Reinke Faces Life

FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE WITH A FELLOW TURKEY

>”Misery” just about sums it up.

Nothing is as miserable as being pecked to death by a big fat old turkey!

> I’m getting out of the house to do the introspection/analysis/writing and whatever else it takes.

Unnecessary imho, you can create your UVP in the can with the door locked. Since it’s unlikely to be right on the first shot, it’s an iterative attempt to define an objective.

>Nothing like low-grade panic to focus the attention.

Doesn’t sound like panic. It sounds like fear induced lethargy. What have you been doing between 5/5 and 5/27? What is your Number 1 priority? I’m interested if it’s not creating your UVP?

>Later on today I’ll start professional-izing my website. I’ve only used it for experimentation and such.Again, nice, but who cares. You can have the best web site in the world and no UVP, no one is going to put coins in your cash register.

>My marketing collateral, such as it is, is at .

“Marketing collateral” assumes you have a USellingP. Can’t have that without a UVP. How can you sell a product that you haven’t defined? How can you define a product, if it’s not something you can deliver? It all starts with UVP. (In My not so Humble Opinion)

>The website is the first part of that address. None of it is really public, just my remote file cache.

Again, nice, but …

Also, anything you put out on the internet there is public. I got it. If I did, Google did. If Google did, then any recruiter, HR, or hiring manager did.

If you got no interest or no call backs, that might be why?

>

Focusing on what you DO have. Let me see what you’re UVP might look like.

*** begin quote ***

{Privacy; redacting to prevent identification}

*** end quote ***

OK, you might be able to:

* “Market innovative school networks seeking to leave the high TCO Microsoft environment and move to the low cost LTSP solutions”

* “Make networks happen and do it while bringing Customers, Colleagues, Suppliers, and Consumers to a common level of understanding”

* “Market new network capabilities to solve old business problems”

* “Enable better productivity in Government, NGO, private sector, and real people by using networks innovatively”

* “Save schools money while improving communications by better networking”

How’s that for five UVPs that you MIGHT have (and make big bucks from) but haven’t expressed. They are all drastically different. Which one are you? If not, what are you?

Lunch time is over. Enough fun working on real problems. Back to my employer’s paying ones!

P.S.: I’m adding two more people (in a BCC, so they can decline without offending anyone) to this message.

P.P.S: I am inviting you to help “resuscitate” an old XXXXXXXXX  turkey! I would appreciate any thoughts as we go along in how to get XXXXXXX back into the ranks of the high earners. He’s been deflated for a while, (died of “old age” I think), and we’re trying to give him “jobsearch CPR” and breath some new vigor into him. There’s no greater test of a Turkey Master’s power than to bring “dead” turkeys back to life (with apologies in advance to any religious metaphors). Seriously, my toughest case to date was the fellow who was out of the workforce for 3 years tending to his dying wife. That was essentially really easy. I continue to hone my Turkey Master powers by seeking out the tough old birds to “help”. Maybe some day, I’ll learn humility. So, I’m trying to help ABCABC get back into Information Technology Networking and the big bucks. Being not absolutely confident in my prowess as a Turkey Master, I will of course seek to spread the blame around by involving as many as I can in a successful out come. So, if you of a mind to “help”, please introduce yourself to the “crowd” (i.e., XXXX, YYYY, ZZZZ, and of course me). We are real early in the process and I am trying to get ABCABC to pop with his UVP to start. (Amazing how everyone wants to write resumes to start! Or web sites! Even before deciding what they want to be when they grow up.) Respectfully submitted for your consideration, the biggest fattest oldest turkey hisself

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SEEKERS NEED TO HAVE LEGENDS READY TO GO

Here’s some samples.

***Begin Quote***

Significant accomplishments past job, career, and personally

* I created the first formal mentoring program for minority non-college graduate employees to become programmers for AT&T of the initial class of 30, 29 were offered full time jobs and five years later 28 were still there. In an organization that lost 75% of each class in two years, this was a huge success. The program was turned over to HR and in two years results were worse than expected. Management just wouldn’t listen why it was successful. By using “busy programmers” as mentors, the company sacrificed some productivity (maybe theoretical imho) for developing a cadre with spirit de corps. It started with existing non-management employees working in “computer-related” positions with good performance and recommendations, who volunteered for the program, conducted on their own time, working with working programmers, and taking “freshman classes”, maintaining their positions. It was an easy chance for AT&T to develop scarce as hen’s teeth programmers, at a fraction of the cost they were spending. Thirty years later, I ran into one who was a Division Manage in AT&T, who thanked me profusely, for what I did. What a payoff. He was still trying to get the program restarted along the lines he had experienced.

* Being a “skunkswork” type of guy, when I heard from friends at DOD about the Windows NT domain problems, and when my warnings went on deaf ears to MER management, I took one old desktop, and three old IBM Thinkpads and installed NT on them, wrote some code and scripts, and demonstrated the “Monday morning” problem. An NT3.5 domain pdc can only do 2 password changes at a time every 60 seconds (due to a hard limit in the MSFT code) not counting network delay time. The “Monday morning” problem is that, with 70,000 workstations with a 90 day password rotation policy, about a 3,000 users will be forced to change their password on a Monday morning. So the last one completes about Tuesday afternoon. When demonstrated, a redesign was begun on the same day.

* At CSFB, disaster recovery was part of my job. When I met with end users (what a novel idea), I began to get a sense of the “timing” of their business day. Basically they came in on Monday, did some trades, cleared them over the next few days. Each day’s work relied on the prior day’s. So in considering “datacenter disaster recovery”, the metaphor that the datacenter was using said that they were ready in 12 hours. When the business was brought into the plan, recovery was accomplished on the following Monday, regardless of when during the week the disaster occurred. This was a shock to everyone. Recovery planning then began in earnest. The result of that effort was used in the first WTC disaster. I have been told that my wall chart was used in their recovery from the second one as well.

***End Quote***

Every seeker, at some time or another, will be asked to give and example of something or other. They need to be prepared with “epic poems” of great stories. It is certainly possible to have only one or two. But the well-prepared seeker has a virtual stable of these stories. I call them “legends” because they have to be true, easily rolled out when needed, and demonstrate the values that you wish to portray. During my last search, I had 82 when I landed.

A good legend starts as a written document of a true story. It’s at most three paragraphs. I like the PAAR strategy (Problem, Analysis & Actions, and Results). You are selling the A&A. When they hire you then they get the A&A. A legend tells the P and the R. With enough detail to whet the listeners appetite to hear more and ask “how’d you do that”.

A great legend matches the interviewers need. A fantastic one anticipates the problems they expect to have in the future. A rotten one gives away the A&A or generates a “who cares” reaction.

You have to have your legends well rehearsed, but not rote. You have to be able to recall them at the drop a hat with an indicator trigger.

Homer had his stories. Do you?

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http://hellomynameisscott.blogspot.com/2007/05/why-you-need-cool-company-name.html

http://tinyurl.com/2rk6lm

Why you need a cool company name

***Begin Quote***

SECOND, you articulate your company’s value.

Your USP. Your value statement. Your positioning statement.

Make sure it’s clear, concise and emotional. No more than ten words. Leave no doubt in the other person’s mind what you do and how your company delivers value.

Consider the formula described in John Jansch’s Duct Tape Marketing:

Action Verb (what you actually do)
+
Noun (target market you do it for)
+
Benefit (the result of what you do)

For example, “I teach nurse practitioners how to provide more empathetic patient care.”

JUST REMEMBER: Surprise attracts attention, but only interest keeps attention.

***End Quote***

It’s a good model for the seeker’s UVP. I think a USP is about how you sell that UVP and to whom. But that’s a minor quibble.

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FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE WITH A “LANDED” TURKEY

***Begin Quote***

From: A Landed Turkey
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 8:44 AM
To: His Turkeyness
Subject: Landed!

FJohn,

Well, this turkey didn’t quite die of old age.

Landed about 2 weeks ago – company immediately flew me to Belgium for the week, for the annual European distributor meeting.

Will be moving to Michigan as soon as I can sell my (gorgeous) condo in Atlanta. Know anyone in the market?

Take care,

***End Quote***

Dear surviving turkey XXXXXXX,,

Mozel Tov. Great News. Vunderbar!

I have some networking contacts in Atlanta. Why not make up a one pager about it and I’ll float it to them.

I assume that you have already rewritten your resume and networking profile, update the myriad of sites, fixed LinkedIn & Plaxo, updated your professional blog, and notified the 9 gazillion of your closest networking buds.

In Roman times and Papal coronations, “Sic Gloria Transit Mundi” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic_transit_gloria_mundi, so permit me to be the slave behind you.

I find that newly landed Turkeys, wanting to put all the bad times behind them, as if it was an aberration, promptly forget all the “lessons learned” and “people met” during the ordeal. Maybe it’s natural. Several “turkey masters” believe that it’s not ingratitude but a reaction to a reminder of “bad times”. I’m very mellow about that. I don’t need anything but the pleasure of a “turkey well landed’.

But, please don’t make the mistake to think “it can’t happen again”. I’ve seen turkeys back out after as little as five weeks. One fellow — clearly an aberration — was nuked the day he showed up for work after relocating his family internationally — they paid him off, but he still hasn’t recovered.

I don’t remember and don’t have time to look it up but are you an execunet member? A jibber jobber member? If not, consider it. Between the two, it’s a few buck a month. Think of it as you own personal unemployment insurance.

Yell if I can help in some way,
Fjohn
the big fat old turkey hisself

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Execunet http://www.execunet.com

JibberJobber http://www.jobberjobber.com

And, I forgot to nag about a website with a personal professional email as is offered by my WSP http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=9113251

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Note: While I am happy, there are more turkeys to help. Hence, this blog post for all of the complacent soon to be axed turkeys out there. “The Grim Farmer Is Coming For You NEXT! Be afraid, be very afraid.”

(Have to keep up the turkey metaphor. What else does a turkey fear but the farmer’s axe?)

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FROM EMAIL WITH A FELLOW TURKEY

*** begin quote ***

Spent a few minutes on this tonight, tell me what you think. Be brutal, I can handle it.

“I am an information technology leader who delivers high quality business solutions to support the growth and cost effectiveness of a company’s objectives. Providing experience in application development, staff retention, and strategic technology direction are only a subset of the skills I add to an organization”

*** end quote ***

“I am” NOT my job. I don’t like that type of self talk.

“an information technology leader” I get the image of the drum major strutting from the parade. You do work for a living.

“delivers” good word

“high quality business solutions” Yeah, so what. Who says. What about “results”? “Solutions” solve but do the make money?

“to support” a yada word.

“the growth and cost effectiveness of a company’s objectives”. “barbara streisand” Are you growing objectives? Are the “company’s objectives” “cost effective”? No, it’s confused imho.

“Providing experience in” So you’re old! And, anyone can see you’re old, listen to old stories, and you serve as an object lesson not to grow old. What does it DO for the listener?

“application development, staff retention” Lipstick on the pig? Maybe if you said RAPID APP DEV, or JOINT APP DEV, or even USER FOCUSED APP DEV, I might care.

“strategic technology direction” That I can buy from McKinsey! Why are you my strat tech director? Direct me something?

” are only a subset of the skills” Not “my” skills. Not “important” skills. Not “vast inventory of skills and tools”. Who cares if you can speak URDU?

“I add to an organization” Yada. Where’s the excitement? Where’s the synergy? Where’s the earth shaking rapid movement to the buried treasure.

No, I’ve read it, studied it, analyzed it, struggled over it — twice. In two different sessions. And, IMHO, it’s not you. You have more passion in some blog posts than exudes from this elevator speech.

Make it short, energetic, every word costs a million bucks. Does each phrase or word have an ROI?

MY “elevator speech” statement is “I help enterprises, solve tough business and technical problems, in large scale global infrastructures.”

I think it’s spot on for me. What do you think? The commas are important. :-) Followed by silence and active listening. (I hope)

How about recasting yours into:

I can lead an information technology effort to deliver business solutions. That makes growth, profitability, and “fun” happen. It takes skills from a – applications development to z – zest to make it happen. When I get my opportunities to shine, I’m a star.

Does that help?

In retrospect maybe:

I can lead an information technology effort to deliver business solutions. That makes growth, profitability, and “fun” happen. It takes ALL my skills from a – applications development to z – zest to make it happen.

Yup, that’s it. It’s how I see you. But the real question is how do you see you? It’s like a ghost written resume or using some one else’s UVP. You have to be comfortable in your own skin. You have to be YOUR uvp.

fwiw ymmv faiwwypfi

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Last year, I gave a turkey what I thought was a “great idea”.

Most seekers, without a degree, even with fantastic credentials, are self-conscious about the “lack”. Bill Gates didn’t graduate. In certain fields, like sales, having a degree is no advantage. And, might be a detriment when compared to four years of relevant experience. In parts of the information technology field, like programming, having a degree is not a fatal flaw. In fact, technical credentials (i.e., DeVry; certifications; demonstrations) may carry more weight.

So, I suggested that he create the University of Hard Knocks alumni society. It was very “Sun Tzu” type advice. Sort of “where you’re weak, appear strong” and “where strong, appear weak”.

You can’t “know” that a hiring manager doesn’t have a degree unless you’re a great researcher, tipped off, or “parade” you lack of a degree. By becoming the leader of the University of Hard Knocks alumni society, you can make a joke out of what you perceive as a defect. You may be able to draw a granfalloon of undegreed people to you.

I was even wondering, out loud, what one would have to do to register the domain name uhk dot edu! Using an email address of reinkefj dot alumni dot uhk dot edu, might be mildly deceptive. But I bet it would slide by a careless HR screener.

In any event, you can steal this idea if it fits and suits you. On the condition, that you make me an honorary alumni.

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http://home.comcast.net/~v2y2r0n27rhj6y/TURKEY/index.htm

Is my opus on job seeking and my “help” to anyone “transitioning” from unemployment to earning status. fwiw. What an ego to think I can show anyone anything, but I have “miles on the old odometer of life” and the scars of unemployments past to show for it. You may learn from my mistakes.

http://hfcn.blogspot.com/2007/05/tips-for-managing-pink-slip-sabbatical.html

HFCN – Helping Friends Career Network ~ Job Leads, Career Success and Transformation

Blogging professional career development issues. Helping Friends Career Network (HFCN) has successfully assisted thousands of professionals to make positive career change- in finding or identifying new jobs– it is all about finding inspiration and getting positive career results. We explore career resources, celebrate success, job opportunities, and more.
22 May 2007
Tips for managing a Pink Slip Sabbatical

***Begin Quote***

From time to time, I am asked to share the hints for facing the challenges of layoff. If there are particular resources we can blog in depth for you, let us know or join us and ask questions on the Helping Friends Career Network — Career Transformation Talk Group!

Proactive:

1. Network and job search from your email, don’t depend on your employer’s email.

***End Quote***

I was astonished to have one of my posts identified as the #1 Proactive step in the job hints.

It tickled me silly to share that with a ton of people I don’t know. Will never know.

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FROM AN EMAIL TO A FELLOW TURKEY:

>actively job hunting in XXXXX, preferably something financial. Please feel free to look over my profile.

Hello,

I read your post in XXXXXXXXXXXX and was moved.

Moved to tell you that you missed a great opportunity to express your Unique Value Equation.

By way of background, I’m a big fat old turkey, who counsels fat old white guys on how to find a job. I do it as a way of repaying all the people who have helped me in the past with my transitions. And, Intelligent Designer forbid, build up a wealth of Karma for my next transition.

I have some resources that I offer to seekers over at my turkey farm.

Go directly to the “turkey farm”
http://home.comcast.net/~v2y2r0n27rhj6y/TURKEY/index.htm
http://tinyurl.com/lxu93

I urge you not to be “actively job hunting”, but to express what you are going to do for someone that will unlock value for the both of you.

So if you had said something like:

*** begin quote ***

I’m seeking my next opportunity where I will count beans for someone, as one spammer said “most excellently”. Preferably in Gotham City, Alaska area, but I’m open to a relo. Preferable as a full-time employee, but I am flexible. I’m not rich, so I’ll need compensation. There to I’m flexible.”.

*** end quote ***

See the diff?

You get the idea. Give people something to hang their hat on. I prefer informal and funny. You have to get them to read it, remember it, and act on it.

I use the Big Fat Turkey as a funny hook in people’s mind. (Hey, what was the name of that lunatic who thought he should be a CTO of an G50 firm. We’ve got the perfect position as a WalMart greeter for him. What a turkey he was. Yeah that’s it. Big Fat Turkey. Let me google that.) Hey it works for Coke, Ford, and Victoria’s Secret. Why not for a big fat old turkey. Guarantee you’ll think of me some thanksgiving, and say what a bird brain! If you don’t swear off turkey altogether.

Or course, you can connect to me on LinkedIn (reinke reinke reinke reinke), but I’m out of invites. Actually, I’m saving my last 100 for my own “next transition”.

I have job search and LinkedIn tips on my blog all categorized for easy reading.

Hope this helps.

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Note:

https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/tag/jobsearch/ has all the jobsearch items 170+ for “easy” reading.

https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/tag/linkedin/ has my LinkedIn tips (only 15+ but some very good ones imho)

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http://www.moneysmartlife.com/
10-lies-big-companies-tell-their-employees/

10 Lies Big Companies Tell Their Employees

***Begin Quote***

1. We’re Working On It
2. Its Only Temporary
3. I Don’t Know
4. Its Company Policy
5. More Money Won’t Make You Happy
6. We Want You to Have a Life Outside Work
7. The Customer is Always Right
8. We Reward Excellence
9. Our Salaries are Competitive in the Market
10. Hope You Enjoy Your Vacation

***End Quote***

I’d add a few “Your job is safe”, “Your performance is excellent”, and … … taaa daaa … … “This survey is anonymous”!

Sorry, but in this day and age, nothing is safe, excellent as long as it can’t be done cheaper in Bangladesh, and “we have ways of making that paper talk”.

For example, an anonymous survey conducted at work captures the ip address from whence it came. It’s trivial to work one’s way back to who it is from. Even paper can be “serialized” with dots invisible to the naked eye. SO don’t make an issue out of it. Don’t be honest if you need or want your job.

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/yourlife/31830

http://tinyurl.com/2ueyjq

A Few Lessons from the Road
by Ben Stein
Posted on Friday, May 11, 2007, 12:00AM

***Begin Quote***

What’s the lesson here? Learn skills that can’t be defeated by foreign competition. The doctors in Detroit still make money. The finance people who manage the doctors’ offices still make money. And the people there who have substantial savings invested all over the world are doing fine, too.

More brutal than that lesson is that capitalism requires flexibility. Autoworkers who were being paid $50 an hour are getting laid off, it’s true. But in Indian Wells and Palm Desert, Calif., men and women who can lay tile or install plantation shutters or plumb toilets are getting $50 an hour and can’t keep up with demand.

***End Quote***

Remember the four part strategy: ruthless financial discipline, white collar job, blue collar skill, and a web biz.

Capitalism may require flexibility according to Senor Stein. But, the seeker “fighting” under today’s rules of engagement better have their own version of “flexibility” in mind.

Use your spare time wisely. Learn a language. There are things that are timeless and competition-proof. I’ve never met a poor plumber!

interbiznet presents The Bugler
May 15, 2007

***Begin Quote***

Gurutosis

The three most powerful words anyone can use are “I don’t know.” In an instant, the playing field gets leveled and the problem can be addressed without agenda. Center stage attention shifts and leaves an opening for the best local expertise to emerge. The very essence of leadership is knowing what to do when you don’t know.

***End Quote***

A well said piece of advice for seekers being interviewed. When candidates I was interviewing tried to bluff their way thru on a point, I’d hit the ‘eject button”.

No one knows everything, not even me!

It’s what you do when you can or can’t see the boundary. It’s how you test if there’s a hidden boundary there. It’s about your system for protecting against runaways, under runs, and stoppages.

It’s realizing that, you don’t know, what you don’t know.

The toughest boss I ever had used to asks for results, and then would ask how he was supposed to know that the results were true. At the time, I didn’t understand. But what he was asking was not just the answer to a problem, but to see the work that got to the answer. He wanted evidence and confidence. Just like in school.

So in your interview prep, be sure you have a legend (i.e., an elevator speech about something that you can pop out when needed) that presents a situation where either you couldn’t know the answer or you were wrong. In your legend, show how you always set up a “frame” so that you can never spin endless away. Visualize the spaceman’s wrench spinning off into deep space, until it reaches the end of the tether rope, and gets reeled back in. That’s the frame. Your frame can be time (i.e., I set a kitchen time, worked on the problem for an hour, and then I asked for help), feedback (i.e., a Colleague always checks my project plan for over commitments because I like to please people), or milestones (if.eat., I always have a project plan for anything I promise that has many moving parts).

Always demonstrate your framing!

http://www.prairietumbleweedfarm.com

ATTENTION KMART SHOPPERS!

I think the “rules” are changing again. If you’ve been down to my “turkey farm”, then you know that I think there have been four “rule changes”.

http://home.comcast.net/~v2y2r0n27rhj6y/TURKEY/index_Page369.htm

Unlike that TV show “wife swap” — yeah I watch too much tv — there was NO rules change ceremony.

I wish I had a dime for every seeker who stops in for help that is working with the old pair of dimes.

<<You know paradigm. Way of thinking. Glass half-full half-empty. Your mental model. Your meme (i.e., mental gene).>>

I’ll still meet folks using the “gold watch” paradigm and wondering why they are getting screwed, broke, busted, disgusted, and killed in the employment marketplace. They believed the “barbara streisand” that their employer peddled until it was too late. They were a freshly axed turkey!

But, back to my point, about the “rules”.

I am sensing a new rule. As with most change, it is sneaking up on us. It’s actually adding to my “Three Part Harmony” description. A fourth item is being added.

The Web-based biz!

It is trivial for you to form a Nevada corporation. (I just did it for about $1200!) It is trivial for you to assemble a web-based store. (I’m in the process of doing it now for under $250) And, if this lady can sell tumbleweed, then surely you have something to sell. I think the key thing to notice is the available click at the top of the website that displays the site in Japanese!!

So, the model for success HAS officially changed! Henceforth and forever more, the model is “Four Tined Fork”. That is: (1) Ruthless financial management — get it, keep it, make it work; (2) White Collar job; (3) Blue Collar skill; and (4) one or more Web-based businesses.

Don’t say you didn’t get the memo. Here it is. A wake up call.

(Surely, if she can sell tumbleweed to the Japanese, you can do better!)

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=
BQABRED1US4NPQFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/opinion/
2007/05/13/do1301.xml

http://tinyurl.com/32s4l2

New York – the new Venice?
By Niall Ferguson, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 13/05/2007

***Begin Quote***

Looking closely at which activities are most vulnerable as Asian competition ascends the value chain from manufacturing into services, Blinder estimates that “somewhere between 22 per cent and 29 per cent of all US jobs are or will be potentially offshorable within a decade or two”. That could be one in four jobs.

***End Quote***

Not a good omen for the future.

FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE WITH A NEW TURKEY

***Begin Quote***

Your resume is NOT your UVP.

The resume is an expression of your Unique Sales Proposition.

I believe that your UVP is a distillation of your elevator speech. It’s what you can uniquely do that is of value to you, and someone who will pay you.

For example, my UVP is that “I solve complex technical and business problems in large scale IT infrastructures.” That’s not on any resume, but that’s the message.

See the diff? (welcome to the big turkey’s vision of the world).

I like seekers to have one simple declarative sentence.

In marketing they teach product should “own a word”. Volvo safety. Cheerios Ohhs. Goodyear tires. Goodrich not-Goodyear. You get the idea. In jobsearch, I teach seekers to have at least one sentence that expresses their value to anyone.

In TurkeyLand, the process goes:

• First you discover all / most / some of your Value Propositions. (I have pages of them; blogging ain’t one of them!)
• Then, you refine them to UNIQUE VPs (i.e., Anyone can flip burgers).
• Then, you sort them by how marketable they are, how saleable they are (note there is a BIG difference), and/or how interesting they are to you.
• You, then, develop how you “market” / “sell” it (i.e., find the target audience & the sales proposition).
• Finally, you develop the collateral material like resumes and cover letters and other stuff that support the USP.

OK, that’s how it is done in “turkey land”. In the real world, how do you do it?

***End Quote***

I cleaned it up for general consumption, but that was the thrust.

http://www.execunet.com/e_resources.cfm

About the movie “FIRED”

***Begin Quote***

Nan Stothard, regional vice president of Right Management Consultants, concurs, saying in the film that the stigma of being fired “used to be huge, but it is now matter-of-fact.”

While that might offer minimal comfort to those who are still smarting from an unceremonious dismissal, the movie offers some optimistic messages. Walter Scheib III, the former White House chef who Gurwitch found to be the only outgoing member of the Bush administration to say he was fired, suggests avoiding being classified by the role you just lost. “Define yourself based on your competencies and your capabilities. You walk away with your skills and capabilities.”

***End Quote***

I rave about UPV (Unique Value Proposition). Most seekers have no idea what they offer to someone. If you don’t know, why should I have to figure it out?

>And would you recommend age-proofing or not age-proofing?

As probably the self-declared dean of the “Sacred College of Scared FOWGs” (fat old white guys), I can say with virtual certainty and absolute confidence, speak ex cathedra, from my belly button, that it ain’t worth the effort!

Why, you ask?

Cause they are gonna find out any way just what an old fa … ahh, fuddy duddy … … ahhh, candidate … … you are.

If they don’t know it from your resume, then the walker you are using to get into the interviewer’s office will certainly give it away.

Seriously, when I counsel turkeys of advanced years … anything over 40, I urge them to put extra effort into their Unique Value Proposition and their Unique Sales Proposition. By working on the sizzle and the “stake”, you can make yourself more attractive then them there young whipper snappers you may be competing with.

And, do you really want to waste time and effort fooling them into considering you?

And, if they are such aaaa… ahhh accomplished executives, ahh … … hunters and employers … … with such poor decision making skills that they allow such a silly prejudice as age to filter their selections, then should you even be bothered interviewing with them? Guess they haven’t heard about the war for talent.

Don’t let anyone kid you, you don’t get the opportunity to unlock value for someone by fraud. You can’t trick them into believing that 60 is the new 40 or 50 is the new 25 unless you have the Jedi mind powers of Yoda.

You can MARKET yourself in such a way that you get the opportunity to SELL the value that you bring to the table. You have DIKW (data, information, knowledge, and WISDOM) that your younger peers can’t come anywhere near matching.

In closing, whenever I coach my turkeys about ageism, I think the model is Ronald Regan. Regardless of your politics, he demonstrated how to address the age issue when he said to the questioner during a 1984 presidential debate with Walter Mondale:

“I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”

That was the line that many say won the election!

So too, if seekers are worried about age-proofing a resume then they have bigger problems. They are focusing on the trivial issues. They need to express their value. If they can do that in their “elevator speech”, then they may not even NEED a resume. It’s happened to me, and some others I know.

IMHO YMMV FAIWWYPFI
fjohn
the big fat old turkey hisself

p.s., Now where did I leave my powered wheel chair. It’s time for the home health aide to change me. I got so excited, I wet myself.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070430063518AAOYrrm&r=w&
pa=FZptHWf.BGRX3OFMhjNcVBC1clhWONCqtpS.eyBLEGYC4XifGrzOFa3JzBsEGqU
ehxT3UvPUN3DxkEMGVQ–&paid=answered

http://tinyurl.com/2cwefy

FROM A YAHOO ANSWERS QUESTION BY MANDEE_00:

*** begin quote ***

Does anyone have a job vacancy?

I am really desperate for a job. I am 21 years old, I currently do swim teaching but im getting bored of the job. Does any1 have a business where they would like to employ me to work for them? Im very reliable. Or does anyone know of anywhere that is employing staff? Preferably Admin/Secreterial work

Thanks

***Begin Quote***

Dearest Mandee,

>Does anyone have a job vacancy?

Sure, depending upon where you are, depending upon what value you can create, depending upon what you are motivated to do, and depending upon how hungry or headstrong you are, I looking in my crystal ball, can state unequivocally, that there is a perfect “job” for you nearby!

> I am really desperate for a job. I am 21 years old,

Doesn’t sound “desparate” to me. Not even deperate! Ahh to be twenty one again, sigh. What “job” would make you jump out of bed in the morning and run to get to work? (OK, maybe not jump and run, but arise with joy; walking briskly in with a skip in your step. To quote Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act 2 “if u wake up in the morning and all u can think about is singing first then girl u suppose to be a singer.” Great advice!

> I currently do swim teaching but im getting bored of the job.

Well, I’d say that being bored is the Universe signaling you that you are not where you are supposed to be.

>Does any1 have a business where they would like to employ me to work for them?

Wrong question, imho. What do you propose to do for someone that they should pay you for? What is your Unique Value Proposition? What are those things that are unique to you that others value enough to strike a deal? Answer that and you are more than half-way to your “dream job”. So you have to do some “heavy lifting” now. Sit down in a quiet place and write out every single thing that you can do, want to do, have been asked to do, dreamt of doing, or your parents wished you’d do. What is your uniqueness.

>Im very reliable. Or does anyone know of anywhere that is employing staff?
>Preferably Admin/Secreterial work

Every major enterprise, probably except the car industry and the airlines, is looking for people willing to solve problems and exploit opportunities for them. To ask here on Yahoo Answers for “a job” is akin to “the drunk looking for his keys under the lamp post, even though that’s not where he lost them, because that’s where the light is.”

You haven’t mentioned geography (i.e., where do you want to work), compensation (i.e., of the value you generate how much do you want to retain), or form (i.e., employee, consultant, or contractor).

>

OK time for more “heavy lifting”.

Make a list of everyone you know. A real paper list. Name, address, phone number.

Then, GO and talk to each one about (1) what they did at your age; (2) any opportunities that they know; (3) ask their advice; (4) get — don’t leave until you do — the names of two people that they think you should talk to adding that to the bottom of your list.

Take detailed notes. Write a real USMAIL thank you note. (No joke; get in the habit early.)

Continue until the list is exhausted. (Yeah, I know it never ends. Now you are getting the picture. The search never ends especially when you get a job.)

You can stop when you have gathered enough information to answer all the questions above. ;-)

See your first real job is figuring out how the whole “job” process works and how you fit into it. You’re the CEO, CFO, and janitor for “You Incorporated — the Me, myself, and I division”. Now how are you going to make your payroll? Think like an owner of your own services business. That’s what we all really are.

Let us know how you make out.

***End Quote***

Easy after my last best answer.

FROM YAHOO ANSWERS

Home > Business & Finance > Careers & Employment > Question

***Begin Quote***

I am lookin for a job. What jobs do you think are good for a 16 year old?

***End Quote***

McDonalds — if for no other reason than you’ll learn some skills (i.e., on time; satisfying a supervisor; dealing with Colleagues; interacting with the public) — you get appreciation for money and how hard it is to earn — and, why you need an education that leads to a career! There’s a bundle of “foreigners” who want to eat your lunch. Breakfast and dinner too if you let them.

At 16, depending upon the local diktats, you’re choices may be limited, or you may have to seek government permission. I hustled odd jobs starting about when I was twelve. Went to a “real job” when I was sixteen; had to get “working papers” — what a farce. Started working full time as a sophomore in college.

Make a list of everyone you know. A real paper list. Name, address, phone number. Then, talk to each one about (1) what they did at your age; (2) any opportunities that they know; (3) ask their advice. Take detailed notes. Write a real USMAIL thank you note. (No joke; get in the habit early.)

See your first real job is figuring out how the whole “job” process. You’re the CEO, CFO, and janitor for “You Incorporated — the Me, myself, and I division”. Now how are you going to make your payroll? Think like an owner of your own services business. That’s what we all really are.

Let us know how you make out.

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/develop-your-im-network/

Develop your IM Network
By Daniel on Web Tools

***Begin Quote***

Having a network of contacts and friends over Instant Messaging software is essential. Sometimes you might need someone to check a feature on your website, other times you might need a tip to solve a technical problem. In those situations it is always a good idea to have someone that you can chat in real time.

***End Quote***

While he’s referring to techies to look for tech tips, it would seem to me that your virtual search team, psuedo Board of Directors, and key networking contacts might be useful to have racked up ready to go.

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobseeker/tools/ept/
contribEditorPost.html?post=16

http://tinyurl.com/27zo7q

The Savvy Networker
Liz Ryan
The Case of the Pushy Lady

Liz Ryan is a 25-year HR veteran, former Fortune 500 VP and an internationally recognized expert on careers and the new millennium workplace. She is the author of “Happy About Online Networking,” creator of the Career Bound workshop, and founder of the global women’s organization formerly known as WorldWIT.

***Begin Quote***

My eighth-grader daughter refers to certain people in her social group as “maybe a little WRAM.” What does WRAM mean? I asked her. It’s an acronym, she said: it stands for World Revolves Around Me. There are a few networkers I could affix that label to without much trouble. Don’t be one of them: networking is supposed to be a two-way street, and the more you focus on helping your fellow networkers, the more good things will come back to you — trust me.

***End Quote***

You can avoid the WRAM objection bu anticipating the question that anyone will ask WIIIFM (what is in it for me). Just like on the resume, your advertisement FOR a job, no one wants to hear YOUR objective. They want to hear how you will satisfy THEIR objectives.

So you turn WRAM into WRAY. The world revolves around YOU!

http://www.making-ripples.com/2007/04/clueless_law_fi.html

04/12/2007
Clueless law firm takes client JL Kirk down the chute

***Begin Quote***

JL Kirk is the kind of executive recruiting firm I would warn readers to avoid at any costs. Their operating procedure is to interview you and charge you thousands of dollars and help you write a resume and then hopefully place you. You pay first and then hope that they place you. Wow! Isn’t that a great business model?

***End Quote***

The reported 4.5k$ demanded for “placement assistance” is a joke. You probably could “buy” the best resume writer’s first born child at those prices. Heck, big old turkeys are available at one tenth the price. Hard to believe that after not making the “sale”, the bozos got lawyers involved.

My bet is that this will be like gasoline on a wildfire across the net.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north524.html

Misunderstanding Higher Education
by Gary North

***Begin Quote***

WRITE YOUR WAY IN

If you are not good enough to write your way into your calling, then you need to read more. Then you need to write more.

Start a blog. It’s free. Start here.

You can create a website after you have mastered blogging.

Begin with posting book reviews. Then, after a hundred or two hundred published book reviews, start writing annotated bibliographies.

Once you have put a large number of reviews on-line, start specializing in one topic. Create another blog site. Keep up to date with whatever is going on inside this field. Do handy summaries of the latest publications.

Save readers time. People want to save time. They want others to do their leg work for them. Word will get out if you’re any good.

Then write a book. It need not be creative. It can merely introduce newcomers to a field. Post it on your blog site for free in PDF format.

Make copies available in printed format by using Print on Demand technology. If you can get sales, a third-party publisher may pick it up.

The book becomes a calling card in your career plan.

Then write another. Write enough books in a field, and you will establish your reputation. Even self-published books are impressive to a prospective employer.

Add CD-ROMs, screencasts on YouTube, and DVDs.

This was how I made my reputation. I started writing for The Freeman magazine and a dozen other magazines to put myself through graduate school. My Freeman articles got me my first full-time job: at the Foundation for Economic Education, which published The Freeman.

My Ph.D. degree got me nothing. I never had a single job offer based on my degree. I even wrote my way into the one full-time academic job I ever had. It was in a different field from my degree.

***End Quote***

Here’s a road map that really makes sense. I’d recommend the strategy to all the complacent “paycheck drawers” out there. Use your “breathing room” to “become” a recognized expert. It can’t hurt.

As a side note: I still remember the one fellow who interviewed with me for a job and left me a copy of his book on the topic we were looking for help with. He didn’t take our offer; he took a much higher one. I have never forgotten the impact of that tactic. I’m planning to use it next time I am out. I hope to have 4 choices by the time the axe falls. AND, it always does.

FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE WITH A FELLOW ALUM

*** begin quote ***

>I googled my name and your website came up.

It’s always a good idea to google yourself to find the “digital dirt” that’s out there. I counsel out of work execs to do it and get out in front anything there. Even if it’s not “you”, it has to be addressed.

*** end quote ***

I even have search strings saved that post to special mail accounts that watch for the use of “my name”. How paranoid is that?

In a discussion with a fellow turkey, I “opined” that one should have:

(1) a professional blog like Kent Blumberg’s http://kentblumberg.typepad.com/;

(2) a jobsearch related blog that pushes the value propositions that you are trying to sell like Mike Sansone’s http://www.converstations.com/;

and

(3) a personal one like Gretchen Rubin’s http://www.happiness-project.com/.

I think each are a unique exemplars of blogging. One can have and stand behind each without being “hurt” in the other departments of one’s life. Where people get in trouble is when they try and use one blog to service different value equations.

imho