Welcome back to another episode of the corporate Cowboys podcast as always my name is Alex I’m your host today’s proof of life it’s Tuesday February 28th the last day of the month 2023. and if you’re not already familiar with this layout of the podcast you’re eight seasons and three episodes late
Where you been now uh these episodes go for about 30 minutes and I treat it as a free consultation of sorts what I do in reality is uh consult and counsel and Advocate and represent clients if necessary representation and Beyond Represent um corporate will represent corporate Cowboys better yet right and that individuals wanting to develop themselves professionally hold themselves out as value valued Professionals in their industry in their career so that they’re able to cultivate a reputation a Persona a professional image that they can use as leverage to negotiate contracts and
Employment agreements in their favor to their favor right ultimately that’s what we want to do Elevate the individual to the same level as the corporation so that they’re empowered in a sense obviously they’ve got to be worth it right can’t hide behind your [ __ ] identity your [ __ ] social identity
Forever you’ve got to come out as a professional you’re going to come out as anything you better [ __ ] come out as a professional otherwise you’re just as good as dead all right today’s episode that wasn’t so much a hot take as it was controversial but
I don’t know point to me where I’m wrong today’s episode is coming from our slash career advice which we’re more than happy to give if you find yourself in a position where you need a second look at your life in terms of your livelihood in terms of your professional developments
Your career thus far and opportunities that exist that you just haven’t been able to identify or your next move to make strategies to deploy plots and plans schemes to bring together in order to get ahead to move up get compensated more increase salary a promotion if you’re in a position where you need
That and your immediate circle doesn’t have the outlets for you hit us up our rates are more than reasonable you can find us on Instagram that’s a great way to get in touch with us you can DM us that’s at corporates Cowboys with the Z on patreon it’s the corporate Cowboys
Podcast you can find us on rumble on YouTube you can write to us directly that’s P.O box 3372 Rancho Cordova California 95741 today’s question is asking I feel like we’ve answered something similar like this before it says how do I respectfully leave a job of seven years
How do you respectfully leave you leave it same when you came in as a professional as a consummate professional that’s what we all strive to be right if you’re going to bow out after seven years you want to be cordial obviously with the intention of not burning the
Bridge unnecessarily right but if you can keep them in your uh Network as a person of interest as an employer of interest to come back to and maybe ask for a letter or an opinion of recommendation some type of professional referral in the future if necessary
That’s probably the best way to do it how do I respectfully leave a job of seven years obviously depending on what your employment agreement says when you first signed on you want to give them notice traditionally it’s been viewed as courteous as a courtesy to give two weeks sometimes it’s not necessary right
Sometimes it is if you’re in an at-will state fire at will state right where you can leave at a moment’s notice you technically don’t even have to leave notice right depending on what the circumstances warrant what the situation is like if if your boss was an [ __ ] or a prick
Then maybe you want to burn that bridge maybe notice is not necessary you just don’t show up one day it’s the next or you go off on lunch and don’t come back but that’s being petty that’s not as professional as you think it comes off as right even if you think they deserve
It we don’t know the entirety the completeness of one’s situation right especially when you’re dealing with hypothetical clients and hypothetical clients aren’t always objective and how they view a situation so where they see it as treachery where they see it as motive to implement School duggery and might not be the case
It might not be the case it might be best to maintain a frame of reasonableness to maintain a frame of professionalism that’s the contentment professional even even if you do think there is no room for failure no room for error you still want to err on the side of professionalism
So this question is asking in the body is saying I 27 no sorry I a 29 year old female not that [ __ ] matters I a 29 female have decided it’s time for me to move on and try something different sounds like she just out to uh continue exploring I mean it’s
It’s she’s 29 we don’t know much else about her background educational or experiential as far as her career if she’s been in one place for seven years and if that’s the only place she’s ever been in right that all matters and as a hypothetical client we would dig deeper on this informational interview
We want to be sure it says I’ve been my boss’s only employee for the last seven years and we have become friends over time oh no it sounds a little tight man sounds a little tight man not like the hangout after work all the time friends but we’ve gotten pretty
Personal and have gotten cocktails and dinner and things I feel incredibly anxious and nervous at the thoughts of having the conversation with her about me leaving do I do this over the weekend or during work hours do I write a letter do I ask her to dinner what’s the most appropriate and
Respectful way to do this edit she has an edit here right so they’ve included an edit saying I have an interview next week somewhere I haven’t mentioned anything to her because I thought it would be better to have a job lined up before having that conversation is this
Appropriate to wait until I have a job solidified or should I tell her I’m searching and plan on leaving thanks for your help If I Was Your Boss again depending on the degree that we trust one another right and if you’ve already had this conversation of
Leaving then I might be open with them if if your relationship with them is that of a mentor slash mentee they probably shouldn’t care that you’re moving on if anything they might be happy that you’re finally moving on after seven years and they might start looking for
Somebody else unless unless you can find a replacement for them now that might be tough to do because you have seven years of experience working closely with them and their organization such that you are effectively in an executive assistant how you work you have tailored to how
They work so replacing you is going to be a little difficult but not impossible right and I completely understand that you don’t want to make the situation more uncomfortable than it needs to be that said you’re already interviewing for other places and should you get an offer
Is when you want to tell your manager that you’re thinking of branching out now in this instance because you’re the only employee and you’ve gotten to know together you’ve gotten to know one another to uh a degree personally giving them plenty of notice so they start searching for a replacement that’s
If they need a replacement right because in seven years working for them you might have you may have found ways to automate what it is that you do and leave instructions for someone who’s coming in right we don’t know what industry they’re in we don’t know what the organization does
We don’t know what their duties are exactly me personally I’m drawing these inferences that they are in the capacity of an executive assistant now executive assistants are not hard to replace I would understand if my assistant chose to leave but from one day to the next that might surprise me some granted
Depending on our workload depending on my workload because they’d be leaving depending on my workload it may not put an absolute stop to my operations again that depends on how much I was relying on the executive assistant to do things for me it would be nice if they told me in
Advance that they were leaving so that I could ask of them and or negotiate with them ways to keep them or some method of transitioning while I hire somebody else if they could train them obviously there would be some compensation due because now they would effectively become a supervisor
An interim supervisor temporary but still I feel anybody who is working to supervise another individual another human and responsible for their professional developments I feel like they should be compensated fairly and not many employers believe that so maybe I’m one of the Chosen Few that being said
It might be best to do it uh while you’re at work right because if you’re their only employee it’s not like they can send you home I feel like any way you approach this it’s as if they can’t send you home immediately they’re not gonna cut your
Schedule short you know what I feel betrayed unless you know unless they were Petty or unless you’re actually dealing with materials with sensitive materials materials that require a clearance or some kind of vedance for you to uh to work with right and if you’re being scouted if you’re
Being recruited or if you’re uh if you’re prospecting another employer [ __ ] it might behoove me to not allow you access to our files anymore ultimately in order to move up professionally I think it’s uh I think it’s tough to put yourself in a losing situation if you approach your manager with the truth
Right now it may be depending on exactly what your situation is like with them that you want an offer in hand and I do hope that when you’re out there interviewing you’re mature enough to let them know that you’re currently employed and that you would need some time to
Transition right you can’t start you’re not available to start immediately unless you just want to pull out of your current work agreement pull out of your current Arrangement without notice right that would effectively burn a bridge so sometime I think sometime to notify them your current manager some
Time to notify them and time to transition I think is an order now some may not agree but when you’re dealing with professional relationships you have to take into account not just your career but their career and the career that you’ve I hope helped one another build together because you’ve effectively
Worked together for seven years it could have been eight hours a day 10 hours a day 12 hours a day and any number of reasons for you to leave after seven years maybe you no longer want to work 12 hours 16 hours a day or be on call constantly
Right you want to see what else is out there you want to move up and if you are what you claim you are that is friends right then there’s a there’s an even deeper element of trust me myself I’m straightforward with my associates I think friends and best friends are uh are not
The best Keepers to have are not are not the best keepers to have around in your career because when you open up yourself too much and you’ve shared or gotten pretty personal like you claim here if you’ve gotten pretty personal I don’t know what that means to a 29 year
Old female right and again not that it [ __ ] matters but if you’ve gotten pretty personal you might have shared some intimate things where for the sake of pettiness could come back and bite you in the ass now that you want to leave your employer and see that’s why I keep it
Professional even if you do go out for cocktails and dinner keep it strictly professional your personal life is your personal life your professional life is your professional life I get I understand that sometimes connection and networking requires you to open yourself up some but I mean getting pretty personal I don’t know
You already make it sound like you’re living a double life the personal and the professional and now you may be worried about what respectfully even means how your manager how your boss might interpret being respectful in this circumstance I mean it’s not on you it’s not all on you you learn
Through trial by fire right and some of the comments which I will get to some of the comments May touch on that fact right that the that the fact now that you are their only employee and above that that you’ve gotten pretty personal you’ve developed a friendship of sorts
Some people are just going to outright say nah give them your two weeks and [ __ ] bounce right I mean it’s it’s Reddit after all they’re gonna say nah give them your two weeks [ __ ] dip out it’s nothing others are gonna say oh no you should definitely stick around and help them
Transition me as a corporate cowboy to this hypothetical client who I would like to convert to a corporate Cowboy right that’s our mission after all is to cultivate to convert more corporate Cowboys so you can move professionally I would ask enough questions to determine whether or not
Just just the truth is what you need honesty being straightforward you give them enough notice and it might be enough time it might be some time for your manager to evaluate their career their organization whether it’s time to expand or it’s time to contract it’s time to consolidate if you will
Not that you want to stick around for another seven years but it could open up more opportunity to continue building with what you already know using the experience you’ve already accumulated it’s never a bad thing it could make more money learn more take on more responsibilities be accountable for more measures of the
Business Maybe get a larger share a larger interest in the organization itself right and because we don’t have the hypothetical client in front of us I can’t ask those questions what it is they do how they do it what does the manager do how do they do it in order to create
In order to create and innovate on what it is they already do without having to pull out without having to extract as a manager it would feel shitty you’re working with somebody seven years and they’re only going to give you two months before they pull the rug from out under you sure
This late in the game right I’ve I’ve learned enough as a professional that I shouldn’t have all of my eggs in one basket right I’ve got to diversify my order of operations so as to not rely on one person on one entity I’ve got to be self-reliant as much as possible and Outsource
What I think is feasible what makes my work more efficient but that isn’t to say that approaching your manager with the truth and being straightforward it’s not a viable option doing so could also change the trajectory the tread that trajectory of your career to learn more to do more to earn more
And continue building on what you already have now if you’re already looking for a job and you’re already interviewing well then you’ve made a decision I mean you could still turn if you want to get grimy I guess I mean would you do this to a friend
Though if you wanna if you want to get grimy you could say hey I got an offer from a job and they’re paying me this much more or they’re allowing me to do this they’re giving me certain liberties certain Pathways options to develop myself professionally if you could work at forcing your
Manager’s hand but again would you do that to a friend no but by being open by leveraging the fact that you have a friendship together you know you’ve gotten pretty personal by leveraging that fact you are in a better position to massage your options see what to see what’s new to see what
Else you can do with the manager or without them it introduces a degree of philosophy to your conversations between your manager and yourself and if you claim you’ve already gotten pretty personal why not get philosophical and bring It full circle to professional and if they can’t offer what it is
You’re looking for you see this is this is higher level Consulting here and I’m going off of little to no context from these questions but there is a way to maneuver yourself and necessarily have the manager work to develop you professionally and if they can’t have them admit it essentially
Not forcing their hand but converting them into a de facto mentor and when you outgrow them the hope is the Hope is right because they could still say they don’t want you to leave but the hope is they recognize that you’ve grown to a level that they cannot sustain
And so you should move you should move ahead and apply outside apply what you’ve learned with them sharpen what it is you’ve learned with them distill it into something marketable and take the world for yourself enter The Fray that is the corporate War I say that just about every episode I
Just throw it in there because I want it to be in the back of folks’s Minds that you’re born into this system you are born into this system you live you grow up and you die in it even even if you do move to some remote
Part of the woods and you claim to be off the grid you were born on the grid first and you ran away it’s a [ __ ] move if you ask me but I understand it to some extent that said let’s take a look at some of these comments here and I’ll critique them if
I can how much time do I got I got about four or five minutes why not the first comment here says even with your long work history there I wouldn’t tell your boss that you’re going to start job hunting why not why not see I went through and I detailed
The facts for you right you are their only employee unless you’re handling I don’t know radioactive materials or a clients personally identifiable information or uh uh other Trade Secrets they’re not gonna cut you out immediately it may take some time for them to understand that you’re leaving or
It may put them on their heels and recapacitate rethink re-evaluate their modest operandi and how they could keep you in the loop how they could keep you in the fold and not leave maybe they innovate maybe they improve processes missions Visions objectives in order to keep you around
Oh you want to develop oh Alex you want to leave me you want to develop yourself why don’t I help you develop so you don’t have to leave and there in lies the opportunity to develop professionally yourself with the help with the facilitation of your employer
And you could and you can still get paid more you’re the one in a position of power you become the one in a position of power what you take with you if you leave them it’s seven years of assistance seven years of dependability of reliance you are effectively in a position of power
To bargain to improve your lot in life while at the same time helping them improve theirs by staying on and working with them notice how I said working with them that’s the whole theme of this podcast it’s one of the many overarching themes of this podcast is to learn to work with corporate
And everybody is a representative learn to work with them not for them you are a representative of corporate you want people working for you you want to be responsible for what they do or would you like them to be responsible for what they do professionally how nice of it would it be
For everybody to include one another in their plans for development to incorporate to integrate right if there is any place where assimilation can occur it’s going to be the mutual goals of improvement granted you do runitism psycho sociopathic [ __ ] who who made um extra legal help to see their way out right
But otherwise you’ve got yourself to look out for and if you’re working with somebody else you have them to look out for too because you are working together you don’t necessarily owe one another anything unless it gets to it you know it’s favor for a favor when
When you’re a mob figure of sorts and this person is saying no matter how close you are don’t tell them [ __ ] I wouldn’t tell your boss that you’re going to start job hunting I mean you’ve already started job hunting best thing you could do right now is to tell your boss personally
Again we don’t know the extent of how pretty personal they got in terms of friendly but if you’re open with them you give them a better chance a better chance especially because you’re their only employee a better chance better recommendation or a referral comes from them and you don’t have to
Explain a seven year Gap and your resume that might be one of the quickest ways to burn a bridge but if you’re a professional or if you need coaching on how to approach this conversation if you need it or if you know an associate that needs professional coaching
On Career moves and how to do them by all means have them reach out to us continuing this comment it says look for another job and if you accept another offer put in your two-week notice or whatever the expected term is for your employer I would submit my resignation notice in
Writing when you’re well you obviously want it to be in writing because that way you keep receipts right when your boss asks why you’re leaving have an honest and respectful conversation with them explaining why you’re leaving or don’t that part is up to you this person sounds like they give two
[ __ ] about about the boss’s situation right and I mean it’s understandable but being a consummate professional also implies that you care four people and where they are at at their level of professional development in their stage of professional development now if you’ve been working with them and
There’s moments or or there’s times or regularly I guess you come off as unprofessional being really casual right again I don’t know what what degree of friendship you have with your boss but if you are Uber casual and then just one day spring on them
Hey I’m giving you a two week notice and I’m leaving you think anything good is going to come from that you think anything good is going to come from that besides a new job [Laughter] that ain’t that’s not something I want to carry that’s not something I want to
Carry on my conscience I would much rather have a body than a witness if that makes sense I don’t know that got pretty dark I would much rather have bodies than Witnesses leave a body not a witness damn I gotta put that I gotta send that to uh to social media
Right on right on uh when when your boss asks you why you’re leaving have an honest and respectful conversation with them explaining why you’re leaving so you’re gonna wait right you’re gonna wait until you give them the notice and then when the boss is taken aback we’ve been
Working together for seven years why are you leaving you think you think you’re going to be able to have an honest and respectful conversation if you haven’t trained if you haven’t planned for that conversation you need to be training and planning for that conversation now you don’t want it to be inappropriate
You don’t want it to be uncomfortable right assessing assessing your circumstances whether or not being open and honest up front gives you the upper hand right I mean you have the upper hand regardless but how early you want to exercise it and how how subtle you want to exercise it
That’s why I went with being straightforward from the get-go from the jump tomorrow if you can bring up the idea that you want to continue developing professionally right we go through that line of thought that’s higher level counseling again you introduced the notion the idea that you want to continue improving professionally
And that you’ve seen jobs you’ve seen jobs you’ve seen offers you’re aware they exist and how much they pay you see you see what I’m getting at that way your manager starts to sweat without actually feeling the Heat because it will get heated it can there’s there’s a higher propensity a
Higher a greater likelihood that it gets heated if you just spring a two-week notice on them and say yo I’m leaving and if they ask why you think you’re gonna you think you’re gonna muster up enough professionalism then to maintain respect and honesty I would much rather not trip over my
Words and walk them through my exit then run out and risk tripping on the way but again nothing nothing we distribute nothing that we convey as far as messaging is meant to be construed as legal advice if you haven’t engaged us or if we’re not representing you directly right
That’s why I’ve been mentioning this hypothetical client because they don’t exist pretend as if they don’t exist but you take what I’m saying with a grain of salt while you’re taking notes whether they be on paper or in your mind while you’re taking notes and incorporating
How to be a better professional how to move like a corporate cowboy you take what I say with the grain of salt because every person’s case is different every person’s life is unique every person’s circumstances are individual and so every corporate Cowboy needs to learn how to shoot from the hip
From their hip and that takes time that takes practice that takes training and development one more comment that I’m out I think I’m over yeah I’m over by like five minutes but I’ll give you one more it says I just retired after working for 48
Years oh we got a retiree this is good no matter how comfortable you are in a position never let yourself be confused that it is a family yo this sounds all right this sounds good this sounds good you are not working to make their life easier you are working to create your
Own life and advantages you can certainly respect someone and still move on to the next job and a good boss will feel sad that you’re going but totally understand you have to do what’s right for you the nail on the head this person hit the nail right on the
Head and I brought that up depending on the type of relationship that you keep with your manager because it’s not always it’s not always beneficial to keep friends right but if you’ve developed a relationship like a mentor mentee it’ll be that much easier to introduce to introduce the idea to plant the seed
That you’ve that you’ve outgrown them or that you want something they cannot offer and if they’re mature enough they will recognize that it’s your time to go and will actually encourage you to leave in some in some situations if you’ve been in a position for seven years and you’re still I don’t know
Making an appointment or filing papers or or doing something menial something routine yeah maybe it pays well but if it’s not edifying you if it’s not developing you professionally yeah you might see it as a dead end and your boss might see it as a position for someone who hasn’t been
With them for seven years they might already know it but the fact that you won’t leave well [ __ ] they’re comfortable with the fact that Alex has been here for seven years and I can count on Alex because Alex knows what to do Alex knows how to get it done
But at the same time my mentor would recognize Alex has been here for seven years and has done nothing else with their life [Laughter] how much more of a professional could we make Alex if Alex wanted it and the fact you want to leave is that want that you can Leverage
Leverage to your benefit that’s a corporate Cowboy see that’s some corporate Cowboy [ __ ] I’ll catch y’all later have a nice one
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