Entry for January 31, 2010

The picture is from a set of shots I took this morning around our backyard. My friend, Teresa Howell converted the image to a black-and-white Ansel Adams style. Gin and I both love the photography Ansel Adams shared with the world. Gin was the one who shared his work with me. I was extremely pleased that a professional photographer noticed my picture and thought enough about it to use it as an experiment with editing.

As you can see (in the picture) we received a fair amount of snow this weekend. It started on Friday afternoon as wet heavy snow. Around 8pm it changed to sleet and continued as sleet through early Saturday morning. We were extremely  lucky to not get freezing rain on top of 4" of snow. I shoveled one side of the driveway Saturday afternoon to make it safe enough to walk to the mail box. I finished the other half of the driveway Sunday morning. Tough work for an old man.

The past two weeks have been pretty routine for me. Job searches and contacting people I have worked with over the past several years. I managed to connect with the President of an industrial process design firm and will be contacting him about possible work leads. I was also ruled out as a qualified candidate for several construction management support positions. I've learned to take the good with the bad. The right door will open one day.

Friday I had my group meeting with the people from InnerSight. InnerSight is a company that reveals personal preferences people have in regards to their best possible career fields. The use the Holland Model for developing their results. 

My characteristics for work are bellow.

Work Style: I work more with ideas, data or things. I enjoy spending most of my time working on my own writing reports and analyzing data.

Learning Environment: I am capable of learning both ideas and skills. I can balance my learning between reading, listening to lectures and hands on experience. I am able to apply new ideas to concrete problems.

Leadership Style: I lead others by example and do not have to assume leadership for teams or projects. I don’t have the need to direct others.

Risk Taking: I can take some risks but not others. I will be cautious and take chances with my decisions. I have a balance between security and excitement.

Team Orientation: I can work independently and make decisions on my own. I take responsibility for my work and accomplishments.

All of this information and a list of suggested areas of work will help me better find a suitable job that I can have a better change to enjoy being productive.

Changing gears a little bit but not off the working subject. Gin starts working for March of Dimes Foundation this Monday. She will work part time through mid-December. Her position will be Family Team Coordinator for the Upstate of South Carolina. she is excited and nervous about going back to work in an office environment. Her advantage will be that she knows most everyone in the office since we have been a part of the organization as volunteers for the past three years. I am proud and excited for Gin and the opportunity she has to help others as she helps us.

I went back to all my Facebook posts I have made over the past nine months. Mostly copying the deep thought posts I have made about life, love and other serious matters of the heart, mind and soul. I will eventually expand on some of those subjects along with the comments made by family and friends. I believe I can create something meaningful for my family and friends to read and reflect on. Who knows, maybe I'll get discovered as a philosopher or writer (or both). Anyway, I have a lot on my mind at times and I hate for it to go to waste. If nothing else it can serve as a window into my thoughts for those interested in me.

P@

Entry for January 18, 2010

Sometimes we're looking too close to see what is right in front of us.

Last week was slow and boring. I sent resume in to five companies advertising nine different jobs. I was also turned down for the full time life insurance agent position. I am relieved about that one. I had lunch Wednesday with, Ed Marsh, a friend in Greenville. Ed works for the engineering/construction firm, Jacobs Engineering. He’s been helping me with internal contacts and leads within his firm. Even with his help, there is nothing really concrete in the job market. I have a scheduled appointment at the end of the month with the people who evaluate one of my work assessment tests. I’m hoping I will learn enough about career matches to be able to expand my job search to other fields of work.

I think the cold weather spell we've been under has affected my motivation. Being cooped up in the house all the time is nerve racking. Today’s job market does not want one to knock on a door. It's all handled through human resources departments and 3rd party recruiters. All of which takes away the getting out of the house and interacting with hiring managers. A lot of companies do not want to know about you through their current staff. They want unbiased hiring results based on credentials, pedigrees and sustained experience in a specialty field. None of which I have or hold.

All these brick walls actually make me more excited to change careers. The thought of expanding my working experience beyond auto repairs, shipyards, factories and engineering offices is mind-boggling. I have become a true jack-of-all-trades, master of none. I do hold a journeyman certificate for rigging. I wouldn't go as far to say it is useless to me. But, I would be hard pressed to go back to the stress and strain of such a physical form of labor. I really don't think my back could handle that work every day and I'm not willing to take the chance.

I do pretty well with writing. I just think I would require a lot more skills than I possess. Maybe some day I will attempt to write a book that is substantial in content as well as concept. There are a lot of things on my mind all the time. I am slowly making record of some of my ideas, quips and blurbs as a basis to assemble such a project. For now, I have to keep my mind on making myself marketable to a lucky company.

P@

Entry for January 10, 2010

I have been out of work for 19 consecutive weeks. Every week is different as far as getting motivated to find a job. This past week was pretty active for me. I had a meeting with my career counselor regarding my ACT test scores. The results of the meeting were somewhat disappointing for me. I scored very high on all three tests, but no real tangible jobs prospects are materializing from it. This is the second test I have taken that is supposed to help me get a new job. All I have found from these tests is they are time wasters. Maybe they work well for the typical factory worker, but as for my background they prove to be futile.

Tuesday afternoon I had my monthly cattle call to the employment security commission. Notice I didn’t capitalize the title of the agency because it does not deserve that kind of respect. I truly believe that it is merely a checkpoint for processing unemployment claims. The way people dress and act in this place can depress anyone. The staff is friendly enough, but I really think they are there for the paycheck only.

I applied for 10 different jobs this past week. All with different job descriptions and mostly related to industrial construction. The majority of the jobs I have applied for in the past four months are still not filled. It makes me wonder if there really are jobs available. Are these companies just advertising for phantom jobs until they actually have work to fill the positions?

Lets change the attitude of this post. I attended a presentation for prospective life insurance agents on Wednesday. It was for American General Life and Accident. Now I never in a million years would have considered becoming a life insurance salesman. I attended with an open mind. Mostly because I had stated that I would consider a career change if the circumstances were right. After the presentation, I was more open to testing the waters and returned an application.

Several factors are still pending for my final decision. The job is commission based, but has a paid learning period of up to four months. The General Manager demonstrated that they provide experienced agent support during the training. I think the thing that made me believe I could succeed was their new flagship policy. They offer a life insurance policy with a disability rider for no extra cost. The face value of the policy is payable in full if the insured becomes disabled, chronically ill, terminally ill or meets other criteria for claims. This means that the insured doesn’t have to die to benefit from the policy. Medical expenses can be supplemented by the policy which would lift a heavy burden off most people.

I’m still not sure if I will be selected to become and agent. I am also not sure if I will accept the position. There are still some unanswered questions I will address this week. For now I will keep my thoughts positive and continue seeking my next job.

Gin had Nolan at home Monday and Tuesday. I was out for a good part of each afternoon, but still managed time to be with them. Nolan just keeps getting smarter and funnier every week. We also learned that Jessica is expecting a boy in June. She had her first ultrasound on Wednesday. Nicholas Dean will be Nolan’s new sidekick. I just can’t wait to see him and his little brother, Dean, goofing off.
P@

Entry for January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!!

It’s been a while since my last entry and I will try to get back up to speed next week. I would write about the past two weeks but most of the details are in my trying to get over a nasty cold.

A new year and a new week will get me motivated to provide some new material. I have a few appointments at the beginning of the week which are job search related. I'm staying focussed on resolving this jobless situation. P@