Thursday, March 26, 2009

Like mother, like daughter or why the apple doesn't fall far from the tree

At the playground today, my daughter was fascinated with a little girl who was wearing a pink snow suit: this super-warm coverage with long sleeves and long pant legs looked like a sumo wrestler outfit on this tiny little girl. On her feet, she had tiny thin little silver ballet-slipper shoes. I thought the snow suit a little excessive for this beautiful 55 degree day and the shoes far too cold.

I made a comment to her and the mom on her "pretty little shoes", which seemed perfectly placed, until I noticed that the mom was wearing an adult version of those same silver ballet shoes with her winter parka. No joke.

Check out this video a friend sent me on the topic.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

3 for 1

Today, I heard of 3 friends losing their jobs. Having myself been layed off 3 times in the last crash (2001), I can offer some useful advise:
1. Don't dispair, don't blame yourself, and don't think that you are contagious. One of the hardest things to accept when you lose your job is that it really was not your fault. Too many other factors combined to cause this issue.
2. Put your resume together and revise it once a week. Don't fix it any more often than that or you'll go crazy.
3. Do 1 job-hunting activity per day. For example, Monday is resume fixing day. Spend 3 hours fixing your resume, sending it to friends for review, etc. Tuesday is Monster.com and LinkedIn day, spend 3 hours on those, searching and saving jobs. Wednesday is apply online day. Thursday is go-to-networking events day (have at least one event per week where you have to get dressed and look like a human being. If you can't afford the admission price, email the organizer and explain that you have just lost your job and whether they can offer a discounted admission rate - most people will). Find something useful to do on Friday.
4. Find a job, some job. Between stints of tech-based employment, I worked at Crate and Barrel. Sure, I didn't use my degree, but I earned enough to make rent AND I got a great kitchen in the process. It'll keep you sane and get you out of the house, talking to people. Just don't forget to keep looking for a real job.