The 4th Annual Un-Company Picnic held on Friday, 31 May 2013 was attended by 38 people – three more than participated in the 3rd Annual Un-Company picnic on Friday, 25 May 2012. These picnics were at Preston Park Meadow Pavilion in Plano, Texas. Those who landed described their new positions. Lee Brucker read a very short list of job fairs and workshops. Everybody recited their 30-second introduction. Paulette Wagner and Bobby Wrenn played a game of Cribbage. The wind blew a few things around, but otherwise attendees enjoyed the fellowship and food. The North Dallas / Plano Career Focus Group, Jeff Morris, organize these picnics. Advance registration for $5 or at the picnic for $6 got two all beef hot dogs, a bag of chips, two drinks, and a large cookie. Funds not used for the picnics are donated to CareerDFW. Potato salad, fruit, and other items were brought and shared by some participants. Photographs taken at the 4th Annual Un-Company Picnic follow.
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Abby Kohut will speak at Career Jump-Start on Tuesday, 28 May 2013 beginning at 6:20 PM and ending about 8:00 PM. The program title is “Maximizing Your Position Using Social Media.” Read about her speaking tour at http://abbyacrossamerica.com/. The website http://www.absolutelyabby.com/ provides general information about Abby. Her LinkedIn profile is at http://www.linkedin.com/in/abbykohut, and this profile indicates that she is a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker – a person who accepts most if not all invitations to connect on LinkedIn). She has spoken to other career networking groups in the vicinity of Dallas, Richardson, Plano, and Carrolton, Texas. Career Jump-Start meets at First United Methodist Church, 503 N. Central Expressway in Richardson, Texas. When attending Career Jump-Start look for the sign below and enter the church through the entrance nearest this sign. Information about Career Jump-Start and First United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas is available at http://www.fumcr.com/pages/caring_career. Meeting notices, job leads, and general career change information for Career Jump-Start participants are available in the Yahoo! Group named CJS-HPUMC at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CJS-HPUMC/. Career Jump-Start participants also exchange information through the online LinkedIn group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2526987&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr. Have you noticed how friendships improve and things are more relaxed when people share a meal? Pizza served at the Career Jump-Start meetings eliminates the need to eat supper before or after these meetings.
Career Jump-Start met on Tuesday, 16 April 2013 at First United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas and was led by Katherine Bradford and Robert Sage. There were 20 people who participated in this meeting.
The presentation by Terri Maxwell at the meeting last Tuesday and the book The New World of Work: From the Cube to the Cloud describes a shift in some jobs. However, other jobs have not made this shift. Similar shifts in employment opportunities occurred when the typewriter was invented and again with the availability of personal computers; however, neither of these inventions affected all jobs. McAfee is hiring and appears to have 12 openings. Check the McAfee web site http://www.mcafee.com/careers/. If you find a job description that might be a good fit, research the rest of the McAfee website’ Google McAfee to find news articles about the company; look up the company on Reference USA to learn about the executive team, who competes with the company, and who supplies the company; look for possible contacts on LinkedIn, and call these contacts. The two companies that have the contracts with HP are Kforce and Peek, they are both temp agency and you must go through them to get into HP. UPCOMING Career Jump-Start meetings: 23 April 2013 Elizabeth Lions 30 April 2013 Networking Round Table 07 May 2013 Stewart Rosenfield 14 May 2013 Jon Sotts Networking Round Table Some acronyms are well known while other acronyms might not be recognized at all. SWAT is typically recognized as being used by law enforcement agencies to mean Special Weapons And Tactical. Business managers recognize SWOT as an acronym meaning Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats. Businesses use SWOT to evaluate the marketplace where they do business. SWOT might also be used by hiring managers to evaluate candidates for positions they are trying to fill. Career Jump-Start attendees organized into four groups. Robert Sage assigned each group a word from SWOT, asked the groups to think like a hiring manager, and think of questions that job candidates can be asked to evaluate their assignment. Strengths ·
Weaknesses ·
Opportunities ·
Threats ·
NOTE: This summary is also posted to the Career Jump-Start Yahoo! Group at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CJS-HPUMC/message/15372. The Networking Lunch was at Joe’s Pasta & Pizza on Friday, 22 February 2013. This lunch with conversations about job searches was attended by 12 people. Networking Lunches occur at a different location each week as announced on http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CC_NorthDallas/. People arrive about 11:45 AM.
Career Jump-Start met on Tuesday, 19 February 2013 at First United Methodist Church at 503 North Central Expressway in Richardson, Texas. They met in room 230A&B because the United Methodist Men were meeting in Ogden Fellowship Hall. This room change occurs on the third Tuesday except during the summer time because of United Methodist Men meetings. The sign in the photograph that follows appears in the church lawn nearest the room where Career Jump-Start is meeting. When this sign is not outside of Ogden Fellowship Hall, go to the parking lot nearest Custer Road and look for this sign near the west end of the building. When you find this sign on the west side of the church:
1. Follow the sidewalk at the left of this sign to the doors on your left (about the middle of the building) 2. Enter the building through these doors 3. Go up the stair case or take the elevator to the second floor 4. Turn right in the hallway on the second floor 5. Go to the end of the hallway where you will find room 230A&B 6. Enter the room through the left door and sign-in at the registration table Career Jump-Start meets in Ogden Fellowship Hall on most Tuesdays. When you find this sign on the east side of the church (the side close to US-75 Central Expressway): 1. Enter the building through the door closest to the sign 2. Go to the right down the hallway 3. Enter Ogden Fellowship Hall through the second doorway on your right and sign-in at the registration table There were 19 people in attendance at the Career Jump-Start meeting on Tuesday, 19 February 2013. General remarks before the program included:
Robert Sage presented an excellent review of “Only BFFs Need Apply” by Logan Hill from Bloomberg Businessweek 07-13 January 2013. This magazine article states that companies are hiring people who fit the existing corporate culture even though they are not the best qualified for the position. Culture and diversity are described in this magazine article; however, diversity is beyond the scope of this meeting. Culture is about interactions between people. How do choices you make indicate how well you fit the workplace? Robert wrote workplace positives and negatives on a white board as people in the meeting named them. Workplace Positives:
Glassdoor (an online database of information about interviews, salaries, and jobs) collects questions asked by hiring managers. There has been a significant increase in the number of questions asked to determine cultural fit. Companies have distinctive cultures. This culture at Southwest Airlines include going to a weekly party. You should research people who will be interviewing you; Google and LinkedIn are great tools for this. Strive to develop a rapport with the interviewer. A nice firm handshake is important. “You signal trust in four ways: Look them in the eye, smile, open your body language, and synchronize …” Bloomberg Businessweek, 07-13 January 2013, page 65. Books recommended in this article are:
Both of these books are available from Amazon. If you want to purchase them from Amazon, help support CareerDFW and CareerUSA as follows (this does not change what you pay; however, CareerDFW and CareerUSA receive a portion of the purchase price): 1. Go to http://careerdfw.org/J/ or http://www.careerusa.org/ 2. Scroll to the bottom of any page on either of the above websites 3. Click on the Amazon advertisement 4. Make purchase from Amazon A wild card is a statement at the end of a 30-second introduction to catch attention. “He walked on fire during the initiation ceremony.” LinkedIn profiles will replace resumes. There are 30,000 to 40,000 recruiters who are online. Remember A-R-P (Awareness – Research – Preparation) The 50+ Re-employment Group of Jewish Family Services in Dallas, Texas met on Monday, 18 February 2013. Mitch Jacobs led this session that was attended by 21 people. If you only apply for jobs on the World Wide Web, you have a 3 percent to 6 percent chance of landing. Job seekers should research people by whom you expect to be interviewed on Google and LinkedIn. Other useful websites include: http://www.onetonline.org/ and http://careeronestop.com/. Each job seeker gave their 30-second introduction and the group critiqued each introduction.
Career Jump-Start met on Tuesday, 05 February 2013 at First United Methodist Church in Richardson, Texas. David Badger led this session attended by 20 people.
Jon Stotts of List of Leads spoke to this group. Brand yourself or you are destined to wear somebody else’s brand. Cattle rustlers rebrand cattle to make them their own. The only way to prove cattle were rebranded is to examine the inside of the hide.
Jon Stotts will return to Career Jump-Start probably in September to speak about networking with LinkedIn contacts. Four people won tickets to a Chili Lunch by United Methodist Women through a drawing before the group adjourned. The Chili Lunch will be on Sunday, 17 February 2013 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in the Bartula Family Life Center of First United Methodist Church Richardson. 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, 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. Networking Lunch on Friday, 09 November 2012 was at Jason’s Deli, 4801 W. Parker Road, Plano, Texas. Nine people participated including: Lee Brucker, Sue Heusing, Scott Parker, Mark Siegel, Judith Rhodes, and Joyce E. Dunst.
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:
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. |