Marty Nemko's Blog, page 437

My next UC Berkeley lecture is open to the public: "What Every Career-Minded Professional Must Know for 2014 and Beyond"

After keynoting the Beyond Academia event at U.C.Berkeley two months ago, it has hired me again, this time to give a Public Lecture through its Extension. The event is open to the general public.



I'm calling it, What Every Career-Minded Professional Must Know for 2014 and Beyond. I'm flattered to have been given that opportunity and that it was the first event touted by the Dean in her summer message.



It will be on June 12 from noon to 1 pm. While it is free, registration is required. To register or for more information, including location, click HERE.

My Home-Office Garden

Forgive my deviating from the all-business tenor of this blog but I am enjoying how the deck planter outside my office is looking now and thought you might too.



The third picture includes my doggie Einstein.



Click on the images and they'll enlarge.



It's remarkable how little work it takes me to produce a good garden in the San Francisco Bay Area with absolutely no spraying for pests or fungus. The keys are an automatic watering system and that I've carefully selected hybrids for beauty, length of bloom season, and disease-resistance. The bright pink plant is


I know that "heirlooms" and non-hybrids are today's fad, perceived as more "natural" but most of those really are inferior: less beautiful and more disease-prone.















The rest of my garden is looking good now too. Here's just one picture from it. It's of three bougainvillea: left to right: Spectabilis, James Walker, and Imperial Delight. 

Creating a Strong, Ethical Resume, Fast

You're dreading writing your resume. My post today on USNews.com: How to create a strong, ethical resume, fast.

I'd Like to Ask a Favor

I feel I should ask a favor.



This morning from 11 am to noon, Pacific time, on my KALW-FM (NPR-San Francisco) radio program, Work with Marty Nemko, on which I try to help people with their worklife,  I'll asking listeners to donate money to the radio station.



I get none of the money but the amount I collect during my hour is used as an indicator of how many people listen to my show, the strength of their support for the show and, in turn, whether my show should stay on the air.



As in most public radio pledge drives, I offer thank-you gifts for donating during my hour:


If you donate $75, you get an autographed copy of my book, How to Do Life: What they didn't teach you in school.   


For $150 or $250 for a couple, you get to come to the studio on June 30 to watch the show and then have brunch with my wife and frequent co-conspirator on the show, Barbara Nemko, as well as with fellow donors. We've done these brunches before and they are a networking opportunity, a chance to offer input on my show, and oh yes, people find it quite fun. A number of people have come more than once. It's limited to just a dozen people.

It is a bit ironic for me to ask you to donate to KALW. After all, most of the shows on the station are hard leftist while I'm a moderate, and I wouldn't choose to listen to most of the music played on the station.. But I do care to stay on the air, soooh, there you go. At least I'm asking in a way that I believe is devoid of the hype that too often characterizes money-raising efforts.



Oh and, of course, most of the show today will not be spent asking for money. I'm committed to keeping the requests brief. Most of the hour will be spent with Barbara and I talking about how to get cured of interrupting people---one of my many failings.



It's easy to donate. Any time during the hour, just call 1-800-525-9917 or go to www.kalw.org.  As I said, I get none of the money. It's just a way to help keep my show on the air a



Whether or not you donate, I hope you'll listen this morning from 11 am to noon. You can hear it on 91.7 FM in San Francisco, or anywhere on the world right here on your computer at www.kalw.org from 11 am to noon, Pacific time.

Me Talking Careers on AOL as the "Opening Act" for Sheryl Sandberg?!

AOL video-interviewed me today for a half-hour. Here, below is the three-minute highlight reel.



The interviewer asked me about resumes, landing a government job, and who should and shouldn't go to college or graduate school. The video continues with Marlo Thomas asking Sheryl Sandberg about  whether college is still a wise choice.



I never thought I'd ever be the"opening act" for Sheryl Sandberg!

Making the Most of a Job Lead

You get a lead on a job but how do you make the most of it? That's the topic of my AOL article today. 



Much of the advice is applicable not only to job hunters but to anyone trying to maximize a lead's value: a sales lead, business development lead, even personal lead. 

Tomorrow, I Do Three-Minute Workovers on AOL Live

It's been a good few days. First, it was being on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart . Yesterday, it was that I was the sole source for a Business Insider article on work-life balance being overrated.



Now, AOL has selected me to be the career expert whom, on AOL's Lunchtime Live!, will, tomorrow on live video, try to help two B.A. holders who have McJobs to find better work. I'll have just a few minutes with each. We'll see what I can do.



It'll be tomorrow at 12:30 PM Eastern. HERE's the link to more info.

Your Goal Should be Contribution, not Happiness

This will appear on AOL.com a week from tomorrow but I thought you might like an advance look.




Work-life Balance is Overrated




Your goal should be contribution, not happiness


by Marty Nemko



Most people view life's goal as to be happy. I believe that's misguided.



If the goal is happiness, one could, for example, spend all their time gardening,
watching comedies, having sex, etc. Yet if people did that, the planet would be
far worse: patients would die, homes wouldn't get built, the Internet wouldn't have been
invented, etc.



Mother Teresa didn't work in the stench of Calcutta streets, ankles bitten by
scorpions, because it made her happy She did so because she realized that helping humankind was
far more important than her being happy. Cardiologists that choose to work
nights and weekends to keep more patients alive realize their life is more
meaningful than if they had opted for the vaunted work-life balance. Even the
supposedly lowly payroll clerk who, after the standard work week, takes work
home to ensure everyone is paid accurately and on-time is living a far worthier
life than someone who diverted that time to recreation.



And as I said in my
interview two days ago in Business Insider, contrary to what
advocates of work-life balance claim, long work hours do not lead to burnout.
Indeed, as long as you're doing work you're good at and believe in, you'll
likely be more energized from long work weeks than if you spent the
discretionary time with playing sports, watching the boob tube, or even the
current fad, yoga.



I'll be 63 years old next month and been working 60 to 80 hours a week my entire life, since I was a young teen. I cannot claim to be a happy person.
Like my father, I believe I'm constitutionally inclined toward mild
sadness. But I know that my life has been more worthwhile for having
forgone work-life balance in favor of having helped 4,000 career counseling
clients, written seven books,  over 2,000 how-to and public-policy articles
and blog posts, plus myriad other contributions.



I will continue to work until I drop in the service of things I believe will make the
world better. I do want to drop dead at this keyboard. A silly
canard is, "No one ever died wishing they spent more time at the
office." Indeed, most of the most contributory people I know and I want to
spend as much time as possible working. That's the main reason why CEOs continue working long after they've made enough money to last three lifetimes.



As Isaac Asimov, who had written or
edited more than 500 books(!) said when asked, "What would you do if you
knew you had six months to live?" He said, "Type faster."

Is Work-Life Balance Overrated?

Business Insider interviewed me about what I thought about the deified "work-life balance"



The article came out today and I was surprised and, I must admit, flattered to see that my opinion was the only one cited. Perhaps because it is contrary to conventional wisdom.



Update: I just clicked on the article and am amazed that in the first day, it has already had 27,000 hits and more than 900 Facebook recommends. 

How to Make a Useful Networking Connection Fast

If your efforts to network haven't yielded much benefit to you, it's tempting to forgo further networking. Especially if you're job hunting, you could reasonably fear you'll be homeless by the time networking pays off in a job offer.





My USNews.com article today presents a way to make networking pay off fast, perhaps in just a few minutes.