Wines & Vines - Wine Industry News Headlines - Winery Hiring Activity Surges

Wines & Vines - Wine Industry News Headlines - Winery Hiring Activity Surges

Cranky Recruiter: Just tell me what you are making.

Asking a friend at a social gathering "How much do you make?" most likely will make him very uncomfortable.  We all know how much we make--often down to the penny.  Lucky folks out there can say how much they will be making this coming year and the following one.  Sales people and self-employed people can always hope for a stellar year, and have a good idea where their compensation will likely come in at.

I think I ask people about 5 times a day how much they make.  For me it is a benchmark on where they are coming in for a position I'm recruiting on.  If their pay is lower than I expect, I wonder why they aren't making more money--but also think that they may be very interested in moving to a better paying company.  If their pay corresponds to what they should be making, I'm happy and move forward with the discussion.  If their pay is significantly higher than I expected, I'll dig a bit deeper to find out about their salary history, their responsibilities, and what types of roles they want to move into next.  

With all this discussion about salary, I am quite numb to the fact that most people rarely discuss their compensation.  Thinking it over, it probably makes others a little unnerved to talk about money with a stranger.   You immediately think, should I say what I am really making, should I inflate the number to look better, should I tell them to stick it?  Hopefully when you have this question come up there is a reason--a new job opportunity, a raise or a promotion.  What should you do when someone asks you how much you make?  Well, I appreciate the truth.  If you tell me how much you are making, and include any bonuses, commissions and perks, we'll have a baseline to work from.   I won't use this information against you, and will always gain your approval in discussing any compensation information with a potential employer.

Last year I was working on some wine sales roles.  I had reached out to a Director of Sales with a winery group.  Her first sentence to me was "I don't mean to sound arrogant, but you probably can't afford me."  What a breath of fresh air.  I told her I wish everyone would approach it this way--and asked what she needed to make.  Well, unfortunately she was right, I couldn't afford her.  She also wouldn't have been right for the role.  With job titles often being different from company to company, her title didn't convey how expansive a role she had.  My sales role would have been something she had done 15 years ago.  On that same recruitment I was talking with a VP of Sales for a boutique winery and his salary was half of that first gal's, and below the pay range my position was paying.  Once he and I discussed his current role, I found out that the winery was using brokers in most states, and the sales role wasn't as involved as it would have been at some other wineries.  He was highly involved in the winery's hospitality and marketing programs and has excellent experience in that area.  The role I had would have required a lot of travel, and this was something he did not want.  Both of these people are great contacts for me to work with, and now that I know where their compensation is coming in, I can approach them about the right roles.

When you are talking with a recruiter, or a potential hiring manager, lay it out about what you are making now, and what you would need to take a new job.  Speaking from a position of truth gives you a firm foundation to discuss compensation, and allows you to discuss different compensation scenarios with your future employer.  

And make sure you visit Wine Business Monthly's 2012 Salary Survey for specifics on wine biz salaries.

How Will You Measure Your Life? WineTalent Book Review

What a great question, "How Will You Measure Your Life?"  Earlier this year I read some information written by Clayton Christensen and decided to read his recent book, that James Allworth and Karen Dillon contributed on.  The premise of the book is that Dr. Christensen, Professor at Harvard Business School, witnessed in his own life highly successful business people who seemed to lack a winning strategy for their personal lives.  Using business case studies and personal anecdotes, the authors examine business and personal challenges and outcomes.

Being somewhat of a management book junkie, I couldn't pass up a book written by the Harvard Business School's Professor, a HBS alum and the former editor of the Harvard Business Review.  This book outlines business successes and failures, and relates them to personal decisions and dynamics.  How Honda miscalculated the US motorcycle market and unwittingly brought the sport of motocross to us might not seem like a personal life lesson--but Christensen relates this example to his own life decisions.  What do highly technical, pocket-sized ultrasound machines have to do with personal time management?  I hadn't really connected the dots until reading this book.

The authors do a great job of dissecting business world situations and determining the root cause.  They also use similar methods to view personal situations and determine potentially successful strategies.  Yes, while Apple computer or IBM should look at some business case studies to realign their own businesses, so could many people look at their own decisions and determine what is working and what isn't--and make intelligent changes.  The idea of the book is to have an overriding strategy--perhaps a book of rules--for how to live your life.  By keeping these commandments true during your work life and your personal life you can stay true to yourself, your family and your community.  It was refreshing to read insights from highly successful business people that involved ethics, morality and personal happiness.

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy gleaning insights about how companies work, but who also like to be introspective and perhaps create their own way of managing their personal life.  If you are only looking at a self-help book that tells you how to do it, the business case studies may get in the way.

Is an MBA Worth it?

Ok, so maybe I'm a slacker, but I never went back to school after getting my bachelor's degree.  I often am doing searches for people with advanced degrees, one of which is an MBA.  I do think an MBA can be a valuable asset in your career.  But if you are on the fence about how to advance your career, take a look at this article by Dale Stephens who just published the book "Hacking Your Education".  He dissects the cost of an MBA, quickly and effectively, and explains what it might get you.  I am going to get that book for my high school children too.

How To Get A Job In The Beverage Industry (VIDEO)

How To Get A Job In The Beverage Industry (VIDEO)