JOBSEARCH: Rhonda Britten never received a call from NBC or Bunim-Murray

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Rhonda Britten: ‘I never received a call from NBC or Bunim-Murray regarding its fate’ – TV.com Tracking

http://www.fearlessliving.org/blog/rhonda

***Begin Quote***

I know its been confusing for so many folks, including me, when it comes to the question: Is Starting Over coming back for a fourth season? The answer is no.

***End Quote***

Guess she didn’t get my memo about the rules changing. Nice to see that it can happen to everyone. And, even a trained psych can have feelings about it.

I always needled my wife for watching “whiney womyn”. In actuality, I thought some of the shows were really good. “Fight Fair”, self-sabotage, and self-forgiveness were good life lessons.

But, like anything that might have redeeming value, that just might possibly be a Quadrant One activity, that might actually be usefully entertaining, had to be driven out of the “vast wasteland”.

Jobseekers can empathize with her plight. And, anyone who didn’t read the memo about the rules changing, should.


JOBSEARCH: Boston Globe nails IBM and others

Sunday, September 17, 2006

STRATEGY: Attention Kmart shoppers the rules of the job game have changed …

http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2006/09/17/visions_of_the_golden_years_dim_as_pension_promises_fade/?page=full

Anyone, who doesn’t understand that the rule of the gasme have changed, should read this.

No, print it, and nail it to your bathroom mirror. Seven years of bad luck is the least of your worries!

Don’t think that the “corporate management” will do ANYTHING but loot your beloved enterprise. Cast off your illusions. It’s a cold cruel world out there.

Pension? Just plan on possibly getting something from the Pension Guarantee Fund. (Maybe!) Ask the Delta pilots how they feel.

Life-time employment? Ask the Ford blue collar workers.

Benefits? Maybe, as long as they don’t cost too much. Retirees shoudl get ready for the Eskimo iceberg voyage.

Action plan:

(1) Trust no one! What you have in your pocket is yours. Anything else has a tinge of “maybe” attached to it.

(2) Develop skills. Create a portfolio of what you can offer another employer or the marketplace. That has value!

(3) Develop alternate revenue streams. Part-time job, side business, investment protfolio, rental properties, ebay biz, something, anything.

(4) Develop awareness. There is no rescue team coming to help. Don’t expect mercy becasue there isn’t any. Pull up your big boy pants and get ready for trouble.

###


JOBSEARCH: eXtreme Personal Branding

Saturday, September 16, 2006

http://execunet.blogspot.com/2005/11/dont-miss-next-strategic-turn_28.html

Dave talks about “personal branding” … …

… … but this fellow takes it to an extreme.

http://hellomynameisscott.blogspot.com/2005/11/maybe-im-taking-this-whole-personal.html

;-)


JOBSEARCH: “Hello My Name Is” fellow has a niche

Saturday, September 16, 2006

http://hellomynameisscott.blogspot.com/2006/09/lessons-learned-from-job-that-sucked.html

hellomynameisscott

***Begin Quote***

Unique Closers
I’m not talking about closing the sale. I’m talking about the last thing you say to a customer in your opening conversation that reminds them who you are and that you’d be happy to help. So, instead of saying, “I’m Scott if you have any questions,” or “Here’s my card if you need me,” I’d say:

• “If you need anything, I’ll be over by the donuts.”

• “Well, I’m Scott. If you have an questions, I’ll be in the back corner sleeping on the $3000 Italian Leather Sofa.” (SIDE NOTE: one out of every five customers then asked me, “Ooh! Can we see that sofa?”)

• “I’ll let you guys go have fun. If you need me, I’m the only salesman under 50.”

LET ME ASK YA THIS: What’s your unique closer(s)?
***End Quote***

You readers, go have fun; I’ll be pblogging on something over in tech, if you have any questions!


JOBSEARCH: Planning for your next transition

Friday, September 15, 2006

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14831365/

Ford’s plan: Cut operating costs by $5 billion
Automaker will shrink workforce by one-third, launch revamped lineup

***Begin Quote***

DETROIT – Ford is cutting more than 10,000 additional salaried jobs, offering buyouts to all of its 75,000 U.S. hourly workers and shutting down two more plants in a plan to end financial losses and remake itself into a smaller, more competitive car company.
***End Quote***

My CEO (me) was chatting with our CFO (me) about this strategy. Cutting your people to get to profitability. We agreed not too smart and hard on the people.

It’s not like they just discovered (with my obligatory allusion to Casablanca where Renard is shocked, SHOCKED!, shocked I say, to find that there is gambling going on here!) that they are in a hole.

I bought a 2002 Ford Exploder (sic) and I could have told them that “quality is job 1” was just an advertising slogan. I have 30k$ pos with 40k miles on it. The ac doesn’t work (and they want 1.5k$ to fix it), the abs light flickers (and they want 1k$ to fix it, the brakes of going in the next 10k miles(and they want 1.5k$ to fix them), and the seat belt hasn’t retracted right since we bought it (despite mentioning it every time we brought it in). It has also had the recall for a set of tires (that had cost 4k$ at their prices), it’s been in for numerous annoying problems that all seem to magically cost 1k$ each. Argh!

But, as I as CEO (me) asked my Head or HR (me), if you were one of the buy-out-ees, then (I’d ask why are you still there?) what would you do? How do you evaluate any offer versus the uncertainty. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.


JOBSEARCH: BUILDYOURNETWORKS … another LinkedIn augmentation site?

Thursday, September 14, 2006

http://www.buildyournetworks.com/

Value as yet unknown. TBI (To be investigated) WTP (When Time Permits)


JOBSEARCH: Recruiters, LinkedIn, Other Users, Expectations, and “Rules”

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

FROM: The LinkedIn Innovators Yahoo Group
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/LinkedInnovators/

Recruiter Networking Pushing the Limits…….
Posted by: “tamara719”
Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:52 pm (PST)
***Begin Quote***

Hello All

My name is Tamara. I am a recruiter based out of the Dallas/Ft.Worth
area.

I am enjoying my membership on Linked-in. I have found old friends,
business associates and made many new friends and contacts. I am
thankful for this resource.

However, I am becoming perturbed about Recruiters contacting
Recruiters for “referrals.” I am more then willing to aid a fellow
recruiter in a search for financial compensation. I do not work for
free (none of us do), and I will not fill positions without
consideration. I have been contacted with lures such as “if you help
me I’ll give you access to my vast network?”

Others have answered me in shock as if I had asked for something out
of this realm of existence. I have posted on my profile that I do
this for a living, having done so for over thirteen years now, and
that I am paid only if I place the candidate; or work on a retained
basis. And, I might add that in-house recruiters should not seek aid
from recruiters without compensation. If you want to utilize my
firm’s services please do so, with a signed agreement.

I am not striving to sound harsh or difficult to get along with.
However, I am being overwhelmed with requests for “who you know” or
“Can you recommend somebody for this role?” Yes, I probably can
however unless I know that you, the recruiter, will compensate me then
I will continue to work on my own openings for my own clients.

This is the nature of business. This is why all of us on Linked-in
are in business in one facet or another. To make a living; to pay our
bills, and to enjoy a certain quality of life.

Thus, I would like to be removed from the blasts asking for referrals.
Unless you intend to compensate me for my effort, which means to me:
a) Searching for a passive candidate
b) Qualifying them
c) Verifying their degree(s)
d) Checking previous employment
f) Checking three professional references

I will have to be compensated.

I have been meaning to write this a long time, and after opening
Linked-in today, I said that’s it, it is long over due for me to get
my message out to all concerned.

I love what I do. How many people in recruiting can say that? How
many people can say that about their current positions? Thus, nothing
would make me prouder or happier then to truly Link-in with other
recruiters as business partners. We can partner together to achieve
an ends to a means. I see everything right about this suggestion.

Tamara
President/Founder
Endeavor Group
Ft. Worth, TX

***End Quote***

HERE’S MY RESPONSE

>My name is Tamara. I am a recruiter based out of the Dallas/Ft.Worth

Hello, Tamara. Let me see if I can “react” to what you are saying.

>However, I am becoming perturbed about Recruiters contacting

I don’t think that LinkedIn was created for recruiters to earn money. I could be mistaken, but I thought it was about “networking”. It’s an evolving understanding, but it was to form voluntary connections between people for their mutual benefit.

>I will not fill positions without consideration

I understand that everyone has to make a buck. AND, I have run into some “interesting” tactics by recruiters to do that. But, if you don’t want to “help” then just say so.

>If you want to utilize my firm’s services please do so, with a signed agreement.

And, if you want to use the services of the average joe who’s just here to help out, please feel free to do so with a signed agreement with for example ME! You don’t get to have it both ways. Either it’s help freely offered and freely given or it’s a glorified meat market. And how do I get my “cut”?

>I am not striving to sound harsh or difficult to get along with.

Ahh, but you are. You are trying to form a business model in basically what is “supposedly” a free exchange of contact information.

Some of the more “sleezy” things I have found recruiters doing are:

(1) “taking hostages” — basically creating a profile for some one they are representing and not permitting any contact except for a fee. I found a fellow I knew in College, wanted to reconnect, and the recruiter refused unless I paid him. A plague on his house.

(2) “creating strawmen” — creating a profile for a candidate they were representing and attempting to leverage an agreement out of another recruiter to source him.

I think that both these are “immoral tactics”.

Bottom line: IMHO LinkedIn grew because of average shmoes like me wanted to bypass recruiters of all types — the corporate hr types and the retained / contingency search — and just connect on their own.

An invasion of recruiters, sensing a good thing, and “joined”. Now they are kludging up the works trying to retain value for themselves without concern to its impact on the resource. It’s akin to the tragedy of the commons argument.

>I will have to be compensated.

Me too. Don’t ask for what you are not prepared to give. It’s like the Creative Commons discussion. Share and share alike OR else.

>nothing would make me prouder or happier then to truly Link-in with other
>recruiters as business partners. We can partner together to achieve

Sure, because you are making money.

I think it is disingenuous to say on the one hand “share your information with me” under a certain set of engagement rules and then not to follow thru with your obligation.

>I see everything right about this suggestion.

I see it differently. LinkedIn asks me to join, share, and urge others to do the same. You want to join, take, but not share unless you get a cut.

Sorry, but I think that’s wrong.

Fjohn


JOBSEARCH: Here’s some free eddykaytion from Office Depot

Friday, September 8, 2006

Here’s some free eddykaytion from Office Depot
No credit, but no cost.
And, you might even learn something, make a contact, or at the very least be able to make a “legend” (aka somehting you can use in your jobsearch) out of it.

***

http://email.officedepot.com/P/v3/Microsite.asp?E=401;214201;188344728;13;02&R=T1_ONL&A=1007

***Begin Quote***
Building Your Sales by Closing More Sales
Featuring Mark Hunter
September 12, 2006 4-5 PM EDT

Mark Hunter
“The Sales Hunter”
Topics Include:
• Learn the missing elements in what it takes to dramatically increase your closing skills
• How do you deal with the prospect who is hesitant to make a decision?
• How do you know when it’s right to stop calling on what you thought was a perfect prospect?

***

Easy to Understand Financial Concepts for Small Business
Featuring Stan Herman
September 19, 2006 4-5 PM EDT

Stan Herman
Certified Business Coach
Topics Include:
• Understand the natural growth rate of your business
• Learn who are really your best customers
• See what impact discounts have on your business

***

Search Engine Secrets – How To Be In The Top 10!
Featuring Kevin Dean
September 26, 2006 4-5 PM EDT

Kevin Dean
Certified Internet Marketing Consultant
Topics Include:
• Discover all of the places you can be found
• What are the best keywords to use?
• Learn what search engines consider most important about your site

***

Negotiate Your Way to Success
Featuring Greg Williams
October 3, 2006 4-5 PM EDT

Greg Williams
“The Master Negotiator”
Topics Include:
• Participants will become knowledgeable of negotiation tactics and learn how to present counter offers that strengthen their position
• Participants will be able to negotiate better deals in their personal and business lives
• Participants will make, save and earn more money, in their lifetime

***End Quote***


JOBSEARCH: LinkedIn has a steroidal Yahoo group shadowing it

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyLinkedinPowerForum/

It’s a Yahoo Group for doing things with LinkedIn that the operators of LinkedIn don’t, can’t, or won’t provide. I’, investigating.


TURKEY: ATTENTION KMART SHOPPERS the rules have changed! (There. Now you’ve all been told.)

Sunday, August 27, 2006

http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/get_a_life_blog/2006/08/requesting_quic.html

***Begin Quote***

Chapter Two: Why corporations today cannot provide job security, no matter how hard they try
Anyone who thinks that taking a job as a corporate employee today is more stable than generating their own income is in for a rude awakening. Corporate jobs can be tremendous training grounds for learning about business and management, as well as providing temporary income streams. But if you look for a long-term, till-retirement-do-us-part work relationship, you are in for intense heartbreak. This chapter describes what has made corporations constitutionally unstable (such as radically changing marketing conditions, outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions, frequent top management changes and pressure from globalization). I will include tips for getting the most from your corporate experience while you are still there (some from my “Open Letter to Employees”).

***End Quote***

As I have ranted before, the “rules” have changed on us. We’ve gone thru several iterations of them. But the 50’s illusion of going to work for a big company, like AT&T as I did in the late sixties, working for fifty years and getting lifetime security (the rules were spelled out: don’t be drunk, don’t dip you pen in company ink, and don’t steal) with a pension and financial security at the end of the yellow brick road, are OVER! That worked for my Mom; it will NOT work for us!

ATTENTION KMART SHOPPERS the rules have changed! (There. Now you’ve all been told.)

New rules:

(1) You’re only as secure as the last paycheck that cleared!

(2) You’re only value is what you are PERCEIVED to produce! (Note: Not what you actually produce; that’s irrelevant.)

(3) You better save your pennies because at the end of the road that’s all you’ll have. (IRA, 401k, tbills, etfs)

(4) The rules, even these rules, are subject to change without notice, without logic, and on a whim. (Pay careful attention to deduce these new rules!)

(5) Old and gray, although smart and wise, is not respected, valued, or employable.

(6) Having multiple revenue streams, (i.e., a white collar job, a blue collar skill, rental properties, an ebay business, an investment portfolio, and some “mad” money), means that the loss of one stream will not materially effect your happiness. (Or your marriage, which is in case you haven’t realized it, your most important asset!)

[Feel free to add your own. I’d be interested to learn what you add! Please tell me I can be a little dense sometimes.]

FJohn
The Big Turkey
looking for “rules” in all the wrong places