Career

Weekly Challenge – Relocation Research

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If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you know Bonnie and I are people who are aware of relocation issues from research, news, and our own experiences (such as my cross-country move).  Relocation is something that you'll have to face – either doing it or deciding why you haven't.

Set aside an evening for this one.

Your challenge for this week is to identify five places you'd like to live that are both geekily satisfying and good places for your careers.  List why you've decided that these places are worth moving.

Now that you know these places, do bit of research:

  1. 1) Where do they stand in the CnnMoney.com best places to live?
  2. 2) Take a look at the same pages city information and see if anything changes your mind or confirms your ideas.
  3. 3) Go to Meetup.com and see what kind of events are in your cities of choice
  4. 4) Go geektastic and visit UpcomingCons.com – a great website – and see what cons are in and near that location.

So, did any of this research confirm – or reduce – your interest in these places?  For that matter, how much research did you do in the first place?

– Steve

Book Review: How to Position Yourself as the Obvious Expert

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How to Position Yourself as the Obvious Expert
In 90 Days or Less Without Spending a Fortune on Advertising
by Elsom Eldridge Jr. and Mark L. Eldridge

ISBN-10: 0972094164
ISBN-13: 978-0972094160

PROS: Straightforward, information-dense.  Has quotes, ideas, and examples from a lot of professionals.

CONS: Focus limits the book.  Some exercises not as useful as others.  Erratic consistency.

SUMMARY: A must-read book on self-promotion that is useful to anyone looking to promote themselves, network, and connect.  It is focused on consultants and coaches, but is actually useful to most any professional.

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Frustration Friday – Ch-ch-changes

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I figured there's always room for some ranting – it cleanses the soul, expresses issues, and lets people share frustrations.  So thus let's start with Frustration Friday, a weekly look at what drives me and others crazy in the job and economic scene.  If you'd like to guest rant, feel free to write me.

In this case, let me rant about embracing change in the job market.

Yes, I know things have changed in the economy and the job search.  I was there.  I've been working as a professional for seventeen years.  I remember when Windows started, I remember when the internet became the big thing, I remember when small press comics hit big two decades ago and the growing self-publishing boom now..  I've seen changes in employment, economy, and geekonomy.

It's changed.  It's change a lot.  I know it.  Trust me, I know it.

The problem is that right now I see way too many people ONLY talking about change in the job market.  Social media is the big thing right now.  Video resumes were hot awhile ago but that seems to be fading.  For the LONGEST time I heard about how the internet was changing things – from people who did resumes the same way they always had.

It's changed, I get it.

The problem is that change aside the business gurus, advice gurus, and recruiters who are always embracing change are focusing on one part, one fragment, of the job search – the changing part.

They're forgetting the other parts.

There's networking.  There's always networking.  That doesn't change.

There's having good skills.  That's not changing.

There's learning, that's not changing – though it may be about change.

So, I'm getting tired about hearing how everything has changed in the job search.  Everything has NOT changed in the job search – there are more tools and venues, there are changing methods, but a lot has not changed.

At some point someone needs to do a book or a website on what's not changing in the job search.  It'd be a nice antidote to all the others.

– Steven Savage