In case you don’t have a chance to watch it, the person tells the story of a pink pantsuited, bracelet-jangling big haired blond who comes into a networking room where the marketing executive looks down on her… only to find out that she is personal friends with the one contact he cares about. Hmmm…
In some measure though, we’re all guilty of judging others. Some of that is human nature and we need to fight that every day of our lives. In our career, we need to make sure we have an open mind about how we can help others and how others can help us.
I have heard it over and over again from unemployed people when I suggest they talk to their neighbors. I hear, “they don’t know anyone” or “I’m embarrassed for them to know I’m still out of work” and other lame excuses. Get over it.
Maybe you can help your neighbor. Did you ever consider that? If you tackle networking like it’s a job, where the best scenario is a win/win and the worst scenario is that VERY LITTLE effort is put forth AND the results are lousy. No one said finding a new job is easy whether you currently have a job or not.
If you’re a bit stuck in your search; find someone else to help. If you’re currently employed; find someone else to help. Choose wisely but help them; with a contact, a few hours of volunteer time, an idea or the best gift ever, listening.
“Will not consider/review anyone’s resume who is NOT currently employed — regardless of the reason.”
The company who posted the ad believes that it’s better for them to get a new employee from the ranks of those who are currently working and happy. Hmmm…
Now we can debate the pros and cons of that logic but in a world where there are multiple candidates for any job, employers need to find some way to separate qualified from unqualified candidates. Apparently, under the law, using current employment status as a filter for screening candidates is not illegal unless it has a ‘disparate impact’ on minority groups.”
Whining about how this isn’t fair won’t get us anywhere. We need to ignore these companies and find a job. For the employed who are looking for a new opportunity I suggest that you stay away from any company that uses a person’s ‘current employment status’ as a criteria for employment. When they have cuts, what will the criteria be? People whose parents need care? People whose children have a chronic illness?
If it looks like discrimination and sounds like discrimination… it probably is.
For those of you who are unemployed, my suggestion is– DO NOT spend 2 seconds thinking about these short-sighted employers. If you are consistently building your skills (in this you have the advantage over your employed brethren) and have a positive attitude; it will all work out. Don’t let the turkeys get you down.
There’s a new book out called The Checklist Manifesto written by a general surgeon at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. I wondered why a book about checklists had been on the NY Times best seller list for 5 months.
I’m a list person. When my kids were small, I lived by lists. Somedays, I got so little done that I would add something to my list that I had done and then cross it off just to make myself feel better. Other people I know (and love) hate lists. They think it’s a sign of weakness and an insult to their intelligence. I’m not saying I’m right in my list making but the book helped me to think twice about the value of having a standard work list (can you say lean?) and checking yourself against it.
The doctor’s point is this. No matter how expert you are, a well-designed check list can improve results. The best-known use of checklists is by airplane pilots. If you are Pilot Sully Sullenberger and you’ve been flying for 30+ years, do you really need to get into a plane and run through a checklist? The answer of course is yes.
Are the rest of us think so smart or so special that we don’t need lists? Hmmm…
Most interesting to me is the author’s point that checklists, used properly, imply three transformative values:
Humility — we admit we need gentle reminders regarding the obvious
Discipline — we make ourselves go through this simple process
Teamwork — we take the time to be sure we are all on the same page
Imagine how different our workplace would be if we kept these 3 values in mind. I might be a list person but I’m going to start thinking about making new kinds of lists. Ok all you anti-list people, let’s hear it!
I’ve already had three careers. I was a foreign language teacher, then I was an information consultant and now I work in marketing. These changes were my choice and a natural progression of my interests.
For many of us, the way we have worked in the past has changed. Most of us will no longer work for one employer for a lifetime; we’ll need to act as freelancers who ‘market’ their skills to organizations who pay to get work done.
For employers, the economics of this might make sense but how can they be sure that their ad hoc work team has the right skills? How do they compensate them?
For workers, how will we keep our skills up to date? How will we get benefits? How will employers find us? What skills will we need to negotiate our new contracts? These are just a few of the questions that we and the next generation of workers will need to face.
Technology is enabling new ways of working together. Google Wave, cloud computing, Google docs and Basecamp are just a few examples of current tools that are changing the way we work.
Sure there still will be plenty of ‘regular’ jobs, but it’s worthwhile for all of us to think about what we will need to do to rise to this challenge. Entrepreneurs have a golden opportunity to create the tools for the coming freelance boom.
Something new is cooking in Rochester to help people looking for work. It’s the Career Navigator program currently being offered by Rochester Works and is sponsored by the United Way, Finger Lakes Wired and others. Our own Career Sherpa, Hannah Morgan is one of the driving forces behind this project.
This 5 day training program (the pilot version of the program is free to attendees through Jan. 2010) is designed to teach transferability of skills, provide tools/resources to promote proactive job search methods and maximize the power of group learning and support. Classes will be held weekly at various locations around the area. I spoke to Hannah about the program:
How did the idea of Career Navigator get started?
“In the economic downturn, we saw so many talented people losing their jobs. Through no fault of their own, they found themselves out of work; many for the first time in their careers. We also noticed that people were slow to learn about the strategies that would help them get back to work. Things have changed significantly in the last couple of years and job seekers need to learn entirely new strategies.”
Where are the programs held?
“Rochester Works looked to partner with various organizations who would donate space to host the program. We will be holding the program at Pathstone, High Tech of Rochester, the United Way and other locations.”
What else can you tell us about the program?
“We will be holding weekly sessions nearly every week between the beginning of September and the end of January. We hope to serve more people and help them be more prepared for the job search process.”
What are the benefits of attending the program?
a) It is intensive – all the information is delivered cohesively
b) Participant-centered learning allow attendees to more easily put principles into practice
c) We help each participant understand what they want to do and then we delve into resume creation
d) We assess people’s skill s and marry them to positive employment trends to help them be redeployed whenever possible.”
Here’s a cool little video that describes why there’s no place for snobbery in networking.
Life Transitions, job search | Deborah | 
July 14, 2010 3:42 pm | 
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