Recently someone asked me how to find a really good job in today’s economy, a dream job.  The truth is in today’s economy, dream jobs are not something you find, dream jobs are something you earn or create.  Doing business today takes a lot more than just selling a product, paying the bills, and keeping what’s left over as profit.

These days in order to succeed in most any field requires efficiency, creativity, zeal, and the ability to keep up with new trends.  While all of these characteristics are necessary, they are a little hard to prove on paper.  About the only thing you can do is to give examples and hope the person in charge of recruiting likes what they see.  Trouble is, many people have many examples of great work, so the question is how can you separate yourself from the pack.

Many people may argue with me concerning this, but today with the economy the way it is, recruiters have many great and even fantastic potentials with proven track records, but because of the law of supply and demand the amount employers need to pay for great employees is not as high as it was.  My point is rather than trying to ask for the Moon and promising the stars, you may need to ask for the minimum you need to pay your bills and promise the stars.  In other words, beggars can’t be choosers get your foot in the door first.

Now don’t get angry, my point is not that you shouldn’t expect to be compensated for your work, but if you wan to get a shot at a dream job be willing to settle for any job to start and work your way up.  Once you have proven your abilities, accepted responsibilities and worked your way into the system then you ask for a raise.  When it will cost less to pay you more than it does to go find and train someone else you will be compensated greatly.  Remember though in order to become that type of employee, you must continue to find ways to improve efficiency, maximize gains, and keep yourself educated so you will always be the ahead in your field.

A couple of examples:  One of my friends employers started them at $8 per hour and within a couple of years increased their wages to around $36K a year.  Another company recruited him from that position and offered $45k per year. Then within about 3 years they paying him around $120k. per year.

Then there’s another friend of mine.  He started out in a company at a good base salary and a company tried to recruit him away but the initial company offered him more to stay.  That didn’t just happen once either.  He is still with the same company, but each time a company offers to pay him more than he is getting paid now the company that originally hired him pays more to keep him.

My point of this whole post is that rather than trying to land the $40k job or that $60k job or even that $100 k job and continue being unemployed, be willing to take a $60k job and be paid $35k to get your foot in the door.  Once you are in the company you can begin to prove your worth as an employee, and the job just may become your next dream job.

When you think of relationships, who do you think of?  Maybe family, friends, or coworkers are who you think of first.  What’s interesting is how your relationships with those you may not consider “close” can affect your life.

There are several examples I can give of them there are two that come to mind first.  One example is that of a bank teller I know who helped me when I had a banking issue.  While I don’t need to go into details, basically I was upset, but I usually never show it.  The bank teller who I worked with was very nice, and of course I didn’t raise my voice but just considered the trouble I was having as a little hurdle that needed to be overcome.  A few days later, the bank teller happened to walk into a company meeting we were having and investigating the possibility of working with our company.

When I saw her come in I had a couple of thoughts, one, how did she find out about the meeting and our company, and two, boy am I glad I was so calm and collected earlier.  What type of impression would she have had of the company if I had been a jerk?  In summary, she has since started working with us and has helped bring revenue into our company.

The second story was one going way back to when I was working at AOL.  I was a floor manager in a call center, and another floor manager had been hired recently.  Although we were working in different departments, I did my best to help him become comfortable in the new job and gave advice when asked.  We got along great and then he moved off to a call center in another state.

About three years later, he called to let me know he had moved to another company as the president of the company, remembered my helping him and offered me a job working for him at close to double what I had been making.  Over the course of a couple years my salary doubled again.

As both of these stories relate, you never know how the people you work with or encounter on a daily basis could one day affect your life in one way or another.  The message I’m trying to relay here is that all of your relationships meaning those with people close to you and also those you may not consider close to you can have a huge impact on your life.  Be careful what you say to those you come in contact with. Be kind to everyone you come in contact with and remember the new person you meet today could hold your future in their hands either as a colleague, client, or friend.