Willing to commute?

The Central Florida Employment Council will be hosting a job fair from noon to 4 p.m. at the Central Florida Fairgrounds today.

Job Fair Info

Be A Purple Squirrel

So what is a Purple Squirrel? A purple squirrel is an employee with just the right set of skills that the employer is looking for. Employers are increasingly looking for a broader array of skills than ever before. You may no longer qualify for your old job. Because employers are combining jobs and now the job you had before requires skills you don’t have because you didn’t used to need them to do your job. Does that mean you should give up? NO! it means you may need to take some classes. No money for school? Don’t despair. Learn on your own. Almost everything is taught on the internet, a great deal of it is offered at no cost to you.
To read the article click here, then decide what classes you might need to bring you up to speed.
Click here to start your search into expanding your knowledge.

Reducing anger before Towanda appears

By: Lori Stone, APR
Director of Business Operations & Communications
Center for Business Excellence

Towanda! This Mantra of sorts flashed through my head the other day when I witnessed two angry women trying to simultaneously back out of opposing parking spaces at a major retail establishment.

The two women relentlessly honked and shouted obscenities at each other until one either brave or insane woman stood between the two cars shouting, “Stop it, both of you! Just go home!”

This scene was very much reminiscent of the 1991 “Fried Green Tomatoes” movie parking lot scene when Evelyn (Kathy Bates) loses her Winn Dixie parking lot spot she patiently waited for to two rude young ladies. They snidely proclaim, “Face it lady, we’re younger and faster!”

Towanda, Evelyn’s alter-ego, kicks in and she, ahem, let’s just say exhibits a little road rage. She tells the appalled young ladies, “Face it, girls. I’m older and I have more insurance!”

Although this movie scene is very entertaining, no one in their right mind would recommend doing this. For that matter, the women I witnessed should have known better, especially because they did this in front of a mother with her impressionable little girl.

Anger management tactics would have served these ladies well. Check out these 10 anger management tips before Towanda emerges in you!

http://hubpages.com/hub/AngerManagementTips

Success vs. Failure

“One who fears limits his activities”

Henry Ford

“I have not failed.

I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”

Thomas Edison

Most decisions in the average individual’s day are driven by the simple avoidance of failure. Ask yourself, am I more likely to pursue a task, agenda, or goal if there is a greater probability of success vs. failure. This type of decision making methodology is used every day to make from the simplest mundane choices to critical life altering decisions. Of course the successes and failures are weighted, but generally where we anticipate the most success, we tend to gravitate.

Like most, I too have based many of my decisions on the possibility of success vs. failure. At these times I aggregated all of the relevant data and made a prudent decision. This process moved me up and down the Eastern Seaboard of the United States several times in my adult life based on the assumptions of life being better somewhere else(success vs. failure). I chose my college education based on the fact that there is greater demand for one subject/skillset hence I’m more likely to get a job vs. another subject/skillset that held intrigue and passion, but low demand hence limited job possibilities (success vs. failure). Heck, I purchased my house and married my spouse utilizing some aspect of this methodology (success vs. failure). And why not, this is the way many of us are taught to make decisions.

I myself feel this way, and have proof that supports this methodology as a sound decision making apparatus. I get up every day thinking that most of my decisions were very prudent and I am bearing the fruit of those good choices. Today I love the work I do, I get to work with brilliant fun people, and I have the honor of performing a duty that is relevant to my community and gives me a sense of satisfaction. I can also see at the end of the day where I may have actually helped someone. So my decision making methodology was good-right?

I say right-but like most people I pay a penance everyday for those “Greater Probability of success /Failure Avoidance Decisions”. Every day at some point I think about how fabulous if would have been to have gone with that other option. Albeit I have no regrets, in my mind regrets are obvious lapses in good judgment based on all of the information given at the time. I have more of the Robert Frost-“The Road Not Taken” types of questions (In this case the opposing view of course). A copy of the poem is provided at the bottom of this posting for those of you thinking what poem is he rambling on about.

But then it hits me, most of the current happiness and richness in my life is not a result of the successes in my life, but of the failures. Case in point, every time I moved along the East Coast it was because at some point there was a failure (failure).This forced me to look at career choices that did not have high probability of success but made me abundantly happier in other ways (success). My decision to educate myself in a particular field, which then underwent what some deemed a global catastrophe back in 2008 (failure) .These events, forced me to reevaluate "the sure thing/greater success" assumptions that I made about my prior years’ choices(success). I suspect that many of you will find similar experiences in your lives. All of this blah, blah, blah is to say that failure is necessary. It allows us to take a moment and reevaluate. And every now and then we should make a decision not based on chances of the success or failure decision making model, but on what we really want.

There is a saying in the business world-only through failure can radical innovations occur. This is also relevant to the individual jobseeker. Only through failure can we reevaluate our course of action and reconsider those other options. I’m living proof of that.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost

How to Help

More and more, I am being contacted by friends and family of people that are looking for jobs. Most often they are looking on advice on how to best help that person. This article gives awesome advice.

How to help

Working The Holidays

Posted by: Darlene Duncan, CWDP, JSS
Training Coordinator for
Training Initiatives, Inc.

The holiday season is gearing up and lots of places are looking for temporary help. Yes, I know you’re looking for a full time permanent job. The reality is that temp jobs can often turn into permanent and full time positions. How do I know this? Because virtually every temp job I’ve taken either turned into a full time permanent job or it could have, if I’d been interested. I believe attitude has a great deal to do with this. An example, I showed up at a temporary assignment and was being shown around by the woman I would be working under, when she asked me how well I knew Lotus 1, 2, 3. At the time I wasn’t sure, but I thought Lotus 1, 2, 3 was a spreadsheet software. And that’s exactly what I told her. Then she wanted to know how much Spanish I knew. I told her I could say, yes, hello, goodbye and friend in Spanish. Doris told me she had requested someone who knew Lotus 1, 2, 3 and Spanish. We finished the tour and I was thinking that she was probably going to send me packing, since I didn’t have either of the skill sets she was looking for. However, I kept smiling, showed an interest in the business and tried to get across to her that I was a fast learner. When we got back to the woman who was going out on maternity leave and who would be training me, Doris said, “Let’s see how you do over the next couple of days.” I filled in for the mother-to-be until her maternity leave was finished. She came back to work and I was scheduled to stay on for a couple of weeks to transition her back in to a full workload. At the end of her first week back, she quit to be a stay-at-home mother. I was offered her job.
The job I have today started out as filling in for someone going out on sick leave. The individual decided to retire and I was offered the position.
I could go on; however, I think you get the idea. In addition to the possibility of the temp assignment becoming permanent, being out in the workforce gives you opportunities to keep your skills up to date and to network.

Job hunt horror stories

By: Lori Stone, APR
Director of Business Operations & Communications
Center for Business Excellence

Halloween was yesterday, but that doesn’t mean horror happens on just one day a year. Check out this link to read about the unbelievable experiences of six job hunters. Unfortunately, I had a similar experience many years ago to the first scenario given. Ghastly!

http://forum.sportspeople.com.au/index.php?topic=129.0