1. It is 50 times harder to get a job if you don't have one. Always stay at your job, until you get a signed job offer from another company or agency.

2. There is no such thing as a "Permanent Job." Companies sell themselves, shut down, merge, down-size, restructure, fire managers, fail to be competitive, mis-judge the marketplace, ignore the customers, pay too much attention to one customer, promise things they can't deliver, try to sell the same old thing over and over, and so on. No wonder jobs aren't permanent. So, why not make temporary, "non-captive" employment a way of life, and get a huge pay raise now, get paid for overtime, move around, learn more, keep your skills up to date, meet more people in your industry, get recognition for your skill-set, never get bored, eventually end up with your own business, and if you want to, run it out of your house?

3. Companies killed "Company Loyalty." Employees always try to remain loyal, to the very end. But, when the going gets rough, most companies lay off their hard working employees, to protect their million dollar bank accounts. Why do they bogart so much of the profit? Non-captive employees are equally as loyal, and will stay through hell or high-water to see a project through. The difference is that non-captive employment is designed to protect the clients million dollar bank accounts, on purpose.

4. Whoever invented Free Overtime for salaried employees should be arrested for one of the biggest crimes against humanity! The national average indicates that salaried captive employees work 49 hours a week, and only get paid for 40. Now I don't know about you, but doesn't 468 hours a year sound excessive (9*52=468)? That's equivalent to 11.7 weeks, per year, without pay! Do highly paid corporate managers know how to do planning, or are they always 18% low on estimates? Believe me, they know exactly what they are doing. They are getting you to work for free, on purpose! Schedule overruns are no accident. That's why every single project is late! Management moves in the due date by 20% to 50%, when they start a new project. Then they throw in their laziness and forget to support the project, to boot. Who suffers? You, your spouse, and your kids. Non-captive employees, on the other hand, get paid for every minute that they work. Instead of an 18% loss, it's a 36% pay raise!

5. Stock Options are a miserable reward system, for captive employees. Stock options are usually given to salaried employees. These options aren't fully owned until they are "vested," which usually takes 3 to 5 years. This is how companies trick employees into taking a lower salary in the beginning, and then trick them into staying at the company, until their stock is fully vested. We call this technique "Wearing the Golden Handcuffs." In the last several years, more than 99.9% of all captive employees have ended up with worthless, or "underwater," stock options. And that was before the Sept. 11 market downturn. The chances of an employee making decent return on the golden-handcuff scenario, $300K+, is about the same chances as winning the lottery. Why not make more money as a non-captive, then buy and sell your own stocks anytime you want?

6. The most miserable place to work is at a company where the stock has gone underwater. Management can't get the employees to work 40 hours a week, much less free overtime, again. Employees feel like they were cheated out of their home lives for several years! So, guess what? They're not going to feel guilty about taking long lunches, surfing the Internet all day, going to the dentist, going to seminars, and then only showing up for work 30 hours a week. Worst yet, are the managers themselves. They are not going to go the extra mile, to put the company back on track. Why should they. They are burned out from the last 5+ years of service. It's a loose-loose situation all around. Lot's of tension, lot's of yelling, lot's of bossy arrogance develops. Get out of there before your reputation and references get ruined!

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