EDITORIALS

People rarely ask or even want to know why the sky is blue or why the sun comes up in the east and not the west. And, when you are sitting in an interview, these are not questions you need to have answers for.The difficult thing to determine when the rubber finally meets the road is what n...

Many years ago, Lily Tomlin had a skit on Rowan and Martin's Laugh In where she played Ernestine, the telephone operator. This was one of her great gag lines.In much the same way, those of us who make a lot of phone calls are in the same pickle.I’m not sure if people just never call their ...

As I hope all of you know, The FENG is not a fee for service. Our most important “folkway” is that in order to be accepted as a new member, you either need to have a sponsor, or you need to find one.As Chairman since 1996, I take the time each and every week to review new member applicants...

I guess it is in my DNA that I am always working on fixing things or making things. Last weekend I made a cover for our barbeque grill out of some canvas I had left over from cushions I made for my boat last year. (I have a full canvas workshop with 3 large tables and a "walking foot" sewi...

Sad to say, the typical email cover notes I see bear a strong resemblance to classic kidnap notes.You know the ones I mean. Randomly selected letters and words cut from magazines and newspapers and pasted together on a piece of paper to communicate a demand for money.Perhaps this is a litt...

Networking is what The FENG is all about. And, it has a lot of not so obvious twists and turns, one of which I am going to go over tonight.I hope all of you are becoming pros at using our Member Directory Search feature and calling up other members. I hope that those members you are contac...

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...

I have given much thought over the years to how sailing is a lot like life. In dreamy meditation at the wheel of our sailboat, I have often thought about the unseen and uncontrollable forces affecting our progress and how through the skills I have acquired at her helm I have been able to m...

For those of you who are new to the networking process or who claim to not be very good at it, please know that even I am still learning.Friends are always in short supply, especially when it comes to managing your career. But, unlike all the consumer goods available just by taking out you...

There is no more important space on your resume than that first section after your name. Alas, I rarely see it used to good effect.Although cover letters allow you to “cover” matters perhaps not easily “covered” in your resume, more often than not your cover letter isn’t sent to the decisi...

hen you actually get into the finals for a significant “work opportunity,” you don’t want to muff it. (Just so you know, work opportunities used to be called jobs, but that implies they will last a long time, and we know they don’t.)Anyway, one of the rituals or hoops that many firms make ...

A jack of all trades, a master of none.In the world of CFO’s, Controllers and Treasurers, the primary skill sets of members of The FENG, it is certainly true that we can probably do anything. Still, at this stage of our careers the likelihood of anyone considering us to do “anything” is re...

As you all can probably imagine, I get a lot of email and phone calls every day.A previous editorial of mine titled “Say what?” focused on the content of your message. Tonight’s editorial is a little more on the mechanical side and touches on providing sufficient information to the person ...

To tell you the truth, I almost never read cover letters first. Perhaps you remember the joke about the doctor who told his patient to take a warm bath and 4 aspirin. When he called the next day, the patient informed him that he could barely get the warm bath down.It is much the same case ...

I know it is hard to believe, but some of us good natured and hard-working financial folks actually leave companies under conditions that leave us with the possibility of less than glowing references. Perhaps we were misunderstood, or in some cases, we just got a new boss. It is also possi...

There was an article in the New York Times several years ago about how employers and recruiters no longer seem to get back to job seekers, even when they have been serious candidates for particular opportunities. Things haven’t gotten much better over the years.As easy as it is to click re...

The subject of tonight’s editorial is “Your many hidden talents and the ones you are developing.”I talked to one of our active members recently and the thought occurred to me that all of you are probably developing skills and not even aware of it! Life does have a way of sneaking up on you...

If there is anything that typically jumps out at me when we I meet our members in person or on Zoom, is the need for us financial folks to be completely honest, even in our assessments of ourselves.However, interviews, 90 second announcements, networking calls or meetings are no time for a...

With the upcoming 4th of July holiday weekend, a great opportunity will be presenting itself to you in the form of gatherings of those who know you (and presumably love you).In order to enjoy the greatest benefit, you need to paint on a smile. I don’t care if you have been out of work 3 or...

Although everyone thinks that spring is a time of renewal, actually (just like networking) any point in time and any excuse will do.For those who are in their 40’s and 50’s, periods of unemployment early in your career have probably been non-existent. The experience of being unemployed can...

Talking on the phoneIn speaking with members of The FENG over the years, it is clear that everyone would enjoy hearing a few words of wisdom on making phone calls. Of course, everyone knows how to push the buttons on the phone, but apparently not everyone is having as much fun doing it as ...