Almostgotit.com

The Wall Street Journal’s online Career Journal  has continued its series of articles called “90 days,” presumably based on Michael Watkins’ bestseller, The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels.  Each WSJ column addresses the most critical things to remember in the first days following a major career transition.

There’s lots of terrific cross-pollination here, so if you’re in transition, go ahead and read them all!

• 90 Days: Working Productively As a Telecommuter
• 90 Days: Relocating Overseas? Do Your Homework And Ease Your Way
• 90 Days: Acing Your First Post-College Job
• 90 Days: Working for Yourself Can Have Its Challenges
• 90 Days: Easing Back From Maternity Leave
• 90 Days: Dealing With a PR Crisis Takes Planning and Truth
• 90 Days: Joining a Nonprofit Board Is More Than a Labor of Love

~ For more WSJ “90 Days” articles ~

———
Related Post:

The First 90 Days: Strategic Career Transitions

I received an email today from an AmeriCorps VISTA leader in Oregon, asking if I was available to work in Portland’s Native American Youth and Family Center. Unfortunately, that’s several thousand miles away! 

AmeriCorps  is not just for 17-24 year olds. Members of AmeriCorps VISTA program are expected to have a college degree or some working experience, and commit to serving full-time for a year. In exchange, VISTA workers receive training, moving assistance, health care, and a $4725 education award. Members also receive a modest living allowance.

VISTA members commit to a nonprofit organization or local government agency, working to fight illiteracy, improve health services, create businesses, strengthen community groups, and much more.   Just think:  You could work in Portland, too.

My friend Peggy, aka the Career Encourager, has asked me to choose which of the following I would use to describe myself:

1 - I am a Working Mother

2 - I am a Woman with Children and a Career

3 - Other

Hmm.  How would you answer that, readers? 

The way I define myself keeps changing, is the problem.  I’m going to be out of the mother business soon enough and never quite made it to feeling like a “Working Mother,”  so I think the first option is out.

The second option,”I am a woman with children and a career” is a little better in that I was a “woman” before I was a mother, but it seems a little out of reach as well.  I might, someday, get to call myself ”a woman with children and a job,” and then a few more years after that, I’d really like to retain the ”a woman with a job” part, too.   But a “Woman with Children and Career?”  “Careers” sound like such permanent and uninterupted things, things people have expressly gone to school to prepare for when they were young, worked away at for a three or so further decades, and then eventually retire from.  Can the majority of mothers even do this?  **Having a Career** sounds so intense and single-minded.  While “intense” certainly fits me, what mother is ever free to be single-minded as well? 

What I am is chronically multi-minded instead.  And every one of my many minds is subject to sudden and unpredictable change as my children and my life and I all go lurching along together. 

Which seems to leave only the last option: “other.”  I’d probably have chosen that option anyway, being the obnoxious iconoclast that I am, but in this case I think it really is the only one that fits.   In the end I think I choose “I am a woman:” or maybe,  ”I (just) am,” period.

How about you?

Creative commons   Child’s Drawing Photo by an0nym0usmus & Giraffe Photo by Timothy K. Hamilton  (see great comment by Timothy, below!)

—————-

Related Posts: Woman vs. rabbit hole: are we giving up too much?
Hanging in, and blonder, too
Trying it on for size: permanent 9-5 expat?

HR Carnival #15 is hosted today by Irish career-consultant Rowan Manahan on his Fortify Your Oasis blog.

I am particularly glad to see Career Encouragement’s post, “Would you rather stay home with your children?” — this is such a tender and complicated point for me personally that I couldn’t even come up with a comment of my own when she first posted it. I appreciate her voice very much, however!

Deb over at 8 hours and a lunch is also a favorite of mine in this bunch… I appreciate her irreverence and willingness to stare things in the face without blinking.

There’s lots of good stuff here, whether you are an employer, employee, or (oh dear to my heart!) still seeking a job. Don’t miss!

It’s the Carnival of Human Resources for August 22, and I’m the one lurking over here in the corner wearing the false mustache. I wasn’t strictly invited, but some of my favorite bloggers were, and these collections of HR posts are always valuable to a job-hunter like me.

Blog carnivals are a great idea, by the way — there are many creative ways to organize one, though generally a group of bloggers agree to post on a common theme or topic, sharing editing/hosting duty on a rotating basis. And who better than a bunch of human resource professionals to take advantage of this double-helping of networking — building community among colleagues while building readership at the same time?

So come on in. I’ve got a spare mustache in my pocket with your name on it!

When I was trying to decide what to do about a recent job offer, a friend proposed a  “thought experiment” she thought I might be helpful as I made the decision about joining that particular company.

Think about a person you have worked with that you really respected for his/her skill and professionalism - someone who was a boss or mentor to you (let’s call her Jane).  Now imagine you are at a business lunch with the folks from the team that’s been interviewing you, and Jane walks by and stops to say hello.  How do you feel about introducing Jane to your new colleagues and saying that you just took a job reporting to these folks? Are you proud of that decision / accomplishment?

My friend then described a job she had once accepted with a small firm that seemed to have a lot going for it, with the benefit package and flexibility that she needed.  She still felt she was “settling,” though.  While she was able to do good work for them, there was something about the whole arrangement that didn’t quite fit.

One day we were all out at lunch and it hit me, “If “Jane” (a former boss that I just loved - professional, smart, you name it) walked by, how would I feel about introducing her to this crowd?”  I realized I would be embarrassed to let her know I had taken a job with them - I felt like I had settled.  Not because they are “bad” people or anything, but because I knew I was capable of something much different in my professional life.   I realized I couldn’t work somewhere that I felt embarrassed about, so I resigned the following week.

My friend didn’t just leave, however.  Because she was valuable to the company, she was able to negotiate a consulting arrangement with them.  “It works much better for me because I can be more forthright and open with my ideas and suggestions since I’m not as tied into them as I would be with an employment relationship.  And it works better for them because I truly believe they are getting better advice from me now.”

Career strategist and consultant William S. Frank heartily endorses this approach, recommending that any job offer that seems unsuitable in terms of duties, responsibilities, or earnings may work very well if reworked into a consulting opportunity instead. In an article he wrote for Careerlab.com, Frank lays out some very practical ground rules one should consider in making such arrangements, most particularly how to calculate an appropriate fee.  It is better, he firmly believes, to give a few hours away than it is to undercharge…  a trap he’s seen many first-time consultants fall into.

Consulting may lead to full-time job offers, or it may very well prove to be an attractive career choice in itself.  In the end though, Frank’s most compelling argument for consulting is this:

No one should be unemployed, even for a day. The world is full of  problems waiting to be solved. Someone out there needs you and your talents badly. It wouldn’t hurt you to volunteer a few hours a week for a charity or for a business in need of your skills, and it certainly couldn’t hurt you to accept a few small consulting assignments while you pursue full-time employment.

—-
Related Posts:
Nope
How (not) to interview for a job
Woman vs. Rabbit Hole

It’s so new it’s not even in Wikipedia, and baby that’s SAYIN’ something!

Invented (according to Web Worker Daily) by software developer Brad Neuberg, Coworking is “a movement to create a community of cafe-like collaboration spaces for developers, writers and independents.”  Mostly young, mostly hip independent workers are trading their pj’s and isolation for shared work space where they can network, meet clients, and enjoy some of the time- and space-structuring benefits of “going to an office.”

Click here to watch Brad and some of his colleagues in a “learn more about it” video.

While it’s not an entirely new concept, the current “coworker movement” among the growing number of (mostly web) workers is clearly taking advantage of the social connectivity provided by the internet to collaborate in forming a number of “coworking” spaces  already available (or currently being formed) throughout the US. 

It’s a really neat idea.  What I want to know is whether they accept anyone older than 25, and if you can still get a mocha?

—-
Related posts:
We are ALWAYS networking
Trying it on for size: permanent 9-5 expat?

Dale Carnegie is my flavor of the week.  The Universe dropped him into my lap a couple days ago when my daughter and I were rummaging through the “free bin” at our favorite used book store, where I found his How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job – a perfectly good copy that was rejected by the consignment counter for no apparent reason. 

I do love serendipity so very much, when it happens!

Carnegie suggests we should always start by asking what’s right rather than what’s wrong.   Nevertheless (serendipity being one of your stranger animals) this week also brought me a good column by Mike Gunderloy called What’s wrong with web work?   While it’s already very difficult for any working person with a family to find the right balance, Gunderloy and subsequent commentors (me included!) discuss several problems which are particular to free-lancing and working at home.   Food for thought, indeed. 

Another blog I’ve been enjoying is “The Anti 9-5 Guide: Career advice for women who think outside the cube“  which is published in my home town (Seattle) and sort of makes me wish I could go back and live there just to participate in author Michelle Goodman’s world.  Even if I can’t,  the practical (if slightly anarchical) tone is perfect even as Goodman wisely avoids any temptation to jump into the Mommy Wars.  The “profiles” feature (of Goodman’s “fellow 9-5 expats”) is especially wonderful.

Don’t know yet if these are my peeps, but the journey’s kind of fun. 

These are just so exactly perfect.

• As I let go of my feelings of guilt, I am in touch with my inner sociopath.
• I have the power to channel my imagination into ever-soaring levels of suspicion and paranoia.
• I assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones that are someone else’s fault.
• I no longer need to punish, deceive, or compromise myself, unless I want to stay employed.
• In some cultures what I do would be considered normal.
• Having control over myself is almost as good as having control over others.
• My intuition nearly makes up for my lack of self-judgment.
• I honor my personality flaws for without them I would have no personality at all. Joan of Arc heard voices, too.
• I am grateful that I am not as judgmental as all those censorious, self-righteous people around me.
• I need not suffer in silence while I can still moan, whimper and complain.
• As I learn the innermost secrets of people around me, they reward me in many ways to keep me quiet.
• When someone hurts me, I know that forgiveness is cheaper than a lawsuit, but not nearly as gratifying.
• The first step is to say nice things about myself. The second,to do nice things for myself. The third, to find someone to buy me nice things.
• As I learn to trust the universe, I no longer need to carry a gun.
• All of me is beautiful, even the ugly, stupid and disgusting parts.
• I am at one with my duality.
• Blessed are the flexible, for they can tie themselves into knots.
• Only a lack of imagination saves me from immobilizing myself with imaginary fears.
• I will strive to live each day as if it were my 50th birthday.
• I honor and express all facets of my being, regardless of state and local laws.
• Today I will gladly share my experience and advice, for there are no sweeter words than “I told you so!”
• False hope is better than no hope at all.
• A good scapegoat is almost as good as a solution.
• Just for today, I will not sit in my living room all day in my underwear. Instead, I will move my computer into the bedroom.
• Who can I blame for my problems? Just give me a minute…. I’ll find someone.
• Why should I waste my time reliving the past when I can spend it worrying about the future?
• The complete lack of evidence is the surest sign that the conspiracy is working.
• I am learning that criticism is not nearly as effective as sabotage.
• Becoming aware of my character defects leads me naturally to the next step of blaming my parents.
• To have a successful relationship, I must learn to make it look like I’m giving as much as I’m getting.
• I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else is willing to learn from them.
• Before I criticize a man, I walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he’s a mile away and barefoot.

Posted several places online, including here.  No attribution given.  Please let me know if you know the original source!

These are from actual resumes:

(from multiple sources: if you know original source, please comment!!)

“Personal: I’m married with 9 children. I don’t require prescription drugs.

“I am extremely loyal to my present firm, so please don’t let them know of my immediate availability.”

“Qualifications: I am a man filled with passion and integrity, and I can act on short notice. I’m a class act and do not come cheap.”

“I intentionally omitted my salary history. I’ve made money and lost money. I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. I prefer being rich.”

“Note: Please don’t misconstrue my 14 jobs as ‘job-hopping’. I have never quit a job.”

“Number of dependents: 40.”

“Marital Status: Often. Children: Various.”

“Here are my qualifications for you to overlook.”

“Responsibility makes me nervous.”

“They insisted that all employees get to work by 8:45 every morning. Couldn’t work under those conditions.”

“[left my last job because I] was met with a string of broken promises and lies, as well as cockroaches.”

“I was working for my mom until she decided to move.”

“The company made me a scapegoat - just like my three previous employers.”

“While I am open to the initial nature of an assignment, I am decidedly disposed that it be so oriented as to at least partially incorporate the experience enjoyed heretofore and that it be configured so as to ultimately lead to the application of more rarefied facets of financial management as the major sphere of responsibility.”

“I was proud to win the Gregg Typting Award.”

“Please call me after 5:30 because I am self-employed and my employer does not know I am looking for another job.”

“My goal is to be a meteorologist. But since I have no training in meteorology, I suppose I should try stock brokerage.”

“I procrastinate - especially when the task is unpleasant.”

“Minor allergies to house cats and Mongolian sheep.”

“Personal Interests:  Donating blood. 14 gallons so far.”

“Education: College, August 1880-May 1984.”

“Work Experience: Dealing with customers’ conflicts that arouse.”

“Develop and recommend an annual operating expense fudget.”

“I’m a rabid typist.”

“Instrumental in ruining entire operation for a Midwest chain operation.”

 ((When one might consider hiring a service..))