Faith!

Another day,

The process of finding a job the last few weeks has morphed into finding my passion. Passion can lead to an inner drive to succeed. Ultimately, passion stems from having faith. None of what I am going through has not already been determined. That's hard to understand and harder to go through. But life is not suppose to be easy. If it were easy, we wouldn't need to have been born.

This is one great journey and each of us is to get the most out of life and give back to others. None of what we have today will be ours when we pass-on. All we will leave this world with is our memories. This is why I am struggling with what to do the next 40 years of my life. Do I settle and find another "job" or do I create something that my faith guides me to do?

Wow! That's worth repeating. Should I follow my faith and move forward giving back as much as I receive or do I settle on a "job"? When you have a "job" you tend to struggle with a work life balance. Too much work equals too little family. There's a happy middle ground that our faith will guide us to. I am believer that we're not here by accident and each day we have choices that shapes our future. The choices we make are predicted by how strong our faith is.

Believe in your faith and you will achieve greater things that have more meaning!

Until next time!

TIME out!

Good afternoon all,

The last three days I've focused on finding a business opportunity that I can operate. A friend of mine stated that the first thing to think about when starting your own business is to think of what do you want the company to look like when you sell it. I didn't understand this at first. I asked why would I want to sell my own business. He simply stated that eventually you won't be able to take it with you so you are going to want to sell it. Therefore, when starting a business focus on what it will look like when you sell it.

After some thought this makes perfect sense. I'm thankful to have a network of people I can bounce ideas off for a better understanding. With that I spent an afternoon working on a business plan for a potential opportunity. Although there is a great deal of work to complete, the business plan is making me feel closer to a decision. Wish me luck!

As for this today, I still need to do the things I love and biking is one of them. I spent the morning biking a 90 mile race in Wisconsin. I was with 5 friends that made the journey all the better. For the 4 hours it took to complete the race I didn't know that I was unemployed and it was a GREAT feeling. Now its back to reality with a sore ---!

Until next time!

Another Day!

Howdy all,

Another day and today was GREAT! No interviewing, no worrying about a job, no anything but time with my kids! Today was a BEACH day. Gotta do that. The kids had a ball and so did I. I even forgot that I was unemployed. OOPS. There I go talking about my problem.

I did manage to do a little networking today. Not much but a little. I spoke with a person I met on LinkedIn regarding starting my own business. He did and passed on a wealth of knowledge and has me thinking about what business to start. There is a whole new world out there versus making money for someone else!

I've posted many questions on a LinkedIn site for entrepreneurs. There were many responses that have lifted my spirits and outlook as to what has happened. I'm not looking for a job, I'm looking for a way of life that can blend my family, hobbies, and income together. What a way to think about it. I was so wrong before going from job to job looking for something that I wasn't going to achieve or be happy with.

Now its time to find my passion!

Vacation

Good afternoon all,

Even job hunters need to find peace every now and then. My family and I took a much needed four day vacation. That recharged the batteries while pushing the thought of NOT being employed in the worse job market in history out of mind...at least for a short time.

Last week I did have two interviews. It felt as though I was on a sales call trying to get the individual to buy my wares which was me! It was an eye opening experience since the process was almost surreal. What part of the position I was applying for appealed to me? I found myself interviewing the individual as much as they were interviewing me.

Let's reviewing interviewing techniques. First of all, dress the part. No sixties throwback suits or skinny ties. Shoes are also important. Just make sure they are shinny without kids drool on them. Shoes probably aren't that important since I couldn't tell you what the individual was wearing on his feet as much as he probably couldn't tell what I was wearing. Just make sure you're not wearing white socks. Socks need to be darker than your pants.

Some other important tips:

1. Eye contact is good as well, but don't stare.

2. You don't need to speak all the time. Take your time and breathe.

3. Ask good questions. Not questions that the interviewer will hear all the time. Ask them how you did. Ask them if you're qualified for the position. Ask them if they excel at their position.

4. Avoid salary range like the plague. State something like "I expect to be compensated according to my experience."

5. Avoid vacation days talk. Once the offer is in hand, then pounce!

6. All these tips are found all over the internet as well as help books. Just remember to be yourself. If not, six months into a new position and your true colors will show and you'll be interviewing again!

Now its off to unpack and get the kids ready for a week of fun and more job hunting!

All That Prep

Good afternoon all,

With each passing day there continues to be highs and lows. Highs are great and feel as though you are on track to complete something special or you have meaning again. Lows are horrible and feel as though all your experience is not worth much more than the paper your resume is printed on.

In order for each day to have purpose I am treating find a job as though it is a job. After the kids are shuttled to their respective places for the day I am making phone calls to various contacts. The best place to find a position is through people you know. The goal of each call is to try to secure another point of contact within the main contact's business. Each name is then documented in a spreadsheet with the time and date received and the name of the provider. The name of the provider is key to the first contact with the new business contact.

Slowly I am moving away from my immediate friends and business contacts to 2nd and 3rd generation contacts. At this point it is extremely important to create a lasting impression on the individual that you are calling. This is the difference from being referred to others and being considered a bother. You don't want to be lumped in with the latter of the two.

Once phone contacts are completed its on to e-mail. Review all messages and respond and/or followup with a phone call. Included in these messages should be automatic open positions from various employers. This can be setup using many of the on-line job posting sites. This cuts down dramatically the amount of time needed to review open positions.

After e-mail it is on to LinkedIn. Open your account and begin to network. You should try to add one or two new contacts each day. This opens more exposure to you and potentially could bring an open position to YOU! Not only do friends and colleagues use this site, but potential employers and recruiters do as well. Be sure to have a complete profile with detailed work history and experience. It is also a benefit if you engage in LinkedIn groups. Create a topic of discussion and post for the group. The response is amazing and gets you noticed!

The only caution is that once information is in the public domain, it remains public!

All this work has paid some dividends with two interviews!

Good luck hunting.

Until tomorrow - Doug!

Roller Coaster

Howdy All,

Now that the initial emotions of feeling worthless have worn off it has been all business. I believe I now have a life vest to help with the job search. However, in this climate the rules have changed in landing an interview. No longer can you phone a company to get to the decision maker. If you do, most often the decision maker asks if HR has received your resume or application. Then they politely apologize stating that they can not receive resume's directly without HR reviewing first. I didn't realize how large an entity HR has really become in the last 20 years. How is HR going to screen a resume for a person applying for a nuclear physicist position?

In the past, HR was a processing center to accommodate the hiring manager's decision. Now HR is the gate keeper. You can NOT enter without a pass from HR. I'm not sure if this was a creation from society evolution or if HR staff have a secret club that holds the rest of the company hostage while they justify their own existence. Maybe I'm still bitter, but I believe we can use our six sigma principles to drive the cost out HR and allow companies to run a little leaner that will place the control back in the hands of managers.

Each day is a journey, and so far this one has been eye opening!

Until tomorrow!