Thursday, January 31, 2013

"How to Do Life" is Now an Audiobook

I'm delighted to say that my book How to Do Life: What They Didn't Teach You in School is now available as an audiobook.

As of today, it's available on audible.com, on Amazon.com and soon on iTunes. An audio sample of the book is HERE.

It's described on Audible.com as "a remarkable and highly distilled assemblage of not-obvious yet powerful advice on career, money, relationships, emotional health, physical health, education, and life's biggest questions, How to Do Life distills countless books and Google searches, plus the experience of what has worked best for the 3,900 career and life-coaching clients Dr. Nemko has worked with over the past quarter century."

Of course, it's also still available as a printed book and in a Kindle edition. For those, plus reader reviews of the book, click HERE.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Where Are the Jobs? At the Bottom

The middle class truly is disappearing. As I've long said and as is argued more academically in this video, most of the job openings are in very low-wage jobs--janitorial, food service, home health aides, etc. $10 an hour is the new norm.

So don't let the flat unemployment statistics suggest that the job market is stablizing. A person who previously worked for $75,000 a year may now well be working for $10 an hour yet will still be counted in the government statistics as "employed."

 I truly am worried and sad for those who are trying to earn a middle-class living in today's America.

A Crash Course in Success

HERE is my latest contribution to U.S. News, published today.

It's a bit boy-scouty but I hope you'll nonetheless find it of value.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

"California's Favorite Job Coach?"

I don't know how he determined it, but an article by the former California Employment Development Director and Milken Fellow called me "California's Favorite Job Coach." I guess I can't help but feel proud.  More important to you, I hope you'll find some of the tips I offer in that article of value.

How to Do Life: Life Advice I Wish My Parents Had Given Me

Here's my latest AOL piece: How to Do Life: What I Wish My Parents Told Me.

Note, it's actually quite different than the similarly titled piece of mine, 10 Life Lessons Guaranteed to Advance Your Career that appeared last week on USNews.com, Yahoo!, and Business Insider.

Monday, January 21, 2013

CoolTech Careers

A number of my clients love being on the cutting edge of technology, so I've been focusing on getting smarter about what I call CoolTech Careers.  

Here's my current list of technologies I believe most likely to burgeon:
  • 3D-printer-manufactured products. 3D printers are even being used to build buildings!
  •  Sensors--medical, homeland security, radio frequency identification devices (RFID), and 3D sensors, which could be used, for example, to mass-customize clothing
  • Safer nuclear power, for example, thorium or WAMSR. Even current new-generation nuclear plants are deemed much safer than Fukushima's and are being built.
  • Artificial intelligence-aided diagnosis: medical, tech, customer service.
  •  Non-automotive robotics, for example, in packaging and smart bin-picking. Alas, that will cause many warehouse jobs to disappear.
  • Next-gen smartphones: the ultimate manifestation of convergence: merging, for example, medical monitoring, household control, GPS, and replacement of the PC  thanks to fold-out screens and laser keyboards that project a keyboard onto any nearby flat surface.
  • Next-generation hybrid engines. Electric cars (as well as solar and wind energy) will--as I have predicted---fail because of physics delimitations. Toyota has opined that EVs will never be more than a bit player and is putting most of its resources into improving hybrid-powered vehicles. 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Best Careers for 2013 and Beyond

Earlier this month, I had written The Top 10 Careers for 2013 and Beyond, for U.S. News. That made the case that U.S. Department of Labor lists are inadequate.

AOL asked me to expand that. It was published today: My 21 picks for best careers for 2013 and well-beyond.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

CareerSonar: An easy way to find job openings where you have a connection

CareerSonar is an easy, free way to find job leads at organizations where your Facebook and LinkedIn connections work

Monday, January 14, 2013

Life Lessons I Wish My Parents Had Taught Me

My latest USNews.com article was published yesterday and republished on Yahoo! and on Business Insider.  It's on life lessons I wished my parents had taught me.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Studies: Childless Women Earn More Than Childless Men. Is the "Pay Gap" Caused By Sexism?

A study that found that in Ireland, Australia, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, childless women earn more than men. That supports a study that found that, contrary to that, study, that's also true in the U.S.

So, today, the Huffington Post convened a panel to discuss the implications. For truly the same work are women underpaid relative to men? Is the endlessly cited statistic that, overall, women earn less than men misleading, comparing apples with anchovies?

I was honored to be part of that discussion. HERE is the video.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Monday, January 7, 2013

My Favorite Hidden-Gem Careers for 2013 and Beyond

Here's my latest U.S. News piece, which was published yesterday and republished the same day on Yahoo!: My favorite hidden-gem careers for 2013 and beyond.

In Praise of Work: Work-Life Balance is Overrated

Psychology Today features a weekly column, "Who's Going to be the Next Einstein."

I was flattered that the author of the column, a Duke University research scientist asked me about how to live the life well-led. HERE is the link.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

How to Do Life: What I Wish My Parents Had Told Me

I'll be giving a talk Thursday based on my new book. The talk will be called, How to Do Life: What I Wish My Parents Had Told Me.

I thought you might like to see what I plan to say, so I converted my notes into this post:

Communication

Listen more than talk. You have two ears and one mouth--act accordingly. You can often make deep connections fast by also asking questions, especially those to identify and amplify on a person's hot button: career, family, hobby, health, money, looks, pop culture, etc. Don't just ask questions or you'll seem like an interrogator. Share some thoughts too, perhaps a disclosure about yourself.

In conversation, follow the traffic-light rule: During the first 20 seconds of an utterance, your light is green: You can keep talking with impunity. During the second 20 seconds, your light is yellow: your conversation partner may be starting to think you're long-winded. At the 40-second mark, your light is red. Yes, very occasionally, you want to run a red light and keep talking--for example, if you're telling an anecdote that's clearly interesting not just to you but to your conversation partner. But usually, at the 40-second mark, you should shut up or ask a question. If the person wants to know more, s/he can ask.

Usually, you'll effect more change if, instead of giving advice, you ask questions to help your conversation partner develop his or her own solution. You'll also be better liked because the person feels efficacious rather than shown-up.

Don't try to show how smart, rich, or well-connected you are. Usually, it's wise to prioritize making others feel good about themselves.

Choosing a Career

Do what you love and you may starve. And even if you don't, you're more likely to be unhappy than you might think. Because most people's passions lie in just a few common areas---entertainment, fashion, the environment, helping the have-nots, video games, etc--a zillion people want jobs in such fields. That means that employers can pay poorly and treat employees poorly because a wealth of wannabes is waiting in the wings. And even if you're treated well, you may not be happy--because, for the most part, work is work and because people are as happy as they are, by nature. It may be wiser to choose a career in a less crowded bailiwick because it's usually easier to land a job that has the characteristics that most affect career contentment: an ethical product or service, a good boss and coworkers, reasonable compensation, good learning and promotion opportunities, etc.

Preparing for a Career

School is overrated. Research, for example, this study, ever more clearly demonstrates how frighteningly little students learn in college despite all the time and money. And while yes, most employers demand degrees of their professional-level employees, 5 to 10% get hired without the "required" sheepskin. Before deciding you need to spend that fortune in time and money to get a degree, see if you can get hired without one, perhaps doing your learning at You U: a combination of reading, individual courses, mentors, tutors, conference attending, etc.

Finding a Job

If you ask your network for a job, you'll get advice. If you ask for advice, you may get a job.

Career Success

Dabbling is fun but is often a career killer. Relentlessly focus on becoming the go-to guy/gal at something that can earn you at least a middle-class living. Relentless focus--I've found those two words to be a defining characteristic of most successful people.

Everything matters enough to try. Almost nothing matters enough to get angry.

It's rarely worth fighting your boss. When I first was hired at US News in 2006, my editor changed my articles in ways I thought were wrong. I often argued with him and while I occasionally got my way, I won the battle but lost the war: I was replaced in 2010. Fortunately, I was rehired in 2012 but now, if my editor changes something I wrote, unless it's really important, I let it go. In retrospect, the changes I wanted weren't that crucial. Indeed, once I wrote the cover story for Family Circle and, in error,, it was published without the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs, which made the 4th paragraph a non-sequitur. In the end, the world didn't change even with that significant error in an eight-million-circulation publication. It's important to have perspective: How important is that, really?

Management tip: Intelligence and drive are key and hard to change. Hire for high intelligence and drive and train for skills and information You can far more readily teach people a skill and information than make them smarter or harder-working.

Relationships

Don't judge people by what they say but by what they do. Recent example: Al Gore became famous for saying oil is evil yet he owns five SUVs, a mansion, and flies around in his gas-guzzling private jet. And last week, he took $100 million of that evil oil money so Current TV can be converted to Al Jazeera America.

Choose a low-maintenance romantic partner: someone who is kind to you, doesn't spend a lot, and isn't emotionally fragile. Don't let sexual chemistry trump those critical factors.

Choose friends who bring out the best in you, not those that drag you down.

Family is overrated. Sure, for some people, family is the best thing in their lives. But many people quietly find family more painful than it's worth. After all, you choose your friends while your family is selected for you. Corollary: Even though it's a societal norm, don't reflexively have kids. Few parents will admit it publicly but many feel the restriction of their freedom and the dollar-cost of having kids wasn't worth it. And that assumes you'll have a good relationship with your children: Countless kids and parents have relationships that stay strained for a lifetime.

Money

You probably can't shop your way to contentment. The shopper's high of having acquired that stupid Coach purse quickly dissipates and, like a drug addict, the materialist needs to quickly search for the next dose, often a more expensive one. Buying lots of "stuff" is a fast path to short-term pleasure and long-term misery and perhaps homelessness. It also requires you (or your sugar daddy/mommy) to make lots of money. And most employers who pay employees lots of money do so because the work is difficult, distasteful, spiritually empty, and/or requires absurdly long work hours. That's a high price to pay for designer-label crap, a fancy address or car nameplate. If you find your contentment not in buying "stuff" but in productivity, creative outlets, and relationships, you won't need to pursue such a financially remunerative job but one you'd find more fun--for example, one in the creative arts or for a cause you believe in.

Put your savings in one place where you can diversify at low-cost. That will keep you from getting drowned in paperwork, losing track of where you money is and how it's doing. Most of my savings is in a Vanguard All-in-One Fund. Do maximize your contribution to tax-deferred savings vehicles like an IRA and 401k, which of course, also can be in most mutual funds including Vanguard.

Never try to time the market. Even the vast majority of professional money managers can't. As soon as you get $1,000 or more in money you don't need to keep in your checking or rainy-day account, invest it that day. That way, you'll buy more shares when prices are low and fewer shares when prices are high.

Your Well-Being

Lafayette Reservoir
Rituals are useful respites from our ever-changing lives. Six days a week, I take a 45-minute hike with my doggie Einstein. I go to the same place (the Lafayette Reservoir) every day, never even changing the direction I take around the lake. It's comforting.

Avoid doctors. So many medical errors are made, with more unnecessary deaths and morbidity likely with ObamaCare about to cover 51 million more people: 40 million legals plus 11 million illegals who will become eligible after Obama gets  "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" passed. The medical system is already overtaxed. It will be far more so when ObamaCare kicks in, less than one year from now. You may be wiser to minimize your interaction with the medical system and instead focus on the obvious: control your weight and stress, don't smoke or abuse alcohol or drugs, eat reasonably, and control such conditions as hypertension and diabetes. If you're under 60, it may even be wise to forgo the annual wellness exam. Discuss that with your doctor--or under ObamaCare, ever more likely, your physician assistant or nurse practitioner.

Pick your battles. Especially don't fight a megatrend, for example, America's current move leftward toward more redistribution to society's have-nots. Corollary: You have little chance to change people's foundational views: political, religious, work ethic.

Never look back. My father, a Holocaust survivor, rarely talked about it. When I asked him why, he said, "Martin, the Nazis took five years from my life. I won't give them one minute more. Martin, never look back, always take the next step forward." I can leave you with no better advice.

3-Minute Video on New Year Resolutions, the Job Market in 2013, Best Careers

AOL video-interviewed me Friday about New Year resolutions, where the pockets of opportunity are, etc. and edited the half hour to 3 minutes. Here it is. I only wish my hair, what little is left of it, wasn't sticking up

2013: A Case for Optimism


It's easy to be pessimistic about the job market, indeed about the American economy.

But as regular readers of this blog know, I believe that on many issues, there's an unpopular but valid perspective that merits a few keystrokes.

So HERE is my latest USNews.com article: 2013: A Case for Optimism. 

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

A Particularly Devastating Critique of Colleges

The spate of indictments of higher education continues, indeed accelerates. This article by a professor is one of the more devastating.

Marty Nemko on KGO's Ronn Owens Program, 1/3/12

Tomorrow morning, Thurs, Jan 3, from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Pacific time, I'll be making my next regular appearance (approximately my 75th) on KGO Radio's Ronn Owens Program, one of the most respected and listened-to shows on the West Coast. His guests have included Presidents Obama and Carter, Benjamin Netenyahu, and even Willie Mays.

He'll likely ask me about the pockets of opportunity in today's economy, not-obvious ideas on landing a job, in moving up, etc. And he probably won't be able to resist asking me something about New Year's resolutions--maybe on how to keep from breaking them. And it's a call-in show, so if you'd like me to take a shot at your career conundrum, do call in. The number from anywhere in the greater San Francisco Bay Area is 80-80-810.

A Particularly Egregious Example of Censorship by the Left

As some of you know, I have been fired, censored, and censured, for speaking what I believe is truth about the unfair treatment of men and boys.

Now my hero in this field, Warren Farrell has suffered a more visible form of such censure. It profoundly saddens me.

I invite you to watch the two videos embedded in THIS article. The first video shows the protest trying to prevent Farrell from making his invited address at the University of Toronto on absolutely dishonest pretenses,wildly distorting, out of context, statements that Farrell previously made.

The second video shows his talk, unedited. Watch even the first few minutes and I think you'll see why he so deserves my respect and why I am so saddened by the growing censorship from the Left that is at least as destructive to society as the McCarthyism from the Right that the Left continues to decry 70 years after it ended.

This Friday, I'll Be Available to Offer You Free Career Advice

Would you like me to offer you FREE personalized guidance on your career?  Particularly timely as we start the new year:
  • Wondering what resolution you should make? 
  • How to actually keep your resolution? 
  • How to succeed in your job search? 
  • Make more of your current job?
If you'd like my personalized career advice, here's how you can get it:

AOL has asked me to conduct a video conference this Friday at 12:30 PM Eastern/9:30 AM Pacific. You can post your question or join us on video. (You'll need to be on Google+.)

HERE is the link  Looking forward to your joining me then.