MorCareers - Latest Comments

Re: Linked In…

Jason Leverenz — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:59:13 -0000

Hi, I'm Angela Tyczka's Son-in-law and I've been out of work now for 6 months and worked in restaurant management for 15 years now and I'm having trouble getting back in the industry. I think I need more Interviewing practice considering i've only Interviewed a handful of times over the past 15 years. Also, maybe you can look at my resume and tell me what you think. Thank you, Jason Leverenz bhawk.brian@gmail.com

Re: Playing hooky....

Mary Mark — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:59:50 -0000

Hi Sally,

Your new little Van is adoreable and such an excellent reason for playing hooky! I wish that I had someone small, cute and who smells like a baby to keep me from showing up at work. I'm in the throws of trying to finish all of the evaluations and staffings that have to be done before they will let me out of school for a couple of months.

Congratulations to all of you. I hope Van makes a Chicago appearance before he's ready to go to college. I would love to hold him and sniff his cute little neck for an afternoon.

Love,
Mary

Re: The best job in the world…

Debbie — Wed, 09 May 2012 23:13:17 -0000

Love this, remember those days so well. You always seemed unruffled. When you were rattled you cracked jokes and carried on. Time flies. Thanks for being a great friend, you and Steve helped make those hard years some of the best in our lives.

Re: What is the hardest part of job search for you?

robin morrison — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:50:17 -0000

The hardest part of innumerable job search difficulties for a fringe dweller like me has been projecting personal power without threatening the interviewer.

While not currently looking for work, I have recently thought much about the soul abrasion of the job search and how things personal interferes with what is usually an impersonal relationship: oneself and the work to be done.

Having once spent a week in a churchmouse corner watching a former boss interview applicants for a desk job, and seeing first hand what most effectively impressed him and me (our impressions were virtually identical in most cases although he was a *very* different personality from me), I retained impressions that I can now articulate (to make a long story short;), into these observations:

1. Dress very simple. Style is personal; work isn't.

2. Focus solely on the topic of Work. Interviewers will ask questions about you because interviewers are human beings and easily distracted from the topic of a meeting by another human's presence even at the meeting which is the reason you're together in the first place; but the topic is Work not you.

So, whatever crack answers one has learned to questions like 'Why should I hire you?', the answer is Work. Not you. I know a not-very- bright guy who can get jobs in a heartbeat because to questions like the previous he gives answers like 'Because I want to Work'.

Not: 'Because I am a self-directed multi-tasking team-player who values initiative in a supervised context' nor even a simple 'Because I'm a hard-worker'. 'I am' statements make you a noun, the object of focus, when to a prospective employer you are a verb, an agent of action the employer plugs into a work load and hopefully doesn't regret. Every time they pull your crank, they should hear your motor turn, not be handed an owner's manual. (Wish I'd understood this back in the day.)

The genius of this (to make a short story longer) is that it keeps you focused naturally and honestly on the one single thing that matters: associating yourself positively with the Work needing done. Period. You can use this from the opening inanities (which some call pleasantries but I find anything but a pleasure):

Them: 'Hi, ____.' (have a seat gesture) 'How are you?'

You: 'I'm ready to go to work. How are you?'

T: 'How long have you been in the job market?'

Y: 'Too long. I'm ready to work.' (Not saying to evade the question but to frame it thusly. Added bonus is that without even hinting at it you've effectively made your personal issues -- been out of a job for three months and ready to rob a bank if necessary -- none of their giddly-dang business, which it ain't, since all they are concerned with is Work.)

You'll notice that my hypothetical interviewee practices not just the principle of keeping it short but also something similar to the lawyerly dictum of 'do not ask a question whose answer you don't already know'.

How so? Since most of the interview process is both question and answer at the same time in the same way that all information obtained in bill collection will be used to collect the debt, any noise an interviewee makes is an answer to the underlying question -- Why Should I Hire You? Also, and what is even more volatile, it is an answer to the question in the back of so many interviewers' minds, at least when they are turned on, which question is, Do I have a clue how to pick qualified new hires? If their brain is to be turned on by anything you say, it should be turned onto the concept of Work so that they can associate you with same. Clicking channel Work is the best way to find your favorite daytime program: Job.

Not only does this focus you in their mind with Work, it does something else very important: it helps you "Re-discover how awesome you are"... by making you into your own "power statements". Assuming, that is, that you have a genuinely adequate work ethic and truly want to Work. If so, and most of us do, it is very hard not to project confident power that is charismatic to a prospective employer by constantly focusing yourself and your employer on Work.

Which reminds me (end of story) that job, the thing, bears uncanny resemblance to the Bible's emblem character of pointless patient endurant suffering per criteria not revealed to the sufferer, Job, who patiently does his job through trials and layoffs until, at the end, not even knowing he's been fired, he is given his old job back about the time he's ready to quit.

Re: A Little About Me

Sally Morrison — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:48:16 -0000

I'll give you a call on Tuesday Patti!

Re: A Little About Me

Patti Haegele — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:59:48 -0000

Hi Sally,
I need help with getting my resume done.....haven't had one in 16 years if you can believe that....never had the need for one until now. Please email me back on how we can get started or call me at home at 847 639-1885.

Thank you....

Re: Men of Honor...

Debbie — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 05:40:22 -0000

Great post, neat pictures. Yummy treats. Thanks!

Re: Two for Tuesday: What was your Worst Job and Why Did You Take It?

Sally Morrison — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:50:45 -0000

Ahh, the good old days. I can picture it very well. I am sure the basement was kind of dark as well. But look how far you've come and I am sure your beauty salon people love you!

Re: Two for Tuesday: What was your Worst Job and Why Did You Take It?

Sally Morrison — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:49:01 -0000

Sometimes a little pain can be a great teacher. Good learning experience.

Re: Two for Tuesday: What was your Worst Job and Why Did You Take It?

Larry Stevenson — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:16:06 -0000

My worst job was the first real job after I got my BA. I worked for a man who lied to me about current production when we negotiated my bonus. He told me they were billing 1,300 hours and my bonus kicked in at 1,600. They were really billing 540.

Everytime I got close to getting my bonus, he would tell one of my subordinates how poorly I was doing and that they needed to assert themselves more for us to succeed. Then, he would tell me that so-and-so was to pushy and I needed to put them in their place. He would wait to see who won.

Finally, he kept a copy of the book Winning Through Inimidation on his desk--facing the person sitting across from him.

Why did I take the job? Proposition 13 passed a week before creating a 10 recession in my chosen field. I had two children and a wife to support. Luckily that job led to the job I've had for the past 32 years. I love my current job, so it was worth it.

Re: Two for Tuesday: What was your Worst Job and Why Did You Take It?

Pamela — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 05:01:34 -0000

My worst AND first job was washing hair at a beauty salon at the ripe old age of 12 years. I took the job because I thought the 50 cents an hour plus "promised" tips would afford me the luxury life style I wanted and parents wouldn't provide. The salon was located in the owner's home basement and the local ladies had standing appointments every Saturday. The good part was that I got to hear the local gossip, not always suitable for a 12 year old ears, but certainly interesting and sometimes useful. The bad part was that I had to brush out the week old bullet proof 'dos and wash the hair spray lacquered hair. When the shop wasn't busy, I was given the privilege of sweeping and mopping her kitchen floor! Child labor laws were not strictly enforced in those days. Tips were few and my life style did not change. But I certainly stepped out of my baby sitting comfort zone and tried something different which taught me to take chances. It also taught me to always tip the shampoo person well or risk cold water down my neck!