What is that Degree Worth

I've written in the past about whether or not a degree is worth it. Here are some numbers for you from the College Board, New York. These are typical full-time worker median annual income figures.

High School Graduate: $31,500
Bachelor's Degree: $50,900
Master's Degree: $61,300
Professional Degree (law, medicine, engineering, etc): $100,000

Over a 40-year career a degree has similar earning benefits. For a bachelor's degree you will earn 73% more than without one, 93% more with a master's and 187% more with a professional degree.

Is the Wine Industry a Growing One?

Back in 2004 I started up WineTalent after years of dreaming about it. I had always enjoyed working with winery professionals. I also believe that great talent is needed to continue to push the industry forward.

One of my first WineTalent meetings was with an industry veteran. He asked me why I was focusing solely on the wine industry, and didn't I think there wasn't much future in the industry. I started sweating bullets. What? I was thinking it was a growing industry. I wanted to focus on the wine industry because I believe a focused approach in business is the best. I also thought there was enough business to sustain a recruiting company for the unforseeable future. I stuck to my guns and expressed those thoughts to him. Luckily, he was only playing devil's advocate, and agreed that the industry was seeing a lot of growth, that there were a lot of changes coming to the industry, and that dedicated, personalized service is a very good approach in the wine industry.

Fast forward to 2009. The US and world economy is reeling from the meltdown of 2008. Wine companies are feeling the squeeze from people not eating out as often, and from people trading down to lower priced wine. But the bright spot is that wine consumption is up. For decades the US consumed more beer than other alcoholic beverages, and only about three years ago did wine consumption eclipse that of other alcoholic beverages. Wine has also been embraced by the millenial generation--those coming of adulthood in 2000 or later. The Millenials are a large generation, second to the baby boomers I believe. Much of the snobbery of wine is being replaced by enjoyment of wine with family and friends in a social atmosphere. This is all good news for wineries, wine employees, and related services, such as me.

With the rising tide of lay-offs I am getting more calls than ever from people hoping to make the move from another industy into wine. Are they just looking to do it because they are drinking more wine--hopefully not. I do believe that most of these people enjoy learning about and drinking wine, and would like to combine that interest with a career in an expanding industry.

I counsel people regularly about switching industries. While many positions require previous wine and spirits experience, there are several positions that can easily allow a career transition. Another point that I mention to people is that many of the people in the wine industry have themselves made a career path move to get into the wine industry. These career-switchers are somewhat more open to looking at people with diverse job experience, and will take the time to discuss possible areas of employment. It isn't that far off that a highly successful person has decided to take some of her earnings and start up a winery. This leap is celebrated often--and can be duplicated on a smaller scale in lots of winery jobs.

So, I do see that there are many areas of growth in the wine industry, and that it is a business with some transition possibilities. It is never a snap to make a industry change, but it is better to look to go into a growing industry than a stagnant or shrinking one.

How Best to Make an Industry Career Change

Often I'm asked how people can make a move into the wine industry from a myriad of other industries. I've blogged about some possible ways to make the leap--and encourage people to always try to find a job that really interests them--and wine is a hobby of many people out there. I recently read a strategic piece by Chandlee Bryan from the Wall Street Journal. The article, Weighing a New Industry for a New Job Outlook, outlines a few ways to handle the leap realistically.

Key points from the article are:
1. Find an area that interests you, such as wine. Looking at hobbies or personal interests is a great way to explore new career opportunities. Using your current job skills in a related way in the new industry could be an easy transition.
2. Learn the landscape. Do your homework on what types of jobs are out there and which might use your skills. Do internet searches to find information that might shed some light on your potential career path.
3. Examine your experience: Identify your strengths and find out how you can capitalize on them in the new industry. Your previous work experience will allow you to differentiate yourself from many competitors.
4. Develop a communication strategy: After you've learned about your target industry and done your homework, develop a pitch on what makes you a highly desirable candidate for a potential employer. Ms. Bryan suggests using 15secondpitch.com to help you refine your message.
5. Consider a recruitment agency: Okay, that's me.
6. Be prepared for compensation adjustments: This is very good to think about. While you may be at the top of the pay-scale in your current industry, switching to a new one may bring some small paychecks--hopefully only until you've proven yourself. But remember, you might be looking to change industries because your current one is going through some changes or having less opportunities in the future. Switching to a more vibrant industry can have a bigger upside down the road.

Unified Wine and Grape Symposium

Tomorrow I'll be attending the annual wine industry meeting that is held here in Sacramento. The meeting is always very informative about the state of the industry, the status of different winegrowing areas and varietals, forecasts, and the winery of the year. I've been going to Unified for over 10 years now, and it's always a great time to connect with old colleagues and gives me a chance to meet new faces.

This year I am interested to see what the wine industry's take on the economy is. Litening to the news it seems that everyone has jumped on the recession bandwagon. Back in 2000 and 2001 I worked not only in the wine industry but also in IT. All of my IT clients were scaling hiring back and planning on a long slow recovery. Talking to my winery clients they were almost unaware that the tech sector had suffered a setback, and didn't think it would greatly affect them. But soon the auctions weren't bringing in the dot com dollars of years past, and people were spending less of their money on dining out and on wine. So, what will Unified have to say about the economy tomorrow? I'll let you know.

Being Promotable

All too often I get calls from people who feel underappreciated at their employer. While many times this is very true, managing your own promotability will help you both at your present employer and at future jobs. Here are some tips to make you a most valued employee.
-Keep up with Industry trends and technology: Know what's going on in your field and the technologies available to help improve efficiencies and market position
-Stay Marketable: Attend industry classes and seminars. Volunteering for new projects will help you participate in company initiatives and put you in front of new colleagues who may be useful in future positions. Keep an up to date resume handy in case you find out about a company opening—you want to be ready in case a application deadline is days away.
-Become an industry expert: Joining industry associations and attending events will increase your presence in the wine world. Reading up on industry issues will make you a resource for your co-workers. When a discussion comes up at work about something that was dealt with at a recent meeting you will be able to bring outside insight to your company's problem.
-Be proactive: As a recruiter I always had posted "Ask for the order". It's the same with your employer—let them know you are interested in new responsibilities and are ready to make the next step.
-Find a mentor: Mentors are a very helpful ally in your career. Finding an internal mentor at your employer can help you navigate office politics and gives you someone else who is keeping an eye out for possible career advancement opportunities.
-Build a relationship with your boss. Many times working on your interactions with your boss can reap huge dividends. If your boss starts feeling that you are an asset to your company, and also that you are highly valuable to the group, she will be more likely to keep you engaged and put you on new projects. This will allow you to add new items to your resume and keep you highly promotable.
-Dress for the position. I can never say this enough. If you want to step up the company ladder, make sure you are dressing the part. Too often I have seen A+ candidates who technically are ready for a step up, but dress like college students. Although dressing for success may not be comfortable for you, looking the part makes your supervisors and peers take you more serious. This puts you a step ahead of your competition and outside candidates.
- And most importantly, do a good job. Without proving to be a worthy employee, no grooming or industry insight will move you up.

Career Decisions: Following Tradition

As I sit on a houseboat in Lake Powell I’m vacationing with a well educated group of people. I’ve got lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, PhD’s and educators sitting around me. And as all good houseboat trips include, there are lots of children. As parents, all of us want the best future for our children. And for most people, a college education is a first step in getting a better education.

Looking at resumes and working with wine industry professionals, I see every background in the book. From the career changing self educated salesperson to the UC Davis Viticulture and Enology PhD, every background has its place.

If you’ve come to love the winemaking world, and want to be involved in making wine, the best first step is to work a harvest. Believing you will love it, the next best step is to get a degree in viticulture and enology.

I am a firm believer in going to the best school that you can. But even more important is graduating from the best school possible. Going to community college for two years of undergraduate work and transferring in to a well respected school can save you money on the front end, and allow you to gain the GPA you need to be accepted into the right school. For winemaking, UC Davis is the school to attend. Other good schools in California are CSU Fresno and CalPoly. The professors you will interact with and the research you can be involved with will set you up well for future positions.

I do believe that going to the best school in your discipline is the best thing you can do. Many of my clients will request a manager with an MBA from one of the top 50 US business schools. Going the distance and getting a degree lends a “stick-to-itness” that employers feel will serve them well in the future.
Also, professional degrees including law and medical degrees allow a fall back career to you anytime. Having a professional degree allows you to experiment with different career paths, and find the vein of your profession you enjoy most.

Many job seekers have a law degree but decide to try out production positions. More often than not, they move into the executive circle working on land-use, merger and acquisition, or trademark issues. They are able to marry their love of wine with their professional training—with financially rewarding results.

So, while I think many people can succeed without a degree, there is definitely a place for a degree, and often job security to be had with one.

Dirty Jobs

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm a huge fan of Mike Rowe and his show Dirty Jobs. . Twice now I've seen him go to a winery and get filthy while putting in a hard day's work. Are winery jobs really that dirty? Some are and some aren't. If you're thinking about working in the wine biz, you'd better figure out which ones you'd be interested in.

Talking with my writing mentor back before this blog became a reality, he mentioned that one of my topics should be working indoors or out. At first this seemed too simple--but then again I understand the different jobs available out there--and more importantly who can make it where. It really is good to realize early on what type of work you are up for.

Growing up I had my share of dirty jobs. I've cleaned out swampy pools at the beginning of the swim season, cleaned out chicken houses, spread manure on acres of land, combed and cleaned llamas, worked at a pilot manufacturing plant for Clorox 2, fermented gallons of stinky bacterial concoctions and have lately stomped and racked and bottled my own wine. On the flip side I'm no stranger to suiting up for board meetings, laboring away for hours at a keyboard and being tortured at company retreats in stunning locales. Which one do I prefer? This is a tough question. While dirty jobs can be disgusting and very labor intensive, white collar jobs can be grueling mentally and can lack variety.

Winery production jobs, including winemaking, vineyard work and bottling all require someone who doesn't mind rolling up their sleeves and getting dirty. Many times throughout the season you can be up to your eyeballs in stinky slurries, out in the vineyard getting soaked to the bone or working out a manufacturing malfunction that is sending full wine bottles crashing to the floor. Yet many of these jobs have a lot of variety and a direct connection to wine.

Sales, marketing and hospitality positions are often seen as more glamorous jobs. While these winery professionals are frequently at their desks making calls, tracking sales figures and handling new VIP tours, often times they are also out on the road traveling 70% of the time, attending branding meetings for the umpteenth time and dealing with unruly visitors to the tasting room.

To figure out what suits you best look at jobs you've enjoyed in the past. If that position in retail where you were frequently dealing with new customers was invigorating, look in sales and hospitality positions. If you worked outside in construction, landscaping, or a similar vein, you may only feel happy doing something in the fresh air. Moving indoors to a desk job could spell disaster for your sanity. If spring rains make you think of muddy floors and destroyed shoes--a vineyard job probably wouldn't work out too well. If you have to be dressed for success--a sales, marketing or hospitality job is perfect, while you'd quickly get bored of the casual attire worn by the production crew.

Wineries offer a lot of variety both in positions and work environments. Whether you enjoy getting dirty or staying buttoned up, there should be a match for you somewhere.

Oh, and catch Dirty Jobs sometime. You'll be surprised by some of the occupations out there.

Career Advice: Continue Looking

I'm coming off of a busy recruiting time with an average of one new opening coming up a day. With all those openings, I've been talking to both new and old contacts. I've noticed a distinct difference in job seekers; those you are in search of a job and those who are in search of a career. And the main difference is how they handle themselves once they get a new job.

Whenever I post a job on one of the employment websites I'm inundated with resumes. I typically get 20 a day during the first two weeks an ad runs. I diligently go through the resumes, input them in my database, and contact applicants about current openings. I also send out the obligatory email to all responders that they will be kept under consideration.

The surprising thing to many applicants is that I do keep all those resumes under consideration, and often contact someone 1-2 months after they originally sent in their resume. Sometimes it is several months to over a year before I contact certain applicants. What happens next is very interesting.

When I contact someone who I've talked to in the past, most often they update me on what's been going on in their job and job search. They may have gotten a promotion, there may have been a management change, or they switched companies. Most often, people who are interested in keeping an eye out for future openings let me know that although they are very happy in their current situation, they would enjoy hearing about future opportunities.

The other camp simply says they are no longer looking for a job and end all communication. In the old days I may have taken this personally, but with my tough skin I understand that this person simply is done with the job search, and may contact me again down the road. But for them right now, they are concentrating on the job at hand, not their overall career.

The most productive client and job seeker relationships I have had are with people who are open to hear about potential candidates and about future opportunities. Within my database I update job seekers' profiles, input their hopes for future positions, and put down my thoughts on possible employers. When an appropriate position comes up, I will reach out to old contacts--and often times they are the ideal candidate this time around.

So, if you are looking to manage your career, keep your ear open to a recruiter's call. Not only will it help the recruiter keep up on what's going on with you, but you will have insight into the types of opportunities out there, and help decide the timing of your next career step.

Or you can start the whole job search over again when you determine the new job isn't all it was cracked up to be. Your choice.

Patience and Persistence

A few years back William H. Macy starred in a made-for-TV movie called Door To Door. The movie is based on the true story of Bill Porter who was born with cerebral palsy. Bill Porter was a door-to-door salesperson of household goods. Through his hard work and perseverence, he was able to become one of his company's top salespeople, and had a 40-year long career in sales.

When I'm having a tough day, things aren't going well, or I'm just stuck, I often think about a poignant scene in the movie. Bill Porter is on one of his first days at work, and sits down for his brown bag lunch. Inside his lunch bag his mother has written in ketchup "Patience" on one slice of bread, and "Persistence" on the other. As Bill was having a trying day, his mother's encouragement made him stop to to realize, that if he just kept at it and kept trying, he would succeed.

Many times I wish my mom would make me that sandwich. But I've also come to realize that those two words do wonders. Many times in my career I would keep making contacts, following up with my clients, and making that last phone call--even if I thought it might cause my client to slam the phone down in disgust. Funny thing, those calls often turned into the call of the day, and ended up as either new business or a lasting friendship.

As a sales manager, I often would jump in the trenches with my sales staff to try to crack into new accounts. I'd be given the tough to contact manager, or the department that no one could break. After a few days, I'd be on my way out the door to my new sales appointments, and my staff would ask me how I got the appointment. My answer would be, "I called". Did I say something witty on the phone? Did I drop a name of an important person? No, I just called, introduced myself and asked if I could visit with them to learn more about their upcoming needs.

While this isn't new or groundbreaking, it works. I loved the movie Door to Door, and often say to myself, Patience and Persistence. And it works.

Gotta run, making calls!

The Pregnant Pause: How Maternity and Motherhood are Viewed by an Employer

Recently I was reading a career advice column that brought up parenthood. A young newly married career woman was at dinner with her boss and colleagues. The conversation came around to her plans for her future career and family. She said she is looking forward to starting a family. After recounting this story to her husband and the advice column, the unanimous answer was to never talk specifically about your own family planning.

I have to agree with this. I have been on both sides of this topic, initially being my employer's first woman they employed who worked through my pregnancy and then returned from maternity leave, and later as an employer with people who were starting families. So I'll give my thoughts from the employee and employer perspective.

Planning your family takes personal and couple discussions about how you will raise the child, how you will afford expenses that arise, and how you will juggle responsibilities. These are very intimate issues to work out. A big issue is how you will handle your career once you become pregnant and when the baby arrives. Everyone handles this differently, and today more than ever it's a couple's solution. Some people can work throughout the pregnancy and maternity leave without missing a beat. Others have severe medical issues that limit a woman's ability to work during the pregnancy. And other woman have occasionally complaints during pregnancy that can affect performance.

So now your bundle of joy arrives. I remember distinctly the first night my baby was home with us and wouldn't stop crying that I was completely responsible for this new human. That's quite a life changing event. For many women and men today, maternity leave is the first time they haven't worked for a period of time. Some people find it a great bonding time with the new family, and others realize that they don't have the strong nurturing feelings they expected to have. Give yourself time to adjust. This is when some people find that they can accomplish work duties while away, or can barely accomplish getting bathed. Make sure you give yourself options so you don't have to run back to work before you are ready.

This is all well and good--but what if you are an employer who needs to keep the company running. What do you do if your star employee all of a sudden can't remember her sales appointments (surprisingly plausible), or your department manager announces his desire to take family leave, or your right hand winemaker is on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy? If you plan ahead you can make sure that systems are in place to catch any problems ahead of time. You can also cross-train other employees to handle any time off. You can have more frequent talks with your employee to keep abreast of things that might come up during their leave. And most importantly you want to support them during this exciting time.

Great, but how does an employer really feel. When an employee discusses their hopes to get pregnant there is always a twinge of concern. Will the employee become dreamy eyed and forget their past hard-charging ways? Will they assure the boss that they will return to work 6 weeks after the baby arrives, and then find a new job and leave the employer high and dry? Will a father find he loves being a stay at home dad and surprise his company by giving notice? These things all happen, and are why an employer pauses when parenthood is brought up.

So I'll come back to what the advice column said. Never discuss your personal family planning. As a young career woman I always praised new parents and echoed other's comments about how great their accomplishment was, but kept it quite separate from my own personal life. I may have thought that was the cutest baby I ever saw and was dying to have one of my own. But I loved my work, and my family, and didn't want to ruin my future possibilities. So I kept my home life private and also made sure I had options if my own family situation caused me to change my career aspirations.

What do you think? Any experiences or comments?

Marriage, Mortgage, Mercedes and Maternity: The 4 Ms that give bosses pause

Good companies always hope to retain their employees. They have various tools for retention. Many offer career advancement or financial incentives including generous salaries, vested 401(k) plans and retirement accounts. Others provide excellent benefit and bonus packages. There are a myriad of other tools employers use that keep people engaged and committed to their company.

As a former manager, I would work to have high employee retention. Nothing pleased me more than having a good employee who was settling down, getting married, buying a house and leasing a shiny new sportscar. Why? Because as people relied on the money and benefits they were receiving to maintain their standard of living, the more likely they were to work to retain their job.

With the average American living paycheck to paycheck, an employer has a real advantage. They are maintaining the employees' standards of living. What the employer says, goes. And if the employees aren't managing their career or trying to sock away a bit of money for a rainy day, they don't have a position of power to protect them from workplace problems.

Although I like conspicuous consumption just as much as the next guy, if you want to have some negotiation power with your current employer, give yourself a financial cushion. A great example of this is a recent friend who couldn't take the bullying and condescending remarks of his immediate supervisor, and resigned on the spot after a particularly nasty lambasting. The boss was flabbergasted--employees today don't just leave a job. If they did, how would they live. But if you have some financial independence, you don't have to take it anymore.

So work to give yourself some power as an employee. You'll be less stressed, be able to make sound career and financial decisions, and keep an eye on your long term career goals instead of just your next paycheck.

What about Maternity?--I'll leave that as a pregnant pause until my next post.

Changing Perspective and Introspection

Greetings from Bangkok!

Just got into Thailand--a great place to visit. Second time here--this time will be spent on the beaches and not so much in the city. Traveling is a great way to see new things, meet new people, and learn a bit about yourself.

All of the troubles and pressures of home have slipped away, and I'm able to think about different things, and in a way get centered again. Maybe I'm a bit of a workaholic. Maybe I am always thinking about work, and what I need to do next. That's why taking time out helps me keep working smart.

Job hunting requires a lot of soul searching. Taking time out to figure it out is well worth it. Introspection allows you to find out what your true values are, and determine how to align your work life with your personal life. Introspection can also give you the information to "sell" yourself when you are writing a resume or interviewing. You've thought about what you want, and also where you've been. You can speak about your talents and accomplishments. And you can frame your comments and responses around what you really believe.

So, whether it's taking a couple of hours and sitting in a cafe and putting your thoughts down on paper, or traveling around the world, it can do wonders for your mind and your career.