Finding your way after job loss!

As someone who has been laid off twice within a 12 month period, I have learned several methods to keep my sanity after the job loss.  The first time I was let go I slept in, let my facial hair grow, and was in my bathrobe more days than I care to remember.  This leads to depressive states, please do not do this!  Get back to you old High School routine.  Get your butt up as early as you can.  Taking care of yourself will lead to a higher self image.  You need to personify this higher image during an interview to get hired.  Plan a schedule, stick to it, and make adjustments when you need to.  The best part of being without a job is being your own boss.  You call all the shots, but rest assured nothing good will ever happen while your lying on the couch with potato chips stuck in that Charles Manson beard you have let yourself grow.

Do some regular form of exercise every day.  Take it from experience, you will have 24/7 access to your fridge and pantry, and you will put on some weight.  If you don't plan for the gain, you will have to buy new clothes to interview in which you will not be able to afford.  A real life Catch 22!  It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you do something: running in place, lifting weights, or calisthenics like jumping jacks.  Get that heart of yours pumping with blood early in the morning each and every day.  Exercise is going to get your digestive tract operating on schedule, which will help with your fridge and pantry issues. Exercise becomes a necessary win/win solution to a problem you may be unaware of.  The unemployed have no excuse not to exercise, as they have plenty of free time, and no monetary expense is incurred while participating.

Planning to get a job starts with seizing an opportunity.  To do this you must update your resume to include your last job experience.  Rehearse your speech about why you are not currently working.  Employers look to exclude applicants first because they have an unmanageable number of people knocking on their doors.   Business sweep under the rug the ones that do not fit the criteria for the posting, and when they pick the eventual winner the job search is over for them.  Every other applicant are still searching for a job. Send out that updated resume to as many as possible.  It is not possible to overexpose you resume. Computer trashcans on desktops will not overflow, although many will be deleted.  Do not send your resume more than once to a prospective employer, unless it has been over 6 months.  This can make you look desperate and maybe a little too persistent.

There are plenty of fish in the sea,  so make it your goal to send a resume to every job opening in your field. Join two job boards, such as CareerBuilder, and Monster.  Do the same with your major local newspaper, as  have more local job boards you must be in the know.  In two short weeks you will be an expert just like me in deciphering the bogus responses.  Make sure you post your resume on these sites for anyone to see, and allowing matched jobs to be sent via email each day. It is important you hear from as many as you can, your opportunities need to be as large as possible, creating a realistic chance of acquiring a new job.  Ensure you let all ex co-workers, friends, and family know you are looking for work.  Many jobs are filled with people who know someone, or someone who knows someone.  This can be humiliating at first, but trust me, your people will be sincere in their help with your job quest.

When bona fide leads come your way, the first thing they will inquire about is what happened at your last job.  You will get this question, accept it, and make the time to plan for it now.  This is the first chance you will have to sell yourself to any prospective employer.  Plan the time now to make sure that you have your act together with a great answer ready to go!  This process is known as overcoming objections in sales lingo.  The goal of the job finding process is to accept a position with a company.  To get to an offer you must overcome objections from a prospective employer.  Sometimes you might start with a phone interview, then go to the firm for a panel type interview, and perhaps you will have one more final interview before an offer.

Companies have different styles for the process even though their goal is the same as yours.  They want to pick the right applicant and hire one time for the firm.  Keep in mind their goal is also to exclude everyone to get the best candidate available.  My advice for the interviewee to be as adaptable and  honest as possible.  One must be able to apply your work experiences to the question asked, and be flexible to the prospective employer.  I cannot stress this enough, most of this process is to test the applicant, and appearing flexible is what most firms are looking for, just as they hope you will be on the first day of your new job!  

Effort is the most important part of keeping fit

I have slimmed from 238 to 223 pounds.  I have been keeping that extra weight off for about two months.   I  watch when I eat, and made changes in my habits to live to be healthier.  I no longer eat to live but I live to eat.  Since my early 30's I have not been below 225lbs and most times I was ballooning  upwards of 250lbs.  I was not obese but pretty close.  Every time I look at a health guide my recommended a weight of 177.5 lbs.  I thought no way with my present fitness schedule and zest for eating I will ever be that light again. Then I thought what if I could get down to 210lbs, or dare I dream 190lbs.  I could be comfortable, and healthy enough to add years to my life span.  I have been thinking of my body as a machine which has been stuffed with fuel and rarely used.

I began exercising by punching a 40lb bag, using a curl bar to lift 35lbs with different positions to work my upper body, and of late back to using WII to track progress, and to do some running to get a good sweat.  The first thing I noticed I was more regular, and my body started processing all that fuel it was storing as fat.  The second thing I noticed was I did not feel the need to gorge and eat all the time.  I have an appetite but no need to devour.   I am no exercise fanatic.  I exercise for 30 mins, at least 4 times a week.  I get my heart rate going and I break a good sweat most days.  I have watched  my stomach and love handles wash away before my eyes in the mirror. So perfect because this happens to be where all of my extra weight is stored.  This regular exercise is a win win for me!

The other part of my change was changing my dreaded cycle.  I had an afternoon job, I was eating breakfast, lunch before work, lunch during work, and eating big dinner at 10:00 p.m.  Hello!  Anybody home?  No wonder I was approaching 240 at light speed.  To infinity and beyond.  Thankfully I had a wake up call.  I don't remember it actually, but something made rethink my situation.  There is still some changes to be made.  I drink a pot of coffee each day before noon.  I still smoke a pack a day, but my eating habits are much improved and I have dropped 15 lbs.  I am not depressed, I am look for shorter goals with plenty of time to reach them.  I know I can get to 210,  it might take me till next summer, and thats okay.  Weight loss is not meant to happen quickly, remember it took years to put it on and its  gonna take some time to get rid of it.

Fall Back or Spring Forward?

  As I walk up the street for a walk with the dog at 700AM I am encouraged at the signs for a new day which  happens to be the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.  I take Nicky up the block knowing my coffee pot is doing its job and will have a nice tasty brew waiting for me when I return.  I see all the papers strewn by sleeping neighbor homes and the slightly tall grass which will get cut sometime during the holiday.  I see a man from another block jogging down my street with his two young children following on their tiny bikes.  "Dad, slow down" I here as the kids need more time to peddle up the hill of my court.  Dad obliges and then I see a puppy pug heading towards us as I put the lead back on Nicky.  They get to know each other, check vital signs as we continue on.  As we walk I realize it will soon be fall and not because the holiday tells me so,  I feel it because the suns angle has shifted and light is fading faster at night this past month.  The morning air is crisp and the leaves are ready to change their colors.  It will only be in the 80's for the next few days thanks to the passing of Hurricane Earl, and I am grateful I that I will not remember her name in a short while.  Still on this peaceful morning my mind thinks of our nations economy.

This past Wednesday's USA Today cover story was all about the lack of investment and hoarding of cash by many of our Corporations.  Most companies have a lot of cash that gets reinvested daily with the Federal Reserve Banks.  Since our nations latest recession these amounts have increased in record numbers.  The figure reported on this day was over 1Trillion dollars. The money is kept in the nations biggest banks and moved to the FRB's on a nightly basis.  This is money kept as cash for emergencies and other contingencies that big business might need to make ends meet should the worst happen.  This why this number is so easily tracked, and can be figured out easier than an overnight Nielson rating.  A trillion dollars is 1/13 of our nations debt.  A trillion dollars is a huge sum of money. A trillion dollars in cash is too much money wasted right now.

I have known that we are not coming out of this recession until at a minimum next spring, because of my 7 month layoff earlier in the year.  Companies have given up on reinvestment for their business they are hoarding cash because they are scared to do business.  This excess cash that is being hoarded can be used by firms in a number of ways.  They can pay down debt by paying off loans, they can reduce the number of shares of stock outstanding by buying them back.  Firms can invest in areas of growth and thus increasing employees.  They can invest in smaller business which can provide them goods or services in the long term and they can own a stake should it take off.  Right now our big corporations executives are sitting on their hands in the big conference room dreading making any decisions at all.  Smaller companies which historically hire the most people to work during downturns are unable to do so this time because of the tightening credit crunch, and are struggling to survive.

In Maryland the unemployment rate is just shy of 10% in a State of only 5 million people. There is hardly any manufacturing base left to speak of, as this month we lose the mighty Solo Cup plant in Owing Mills with its 900 jobs.  Most jobs available are 3rd party contractor positions for the Govt., or in the fields of medical, education, computer, transportation, and retail jobs.  The retail jobs are dismal as they only average $11.00 an hour.  If this sounds dreary, it is because I feel we are stagnating from a recession with no growth cycle.  This is precisely why big business does not know what to do.  They never got their big profits after a recession they are supposed to.  They blame the recession extension on consumers because we are holding a too much debt and for not  buying the big ticket items.  I don't blame consumers as we had to watch while our taxes helped bail out the big banks and auto industries.  I blame big business for not being innovative and for sitting on their fat cat butts while the economy started tanking in 2008.   Obviously the Fortune 500 is waiting for consumers to blink first and pull the nation out of this economic slump.  As I titled this blog, Fall Back or Spring Forward?  What if we have an extended stay with stagnation?   I am not gonna blink either, but I  might think about growing potatoes in my back yard this spring!

Not a Jiffy anymore

In the 1970's most car consumers went to the local gas station to get basic services like: oil changes, tire rotation, old batteries recharged, and perhaps a radiator flush and fill.  These stations have been transformed into coffee shops on the go, and were are lucky to find an air hose that we pay $1.25 to use.  We can still fill up on gas, clean our windows and sometimes buy oil and radiator fluids if we are having a problem.  Some stations I go to don't even sell these products.  Forget about getting any services, for one thing they don't even have bays nor the mechanic to do any repairs.  Secondly all they are concerned care about is ringing up the register.

Jiffy Lube came along at the right time for American retail auto consumer.  In the 1980's and beyond one had the choice of going to the dealer for the make of vehicle they had, or try to do it yourself at home after trying to buy the right parts at the Trak Auto.  Dealers do a great job, but the expense, time waiting for the service, arranging rides or alternate travel arrangement are turnoffs for getting an oil change or tire rotation.  Jiffy Lube made it possible to get the same work done at one of their shops, without worrying if they missed something or did something wrong.  Policy from the beginning was come back before 3000 miles and they will top you off, or take care of what was missed.  I know this to be true as they screwed my transmission fluid change and my driveway had all the proof.   Fortunately there was no permanent damage to the car. The price was right for the service and I used them as needed.  I don't want to forget to mention the time for the service was usually 20 minutes or less.

Now it is 2010 and I know Jiffy dominates the oil change industry.  From appearances it can sometimes seem they are the only company in town besides the Auto Dealers who provide these services. I know of a couple of places but try to find one in DC or Baltimore.  Jiffy Lube has put most of them out of business.  Even small auto shops want to do the bigger jobs and if you do drop you car for an oil change it might get done in 2 days.  That being said, Jiffy Lube Corporate greed has also raised the cost of that oil change from $23.00 to $43.00 in the last ten years. Sorry, but I don't think  the cost of oil has not gone up that much for 5 quarts to justify the increased fees. This morning I was first in line at 8AM and it took 40 minutes to get me out the door.  Of course they are constantly pushing us to buy that new air filter, wipers, all just for you at a 50% mark up.  I have become lazy and have paid for the air filter at the time, because I know my time running to advanced auto parts might not be worth it.  Not to mention the fact I have no idea where the filter is in my Mazda 3!   Oh I could find it, but is it worth my time?  So today I am blogging that I hope to see the next generation of oil changing company bring their service to the market.  Does anyone have some venture capital to invest?   I will offer my services to market and manage the start up.  The time is now for the next best thing!

Politics not as usual

I blog today because I am sick and tired of the tea party, their rhetoric, their leader Sara Palin and  I know I am not alone.  We have a good two party system in the USA, it has been in use for almost 250 years now.  It is far from perfect, and if some of us would take a little time to show our elected politicians we are alive and we care what happens to us we can easily fix most of what ails our Nation.   The problem is  that we gave the  politicians the keys to the castle, and  then we have sat back on our collective ass and watch.   So  how and what can we do now to make things different?

For us to make a difference and have our voice be heard we have to vote.  Many of us don't make this minimum effort.   Americans have to show that we can live up to the responsibility and deserve to be leaders of the free world.  That means researching the candidates and  voting every election.  We must hold our elected leaders feet to the fire to make a change to our constitution.  We must have term limits for our congress.  We already have this in place for the Presidency.  Why can't we keep Senators to a maximum of two terms or 12 years?  If we do that, why can't we then hold House of Representatives to a max of 6 terms or 12 years also?  Congress has had it made for far too long, and we all know are forefathers never intended that this become a life long job.  In my home state of Maryland we had recently retired Senator Paul Sarbanes decline to run for a 6th term after serving 30 years.  Senator Barbara Mikulski is running this year for her 5th term so she can serve 30 years as well.  We were lucky to have these people serve, but no one should serve in the same office for that long of a time period.

Groups like the Tea Party can strut their stuff because most Americans act like we don't care.  These people prey on the weak.  If you remember any news highlight from last Summer/Fall that had to do with health care and you will see the rhetoric that was used on the elderly in America.  The elderly thought that they were going to be euthanized the moment any cancer cells were found in their body.  They thought their Social Security, and Medicare benefits would be cut off at 70 years old, even thought they paid in the system their whole lives.   The biggest voting bloc in America was mobilized by scare tactics from Rush Limbaugh and his EIB network and these new Tea Toting Partier types.

The truth does not reside with the Tea Party, it is a truth of selfish servitude.   Why would people not believe and rely on the age proven theory that the younger generation will always take care of the older generation if only because their own self survival is involved.   I want to take care of my parents generation, so I too can be taken care of by the one after me, and so on.  These people banked on this kind of scare tactic causing the Democratic Party to have its base split at the core.  They couldn't fight the Republican fight because they had been in charge for 8 whole years.  They stuck it to Democrats hard, showing no bipartisanship, and only today have the "Stones" to accuse the Democrat Party for the same thing the Republicans had been doing, and then they cry "foul".

I give the conservatives in America the golf clap.  Sorry old chaps, they knew they had no place at the table for a while, so they tried to make a new seat.  They almost got to President Obama, and all the while I was embarrassed to be an American and watch the rhetoric the Tea Party try to slay his agenda of National Health Care.  Well guess what, they  gave it a fight, they treated many unjustly and unfairly, but at what cost to them?  The conservatives thought by winning a few Governorships and a Senate seat in Mass. and few house seats that they were setting the table for the 2010 fall elections.   Well good luck to ya Tea People! We know there is no chance of that, I do  believe a sleeping giant is now awake and ready to raise their voice.  Democrats will come out in record numbers for this non Presidential election year, and will squash these "Tea" thinkers.  I think there is a great chance Sara Palin is going to leave this celebrity as quickly as she got it, and I am quite sure this time next year she will be applying for financial aid as she won't be able to get her Governor job back in Alaska!

One two many spaces

I had this thought about why we enter two spaces after a period and a question mark over a year ago. I thought it was a novel and snazzy idea, yeah was I wrong. Get rid of the extra space, and there would be less typing, less use of space saved on hard drives, use space bars, and maybe a couple of less trees might be knocked down.  I had a ulterior motive, I was getting so old that even though I had Lazik Eye repair I still could not tell if I had typed two spaces after a period when I did so on the computer screen.

Turns out this idea has been discussed, prodded, and poked for a long time. Anyway, I thought since today is Earth day I ought to bring it up again as some kind tribute that I am making an effort to reduce my foot print on Earth. I have already done some really small things  I no longer flick my cigarette buts out the window of my car to wherever they fall.  I pickup my dogs poop on a regular basis using those grocery bags.  Oh, guess I cannot count this one because the bags are bad, because they clog up the Bays, Canals, and River Inlets  I don't know what I am going to use when they are gone. I guess my foot print is still as big as my size 13's.

Maybe I can make an impact on my print with this period thing   Turns out that when early civilizations start writing  they did not use any punctuation. George Bernard Shaw wrote that "Punctuation is historically an aid to reading aloud." The extra space at the end of sentences  was incorporated because the typewriter had uneven type fonts, and people could not tell a sentence was over when it was typed. On a typewritten paper two spaces stood out.  Now we type on a computer screen and guess what?  Computers do not recognize the extra space after the period in a browser format. We have come full circle, which exactly what a period is. I am for using the space bar once after a period or question mark, what say you?

This was typed with one space after all punctuation marks, and was in consideration of Mother Earth on our designated "Earth Day"

The jobs come and go, and many times they are the same recycled job

Been out of work since November 3rd, 2009, thats just past 6 months.  Not critical yet in terms of living thanks to my wife being the breadwinner of the family, and because of DLLR and the unemployment checks I get, but it gnaws at my sense of well being  just the same.  I have worked since I was 10 years old, and averaged 32 hours a week during college.  I have not been out of work more than a month during the 23 years I have worked since graduating UMCP.  In the days since May 3rd I have entered 24 resumes to firms supposedly offering jobs that fit my search criteria.  Supervisors, operations managers, dispatchers positions for which I possess experience and have qualifications for.  I enter I will work any shift demanded of me, and have worked third shift many times in my past work history.  I never hold back any required information:  including Age, Sex, Race, SSA number, references, past work history, resume, and complete any physiological tests required, sign up for the company's website, make a password, well you get the idea.  I give them anything they ask for.

Just the same I have notice a disgusting pattern of post a job and taketh away a job going on this past year and a half.  I knew I was going to lose my job last year, I just didn't know when.  I actually had been looking for a new job since February of 2009, and can say that this cycle of employment opportunities has been going on for a long time.  Companies look to the economy, and if they see an up tick they look to expand.  They tell their HR people get the ads out, lets get some bodies in the building so we can handle the increased business.  The problem is they see the down tick within the same short time and usually do not hire anyone.  Look to the last 3 negative issues to see if these jobs I just applied to get filled.  The events would be BP's Louisiana gulf off shore drilling fiasco, Volcano eruptions over Iceland disrupting world airline travel, and finally the Stock Market losing 1000 points in an hour last week.  All these events have brought the bulls to the forefront and put up a road block for our recovery, and I promise you, many jobs will be pulled back from the market place.

Here are three companies who have been playing this I got a job, now I don't peekaboo game for the past year.  There all local to me in the Maryland.  Dreyer's Ice Cream  posted the same coaching supervisor job every month in 2009.  Sleepy's needed a dispatcher, and a  2nd ,3rd shift supervisor. They have an ad out today for the same.  Iron Mountain, which I applied over 6 months ago and never heard back.  Did they ever hire someone?  Did it not work out?  I don't know.  I can't reapply to the current post because I have already applied.  That doesn't seem quite right.  Maybe Iron Mountain never even gave serious consideration for me, as the job was pulled back in the first place.   Do I think I have a chance for this same job now that my resume is on file from 6 months ago?   Ask any HR person, they will tell you I don't have a prayer, and now they locked me out from being seriously considered.  More than a few companies are using this approach now so they can poach current employees and only consider those recently laid off for the same "open positions" they had as long as 18 months ago.  This strategy will keep the long term unemployed until they fall off the rolls of being employable, and won't be good for the USA's economy in the long term future.