Entry #1: TechnoMan
In the first of this series, I will discuss job security at an entry-level stage. The best thing you can do, no matter what line of work you are in, is to be somewhat technologically savvy. My boss is only 40-ish and is clueless. She just had the idea that moving emails into folders will get them out of her inbox (she is having trouble with going over her Inbox quota). Giant facepalm from me. Does she not see how the folders are obviously a subset of the inbox?
Anyway, these are little ways in which you can help your boss, because usually they don't want to look like dumbasses in front of IT and ask you/me first.
Rocketman's Life Pro(fessional)-tips Forum
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Rocketman11
- Posts: 614
- Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:32 am
Re: Rocketman's Life Pro(fessional)-tips
Entry #2: Mixed Drinks and the Arnold Palmer
If you plan to take a job that could involve food consumption with clients or other business folks, acquire a taste for the Arnold Palmer (half ice tea, half lemonade). This is the only credited non-alcoholic business drink. To save face if you cannot stomach it, try ordering mineral water. This is a move of last resort, however.
You should also be prepared with a variety of mixed drinks. I'd recommend getting the following under your belt:
- Scotch (neat means straight up, but 1 ice cube can be OK. take cues from others around you)
- Bourbon (rocks is fine)
- Manhattan (whiskey and sweet vermouth. Mostly served on the rocks with a cherry garnish). I prefer a "Perfect Manhattan" which is sweet and dry vermouth.
- Old Fashioned (sugar, water, whiskey, bitters. Served on the rocks with orange or cherry garnish). This is a delicious drink, mainly meant as a before-dinner cocktail. In my experience, it often gives me a conversation piece with older men as it's a drink not commonly ordered anymore. Very big in the 60s.
- Martini (gin and vermouth). While not something I enjoy, every man needs to be able to enjoy a martini or a manhattan. A vodka martini is an acceptable substitute, but somewhat of a "diet coke" version of its aforementioned brothers. You may be snickered at. You aren't james bond, after all.
If you plan to take a job that could involve food consumption with clients or other business folks, acquire a taste for the Arnold Palmer (half ice tea, half lemonade). This is the only credited non-alcoholic business drink. To save face if you cannot stomach it, try ordering mineral water. This is a move of last resort, however.
You should also be prepared with a variety of mixed drinks. I'd recommend getting the following under your belt:
- Scotch (neat means straight up, but 1 ice cube can be OK. take cues from others around you)
- Bourbon (rocks is fine)
- Manhattan (whiskey and sweet vermouth. Mostly served on the rocks with a cherry garnish). I prefer a "Perfect Manhattan" which is sweet and dry vermouth.
- Old Fashioned (sugar, water, whiskey, bitters. Served on the rocks with orange or cherry garnish). This is a delicious drink, mainly meant as a before-dinner cocktail. In my experience, it often gives me a conversation piece with older men as it's a drink not commonly ordered anymore. Very big in the 60s.
- Martini (gin and vermouth). While not something I enjoy, every man needs to be able to enjoy a martini or a manhattan. A vodka martini is an acceptable substitute, but somewhat of a "diet coke" version of its aforementioned brothers. You may be snickered at. You aren't james bond, after all.
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Rocketman11
- Posts: 614
- Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:32 am
Re: Rocketman's Life Pro(fessional)-tips
Entry #3: Who you know will almost always trump what you know
I say almost because if you are a genius then people will want you. I can assure you if you are reading my blog, you are not a genius.
IMHO, Treating people well and networking is much more valuable than going to X higher ranked school. The market right now is saturated. Supply outweighs demand. If you are from GWU to Florida Coastal to Cooley, it is difficult to stand out. I have spent a great deal of time getting to know on a personal level judges and attorneys in the area I hope to practice. Because of my network of contacts, I feel much more at ease with the option I have before me of attending a T3 school on full scholarship (as opposed to going to a high-ranked school). But this point goes beyond law school and the legal profession. In your career and in life, how you come across and who you are able to befriend will help you more than your resume will. I was blessed to get a lobbying job in DC straight out of undergrad because of the friends I made, while people who are surely more qualified on paper should have gotten this position over me. So, seek out and befriend people. Find a professor whom you really click with and build a personal relationship with him. Go to events to shake hands and start conversation.
carpe that motherfucking diem.
I say almost because if you are a genius then people will want you. I can assure you if you are reading my blog, you are not a genius.
IMHO, Treating people well and networking is much more valuable than going to X higher ranked school. The market right now is saturated. Supply outweighs demand. If you are from GWU to Florida Coastal to Cooley, it is difficult to stand out. I have spent a great deal of time getting to know on a personal level judges and attorneys in the area I hope to practice. Because of my network of contacts, I feel much more at ease with the option I have before me of attending a T3 school on full scholarship (as opposed to going to a high-ranked school). But this point goes beyond law school and the legal profession. In your career and in life, how you come across and who you are able to befriend will help you more than your resume will. I was blessed to get a lobbying job in DC straight out of undergrad because of the friends I made, while people who are surely more qualified on paper should have gotten this position over me. So, seek out and befriend people. Find a professor whom you really click with and build a personal relationship with him. Go to events to shake hands and start conversation.
carpe that motherfucking diem.
