Tuesday, March 31, 2009

How to Land a Job in a Jobless Market

How to Get a Job When No One's Hiring

by Jia Lynn Yang
Monday, March 30, 2009

David Perry, a longtime headhunter, says you're wasting your time if you're looking for job postings online. And he should know: he's often the guy on the other side helping companies lure new talent. Perry, who's based in Ottawa, says that in the last 22 years he has accomplished 996 searches totaling $172 million in salary. And the bottom line in today's economy, he says, is you have to tap the "hidden job market."

Perry's also the co-author of "Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters" and he recently spoke with Fortune.

Just last month, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis warned lawmakers at a high-profile Congressional hearing on the government's $700 billion rescue plan that he had no doubts 2009 would be an "awful year" for the credit card industry.

What's the "hidden job market"?

When companies say, 'We have a hiring freeze,' that doesn't mean they're not hiring. It just means they're not adding headcount. Every year there's 20-25% turn over. So in a 1,000-person company, 200 or 250 people are going to turn over, either through attrition, or someone moves. Those companies are still hiring but they don't want to tell you.

So how do you find these jobs?

What you have to do in a recession is map your skills to employers to where you know they have a problem you can solve. My advice to job hunters is pick 10 to 20 companies, no more, and pick companies you're interested in, and that you think you can add value to. That requires researching companies, and so that list may take you two weeks. If you're trying to crack the hidden job market and you know the job position you want reports to vice president, find that vice president on LinkedIn and look at his profile to see who else he's connected to and go ask them, 'What's this guy like to work for?' Do the research before you even pick up the phone.

How can you get someone's attention?

We can go into billboards, sandwiches - that stuff only works once. It's only for one person who figures it out once, once in a city. If you're looking for fun stuff, we have this thing called the coffee cup caper, 30% of the time it will result in an interview. You send an employer a coffee cup with a little $5 swipe card with a little note that says, I'd like to get together and talk with you over coffee. I'll be calling soon. And you send it by U.S. post two day delivery, and that gets registered. So when they've signed for it, you wait about 20 minutes and then you call them. And then you go, Hi, I know you just got my package.' You're proving you're imaginative and creative.

What something people should avoid during a job interview?

This drives me insane: I've seen people mentally deciding in the interview whether they want the job. That's the last place to decide. You go into an interview, and you sell like your life depends on it. You've got to get the job first. I've seen it thousands of times. There's this point in the interview, where people go 'Hmm, do I really want this? You can see their body change. The employer picks it up and it's gone. If the employer is telling you, 'I love you,' and you're not saying 'I love you too,' it's over with.

How about following up afterwards?

If you really like the opportunity, don't go home and write thank you very much. Go back and write a letter that says, upon further reflection of what we were talking about, here's what I bring to the table, here's how I see myself fitting into the organization, including a 30-60-90 day plan.

How can someone attract a recruiter's attention?

You have to go to ZoomInfo and LinkedIn and create a profile. All corporate recruiters and probably 20% of the headhunters in America have ZoomInfo accounts. When we start a search, companies aren't going to advertise. The headhunter goes to ZoomInfo, types in requirements that we need, like skillset, degree, city, functional title, and up will come anywhere from a hundred to several thousand people who fit that criteria. Then we go to LinkedIn and run the same search. If you're in ZoomInfo with a picture, we're going to call you first. Just reverse engineer what recruiters are doing so you get found.

How can you really impress a potential employer?

It hasn't worked in years just to bring in your resume, except only in the most junior positions. I concentrate on directors to CEOs, and the last interview for us regardless is always a Power Point presentation of what you've learned, pain points, and how you intend to fix that. Everyone talks about being a great leader and great communicator, so prove it. Don't go into an interview and treat it like it's just another business meeting. Your career is your biggest asset now - because it's certainly not your house.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Green Energy, Healthcare and Budget

Norm Stamper Norm Stamper - Retired Seattle police chief, member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - Posted March 28, 2009 | 05:57 PM (EST)

Marijuana No Laughing Matter, Mr. President

The president's busy. He's got important things to do, like rescuing the economy, saving jobs and mortgages and industries. But we ought not to let him off the hook for his frivolous dismissal of a widely popular question he faced in Thursday's Online Town Hall.

At the top of the televised event, the president announced that of the 3.5 million votes on the thousands of questions received in advance, one topic "ranked fairly high." It was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and encourage job creation. He responded: "The answer is no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy." He then asked rhetorically what the question says about "the online audience."

Get it? His in-the-flesh audience got it, chuckling politely at the allusion to a Stoner Nation plugged in to the "internets."

The problem for Mr. Obama is that marijuana reform was at or near the top of the list of all questions in three major categories: budget, health care reform, green jobs and energy. Our leader doesn't seem to understand that millions of his interlocutor-constituents are actually quite serious about the issue.

Which is not to say that drugs, particularly pot, doesn't offer up a rich if predictable vein of humor. Cheech and Chong's vintage "Dave's not here!" routine is still a side-splitter. As Larry the Cable Guy would say, "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there."

But there's nothing comical about tens of millions of Americans being busted, frightened out of their wits, losing their jobs, their student loans, their public housing, their families, their freedom...

And show me the humor in a dying cancer patient who's denied legal access to a drug known to relieve pain and suffering.

Having just returned from Minnesota whose state lawmakers are entertaining a conservative, highly restrictive medical marijuana law, I can tell you what's not funny to Joni Whiting.

Ms. Whiting told the House's Public Safety Policy and Oversight Committee of her 26-year-old daughter Stephanie's two-year battle with facial melanoma that surfaced during the young woman's third pregnancy. The packed hearing room was dead quiet as Ms. Whiting spoke of Stephanie's face being cut off "one inch at a time, until there was nothing left to cut." She spoke of her daughter's severe nausea, her "continuous and uncontrollable pain."

Stephanie moved back to her family's home and "bravely began to make plans for the ending of her life." The tumors continued to grow, invading the inside and outside of her mouth, as well as her throat and chest. Nausea was a constant companion. Zofran and (significantly) Marinol, the synthetic pill version of THC, did nothing to abate the symptoms. Stephanie began wasting away. She lost all hope of relief.

Joni's other children approached their mother, begged her to let their sister use marijuana. But Ms. Whiting, a Vietnam veteran whose youngest son recently returned from 18 months in Iraq, was a law-abiding woman. And she was afraid of the authorities. There was no way she would allow the illicit substance in her house. As she held her ground, her grownup kids removed Stephanie from the family home.

Three days later, wracked by guilt, Joni welcomed her daughter back. "I called a number of family members and friends...and asked if they knew of anywhere we could purchase marijuana. The next morning someone had placed a package of it on our doorstep. I have never known whom to thank for it but I remain grateful beyond belief." The marijuana restored Stephanie's appetite. It allowed her to eat three meals a day, and to keep the food down. She regained energy and, in the words of her mother, "looked better than I had seen her in months."

Stephanie survived another 89 days, celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas with her family.

Shortly after the holidays, Stephanie's pain became "so severe that when she asked my husband and me to lie down on both sides of her and hold her, she couldn't stand the pain of us touching her body."

Stephanie died on January 14, 2003 in the room she grew up in, holding her mother's hand. A mother who, as she told the legislative committee, would "have no problem going to jail for acquiring medical marijuana for my suffering child."

Following Joni Whiting's presentation, it was all I could do to hold it together during my own testimony. Such was the power of this one woman's story. And of the sadness and rage roiling inside me as I reflected on the countless other Stephanies who are made to suffer not only the ravages of terminal illness and intractable pain but the callousness and narrow-mindedness of their leaders.

When I finished my testimony, a local police chief, a member of the committee, angrily accused me of disrespecting the police officers in the room--who'd shown up in force, in uniform, to oppose medical marijuana. Wearing a bright yellow tie with the lettering "Police Line, Do Not Cross," the chief charged me with placing more stock in the opinions of doctors than of Minnesota's cops. Guilty, as charged. Who are we, I asked him, to substitute our judgment for that of medical professionals and their patients? Who are we, for that matter, to deny the will of the people.

There's much value in humor, even during times of pain and tragedy. So long as the joke is not at the expense of the suffering.

It's been a bad couple of weeks for the president. His Leno comment about the Special Olympics while self-deprecating and not malicious was certainly tone deaf, followed soon after by his casting gratuitous aspersions at serious advocates of marijuana reform.

But Barack Obama is a decent and honorable man, compassionate and wise. I can't believe he would do anything other than what Joni Whiting did if, God forbid, he faced similar choices within his own family. I can't believe he doesn't realize the political value of taking a more reasoned, courageous stand on drug policy reform in general. Or of at least providing honest, thoughtful answers on the issue.

Perhaps we should show him what's in it for him? Perhaps we should make certain that in every future "town hall" the president is reassured of the seriousness of the legions of voters working to end cruel and ineffective drug laws.

Git-er-done!

Friday, March 27, 2009

25 Mac Apps for Freelancers

25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

As a full-time freelancer and part-time geek, I like to play around and install applications on my Mac. In the following list I share some of the free Mac apps that make my life easier. I also own a PC, so I give my readers who use a PC an alternative for each app.

1. Name Changer

name changer app icon

Rename lists of files, the perfect software to batch change the files your clients are sending to you. It can be good when working with pictures too.

Windows alternative (no software needed)

2. Anxiety

anxiety 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Manage simple to-do lists with this lightweight application. Perfect for people who don't want or need complicated GTD software.

Windows alternative

3. Cyberduck

cyberduck 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

FTP software with a nice and usable interface, integrated with several text editors.

Windows alternative

4. Adium

adium 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Connect to all your messaging accounts in this open-source instant messaging application.

Windows alternative

5. Carbon Copy cloner

carbon copy 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Create complete and bootable backups with this easy-to-us utility.

Windows alternative

6. The Unarchiver

unarchiver 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Unpacking utility that handles tons of formats.

Windows alternative

7. AppCleaner

appcleaner 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Don't leave any files on your computer when uninstalling applications with this great little app.

Windows alternative

8. The Gimp

gimp logo 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Image manipulation software, a decent alternative to Photoshop.

Also available for Windows.

9. Skype

skype 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Voip service to make free computer to computer calls, or cheap computer to phone calls.

Also available for Windows.

10. Firefox

firefox 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Free and open source web browser, customizable with tons of great addons.

Also available for Windows.

11. Caffeine

caffeine 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Don't let your Mac go to sleep, keep it caffeinated.

Windows alternative

12. Burn

burn 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Advanced CD and DVD burning on Mac.

Windows alternative

13. Handbrake

handbrake 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

DVD to Mpeg converter, useful for recovering data on DVD.

Also available for Windows.

14. Audacity

audacity 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Open source software for recording and editing sounds.

Also available for Windows.

15. Smultron

smultron 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Free and powerful text editor for Mac.

Windows alternative

16. InkScape

inkscape 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Open source vector drawing editor, a decent alternative to Illustrator.

Also available for Windows.

17. Freemind

freemind 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Mind mapping software, my favourite way to organize my thoughts.

Also available for Windows.

18. Disk Inventory X

disk inventory x 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Disk usage utility for Mac OS X, quickly see what's taking space on your system.

Windows alternative

19. Colloquy

colloquy 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Advanced IRC client, chatting with a nice interface.

Windows alternative

20. Neo Office

neo office 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Open Source office suite for Mac, a great alternative to Word & Excel.

Windows alternative

21. QuickSilver

quicksilver logo 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Application launcher and much more, a real productivity booster.

Windows alternative

22. NetNewsWire

netnewswire 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

My favourite RSS reader, opened every morning while having a coffee.

Windows alternative

23. DeepVacuum

deepvacuum 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Download full websites or web pages with this software through http or ftp protocol.

Windows alternative

24. HyperDither

hyperdither 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Batch image resizing utility, time-saving if you don't want to use Photoshop actions.

Windows alternative

25. Transmission

transmission logo 25 free Mac Apps for freelancers

Filesharing made easy with this simple BitTorrent client.

Windows alternative

Sunday, March 15, 2009

27 Visualizations to Understand the Financial Crisis


 clipped from flowingdata.com

Visual Guides to the Financial Crisis


27 Visualizations and Infographics to Understand the Financial Crisis

2008 Financial Crisis





The Global Finanical Crisis
















Congressional Voting on the Bailout Plan













Map of the Market by The New York Times






Making Sense of Problems at Fannie and Freddie by The New York Times




The Fall of GM









Visualizing Money




One Trillion Dollars by Mint and WallStats






What Does One Trillion Dollars Look Like from PageTutor




How the Government Dealt with Past Recessions by The New York Times




A Tally of Federal Rescues by The New York Times



Sent with Clipmarks