Looking back at my blog posts from 2012, I noticed that I started one in January concerning my health and the then recent diagnosis with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. I mentioned in that post the lifestyle change that I was making. Looking back from that point, I am pleased with the changes that have occurred.
Over the year I went from about 225 pounds to 170 pounds, and lost a lot of body (belly) fat. I took up running, bicycling, and weight lifting as ways to further improve my body condition. It has worked. Now running 3-5 miles is something of an everyday activity. The blood sugar is closer to being under control even without drugs. Blood pressure is only affected by work stress, and cholesterol is managed fairly well.
I am very pleased with the improvement in health over the last year. I plan on keeping up the same regimen and maybe participating in a few 5K or 10K runs. I am not doing these things for competitive purposes other than competing with my past performance and improving as I go forward. I know that at some point improvement will no longer be likely and just maintenance will be possible.
At 62 years of age however, I am still able to build muscle and continue to improve endurance. For as long as my body can manage this, I plan on maintaining the activities necessary to continue improvement. In less than a month I will be 63 years of age, Good Lord willing, and hope to stay in good shape.
There are numerous personal goals and projects that I still want to accomplish and have some decisions to make over the next year. Currently, I still work at a corporate job, but the time consumed there conflicts with several other goals. While the income is nice and will allow for other good things, a change will eventually be necessary. This does not mean retirement, but possibly a change in involvement level in the corporate job, or a possible change in careers. I do not see myself not gainfully employed or working in some fashion, over the next several years.
Looking back over the last year, I have been blessed. Many good things and happy experiences have come my way, even if I was too busy to notice every time. Looking forward to the coming year I pray that many more wonderful things will come our way, both personally and for all of my family, friends, and fellow citizens. So to all I wish you a very Happy and Blessed New Year!
Dave
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Thoughts for a New Year
The year is quickly coming to an end, and a new year awaits. At one time I looked forward with hope and happy anticipation to a new year. Now after many new years, I see little of new hope. We live in a time of hard lines drawn in the sand and no room for sensible compromise. A time when initiative and hard work are rewarded by big government taking away any gain and redistributing it to the lazy and slothful, or the rich and political elite.
The country seems to be rushing headlong into an even greater dependency on government to solve their problems, when we really need to slow down and evaluate what brought this nation so far from a few colonies to a world power. At the center of that success was personal initiative and the inalienable right to succeed or to fail while attempting something new and better, all the while working to support and improve oneself.
Growing up in the post World War II era of the 50’s and 60’s, I began to see a shift away from the “can do” attitude that made this country great, to an attitude of “I want mine, now”. That started the shift away from a willingness to work for success and reward, to waiting on government to rob the working class so that the new class of entitled lazy could benefit from the hard work of others. The early 60’s began a time of transition that has rapidly accelerated, with only a couple pauses of sanity reigning in this headlong rush. Now the age of sensibility and reason, based on earning one’s way to success, is rapidly waning, under the crushing weight of big government, cronyism, and entitlement.
Politicos on one side want to rob the working class of ever larger percentages of their hard earned incomes, to pay for social programs that reward laziness and a growing part of society that is unwilling to work day after day to succeed. On the other side is a group of stalwarts for the rich and politically connected that are unwilling to require those with greater wealth to pay their fair share.
When a multi-millionaire running for president pays a lower percentage of taxes than I do on comparatively meager earnings, it is evident that sensibility has fallen by the wayside. The old rhetoric of the rich provide jobs through their investments, and therefore are entitled to receive protection through loopholes in the tax system, is a bald face lie. For several decades now the investments creating jobs, have been supporting the economies of other nations rather than this country.
Conversely, those unwilling to work for their rewards, are becoming even more greedy and expecting equality of resources with those that have worked hard and earned everything they own. The “social programs” forced upon us by the opposite side of the government, have created a huge percentage of government dependent population, unable and unwilling to function, without a handout.
It is time for some tough love in this country. You want material things, then get a job and earn them. Work hard, smart, and diligently save for the things you treasure. Have pride in working and earning your way through life, rather than sitting around like all the other “victims”, waiting for big government to provide for you from their big coffers, built off the backs, sweat, and toil of the working middle class.
It is time for some tough love in this country. You have been blessed with much and been fortunate to accumulate wealth, then pay your fair share. If your “work” is investing the money you have been blessed with, then show me that you are creating jobs in this country. Show me the ways you have provided benefits to the working middle class of this country, and if they are real then your tax break can be based on that benefit.
It is time for some tough love in this country. Politicos on both sides of the aisle wake up, listen to the voices of reason and history of a great nation based on personal initiative and earning your way through life. Get your hands out of the pockets of the working middle class, and reach out to your opponents across the aisle, in a spirit of compromise for the good of this country. Ensure the rights of all citizens to earn to their potential are protected, and the rewards of one’s labor are protected from unfair taxation to empower laziness and cronyism.
Jobs in this country and around the world, are provided not by the rich or the lazy, but by the working middle class, who spend their hard earned dollars on goods and services, provided by other working class people. There is truly no free lunch, and the sooner the politicos on both sides of the aisle embrace this thought, and protect the working middle class, through taxation equality and respect for personal initiative and responsibility; the sooner we will begin to provide hope for a strong and prosperous country. Fail to protect the working class and continue to encourage the concept of something for nothing, and the United States will swiftly go the way of much of the European community now teetering on the brink of economic failure.
In this time where so much rhetoric is spewed forth concerning sustainability, we need to also include working class America in the endangered species list along with the loss of sustainability of the world power status of this country. Rewarding personal responsibility, initiative, and diligent labor, with fair retention of the fruits of one’s labor is sustainable. Big government, political cronyism, and the unwillingness to work diligently for what one wants, are not sustainable over the long term. Accept and empower these concepts and the people of this country may yet one day look forward to a happier, sustainable, and more prosperous new year!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Rainy Saturday
A busy day despite the constant light rain. We needed the rain, and it will save watering the yard for awhile. The garden at the old home-place in the country was needing a good rain also. It appears that the garden got a very good soaking.
Did not get out and run or bike today, but spent the time catching up on some reading and writing. After a hectic day of work during the workweek, it is difficult to write well. Today I was able to accomplish that and some other necessary chores. I am planning on running and maybe biking in the morning, since it should stop raining by then.
Wishing all a great rest of the weekend.
Dave
Did not get out and run or bike today, but spent the time catching up on some reading and writing. After a hectic day of work during the workweek, it is difficult to write well. Today I was able to accomplish that and some other necessary chores. I am planning on running and maybe biking in the morning, since it should stop raining by then.
Wishing all a great rest of the weekend.
Dave
Monday, September 03, 2012
Why Bother with a Garden?
For me, that question prompts many responses. From a sustainability point of view it makes sense to grow as much as possible of our own food. The carbon footprint of the food grown there is much less than food which has been grown half way across the country or in some cases half way around the world. Generally a garden produces more than enough for the family doing the work, so there is excess to give away. That covers the social responsibility aspect of our global citizenship.
When planning a garden, we can include enough output to preserve food for the rest of the year. Once we have learned the proper and safe ways of preserving food, we not only have an ample supply of wholesome food for the off season, but we have the satisfaction of knowing this was something we did with our own hands.
I mentioned wholesome or healthy food. The healthiness of the food will depend on our treatment of it while growing and once harvested. To preserve it we have to learn the proper methods and ingredients to include. That takes care of food safety. But there is also the matter of preserving and then consuming foods that we preserve such as jams and jellies, with large amounts of sugar, which is not a good thing.
There are artificial sugar substitutes, but my feeling is that they are worse than sugar due to their synthetic composition. I am not sure that our bodies know quiet how to handle some of the synthetic additives being promoted as healthy in the various media. There are natural sweeteners such as stevia, that do not have the glycemic loading of sugar and other similar products. You might want to investigate this further to see if it will suit your palate.
Of course there are also endless adulterations to food stuffs through the use of toxic chemicals and genetically modified (GMO) seed. While there is still much debate about the safety of GMO foods, I prefer to err on the side of caution. Not enough independent scientific information is available to prove GMO food safety, especially over a persons lifetime. I try to stay away from such material.
With one’s own garden it is possible to procure non-GMO and even heirloom seeds and plants, many of which are produced organically, and grow healthy crops. I am not a certified organic producer, but that is because I refuse to have the government tell me what is or is not organic.
I have watched the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), reduce the standards for organic crops, solely to placate one big chemical company or another. My feeling is that if you have to wash something several times before consuming it, after it was treated with a “safe” chemical, then the chemical is not safe. One of my greatest pleasures in the garden is to pick and eat my produce without washing and worry about what chemical(s) I may be ingesting.
Now other health benefits of raising your own food, might include getting you off the couch and outside.Doing this instead of sitting in the house eating junk food while watching the mindless drivel, which usually is the standard fare on the television, certainly would seem to be a health improvement. Fresh air and sunshine at least for a short time every day can go a long way to helping us feel better physically and better about ourselves. According to some research we need some small amounts of direct sunlight every day to help fight cancer and depression.
The activity, provided we have good enough health initially to do physical work, is great for our bodies and overall health. I know personally that my physical and mental well-being is much improved by physical work and play in the sunshine. The fresh air we breath that is cleansed even more by the presence of trees and a large chemical-free garden, help clear the body of toxics we accumulate each day cooped up in an office or worse yet an industrial facility. Offices and industrial facilities where our exposure to all manner of toxics can be extreme, even with the best controls and regulations in the world, account for so much poor health that it is no wonder that those costs continue to skyrocket and health related lost workdays continue to rise.
While all of us having gardens will not solve all these problems, having your own garden can go a long way towards helping you improve your life, and well-being. The sense of accomplishment every time you harvest and either prepare and eat or give away something that you grew with your own hands and the help of the Almighty, can by itself be worth the expense and effort of growing your own garden.
Since I have made some comments above about health and things relating to improving your health, I have to also advise you that any claims or opinions expressed about the healthfulness of any food or activity are purely my own and have not been evaluated by the FDA or any other big-business controlled government bureaucracy. Of course, before embarking on any strenuous activity or work, be sure to check with your health care provider to ensure you can do so safely.
Now that we have that housekeeping chore out of the way, all that remains is to wish you, happy gardening! And remember a great spring garden begins with great preparation in the autumn.
All the best,
Dave
© August 2012 By David Posival, Post Oak Enterprises
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Autumn Thoughts - 2012
I have not posted as frequently as I would have liked, because of work and not making a decision on my next great endeavor in life. I intended to work this journal around to the subject of sustainability and simplicity. I have much to learn and do in that area, but have some thoughts to share.
Recently, I revisited some of the writing of Henry David Thoreau on Walden Pond. Even though his assumptions on the speed of inventiveness of the American industrialists was flawed in many respects, his ideas of person freedom and simple life style are attractive to me.
In the “sustainable” world I hear thoughts such as “living sustainably with plenty”, which on the surface sounds nice. Everyone has plenty and yet we are not living beyond the ability of the ecology to continue to produce at a level of plenty forever. Yet the word plenty will mean as many different things as the number of people you as to give it their definition.
Took the plunge yesterday and purchased a tiller to break up some of my old garden area, after several years of neglect. I will blog and even post some short videos on doing a fall garden in South central Texas. If you are from a different climate, please do not be too hasty to judge my methods and reasons for the way I garden.
Next time, I will give some thoughts on why bother with a garden.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
My First 10 K Run - A story of small successes
It was not an official 10K event, but this morning I accomplished another goal in my return to health and fitness training. I completed a 10K run (6.2 miles) in 01:19:33. The actual distance based on my iPhone GPS and Pedometer Ultimate App was actually 6.365 miles, which is slightly over a 10K, but I wanted to ensure I had a full workout. Average pace for the run was 12:25 minutes per mile.
I have been training, mostly walking and running at first, for about 5 months. For the first few weeks I did about 30% or less running and about 70% of walking. My initial distances were generally 2 miles or less. Through persistence and listening to my body, over the next few months I worked up to first about a 50%-50% split of running to walking.
Once I reached this point, it slowly became easier to run more than walk. A major goal for me was to run without stopping or walking, for two miles. I accomplished this and then determined that I could possibly complete a 5K (3.1 miles) run, based on my performance improvement. Over several weeks my distance and pace gradually increased to where in February 2012 I ran in the Cowtown Marathon - 5K event. It was an incredible experience and provided a sense of accomplishment, and pride.
During the months since that 5K I have added weight training, body weight/resistance training, and more recently bicycling, to augment the running program. Today's performance has been the focus of training now for a couple of months since I learned of a 10K Wounded Warrior running event in the Irving/ Los Colinas area. It supports our wounded fighting people and reservists called to active duty since 9-11. With today's run I have reached a point in my training where I am seriously considering running in the Wounded Warrior event.
It was physically impossible for me to run 10 kilometers at a pace of 12:25 per mile, or any pace for that matter, the first time I took on the "runner" moniker and laced up the running shoes. I have learned from this experience that success and reaching goals requires a couple of crucial intangibles. The first is setting a realistic goal that provides a great opportunity for success, if one applies himself or herself. Once goals are set or defined, it is necessary to have patience and diligently work toward their being accomplished. For someone like myself, who has little patience, the process involved setting mini-goals or milestones. As each of these were accomplished, it built incentive to continue, and motivation to further success.
The one other necessity for success, is getting started. If I had never taken that first step, there would be no success. Each day I had to make a decision to run, and then I had to start. While I cannot say it was always easy or fun, it became a simple matter of placing one foot ahead of the other, once I made the first step. While I may have changed my plan for the run, because of the message my body was sending, it did not stop the run once I had started.
Please remember dear reader/friends, that what I have said here is not offered as medical advice or personal training direction, but simply my story at this time in my life. Before beginning any exercise program get professional direction from your health care provider and if necessary a qualified trainer.
I have been training, mostly walking and running at first, for about 5 months. For the first few weeks I did about 30% or less running and about 70% of walking. My initial distances were generally 2 miles or less. Through persistence and listening to my body, over the next few months I worked up to first about a 50%-50% split of running to walking.
Once I reached this point, it slowly became easier to run more than walk. A major goal for me was to run without stopping or walking, for two miles. I accomplished this and then determined that I could possibly complete a 5K (3.1 miles) run, based on my performance improvement. Over several weeks my distance and pace gradually increased to where in February 2012 I ran in the Cowtown Marathon - 5K event. It was an incredible experience and provided a sense of accomplishment, and pride.
During the months since that 5K I have added weight training, body weight/resistance training, and more recently bicycling, to augment the running program. Today's performance has been the focus of training now for a couple of months since I learned of a 10K Wounded Warrior running event in the Irving/ Los Colinas area. It supports our wounded fighting people and reservists called to active duty since 9-11. With today's run I have reached a point in my training where I am seriously considering running in the Wounded Warrior event.
It was physically impossible for me to run 10 kilometers at a pace of 12:25 per mile, or any pace for that matter, the first time I took on the "runner" moniker and laced up the running shoes. I have learned from this experience that success and reaching goals requires a couple of crucial intangibles. The first is setting a realistic goal that provides a great opportunity for success, if one applies himself or herself. Once goals are set or defined, it is necessary to have patience and diligently work toward their being accomplished. For someone like myself, who has little patience, the process involved setting mini-goals or milestones. As each of these were accomplished, it built incentive to continue, and motivation to further success.
The one other necessity for success, is getting started. If I had never taken that first step, there would be no success. Each day I had to make a decision to run, and then I had to start. While I cannot say it was always easy or fun, it became a simple matter of placing one foot ahead of the other, once I made the first step. While I may have changed my plan for the run, because of the message my body was sending, it did not stop the run once I had started.
Please remember dear reader/friends, that what I have said here is not offered as medical advice or personal training direction, but simply my story at this time in my life. Before beginning any exercise program get professional direction from your health care provider and if necessary a qualified trainer.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Health Problems and Getting in Shape
Following is a post I had drafted in January 2012, but neglected to post. Well here it is:
"Recently I was diagnosed with a few medical problems. I had already been on a weight loss regimen of my own, prior to the doctor's diagnosis, but with little sense of urgency. After all the news from the doctor. the sense of urgency grew. The diagnosis of the problems actually was a blessing since it occurred early in the progression of the health issue, and allowed time to begin to get into better physical and mental shape. I realize now that a diagnosis of some health problems, is generally good and can get our attention and allow a change that could extend our lives.
When giving a little more thought to this, I realized that maintaining one's health has a significant connection to sustainability. In just about anything we do our actions have an impact on sustainability. However, with personal health, to me sustainability means living healthy without a lot of inputs. By inputs I mean for the most part, drugs, medications, hospital confinement, etc.
I have for several years used supplements to help maintain my health, and that has probably contributed to some extent, to not having problems much earlier. Most supplements that I take are primarily organic herb and plant based. However some like the Omega 3 fish oils, come from animal materials, harvested from the ocean. Most of the herbs and plants have a growing cycle of less than three years. The same may not be true for fish.
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), created a list of fish oil products that were supposed to be healthy and sustainably harvested. The EDF site indicates that they no longer solicit information from the fish oil manufacturers, but will accept updated information voluntarily submitted by the various companies. The list can be found at this LINK. The brand I use was a "Best Choice" selection. Now I guess the next step is to follow up the same process for other supplements I use.
For more information Google: "how sustainable is fish oil as a supplement", and a whole plethora of additional links will be displayed. Incidentally, I generally trust ".org" sites more than ".com"
Have a great healthy day,
Dave"
Next time, perhaps I will go into exercise as a sustainable method of health maintenance.
"Recently I was diagnosed with a few medical problems. I had already been on a weight loss regimen of my own, prior to the doctor's diagnosis, but with little sense of urgency. After all the news from the doctor. the sense of urgency grew. The diagnosis of the problems actually was a blessing since it occurred early in the progression of the health issue, and allowed time to begin to get into better physical and mental shape. I realize now that a diagnosis of some health problems, is generally good and can get our attention and allow a change that could extend our lives.
When giving a little more thought to this, I realized that maintaining one's health has a significant connection to sustainability. In just about anything we do our actions have an impact on sustainability. However, with personal health, to me sustainability means living healthy without a lot of inputs. By inputs I mean for the most part, drugs, medications, hospital confinement, etc.
I have for several years used supplements to help maintain my health, and that has probably contributed to some extent, to not having problems much earlier. Most supplements that I take are primarily organic herb and plant based. However some like the Omega 3 fish oils, come from animal materials, harvested from the ocean. Most of the herbs and plants have a growing cycle of less than three years. The same may not be true for fish.
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), created a list of fish oil products that were supposed to be healthy and sustainably harvested. The EDF site indicates that they no longer solicit information from the fish oil manufacturers, but will accept updated information voluntarily submitted by the various companies. The list can be found at this LINK. The brand I use was a "Best Choice" selection. Now I guess the next step is to follow up the same process for other supplements I use.
For more information Google: "how sustainable is fish oil as a supplement", and a whole plethora of additional links will be displayed. Incidentally, I generally trust ".org" sites more than ".com"
Have a great healthy day,
Dave"
Next time, perhaps I will go into exercise as a sustainable method of health maintenance.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
It's been a long time.
I have been trying to post to the blog for a few months, but just like all the months before since my last post, higher priority issues seemed to get in the way. I had indicated in an earlier post that I was no longer involved in the copywriting service. I have been very blessed to have moved into a field of work that I believe in very strongly. I am speaking of course, of the field of sustainability. I will not try and provide a definition in this post, but promise to give it some attention in the near future.
For the moment, I just wanted to post a note to inform readers that I will try and make this a more valuable blog in the future. Hopefully this will begin a new and much more interesting discussion area, in the very near future.
Dave
For the moment, I just wanted to post a note to inform readers that I will try and make this a more valuable blog in the future. Hopefully this will begin a new and much more interesting discussion area, in the very near future.
Dave
Thursday, September 03, 2009
I received an email this afternoon promoting a product that claimed to have triple certification for "fair trade" and other properties. When I followed the link to the website there was no certification mark of any type from any certification entity, let alone any independent third party agency. Having been a subscriber to the well known publication that sponsered the email, I was very disappointed to see them associated with what appears to be "greenwashing". While this will not cause me to cancel my subscription, it likely will result in a letter to the editor and probably a comment to the company.
This lack of attention to detail and not publishing readily and obvious certification verification, is a major reason for the loss of credibility for certified products and green claims in general. Fair trade is an ambiguous term anyway, and to not post a certification logo to substantiate the claims, just adds to the confusion.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sustainability Part 2 - Credibility
Looking back, it is difficult to believe that two months have passed since my last post. Well so much for good intentions, and posting frequently. I have had an incredible three months at work. Receiving two more Cradle to CradleSM certifications on different product lines, has been rewarding, but also demanding of my time. Three more product lines have been submitted or are currently being completed for submission.
During the last couple of months I have also initiated tests and process evaluations for indoor air quality certifications, with two different certification agencies. One agency is an independent third party certification, while the other is for a second party certification.
In the world of “green” or “sustainablity” certifications there are three different levels. The first is self certification, where you build and test your own products to your own standards or some existing standard. These claims have little credibility and in todays marketplace of skepticism concerning “green” or “sustainability;” products so labeled have little additional market value over their non-sustainable competition.
Second party certifications, or test certifications are those that are made by a testing laboratory or agency certifying that your product, based on a particular test meets a certain standard. This certification means that for the particular product tested, you met whatever standard that was targeted.
Independent third party certifications, are those that not only test your product, to ensure it passed a particular standard, but also evaluated your processes and procedures to ensure that you manufacture your product the way you say you do, and do so the same way each production run. This is the most expensive certification type, but has the most validity. Also independent third party certifications, give greater protection from deceptive advertising claims than either of the two previous types.
As a side note here, any "green" claims made without certifications, based on vague or low standards or without standards, are just marketing hype, and subject to close scrutiny of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as ‘Greenwashing.” “Greenwashing,” in laypersons terms, is defined as unsubstantiated and deceptive marketing claims, which would lead a person, wishing to make a purchase that is safer for the environment, human health, or is supposedly sustainable, to purchase the bogus product. The FTC has begun cracking down on such marketing practices and will use those they find as deceptive, to make examples of, to the rest of commerce.
The Cradle to Cradle certification mentioned at the outset, is what I consider a sustainability certification. Sustainability, generally is defined as not requiring non-renewable resources for the production of your product. This means that the materials, energy, and even water used in the product or its production process can be reused, recycled, or returned to nature in a state that is harmless and beneficial to the cycle of life.
Sustainability has also begun to include social responsibility, which is a term that will be addressed in later posts. I use the plural here, because social responsibility is a large and very complex subject, and could not be addressed fully in one or even two posts. Social responsibility loosely defined is dealing fairly and transparently with people of all cultures and part of the world where one conducts business.
The indoor air quality certifications referenced above, are within the classification of “green” certifications, but deal more with providing a product that is safe for a particular situation of environment. The indoor air quality certifications I am pursuing will validate our claims that the products meet one or many government, association, or independent assessment body multi-layered standards. In this particular case the products will be certified as meeting indoor air quality standards for use in school classrooms.
My Director of Sustainability role in this process, is selecting and submitting products to certification agencies for testing, evaluation, and certification, so that our marketing claims are valid and represent accurately our product and its production process. This requires providing documentation, handling onsite audits, and collecting, properly packaging, and submitting for testing, production run samples of certification candidate products.
The certification process is only a small part of the job. There are other parts of the business that are so closely allied with sustainability or producing healthy products, that in a company the size of the one, at which I work, the sustainability director will also fill other roles. Some of these additional roles are government regulatory compliance, quality management, employee safety and social responsibility, sustainable practices development and implementation, and waste reduction.
I hope that this brief glimpse into a tiny part, of the world of green products and sustainability has been beneficial and interesting. If you have comments or questions, concerning any of the above, please do not hesitate to post them here.
You may notice that the font used today is different from those in previous posts. This is because I am experimenting with different fonts to find the most easily readable. If you have suggestions on fonts styles and sizes please comment below.
Cradle to CradleSM is a service mark of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, LLC (MBDC)
© 2009, By David Posival. All rights reserved. If you wish to reprint this article on your web-site, please contact me for permission and conditions by email: david@postoakenterprises.com
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sustainability Part 1
While I still do copywriting of a fashion, for my current employer, I have closed my resume and copywriting services for the public, for the moment. I have been presented the opportunity to work on a new facet of American Corporate Culture.
This new growing part of the business, whether corporate, sole-proprietor, or any other type in between the two, is sustainability. This is certainly not a new term or concept, but it has evolved into a more multi-level business paradigm and imperative.
Sustainability’s base connotation, in this blog series, describes morphing from consumerism and cradle-to-grave waste of non-renewable resources, to a systematic process of reclamation, reuse, and recycling. Business people have begun embracing the concept, each with their own particular spin and self-interest based interpretation.
At the outset, let me state for the record that I am not the foremost expert on sustainability, but I do have expertise and thoughts on the subject, and have lived more or less sustainably for a large part of my life. As someone who deals with sustainability each day and sees the difference in ideas and concepts associated with it, I need an outlet for my thoughts and ideas concerning the subject. That is the purpose behind this blog. It is a venue for thoughtful expression of my take on the subject of sustainability.
First, to understand sustainability, it is necessary to define what the term does not include. Sustainability is not just recycling, reusing, and conserving resources, only when it feels good, or is convenient. Sustainability is not a thing, or some abstract philosophical concept.
Sustainability is life, active and vibrant, emanating from all living things and beings, when they follow nature’s design and rules. Under this system, only catastrophic natural events like volcanoes, asteroids striking the earth, or other large scale destructive events, whether regional or global, or perhaps natural evolutionary processes, can disrupt the rhythm and continuance of life.
However, throw destructive human behavior, unbridled human materialism, and consumerism into the process, and the whole system suddenly is no longer able to sustain itself. While the process may take decades to play itself out, and starts slowly, it degenerates into an exponentially growing avalanche of species extinction, deforestation, lost non-renewable resources, possible global warming, and a planet covered with landfills. Base the global economy on an expanding base of consumerism, and the process degenerates explosively.
Over the coming weeks I have several thoughts to put forward for consideration, concerning sustainability. Please add your comments, and topics that you may want to discuss in more detail.
© 2009, By David Posival. All rights reserved. If you wish to reprint this article on your web-site, please contact me for permission and conditions by email: david@postoakenterprises.com
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Prepare to Ace the Interview - Part 1
Preparing to ace the interview actually begins when you match your SKA’s (Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities) from your résumé to the requirements of the advertised job. Read each requirement of the job and rate yourself, objectively, by matching your skills. You may benefit from listing or printing out the requirements, and rating yourself as an excellent, good, or poor match. When you are finished, all responses should be either excellent, or good. A poor match in the published job requirements and your SKA’s will probably keep you from acing the interview.
However, you can still present your résumé, since you may be qualified for the job at the same or greater level than any of the other candidates. But now, you really must do well in the interview. Review the requirements that you rated as a poor match to your skills. Determine how you can overcome any objections of the interviewer, to your lack of skills in that particular area. Figure out how you can compensate in another area, while you adapt your skills to their requirements, and be ready to discuss your plan fully.
Click the title or this link to read the rest of this articleGet your own resume here.
© Copyright 2006 by David Posival, all rights reserved.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Off-Shoring: Good for US?
Even though this article pertains to issues outside of résumé writing, I thought it might be food for thought and eventually lead many of us to realization of a better lifestyle, perhaps while contemplating or getting a new résumé. While a great résumé certainly helps you get interviews and potentially a job, it can do little good if no jobs are available, to match your SKA’s (Skills, Knowledge and Abilities). That is what prompted this article.
Reading the latest information on jobs, marketing, managing, and economics, is a part of my day, every day. As a resume writer and copywriter, I feel I have to be knowledgeable in all these areas, as well as others. Each day I receive and review various periodicals dealing with a broad range of these issues. While many of the articles are less than captivating, some rise to excellent levels. This is especially true for an article by Dr. Hans Sennholz, who is an economics educator and writer.
The article by Dr. Sennholz indicates that off shoring jobs or moving them to the lowest cost area of the world is good for all of us. Now like many of you, I lost my job indirectly to off shoring and the economies of scale. So, when the good doctor, said we all benefit, I started looking for a straightjacket for him.
However, most of what he said was accurate so for as economic forces are concerned. What he, like most other proponents of off shoring, failed to give any consideration to was, how to maintain high economic standards for the countries losing the jobs. It is easy to move jobs and facilities, when compared to moving people. So, when jobs leave an area, people become jobless. Lives are destroyed or forever altered. Rapid economic decline can quickly follow.
To read the rest of this article please click on the title above or follow the link below for more information.
Reading the latest information on jobs, marketing, managing, and economics, is a part of my day, every day. As a resume writer and copywriter, I feel I have to be knowledgeable in all these areas, as well as others. Each day I receive and review various periodicals dealing with a broad range of these issues. While many of the articles are less than captivating, some rise to excellent levels. This is especially true for an article by Dr. Hans Sennholz, who is an economics educator and writer.
The article by Dr. Sennholz indicates that off shoring jobs or moving them to the lowest cost area of the world is good for all of us. Now like many of you, I lost my job indirectly to off shoring and the economies of scale. So, when the good doctor, said we all benefit, I started looking for a straightjacket for him.
However, most of what he said was accurate so for as economic forces are concerned. What he, like most other proponents of off shoring, failed to give any consideration to was, how to maintain high economic standards for the countries losing the jobs. It is easy to move jobs and facilities, when compared to moving people. So, when jobs leave an area, people become jobless. Lives are destroyed or forever altered. Rapid economic decline can quickly follow.
To read the rest of this article please click on the title above or follow the link below for more information.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Changing Jobs or Growing With the Job
Following is my response to a reader who is struggling with adjusting to a job with high stress levels, and thinking about changing jobs. In this particular case, other opportunities exist which have lower levels of responsibility, but which has the potential for growth.
Part of the concern is supervisory ability and the lack of training for that type job. It is a prime example of the age-old practice of giving an exceptionally good employee a supervisory job, just because they are good at some tasks. Many times no additional training is provided. And the employee, fearing job loss, accepts a job; he/she may not be qualified for, or for which he/she lacks the right personality type.
As is the case in many small companies and even some government jobs, responsibilities are continually dumped on employees who work hard and perform very well. So long as the employee continues to handle the workload, the employer has no reason to hire additional help. Here is my response:
Reading the list of jobs of responsibilities you have at work, I can understand your elevated stress level. In some cases having a large workload can be a blessing when you need things to occupy your mind. However, that changes when you not only have a large workload, but it is also interfering with other parts of your life. Either letting work consume all your waking hours, or putting in hours that preclude your spending time with family, can lead to disaster. This applies to your job, home life, health, and overall effectiveness in dealing with the ups and downs of everyday life.
We always hear that life is too short to work at a job we do not enjoy, but I suspect the majority of the work force falls into that category. Yet, many people have little or no choice, without making major changes in their lives, while others don’t have the faith in their abilities to pursue a change. I guess I have been in both situations and found there are no easy answers. Read entire article here.
Part of the concern is supervisory ability and the lack of training for that type job. It is a prime example of the age-old practice of giving an exceptionally good employee a supervisory job, just because they are good at some tasks. Many times no additional training is provided. And the employee, fearing job loss, accepts a job; he/she may not be qualified for, or for which he/she lacks the right personality type.
As is the case in many small companies and even some government jobs, responsibilities are continually dumped on employees who work hard and perform very well. So long as the employee continues to handle the workload, the employer has no reason to hire additional help. Here is my response:
Reading the list of jobs of responsibilities you have at work, I can understand your elevated stress level. In some cases having a large workload can be a blessing when you need things to occupy your mind. However, that changes when you not only have a large workload, but it is also interfering with other parts of your life. Either letting work consume all your waking hours, or putting in hours that preclude your spending time with family, can lead to disaster. This applies to your job, home life, health, and overall effectiveness in dealing with the ups and downs of everyday life.
We always hear that life is too short to work at a job we do not enjoy, but I suspect the majority of the work force falls into that category. Yet, many people have little or no choice, without making major changes in their lives, while others don’t have the faith in their abilities to pursue a change. I guess I have been in both situations and found there are no easy answers. Read entire article here.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Regaining Control - More on How
My last post referenced evaluating several things, but with few guidelines on just how to proceed. The focus of the last post was to provide incentive for hope and regaining control of your job-life when it may seem out of control. Now, this week let’s look at the how, part of the process.
While there are businesses, that provide career counseling, and evaluation services for a fee, you can help yourself by answering some of the following questions, and then evaluating your responses. You may find that using a career counseling service would be beneficial, especially if you begin to discover skills and abilities that are under utilized.
Basically, my recommendation is to interview yourself. Focus on the who, what, when, where and how of your SKA’s (Skills, Knowledge and Abilities), as well as your likes and dislikes. Define who you are, relative to your career aspirations. Define and evaluate your career aspirations, if you are unsure about them.
If you are currently employed, what is it that makes you say, “yes, what a day!” when you leave for the day with a great feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. If you are unemployed, think back to a day like I just described.
Now consider the deeper reason for your feeling of accomplishment. For example, let’s say that you are supervisor of a team that just exceeded your goals not only for the day, but also for a week. Obviously, you have pride and a sense of accomplishment in exceeding your goals. But, now dig deeper. Is it the praise and admiration of your superiors and peers that prompts this feeling? Or is it a more personal sense of contributing through your leadership. What skills and abilities did you use to drive this accomplishment? Would these same skills and abilities work equally well somewhere else? Is there a way to better utilize these skills and abilities in your current job?
Follow the same process for days when you left work drained and beat but with no sense of accomplishment. What about the days, when you just were there but things seemed to happen whether or not you were involved? How do you feel about each of these situations? If the instances in this last paragraph outnumber the instances in the previous paragraph, can you really be happy in your job? If instances of job satisfaction are few compared to the time of discontent and lack of satisfaction, considering other alternatives might be in order.
While discontent, in many cases can be a good thing, especially when it drives change and improvement; it is not good if you have little or no control over changes. If this is your situation, then consider whether discontent is due to no opportunity or your failure to exploit opportunity. For instance, if your boss basically wants a “yes” person, and you are allowed few opportunities for growth and more responsibility and authority, it is time to update your résumé and seriously consider other options. However, given the current employment climate, a job currently held is worth more than many potential prospects.
One of the options to consider is talking with your boss about changing his/her utilization of your abilities. Obviously, only do this after you have defined and evaluated your skills and accomplishments. But, be honest and understand the mistakes you made and how they may have influenced your current situation. If you feel that your situation is not due to major mistakes, then proceed to discuss your future with your boss.
Remember, any discussion should be objective, and geared towards highlighting the benefits to your boss, for giving you more responsibility. While you may have strong feelings about your lack of opportunity, and value you provide, keep emotions out of the meeting. Present the case for why you should be given this opportunity, by showing your boss how this will benefit her/him. If for instance, you can take some of the drudgework from your boss, and allow him/her to prepare to move up, this can open a door for you to follow in your boss’s footsteps. Under no circumstances issue what could be considered an ultimatum, unless you are prepared to lose your current position immediately.
Listen to what your boss tells you, as you progress through the meeting. Make notes of suggestions for improvement, and any timetable for making changes. If you feel your boss has assessed your contribution inaccurately, express your dissent but do so diplomatically and in a professional manner. Do not get into an argument over the subject. Regardless of the outcome of the meeting, thank your boss for taking the time to discuss your goals and objectives. Assure him/her that you will follow up on suggestions and will be ready to meet in a specified amount of time to review progress toward your mutual goals. Do this even if you are dissatisfied with the results of the meeting and plan on looking for another job.
If you have decided to look for another job, continually strive to exceed your boss’s expectations, while you are at your current job. Give your full attention to performing your job to the best of your ability. When it comes time for references, this can be very helpful. Personally, it will also give you pride in rising above any pettiness, on your boss’s part that may have influenced your decision to leave. And by choosing, to conduct yourself in this manner, you have made a choice that places you in control.
© Copyright 2005 by David Posival
No part of this document is to be construed as personalized advice, but is intended and presented as general education and incentive to self-evaluation, thought, and motivation. Reproductions of this document must include this notice and the following link: http://www.postoakenterprises.com.
While there are businesses, that provide career counseling, and evaluation services for a fee, you can help yourself by answering some of the following questions, and then evaluating your responses. You may find that using a career counseling service would be beneficial, especially if you begin to discover skills and abilities that are under utilized.
Basically, my recommendation is to interview yourself. Focus on the who, what, when, where and how of your SKA’s (Skills, Knowledge and Abilities), as well as your likes and dislikes. Define who you are, relative to your career aspirations. Define and evaluate your career aspirations, if you are unsure about them.
If you are currently employed, what is it that makes you say, “yes, what a day!” when you leave for the day with a great feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. If you are unemployed, think back to a day like I just described.
Now consider the deeper reason for your feeling of accomplishment. For example, let’s say that you are supervisor of a team that just exceeded your goals not only for the day, but also for a week. Obviously, you have pride and a sense of accomplishment in exceeding your goals. But, now dig deeper. Is it the praise and admiration of your superiors and peers that prompts this feeling? Or is it a more personal sense of contributing through your leadership. What skills and abilities did you use to drive this accomplishment? Would these same skills and abilities work equally well somewhere else? Is there a way to better utilize these skills and abilities in your current job?
Follow the same process for days when you left work drained and beat but with no sense of accomplishment. What about the days, when you just were there but things seemed to happen whether or not you were involved? How do you feel about each of these situations? If the instances in this last paragraph outnumber the instances in the previous paragraph, can you really be happy in your job? If instances of job satisfaction are few compared to the time of discontent and lack of satisfaction, considering other alternatives might be in order.
While discontent, in many cases can be a good thing, especially when it drives change and improvement; it is not good if you have little or no control over changes. If this is your situation, then consider whether discontent is due to no opportunity or your failure to exploit opportunity. For instance, if your boss basically wants a “yes” person, and you are allowed few opportunities for growth and more responsibility and authority, it is time to update your résumé and seriously consider other options. However, given the current employment climate, a job currently held is worth more than many potential prospects.
One of the options to consider is talking with your boss about changing his/her utilization of your abilities. Obviously, only do this after you have defined and evaluated your skills and accomplishments. But, be honest and understand the mistakes you made and how they may have influenced your current situation. If you feel that your situation is not due to major mistakes, then proceed to discuss your future with your boss.
Remember, any discussion should be objective, and geared towards highlighting the benefits to your boss, for giving you more responsibility. While you may have strong feelings about your lack of opportunity, and value you provide, keep emotions out of the meeting. Present the case for why you should be given this opportunity, by showing your boss how this will benefit her/him. If for instance, you can take some of the drudgework from your boss, and allow him/her to prepare to move up, this can open a door for you to follow in your boss’s footsteps. Under no circumstances issue what could be considered an ultimatum, unless you are prepared to lose your current position immediately.
Listen to what your boss tells you, as you progress through the meeting. Make notes of suggestions for improvement, and any timetable for making changes. If you feel your boss has assessed your contribution inaccurately, express your dissent but do so diplomatically and in a professional manner. Do not get into an argument over the subject. Regardless of the outcome of the meeting, thank your boss for taking the time to discuss your goals and objectives. Assure him/her that you will follow up on suggestions and will be ready to meet in a specified amount of time to review progress toward your mutual goals. Do this even if you are dissatisfied with the results of the meeting and plan on looking for another job.
If you have decided to look for another job, continually strive to exceed your boss’s expectations, while you are at your current job. Give your full attention to performing your job to the best of your ability. When it comes time for references, this can be very helpful. Personally, it will also give you pride in rising above any pettiness, on your boss’s part that may have influenced your decision to leave. And by choosing, to conduct yourself in this manner, you have made a choice that places you in control.
© Copyright 2005 by David Posival
No part of this document is to be construed as personalized advice, but is intended and presented as general education and incentive to self-evaluation, thought, and motivation. Reproductions of this document must include this notice and the following link: http://www.postoakenterprises.com.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Regaining Control
It has been a very long time since my last post. I have to apologize, for the break, but also let you know that being unemployed, means changing priorities on short notice. Hopefully, by taking care of some business over the last few weeks I will be able to return to doing the things that I like and have the greatest potential for success.
Today, I want to briefly address dealing with the stress of being unemployed. If you have a job, that you absolutely hate, you still do not have the stress level you will face, if you lose your job. While in some instances, leaving a terribly stressful job, seems to improve your outlook on life; it will be short-lived, if you do not soon get another job. That is why it is important to make good use of this time.
First, during the time when your outlook has improved, seriously evaluate your options and career choices. What factors in your past jobs were rewarding and uplifting? What factors were stressful, and detracted from your feelings of achievement and pride in your work? Evaluate your skills developed through work or school. Include an evaluation of your abilities and personality as they relate to your career choices.
Once you have completed this self-evaluation, it is time to seriously and objectively look at your options. If your last job was the only kind of work you were qualified for, you have some serious soul searching ahead of you. If you feel that the stress and disagreeable circumstances of your last job were unique to that particular employer, then you may want to pursue the same job somewhere else.
If however, you find that the stress and dissatisfaction of the last job is common in all similar employers, you have only two choices. Either try to find an organization that is better than your last employer, at reducing stressful and demeaning situations, or just take a similar job, with the determination to gain skills, knowledge and abilities that will allow you to soon make a career change. Take it from me; life is way to short to waste it dealing with a job that is anything but fulfilling.
If you find that you have skills, knowledge and abilities not used by your job, it is well worth investigating other career opportunities. There is a publication, you can probably find in your public library, titled "Occupational Outlook Handbook," published by the U.S. Department of Labor. This book lists thousands of jobs and their associated skill requirements. You should also research the “Guide for Occupational Exploration,” which I believe is also published by the Department of Labor.
Take some time and match your skills, knowledge and abilities to jobs you find there. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that you are qualified for many other very rewarding jobs. At the very least, you may find that you only need a little additional education or specialized training to significantly improve your employment opportunities. You can find much of this same information on the Internet at the U.S. Department of Labor website at this link.
During this time, consider seriously furthering your education, if you do not have a degree. Depending on your financial circumstances you may qualify for assistance through various government agencies. Visit with the counseling staff at a local college, to learn more about the financial resources available, for your area. You may be pleasantly surprised, by what you learn. Remember, even an Associate degree will improve your job prospects in many cases.
Lastly, try to develop some interests or hobbies, which will provide stress relief. For instance, when I was going through a particularly stressful time in my career, I found the challenge of water painting, to be so absorbing that I forgot about work and its problems. While you may not have an inclination for watercolors, you may be able to develop some interests like photography, outdoor activities, or even learning new cooking skills. Find something that helps you appreciate life and those around you.
Remember your response to the circumstances in your life, will determine how happy or unhappy, you will be. You will feel like a victim, if you do not take responsibility for what happens in your life. When you make the decisions as to how you will feel in any given situation, you are in charge. It may only be in a minor way, but from the acorn grew the mighty oak.
© Copyright 2005 by David Posival
Today, I want to briefly address dealing with the stress of being unemployed. If you have a job, that you absolutely hate, you still do not have the stress level you will face, if you lose your job. While in some instances, leaving a terribly stressful job, seems to improve your outlook on life; it will be short-lived, if you do not soon get another job. That is why it is important to make good use of this time.
First, during the time when your outlook has improved, seriously evaluate your options and career choices. What factors in your past jobs were rewarding and uplifting? What factors were stressful, and detracted from your feelings of achievement and pride in your work? Evaluate your skills developed through work or school. Include an evaluation of your abilities and personality as they relate to your career choices.
Once you have completed this self-evaluation, it is time to seriously and objectively look at your options. If your last job was the only kind of work you were qualified for, you have some serious soul searching ahead of you. If you feel that the stress and disagreeable circumstances of your last job were unique to that particular employer, then you may want to pursue the same job somewhere else.
If however, you find that the stress and dissatisfaction of the last job is common in all similar employers, you have only two choices. Either try to find an organization that is better than your last employer, at reducing stressful and demeaning situations, or just take a similar job, with the determination to gain skills, knowledge and abilities that will allow you to soon make a career change. Take it from me; life is way to short to waste it dealing with a job that is anything but fulfilling.
If you find that you have skills, knowledge and abilities not used by your job, it is well worth investigating other career opportunities. There is a publication, you can probably find in your public library, titled "Occupational Outlook Handbook," published by the U.S. Department of Labor. This book lists thousands of jobs and their associated skill requirements. You should also research the “Guide for Occupational Exploration,” which I believe is also published by the Department of Labor.
Take some time and match your skills, knowledge and abilities to jobs you find there. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that you are qualified for many other very rewarding jobs. At the very least, you may find that you only need a little additional education or specialized training to significantly improve your employment opportunities. You can find much of this same information on the Internet at the U.S. Department of Labor website at this link.
During this time, consider seriously furthering your education, if you do not have a degree. Depending on your financial circumstances you may qualify for assistance through various government agencies. Visit with the counseling staff at a local college, to learn more about the financial resources available, for your area. You may be pleasantly surprised, by what you learn. Remember, even an Associate degree will improve your job prospects in many cases.
Lastly, try to develop some interests or hobbies, which will provide stress relief. For instance, when I was going through a particularly stressful time in my career, I found the challenge of water painting, to be so absorbing that I forgot about work and its problems. While you may not have an inclination for watercolors, you may be able to develop some interests like photography, outdoor activities, or even learning new cooking skills. Find something that helps you appreciate life and those around you.
Remember your response to the circumstances in your life, will determine how happy or unhappy, you will be. You will feel like a victim, if you do not take responsibility for what happens in your life. When you make the decisions as to how you will feel in any given situation, you are in charge. It may only be in a minor way, but from the acorn grew the mighty oak.
© Copyright 2005 by David Posival
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Relocating for the Job - Part 3
Obviously, I have not posted anything for many days. I have been busy addressing issues that develop when a couple or family relocates for the job. Specifically, I am focusing my job search on the local area. Prior to relocating, this area had received little of my attention.
While I am in the process of changing careers, I feel it is only prudent to continue keeping the doors open to other opportunities. We are fortunate my wife has found a great job and for right now, we can get by on the one income plus my very limited earnings. I am returning most of my earnings to developing the business.
However, if you are not planning on striking out on your own in a new business venture, and you have relocated due to your partners new job, then you are going to have to make some decisions about your career. Obviously, since you have relocated with your partner, you either determined that there would be opportunities for you in the new area. Or, your financial situation required taking the job and hoping to find work for yourself, once in the area.
Of course, you have another option. If you fell into the latter group above, you may not have many opportunities in the new area. I have encountered this situation. There are few job openings for my skills in the area, with tremendous competition from younger candidates. So, if I had to find employment to remain solvent, it would mean accepting a job outside my skill area, or broadening the search to more distant locations.
Since you have relocated with a partner, you are obviously in a relationship of some sort. Obvious questions are, will the relationship withstand the pressures of separation? Or, is the opportunity more important than the relationship?
During part of our marriage, my wife relocated to another area, for her job. I remained behind while continuing my job search and developing another career path. We found both positive and negative aspects from that experience.
Our relationship grew by forcing us to develop a stronger trust in the other. We seldom took for granted, our time together. The time we spent together, whether on the phone or when she came home on weekends, became more focused on sharing, and enjoying each other. But, we had also recognized that everybody needs some time for himself or herself, so we benefited by having our own space or personal time. So you can see, separation due to relocating for a job does have some positives.
On the negative side of the equation, the cost of traveling for weekends, strained our finances. There were many times during each day, when we could have each benefited from the others council, but distance prevented that immediate access. However, even in the best situation, if both partners work in the same area, there are times when access to each other is restricted. We learned to work around that by using email and discussing the issues during our evening phone conversations. Those phone calls were important.
I suppose the lack of physical closeness, was the most difficult part of that time. Just like Donkey, in the Shrek movie, there are times when we all need a hug. Our situation may have been more difficult because we were both still coping with a recent family tragedy. But through that adversity, I believe that our relationship did grow stronger, and each of us found and developed greater inner strength.
So, from personal experience, I know some relationships are strong enough to withstand extended periods of separation. If you have no doubt about the strength of your relationship, then broadening your search area is certainly an option. However, if you have doubts, what can you do?
The most obvious answer is take the first available job offer in your location, regardless of how it may or may not utilize your skills. This has advantages of keeping you and your partner together, and earning adequate money, while you continue searching for your target job. Remember though, working a job you do not like also strains a relationship, whether or not you immediately recognize it.
You should view this secondary job as survival employment only. Your primary job is searching for your target employment opportunity. This means, rather than spending each evening and weekend enjoying your relationship, doing fun things; you will spend considerable time job-hunting. However, this can be a shared experience, if your partner participates in the job search with you. Shared activities could include Internet searching, or helping customize cover letters and résumés for you, before sending them to prospective employers.
Whether you choose to stay together and work through some lean times or try working separately, your relationship will suffer some bumps. The way you handle those bumps will determine whether you made the right choice. That is the whole point here. It is your choice. Unless you both agree, the arrangement is beneficial; you must realize that, like the survival job, working separately is a short-term solution. Since either choice will probably place some strain on the relationship, eventually it all boils down to each or you making it work.
© Copyright 2005 by David Posival
While I am in the process of changing careers, I feel it is only prudent to continue keeping the doors open to other opportunities. We are fortunate my wife has found a great job and for right now, we can get by on the one income plus my very limited earnings. I am returning most of my earnings to developing the business.
However, if you are not planning on striking out on your own in a new business venture, and you have relocated due to your partners new job, then you are going to have to make some decisions about your career. Obviously, since you have relocated with your partner, you either determined that there would be opportunities for you in the new area. Or, your financial situation required taking the job and hoping to find work for yourself, once in the area.
Of course, you have another option. If you fell into the latter group above, you may not have many opportunities in the new area. I have encountered this situation. There are few job openings for my skills in the area, with tremendous competition from younger candidates. So, if I had to find employment to remain solvent, it would mean accepting a job outside my skill area, or broadening the search to more distant locations.
Since you have relocated with a partner, you are obviously in a relationship of some sort. Obvious questions are, will the relationship withstand the pressures of separation? Or, is the opportunity more important than the relationship?
During part of our marriage, my wife relocated to another area, for her job. I remained behind while continuing my job search and developing another career path. We found both positive and negative aspects from that experience.
Our relationship grew by forcing us to develop a stronger trust in the other. We seldom took for granted, our time together. The time we spent together, whether on the phone or when she came home on weekends, became more focused on sharing, and enjoying each other. But, we had also recognized that everybody needs some time for himself or herself, so we benefited by having our own space or personal time. So you can see, separation due to relocating for a job does have some positives.
On the negative side of the equation, the cost of traveling for weekends, strained our finances. There were many times during each day, when we could have each benefited from the others council, but distance prevented that immediate access. However, even in the best situation, if both partners work in the same area, there are times when access to each other is restricted. We learned to work around that by using email and discussing the issues during our evening phone conversations. Those phone calls were important.
I suppose the lack of physical closeness, was the most difficult part of that time. Just like Donkey, in the Shrek movie, there are times when we all need a hug. Our situation may have been more difficult because we were both still coping with a recent family tragedy. But through that adversity, I believe that our relationship did grow stronger, and each of us found and developed greater inner strength.
So, from personal experience, I know some relationships are strong enough to withstand extended periods of separation. If you have no doubt about the strength of your relationship, then broadening your search area is certainly an option. However, if you have doubts, what can you do?
The most obvious answer is take the first available job offer in your location, regardless of how it may or may not utilize your skills. This has advantages of keeping you and your partner together, and earning adequate money, while you continue searching for your target job. Remember though, working a job you do not like also strains a relationship, whether or not you immediately recognize it.
You should view this secondary job as survival employment only. Your primary job is searching for your target employment opportunity. This means, rather than spending each evening and weekend enjoying your relationship, doing fun things; you will spend considerable time job-hunting. However, this can be a shared experience, if your partner participates in the job search with you. Shared activities could include Internet searching, or helping customize cover letters and résumés for you, before sending them to prospective employers.
Whether you choose to stay together and work through some lean times or try working separately, your relationship will suffer some bumps. The way you handle those bumps will determine whether you made the right choice. That is the whole point here. It is your choice. Unless you both agree, the arrangement is beneficial; you must realize that, like the survival job, working separately is a short-term solution. Since either choice will probably place some strain on the relationship, eventually it all boils down to each or you making it work.
© Copyright 2005 by David Posival
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Relocating for the Job – Part 2
In my previous post on relocating, I gave you just a few solutions to issues you may face when it is time to move. But, an even more fundamental question has to be answered first. That question is, “do you want to search for, and possibly accept a job in a different part of the country or even the world?” First, if you don’t want to relocate for the job, doing so anyway could make you miserable in the new job and location. However, if your employment opportunities and financial resources are running out, do you have a choice?
The situation my wife and I faced fell into this last group. Our resources were running out and the job market for my wife was flooded with qualified and even overqualified candidates. After being out of work for over a year, I knew that my opportunities, in that area, were few and very low paying, so I decided to change careers. (A possible future topic for this blog) We reached a point where relocation was a necessity.
If you are in this situation, then your choices are limited. If you have decided you do not want to move, then a survival job may be your only alternative. Survival jobs will possibly be a topic for a future post, so I will not cover them here, other than to say, you may be as miserable as you if you had relocated, against your desires. The only difference being the survival job hopefully will be short term, while relocating will likely be a longer-term situation.
However if you decide that relocation is an option, your next decision is “where?” There are so many variables affecting this choice, that I will only cover the most important. For each person the relative importance is different. Just to help get you started analyzing your choices, I’ll give you some variables I considered.
Since my children are grown and live on their own, I did not have to consider the schools in the target area. However, if you have children, this should be high on your list of priorities. Just as important, is the crime and drug abuse characteristics of the target area. One thing I have learned is not just inner-city schools have drug and violence problems. Suburban campuses can be just as bad, but affluence can hide some of the problem.
Other factors you may want to consider are cost of living, state and local taxes, and in the current economic situation, other things like fuel cost, rent or home ownership. Another factor might be climate, if temperature or environmental extremes create problems for you or family members. Susceptible to allergens? Look at environmental conditions in your target area.
In this day and age of political polarization, you may even want to consider the local political majority. Intolerance for divergent political and core beliefs and views, can make living in some areas uncomfortable. Sometimes it is just easier to move to a new area, where you will feel accepted. This is especially true if you have no friends or relatives anywhere near the area. This is unfortunate, but it is just an example of the questions you need to resolve in the decision process.
From this brief list, hopefully you get some idea of factors to consider if you are relocating. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list but only food for thought. And of course, each location will present unique challenges to your evaluation process.
For most relocation questions, the Internet can be a terrific information source. Use Google, Yahoo, and any other of your favorite search engines to locate information you need. For instance, to find out about crime in a certain city, enter “crime statistics” and the name and state of the city. You can use the quotes around the subject, as I did above, to filter out a lot of unrelated information. To broaden the search, remove the quotes.
Of course, relatives and friends can be a great source of all types of information, for your target area. Obviously having friends or family in another part of the country can also make the relocation decision easier. But lacking friends or family in your target area, you still have other sources for information.
For instance to locate crime statistics, you can also contact the public information officer of the local police department in your target area. Ask for overall crime statistics for the area, and more specific to the location you are considering for relocation. If they are unable or unwilling to assist you, search the online versions of the area newspapers.
Some newspapers also sell back issues, allowing you to learn much more about the area. I recommend getting at least four issues of their Sunday edition. Selecting some weekday and Saturday copies will also help fill in some gaps in your information. When you purchase papers from your selected areas, reviewing ads for apartments or housing should give you some idea of that expense. If store circulars are included, compare prices with those in your current area.
There are also COL (Cost of Living) or salary calculators on the Internet. This is just one of several I used from Realtor.com. These can be helpful but should not be your only source of information, on that subject. Contact the local Chamber of Commerce for your target area, if you have time for them to respond. Remember though, their focus is to present the best side of the community, so you’ll probably see little negative information.
When my wife had opportunities for interviews in areas requiring relocation, we also used another great method of determining cost of living. We were fortunate to have resources available to allow me to accompany her on some interviews. This allowed me, the grocery shopper, to do price comparisons of common grocery items. I was also able to get real estate and rent information, first hand. From this information, it was easy to determine the relative expense of the respective items in each area.
If your resources are more limited, when you get an interview in your target area, try to arrange for extra time to investigate. You may be able to arrange for the interviewing company to fly you in early enough to spend some time scouting the area, before going to the hotel for the evening. This also demonstrates your seriousness about relocating for the job. A company that is interested in hiring you may be willing to work with you on this, but you’ll never know unless you ask.
The final aspect to cover is the prevalent rate of compensation you can expect in your target area. Using the COL/salary calculators mentioned earlier, you can determine the difference in buying power between your current earnings, and the going rate in the target area. Some job listings will give you salary information, but most will not. However, many low skill jobs are posted with pay information. Comparing low skill jobs there and the comparable back home can also give you some indication of relative worth.
Hopefully, what I have given you here will jump-start your thought process in relocating for the job. If you have discovered other aspects to consider or other sources of information, please post them. There are other aspects to relocating that we may cover in future posts. In the interim, my web link is given below. There you’ll learn more about benefits of getting a new or revised resume.
© 2005 David Posival, All rights reserved.
The situation my wife and I faced fell into this last group. Our resources were running out and the job market for my wife was flooded with qualified and even overqualified candidates. After being out of work for over a year, I knew that my opportunities, in that area, were few and very low paying, so I decided to change careers. (A possible future topic for this blog) We reached a point where relocation was a necessity.
If you are in this situation, then your choices are limited. If you have decided you do not want to move, then a survival job may be your only alternative. Survival jobs will possibly be a topic for a future post, so I will not cover them here, other than to say, you may be as miserable as you if you had relocated, against your desires. The only difference being the survival job hopefully will be short term, while relocating will likely be a longer-term situation.
However if you decide that relocation is an option, your next decision is “where?” There are so many variables affecting this choice, that I will only cover the most important. For each person the relative importance is different. Just to help get you started analyzing your choices, I’ll give you some variables I considered.
Since my children are grown and live on their own, I did not have to consider the schools in the target area. However, if you have children, this should be high on your list of priorities. Just as important, is the crime and drug abuse characteristics of the target area. One thing I have learned is not just inner-city schools have drug and violence problems. Suburban campuses can be just as bad, but affluence can hide some of the problem.
Other factors you may want to consider are cost of living, state and local taxes, and in the current economic situation, other things like fuel cost, rent or home ownership. Another factor might be climate, if temperature or environmental extremes create problems for you or family members. Susceptible to allergens? Look at environmental conditions in your target area.
In this day and age of political polarization, you may even want to consider the local political majority. Intolerance for divergent political and core beliefs and views, can make living in some areas uncomfortable. Sometimes it is just easier to move to a new area, where you will feel accepted. This is especially true if you have no friends or relatives anywhere near the area. This is unfortunate, but it is just an example of the questions you need to resolve in the decision process.
From this brief list, hopefully you get some idea of factors to consider if you are relocating. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list but only food for thought. And of course, each location will present unique challenges to your evaluation process.
For most relocation questions, the Internet can be a terrific information source. Use Google, Yahoo, and any other of your favorite search engines to locate information you need. For instance, to find out about crime in a certain city, enter “crime statistics” and the name and state of the city. You can use the quotes around the subject, as I did above, to filter out a lot of unrelated information. To broaden the search, remove the quotes.
Of course, relatives and friends can be a great source of all types of information, for your target area. Obviously having friends or family in another part of the country can also make the relocation decision easier. But lacking friends or family in your target area, you still have other sources for information.
For instance to locate crime statistics, you can also contact the public information officer of the local police department in your target area. Ask for overall crime statistics for the area, and more specific to the location you are considering for relocation. If they are unable or unwilling to assist you, search the online versions of the area newspapers.
Some newspapers also sell back issues, allowing you to learn much more about the area. I recommend getting at least four issues of their Sunday edition. Selecting some weekday and Saturday copies will also help fill in some gaps in your information. When you purchase papers from your selected areas, reviewing ads for apartments or housing should give you some idea of that expense. If store circulars are included, compare prices with those in your current area.
There are also COL (Cost of Living) or salary calculators on the Internet. This is just one of several I used from Realtor.com. These can be helpful but should not be your only source of information, on that subject. Contact the local Chamber of Commerce for your target area, if you have time for them to respond. Remember though, their focus is to present the best side of the community, so you’ll probably see little negative information.
When my wife had opportunities for interviews in areas requiring relocation, we also used another great method of determining cost of living. We were fortunate to have resources available to allow me to accompany her on some interviews. This allowed me, the grocery shopper, to do price comparisons of common grocery items. I was also able to get real estate and rent information, first hand. From this information, it was easy to determine the relative expense of the respective items in each area.
If your resources are more limited, when you get an interview in your target area, try to arrange for extra time to investigate. You may be able to arrange for the interviewing company to fly you in early enough to spend some time scouting the area, before going to the hotel for the evening. This also demonstrates your seriousness about relocating for the job. A company that is interested in hiring you may be willing to work with you on this, but you’ll never know unless you ask.
The final aspect to cover is the prevalent rate of compensation you can expect in your target area. Using the COL/salary calculators mentioned earlier, you can determine the difference in buying power between your current earnings, and the going rate in the target area. Some job listings will give you salary information, but most will not. However, many low skill jobs are posted with pay information. Comparing low skill jobs there and the comparable back home can also give you some indication of relative worth.
Hopefully, what I have given you here will jump-start your thought process in relocating for the job. If you have discovered other aspects to consider or other sources of information, please post them. There are other aspects to relocating that we may cover in future posts. In the interim, my web link is given below. There you’ll learn more about benefits of getting a new or revised resume.
© 2005 David Posival, All rights reserved.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Professional Resume Writer or D.I.Y.
I promised more information on relocating for a job in my last post. However, I read a short response to a reader's question, in the local daily newspaper, that I thought needed to be given further consideration. I promise, there will be more on relocating in future posts.
Now back to the aforementioned article. The reader was questioning whether it was necessary to spend money on a professionally written resume, or do it yourself. The very short, and I feel poorly thought out response was: “Go to the library…find a book…and do it yourself.” The response came from a journalist, who is promoting a new book about finding and keeping a job. Obviously, she was never a hiring manager or worked in the real world, where the right resume, is the difference between getting interviews or reject letters and notices.
The truth is that for some people writing their own resume is a viable option, while for many more, it is just bad advice. People, who are well motivated, organized, and very knowledgeable in the job market, may be able to develop a good resume. But, there has to be a willingness to spend time researching and identifying information that should and should not be included in a resume. Then there is the actual process of writing the resume, using the right words in the right places to get prospective employer's attention.
When you work with a professional resume writer, you have someone who has all of these resources, to use in presenting you and your SKA's (Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities) in the best way possible. Truthfully speaking, most of the people who use my service lack some part of the successful equation, given above.
Many clients do not have time to research and think through the necessary steps to creating a great resume. Others, realizing how important a resume really is, do not want to risk a mistake, that will stop them from getting interviews, and eventually cost them a job opportunity.
The fear of failure has probably been the greatest reason for using my service. Writing a resume can be confusing and seem like a huge task, when you’re facing the challenge alone. However, under the knowledgeable guidance of a resume professional, each step in the process is accomplished methodically and with a minimum of confusion.
Additionally, during the process, the client has gained many new insights into what they want in a job and the type of job they are honestly qualified for. Several have realized that they had more than one career track available, and have multiple resumes, optimizing their job opportunities. Some have found that their original job desires did not match as well with their personality type as did other jobs, for which,they were equally qualified.
I have edited and expanded resumes, originally created by the client, resulting in their complete satisfaction. Primarily these clients no longer had doubts about accuracy, style, or form. Also, I do know that in almost all cases, when a client gets the final version of the resume, there is a new confidence in their ability to get interviews and a job. From a hiring managers perspective, confidence is one of the most important benefits, when you are interviewing for a job.
Part of the question, posed by the reader, included the concern about spending a “lot” of money on a resume. While it is true that you may not have money for anything but essentials, when you consider what is at stake, a resume becomes an essential. Some resume services are expensive, but shop around. You can find resume writing services that offer reasonable prices and will give you a definite edge in the highly competitive job market.
I suppose for each person using my service, there is a unique set of reasons for their purchase decision. You will have to determine whether or not a professionally written resume is an option, and how much you can afford, if you choose to use one. It’s your choice but a professionally written resume can be a great investment in your future.
Many more benefits of using a professional resume writing service can be found by clicking here.
Now back to the aforementioned article. The reader was questioning whether it was necessary to spend money on a professionally written resume, or do it yourself. The very short, and I feel poorly thought out response was: “Go to the library…find a book…and do it yourself.” The response came from a journalist, who is promoting a new book about finding and keeping a job. Obviously, she was never a hiring manager or worked in the real world, where the right resume, is the difference between getting interviews or reject letters and notices.
The truth is that for some people writing their own resume is a viable option, while for many more, it is just bad advice. People, who are well motivated, organized, and very knowledgeable in the job market, may be able to develop a good resume. But, there has to be a willingness to spend time researching and identifying information that should and should not be included in a resume. Then there is the actual process of writing the resume, using the right words in the right places to get prospective employer's attention.
When you work with a professional resume writer, you have someone who has all of these resources, to use in presenting you and your SKA's (Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities) in the best way possible. Truthfully speaking, most of the people who use my service lack some part of the successful equation, given above.
Many clients do not have time to research and think through the necessary steps to creating a great resume. Others, realizing how important a resume really is, do not want to risk a mistake, that will stop them from getting interviews, and eventually cost them a job opportunity.
The fear of failure has probably been the greatest reason for using my service. Writing a resume can be confusing and seem like a huge task, when you’re facing the challenge alone. However, under the knowledgeable guidance of a resume professional, each step in the process is accomplished methodically and with a minimum of confusion.
Additionally, during the process, the client has gained many new insights into what they want in a job and the type of job they are honestly qualified for. Several have realized that they had more than one career track available, and have multiple resumes, optimizing their job opportunities. Some have found that their original job desires did not match as well with their personality type as did other jobs, for which,they were equally qualified.
I have edited and expanded resumes, originally created by the client, resulting in their complete satisfaction. Primarily these clients no longer had doubts about accuracy, style, or form. Also, I do know that in almost all cases, when a client gets the final version of the resume, there is a new confidence in their ability to get interviews and a job. From a hiring managers perspective, confidence is one of the most important benefits, when you are interviewing for a job.
Part of the question, posed by the reader, included the concern about spending a “lot” of money on a resume. While it is true that you may not have money for anything but essentials, when you consider what is at stake, a resume becomes an essential. Some resume services are expensive, but shop around. You can find resume writing services that offer reasonable prices and will give you a definite edge in the highly competitive job market.
I suppose for each person using my service, there is a unique set of reasons for their purchase decision. You will have to determine whether or not a professionally written resume is an option, and how much you can afford, if you choose to use one. It’s your choice but a professionally written resume can be a great investment in your future.
Many more benefits of using a professional resume writing service can be found by clicking here.
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