It’s going to happen one day, and we’re giving you the best armour for it. Quitting your job ain’t no thing with tips like these.
Quitting gets a bad rep. Whether it’s giving up the trombone before Grade 2 or abandoning your fifth go at being vegan, people like to interject with things like ‘Nobody likes a quitter!’
But quitting’s our prerogative. If you don’t like it, don’t do it.
But how should you go about it? What’s the best way to leave your job on amicable terms? After all, the world’s just getting smaller and the way you manage your departure will have a direct influence on those LinkedIn numbers.
Do it by the book
Even if your workplace isn’t a formal or corporate place, it’s always a good idea to do things by the book. So this means first of all checking your contract – you need to know the terms under which you can quit, and how much notice you need to give.
Set up a meeting with your manager and take a written letter with you, specifying the resignation date. Do it in person, too, rather than on email. Giving them the chance to ask you a few questions about it is just good manners.
Be ready with a reason or explanation on how the company isn’t quite the right fit for you. You don’t have to provide all the ins and outs of your decision, but be clear on your decision and graceful in your thank you’s.
Follow this up with a soft copy of your resignation on email, confirming the terms of your notice period. If you heart your boss, you might even get away with a hug.
Don’t burn bridges
This is a top tip from someone we know who’s quit jobs a lot (in a good way). Get your boss a leaving present to say thank you. A small perfume, a cheeky bottle of whisky, whatever she/he is into. If you want to spread the love, splash out on a box of budget doughnuts (still so delicious) for the rest of your team mates.
And thank everyone. And we mean everyone. Say hey, thanks and bye. It’s gracious and you’ve probably learned something from everyone. Even if it’s that yawning like a two-tonne rhino is an annoying desk habit.
Be savvy about it
Make a list of everyone you’d like to stay in touch with before you leave. When you’re at work, these details and the availability of these people feel like a given, but once you step out of the bubble some of those valuable colleagues and workmates may be hard to reach. You never know when you’ll need to call on one for a favour or some advice.  While poaching people at your new gig might be a no-go (check your contract), there are no restrictions on who you catch up with at the pub in your personal time.
Finally, before you leave, ask your best colleague to give you a recommendation on LinkedIn. Being great colleagues, they’ll undoubtedly give you some kind words, and that’ll go a long way when potential new employers are looking at your profile.
Quitting takes bravery. But like all things worthwhile, if it’s the right move for you then you’ll feel invigorated once you’ve done it and ready for the next challenge in life. Just do it right. Thx.
Four major ways the music industry has evolved over the past decade (and how to deal with it).
Head of publicity at Cooking Vinyl Australia, Janine Morcos, walks us through music industry’s evolution, and how she’s learned to deal with the new media landscape.
Over my years working as everything from a receptionist at a music label all the way through several PR and marketing jobs to my role in publicity now, I’ve seen first-hand the way in which the global and local music industry has been forced to evolve. Here are the major shifts I’ve seen and how I’ve learnt to always be on top of a constantly shifting industry.
Indie labels being acquired by major labels
In April 2012, Warner Music Group acquired the majority stake of leading hard rock and metal label, Roadrunner Records. Founded in 1980 in the Netherlands, Roadrunner Music Group is one of the industry’s leading Hard Rock label groups breaking acts such as Nickelback, Slipknot and Machine Head to name a few. It was a first of many independent labels being acquired and integrated into the major label systems which has since included the likes of BMG fully acquiring metal and hard rock label Rise Records and indies Infectious and Vagrant Records.
As you can see this is happening a lot more frequently, even now. I was still working at Roadrunner Records when I witnessed a few major impacts during the Roadrunner Records and Warner Music acquisition, and learnt that although there is negative fallout surrounding acquisitions, it’s all part and parcel of the industry in the current landscape.
I personally witnessed roles get changed as the company was absorbed. People lost their jobs, whereas daily duties and responsibilities entirely shifted for others. In my case, my role changed from overseeing national campaigns and outlets to only looking at a handful of media. I went from looking after hard rock and metal acts to working with artists across all genres and frankly, it was something I just had to deal with and learn from.
I learnt that adapting to change was the only way of securing my position long term. This is one of the many ways the music industry has evolved and it won’t be the last. Being able to go with the flow in the face of large structural changes is an ability you’ll need if you want to have a long and successful career. Next time you apply for a job in the music world, know that in 12 months you may be doing something entirely different, so make sure you’re prepared to embrace it.
Rise of digital vs physical
It’s no secret digital is on the rise as physical albums decline, however we need to recognise that globally, physical sales still make up over half of the market.
Physical sales have been long in decline, however the sheer scale that this market once had, and its legacy to consumers (e.g. collectors of special editions or vinyl) means that it is still a revenue stream, which some detractors of the new landscape often overlook.
In Japan, 78 per cent of the music industry’s revenue comes from CDs and the like; in Germany the figure is 70 per cent, and in France it’s 57 per cent. By comparison, some countries have overwhelmingly moved from downloading music to streaming it, with nations like Sweden (the birthplace of Spotify) generating 92 per cent of its digital revenue from subscriptions.
Expenditure on subscription services is growing rapidly (45 per cent year on year growth) and forecast to become the largest of all channels in the coming years. And it’s not only fans who are finding out about new music via Spotify recommendation lists and playlists, it’s industry folk as well.
At the end of the day, learning to adapt with the changing trends of the way music is being consumed, promoted and marketed is vital, but don’t enter the music industry under the guise that physical is dead. Whilst you yourself may not be someone who appreciates or interacts with physical music releases, an understanding of its current role and its relationship with digital will ensure you don’t get left behind.
Social Media Marketing
Social media and mobile technology has changed how we market and promote releases in the last few years, alongside the growth of how music is consumed. Social media gives you the ability to target and reach out directly to your fans and engage to the core fans and beyond. It has also increased the level of interaction across the board and if done well, can be the difference between a critical and commercial hit, and a flop that no one listens to.
Advertising on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram receive very successful results and is as simple as clicking a few buttons. But I’m hesitant, and so should you be, about relying solely on social media marketing to do the job.
Obviously we see the change of print media and the shift of publications moving to digital platforms happening week in and week out. Publications rely on our support and we rely on their coverage, so as they continue to evolve across the digital landscape, so should we.
One of many reasons for the shift is that consumers rely on fast content. They want to read what’s happening now and digital allows for the speedy turnaround. I’ve seen this change a lot over the last 10 years and I’m seeing more and more that we need to encourage that unique digital content and online advertising placements co-exist alongside more old-school strategic marketing rollouts.
A particularly new approach which the next generation of music PR and marketers need to properly grasp is the blurring between the lines of these two. Whilst putting a hashtag or a QR code on a physical billboard or bus stop ad may seem naff at the moment, as technology advances there will very soon be opportunities for marketing approaches that defy what would even be considered ‘advertising’ only five years ago.
If you’re getting into the music industry as a fresh-faced go-getter, this is 100 per cent something that will impact your career, and sooner than you think.
Festival Landscape
In the past few years we’ve seen the rise and fall of festivals, with the market in particular shifting quite dramatically in the past 12 months.
I worked at Soundwave Festival in the peak of what some may consider the golden era of Australian music festivals. The dollar was strong and the consumers were spoilt for choice. We had a niche festival for every genre of music and Soundwave, in my eyes, was always a festival for the fans. For a while the line up was bigger and better every year and the ride looked like it was never going to end.
Obviously, as we’ve now come to understand, the scene soon became over saturated with too much choice and too many similar festivals competing for the comparatively small Australian market. January 2016 was the first time in over 10 years with no touring festival. Is this the end? Of course not.
Like labels, the touring market is forever evolving. Australian festivals will make a comeback, and until then there’s a wonderfully vibrant collection of ‘boutique’ and small to medium sized festivals keeping the music flowing around the country.
Whereas it was once great for a band to have ‘as seen at Soundwave 2015’ on their promotional material, ‘Appeared at Unify, Groovin The Moo, Mountain Sounds, Secret Garden’ and so forth is the new standard approach. The more the merrier, am I right?
How do you feel about robobrains and space carrots? Don’t trust J.J. Abrams, going to work in twenty years won’t (just) be all stormtroopers and robot butlers. These are the jobs of tomorrow.
We all want a job that is going to keep us well paid and pretty comfortably employed – a job that’s fun, exciting and challenging. But just as chimney sweeps and shoe-shiners have gone the way of Alta Vista, judging by the latest tech trends today’s jobs could be tomorrow’s leftovers.
New creative minds are breaking into industries every day, and blazing new trails for everyone else to faun over. In the same way that YouTube Creator and Pro Gamer weren’t jobs 20 years ago, in the next twenty years there will be even more jobs that don’t exist today.
In our lifetime, it’s normal to expect to have between 15-20 jobs. And with the average life span getting longer, that’s more time to flex your creative muscles and show everyone who’s boss.
So what are the jobs of the future?
Virtual Reality Designers
Yes, software developers exist today, and yes many of them spend long hours working in dark rooms staring at computer screens. But think about every app you use throughout the day, from YouTube to Tumblr. Every one of these apps need developers, programmers, writers and designers.
As our world becomes more interactive and more connected, the place of apps in our day-to-day lives is more involved. We can look forward to virtual apps that control our entire homes – from the temperature to the music, the lighting, the locks on the doors and even the drones that collect our food.
A connected world needs connected people to power it and smarter developers to give us new ways to control. Plus the app developers of tomorrow are likely to spend more time working in VR, so it’s goodbye to the dark rooms and hello to The Matrix.
Neuro-implant Technicians
It may seem like something out of Star Wars, but neurotechnology is set to explode in the next ten years. The science of taking a human brain and augmenting it with technology is already a part of our medical field, with prosthetic feet that can feel for the user and mind-controlled fighter jets.
As our computers and technology become smaller, more powerful and more humanlike, we have the capacity to develop technology that connects to the human brain in more exciting ways. Imagine being able to expand your memory to help you hold on to test answers, or expand your lung capacity to run faster and swim deeper.
This new breed of scientists and technicians can work somewhere between the realms of doctors and engineers, looking at how the human body can become harder, better, faster, stronger.
Interstellar Terraformers
Humankind is constantly growing and expanding across the planet, and though companies like SpaceX want to help us colonise other planets, Earth is still our home for the time being. And testing how to grow food in our most harsh environments is a great way to see how we could grow mushrooms on Mars or plantains on Pluto.
As our population grows and we continue to take up more space, everyone from bioengineers to environmental terraformers will be looking for ways to make our land profitable.
There is a lot of open space just in and around Australia that is mostly unused, and it makes a perfect testing ground for drought-hardy processes. In the future our food might come from underwater green houses or desert farms as the valuable real estate is taken up by residential housing. After all, we can’t expect Matt Damon to come to the rescue when we need to work out how to grow food on Mars, so we may as well start in the desert.
Thanks to developments in modern health science, we could all end up living much longer than our grandparents. And with decades of employment ahead of you, you could work in a whole heap of different jobs and careers that don’t even exist yet. So when it comes time to retire, what stories will you be telling? At least one thing’s consistent: your super can follow you wherever you go (probably even space). Streamlining your accounts could make things easier, and give you the scope you need to make the most of your future possibilities.
6 ways to improve your multitasking skills for career success
Lifestyle blogger and influencer extraordinaire Lisa Clark tells us how to multitask your way to a better you, and the tricks you can use to stay on top of your career.
Multitasking, what a god-given blessing! At any moment whilst working it isn’t rare for me to be typing on my laptop, reading text messages on my phone and playing with my Spotify and the best bit – I do it all with ease. Knowing how best to multitask (and YES, listening to music is an important task for some!) is so essential to my job and my career and if you want to get ahead in your endeavours, it should be for you as well.
Every day I am juggling numerous tasks, I’ll have a blog half done, shoots locked in throughout the day, meetings with potential clients and I feel like I am ALWAYS waiting for the postman to bring me products to shoot. My career consists of early morning starts and late night finishes, BUT I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is the career path I have chosen and I bounce out of bed every day with a thirst for success. I really am lucky.
There isn’t a person among us who has the time to focus on a single task at a time. The phrase ‘not enough hours in the day’ couldn’t be more true or apparent to me, daily, in my work life. Multitasking increases productivity and efficiency and increasing these in turn increases your likelihood of success.
Simply put, become better at multitasking to get a better life and career!  Here are a few of my tips to be a top tasker in no time…
Write it down. Plan your day either in the morning prior or even better, do it the night before. Knowing you’re on top of your next day’s tasks by writing them down the night before is a great way to make sure your time is spent as effectively as possible. Once you’ve made the list it’s important to keep it visible. Post it somewhere in a prominent spot so you know exactly where you’re at, what you’ve done and what you still need to do.
Prioritise
Getting your priorities right is paramount. When you have your list that you’ve prepared make sure the most important tasks go first. Writing an article with a deadline or finishing a project for work is more important than deciding whether the Bondi shoreline looks better filtered with Valencia or Lo-Fi. Getting the important things out of the way leads to having a more productive day and life. Doing meaningless tasks first creates stress by leaving the important things to the last minute, so avoid, avoid, avoid!Â
Organise
Once you’ve organised your list into the most important to the least important, start to pair off tasks which can be done at the same time. Chances are you can figure out that in fact Lo-Fi was the best filter all along whilst simultaneously getting a pedicure. Save a few minutes by making phone calls while in transit between meetings, as this will create more time for you to complete the more important tasks on your list later. Bundle similar tasks together and it will help you move more fluidly between closely-related activities.
Delegate
Never be afraid to ask for help. It can show humility to ask for someone’s assistance if a certain task may be beyond you, or if they will be able to achieve it in a far timelier manner. If you ever feel overwhelmed with a certain task, asking a peer or co-worker can often be the best course of action. People are often more than willing to help if you approach them with honesty and politeness.
Remove distractions
Regardless of how good your list is or how well you’ve prioritised and organised similar tasks together. If you are constantly distracted by meaningless disruptions, all of your prior work will be in vein. My main one is to turn off pop up notifications from your social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. As nice as it is to know people loved your photo and filter choice, being notified of it every 2 minutes is going to get you off track. Put systems in place so that when you need to focus your attention on a task you can, interruption free.
Now that I’ve given you all the tips to become a pro multitasker, I’ll share with you some of my favourite apps to help organise my life. These keep me on top of my daily tasks while maintaining a healthy social life and keeping up appearances.Â
WordPress
I love all things blogging. With this app all I can easily write content for my blog, edit posts and comments, upload and post pictures from my phone and best of all it has a multitasking feature that allows you to switch between browsers while using it. Multitasking heaven!Â
Evernote
This is great for making lists, and you can record notes while performing other tasks using other apps. Unlike the generic ones that come with your phone, it lets you make several note types including text, photos and audio.Â
Invoice To Go
Such a great app. I can set up my invoice template, add a few of the client’s details and email out my invoices within minutes. It also gives me the opportunity to have all my invoices in one place come tax time, easily look at what I have earned that month and also remind me to chase up any tardy payments. Awesome!
Australian illustrator and designer Nathan Nankervis has made a name for himself amongst the creative industry as one of the next big things. He runs us through his quick-fire tips to making it as a freelancer.
1. Be patient. Work hard. Stay positive. Get your work out there.
2. Don’t rush your work. Only put out the work that you want to get back.
3. Get out from behind your computer and meet people. Be confident in yourself. Stay humble.
4. Experiment. Take risks.
5. Write your goals down. Be professional. Be organised. Write to-do lists.
6. Do self-initiated projects. Make your own clients and jobs. Teach yourself new skills.
7. Talk to other creatives. Go to exhibitions. Go to creative talks and conferences. Get feedback and opinions.
8. Back up your work. Build your creative space. Get the right equipment. Invest in your career.
9. Get yourself a website. Get on social media. Get off social media.
10. Go with your gut. Be inspired by the world around you. Be yourself. Take breaks. Have hobbies. Travel.
11. Don’t take things too seriously. Do what you love and have fun doing it.
Combining your super is also a pretty savvy thing to do, if you’ve had previous jobs. Into saving your money and streamlining your finances, you say? Whoa there, seems like we’re already talking to a freelancing pro.
Nathan Nankervis is a Melbourne-based designer and illustrator. Check out more of his awesome work on his website.
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