Reinke Faces Life

… or as I "lurnt it in injineering skool" … the Joe and Harry window … aka the Johari window!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johari_window

I was just exchanging emails with a networking colleague and the topic came up.

You know "johari window, tell me what you see" … followed by  "… huh? …"

SO I figured I'd just recap for my fellow turkeys:

The obvious, my blind self-delusion, your absurd hotspots, and that which neither of us knows!

We move the Y axis by feedback. And the x axis by disclosure. Communication starts in Q1. The "fun" is in Q4!

https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/2006/05/08/255/

Data is the elemental atom of the paradigm. As in chemistry, breaking data below this elemental level loses its meaning. For example, the data element "37" can be broken into "3" and "7" but it loses its meaning when you do so.

Information is data in context. "37" can be: "37 Langley" as an address. It can be "37.com" as a web address. It can be 37 cents change. 

Knowledge is actionable information. I can go to a place in Kendall Park. I can do searches at 37 dot com.

Wisdom is knowing the implications of knowledge. I'm wise enough not to try to sell Mercedes into the blue collar suburb of Kendall Park NJ. I understand the limitations of my knowledge. While I can't know what I don't know, I'm wise enough to test for boundary conditions so I don't fall off a cliff. The nuances of knowledge are important when to use it and when not to. Where does it take you in the short and long run.

IMHO YMMV FWIW 

http://www.enewsbuilder.net/theayersgroup/e_article000541048.cfm?x=b7tg58F,b55f1D3v,w

Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Summer 2006
VOLUME 1 ISSUE 13 
The Age-Advantaged Workforce
by Terry Ebert
Managing Director
Tel: 212.889.7788
terry.ebert@ayers.com

***Begin Quote***

The fact is inescapable: our workforce is aging. The implications, for companies of all sizes, are unavoidable. As an IBM survey of HR directors concluded: "When the baby boomer generation retires, many companies will find out too late that a career's worth of experience has walked out the door, leaving insufficient talent to fill the void."

***End Quote***

One would guess that the gray workforce can't afford to "retire". You want some reasons?

Inflation will make everything more expensive. Pensions, especially generous ones, will be ditched via the bankruptcy courts. The PGC will pick up the obligations and pay them off at pennies on the dollar. The social security insurance ponzi scheme will go broke, but backed up by the full faith and credit of Washington politicians, it too will pay off pennies on the dollar (e.g., the full benefit age will "magically" go up ex post facto; the benefit amount will shrink; taxability will be tinkered with; all sorts of ifs, maybes, and gotchas will be invented). Oh, an the indexing to inflation, ha ha, just kidding. The COLA will be given based on the core rate of inflation that will only include stuff that doesn't go up and exclude anything that does. Taxes up. Deductions down. Sales taxes up. User fees galore and higher too (e.g., did you hear about the air use fee?).

Maybe it won't be so bad. Want some reasons?

This generation has sacrificed family for work. Hence they have no life or anything to retire for. This generation was raised by the greatest generation and still has some of the old American value of hard work. This generation has learned how to game the system and continued work allows the game to continue. This generation works; the next generation doesn't. So who's going to milk the cows and bake the bread? Yup, outsourced to India or China.

Seriously, what will we do?

Consult or contract. Stick it to them, all the traffic will bear, and we know the game!

Looking forward to my version of retirement some day! ;-)

I recently heard of a colleague being let go.

I'm not sure if he was stripped searched and marched out of the building. BUT, that was a common occurrence on Wall Street.

There they were always trying to prevent brokers from taking their "book" home. The book was their customer list with all the details. That book was essential to a broker getting a new job and bringing all his old clients with him. The Old Firm would believe that those customers were "theirs". It was entertaining to watch the squabble. The "rules" said that the departing broker couldn't tell "his" customers on the old firm's time or phone about the change. So the first thing the broker did, when they departed or were thrown out, was to contact all the old clients to get them to move their accounts to the new firm with the broker. Great fun.

I got to know some of these characters. One old coot had a large supply of carbon paper. If he wrote anything, he'd make a carbon copy and "file" it in his briefcase. Each night, home it would go. When they nuked him, as they eventually did to anyone who was too successful or too unsuccessful, I know that they lost EVERY single one of his clients. They were convinced he was hacked into their computer system. To lose every single one was extraordinary.

About a decade later, I ran into him and he laughed as he told me he had a room at home where he had carefully filed and indexed every page.

And, he said he was still doing it. If they ever stopped producing carbon paper, then he said he'd retire.

OK what's the point for all us turkeys?

Don't EVER use your employer's email for networking activities. You can be cut off. With free gmail accounts galore, there is no reason to do it.

This colleague, now departed, used his corporate email and now I can't reach him.

Don't make that mistake. If you have, fix it!

http://ripples.typepad.com/ripples/2006/06/networking_made.html

***Begin Quote***

Why bother networking if it doesn't extend your network of friends?
 
***End Quote***

On this chilly morning as I sit and reflectively blog, I'd pontificate that "networking" is very different than "friendship".

As an injineer that has to have a taxonomy for everything, one has: spouses (high value / low maintenance if you pick right),relatives (thankfully not a greatly expanding number requiring loans, gifts, and high maintenance / low return); in laws (enough said); friends (great joys); acquaintances (casual contact); fellow bloggers (who tell you that your full of soup as needed); coworkers (limited to the lifespan of your corporate life); and service  people (usually nice people you meet along the way who do stuff for you). There's a formula for everything. And, we take two parts of this and one part of that to make shazaam.

[Note the careful attention to the engineering rule of thumb five plus or minus two. (1) spouses; (2) relatives; (3) in laws; (4) friends; (5) acquaintances; (6) fellow bloggers; (7); coworkers; (8)service people. Oops! Ok combine relatives and in laws! And it now fits the rule. As I was saying: Note the careful attention to the engineering rule of thumb five plus or minus two. (1) spouses; (2) relatives and in laws; (3) friends; (4) acquaintances; (5) fellow bloggers; (6) coworkers; (7)service people. An injineer can always make the observed data fit the predetermined answer. Why do you think tuition is higher, the math is harder, and the wages better?]

Seriously, maybe networking contacts can become friends and acquaintances. Maybe that is what one needs to do. Convert the business of networking into "making friends and influencing people". I'm not so sure. But I'll take it under advisement. Till then, networking contacts don't fit into my paradigm cause it breaks the rule of five.

Maybe I need some new rules?
[FOOTNOTE: The rule of five says that people don't understand or remember things that are fewer than 3 (insufficient distinctions) and greater than 7 (too many choices). So engineers always try to ensure that stuff conforms to that rule. Next week's lesson: Why bridges don't usually fail or multiplying the right answer by ten just to be safe! That's why you don't have to worry about following a 9.5 ton truck on a one ton bridge … usually!]

http://ripples.typepad.com/ripples/2006/06/networking_made.html

***Begin Quote***

Networking is the process of extending your network of friends. It is not a matter of running around passing out business cards.
 
***End Quote***

Nah, I don't like that definition at all.

I do agree that it's not passing out business cards. It's also NOT collecting a lot of them either.

Any more than doing the LinkedIn version of the Vulcan mind meld with a grazillion people is networking.

I would define "networking" differently.

IMHO

Networking is an ongoing conversation between two people for the purpose of exchanging information about mutually agreed topics. It's characterized by the personal meetings or at least communications as needed.

There's an implied agreement that each participant is responsible for what they get out of it. There are no guarantees or warranties. It's a best effort.

There are certain unwritten rules. The initiator is not allowed to ask for a job, a loan, or an excessive amount of time. The receptor is obligated to give full attention, honest feedback, and follow through on anything promised.

When a face to face networking meeting occurs, I believe it is best when it is very scripted and short (less than 30 minutes). The initiator is expected to have familiarized themselves with the public persona of the receptor. The receptor is expected to have reviewed any documentation that the initiator has supplied in advance. After hello, the initiator asks the receptor to explain their current scope (5 minutes). The receptor then asks the initiator to describe what they are looking for and their unique value proposition. The initiator gives their long version of their elevator speech (5 minutes). The receptor then comments upon it (5 minutes). The initiator is then expected to ask two or three questions (5 minutes). Then the initiator concludes by asking for the names of two people who could help him, thanks the receptor for his time, and leaves. Thirty minutes tops UNLESS the receptor extend it.
 
There maybe a perceived disparity between the two people in organizational stature, education level, age, or experience (i.e., overall work history; industry focused; skills). Whether a greater or lesser, everyone wins in networking. At the very least, even if there is nothing that one person could possibly do (e.g., a new college accounting graduate networking with an old F500 cfo), there is the psychological benefit from helping. Or, perhaps the greater is "paying back ghosts" (i.e., releasing self-imposed obligations for past help received when there was a similar disparity). Those "ghosts" provided help to the now greater, who was the lesser then, and couldn't reciprocate. That kind of help comes with its own obligation that an individual carries in their soul. Like a karmic debt, it needs to be discharged. Also, the lesser can help the greater improve on their thinking, mental models, or coaching skills without recognizing it. The benefits to the greater are not always obvious even to the greater person. The lesser isn't imposing on the greater because there was mutual agreement to meet.

So if we think about the model of data, information (data in context), knowledge (actionable information), and wisdom (understanding the nuances of knowledge), the networking parties operate on any, or all, of the four levels. It can result in the exchanging, sharing, or developing new insights to their mutual or individual benefits.

Networking is that ongoing conversation inside a personal relationship between two individuals to their mutual benefit.

IMHO 

Reinke's Big Turkey Sales Funnel (aka 2GET2)

IT TAKES:
 10 Leads     to get to     one Qualifing lead (salary; geography; suitable)
 10 Qualified Leads     to get to     one Lead on Something Worth Submiting On (after research)
 10 Submittals     to get to     one First Phone Screen (Get passed the researcher)
 10 First Phone Screens     to get to     one Second Phone Screen (Get passed the headhunter)
 10 Second Phone Screens     to get to     one in-person Interview with the heahunter (if needed)
 10 Headhunter Interviews     to get to     one First Interview with the target's HR (for presentability)
 10 HR Interviews     to get to     one Second Interview with a peer (for tech qualifications)
 10 Peer Interviews     to get to     one Third Interview with the Hiring Manager (for rapport)
 10 Hiring Manager Interviews     to get to     one Fourth Interview with the Big Boss (for chemistry)
 10 Big Boss Interviews     to get to     one Offer (salary too low or too high)
 10 Offers     to get to     one Acceptable Offer (Perfect!)

 1 Acceptable Offer is all you really need     

Is it really a 1 in a 1,000,000,000,000 shot?

Nahh, who says 10 is the right number?
And that this is the right funnel for you?
Or that you have to touch every base?

(Believe it or not, I have had process with more steps. I've had one that went two steps. It’s all about managing YOUR expectation and getting thru all the “no”s to get to the one “yes” you want!)

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License
Copyright 1994 Ferdinand John Reinke All Other Rights Reserved 

http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/get_a_life_blog/2006/05/how_do_you_intr.html

***Begin Quote***

The most important outcome of introducing yourself as an entrepreneur first is that you will start to believe it yourself. There is power in language. A Buddhist friend once told me that the words that you say form a force field of attraction around you. So don't be shy. Next time someone asks you what you do for a living, don't chicken out – position yourself as an entrepreneur! If you want to practice, introduce yourself here.

***End Quote***

OK!

I AM a big fat turkey. Moonlighting as a blogging technology executive.

Seriously!

OK, here's my real introduction.

I'm really a businessman's technologist, or a technologist's businessman, as the need arises, specializing in translating between the two communities. I unlock hidden values by using Business Process Reengineering and IT Architecture. In my spare time, I play sometimes with technology but sometimes with out. I write about my experiences, and learn from the responses of others on the road of life.

http://www.impactlab.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8313

Empire of One Defined
***Begin Quote***

An Empire of One business is a one-person (sometimes married couple) business with far reaching spheres of influence.  Typically the business out-sources everything – information products marketed and sold online, or products manufactured in China or India, sent to a distribution center in the US, with customers in the UK and Brazil.  Manufacturing, marketing, bookkeeping, accounting, legal, and operations are all out-sourced to other businesses around the world. 

***End Quote***

Interesting that today I was corresponding with an exec search fellow who has gone on his own. I suggested that he'd have to be ready to burn the candle on five ends? I wrote about my experience here at: http://tinyurl.com/j873h; not that it contains any great words of wisdom.

Wish I could have thought of cuff links. The only think that I've come up with is my unfufilled desire to buy high quality underwear on the web like I used to get at Sears! 

***Begin Quote***

Feel free to steer any of your clients to our website (http://www.beyourbestinc.com) to peruse our job openings; we have hundreds of perm positions with IBM. Tell them to mention that they were sent by you and we will gladly pay you a referral fee if they land a job.
***End Quote***

Of course, I always try to avoid any hint of conflict of interest. Should I earn a fee, I'll happily send it to the Salvation Army. Not trying to be disrespectful of the offer. I just don't want anyone to think I have conflicted loyalties when I "help". ;-)

[L=http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BF7C9C985%2D4275%2D48AC%2D8B0B%2D14896B169724%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=nwhpf]http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BF7C9C985%2D4275%2D48AC%2D8B0B%2D14896B169724%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=nwhpf[/L]

***Begin Quote***
 
Do you have financial security for soft spells?

***End Quote***

Having done it twice, first time was much more successful (i.e., lucrative) than the second, I KNOW that you don't go into it with a thin bank account. I had my original severance from AT&T that I had kept aside intact growing that I intended for retirement which was more than TWO years of my run rate. So, I didn't have to sweat selling, delivering, and COLLECTING on my invoices. I had a GREAT lady who was shilling for me. So, it really was never in doubt that I'd be OK. The Frau never sweated. She did the books for me so that was one less thing I had to do. Unpaid staff is great!

My take away was that you wind up with FIVE equally important "tasks":

(1) selling engagements (no sales; no paychecks);

(2) delivering results (no results; no paychecks);

(3) collecting on invoices (no dunning; no paychecks);

(4) creating new offerings (nothing new; declining markets to sell into);

(5) figuring out trends to get / keep out in front (don't have wisdom; no mindshare)

Try burning any candle at FIVE ends!

Area #5 was the most stressful for me. I had a lot of offerings and still felt the pressure to innovate. Eventually I burnt out. As a one man band, I was under incredible pressure by your Customers to have more bandwidth. That means expansion and then the problems really begin.

IMHO you have to start down this path when you are young and dumb. Once you've gotten used to the corporate regular check, it is TOO hard to transition. You're addicted to Ebeneezer's "security".

FWIW YMMV
FjohnR
The Big Turkey

http://tutorials.lockergnome.com/library/20060521_personal_branding_for_technology_professionals.phtml 

Click to access PBTP.pdf

***Begin Quote***

Author Rajesh Setty examines the idea of building a peronal brand through his latest ebook, Personal Branding for Technology Professionals, including strategies for making yourself an invaluable part of the workplace no matter what high tech field has your focus. 
***End Quote***

He has some interesting ideas.

Isn't "branding" for cerial, muscle cars, and soap?

How can I brand a human being? I like Heinlein's quote:

 “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, pitch manure, solve equations, analyze a new problem, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

I think that branding works to imply value among alternatives. It's good when the choice has to be made without in-depth knowledge. I pick a Ford over a Chevy because I'm convinced that Fords are better than Chevys. I'm not sure that this is the case in "personal branding". There aren't the Big Turkeys, the Old Turkeys, and Svelete Turkeys for a hiring manager to choose from. 

I'd be interested in others' thinking. 

I try to keep a large number of plates spinning in a whole variety of activities. I really would like to "network" with all 8k of people that I have in my rolodex. But, that ain't humanly possible. And, certainly not by a lazy guy like me.

I ty to give something to my networking contacts that they will find useful. Quick answers to questions. Leads. Sources of further information. Ideas. Everything but money. I need all I have for myself. And, my favorite charities.

So, from time to time, when I have something I think is useful, I send it to them. Like most people that have taken a marketing course at one time or another, I try to segment my effort. What portion of that 8k might find it more useful than others. A sample! 

Now how will I "do" it. Email. Has to be. It fast, cheap, and is "do-able". 

In the past, I'd send an email to myself and bcc my sample.  Last time, one of my "stuckees" called me and sounded slightly miffed at my approach. I was taken aback. I had never thought anyone would be insulted or hurt. So, I took the idea back to the drawing board.

This time, and probably from hence forth and ever more, I'll send each one a unique individual email.

It still will be a bunch. But it will appear one2one. It that cheating?

I don't have that many good ideas that that I could have 8k of them. I'm lucky if I have one a month. It'd would take me 8,000 months to get to every contact. Arggh! 

SO, I used Word to do an email merge. It produces a unique email customized to each recipient.

Yell if you want more details.

I ran in for some ice cream and happened to overhear a newly laid off fellow, (a fellow turkey but he just doesn't know it yet), telling an older gent, who turned out to be his dadinlaw, about how he took his hobbies off his resume. AND, how much money someone wanted him to spend to write his resume.

I couldn't resist. In a sec, I turned into "super Turkey"! I puked job search ideas all over him.

Anybody who asks for money has to be suspect. Play ProblemAnalysisResult resume; givem them P and R and make'm pay for the A. AND, a resume's only purpose is to get you an interview.

I gave him my email / web site and suggested he drop me a line.

Will he?

Or will he be afraid. be very afraid!

Assess the culture … "our employees are our most valuable asset" … … yeah right! … and I have a bridge

http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/get_a_life_blog/2006/05/open_letter_to_.html

First, you have to like anything that starts with "escape from cubicle nation".

Didchaknow that the cubicle is an unintended consequence of the government tax policy on depreciation? Cubicles can be expense over a few years; an office 39!

I really like this "Don't ask for your employees' input if you are not going to listen to it."

Wish I had a dollar for everytime that happened. And, when they did listen, they stole my idea and used it without  attribution. I made sure never to do that.

Assignment for those "OUT": Create a tactic – method – questionnaire – something to follow that will tell you how you are going to assess the kult-ure at each target. Don't be so desperate for a job that you close your eye to the salt mine!

Assignment for those "IN" (they just don't know yet when they will be "out" again): Assess the culture where your boots are now. Is it a salt mine, face time, or play time?

YMMV FAIWWYPFI FWIW
fjohn
the big turkey

http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/04/moving_up_the_w.html 

***Begin Quote***

Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom (DIKW) hierarchy

***End Quote***

Interesting that the author feels we spend way to much time down at the data level and little if any time up at the wisdom level.

I agree. BUT, how does an organization or an individual move up that tree?

http://execunet.blogspot.com/2006/05/talent-management-vs-career-management.html

Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Talent Management vs. Career Management
Dave Opton
Norwalk, Connecticut, United States

http://www.blogger.com/profile/10891844

***Begin Quote***

What lots of us wanted to think of as company sponsored career management was really company sponsored talent management, and there's a significant difference as I am guessing anyone who has read this far already knows. Talent management is the WIFM for the employer. Career management is the WIFM for the employee. If they happen to match up from time to time, that's great, but make no mistake about where the interests lie for each.

***End Quote***

This sparks the thought that we have been fooled into thinking that things haven't changed.

The gold watch era, where the Greatest Generation stayed with an employer for a lifetime, ended silently. It started as we shifted from an agrarian society to a manufacturing one. It ended imho when the aircraft industry was caught firing older engineers to defraud them out of their pensions. That led to the government getting involved (always a bad idea) with the ERISA laws which dictated 5 year pension vesting.

This led to the era of what I call the "Five Year Employee". That lasted until the dot com boom, the entrepreneurial age,when working for yourself became the rage.

The government's tax structure had a hand in that too. As a consultant, I could deduct my commutation expense. As an employee, I couldn't. My employer can give employees qualifying health care tax deductible. As a consultant, I can deduct my own health care premiums. As an employee, I can't.

So, we have now recently emerged into the era where because of the entrepreneurial bust, people have gone back to working for companies. The standing joke is "they pretend to pay me and I pretend to work".

Defined benefit pension plans are being converted to cash value as quick as possible by companies who want to unload the liability. Litigation follows because people are being weenied. Pensions are now unknown outside of the government.  Existing pensioners and future beneficiaries are hung with an unfunded liability by companies that can go bankrupt to weenie them. Those with big fat pension funds are a target for rogue management or corporate raiders. It's not just social security that's a scam. The whole "retirement" metaphor is a risky scheme.

First rule: What you have is yours; what's promised is exactly that … … a promise. It has to be discounted by a number of factors. It all revolves around "collectability".

Second rule: You have to deduce what the new "rules" are for yourself.

WIFM (What's in It For Me)

I have to create a rule book that works for me. Everyone has to recognize that their "rules", as well as their mileage, will vary.

My thinking is that if one is "lucky" enough to collect on a promise, like a pension or social sedulity, you should thank your lucky stars because that is not everyone's experience.

Schedule of activities

(1) CEO report

– How did last month, last quarter, last year go?

– How will this month, last quarter, last year go?

(2) CFO report

– Cash reserves (How many months can we go without a paycheck?)

– Expense trend good or bad

– Look ahead?

(3) Chief Marketing Officer

– How is the employment market?

– How are my particular type of peanuts selling?

– Any discontinuities in sight?

– How are you testing the market for your skills?

(4) Chief Networking Officer

– How many contacts, calls, meetings last month?

– How many contacts were lost?

– How many new contacts made?

– What is your average days since last contact?

(5) Chief Product Officer

– What is your value equation?

– How are you delivering more value while retaining less?

– What new values are you offering?
YMMV FWIW,
fjohn
the big turkey

***Begin Quote***

Tomorrow morning marks the seventh day since, through a combination of your kind efforts, I was able to put my candidate information in front of XXXX for the YYYY position at ZZZZ.  Thus far I have received no responses from either XXXX or YYYY HR to my emails, and so I plan to contact XXXX tomorrow via phone.  I will call him at around 7 AM Eastern time (4 AM my time) and my approach will be "just wanted to make sure you had received my information and to answer any questions you might have."  I don't want to appear over-eager, but at the same time I think I have waited too long in the past for responses from potential employers, and want to avoid that mistake here.  If you have any comments, I would be very interested to hear them.  Once again, your assistance is deeply appreciated.  

***End Quote***

My suggestion, while it may be too late, is three fold.

(1) Prepare by writing your message. Script it out. Prepare for voice mail. If you get voice mail, then you won’t sound like your disorganized, drunk (why else would you be up at 4am to call him – he knows where you live), or whining. When you deliver your message, don’t read it. It’ll sound read. AND, deliver it standing up, smiling, but not yelling. Quiet enthusiasm.

(2) Offer to help in any way that you can. Try to have something to offer. Commiserate with administrative systems that make it hard to get things done since he directed you to the internal HR site. Tell a tiny story.

(3) Leave your cell phone number at the front of the message. Clearly. And slowly. Tell him that you want the job and it’s NOT necessary for him to call you back. (He may have nothing to offer. I know at Comcast all contact MUST be done by HR. And, he may have to waste time calling you when he could be advancing the ball.)

My thoughts FWIW,
John

***Begin Quote***

Actually, your email arrived just as I was leaving him a voicemail. I hit Cancel and got out of there. :) I will make a script later this morning (I'm going back to sleep) and contact him from work (via my cell phone, walking outside – that'll force me to stand up, although I may get some looks walking around with a big smile.) Can I clarify your "story" point on suggestion two? I take your meaning as "I understand you may be waiting for HR to process the paperwork of your applicants – my present company's the same way" or similar.

Thanks again for the suggestions – the better my message to him, the more likely I'll get an affirmative response.

***End Quote***

Exactly. You want to try to establish rapport. A common foe is always useful. The vagaries of corporate HR, the Post Office, ISPs in general, or even the green meanies. You need a common foe to bind him to you. "Heck, he's a great guy, understands that everyone has problems, and I can work with him." That's the key hump. Make him like you. You know a Sally Field moment. "You like me. You really like me." Now I'm a generally disagreeable sort so I have to work extra hard at that. And being an injineer by trade, I try to create a "make me likeable" process. Tell a clean joke that a third grader would "laff" at. Establish a common enemy. Help by giving him some topical current information like the PDF I've attached. Change yourself from a resume to a person. May not get you the job, but if it's a close call, who would you pick? The faceless resume or the person. IMHO YMMV, john

###

QUESTION> Graduation year for university on resume.  Yes or no?

Put it on. Your age is no real secret. Sell thru the objection.

See Dave’s blog this week about age discrimination, http://execunet.blogspot.com/2006/04/selling-experience_24.html and my comment.

Then, “pull up your Big Girl undies” and compete. No sense making an issue out of it; make a value out of it. “I’m not old; I’m experienced; You can benefit ‘cause I’m house broken and I made all my mistakes when some one else was paying for them!”.

RETORT: Need the job!

Well, I’ll quibble. SunTse always advises things like “When weak, appear strong. When strong, appear weak.” You may need the bucks. But you never need THAT job. I would suggest that there are certain moral, ethical, and personal boundaries that you should NEVER cross. The casting couch is a great example of a line that should never be crossed. I also firmly believe that the appropriate deity (i.e., Jesus; the Intelligent Designer; the Universe; the Flying Spaghetti Monster) will always provide what we need. The famous Wayne Dyer admonition applies: “you'll believe it when you see it OR you’ll see it when you believe it”. His formulation is that you visualize what you want and the Universal Soul will supply it. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Now, I don’t believe that one should sit on one’s butt and wait for the Publisher’s Clearing House Lottery van to arrive. But there is anecdotal evidence in my own life that this has some truth to the idea that “lucky breaks” occur. Funny how the harder I work at something, the more breaks go my way. So, let’s agree that you don’t need THAT particular job.

ALSO, I’d admonish you never even to think of the HR people as morons. It may be flip, but I have seen people sink their own ship with a loose lip. While there are a few “bad” people, (in my personal trek, I have met FOUR out of a grazillion.) by an large, people, while they may be: dumb as a stump, overworked, underpaid, overwhelmed by volume, completely inept, or just plain disagreeable, they are the Intelligent Designer’s creation and as such worthy of our respect. When I get totally in a knot, I ask myself things like: would you do that job, what problems can I help that person overcome, or what lesson is the Universe trying to teach me here. I get a lot of lessons in humility and patience. I need them because I’m not very humble or patient. Lessons are repeated until the student learns.

===

http://execunet.blogspot.com/2006/04/selling-experience_24.html

***Begin Quote***

Sad to say, age discrimination is alive and well 

***End Quote***

Ahh Dave, a topic near and dear, but as a big turkey, I think one has to "get over it". I've shared the story in which the HR head of a Financial Institution, who I knew well, had the clarity to tell me that I was "too old" for them. :-) I am happy to report that they are no longer in business. Getting tagged with a felony is not good for business. Unfortunately it was NOT for age discrimination! So, when I hear a fellow turkey complain about "age discrimination", I ask them if they gripe about the Law of Gravity, the Third Law of Entropy, and the Law of Supply and Demand. When they look at me as if I have three heads, I continue to point out the innumerable constraints of life. If pushed, I probably can sign a few versus of the song from "The Facts Of Life". (Frau Reinke liked that show.) Bottom line: Grow up, shut up, pull up your big boy pants, and go compete. Demonstrate that old doesn't mean senile. That grey hair is NOT synonymous with old ideas. And that having experience means you don't have to make every single mistake that everyone else has made in doing something. I try to stress that us old folks tend to work smarter rather than harder because we made those mistakes on someone else's payroll. Needless to say, I'm employed and plan to stay that way until old and senile. Not needing their job is one of the best ways I know to ensure that you have a job. That convinces them that you actually know more than they do. Zero debt, secure retirement when you choose, and a few bucks in the bank can impress any recruiter. It levels the playing field. Especially when you can say, I think I can help you if you let me. And if you don't, no big deal. Like the Sally Rand fan dance, you have keep them guessing. And when they can't have you, then they want you. ;-)

Where did I find?

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” (also heard it as “arrive”)

“Lessons are repeated until the student learns.”

“chop wood, carry water, seek enlightenment, chop wood, carry water”