It's Been A While...let me break the ice

I know, it has been exactly two weeks since I stopped by to drop some lines...hmmm that sounds bad doesn't it? I guess I should say "write some lines"; better. At least my mom won' t think I am a coke head. Not that I ever was one or AM one. Okay this is getting out of hand I need to stop the stream of consciousness...moving on...

I was at the Alanis Morissette concert on Wed eve, Oct 15. I noticed that I couldn't really hear the words to the song; why? Because the Drummer was TOO loud that's why. This is not the first concert I have been to this year where the sound person mixed the instrumentals so loud you could not hear the voices. I mean lets face it if you go to a concert where the person is a vocalist you want to hear the words and the instrumentals as a support to the great voice.

All this loud drumming got me to thinking about artists on stage and job seekers or just everyday citizens being on stage (so to speak) I guess if you come right down to it we are ALL on stage (or in front of an audience) at some point during our day.

Just like the drummer, there are those of us that feel the need to be loud with our voices or in our clothing choices and others that are perfectly content to fade into the wood work. My advice if you are a job seeker is you need to stand out in this market. No I am not going to go all doom & gloom but you need to have the edge with more people looking for employment now than there were earlier this year.

By edge I mean a solid resume, good stories about your past experiences and you need to be polished and pressed in your suit with your hair combed and a shoes shined! If not you then the next person will and guess what: THEY will have the edge, not you. Don't think for a minute you can get away with sitting in your home on the computer to job hunt - that's only part of the equation. GET OUT and meet people; go to meetings that interest you and use them as a networking opportunity.

Now get out there on your own stage and *shine*

Information Overload

Do you ever just feel that there is not enough time to read everything you need to read to keep up with your industry or profession? OR that there is never enough time to read what you WANT to read for FUN!?

I have been feeling particularly overwhelmed lately with all the technology available. There is the chat on Recruiting Blogs, Twitter and then reading all the blogs I want to follow. (too many to list here) Oh yeah and that little thing called work; in my case my recruiting business and clients I would like to keep happy so they keep using me and I can pay my bills!

I haven't quite figured out how segment my time with access to all this technology for productivity sake. As someone once said to me "the discipline will set you free" I think I am going to take her advice and get back in the groove of being more disciplined in my day and my business. Then I can stop to smell the flowers!

I am leaving technology behind for a short time so I can re-focus. No I am not going cold-turkey but I do feel the need to not have to be so connected. There will always be someone smarter, better and faster than me in their ability to use technology. What I plan to do is get back to basics, what makes me, me? Why do my clients work with me? What is it about me that makes them happy and confident that I can deliver what I say I can deliver? THAT is what is important and as much as I would like to be seen as a recruiter that "gets" the technology thing, let's face it others are smarter, better and faster at adopting that stuff than I am. I just want to be able to understand and use enough of it so I don't become irrelevant to my clients.