Reinke Faces Life

FROM AN EMAIL TO A TURKEY

It’s a new reality; jobs don’t stay around long. Every employee has to realize they are just a consultant, with a gig of undetermined length, without a contract or an agreement.

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http://davidmaister.com/blog/548/Compensation-Systems

Passion, People and Principles
post # 493 — Friday, January 25, 2008 — a Managing, Strategy post
Compensation Systems

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I’m thinking of writing a monograph or a book on compensation systems. As part of it, I began a list of some of the things a compensation system needs to accomplish. It’s a long potential list of objectives – too long, since no one system can accomplish all too many objectives - and many of them are contradictory!!

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The compensation system should not be “game-able” by the company. You’ve focused all on what the company needs; what does the employee need? A “crystal’ box process that can’t be “past posted” by the company. Two of the most demoralizing experiences I’ve had was when I did hit a “home run” which should have paid a multi-million dollar bonus the rules changed AND, another time, they decided what they wanted to pay and “backed in” to that by tinkering with the formula. Argh!

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http://glcavalier.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/networking-is-sexually-unbiased/

January 18, 2008
Networking is Sexually Unbiased
Posted by G. Lane Cavalier under Networking

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Lillian D Bjorseth had the following article in her newsletter today. I chose to put it up here for two reasons.

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WHICH PROMPTED

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Well, it would seem that women have a long way to go to overcome all those hurdles. Having a young girl within my sphere of influence, I was thinking about getting her an address book, a universal day book, and some stamps. I was think of paying her a bounty for every name, address, phone number, birthday, and anniversary that she could collect. What do you think? Can one manufacture a “networker” the way you can a basketball “player”? A lot of Dads manufacture many of the ladies who play college women’s basketball to get free tuition. My wife and I can pick them out. They are “wooden” and are deadly shots if all alone. So, can we some how create master networkers from a child’s greed? Hmmm.

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So, what would I need to do?

* An “address book” to record names and dates.

* A calendar for her to record names to be remembered.

* A roll of stamps.

* A box of various cards.

And, of course, a plan.

I want her to do this to learn what I should have been taught. I want to make it “fun” so she doesn’t think it’s a chore. I want to make it “challenging” since I don’t think she’s ever been challenged like this will.

I’m figuring a loose leaf binder for an address book. With a simple form to fill out. (Full name, address, phone number, email, birthday, anniversary, siblings.) For which, I’d pay a dollar. If she sends cards on time, then maybe another dollar.

(I’d get one those inventory rubber stamps to ensure “honesty”. She’s not old enough yet to be devious enough to scam me undetected. She’ll learn soon enough. She’s a girl!)

I almost have the idea thought out enough to discuss.

Thoughts?

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From AN EMAIL

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Well, it’s always time to move forward.

Stay in XXXXXXXXX or do something else? Full-timer, consulting, road warrior?

Geographic comfort zone? Relo?

Have you figured out your elevator speech yet? (Mine is “I extract value it large-scale usually legacy or brown-field IT infrastructures.”)

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For newly minted Turkeys, it’s always the same drill: What do you want to do, where do you want to do it, and how do you want to be compensated?

Ain’t life a kick in the ass?

Someday, the first contact with a newly axed turkey will contain the answers to those questions. Until then, I’ll just respond to them asking for help, by asking them.

Then, I’ll buy a lottery ticket.

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>Re: resume falsification
>Posted by: “Liz Ryan”
>Thu Jan 3, 2008 7:13 pm (PST)
>Did you know department: many universities treat false reporting of degrees
>or earned credits as a criminal matter, as fraud. One time, I contacted a

While your example did expose a cheat, I’d tread VERY lightly in verification processes. Personally, I have had my undergraduate degree IDKed by my alma mater once. I had to fax them a copy on my diploma and my official transcript. And, got a “oops, we’re sorry” in return. Also, I have had a previous employer do th old IDK as well. In that case I had my last paystub in my tax folder for that year that I whipped out as proof. Yup, all I got was another “oops. it was a subsidary payroll account — XYZ-ABC; not XYZ itself”. Yeah, right. So in self-defense, I tell new diplomates to get an oficial transcript and a copy of their diploma for their “brag book”. As well as their first and last paycheck from ANY job. Fore warned is Four Armed? fjohn

p.s., What’s a “brag book”? I firmly believe that seekers should have a binder book that has proof of EVERY assertion that they make on their resume. I like to use it as a prop during interviews. So for example, I claim that I ran a group of over 300 people in 31 states in my AT&T days; in my “brag book”, I have an old org chart. So for example, I claim that I managed several large databases; in my “brag book”, I have screen shots of several splash pages that identify and size the db. So for example, I claim that I managed a big project at CSFB; in my “brag book”, I have the first and last “waterfall” charts. It’s all about building credibility. I joke that my Mom probably has my First Grade report card, if they need it. You don’t want to appear anal. But you do want to establish the image that you don’t make wild claims. Then, people believe you when you are on the margins. So, when I say I managed a large Oracle db later in t he interview, they believe it. They don’t have to know it was Oracle v1, rather than the v26.39 that they are running. Maybe that’s “cheating”, but I don’t think so. I’m not responsible for their assumptions.

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FROM AN MLPF POST

>Late Introduction
>Posted by: “Joseph S Vinci”
>Tue Jan 1, 2008 4:46 pm (PST)
>Hi all I’m Joe Vinci, I have been a member of the group for a few months,
>I am a 48 Year old IT Director with over 28 Year’s of experience in various
>I have been recently laid off due to “Off-Shoring” after 25 years on the

Hi, Joe, I’m a few years in front of you in the “race to the finish line” in the same discipline, but no rug rats to take care of me in my old age. Guess I’ll be depending upon social security. Hah!

Assuming that you’re not a “lotto winner”, I’ll tell you what I wish someone had told me two decades ago.

“Age discrimination is rampant! Get ready for it now.”

I work with out-of-work execs, mostly IT, despite being a full time employee executive in IT. (Although the way life is, I could be unemployed tomorrow!) My “turkey farm” is at http://tinyurl.com/lxu93 for your use. (Turkey is what we called each other at my first outplacement experience.) The thing that all these folks have in common is that they were totally unprepared for the axe to fall on them. I pontificate to anyone who will listen that “awareness” is the first principle to success. I say things like “you’re only sure of the last paycheck you cashed”, “when is your turn at the unemployment window”, and “like at the poker table, if you don’t see the sucker, you’re it”. When you’re aware and expecting it, you’ll have a big emergency fund, a tuned up network, and lots of options. When you’re not, it’s a bad fire drill. I can make all the usual suggestions — a branded email, website, blog, elevator spiel with geographic and financial comfort zones, network using Lucht AND LinkedIn, as well as do EVERYTHING at once. But, you’ll hear those said by others.

EMAIL EXCHANGE WITH A TURKEY

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One of your strengths, I think, is to get people thinking.

{Extraneous Deleted}

I know you’ll land on your feet just fine - you’ve been preparing for this for a long time.

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Thanks for some very optimistic thinking on the viability of a fat old turkey in the IT marketplace. There’s always that WalMart greeter job!

You are right that I’ve been prepping for awhile. After the first time, I vowed I’d never get caught by surprise again. I can’t avoid getting “tagged out” or “voted off the island”, but everyone can avoid the surprise.

I always am amazed at turkey’s whose resumes say “planner”, “manager”, or some such and who with a straight face exclaim “surprise”.

Did they think that only Detroit auto worker get laid off? Suffer “globalization”. Or, “foreign competition”.

I could retire again when the axe falls (as it always does), but I’ll probably be working till the day I die at something of other.

Thanks for the good words,
fjohn

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The Turkey’s Prime Directive is to ALWAYS be aware!

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FROM AN EMAIL WITH A TURKEY

>the recruiter has asked me to provide my SS#, birthday, and references

As an infosec sme, red flags should be going off.

Your resume, your ssn, and birthday are the keys to identity theft.

Also, as the big fat old turkey hisself, it’s my personal policy, and one I urge on others — no references until we are at the offer stage. You need to protect your refs from burn out. And, burning them by over use makes you look like a “loser” to people who’s enthusiasm you need.

Like a swimmer going down for the third time, some seekers seek to rush the process to get to the finish line. You should have a process that you are following — all the job search books have variations of it — like a formalize kabuki dance — to prevent you from appearing over eager. That’ll cut the offer. “Hungry? Maybe we can get a bargain!”

Tread carefully.

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FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE ABOUT EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS

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> I tried my best to get someone, anyone on list to support your suggestion to get an employment contract

Well if we become a nation of consultants, then we will wind up with contracts for everyone any way. Costs for both sides of the contract will probably go up. For example, companies can buy medical benefits cheaper than an individual can. Contractors will demand higher rates for the uncertainty of term lengths. Based on my experience, I had an annual rate that I wanted. SO if someone wanted less than my annual target say one month, I figured my down time was a month or two to get earning again. So a one month engagement was really calculated as a 3 month engagement. Therefore, my one month rate was three times the one twelfth the annual rate. So that’s going to happen whether folks want it to or not.

>It must be time for me to become self-employed.

It’s an illusion. You are already. See when you have a “job”, you are really a consultant with a restricted choice of what you can work on. And, you get less money than your “riskier” brethren. The funny part is I think being an employee is very risky. I guess it’s all in your pov.

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FROM AN MLPF EMAIL EXCHANGE

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>Re: job in Florida
>Posted by: “Nadine Turner”
>Tue Dec 4, 2007 9:24 pm (PST)
>HOW you’ve successfully negotiated an employment contract. I’m not focused on fair pay

I haven’t gotten a contract on the inbound side, but I have gotten contracts on being throw out the door.

Go figure?

>HOW YOU GOT the contract

If a contract is a meeting of the minds as evidenced in writing …

… then I’d assert that you can write a letter indicating that you are accepting their offer and outlining what you understand the terms to be.

(My Judge Judy Law Degree, and experience, tells me that it might be good enough to use in exit negotiations. YMMV)

Should they respond in writing correcting your obvious mistakes, (Notice: I didn’t say include something wrong deliberately, but mistakes do happen. Not typos; some significant item like three weeks vacation and seven paid holidays — when the deal was for 6.) Well, then I’d feel comfortable in front of Judge Judy saying here it is “Your Honor”.

<<Bear in mind, I am not a doctor, lawyer, nor indian chief. I have not played one on TV. And, most certainly have not stayed in a Holiday Inn Express recently. This advice is given for entertainment purposes. And, is not to be considered investment advice under the SEC Act, medical advice under the AMA protection racket, or indian advice which is limited to the BoIA diktats. Since your facts and circumstances may differ please consult your own doctor, lawyer, or indian chief as appropriate.>>

Clearly, if something is important to you, then you have to ask yourself “just how important”?

If I was reloing for a job when I had a job already, then I’d get ten of my most pessimistic friends to develop a list of EVERY single thing that could go wrong! And, I’d want to either conscientiously decide to accept the risk, or I’d want a contract. If I was out of work, then the risk calculation would be different.

I know for sure that I would not trust ANY big biz, any more than I trust any politician. Which is never!

Once you’ve gotten an offer letter and responded. Those are the terms. How “cold and hungry” you are will determine if you accept it? If they want you more than you want them, then you can hold out for more. BUT, get it in writing.

When I took a “dicey job” without one, I got slammed. So, now I ask. Implicit in the asking is you’re saying “i don’t trust you”. If you can do it without being insulting, you might even get it. If they won’t give it to you, you have to ask yourself “why won’t they give it to me”. Then you get the answer, “because i can not trust them!”.

Argh!

fjohn

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YMMV

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http://www.job-hunt.org/linkexchanges.shtml

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Job-Hunt.Org’s mission is to provide links to the best Web sites for our visitors (job seekers and employers/recruiters), on a site that is clearly organized and easily navigated. Job-Hunt.Org is not a exhaustive list of all job- and career-related sites. We prefer quality over quantity, and try to add only the sites that are the most useful to job seekers and employers/recruiters.

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Useful to jump into the pool?

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FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE

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>I am considering a job offer from a company in florida.

Get an employment contract. Use a lawyer.

I’ve heard some real horror stories about employers reneging, change of control, layoffs. firing, and all manner of disasters. I KNOW personally of one fellow who was in the air relo-ing his family internationally and the email came in “never mind”. He was royally screwed (only had a handshake). He was out eleven months; family had to go bunk in with her parents; lost a bundle. He’s my poster child for when people say they “can’t ask for a contract. it will look like i don’t trust them.” or “they don’t do contracts”. If not, why not?

We should make it a global executive demand!

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FROM AN EMAIL WITH A SEEKER TRYING TO BEAT THE NUMBERS

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I think the trick will be to stand out without being an “outlier”. So, for example, I would not send in a resume on A4 paper unless I was European. Similarly, I’d forgo funny paper colors, folds, or photos. I’d stick to one plain page and try to catch attention by stark simplicity and innovation.

Try to imagine yourself looking at a thousand of these and how would you sift thru it and find the gems? Odd balls, clowns, and “novelties” to the trash. Typos — trash. Not focused on the job — trash. Too much detail — trash. Not enough detail — trash.

So, for example, if your HTML is any good, and even if it isn’t, I’d put a URL on the bottom of your one page that says: “Custom Site for this Opportunity: http://www.whyjoejoneswantstoworkforxyz.com“. See I’d spring for the 5 bucks for the domain name with godaddy, or such, and throw up a webpage with all sorts of good stuff that mapped their requirements with evidence of my accomplishments.

(What was the name of that lady who did her resume as a wiki? I loved that idea. That was different.).

If I was trying to be a wild card, I’d send in a nearly empty resume with the name block at the top and a url http://www.whyjoejoneswantstoworkforxyz.com in a big font dead center in the page. That MIGHT be different enough to unique, and yet not a “outlier”. Tough call!

But, I think you’d be better off with a stark, focused resume, with web site support.

imho

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I think that people both over and under estimate the web in both doing, and supporting, the job search process.

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MY RESPONSE TO A VERY BAD MEME (What’s a meme? Click here MEME)

>Do You Have A “Slash Career”?
>Posted by: “Vincent Wright”
>Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:13 am (PST)
>I was just introduced to what I’ve been doing for the past 20 years:
>indulging in a “slash career”
>If the term is new to you, the concept likely isn’t.

I’d probably assert that what was once my career, “Information Technology”, is no longer. It’s been destroyed by US government (aka gooferment) policy, the unintended consequences of those policies, Wall Street, and the globalization - outsourcing - offshoring - downsizing - rightsizing. [I can justify those indictments if any one doesn't think they stand prima facie on their own?] The marketplace is just throwing a little dirt of it now. At one time, IT was an excellent career choice. But, like the Auto Industry, and the village blacksmith, it’s been consigned to the trash heap. I no longer advise smart kids to enter the field as a “career”. Learn about IT as it enables you to accomplish YOUR goal, but as a career choice “No way, Jose”. (I push biotech, chemistry, and math as “non careers”.)

I’ll even go a step further! “Career” is a meme from the Fifties Generation. Worked well for my Mom who spent 42 years with AT&T and was well treated when they no longer needed her shoving her out the door. That type of “golden” treatment ended real quick! Now, one just gets shove out the door, voted off the island, or dumped out of the sinking lifeboat. Given the way that the politicians are piloting the American ship of state, we’ll all be lucky to live as well as Robinson Crusoe. One might have a “career” in things like medicine, law, sports, or the arts; not elsewhere.

Now that may sound glum. And, it is for those of us left stranded on “the island of career” or “the island of Information Technology” as we fight for the scraps of an ever diminishing carcass to feed off of. It ignores the inevitability of human progress. From where ever “we” started — exiting Garden of Eden or crawling up from the mire — the journey continues as the species evolves. Any one, who doesn’t think it continues, look around the labels “children - teenager - youthful offender” and see how much faster boys ‘n’ girls are really becoming men ‘n’ women! Our paradigms and memes continue also to evolve as we’ve gone from “Uggg clubs Ogg to steal his food” to “the collective Uggg’s IRS steals a big percentage of Ogg’s ‘income’ to feed all the Ugggs”. See? Progress. At least, Ogg gets to keep something! We’ve gone thru mob rule, tyrants, kings, oligarchies, dictators, and now “public servants in government” rule us. Two steps forward and one step back.

It’s our thinking (i.e., paradigms of perception and memes of concepts) that are our own worst enemy.

There’s no “career”!

With apologies fro quoting Star Wars Yoda to you, (I think movies have some really great lines of wisdom for us) “Do. Or do not. There is no ‘try’!” (The disgust at the word “try” really can’t come thru in text.)

So to, I’d say — with the same taste of vomit — “There is NO career.”

Advising youth, I have copyrighted patented super-secret keys to wisdom, wealth, and happiness. If you promise not to tell anyone Vincent, I’ll share it again with you. (Again! … I know we done this comedy bit before. But it seemed to bear repeating.) Shush now it’s a secret. It anyone looking?

*** begin secret ***
Success for your generation is: (1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt; (2) a life long interest in learning — education — a degree — they can’t take it away from you; (3) a white collar job in order to save big bux; (4) a blue collar skill for hard times — never saw a poor plumber; (5) one or more internet based businesses — your store is always open; (6) a free time hobby that generates income; and (7) a large will-maintained network of people who can “help” you.
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Notice that no where in there is there any mention of the illusion of a “career”.

So, I have no career. Some say I am “helpless”. Or was that “hopeless”. Ahh, it’s only one letter difference anyway. I’m at the end of my useful career life anyway. (Although I do have the illusion of one last BIG job, making a big difference, and finally defeating the forces of evil, and restoring truth, justice, and the American … … oh wait that was Superman’s elevator speech. Well, one big job where I can make a contribution. Anyone in 08824 need a big bux cto? Not counting my last assignment as the WallMart greeter.) So one has to expect that progress will leave one on the roadside as it marches on.

So, I hope this isn’t too “Prince of Darkness” to your usually upbeat tone.

But, “career” is a meme for the trash heap imho.

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IN RESPONSE TO SOME BAD “SELF-LABELING” BY A YOUNG JOBSEARCHER

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Well first I object to the self-characterization of “underachieving kid”. I don’t let people talk that way. It might be appropriate for some situations, (can’t think of one off the top of my head), but certainly not in the area of “career search”. Finding out what the best use of your talents is, at best, a game of “blind man discovers elephants”. No one can tell you what your particular elephant looks like or what the “best” use of your particular “elephant” is. Some are pretty easy to rule out: “NBA basketball star”, “Brain Surgeon”, “Concert Pianist”. Some are hard, because you don’t find out, until way down the road the you were meant to be a “greeter at walmart”. So, don’t even think of the word “under achieving”. It’s implies that some one knows that you are too lazy, too dumb, or too insensitive to come in out of the rain. Maybe the Intelligent Designer knows, but no one other that you knows that.

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Some one of the self-help gurus (Tony Robbins?) always warned about the label that you apply to yourself. Even if no one else is there, your subconscious takes that in and delivers it.

OK so here goes: “I am thin, young, and handsome”! (Said out loud with great confidence.)

Did it work?

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Answer #4

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I’ve always had a career plan but sometimes it doesn’t follow the plan! It does, however, generally flow in the right direction. The key part is knowing oneself and where one wants to go. In any regard, I have found this article helpful, even though it is geared for students. It is something I have been doing for the past two years now and I’ll never give it up. Hope this helps!

http://www.quintcareers.com/career_development_journal.html

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Answer #3

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I think the answer lies in getting the right advice. Typically the gap between outlining a goal and achievement of said goal is tantamount to actualisation. The answer, in regards to your career – I would suggest – lies in finding a ‘good’ recruitment consultant and picking their brain. - ‘I am doing ‘x’ but want to be a Murex/Fidessa Programme Manager - How do I go about this?’ A good consultant will be able to offer the advice you need and put the plan into action. – And its ‘free’, how good is that?

Hope that helps.

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FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE WITH A FELLOW TURKEY

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I think I am networked out…you just sent me an invitation to Naymz yesterday which I accepted. How many of these sites can one use ? I know I have signed up for ecademy (sp ?), friendster, Linkedin, Ryze, and probably others. The only networking site I really use on a regular basis is Linkedin.

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HERE’S MY RESPONSE

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I agree, but personally I’m afraid that by not being on one that I’ll miss something.

I didn’t do ecademy because it’s too European flavored. And, they want money. Ryze was taken over by MLMers imho. I use LinkedIn on regular basis too.

Do you still have two ids?

I agree that f2f is better, but what’s a poor fat old introvert to do. I like the “social networking” genre because as Lucht preaches “the web of weak links” and the fact that they “social networks” are really always working.

I won’t condemn all of “social networking” as an activity trap just quite yet. Only because I don’t have a higher value replacement.

Doing networking a la Lucht style (f2f as you mention) is just too expensive in attention, time, and money. Sure f2f is better than socnet, but you can do a lot more socnet than f2f.

Are they equally productive?

I believe not.

But, I don’t know what the Expected Value comparison would look like.

If one could do 100 high quality f2fs, what would one expect? If one does 1000 high quality socnet contacts, what would one expect? Clearly, I can’t do 100 f2fs. But, I can juggle a 1000 socnets. The payoff is still uncertain.

As always, YMMV,

fjohn

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The problem as I see it is that you have no way of estimating the roi. Networking by f2f or by socnet is completely different. I’m not even sure if it is fair to compare. Clearly, f2f has a higher cost. Clearly, socnet is “easier”; at least easier to a fat old ITSJ. As an old injineer, you’d have to design a very careful experiment before making conclusions. It’s a social science nightmare. So many variables, so few constants. Even one’s experiment could be contaminated by a worsening or even an improving economy. Argh! It makes my head hurt with just the thought.

IMHO, socnet is a different kind of “networking”. Potentially a precursor or auxiliary to “f2f networking”. It certainly does NOT map to Lucht’s structured networking paradigm “make appoint to sked 15 minutes, meet (five on hello / goodbye, five on what you want, five on what the target sees), extract two names, send ty, repeat until you find a job”.

I THINK imho “networking” is the process of creating (weak) ties with people, who when they hear of something that you’d be interested in, will take the time to contact you. The usual motivation is like “mutually assured destruction” (i.e., I’ll look for you and you look for me). Although, other motivations might be: common ties (i.e., same school), mutual friends (i.e., a common friend), shared interests (i.e., golf), or even a grandfalloon (i.e., a mythical common bond like vets about military service). In f2f, the motivation to cooperate is high because both halves have made an investment in the relationship. In socnet, the motivation is unclear because the focus in on the communication vehicle.

Have to think about this some more.

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Answer #2

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liken the career path to a business plan. Business set up their goals for the next 18-24 months and end up changing them as they move along due a number of external factors that are out of their control.

Career pathing is so different for each company that there’s no “SDLC”. My recommendation is to look at your company’s goals and map those goals into your current job and your next job. Get with your manager and set those tasks on paper. Tie your bonus dollars that year toward successful achievement of those goals.

Then look at positions or departments and why a move would make sense for you. You may choose never to move up but rather to move across the organization leveraging your current skills to build new skills. There’s no silver bullet for career pathing, just try to plot a sensible path that is achievable and make modifications as you learn more. Good luck.

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Answer #1

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The best one is a combination of your own brain, a pencil and a piece of paper (back of an envelope if you’re a startup kind of guy). Simple is best.

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http://www.personalbrandingsummit.com/2007/11/recordings-now-.html

Recordings Now Available!

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Recordings of “A Brand You World - 2007 Global Telesummit” teleseminars are now available. Select the MP3 link to the left of each teleseminar to download the recording or listen online. You can also access the podcast with iTunes.

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a ton of great advice!

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A LINKEDIN QUESTION I POSED

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Does anyone ever have a “career plan”? What tools do you use to support that plan?

I’ve been counseling my “turkeys” ((i.e., out of work fat old white guys usually in the IT field; you know COBOL guys in the RUBY age) about having a written plan for what they want. Everyone has heard that urban legend about 97% of successful Harvard graduates had a written plan when they graduated. (Have to research that particular urbanity!) But I haven’t found any web tools that support developing a “career plan”. Not that I need one now. But for my fellow turkeys. There’s execunet (www.execunet.com) for executive job search. There’s jibberjobber (www.jibberjobber.com) for personal network management. But what helps plan the career? What is the “Microsoft Project” for turning a string of jobs into a career plan?

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FROM A RESPONSE ON LINKEDIN BLOGGERS

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If we build networks on trust, what do we do with those companies and/or those employees who place little value in honoring their words, their commitments? If they demonstrate a pattern of not honoring their word, how do we introduce them to others in our networks?

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I think, and I advise my “beloved” turkeys — those poor souls who didn’t memo about the roe (rules of employment) changing, that they have to play “offense / defense” continually. They must be on the offense to always be looking out for Number One and that ain’t their employer. They must be on the defense at all times because they are really only assured of the last paycheck that cleared the bank.

No, the rules have changed.

Companies don’t realize the employees, that they fire - discourage - denigrate, are their intellectual capital. They get to “rebuy” their skills at a greatly inflated rate from a consulting shop, but they don’t get the benefit of the genius that they lost. Their “bench” of people, who once aligned themselves with the company long term, is gone. With it, the in depth understanding of what was done, why, and when. So companies get to make the same mistakes over again and pay for them again in even great amounts.

In my career, I have watched the centralized - decentralized, fat - thin - zero client, rapid / traditional paradigms done over, and over and over again. Wait five years and you are dealing with a completely “new” company. I call it “Organizational Alzheimer’s”. The sad part is it’s self-inflicted. And, no one seems to recognize just how expensive it is.

To the question, one introduces candidates and companies very carefully. One ensures that both know the “facts of life” of the new “employment” meme. One carefully weighs each against the standard, “what does it do to advance the needs of each side”. How does the value extracted get divided? And where’s my share!

Just as the ERISA laws of the 1970’s led to the era of five year employees (i.e., the time needed for a pension to vest);

just as the dotcom bubble made everyone an “owner” in some fashion or other (i.e., you only went to work for a “hope ‘n’ prayer” company if you got shares;

just as today’s “what’s in it for me culture” has led to mutually disloyal companies and employees;

the new corporate organization will be a small core of “employees” with lucrative employment contracts that mange the services of other small corporations.

So, everything will be spun out to autonomous little corporations and there will be no “long term” thinking. Forget Bell Labs, forget GE “bringing good things to life”, forget 3M with a slew of new products. It’ll be the march of little enterprises — the nano-izing of business (i.e., like penguins). That’s what we will have to deal with. You’ll be “in”, “out”, or “owning”.

And the costs will be driven out of all processes. (Margins will be razor thin!) But the overall cost to the economy will be higher. (Adding up all those margins will make the end to end cost a lot more!) It’s going to get a lot tougher to “make a living” unless you are smart enough, lucky enough, or practical enough to find a “killer” idea. (Opportunities have to pay off bigger. More risk must be taken. More spectacular failures!)

Makes me glad that I am coming to the end of my career. I don’t envy you youngsters!

***End Quote***

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FROM ELECTRONIC RECRUITING NEWS

Recruiting In The Trough I

***Begin Quote***

(November 13, 2007) Everyone agrees that the economic downturn is imminent. Maybe it’s already begun, maybe it will wait until the beginning of the next American administration. It’s coming to theatre near you.

{Extraneous Deleted}

As inflation eats a hole in the pocketbooks of pensioners, there will be an interesting dampening effect. The effective retirement age has to rise by a year for every 10% of inflation. Since more senior employees are less vulnerable to inflation (and career transitions are harder to manage), attrition will be skewed towards a younger demographic.

***End Quote***

It would appear that there is a “sub prime bust” coming to the employment marketplace in the next year.

That tells me to advise my turkeys:

(1) Adjust your job replacement formula:

{For those, who aren’t aficionados of the Big Turkey’s methodology for calculating “job replacement interval”. Using my patented and copyrighted methodology, you can easily determine how many months YOU will need to find a new job. That is a function of: Annual Salary; the likelihood of a layoff in your company, industry, or skill set; the ease of finding another job in their skill set; their age; and the economy.}

Without going into great depth, I am advising all my Turkeys to adjust “the economy” value to THREE from ONE! This is one notch below it’s all time high of FOUR during the dotcom bust. This unprecedented jump is justified on the signals for Wall Street that rough times are ahead.

(2) Batten down your financial hatches.

Begin immediately to reduce your financial burn rate and increase your savings rate. Beware taking on any indebtedness for any reason.

(3) Solidify your current employment situation

Do whatever is necessary to make yourself valuable, popular, and worth keeping on the payroll. Now is not the time to “get thrown” off the bucking horse.

(4) Increase networking activity

You need to aggressively network to ensure your continued employ ability. Turkeys are advised to review their days outstanding in their various networking panels with an eye towards lowering them if feasible.

(5) Increase internet work on your “brand”

Since the internet works for you 24/7, it’s important to have sites, social networking presences, blogs, wikis, and forums that represent your brand. Spruce up and freshen up all online assets.

# # # # #

www.jibberjobber.com

***Begin Quote***

We are offering a special buy-one-get-one-free upgrade right now on the one year and two year packages, which expires on Monday, November 19th at midnight.

***End Quote***

This is one of the few things that I think a seeker might spend some buxs on. That list is very very short. So in case you were waiting for a sale to do “something”, here’s a sale.

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A TURKEY SENT ME THEIR RESUME. SO I WAS OBLIGED TO COMMENT.

*** begin quote ***

May I make some observations?

Thanks, (I would anyway, but I’m working on my pushy image!)

For a project manager to be in a time bind, isn’t such a good admission. I try to answer every email or phone call in 24 hours. It might be just a quick response, but never never ever let them see you sweat.

I know I know easier said than done.

Now about your resume.

Sorry, but it “screams” I did it myself from a book.

I don’t have a slot free in my turkey farm http://tinyurl.com/lxu93 currently (I have five slots for my “turkeys” (i.e., people in job search) where I dedicate a short block of time to work with them 1on1 about their search.) but let me steal a few minutes from my morning coffee to give you some ideas. (Actually the ideas are precanned snippets of advice that I can use a macro to put up at a moment notice. Didn’t want you to think I was feeding you a load of “barbara streisand”.)

Here’s what I saw when I opened your resume and some thoughts.

* A resume’s only purpose is to get read and motivate the reader to action.

* You have to break the 15 second barrier and the 60 second barrier. You have 15 seconds to make the reader invest the next minute. Then, you have one minute to make the reader put your resume on the “keep stack”.

* Name address block takes far too much of the top real estate. Get it all on one line in unbolded ten point font. If you’re the right candidate, the hunter will break out a magnifying glass to read your contact info if needed.

* “summary” doesn’t summarize. Should be “objective”; and it’s not your objective it’s the reader’s.

* Upon further review “highly effective” should have been stroked out as well.

The balance of the resume is far too wordy. You need to make it easy to read. Think movie cliff hanger. Think “how’s she do that?”. Think “Wow!”.

You want to play par golf. In resume land, that is PaaR! Problem, analysis, action, results. Write down in each position what are the three major problems I was handed, what analysis did I do, what actions did I take, and what results I achieve. Then you throw out the Analysis and Action (They get that when they hire you.) and put in the Problem and Results.

So, for example, I found that the whatchamacallit project was late, over budget, and under functional. So I did an resource analysis and found that there were no left handed paper hangers assigned! Since fifty percent of the wall were right handed and the rest left handed, there were right handed paper hangers struggling to paper the left handed walls where they had to reach over their bodies to paper. I fired half the right handed ones and hired an equal number of left ones. Then you write: “The whatchamacallit project was late, over budget, and under functional. The project was back with in spec in 4 months at no additional cost after I was hired.”

See the diff! I can hear the recruiter getting on the phone know. “How did you do that?” “Hire me and I’ll tell you. I’m not a free consultant that can be had for an interview.”

*** end quote ***

People are enamored by their own name. That block of text can easily occupy 100% of that incalculably valuable resume real estate. When I see a resume like that I cringe. Because I know what is coming. I, I, eye, I, I, eye. Everything will be about them. When it should be about the hiring manager who’s reading it.

fwiw

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http://www.personalbrandingsummit.com

Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Personal Branding

***Begin Quote***

To mark the 10th Anniversary of personal branding, on November 8th we are providing 24 free teleseminars with experts in the field of personal branding. Anyone in the world with a telephone will be able to participate in this live event.
This event has content streams for career success, entrepreneurial success and talent management. So, whether you are a corporate professional, an entrepreneur, or a HR manager challenged with the need to attract and retain great people, you will take away actionable knowledge from attending.

***End Quote***

While I am not sure that I believe in “Personal Branding”, I do believe in “free” education. So, if you have some attention cycles and clock minutes, you might be interested. (That’s why I put quotes around “free”.) I think that of time, money, and attention; attention is the critical resource. What you focus on, you get. So be careful where you look.

FWIW.

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ATTENTION K-MART SHOPPERS:

The model of success is changing again.

***Begin Quote***

Success, in a job search sense, is found by having:

(1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt;

(2) a life long interest in learning — education — a degree — certifications — credentials — they can’t take it away from you;

(3) a white collar job in order to save big bux;

(4) a blue collar skill for hard times — never saw a poor plumber;

(5) one or more internet based businesses — your store is always open;

(6) a free time hobby that generates income; and

(7) a large will-maintained network of people who can “help” you.

***End Quote***

Please exchange your old memes for new ones at Customer Service.

We are not responsible for adverse consequences of using old memes. Bankruptcy, divorce, alcoholism, sleeplessness, depression, and lost of self-esteem are side effect of using the wrong meme. See you certified Turkey Master for the correct meme in your specific case.

We take visa/master card and most insurances.

This is not an offering to buy or sell securities which can only be made by formal prospectus.

This is only for illustrative purposes and not indicative of anyone’s actual results.

Your Mileage May Vary.

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Always a joyous occasion.

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http://www.nofluffjuststuff.com/blog/ted_neward/2007/10/a_conversation_on_architecture.html

***Begin Quote***

Do many/most developers at F500 companies not go to events like local JUGs or conferences like NFJS?

Unfortunately, far too many developers don’t treat their careers as a work-in-progress, but believe that once they’ve landed the job, they’re on a track to moderate financial success for life. In fact, lots of developers fit the demographic of “male, 18-30, and single”, which is the absolute worst demographic for future planning. Lots of these guys think that “Hey, I’m smart, the money will always flow in, right? Java/.NET/C++/COBOL will always be the tool of choice, right? What, me worry?”

Unfortunately, it’s my experience that it doesn’t get better with age. Developers in the age range of 31 and up have seen one (or two) generations of languages/platforms go by, and have had to re-tool themselves, and are still pissed about it. The ones who realize that no matter how much they learn, there’s still a lot more to take on, those are the ones going to JUGs and NFJS and TechEd and JavaOne and whatever else comes their way. Those are the same ones who see training classes as opportunities for advancement, not opportunities to play 8 hours of uninterrupted Solitaire. And, unfortunately, those developers are the exception, not the rule, it seems.

Which means, if you take the time to invest in yourself, you will never be in the bottom of the candidate pool for your next job. Period.

***End Quote***

Well said. Many moons ago, Frau Reinke, the CFO of our partnership, “decided” that I should have a budget for training and toys. Now bear in mind that she has no use for this “technology stuff”, is a tight with “wasting” money as I have ever seen, (She’ll spend it like water; just never “waste” a drop), so I had a budget. And, I HAD to spend it. I was figuring a $100. What do I know? She allocated 1% of my annual gross to training and 1% to “technology toys”. Wow!

So, I got a lesson in investing in your self.

How do you invest in yourself?

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text

Attention all turkeys:

When you start your new job, “prepare three envelopes”.

That’s an old joke.

http://www.notboring.com/jokes/work/3.htm

*** begin quote ***

Prepare Three Envelopes
A fellow had just been hired as the new CEO of a large high tech corporation. The CEO who was stepping down met with him privately and presented him with three numbered envelopes. “Open these if you run up against a problem you don’t think you can solve,” he said.

Well, things went along pretty smoothly, but six months later, sales took a downturn and he was really catching a lot of heat. About at his wit’s end, he remembered the envelopes. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The message read, “Blame your predecessor.”

The new CEO called a press conference and tactfully laid the blame at the feet of the previous CEO. Satisfied with his comments, the press — and Wall Street — responded positively, sales began to pick up and the problem was soon behind him.

About a year later, the company was again experiencing a slight dip in sales, combined with serious product problems. Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO quickly opened the second envelope. The message read, “Reorganize.” This he did, and the company quickly rebounded.

After several consecutive profitable quarters, the company once again fell on difficult times. The CEO went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope.

The message said, “Prepare three envelopes.”

*** end quote ***

There are a lot of true things said in jest.

This is one of them.

Eventually, things will turn nasty.

I don’t care that today the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all is right in the Universe. You may be looking forward to cashing your first paycheck. Time to look a little more forward.

There will be a day, in the all to soon future, where you will be –proverbially — opening the “third envelope”.

Now assuming that you don’t have an employment contract — not many of us do — you’ll be facing the unpleasantness of the potential axe.

So, today, right now, when all is good, please please plan your demise.

Create a folder at home called “DOOMSDAY”. Into that you should be putting “important” documents related to your employment. By “important”, I mean as it relates to your continued employment. So immediately, your offer letter should be in there. As well as anything that is ever given you by HR, Payroll, Finance, Personnel, whatever as it applies to your continued employment. In addition, you should document every significant conversation you ever have with anyone higher than you, lower than you, or in a support organization that has anything to do with your continued employment. Keep your own set of book. Fill out a personal time sheet. Have comp time, keep a record. Keep a score card of what you do. Don’t share it with anyone, store it on their computers, send it over their wire, or even keep it in the office.

Trust me. Some day, you’ll be glad you did.

You’re not doing this to pick a fight or focus on the bad stuff that can happen. (And will happen, if you focus on the negative.) This is to be ready for “war” should a fight break out.

It might get you some leverage in the severance process.

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http://glcavalier.wordpress.com/2007/10/23/university-of-hard-knocks-alumni-membership-drive-is-underway

University of Hard Knocks Alumni Membership Drive is Underway!!!!
by G. Lane Cavalier

***Begin Quote***

When I was out of work several years ago, I received a good piece of advice from a fellow networker that I have never followed up on. That advice was to start an “Alumni Group” for those professionals that never finished their degree.

***and***

The group is going to be based around 3 core issues that impact professionals without degrees:

1) Continuing Education/Non Traditional Education
2) Job Searching and Interviewing (overcoming the lack of the degree)
3) Networking

***End Quote***

Of course, I indicated I would be happy to participate.

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