October 2009
(Published at ETP Lamplighter Newsletter, WCW inSIGHT and Ezine Articles)
Networking: def. the developing of contacts or exchanging of information with others in an informal network, as to further a career. (Webster’s Dictionary, Third College Edition.)
Many people only associate networking with a job search effort. In fact, many individuals will wait until they are in a job search mode before building a network of colleagues, friends, associates, family and other contacts. Granted, networking while seeking employment is critical. There are many avenues to network: job search groups and organization; social networking sites (Linked In is the prominent one for business); and the old stand-by of contacting former colleagues, contacts, friends who perhaps you have lost contact with over the years. However, relationship building and networking efforts should not be placed on the back burner until you are unemployed or looking for a new job. To get the most from networking, you need to be doing it constantly and with vigor from the start of your career.
You should be networking even while employed. Build networks inside the organization where you work. Networking inside your place of employment is a great means to stay on top of and in touch with what’s happening within the organization. It is a way to get your name known outside the normal structure. Establish and development contacts at levels upwards in the organization. Build contacts sideways, peer-to-peer. Build across departmental units. Build relationships with individuals at levels further down in the organization. Every contact can be a valued relationship. Learn to leverage the contacts you build. Nurture them and make these contacts lasting into the future even as individuals come and go from the organization.
However, do not stop with just networking within your organization. A network should not end at the corporate door. The value of your network increases as it includes others outside your organization. This can be accomplished by joining industry groups, professional groups, civic associations, school alumni groups, to name a few. Volunteer; donation of your personal time is a rewarding way to give back while making contacts and enhancing your outside network. Attend local events offered at libraries, colleges, etc. Potential contacts are everywhere.
Make the time spent at attending outside group effective. Learn to work a crowd or a room. Do not be a wallflower; put yourself out there and build meaningful, lasting relationships. You never know what can happen. I recently had someone tell me he got his last contract position by a contact he had established with a father of one of his son’s softball teammates.
Besides the face-to-face networking we have available, the internet presents additional opportunities to network outside your place of employment. Social internet networking is not just for job seekers. Utilize Linked In while you are employed. Linked In has over 40 million members today. That equates into 40 million potential contacts. Keep your profile current. Join and participate in groups and group discussion boards. Participate in the question and answer feature to get your name out there and establish contacts. The relationships established through social networking can be priceless and will last many years into the future.
The days of life long employment with one company are over. This makes is imperative that you start networking early in your career. You need to start, build, nurture and relish networking throughout you entire career and life. Don’t’ wait until you are in the market for a new job. Start networking now. Build and nurture you network and contacts inside, outside, up, down and sideways at every opportunity.
“It’s not what you know but who knows you that makes a difference.”
-- Anonymous.
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September 2009
These are a series of three articles written for job seekers!
(published at Ezine Articles and WCW inSIGHT)
1 --Is An AOL Address A Job Seeker Faux Pas?
Faux Pas: Def. — A social blunder.
Is an AOL address a job seeker faux pas?
I recently posed this question on a social networking discussion board. The response was overwhelming with very well thought out answers that were not duplicative but built on each other. I wanted to share the information I received.
Generally, most felt that an AOL email address should not be an issue. Some stated it was not. This feeling was strong among those with AOL addresses. Some responders noted they had had an AOL address for years; it was known to their social network and to change it would create unnecessary burdens or issues. Notice I said “should not be.” That is because while most thought it shouldn’t be, many recognized or thought it was anyway.
Some had strong feelings about AOL and referred to it as AO-Hell. These responders felt utilization of an AOL address shouted “newbie,” portraying a lack of technology sophistication. Many of those with this feeling did point out that this view was more prominent in the internet technology (IT) and e-commerce fields. There was strong consensus that AOL email use should definitely be avoided in those occupations.
A couple of responders told of outplace service companies and recruiting firms advising against using an AOL address. Some actual recruiters responded by indicating that the job seeker’s actual abilities, experience, qualifications were important and not that individual’s email address. These recruiters and others pointed out what a calamity it would be if a job seeker should lose an opportunity because they choose an AOL address.
Some felt stronger and thought the whole discussion was indicative of the society we have become; one of labels, the wrong side of the railroad tracks, etc.
A few responders thought for other reasons or advantages that individuals should have a separate and exclusive email address for use in their job search. They felt a job search exclusive address made it easier to manage the effort. And they reasoned if you were going to get a new email address for your job search, why not just avoid the issue and get something other than AOL. Better yet, some suggested, was having your own web page or site.
Two responders pointed out that while it may not be a faux pas for individuals to use an AOL address, it was a real negative for a company or business to utilize any email provider. They thought that the utilization of AOL and other email services gave a perception that the company was small, not progressive, just a mom and pop shop. They suggested companies should have their own website with their own domain name.
While there was disagreement about AOL after the @, there was universal agreement that what comes before the @ is critical. A person’s name should be professional, nothing suggestive, funny, ludicrous or cutesy. A combination of one’s first and last name was felt to be best. Something like firstname.lastname@emailserviceprovider was consensus.
Some other good points that responders made:
This is a U.S. issue. In the rest of the world, AOL is still a prominent email provider and it does not have any negativity associated with its utilization.
Secondly, that AOL could be a hindrance for a job seeker since AOL excellent spam filters might classify mail from recruiters and others searching for them as spam.
Bottom line. The left side of the @ is important. Use a professional name; some combination of your first and last name. The right side of the @ shouldn’t be important. But it may be and most certainly is in the IT world. It makes some sense to just avoid the whole issue, whether ridiculous or not, whether necessary or not, and get an email provider other than AOL for your job search. You can keep AOL for personal use. But in this job market of stiff competition, why let something as simple as an email address negatively impact your job search efforts.
Signing off . . . james.yoakum@gmail.com
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2 --Error Free Job Search Documents – Methods to Ensure
It’s imperative today that both your hard copy documents and on-line electronic documents you use in a job search be free of spelling, capitalization, punctuation and grammar errors. It is expected; it is the standard. And it should be!
Admittedly though, despite my own best efforts, I still find after-the-fact errors in my documents. And regularly I see errors in others’ documents and on-line postings, messages, etc.
So I posed this question on a social network discussion board:
What tools do you utilize to ensure your documents and publications are error free?
Here’s what I found.
The tool most utilized was spell check. Almost all respondents reported being dependent on spell check for any and all types of documents.
Only one respondent stated he did not use spell check. He depends on old-fashioned proof reading. The person reasoned that your mind becomes too dependent on spell check; it is not exercised enough by spell check utilization. Therefore, he forgoes and keeps his mind proof read alert by using the old fashioned method of printing and taking pen to paper.
While spell check was the most common tool, many were did not depend entirely on it and supplemented it was other techniques. Most common was just reading the document.
Some respondents limit reading of the document on-line view. Others print the document out and proof it. Others take pen to paper and mark, etc. to ensure it is error free. Another technique suggested was to read the document out loud to yourself.
A large number of respondents like to utilize others to read and proof their documents. While I think most were using family and friends, a couple reported hiring professional proofers for assistance.
Some other techniques suggested included:
(1) Reading the document backwards.
(2) Printing the document on colored paper, such as yellow, for proofing.
(3) Proofing while you write, as you complete each sentence.
(4) Putting the document aside and coming back to it later.
(5) Improving you typing skills.
Despite what techniques or combination of techniques used, there was agreement that repetitive reviews would yield the best results. Check, check and then check was the advice.
I think overall I received some good sound advice that I will try using to achieve error free documents.
Once method that was not mentioned that was used regularly at a company I worked at years ago, was to have two people read to each other. Both would have a hard copy of the document and would read it back and forth to each other.
And I will reveal my secret weapon—a ninety year friend. Her mind is sharp as a whistle and she rarely misses the errors that I miss.
Bottom line: There does seem to
be many techniques. Regardless of what you use, error free is the standard for
your job search documents. Don’t derail
your job search! Do what it takes to achieve an error free standard.
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3 -- Formality and Professionalism in Your Job Search – Some Easily Overlooked and Simple Items
Without a doubt, the world and our society are less formal today than years ago. We have dress down business attire; formal business memorandum have been replaced with e-mail and other shorter, less formal business documentation. Technological advancements have created an environment that operates and changes a a very quick pace resulting to less attention being paid to detail and formality. However, despite our more informal world, professionalism should always abound and exist in all business dealings.
Professionalism is very pertinent and important in your job search efforts. Nothing can derail a job search effort faster than the lack of professionalism. And that perceived lack is often inadvertent; it is overlooked due to the nature of the environment in which we exist. Some examples:
(1) Your on-line presence. Your business social network (e.g., LinkedIn) needs to be professional and formal. The written content should be free of errors (i.e., grammatical, punctuation, capitalization). If you chose to participate in some the more social sites (e.g., Facebook), watch or monitor what you post, say and disclose. For example, don’t post blogs or pictures of you guzzling beer or of you in your toga party attire.
(2) Your e-mail address. Preferably your e-mail address should be some combination of your first and last name. For example: first name. last name@electronic mail. Avoid cute e-mail names. Also, don’t use others e-mail addresses such as your spouse’s or kid’s.
(3) Voice mail. You should have a formal, professional voice message that is restricted to identification of the number and individual reached. Avoid slang, personal stories, cute kids and music.
These all seem so simple. Yet many people overlook them and have their job search derailed before it even gets starts. Don’t be one of them. Be professional in your business dealings.
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August 2009
Call to Action! Can't Good Enough, Be Good Enough?
(published at Ezine Articles and WCW inSIGHT)
Author’s Note: This article is offered to provoke thought. To provoke thought internally, in your inner self, as a human being. It is also hoped to provoke thought externally as a society. Is our nation suffering from analysis paralysis? Have we lost our creativeness, our inventiveness? Do we strive too much for perfection? Are we wasting valuable resources? Are we on information overload? Do we make life and life’s decisions too complex? Does the fear of failure stand in the face of success? Answers are not offered up. (Oh, my views do come through.) But instead questions are raised to provoke and maybe cause some examination of where we are and where we need to go. I challenge myself, I challenge you.
Think. IBM
Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down. Ray Bradbury
Perfection?
Good enough should be good enough!
Do you strive for perfection? Do you spend hours obsessing over the tiniest details of your life until they’re exactly right? Do you feel uncomfortable when everything in your life isn’t “just so”? Are you prepared for every eventuality, even the most unlikely?
Getting to good enough isn’t about settling or being less than perfect. It’s about succeeding, about getting the job done efficiently, with less cost, quicker turnarounds.
You spend a life time, and, if you’re honest with yourself, never once was your work perfect. Charlton Heston
Keep it Simple.
It often is staring us in the face. But we keep analyzing, evaluating, considering. We make it more complex than it is. Most solutions are simple. Simple to discover, simple to see. It’s our own inner thoughts that tell us to never risk imperfection, to never fail. And it’s our own inner thoughts that make it so complex.
Simplify your life. Simplify your decision making process.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. Albert Einstein
Be better. Be less than perfect.
Give yourself permission to be less than perfect! Give yourself permission to fail!
It greases creativity, innovation and provides the path for you to succeed.
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. Robert F. KennedyTakes risks! (Albeit, manageable, mitigated risks.)
Outcome is never certain. No amount of analysis and information can make it certain.
Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. T.S. Eliot
Take Action.
Take action now! Don’t over analyze. Start the change now. Solve the problem!
Don’t’ fight the problem, decide it. General George C. Marshall
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July 2009
My Stress Busters: Relief Stress, Stay Positive and Avoid Negative Thoughts
(published at Ezine Articles and WCW inSIGHT)
Though times may seem tough today, life has never been or
ever will be easy. We, as individuals, as
a country and as a world, regularly face adversity. This results in stress and negative
thinking. While some succumb, treat or
escape from adversity with alcohol and drugs there are other ways. We need to manage and control our stress and
the stressors in our lives. We need to
think positively and avoid negative thoughts.
Like most, this is daily task for me.
Here’s my top stress busters.
Practice Spirituality/Nurture Your Soul
Stress can be managed by nurturing your soul with spirituality. Create spiritual and emotional growth; to have sense of well-being. The sense of well-being and happiness emanates from the soul to the psyche. If the soul is ignored or malnourished, the psyche and ultimately the body suffer.
Some methods to nurture your soul include: prayer, meditation, having gratitude or internal thankfulness (having gratitude makes you realize you have more to give; don’t view the glass half full - instead view it as “my cup runneth over”), spending time in nature (walking, hiking, sitting before a campfire or fireplace to connect to nature and earth), deep breathing (exposure to air), tapping (exposure to sound), massage and Reiki Chakra treatment (to maintain your universal life force energy).
Stayed Motivated, Stay Focused--Measure Progress with To Do Lists, Calendars and Journals/Write Out Small Achievable Goals/Create a Schedule and Adhere to It
We often will feel stressed if we believe we aren’t accomplishing things and making progress. But your probably are. I stay motivated and focused with simple devices: to-do lists, calendars and journals. They aren’t fancy; they aren’t automated.
My to do list is a small 5×7 three ring binder; I bought it years ago at a rummage sale. I have a master to do list, a daily to list and a daily done list. My master to do list is my long term, high level thoughts. It is where I have my goals and objectives and some simple plans on how to get there, how to achieve. My daily to do list is just what the name says: a list of what I want to accomplish that day. I do it each morning. The done list I do through the day as I complete tasks or jobs. Then each night I compare it to my daily to do to see what I accomplished, what I missed.
My calendar is a binder of each week by the hour. You view a seven days on two pages. I track calls, appointments, meetings, etc., in it. I think I bought my 2009 calendar for $12.95 at Staples.
My journal is a regular size three ringer binder and folder. In it I write thoughts, ideas, etc. As I see ideas, etc., in print and otherwise I cut them out and put them in the folder. I write in my journal at least once a day, usually at the end of the day, to list three things I am grateful for. I have been doing this for years and find it to be a big help in maintaining a positive attitude. Many days I write in my journal frequently, and sometimes I wake in the night and write. It just depends how my creative juices are flowing, but I don’t want not to record because I may not remember my thought later.
These devices not only motivate me, but keep me focused, moving and on track. And they serve a purpose of letting me see in print how much I accomplish. Most days I accomplish my to do list and feel good about it. These are simple tools. Simple devices but they work for me.
Partake in Outside Activities -- Volunteering, Mentoring, Writing
Partake in activities that bring your joy despite what is going on in other parts of your life. For example, I provide free career search/business mentoring services. Helping others provides me much joy and satisfaction. I also write. I have three blogs (one of life experience, another on business, and a third on poetry). I also regularly write and publish articles through a variety of hard and virtual sources. I get a real sense of accomplishment in seeing my work in print.
Joy of Learning
Stress can be managed by learning. We need to constantly keep expanding our minds, our knowledge and our horizons. Learning is the foundation of continued growth, development, expansion, youth, etc. To stop learning would be death. And technology has created new and different opportunities for learning.
The internet and the millions of sources in it (websites, blogs, forums, etc.) present learning materials not found else where. You can easily learn what is on others’ minds, about them, their life experiences, etc. Millions open themselves and their thoughts to others while they could not before the existence of the internet technology. Granted it is not always accurate and not always true, but it does give you insights into others and their views.
This phenomenon is coupled with the explosion for opportunity for traditional training, (i.e., technical skills, traditional textbook knowledge,) that is more readily available to millions on-line. They are the new nontraditional universities and colleges on-line. Many organizations offer webinars. These often are free or inexpensive and are available on about any topic you want.
Then we have the avalanche of videos, movies, shows, etc., available now. Miss something and you can watch on-line. And now there are millions of original productions available on the internet. There are books, encyclopedias and other similar document available now too.
De-Clutter and
Organize Personal Possessions—Let Go!
Living in a clutter-free environment is less stressful, raises energy and give you an overall “feel good” feeling. So organize your personnel possessions and try to let go of the unnecessary things you don’t need. Letting go of possessions you are attached to can be difficult but a clutter-free life can help achieving a stress-free life.
Accentuate the Positive; Maintain a Positive Perspective
Focus on the positives in your life. Count your blessings. Reflect daily on the good things happening to you. In the flip-side avoid negatives in your life and the world. Avoid too much TV; too much news. In those truly difficult moments or events, try to look for the good that can come from it.
Exercise Restraint
Try to remain cool, calm and collective even in the direst of moments. This takes much less energy than losing your temper. Stress will be much less in showing restraint than not.
Take Breaks Especially After a Stressful Matter or Situation
If you aren’t going to be able to exercise restraint then walk away from the situation. Give yourself a cooling off period. Practice the old method of counting to ten. Use the moment away to refresh, revitalize and think of something pleasant to restore to a better state of mind.
Exercise, Get Enough Sleep, Eat Right
You need to be healthy. Not much to be said other than eat right and healthy; do not over-medicate, watch your weight, get sufficient sleep and exercise daily.
Join Groups
Being around others is a great way to manage stress. So, plan to be with others by joining groups. If you are job searching, join a job group. Join church groups, exercise groups, meditation and yoga groups. Check you local library for free events. There are lots of options; no excuses.
Have Fun, Get in Touch With Others
Get together with friends; spend quality time with family. Utilize internet social networking to interact regularly with family and friends. Utilize social networking to locate old friends, colleagues, fellow alumni, new friends similarly situated and with similar interests. Reach out to others for support.
Fully Accept Yourself
Do not feel overwhelmed with the stresses in your life. Show emotional resilience and accept yourself; feel good about yourself. As you are your own worst critic, be your own best friend. Treat your life as meaningful. Accept change as part of life.
Treat your life as meaningful/Think Rationally/Manage Your Energy and Give Your Self Permission to Accept that Things Are Not Easy Right Now
Recognize that life is hard. Do not expect it to be easy. Your frustration goes way down when you eliminate the expectation for life to be easy. Life becomes infinitely easier when you accept that life is hard and you apply above intelligent and logical thinking, disciplines, and decision making skills. Know that it can be hard to develop some of these capacities but it makes the rest of your life much easier.
You can not and should not use your energy to sweat the small stuff. When you have the right perspective, most of the perceived frustrations in your life become small stuff.
You must proactively manage your energy in tough times because, often times, you will feel like each day is a little harder than the previous and there is no end in sight. Proactively managing your energy gives you the resiliency to face this reality every day. Then you will start to experience more successes and breakthroughs along the way.
Life will never be stress free. In fact, you would not want a life without stress. Stress is a driver. But do not let it drive you into despair. Find ways to manage and control your stress. With some effort and daily attention on stress you can manage it and life will be easier for you.
