Not too long ago, the 405 Club coined a unique word.  An Anniversary is usually a celebration of a happy event in a previous year, such as a wedding or engagement.   The word used in a 405 Club article however was “Canniversary”, or the anniversary of being let go, fired or discharged from your employer.

 I gave this some thought because this week marks the 1st Canniversary of being let go from my previous employer. For those of you who have followed my writings (and I am very grateful for that), it has been a long strange trip through the world of Unemployment Insurance, 21st century job hunt training, job search engines, rejections (varying from kind to mean spirited), and eventual acceptance and a new start.

 As I have stated in many of my writings, I try to learn something from every experience I have gone through, whether it is positive or negative.   In fact, I celebrated the end of my previous job. From the way I look at it, it was not a termination, or an end to my steady salary. Instead I viewed it as a celebration of 13 years of successful employment, and held a family barbeque to celebrate the event.  That was the easy part.

   The hard part was putting what I learned about 21st century job search into practice with the goal of finding suitable full time employment. So on the celebration of my 1 year “Canniversary from my previous employer, I find myself reflecting on what this experience has taught me. This is what I would like to share with you this week. Here is what I have learned:

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I am a big fan of the Biblical epics. Despite the fact that I have seen “The Ten Commandments” dozens of times, I will make sure to watch it the next time it is televised. As a result, I have decided that there should be commandments that also apply to job search.  Here are my 10 commandments of job search

1): Never Give up

Everybody who has written anything about job search always makes this point. This is why I feel this should be the first commandment. Let’s face it, there are going to be times that the phone will not ring, even after you have re-invented yourself, made new network contacts, or gone to a dozen job fairs. This is a normal part of job search.

2): If the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t buy it!

There will be a time when you go on an interview, and you feel that the job is not right for you. If you get that feeling, pay close attention to it and proceed with extreme caution if you get an offer. Here is my thought. Are you really going to do well, and are you going to thrive at a job you really do not want to be at in the first place? Someone once told me that job search can be like shopping for shoes. Would you really buy a pair of shoes because they do not fit right? Just like the ill-fitting pair of shoes that look fantastic in the store, do you really want to work at in a position that makes you feel miserable? I am fully aware that the longer you are out of work, the harder it is to turn down an offer. Here is an extreme example, If you were laid off from a position where you worked closely with many people, would you accept a position in a one man office if it was offered to you? You may be glad to be earning a steady income again, however, how long would you happy at your new position, or how long would you be able to wear those ill fitting shoes? My points are as follows:

• Try to find some happiness in what you do for a living

• Never sell yourself short.

3): Use six senses when you are on an interview.

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As I am going through the latest employment opportunities that my search agents have located, I received a call from my wife, reminding me that we have several recorded boxing matches that we have not watched. I checked through what we have recorded and found that, in fact, we have recorded about a half dozen boxing matches that we have not yet watched.

This brought forth a memory back from my days when I was employed as a Material Planner. We had finished a meeting early one day, and the Manufacturing Director asked what I was going to be doing over the weekend. “They have several good boxing matches on television”, I replied. As we have been very busy all week, I thought it would be a great time to kick back and catch those fights. The Director immediately responded, “I don’t understand why you and your wife enjoy boxing, Howard! It is a barbaric sport, people get hurt; there should be a law against it!” I took a second to think about it. I responded that there is a danger of getting injured with any sport, however I could not recall in recent history, where someone lost their life as a result of a properly sanctioned boxing match. Then, I asked the director what he planned to do over the weekend and he quickly responded: “Deer hunting.” That was the beginning of several years of spirited discussions over which was the least ethical pastime.

As I was recalling those days, I began to think how much the job hunt has been like a boxing match. Here are some similarities that I came up with:

1): In a boxing match, the crowd always wants to see competitors with a greater win percentage. In the employment market, prospective employers want to see candidates with a winning percentage of quantifiable achievements.

2): Just as a pugilist must train so that he is in top shape for an upcoming fight, a candidate for an open position needs to train himself so that he can perform at his best when he is interviewed. A fighter must make sure that he is in top physical shape, just as a prospective candidate for a job needs to be at the top of his mental game.

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Writer’s Preface: Below, you will find the preamble for the article I planned to write this week.  In one of the lines below, I mentioned

“I have not yet received a legitimate (employment) offer.” The subject was to be a light hearted look at some of the employment scams. By now I have probably received an e-mail from  almost every work at home scam that exists. I was not, however, aware of a scam that had to do with paying you piecemeal for re-packaging and re-shipping merchandise delivered to your home.  Mike C., one of my network contacts in logistics made me aware of this when I received what looked like a very interesting proposal. I have more information on my recently repaired desktop and I will be putting more work into that article this week. As I wrote the preamble, it seemed to take on a mind of its own.  So I decided to give preamble more of my time and gave it the working title:  My Holiday Message.  Have a great week.

-Howard K. Young

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This weekend, I was moving the last of my personal files back to my computer’s “C” drive. This was the final part of repairing my home PC. After all is said and done, I lost only 3 active files. These files were created just prior to my computer crash. Some of my older files were backed up on DVD’s and CD ROM’s. One of the CD’s contained information that I moved from several 1.44MB floppy disks a few years back. I found the contents quite interesting. They were files from the later part of the 1990’s. Some were on Microsoft Word, some on Excel, and some were on Access.

In the closing years of the 20^th Century, when I conducted my last job search, I decided that I would keep records of it and back up the data on on floppy disks. At the time, I was just learning Microsoft Access. The previous year I was taking courses (sponsored by my employer) on how to use other Microsoft products. The differences between my last search and this one are worth mentioning:

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Ed. Note: Click here for Part 1 of Howard K. Young’s “Nightmare.” Enjoy Part 2 of 2 below.

Writer’s Preface: Time to get nervous.  One of my network contacts told me that they went through three interviews with a prospective employer.  The company promised a response by the end of last week.  When my contact followed up to see if a decision had been reached, she was told that they have not made a decision yet.  She was further informed that the company will make their decision by the middle of this week.

I have had similar experiences with this job search, as well as with some of my previous searches.  I can understand not getting a response if there are several hundred applicants for a position.  It would be unrealistic to expect that a prospective employer would contact all applicants.  If however, you were called back for a second interview, and then another candidate was chosen, I think it is only fair that the company contact you, and let you know that the position was filled with another candidate.  It seems that there are too many instances where, after two or three interviews with a company, they do not answer your calls or e-mails when you ask them about the status of your application. Yes, being upset about not getting the job is to be expected, however, I would hope that the top candidates could get a response, so that there is some degree of closure regarding that position.

As promised, here is the second, and final installment of the piece that has the working title “Nightmare!”  Now, it is back to the job search grind.  I am hopeful that both my contact and I are successful this week…but a little luck wouldn’t hurt :)  Take care.
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Previously, I mentioned that job search was only just one issue that was making my life…interesting. My computer had crashed, and without it, I felt separated from the world. It was an arduous task, but I finally managed to bring my computer back to life, so I guess Windows 7 will have to wait. I was also concerned about my mother, who was gravely ill. All these issues combined to make up a night from hell…

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Preface: As things stand right now, I am in a waiting phase.  I had a total of 4 interviews within the last 7 days.  One turned out to be for a position that was not for me.  The second one did not work out.  I feel the other 2 went well, but as of this writing, I am still waiting for an offer.  Of course, I will follow up with them in the upcoming week, however I have found that employers have a schedule of their own, and I doubt very highly that it will even come close to matching my schedule.

Onto the business at hand. I also spent some time with some of my former co-workers last week, who are also a part of my network.  We were talking about the nightmares that we had; both when we found out about our pending job loss and during our unemployment.  I believe I set the record for nightmares, with 3 in a single night.  As I started writing, I realized that this was going to be too long to print at one time.  I looked to shorten it, so I read it to my wife and asked her what part(s) I should eliminate.  Her response was to leave it as it is.  So I will submit this article in 2 parts.  The first, as always, is below.

-Howard K. Young

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Job search is just part of life, and in life, there are ups and downs. Marriage, children and work are constants. In most cases, family and steady employment brings stability into one’s life.

When other things go awry, those constants are factors that smooth out those ups and downs.

I am fortunate to have a great family, however the fact that I am in between jobs tends to make the ups and downs more dramatic. Without stability, the mind tries to find other ways to balance itself.

Last week, I had a number of interviews and a damaged computer to keep me busy. This week, with the computer repaired and the phone silent again, I knew I needed to follow up on my interviews and continue my job search.

As I write this it is late at night. This is a demanding time in my life and it seems that whenever there are dramatic ups and downs, I tend to have nightmares. My mother often said that when life gets tough, dreams are the pressure valve that help us keep our stability. Strange and scary as it may seem, the nightmares are just one thing that keeps me moving forward…

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