Job Search

English: P icon with a newspaper
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Job hunting SURE has changed in the last 20 years. Recently I had to put my big toe back in the job search pool. Back in the day, we found jobs by scouring the local classified ads in the paper, drove around looking for "NOW HIRING" signs, and talking to family members or friends about where they work and if they were hiring. Today we can search the Internet, join Monster.com, LinkedIn, or several other sites to promote ourselves. Not only do you get to search for jobs all over the globe and apply for them, but with a good profile, sometimes THEY CALL YOU.

I found this out when I updated my profile on Monster, and spent HOURS just surfing the web. I could see all of the classified ads on the newspaper pages, but also on sites like Career Builders and Monster. I updated my Monster profile, uploaded a resume, and within a few hours, the phone was ringing off the hook by recruiters that use it to find potential employees. I didn't have to apply to those companies to get a call FROM them, they called me.

Red phone (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On the phone I could deny any that didn't meet my goals, while grocery shopping. Saved me a lot of time & driving compared to 20 years ago. Didn't have to drive to the interview, find out about the company there, and then decide that it wasn't a fit. Listening to the person describe what was being looked for, and jumping online to Google that company, showed more than I needed to turn down
the offer of an interview. I did accept interviews with 2 companies within hours of the update to those that appealed to me. Within 3 days, I interviewed and was offered a position, and accepted it.

My first job search (20 years ago) before it returned a request for an interview:

• Talking to a friend's father (2 hours)
• Sending an updated resume (1 hour)
• Waiting for a phone call (1 month)
• Driving to the first interview (2 hours)
• Interview 1 (2 hours)
• Driving home (2 hours)
• Waiting for 2nd interview (4 months)
• Driving to and from the 2nd interview (4 hours)
• Time of 2nd interview (4 hours)
• ACCEPTING THE JOB (10 seconds)

Now, for the recent process:

• Updating resume (1 hour)
• Updating my Monster profile (10 minutes)
• Waiting for a phone call (4 hours)
• Drive time to and from (70 minutes, 26 miles roundtrip)
• Interview 1 (10 minutes)
• Waiting for phone call for a 2nd (3 hours)
• Second interview (8 hours in the field)
• Waiting for 3rd interview call (18 hours)
• ACCEPTING THE JOB (10 seconds)

Do you see now how that the fast pace of life that we live in can impact your life dramatically? Getting the 1st job took me over 5 months and several hundreds of driving, the 2nd one took me 3 days without much driving. I'm not saying that you can achieve the same results, but comparing what I did 2 decades ago to what is possible now, amazes me, and keeps cash in my wallet (yeah, I still actually use one).

Stay out there, keep searching, stay social and ask your family/friends about where they are, keep applying, and make sure it is all up to date (online profiles, resume, etc.) I enjoy the job search pool a LOT more today than I did "back in the day..."

Navigating the New Super-Highway

Let's be honest, today's lifestyle is so fast paced that it surprises me that we don't get more speeding tickets. I'm not talking about how you drive you car, but how you deal with the speed of the internet and how fast we can communicate with each other. This entry is based on my own personal thoughts on keeping connected to your life.

A key concern that we all have, is how to keep the work life separate from the personal life, especially if we travel a lot for work purposes. A simple solution to that, based on my perspective, is to buy a hard drive disk that works with your work laptop chassis. For the low cost of about $50, I could pack my personal hard drive in my carry on luggage, and using a small Phillips head screwdriver, could get online in the hotel, check all of my PERSONAL emails, Facebook, and search for whatever I wanted, without my company tracking it. If they are going to provide me with the tools to do my job, why not take advantage of that for personal reasons when I have to travel? Unscrew one or two small screws, slide out the company hard drive, slide in my personal one, and not worry about "big brother" watching me. I didn't have to lug a second laptop around with me to get through the TSA.

English: McDonalds' sign in Harlem. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The second largest concern we have, is how to "get online." Having a smartphone helps, since most cell phone companies have them, but I want to view things in a larger perspective, and keep my phone bill low. Free wi-fi is available all around us. You just have to find some close to you. Sure, most hotel chains offer it now, but what do you do when you are in the middle of nowhere? Go to a Starbucks or McDonald's or even local library. Sure, you might have to buy a horrible tasting coffee or burger, but you get access to the internet. If you live in an apartment complex (like I do), consider going "halfsies" with a neighbor on the bill. You can both set up your own profiles, but cut your costs in half.

So, it comes down to the last point, "I'm not a geek, I don't want to work that hard, what can I do?" See the Portable Apps entry. My first iPod is now nothing more than a USB drive. But I use it more now than I did for my music. There are ways out there, to expand your horizon, that don't impede you. Embrace life...live it...connect in any way that you can.

500 Channels and Nothing Worth Watching

The Dick Van Dyke Show 
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I'm old enough to remember when TV shows were mainly black and white (The Dick Van Dyke Show), I had to get up and manually turn the knob to go to the next channel, there was a difference between VHF and UHF, and tin foil made the picture better. Then we got cable and a "remote" to change the channel. Yeah, I remember the difference between Beta and VHS, now they call it "Blu-Ray." I keep up with the changes.

Mohu Leaf Indoor Antenna

Which is what leads me to the point of this entry. I've lived with cable TV for a LONG time so I could choose what I watched. But, as I look at my bank account and pay attention to the bills I pay every month, maybe it is time to discard my cable bill and pay attention to the "options" I have to watch what I want.  TV stations are now switching over from the old analog signal to the digital broadcast, and the top 20 shows on the tube are now available for free. I am considering switching to an HDTV antenna (like the Mohu Leaf) to receive the signals for my new 40" HD TV.

My neighbor got rid of his cable and has a similar antenna. He gets over 30 channels of the main networks. Click HERE to find what HDTV stations are available in your area. Combining that with Hulu and Netflix online, I can watch nearly everything that I already watch, but it won't drain my bank account as fast.  If I can't find anything to watch there, I can always go to the library and get DVDs (movies, TV shows, etc.) and keep them for 2 weeks at no charge.

Yeah, there are some changes in my future...maybe more gas in the car to travel more...