prepared for the job search process. Furthermore, a 2005 Newsweek poll indicated that nearly 60% of college grads plan to return home to live with their family following graduation.

So how does a liberal arts major attending college today avoid the all too common pitfall of paying well over $100,000 to receive an education only to be left living in their parents’ basement before the ink on their diploma is dry? The answer is simple: students must learn value creation.

Value creation is the art of maximizing your achievements and skills in past experiences so that prospective employers covet them. Prospective employers are looking to project your past accomplishments on to their current requirements in order to make a favorable hiring decision. What this translates to for college students is that your major and GPA are not nearly as important as the value you create as you go thorough college.

But how exactly does a college student accomplish this so that their most important decision senior year will be which job offer to take rather than how to ask their parents for a raise in allowance? Here are four things students can do while in college that will put them head and shoulders above their peers in the job search process:

1. Think small. College can be overwhelming, and the same is true in your choice of extracurricular activities. While you may be the captain of your high school debate team, top colleges admit scores of debate team captains each year. So how can you create the kind of value in your extra-curricular activities that employers will find attractive? By thinking small!

Pick a small activity or club that piques your interests or holds relevance to a potential career option and join early. Why? Because in a small club you will have a greater opportunity to demonstrate the kind of results employers can translate into success on their own jobs, as your contribution becomes magnified and the leadership responsibility you can hold early on is significantly greater than in a large organization. At this stage of your development, employers will place emphasis on how well you did something and not so much on what you did.

Thinking small not only applies to extracurricular activities, but also to classes. Small classes give you an opportunity to get to know professors better and thereby gain experiences that create value and translate into greater employability upon graduation.

The best way to determine which professors to get to know is to check out their CVs to find out more about their research interests, books and papers they have written and their previous industry experience. When you find a professor whose interests marry up to yours, attempt to develop a relationship with them by taking one of their small classes, attending their office hours and signing up for independent study with them. Getting to know one or two professors well creates immense value for you, as professors can serve as great networking contacts and give you fantastic opportunities to undertake research and analytical experiences that are valued by today’s employers.

2. Communicate Communicate Communicate! According to the NACE Job Outlook 2006 report, the ability to speak and write clearly is the number one skill employers are looking for in entry level applicants; yet, it is the number one skill-set that is most prominently absent.
So perfecting your communication skills is of the utmost importance because value created is value obscured if it cannot be communicated. A great way to hone your writing skills is to take elective writing courses. Another great way to boast of writing skills on your resume is to get published. You may be wondering, “How in the world can I get published while in college unless I am the next coming of Hemingway?”

Actually, it is much easier than you may think. It is absolutely astonishing to see just how many college journals, department publications and countless other organizations regularly publish, articles, memos, newsletters, and reports that actively seek student submissions.

Public speaking classes, which almost all colleges offer, are a great way to polish verbal communication skills. Additionally, you should seek out any opportunities afforded to present at symposiums and research seminars. Almost all academic departments offer these opportunities to interested students, and being able to highlight these on your resume is a great way to underscore your communication skills and value creation abilities.

3. Get connected. Conventional wisdom holds that the only way to network our way to a job is through a well-established set of networking relationships. While strong networking ties work, the reality is that weak ties have been shown to work even better. Research by sociologist Mark Granovetter found that almost 60% of people who find jobs through networking actually do so through weak ties. Weak ties have the added advantage of being easier to establish and maintain as compared to strong ones. In addition, whom one connects with is as important as the nature of the tie that binds. Try to connect with people who know many others who are connected to the kinds of opportunities you want (these people are called “connectors”). What this means for you is that it is better to have weak ties with one or two very well connected people (think small!), than to plow inordinate amounts of time trying to cultivate strong ties with ten people.

Once you know how to network, the question becomes who to network with. Oftentimes the best networks (and the ones students most readily neglect) are parents—your parents, your roommate’s parents and parents of friends. Parents (and other adults including professors) have more experience and are often very willing to help out a college student in need.

4. Go get that internship! Remember to think small when you eventually decide what internship to take because it is not where you have worked, but it is the value you create while working there that is most important to prospective employers. So while a job at a big law firm might sound glamorous it is much better to revamp the inventory management process at a local hot dog stand than to spend your days fetching coffee for an attorney. The important thing is not what you do, but the value you create while doing it!

Whether you are a chemical engineering or liberal arts major, students who learn how to maximize the value they create during college will be the most sought after by prospective employers. And while a job is great, creating value during college will also get you out of your parents’ basement after college—and the value of that is priceless.

Mr. Gross received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Northwestern University in June 2006, and currently works at a strategy consulting firm in Chicago, IL. He can be reached at daniel.w.gross@gmail.com.

Share This

This is not an endorsement for being bored on your job or with your current career. True boredom can only lead to poor on-the-job performance and eventually a parting of the ways between you and your employer. On the contrary, it is a statement about how to start the selection process and get some perspective on the relative importance of things.

Given what so much of the career counseling literature has to say, passion is one of those intangibles that requires perspective. I think I will scream if I hear one more time from any one of those well meaning career advisors that they can feel the passion in my voice when I talk about setting up my own consulting business based on my book, Are There Any Good Jobs Left? It is as if my occasional burst of enthusiasm is sufficient to carry me through the rough times: Or worse yet, makes going into business for myself a good idea because being an entrepreneur excites me. I feel like saying to these people (I started to say “idiots,” but that would not be nice), if I really followed my passion, I’d be playing golf. The problem with that is I am a terrible golfer and no one will pay me to do that.

I have written elsewhere that passion is one of those overworked and misunderstood clichés that is seemingly a part of every counselor’s tool kit. Developing and maintaining the requisite skills for a career may have little to do with passion. In fact, just the opposite is true.

Athletes understand this better than most. Their passion is more about winning. The process of getting to the winners circle often involves repetition to the point of boredom. When athletes lose their appetite (passion) for competition, they sometimes exit the competitive arena by announcing that they have lost their passion for the game. This apparently confuses some career counselors. Great athletes report that they spend many more hours practicing rather than playing. In this sense, they distinguish the process from the prize and are not deterred when the process by itself fails to excite their passion.

There are no jobs, careers or enterprises that bring with them a continual state of elation. Believing that work is simply fun does not prepare you very well for those long stretches of difficulty that are part of life. To some extent we fool our children when we place too much emphasis on the fun part of learning. Learning, just as with our jobs, is easier when it is fun, but we also need to learn how to accomplish something when the fun is gone. For a good discussion on career options, see Career Warfare by David D’Alessandro

Passion can be an important consideration, but it is not the lead variable. And, making career choices by prematurely focusing on passion can too easily beg the wrong question. I suggest that you start with what you are or can become good at. Companies are more likely to pay you for that and you will be pleasantly surprised at how much fun being good at something others are willing to pay you for really is. You might even become passionate about it.

Share This