unemployed

Jump Start Your Job Search Workshop

by Em Are · Mar 26, 2015

Jump Start Your Job Search Workshop
Saturday, April 18^th
9 am – 4 pm, Church of the Saviour
651 North Wayne Avenue, Wayne PA
Cost $10

An interactive day of information and ideas to assist you
in finding the right position more quickly.

Knock Out Networking – Michael Goldberg – Networking is a key job search and life skill. Most people are not born networkers; they develop the skills and confidence through education, training, practice, and having a positive attitude. Bottom line, networking is the most effective way to attract more prospects, generate more referrals, create more opportunities, and land the job!

Breathe New Life into Your Job Search – Amy Dinning – Amy will share innovative strategies designed especially for the longer-term job seeker based on her personal experience. She will help you breathe new life into your job search using various tips and techniques.

Networking over lunch with fellow participants and speakers. Discussion about tips & tricks for job search around the tables and sharing in the larger group.

Interviewing for Success – Ford Myers – This information packed session takes the mystery and the nervousness out of job interviewing. Participants are walked through the interviewing process, from first contact to job offer. Attendees also learn how to effectively answer the tough questions, tips to maintain a proper attitudes and appropriate follow-up strategies.

Managing Your Job Search Like a Business – Rod Colon – Rod share with us that to successfully navigate today’s job market; you must see yourself as the CEO who treats your job search as a business.

Sign in starts at 8:30 am and the workshop begins at 9 am. The formal part of the workshop will end at 4 pm.

Please bring your business (networking) cards. Bring your lunch as there will be no place to purchase one.

Please register online at www.cosnet.org/care/jobtransition and pay with a credit card. We are unable to take walk-ins. Please note that online registration will close on Wednesday, April 15 at noon.

For more information or questions, contact Amy Dinning at amydinning@juno.com. The event is sponsored by Church of the Saviour, Hire One (a Chester County Economic Development Council initiative), St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia Society of People & Strategy, TCBY, My Career Transitions, American Society for Talent Development Philadelphia chapter, Greater Valley Forge HR Association, and Penn State Great Valley Career Services.

Blogging 101 – Let’s try this again – hiccups and all.

by Em Are · Sep 15, 2014

The business is moving forward – Cap Web Solutions does exist. I am starting to talk to more and more people about it everyday. I hit a little hiccup last week. My wife’s company informed her that they were doing away with the team she’s been a part of for more than 10 years and that the remaining three people working on that team would be let go at the end of the month. Ugh! She is getting a severance package that will hold us over for a little bit, but now the big question facing us is, do we continue down this path of me starting a new business, or is this a signal to hang a “u”-y and go back to the corporate world?

Time to re-group. What am I doing? Why am I doing it?

Writing here occasionally has become a bit of a stress release, a way to get my thoughts together. Something about seeing them written out on a page in front of me makes it all more real. Since talking about the concerns has never been a strong point of mine, maybe writing will help me reach out and interact with others. I have been reading a great deal over the past few months, more than I have in quite some time. Reading about starting a business, about social media marketing, about blogging, Twitter, Google+, and Facebook followers, and how to engage them as a business. I have been reading through more technical books and blogs than I can count. My programming skills are improving – it is somewhat like riding a bike – I never did really forget how to do it. Just need to blow of the dust.

I want to write about it, but not quite sure where to go with it. I’m also considering blogging as a substantial part of the service I offer as Cap Web Solutions. Blogging as a mechanism to share knowledge, provide resources to others and create a curated space for targeted information. Not quite sure I’ll be able to maintain both of these writing outlets, along with the delivery of the WordPress service and development that will be my primary focus.

I think that this blog will be more about the journey through the start-up maze, with the goal of engaging with others who may be on the same type of journey, or who may be thinking about going on it. Not so much a how-to but more of a “let’s walk together” and see where it goes. I certainly can’t consider myself experienced in this, so a how-to is really off the table, but an ongoing commentary of my way-points, now that may work.

Doing this publicly will make me more accountable. I think? Knowing that I made a commitment to do something on a regular basis (weekly? bi-weekly?) should help me focus and make time for it.

I did start a new habit last week that is continuing. I have been meditating and praying each morning. It’s been 8 days now and I’ve been consistent. I’ve heard that it takes 30 days to change or create a habit. We’ll see how it goes.

Today I’m starting a 30 day blogging course to help me get this habit flowing. I’m looking forward to the challenge and the progress. I think that these two new habits I’m trying to create in myself will help me process the issues that my wife and I will face in the coming months as she travels the unemployment jungle, as I have for the better part of the last two years.

If I can still be here in a year, writing regularly, engaging with others, I will consider it a success. A success, because if I am still here, on this journey, I am still on a path to live my dream of supporting myself and my family as an entrepreneur.

Let’s roll.

It’s different this time

by Em Are · May 6, 2014

It’s different this time.

Just after my position was eliminated in August of 2012 I was angry/ in shock/ hurt/ scared, all at the same time. The first few weeks are still a blur as I try to remember how I pulled things together. I do remember going to a networking event at Penn State Great Valley early on. I walked into a large room, and surprise, saw about 75 people who looked just like me: mid 50’s, somewhat paunchy, deer-in-the-headlights eyes, mostly male, walking around holding a fake leather folder containing freshly printed resumes – trying to make small-talk with recruiters and HR representatives that, for the most part, could have been our kids. Trying to explain how my life skills were still relevant and how they could translate into desirable business skills. Technical skills, forget it. Anything more than 5 years ago was so out of favor that it was now considered legacy and being phased out.

The biggest step I took was to go to a local support group – Joseph’s People – in Downingtown. I had heard of it before, many years ago, but had never experienced it for myself. That first Tuesday night was very nerve-racking as I arrived. But it was a support group for unemployed and underemployed persons, of any age, without regard to religious affiliation. These were church-going people – how bad could it get. If fact, it was uplifting. It was supportive. It gave me energy, but more than that, it gave me a safe place to practice talking about myself, a place where I could screw up trying to network and have someone nudge me in the right direction.

So now, unemployed again after only 3 months at this last job, I’m heading back to that safe place. There’s a Joseph’s People meeting in Media, PA tonight. I’ll be there, learning how to do better on phone and Skype interviews (you might be surprised to learn how often you do have to take part in one of these interviews first, before anything else happens), learning how to introduce myself with my personal elevator speech, and accepting the love and support of strangers. Initially strangers, but by the end of the evening, they will be future friends and definitely, LinkedIn connections.

Connect with me on LinkedIn. My network is fairly large, almost 1700 as of this morning, and I’ll do whatever I can to help you connect with the right person. After all, we are all looking for the right connection that will lead us to that one person who can point us to our next job opportunity.

Here’s a one-click connection URL – invite not needed.

All the best.

Another chapter begins, a door opens, [insert moving on cliche here]

by Em Are · May 3, 2014

Hmmmm, just about 16 hours ago, about 15 minutes before it was time to leave the office for the weekend – that would be 4:45 pm – manager IM’s me asking me to step into his office. Note to self – this is a bad omen – prepare yourself. After some light pleasantries, a couple of moments of banter, him writing 1 or 2 more emails and taking the phone call – all while I’m sitting in his office – he turns to me and says, looking above my head, we’ve decided to part ways with you.

Part ways with me! Are you leaving me? Sounds like a very awkward breakup if you ask me. To paraphrase, it seems like the directions manager gave me last week were incorrect, and the powers that be were not happy with the progress I was making on the items that manager told were not an issue. Manager deflected all responsibility to powers that be. Effective today. Insurance through the rest of the month. No severance. HR will get your PC from you and escort you from the building. By now it 4:55 and most everyone has left. Guess that is good so I won’t make a scene!

Said goodbye to a few remaining souls – two of which were most helpful to me as I tried to learn the company and its direction as quickly as possible – not fast enough, as it turns out.

Packed up my box of stuff, deleted my password manager from my work laptop, signed out of my cloud storage/work area, handed over my super-special, handy-dandy key fob, aka key to the kingdom. And was escorted out. On the way home realized that I left my prized Phillies magnet on the side of my desk. Damn, I gotta go back next week and retrieve it. Along with a termination letter. Realized the last time around that it is necessary to prove that I didn’t quit – for a number of reasons.

Fell off the wagon last night. Oh well, it WAS a very stressful event. I’ll climb back on today and start again.

Back to my networking with a host of new skills. I am now a strong cold-caller, have tripled the size of my LinkedIn network to 1600+, and have gotten used to a daily commute for the first time in years.

Thanks for listening. I’ll be back.