Easy Come, Easy Go

Over the last few months, I have had several friends who have landed new gigs.  On the converse side, I also have had several who have lost their job.  In a recent article, by SmartBrief, they discussed taking lower compensation in order to achieve landing that job.  What are your thoughts on this? Where do you sit?

Personally, when I took this position nearly two years ago, I can tell you that was party to a pay cut.  Is it a step back in my career? Not really, but financially, it has been.  There are many in the school of thought who think that you should negotiate your pay up front, or you'll be hurting for years to come.  I hope I haven't doomed myself!

A year later.. some reflection

So it's been nearly a year in my current position and I have to say it's been quite the learning experience. The technology business that serves the non-profit professional is an interesting and challenging one. We provide our technology to the non-profits to help them generate non-dues revenue through their online career centers. Now this could be through an employer posting a position or even a job seeker asking for a resume critique.

Overall, online job postings are up year over year. However, it's not back to the glory days when employers were having difficulties finding candidates for their positions. Instead the job seeker market is flooded and it can be a challenge to sort through the best and most qualified candidates. That's where I come into play, I provide our clients with marketing support to boost their non-dues revenue. In addition to this, I am responsible for writing a weekly e-newsletter and all other corporate communications.

We're hoping that we're in the throws of the recovery on a personal and professional level. It's good for all of us if the employers are hiring and boosting the economy.

The Great Working Man's Hero???

Steven Slater, Flight Attendant for Jet Blue did what many people have wanted to do. He pulled the escape hatch and went down the emergency slide. While many people are touting him as a working man's hero, I have to disagree.

Here is why I don't think Steven Slater is a hero:

1. Everyone has a bad day, whether your an employee or a customer. If you're in the buisness of customer service you should have the customer in mind first.
2. Yes you were assulted, but people who work in daycare, educational and healthcare system experience much worse.
3. Instead of bringing any concerns up to management, he ran away.

So this gent is now overwhelmed by media attention.... Do you know what I say? Why don't you run away Mr. Slater?

Bonuses & Additional Compensation

It's strange that in a "down-economy" we would be reading stories like this one. Oprah gave out $10,000 checks and Ipads to her Magazine staff to celebrate the 10th anniversary. The current gig that I have going has stopped doing additional compensation because of the down economy, and they have no intention of re-instating this policy at the end of the year.

While I was unemployed, I did take a significant pay cut to work at this joint. Last month we had our highest month ever, and the trend looks like it's going to continue to go up. This is a good thing, so you'd think they would want to reward their employees by offering them perks for sticking with them during the tough times.

What's your thoughts on this subject?

Integrity

It's strange how integrity can come into play in the workplace. One day your sitting across the table from a person in power and they tell you that you are going to be held accountable for something. This is nothing new and doesn't even require a college dipolma to figure out.

I think that many employers are feeling good because they are in a position of power. People need their jobs in this economy and many think that they can get away with using and abusing their employees. However, did you know in March that more workers quit their job because of disatisfaction? This is according to Bureau of Labor & Statistics and I hope that the tide is changing.

Everyone is trying to work harder and smarter. However, when does it start becoming a hostile environment?

One Year Anniversary

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of my unemployment. I am very lucky to be one of the one's who is now employed. I can't help but reflect on the things that I have learned from the experience of being unemployed and losing my longtime pet Spike.

1) Even the most dependable things can be unpredictible.

I never imagined that I would have to put my dog down in September. I got to spend three great months with him while I wasn't working. I am greatful for having him in my life, and I am better for it.

2) Always trust your gut instinct

I suspected that I was going to be laid off for more than a month. It was because of this paranoia, which turned out to be true that I saved and saved my money. I was in a much better position than those that didn't expect it and I was able to collect unemployment to help stem the tide while I searched for a job.

3) A job search is a full time job.

I spent my days of being unemployed soley focused on achieving the goal of finding a job that I would like. I am happy with the results of my many hours of searching for a position. I did this by spending time on Indeed.com, Career Builder, WashingtonPost.com and ASAE. In addition to this, I worked my network contacts via email, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

4) Unemployment can be funemployment.

If it's brief and you have an awesome support system. Without the support and love of my family and friends I feel I would not be where I am today. I was able to do things that I hadn't been able to in a long time, go to the pool, workout, hike, enjoy long lunches with friends, visit my family for a week. All of these are good things, and helped me throughout the stress of being unemployed.

5) Love can happen even in the most unexpected circumstances.

I am approaching my one year anniversary of unemployment, as well as, the one with my current partner. I never expected to meet someone while being unemployed. I also never expected this person to stick around when they found out about my situation. This person is very special and wonderful in so many ways and I can't thank the higher powers enough for alligning our paths. Today we share a beautiful, full, rich life that is plentiful in laughs and love. I couldn't ask for a greater guy!

This concludes the reflection on the year in review. Hope you enjoyed it!

Managing Work/Life Balance

The job has gotten to be a bit more intense, and each day the client load continues to grow. With more and more non-profits laying off their own personell they are looking to their vendors to do things that their former employees used. One of these things is to create advertisements, this is an exciting challenge that I do embrace. However, it's hard to devote time to being creative when you're trying to accomdate the multitude of client requests.

Customers right now are hard to please in this economy. They have pressures of their own to generate revenue in the quickest and most efficient way, and the job board industry is one of the last ones to rebound.

Last night we went to dinner with good friends and some new friends. The conversation turned to one of the dinner attendees search for a job, and we discussed some strategies to determine what her best plan of attack would be. I told her that I could help her in her quest because of my new role, and our relationship with various non-profits within her industry.

It's nice to be able to offer assistance, and yet then I have conversations with other friends who are complaining about the lack of "raises." In this economy, for the last several years, many of the places that I have worked for are on hiring freezes, and have not given merit or cost of living raises. The cost of living continues to rise, and we continue to not be rewarded for the work that we are doing. It begs the question, how long can this go on?

It's about that time...

To break forth the rhythm and the rhyme! I kid, I kid. I haven't posted for a while for many reasons. Some of them good and others of them sad.

First the sad. I had to put down my beloved dog on labor day weekend. It was quite possibly the most difficult thing I have had to do. This is the first time I am writing and reading these words and not crying. The circumstances are/were awful and I don't wish to discuss them at great length. I have been grieving, to say the least.

Now for the good. I have landed a new job! I am working for a technology company that markets their products and services to non-profits. It's kind of like an ideal fit, if you ask me. I have a number of clients, some of whom I have worked with in the past. The Greater Washington DC area is not that large, and the Association world is even smaller. I am excited to build my network and gain some new skills. Not only am I a strategy woman, I am also dipping my hand into the design world. While I am at this job I am learning InDesign through a community education class.

Happy Fall All!

Job Search Etiquette

Recently, I have had the pleasure of catching up with my friends with the unemployment status. I have a few friends that have been laid off or their positions were eliminated and we were discussing the Job Search Etiquette. As a job searcher, there are a few things that you want to do to maintain your professionalism and ensure that your own personal brand is not damaged. With the job market being what it is the employers are in a position of power. This position is something that they were not accustomed to until the recession hit us all in a major way. That is the one with the upper hand.

As a non-profit professional, I have had many different roles. One of the audiences that I worked with was the Human Resource professionals at an association for electric cooperatives. I would write content for the conferences based on "Succession Management" which is under the premise that there is going to a be a shortage of talent in the workforce. However, right now the opposite is true, especially in the Greater Washington DC Metro Area. The geographic location will determine where you fall in the unemployment rate, and from what I am hearing in the news it is significantly lower than the national average. On top of this, DC is known for it's over-educated professionals. Yes, it's official, we love to learn.

So the employers are in power and as a result, the job searcher is very frustrated. Why? It's hard to get your resume noticed in the pile of 20 - 400 applicants depending on the position. Nonetheless, is this a direct result of job searchers "spraying and praying" their resumes or employers desire to leave the job open and pool as many candidates.

Let's just say that your application does take notice of your resume and asks you for an interview. This is fantastic news, you're on your way to the road of employment again. This interview can last anywhere from 30 minutes up to a full day. That's right and even after you spend all this time with an employer do you know what the kicker is? They may not even contact you to let you know the status of the position. You are then caught in what I like to call "Job Purgatory." This is someplace between interviews and securing your job. You may even be so motivated or inclined to follow up with the employers yourself, but guess what? The majority of the time they won't even bother to respond to your inquiries. Where is the employer job follow up etiquette gone? And why won't these places let me know whether they would like to hire me? And so I will continue to wait... till Job Purgatory ENDS!

Interview with the Vampire...

Since my position has been eliminated almost a month ago I have been actively interviewing with various industries and organizations. The last few days I have been on a few interviews in the restaurant industry. Now each corporation has the right to be as rigid or as structured as they want to be in the interview process. However, they should not connect the dots and make assumptions about your life and the way in which you think and work.

This one company that I interviewed with today had me thinking that I had issues. The guy was late to the interview, and had to go upstairs to get my application and resume. They have a test that you're supposed to take that requires you to do long division by hand and move the decimal places in places that I haven't gone in years. Then they ask you 10 questions like what would your previous employer say about you, etc. Then they ask you back for a final interview. The final interview was the interview with the vampire. He asked me about my previous work and I told him I was laid off. He then started trying to be my therapist and talk about deeper issues, and even quoted Shakespeare. I was not excited at all by this, and at the end of the interview he told me he was gonna think on it. I was gonna think on it too, about not seeking employment with them anymore.

I can honestly say that it was one of the worse interviews that I have ever been on. I don't know if it was our chemistry or what, but we did not get along nor were we a good fit. I like to think that I interview well, and this has got me thinking about things for sure. Each interview is an opportunity to learn and grow about yourself. I am gonna learn something from this I am sure of it.

Free Webinar's and the Interview Scene

The social networking site Linked in has a section for events. I was poking around on the site last week when I noticed one of my former co-workers was attending a webinar on web content management. I signed up as well, and figured it wouldn't hurt to continue to learn more about talking the talk of web content management. It was put on by SiteWorks who began the event announcing that they think the economy is recovering because both they and their clients are hiring. They urged those of us looking for new opportunities to check out their site to explore their open positions. I have to say that the webinar was informative and interesting but really was a large commercial for their services.

If you're looking for work check them out. I wish you the best in your quest to land that great job. My new mantra is: I am going to get a great job! Embrace it!