JOBSEARCH: What can we learn from college coaches

Saturday, November 28, 2009

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=abdoqoaxMIls

Notre Dame Football Can End Coaching Arms Race: Scott Soshnick

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Thanks to an indefensible extension awarded by White, the former athletic director, Weis is under contract through 2015. And he’s owed about $18 million. Talk about your buyout bonanzas.

That money could have gone to things like pay for scholarships, professors or infrastructure.

If Notre Dame, where academics actually matter, even for athletes, is about to embark on yet another coaching search, I suggest they proceed with one person in mind: the late National Collegiate Athletic Association President Myles Brand.

It was Brand, the first college president to lead the NCAA, who time and again voiced concern over what he called an arms race for coaching salaries in revenue-generating sports like football and basketball.

Imagine if Notre Dame established at the outset of its search a salary limit of, let’s say, $1 million. Just because you spend more doesn’t mean you’re getting better.

*** end quote ***

For my part, the lesson I take away is “You ain’t gonna be around long”.

I’ve learned that lesson. Even if you’re diligent, work hard, keep your nose clean, you’re going to get screwed.

An inept boss, a treacherous one, and even a good one, isn’t enough to save you.

So what is the strategy and tactics that you should adopt to minimize the damage?

Make no mistake, there will be damage!

Strategies:

  1. Ruthless financial discipline. (Small leaks and big leaks need to be stopped cold.)
  2. Realistic emergency fund ready. (Double your expected unemployment time.)
  3. Never ever stop networking. (Remember your new job is to find your next job.)  

Tactics:

  1. Keep helping folks via social networking like LinkedIn and Facebook.
  2. Seek exposure — blog, speak, coach — inside and out.
  3. Document your “lessons learned” regardless if you share them or not.
  4. Continue — or begin — collecting McKay66 sheets on EVERYONE. (JibberJobber anyone?)

Summary:

Thanksgiving is the holiday that focuses on turkeys. This big turkey knows of what he speaks. He’s had his tail feathers plucked numerous times.

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JOBSEARCH: Failures?

Monday, November 2, 2009

Admit your failures, take credit for them, embrace them, and own them. When you willingly take responsibility and ownership even for the failures, you’re positioned for magnificent success.

— Ralph Marston

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Much easier said than done.

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JOBSEARCH: Allan Hoving “GameChanging” podcast

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/GameChanging

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Change the Game

As fresh faced little kids we were all told … “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” Then we went out there and found out it really did matter.

More than that, we found out that life wasn’t always fair. You didn’t always get the breaks. Sometimes the game didn’t go your way.

There’s a lot of things in life you can’t change. You can always change the game.

We’re fascinated by people, ideas and events that do just that – change the game.

Join us every Monday night at 5 pm Pacific/8 pm Eastern and prepare to look at business, collaboration and the real time internet in a totally new way.

*** end quote ***

Know Allan Hoving from my “love affair” with Execunet. (Not their fault that no one wants “old dogs”.) If Allan has something to say I’m sure it’s informative and interesting.

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JOBSEARCH: Rejection

Friday, October 23, 2009

AN EMAIL I RECEIVED

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This email address is used for outgoing messages only. Replies will be undeliverable.

Thank you for your interest in employment with Prudential! On September 30, 2009, Prudential upgraded to a new electronic job application system.

If you would like to be considered for a position at Prudential, please create a new profile. Any job applications, resumes, and/or cover letters that you submitted to Prudential prior to September 30th, were not converted to the new system. Going forward, you can check the status of your application by logging in at any time.

Thank you.

Prudential Staffing

*** end quote ***

(1) Don’t you just love the “caring”. It just screams “we control the monologue”.

(2) Not me. I haven’t applied there in a long time. Bet everyone got the same date.

(3) Create a new profile? Ya gotta be kidding. It takes a half hour to answer all the screens. No, not that desperate for rejection.

(4) “Thank you”. My data wasn’t important enough for you to migrate. Some thanks.

Why would anyone want to deal with them?

Just wait until the economy turns around and the good candidates are scarce again. (Assuming the gooferment gets out of the way!) People have long memories.

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JOBSEARCH: non-off-shorable

Monday, August 31, 2009

Updating my meme for the future generations:

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, non-off-shorable, 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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It’s become apparent that any job that can be moved off-shore will be. The cheaper wage rates are making it more and more attractive for work to move globally.

Stories about IBM and their “playbook” style consulting can be done from anywhere.

TATA has an order of magnitude in any bidding war. My friend, a TATA-competing consultant, was told by the TATA sales guy that “they just offered contacting manager to drop the last zero off any bid they received”. Over drinks, the contracting manager confided to my friend that is exactly what he did. The contracting manager took my friend’s proposal for 1.2M$ and TATA took the bid at 120K$. The consulting company my friend worked for went out of business shortly after that.

So, when you look for that white collar job, make sure it’s one that will stay here. (Whereever here is for you!)

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JOBSEARCH: Advice to a new grad

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

>Great, thank you for getting back to me!

You’re welcome. I try to help all my fellow Jaspers. That’s why I “do” Jasper Jottings.

>Do you know how I could get in contact with the two people you mentioned?

{Extraneous Deleted}

>I do have a blog, but I’m not sure

Well, recruiters use Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and websites as tools in their recruiting.

>Could you eleaborate on the other ideas

Spelling?

I’d suggest that you need to take a peek at my http://tinyurl.com/lxu93 for some of my concepts in job search. You’ll see that I focus on what is YOUR UVP. Unique Value Proposition. What problem are you going to solve for some one else? And how will you retain some value for yourself? What’s unique to you? Then you focus on the USP. Sales. How do you sell yourself? (I’ve been asked and actually outlined a 16 week moodle course on my view of the steps.) The problem that you might have is that you may not have enough DIKW! (Data is not information; Information is not knowledge; Knowledge is not understanding; Understanding is not wisdom. – Cliff Stoll and Gary Schubert) Data is the atomic level. Information is data with dimensions or context. Knowledge is predicted information. Wisdom is the boundaries. You may need to network to get the DIKW to define, market, and close the deal.   

>could really use some guidance

Well, I’d start with the http://tinyurl.com/lxu93 site’s reading list. “Job changing at 100k+” by Lucht is both a book and a work book. I’d borrow the book but buy the workbook. Lucht has the idea of a very structured face 2 face networking meeting. I swear by it.

> because as you said, this market is hard!

Hard for us old guys; you youngsters, the world is your oyster!

>That is great about your book, I have written a novel too.

Congrats.

> It was edited, but I’m not sure how to go about getting published.

That’s a chore.

> How did you publish yours?

I self-published on Lulu and it’s available on my Lulu storefront. http://tinyurl.com/26u3rc And the big one volume book is on Amazon Marketplace. The two volume paperback will be on regular Amazon shortly.

>Thanks!

Anytime.

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JOBSEARCH: Wake up call

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1755584

Firing Day
by Kimberlee Williams

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Your palms are a little sweaty, and you’re a little nervous. But the decision has been made, and now’s the time. “You’re fired.”

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An excellent wake up call.

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JOBSEARCH: Here’s good advice; has nothing to do with “coaching”

Saturday, July 11, 2009

http://hoopscoach.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/starting-line-in-coaching/

THE COACHING STARTING LINE
Posted on July 4, 2009 by hoopscoach
(Part 4 in a series on the coaching profession)

*** begin quote ***

For the past few days I have been blogging about the coaching profession. I have touched on a few different topics Improvement, Work Ethic and Why We Coach. Every experienced coach has their own personal story on how they entered the business. Most stories are very interesting. Next time you are talking with a peer, ask them how they got their start?

{Extraneous Deleted}

If you want to enter coaching at the collegiate level, you better try and get with someone who is good. You better be ready to start at the bottom and have a small pay check (if you’re lucky enough to get paid). Entering coaching, there is no surefire, direct way. Everyone has their own story (as mentioned before). You can start as a team manager and become a sponge. Learn everything you can about the business. Maybe you played for a guy in college who is a head coach and he hires you. Maybe you know someone who knows a head coach looking for someone. However you get in, it’s a growing process-don’t be in such a hurry to advance. There are no short-cuts.

Write letters to coaches, pick their brains. Ask to work their camp in the summer. Make calls, shoot off e-mails and introduce yourself. Let people know what your aspirations are. Attend clinics and try to speak with the coaches after it’s over. In the beginning of your journey, be prepared to work hard.

If you are lucky enough to get in, don’t be afraid to get down and dirty. You may have to wipe up sweat off the ground, hand water out to players and rebound for them late into the night. Look for things to do.

*** end quote ***

Seems like that’s a success formula for anyone starting out in ANY line of work. IMHO!

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JOBSEARCH: Another silent hazard in the job search

Friday, June 26, 2009

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12514244

Google recruiter: Company kept ‘do not touch’ in hiring list
By Steve Johnson, Elise Ackerman and Sue McAllister
Mercury News
Posted: 06/03/2009 07:00:44 PM PDT
Updated: 06/04/2009 10:14:46 AM PDT

*** begin quote ***

A recruiter who left Google last year says that the company had maintained a “do not touch” list of companies including Genentech and Yahoo, whose employees were not to be wooed to the Internet search giant.

That revelation could be significant in light of this week’s disclosure that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Google, Yahoo, Apple, Genentech and other tech companies conspired to keep others from stealing their top talent.

Although Google declined to comment on the list or other aspects of the investigation, Palo Alto attorney Gary Reback, who has been involved in a number of high-profile antitrust cases, said having such a list is not unheard of and not necessarily illegal.

*** end quote ***

Argh!

Hard enough to get a job and the companies limit the opportunities.

A plague on all their houses.

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JOBSEARCH: A fellow blogger picks up my favorite story

Thursday, June 4, 2009

http://misspinkslip.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/lets-unleash-the-experts-pay-it-forward-with-your-job-search/  

Let’s Unleash the Experts: Pay It Forward With Your Job Search
June 4, 2009 · 1 Comment

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I’ve been trying to tell you how important it is to be “nice”. It works. I promise. Read the following story from a guy we’ll call “The Big Turkey”:

*** end quote ***

Wonder who this “The Big Turkey” could be? ROFL.

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