So....Did Anything Happen Around Here for the Last Eleven Months?

Sure, it's been almost eleven months since you've read an update here.  Perhaps since then you've had exciting and challenging opportunities at work, breakthroughs in, or an end to, your job search, achieved personal fitness goals, met the love of your life, or shared new milestones and adventures with your family.  You know that we all want to celebrate your successes - please share them with us, if you like.

It was a year that, in hindsight, I can't really compare to any other in my life. Last year's highs included:
- a wonderful three month contract Brand Manager position with Deltak in Oakbrook
- a blog ghostwriting opportunity for an insurance web site
- the birth of my brother's first grandchild
- a short trip to Israel to meet him, who is also our family's first Sabra, and to attend his brit.

In the fall, my little six year old daughter was blessed with one of the most incredible first grade teachers out there.  Finally, and most incredible - fourteen long, torturous years of misery came to an end for my beloved Baltimore Orioles, a playoff team, no less.

Sounds pretty great?  Well, 2012 also included its share of bad - a case of mild-pneumonia that hung out with me for the last 9 weeks of the year.  But of course that was nothing compared to the worst - after five long and miserable months of battling AML leukemia, the death of my mother, Jackie.

So, what's on  my table? Once again, I've kick started the job search; a smattering of freelance work; catching up with headhunters; networking; and saying Kaddish three times a day for my mom, (to learn more and read a fantastic traveler's blog about our year of saying Kaddish see my brother's blog: TravelingandKaddish).

One of my freelance gigs took me to the "other side of the table".  An excellent outplacement firm hired me for one day to meet with newly downsized employees of a large, local company.  I was tasked with sharing the outplacement information with them, encouraging them to take advantage of this package offered from the downsizing company. Not being a human resources pro, it was brave, but wise, of the company to use me.  Who understands what these folks were going through better than someone like me?  It made for a long, emotional, but fascinating day.

I haven't posted here in way too long, but my information gathering never stopped.  Here are a few nuggets I mined that may help you, please share your thoughts after you read them.  A reminder, I've attached very helpful links to highlighted words in my post, as always.  Please click and take advantage of all this additional knowledge.

On TheLadders.com are many helpful articles, a great resource, including one that discusses changing your perspective while in a job search.  Many excellent jobs can be found on The Ladders as well.

In ChicagoCareerSite.com I found a few helpful ones concerning your resume.  For those that are new to the concept of Keywords, so crucial when your resume is discovered through corporate scanning software, this one helps you avoid Resume Key Word Mistakes.

From the New York Times - an article from January, and I know it's a very scary thought for our tender, younger readers, but it may be very helpful for those of us who are, eh, um, not very young any more: Over 50 and Under no Illusions.

I hope that you take a few minutes to comment, share, criticize, opine about the articles, the post, the young baseball season, last night's NCAA Championship battle....anything.  Thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading.
Larry

Now, Time For Some News From the Search

And with that hideous, untimely injury...the Chicago Bulls summer begins. After the disappointing Blackhawks playoffs, and then this excruciating one...it's time to forget about all the silliness, and to finally focus on much more important concerns:

OK, it felt good to selfishly work in a mention of my beloved Orioles, who impossibly had the best record in all of baseball when I woke up Sunday morning...(I know, I know, it won't last...)

Those that are job searching (i.e., half of the U.S. it seems), we're all very curious to hear details about if and how your success has changed in the past three months. I'm noticing a new, uninterrupted stream of opportunities and activity since about February or March - are you? Headhunters calling, many friends landing, interviews coming...FINALLY! I'm really curious if others are having more bites as well, tell us about it.

If, like most of us, you experienced the all too common rut, or lag, or stall in your job search...are you still in it, or have you busted out of that rut?  If it's passed - that's great!! Please share with us how you broke out of it. We all can benefit from tricks used from those that have been through it.

On Sunday, there will be an outstanding free networking group, Career Renewal Ministry, that only meets every other month. Their next meeting is in Deerfield, on May 20, a Sunday morning, so no traffic for folks driving up from Chicago. You'll network, see a presentation, and most important: you will be assigned a mentor or advisor. And again, it's free!  Personally, I've had tremendous experiences during my job searches with the mentors with whom I've been paired up. If any of you have been there, please share your experience here.

I found this piece for those of us who have been out of work for more than year. Some of us never expected the search to reach years, let alone months. Share your thoughts; are there good ideas in here? What can you add?


Just last week, while networking at Starbucks, a newly employed person not even three feet from us was kind enough to share a tremendous book that she used and swore by, in her search. I've heard of it, still haven't read it, but it seems you will find it worthwhile: "Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters 3.0", by Jay Conrad Levinson. If you're familiar with this book, did you find it useful? Do you have other books you swear by? For me, I still go back to my very dog-eared copy of "101 Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions", by Ron Fry.

My update: I'm seven weeks into a terrific freelance brand manager contract job with a very interesting company called Deltak.

It's a fascinating business, and I'm lucky enough to be working with some fine, very smart, interesting, and wonderful people. With any luck, this will go much longer than three months, keeping my fingers crossed.

Every week I hear more and more stats: when you meet someone, you are judged in the first 2 min. Or, people decide their impression about you in the first 30 seconds.

Now take a look at this short article about the way-too-fast glance taken at your resume: What Recruiters Look At During the 6 Seconds They Spend On Your Resume. So, let's add to our to-do lists: create the 6 second version of our resume, right?

And finally, there is some classy advice in this piece that can help all of us: 9 Things Never to Say to Your Boss. Thoughts? What have you said that you lived to regret?

Mother's Day....what did you do for your mom?  True, in one of Woody Allen's films, he once said "You only have  one mother......thank god".  Sometimes, this is so true, but seriously...whatever friction you might have experienced...before it's too late, do something outstanding for her, today, and many days, and much sooner rather than later! Don't wait. Call her, soon, and often! She's worth it, no matter what.

thanks for reading,
larry