The Inside Out Job Search

I will be recording these seminars and sharing them online for those who don't live in Western Massachusetts/Northern Connecticut!

For those who can make it, the locations and dates are below. Please call me at 413-426-2720 or email angelussier@yahoo.com to pre-register. Leave your name, phone number and dates/locations you are attending. I look forward to seeing you then!

Locations:
Forbes Library, 20 West Street in Northampton
South Hadley Public Library, 27 Bardwell Street
Enfield Public Library, 104 Middle Road

*Oh and if you fell into some sort of time-sucking vortex and just woke up, all of these seminars will be taking place in the year 2009. Thanks*

Here we go...

WEEK 1 -
Top 10 Mistakes Job Seekers Make- and how to avoid them so you can get the job you want, faster!
Where:
Forbes Library: 1:30-2:30 PM & 5:30-6:30 PM Mon June 1st
South Hadley Public Library: 5:30-6:30 PM Wed May 6th
Enfield Public Library: 7:30-8:30 PM Wed June 10th

WEEK 2 -
Ready, Aim, Fire: Creating A Targeted & Fulfilling Job Search
Where:
Forbes Library: 1:30-2:30 PM & 5:30-6:30 PM Mon June 8th
South Hadley Public Library: 5:30-6:30 PM Wed May 13th
Enfield Public Library: 7:30-8:30 PM Wed June 17th

WEEK 3 -
Let's Make A Resume (That Will Actually Get You A Job)
Bring your resume and we'll use a few as examples to work from
Where:
Forbes Library: 1:30-2:30 PM & 5:30-6:30 PM Mon June 15th
South Hadley Public Library: 5:30-6:30 PM Wed May 20th
Enfield Public Library: 7:30-8:30 PM Wed July 1st

WEEK 4 -
Be The Next "Got Milk" or "Just Do It" Campaign
How to brand yourself and get in front of employers
Where:
Forbes Library: 1:30-2:30 PM & 5:30-6:30 PM Mon June 22nd
South Hadley Public Library: 5:30-6:30 PM Wed June 3rd
Enfield Public Library: 7:30-8:30 PM July 8th

WEEK 5 -
Top 10 Rules Most Commonly Broken In The Interview-and why they can make or break your chances of winning the job!
Where:
Forbes Library: 1:30-2:30 PM & 5:30-6:30 PM Mon June 29th
South Hadley Public Library: 5:30-6:30 PM Wed June 10th
Enfield Public Library: 7:30-8:30 PM July 29th

WEEK 6 -
Top 10 Ways To Make The Most of Your Time In Between Jobs
Where:
Forbes Library: 1:30-2:30 PM & 5:30-6:30 PM Mon July 6th
South Hadley Public Library:5:30-6:30 PM Wed July 1st
Enfield Public Library: 7:30-8:30 PM Wed August 5th

WEEK 7 -
"My Phone Isn't Ringing" - Here's Why
Evaluation of your job search process from start to --your next job
Where:
Forbes Library: 1:30-2:30 PM & 5:30-6:30 PM Mon July 13th
South Hadley Public Library:5:30-6:30 PM Wed July 8th
Enfield Public Library: 7:30-8:30 PM Wed August 12th

WEEK 8 -
Top 10 Ways To Blow The Socks Off Your New Employer During
Your First 2 Weeks On The JobWhere:
Forbes Library: 1:30-2:30 PM & 5:30-6:30 PM Mon July 20th
South Hadley Public Library: 5:30-6:30 PM Wed July 15th
Enfield Public Library: 7:30-8:30 PM Wed August 19th

The wonder of confusion
I spent a long time being confused. In fact, I'm confused right now....but much less confused than before, so I call that progress. I think the people who aren't confused are the ones who miss out on a lot of what life has to offer! If you have everything figured out, you must be pretty bored.

Quick trip down memory lane
This takes me back to when I was 8 years old and my brother, who was 12 at the time, asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said I didn't know and he laughed at me. He said he was going to be a chef and I should start figuring out my plan. 20 years later, I am still figuring it all out and he is the owner and Head Chef of his catering company. Unfortunately, not all of us were able to have our lives figured out before we hit puberty.

Quick cliche roller coaster reference (sorry)
The exciting part about life is not arriving, it's about getting there and taking advantage of every experience, every twist and turn, every stomach-turning drop off, every mistake, every "oops" and every relationship. If you're not taking advantage of these moments, you're missing out.

Why I felt like being cliche:
Because this applies so many times in our life, especially when looking for a new job.

Quick math lesson (it's okay to yawn here. I'll make it quick)
Did you know that we dedicate roughly 1/3 of our adult lives to work? Yup, if we spend 45 hours a week at work, that's 2,340 hours per year. We're only awake for 6,240 hours out of the year, so we better make sure we're doing something meaningful, right?

Not really. I've heard the expression "working for the weekend" way more times than I care to admit. I've also met too many people who pretend to care about their jobs, but I see come in late every day, spend half their day crafting emails to loved ones, and looking less than half excited about coming up with ideas to propel new business.

What are we doing? Why are some people okay with not caring about what they do all day? Am I totally missing something? I've done this little exercise (the hours of your life) with some of the complacent people I've worked with to see what kind of reaction I get, and it didn't really seem to phase them. I got the "well, we all have to work to get by" response.

This got me thinking.
Some people are destined for greatness, while others are destined for paying the bills, going through the motions, and complaining their way through each day.

I'm interested in working with/talking to/leading the first group.

Who I don't want:
If you're part of the second group, I'm sorry, the rest of this post probably doesn't apply to you. This website will probably bore you to death, and you might want to go back to work now, since someone is paying you to be there (even though your employer is probably as complacent as you are if he/she is not noticing your lack of enthusiasm).

Back to the point.
Are you still with me? Good. This website is setup to talk about our lives, talk about our passions, talk about work. Yes, I called it work. I keep finding people who love what they do and refuse to call it work. I don't think work is a bad thing. If you look at work as a negative, then it will be. If you look at work as a way to express yourself and contribute to something powerful, than work can be the best word in the universe!

Here's the one sentence in the whole post that refers to "The Inside Out Job Search": Job searching isn't about looking at job boards...it's about finding yourself and letting the job come to you. (That's one sentence because I connected it with an ellipsis, I cheated).

This website is dedicated to working with people to see past the word "job" and "work" and start looking at it as an extension of you. Of your life. Of your purpose. Of your essence. Let's get excited and stop complaining and acting like victims. If you choose to go to a job you hate every day, you don't get to complain. You get what you put yourself through every day.

I quit my job to consult and inspire because that's what I love. If you're reading this in a cubicle and have a timer on your desk that counts down to 5:00, maybe we should talk.

Enjoy my website and thanks for stopping by.

In my last blog, I noted that I was confused. A few people were confused about my confusion, so I wanted to write this blog about confusion to clear it up.

I don't walk around with a wrinkled brow and a question mark over my head. Questions and wonder are important things to have, and I would be worried if I never questioned anything anymore.

When I say I'm confused, I mean that I am unclear about where we came from, why we all live on planet earth, why we breath air and drink water and not vice versa, and why we talk and animals don't (or, why animals speak a language a lot of us don't understand). I'm not confused about my purpose and why I'm writing what you're reading right now. I have a good grip on what I'm doing each day, and enjoy doing it with ease.

Comparison:

The cool thing about babies and kids is their innocence and their wonder. The thing most people don't like is the opposite: people who know everything and are unwilling to see another point of view. I think it's important to be somewhere in the middle of childhood innocence and sheer close-minded thinking. I think that leaves me somewhere around guided curiosity or intermittent confusion.

I like this space, hopefully you'll join me there.