EDITORIALS

At some point during a long job search I often get an email from a member in which the primary message is about “the futility of it all.”Having been out of work myself for almost two full years in 1991 and 1992, I guess I can say I’ve been there and done that.Being out of work is never eas...

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 ...

It is always difficult to explain why you trust someone.In our daily encounters out in the world we come across all kinds of folks. Most of the individuals we do business with on a daily basis don’t have to be our friends, and the nature of the exchanges we have with them don’t even requir...

A long time ago I read a book by Dodge Morgan. Those non-sailors among us will probably not recognize his name, but in his 50’s, Dodge decided to sail solo around the world on a sloop especially designed for him. (I also bought the video of his voyage and heard him speak in person about hi...

Ever the wise sailor, I always (well, almost always) check the weather forecast before heading down to the boat to go out for the day.This may or may not be a valuable activity. My wife jokes that in her next life she wants to be a weather forecaster. They never have to be right and they s...

Much as I hate using cliché phrases as the one above, I don’t really know if there is a better one to describe the process of self-examination that is required when faced with looking for another “work opportunity.”(I call them work opportunities instead of jobs, because they don’t general...

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...

People who know that my wife and I are into sailing often ask us what we most enjoy making for dinner when we are on the boat. My standard response is reservations.The hard part is, of course, picking the restaurant. Are we in the mood for Mexican food, Pizza, French, Italian, or Chinese? ...

I don’t know if you have noticed, but all of the job leads from The FECG include a sentence that says “You may forward this to other members of The FENG if you are aware of their background and/or interest in this kind of opportunity.”I wish all the job leads in our newsletter had this sen...

I am not going to suggest to you that the world of The FENG is a perfect place. That said, I hope that someday we will be recognized as one of the organizations that “started it all.”We all know that common courtesy is very rare in today’s world, which makes you wonder why they call it com...

When I first got into sailing as a young man (I was in my 30’s), my father-in-law suggested we take a class – what a concept!Sailing is actually pretty simple. First, you can’t sail directly into the wind (I wonder why?). Next, never spit into the wind. And finally, if you feel yourself ge...

One of our members wrote to me a few years ago seeking some career advice. It seems his firm was restructuring and his job was being eliminated. That said, he had some “work opportunities” that were available to him, (some at his current firm) but all of which were a little off task to his...

For almost a decade I was Chief Financial Officer of an Advertising Agency.In addition to learning how to deal with a wild and crazy bunch of folks, I learned a lot not only about the advertising business, but also about advertising in general.One of the facts that I learned was that a goo...

I don’t know if all of you know it, but I started my career in retailing at B. Altman & Company, one of the old line “Carriage Trade” retailers in New York City, and an interesting place to be sure.To be successful in this retailing segment you had to treat your customers’ right. All m...

Walter Mitty was an interesting guy. Although he did one thing in his real life, he had the opportunity to do lots of exciting things in his imaginary life.As we advance in our careers, I think all of us want the opportunity to do new and different things. It is only normal to want to chan...

I guess the desire to shorten just about everything is part of human nature. I once worked with a guy named Harry and the boss insisted on calling him Har. I suppose he could have called him H, but maybe that was TOO short.When I was in college, everyone was talking about the ATGSB. For th...

The classic cruel joke of job search is that the client is looking for someone just like you, but much younger.Of course, no one can use these exact words out of fear of getting sued for age discrimination, which we all know is illegal. Setting illogically low levels of experience and/or d...

As the days of fall begin to arrive in the Northeast and the trees begin to change colors, it is all very beautiful. (However, it has been very windy.) Earlier this month I started decommissioning our sailboat for the season. This coming weekend I will wrap up a few remaining tasks. For th...

I once got a note from one of our members listing several websites with job listings. The question was which ones to sign up for given that some of them had fees associated with them.I will now talk out of both sides of my mouth, so pay attention.Here in The FENG evening newsletter, we mak...

I often wonder to myself how politicians can do so much lying and get away with it. Okay, sometimes we boot them out of office for lying, but we only replace them with new folks who also lie.The truth I suppose is subject to each person’s individual judgment. What one person considers to b...