Day 33 – Transition – not Much

Not much to report today.  Did a little searching, applied for a job at Boeing.  Didn’t find much else. 

My daughter is home from school tomorrow, so we are going to remove the walls of the laundry room.  Doing it more to spend time with my daughter than needing to get this done.  I’m hoping that this is a benefit of being home, that I can spend some extra quality time with the kids. 

We are working on ordering shower and bath room fixtures before we can do very much.  That is about 6 weeks out, so may not be able to do much until we get a little closer to having the stuff arrive. 

Tomorrow we will have to take the washer and dryer out and then put them back after we get the mess cleaned up.  I thinking it shouldn’t take too long.

Did my weight lifting this morning.  In the past couple of weeks, I pushed a bit too much and started feeling an injury pain in my knees, so I back off some of my leg weights.  My knee is hurting much less now.  When you are lifting you are trying to get to a point of feeling burning pain in your muscles.  This is different than the injury pain that I have been feeling.  It is like hearing a real rattlesnake, you know immediately that this is a rattlesnake.

Stretching is an important part of getting fit.  I have been stretching in two ways.  The first is a Yoga, well it was yoga when I learned it, now I’m sure it has morph into something that no one with knowledge would call yoga, but I still do.  It is just a short routine based on a salute to sun.  The second stretching I do in the hot tub after working out.  Both of these are helping and I have noticed that I’m stretching much farther now.

Which get us to tonight’s quote:

"Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape."

-- Unknown

Have a good Memorial Day Weekend!

Day 32 – Transition – Magic carpet ride

The day started out rainy and bleak.  I put the coffee grounds in the coffee maker and then remembered that I forgot the filter, what a mess.  The rest of the day didn’t seem productive in the sense of really getting things done which I needed to get done.  The best of plans often go awry.  What I thought was important often gets adjusted.
Today, I wrote a letter to someone in need.  Not on my to do list, but something that I’m glad I took the time to do. Between that and answering other email, a little house cleaning, oh, and the cleanup of my mistakes with the getting my personal java fix—the morning was gone.
The afternoon consisted mainly of insurance.  I still don’t have my cobra squared away with Boeing or the federal government.  I’m hoping that after today I’m on the right path to getting this cleared up.  There is a check racing back to Illinois, hopefully it can make it before the 1st.  There is more paperwork coming from Boeing that I need to send to the IRS so they can process my claim to get the TAA benefits.  
This is second piece of mail that I have missed something on.  Last week I missed  a meeting that I was required to attend for WorkSource.  After so many years of working strictly electronically,I am not use to this snail mail stuff.   I have to get better at recording actions from the mail I receive.  These are serious mistakes that I can’t afford to keep making.
I did a little searching today, applied for a couple jobs at Boeing.   I haven’t heard anything positive from any of the Boeing applications I have put in other than we have received your resume and you are under consideration.   And every once and a while I receive a letter saying thank you for considering us but we are no longer considering you.
One of the people in the LinkedIn group announced that he found a job.  I couldn’t be happier for him.  And somewhere in the back of my mind there is some negativity that arises, maybe a little fear or insecurities arising.  Wondering why him?  What did he do that I didn’t?  I’m I doing this all right?  Why not me?  Is there something wrong with me?  Maybe I should dye my hair.  Wait I haven’t had a interview, how would that have made a difference.  Ya, but then you would appear younger.  My insecurities just dump out all over the place. 
This all happens in a matter of a couple minutes.  No lasting scars, it is interesting how surface these emotions are still residing.  They aren’t  near as strong as they were, more like a murmur than a shout. 
The day passed without exercise, so after dinner I headed to the Y and for the torture they call the trend mill.  If I’m just walking then I try to maintain 4.5 MPH, but in order to get better at the 1.5 mile run, I have been trying to do more jogging.  I tried to do 2 minutes walking at 4 mph and then 2 min jogging at 5.5.  I also used a slightly hilling course so I would get some variation in the slope. 
My time for the 1.5 mile was 14.5 minutes, which I was really excited about.  My base time when I started was 23 minutes for around Green lake about as flat as they come.  The trend mill is different than running outside, but I am excited by what I was able to do.  Also I watched my heart rate closely.  It would max out around 172 and within the 2 min recover walk would come down to 120 to 130, until the end of the forty minutes, then I wouldn’t recover as quickly.  I also had to do some 1 minute jogs and 3 minute walks when I was getting really stretched about 3/4 of the way in.
After about 20 minutes on the treadmill there is this feeling, kind of floating across the floor, this is what I call the magic carpet ride.  Kind of the feeling that walking on a air hockey table might be.  Today this lasted for a few minutes after I completed my workout. 
It was a good workout, though now I’m zapped.
Tomorrow is a housecleaning, searching day—mostly searching. 
Today’s quote:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there.
-- Rumi

Day 31 – Transition – Rain Delay

3:30 phone interview.  Spent the day preparing.  Researched the company history on Google and Yahoo.   Read its Wikipedia entry.

Learned that it grew over 10% last year.  It has been taking over companies lately and looks to be preparing to take over some more companies in the future.  Seems to be in good financial shape.   With a good reputation in its industry.

Used the text analyzer on the Job requisition, didn’t learn a lot here.  Copied the job requisition into a spreadsheet and for each relevant phrase thought of a story that I could tell to reinforce my fit for the job.  This took a while, but I thought this is a great way to prepare for an interview.

Then I went in and listened to a meditation tape for 30 minutes in order to calm my mind and not get nervous.

Up 25 minutes before interview, quickly brew some coffee, trying to time my caffeine intake perfectly.  Not so much that I’m wired, but enough to be fully awake and present. 

Small hiccup.   My daughter comes home with friend to bake cookies.  With 10 minutes to go, I need to picked up my notes and computer and move down stairs.  Feeling a little rushed, but I have plenty of time.  Get all set up up downstairs, not quite as good as having my stuff spread across the dinning room table, but this will work just fine.  Couple minutes left, can relax, clear my mind, sip on my coffee.

Time for the call.

2 minutes after.  Look at me watching the clock.

5 minutes after time, probably hung up in the meeting. Still getting others together. 

10 minutes after, I better double check the number I sent her.   I wonder if Google Voice is unreliable.  Maybe she tried to called and Google voice was busy.  

15 minutes, well this sucks, wonder what is going on.  No email. No phone call.  Better check email one more time. 

20 minutes, its a wash out. 

I send a email.  “Not sure what happened, please let me know if you had problems connecting to the phone number I supplied.  Hope we can reschedule soon.”

“Sorry got held up in previous meeting.  Let’s meet on Friday at 11:00.” 

Rain delay.

Well the research is done.  I will just have review it on Friday morning.  Had planned Friday to be working with my daughter to tear out the walls of the laundry room, but we should be able to start a little later and still get the walls out.

Tomorrow will be a catch up day, on everything I put off to prep for interview today.

Today’s quote:

It is not the strongest of the species that survives,

nor the most intelligent,
                                  but the one most responsive to change.

       - Charles Darwin

Day 30 Transition – 2 steps forward, 1 step back

Today, I attended my first professional networking session at the WorkSource office.  My case worker has promoted these sessions as a good activity to attend.  They have it every Monday from 9 to 12.

Today they had a presentation by a Gal that had been through unemployment.  She has since packaged up what we believes worked for her into a website.  She feelings that she has found her calling in promoting the website.  The material appears to be a mixture of self understanding and self marketing.  The first step is to take the Knowdell Motivated skills test and the Knowdell Values Test.    

I took both of these tests tonight.  This is the one step back; I had taken these when I first started to redo my resume.  Though I felt it was good to review the results now.  I think my answers have changed some, at least in the area of giving myself a little more credit for skills that I possess.  Both of these test can be found here. 

Part of what she was talking about today was marketing yourself.  Developing that elevator speech so that you can tell someone the type of job you are looking for in a 2 minute elevator ride, complete with your background and the reason you are good at this (better than everyone else).

I have creating a elevator speech on my To Do List, so this is timely.   Though I don’t want to redo the effort I did in the beginning when I worked on my resume.  I will look through this website and see what information makes sense to complete now.

The way she explained the site today, their are some things that I definitely want to go through the exercises.  You can see the site at www.mostvaluableme.com.  One item that is interesting in how she is laying out the site is by going through the exercises you have been exposed to methods.  Because the Knowdell tests are of automated card sorted type test and you can recognize that you have done this.  You can claim this in your portfolio:

In your portfolio, you may say you used:
BUSINESS AREA: Usability
TOOLS: Automated Card Sort
SKILLS: Critical thinking, Active learning

The site has many examples of this.  This may be pushing it a bit, but in one of

her exercises she uses the 5-whys method.  Which I have used many time over the years.  This is something that I can claim some competency in.  I have doubts that I would get to that level of distinguishing what I can or can not do.

I took a lot of notes today, and want to research the website and several of the areas that she mentioned.

Second Phone interview

Tomorrow, I have a phone interview, the second in so many weeks.  I haven’t heard back from the first one, though I felt good about the interview.  Tomorrow, I will be spending the day researching the company that I’m interviewing with.  I will review the job requisition.  Run it through the text analyzer and think of stories that I can use as examples of what the job requisition is looking for.  

Today’s quote:

At the center of your being you have the answer;

you know who you are and

you know what you want.

- Lao Tzu

I think Lao Tzu is right. I continue to search, maybe not so much a search for my center, but rather searching for the articulation of who I am and what I want.  And with this articulation then others will help me in the realization.

Day 27 – Transition- When it Rains

Well, after hearing very little over the course of the last 3 months, I have been contacted twice for follow up this week.  Another company sent me email today wanting to schedule a phone interview for next week.  I guess when it rains it pours.

Today, it was reported that the jobs front is doing pretty good.  Job growth was better than expected and better than has been recorded in quite some time.  It seems like things are coming around.  It seems like people are little less worried than they were.  It seems like there is more hiring and more good jobs to go through. 

Though over the last two days of searching I haven’t found anything to spike my interest.  I think I may be getting more picky in what I will apply for.   When I started looking, if I had most of the requirements covered I would send in the application.  Now I’m looking to cover all the requirements, unless it is an area that I want to grow into.  I am also more likely to throw out something that I might be qualified for, but know that I would be bored doing it. 

The odd thing is that this getting choosier really hasn’t cut down the number of applications.  There is more sieving through titles, but I’m faster now; I know more of the buzz words that I’m looking for to either qualify or disqualify the job requisition.

Business Cards and LinkedIn

My case worker from WorkSource has been telling me that I need to get business cards to hand out in networking situations.  She had suggested the website vistaprint.com saying you can get the first 250 free. 

I started this process last night and then stepped away and let it mature over night.  Part of the reason for letting it mature was a couple questions that were running through my head.  The first was should this just be a card with my name, phone number, and email address and nothing else?  Or should I supply a business name?

I have done some coaching over the years and have used a company name that I developed in my masters program for the type of coaching that I do: “On Purpose Alignment Services”.   I needed time to think about whether it would be ok to put this on the card.  Would a hiring manager be put off because I gave them a card with a business name on it.  I decided not, and the cards would be useful after I get another position.

In order to get the free 250 cards, well I guess I can’t write on that because I didn’t figure it out the free part.  I knew there would be a change for postage which came to $5.67; but there was another charge for 3.99 that I think was due to the design I picked.  It took a while to navigate through the website mostly due to offering you a millions things once you’ve picked out your design.  You can get coffee mugs, T-Shirts, return address stamps and a whole host of other things.  It took me a while to figure out that a $12 charge was because I left the default of putting a design on the back of the card.

Here is how it turned out:

I shadowed out my address in the corner for the blog, which makes it look a little odd here, but I like how it turned out.   I didn’t like the staid conservative corporate designs or the new age spiritualist designs.  This seemed like a happy medium, some design, but overall sparse.

I hadn’t changed my LinkedIn since being laid off.  That meant that it still had me listed as my current position of being with Boeing.  Also, my term as Vice President and Secretary of the Saint Edwards Environmental Learning center was up in May and I had decided to retire from this board last fall.  Today, I updated both of them.  Now LinkedIn only shows past and no current position.  Thought I would leave it like this for a while and then decide whether to add the On Purpose Alignment Services as a position also.

Networking

This week I attended the IT SMF local chapter this is a IT interest group concerning the ITIL (which is an international set of process best practices for IT.)  I had work extensively in this area a few years back.  I volunteered to help them organize the local chapter.  They put on talks every other month.  This is a way for me to network with people that work the area of process management and in an area that drives a lot of need for change management (my preferred area). 

My case worker with WorkSource has also been after me to attend a professional networking group that meets every Monday from 9 to 12.  I will try this out this week.  I don’t know what to expect from this, but I know that networking is one of the biggest factors in finding employment now. 

Have a great weekend.

Here is my quote for today:

Each of us makes his own weather, determines the color of the skies in the emotional universe which he inhabits.
                                                       --- Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

What color are your skies today?  And is that helping?

Day 26 – Transition – Life of Reilly

Today my hope spiked because I had a 1/2 phone interview, that might lead to an actual interview.   After a three months of this with very few responses, it is easy to feel that there isn’t much going on out there and that I have somehow got caught in hiring desert.  

I’m not allowing myself to get too excited, because chances are that I will not hear from them again, chances are that I am one of 50 people and the other 49 are all Rhode scholars.

Is that the best plan of attack, to not get excited to figure the my chances are dim?  Hold myself down so that after two weeks of not hearing, I can say well good thing I didn’t get overly excited about it.  That sounds like something a parent would say, not a kid.

Or would it be better to get excited.  It has been over a month of hearing nothing, getting excited for a few days might be a good change of pace.  The excitement is bound to wear off on it’s own.  And if I don’t hear for weeks, I can assume that the excitement will have already faded.

If the excitement would cause to slow down my process of finding employment then it would be good to stay contained and calm.

Maybe I can channel the excitement to propel me into doing good preparation for an interview and provide me emphasis for getting more job applications in, since if I only have a little time before getting this interview it would be nice to have another interview lined up at the same time. 

When I let me dog out in the back yard, he runs as fast as he can, barking at the top of his lungs “I’m on duty you slimy birds, you best get out of my yard. NOW!”   He does this every time.  He doesn’t saunter out in a calm collected fashion and upon seeing  bird take off.  No, he takes off at full speed and only slows down when not slowing down bodily harm by barreling into the fence at full speed.

Maybe I can learn from my dog.  His way of living has a lot of benefits.  Though I best not take up his sleeping habits.

Day 25 Transition - Dreams

The psyche can play funny tricks on a person.  I have been going along pretty well the past few weeks.  Working at finding a job and working at my other areas; busy enough that it is hard to find time to write this blog, so some days have been skipped.

Everything has been proceeding.  I have been worried about not having higher levels of human interaction, being stuck at home most of the time.  But I have been constructing my week with time to get out of the house and either work out or network.  This has been more preemptive, so far the being by myself hasn’t been bothersome.

Though on the unconscious level things have been percolating a bit, I have been having dreams lately that I think are related to being laid off.  The first one is a classic one of being nude in a social or public setting.  Being exposed and having no way to cover up.  In reflecting on this; I thought about various social settings recently.  I have found myself self thinking about what I might say if I was asked about my work situation, this might happen hours before an event occurs.  And when the event occurs, I think about who if anyone will bring it up.  In some ways creating my own little pet elephant in the room.  I’m not sure if others are seeing or feeling  the pet elephant in the room or not.  

What is weird about this, is the minute I’m asked, I have no bad feelings about talking about it or explaining what is going on.  In fact I like that people ask, I would like to be able to tap into any leads that might be developed.  So I like to be asked, but still I find myself thinking about it a little.  And worrying about bringing it up myself and boring people with my problems.

So, I think my dream is about this, about this bit of exposing myself.  Maybe even about writing this blog and sharing this information, which I have found enjoyable, self enlightening and some tell me it has been helpful for them also.   Somewhere in the back of my brain is some angst about all this sharing. 

The second dream is a little different and harder to understand.  We have these Chinese bowls about twice the size of a cereal bowl.  I love to use these when preparing to make complicated dish.  I might chop green onions or tomatoes and put it into one of these bowls.  When working with something with a lot of ingredients, I might have six or seven of these bowls filled with various mixtures. 

In my dream, I’m breaking off pieces of the bowl and swallowing it.  Chewing it and feeling the difficulty of swallowing this broken glass.  So far my explanation is that I’m second guessing the decisions that I have made so far about how to approach this lay off period.  How much am I using what I love in the wrong fashion and in the wrong way.  I love the bowl when I’m cooking in the kitchen, but eating it just doesn’t make sense.

In the light of day, I like the path that I’m on.  I like how my journey is going so far.  Some times I wish things could speed up and I could hear back for more applications, but at the same time it is what it is.

I’m not planning to change much right now.  To me what is important when working with dreams is to allow them plenty of time to unravel and don’t jump to conclusions quickly.  Note which ones have power and which one are just nonsensical.  Note any connections between dreams and between the dreams and what is happening while awake.

Both of these dreams happened about 5 or 6 days ago, I have been chewing on the meaning of them for quite a while and it may be that the meaning for me will change in the next week.  I tend to hold these things lightly, though I think paying attention is important. 

In some ways, fishing reminds me of job hunting.  In fishing you can go long stretches without so much as a nibble.  Sometimes, out of boredom, I will pull in a perfectly good line so that I can recast.  I have had many days that I have not seen hide nor hair of anything that resembled a fish, even so, I have never had a bad day fishing.

Sometimes, you can have 50 feet of line out in a churning current; the line moving left and right in the multitude of eddies between you and your hook.  And in all this chaos of motion, somehow your hand and brain can discern a fish nibbling at the bait.  In an instance, your attention fixates on the target, the rest of the world if lost to the senses and the mind narrows—focusing on the one important task at hand.  This spike is euphoric, it is the rush that fishing is about.  Now if that fish strikes and you can get the hook set then all the better; the battle has begun.  But the nibble by itself without anything else happening is a good feeling in itself.  And it is especially good if it has been a long while since the last nibble.

I felt this feeling today, just a nibble, not a job.   But proof that someone is out there and they they actually do read the stuff that I send them.  Today, I got a request to discuss my qualifications over the phone.   Tomorrow at 8:30 I’ll get my chance at setting the hook and maybe be able to move to the next step.

I have to resist over reaction. In fishing, my over reaction is to yank the line too hard and too fast, missing the set and spooking the fish away. 

It has been quite a while since I published my numbers:

April 23rd LinkedIn group              24
Boeing Inside Jobs                        31 
Jobs applied for outside:               29 (+15) 
Interviews:                                    5 (+1 Ph interview in morning )Rejections:                                  40 (+9)

Day 23 – Transition – Younger next year

Part of putting your intentions out into the universe is that the universe then conspires to fulfill your intentions.  Such is the case with my meeting latter this week on the community bridge project. And such is the case with today’s topic: the book Younger next year by Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge.  This book was given to me by a friend after he  heard that I was focusing energy at becoming healthier.

Lodge is a geriatric MD and Crowley is one of his 70+ patients.  One that is living a full and rich life.  The chapters of the book are alternatively written by each of the authors.  Lodge from the physician’s point of view tends to focus on the science behind aging and staying fit.  And Crowley tends to focus on the more personal experiences and stories, his own and others that he knows.

I don’t like fad diets, and believe that the only way that I will change my present health trajectory is through behavior changes.  These behaviors changes include changing my eating habits and exercising more regularly.  This way is harder and takes longer, but I believe this is the only way to truly get on top of it.

For me this book is preaching to the choir and has helped my get more focused in my intention.  Knowing strength training is important; I was surprised to learn just how important this is.  The book stresses that getting aerobically fit is what keeps you from dropping dead early and strength training is what makes your life worth living.  Strength training is especially important for eliminating the constant aches and pains of growing old, reversing bone decay and decreasing associated injuries, and improving joints and reversing associated arthritis.

The basic premise of the book is that through exercise, friendships, and commitments there is no reason not to feel like a 50 year old or better until your very last days.  There is no reason to stop doing things like hiking or down hill skiing.  And there is no reason not to have fun and enjoy your life.  The secret is not in weight loss though that could be a by product, the secret is in exercising hard 6 days a week.  At least 4 aerobic sessions and 2 strength training sessions.

Henry Lodge has 6 rules that you have to live by:

1. Exercise 6 day a week the rest of your life
2. Do serious aerobic exercise 4 days a week for the rest of your life.
3. Do serious strength training, with weights 2 days a week for the rest of your life.
4. Spend less than you make.
5. Quit eating crap.
6. Care.
7. Connect and Commit.

This book applies to anyone over the age of 30, no matter what your current physical condition is and it is never too soon or too late to get started with it.  What is important is that you start now and plan on doing it for the rest of your life.  There is also a version more directed to women, though one gal has told me that that it covers basically the same material adding in some information about menopause.

A blueprint for moving forward; it doesn’t cover everything, but it is enough to get a healthy start.   This book doesn’t change anything that I was already doing, but rather give me encouragement that I’m on the right path.  Builds enthusiasm for the weight lifting.  And has gotten me thinking deeper about how important personal community building is, (especially for guys).

I recommend this book for everyone over 30 especially if you are not working out on a regular basis.

Day 20 – Transition - update

It has been three weeks since I became a dislocated worker.    It often seems like nothing is happening and at the same time it seems that every day is a never ending day.

I started this with these areas of focus:

1. Finding new livelihood
2. Becoming a stay home Dad
3. Becoming healthier
4. Remodeling the house
5. Maturing an idea for a non-profit (Community Bridge)

My focus to start out with has been the job search, taking care of the house and getting fit.  These three are coming along nicely. 

Finding new livelihood
I feel that I’m getting the searching down to where I’m applying for the jobs that would really matter to me, without having to jump through huge hoops to find them.  It is getting easier and I expect this to continue to get easier.  No calls for interviews yet, and of course this is disconcerting,though to be expected.  My chances of a interview should go up the more I can target my search to those jobs that I am very qualified for and can tailor my cover letter and resume to match the position.  This is another area that I think I’m getting better at; getting better at evaluating the job req. and at writing a cover letter that leverages my strengths that apply.

Additional activity in this area has been in getting unemployment and COBRA insurance set up.  I had my initial meeting with WorkSource which created another slew of paperwork.  Had to track down lost paperwork, which after a few calls,  mysteriously arrived at the IRS, so now my HCTC (this is the place that pays 80 of medical insurance) enrollment package is on its way.  I always thought Boeing was the worse place in the world for acronyms, but the state and federal governments put Boeing to shame on this account. 

Becoming a stay at home Dad
My main focus has been keeping the house clean and making the meals.  I’m glad to report that I have lost none of my family to my cooking.  I have been doing well in both these areas.  I starting in the cleaning do too much, and I am now adjusting so that I expend the least amount of energy possible while still maintaining my wife’s high standards for having a clean house.  In the cooking, I have been focusing on on the processes of planning the meals, shopping and cooking.  This has been going well.  My wife took a full time accounting class through a previous summer, so this was dusting off processes that I had used then.

In the cooking, I would like to start paying closer attention to my cost of groceries compared to our average and I would like to start making changes to the make up of our food.  We are already pretty healthy in our eating habits, but I would like to reduce our intake of Sugars and simply carbohydrates as found in white flour products and starches.  And at the same time increase my ability to support my daughter’s vegetarian lifestyle better.

Becoming healthier
While knowing this is a long term commitment, I am proud at how I have been doing well; maintaining my new higher level of exercising, working hard without attacking it like a testosterone cowboy, giving it all I had for 8 seconds and then paying the price by recovering for a few weeks.  Last night my trusty Reilly and I  walked 3 miles.  Reilly was pulling on his lease the whole way, which means that he has picked up about  mile of extra energy more than we we began.  When I did my 1 1/2 baseline jog (shuffle might be a better statement) I did it in 23 minutes.  Last night we did 3.4 miles at a 15 minute/mile pace, meaning we fast walked the 3 miles at about the same pace as my baseline.  I tell you, I felt much better and recovered much quicker last night.

I have increased most of my beginning weights.  I could have increased these at least twice by now, but I have been intentional going a bit slower on increasing the amount.  This is in order to give my joints and tendons time build.  These don’t change near as fast as the muscles build. 

For stretching, after each lifting session I head into the Hot Tub at the “Y” using the warm water to keep the muscles loose.  At some point I want to get into a Yoga class, but I want to get my schedule a bit more controlled.

Remodeling the house
This is held up in finding the right shower to replace an existing one.  We have a friend who has connections that we are waiting to return from vacation.  Actually the timing is working out nicely, as busy as I have been I doubt that I could have done much.

Community Bridge
I will have my first conversation with an interested participant next week.  This is earlier than I had planned, but by putting my intention out there the universe is responding by aligning the right resources.  We shall see where it goes.  The core idea exists, now it is about finding a core group of passionate and talented change masters that will help mature and shepherd the idea into a working organization.

So over all, it seems to be going well.  After 3 weeks, progress is being made in most areas.  Although I’m sure it will happen in the future, nothing has gone ridiculously out of whack.  In some ways, I’m getting stir crazy, so next week I have increased the number of meetings out of the house to get a little more people contact.  Hopefully, I can find a good balance better getting everything done, which needs to be done mostly at my house and the need for personal interactions out side the house.

Tomorrow is going to be hot here in the Seattle area.  I will be looking to get some exercise and enjoy some time with nature—both of which are reinvigorating.

I have a collection of quotes that have built up over the years that I want to share at the end of these posts.  I find them inspiring and poignant, hope you do too.

"Be patient with yourself. Self growth is tender; it's holy ground.
There is no greater investment." -Stephen R. Covey

Day 19 – Transition – Finding Strengths

One of the personality tests that I have taken is called Strength Finder 2.0.  It is a personality test disguised as a book.  The book cost about $20 bucks and comes with a code that allows you to take the test on line. 
I’m about as cheap as they come, so I tried to figure out how I could do this without parting with 20 dollars.  Used books and library books are out there, but they won’t give you access to the test unless the code envelope is still in tack and sealed.  In the end I ended up buying the book.
I enjoy personality tests because no matter whether good or bad; they end up telling you something about your self.  If they are bad they tell about your ability to be honest and realistic with yourself; you read the results and say this is crap, it doesn’t sound like me at all and you learn that this isn’t you.  If after two or three weeks of acting like a fool you decide that the test was wrong and that really wasn’t you after all, well, I would wonder about how honest and grounded I was being with myself in the first place. 
If the test is good, they have the ability to shine a light on something that you were not able to see in yourself or to give you deeper insight and ideas about aspects you realized but haven’t exploited fully.
The Strength Finder test is based on a 40 year research project done by Gallup Scientists on Human Strengths.  The book itself is 31 pages of explaining the test and the conceptual idea of the strength finder methods.  And then the rest of the book, another 140 pages, describes each of the 34 strengths and how to work with them.
When you take the test, a 20 page report is generated on your top strengths.  This report gives insights into each of your strengths and asks questions to get you thinking about how these strengths manifest in your particular case. 
My top 5 strengths are:

• Achiever
• Learner
• Intellection
• Connectedness
• Relator

These seem to match me well; I was much more saying to myself, yes I that does sound like me, rather than, that doesn’t sound right.  The trick is to take these standardized responses and then zero in to how these particular strengths show up in you and how do they blend together into that uniqueness that is you.   This is the part that enables self learning that can help going forward.
Yesterday, I read the Achiever section and thought about how this could help.  An Achiever needs to accomplish things, all the time, each and every day.  Without achievement, I can get depressed and will look for things that I can achieve (even if they are not in my priority areas or may lead my astray).  They secret lies in, these achievements don’t have to be huge things, small achievements and large achievements  score the same.   So having a lot of small achievements makes me a happier more content person.  And if I believe they are moving me in the right direction, I jump on them to get them done.
I have been using a internet software called Remember the Milk or RTM for paying attention to tasks.  I like this product because it integrates nicely with Google mail and Google calendar.  I’m bit apprehensive about it because if I want to get it on my Adroid phone they to charge my $25 yearly charge.
I have tasks for job hunting, exercising and maintaining the house.  As I start moving out on the house remodeling and the community bridge non-profit these will start showing up here also.  When I talk about getting improving my processes this is partly about making adjustments to when something is coming up in RTM.
Getting back to the Achiever strength, what I realized is that I should be putting more things, smaller tasks into RTM.  And when these get checked off, a little flash happens somewhere in my brain that says, achievement.  This is true about putting things on my Google calendar also.  Adding a time block on my calendar called searching for jobs that I can fit into is more satisfying than just doing the searching.  It sounds childish or trivial, but somehow knowing that I put time aside and then completing this part of the plan is makes me feel better.
Yesterday, I structured my day in my calendar, I added additional small jobs to my RTM.  And then I accomplished stuff and mark it complete in RTM and mentally checked it off. 
As an example, I changed the big overall task “read the Strength Finder sections”, since I had just read the Achiever section into the four tasks covering the four remaining sections.  This has been sitting on my tasks list for quite a while.  Now I only have three more sections to read.
I don’t think I got any more done, well maybe a little; but I felt like I got more accomplished yesterday then I had the whole time since the lay off.  This feeling was worth the $20 for the book and the test.
I will be looking at how I can incorporate what I learn back into my resume, thus creating a deeper link between my resume and what I need in my perfect job.   

Day 17 - Transition – Text analyzer

Into my third week of unemployment; it doesn’t seem like it has been that long.  It seems like each day is over before I know it.  Progress seems to be slow, while the time is flying by.

With the advent of job searching on the internet the number of resumes that are received for a job has jumped significantly.  Companies are faced with handling vast numbers of resumes for each and every position.  In order to contain the cost and to find still find the best candidates for the positions, companies have had resorted to automated text processing of resumes.

The process seems easy in concept.  In the process of writing the job requisition you create a word description of what you are looking for in the perfect candidate.  The computer then compares the words that you use in your resume against the words in the job requisition.  The more hits or alignments that you have, then the more score that you get.  The top scoring resumes are then evaluated for a human like the hiring manager, in order to pick the best from this now reduced list of high scoring resumes.  I may be oversimplifying it but I think that is the process in a nutshell.

This last step, the human evaluation, is important, otherwise you could just create a resume that make no sense at all but contains a great list of words so it almost always scores high by the computer.

Everyone has heard that they should design their resume with this idea in mind.  And I have also heard that I should tailor my resume and cover letter for the particular job creating alignment better the requisition and your resume.  This has seemed like a daunting task.

I have been thinking about how to do this, not just from the standpoint of submitting the application, but even before this step, at the step of search for the job.  The better your search criteria represents what’s on your resume the better you will be at matching.

I have found a tool that is helping in both these areas.  And one that gave me a new perspective on my resume; eventually, this may lead to another rewrite of my resume and a revamping of how I apply for jobs.

The tool is a simple to use tool called Textalyser that takes text data and spits out reports about the writing.  You cut and past your text into the tool and the tool will then output a very detailed report about the text.  Not of the sections of the report are useful but many are interesting.

The reports looks at the used words in rank order and tells you how many times they are used.  It also generates phrase usage starting with 7 word phrases (again in rank order of number of occurrences), then 6 word phrases, then 5, 4, 3, and 2 word phrases.  The last report is every word that you use in the text.

Just running my resume through this and looking at the results was revealing to me.  The phrase pieces are important, because often a single word is not very powerful, but if you look at a combination of words then  powerful concepts emerge.   So seeing what I’m emphasizing put a new dimension on my resume.

How I use this tool in the job application is also powerful.  Running the job requisition through the analyzer and looking what is popping out is step one.  Step two is to compare this to my resume report.  Now I can start looking for the hits.  I can start seeing how my resume is aligning to the job requisition.

With this information,  I can use the cover letter a a sort of bridge to help fill in areas where my resume is weak.  I can also look at changing my resume in specific ways to create alignment.  Like rewriting my object to match the position verbiage.  I can also adjust the bullets in the  resume to better align, bringing out or emphasizing certain points and choosing specific words that are being looked for.

Each company has its own company culture within this culture is embedded a language.  This language is unique for that company and even for the geographic location of the company office that you are applying.  Differ words are used in Boeing Mesa Arizona then at Boeing Philadelphia.  It is the responsibility of the job seeker to adjust their verbiage to meet the companies verbiage, not the other way around.

My resume in no way approaches the complexities of the skills and experience that I have to offer as an employee.  Tailoring is not about making something up, it is about bring into play my particular skill set that is best fitted for the position I am applying for in the words that is used by that company.

I’m still working on the nightmare of configuration control, but the easiest answer is that each application will have unique cover letter and resume.  And I will have to track each one of these until the application closes.

This takes a little time, but I think it is time well spent.  I am early on in this journey of using this method.   And I’m still trying to understand how best to use the information.  It has not produced a interview yet, but I’m hoping that it is increasing my score and giving me a slight edge.

Day 16 –Transition- Other Way

It is important to focus and remain committed to finding a new position, at least it is important that your path does not waiver without your conscious knowledge.  It is easy to get into a pattern of behaviors that will not take you to the place that you truly want. 

It is easy, to be in such a rush the get somewhere, that very little thought has gone into the journey at all.  It is easy to get so engrossed in nonsensical events like the warn notice, events that have involved the complete remake of our day to day existence, that we assume or miss looking for an larger meaning or reasons for our current circumstances.  

It is easy to get caught up in the “get the resume polished”, “update the wardrobe”, “get computer”, “search, search search”, “network, network, network” and all the myriad other activities.  It is easy to rush, like a bull in a china closet, through this period of transition and turmoil working ever harder and not quieting the rush to the point of actually seeing what is going on.

I have been blessed by the many interactions over the last few months from people that have gone through the lay off process.  The have offered sage advice, they have offered encouragement which is always needed, and more times than not they have added on to our conversation with words like “it was a pain, but you know, looking back, it was really important to go through.  I am a much better person because of it.”  They are never talking about accumulation of worldly goods or their position in the rat race of life.  They are talking from their own well being.  They are talking from a position of sublime power.

There have been times in my life when I have looked back and was amazed at how the seemingly random threads of the events of my life have interwoven into the fine tapestry of a life.  In my belief system, I am in the perfect place and position right now.  It is important to learn from our past but now dwell in it.  What is of more importance  is our next step.  And how our intentions shape these next steps and drive our future.

I haven’t spent much time one the spiritual aspects of this transition, and I’m not about to start a series on hell fire and damnation.  But I do want to think about creating a opening.  I do want to try to step to the side of the onrush of activity.  To take a little time to create a opening; maybe starting with no more that than the space between the in breath and the out breath.  Just notice this space and try not to fill it with any thought thus creating a opening for something larger to emerge. Over time maybe this space can grow.

Last Friday, I had to pleasure of having dinner with people that encouraged me to allow the spirit more room to move in my life.  To view this set of struggling circumstances I’m dealing with as a door;  a door that I have to create before I can go through it.  I can create a door to pretty much the same world I left, and the faster I rush forward without thinking, the more likely this outcome.  They suggested that I try to use this time to change the doorway, to create a doorway that steps more into my dreams or deeper desires; creating a doorway that nourishes my soul.

What ever your faith might be, what is it that might bring you into more harmony with this faith?  What is it that might make your soul sing?  What dreams have you buried in the rush to maintain the status quo of the rat race?

What is it, that will make you look back and say, “it was hard but you know, it was the most important time of my life.  I am much better for the experience.”

Day 13 – Transition – Addendum

Matt is a friend who Boeing kick in the butt last year.  He has been at this longer than I have and has been invaluable in helping me along.  He has also read through this diatribe of ideas and regularly comments back to me.  Yesterday, he added to the Search conversation, so I thought, with his permission, that I would share some of his thoughts:

there's not a lot i can add to what i've already told you, but since
you asked ("I would love to hear what others are doing for searching, and what you have found to be helpful.")...

i have sent 5 applications from both SimplyHired and Indeed. this year. 1 and 3 respectively last year. careerbuilder is the winner both years by a huge margin. 47 total.

i use my own spreadsheet for tracking. just use sites to feed me
suggestions.  i have a "bucket" that i copy potential jobs into. in Firefox it's a bookmarks folder and i can drag and drop them into it. you could use a folder on your desktop or several other methods. find something that's quick, easy and works for you.

the "process" is to put things that look promising into that so you can go back to them later. then i don't feel like i have to get to the end of something, which allows me to not spend ALL my time searching. search-do something else-come back and really consider what I've dropped in there. also, if i look and there are 6 things in there, i know it isn't going to take as long as if there are 16. so i can plan that time better.

I tried careerbuilder today, it is a nice tool.  It excels after you get your list 20,000 jobs in the last 24 hours; it gives you some additional tools to quickly reduce that list.  It breaks down the list by: Category (Management, Sales, IT), company; city, and state.  This seemed to be powerful.  It has a nice advanced search interface that is easy to understand. 

There must be something about how you lose your job search engine virginity.  Simply Hired was my first, everything else is in relation to her.  These others are good, and I need to get better at looking at each of them in turn, but for me Simply Hired is still the one for me.

Love hearing thoughts on what I’m sharing (good and bad).  You can leave a comment on this site or send them to chrisabbey@comcast.net.

Day 13 – Transition – Search, Search, Searching

Continue to search and search each day.  Still trying to learn how to do this well.  The tools that we have are amazing, when compared with how I looked for work two decades ago.  No more going out and pounding the pavement, thought maybe I should be.

Since I started searching, I have liked to Simply Hired aggregator site mainly due to its linkage with LinkedIn; providing people I know at different companies.  I also like it’s lay out.  I tried Indeed, but didn’t find a reason to use it over Simply Hired.  When I was at my WorkSource meeting this week, I was asked if I used Indeed.  This was the second time that it had been recommended over Simply Hired, so today I took a closer look.

Both are linked to a lot of jobs and can easily bring up more jobs than you can look for if you are not careful.   I used the same search criteria in both engines to see what the results would come out like.  Indeed brought up more jobs, but I think the duplication was greater.  There was a different mix of jobs.  Gates Foundation was better represented on Indeed.  Accenture was better represented on Simply Hired.  WorkSource was actually better represented on Simply Hired than on Indeed.

Both have the ability to save job links and to add notes about the job, a handy feature.  Simply Hired also allows you to rate the jobs with stars.  These tools are important because I find that searching is multistep process. 

1. Glance through your searches and locate stuff you want to take a close look at.  This is usually just because of a title or the company.  Save these to your job basket. 
2. Go back through job basket reading through the requisitions very quickly.  For me this means I miss most of the information.  I’m looking for stuff that disqualifies me, especially specific requirements I do not meet; I’m trying to delete as many as possible out of the basket, so I don’t have to deal with so many. 
3. Now I reread what is left trying to really understand the position and whether this is something that I would like to consider. 
4. Step 4 is to go back and apply for the most important one first. 

At every step along the way, I get interrupted; having notes and stars helps in the process when interrupted and also helps in prioritizes the best opportunities.

I was surprised that different jobs came up.  My original assumption was that they both would bring up the same, which they do cover a lot of the same ground, but there are differences, so I think I will have to be more diligent about checking out both, and maybe doing some cross references between the two.

I would love to hear what others are doing for searching, and what you have found to be helpful.

Day 12 – Transition – Missing the Groove

I don’t think I have it yet.  I don’t think that I have found that ease of process that indicates that I know what I am doing and that I am doing it to the best of my ability. 

My day isn’t structured correctly yet.  I haven’t figured out how to get my job searching, household chores, and exercising done in an efficient manner yet.  I’m not achieving the level of job searching that I want to be at.  I’m starting to get caught up on the searching, and I can see the rhythm is getting closer, but with each day comes a little frustration that I haven’t gotten more done.

I’m starting to think of adjustments to the cleaning routine that will buy a little more time.  Doing some things once a week instead of twice a week and maybe some other every other week instead of once a week.  These little adjustments can make big differences.

I have also been exercises mid day, which makes a nice break and pick me up from doing computer work in the morning. 

I think I may have to structure my daily calendar, so that I have set times for doing the different things I want to do.  It is easy to start answering emails and stray into a black hole of cyber net and lose track of an hour or a morning.

Yesterday, I met with my TAA advisor at the WorkSource office, Washington’s unemployment office.  The education portion of TAA has been deferred for the time being.  TAA will pay up to 25K for me to get retrained (with stipulations) but I would have to go full time. I’m not sure that we are in a position for having me in school full time right now. So by deferring these benefits, I can still use them later if I change my mind. 

One of the nice benefits of the TAA is that the schooling could be used years down the line.  Say I find another job and 2 years from now they lay me off.  At that time, I would be able to use the education benefits from TAA to retrain.  I thought I was completely signed up before, but now after signing another big batch of papers, now, I am officially signed up.  This was a two hour meeting that because of travel and prep ended up taking about 4 hours.

Then today, I spent a couple hours adjusting my job log so that it will better include the information that the state will need.  Since I was working in Open Office this took a while longer than it should have.  But in the end it is working well and i learn a lot about Open Office Calc.

I also received the Cobra information from Boeing this week.  It made little to no sense.  I have to call into the Boeing Service line to get signed up.  Others have said these people are very helpful, they make sense of it all.  This will use up another chunk of time to read through this information and then call the service center and get it taken care of.

My exercising is going well.  Some people claim that it takes 21 days for something to become a habit or an ingrained behavior.  I’m not sure if there is a number that you can pulled out of your hat and say it works for everything.  Sixteen years ago when I stopped smoking it took a lot longer than 21 days to get over it.

It takes many times repeating a behavior before it feels natural.  In some ways you act yourself into new behaviors.  You just start doing it and ignore the discomfort until it goes away.  My exercising is going well, because I have been able to consistently stick with it;I have been able the resist the “let’s not do it now” voice that tries to derail my efforts.  I’m wanting to lift weights every third day, and then do an average of 30 minutes per day of aerobic exercise.  Even with taking last weekend off due to traveling, I was well above the 1/2 hour average.  And I have gone and lifted the weights as planned.  Though I could increase the amount that I have been lifting, I haven’t because I’m more concerned with getting the regular schedule going than how much I’m lifting.  The weights will increase in due time.

I need to get over these chunks of times that I’m expending right now getting started again since the layoff: having to put my resume into Boeing again, going to WorkSource for this first long initial meeting, setting up cobra and getting my job log in compliance with the state requirements.  Other areas that are taking extra time concern the cleaning and meals and associated processes; these will be an area of big change as I get over the initial learning curve.  Hopefully, the family can live on my cooking until I learn how to do it better. 

The exercising is seeming to be grooving well.  Job searching and household chores need some work; I’m missing the groove here.  It is important to get these down so that I can also make some headway on remodeling the house.

Day 11- Transition – Baseline Part II

Being more physically fit has ramifications on the job search.  Getting more oxygen to the brain increases brain power.  Being physically fit reduces depression, stress, and increases good hormones thus creating a happier demeanor.  All of which improves the ability to apply for, interview for and get a new position.  There are many other benefits too numerous to go into here.

In Day 6 – Transition Baseline Part I, I introduced the notion of creating creative tension by creating tension between where I want to be (future state) and where I currently am (current reality).  Getting a very clear understanding of my current health and physical fitness and creating a tension in my mind by comparing this to where I want to be.

I talked about knowing my health numbers (like blood pressure) and getting clear about what this numbers mean.  In this post, I would like to continue on a little deeper into this understanding of current reality.

The YMCA of Bothell has a large scale, I’m assuming that it is accurate; this is where I did my official weigh in on last Tuesday.  I have also measured my body at the neck, Bicep, Chest, Waist, Hips, Thigh, and Calves (see body measure instructions below).  This will be helpful for understanding in what ways my body is changing as time goes on. 

BTW, this Y is an excellent facility.  The people are helpful, the equipment is great and well  maintained, their is all sorts of programs included in the membership, and it is completely family friendly.  If you are looking for a place to join, I would recommend looking at the Bothell Y if you are in the area.

Another number that is needed for the baseline is your Body Mass Index. Along with calculating BMI, the website at http://home.fuse.net/clymer/bmi/ takes as inputs your height and waist measurement then calculates a host of ratios.  A explanation of each number and what good or bad means for each is given.  These are good for understanding where I am and in some cases for understanding what my proper numbers should be.  I found that I’m not as bad as I often tell myself; but then again, I’m on the borderline and have been heading in the wrong direction for a couple of years.  Now is the time for my to do something before my health is seriously impacted.

As I was looking at different options for the physical fitness component of this baseline I found one that I really liked.  This is what the US Air force uses; it is easy and well documented.  It only includes 4 measures:

Time to run 1 1/2 miles	50%
# of push Ups in 1 minute	10%
# of crunches in 1 minute	10%
Body Composition (height to waist ratio)	30%

The percentage to the right is how much each area figures into the overall score.  I love the simplicity of it.   It has adjustments for age and sex. The tables list out the score you receive based on your input, then add up the four scores to see your overall fitness.  Above 75 is passing, above 90 is excellent.

I wasn’t anywhere near passing.  I was simply amazed that I could actually run the 1 1/2 miles.   Of course, use personal caution here, if you haven’t been exercising or have health issues please consult a doctor before starting an exercise routine or even doing strenuous baseline setting.  The idea isn’t to kill yourself but to get a clear notion of where you are and then to slowly improve these numbers.  My numbers are low.  And now I have measurement that I can compare my progress against in the next few months.  At this point, I’m more concerned with implementing the behavioral changes necessary to see improvements rather than setting a goal to obtain a certain number (like shooting for 75% by September).

If you want to learn more about the Air Force Fitness test, please see: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforce/a/affitness.htm.  I’m sure there are many other references, but I found this one fairly easy to understand and well laid out.

I have created a spreadsheet that is holding all of these numbers.  Every so often I will repeat the baseline process and check the numbers finding where I am doing good and where I’m failing.  Consciously reestablishing my current reality as it changes. 

So that completes the physical base lining.  There is still another type of baseline that I need to complete, but this will take a couple weeks, and I’m not ready to start this yet.  This is looking at my eating habits and base lining how much and when I’m eating.  This will involve filling out a food/mood diary. 

Currently, I’m trying to implement expanded and regular exercise time into my schedule.  And at the same time learning to plan and prepare the meals at our house.  I plan to start the food diary in a few weeks, sooner if time allows.

BODY Measurement Instructions

The tape should be pulled to where it is lying flat against the skin all the way around. Like with taking skinfold measurements, your goal with body tape measurements is consistency. Take them the same every time you take them and you will get an accurate view of your progress with each body part.

Below and pictured to the right is a list of suggested sites to regularly measure.

Neck - Standing, measure your neck at its largest girth, right over the Adam's apple.

Shoulder - Standing, can either be measured as a straight line from the largest points on each shoulder across the chest or as a girth measurement all the way around the body.

Bicep - Measure at its largest girth, can be taken relaxed with arms at side, relaxed with arm bent, flexed with arm bent or all three.

Chest - Standing, measure with breath out just above the nipple.

Waist - Standing, measure at the narrowest point or at the midway point between the top of the hip bone and the bottom of the rib cage.

Hips - Measure at the largest girth, where the butt is protruding the greatest.

Thigh - Standing, measure at the largest girth, just below the butt.

Calf - Seated if you are measuring yourself or standing if you have a partner, measure at its largest girth.

Day 10 – Transition - Drag

Applied for my first unemployment check today.  It took over an hour; I’m sure because I was doing it wrong, but each time I would do something (like change my address) it would make me wait 10 minutes until it could process the last action before proceeding. So, I would leave and do some other job searching, then come back and do some more unemployment applying.  I had to set up my address, automatic deposit, and then to the actual filing of the claim.  The filing a claim would normally take less than 5 minutes, it was just this first one that is complicated.

That confirms it, I am an official drag on society.  First check should be coming shortly.

Received information about cobra insurance from Boeing today.  It is near impossible to understand what they are trying to say.  It would be nice if before they sent out their insurance/legal-eese they would have a regular person read it and maybe convert it back to English; the language is just too obtuse for regular consumption.

I wasn’t able to find any jobs to apply for today, but I didn’t get through all that much searching.  I need to spend more time each day searching; the rest of the week should be fairly open for searching. 

Tomorrow will have meeting with the worksource people.  We will be talking about TAA benefits and what the worksource office has to offer.

My numbers are:

April 23rd LinkedIn group              24
Boeing Inside Jobs                        31 
Jobs applied for outside:               14 (+3) 
Interviews:                                    4 (+2 informational )Rejections:                                  35 (+3)