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

A very temporary back seat

The job search - we know it's never ending, more so than ever in this wonderful job market. But today happens only once a year. A special day.

The search, our jobs, our kids, our plans for today...they must temporarily take a back seat, just for the morning....because, it's upon us. There is no longer any time to procrastinate. The deadline is staring at us all in the face. This is too serious to ignore. I hope you will be strong, have courage, tax your analytical skills...sharpen your pencils (always love the 'throw back' references) and just get it done...and get it done soon folks:

Fill out your ncaa men's basketball brackets and get them into your office pools or online sites!

Pick your underdogs, your cinderalla(s), your favorite uniform colors, silly mascot names (a turtle?), think of schools that happily hover just under the radar (a school named Maryland, as well as some others). Or, make it easy on yourself, and blindly pick Kansas to win it all, surrounded by the other 3 top seeds. It's too easy to pose the question for you about who you think will win it all, so I won't.

Yes, today will be in the 60's in Chicago, and it's only March. However, true to form, and as predicted 3 weeks ago, this weekend we may get snow (it is Chicago, after all). But it's time to break away from all the 'shoulds' for just a short while, consider the injuries, upsets, streaks, bitter rivalries and biases such as, by how much will Notre Dame lose; just how far do I send, gulp, Duke (led by a boy from Northbrook!) in the tournament?
Have fun you all!!
larry