Wed, 23 Apr 2003 14:33:45 GMT

Will Code For Food. To be honest, I’m a bit surprised that people are still putting on job fairs in Silicon Valley, because there can’t be that many firms that really find such things useful. The latest job fair from BrassRing only had 30 companies looking for workers, though there was no shortage of unemployed techies waiting in long lines at their booths for the potential to talk to them. Of course, most of the companies are defense or government contractors - the same companies who couldn’t get techies to even glance in their direction three years ago. Meanwhile, there were almost as many organizations at the job fair presenting “services” for unemployed people - such as helping them rollover their 401(k) plans or reviewing their resumes. The article points out that, once again, the best way to find a job is through personal networking, rather than any sort of “free for all” approach.
[Techdirt]

It is the same in biotech. Job fairs aregood for getting business cards of the right people in HR but for actually getting a job they seem to be below answering ads. I have used them as networking opportunities rather than actually trying to get a job.

March Payrolls Down 108,000, jobless rate still 5.8%

This article provides some really interesting statistics, although buried. In the last two months almost 500,000 jobs have been lost. There may be several reasons the unemployment rate has not increased in addition. The telling thing is that unemployment stats do not count people who are not actively looking for new jobs, even though they want to work. If, for some reason, the current economic environment has increased these numbers we could have a huge number of people without jobs who are not counted in the unemployment stats. This article actually provides this and it should be the main purpose of an article because I find these numbers startling.

The total number of unemployed people officially looking for work is 8.45 million. The number of people who are no longer actively looking for work, who are no longer counted by the unemployment stats but who want to work, increased by 558,000 in March to 5.02 million. So we lost 108,000 jobs but also lost 558,000 from the unemployment data. Isn’t statistics fun? If we count everyone who wants to work including those who have given up, we get an unemployment figure of 9.4%. I think it will be quite some time before job creations outnumber job losses.

Thu, 13 Feb 2003 12:22:41 GMT

Business Intelligence. I’ve found that if you’re looking for information about who’s hiring, who’s looking for funding, who’s recently found it, and so on, you need look no further than an accountant. Both those working for large firms and those working for smaller businesses know a lot about the local business climate. They’re a great source of intelligence. [Windley's Enterprise Computing Weblog]

I’ll have to try this as a source for job hunting.

Mon, 27 Jan 2003 04:13:16 GMT

Job Boards Want Hourly Workers. Remember the old boom time commercials for online job boards? The ones where they suggested that by putting your resume online you could get your dream job within a matter of minutes? Well, now the job boards are realizing that not only do dream jobs not exist any more, neither do permanent office jobs. At least not enough of them to keep the job boards making money. As we mentioned recently, all of the various online job seeking companies are revving up their focus on hourly employees. The latest Super Bowl ads from those companies are expected to highlight those types of jobs, rather than the dream jobs of years past.
[Techdirt]

People in all sorts of formerly salaried positions are now being paid hourly. Simply ask some of the employees of the former Immunex. Some companies are taking the approach that lack of loyalty means that everyone can be treated as expendable or fungible (one of my favorite words. from the Latin fungi- to perform). This is not a way to build creativity at companies that require innovation to survive but it seems to be the way some MBAs think. None of them are ever paid hourly.

Sun, 22 Dec 2002 03:39:55 GMT

Are Blogging and Unemployment Related? [Slashdot]

Yep. Sure works for me.

Tue, 26 Nov 2002 15:58:12 GMT

I had a nice phone interview yesterday and will have another on Monday. I also spent time with some Foundation issues. (We hope to be able to use the name Immunext Foundation once the lawyers are ready.)

Thu, 24 Oct 2002 05:57:12 GMT

Personality indicators and working style. Whenever a team starts a project, it’s helpful to openly discuss individual styles and preferences, especially in the areas of communication and decision-making. It’s probably as important for the success of the project as having a good plan. We’ll work better together if we both seek to understand (and take into account) how we each operate.

Jerry Weinberg:
The four dimensions of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator [MBTI] are significant in the workplace because they describe four elements that determine much of a person’s working style. For each dimension of the MBTI model, there is a pair of letters to choose from:

• Internal or External, according to how I prefer to get energy
• Sensing or iNtuitive, according to how I prefer to obtain
  information
• Thinking or Feeling, according to how I prefer to make
  decisions
• Judging or Perceiving, according to how I prefer to take action

[via Tony Bowden] [Jinn of Quality and Risk]

The outplacement company I am working with gives the Myers-Briggs test for free so I am going to take it at the end of this month. Hope it does not go like that Monty Python routine.

Mon, 21 Oct 2002 21:53:47 GMT

H. L. Mencken. “Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” [Quotes of the Day]

A great quote. ALways good at networking events.

Sat, 19 Oct 2002 02:36:01 GMT

Okay, I actually heard from a couple of head hunters. Well, they left me messages so I may have something to do next week. Just about the time I figure I’ll be writing or doing web pages for a living, something like this happens.

Wed, 16 Oct 2002 15:06:11 GMT

Well, I am not too happy. I can not find all the reference material I had accumulated on Knowledge Management before I was RID’ed. I thought I had packed it up when I left but it is not in any of the boxes. This, coupled with forgetting to copy my bookmarks, really hurts. I’ll have to try and recreate what I had, which just takes time I do not have. I wish I had had more than a couple of days to make sure I was not forgetting anything. Oh well.

Mon, 23 Sep 2002 04:47:52 GMT

Slow posting the last few days. Lots of job networking. Lee Hecht and Harrison is having a job fair tomorrow for Immunex people so I have to get prepared. The worst thing is that my interview pants just do not fit well. I rode my bike today but I do not think it will be enough.

Then on Tuesday, the WBBA is having a Breakfast for Success that I can do some more networking at, but it is at 7:30!! Hope they have lots of coffee.

Fri, 20 Sep 2002 20:17:25 GMT

Nothing posted last 2 days because of job search stuff. I’m having lots a really nice conversations. I’ve talked with some people who work with the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association. Lots of fun, intelligent. They are having a Breakfast for Success series that I may try to make. Wish I’d tried this years ago. Wish I had a job just doing this ;-)

Thu, 12 Sep 2002 03:53:04 GMT

Well, I had a real, honest-to-goodness, face-to-face interview today. It was with a small company that does risk assessment for environmental hazards. They are looking to include some biotech background, such as genomics in their work. It was interesting and we will have to see where it goes. It is quite a change in direction but may lead to something.

Thu, 05 Sep 2002 23:51:32 GMT

Networking is the key. As so many people have told me: networking is the key to starting a successful business.  To this end I have joined both Ryze and E-cademy which are online networking sites where you can build a profile and hopefully connect up with people who have similar or complementary interests. [Curiouser and curiouser!]

I wonder if this sort of networking will work for me.

Sat, 31 Aug 2002 07:01:15 GMT

Got through doing my third official business contact for the week. This was a tougith people visiting and foundation meetings but I got some work done on searching for a job. It is so much easier to submit a resume via the Internet but then I am sure HR personnel around the world are inundated with tons of resumes because it is so easy. Hope I can stand out.