Category Archives: Finances

Why You Need to Learn to Hate Vanilla

2 minutes to read

Tell me if this situation makes sense. Your car breaks down and you have it towed to your mechanic. A couple of hours later he calls and you ask, “Can you fix it?” Responding, he says, “I have 10 years experience repairing Fords and eight years experience fixing Hondas.” But that didn't answer your question. Shouldn't he have told you what the problem is and how he’s going to fix it? Most job-hunters make this same mistake.

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Last week I coached a veteran who hasn't gotten any traction with his job-hunt. He’s decided to relocate because he sees better job prospects in a different place. Yet, the state where he lives now outpaces the rest of the country in job growth. His target state has had flat job growth this year.

This vet has solid skills, accomplishments, and leadership ability. At meetings to discuss jobs, hiring managers have told him he has what they need. Yet, he hasn’t received a single job offer. He says he needs a degree. But companies like Google and Ernst & Young don't require one.

His real problem: He’s forgettable.

Without an inside contact, he has no ally keeping him front of mind with the hiring manager. And he leaves out the other crucial ingredient for any job-hunt interaction.

People remember and love stories. Yet he doesn't tell any. Nor does he use memorable language to highlight the value he’ll bring to a company. In short, hiring managers don't care if a competitor hires him. They don't feel the loss.

Resolve to Be Competitive

A person acts in one of two ways: moving toward a reward or moving away from fear. You may think this only applies to children. But adults carry a bias toward one of these throughout their lives. How do you know which one will motivate a particular hiring manager?

You don’t. So you’ll have to approach him from both. Give him an unforgettable presentation of your value to the organization. If reward drives him, he’ll hire you for how you’ll increase profits. If fear drives him, he’ll hire you so his competitor won’t.

Focus your self-marketing on answering the question: “What will make this company afraid its rival will hire me?”

The United States gathers intelligence about our enemies so we can exploit their weaknesses. It also helps us influence our allies to remain loyal. Our enemies do the same to us. Use this strategy for your job-hunt.

The answer doesn’t lie in a degree or your training and skills. All these are commonplace. Rather, know the challenges an organization and its competitors face. When you know its vulnerabilities, a company will want you on its side. If you know where its rivals struggle, it will want your help exploiting these weaknesses.

Develop relationships with people who will explain the challenges in your field. People like to talk about their areas of interest. Always stand ready with two or three questions that will enhance your industry knowledge. When you have the opportunity, ask them.

Most people won't do this hard work. Put in the time and effort. Don’t be plain vanilla. Be Moose Tracks. Then you’ll get a job you’ll love.

How do you gain intel about your chosen field?

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Do You Know Which Are More Valuable in the Private Sector?

2-½ minutes to read

Pilot or aircraft maintainer – who has the more valuable job? Most people say the pilot. After all, the cost to get a military pilot through basic flight training is $1 million. It can cost as much as $9 million to reach operational effectiveness. I’ve based these figures on a 1999 study. The most recent I could find. Since it costs perhaps $200,000 to train a maintainer, most people must be right. Except they're wrong.

Cost Doesn't Translate into Value

Early in my real estate career, I learned cost and value don’t connect. A couple had spent $25,000 remodeling their kitchen. But when I appraised their house it added only $15,000 to its value. Oops!

We want to believe that when something costs a lot it has to be more valuable. Think Armani Suits or Jimmy Choo shoes. But the cost to make such goods is a fraction of the selling price. Marketing and snob appeal create a value disconnected from the cost of production.

You see this everywhere today. Media make a compelling case for the death of consumer branding. But of the top 20 consumer brands, 17 increased their value. They have a good reason for working to do so.

A recognized brand can get a premium price for its products and services. Think Apple, Disney, and Samsung. Disney’s brand has translated into the cost to visit Disneyland outstripping inflation by a factor of 40 since the late 1970s.

Pilots carry a similar status. Top Gun became a recruiting godsend for the Navy by making aviators uber-cool. For a century, they’ve been the knights of our society. But there are signs that like the paladins of old, their sunset approaches.

The rise of unmanned aerial vehicles has changed the game.

When Prestige Doesn’t Create Value

The high cost of training a pilot and operating manned aircraft are the very issues that make their future value uncertain.

You can buy an F-35 for $101 million. It costs $35,000 to operate it for an hour. Contrast this with a UAV. The Predator costs $13 million and $1,500 respectively. At eight times the price and 23 times the flight hour cost, the F-35 is expensive. And that doesn't count the human cost if a pilot crashes or is shot down.

As the percentage of the military’s budget for personnel and training continues to climb, you can bet it will work to reign in these expenses. Eliminating 1,000 pilots, less than 4%, would save the defense budget $9 billion in training costs alone. That amounts to a 1.5% of the DOD’s budget.

While the military has incentives to reduce the number of pilots, what about the civilian side? How much money could Fedex save by converting their small aircraft to UAVs? What about UPS? I use cargo carriers as an example because packages won't get nervous without a human in the cockpit. But airline legacy carriers struggle to survive. In the meantime, newer ones form that offer lower pilot compensation.

Many former military pilots have found their civilian job prospects less rosy than they used to be. The median pay for commercial pilots is $77,200. Salaries for new hires at regional airlines range from $50,000 to $60,000.

Enter the “lowly” maintainer. Does it matter whether he works on a manned or unmanned aircraft? Hardly. They both have to be ready to fly. The aircraft maintainer who stays ahead of the knowledge curve will always be in demand. The median pay for an aircraft mechanic is $81,862. The lowest 10% make $61,624 or less.

Examine the value of your military skills, leadership ability, and accomplishments. Don't fall into the cost versus value trap. Create your Unique Value Proposition based on a clear analysis of how you can best use them to get a job you’ll love.

Are you clear about the value of your skills?

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