Turdland Jobs Forum (for Mutual Benefit & Assistance)

Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to offer any job-referrals ... but I applaud your aims.

I find myself in the position of hunting for a full time job, so this is a very welcome addition.  My main area of focus is large scale call center and customer service operations.  I think it would also be wise to post if you are looking for a job and  your area of expertise so if the rest of us see something we can alert you.

Commercial and Federal consulting: http://sj.tbe.taleo.net/SJ6/ats/careers/searchResults.jsp?org=WINDWARDITS&cws=1

(Enter my name as referral source and I promise I'll spend the referral bonus on ASEs)

Making bread ? Love this simple way for first timers :)

I'm guessing there are many people here who have either chosen to, or were forced to leave their once- familiar ways of earning a living. It's happening to several people just in my sphere of life (including me!) and from the number of hat tips Excalibur received for suggesting an "Idea Bank"in a Turdland Jobs Forum... well, I think we've struck gold! Well done, JY896! Turd has (Voodoo, perhaps?) managed to attract a certain kind of readership, and I look forward to future posts from "You People"!

I knew about 10 years ago I wanted to leave my job of 22 years, so I've had time to sort some things out.

There are tests available in books, and tests that are given that can help steer one in a direction that may be best suited for them. I remember taking a test in a book at a friend's house one weekend that helped me get a better picture of what my strong/ natural tendencies were, and the knowlege was extremely useful. I have recently learned of legit testing companies that, for a fee, can give one a fairly comprehensive scope of one's self. I haven't ever taken one of those, but it sounded interesting. ( I'm rambling; it's late!)

Anyway, I am 3 years in to being a professional guardian, and I find the work very rewarding. All I know about is Florida Law, and even within the state, each county has different laws regarding it, so I KNOW each state will have its own set of definitions and guidelines. Anyone wanting information on this subject, please visit the National Guardianship Association's website at www.guardianship.org. From what I've observed locally, more mature people gravitate to this job because it does entail a healthy dose of responsibility, as well as and an ability to draw from experience and good common sense! Good communication skills helpful! REQUIREMENTS: Over 18 and never been convicted of a felony.

Due to Boomers making up the majority in the demographics, "Senior Care" is a field worth investigating for employment. (OMG... can we find a new name for that? I'm not all that far away from that age, and I CAN'T STAND that "Name"!)

I love exclamation points!

Goodnight!

JY896, you are hitting on an important topic here.  While I am searching for a job, my wife and I are also creating a small startup company that involves retail web sales of an in-demand class of products.  We refuse to be caught in a situation again where we don't have a second stream of income.  We're starting off as an LLC here in the USA, and making excellent progress.  I don't want to go into too many details because it may bore some of you, but I'll share a couple of points we've had to overcome.

1.  Start up costs are higher than we thought. We are probably going to spend double our original estimates to getting things off the ground. Licensing, permits, legal fees and trademark fees are a bit more than we estimated.  We want to run a completely honest/ethical business, and get that all taken care of up front.  Bottom line, unless you are a hobbyist that claims small profits on a hobby related business, the barriers to entry are higher than expected.

Note: You need to be very, very careful with a startup - local and state governments are getting much better at catching folks, fining them and shutting them down if they skipped getting their licenses and registering their business properly.

2.  Financing is an issue.  We have contemplated a micro loan from the SBA, but we don't qualify based on a couple of requirements.  I have the money to buy our initial inventory (which holds it's value very well at the wholesale level for collateral purposes), but I wanted to go in with even more inventory and a bit more marketing.  Getting a loan for $10K-$25K has been problematic.  I'm thinking we're going to need to go the private loan route at a slightly higher interest rate and guarantee the principal with PMs as collateral held in a bank box.  Also, we're exploring Proper.com as a loan source.  Otherwise, we'll just deal with the capital we have on hand.

Anyway, if you are opening a small business and you strongly feel there is an outlet for your product or service (verified by market research) then there is no time like the present to get going on it.    Connect with me via email here if you want more information on how we're going about the setup process and experiences with vendors like LegalZoom, web shopping carts,business identity designers,  etc.  We are scheduled to go live in July.  Finally!

I wanted to post a three part LinkedIn strategy I've used successfully in the past to attract the attention of recruiters and land interviews.  This ultimately led to a few great offers during my last job hunt.

1.  Update your profile to present an extensive, accurate resume.  Having a comprehensive profile posted may rattle a few cages when it comes to privacy concerns, but it does help to attract attention to your qualifications and capabilities.  You can always tone it down after you land a job.

2.  Join LinkedIn groups related to the industry you are experienced and/or interested in.  Then respond to ongoing discussions within those groups with well reasoned and unbiased answers.  I have joined roughly 25 groups related to the contact center/customer care industry, and have seen numerous employees at major companies posting questions.  They need help and advice.  While you'll see lots of responses from sales people, you'll also see genuinely insightful responses from seasoned professionals.  Those high value responses are seen by recruiters and executives perusing the forums, and it will get you noticed if you really know your stuff.  Important hint:  be sure to type up your response in MS Word or other software where spell check is offered, and then copy it into your LinkedIn response field.  You do not want to post any responses with spelling or grammatical mistakes.

While this is a strategy to attract attention to my experience, it also serves to help others in need when they can't figure something out.  Over the past few years I've found the experience so enjoyable that I just keep doing it even while employed.  The "friends" I've made on the site have also proven to be long term active connections.

3.  In my thank you notes to interviewers and recruiters, I include a personal business card with my LinkedIn profile listed.  This is also in my personal email signature.  It's amazing to see those folks actually reviewing your LinkedIn profile (some of them will send invitations to connect), and it serves to keep your name and profile in front of key decision makers. 

Try it.  If you need more info, please connect with me via PM.

Best of luck in pursuing future opportunities!

Chris

p.s. - don't forget to update your profile with your contact parameters.  If you display "Interested in career opportunities" in your profile, I believe recruiters are more apt to connect with you.

Just  a quick update.  Starting to get calls back from recruiters.  That's good news.  I found that updating my resume on the major job sites seems to trigger more views from recruiters.  Removing my resume and then reinserting it keeps it from getting stale and keeps me near the top of the massive lists of resumes posted from job seekers.  Some recruiters will not search older resumes that have been posted for an extended period of time.  The specialized recruiters (i.e., technology) will generally not look at resumes posted more than 90 days ago.  Or so I've been told.

Our sideline business is about 75% ready for launch.  Our product lines are slowly being fleshed out.   Just had an interesting conversation with state agricultural authorities on the rules for selling sealed shelf stable foods as part of our business plan. It seems like their safety rules are designed to make it harder to carry these product lines rather than ensuring the safety of the product.   Thankfully, we've already got agreements locked in with three suppliers to drop ship for us on those products.  The only reason I've mentioned this is because I saw some other folks on this site considering opening a baking business.  There is no faster way to incur the wrath of local, state and even federal authorities than ignoring those facility rules and safety requirements - unless you plan to sell at outdoor festivals, etc. where the rules may be relaxed.

I'm taking a road trip out west to ID and perhaps eastern WA state and northwest MT.  Would love to meet up with any TFMR folks in those areas as that is a geographical area we're interested in moving to.  In much prayer about this!