Charter Founder of Cafe Rienzi Passes

Saturday, July 17th, 2010, Uncle Tom Durant, one of the charter founders of the Cafe Rienzi passed away, just short of his 90th birthday. We love you, Uncle Tom, and we miss you.

More information to follow.

JuneBug

This Person Says It Best: I Am Not Disposable!

What I have been groping for words to articulate for the last ten years, this individual has managed to nail on the head with passion and integrity, in his/her response to Interns Over Forty's article "What Do You Do if You are Fired in Your 50's".

Kudos and here's the link to his/her full comment:

I Am Not Disposable!

Good Job Hunting Tools and Links

First of all some helpful online articles:

These Net_Temps CrossRoads Newsletter articles deal with some of my "favorite" bug-a-boos and dilemmas:

7 Steps to Writing an Amazing Cover Letter by Jimmy Sweeney (http://www.careerjimmy.com/)
The Likability Factor - Do You Have It by Linda Matias
Questions You Should Ask During the Interview by Carole Martin
Telling Your Structured Stories by Michael Neece (InterviewMastery.com)
Marriage, Infomercials, and Your Job Search by Kevin Donlin
How Pen and Paper Can Work Magic in Your Job Search by Kevin Donlin
Find a Job 65% Faster by Kevin Donlin (what I liked about this article is going in with the idea of generating a 30-60-90 day job plan - it brings together several other pieces of advice such as giving back and would certainly give you ideas about what questions to ask.) :)
How Your Job Hunt Can Threaten Jobless Benefits by Dona DeZube
Basics of Credit Reports and Background Checks (http://www.esrcheck.com/)
Four Techniques That Get Employers to Return Your Phone Calls by Deborah Brown-Volkman

Repost: Job Blogging - Is It Safe?

Back in the ancient days before the omnipresence of social media such as Facebook and Twitter, I started this blog with the dual intentions of writing about my job search and my photography hobby. This was around February of 2006. Shortly thereafter I found a job and other things to write about. Unfortunately the economic downturn and high cost of health insurance put me back on the job market in 2009. But one of my very first posts in this blog was "Job Blogging - Is it Safe?"

This morning I came across an interesting article in Net-Temps' latest issue of their CrossRoads newsletter entitled How Social Media is Muddying the Waters for Job Seekers by Teena Rose. In the article she mentions a recent survey of hiring managers commissioned by Microsoft that reports 70% of  U.S. respondents have rejected a candidate based on their online social profiles.

Hmmm ... Well, I'm not saying that I'm a prophet or a visionary or anything like that - actually my view back then on the potential of social media was a trifle more optimistic, but any tone of smugness detected here IS intentional- ha! :) Anyway, I thought it might be appropriate to revisit my thoughts on the subject back then. So here they are - probably in need of some modification in light of how social media and its use is unfolding:

The internet although widely used is still relatively uncharted territory for employees and employers. Exploring the unknown does carry some risk and this understandably makes people nervous.

For example. I am not and never have been a prospective employer so I am just imagining the following scenario:

Suppose you are an employer interviewing a prospective employee who tells you they are a blogger. Does this information make you worry about issues such as discretion and confidentiality and liability, not to mention "too much information" - ie) inadvertantly showing your hand to competitors or letting trade secrets slip out onto the internet? You may ask yourself, will this prospective employee be discreet and use good judgement? Is it even worth the risk?

These are real concerns. I remember a couple of years ago when I was working retail at our local mall. Our employer, a major retailer, told us to watch our conversations when we walked through the mall - particularly they didn't want other competitors to know too far ahead about upcoming promotions and sales. Now, carry that concern over to the internet and you can begin to see the problem ...

Moving on to the other perspective, that of the interviewee, say me, for instance, who in turn may be thinking ...

They asked me to bring a sample of my writing/web work. Should I even tell them about my blog? Will they trust me or will that make them nervous? I did write about cutting back on the job search while my husband recovered from open heart surgery - will they look elsewhere because I sound like I'm too old and too much of an insurance risk?

These worries are not so far-fetched - or are they? Faced with the unknown, one can't help but wonder...

But let's move to the other side of the balance sheet and consider some of the benefits of job-blogging.

It does allow you the blogger to offer another opportunity for prospective employers to get to know you under more candid circumstances than the formal interview. Certainly it gives employers a chance to observe you over a greater period of time. Also, a job blog can offer another source of information to employers to balance out the background checks and references and recommendations from previous employers. It certainly gives you an opportunity to answer and be heard. To have a voice.

Finally, because of the social nature of blogging and other online communication tools, you can offer employers the opportunity to see you at your best and at your worst when it comes to dealing with other people. Now what prospective employer wouldn't love to see that? :)

To employers I would say that because the internet is uncharted territory, we need people who are willing to get out there and explore and break new ground. So perhaps it's worth the risk? To those worried about trust issues, I would say that inherent in democracy is the belief that people are able to self-regulate and indeed function best that way. However, this also suggests that education, accountability, responsibility, and ethics should play a major role in a free society.

So ... to job blog or not to job blog?

Well, I'm not done with this topic but I am done with this post (for now at least). Can any of you think of additional risks and benefits of job blogging? I'd love to hear your perspective. In the meantime, happy Job-Hunting. It's a jungle out there! :)

JuneBug

Introducing Joan Durant- One of the Founders of the Cafe Rienzi - on YouTube: Interview With a Poet

In my previous posts about the Cafe Rienzi, I have introduced my Aunt Joan and Uncle Tom Durant - a couple of the Rienzi's original founders. Laura Collins has done a breathtaking feature on my Aunt Joan Durant on YouTube which I am thrilled to present to you here:

YouTube - Interview With a Poet

And speaking of Painters and Poets - Archie Foxworthy

I have posted frequently on this blog about my great-aunt Firma Duchene Philips, a well-known scenery painter and one of the charter members of the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival. I'd now like to introduce some other memorable folks from my youth - namely Archie and Mary Foxworthy. I spent my teenage years with my grandparents Claude and Helen Alward in Fountain County just outside the town of Wallace, Indiana. Every fall my grandparents would help Archie and Mary ready the produce and products they had raised on their Parke County farm to sell at the Rockville Covered Bridge Festival. My grandparents would tie bunches of bittersweet and help bundle other local fruit and flora such as persimmons and sassafras roots as well as various jams and jellies, I suppose. For many years Archie and Mary ran a produce stand on the corner of highway 234 and US 41, across from a little store called Jipville, where they sold the fruits and vegetables they had raised throughout the growing season. I got to know them there, and at Wolf Creek Community Church, and through Lodge and Eastern Star activities in Wallace. Also Archie had a sugar camp for as long as I can remember - and I have an oil painting of it painted by my Aunt Firma Phillips. The painting has also been around for as long as I can remember. When Parke County started the Maple Syrup Festival which runs from the last weekend of February through the first weekend of March, Archie and Mary became very involved in this event. In fact I'm looking forward to attending this coming weekend and buying some of Foxworthy Farms maple syrup. Now 93 years old, Archie is a musician, a poet, a humorist, and a philosopher. Duane Busick, an Indiana journalist, has produced a wonderful three-part series of videos about Archie entitled "Archie Foxworthy, Parke County Treasure" which can now be viewed on YouTube - and the links follow below. I hope you enjoy meeting Archie and his family as much as I have enjoyed knowing them throughout my life.


Archie Foxworthy, Parke County Treasure - Part One - opens with spectacular scenes of Parke County Covered Bridges as Archie picks his banjo with a hickory nut and sings in the background ...





Archie Foxworthy, Parke County Treasure - Part Two



Archie Foxworthy, Parke County Treasure - Part Three



And here's my Aunt Firma's painting of Archie's Maple Syrup Camp.

JuneBug

Interview Crash or Refresher Courses?

Someone should come up with an online site of "crash courses" for interviews - not just interview skills but some basic refreshers for skills one might not have used in a while throughout a life long career or education path.

You know, like, "Ack! I have an interview on Wednesday and I need a memory jogger on ... SQL statements ... or Statistical methods ..." It's not that we may not know these things, it's a matter of having them at the tip of our tongues for an event like an interview.

WizIQ or Slideshare might be the ideal place for it. Or of course YouTube.

Happy Monday and Happy Job Searching!

JuneBug

Introducing OFA's Health Care Action Center 2010

Here's the link to a number of ways to participate. I tweeted my senator and representative. Let's keep pushing to get SOMETHING TRULY HELPFUL done ...

Organizing for America BarackObama.com Health Care Action Center

JuneBug

Thanks to ARAW and UNDER COVER BOSS, I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE!

To go along with the premiere of CBS's new reality series Under Cover Boss, American Rights at Work has started a site where you can sign a petition to Congress for the Employee Free Choice Act, and a blog where you can share your work experiences:

Fix Our Jobs

The comments are well worth reading! And sad. Not only have my long-held suspicions that I am not alone finally been confirmed, that if this had happened to me, it could well be happening to others (with no way of knowing), but in reading the comments I now realize the abuses are much more pervasive than I thought.

All I can say is in our passion and quest for democracy and personal liberty, let us not trade one form of tyranny for another. Let us not surrender our personal freedom to corporations and companies who have no respect for our lives and our values. Let us not turn over our destinies to those who can afford to limit our choices and to give all we grew up regarding as hallowed and precious to their children as a plaything.  Let us not be deceived by the incessant, hypocritical, droning lip-service paid to inclusiveness, fairness, quality, nondiscrimination, empowerment, and health by company after company after company who fail to live up to what they proclaim.

After all the fallout from the current recession, the million dollar bonuses, and the inflation of executive salaries and perks by percents in the thousands, kudos to CBS or someone for coming up with a reality show that actually shows some potential to make life better for people everywhere.

JuneBug

P.S. Equally as enlightening, ARAW has another tab on Fix Our Jobs where people can write in why they love their jobs

The Death of the Desktop in 2010? New Trends for ITers in Mobile, Cloud, and Thin-Client Computing

I've been leaning toward web and graphics these past few years as I think about enhancing my computer skills. These articles identify some emerging trends for IT job searchers in 2010 not the least of which are Electronic Medical Records and Social Computing:

Hot Technology Careers in 2010 - Mobile and Cloud from IT Job Cafe
Thin Clients are Roaring Back by Don Wilmott (this makes a lot of sense)

Junebug

Found a Good Article: Job Interview Problems and Solutions for Baby Boomers

Thanks to Mark Ste Marie from Interns Over 40 for a fine article!

Job Interview Problems and Solutions for Baby Boomers

This article articulates the challenges faced by older job-seekers so well - that alone is worth alot! It also comes up with some good suggestions.

Also a notable quote from Michael Greene of  JobSearchInfo.com:

"It isn't old age that causes lack of commitment, but old BELIEFS about experience and wisdom that causes companies to pass up highly talented individuals."

Thanks again!

JuneBug

Getting Your Name Off a Hiring Blacklist - WSJ.com

Getting Your Name Off a Hiring Blacklist - WSJ.com

Wow. This Wall Street Journal article (link above) popped up in my Twitter List and it's been a long time coming. I suspect that this problem doesn't just happen during the job hunt. As I discovered recently, it may also extend its ugly hand through the years to yank you away from a newly found job. Let me explain. I need to live and work in a certain geographic area. Almost ten years ago, I made a decision to stand up for my civil rights at a state university - that's after a 21-year-career at same said institution during which I earned steady promotions, salary increases, and two additional degrees. 


Leading one to believe the university valued my efforts as their employee. 

In return I believed I was working in an unparalleled place of opportunity, flexibility, growth, and service.

YouTube Blog: Your Questions for President Obama

Ah, the growing power and significance of Social Media ... Twitter ... Linked-In ... Facebook ... Flickr ... YouTube ... Blogger ... SlideShare ... I believe it trumped conventional politics to make all the difference in the past Presidential election! I marvel at how it's grown since I onboarded twelve years ago as an online message board poster in a fan community for a TV show called Prey. I eventually became a webmaster myself and set up various sites and message boards. I was so amazed when the desktop computer I got to do homework and balance the checkbook morphed into a powerful communication tool before my eyes. But that's another story...

Anyway, in investigating Social Media as a networking tool for my job hunt this new year, I came across these (unrelated) links & thought I'd share! YouTube is pretty excited about them and with good reason ...

• YouTube Blog: Your Questions for President Obama
• You Tube Users Grill Obama

 Enjoy!

JuneBug

On the Clock Advice

A lot of my posts - and a sub-theme of this blog - revolve around the job-hunt. When I got a job I thought it would be interesting to switch to on-the-job topics. But when you start a new job, you generally get very busy and ... well ... good intentions ... you know how that goes ...

Now I'm on the hunt again - but I did come across this helpful article by Mary Pratt from Computer World for those who are on the clock and I wanted to share it. The comments are pertinent too.

Your Tech Career: How to Cope with an Unsupportive Boss

Lately I've been reading a lot of career advice articles, and I frequently come across the observation or statistic that more people report being dissatisfied with their jobs than ever before. So I hope this will help those of you who are restless with your on-the-clock. :)

June Bug

Great State of the Union Address Last Night, President Obama! :D

State of the Union Address 2010

Now I too am reinvigorated and hopeful for our county's future!

Insurance Companies Back Health Care Reform?

Locals Rally for Health Care Reform

I attended a local Health Care Rally (sponsored by Move On, Yes We Can Tippecanoe from Organizing for America, and the Lafayette Peace Coalition) outside our courthouse yesterday. BRRRR! I thought it went really well - passers-by seemed supportive and receptive. And boy are my arms sore from holding a sign high above my head for half an hour to be more visible to folks driving by .... (I'm the gal in black in the picture below and I really need to get more exercise) ...

Ages of participants ranged from 13 years old to 94 years old - and the local tv reporters were there and featured us on the evening news! (By the way, the 13 year old is an avid activist as well as a home schooler and I admire his mom for making this event part of his education.) I also admired his astute sense of humor. At times we chanted slogans (to help keep warm as much as anything - hee), so after a few rounds of, "We want healthcare," he suddenly switched to, "I feel stupid!" I had to laugh - an unlikely collection of demonstrators, we all looked a bit uncomfortable out there in the freezing elements - but we were all willing to push past our comfort zones to support health care reform. Unfortunately Evan Bayh wasn't willing to push past his. His response was disappointing, out of touch, and ... clueless? Well, at least as Channel 18 reported it.

And thanks to the lovely lady from Lafayette Office Supply who, wearing no coat over a silky blouse with sheer sleeves, gingerly made her way across the street to invite us all in to warm up with coffee, tea, and hot chocolate! Just wrapping my frozen fingers around the steaming styrofoam cup warmed me up all over! Except for the frozen toes. ;)

I did learn something interesting while talking to one of my colleagues at the rally. He had read an article in an insurance industry trade journal. Apparently insurance companies are fast losing their customers.  The first wave of baby boomers are reaching the age of medicare eligibility. On top of that, massive unemployment and job loss has made health care insurance unaffordable for many. Also employers are dropping coverage because they cannot afford to provide it. So apparently the insurance companies are looking to health care reform and the government to guarantee them $30 million or billion in revenue or whatever! As a result, we may see more Republicans supporting health care ...

Just a heads up - and keep warm out there!

June Bug

What Next for Health Care Reform? A Progressive Caucus Poll

The Progressive Congress seems to have a very sane approach - they are asking for suggestions and ideas to feed back to Congress about what to do next about Health Care Reform. Here's a link to people's responses so far:

http://feedback.progressivecongress.org/forums/38781-what-s-next-for-health-care-reform-jan-20-2010/activity.atom

I thought the comments were varied and helpful. It helps to have a thoughtful discussion in a democracy. Which you can't do if only one voice is talking. Or if people are simply throwing party lines at one another. Only with a thoughtful discussion can we truly get to know one another and begin to see what our options are!

I participated in the calling in Massachusetts, and while it was an interesting experience, I'm not sure it was an effective way to campaign. It really sounds like the Democratic candidate should have done her homework - and not fallen back on Organizing for America as a last-ditch campaign strategy. People don't like to be bombarded with sales pitches - whether it's a sales call or a campaign call or even a fund-raising campaign for a good cause. With today's technology, a lot of people let their answering machine take calls when they don't recognize a number. I know I do.

On the other hand, if someone legitimately needs to know when the poll is open, or where it is, or how to get a ride, or even that their vote is critically needed ... a brief message on the phone with some helpful information may be appreciated.

It's hard for the average joe/jane (like me) to understand the health care proposal. I know I found it a little disturbing when Physicans for a National Health Care Plan said they couldn't support it. Huh? They found it fatally flawed. Apparently the insurance and drug companies are going to make more money than ever.

Huh?

I thought the idea was to cut costs and make health care more accessible.

Okay. So now what are we supposed to do? Nothing? Well, I don't know about everybody else, but that won't fly with me. While I am grateful for last November's historic election, glad I voted for President Obama, and glad he won, health care reform was THE determining issue for us in picking a candidate. It would have also been a historic election if Hillary had been elected. And maybe, she could have gotten us a better health care bill. With her previous health care reform experience as First Lady, as well as her recent experience as the Senator from New York, I'll bet she would have been tremendously helpful! But instead she's running around as Secretary of State ...

Ah, well, I digress. Anyway, take a look at what fellow Americans think in the Progressive Congress poll.

JuneBug

Flowers from Summer Storms

Flowers from Summer Storms
Originally uploaded by Prey_Momma

Just testing the flickr interface

People age 55-64 find it hard to rebound from unemployment, but are the wave of the future?

Yes! Someone FINALLY noticed! I knew I wasn't alone - that if this was happening to me, there were others out there grappling with a similar dilemma!


Check out this article tweeted by heymarci:


http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1421791.html


Thanks to reporter Cindy Krischer Goodman of the Miami Herald for noticing and for giving us a voice!

I lost a new job last April when I was 58. And while I have to accept some responsibility for allowing myself to be duped away from a two and a half year stable job to take a job that lasted only six weeks, shame shame shame on those who practice such irresponsible and hurtful hiring practices (all the while proclaiming they want to benefit community health and be seen as a premiere employer in the area)! I know it sounds harsh, but American workers are tiring of such corporate hypocrisy (and the growing wage disparities as well). After all, the only reason I started looking for a different job was because health care premiums had doubled, and I knew I had to find either a second job or more affordable benefits. But now, if it weren't for President Obama's ARRA discount, I wouldn't even have health care.

Seems as if management theory has been promoting more and more horrific management practices the past few year (and the propagators likely paid rather well, I might add) - but where do these ideas come from? In the eighties and nineties, participative management emerged as a management theory. It was both energizing and empowering. Along with more inclusive policies for women and minorities in the work place, it helped create opportunity, therefore it must have indirectly fostered economic growth. Like the GI Bill after World War II, it built the confidence of a generation. It encouraged exploration and new ideas. And then it disappeared. What ever happened to it? Of late, I really wonder if managers are turning to reality tv shows as their models. If this is truly the case, it does not improve life in the American workplace, needless to say, but rather seems just another way in the popular trend to be outrageous.

But perhaps I digress. Ageism is an age-old issue and it has touched all groups, whether privileged or marginalized. When I encounter ageism in the workplace, I just think, "May you also be blessed with health and long life. And don't you know you're looking at your future   - and don't you want to make it better?" And when that person is actually my age or older and hasn't a clue, I think, "There but for the grace of God go ...."

I hope we can get back on track and make the work place a better place for all Americans to work for future generations. A good place to start may be to join organizations like American Rights at Work (araw) and to support the Employee Free Choice Act. As well as putting some checks and balances on the abilities of individuals, corporations, and I suppose whole industries to buy our elected officials. Sigh. We have enough of that already. The current disparity of wealth in some cases is such that a single business entity or individual could "trump" the wishes of a whole democracy. And historically, human nature seems to favor the odds that they will. And if they do, will we still be truly free?

The second half of the title of Cindy's piece (that we may also be the wave of the future) is definitely more upbeat and hopeful - and that should give us incentive. :)




JuneBug

History of a Haitian Holocaust: Information Clearing House - ICH

Wow, here's an eye opener about Haiti and the relief effort. You'd think we'd learn from Katrina. We have trouble getting organized to respond timely to our own citizens!


History of a Haitian Holocaust : Information Clearing House - ICH

JuneBug

I wonder if our private groups and not-for-profits have been able to respond more quickly and effectively? It would be a good question to ask ...