I know that some of you who have been at job search for a period of time may find this hard to believe, but everyone wants to help, it is just that they don’t always know how. I see it all the time at chapter meetings. Each person does their 90-second elevator speech, but rarely do they ma...

Whether you are currently working and hate your job or are currently in active search mode, the most important job you have every day is maintaining an optimistic view of the future. The stresses and strains of a job that is winding down may at times seem beyond bearable. Back in 1991 duri...

The difference between being viewed as possessing dogged persistence and being an outright pest is hard to define. Like beauty or obscenity, I guess we know it when we see it. I have had many jobs over the course of my career, some paid, some volunteer that have involved collection work. W...

I was fortunate to speak with two of our more experienced chapter chairs recently who each in their own way in our wide ranging conversations reminded me of the importance of networking as a lifetime activity. I suppose to a degree, networking doesn’t come naturally to us financial types. ...

As we all blast out of here for the long Labor Day weekend, let me give you a few suggestions to make your “time off’ most productive. I hope that all of you will be sharing some good times with family and old friends. (All my friends are old, but I digress.) If you are currently unemploye...

The FENG is a networking organization. I hope none of you are fooled by the volume of job leads we publish. The actual purpose of our little circle of friends is to be helpful to one another as often as possible in this struggle we all face to earn a living.In my role as Chairman, I am alw...

From time to time I give a presentation to the Westport Chapter about how to use our website, and in particular how to use our not so new Member Directory Search feature. Based on the great interest of those attending, apparently there are quite a few members who haven’t taken the time to ...

I know you will all find this hard to believe, but there was a time when The FENG only had 20 members.In May of 1995, I was invited by Ed Devlin, the then Chairman, to join what was at that time The Fairfield County Financial Executives Networking Group. (Ed had recently taken over from Do...

I know many of you will find it hard to believe, but we are now in a golden period for networking, networking and MORE networking. So, I hope you will please have at it.A lot of people believe that holiday times and especially the period from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve are the worst ti...

As you may remember from the song of this same name, you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave. I know they thought of it first and popularized it, but it is very much like your membership in The FENG. The only difference is you can check out, but I hope you won’t.If you ...

For those of you who have the pleasure of earning frequent flier miles, I can understand that you may no longer be paying strict attention to the very helpful discussion that precedes take off.Personally, I don’t think that anyone who doesn’t know how to work the seat belt should really be...

The FENG, as our name implies, is a networking group. I know some of you may be fooled from time to time by the fact that we publish job leads, but please don’t be confused.The sharing of job leads is an act of friendship, plain and simple. As much as we make every attempt to make the job ...

As I mention from time to time, The FENG is a NETWORKING group. It isn’t a job board.Just as Kermit the Frog found out that it isn’t easy being green, no one ever said it was going to be easy being a member of The FENG.Membership in our little society comes with a price. Sure, your cash co...

Networking is a process by which you can create meaningful business contacts and relationships to further your career and enhance your professional life.It is unfortunate that many of us only become aware of the importance of networking when we first become unemployed. And then, many of us...

When you are out in the middle of the ocean, it is easy to think of the world as being endless. Every direction you look there is only water. (And yes, water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.)However, the truth is that although over 70% of the earth’s surface is salt water, 30% o...

I had lunch a long time ago with one of our members. I always enjoy meeting and talking to the members of our august body because I am reminded of issues that I have discussed before that bear repeating. And, when I discuss them again, it is usually with a different twist because I continu...

One of the biggest half-truths in this world is the idea of saving your business contacts. The truth is that unless you “work” your business contacts they don’t know you exist.Sure, you don’t want to “bother” them, but unless you call once in a while with something they actually can do for...

In the days of wooden ships and iron men, the determination of longitude was thought to be an impossibility. The simple solution was creating a clock that was accurate enough to keep track of what time it was in Greenwich, England. If you knew what time it was at a fixed point and you knew...

Since The FENG has been built by friends introducing friends, I imagine that as an organization we are probably more sensitive to networking abuses than most people. Still, I thought it might be helpful if I took a little time tonight and suggested a few ways to go about this delicate proc...

I try to take a few minutes of your time every year at this holiday season to remind you what a gold mine this time of year is to your networking efforts.Whether you are working or not working. Whether you are looking for a job or very happy where you are, this is the time of year when you...

The amount of follow up to do with recruiters and networking contacts is always a tough call.It is hard not to feel like a pest when you call. (After all, you ARE being a pest.)However, if you aren’t persistent and keep in touch with those who might be in a position to help you on the day ...