Career Jump-Start met on Tuesday, 29 January 2013 and was attended by 20 people. Bethany Williams presented a program titled “Live Your Best Life in 2013.” She recommends starting a dream journal. This journal should contain a page for each of your life areas including: God, family, work, relationships, hobbies, and fitness. Priorities need to be reviewed annually. We need to dream big and dream a lot. Write your life plan down and include action items. Action items need to be scheduled on your calendar. . See her web page at http://bethanywilliams.org/. 



Career Jump-Start usually meets at 6:30 PM on Tuesday evenings at First United Methodist Church, 503 North Central Expressway, Richardson, Texas 75080. Official information about this group is available at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CJS-HPUMC/ and  http://www.fumcr.com/pages/caring_career_support. 

Career Jump-Start met on Tuesday, 28 August 2012 at First United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas. About 20 people were present for Sol Cartier’s program titled “Influencing the Influencer.”

It appears that people stay away from Career Jump-Start when they know there will be a workshop. The workshops can be difficult; however, they help us learn in a safe environment. So, they are a good thing. My band director in seventh grade told us to make a sound with our musical instruments emphasizing that otherwise he has no way of knowing how to help us learn how to play the instrument. He has to hear the sound that we make with our musical instrument to know what to tell us to do. Practice sessions in the band room were where we needed to make and learn from our mistakes not during performances. Career Jump-Start workshops are a place where we can "make a sound" and receive help that improves that "sound" so that we provide outstanding performances in interviews. I blew a slide trombone from 7th through 12th grade. I decided that I needed more study time and less music time in college; therefore, I decided not to participate in band or orchestra in college.

Sol Cartier helped us understand how behaviors vary from person to person and how behaviors change as time goes by. Some people are logic driven while other people are rapport driven. See figure 1. Sol provided the mnemonic “lefty logic right rapport.” Human resources people primarily evaluate how people fit the culture and secondarily apply logic to evaluate people.

While being logic or rapport driven, people are also either extrinsic or intrinsic. An extrinsic person is very outgoing making a point to shake everybody’s hand. An intrinsic person is very inward finding a corner with six or eight friends and ignoring the rest of the world. An extrinsic person can be logic driven or rapport driven. Likewise, an intrinsic person can be logic driven or rapport driven. See figure 2.

Sol had B+ marked on his arm to remind him to be positive.

It is possible to act outside of your stable behavior. It is not easy to shift like this. It requires a conscious effort. See figure 3 for an illustration of how behavior changes as time goes by during an interview. In this example, behavior is rapport driven as the interview begins. Behavior becomes logic driven as the interview progresses. Behavior changes back and forth between rapport and logic as the interview progresses.

An interviewer answers the question “If I am a good fit for this job, do you have any concerns about how I would fit?” based on whether they are logic or rapport driven. A logic driven person should provide a meaningful answer to this question. A rapport driven person will “sugar coat” their answer.

Have a 90-day plan for what you will do if hired.

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, 18 September 2012 will be a celebration of the seventh anniversary of Career Jump-Start. This event will be upstairs in room 230A. So, park in the lot near Custer Road and enter the education building near the middle of the building. The room is on the second floor at the west end of the hallway.

Career Jump-Start usually meets on Tuesday evenings at First United Methodist Church, 503 North Central Expressway, Richardson, Texas 75080. Official information about this group is available at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CJS-HPUMC/ and  http://www.fumcr.com/pages/caring_career_support.

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Career Jump-Start met on Tuesday, 26 June 2012 at First United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas. About 42 people were present to learn from a panel of human resources experts. Panelists were: Kurt VandeMotter, Myra Olvera, Joyce Wood, and Sedrick Evans. Kurt VandeMotter is a principal at Calise & Co.  Myra Olvera is a manager in human resources at Borden Dairy Company. Joyce Wood is a contract recruiter. Sedrick Evans is a human resources consultant to Dean Foods.  Advice provided by this panel includes:

• Keep a positive attitude
• Select an accountability partner or team of up to three or four persons
• Resumes need to match interests and be tailored to each job description
• Tell a great story about yourself
• Include a professional summary in your resume 
• Understand that average recruiters read only the top one half of the first page of each resume
• Interviews continue through conversations with receptionist, breaks, lunch, etc. 
• Realize that the CEO’s secretary might be giving the receptionist a break and participating in your interview
• Two-minute introduction provides response to request to tell about yourself – have this memorized to overcome nervousness 
• When possible, tour the business (retail store) before going to the interview
• Research the company thoroughly 
• Phone interviews are some of the hardest - dress for the job and watch your expressions in a mirror – expressions are conveyed over the telephone 
• Follow-up with a thank you (details were debated)
• Answer why they should hire you

NEXT WEEK: NO MEETING on Tuesday 03 July 2012 due to the Independence Day Holiday on 04 July 2012

Career Jump-Start usually meets on Tuesday evenings at First United Methodist Church, 503 North Central Expressway, Richardson, Texas 75080. Official information about this group is available at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CJS-HPUMC/ and  http://www.fumcr.com/pages/caring_career_support. 

Career Jump-Start met on Tuesday, 22 May 2012 at First United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas. Between 20 and 30 persons were present and heard Dave Peters’ program about Networking.

Serve others to serve yourself.

Good old Boy network is detrimental to networking.

Build a quality network.

Assertive Leaders serve others before their self.

Target companies should be listed vertically rather than horizontally. This places your most desired company at the top of the list with other companies being less desirable the lower they are in the list.

Companies treat employees in one of two ways: as a commodity or as a resource.

How do we setup a network? Approach networking like you will always be networking. Add contacts to your network based on predetermined criteria such as:

1.       They should be in the 95th percentile of what they do.

2.       They should value honesty and ethics beyond reproach.

3.       They should be flexible and adaptable.

4.       They should be servant leaders.

5.       They should have a passion for what they do.

This list of criteria should be customized to fit your specific needs.

Use the World Wide Web to identify where you want to work, and then use LinkedIn to find people in that company. Contact these people to determine if the company will be a good fit.

Setup an advisory board of four or five people who will guide your efforts.

Setup a support group.

Employment Transition Ministry (ETM), setup 12 years ago, is the other career support ministry of First United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas.

NEXT WEEK: Curt Fuller will describe a marketing plan to send to your networking group.

Career Jump-Start usually meets on Tuesday evenings at First United Methodist Church, 503 North Central Expressway, Richardson, Texas 75080. Official information about this group is available at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CJS-HPUMC/ or http://www.fumcr.com/pages/caring_career_support. 

Career Jump-Start met on Tuesday, 15 May 2012 at First United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas. Robert Sage agreed to present a program with very short notice. The scheduled speaker notified the meeting organizer that they were not able to keep the appointment. The meeting organizer invited Robert to be a substitute presenter. Robert accepted the challenge and provided an excellent program.

Robert focused our attention on two magazine articles: “The Joblet Recovery” by John Gerzema in INC. magazine October 2011 on page 38 and “How to Get a Job: Show, Don’t Tell” by Jennifer Alsever  in FORTUNE magazine March 19, 2012 on page 29.

“The Joblet Recovery” explains how piecework is being matched to qualified workers through websites such as: Mechanical Turk, SkillSlate, TaskRabbit, and Tutorspree. Each website operates differently and provides jobs that require skills and knowledge specified on each website.

“How to Get a Job: Show, Don’t Tell” tells us that employers are asking candidates to show or demonstrate what they have to offer.

Payment for jobs acquired through a website and performed can be collected with a device called Square that plugs into a smart phone and reads credit cards. The account number can be keyed into the smart phone when the credit card is not physically available. Intuit provides a similar device and service.

Lockout Mobile Security provides security for a lost smart phone. If the smart phone is lost, the owner can call it from another telephone, enter a command with password, and cause information in the smart phone to be deleted.

NEXT WEEK: Dave Peters is scheduled to present a program

Career Jump-Start usually meets on Tuesday evenings at First United Methodist Church, 503 North Central Expressway, Richardson, Texas 75080. Official information about this group is available at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CJS-HPUMC/ or http://www.fumcr.com/pages/caring_career_support. 

Terry Hill presented Living in the Endorphin Zone™ to eight people at Career Jump-Start on Tuesday, 08 May 2012.

“Use the science of happiness to optimize the quality of your life.”

“Happy people are healthier, more fulfilled, earn more, accomplish more, and live longer.”

“Focus on what you DO WANT – NOT what you don’t want. Focusing on what we don’t want creates negative emotions.”

“Endorphinomics™ is based on the Seven Endorphin Domains™:

1. Your Operating System
2. Your Powers
3. Your Passions
4. Your Purpose
5. Positive People
6. Positive Places
7. Sustainability”

Mr. Hill encouraged us to do three things:

1. Make a list of what you are grateful for
2. Make a list of people you like and want to spend time with
3. Have a dream

Mr. Hill suggested two books to read:

1. Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment by Martin E. P. Seligman 
2. What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better by Dan Baker 

 
Mr. Hill is with Terry Hill & Associates of Highland Village, Texas 75077 - http://www.terrylhill.com/. 

NEXT WEEK, 15 May 2012, Career Jump-Start will meet in Room 230 A&B upstairs at the West end of the building.

Career Jump-Start usually meets on Tuesday evenings at First United Methodist Church, 503 North Central Expressway, Richardson, Texas 75080. Official information about this group is available at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CJS-HPUMC/ or http://www.fumcr.com/pages/caring_career_support. 

Stuart Rosenthal presented The Process of an Effective Job Hunt to Career Jump-Start on Tuesday, 01 May 2012. Stuart is a Senior Product Marketing Manager with Fujitsu.

“You are networking until the day you die.” – S. Rosenthal

During week one of the job hunt, get the word out that you are looking saying specifically what you are looking for, assemble the tools needed for the hunt, determine where to network, and establish a board of directors. Tools that I had not associated with a job hunt are a USB thumb drive on which to store job hunt documents and a folder in which to store receipts for job hunt expenses. CareerDFW.org identifies where to network. The board of directors is a group of three or four objective advisors, who are not related to you, that oversee your hunt and make suggestions to help guide the job hunt.

NOTE: Companies update their career web pages no more than two or three times a week usually at 2 AM; therefore it is sufficient to check these two or three times a week.

During week two, ramp up the job hunt, get out of the house at least once a day and meet people, go to lunch with an employed person at least once a week, volunteer and help others at no more than two organizations, and check in with your board of directors.

During week three and beyond, establish a focused routine for each week that provides activities for each day of the week.

Help people help you by providing key words that describe specifically what you are looking for. This helps them recognize opportunities that are likely to be a good fit for you. Provide job opportunities that match key words for jobs that contacts in your network are hunting to contacts in your network. As they get leads from you they will provide leads to you.  

Most people have to meet somebody three times before they remember who they are.

Never stop networking and keep documentation of the job hunt so you do not have to start from scratch when it is time to start the next job hunt.

Young people network at parties, bars, etc. Older people network in environments similar to classrooms.

Career Jump-Start usually meets on Tuesday evenings at First United Methodist Church, 503 North Central Expressway, Richardson, Texas 75080. Official information about this group is available at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CJS-HPUMC/.