

Stuff I Find Interesting
Sitting in the Flickr archives is a nearly 10-year-old document uploaded a couple of years ago by its author, Jack Dorsey (@jack), who started Twitter in 2006 along with co-founders Evan Williams (@ev) and Biz Stone (@biz).
The legal-pad sketch of the idea that would become Twitter has been noticed before, but given all the recent hype, we thought we'd track down Dorsey and ask him about it in a little more detail. In the following interview, Dorsey uses the document to touch on aspects of the micromessaging service's history, including the inspirations and constraints that came to define one of the Web's most rapidly growing information channels.
Twitter didn't just fly out of thin air and land on a branch. As Dorsey explains, it has conceptual roots in the world of vehicle dispatch -- where cars and bikes zooming around town must constantly squawk to each other about where they are and what they're up to.
It was when Dorsey saw these systems through the eyes of the social, mobile Web, where anyone can squawk from anywhere, that Twitter's Big Idea was born.
Is this the founding Twitter document?
It has very special significance -- it's hanging in the office somewhere with one other page. Whenever I'm thinking about something, I really like to take out the yellow notepad and get it down.
Twitter has been my life's work in many senses. It started with a fascination with cities and how they work, and what’s going on in them right now. That led me to the only thing that was tractable in discovering that, which was bicycle messengers and truck couriers roaming about, delivering packages.
That allowed me to create this visualization -- to create software that allowed me to see how this was all moving in a city. Then we started adding in the next element, which are taxi cabs. Now we have another entity roaming about the metropolis, reporting where it is and what work it has, going over GPS and CB radio or cellphone. And then you get to the emergency services: ambulances, firetrucks and police -- and suddenly you have have this very rich sense of what’s happening right now in the city.
But it’s missing the public. It's missing normal people.
And that’s where Twitter came in. What really brought me to that conclusion ...
... was instant messenger. This aspect where you can just locate your buddy list and at a glance locate what your friends are up to, or what they say they’re up to. I found the same parallels in dispatch -- here’s a bunch of ambulances and couriers reporting where they are, and here’s my friends. Now, the problem with IM is that you’re bound to the computer, so it really limited the interestingness of the messages.
So that document was around 2000-2001 when I really got into IM and a service called LiveJournal. And it was crystallizing the thought: What if you have LiveJournal, but you just make it more live? You have these people watching your journal, but it all happens in real time, and you can update it from anywhere. That document was an exploration of that concept.
When did you first try to build out the idea?
I tried it back in 2000 with the first device that RIM made -- the RIM 850, which was the predecessor to the BlackBerry. A very simple squat little e-mail device. It had four lines of text and a typical BlackBerry keyboard. They were like $400, and it would just do e-mail. I wrote a very simple program to listen to an e-mail address and take any updates from me and send them out to a list of my friends. And my friends could reply to that e-mail and tell me what they’re doing.
But the problem was that no one else had those devices –- so again, it limited the experience of that. We were limited until 2005-2006 when SMS took off in this country and I could finally send a message from Cingular to Verizon. And that just crystallized -- well, now’s the time for this idea. And we started working on it.
It was really SMS that inspired the further direction -- the particular constraint of 140 characters was kind of borrowed. You have a natural constraint with the couriers when you update your location or with IM when you update your status. But SMS allowed this other constraint, where most basic phones are limited to 160 characters before they split the messages. So in order to minimize the hassle and thinking around receiving a message, we wanted to make sure that we were not splitting any messages. So we took 20 characters for the user name, and left 140 for the content. That’s where it all came from.
For any potential Twitter historians out there, can you offer a few more details about the drawing -- the little googly eyes, for example?
The little eyeballs were "watching." The concept was watching before we kind of switched it and developed it into "following." So you could watch or unwatch someone -- but we found a better word -- follow or unfollow. The important consideration there was that on Twitter, you’re not watching the person, you’re watching what they produce. It’s not a social network, so there’s no real social pressure inherent in having to call them a "friend" or having to call them a relative, because you’re not dealing with them personally, you’re dealing with what they’ve put out there.
The document's user interface metaphor is very similar [to how Twitter turned out]. You have a little box to "set" your update, and past updates would go down into the timeline below.
Immediately the idea was device-agnostic. You could deliver over e-mail or deliver over Jabber, because IM was a real-time mechanism -- and eventually you could deliver over SMS as well. And the only other aspect on that page was how to find other people. If you know someone, you type in their name or e-mail address, and you can immediately start following their updates.
What are the "authentication triples" on the upper left there?
I was trying to be a little bit too smart, and was trying to figure out ways to do everything without a password. But that’s very difficult and requires way too much thought. So we punted on that. But someone will figure it out. [laughs]
Then when did the service's name morph from “Status/Stat.us” to “twittr” to Twitter?
The working name was just "Status" for a while. It actually didn’t have a name. We were trying to name it, and mobile was a big aspect of the product early on ... We liked the SMS aspect, and how you could update from anywhere and receive from anywhere.
We wanted to capture that in the name -- we wanted to capture that feeling: the physical sensation that you’re buzzing your friend’s pocket. It’s like buzzing all over the world. So we did a bunch of name-storming, and we came up with the word "twitch," because the phone kind of vibrates when it moves. But "twitch" is not a good product name because it doesn’t bring up the right imagery. So we looked in the dictionary for words around it, and we came across the word "twitter," and it was just perfect. The definition was "a short burst of inconsequential information," and "chirps from birds." And that’s exactly what the product was.
The whole bird thing: bird chirps sound meaningless to us, but meaning is applied by other birds. The same is true of Twitter: a lot of messages can be seen as completely useless and meaningless, but it’s entirely dependent on the recipient. So we just fell in love with the word. It was like, "Oh, this is it." We can use it as a verb, as a noun, it fits with so many other words. If you get too many messages you’re "twitterpated" -- the name was just perfect.
But you needed that short code -– in order to operate SMS you need the short code to operate with this cellular administration. So we were trying to get "twttr" -- because we could just take out the vowels and get the 5-digit code. But unfortunately Teen People had that code -– it was ‘txttp’ [Text TP]. So we just decided to get an easy-to-remember short code [40404], and put the vowels back in.
So Twitter was it, and it’s been a big part of our success. Naming something and getting the branding right is really important.
Original Article - http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/02/twitter-creator.html
On Wednesday we posted the first half of an interview with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey (@jack), in which he talked about the conceptual roots of the site. This is the second half of that talk. Here Dorsey speaks more about Twitter's contours as a communications medium, its evolution and how its strong suit -- so far, at least -- is in exposing the present moment, rather than the past.
In the first part of the interview you talked a lot about how both the inspiration and architecture of Twitter came largely from the mobile world. But it seems like more and more people are using it from static locations -- laptops and desktops -- where all the Web's info and tool sets are much more accessible.
The Web provides a very easy way to immediately grasp what's going on. It really offers the transparency, so you can see, especially with the search engine, how people are using Twitter at one glance. The phone doesn't allow for that.
A lot of different [geographic] markets are using SMS [text messaging] more than here in the U.S. I think what we're seeing here with SMS is that people are still getting more comfortable with it. It's relatively new in the grand scheme of things. Europe has had it and been comfortable with it for over 10 years, and we just got comfortable in 2006. There's still some maturity in terms of using mobile technology in the American culture and what that means.
But the mobile aspect of the service is really engaging, and you see that a lot in these "massively shared experiences" that we've done well at: natural disasters, man-made disasters, events, conferences, presidential elections. A lot of these people are not sitting in front of a laptop screen -- they're typing from their phone. We feel that even though we started with that, and it lessened a bit in relative proportion, it'll continue to increase.
Do people use the service differently depending on whether they're mobile or fixed?
Yes, that's one of the things about Twitter, is that the experience degrades gracefully. When you're out mobilely and you're probably at a party or you're traveling, etc., you're sharing that experience. When you're in front of a computer, you have a little more time to compose yourself. You may have more thoughtfulness in your message, you may have more reflection. It's a little bit less off-the-cuff. And maybe a little bit slower as well, but at the same time, in terms of consumption of the information, you can just take in huge amounts of information in a very rich way in a short time.
So I think it really depends on what you're asking -- if it's production of the content or the consumption. But I absolutely feel that Twitter scales to every end of that spectrum.
How do you think of Twitter? Is it a service, a medium, a piece of software, what?
I feel that it's something new. I think it's a new way to communicate. It has a new take on the address book. It's a new way to interact with people. And at the same time, it does a very good job of exposing what's happening in the world right now: You can see what's ...
... trending globally, you can limit that locally and figure out what's trending within a five-mile radius of you, or you can use it socially and figure out what's trending within your own social network. That's where the newness is. I just haven't seen anything like that before.
When I think of Twitter, I think of -- it's really hard to define because we're still coming up with the vocabulary -- but I think it's defined a new behavior that's very different than what we've seen before. So yeah: new medium.
What's been one of the most surprising steps in Twitter's evolution for you?
Well, we really haven't changed the application or feature set in over two years. It's pretty much maintained the original vision since Day One. And that really adds a lot of weight to the concept and how much desire there is for communication of this sort.
Back in the day we thought, well, if we get to this many users or this level of relevancy in the mainstream, we're going to have to add a bunch of features, and make this or that group of people happy... but that really hasn't come to pass. The only substantial thing we've added to the service is search. Which is huge, but it doesn't change the fundamental aspect of what Twitter is. Search does a great job of exposing what's going on, but it's not changing the interaction dramatically, it's just making it much, much easier.
So the ability to have a service that really hasn't changed and is still growing by leaps and bounds is astonishing to me because it's like, wow, a simple concept like that -- the essence of some communication pulled out from other mediums -- really has wings on its own.
But even if the service itself isn't evolving, the community and ecosystem around it is growing.
And that's the trick. The concept is so simple and so open-ended that people can make of it whatever they wish. They seek value and they add value. I've always said that Twitter is whatever you make of it. Because the first complaint we hear from everyone is: Why would I want to join this stupid useless thing and know what my brother's eating for lunch? But that really misses the point because Twitter is fundamentally recipient-controlled -- you choose to listen and you choose to leave. But you also choose what to put down and what to share. So if you decide to hook your plants up to Twitter and have it report when it needs to be watered, then that's a valid usage, or if you just decide to report what you're eating for lunch, that's a valid usage too.
How do you feel about the role Twitter is playing in news gathering and news creating?
Suddenly you have all these people on the street roaming about, and they're able to report on everything they see. So a certain mass of them can report on the earthquake they just felt, and another mass reports on what they felt about the Obama inauguration, and another group on the homeless issues in San Francisco. You've got a further richness to add to a typical journalistic process.
And when you have a mass of people updating about a particular thing, you're exposing a trend: This is happening right now in this location or on this topic. It gives you an immediacy and relevancy for what people are talking about right now.
Some people follow thousands or tens of thousands of people. What's the use of that? Doesn't it undercut half of the point of the service, which is to get a coherent stream of incoming information?
I don't know how people do it. I personally can't do it. I don't follow people in the traditional way. There are a few people whose messages I get delivered in real time via SMS. So those people are very close to me, or I'm around them. Like when I'm visiting New York, I turn on my New York friends just because I'm more interested in their particular interruptions. And then I follow like 300 people on the Web.
But I don't go back in time. You're kind of as good as your last update. That's what you're currently thinking or doing, or your current approach towards life. If that really interests me, I go to that person's profile page and read back a little bit. But in terms of my timeline, I'm just not obsessive about going all the way back in time and catching every single message that people have updated about. It's only relevant in the now, unless I'm fascinated by it.
I imagine that people follow a lot of people just to get a sense of, like, I've got a full room here, and I've got a lot of people that are giving wildly different opinions and updates -- I'll try them out for a time and if I don't like what they say next, I can very easily leave them. But like any other technology, we figure out what our relationship is to it. Some people want to go big right away and filter out, some people want to stay small and add people as they find them. And some people are constantly editing the balance between both. It's just important that the technology allows for all of those approaches.
Is there any idea of splitting or filtering the stream so you won't get so much '@reply traffic' -- where you can see the people you're following replying individually to their followers?
There's actually a setting. If you go to your settings page and you say, show me @replies ["at replies"] only from those I'm following. So if my co-founder Biz [Stone] replies to his friend Joe, if I set that setting I won't see that reply, I'll just see Biz's reply to anyone I'm following.
So it's kind of an unknown feature but we do have it in there, and I definitely keep it on because it's just way too much information. I don't need to see all these diverse conversations happening all over the Internet. I only care about those people that are conversing together that I know. So when Biz is replying to @ev[an Williams], then I'll see Biz's @reply.
Original Article - http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/02/jack-dorsey-on.html
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In today's tough economy, many people are praying for a job offer. When Michel Butler headed to church, he ended up with multiple offers.
One year ago, Butler, 42, was a consultant in the home-building industry in Texas with aspirations of building his own spec homes in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. But six months later, he was an unemployed husband and father of three with no job prospects to speak of.
"The market here really hit the skids in late June, early July, and I knew it was time to consider something outside the industry," Butler said.
First, Butler joined a free career workshop at a local church, which was open to the public. They met every Saturday evening and covered everything from networking to resume writing and interview skills.
"I think that church organization was really a feather in my cap," he said. "It helped me focus on my next steps and also gave me refreshers in interviewing and resume writing," he said.
Then, Butler plugged back into some old networks, including college friends and former employers.
One friend introduced Butler to a local business coach who put him in touch with a few hiring managers and by October he had two interviews in two different industries.
Prudential offered him a job as a financial service agent. They would pay for the training but Butler's income would be largely based on commission. Although that wasn't ideal, he accepted right away.
Then came another offer, this time for a marketing position with a six figure salary. "I couldn't pass it up," Butler said, so he quit Prudential shortly after starting and went to work as relationship manager at Spear One in Dallas.
Aside from the bigger salary and better job security, "the best part about my new position is that it is fun," Butler said, which is the last thing he imagined he'd be having after his last career crumbled.
Our panel of career coaches agree that Butler was wise to tap into local organizations that could help him brush up on his job search skills and expose him to other job seekers sharing their experiences.
"Church groups are a good way to use existing community connections to expand your network of people," according to Career and Business Consultant Kathy Robinson. But the danger is that "you could be getting 20-year-old resume advice," she warned. "As long as the members are keeping themselves current on job search techniques it's actually a fabulous resource."
He was also smart to dig into his networks, said Ford Myers author of the upcoming book, "Get the Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring."
"The wrong thing to do is sit at home in your pajamas and apply to jobs online," he said, "it's isolating and depressing."
Reconnecting with college friends, former coworkers and even other unemployed workers in the community can pay off big time. "That's called networking and that's the single most important activity anyone can do when they are in transition," Myers said.
For Butler, those connections led to not one, but two job offers and the experts agree that while not encouraged, quitting one new job to accept a better offer is acceptable in today's market.
"It's every man for himself in this economy," Myers said.
Butler's first responsibility is to himself and his family, according to Gerry Crispin, co-owner of Careerxroads, a consulting firm based in New Jersey.
Even after finding full-time employment, Crispin recommends that workers stay in touch with recruiters and keep up with their other resources. Keeping yourself in the game is essential to getting job offers.
"Are you ever 100% out of the market? Yeah when you're dead," Crispin said, "or retired," he added.Well, if you live in Michigan, or anywhere else in our country, let’s face it. The economy stinks. People are getting laid off and companies are closing down or outsourcing to other countries practically on a daily basis. So, what good would hiring a professional resume service do for you? EVERYTHING.
It’s understandable to be cautious about hiring a resume writer, especially online where you can’t visually shake a hand or see an office full of certificates, awards, books, or anything else that might prove credibility. Here are a few reasons you SHOULD hire a professional resume writer:
1- PROFESSIONALISM - A professional resume writer knows what he/she is doing. I’ve had clients tell me over and over that having it professionally written got them the job. They had sent in the old one previously and at my urging, resent the new one and got the job!
Make sure whomever you hire is CERTIFIED. If you are unsure whether or not your writer is certified, go to parw.com and type in their name. If they are certified, it will come up as such. A certified writer has gone through extensive training and was tested on it, ensuring their work meets the standards of the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches. If you are going to spend the money, you want the best.
2- BRANDING/PR - A professional resume writer acts as your personal cheerleader, your brander, your public relations firm. You want someone who knows how to present your qualifications in your best light. They will gather the relevant information (career goals, experience, training, etc.) to create a professional image for you. Something you will be proud to hand out to a hiring manager.
3-GHOSTWRITERS- A professional resume writer knows how to craft content that gets people interested. They create a resume that sounds and feels like YOU. A professional resume writer constantly updates their skills and abilities by keeping up with the latest in career news, and attending webinars, teleseminars and conferences.
4- FORMAT - How bored are you when you see a resume that is bullet after bullet of a position description? Would you call that person back? Neither will the hiring person. Professional resume writers are TRAINED in creating unique documents with appealing fonts, borders and styling that is all YOU.
5- RESOURCE CENTER - Your professional resume writer is a career one-stop-shop! Chances are they have a wide range of resources to offer during your job search. Many are also Certified Career Coaches and remain well informed of career events and other services helpful to their clients. Many times employers will contact resume writers for suitable candidates.
Reasons NOT TO HIRE a professional resume writer:
1- They offer you a resume package for $19.95. Most likely this company is a printing or secretarial service that will rewrite everything you gave them, or dump your info into a pre-written template.
2- They tell you they are certified, but you check on the PARW site and they are not. WRONG. Turn around and go back. They are misrepresenting the truth and God knows what they will do with your money.
3- They offer a 30-day guarantee if you don’t get an interview. I know this is a touchy one, because many of my colleagues do it, but here is my beef with that: with each client, I put my heart and soul into the resume. I am already writing a resume that I think will knock the socks off any reader. So how can I possibly offer a rewrite on that? I already wrote a killer resume and I stand behind it. I would rather sit down with the client and go over what they have been doing for job search because I guarantee that is where the problems lie.
So, to sum it up, it’s important to find a solid and reputable resume service. Check for memberships to professional career organizations with writers that are certified.
A professionally written resume is a good investment and is worth it’s weight in gold, not to mention it will get you noticed immediately.
Erin Kennedy is a Certified Professional & Executive Resume Writer & Career Consultant, and President of Professional Resume Services. She is a Nationally Published Writer & Contributor in 8 best selling career books. Erin has achieved the prestigious T.O.R.I. (Toast of the Resume Industry) Award nomination in 2007 and 2008.
To get more career-related information and resume writing tips, visit Professional Resume Services at http://www.proreswriters.com or check out her blog at: proreswriters.blogspot.
Creative. Powerful. Proven.
Erin is a member of: Professional Association of Resume Writers (PARW), Career Directors International (CDI), Association of Online Resume and Career Professionals (AORCP), Career Professionals Group, and Women for Hire. Want to know more about Erin Kennedy, CPRW? Read her LinkedIn profile at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/erinkennedycprwTory Johnson of Women for Hire is one of the country's foremost career experts. She recently wrote an article for Yahoo! in which she listed 12 great ways to get your resume noticed by prospective employers:
Banks, retailers and other large companies have also signed on to the service, and savvy Twitter users are finding ways to save money and get responses to consumer complaints. Here’s a brief rundown:
Following your favorite retailers or deal sites on Twitter can alert you to limited-time or exclusive sales. Airlines, including Southwest and jetBlue, have a strong presence on Twitter, where they point followers to fare sales or passenger trends. For electronics fiends, Amazon and Dell have both offered special deals to their Twitter followers.
Even better than discounts for people weary of automated customer-service lines, Twitter is rapidly becoming a place where consumers can share complaints and receive personal responses form companies.
Dell, which has long required its customer service representatives to monitor blogs and respond to bad press. Dell now sifts through tweets, as do customer service representatives from UPS, Comcast and Bank of America. Someone even contacted Bank of America through Twitter and got a fee waived.
“Our customers were out there,” says Holly Hastings, national customer experience executive for Bank of America. “We had to start responding to our customers on Twitter.”
David Knapp oversees Bank of America’s Twitter account, searching tweets that mention the company and contacting users to offer help. Twitter users can directly message Knapp, who then refers the customer to a phone number or appropriate channel.
Hastings estimates more than 300 customers have resolved issues through Twitter since the bank signed on in early January, and Knapp’s Twitter feed has over 1,200 followers. BoA may expand the program in the future to meet customer demand, but, says Ms. Hastings, wants to “keep it personalized.”
Twitter can also keep you on top of financial news. Most news outlets and blogs have twitter feeds that will churn out a headline and URL to a story in 140 characters or less. (You can follow The Wallet, The Wall Street Journal’s personal finance and investing blog at twitter.com/WSJWallet.)
There are budgeting benefits, too. With the added download TweetWhatYouSpend for Twitter, you can import your expenses on Twitter from your mobile phone, establish spending limits, categorize your spending and download that information as a spreadsheet. We particularly like this for tracking business expense accounts.
The added layer of “do I really need this” questioning that comes with knowing that you must commit purchases to Twitter is another added benefit. You can add privacy settings so that only people you approve as followers can track your spending patterns, or keep the feed public and see what role shame has.
If you have a Twitter account and the urge to follow stocks and buzz in the investing community, join StockTwits. StockTwits is a social networking tool for investors. You can hear what people are trading and why, or follow specific ticker symbols for companies you’re interested in. It’s also a great medium for those short outbursts that the market may induce.
Then again, if you prefer to not have minute-by-minute updates on your portfolio these days, it’s completely understandable.
Post by Kim Komando with USA Today's CyberSpeak:
As millions seek new jobs to replace positions lost in the recession, keep in mind that the Internet gives employers unprecedented access to information about you.
Employers aren't content with facts gleaned from public records. They're also using the Internet to assess your character. That means they're searching your name on Google.
They're visiting social-networking sites and reading blog posts. Unflattering comments and photos can put you out of the running for a job. So, you will want to clean up your online reputation before job hunting. For direct links to the sites mentioned, go to www.komando.com/news.
Search for yourself
Your first step is to assess your online reputation. Start by doing a Google search of your name and its variations.
Do other searches that include your profession, previous employers and locations. You may be surprised what turns up.
You should also search networking sites. Pipl, Wink and PeekYou will allow you to search multiple sites quickly.
You will want to make two lists from your searches. On one list, place links to sites with unflattering information. On the other list, place links to flattering information.
Remove the negative
Maybe you posted some of the unflattering images or comments. In that case, remove them immediately. Err on the side of caution and remove anything that is potentially offensive.
Next, contact the owners of sites that cast you in a negative light. Send a polite e-mail message requesting that negative information be removed.
State your case clearly. If a post is erroneous, provide proof of its inaccuracy. It doesn't hurt to mention that you're job searching.
Things are more complicated with unflattering photos and truthful information. You will need to appeal to the writer's sense of decency. Keep your requests pleasant and polite, and you may be successful.
Promote the positive
Some sites will honor your requests. Other sites may not. So, you may need to mitigate negative posts with positive ones.
I recommend that you start a blog highlighting your professional skills. Write posts on your field to show off your professional knowledge. List your full name at the bottom of your posts. Include links to the positive comments you found. And be sure to list your accomplishments in your bio.
These postings should push the negative postings from Google's top search results. You can also use your blog to speak indirectly to potential employers.
For example, say you share a name with a porn star. You don't want potential employers to confuse the two of you. So, create a post listing people who share your name. It's a good way to eliminate confusion.
Don't forget networking sites
Networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are the biggest threat to your job search. Clean up any networking profiles you have.
If you don't have networking profiles, create them. Then link to them on your blog. Employers will be able to find your profiles easily. Make sure these profiles are squeaky clean.
Why create the profiles? They can eliminate confusion. An employer won't confuse you with that other Mary Johnson with a raunchy profile.
Create a profile on LinkedIn. Use it to showcase your professional accomplishments. You can also network with others who can help with your job search.
Professionals can help
Companies like ReputationDefender and Reputation Hawk specialize in improving online reputations. These services can be costly. In some cases, you'll pay thousands of dollars. Others charge $30 or so for each post they remove.
These services are handy if you have money but no time. You can do most of this yourself, though.
Cleaning up your reputation can take months. So, start now - whether you're job hunting or not.
Money woes. A sense of rejection. Questions and pressure from family and friends. An uncertain future. If you've recently lost your job, you know this dismal laundry list all too well. And while being forced into unemployment is never easy, the fact that it's happened in the middle of a terrible recession rife with lay-offs really amps up the stress. That's why it's crucial to take care of your mental health—and if you do the right stress-busting exercises, you'll also improve your odds of finding a job.
There are few experiences in modern life more stressful than losing a job, even if the job wasn't a very good one. It's all too easy to convince yourself that you'll never find another one. And besides being a terribly depressing mindset, it can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I've seen it all before: People who stay upbeat, approach their search with a sense of balance, and work diligently and consistently every day will find a job when they are using the right job-search techniques. Attitude counts for a lot more than you might think.
Here are a few suggestions from The Five O'Clock Club that will help you push through your job hunt stress and hear "You're hired!" in no time.
Realize it's okay to be "between jobs." When you have a job it's easy to tell the world what you do: "I'm a divisional controller at Roland Chemicals," "I'm an administrator at St. Matthew's Hospital," or "I'm a marketing manager at Southworth Paper." But when you don't have a job, "So what do you do?" becomes a dreaded question. We resort to a euphemism, "I'm between jobs." Ironically, many folks don't really believe they're between jobs—even though it is absolutely the truth.
You must learn to ignore the inner voice that in your darkest moments says, "I'll never get a good job again." When you tell people, "I'm between jobs," you assume they believe you. Believe it yourself. Even if you've just been turned down for three jobs, remind yourself that you got three interviews and you can get three more.
Stay in touch with colleagues and friends from your former workplace. Of course people don't stop being friends with people they used to work with. But when you're unemployed, that daily camaraderie is gone. "Let's get together for drinks one of these days" is now the reality instead of seeing Mark or Helen at the next desk every day—and sharing news of daily life as well as of the work to be done. One of the most painful aspects of not getting up and going to work every day is missing people who were fun to be around.
That's why it's so important that you stay in touch with your work friends. Number one, if you lost your job as the result of a layoff, they are probably stressed and worried about keeping their own job; or if they got laid off too, they're as worried about finding a new one as you are. In either case they may need a friend like you to talk to. Also, having worked with you, they'll be able to provide you with some positive reinforcement on your down days and remind you of your past achievements.
Treat your job search like a job. After many years of catching the 7:35 train or driving the morning commute and putting in eight- or ten-hour days, the lack of that routine can be disorienting. As much as we wish we could sleep late more often, as much as we welcome three- or four-day holiday weekends, our lives are structured around work schedules, whether it's nine-to-five or some other shift. When people are robbed of such routines, they can feel that they've been cut loose.
The best way to overcome the shell shock of losing your daily routine is to create a new one. If you've been laid off, treat your job search as your new job. After all, between the résumé updating, scanning want ads, and networking, there's plenty to be done. Providing yourself with the day-to-day structure you're so familiar with will help you keep your sanity and get going in your job search more quickly.
Exercise regularly and keep a healthy lifestyle. Regular physical exercise and a healthy diet help to reduce tension and stress. If your former routine involved going to the gym and you can still afford it, keep going. Or if you've given up your gym membership, a half-hour walk every day will do the trick on a budget. Keep an eye on what you're eating as well. If you're depressed, it's probably easier to order takeout or go for fast food instead of cooking, but this is not the time to neglect good nutrition.
Healthy foods give you energy and keep you well. And you'll need both to be successful in the job market. And of course, if you consistently eat the wrong things, you'll gain weight—which is not only depressing but also prevents you from looking your best in your interview suit.
Despite the worries, take time to enjoy the change of pace. Being freed from the nine-to-five grind means you finally have time to slow down and take stock of what you really want to achieve in your life. Many people have been charging ahead so intensely, so relentlessly, for so many years and putting up with demands and environments that drag them down that they haven't noticed they've strayed off course. Unemployment can be a time to think about your life and plot course corrections. Some of the questions you'll want to consider as you plan your job search are as follows:
Serious deliberation of these questions can be liberating and energizing. And they can help you focus your job search so that you don't waste any time looking in industries or at companies where you know you won't be happy or appreciated. Who knows? You may even come to see losing your job as a gift—one that spurs you on to change your life for the better.
Stay away from negative news and naysayers. Even in good economic times, you don't have to go far to find negative news about the world situation. During a recession, it's in your face 24/7. If you're in the job market and are having trouble keeping up your own morale, stay away from the news, especially headlines about massive layoffs and the high unemployment rate.
In the same vein, stay away from the naysayers, whether they be friends, family, or otherwise, who only reinforce the negative news available to you in your paper and on TV. Their negativity will only get you down. You know you're facing an uphill battle. You don't need the news or those around you constantly reminding you of it. Your ability to stay positive will be a huge factor in maintaining your mental well-being during your job hunt.
If you need to vent, vent! If you're angry, frustrated, feeling betrayed—whatever—find people to talk to about what has happened. But remember, there's only so much your family wants to hear, so it's best you find a support group where you can discuss your problems with people who are feeling the same pains you are.
"Getting it all out" does have healing power, and there is nothing especially heroic or brave about trying to go it alone. It will take only a little snooping on the Internet or in your local newspapers to find support groups at churches and synagogues, libraries and community centers. You'll find people who will listen, and whose stories will help you feel less isolated.
Look at your unemployment as a business problem. When you had bad days at work, you analyzed whatever problem was plaguing you, marshaled resources and people, and came up with solutions. In the wake of job loss, your emotions—your hurt or anger—may be blocking this kind of response. But a great way to overcome that is to think of getting hired again as a business problem—you've rarely been stumped before, why now? Set your objective: To find a satisfying job that pays the bills. And develop your business strategy for achieving it. Track down the people who are in a position to hire you, position yourself appropriately, offer proposals to meet their needs, and turn interviews into offers. Remember, attitude alone won't get you there, but if you make sure you are using the right job-search techniques, after a while your unemployment business problem will be solved.
Celebrate short-term successes. When you get up in the morning, don't grumble to yourself, "I'm looking for a job again today." Rather, set up some achievable goals for the day so that you end it with a sense of accomplishment. Write five more targeted letters. Identify ten more companies to contact. Make ten follow-up phone calls. Set up one or two networking meetings. Just being able to cross these goals off your list at the end of the day is a good feeling. And, of course, they often lead to something even better.
Some of the activities will pay off—you land a meeting, you get suggestions on good companies and people to contact. These are the short-term successes that feed good morale. And after you've had a few of them, you'll quickly find that you wake up one morning saying, "I start my new job today!"
Keep on top of your game. So you don't go to the office from nine to five like you used to. That's no excuse to let your skills and knowledge slip. There's no better time than a job search to make sure you stay current and sharp. Use some of your time to catch up on reading journals and attending meetings of your professional associations. This might also be a good time to volunteer for an association committee in your industry or to help a friend in his/her business.
You might consider using the time to take a continuing ed. course, one that you could never find the time for when you were employed. That can be a great selling point when you're interviewing. Temping or consulting may also help you stay current, and of course, the cash it brings in can help you stay calm and focused. It's also a great networking opportunity, and if you are successful wherever you end up, you may be offered a permanent paying position.
Have fun. You might be laughing at that suggestion. But in the same way that you get burnt out on your job after working non-stop for a month or two, you can get burnt out on your job search—so make yourself walk away from it from time to time.
You need to stay fresh, so take a break from your job hunt to have three hours of fun a week. Laughter is good therapy. When you're unemployed you have more flexibility in booking your fun time. So don't hesitate to go to your favorite museum on a Wednesday morning or watch an afternoon ball game.
If you stay positive and make "I will persevere!" your motto, you will land a great job, sooner or later. You are employable and this time of transition is exactly that—a transition. Besides, living in a place of hope just feels better than living in a place of despair. Always choose hope. You'll get to where you want to go just as fast, and the journey will be far more rewarding.
About the Book:
The Good Person Guidebook: Transforming Your Personal Life (Five O'Clock Books, 2008, ISBN: 978-0-944054-16-1, $14.95) is available at AmazonJ.C. Penney & Co. reported a 51% drop in fourth-quarter profit on weak margins and sales, and the department-store chain indicated its woes will continue in a tough retail environment.
For the current quarter, the company said it expects a loss of 20 cents to 30 cents a share, with revenue falling 10% to 13%. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 19 cents on a 9% drop in revenue.
Shoppers enter a J.C. Penney store in Queens, New York. Penney, whose profit fell on weaker margins and sales in the fourth quarter, expects tough retail conditions to continue this year.
Traffic in shopping malls remains in a deep slump, and while Penney is doing better than other mall retailers, getting shoppers to make purchases hasn't been easy, J.C. Penney Chief Executive Officer Myron Ullman III said.
"The customer is very tentative, they are buying what they need and they are being smart about how they spend their money," he told analysts on a conference call to discuss the company's quarterly results.
For the period ended Jan. 31, J.C. Penney posted net income of $211 million, or 95 cents a share, down from $430 million, or $1.93 a share, a year earlier. Gross margin fell to 34.6% from 36.2% as the company increased promotions during the holidays.
J.C. Penney said three weeks ago that the quarter's revenue fell 9.8% to $5.76 billion. Women's apparel and family shoes were the best-performing segments, while fine jewelry was the worst. The Plano, Texas, company said it performed best in the Southwest and worst in the Southeast. Sales at stores open at least a year slid 11%. In the current quarter, it expects same-store sales to fall by 12% to 15%.
The company's gross margin fell to 34.6% from 36.2% in the fourth quarter as it increased promotions during the holidays. However, management has been taking steps to blunt the impact of the consumer-spending downturn, analysts said.
Uta Werner, retail analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said J.C. Penney has been "tightly managing expenses over the past year, including a heightened focus on store productivity, balancing the need for ongoing customer service and traffic-driving advertising spending with expense reductions in other areas."
Coming into its new fiscal year, which began on Feb. 1, the chain is also in a much better position in terms of excess merchandise, with inventory down 13.5% on a comparable-store basis, executives said.
J.C. Penney is also trying to pick up customers from doomed competitors, like Mervyn's, Goody's Family Clothing and Linens N' Things. The company said it is working with vendors to make sure that popular items at those retailers are in stock at its own stores.
"We've seen success in recruiting those customers to our format when we were [competing] head-to-head with those stores," Mr. Ullman said.
In the year ahead, J.C. Penney faces not only lower sales volume, but also higher noncash pension expenses. And last month, J.P. Morgan said the retailer was in danger of violating covenants on its revolving credit line.
But the company says its cash position is solid. So, while J.C. Penney is in the process of negotiating a new revolver, "if banks extract unfair terms we don't need one," Mr. Ullman said during the call.
—Kerry E. Grace contributed to this article.Write to Karen Talley at karen.talley@dowjones.com
Original Article - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123513149861032521.html?mod=todays_us_money_and_investing
People you know or have never met yet are googl’ing you. Let’s face it, you’re even google’ing yourself! At the end of 2007, the Pew Internet Research Team found that 47% of people search for information about themselves online (Self-Googling), which was more than double 5 years ago. It’s a pretty safe bet that percentage has climbed to over 50 or 60% by this year.
Some people might can it ego-surfing, but it’s actually a good practice to see what results come up for your name. Your teachers, friends, family, boyfriends and girlfriends and coworkers are Google’ing you either for fun or because they want to learn more about you. Hiring managers want to see if you have a clean record in Google, which is your permanent record because every move you make (yes even a blog comment) is stored there forever. Before I went on a second date once, the girl Google’ed me. If she hadn’t liked what she saw, the second date wouldn’t have happened. Try doing it right now and see what you get.
Google keeps track of just about everything you do on the internet. It patrols and captures your online behavior, such as when you post on your blog, tweet using Twitter, join social networks, comment on other blogs, write articles for online news
If your name is common, such as Mike Smith, then it will be very hard to own your Google results. There are over 54 million results for “Mike Smith” in Google. You won’t be able to compete with the athletes and musicians on the first few pages. If your life goal is to rank in the top ten results, that may be achievable, if you either become very famous or work extremely hard at building content each and every day for your entire life. At the age of sixty you might find out that Google changed their algorithm and you’ll lose all that hard work. The point being is that you’ll have to differentiate your name in order to rank high. I typically recommend you use your middle name or a nickname in this case. The worst case scenario is that you change your name completely ;).
Celebrities are very fortunate because they get mass media attention, which means traditional media sources (NY Times, ABC News) write articles about them. These sources rank extremely high in Google. We’re talking Google PageRank’s of eight and higher! Your blog posts about these celebrities will never end up on the top twenty results for their name unless you are Perez Hilton. If your name is the same as a celebrities, you are in big trouble. Try searching for Christina Aquilera (21 million results), Britney Spears (88 million), Lil Wayne (40 million) and other major celebrities. Personally, I don’t have any friends with these names, but even with C-level celebrities, you don’t stand a chance. If you are stuck with a celebrity name, I suggest that you build your brand around an area of your expertise or interest and connect it to your brand name.
While growing up, you might have been made fun of people of your unique name because it was “different.” Although you were ostracized and made fun of, right now you get to laugh at everyone else! With a distinct name, you are able to easily manipulate the results for your name on search engines. When you go to your high school reunion and see your friends, you’ll get the last laugh because you can be visible and control perceptions, while they simply cannot. When you Google your name, whether you have results that reflect your brand, you’ll see how hard it will be to rank high for it or not. Depending on the competition, it may take you a few days or a few months. Over time, if you work very hard, you’ll own the top ten results for your name.
In my next post, I’ll talk about what you can do to gain control over your Google results and let your personal brand shine through.
** A good example of owning your brand, and not in the best way, is this blog. There is another Tim Esse out there and he grabbed the timesse.blogger domain name. I've tried to go into most social networking sites and signed up for some version of my name.
Tim Esse