It has been said many times that it is better to create your own job than to find one. If you are unsure how to begin, there is a worldwide community that can help you.
In 2011 we attended Startup Weekend three times. Held in just about every metropolitan city in the US and across the globe, Startup Weekend is for entrepreneurs, programmers, designers and other creative types to take an idea and turn it into a business in two-and-a-half days.
Startup Weekend is important because it teaches novices and professionals how to think, act and work like entrepreneurs. Many of the startups turn into actual businesses, with the teams working together far beyond that original weekend.
With free legal advice, free mentors and of course, free food, Startup Weekend gives you a chance to put your passion into practice. So if you think you have a good idea, don’t keep it a secret. Participate in a Startup Weekend and watch your ideas flourish.
***
After everyone’s positive response to our Jobsville story, Brooke took the idea all the way to Mountain View, CA for the Mega Startup Weekend, where Brooke and his team worked on making Jobsville a reality.
We recently interviewed Frank Denbow, lead organizer for Startup Weekend NYC and a major force behind Mega Startup Weekend. Check out Startup Weekend in action and hear what he has to say about the events by watching the video above.
About a decade ago someone in accounting, or personnel, or wherever, asked me for job titles.
I said, “We don’t have job titles in our group.”
She went away.
Soon she was back saying that a new policy required that we have job titles, and that I had to give them some.
I said, “I can’t think of any.”
She said, “Make something up.”
I said, “OK, we’re all Senior Executive Vice Presidents.”
She went away.
She was back the following day saying, “Those titles won’t do. Nobody in your group is a vice president, senior, executive, or otherwise. Besides, we need functional titles.”
“As opposed to bullshit ones?” I asked.
She didn’t laugh but waited around until I came up with some stuff… Group Head (me), Analyst, Programmer, Trader … make that Senior Trader (never mind that we don’t have any junior ones)… I don’t remember and don’t care, although I can now find out if need be by asking everyone in my group for their new business cards.
Since our first day in the mid-1990′s, we have had a daily checklist, similar to what pilots find in airplane cockpits and janitors find on bathroom walls: do this by 8:15, start that computer before this one, run that program, file this report by 5:00, etc. The checklist gets updated as needed and has gone from perhaps 15 items to over 50 in 16 years.
A while ago our organization was restructured to come under a German parent, which meant that Read more…
Before we met Dr. Phillip Zimbardo it wasn’t clear what a hero is or how frequently we all are presented with opportunities to be one. Zimbardo defines heroes as people who put themselves at risk for the benefit of others. Altruism is “heroism lite” – helping others without expectation of gain. When most people say someone is a “hero” they really mean “role model.” Sports figures, celebrities, or business leaders may or may not be good role models, but few are well known for heroism.
Please, take a few minutes to watch our interview and then answer a few questions.
____
Can you imagine being a hero, or even wanting to be one?
Before you answer, can you imagine the following conversations?
Conversation #1: Saleswoman, “May I tell you about our product?”
Prospect, “Possibly. But first, would you ever lie to a customer?”
Saleswoman, “Let’s just say that I will never let my children starve.”
Prospect, “Are you married? Does your husband have a job?”
Saleswoman, “Yes and Yes.”
Prospect, “Sometimes it feels like there are more unemployed unwed mothers feeding their children than there are honest salespeople.”
Saleswoman, “Whatever. Now, may I tell you about my product?”
Prospect, “No.”
Conversation #2: Hiring manager, “I have lots of unemployed friends. Would you mind if I introduced one of them to fill the vacancy you’ll leave behind?”
Job Candidate, “I would not recommend anyone do my job because my job requires I do unethical things.”
Hiring manager, “Then I can’t hire you because Read more…
Tommy Spaulding has built a successful career by being a leader and teaching others to be leaders. In his book, It’sNot Just Who You Know, Spaulding acknowledges that his success is greatly due to living the credo of Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends and Influence People. However, It’s Not Just Who You Know does more than expand or update Carnegie’s classic. Spaulding has re-imagined Carnegie’s ideas and infused them with his own spirit. This is a book about love.
Spaulding starts off with his own story of being a good kid who had trouble succeeding in school because of what would eventually be diagnosed as dyslexia. Yet he was the youngest Eagle Scout in his town, the captain of his high school football team and the president of his senior class.
Young Tommy was also fortunate to have chosen his parents well. Tommy Spaulding, Sr. told him three profound things: First, living with goodness in your heart counts more than good grades. Second, you have an obligation to make a contribution to this country because Democracy isn’t free. Third, the people who are making top grades in your school are going to work for you someday.
Relationships move Upward
Spaulding talks about the different levels of relationships. These start on the first floor where the conversation never gets past news, sports and weather. The top floor is the fifth, or Penthouse, where you don’t just get a Christmas card – you get invited to Christmas dinner.
This book also shows you how to get to the Penthouse and what to do once you arrive. Spaulding advises against being a chirping bird – someone who is also asking for something out of a relationship. He goes further and Read more…
I’ve often wondered what can be done to make it fun to learn new skills and hunt for a job. Surely if FarmVille can make farming fun, and Call of Duty can make war fun, isn’t it possible for the people who produce those games to apply what they know to making the process of finding and qualifying for a job just a little bit more effective and enjoyable?
Gabe explained that the job search is usually a long process that has many moving parts including the concept of career mastery. He says this is the kind of thing that is well suited to modern Read more…
Playing baseball was Joe DiMaggio’s first real job as an adult. He had worked at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco with his father, and sold newspapers as a boy. Neither job held much appeal to him.
Few first jobs in life could have the impact of this one. To be a first generation Italian-American teenager with a job at the ballpark. To watch the first American sports icon, Joe DiMaggio, in a way that few could imagine.
An American Cultural Icon
If you ever played baseball, the mystical Joe DiMaggio was as familiar as the crack of the bat, or the thud of the ball hitting the back of the catcher’s mitt. Just like cold beer, hot dogs, and the seventh inning stretch, Joe DiMaggio was an integral part of American baseball tradition and lore.
Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio was born in Martinez, California, on Nov. 25, 1920, and died March 08, 1999 in Hollywood, Florida. He was the eighth of nine children born to Giuseppe and Rosalia, who were immigrants from the Sicilian island of Isola della Femmina (Women’s Island). His father was a fisherman; however, young Joe did not like Read more…
The Great Depression was very good to my Grandparents, and it wasn’t a matter of luck so much as the approach they took to their circumstances. What they did, you can do.
In the mid 1920′s they met on a date in New York City and decided to marry within a week. Granddad Tom was assigned to Havana to start a bureau for the United Press International; he and Anne married in Key West on the way to Cuba.
When he returned near the end of the decade he was handed a 40% pay cut, even though the cost of living was higher in New York City than in Cuba.
If that wasn’t bad enough, in October of 1929, the Stock Market crashed and the economy began a long slide into what became the Great Depression. Granddad survived multiple rounds of layoffs by accepting further pay cuts.
Grandmother Anne realized that they couldn’t afford their current rent, so she found a bank that would rent to them the mansion of a bankrupt stockbroker for less money. To help care for the children, she found a lovely couple at the unemployment office. The wife was a nurse and her husband was a handyman. They exchanged room and board for childcare and yard work.
Then Anne took a job as a receptionist with a developer who was building houses on the farm next to their rented home in White Plains. Soon she was managing four salesmen. She received 25 percent of the salesmen’s commission on every home sold.
Grandmother convinced the developer to build at cost a home for them in exchange for using it as a show model. She became a stellar saleswoman in her own right. Before long, her commissions had completely covered the construction costs, and the home was theirs outright.
Granddad wrote to a friend that the Great Depression had been unbelievably good to them. Before the Crash they had had high hopes, but owning a house ‘free and clear’ in just a few years was inconceivable. Where could they have found a trained nurse and groundskeeper simply by letting them live in a spare bedroom and join them for meals? Freed of the burden of paying bills, the young couple soon saved enough money working odd-jobs to buy a gas station and start their own business. Because most of his coworkers had either been laid off (or quit rather than take a pay cut), Granddad had no competition as senior positions became available. His career took off.
Here are some of the lessons I have learned from my Grandparents:
Grab the bull by the horns. They never tried to deny the facts of a bad situation.
Get lucky by planning for the worst. Because they never expected things to get better, they worked very hard in the present to survive the worst-case future scenario. Invariably things worked out better than expected so their less industrious friends considered them very lucky.
Find the opportunity, not the excuse. I never once heard my grandparents explain why they were unable to do something. Instead, it seemed they were always asking, “What just got better?” In this story, the things that got better included: Read more…
So many people talk about what is wrong with teaching today. I am going to tell you what is right. Last year, I completed my student teaching in a wonderful elementary school in New York City with several exceptional special education students in the third grade. One in particular has a stuttering problem and felt uncomfortable every time he had to talk in front of the class. In addition, he has test phobia in math. He tried several times to take a subtraction/addition test and quit after he was only half way through. On the fourth try, I told him that his dream of becoming a policeman will never come true if he can’t do math operations. He thought about it and finished the day. On the fifth try, he started the test, got frustrated, and was ready to quit–partly because he was so upset about his stuttering during response time earlier in the day. I told him to breathe deeply, think positive, and focus. He kept going. When he handed in his paper, he turned to me and said, “I tried harder this time, Mrs. Ramirez. I didn’t quit.”
That made my day. I helped a child to learn. A precious gift.
On another day, I worked with a boy who wears an FM device and is very self-conscious because of same. In addition, he is small in size for his age and self-conscious in gym. When I worked with him on math problems, he told me that he likes to learn but wants to be like everyone else. I told him that each of us has special gifts to offer, and we are all special in our own way. Little by little, I drew him out of his shell. Before long, we were partners on a math team and competed against two other kids. After a while, he picked someone his own age to be his teammate. However, I told him that I would always be there if he needed me. Again, it was great to see a child flourish in learning through positive support.
My third encounter was a recent assignment in a school in New Jersey with a middle grade young girl who told me of her desire to be a songwriter. With limited English, she composed a song that spoke of her feelings on life in middle grade. She also told me that she has composed many other songs. I told her to keep on writing. Before the end of the day, she sang a little of the song to me. As I was about to take the children to their parents, she handed me a card. When I arrived home, I read the message: “Dear Mrs. Ramirez, Thank you for listening to me. You are a patient and great teacher. Someday I hope to sing you my finished work.” I gave her my email and encouraged her to keep on going.
These are but a few of the wonderful encounters that I have had as a teacher with creative minds yearning to achieve.
In the fall, I hope to have my own class to nurture and encourage and share the successes that I’ve had in my professional life. To teach, as the saying goes, truly does touch and change, for the better, another life.
Our most important relationships are with our intimate friends and family – the people we love, rely on and support when times are tough. But most of the people we know make up the outer layers of our social network – our coworkers, neighbors and friends of friends, and these outer layer relationships are more vital than we think. “They’re the people who help you out when things are down by finding you jobs or letting you know there’s a job going where they work,” Dunbar says. “That’s a source of information for you.”
Yet our social well-being depends on the strength of our most intimate relationships. “Those who have a bigger social network have, on average, less intimacy with each of the members,” Dunbar says. “If your inner core relationships are going to be important to you…you do best by focusing your attention on those closest to you.”
Dunbar spoke with Brooke Allen about his research on relationships and the roles they play in our lives. You can learn more about Dunbar’s number and the layers of relationships by Read more…
Journalism is everywhere. Blogs, Twitter, Podcasts – all give voice to a new generation of reporting. But is every journalist a reporter?
What about finance? Is there a difference between a financial journalist and a general reporter? What do financial reporters need?
KNOWLEDGE
“I don’t believe anyone can be a journalist today unless they speak the language of finance,” says Toni Reinhold, editor with Thomson Reuters for more than two decades and the president of the Newswomen’s Club of New York.
Reinhold believes that since every major news story has some underpinnings in finance, every journalist should Read more…
Read this and watch this if you wish your life were more meaningful and fun.
In 1970, during my senior year in High School, my father told me, “It is easier to make money doing what makes you happy than to buy happiness with the money you are paid for doing what makes you miserable.” With that, he quit the business world and returned to being a full-time sculptor. For the remaining 30 years of his life, he made almost no money.
I have discovered (as did my father) that it is not particularly easy to make money doing what makes you happy. Example: You want to get paid to play video games?… good luck with that.
My father’s words are true because no matter how much money you have, it is impossible to buy happiness if your life’s work makes you miserable.
If you want to make money, do what makes other people happy. And, if you want to become rich, do what makes rich people even richer. If you want to make money in the video game business, make games others want to play.
As the head of a quantitative trading group at a securities firm, I consider some of my most important deliverables to be: 1) keeping things interesting, 2) keeping things fun, 3) keeping us from doing stupid things.
To this end, on Sunday our group and a bunch of our friends (including a few NSoW subscribers) are going on a week-long cruise to Bermuda where we will discuss a dozen books we’ve read on everything from psychology and economics to sociology and management. I’ve hired experts to run workshops on reputation banking, standing up to management (i.e. me), collaborative consumption, and game design. (You can read about the cruise here.)
One of our books is The Art of Game Designby Jesse Schell, professor at Carnegie Mellon, and founder of Schell Games. In it Jesse says “Game design is the act of deciding what a game should be.” The book presents 100 “lenses” which are collections of questions to ask yourself during the design process.
As I read the book, I was reminded of another thing my artist/businessman father told me, “Everything is about everything.” Even though I am not a game designer, everything in the book seems to apply to some aspect of my life.
Here are a few examples:
From: The Secret of the Gifted (page 6)
You might have noticed that skilled game designers seem to have a special gift for the work. It comes easily and naturally to them, and though you love games, you wonder if you are gifted enough to succeed as a designer. Well, there is a little secret about gifts. There are two kinds. First there is the innate gift of a given skill. This is the minor gift. If you have the gift, a skill such as game design, mathematics, or playing the piano comes naturally to you. You can do it easily, almost without thinking. But you don’t necessarily enjoy doing it. There are millions of people with minor gifts of all kinds, who, though skilled, never do anything great with their gifted skill, and this is because they lack the major gift.
In the past 100 years, the world has been changing at a rapid rate. Now, more than at any other time in history, both information and human connection can be delivered at an alarming speed; truly, the world is entering a new dimension of discovery and consumption. The Power of Pull discusses this phenomenon and how it affects everything and everyone, from an individual, to a company, to a nation.
The title comes from authors John Hagel, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison’s definition of ‘pull’ as “The ability to draw out people and resources as needed to address opportunities and challenges.” A powerful concept. They discuss how advances in technology aren’t only changing access to information, but also how the amount of easily-available information is changing the whole competitive landscape of business. Major consumer products and institutions, from cassettes to the U.S. Post Office, are now approaching oblivion as a result of not adapting to the times. This ties into another key concept presented in the book, ‘push,’ which deals with the dissolution of the current business structure.
The authors go on to break the ‘pull’ concept down into three levels: access, attract, and achieve. They then analyze, level by level, the methods used by individuals and companies who have been able to harness the power of pull and achieve great results.
Perhaps most importantly, the book makes the reader think about why they should change their current formula for success. Very convincing is their argument that, as the world constantly evolves, so must the individual evolve with it in order to stay on top. Anyone who has mastered the power of pull through new technology is already ahead of their competitors. Also, the book points out that generating competition and more opportunities to create value among employees will lead to a more dynamic and profitable business.
This book is very accessible to a general audience, despite the scholarly subject matter. While the book has a few slow sections, they are brief. All in all, it offered a fascinating portrait of the current world, and acted as a guide for maneuvering through a time of unpredictable change.
Carmine Gallo is a respected business journalist by training. He created a company, Gallo Communications, that provides presentation, media training and communication skills advice for some of the world’s most recognized brands. His first book about the iconic CEO of Apple Computer, entitled The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, was a best seller. Gallo’s newest offering, The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success, no doubt will achieve similar success. This compelling book is a deep look into a man that figuratively and literally changed millions of lives.
Compelling Introduction Set the Tone
Many of Jobs’ innovation secrets were used by the author in this book. Gallo opened with a provocative quote attributed to Thomas Friedman of the New York Times: “We need to create more Jobs.” It was a play on words about the Apple CEO, but one that clearly exemplified one of his key tenets: Master the Message. Speaking of messages, one by Gallo immediately grabs your attention:
“Michelangelo looked at a marble block and saw David. Steve Jobs Read more…
by: Kristen Contrera Unemployment rates are at an all time high in the financial sector and hiring managers have their pick of the litter. So it seems logical to ask, in this day and age while the financial industry is undergoing so many changes, what skills are most valued on Wall Street?
To answer this question, let us break down the financial sector into its two key components: trading and sales trading. General trading takes hard skills and know-how, while sales-trading takes personality and an adept ability to communicate.
People skills are a necessity for this second discipline. Though many aspects of the industry have become computerized and automated, good old-fashioned people skills will always be in demand. They are not programmable and therefore are highly valued in this industry that depends as much on sales as it does on intelligent trading. Marketing trainerDr. Elliot B. Jaffa explains, “It’s walking their talk with the client, following through, and client obsession: treating each client Read more…
It’s pretty much a truism that good workers take their jobs seriously. Employers want people who are invested in the work and care about what they’re doing. If you don’t care about what you’re doing, it’s hard to be at your most productive.
What is less well known, but almost as important, is the need to have a sense of humor about your work. It can help improve relations within the company and with customers, and make employees happier and less stressful – in other words, directly making people more productive workers.
I talked to three professionals in three different industries – health care, air travel, and promotions – about how they combined humor and hard work to be productive, and happy, employees.
JANICE BEITZ
“The best analogy for working in an operating room,” said Dr. Janice Beitz of LaSalle University, “is working on a nuclear submarine.” In both professions, work takes place in a serious environment where any mistake could be deadly. But in order to deal with that stress, employees need a healthy sense of humor.
“Humor makes you resilient,” Beitz said. “You cannot function in health care for any length of time and Read more…
In 2005 I borrowed $60,000 to take 12 classes in an 18 month master’s degree program in Journalism at Boston University.
Now my boss is paying for me to take writing classes taught by professional writers at Gotham Writer’s Workshop for $395 a class – that is 92% less than the $5000 cost of a BU course.
For more than a decade I will be paying off debt for a master’s degree that has proven to be neither a requirement for, nor guarantee of, getting a job. In my current job my boss is paying for writing courses that will improve the articles I write for No Shortage of Work – a direct link between my education and employment.
Now I find that there are free writing courses, not just cheaper ones, In her book DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education, Anya Kamenetz discusses the ways we can educate ourselves without going into debt. More people are choosing alternatives to four year universities, such as online and for-profit schools, while others are taking advantage of the free courses universities offer on their Web sites.
The Open Courseware Project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offers video, audio and lecture materials from their 1,900 courses. MIT pays up to $15,000 in development costs to put each course online for free, and they’re not all science related. I can take courses in creative writing, anthropology, and Chinese. Other schools such as Tufts and UC Berkeley offer courses which can be found at the Open Courseware Consortium.
Teachstreet.com is an online community for people who love to learn a variety of subjects and Unclasses.org connects students with teachers on anything from graphic design to rock climbing. DIY U lists these and hundreds of other resources for free universities, work colleges, and study aids which we’ve put up on our Resource Links.
Kamenetz’s goal is not to discourage people from attending college, but to encourage parents and prospective students to research their options and understand what they are paying for. While a degree is necessary for a career in medicine, you don’t need any degree to be a journalist.
Anya Kamenetz wrote another book, Generation Debt, detailing the negative effects the rising costs of education are having on the younger generations. I asked what we can do to stay out of debt, and she offered some advice for those looking to go to school but aren’t sure how to pay for it.
Unfortunately it {debt} is all too common. There are lots of great sources of information out there on the costs of higher education and Read more…
Adrienne Rodney Interviews Shawn Achor, Author of The Happiness Advantage
Here are a few fallacies many of us believe: If only I had a job, then I’d be happy. Once I have all the material things I’ve been after, I won’t have time to be depressed. The grass is always greener.Shawn Achor, Harvard University psychologist, lecturer and author, says we’ve got it all wrong. Happiness fuels success, not the other way around.
Achor’s research suggests we change the way our brains work in order to improve our productivity and performance. Each of his seven principles describes the ways in which we can turn from being “glass half empty” realists in a troubled world to people who focus our energy on the good things in life.
One principle is The Tetris Effect, a pattern of thought in which our brain gets stuck that affects all aspects in life. Instead of falling prey to negative patterns, we can retrain our brains to spot positive patterns and specifically seek out the things for which we are grateful.
This relates to The 20-Second Rule, a principle that instills lasting changes that help replace bad habits with good ones without having to rely on willpower. Achor says by putting a 20 second gap between you and negative habits, such as hiding the television remote or making your computer home page work related, you are more likely to stay on track. This path of least resistance goes both ways. Put your running shoes next to your bed, and you are more likely to exercise after you wake.
The theme of The Happiness Advantage is living a positive home and work life. If we stay focused on what matters most, we will have no choice but to see the positives in everything. This book is a helpful manual to everyone, whether or not you see the glass as half-full.
*****
I spoke with Achor about the other principles and how the Happiness Advantage can be applied to our readers here at No Shortage of Work, especially for those who are currently unemployed or looking for something new.
“This message is even more important with someone who doesn’t have a job. In the midst of a challenge, when you’re unemployed or underemployed, you have two options. You can stay negative and frustrated, which science shows turns off your brain, or you could try to remain positive, which causes your brain to turn on, allowing you to see more possibilities, allowing you to avoid depression, and allowing your brain to be intelligent and creative. So what I often tell people is happiness in good times is a luxury item. In challenging times, positivity becomes a necessity.”
He also states that the strongest positive force we have in our lives is Read more…
At one time or another, everyone has gone to a networking function, returned with a stack of business cards, and said “well, now what?” That literal and figurative inert pile of cards is evidence of an evening of pleasant conversations – and not action. Talking to folks is an act of prospecting, a key part of networking. But the other key component is closing – a shared commitment to progress. Successful closing is the difference between networking and going to a cocktail party.
Closing is ultimately a sales function- getting people to do something: introduce you, vouch for you, interview you. Fortunately, sales is one of the oldest human activities. It is important, so smart people have thought about it. Sales success is easily quantifiable, so approaches can be evaluated.
Anecdotally, there are few careers that have risen in public esteem since the ‘70s than the salesman. The hamartia of Willy Loman and the jokey stories of the “traveling salesman” are worn. A lot of that is due to Tom Hopkins and a book he wrote in 1980 called “How To Master The Art of Selling”. Hopkins was a key catalyst to “professionalize” selling – the movement away from pressure and aggression to consultative, non-adversarial approaches. The power of this book is perhaps demonstrated by the fact that it is still in print. There are tons of copies on e-Bay, 403 copies via Amazon’s secondary sellers and many in the NYC library system (with a waitlist here in Brooklyn). How many other books from thirty years ago can say that?
Parts of the book are dated and hokey. But there is still real knowledge in the chapters on closing like a professional, advancing your agenda. With millions of copies, it is also designed for beginners. Closing is a lot like skiing; you can learn enough to be competent at the very first lesson.
Frankly, it is also an informative, smack yourself on the forehead, fun read: so that is how my living room furniture, engagement ring, swimming pool, etc. got here! I got closed by that guy at Macy’s! Is it ethical to close a toddler about bedtimes? Don’t go through life without knowing about the “assumptive close,” a “say no” question or “a bridge”.
Ten years ago, I was tentative about asking for an intercession, help or business. But fear usually stems from ignorance – what do I do here? Hopkins outlines a couple dozen safe, polite, professional ways to ask for what you want – just pick a few that seem comfortable.
Some are probably dubious. I will point out that billions are spent training sales forces, and millions make a living at closing, differentiating themselves in the process. Either there is some intelligence to it or there are a lot folks who are dupes. No one disagrees that there is a robust science to communication. This is merely one of its real useful disciplines. So take a chance and read thirty minutes of Tom Hopkins at the library.
People at networking events long to be closed. They want to help. Be polite and don’t be grasping, but do them the favor of not only knowing what you want but also engaging your targets in a manner that helps them help you.
Recently I was asked to share some thoughts on what I’ve learned about job hunting so far, so I put pen to paper and came up with a list of the four most important tools any job-hunter should have in their kit.
Okay, maybe this is all stuff you already know. Maybe you’ve already read articles that told you this stuff because Lord knows there have been hundreds. However, it bares repeating, because every day there is someone new just starting their job hunt – someone who recently was laid off, or who just graduated from school and hasn’t had any training on the idea of how to go from student to employee beyond ‘okay, time to get a job.’ Not to mention, just because you’ve been job hunting for a while doesn’t mean you can’t refresh your knowledge of what you’ve been told before.
(1)Business Cards:
One of the most important, and yet simplest, things you can do for your job search is have a business card for yourself. It’s a fast and easy way to get your name and contact information into someone’s hand no matter where you are – a networking event, a bar, a friend’s house, or on the bus or subway. You never know when or where you’re going to encounter someone, and you want to be able to give them a way to remember you and contact you in a matter of seconds – no digging for a pen and notebook. Read more…
Unemployment is rough. Not knowing when the next job will come; stress over paying the bills; judgment from others – it’s an unfortunate circumstance too many of us face.
We are led to believe that searching for a job is your full-time job. Not having an office means having to work extra hard; it is not an excuse to focus on anything else. However, this way of thinking only works for some. Many people take their passions that were once hobbies and turn them into careers.
Journalist Patricia Crisafulli and business consultant Andrea Redmond view unemployment as the perfect time to reflect and refuel. In their book, Comebacks, they recommend those at a rough spot in their careers forego others’ ideas of success and relish in the new opportunities available. It is time to ask yourself, they say, what do you want Act II of your life to look like? Read more…
REGISTER or LOGIN to leave comments.
(Registering DOES NOT automatically sign you up for the newsletter.) Only newsletter subscribers receive full benefit from this site including help finding: work, mentors, education, meetings, and other members. SIGN UP NOW.
WATCH THIS VIDEO to hear Daniel Pink describe what motivates people to work. This is what No Shortage of Work is all about.
If you are unemployed, you are autonomous. We help with purpose and mastery.If you are employed, find purpose in helping those who are not.
NSoW is not a commercial venture; it is created by people who believe that creating something of intrinsic value is compensation enough. (Note: We are not affiliated with the producers of this video or Daniel Pink.)
