Category: Finding a Job

Find a job in a new location can be hard. Without any connections, friends, or relatives, landing a new job can be one of the hardest things to accomplish.

The Full Fledged Adult

August 24, 2021 / Jacob Brown

It is interesting that when we are young we wish to be older. We want more responsibility, more power and more freedom. We want to be able to do what we want on a Friday night or stay up late when we have school the next day. We want to spend our money freely without any cares in the world. Most of these things only fall upon our shoulders as we grow older and become adults. At what age are we expected to have grown enough to reach adult status? 16? 18? 21? 26? 30?

When I was 16.

I remember when I had turned 16. I was just barely old enough the drive, much less pay for my own gas. Who has enough money coming in to drive a pickup truck at age 16 anyway.

I had finally gotten my first cell phone. In my family, we got our first cell phone when we could drive so we had it for emergencies. That doesn’t mean we weren’t allowed to use it for texting or calling friends, but the primary purpose was for safety.

Oddly enough, at 16 I was old enough to date my (now) wife as well. Well, she wasn’t my wife at the time but became my wife a few years later. I wasn’t permitted to date until I could drive which makes sense. Who wants their parents coming with them on their date? Other than financial reasons I’m gonna pass on that one.

Hitting 18.

At the time, 18 truly felt like we were adulting. We were now legally able to purchase tobacco products, lottery tickets, vote and register for the draft. Old enough to be a high school senior but not quite old enough to be in college. Most of my classmates had jobs after school to fund their lifestyles.

I wasn’t one of the people who worked a full time job during high school. Between sports over the summer and some minor work for money, I was pretty busy. After graduation I worked before my first year of college. Some of my college classmates did not work after high school and instead travelled and toured the country on their parents’ dime.

My first job was on the second shift at recycling processing facility. I did a lot of grunt work that involved shoveling dirt and running material handling equipment. It was a dirty job for sure, but I learned valuable life lessons. Some of which are “how to work hard” and “why college can be beneficial.” I learned one very valuable lesson that I learned quickly.

“I want to go to and finish college so I don’t have to do this job again.”
Jacob Brown

Growing to 21.

Becoming 21 gave a whole new set of responsibilities. For one, we were now able to legally purchase alcohol. I was in my junior year of undergrad when I turned 21, and had been married for a few months. I attended a college that prohibited the consumption of alcohol for athletes which was fine. I never really had an interest in taking up drinking.

When I was 21 I was paying for most everything needed to live. College finances are difficult because in order to live a person needs money. In order to have money a job is needed. In order to have a job there has to be time. College athletes may have more trouble than other students because of practice and competitions. Working during the summer only provides so much, which makes it more crucial to stick to a budget. Being a college athlete was my job as I was on a scholarship.

Reaching 26.

For my 26th birthday gift, I was kicked out of my parents health insurance. Not because they wanted me gone, but they could not legally supply it to me. Now I pay for my own health insurance and all other aspects of my life. My wife is still on her parents insurance as she is 25, but soon we will both be independent fending for ourselves.

If there is potential for parents to pay for nearly everything in their child’s life until they are 26, does that make them an adult at that time?

When are we adults?

I have felt more like a true adult lately than ever in my life. Reaching the age of 26 has a new milestone when comparing to previous ages. I have now been presented with the opportunity to be independent and pay for all of my bills and expenses. My wife is pregnant with our first child. She is doing an amazing job taking care of the baby and working hard in medical school. We are getting close to the end of school and she will become a doctor soon, which will present us with more adventures in 2022.

Becoming 26 has truly challenged me to become more of a man and take on responsibilities of life. I feel that I am doing well so far but may need a few more years to practice adulting. It seems that becoming a lifelong learner is not that hard and is a requirement for surviving in this crazy world.

No matter the age I have achieved, my previous years seems more childlike than where I am at today. When I turned 16, I felt as if I was an adult. When I turned 18 looking back on 16, I was just a child. At the time of turning 18 I felt like an adult, but looked more like a child after I turned 21. So what age do we become full fledged adults? It currently feels like 26, but it may take a little more time to pin it down.

Striving For the Job YOU Want

April 1, 2021 / Jacob Brown

Depending on your work situation, it can be hard to stay motivated. There are times where the amount of stress outweighs the apparent reward for all the effort. This is not an uncommon situation for people to fall into, especially when there is a lot of monotony in their work. To further explain this idea, I am going to give a situation that I have seen common to a lot of people that is a good example of this situation.

A Common Situation

Having the feeling of being trapped or in a stagnant state is not uncommon for those in the workforce. I have talked to quite a few people that have had this experience.

To better explain in a realistic scenario, let’s create a character named Hank. Hank works at his job as an accountant crunching numbers day-in and day-out for his boss. He works hard every day, but lately has felt that his work isn’t going as far as it was when he started. He feels like if he puts in 100% effort, he will receive the same amount of recognition as giving less effort. If he only pushes for 80% effort, he still gets all of his work done and does not make any mistakes. After working for his employer for 1 year, putting out all of his effort, he has felt less motivated to push for 100%, and settles for 80% effort. Hank was hoping for a raise by now but has not received what he was hoping to receive from this job. After reaching the 1 year mark, Hank falls into the habit of only giving 80% effort for his work.

As Hank approaches his second year of working for his employer, he is still upset that he has not received as much money as he thinks he deserves for his work. Hank decides to meet with his manager to discuss his current work situation. Hank explains to his manager that he is not getting paid enough at his job and would like more money in order to give more effort. He explains to his manager that he is in a rut and does not feel that his work is very appreciated though he does everything correctly.

Some Analysis

In order to arrive at some possible resolutions, I find it useful to look at possible causes for Hank landing in this situation. Let’s gather some of the facts.

Hank…

gave 100% effort for 1 year at his job.
was hoping for a raise after working for his employer for 1 year.
decided to give 80% effort because he did not feel that his work what worth his effort.
decided to meet with his manager to voice his opinion on not getting a raise.

I think that the first point #1 Hank is doing exactly what he should be doing. That being said, when Hank made the decision to set a price on his effort and reduce his effort the real trouble began. Incidentally, when people take themselves out of the 100% effort output and decide that the reward is not great enough for the input, they dig themselves a hole. When Hank decided to stop putting out all of his effort, he made his chances of a raise nearly 0%. Employers want to see that he is working hard and lately has not. When he approaches his manager and demands more money for his effort, it is a hard sell. Why would an employer pay more money when someone will not give all of their effort? This exact situation is why I like to use the method of “work for the job you want, not what you have.”

It’s not easy, that’s for sure. If we end up in a situation like Hank, putting out all of our effort without an apparent reward, we can feel unmotivated. If we work our hardest and do not receive a raise or reward for our work, it is ok to talk to our employer. The one main point that I would like to make about this is making sure that we are at the highest point we can work toward. If we slack off our work or decide to stop working as hard, how can an employer expect us to work harder if they pay more? It is safer for them to invest into their employees if they are showing that they are willing to go the extra mile. There is another side of this scenario where the employees will never receive a raise or bonus, but it is not as common as you may think.

The Resolution

There may be more resolutions, but following are some that I have recommended to people or have thought are good solutions. Following are some different options that I can see in this situation, but the main thing for me is work hard. Work hard and strive for something greater than what we are being paid to do. That doesn’t mean that we impede on our coworkers and try to take their work in order to make ourselves look good.

Hank should:

continue to work at 100% effort before talking to his manager. Work for the job that he wants, not what he has. His chances of getting what he wants or needs from his employer would have been much easier if he spoke with his manager when the motivational issues began.
talk to his employer if there is anything that he needs to do in order to achieve his own goals.
find a new job if there is no resolution to his situation.

When is it time for me to turn down a different road?

February 25, 2021 / Jacob Brown

It can be hard to tell when a losing battle should be put to rest. There are times in all of our lives when things seem to go another direction, different from what we want. I feel as if I have been fortunate enough to avoid these situations lately, but they seem to lurk around waiting to get us to commit to them.

Some different times of life that come to mind might be college, medical school, jobs, and friendships. All of these things require dedication and persistence. There may come a time in any of these situation where we may choose to take a loss and get out while we can. It’s not a fun time by any means, but there are situations where it is necessary.

So, how can we tell when it is time to quit? This is not an easy question to answer. I don’t think that there is a definite answer either. Our current situation is important when considering leaving and cutting ties. I have found a similarity between most decisions that I choose to end. The main commonality is a “dead end” that lies ahead. If we have a dead end that doesn’t allow advancement, it may be time to leave. That doesn’t mean that when college is hard we quit, but we need to make sure that we see further ahead than the moment we are experiencing. Medical school has been difficult for my wife, but she has so much more in store for her after she graduates. If we have friends that never consider our interests we can feel like ending relationships.

You have to be the one to justify the situation when quitting. This is extremely important as we can’t go back to the way things were before most of the time.

A Recent Hard Decision Made

Almost 2 years ago I made the decision to leave my job and move on to a better opportunity. I was working at a decent job, but my time there had come to an end. I was hired to set up the facility and as it came to a close I began to search for my next challenge.

Leaving my previous role wasn’t super easy for me. One of the main reasons that I didn’t want to leave was because I worked with my dad. To partake in medical school we moved to Toledo (almost 2 hours from home). The distance from our families has made it more difficult to see them. We get to see them fairly regularly, but seeing my dad on weekdays was a lot of fun.

Another reason I didn’t want to leave was because I enjoyed my job. This was my first job out of college which also made it important to me. This was the first time I was part of a company and had a lot of fun but when the time came I left for a better opportunity.

Leaving was hard for me, but my new job has been 100 times better for me and my career. I have more responsibilities which brings some more stress, but also more joy. I tend to have more interest and pride in what I am doing as well.

I work longer hours at my new job, but I make more money. We have been able to do more when it comes to funding medical school now than before. I have also been able to better fund retirement, loan payments, and hobbies.

I left all my work friends, but I have made new. I work with some great people and would not have met them if I didn’t leave my previous job.

I worked in a good environment, but now it is even better. The people that run the company I work at aren’t perfect. That being said, they work hard to keep it all running. The main reason we are there is to make money and they do their best to make that happen.

My Final Thought

Life is hard. Making decisions is hard. We (collectively) are not very good at making decisions. I urge you to look ahead down the road and make the best decisions possible. It’s not easy but it will take you for an interesting ride.

Finding a Job

March 4, 2020 / Jacob Brown

It’s been almost two years now that my wife and I transitioned from undergrad to medical school. For us, this meant a new city and new opportunities. Moving to Ohio distanced us from our family, and we had not really lived apart from them until now. Moving away was not easy, but it had to be done for this next adventure in our lives.

I began looking for a job in February of 2018 during college. I started applying for jobs solely in my major. Without any offers, I began to widen my search. From my perspective, the biggest challenge was making myself more appealing than the other engineers in this city. This city is home to a large Engineering University, which creates a lot of engineers and not a lot of open jobs. This also means that the businesses in the area are more familiar with their engineering program than mine. The main goal of my search was to accept any job that would give me an offer. After all, the only necessity at the time was cash flow. I applied for jobs at stores, engineering firms, manufacturing plants and more. We realized that if I didn’t get a job soon, we would be forced to take loans for cost of living (this isn’t the end of the world, but it could significantly add to school debt). This would have been a very costly financial decision, seeing as we would have to pay it back as such a high interest rate.

In the end of July of 2018 I started my first job. This is where having connections came in handy. I interned with this company between my first two years of undergrad, and they were excited to have me back in the company. They were expanding their reach and developing a new facility 23 miles from my house, and I would be able to work there until I found another job. The job entailed documenting construction progress and troubleshooting machinery installation. Not really an engineering based job, but I would gain a lot of experience working on such a large project.

I was able to make an agreement with my employer that I would work for them, while continuing my job search. There were a couple times I left work early or came in late because I was at a job interview. Without this kind of arrangement, I would not have been permitted to miss as much work as I did. I wasn’t as stressed about finding another job because we had income. I could look as long as I wanted for a job in the engineering field, and we would be financially stable.

We accepted my first job for many reasons, but one had a higher priority. We could become Ohio residents. By becoming residents, we were able to knock the tuition cost nearly in half for my wife’s first year of medical school. This was a great financial decision (who wouldn’t want to save $30,000), and if anyone else is in this situation, I recommend taking this approach.

I left my first job in the end of September in 2019 after I accepted a position as a Supply Chain Engineer for a fabrication company. Leaving was hard, but I think that it was the right decision. I now work in a better field and am learning more information that will benefit me in any future job. Over the course of 18 months I applied for nearly 175 jobs at about 150 different companies.

Final thoughts from my application process.

If you need money, don’t be picky. If you can get a job that pays your bills, you will make it. Land a paying job, then worry about finding one you enjoy.

Keep applying. Applying in numbers is one of the biggest contributors to success. Apply for more than you think is necessary and for jobs that you are not 100% qualified for (not the VP of a company, but something just outside your reach that you know you can do). Employers list their wants and needs, and don’t always stick to the requirements listed in the ad.

Be confident in yourself. When you get an interview, do your best. Don’t let the pressure of needing a job distract you.