I am concerned about our dependence on oil. I understand the multiplier efects of tackling the biggest and most inefficient oil users first. So I support nuclear, wind, solar, and other alternative power solutions.
The second-biggest use of oil is in mass transportation, specifically big rig interstate transportation. We are a long way away from a battery technology that can make multi-day tractor-trailer transportation possible by electric power--our batteries are just not big enough and take too long to charge. Maybe hydrogen technology will get there. Maybe we will discover a clean cold method of fusion. Maybe the clowns at Stoern will build a useful perpetual-motion motor to power free transportation.
I would prefer a solution that didn't require waiting and hoping for an invention. I would prefer a solution that could be built with current technology. So I propose that we upgrade our roadway system to include a third rail.
The third rail would be an electric power source, like the third rail on electric rail systems.
No new technology has to be invented to take advantage of this. We just have to let the market do it's thing. Tractor-trailer manufacturers will start building trucks that can take advantage of the third rail as the road way reaches a critical mass. Hybrid and electric car manufacturers will add third rail support to their cars immediately, because supporting that infrastructure makes their vehicles more valuable.
This is just the sort of high-tech infrastructure project that the country seems to need right now. So an engineering company could probably get a huge government grant to begin the building project and make huge strides in fixing many problems at once.
There are a hundred little implementation details. I've already thought through many of them. I would love to work with a proposal team to flesh this out. I'm not sure if I can get together the resources to found that company on my own, though.
The first big problem is the actual rail itself. It has to provide a significant voltage, in order to actually power/charge the vehicles. It has to power down when there is no vehicle present, to keep from frying wandering wildlife. And it has to withstand traffic, rain, snow, and scorching sun for years with little maintenance.
An inductive rail installed beneath the road surface would be safe from the elements and animals. The contact points could be either in the wheels (already in contact with the road) or in the center of the lane (requiring a new third wheel to be installed that would make contact/keep the vehicle's inductive contact points in close enough proximity.) The existing wheels have the disadvantage of wear-and-tear that would probably require additional maintenance of the expensive inductive rail. The new centerline third wheel would not be weight-bearing, and so it would not cause the same level of wear on the road surface. So I prefer the center-line solution.
I also expect that the third rail would be chopped up into sections. This would make the system more robust--a single break would not take down the entire roadway. Also, sections that did not have a vehicle charging on them could be discretely powered down to save energy. I'll let the engineers figure out how long the sections should be.
The second big problem is billing. Fortunately, there are a large number of possible solutions. The GPS and system and cellular networks in the US are well-enough developed that we can rely on them. We could also use proximity badges with unique identifiers or toll-tag window stickers. But I prefer the GPS and cellular solution because of the flexibility (you don't have to build and move toll booths) and interactivity (drivers can choose to not charge on this particular road if the electricity price is too high.)
So each vehicle that was equipped with the third wheel would also need a GPS, cell phone, and small computer. Then as the vehicle approached a third rail-equipped roadway the computer would get notified by the GPS and cellular. The driver could choose to lower the third wheel and begin charging on the third rail, and the cellular would alert the billing system that they are charging. The driver could decide to stop charging before they left the third rail-equiipped road (like if she was within battery disatnce of home and a cheaper recharge.)
With those two big problems solved, the rest of the system can develop naturally. People in different regions can experiment with taxes or subsidies. The federal government could start the system on the Interstates, and let the states each invest in upgrading their State Highways as they see fit. Engineering companies, similar to the ones that build toll-roads today, can work with the various governments to build and maintain the roads. Hopefully many different companies will get in and compete for the contracts to build and maintain these roads. They would get a large portion of their revenue from the electric charging--a markup that they include in the bill. In short, there are many good free-market competitive features of the solution.
This system enables a whole new range of vehicles. Electric-only vehicles could travel cross-country, and become much more feasible. Eventually all vehicles could be electric-only--the most oil-efficient type of vehicles. Gas-electric hybrids gain much more range, in the interim. And hybrid tractor-trailers become much more feasible in the short-term, and the fuel costs for interstate commerce would be reduced.
Showing posts with label plan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plan. Show all posts
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Naming a company - need your input
I have to form a company. This company will have multiple purposes:
With all of that in mind, I did lots of brainstorming and thinking about what type of brand I wanted this company to have. At its root this is a "communication" company. Research, listening, and telling stories. I'm not a "marketing" communications company, though I can help with branding and such. I'm a guy who helps you understand who you are, where you are going, and what you offer; and then helps you form a coherent story. That may involve deep research and market analysis. That might involve product planning (requirements gathering and feature design.) It might involve user testing. It might involve writing fictional stories featuring your company or product. Also, I'm not the guy you call if you plan to fake-it-until-you-make-it. I'm the guy you call when you want to get honest, and when you want to innovate.
With all of that basically decided, I took a clean piece of paper and tried to come up with a name. The best I could do is "Be First Communications". "Be First" has a double meaning. You must be before you can do. And you need to innovate.
Then I needed to get a domain name. "befirst-communication.com" is available. But it's long. No shorter versions are available, unless I want to go to a .info or other unusual extension. I'm really sick of typing out my whole name for this site and my email address. Thehiringsurvey.com is also pretty long. And I'm not excited about the exotic extensions. So I decided to look for short domain names that I might could make a company name out of (like "Journyx", which is just a made up word.)
What do you think of:
Aeron is the name of the fancy Herman Miller geek chairs that everyone loved ten years ago. Birst.com is a software company, but I made "birst" from "Be First". None of the rest of those words come up with any significant google hits.
Dirlis is apparently some people's real last name. GWIM is an abbreviation for "Global Warming Impact Model" and "Global Wave Internet Marketing" (the latter of which is a marketing firm that exists at the .net site.) Unshu is the name of a location in Japan, but it doesn't look like anything dirty. Marasm is a Russian death metal rock band. There is a Spanish text-only page talking about erotic subjects using the word 'zonasm', apparently in reference to erogenous zones--translating it to English is quite funny and well-nigh unreadable.
If I'm going to go with a brand new word then it needs to pass the spoken-spelling test. After having to spell Journyx for the last 10+ years, I do not want to have to spell this over and over for the next 10 years.
I also realized that with a made-up name like this I can pivot and change the company in a year, if I want to. That is hard to do with "befirst-communications.com".
So, what do you think? Long domain name or made-up word?
If you like the made-up word, which one(s) do you like or not like?
- Publish my books and articles
- Sponsor/whatever my other random projects, like the hiring survey and national day of confession
- Serve as my "consulting company" for any consulting projects that I might take on
- Act as a super-resume for me, if/when/as I look for another regular job
With all of that in mind, I did lots of brainstorming and thinking about what type of brand I wanted this company to have. At its root this is a "communication" company. Research, listening, and telling stories. I'm not a "marketing" communications company, though I can help with branding and such. I'm a guy who helps you understand who you are, where you are going, and what you offer; and then helps you form a coherent story. That may involve deep research and market analysis. That might involve product planning (requirements gathering and feature design.) It might involve user testing. It might involve writing fictional stories featuring your company or product. Also, I'm not the guy you call if you plan to fake-it-until-you-make-it. I'm the guy you call when you want to get honest, and when you want to innovate.
With all of that basically decided, I took a clean piece of paper and tried to come up with a name. The best I could do is "Be First Communications". "Be First" has a double meaning. You must be before you can do. And you need to innovate.
Then I needed to get a domain name. "befirst-communication.com" is available. But it's long. No shorter versions are available, unless I want to go to a .info or other unusual extension. I'm really sick of typing out my whole name for this site and my email address. Thehiringsurvey.com is also pretty long. And I'm not excited about the exotic extensions. So I decided to look for short domain names that I might could make a company name out of (like "Journyx", which is just a made up word.)
What do you think of:
Remorg
Myote
Areon (.org)
Dirlis
Gwim (.org)
Unshu
Marasm
Zonasm
Birst (.org)
Aeron is the name of the fancy Herman Miller geek chairs that everyone loved ten years ago. Birst.com is a software company, but I made "birst" from "Be First". None of the rest of those words come up with any significant google hits.
Dirlis is apparently some people's real last name. GWIM is an abbreviation for "Global Warming Impact Model" and "Global Wave Internet Marketing" (the latter of which is a marketing firm that exists at the .net site.) Unshu is the name of a location in Japan, but it doesn't look like anything dirty. Marasm is a Russian death metal rock band. There is a Spanish text-only page talking about erotic subjects using the word 'zonasm', apparently in reference to erogenous zones--translating it to English is quite funny and well-nigh unreadable.
If I'm going to go with a brand new word then it needs to pass the spoken-spelling test. After having to spell Journyx for the last 10+ years, I do not want to have to spell this over and over for the next 10 years.
I also realized that with a made-up name like this I can pivot and change the company in a year, if I want to. That is hard to do with "befirst-communications.com".
So, what do you think? Long domain name or made-up word?
If you like the made-up word, which one(s) do you like or not like?
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The hiring study
I'm looking for a job. At least theoretically, I'm looking. I have actually found one company that I'm interested in, in part because I think they would actively support me doing projects like the research and book(s) that I'm working on right now. I will probably approach that company soon, but I want to get more work done on my research project so that I'm approaching them from a position of increased strength.
I've been telling some friends and family members about the research project. I think I have my story straight now, and I'm ready to write it up for everyone. :-)
At both Journyx and CompUSA I conducted interviews and hired people. And, like every task that I take to I did some research on how to find good candidates, how to interview them, and how to make the best possible hiring decision. I'm not a PhD in hiring, but I've advised lots of other hiring managers, and they have all reacted like I had genuinely helped them get their hands around this activity.
Now I'm a job seeker. I'm going to the classes and reading the books. And I see a genuine disconnect between what people are telling job seekers to do and what I think hiring managers are looking for. I believe that the people who are giving this advice are well meaning and working with the best information that they have. But on a couple of critical points I think that they are completely wrong.
There have been very few scientific studies of the hiring process, and none that I can find that cover both sides of the process--hiring managers are looking for candidates at the same time that job seekers are looking for work. I don't have enough personal experience to just call everyone out and design a whole new process. I would probably be significantly wrong on many details, and no one would pay attention to what I said.
So I'm about to launch a scientific study of both sides of the hiring process. I'll do this through a set of surveys that I run on the internet. I'm going to use a major web survey company--mostly because they have built-in reports and analytics that I can leverage. I will have surveys for hiring managers, surveys for job seekers, and surveys for people who have recently been hired.
I have a marketing plan to use viral and traditional web techniques to (hopefully) get hundreds of thousands of people to take these surveys. If I can pull that off then I will have a scientific data set that will either prove or disprove my theories. And then the study itself will provide the credibility I need to speak on these subjects and sell some books.
I am not posting my theories on the internet yet because I don't want to pollute the surveys. And I don't want anyone stealing the theories before I can get to press.
I'm a practical guy. I believe in myself, but I also know that not all of my theories will hold up to the data. I'm ok with that. I'm going to publish whatever the data says. But I know that one specific theory will definitely hold up, and that one theory alone will justify the books. I've already started interviewing people who have recently gotten hired, and what I am hearing from them is both confirming my theories and providing a bounding-box for the surveys.
So there are risks, but complete failure isn't really one of the risks. The biggest risk is that I don't get enough surveys filled out to credibly demonstrate anything. However, I have great confidence in the internet and in most peoples' desire to help others. So I judge that risk as very small.
I think that the second biggest risk is that I get so many survey results that I have a hard time analyzing the data. I believe I could get 5 million survey responses, or more. If that happens then I will probably need to enlist some academics to help me analyze the data (cough) {Jeremy} (cough.) That will force me to adjust my publishing plans some, but if that happens then the changes will be worth it.
The third biggest risk is that the whole thing will take too long. But the vast majority of my work is done once the surveys are up and running. So after that point I could work on other projects or get a regular job, if it comes to that. This whole project will be going onto my resume, and so I think it will be easier to land the type of job that I would like. And I'm building up quite a bit of expertise on the whole job search process, which will certainly aid me if I have to get a regular job.
Part of my marketing plan is to sell t-shirts, buttons, mugs, and mouse pads with the survey URL and a plea to help the project by taking the survey. I don't expect to make a full income from that, but I think that I could earn enough from that to extend my budget deadline for getting the books published.
Right now I am actively working on the surveys, web pages, and cafepress store (where the shirts and mugs will be sold.) I don't know how long this will take to get done, but I'm organizing the work in intelligent order so that I have first things done first. I think I will have the surveys available for my friends and family to preview in the next week or two. Getting the surveys configured on the web survey software will take a many hours--tons of tedious technical work that I have to triple-check before I launch. But I think I could be ready to launch the surveys in the second week of December.
Part of my marketing plan is that there will be several rounds of survey marketing--each round bigger than the previous ones. The first round is fairly small, and so I don't think it will be a problem to launch it right before the Christmas holiday. The first big, public, marketing won't happen until after the first of the year.
I will be peaking at the survey results and working on writing the text of the books while the surveys are ongoing. I don't really know how long it will take for my marketing campaigns to play out, but I'm guessing March. By then it should be just a matter of doing the final compilation of the data and slapping it into the manuscripts. So I'm looking at having books out in April.
So stay tuned. The next few weeks and months could be very exciting. Thank you for your prayers and support.
I've been telling some friends and family members about the research project. I think I have my story straight now, and I'm ready to write it up for everyone. :-)
At both Journyx and CompUSA I conducted interviews and hired people. And, like every task that I take to I did some research on how to find good candidates, how to interview them, and how to make the best possible hiring decision. I'm not a PhD in hiring, but I've advised lots of other hiring managers, and they have all reacted like I had genuinely helped them get their hands around this activity.
Now I'm a job seeker. I'm going to the classes and reading the books. And I see a genuine disconnect between what people are telling job seekers to do and what I think hiring managers are looking for. I believe that the people who are giving this advice are well meaning and working with the best information that they have. But on a couple of critical points I think that they are completely wrong.
There have been very few scientific studies of the hiring process, and none that I can find that cover both sides of the process--hiring managers are looking for candidates at the same time that job seekers are looking for work. I don't have enough personal experience to just call everyone out and design a whole new process. I would probably be significantly wrong on many details, and no one would pay attention to what I said.
So I'm about to launch a scientific study of both sides of the hiring process. I'll do this through a set of surveys that I run on the internet. I'm going to use a major web survey company--mostly because they have built-in reports and analytics that I can leverage. I will have surveys for hiring managers, surveys for job seekers, and surveys for people who have recently been hired.
I have a marketing plan to use viral and traditional web techniques to (hopefully) get hundreds of thousands of people to take these surveys. If I can pull that off then I will have a scientific data set that will either prove or disprove my theories. And then the study itself will provide the credibility I need to speak on these subjects and sell some books.
I am not posting my theories on the internet yet because I don't want to pollute the surveys. And I don't want anyone stealing the theories before I can get to press.
I'm a practical guy. I believe in myself, but I also know that not all of my theories will hold up to the data. I'm ok with that. I'm going to publish whatever the data says. But I know that one specific theory will definitely hold up, and that one theory alone will justify the books. I've already started interviewing people who have recently gotten hired, and what I am hearing from them is both confirming my theories and providing a bounding-box for the surveys.
So there are risks, but complete failure isn't really one of the risks. The biggest risk is that I don't get enough surveys filled out to credibly demonstrate anything. However, I have great confidence in the internet and in most peoples' desire to help others. So I judge that risk as very small.
I think that the second biggest risk is that I get so many survey results that I have a hard time analyzing the data. I believe I could get 5 million survey responses, or more. If that happens then I will probably need to enlist some academics to help me analyze the data (cough) {Jeremy} (cough.) That will force me to adjust my publishing plans some, but if that happens then the changes will be worth it.
The third biggest risk is that the whole thing will take too long. But the vast majority of my work is done once the surveys are up and running. So after that point I could work on other projects or get a regular job, if it comes to that. This whole project will be going onto my resume, and so I think it will be easier to land the type of job that I would like. And I'm building up quite a bit of expertise on the whole job search process, which will certainly aid me if I have to get a regular job.
Part of my marketing plan is to sell t-shirts, buttons, mugs, and mouse pads with the survey URL and a plea to help the project by taking the survey. I don't expect to make a full income from that, but I think that I could earn enough from that to extend my budget deadline for getting the books published.
Right now I am actively working on the surveys, web pages, and cafepress store (where the shirts and mugs will be sold.) I don't know how long this will take to get done, but I'm organizing the work in intelligent order so that I have first things done first. I think I will have the surveys available for my friends and family to preview in the next week or two. Getting the surveys configured on the web survey software will take a many hours--tons of tedious technical work that I have to triple-check before I launch. But I think I could be ready to launch the surveys in the second week of December.
Part of my marketing plan is that there will be several rounds of survey marketing--each round bigger than the previous ones. The first round is fairly small, and so I don't think it will be a problem to launch it right before the Christmas holiday. The first big, public, marketing won't happen until after the first of the year.
I will be peaking at the survey results and working on writing the text of the books while the surveys are ongoing. I don't really know how long it will take for my marketing campaigns to play out, but I'm guessing March. By then it should be just a matter of doing the final compilation of the data and slapping it into the manuscripts. So I'm looking at having books out in April.
So stay tuned. The next few weeks and months could be very exciting. Thank you for your prayers and support.
Monday, November 2, 2009
More Meyers-Briggs thoughts
Austin Job Seeker's Network had the second Design & Focus class this morning. We talked about personality types and temperament for the whole class. A few things really jumped out at me.
There were about 12 of us. 3 INTJs. That is exceptional. I don't know if I have ever been in a room with two other INTJs. It's the rarest type. And as I talked with them I could see some common attributes in each of them, but no common attributes in all three of us. One guy was sort of prototypical INTJ in one direction and the other guy was prototypical INTJ in an entirely different direction. It was strange to watch, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them more in the next two classes.
All but one of the people there were J's. J's and P's are supposed to be split about 50/50 in the general population. Durng one of the exercises we got into groups, and one person was left alone in the P group. Everyone commented, almost at once, "gosh, what's wrong with J's that we can't find jobs?" Then we all laughed. I spoke to the coordinator on the way out the door and he said, "wow, that's strange, the same thing happened last time we held that class." I'm not sure that it is that simple, but it certainly deserves more research--especially if I am writing a book on job seeking.
* J's are pessimistic, glass-half-empty, sorts of people. Maybe they are laid off more often.
* Maybe something else in the J personality makes them want to 'Design & Focus' (or makes P's avoid Design & Focus.)
* Maybe something in the way that the class is presented just resonates with J's and repels P's.
I was reviewing the INTJ information on-line last night. Christy joined me and reviewed the data with me. We laughed our heads off at this site. If you know me you might think that I wrote it about myself, but I didn't. This item from the FAQ brought tears to my eyes (think 'Democracy 2.0').
There were about 12 of us. 3 INTJs. That is exceptional. I don't know if I have ever been in a room with two other INTJs. It's the rarest type. And as I talked with them I could see some common attributes in each of them, but no common attributes in all three of us. One guy was sort of prototypical INTJ in one direction and the other guy was prototypical INTJ in an entirely different direction. It was strange to watch, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them more in the next two classes.
All but one of the people there were J's. J's and P's are supposed to be split about 50/50 in the general population. Durng one of the exercises we got into groups, and one person was left alone in the P group. Everyone commented, almost at once, "gosh, what's wrong with J's that we can't find jobs?" Then we all laughed. I spoke to the coordinator on the way out the door and he said, "wow, that's strange, the same thing happened last time we held that class." I'm not sure that it is that simple, but it certainly deserves more research--especially if I am writing a book on job seeking.
* J's are pessimistic, glass-half-empty, sorts of people. Maybe they are laid off more often.
* Maybe something else in the J personality makes them want to 'Design & Focus' (or makes P's avoid Design & Focus.)
* Maybe something in the way that the class is presented just resonates with J's and repels P's.
I was reviewing the INTJ information on-line last night. Christy joined me and reviewed the data with me. We laughed our heads off at this site. If you know me you might think that I wrote it about myself, but I didn't. This item from the FAQ brought tears to my eyes (think 'Democracy 2.0').
Q: My INTJ is trying to take over the world. Should I be concerned?
A: Remember, he’s trying to take over the world for the betterment of everyone and everything. Just go ahead and let him. He’ll be happy and the world will be a more organized and efficient place.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Not afraid any more
I'm not looking for a job any more. That particular search is over. All of the soul searching led me to examine what I really want and need. While a steady paycheck is clearly desirable, and I might have to get a job to make ends meet at some point, my heart and life are not there.
This is going to take a while to explain. And I don't yet have all of those words. So consider this a teaser preview:
I'm going to spend my time praying, reading, thinking, writing, and talking. I'm going to write both fiction and non-fiction. The fiction won't be empty pot-boilers, it will be pointed and focused teaching of truth through stories. The non-fiction will be honest and true, but may cover any topic. The talking may just be more blog videos, or it might evolve into genuine paid speaking engagements.
I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to earn money and pay the bills. I see some hints of where the money might come from. Let's just say for now that I have faith that money will be taken care of.
The most important point here is that I am no longer afraid. I'm no longer afraid of my own voice. I'm no longer afraid of speaking up and being judged. I'm no longer afraid of failing.
No, I haven't told Christy yet. But I'm not afraid of her any more, either.
This is going to take a while to explain. And I don't yet have all of those words. So consider this a teaser preview:
I'm going to spend my time praying, reading, thinking, writing, and talking. I'm going to write both fiction and non-fiction. The fiction won't be empty pot-boilers, it will be pointed and focused teaching of truth through stories. The non-fiction will be honest and true, but may cover any topic. The talking may just be more blog videos, or it might evolve into genuine paid speaking engagements.
I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to earn money and pay the bills. I see some hints of where the money might come from. Let's just say for now that I have faith that money will be taken care of.
The most important point here is that I am no longer afraid. I'm no longer afraid of my own voice. I'm no longer afraid of speaking up and being judged. I'm no longer afraid of failing.
No, I haven't told Christy yet. But I'm not afraid of her any more, either.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Who is Randy?
Update: Before I finished this write up I called off the job search--at least in my heart. I haven't written that part out yet, but the blog will be changing shortly to reflect the new mission. But I'm a Tenacious Devoted Thorough sort of guy, so I can't leave this unfinished.....
I asked my friends and former co-workers to help me with a branding exercise. I asked them to each give me one word to describe me.
Some gave more than one word. There were lots of words that were given by more than one person. Most of the common words were pretty generic--Intelligent, Devoted, Thorough, and Organized.
So I'm going to use some of the less common words for my branding for this job search.
Primary Brand:
Secondary Brands:
I still need to think through how these brands affect my elevator pitches, resume, and the blog. But that is all on hold while I decide what I'm going to do about the whole Plan A / Plan B problem.
Click through the read link below to see how everyone answered the question and my analysis of the answers.
I asked my friends and former co-workers to help me with a branding exercise. I asked them to each give me one word to describe me.
Some gave more than one word. There were lots of words that were given by more than one person. Most of the common words were pretty generic--Intelligent, Devoted, Thorough, and Organized.
So I'm going to use some of the less common words for my branding for this job search.
Primary Brand:
Tenacious
Secondary Brands:
Efficient
Unflappable
I still need to think through how these brands affect my elevator pitches, resume, and the blog. But that is all on hold while I decide what I'm going to do about the whole Plan A / Plan B problem.
Click through the read link below to see how everyone answered the question and my analysis of the answers.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
48 Days to the Work You Love
Last night I read '48 Days to the Work You Love' by Dan Miller. Great book. Easy to read. Poignant. Powerful. Full of ideas. This one is worth reading whether you are job searching right now or not. The notes below barely qualify as a teaser. These are just the points that I felt like I needed to keep handy for me. I've read the book, so I know all of the meaning that Dan put behind these points.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Branding and elevator pitch notes
The Austin Job Seeker's meeting yesterday covered branding and elevator pitches. I'm kind of stuck at the moment because I am juggling my dream job with my plan B job. I'm finding it very hard to work on both at once. So I'm typing up my notes from Monday's meeting. Once published I will be able to come back to this later, when I'm ready for it.
Branding
First you brand, then you write your elevator pitches, resume, etc. You should even brand before you decide what you want to do next--understanding your own brand is critical to understanding yourself. In fact, I should have branded before I started this blog. After I brand I should probably edit the blog to make it sing from the brand hymnal. Or, my branding exercises should take what I'm doing here into account--that would be a very authentic brand, which is important.
Branding
First you brand, then you write your elevator pitches, resume, etc. You should even brand before you decide what you want to do next--understanding your own brand is critical to understanding yourself. In fact, I should have branded before I started this blog. After I brand I should probably edit the blog to make it sing from the brand hymnal. Or, my branding exercises should take what I'm doing here into account--that would be a very authentic brand, which is important.
Monday, October 5, 2009
My brand
The 'get my next job plan' is about to get changed (probably tomorrow.) I found out today that I had skipped a step or two, and had a few steps in the wrong order. The big step that I skipped is "developing my personal brand."
What do you think of when you think of BMW, Coke, Mercedes, Nike, or Marlboro? Whatever you come up with in 1-3 words is that company's brand (maybe an old brand, or maybe an unintended brand, but their brand none-the-less.) Before I decide what I want to do next (oops) or write a resume, I need to have a brand. That brand needs to shine through in all of my written and verbal communication, presenting a unifying theme that will let prospective employers get a quick sense that they understand what I'm all about.
Tom Peters said this about managing "brand You" in an article on Fast Company (the whole article is worth a read, but this bit is particularly important):
What do you think of when you think of BMW, Coke, Mercedes, Nike, or Marlboro? Whatever you come up with in 1-3 words is that company's brand (maybe an old brand, or maybe an unintended brand, but their brand none-the-less.) Before I decide what I want to do next (oops) or write a resume, I need to have a brand. That brand needs to shine through in all of my written and verbal communication, presenting a unifying theme that will let prospective employers get a quick sense that they understand what I'm all about.
Tom Peters said this about managing "brand You" in an article on Fast Company (the whole article is worth a read, but this bit is particularly important):
"No matter what you're doing today, there are four things you've got to measure yourself against. First, you've got to be a great teammate and a supportive colleague. Second, you've got to be an exceptional expert at something that has real value. Third, you've got to be a broad-gauged visionary -- a leader, a teacher, a farsighted "imagineer." Fourth, you've got to be a businessperson -- you've got to be obsessed with pragmatic outcomes."
My accomplishments
This is the list. It's sorted in very roughly chronological order at this point. Depending upon the precise position I am going after with any given version of my resume, I will pick several of these to highlight at the top of the resume. The remainder will mostly end up in much of the body of the rest of the resume.
If you can think of any others, or if you have any suggestions for rewording, please drop me a note in the comments. Each one is worded with the company name and such so that I can pluck them out of this historical list.... The ones highlighted at the top of the resume will be worded this way. In the body of the resume they will be edited down.
________________________________________
Predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union within 18 months in my Senior thesis in March, 1990 (final collapse was either 10, 15, or 21 months later, depending upon the precise event you choose as the mark of the end.)
In 2006 I began warning friends and family that the US housing market was in a bubble, and that a price correction was coming.
I was promoted 9 times in 6.5 years (two stints) at CompUSA.
Leading salesperson in selling warranty contracts in my store at CompUSA, during my time in retail sales there.
If you can think of any others, or if you have any suggestions for rewording, please drop me a note in the comments. Each one is worded with the company name and such so that I can pluck them out of this historical list.... The ones highlighted at the top of the resume will be worded this way. In the body of the resume they will be edited down.
________________________________________
Predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union within 18 months in my Senior thesis in March, 1990 (final collapse was either 10, 15, or 21 months later, depending upon the precise event you choose as the mark of the end.)
In 2006 I began warning friends and family that the US housing market was in a bubble, and that a price correction was coming.
I was promoted 9 times in 6.5 years (two stints) at CompUSA.
Leading salesperson in selling warranty contracts in my store at CompUSA, during my time in retail sales there.
Overview of the job search process
(This is a conversation for the Austin Job Seeker's Network LinkedIn group. I just had more to say than would fit in one of the LinkedIn comment fields.)
Greetings all,
I was laid off just over two weeks ago. I'm just finishing up dealing with the mechanics of getting laid off and transitioning my family and life into this new phase. And I am just barely getting started with the preparations of the job search.
I think that many of the people who follow behind us on this path would greatly benefit from an outline and practical advice for dealing with the first two weeks, specifically, and then with an overview of the rest of the process. I've written out my notes below. Would you spend a minute to add your suggestions in the comments?
Hopefully you and I will be working full time soon, and so someone who follows behind us will take this to the next stage and clean it up, etc.
If you have suggestions then please reference the step #. Like, "In step 6 I would suggest that you add _______." Or, "I think that step 17 needs to come much earlier, like maybe before step 6."
_____________________
Overview of the job search process
I'm sorry for you that you are having to go through this. There are lots of good people who have gone through it before you and left behind some good resources. You will get through this. Please take the time to help others while you are here. Share your experiences and ideas with those who are travelling here at the same time as you. And consider spending a little time improving these resources for the people who come behind you.
Greetings all,
I was laid off just over two weeks ago. I'm just finishing up dealing with the mechanics of getting laid off and transitioning my family and life into this new phase. And I am just barely getting started with the preparations of the job search.
I think that many of the people who follow behind us on this path would greatly benefit from an outline and practical advice for dealing with the first two weeks, specifically, and then with an overview of the rest of the process. I've written out my notes below. Would you spend a minute to add your suggestions in the comments?
Hopefully you and I will be working full time soon, and so someone who follows behind us will take this to the next stage and clean it up, etc.
If you have suggestions then please reference the step #. Like, "In step 6 I would suggest that you add _______." Or, "I think that step 17 needs to come much earlier, like maybe before step 6."
_____________________
Overview of the job search process
I'm sorry for you that you are having to go through this. There are lots of good people who have gone through it before you and left behind some good resources. You will get through this. Please take the time to help others while you are here. Share your experiences and ideas with those who are travelling here at the same time as you. And consider spending a little time improving these resources for the people who come behind you.
Friday, September 25, 2009
The 'get my next job' plan
Current status: 10/6/09 @ 11 pm -- I researched the 10 behavioral questions a little bit. I figured out that I needed to pick either plan A or plan B before I could pick 10 questions to answer. So that is on hold. Instead of that I read '48 Days to the Work You Love' by Dan Miller. Great book. That is going to take a while to digest--not 48 days, but some time. I'll blog the key points of the book for me, tomorrow. I'm also still going to ask everyone to help me with the branding exercise, tomorrow. Everything else is on hold while I digest that book, I think.
_____________________________
This is the plan. If you really want to understand the 'whys' behind the plan you will need to take Ken Kuznia's class 'Land the Job You Want'.
I've reordered the steps because his steps were in presentation order, not execution order. I'm also omitting the critical 'shift your paradigm' step because I don't want to steal Ken's thunder, and because I've already done it. When he said it I slapped my forehead and instantly saw that he was completely right. My paradigm is thus now shifted, so I'm skipping that step in the plan below. As I said, if you are interested then take the class.
One more note for the readers. There is no step for 'finding out if the company is hiring'. That is intentional. I'm sure that I will send my resume to some companies that have publicized positions. If you have a lead that fits my skills, please let me know and I will definitely check it out. But my action plan is focused on finding opportunities that are not yet posted, and applying while I am the only person being considered. (Take Ken's class for the explanation.)
1. Create an action plan (this blog post)
I'm planning in public. That includes commitment dates and status updates (coming later).
This is now done (see below.)
_____________________________
This is the plan. If you really want to understand the 'whys' behind the plan you will need to take Ken Kuznia's class 'Land the Job You Want'.
I've reordered the steps because his steps were in presentation order, not execution order. I'm also omitting the critical 'shift your paradigm' step because I don't want to steal Ken's thunder, and because I've already done it. When he said it I slapped my forehead and instantly saw that he was completely right. My paradigm is thus now shifted, so I'm skipping that step in the plan below. As I said, if you are interested then take the class.
One more note for the readers. There is no step for 'finding out if the company is hiring'. That is intentional. I'm sure that I will send my resume to some companies that have publicized positions. If you have a lead that fits my skills, please let me know and I will definitely check it out. But my action plan is focused on finding opportunities that are not yet posted, and applying while I am the only person being considered. (Take Ken's class for the explanation.)
1. Create an action plan (this blog post)
I'm planning in public. That includes commitment dates and status updates (coming later).
This is now done (see below.)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
I'm still thinking about it
I got laid off. You know that by now. I have enough savings and whatnot that I can take a little time to catch my breath and approach my next job with more of a plan than I did any previous job. I started at CompUSA because I was interested in computers and had no experience whatsoever. I bailed and went to Journyx because I needed any job (CompUSA was clearly sinking) and they agreed to hire me. Those two jobs lasted me over 15 years (yes, there was a brief stint at Computer Source, but that doesn't really count.)
Now I get to take a little time and decide what I want to do. What type of work would I enjoy? That is a very liberating and stress-relieving question.
I had decided to take some time and decide what I wanted to do before I jumped in to searching. I started getting the preparations for the job search in place--this blog, my LinkedIn profile, business cards, etc. But I'm waiting to shift into real 'search' mode until after I make that decision.
While I was going through these preparations I attended a meeting of the Austin Job Seekers Network at Hill Country Bible Church (highly recommended, by the way.) They did an announcement for a job search process training class by Ken Kuznia, whom I had already heard about elsewhere. I signed up, and then took that class earlier today. The class is called 'Land the Job You Want'. The plan outline in the next post is my personalization and interpretation of that class, mixed with a few other ideas that I had.
Update: Decision is made.
Now I get to take a little time and decide what I want to do. What type of work would I enjoy? That is a very liberating and stress-relieving question.
I had decided to take some time and decide what I wanted to do before I jumped in to searching. I started getting the preparations for the job search in place--this blog, my LinkedIn profile, business cards, etc. But I'm waiting to shift into real 'search' mode until after I make that decision.
While I was going through these preparations I attended a meeting of the Austin Job Seekers Network at Hill Country Bible Church (highly recommended, by the way.) They did an announcement for a job search process training class by Ken Kuznia, whom I had already heard about elsewhere. I signed up, and then took that class earlier today. The class is called 'Land the Job You Want'. The plan outline in the next post is my personalization and interpretation of that class, mixed with a few other ideas that I had.
Update: Decision is made.
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