Near the end. (Layoff) Part II

Recently, I interviewed for the permanent position that I have been working at for the last 9 months in a temporary capacity. Thought this would be a good time to do an overview of the journey that I have been through to this time.  This was written before I found out that I was selected for the position.  This is part 2 of a three part post. 

Write your resume for three audiences. First audience is the computer. Match the words in the Job requisition to the words in your resume. The more matches the higher your score only the top ones make it past the computer screening. Second audience is an HR person. Generally, this person is not qualified to judge the technical merits of your submission, but understands the business, has a pretty good bullshit monitor for people trying to game the system, (like putting the entire job requisition in invisible type to get by the computer screen). The HR representative does not read your whole resume. They read less than 7 seconds. A good test…

Near the end (Layoff). Part I

  Yesterday, I interviewed for the permanent position that I have been working at for the last 9 months in a temporary capacity. Thought this would be a good time to do an overview of the journey that I have been through to this time.

I may be near the end of this part of the journey; a journey that started almost 2 years ago, when after 23 years of very dedicated service, I received the 60-day Warn notice from Boeing. I had no pre-warning that I understood. It was a shock to my system to say the least.

In ways, I was a by-product of the Great Recession, the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930’s, this one brought on my greed in banking and finance communities just like that one.

Padding the resume

Working at Boeing, I didn’t consider how something would look on my resume, or how an experience  would help me in the longer run.  Instead, I gravitated to projects that I enjoyed doing; this hasn’t a bad way to approach it—I was always doing what I loved.   But now, needing to be prepared to enter the job market at any time, the effects on my resume is a concern especially in the project startup phase when the scope is still up for consideration and modifications.  I think about how each project would look on my resume, or examine the skills involved in delivering this project.  While this seems somewhat self serving, I think  it actually makes me better at my job due to the increased focus in my value areas.  In addition to being on projects that I have passion around, the projects also need to have components that are highly marketable.  This combination keeps me focused on my skill and market niche.

 

More Learning

When in the OSR Masters program, I learned about Punctuated Equilibrium points.  These are points or milestones in a system where change becomes chaotic and it is no longer possible to predict what will emerge from a system.  At these points, small inputs can have enormous effects in the final outcomes. 

As a system passes through a punctuated equilibrium point,  the foundation of the system—the parts of the system that keep it stable and unchanging—are loosened.  In human systems, I believe this means that changes can be introduced that would normal seem impossible, but which can seemingly be accomplished with relative ease.

Think of people that have gone through near death experiences, some make whole scale changes in their lifestyles and never look back.  After having a Heart attack many people stop smoking after years and years of feeble attempts.  Other people don’t change at all.  They somehow have a belief that the way it was is the only way it can be and this belief informs their choices going forward.  Many people knowing that smoking will kill them, smoke through heart attacks and lung cancer up until the bitter end or until the explosive oxygen they are using to breath precludes them from smoking—else they blow themselves up.

It is almost like the normal laws of cause and effect don’t apply as we go through these punctuated points. 

Sharing what I’ve learned

Two teachers have informed me that their contracts will not be picked up for next year, basically getting their warn notices.  For one, I put what I learned into a letter.    As state governments deal with their short falls I fear there will be many more layoffs.  And then if the federal cuts  come quickly another wave of layoffs will follow.

I thought I would share this here and it might give some ideas on helping others.

So sorry and so excited to hear your news. Our times of growth happen in interesting times, in times when the rug is pulled out from under us. Times when each step you take, unsure of the footing, you have to gingerly test to see if it will hold.

Life goes on–2 months and counting

Well it has been two months of the six at UW-IT.  The job is going great, though the time is speeding by.    My job is divided  into two parts.  The first part has to do with Bench marking and metrics.  In this, I am gathering the inputs to complete two surveys which will enable UW-IT to evaluate itself against many different university IT departments.  This will be used to determine strategy and for determining where to focus improvement activity.  Also here, I have been looking into developing metrics, actually a dashboard type concept for IT.  So far this is in the research stage, with benchmarking being the current focus.

The second part of the assignment is in helping with the implementation of ITIL.  ITIL is a set of international best practice processes for IT.  I worked for many years at Boeing in the implementation of process management and ITIL.  This has several facets and has been very interesting.  I designed and held a world café conversation involving 45 fresh ITIL foundation certified individuals.  This was designed to promote a community of change agents and to discuss the strategy of ITIL implementation going forward and was a great success.  I have been asked to design another conversation as the next two certifications classes complete.  For this first conversation I invited 60 people, so getting 45 to attend is a fabulous turnout.   For the next one I will be invited over 100 individuals.

Networking VII -Gone but not forgotten.

Image via Wikipedia

It has been great.  I haven’t even thought about searching for a job.  I haven’t touched my resume.  The break has been good.

The state of Washington was a bit late getting into this recession and is late coming out of it as well.  The state budgets are constrained beyond belief and the cuts they are looking at are truly draconian.   With this backdrop, I’m thinking that the possibility of having my current 6 month UW position morph into a full time permanent position is pretty slim.  I’m not burning any bridges though, the work is there, and my skill set is very helpful for where they are as an organization.  A permanent position is like a carrot dangling just out of reach.   I will be working hard to get to the carrot and at the same time I will need to be looking for work.

Time passes by so quickly, I have already been in the position for 5 weeks.  I want to go at least another 3 weeks before I get serious about job hunting again.  This will begin with adding information about my current position to my resume and getting that all ready to go.

Finding the Time

Well it has just about been a month at the new job.  It is going great.   The campus doesn’t look like this yet, but it won’t be long before it does.

It has been very nice to get a reprieve from job hunting.  I don’t remember the last time I used Simply Hired and it has been weeks since I rewrote my resume in order to send it out.  The news on the job market seems to be getting better.  I hope that when this 6 month position is done, I will be entering a hot job market.

I have been approaching this job in two ways.  The first way is as a 6 month interview—a way to fully bring what I can do to the job.  And then with that understanding, they can make an informed decision about whether I would be good fit for the organization.  I have been cramming to learn all I can as fast as I can to make a good impression.  Since I have been riding the bus to and from, I have been using this time for studying.  It’s been nice being able to devote this extra time.

D283 - Simply Hire becomes Simply Useless

Image via CrunchBase

My favorite job search engine has been Simply Hired for quite a while.  I have especially like the interface with LinkedIn and Facebook. 

I have 21 searches that I perform everyday.  I have these set up so in one click 1/2 of these searches are executed and come up in their own tab.  After I have gone through these and closed all the tabs, I execute and analyze the second half of the search results.

The searches are all set up to run the last seven days and sort in Date order so that the newest are at the beginning.  The one that are new that I have not seen are usually marked so I don’t have to go through all seven days worth.

Normally this would bring up about 500 jobs to look at, which I can quickly reduce down to between 10 to 30 jobs to read through and see if I want to apply.

Simply Hired changed their program on February first, and now there is no way to sort the output in date order.  This makes the results useless.  These 21 searches took between 15 and 30 minutes to go through each day.  Now instead of plowing through 500 possible jobs, I have to plow through all seven days, because they are in no particular order.   The first half took about 50 minutes to get through.

Unless this is changed, I will be changing to use Indeed, and can no longer recommend Simply Hired to be used for job searches. 

I’ve contacted the help forum on Simply Hired, but they claim this is a result of them improving their user interface , I’m afraid they are so removed from their users that this will take forever to resolve.  Unfortunately, I can’t wait for them, so I’m in the process of converting my searches to Indeed and hope to up and running in the next day or so.

Related articles

• Top 9 Job Sites to Bookmark for Your Career Search (mashable.com)

D282-Transition-Remaining Active in My Network

In an earlier post I started covering how I remain active in my network, and this second post will conclude this topic.  

My favorite networking tool in LinkedIn has to do with groups and adding to the dialogs taking place.  Best to listen to the conversation for a while and learn what is going on.  After feeling comfortable, bringing resources to the group, or adding to a discussion that is going on is a great way to network.  Over time you build up a relationship with the other members.  I find that I’m currently a member of too many groups, and it has spread me out a little more than I like.

It is hard to find a group that both relates both professionally and has a good dialog taking place in the group.  Some groups are all recruiters, some have no discussions, and some have discussions are of a tenor that I would rather not be involved in, but it is possible to find groups having a good dialog involving a good sized group of people.  Networking in this way if fun and there are some great people to learn from—some of the discussion are quite good.

I try to check in to LinkedIn several times per week.  And try to quickly scan the  the LinkedIn Status emails when they arrive.  I try to participate a couple time a week in groups and read the emails of discussions that I’m following or started.  I also pay attention to all comments on anything that I post, in order to learn from and better understand what people feel has value.

Day 254–Transition -Keeping my Network Informed

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This is the fifth part on the series on Networking.  In this post, I will share how I attempt to keep my network informed as to what is happening with me and where I need to the help of my network.

I have taken the track that I need to continually be adding value for my network and then every once in a while focus on my situation.  There is a balancing act associated with this; otherwise, my network will stop paying attention.  It is hard to judge the affect my communications are having, though I do have a few concrete areas to watch.  Blogging has associated metrics on how many people visit the blog and how many pages a person looks at. I can’t identify individual users by who they are, but I can see where they come from, how many pages our read, and some other information from which I can put together a bit of a profile of blog usefulness.   Blog comments also provide a window into what readers  are thinking, though I wished this was a more active form of feedback.   On Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Email, I can see the responses I get and use this as a gauge to the attention of my network, though this is a very incomplete metric.  I also receive quite a bit of direct feedback from people that I see them in person concerning things that I have posted.

Day 236- Transition - Networking Part IV

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After thinking about it for a while I think I have come up with a way to proceed with the networking series.  By looking at the actions that I consider networking I could then look at how I am doing these actions and what tools that I am using to accomplish these.  These allowed me to put together a structure to follow over the next few post.

To begin let’s review the definition for networking proposed in the last post:

 

The activities involved with accomplishing things through people and relating to others.  This includes building your social network, using tools like Internet social networking tools, building communities, and maintaining your network.

For the job hunting that I’m doing the purpose of networking is two fold.  First, the doing things through people is using my network to connect with those who have positions or information about positions.  To get good ideas from people about what I should be doing.

Day 228–Transition–Breaking the Code?

Image via Wikipedia

It has been busy last few weeks.  I have wanted to continue on with my networking series of posts, but have not had the time to get back to it.  There are several reasons for this.  It is the beginning of the Holiday season so going through Thanksgiving took some time away from my normal activities.  I also pushed to get the remodel to the point that the sheet rocker can come in.  All the cabling and electrical work in the walls is complete.

But the larger reason is two fold.  The first is that I think companies are more interested in hiring people, maybe it is a end of the year push or a beginning of the year push, but it has seemed to change in the last couple of months.  Companies who are hunkering down to weather bad times, tend not to hire people like me that help with improving their efficiency and productivity.  They need people that can keep the factory up and running and not much else.  Now people are looking at capturing efficiencies so that they don’t overhire people and so that they can work on the backlog of improvements and changes that have piled up over the last couple years.

The second area that I think has changed is the way that I am applying for jobs.  I think I may have finally cracked the code on getting my resume to be seen by people.

Day 212–Transition–Networking Part III

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It’s a conspiracy of sorts.  I started the idea for this series of post on Networking; got into the middle of it and then got lost.   I had a plan, but I’ve been hesitating on moving forward.  Mainly, my plan bored me, so I’ve been waiting for something better to come along.
Sometimes networking sounds like a conspiracy of sorts.  Sometimes it seems so contrived and dishonest.   We all have seen those people that are overly self promoting; people the come on so strong you want to run and hide from them.   Now looking for work it seems that everyone is saying that I need to become this person.  That I need to be putting myself out there.  I think I have been guilty of this at certain times in my life, times that I look back on as a lesson in how not to be.
I’m a bit strange in that I like to  be in front of groups; I like facilitating groups.   This is more strange because I a somewhat introverted person.   Introversion doesn’t mean that I don’t like to be with people.  A great definition given to me a few years looks as introversion/extroversion from the perspective of energy:  an extrovert is a person that gains energy by being with more people and feels depleted when isolated and an introvert is a person who gains energy with fewer people around and expends energy when with larger groups.  Introversion and extroversion are the two ends of a continuum;  each of is unique in where we fall on the scale.  This changes depending on particular situations and can also go through major shifts through out your life.
As an example of particular situations making a difference, I become much more introverted in situations in which I’m unfamiliar.  Attending an Networking Event , at a place I have never been, filled with people that I don’t know is a recipe for me becoming a uncomfortable wall flower.   While if I was attending a family or a work pot luck you would find me in the thick of the party  talking to many people and catching up on the latest in their world and updating them on mine.  Both of these are examples of networking.  We all do networking, and I think for the most part many of have an edge where the networking becomes uncomfortable or unnatural for us.
Part of my hesitation in moving forward with this series was in being able to understand and articulate this discomfort. 
Another part that has been holding me up is in having a concept of the whole.  As a systems thinker,  I need to see the whole before I can understand the parts.  This is synthesis, it is the reverse of analysis.  In analysis you take something apart and examine each pieces in order to gain understanding.  In order to understand the whole I need some sort of definition which defines the scope of what networking is.  I ‘m sure it includes the new tools like LinkedIn and Facebook but these aren’t all of it. It must include these things called business mixers that have become popular of late.   What else should be included?
A friend sent me a note this week and it crystallized a few of the ideas that I was struggling with:

you've blogged a couple times about "networking". that word and that concept just bugs me. strikes me wrong.

Day 200–Transition–The Saga Continues

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I can’t believe that this is day 200.  This journey continues with little or no end in site.  Today I learned that 13,000 people will lose extended unemployment benefits in just King County later this month.  That is a lot of people being affected and that is just one county in the state (though  most populous).

Over the last week and a half I got my hopes way up high and had them crashed to the ground.  A job I interviewed for, seemed like they were going to extend an offer, but in the end they did not.  I really thought this was going to be the one.  I was a fool. 

Today I had the privilege to  a keynote presenter at a local community college staff workshop.  It was nice to do some work in my field, something I that I really enjoy doing, as opposed to searching and filling out job requisitions.  I did an 1 1/2 hour session called Leading from the inside out.  This was a series of exercises designed to help people find the passions that they can use to drive their personal leadership.

Day 195–Transition–Networking Part II

In the last posting, I wrote about what has changed that has caused networking to be so important in today’s job market.  In this posting I wanted to cover the things that I am doing for networking.  Then in future postings go a little more in depth about some of the tools I am using and what it can do and also the things that I have told that I should do, but haven’t yet.

This blog has been used for two purposes.  The first is just for myself, as a way to deeper understand and learn from what I am going through. The second area is for external purposes.  These include helping people in a similar situation by sharing what I’m finding and how I‘m approaching things, so that others can improve upon and then hopefully share back what they have learned.  This has happened several times.  The latest being the additional links on elevator speeches that were provided for sharing with others. 

On occasion, I publish links to the blog through my Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.  For social networking those are the big three that I use.  I try to keep a fairly constant presence on these.  Linking back my latest Twitter posts to my blog.

One of the ways that I provide value on the internet is by sharing thought provoking articles.   Over the last couple of months I have grown to find Google reader invaluable in keeping up on articles and blog posts.

 
Writing has also been a way of networking. The first was by creating a two part blog posting for a international systems thinking organization that I have been associated with for many years.  I also write short reviews of other’s blog posting on this site.  This keeps my name out in front people and the published articles are now a part of resume. 

Day 192 – Transition – Networking Part I

Image by Robert S. Donovan via Flickr

Everywhere I turn for knowledge in this job search the term networking comes up and how important it is in today’s job search.  I think it always has been important but even more so today.
I’m thinking of doing a few blog entries on networking because this is such a big and seemingly amorphous topic that I hope that I can bring a little shape to the subject.
First, what has happened in the last few years that makes networking so important?
It has always been the case that knowing people helped in getting a job.  The son of the owner, a friend of a manager, or just friend putting in the word that you are a normal person and not some whacko off the street has always made a difference; maybe not if you are that whacko off the street, but otherwise it has.
But what they are talking about now is a change has taken place where knowing someone makes a crucial difference 30 % to 40% of the time.  The internet has made deep changes in how people look for a job and how companies screen and this has caused a overwhelming job for hiring managers. 

Day 186 - Transition – Additional Elevator Speech Resources

Image via Wik

The exercise of creating an elevator speech is a fantastic exercise.    In the time since I have created mine, I have not repeated the full speech yet, but I use it on a regular basis.  I my LinkedIn site rewrote using information from this.  I constantly rewrite my resume with each job application using the knowledge of my elevator speech to keep the words sharp and crisp.  And I have used the information in interviews (in person and on the phone) and other person  to person interactions. 

The exercise puts your thinking into a concrete form that is readily accessible.  Reducing the number of words you are using forces you to prioritize and reduce to your truly essential message. 

I’m learning that I did of lousy job of marketing my talents in the years leading up to my layoff.  This lack of marketing has made it much harder to play catch up now in trying to convince people of my skills and talents.  For this reason, I highly recommend this exercise, even if you are not looking for a job now, as a tool to use in developing and maintaining your network and in marketing your skills and aspirations now.

Day 168 – Transition – Third ProLango class

Today I went to the third ProLango class.  It was actually the first in the series but I had missed it the first time around.  Paul Anderson, writer for the Seattle Times NW jobs is the presenter.  The purpose of the three sessions is to impart enough wisdom that you want to go on and take the advance classes for about $400.
Today’s class was titled: Career Search Optimization.  Paul has interviewed about 35 companies and has access to many recruiters in the area.  This data is used to rebuke the standard claims about how to search for a job.  Paul claims that there has been major changes in just the last three years.  In this down turn there has been a lot on consolidation of HR positions and with this a need to automate practices that HR people were handling before, like processing resumes. 
This has caused changes like using Facebook and LinkedIn as ways to get additional information about candidates.  Studies have shown that LinkedIn has better resume information than resumes turned into companies.  Looking for work is frustrating.  People are sometimes tempted to turn in a resume that has been enhanced in order to appear more hire able.  This can be grounds to become blacklisted (see below).  Also Facebook interactions are evaluated; the lesson is be careful what you put on social networks.
Also Paul claims that advertized positions now gather 900 applications per position.  New ways are needed to combat the sheer volume of the entries.  In addition, hiring managers at many companies are no longer able to work directly with recruiters.  Some places (Paul used Microsoft as an example) have limited recruiting agencies to 4 unique resumes per position.  But even with this over a thousand resumes could show up from its over 400 approved recruiter companies. 
Reduction of HR and severing the recruiter link has put a huge burden on the hiring manager.  Paul’s claim is that this burden is taken up by the hiring manager turning to their network and asking the network to supply suggested candidates.  This is where the power of networking comes in today’s job market.   A large proportion of jobs never get advertised and a large percentage of the overall jobs are obtained not through the internet application so popular today, but rather through networking contacts in person and through social media like Facebook and LinkedIn. 
Paul recommends building a personalize strategy about the companies that you want to target.  And then build a detailed plan about how to network your way into the company.  He also advises not to apply for jobs at these target companies.  Instead, work on making connections.  On helping out others as you find connections into companies.
Paul talked about blacklisting of job applicants for the following reasons:

1. Mass Mailing Resumes
2. Applying for any job list (or all jobs listed)
3. Lying on Resume (found by comparing older version and your linked in versions)
4. Social Media Mistakes (behavior unbecoming a respectable employee)
5. Recruiter Stories (usually from ill treatment of recruiters)

I highly recommend going to the three free classes offered by Prolango.  I think it helps to expand your thinking and to re-evaluate your approach.  Paul claims that coming in November and December will involved some large layoffs.  My suspicious side sees this as fear tactics to attend the paid classes.  I think the classes would be good, but I have to weigh that against the $400 cost.  So far the it hasn’t tipped the scale enough to sign up for the classes.   Part of the reason is that I have seen things that I can do without the classes; changes that I can make on my own and then see what the results of these changes are.
At least one person has been having problems leaving comments on this blog.  I love to get comments, they help assure me that I am not the only one getting some benefit from this blog. I prefer to get comments on the blog, because it leaves a record and I have also have hopes of this blog being less of a soliloquy and more of an interactive dialog.   If you are having problems leaving messages, please feel free to email me at chrisabbey@comcast.net and I will respond as soon as I can.

Related articles

• Day 153 - Good Courses to Take (other-dribblings.blogspot.com)
• Should You Search Social Media Sites for Job Candidate Information? (mashable.com)
• How Job Seekers May Use Social Media in the Future (mashable.com)
• The five "R's" of job search (thehumanracehorses.com)
• Paul Anderson’s Article Archive at NW Jobs

Day 157- Transition - Feelings just below the surface

It is over 5 months now without work.  The Last severance check came today.  From this time on, our monthly expenses will be exceeding our monthly income unless we can make some big cuts.
This ending has caused quite a bit of anxiety, dread, and even fear to surface.  There has been fear and anxiety all through this experience, but the last couple weeks has seemed worse.  Somewhere in the back of my mind I had assumed that I would be hired by now.  That we would be set back some, but that we would be able to get up and get going fairly rapidly.  
As I have prepared myself for this interruption in my career, I have thought about the long term, about being unemployed for a long time.  And I have meet many people that have been out of work for well over a year as reminders not to forget this reality of our present times.   And with all of that, somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I had held onto an anticipation that I would be hired by now.  That I would find that perfect job and begin again: a new company, a new position, a wealth of learning, a temporary side journey, a nuisance of sorts: but not an overwhelming obstacle.
It has been the clinging to this thought, that has caused my turmoil over the last few weeks.  The fear of losing this and entering an unknown territory.
Fear is a constricting emotion.  On the savannah, when the lions were hunting, this fear caused our attention to narrow.  We stopped being able to see the berries or grub worms that would make a great meal, and instead we would intently listen for any noise  and scan for any movement of a large cat.  This emotion would keep us alive.
Today the emotion is not always so useful.  My narrowing has meant frantic motion to find a job.  The narrowing has meant that I have forgone exercising and working on the remodel.  The house hasn’t been as well maintained.  Last week with my wife out of town, I didn’t take the time to prepare a weekly meal plan.  I’m sure this probably cost us extra in groceries.
Last week I went to the ProLango training sessions, (see  day 153).  These are good classes, and they are feeder classes for the paid set of course that accompany them.   One of the claims of the class is, “You need to get going.  There are several large companies, especially a huge software company in town that is planning to lay off thousands near Christmas.  You have to get hired before you have to compete with these also. “ 
Was it just a sales tactic?  Was it true?  In either case it played on that fear that I was feeling.  It increased the anxiety that I was feeling.  It made me consider whether I should I be signing up for the next classes. 
I think I need to do a few things to counter act this fear that I am feeling.  The first is to release what ever anticipation I was holding about how the future was supose to work.  This journey will take as long as it takes.  What I need to do is to make the next step and every step is the best that I can.  I have to work hard to find a new job, I have to do uncomfortable and unfamiliar things, and I have to learn new ways of being.  But I have been doing this since the start so this isn’t something new. 
I need to take a longer look and see what has been working and what needs to change since the start and use this as the basis for improving what I have been doing.  Not let fear or other emotions control what I am doing.
Months ago, I made some crude estimates about finances and I have used this rough estimate up to now.  It is time that this get a bit more detailed.  I need to get a fairly accurate plan of our finances for the next couple of years.  I’m hoping this doesn’t involve tons of work.  But this plan will help relieve some anxiety of the unknown.
And lastly, I need to look for the ways that keep my attention opened up.  Exercising and meditating are great at this.   I had cut down on exercising because I injured my foot, now it is time to get back to full speed.  Taking small periods of time to meditate would be beneficial in many different ways.   A third area that helps my open my attention is by spending time in nature.  This I can combine with the exercising to gain great benefit.

To often we underestimate how quickly our feelings are going to change because we underestimate our ability to change them. 

                                            
-- David Gilbert, Ph.D

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• Deepak Chopra: Breaking the Cycle of Anxiety (Part 1) (huffingtonpost.com)