Looking for a new job?

It helps to know which companies are hiring.

But more than that. It helps to know which companies have lots of openings. The more employees they need, the better your chances to get the job you want at the salary you want.

With that in mind, we asked job search site Indeed.com to sift through its massive database of job openings to tell us which tech companies are in hyper-hiring mode, with thousands of openings.

No 1: Oracle has 3,868 job openings

Company: Oracle

No. of jobs open: 3,868

What it's hiring: Oracle is ramping up its workforce to push into new areas, namely cloud computing and data center hardware.

Employees rate it: 4 stars (out of 5)

Oracle is known as an employer that treats its employees well, but demands a lot from them.

"Oracle is a wonderful place to work. As long as you are flexible and open to a fast paced changing environment, you can make it work. Networking is key. Your job can change with the budget cycle. The one team approach to work is very helpful. As long as you are connected, there is always a growth opportunity," says a former employee who was a Financial Analyst

No. 2: Dell has 3,382 job openings

Company: Dell

No of jobs open: 3,382

Why it's hiring:  Dell is trying to convert itself from a PC manufacturer into a full-service, enterprise IT shop competing with the likes of IBM and HP.  It's hiring everything from consultants to storage experts to make that happen.

Employees rate it: 4 stars (out of 5)

Dell is going through some turmoil as founder Michael Dell tries take the company private.

"Great training and support. Management supports a solid work/life balance. Quotas can be tough, but manageable. Lots of relationship building required," says a former Inside Account Manager.

No. 3 Amazon has 2,911 job openings

Company: Amazon

No of jobs open: 2,911 (this excludes hourly warehouse workers)

Why it's hiring: Amazon is a huge, diverse company, between online retail, manufacturing Kindle devices and being the biggest cloud computing service around. It hires everything from buyers to data scientists.

Employees rate it: 4 stars (out of 5)

Amazon is always working on something innovative.

"I worked hard every day and was a part of a project that is making history in the security world. I worked hard right alongside other hard workers and the ones who weren't of the same caliber found themselves working elsewhere!" says a former IT Project Manager.

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Recently discharged veterans often experience confusion and worry stemming from adjusting to family life and finding a job. Transitioning isn’t easy, and landing a career in the process can add to the stress.

In the military, you can kick ass and take names, but putting that and your MOS on an application is not going to get you anywhere. Here’s what will help you land that civilian job:

1. Demilitarize your skills

Military speech is like a foreign language to most civilians; they hear what you’re saying, but they don’t understand any of it.

I recently interviewed a Navy Explosives Ordinance Disposal (EOD) specialist. During the interview, I stopped him to ask, “What does all this mean?” I realized the importance, but I requested that he speak to me as if I were a fourth grader. The request lightened the mood. After a quick laugh, he apologized, realized what he was doing and spoke in simpler terms.

Other military members would have understood that he trained IED detection teams. But I required him to slow down and tell me in plain English that he traveled all over the country preparing troops with the latest tactics in explosives detection.

His experience was important and interesting, but if I hadn’t stopped him and asked him to clarify, I probably wouldn’t have offered him the job.

Assume that hiring and interviewing managers know nothing about the military. Describe your skills and experience in simple terms, demilitarize everything, and rehearse demilitarizing your skills before the interview.

2. Write it down in plain English

What is written on your resume is just as important as, if not more important than, what you say in person. Oftentimes, your resume is the first impression you make on a hiring manager and a determining factor in whether you receive an interview in the first place.

When someone unfamiliar with the military reads a resume full of military lingo, they might pass on it since they don’t understand the qualifications. Instead of writing phrases in military speak, write something that a civilian will understand.

For example, if you were a MOS 51C in the Army, a corporate recruiter won’t know that the MOS number means a Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) in acquisition, logistics and technology contracting. When you instead tell the recruiter your actual title with detailed duties, you’ll receive a much more positive response.

An MOS number is not as likely to resonate with hiring managers as an NCO in the United States Army will. Job titles and relatable proficiencies are what recruiters are trained to look for and are what you want to display.

3. Talk up your soft skills

As a veteran, you have the advantage of being able to list not only technical skills on your resume—the job you performed and any training you received—but soft skills as well. These include leadership ability, work ethic, working well under pressure, adaptability, efficiency, self-directedness and a commitment to excellence.

These are things that every employer is looking for in a potential hire, and nearly every veteran has them. Just highlight your qualities so that they know that you have them, too.

Remember, after writing your resume, to have at least two people read it to help ensure everything is grammatically correct and the document is easily understood by civilians.

4. Show your stripes

If you earned extra stripes, awards and medals, then show them off. Prestigious awards and commendations are universally appreciated amongst recruiters. In some instances, the topics of your medals or awards may be private, and recruiters will honor that if you prefer not to talk about it. However, being able to list anything from distinguished service to good conduct can be a great addition to any resume.

Even though this can be a confusing and stressful time in your life, doing research and taking the time to translate your resume can help reduce your anxiety. Keep these things in mind, and talk to recruiters as though they have no military experience. You will open more opportunities, leading to a successful civilian career.

August Nielsen is the Human Resources Director for Veterans United Home Loans and is responsible for hiring over 1,000 employees in the past five years. Veterans United was recently named the #1 job creator nationally in the financial industry by Inc. Magazine, as well as making the Great Places to Work Top 25. Connect with August on Google+.

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It's not easy for law school grads to find work these days— especially if they didn't go to a top law school.

Even lawyers who snag fancy jobs right out of law school might be doomed. We spoke to one former lawyer who says he managed to break into the world of corporate law only to get shut out completely because of bad luck.

Our source went to law school in New York City and started scouring law firm websites for job openings after graduation. Even then, he says, there was an oversupply of lawyers, so job hunting wasn't easy. He eventually spotted the name of a former college classmate on a firm website and emailed her out of the blue.

"I was lucky," he says. Or so he thought. It was 2007, and he'd just gotten work at one of the Big Apple's so called "ALM 100" law firms working on hedge fund formation.

The first wave of layoffs hit his firm about a year into his BigLaw stint, and our source kept his job. Such massive layoffs were pretty much unprecedented for law firms, which historically were able to weather bad economic times.

The financial crisis really hammered the legal industry though — especially New York law firms that had a lot of clients on Wall Street.

Around 2008, the blog Above the Law run by ex-lawyer David Lat began reporting on every major law firm's mass layoff. Our source actually found out about the first layoff at his firm by reading Above the Law.

That's how he found out about the second wave too. (Our source kept his job again.) Eventually, though, his firm let him go through a so-called "stealth layoff," in which a firm lets people go one at a time so as not to call attention to its financial woes.

"It's less dramatic," our source says. "If you lay off 30 [people], David Lat will call you out."

After our source's stealth layoff, he was sent on his way with three months of severance pay and six figures of law school debt. He desperately wanted to find another lawyer job.

But, he says, "No one will hire you if they know you're laid off because you're tainted." He attributes this attitude to law firms once being seen as "recession-proof." If you get laid off, the logic goes, you must have been a bad lawyer.

"There's a stigma attached to layoffs that you wouldn't see in a field like finance. In finance, they understand there's a cycle," our source says.

Even though our source got a job at a prestigious firm right out of law school, he couldn't get any job as a lawyer after he got laid off. He doesn't work in the law anymore. He makes a lot less money now, and he has to work a second job that he hates.

Looking back, he says, he probably would have skipped law school. Our source went to law school in the first place because it was "intellectually challenging," he says.

"But the problem is just because something is intellectually challenging it doesn't mean you have to make a career [out of it]," our source told us. "Chess is interesting, but does that mean you should pay $100,000 to go to chess school? Obviously there isn't a huge market for professional chess players ... It's an exaggeration, but I feel like the legal industry is just as bad as the professional chess industry."

SEE ALSO: Why I Fled My Dehumanizing Corporate Law Firm And Never Looked Back

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Jeffrey Pfeffer teaches organizational behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and is the author of the fantastic book “Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t.”

I interviewed him about how power works, how you can increase your influence in the office, and the mistakes most people make when trying to get ahead.

My conversation with Jeffrey was over 45 minutes, so for brevity’s sake I’m only going to post edited highlights here.

If you want the extended interview I’ll be sending it out with my weekly newsletter on Sunday. Join here.

 ———————————————

How hard you work is not the most important thing

Jeffrey:

In order for your good performance to have any effect on your career, somebody needs to notice your good performance. And that requires probably more self-promotion than many people are comfortable with or having at least other people sing their praises.

So while job performance is significantly, in a statistical sense, related to your career success and your salary, the effect sizes tend to be relatively small.And you need to do things besides doing a good job if you want to be successful.

How do you become the kind of person who gets promoted?

Jeffrey:

First of all you need to figure out what your boss actually wants. Many people assume they know what, how they’re going to be evaluated and the criteria that other people in their organization are going to use, but unless you’re a mind reader you probably would be well served to actually check that out.  That’s number one.

Number two, you should make sure that your performance is visible to your boss and your accomplishments are visible. Your superiors in the organization have their own jobs, are managing their own careers, are busy human beings.  And you should not assume that they’re spending all their time thinking about you and worrying about you and your career.

And the third thing you need to do, which is, I think, even less obvious, is you need to build relationships with people in the organization.  Basically, people are the name of the game.  Life is really about relationships and your success in getting promoted and getting raises and getting hired, depends on the quality of the network and relationships you were able to build with a large number of other people inside your company and for that matter, outside your company.

What’s the single most important tip you would give someone on getting ahead?

Jeffrey:

Keep your boss happy.  If your boss is happy with you, everybody will be happy.  If your boss isn’t happy with you, I don’t care what else you’re doing, you’re going to have trouble.

Other than “Power”, what book should someone interested in this subject read?

Jeffrey:

Robert Cialdini’s “Influence“.

What mistake do most people make that stops them from gaining power?

Jeffrey:

They opt out of the game.  So many people, when I talk about this or people read the book or read some of the other stuff I’ve written, the response is often (and you can see this actually on some of the reviews on Amazon): “Well this is how the world is. Yes, I agree with this. I see this, I’ve seen this in my job and in my career. But, I don’t like it. I think it’s immoral. I think it’s ineffective.  I think it’s whatever, but I don’t like it and therefore I will refuse, I’m going to either ignore this and pretend it isn’t this way, or I’m going to refuse to use this information to direct my own behavior.”

There are rules of power — you need to understand them.  You don’t need to like them.  When you’ve become powerful, you can if you want, try to change them.  But that turns out to be harder than you think, because many of these things are based upon fundamental human psychology.

The number one thing I think people do that limits their effectiveness, they opt out.  They opt out by saying, this is unacceptable. They opt out by saying, I won’t do it.  They opt out in a variety of ways and therefore and thereby really limit their own careers and their own potential.

———————————————

If you want the extended interview (where Jeffrey explains the best way to build a strategic relationship with powerful people) I’ll be sending it out with my weekly newsletter on Sunday. Join here.

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Related posts:

What are the 18 secrets to giving a presentation like Steve Jobs?

What are the top five career regrets? 

Checklist: Are you doing these five things to be more effective at work?

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The halting economic recovery in the years since the Great Recession has created hardships for many American workers, but people in some areas have had it much worse than others.

While the employment conditions in some states are relatively strong, others continue to feel the effects of low wages, high inflation, unemployment and rising taxes.

For the third consecutive year, MoneyRates.com has ranked the best and worst states for making a living.

Quantitative factors used in this study include average wage and unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, cost of living data from C2ER (formerly ACCRA) and state tax information from Tax-Rates.org. This quantitative analysis was then adjusted for qualitative workplace conditions, according to each state's Workplace Environment ranking in the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index poll.

10. South Dakota

Having no state income tax is not enough to make up for an extremely low average wage -- South Dakota's is the second lowest of any state's.

That average wage is low enough to give South Dakota the 10th spot on this list for the second year in a row.

To a large extent, people in the above states may be well aware that job conditions are difficult. But a ray of hope may come from knowing that they may be able to find better conditions elsewhere -- perhaps in one of the places that made the list of 10 Best States to Make a Living.

9. Alaska

You can make a high wage with no income tax in Alaska, but you'll pay for it with a very high cost of living.

In addition, Alaska ranked near the bottom for work environment, which isn't surprising given the often-harsh conditions in the state.

8. Vermont

Vermont is actually about average in most criteria, but its downfall is a cost of living that is about 20 percent higher than the national average.

Many states with high costs of living have higher average wages to compensate for it, but Vermont does not.

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We recently brought you a list of 30 tech skills that are in big demand for jobs that pay over $100,000.

Now we've got 15 more to add to the list, from a salary survey done by Global Knowledge and TechRepublic. The research was conducted in late 2012, based on a survey of 9,500 tech professionals.

This survey asked these folks how much they earned and which IT certifications they had. That's a little different than our previous story, which was based on skills desired by employers with open jobs.

There are, obviously, other factors that contribute to pay including how many years you've got in, area of the country you live in and how many people (if any) you manage.

Those caveats aside, here are 15 more tech skills that will help land you a $100,000+ job.

1. Six Sigma, $116,987 (mean average, based on 124 responses): A method of project management and quality control popular with large enterprises.
2. Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP), $106,933 (65 responses): a business analysis certification.
3. Certified Business Intelligence Professional (CBIP), $109,943 (52 responses): a "big data" certification for analytics and data warehousing.
4. Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP), $116,863 (97 responses): advanced design skills for senior network engineers.
5. Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Routing & Switching (CCIE R&S) $132,696 (55 responses): Cisco's quintessential networking design cert.
6. CCIE Security, $168,769 (22 responses): Cisco's CCIE with an emphasis on computer security.
7. Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT), $126,355 (83 responses): trains IT professionals how to meet legal and regulatory requirements.
8. COBIT, $122,418 (73 responses): a framework for the management of enterprise IT projects.
9. Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP), $102,085 (27 responses): proves skill with Java, a popular language for Web apps.
10. Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) $144,131 (43 responses): proves advanced IT skills for deploying and managing Microsoft's server products.
11. Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Associate, $113,731 (21 responses): a cert that shows mastery of Oracle's database.
12. Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), $119,040 (53 responses): a certification for the project management system called Scrum.
13. Projects In Controlled Environments (PRINCE2), $131,850 (20 responses): an IT project management method made popular by UK government agencies.
14. Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC), $115,946 (119 responses): an IT security cert that focuses on risk management.
15. VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP) $116,602 (23 responses): an advanced cert for managing data centers that use VMware software.

SEE ALSO: 30 Tech Skills That Will Instantly Net You A $100,000+ Salary

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I grew up in a solidly middle class neighborhood of second and third generation Jewish immigrants. Our grandparents lived in enclaves like Bensonhurst and the South Bronx. Our parents moved to Queens and Long Island where they became salesmen or shop owners.

It fell to my generation to earn advanced degrees and join the professional class. We had a few lawyers, some accountants, and one or two dentists. (My best friend Billy Ebenstein and I were the only ones to become professors.) Becoming a doctor was the pinnacle of success, with prestige, guaranteed financial security, and a lifetime of professional fulfillment.

As kids, our iconic physician was Marcus Welby, the eponymous lead character of television’s top rated drama series. Dr. Welby’s world of an independent private practice, free from interference from administrators and insurers, has ended. Not coincidentally, Marcus Welby was portrayed by Robert Young, who had previously played the lead role of Jim Anderson on Father Knows Best. Our doctors were parent figures, get it?

Physicians can no longer expect to enjoy similar relationships with their patients. Even the world of Gregory House, where the practice of medicine was reduced to finding the best application of diagnostic skill and modern technology, seems a distant memory. At least Dr. House held sway over his boss, Dr. Cuddy, and he never let costs get in the way of his medical decisions. When we last saw Dr. House, he was motorcycling off into the sunset with his dying friend Dr. Wilson. House got out just in time.

In the blink of an eye, the world of medicine has changed. We are witnessing massive vertical integration as providers try to make money from ACOs. At the same time, Medicare and private insurance have gone all-in on pay-for-performance. Only they have forsaken outcomes measurement and instead given us strict process guidelines. As a result of these changes, newly minted physicians can expect to spend the bulk of their careers employed by a hospital or a large multi-specialty group practice. They will not build and maintain a practice – their employer will do that for them. And they will have little discretion over diagnostic testing and treatment plans – they will instead follow strict treatment guidelines.

As a result of these changes, I see the end of professionalism. Tomorrow’s doctors will not be in loco parentis, instead, they will be more like carpenters or electricians, applying their tradesman-like skills to blueprints laid down by others. No one will place tomorrow’s doctors on a pedestal. Parents will no longer brag to their neighbors, “Let me tell you about my son, the doctor.”

Medicine will still be a financially rewarding career path. But if money is what matters, there will be far better choices. It will still take 8-10 years to finish medical school plus residency. During that time, a bright young college graduate could have instead completed three years at a top ranked law school and taken up with a big law firm, or worked at a financial firm, gone to a top business school, and taken a job in consulting. Not only would they earn money sooner, as a lawyer or consultant, they would not have to worry about Medicare slashing their fees.

Recent increases in marginal tax rates make medicine even less attractive. College students who choose medicine may give up 8-10 years of good income, but they could reasonably expect to make even more money once they finish their residencies. The net present value of a medical degree just might be worthwhile. Yet if you combine new federal marginal income tax rates that approach 45 percent with state income tax rates that often exceed 5 percent, then the net present value calculations do not look so good. Many college students will be wondering why they should give up a solid, steady income today in for a higher income as a doctor in the future, when the government is going to take over half of that higher income.

When I grew up, I was always told that medicine was a “calling.” Perhaps it was, though the money didn’t hurt. I don’t know how many young people will be “called” to become technicians. But technicians they will be. And with no real financial argument to support the choice, I wonder why anyone would choose to become a doctor.

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I limped out of the meeting and said, “excuse me”, and took the elevator down 67 stories, went to Grand Central, limped home, and never went back to work at that job.

I never returned the constant phone calls and emails over the next month. “James, where did you go?”

For all I know my name is still on my office door and my name is still on their website. I’ve never checked.

I just didn’t feel like going back or talking to them ever again.

A few days earlier I had discussed with the managing partner how I would get paid if I brought in a huge deal. He smiled and said, “Trust me, James, I always take care of everyone.”

When someone says “trust me” or “I will make you rich” then I know general fuckness will result.

The other thing that happened,spooked me. I was walking with a few of my “colleagues” to lunch at some crap sandwich place on Wall Street. Suddenly I was on the ground. I had fallen straight down for no reason. I limped for the next three weeks.

So my body told me to quit also. I try to listen to my body. Else I can’t sleep or crap or move properly. In this case, my body didn’t even want me to walk.

Whenever things are good I always worry about what could go wrong.

And whenever things are bad it always seems like they will never get better. It’s not depression. It’s how the human brain works after one million years of avoiding predators. 

Every day I try to practice reversing that. I do that by listening to the body, the mind, being grateful, being around positive people, sleeping a lot, eating well.

But having a job and being controlled by Masters ruins the practice.

Some new study just came out and said more than 50% of people hate their jobs, for the first time ever.

What? For the first time ever? I doubt that.

Someone on quora asked me: why do people hate their jobs? I answered: 

Note, not everyone hates their jobs. There are some “entre-ployees” out there that love their jobs. But for the other 98% of the population:

- Jobs are modern-day slavery. We are paid just enough to live and not more. You are punished if you ask for more.

- We are often verbally abused on the job and we take it because we think it’s normal that people would yell at us.

- The government gets up to 50% of your paycheck and then 10-20% of that goes to kill people on other parts of the planet, including our own children.

- We are deluded into thinking our job-friends are our real-friends. With our job friends we talk about pens, genitals, and cubicles. We stop having real-friends.

- There’s a glass ceiling. It doesn’t matter if you are a woman or minority or a white man. The glass ceiling is that you aren’t allowed to make more than your Master, even if he’s an idiot.

- From 7am to 7pm you are either A) going to work, B) at work, or C) coming back from work. Hence, the times when you can be most creative are garbage-compacted into your cubicle.

- You eat shit at work. And, even worse, you have to shit next to your co-workers and Masters. Unless, like I have, you make a map of all the secret bathrooms in your local urban blight.

- When you are paranoid at a job, you are probably correct. THEY are, in fact, talking about you and backstabbing you right now.

- You realize that all the dollars you spent on degrees to get you a job that will make you happy were completely wasted. You were scammed but you can’t let the next generation know how stupid you were so now you become part of perpetuating the scam.

- A trillion dollar marketing campaign forced you to buy a house you didn’t really want and now you will “lose a house” you never really owned if you don’t bow down to the Masters every day. The words “The American Dream” were coined by Fannie Mae in a marketing campaign 40 years ago to sell mortgages to slaves.

- Your spouse is tired of hearing about your job after six months. And you couldn’t care less about hers. Ten years later you wake up next to a total stranger. 40 years later you die next to one.

- Your IRA was not intended to provide for your retirement. It was intended to take money from you every month so you remain chained to your cubicle. Inflation then takes 90% of your IRA.

- When you were a kid you liked to draw, and read, and run, and laugh, and play, and imagine a magical world. You’re never going to do any of that again.

- Over time everyone is getting fired and being replaced by younger, cheaper, more temporary, more robotic, versions of you. You see this but are afraid to do anything about it.

- You see homeless people and think, “there but for the grace of God go I”.

This is not meant to be depressing. Nor does it mean everyone hates their jobs. There are many ways to be an “entre-ployee” where you don’t have the standard job. To be clear: There are more opportunities than ever. But you have to prepare the body and mind and spirit to find those opportunities.

Then you take the magic pill and the tears of dirt wipe away. Come here, pretty baby, and let me hug you.

—–

[On June 1, I'm releasing a book, "Choose Yourself!" about how to avoid the whole job thing.  Please join my email list and I will update with special material or offers or whatever. It will be fun. Also, if you can think of more reasons people hate their jobs, please put them in the comments]

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Middle class wages, over all, have been pretty stagnant for over a decade. But not everyone's wages have stagnated.

In fact, some people have seen their salaries rise at a rosy clip, while many others have actually become poorer.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis has tracked average full-time income by industry since 1998, with the latest numbers from 2011.

While the average income across industries (which includes employer-provided benefits) has increased by $5,700 in that period, workers in certain occupations have seen their pocketbooks shrink.

7. Lumber/Wood: Makers of wood products have seen an average raise of just $12.50.

Income in wood manufacturing has actually increased substantially over the 13-year time period. But those spoils have not been evenly shared.

While computer-makers have seen their real incomes rise by $24,000 between 1998 and 2011, makers of wood products, like lumber, plywood, wood flooring, cabinets, and manufactured homes, have seen an average raise of just $12.50, from $39,201 in 1998 to $39,214 today.

Income (1998-2011): Up just $12.50.

Why stagnant wages: Wood product manufacturing is closely tied to the construction industry, which is closely tied to how much money people have to build and renovate homes. Since the economy has been fairly weak since the early 2000s, and the housing bubble exploded into a bloody chasm in 2007, it makes sense that the wood makers of America didn't get rich in the last decade.

6. Movies And Music: Incomes in the industry jump around but on average are down $26.

Workers in the motion picture and sound recording industry are the highest-earners on this list, with an annual income of $74,201 in 2011.

It's also an industry with a particularly large range of salaries, points out Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute. "I'm sure a lot of those jobs are not fancy Hollywood jobs," she said. "The camera crews, that's a lot of people."

Income drop (1998-2011): Down $26

Why stagnant wages: Predictably, wages dropped in the recession, but they also hit their highest on record in 2010, Average incomes in the industry jump around. One actress lands a $20 million job, or a blockbuster shoots the moon, and the whole thing seems to swing out of whack.

5. Retail: Average wages fell $1,311 from 1998 to 2011.

Retail workers don't make much anyway. In 1998, their average income in 2011 dollars was $33,913, but that factors in all the higher-earning managers.

Income drop (1998-2011): $1,311. "Other retail" (a separate category) saw an income drop of $950.

Why stagnant wages: According to Shierholz, this is because low-wage worker salaries are closely tied to the unemployment rate. "A low unemployment rate brings a lot more bargaining power to low-wage workers," Shierholz explains, and while the late '90s saw very low unemployment, the job market since then has been "weak, weak, weak, weak."

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When I was 18 I went to college and went about $50,000 in debt. Why would an 18 year old do that to themselves?

I majored in computer science. 8 years later when I got a real job they made me take remedial programming classes after I crashed everyone’s email and trashed the network.

When I was 21 I went to graduate school and got thrown out less than two years later.

They told me when I was “mature” enough I could come back. I don’t know. Maybe one day they will let me back.

When I was 22 – 27 I wrote a bunch of novels and dozens of short stories. All of them were rejected by 40 publishers and probably most of my friends hated them but were embarrassed to tell me.

When I was 24 I was the 8th employee at Fore Systems. I made a game, “Missile Command” to demo their product. Then I quit by walking out one day (hitchhiking) and never returning. A year later they went public and employees 1-50 became multi-millionaires.

Between the ages of 20 and 30, 10 women broke up with me. I don’t think I broke up with any of them. One of those ten is Facebook friends with me. Two are dead.

When I was 30 I sold my first company to a company that eventually went bankrupt.

When I was 30-31 I spent 365 days straight playing poker without spending more time on my family, on health, on creativity, on positive things.

When I was 32, at the height of the dot-com boom, I started a venture capital fund. I invested millions of dollars in dot-com companies and lost it all. From peak to low in 2000-2002, $15mm cash to $0 and losing my house. I had to start from less than scratch (I owed taxes after hitting $0).

When I was 32 I started a company which raised about $100 million. Lost it.

When I was 34 I hung up the phone on my dad in an argument and never returned his calls. Six months later he had a stroke and died. A week before that he had emailed me to say hello but I didn’t return the email. I’m sorry, Dad.

Nobody in my extended family speaks to me anymore.

When I was 36 I started a fund of hedge funds. I turned over every rock on Wall Street to find something good to invest in. There was was nothing good to invest in. All of Wall Street is a scam. Capitalism is good but Wall Street is a scam. When I was 38 I shut down the fund of hedge funds. 10 of the funds I invested in were probably scams. There was nothing to invest in.

When I was 39 I bought a house at the top of the housing market. Then I got a divorce. Then the stock market crashed. Lost a house, a family, and all my money. Again.

When I was 39 I started a company I still believe in but I was so depressed I let it just disappear.

When I was 39 I started yet another hedge fund. This one lasted for two months before I shut it down.

When I was 40 I started a company I didn’t believe in and wasted $40,000 trying to build it.

Someone said to me the other day, “it’s good to make lemonade out of lemons”.

I hate lemonade.

When I was 18 I didn’t know what the outcomes of things were. I still don’t. I can’t say “bad” or “good” on any one event. Who knows?

My early 40s got a little worse. Then a lot worse.

But then they got better. A lot better. A whole lot better.
I’m glad everything happened. I’m very grateful.

I wouldn’t change a thing.

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Model Karlie Kloss recently caused controversy when she cut her long hair short just two days before her runway debut as a Victoria's Secret angel.

Despite her career currently picking up steam, Kloss continued to anger Victoria's Secret fans when she kept the shorter 'do for a recent ad campaign.

And you know what happens when you upset Victoria's Secret fans? You get ousted, like Miranda Kerr reportedly just was for becoming too big for the brand.

As these 15 celebrities examples show, a star's hairstyle correlates strongly to their success. 

From cancelled television shows to bringing down a pop star, check out the power of a hairstyle. 

Reese Witherspoon went from "Legally Blonde" to legal trouble.

Reese Witherspoon dyed her signature blonde hair brown for her role as an American woman who takes in a Sudanese refugee in the upcoming film "The Good Lie."

But while shooting the movie in Atlanta last week, Witherspoon was arrested for disorderly conduct after her husband Jim Toth was given a DUI.

After pulling the "you don't know who I am?" card, the 37-year-old mother of three released a statement saying she "had one drink too many" and is "embarrassed about the things I said."

Miley Cyrus cut her hair and reportedly postponed her wedding.

After Miley Cyrus tweeted photos of her new haircut, in which part of her head was shaved, fans and foes were quick to disapprove. 

Cyrus blew off her haters, tweeting "if you don’t have something nice to say don’t say anything at all ... Never felt more me in my whole life. LOVE my hair. feel so happy, pretty, and free.”

But since Cyrus' haircut last August, her relationship with fiancé Liam Hemsworth is reportedly on the rocks, in part because she says "I have pushed everyone away for music."

Lindsay Lohan dyed her natural ginger locks blonde and became known as a Hollywood party girl.

After starring in box office hits "Mean Girls" and "Freaky Friday"with red hair, Lindsay Lohan was one of the most sought-after actresses in the world. 

But shortly after she dyed her red hair bleach blonde and lost a ton of weight, Lohan started to be seen in a different light. 

Today, she's often associated with partying more so than acting.

This summer she's expected to check into a rehab facility for a 90-day court ordered stay.

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Following an internship, I worked as an analyst with Rothschild's investment banking team in Singapore for two and a half years. During this time, I worked with a newly arrived director from our Frankfurt office to set up transport industry coverage in Asia and also spent time in Shanghai with a newly created PE fund that was partially financed by Rothschild.

I would like to note clearly here that if you are going to pursue IBD, I believe Rothschild is a particularly good firm to join in terms of culture and quality of your career - relative to peers. I genuinely appreciate the opportunities I had at Rothschild. This posting is more directed at what I (and presumably others) really desire in their lives, which is to create something themselves.

---- Lack of equity in my work at the investment bank ----

As early as my original internship, I noticed that people in the bank did not seem particularly happy with their lives, but at the time I thought "work is work" and continued on to the full time role.

The unpleasant aspects of investment banking have been covered at great length and at great frequency on these pages. I agree that these aspects are significant and numerous. One particular problem I had was that I was being lead to work every day and every night, through public holidays and through sick and health. Sometimes I had so much work that I was actually afraid of the work - I would become very stressed and find myself eagerly figuring out the next time I could catch some sleep. However, I did not dislike the hours as much as I disliked the dynamics of the work.

When you are an employee, work is pushed to you. You tend to want to avoid work, because every marginal work that is assigned to you does not usually lead to marginal income and it is not really your choice to do it or not do it in any case. Even in IBD, where bonuses can be substantial, you still do not feel that the work is closely tied to compensation, and even if you have had a great year, your bonus is tied to the performance of the whole team and other factors. During my second year, I was benchmarked as #2 analyst in SE Asia, but my bonus was significantly less than the average bonus during the year when I was an intern because, as a whole, the region (and I think almost all investment banks, globally) was not doing as well. It is difficult to feel that working an extra weekend really added to my bonus at the end of the year.

Sometimes it feels like it is in the interest of the employer to get you to work as much as possible, while it is your interest to go home a bit earlier, take weekends off, etc. Last weekend when your MD gave you another pitch book to do, he didn't throw another $1,000 your way, for example.

However, my problem was not actually the quantity of work. My problem was the feeling of the work being pushed to me and that I was not building anything, genuinely, myself - I was working so hard, but I did not feel equity in the work.

While some people complain about work travel, I actually liked it a lot. I took every opportunity to travel, specifically requesting that I go on different client trips, and I ending up spending the majority of my time away from the office in countries all around Asia.

---- About Rickshaw ----

On a trip to Tokyo, I was shocked at how expensive taxis were. One of my taxis was over US$100, even though it did not seem particularly lengthy, and even really short trips were US$30+. I kept thinking that surely other people driving around would have been happy to provide the ride for an alternative price.

I then thought of what is now Rickshaw, a mobile app where people who have a car and some free time can bid on rides in their community. Using Rickshaw, passengers can see the estimated cost of a local taxi company (which they can call if they want, right from the app) and compare it with different bids from nearby drivers. For example, a passenger in Chicago might see that a local taxi would cost $20, while Brian who has a 5 star rating and drives a 2007 BMW 330i is 6 minutes away and is offering the ride for $18. Meanwhile, Sarah who has a 4 star rating and drives a 2005 VW Passat is 4 minutes away and is offering the ride for $16.

After accepting a bid, the passenger and driver can send messages, call, or track the GPS location of the other party, so they can figure out which of the 10 convention center exits they should actually meet at. Passengers can pay for the ride either with cash in person or online seamlessly through credit card.

While I thought of it after taking a shockingly expensive taxi in Tokyo, Rickshaw offers value even in places like Guangzhou, China, where taxis are cheap, but often difficult to find, and where "black taxi" (unofficial taxi) drivers offer outrageous prices to passengers who are unaware of how much a local taxi actually costs. In a city like Guangzhou, you might see that a local taxi costs RMB 30.00, but you would feel very lucky if you could ever catch one on a rainy friday night. You might then see a bid for RMB 50.00. While the bid might actually be higher than the official (very low) price, at least on Rickshaw both driver and passenger are aware of the difference and the passenger can make his own informed decision.

Rickshaw is now available on Android and iPhone and can be downloaded here:
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....
iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rickshaw/id634023105?ls=1&mt=8

At the moment, we are only supporting USD transactions, but we expect to roll out four additional languages (Spanish, French, German, Polish) as well as 21 additional currencies as soon as next week. Our entirely proprietary database of nearly 1,000 local taxi company pricing formulas covers North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

To find out more, take a look at our website: http://www.RickshawApp.com/

---- My life since resigning ----

After resigning, I took a month of vacation to resettle myself and then relocated from Singapore to Hong Kong to join my girlfriend, who had already been living in HK for 2 years. Unexpectedly, I actually work longer hours now than I did when I was at Rothschild, but the feeling is totally different.

The first thing I think about when I wake up, and the last thing I think about when I go to sleep is Rickshaw. When I take a shower, I think about Rickshaw. When am grocery shopping, I think about Rickshaw. I am constantly working. I work through the holidays and I work through weekends, but it doesn't feel like "work" because I am the one who is pushing myself and I am so keen to build a great product and user experience.

For the rest of this piece head to Wall Street Oasis>

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It's the time of year when college seniors around the country say goodbye to their carefree childhood and get ready to join the real world.

And if that real world is going to be Wall Street, they're about to experience a totally new way of life — long hours, intense bosses, hard work etc.

But they know that. No one makes it to Wall Street blind.

There are some things, however, that aren't obvious before you start the job. That's why we asked some current and former Wall Streeters what they wish they had known on day one.

It's coming.

Attitude is 80% your first year.

You don't know anything yet, so your boss is going to want you to be happy and engaged go-getter/team player more than anything else.

Male, 26, private equity.

Don't get sucked into the salary.

Banking pays well at first, but you may want to take a medium term pay cut after a while to take your skills to another industry where, in the long term, you can make more money and be happier.

Maybe you want to be the COO of a company in an industry you really love, for example.

Male, 28, former Goldman Sachs employee

Get a black belt in accounting.

You can learn all the capital markets things (M&A, arbitrage, derivatives)  you need for Wall Street as an apprentice. Accounting requires classroom time, so learn the basics in school if you can. It will help you with everything you do on The Street.

Male, 41, portfolio manager.

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This is part of our series, "50 Women Who Are Changing The World." Amy Cuddy ranked #37.

Everyone talks about the importance of "body language," but few people understand how much of an impact it actually has--not just in the way others perceive us, but in terms of how we actually perform.

Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy gave a great presentation at TED last summer about this.

Certain "power poses" don't just change how others perceive you, Professor Cuddy says. They immediately change your body chemistry.

And these changes affect the way you do your job and interact with other people.

Professor Cuddy concluded her talk with a startling revelation about herself, one that led her to choke up momentarily. Then the talk ended in a standing ovation.

The full video (21 minutes) is available here and at the end of the slides.

I've pulled together Professor Cuddy's key points below.

Amy Cuddy is a social psychologist and professor at Harvard Business School.

Professor Cuddy studies "body language"--the non-verbal communication that can tell us almost everything about what is going on in a given situation.

Small gestures reveal glimpses of character and shape perceptions about how people are perceived. Here, President Obama shakes the hand of a British policeman while entering the Prime Minister's house on Downing Street.

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Getting a summer job is a rite of passage for many young people. In addition to earning wages to help pay for tuition or make car payments, it's where many first-time employees learn the fundamentals of work -- showing up on time, teamwork, communicating effectively, managing workloads and more. But summer jobs can also be fun, giving teenagers an opportunity to bond and hang out with a group of people beyond their schools and neighborhoods.

In recent years, because of the recession and subsequent slow recovery in the labor market, summer jobs have been hard to come by for many teenagers. This year, many economic indicators point to an improved job market, suggesting that high school and college students looking for work this summer may have an easier time of it.

To help with the search, AOL Jobs has compiled a list of eight best-paying summer jobs -- nearly all of which require little if any previous job experience. All of the jobs pay more than the current federal minimum wage -- $7.25 an hour (though, depending on where you live, the minimum wage may be higher).

What's more, forecasts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that many of these jobs are fast growing, meaning employers likely need to fill lots of positions. Take a look at the list, and then tell us what you think in the comments section below -- and offer suggestions of your own.

--------

Food Server (take orders and serve food and beverages to customers in dining establishments):

• 2010 Median Pay: $18,330, or $8.81 an hour.*
• Work Experience: None.
• Education and Training: Less than high school; short-term on-the-job training.
• Number of Jobs: 2.26 million.
• Employment Change (through 2020): +195,900 jobs, or 9 percent growth (slower than average).

Find a job as a food server.

Lifeguard (ensures the safety of swimmers at pools, beaches and parks):

• 2011 Median Pay: $18,900, or $9.09 an hour.**
• Work Experience: None.
• Education and Training: Less than high school; American Red Cross Lifeguard certification is required and can be taken at age 15.
• Number of Jobs: 122,000.
• Employment Change (through 2020): +23,180 jobs, or 19 percent growth (average).

Find a job as a lifeguard.

Babysitter (cares for basic needs of children, such as bathing and feeding; may help older children with homework):

• 2010 Median Pay: $19,300, or $9.28 an hour.*
• Work Experience: None.
• Education and Training: Ranges from less than a high school diploma to early childhood education certification, depending on employer and locality.
• Number of Jobs: 1.28 million.
• Employment Change (through 2020): +262,000 jobs, or 20 percent growth (faster than average).

Find a job as a babysitter.

Housekeeper (perform general cleaning tasks, including making beds and vacuuming floors in private homes, hotels and other commercial establishments):

• 2010 Median Pay: $19,300, or $9.28 an hour.*
• Work Experience: None.
• Education and Training: Less than high school; short-term on-the-job training.
• Number of Jobs: 1.43 million.
• Employment Change (through 2020): +111,600 jobs, or 8 percent growth (slower than average).

Find a job as a housekeeper.

Home Health or Personal Care Aide (helps older adults or people who are disabled, chronically ill or mentally impaired with activities such as bathing and dressing; performs light housekeeping):

• 2010 Median Pay: $20,170, or $9.70 an hour.*
• Work Experience: None.
• Education and Training: Less than high school; short-term on-the-job training.
• Number of Jobs: 1.88 million.
• Employment Change (through 2020): +1.3 million jobs, or 70 percent growth (much faster than average).

Find a job as a home health or personal care aide.

Retail Sales Clerk (assists with store operations, helps consumers find products and processes customers' payments):

• 2010 Median Pay: $20,990, or $10.09 an hour.*
• Work Experience: None.
• Education and Training: Less than high school; short- to moderate-term on-the-job training.
• Number of Jobs: 4.47 million.
• Employment Change (through 2020): +739,400 jobs, or 17 percent growth (average).

Find a job as a Retail Sales Clerk.

Product Merchandiser (stocks store shelves, takes inventory and hands out product samples to customers):

• 2011 Median Pay: $23,110, or $11.11 an hour.**
• Work Experience: None.
• Education and Training: High school diploma; short-term on-the-job training.
• Number of Jobs: 90,100.
• Employment Change (through 2020): +15,800 jobs, or 18 percent growth (average).

Find a job as an product merchandiser.

Pharmacy Technician (assists licensed pharmacists in dispensing prescription medications):

• 2010 Median Pay: $28,400, or $13.65 an hour.*
• Work Experience: None.
• Education and Training: High school diploma or equivalent; moderate-term on-the-job training.
• Number of Jobs: 334,000.
• Employment Change (through 2020): +108,300 jobs, or 32 percent growth (much faster than average).

Find a job as a pharmacy technician.

*Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook
**Source: ONet OnLine

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Shorten it to Bill, Bob, Marc or a Cindy, if you want to work in the executive suite.

That’s the message from a new study by TheLadders, an online job matching site, which says every extra letter in a person’s first name may reduce her annual salary by $3,600.

Since short and sweet may equal a bigger salary, the Christophers of the world who want to raise their net worths may want to change their professional designation to Chris, TheLadders’ Amanda Augustine said. That may work well for those who go from Michelle to Michele.

TheLadders tested 24 pairs of names—Steve and Stephen, Bill and William, and Sara and Sarah, and in all but one case those with shorter names earned higher pay.  (The exception: Larry and Lawrence, where the longer moniker made more money.) Its research is based on finding a linear trend in data from 6 million members, with 3.4% of them in CEO or other C-level jobs.

It found that eight of the 10 top names for male C-suite jobs had three letters or fewer, and that that group earned on average 10% more than others in similar jobs. The most popular names: Bob, Lawrence and Bill.

For a CEO, going with a nickname may make you more approachable and “more human,” said John L. Cotton, a professor of management at Marquette University who has studied the perception of names in hiring. “They can be overly impressive, overly intimidating” and a nickname may reduce that.

Though Cotton said he’s somewhat suspicious of TheLadders findings since it’s not a “typical sample.”

“I don’t think you can pick a name to get more money, but you can pick a name to get less money,” he said. Unusual names such as Apple or Moonbeam and names that sound African American such as Tyronne, Jamal and Latoya were not viewed as positively in the Marquette professors research compared to more common names like John and Susan.

In 2011, LinkedIn reported that  American CEOs do often have short names, or nicknames like Peter, Jack or Tony. Elsewhere longer names landed the power position and paychecks: in Europe Wolfgang, Xavier and Charles were among top CEO names and Roberto and Rajiv made the final decisions in Brazil and India. TheLadders’ research is based on US members, though many of them come from all over the world, a spokeswoman said.

More from Quartz:

• Why Adobe's move to the cloud is a future victory for Apple

• Green lifestyle choices won't change anything about our dependence on fossil fuels

• Evan Williams: Big companies can't accommodate big ideas

Click here to sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief and start your day with the latest intelligence on the new global economy.

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Ten years ago, entrepreneur Reid Hoffman had a vision for a website that could help create and foster important business connections among professionals.
He co-founded a site called LinkedIn with the tag line "Relationships matter."

The social media giant, with 225 million members in 200 countries, celebrated its 10th anniversary yesterday. "Our vision at LinkedIn is to create economic opportunity for every professional in the world," Hoffman wrote in a blog post noting the company's anniversary.

In honor of LinkedIn's milestone, we've compiled the following tips to help business owners get the most out of the professional online network:

1. Communicate the important details of your business right away.

When filling out your company's profile, be sure to say exactly what your company is, who your clients are and how you help them. The idea is to make it as quick and easy for customers to know -- right up front -- what you offer and why they should contact you. And be sure that your profile headline and photo reflect your company and project professionalism. More: 7 Tips For Building a 'Power Network' on LinkedIn 

2. Share interesting, engaging information.

One way to boost engagement among your connections is to get them talking about relevant and timely news in your industry. You can do this by sharing links to interesting stories and asking questions about the posts you share. More: What You Can Learn From Disney, CNBC and Adobe About Creating a Great LinkedIn Page

3. Include a call to action.

An important goal with online networking is to convert connections into paying customers. One way to do this on LinkedIn is to create a unique "call to action." Instead of simply filling in LinkedIn's generic "my website" or "my blog" links on your profile page, take the extra step and tell visitors to click on your links. For instance, write: "Click here to (insert your product or service here)."More: 7 Ways LinkedIn Can Drive More Traffic to Your Website

4. Create and participate in groups.

Not only can creating and managing a group of your own provide you with a level of credibility, it can allow you to expand your network to reach targeted and influential individuals in your field. Research topics of interest within your industry and choose the top two or three as the basis for your group. More: Starting a LinkedIn Group to Grow Your Network

5. Showcase your products.

Be sure to fill out the "Products and Services" section of your company page. Not only is this your opportunity to explain what you offer in a compelling way, individuals can recommend and share the products you list, becoming ambassadors for your brand. More: What You Can Learn From Disney, CNBC and Adobe About Creating a Great LinkedIn Page

6. Send targeted messages.

Accessible from a LinkedIn Company Page, targeted status updates can be an effective way for business owners to tailor the content in their status updates to specific types of company followers. This helps ensure the right people are reading the most relevant messages from you at the right time. More: 5 Underutilized LinkedIn Marketing Tools

7. Encourage employees to be on LinkedIn, too.

One easy way to expand your company's networking base is to encourage your employees to create and actively use LinkedIn profiles of their own. By connecting with your employees, you open your own network to their pool of second-degree connections -- who can be valuable customers and clients you weren't connected with before. More: 10 Mistakes Your Business Might Be Making on LinkedIn

8. Optimize your profile for search.

With hundreds of millions of people searching LinkedIn, you want your company's profile to stand out. When crafting your profile language, be sure to include keywords that are related to your business and industry to help improve the chances of your name appearing in LinkedIn's internal search results. Think of these keywords as the words a potential client would type in when searching LinkedIn. More: LinkedIn SEO: How to Increase the Visibility of Your Business Profile

9. Avoid buzzwords.

If you've described your startup as "creative,""effective" or "innovative," you might want to consider using a different adjective. Clichés won't help your profile stand out and might not accurately convey your professional identity on the site. More: The 10 Most Overused Buzzwords on LinkedIn

10. Get endorsements and recommendations.

These are your customer testimonials on LinkedIn. You can ask customers to give you written recommendations or to simply endorse your company for its skills or expertise. It's important to endorse others first and avoid sending a mass email to everyone in your network asking for an endorsement, which can be a turn off. Instead, try segmenting your network into different lists and writing a more personal note to a specific group. More: 3 Tips for Using LinkedIn's New 'Endorsements'

Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226583#ixzz2SiIf1d7G

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We’re all talking about the “jobs of the future” and “winning the future” and transitioning to a “knowledge economy.” Since predictions are hard, especially about the future, it’s a good idea to look at some data.

And it looks like we have some of it: the BLS has a handy chart of the fastest-growing jobs in America (h/t Erica Grieder), and the vast majority are not the “knowledge economy” jobs we usually think of. In fact, this chart seems to prove things that we already know: the rising importance of the healthcare sector to the economy (especially with an aging population) and the transition of the economy to services, where “services” is not a euphemism for “computers” but, like, actual services.

So the list has your odd “Biomedical Engineers” (fancy!) and, at the bottom, your “Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists” (sorry epidemiologists!), but the vast majority of jobs are jobs like “Home Health Aides” and “Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers.”

A key point here: The jobs of the future are only “low skilled” if you define “low skilled” as not requiring college. Being a good carpenter (56% growth, Jesus is still with us) or, for that matter, a good medical secretary (41% growth), takes smarts (actual smarts, not just book smarts), hard work, and dedication.

Relatedly, the jobs of the future will be high-paying.It’s simply not true that all high-paying jobs require a college degree. It’s very very possible to make a very good living as a tradesman, because good tradesmen are–and always will be, unlike Fortran programmers and data entry clerks–in high demand.

“Helpers–Brickmasons, Blockmasons, Stonemasons, and Tile and Marble Setters” sounds like bottom-of-the-barrel work, but follow someone like Samuel-James Wilson, an award-winning bricklayer, on Twitter, or visit Guédelon Castle where contemporary tradesmen are building a 13th century castle with 13th century tools, to see that being a good bricklayer is as hard as being a good lawyer. Obviously I’ve been influenced by Shop Class as Soulcraft, which should be required reading for any discussion of the future of work and education.

And finally – and this is perhaps the most important thing – some jobs of the future only “require” college because we’re very dumb. Very few of those occupations require college in the sense that 90+% of people who pursue that occupation will benefit from having learned about it in college. But my guess would be that more than a few of these occupations “require” college in the sense that employers expect that applicants will have a BA. And this is our problem.  A “Diagnostic Medical Sonographer” is a highly-skilled job that doesn’t require college training in the sense that you can learn everything you need to do the job in a manner of months. But many colleges offer programs to help you become a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer. And when you compare unemployment rates for college graduates and non-college graduates, you see why someone might want to go to college to become a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer even if it means taking on huge, unnecessary debt. And once there are enough college graduates who can become Diagnostic Medical Sonographers, you can see why employers would rationally toss out of the pile any resumes that don’t have a college degree on them.

This is something that we urgently need to fix, because we’re wasting ginormous amounts of money, time, and resources. The first step is to recognize what the actual jobs of the future are.

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Most people claim to want success. But not everyone is willing to do the hard work and the smart work to get there. Often opportunities present themselves and because people are distracted, they miss them or give up on them before things fully develop.

Truly successful people don't leave much to chance. They are disciplined and focused.  They constantly seek new methods to achieve more, in bigger and faster ways. Listed below are eight different practices that will help you concentrate your efforts on rising above the tide.

1. Make Materialism Irrelevant

Fancy cars and houses are all well and good, but many foolishly focus on the byproducts of success, rather than concentrating on building sustainable success in the first place. Establish a bare minimum for your material needs, and then you can enjoy the benefits of success, debt- and stress-free.

2. Enhance Knowledge

Success comes faster to those who are open, active learners. The higher up the success ladder you climb, the more complex the systems and opportunities that are presented to you. Absorb all the information you can and if you sense a gap you can't fill, connect with people who have the knowledge you need.

3. Manage Relationship Expectations

People in your life require time. Successful individuals attract folks, and so they have to carefully regulate the time they can spend with others. It's hard to limit the time you share and still make people feel important. Make choices about the people who matter to you and determine how you each can get value from your interactions. Then make sure they understand your limitations so they don't take it personally when you can't be present.

4. Practice Emotional Self-Awareness

Not all successful people are calm and nice. In fact, many can be volatile. But most are very aware of their tempers and idiosyncrasies. They know how to use their emotions to get what they want from life and work hard to make sure feelings don't become a detriment. Know yourself and learn how to let your emotions work for you in positive ways.

5. Commit to a Physical Ideal 

Everyone has a vision of their own perfect body. They don't have to be fashion models or athletes to be happy. But physical health is a consideration in their life and it's a big distraction when it gets out of whack. Determine the body you believe is worth working for and set a game plan to achieve and maintain it.

6. Gain Clarity About Spirituality

There are many highly successful people like Richard Branson and Warren Buffett who don't consider religion to be important or relevant. But they have a clear point of view as to the role spirituality plays in their life. Find your own way to be at one with the universe and be clear and deliberate in how you practice.

7. Adhere to a Code of Ethics  

Really successful people live by rules. Those may not be the rules of others, but consistency is important for them to maintain power and stability. Their individual view of how the world works is the basis for how they believe people should be treated and they will defend it until their dying day. Determine your ethical lines and broadcast them loud and clear so people around you know where you stand.

8. Focus on Time Efficiency

Prioritization is a key component of success. You can't reach your pinnacle if you are wasting time on distractions. Integration of activities frees up time for greater achievement. Spend your time on activities that are fun, enlightening and productive and soon you'll have gained hours to reap the benefits of success.

Ultimately, really successful people live their lives by design instead of default, so if you want to be one of them, dedicate time and effort to determining the plan for your preferred future and execute that plan in a focused and consistent manner.

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In 2010, college student Chris Pilny ditched his plan to go to dental school and got a job at Victoria's Secret. 

His life had hit rock bottom after his girlfriend dumped him.

"Desperate to regain my swagger, I decided I needed to study women, to go somewhere I could immerse myself in them," Pilny said. 

So Pilny filled out an application and became one of the very few men to work retail at the lingerie powerhouse (more than 90% of Victoria's Secret employees are women). He worked there for more than a year, learning the ins-and-outs of women's underwear. 

We asked Pilny, who now works as a writer and humorist, about what it's like for a straight man to work at Victoria's Secret. 

SEE ALSO: Meet The Gorgeous Model Who Could Take Miranda Kerr's Place At Victoria's Secret >

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