EDITORIALS

I once wrote an editorial I called: Your resume stands aloneIf I must say so myself, it was one of my better missives. It highlighted the simple fact that unless your resume sings your praises properly, you honestly don’t stand a chance. A resume needs to be complete, as in no missing jobs...

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...

A few times a week we get an “Unsubscribe” note from one of our members asking us to stop the newsletter. Although our Unsubscribe button does ask why, sometimes we do get an explanation of sorts, but most times we don’t. All we get is the subject: Unsubscribe.Perhaps I shouldn’t admit thi...

I saw an article many years ago that went on at length about the dissatisfaction folks had with outplacement firms.While I’m not a big fan of everything outplacement firms teach, it is vitally important that anyone who wants to work until THEY want to stop, learn about this whole job searc...

As financial officers, our natural instinct is to provide full and complete disclosure. It is all part and parcel of our basic honesty.When I was in the Advertising business, now so many years ago, I was often in a situation where I had to inform my boss about something important. He was a...

I have often joked that I am known for “in the box thinking.”Thinking outside of the box, whatever that means, isn’t easy. As financial folks we just aren’t built that way.Still, being boring and unimaginative doesn’t have to become a way of life. And, although this may sound counterintuit...

One of the many things I hear members comment on from time to time when they are out and about networking within our group is: “I can’t believe how talented everyone is. How can I ever expect to get a job if some of these folks are out of work?”I am not sure why I am caught off guard by th...

I have never quite understood why the emails I get are so sloppy.I fully realize and accept that most people don’t type 90 words a minute like I do. Still, even if you only hunt and peck, it is my honest advice to you that you make an effort to spell words correctly and to check your sente...

One of the little jokes I used to tell back at the office was how hard it was to get anything done, what with an hour coffee break in the morning, two hours for lunch, another hour coffee break in the afternoon, combined with leaving early, there just isn’t much time to get things done.In ...

I was recently reminded of one of my favored approaches to networking that I discovered in the early 90’s.(Sometime in the late-90’s I stopped calling some of the things I was doing “scams” and started calling them “approaches,” which for some reason those in polite society found more acce...

I had an interesting comment from one of our members of long standing several years ago to the effect that no one was calling him. Of course, the ultimate revenge would be to give all of you his phone number and ask you to call our very own “lonesome George,” but that would be mean.While i...

The newsletters the past few weeks have been a little thin, so I thought I would take this opportunity to remind all of you of our mutual commitment to share job leads, even those in which we are an active participants.Yes, I know it is counter-intuitive to share leads in which you are an ...

I hope I will not sound like I am in a bad mood or anything, but I have to tell you that the bulk of the messages I get from members need a lot of work to make them appear as proper business correspondence.I wish I could believe this is only how you write when you are corresponding with yo...

During the upcoming Labor Day 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...

Ah, if only there were such a thing when it came to job search. Alas, there isn’t.From time to time I get emails asking about the various “blood suckers,” who claim to provide variations on outplacement. They profess to be able to do either mass mailings, mass emailings or the ability to t...

One of our members wrote me once and asked me about how to keep a proper attitude when your job search stretches into what seems like an eternity. The reason he addressed this question to me is that he noted that I have mentioned on several occasions that beginning in March of 1991 I was u...

Have you ever had someone call you up to network and actually been able to help them in some way? I have to ask. How did it make you feel? My guess is that you felt pretty good inside.Perhaps you were only able to point out a typo on their resume, or perhaps you were only able to give them...

I don’t know if you will agree, but I’m almost convinced that email is going to stick around for a while as a business tool.This being the case, I would like to make the bold suggestion to all of you who write emails (and hopefully that is everyone in The FENG) that you “get with the progr...

As you know, every two weeks I publish a list of our new members and I ask each member of our august body to call at least one person from the list. I sometimes spend close to a full day out of my personal schedule to review new member candidates. I only ask that each of you call one perso...

There is nothing worse in the world of job search than to have an obvious issue in your background that is difficult to explain.I have often suggested to members that on some topics we discuss there is no right answer. When there is no good answer to something in your background, what do y...

I don’t know if all of you have noticed, but our new member announcement has a field called “Greeting to use.” It is there because I think it is important in establishing networking connections to be able to call people by the name they find most “comfortable.”As I have often said, you can...