Needs assessment in the job search.

Hello all, I know it's been awhile since I've written.  Sorry about that, "life" got in the way for awhile.  I'm not promising to write more often but I am writing now.

I've written a few times on how the internet & social media can be used to facilitate a persons job search.  a funny thing happened to me a few weeks ago.  I answered a question on LinkedIn about a month ago and the author of the question was so impressed with my answer she emailed me to thank me for my participation.  I didn't think anything about this (except that it was a nice gesture) until 3 days later.  I receive another email about my answer from a different person (OK, this is nice!  My answer is getting some attention!).  Amrit A read my answer and decided to invite me to write an article for his website (www.evolllution.com).

We have some discussion about deadlines & details through email and I write the article.  Amrit was true to his word and published my work on his site yesterday.

I wrote about "How trainers know where to focus first."    This is about performing a needs assessment or 'figuring out where the greatest pain is".  It's could be (I guess) compared to a doctor analyzing a patient.  The theory can also be applied in a persons job search.

Have your performed a "needs assessment" in your search recently?  Have you stepped back and really analyzed what you are doing?  a  job search ministry that I work with is fond of saying 'are you doing all that you can do in your job search" (the answer is always "no" unless you are fibbing to yourself by the way) but that's not what I'm talking about here.

Step back and take a hard look at what you are doing in your job search; perform a "needs assessment".  Look at your resume, are you getting responses when you send it out?  If not, consider making some changes.  Look at your networking, are you making calls and getting meetings?  If so, GREAT!  If not, be honest with yourself and figure out why.  Look at all of your activity; are you spending time on the internet during the day?  Is this the best use of your time?  Are you finding reasons just to get out of the house?  How about volunteering?

A job search is like any other project.  On a regular basis, you need to step back and take a hard, honest look at what you are doing.  If what you are doing isn't offering the desired results, start making changes.


For those of you who are interested, my article on evolllution.com can be found here...
http://www.evolllution.com/research/how-do-trainers-determine-where-to-focus-first/

How do you act when you think no one is looking?

This blog post is more along the lines of "Think on these things" than my usual posts.  Something hit me last night and I just had to share it.
(NOTE2011.08.02 - I realized I had not posted this yet so here it is.  "Last night" was about a month ago)

I'll start with a story.  My family and I frequent a major retail giant, they offer groceries, general household items and have a Lawn & Garden center.

 This story is not about the major retail giant, but we will call them "StoreMart" for reference.


One day while my wife & girls were at StoreMart, she needed to pick a child to do something.  (Not my wife in the pic, BTW)  She was headed either outside or into the store so she stopped and asked the greeter to 'pick a number between 1 & 9'.  The greeters name was John (name changed to respect "John's" privacy).  He did, the girls guessed, and my wife thanked John then went on about her day.  The next time I went to the store with my family she pointed out John and we all told him Hello as we entered the store.  This became a habit, every time any of us would see John in the store we would say Hello.


Last night my wife went to StoreMart (for the second time that day) and entering, she saw John.  He exclaimed "you here again?" jokingly and they had a short conversation.
John is an older fellow, easily past retirement age.  Always friendly and smiles every time I see him.  As they were talking, he explained to my wife that he looks for us every time he works.  We brighten his day with our hellos.  John; a greeter at a major retail giant, gave my wife a hug during their conversation.  He passed her on his way out later (his shift was over) and hugged her a second time!
When she shared this with me; I started thinking.  Obviously; the 45 seconds it takes to recognize a person by name and tell them hello made a huge impact on this mans life.  He has lived a long and I'm sure eventful life.  He has loved, lost, accomplished and failed; just like all of us.  Why did an effort so small on our part make such a huge impact on this mans life?  I'm not a celebrity, not famous, not even close to rich.  We don't spend a noticeably large amount with this Retail Giant.  I'm currently working a contract position and somewhat nervous about when the contract will run out.  I consider myself on the edge of unemployed.  We don't drive fancy cars (NADA blue book says $22K would buy them both!).  Our kids; while exemplary in our own eyes, to be honest are your average cute girls.  How can an action from my insignificant life make an impact on this fellow who is my equal or perhaps even my better?  (In support of John, he has had a longer life and therefore presumably more time to 'accomplish great things'.)
Then, it hit me; like a ton of bricks.  We pay attention to John.
We treat John like a real person.  We interact with him and offer him the same time and respect we do everyone else.

But John is just a greeter at a Major Retail Giant you say?  That's the point.

So, with my story told.  How do you act when you think no one (important!) is looking?  How do you treat the cashier when you make a purchase?  Do you use their name?  I bet they have a name tag.  How did you treat your steward the last time you were on an airplane?  Or any employee of the Air Transportation Industry?  Flying isn't fun anymore; I have to take off my belt to get through security!  Is that the fault of anyone I'll meet while flying?  Most likely not.

My father taught me a few things.  "Respect EVERYONE."  "Don't judge a book by it's cover."  "EVERYONE is important simply because God chose to breath life into them."

You never know when some small act can make a memorable impact on another persons life.  You never know when that person will have a chance to return the favor.










(Remember to ignore this, it's just all my tags.  No need to read this, its just SEO. Employeer, internet, Job, Jobseeker, Online Reputation Management, ORM, Recruiter, Social media, chester, chester paul, chester paul lohman, paul, paul lohman, lohman, trainer, manager, Landing page, internet, internet tools, blog, blogging, bookmark, bookmarking,  email, IM, shopping, social network, social networking, social news, positive influence)

Why Google makes me mad but I still love them

WARNING.  This is NOT my usual style of writing.  I felt the need to "rant" for a minute and this happened to be my outlet.  If your not interested in hearing me complain, stop reading now.

I am sitting here, writing this article because Google has again, let me down.  They have let me down in the same manner they always let me down.   Let me explain...

I am your average Google fan.  I carry an Android phone.  I love it.  I carry an Android tablet.  I love it.  I drooled over the CR-48 laptops they gave away; never got a chance to even touch one.  Still loved it.  I've had a Gmail account for so long I cant even remember when I started it.  Now I have two Gmail accounts.  I have had Google Voice since it was invite only.  I blog with Blogger because it's Google.  I have a complete Google profile.  My resume is on a Google Knol page.  All my contacts are stored on Google Contacts.  I have 5 Google calendars, plus Google Tasks.  I use Catch notes because they let me log in with my Google ID.  I LOVE Google + (this is Facebook for people who don't like Facebook.  It's simply awesome, you have to try it.).  I even have a YouTube profile.  I use Google Reader to RSS almost all of my news.  If I shorten an URL, its with www.goo.gl.com.
If there is a Google product that fills a need for me, I'll probably pick Google over anything else out there.
I am writing this article using a web browser.  Want to guess which browser it is?  Yep, Google Chrome.

I made the switch to Chrome within the first year if it's beta release.  I never looked back.  I still have IE but only because there are some web-pages (mostly government) that just don't like Chrome.  (I know, there is an IE app I can get for Chrome.  It makes websites think you are using IE).  I love Chrome, but sometimes it makes me want to throw up.

I had some extra time this evening and so I sat down next to my wife; tablet in hand, ready to catch up on some light reading.  I follow 4 different blogs and bookmark articles I think I'll want to read for later.  I know there are other options but for these 4 blogs; this works best for me.  This is where my problem begins.

I use my laptop, a spare (smaller) laptop and my tablet.  All use Chrome and all are SUPPOSED to sync my bookmarks.  With Chrome I should be able to log into any PC anywhere in the world and see my bookmarks just like I am sitting at my desk.  Sometimes this happens, sometimes this does not.  Tonight, it did not.  I 'forced' the bookmarks to sync more than once! I tried three times AND MY BOOKMARKS STILL DID NOT SYNC.

Why Google, why must you torment me this way?  I want to be loyal.  I want to defend you in geek forums and friendly conversation.  So why must you tease me with this broken vessel of an internet browser?  Chrome is beautiful.  Chrome is fast.  Chrome WILL NOT CONSISTENTLY SYNC MY BOOKMARKS.  I have uninstalled and re-installed Chrome on all my machines.  I have deleted all my bookmarks from Google's servers and started over in an effort to have all my PC's sync; no dice.  I have searched internet forums and found only more frustrated followers like myself.  This only proves that it's not "me" but a common problem that Google should be aware of.

I understand Google's practice of allowing services to run in "beta" for a very long time.  I understand Google is constantly working to improve the services they offer.  I understand Google serves billions of people every day and that perhaps Chrome Bookmark Sync is not their highest priority.  I also understand this is why Google may never make it as a player in the social media circle they are trying to play in right now.

Google.  You can make a beautiful GUI.  You can make applications that are lightening fast.  You can make corporate statements like "Don't be Evil"; but you still have to pay attention to the little details.  Your Chrome browser is in build 12; don't you think it's time to fix the bookmark sync issue?  Please?

I still love you Google.  I still want to be your loyal fan.  I'm afraid that if you don't fix this sync issue soon tho, I may have to switch browsers (IE9 looks pretty nice & I've heard GREAT things about Firefox).  I'm afraid that will be the first step to the end of our relationship.  After the browser, then maybe I'll take another look at Yahoo mail (they have been cleaning up their GUI).  After mail, maybe I'll consider a WinOS for my next mobile phone.
It's been a great run Google, please don't let it end this way.