tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8466626869188069482024-02-08T08:32:24.360-06:00Writing the Next ChapterMy personal journey from the narrow waters of military service to the great wide ocean of civilian employment.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-66878851441878308482014-06-04T20:55:00.003-05:002014-06-04T20:55:54.064-05:00Where have I been?I know, it's been a few days since I updated here. Last week LinkedIn opened up their "publishing platform" to me; it's sort of my blog for LinkedIn. I've posted a few posts there, which I've also posted over here, and, honestly, they seem to get a great deal more exposure and activity in LinkedIn than they do here.
I think what I'm going to do is leave this blog for the more personal entries, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-20593912621958584702014-06-02T00:47:00.000-05:002014-06-02T00:47:49.372-05:00How Does This Apply to Me?The internet is full of websites offering advice on how to conduct a job search. LinkedIn is packed with job search coaches, recruiters, mentors, advisors, interest groups, and resume writers. They don't always agree, but I've noticed they all have one thing in common.
They all target their advice toward "executive" types. They envision the hiring process as a series of interviews with Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-91613243490796062962014-05-30T07:44:00.000-05:002014-05-30T07:44:25.848-05:00"Fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." --George W. BushWell, I nearly unfollowed someone on Twitter today -- a company, actually.. I'm not going to say who, but I am going to say why, which means if they read this blog they'll know it's them (but no one else will, I think). Sorry.
Everyone likes a good inspirational quote; the internet's full of them. You've probably shared a bunch of them yourself. On Twitter, with its 140-character limit, they Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-42807281296731646352014-05-29T07:25:00.001-05:002014-05-29T07:25:22.533-05:00You Say You Want a RevolutionThere's a small revolution building in the business world, spearheaded by people like Liz Ryan of Human Workplace and Stacy Donovan Zapar of Zappos. It's a paradigm shift in the way employees and potential employers interact. In the future these two business leaders envision, the day of the job board is over, and cover letters have gone the way of the dodo. What's interesting is that they're Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-1668201847861389242014-05-28T07:05:00.000-05:002014-05-28T07:05:31.538-05:00A really big shoeNow I know how those variety-show plate spinner guys felt.
I say this a lot, but I'm pretty lucky; this time, it's because I know I have a fairly wide range of options in my career search. I've been focusing on writing, and looking at translation jobs, but I've been doing so to such an extent that I forgot my other "preferred" career: teaching. I'd love to be able to take these languages I've Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-16780712025427173092014-05-27T01:02:00.000-05:002014-05-27T01:02:03.292-05:00To absent friendsThis isn't a post about job hunting, or career change. It's a post about gratitude.
Yesterday (Monday) was Memorial Day here in the US. It's a day set aside in memory of those who gave their lives in defense of our country. It's a bit strange to people in many other countries, because most of the rest of the world celebrates that on the 11th of November. If that sounds familiar to you Americans,Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-68729119485019977292014-05-23T09:17:00.000-05:002014-05-23T09:17:16.393-05:004 days? Cool!Well, folks, I have an unexpected 4-day weekend in celebration of Memorial Day. That being the case, I'm going to start by declaring a 4-day weekend here on the blog as well.
I'll be back with a new entry on Tuesday. Also (and this is kinda cool) LinkedIn has granted me access to their Publishing Platform. That means I'm now allowed to publish a blog directly on LinkedIn. If you're a contact of Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-72215541172719908272014-05-22T07:11:00.000-05:002014-05-22T22:21:52.710-05:00Well this is a bit... meta.Writer's block sucks. How do I know? Because I have it right now. That's a bad thing for someone who has committed to write a new blog entry every day about his mid-life career change. It's even worse when the field I most want to find work in is writing.
So I just decided, just a moment ago, that if I couldn't think of anything of real substance, I'd just start writing. It's a valid technique, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-44902482929945055652014-05-21T07:48:00.001-05:002014-05-21T07:48:54.681-05:00You never know where the road might take youI hit a rough patch this afternoon, and oddly enough, it touched a little bit on what I posted about yesterday. I recently read an article by Liz Ryan about a new sort of job search. Liz is an advocate for using "human voice resumes" and, instead of a cover letter, what she calls a "Pain Letter." A Pain Letter is where, having found a company you want to work for, you identify what needAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-55927429929342061722014-05-20T07:56:00.000-05:002014-05-20T07:56:57.332-05:00Throwing dartsI've been spending a lot of time looking at job boards and trolling through LinkedIn for opportunities in the past couple of weeks. I've even had a couple of conversations with recruiters and hiring offices, by phone and email. The problem has been that most of the jobs are not in the area where I live now.
Relocating for a job is a big move, but it's something I've done more than once. It's Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-7858642756530508492014-05-19T08:01:00.000-05:002014-05-19T08:01:00.435-05:00What's playing at the Roxy?Well, here we are. Monday again. I spent the weekend with my family, goofing off, which was really nice. I did have one significant accomplishment. I taught my 15-year-old son an important life skill: how to mow the lawn. When we lived in England, the place we rented had a huge garden (they call them gardens there, not backyards). It was so big we had to have a gardener for the trees and plants, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-82479972482427733522014-05-16T07:34:00.000-05:002014-05-16T07:34:09.734-05:00Show me the money? But...I had two very interesting telephone conversations today, both with potential employers. The first was with the founder of a very interesting non-profit, who was looking for translators and translation team coordinators. The second was with a resource manager for a government contractor, who was looking for a specific sort of intelligence analyst.
The first conversation was a very relaxed one. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-10688757787056460392014-05-15T06:58:00.000-05:002014-05-15T06:58:49.078-05:00Frank BankI just had a friend on Facebook post a plaintive request: "Oh, power of the interwebs, what is the piece of music that you often hear played when something is running on TV? Horns, strings, and some marimba/xylophone in it?"
Instantly, I answered, "That must be Khachaturian's Sabre Dance." I was correct.
I'm convinced that I've got an extra lobe in my brain, that only holds trivia. Like... who Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-12283657308416329672014-05-14T07:45:00.000-05:002014-05-14T07:45:20.386-05:00Slow news daysThey happen. They're not fun, but they happen more often than not, I'm told. Well, today sure was one. I didn't see any new postings, I had no new views of my LinkedIn profile, and, well, I didn't have very many views on this blog today either.
But I must keep on. When the day is empty and the prospects seem to be thinning out, it's really important to find something else positive to look at. I Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-41189628751978359402014-05-13T07:21:00.000-05:002014-05-13T07:21:08.272-05:00Ch-ch-ch-ch-changesI almost always say "transitioning" when I talk about the direction my life is going now. To quote another of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." It implies a smooth change of states from one to another. It would lead you to believe that everything is planned out, every step mapped, and everything will flow along Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-42990010868354892102014-05-12T19:30:00.000-05:002014-05-12T19:30:08.141-05:00A quick update to my last postIn a strange coincidence, this article was posted on LinkedIn this morning...
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-51276002218872782052014-05-12T07:40:00.000-05:002014-05-12T07:40:47.281-05:00Who are you going to believe, your buddies or some lah-dee-dah corporate bigwig?I've been noticing a disturbing trend on the message boards on LinkedIn lately, and it's got me in a bit of a bind. You see, there are a lot of people out there writing blogs and articles on how to find work, how to get your resume seen, how to get an interview, that sort of thing. I know I've been reading a bunch of them, and I bet many of you are as well. The problem is this: some of them Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-54480334199529931722014-05-09T08:10:00.000-05:002014-05-09T08:10:00.680-05:003-2-1 ContactWhen I went back to using LinkedIn last month, one of the first articles I saw was entitled something along the lines of "9 Ways You're Using LinkedIn Wrong." One of those ways was "Using Linkedin like Facebook." It went on to say that the point of LinkedIn is to make connections in the business world, and if you're as selective with contacts there as you are on Facebook, you'll never find Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-16730847368017752014-05-08T08:08:00.000-05:002014-05-08T08:08:01.142-05:00Edited-changed-redacted-corrected-editedOne of the things we talked about in our resume-writing class was the importance of STAR-type statements. You know, "S"ituation - "T"ask - "A"ction - "R"esult. What was amusing was that the briefer spoke of these as though he thought they would be a new concept to us. Clearly he'd never written an Air Force performance report.
STAR statements are the backbone of the Air Force Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-85826580838237039032014-05-07T07:32:00.000-05:002014-05-07T07:32:41.282-05:00Sometimes opportunity uses a battering ramI don't know if I've mentioned this, but I live in the Florida panhandle. If you saw the news last week, you may have seen that we had some severe weather here last Tuesday. Tornadoes, flooding, severe thunderstorm damage. It caught us all by surprise -- hurricanes, sure, but tornadoes? Pfft. Riiight.
Anyway, on Saturday, we got a flyer in the mailbox. One of the local new car dealerships was Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-52819945912447200352014-05-06T06:49:00.000-05:002014-05-06T06:49:42.141-05:00Stop and smell the tulipsI think I've mentioned that my family and just came back to the US from an 8-year assignment in England. It was truly wonderful there, and we really miss it. We were close enough to London that we could take the train on the spur of the moment and be in the middle of one of the most vibrant metropolitan areas in the world in just about an hour. We were also far enough away that our house was a Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-73862473503454399142014-05-05T07:37:00.000-05:002014-05-07T18:26:28.217-05:00"Spread the word"One of my favorite movies of all time is Volunteers, a hilarious 1985 film with Tom Hanks as an unwilling Peace Corps member sent to build a bridge in Thailand, and John Candy as his eager-beaver, hyper-motivated, can-do teammate. Candy's character, Tom Tuttle (from Tacoma) is fond of motivational speeches and rousing calls to duty. His favorite book is entitled "Maximizing Growth Potentialwise."Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-53503762407796699802014-05-02T07:08:00.000-05:002014-05-02T07:10:42.803-05:00Broadening the horizons
This isn't my first attempt at a blog. The other one was for fun, mostly, and also as sort of as a diary where I could share thoughts with my family while I was away. I wrote about work, life in England where we were stationed, life away from home, things I did with my family, pretty much whatever struck me.
Writing it is what cemented in my head the notion that I really would like to write Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-83859467963836632022014-05-01T07:00:00.000-05:002014-05-01T07:00:13.117-05:00Is this job worth it?Now that, my friends, is what we all have to decide when job hunting. Or is it? One of the job coaches I've been following on Twitter tweeted a link to an article today. I tracked down the original, and I'll link it below, but the gist of the article was this: "Stop looking for 'the perfect job,' and start looking for 'a job.'"
It really started me thinking. The author posits that, like looking Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846662686918806948.post-42186124372332659792014-04-30T09:00:00.000-05:002014-04-30T09:00:35.817-05:00Week two begins.I know, I know, on Monday I said "week two begins," but that was week two of the job search. This blog started a week ago today. So there we go. Anyway, however you want to count it, I'm still just beginning my job search, and I taking today to remind myself not to fall into either of two dangerous and complementary traps: cockiness and complacency.
I love writing this blog. I like Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940404408750732890noreply@blogger.com1