The Byrds sang it best: 'To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.' I only wish I knew how to interpret the purpose of my exhaustive job search!
Today I went to the simply amazing program, JobCamp2 -- there were at least 1,000 people in attendance! This may seem like a success to the planners; but to me and my fellow job seekers, it was rather daunting -- these are the folks that are competing alongside of (and perhaps with) me for a job. However, I felt a tremendous level of excitement from the group. All were quite friendly; afterall we were here to network. It took me a bit to get into the swing of things but a simple question like 'how long have you been out?' served as the icebreaker. I was surprised to meet people from all different career paths from healthcare finance managers to mechanical and electrical engineers. This recession left nothing sacred.
The program was wonderfully planned and organized. It was held at the Potawatami Casino so one could sit in on the workshops or try their luck at bingo or the tables. I chose the workshops and wish I would have arrived earlier! The first one that I attended was 'Conquering the Personal Side of Job Transition' by Christine McMahon. Christine is the host of ASK CHRISTINE, a weekly free tele-seminar series designed to help people in job transition understand and manage the human side of what it means to lose a job. She helped me realize that there's something along this continuum that is just meant to be; she's a firm believer in purpose and also feels that each one of us is in this place to give insight to someone else. Imagine that -- it's not just about me!! This is all happening for a reason and that reason won't be revealed until long after the purpose has been realized. She also mentioned that the greatest lessons are those that are learned with conviction. Oh so true!
I met with master LinkedIn guru, Wayne Breitbarth, and he critqued my LinkedIn profile. He thought it was pretty good and only suggested some minor tweaks. He's hosting additional seminars to teach more about social networking that I definitely plan to attend.
My second workshop happened to be hosted by a former colleague of mine, Jim Trainor. Jim used to be an owner in Trainor / Salick & Associates where I first got involved in technology. He recently resurfaced onto my radar as a member of Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands. Jim gave an awesome program on the truth about the job search. He was the second one to tell me not to waste my time on with the job boards -- I've been applying to between four and ten jobs a week and haven't been getting anywhere; now I know why -- the employers are passing the resume through a program to scan for certain keywords and whoever gets the most hits get the interview. I don't want to exaggerate my skillset just to get an interview; that just wouldn't be fair. Jim said that the job we're going to get is the one that we find through networking. Yes, I've heard that before also. Sometimes it just takes awhile for things to sink into this hard head of mine.
So new approach:
- Concentrate on my network
- Do one thing every day to nurture my soul
- Spend time with nature
- Be kind to myself and others
- Resist the urge to play the victim
There is a purpose, I'll find it.
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