Reinke Faces Life

http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog/archives/191

Here’s a “carnival”. It has the thinking of some very smart people, and Jason even posted my entry in that elite company. (He probably felt sorry for my modest effort.)

Basically, we were all supposed to respond to the “You just lost your job; what do you do” question.

Oh, oh, OH! I know, I know, first I clear the airway, check to see if the patient is breathing, and then begin compressions. Oh, wrong test.

Seriously, 14 “contestants” submitted entries to the carnival. I’ve read all the entries, and mine isn’t the best. Which one do you think is?

Even I learned some things by reading each entry carefully.

Some after-deadline ones are coming in. I’m planning to read those as well.

One can’t always take “free advice”, but in this case, I suggest that everyone who is “in” take, make, and / or dedicate time to this wake up call.

METHODOLOGY: Plan to deal with the “noise” … …

… … take out the “trash”!

Here’s a classic example of non-traditional spam. I received three of these. So to me, that makes it spam. If I had only gotten one, I’d have been duped. SO here’s some points:

(1) It’s non-specific. It alludes to a “great job”, but doesn’t personalize what it is.

(2) It came in on the “right” email address. Addressed as “Ferdinand” *a sure tip off that the person has NEVER interacted with me.

(3) Taking the link brings you to a general jobsearch site with all the typical tools and advertisements and popups. So, the “jobs” are probably scraped off other sites.

Like with most spam, unsubscribe is a joke. Outlook’s spam filter is my choice.

That’s my take. YMMV FWIW
Fjohn
The Big Turkey

===
From: Andrea Tucker [mailto:Andrea@amazingcareer2006.com]
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 12:50 PM
To:
Subject: job of interest

Dear Ferdinand,

Based on your background and experience, we believe that you may be interested in one or more positions recently posted by our corporate clients. Please take a look at these recently posted opportunities. You can view the jobs in detail and submit your resume by clicking the links below. Our client is currently hiring for several positions across the country.

Job Match 1

More Jobs

Best Regards,

Andrea Tucker

To unsubscribe from further emails please select this link. 2981 Ford St Oburg, Ny 13669

For example, I went to my Job Seeker’s PIM and said hmmm, let me toss in some VCFs and some text files

For example:

==> “Reinke, F. John”.vcf

==> Some alumni htm files

==> some linked in files

A room for improvement here.

STRATEGY: “findability” is a key element …

… for passive seekers.

There’s a pretty good dialog going on over at [LinkedInnovators] a Yahoo Group I belong to. See “Digest Number 503” Over the value of LInkedIn in a job search.

One of my favorite topics!

LINKEDIN is a cross between the yellow pages for professionals and an ersatz networking tool.

I haven’t figured out the value for me yet. If there is any?

But two things I took out of the discussion:

(1) Get your linkedin profile on your resume with a substantive number of contacts and some endorsements. Thinking outside the box on your profile is more acceptable than on your resume (i.e., pity plays well — my dog died AND hobbies count towards the value proposition).

(2) Participate in the inet groups as a passive strategy to get recognition.

FWIW
Fjohn

ISTJ – “Trustee”. Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 11.6% of total population.
Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

http://similarminds.com/

Now where is the check box for crotchety old pia?

Chatted with Vincent Wright about my idea, LINKEDIN by ZIPCODE.

Once I established the rationale, that New Jersey or any mass transit challenged area, had limits on the ability to get like-minded folks together. I thought that LINKEDIN-ites who live or work in a particular zip code could get together if they could find each other. By creating yahoo groups, similar to the one Vincent has created for bloggers and power users, by zip code, we could over come the challenge of geography. Hence the concept of LINKEDINzipcode is launched.

So, for example, LINKEDIN90210 would be for Beverly Hills CA. If they have a fool to try and start it.

So, I’ve created LINKEDIN08824 and LINKEDIN08054.

Now, all I have to get, or make, are snazzy badges!

I challenged a bilingual baby turkey-ette to send out twenty letters and resumes in her second language to some targets that I picked out.

The bet is that I’d pay the postage if she did it and didn’t get a good response.

She got her first rejection today. Nineteen chances to go. Will I be twenty bucks poor or be acclaimed as the Biggest Turkey in all Turkey-dom.

In my stupidity, I think if your fluent in a second language that you should flaunt it.

We’ll see if I’m out of luck.

Time for the special prayer to Saint Anthony, the patron saint of hopeless causes.

Dear Saint Anthony come around some thing’s been lost and needs to be found.

I’ll pull out all the stops. I can’t afford to be shown up here.

I’ll have to consult the owner’s manual: does Saint Anthony do “job search”?

Hmmm! Where’s the FAQ!

http://execunet.blogspot.com/2006/10/
executive-leadership-whatever-that-may_31.html

http://tinyurl.com/svjek

***Begin Quote***

Inspiring (Washington, Lincoln, Truman, Kennedy) and some of them despising (Hitler, Stalin, Ebbers, Lay)

***End Quote***

Well, I’ll quibble about the exemplars, both positive and negative.

Let’s start with the areas of agreement:

Clearly Washington is great positive. Even though he wasn’t the greatest general, suffered from depression, lied to Congress (setting a precedent!), but was happy to be President but not King.

On the negative side, Stalin killed enough people to make Hitler look inept. Stalin had the new American Socialists to cheer lead for him hence he’s not viewed as the ogre he was. History has a way of eventually getting to the truth.

I’ll quibble with rest as “Leaders”.

To me, to earn the appellation “Leader”, one not only has to “lead”, but one has to be “authentic”. Note, I’m not saying they have to be “right”, but they can’t deliberately do “wrong”.

Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, like the current President. Truman dropped the bomb. Kennedy pretended to be a Catholic. Hitler was inefficient when compared to Stalin. Ebbers and Lay just were just common thieves.

Some “leaders” that I would revere are (in a rough order of magnitude) Gandhi, MLK, Pope John 23, Mother Theresa, Pope John Paul 2, Margaret Thatcher and Elinore Roosevelt.

I think that Leadership is inspirational. It gets you going. It’s motivational. It’s smart in being able to divine the correct path that takes the civilization to a better place. We have to be very careful who we designate as a Leader because it gives them tremendous power for good or for evil. I think that “leadership” is as rare as the proverbial hen’s teeth. Managers, pretending to be leaders, are a common as rodents.

No wonder everyone’s looking for it in so many venues.

http://www.thinkfree.com

ThinkFree is web-based tool.

For seekers, who are “out”, this might be a way to get a “microsoft office” clone that wouldn’t require having your own pc or paying for software.

In my thinking, the baby turkey doesn’t want to start the computing trek right after getting nuked, by having to go buy a computer. Basically, they go from using their employer’s to having to select, operate, and learn their own.

(One reason why I tell turkeys who are “in” to address this need before they are put “out”.)

I’m sure that they take the easy way out — when they have so MANY other problems — and just replicate what they had at their employer. That drops a bundle when they can least afford it.

Anyway, ThinkFree could fill the niche for computing need without investment. For example, usually the local library, or any library, has internet access for free. And there are inet cafes around.

The money that a baby turkey would drop on a replacement of the employer’s desktop would buy many library or inet cafe sessions. Or, at the very least, allow them to buy the cheapest computer and inet connection.

For seekers, who are “in” and not delusional that their current gig will last for ever, this may be a solution to lots of issues. Want to write and send an email without leaving a trace on your work top? Want to send an email from your worktop with out using your employer’s email.

I was recently challenged about thinking that a person has an obligation to explain why they are leaving a social networking group. I thought I should capture that answer in my blog.

***Begin Quote***

> but why in the world would anyone have to explain
>why they were leaving any group, whether social networking

Well, I can think of a few reasons. Some are “why should I”, “why could I”, “why it would be nice if I did”, and one “why I must”.

Let me see if any of this makes sense.

ONE: I think that when one joins a group, even if it is free, and partakes of the benefits of that group, then you OWE an explanation for leaving. If you pay for the group, then you have less of that obligation. The more you pay the less you’re obligated imho.

TWO: I think that it is common courtesy, like saying “please” and “thank you”. It’s a rarity these days in the world of headhunting and jobsearching, which imho constitutes the big usage or big value of LinkedIn. Hence “they” — the hunters and seekers — are bringing that “ethics” of rudeness into the Yahoo Groups.

THREE: It is educational. I’m a big fan of the Johari Window. So, this fellow, leaving, has certain insights (DIKW) that we could benefit from. If he had said why, then perhaps I could have learned in my quest for the “value in linkedin”. By leaving no note behind as he committed virtual suicide, I’m left guessing. (I don’t do well with ambiguity. I r an injineer. I need explicit facts and formulas. I don’t watch the poker shows because I NEED to see the rabbit card (the remaining cards being dealt) to KNOW how the soap opera would have played out.)

FOUR: He may have had friends and acquaintances in the group that would need some closure.

FIVE: It’s always somewhat satisfying to read someone ranting about this or that, as they stomp out the door. Even more satisfying when they sheepishly creep back in admitting they were wrong.

***End Quote***

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