Today’s guest post by Paul Geffen is a wonderful reminder…about being a whole person.  To work, to have outside interests, to learn, grow and change over time.  And it is an example of how you can find work/life happiness by turning your passions into your career.  So whether you work in engineering for a very large corporation or in marketing for non-profit focused on music your interests and your work are connected and may lead you somewhere new.

My career has at least one remarkable feature for the field I’m in.  In twenty-five years as a software engineer, from 1984 when I started at Lotus until I left IBM in 2009, I only changed employers once.

How do I explain this?

I’ve been fascinated by technology since I was a child.  I played with radios, tape recorders, and simple computers before I started high school.  At my first startup in 1971 we noticed that the RFI (radio frequency noise) from our DEC minicomputer could be heard on the radio.  We created timing loops in machine code that were tuned to specific pitches and used these to create melodies. We experimented with a simple form of electronic music.

While I’ve worked in engineering and technology since my teens, it’s only part of what I do.  The other part is my second career in music.  I’ve pursued continuing self-education in the arts.  I take my work as a musicologist seriously and make a daily investment of time and attention.  It is like a second job that has helped provide continuity and stability in my career and in my life.

Many times in my career I’ve noticed that some of the best engineers and developers were also musicians. I’ve known first-rate violinists, pianists, rock guitarists, drummers, and opera buffs — all colleagues at work on software products.  While I can find my way around a keyboard and guitar, most of my own work in the field has been collecting and cataloging recordings.  My engineering skills have helped me to create a web site that shares some of this information with the world.

My pursuit of continued education has led me to listen to nearly all the works of the major European composers.  I’ve written reviews of classical recordings and performances.  I sometimes turn pages at recitals.  Today I am the Marketing Director for the Boston Wagner Society and work with vocalists, pianists, conductors, and composers as we plan our programs and organize events.  I have been able to apply and extend many of the management skills that I developed at IBM to my work for the Wagner Society.

I find that music is a valuable complement for my engineering work.  The computer field moves very fast, and while that is stimulating, it is also unpredictable.  Music is stable and relaxing for me, both as a listener and a student of its many forms.  The history of music is long and the evolution of musical styles is gradual.  I find it truly wonderful that the best compositions of two or three hundred years ago are still performed and that we continue to find something new in them.  The field is inexhaustible.

To learn more about Paul Geffen and the link between engineering, technology and music  and social media check out his website www.trovar.com and his blog.

There is a very good chance at some point in your career you will find yourself rejected by an employer for being too qualified.  Or you will be considered to be a flight risk for being part of the disgruntled underemployed.  Now I say there is a very good chance because people are underemployed for a reason, either financial or due to the need for more workplace flexibility:

• There is a recession on and they didn’t plan for a rainy day, or they did and that rainy day lasted a really long time
• They have a family member: parent, child, spouse, sibling that they need to and want to care for
• They have just left college and there are no jobs out there that they are qualified for…but at the same time, they are too qualified to simply answer the phone
• They have relocated due to their spouse’s job and can find no jobs in their field
• They are older and therefore going to be retiring at some point, so it’s just easier for workplaces to prevent the pain of having to replace them at a bad time for the company and instead eliminate their position and hire someone with more updated skills and train them

So in other words if you’re young, if you’re older, if you’re middle aged, if you’re a child of someone, if you’re a parent of someone, if you’re married or have a significant other you will find yourself in this conundrum.  Even if you work in HR…you will find yourself in this conundrum.  So we can look at surveys and we can make snap judgments and we can do what is always done, discriminate against these people in the workplace…or we could use more common sense than that.

Employers:

So you want to hire people who are engaged and who are going to stay with your company and you don’t believe the “under”employed fit into this model.  I would suggest trying these steps (as one who has been underemployed very happily, and also very crankily)

1) We’re all adults – yes that’s right your employees are adults…please treat them as such.  If they are over qualified it is quite possible they will do the work faster than others may.  Don’t punish them for this.  You have hired them for a job…not to fill a chair.  If they can do that job in 30 hours instead of 40…great!  Then they have more time to exercise, be with family, run errands, live life.  They will be happy, you will have your goals met…it’s a win/win.  But if you stand over their chair at work, log their hours mentally, get annoyed by their Facebook usage and other silly details, you will lose.

2) Pay for the skills you use.  How great, they have more skills that you can utilize as the company needs.  But you know what?  You’ve entered into a business arrangement with them to accomplish tasks that require specific skills.  If you’d like to use more of skills than you asked for previously, it’s time to amend the business arrangement and compensate them accordingly.

3) Communicate openly and honestly.  It’s okay to be concerned about an overqualified employee.  But it’s not okay not to talk to them about it and get more information.  So put it on the table – at the interview stage, once hired, and on a regular basis.  This isn’t a secret.  They are overqualified.  It should be discussed in a productive, adult way.  Find out if they are unhappy…and if so why.  See if it is something that can be fixed.   Of course, there is a chance it can’t be fixed…but there is also a chance it can.

Understand that at any point in time…part of your workforce is most likely considered “under”employed.  You can either fix it…or you can ignore it and hope it goes away.

Employees:

You may be smiling after that…but now it’s your turn.  You may not be smiling soon…

1)  You are an adult.  Yep, you are.  If you are given a task to do and it is “beneath” your capabilities…oh well,  you are in that situation for a reason.  It is a choice.  You can be an adult and do your work well and on-time and celebrate the extra time you have to live life.  Or you can fill a chair, complain to co-workers and family, and become disgruntled…your choice

2) Understand what you’re selling.  You may be asked to do more, give more to your employer as you are more qualified than for the job you are doing.  But think hard about how much you’re willing to give them extra…and whether you want to give it for free or not.  Employment is a business arrangement.  If you don’t like the arrangement you have it is up to you to take some responsibility for that and either re-negotiate or say “no.”

3) Communicate open and honestly.  So you have more skills than your employer needs.  Talk about it.  Why is that?  Why are you making the choice you are making?  What do you see as the challenges and rewards to this arrangement?  And check in regularly if things aren’t working quite right.  Do not suffer in silence…or everyone loses

Understand that you will find yourself in this position more than once in your career.  The responsibility is on you to manage it well.

This isn’t rocket science people…it’s life…it shouldn’t be this hard to live it happily!

There is quite a tug-of-war going on between the generations these days.  I’ve talked here about how it disappoints me that my generation hasn’t tried harder to take the reins and shape the world of work to what they want.  And recently I heard a Gen Yer blatantly asking a Boomer to step aside for their children – so their children could get jobs.

I’m not really sure how I feel.  Especially since I know that I will want to work longer than my parents did and their parents did.  I think work is something you do at one place for a while, then move on, or maybe take a break and travel, or maybe just relax for a bit, and then go back to work, again.  And I don’t think people should stop working just because they reach they reach a certain age.  After all you don’t stop thinking just because you become 65.

So I’m not sure I’m ready to push the Boomers out – I don’t want to be pushed out, so why do that to someone else?  I also definitely agree that with age comes wisdom, but I also think that with youth comes invigoration and innovation.  So what to do?  How about…do something you’ve always wanted to try in an area where your wisdom and knowledge could really help others.  It’s not a completely new idea.  After all Score has existed for a long time and has been a great help to many.  But this expands on that model.

It may not work for all – plenty of people like their jobs and just simply don’t want to leave.  But I already like the idea for me at that age.  I still regret never going into the Peace Corps – in retirement I may just have my chance!