Welcome back, kid. It’s good to see you.

 

How did your interviews go? Some good, some not so good? That sounds about right.

 

You know, I got to thinking about some of the things we talked about last week, and I realized that we mostly talked about getting a job in a business. Another option you have is to go to work for the government. I know a lot of people who think that’s a pretty good deal. And heaven knows there are a lot of people around here who have made that choice. But before you make that decision, I want you to think about something.

 

Remember we talked earlier about how businesses in a free market create wealth that enriches the lives of everyone? Well, government has exactly the opposite effect; government sucks wealth out of the economy.

 

When you get your job in a business, everything you do will be directed at producing a product or a service faster, better, more efficiently that someone else can do it. Maybe you’ll even invent a new product, or a service that has never been seen before. The effect of tens of millions of people producing and improving and competing and inventing is to create an astonishing number of quality goods and life-enriching services at the lowest possible prices. And all those businesses exchanging money for products and services to produce more commodities that will be exchanged for more money – well, that’s how this nation achieved one of the highest standards of living the world has ever known.

 

But government is a different matter altogether. Sometimes we forget that every single person who works for the government is paid entirely from taxes. There is no other source of income for them. And every service and product that the government buys is paid for with taxpayer money. It’s one thing for a business to provide a product that a customer is willing to pay for, and use the resulting income to pay the workers who made it. It’s another thing entirely to pay government workers with money taken in taxes from citizens who don’t really get much in return.

 

Let me say that another way. When a willing buyer and a willing seller exchange money for goods and services, the effect is to enrich everyone involved in the transaction. When the government takes taxes away from people, pays government employees with part of it and gives the rest to someone else – when there is taking instead of exchanging — the effect is to destroy wealth rather than to create it.

 

In a robust and thriving economy, with a tiny government, the effect is negligible. But when the economy is in trouble, when there is already a large and growing percentage of the population on the government payroll – well, I just hope you make another choice.

 

So let’s talk a little more about you and the job you’re going to get. Last week we talked about getting the job. Now let’s talk about keeping the job, and maybe even getting promoted.

 

Remember how I told you that nobody owes you a job, that it’s your responsibility to make yourself the best possible candidate for the position you want? That doesn’t stop after you’re hired. Your employer is still looking for the person who will make her company better and better, and that should be you. If you make sure your new employer is glad she hired you, you will not only keep your job, but you will be the one she thinks of first when promotions become available.

 

And, if the time comes when you want to make a career change, you will be glad you did the best you could for this company.

 

So…

 

Show up. Every day. On time. Ready for work.

 

Do you want to impress your new boss? When you refer to the company, say “we.” Not “you” or “they.” “We.” Talk and think and work like the success of the entire company depends on your job alone.

 

Learn to distinguish between being sick and just not feeling the best you’ve ever felt. Learn to distinguish what is a real family emergency and what is not. An employee who is sick or has a family emergency, predictably, twice a week – well, just remember that there are plenty of people out there looking for a job who are more dependable than that.

 

Try not to think of your boss as the enemy. Believe it or not, with few exceptions, he’s not out to get you. He’s not trying to exploit you or make your life miserable. What he’s trying to do, as we discussed last week, is make the company better and more efficient. If you make it clear that those are your goals, too, your boss will see that you know the two of you are on the same team.

 

Draw a clear line between what belongs to you and what belongs to the company you work for, and do not step over that line. Don’t take office supplies home unless you will use them to do work for the company. Don’t run your personal mail through the postage meter. Don’t use the copier for making personal copies unless you know for a fact that company policy allows it.

 

And let’s be clear about this: The time that the company pays you for belongs to the company. Don’t steal that, either.

 

I’ve got a good feeling about your prospects this week, kid. Go get ‘em!

 

KsSmallBiz.com, February 15, 2006

Posted by Sharon under Libertarianism | 2 Comments »