Beau de Jour - moi?

It is, I'm afraid, my sad duty to inform you that I have been advised by someone for whose profession opinion I have recently developed much respect (Christopher at A4e), that I should cease the publication of this blog under my own name.  He feels that it sends out the wrong message to prospective employers who, on seeing my CV or LinkedIn profile, choose to Google me. (Please, please, I implore you, be aware that other search engines are available.)

His view (that my ramblings represent a negative and/or unprofessional image) does not, however, meet with the views of the majority of those (by and large positive and/or professional) individuals who responded to my informal straw poll on the subject.  In fact, most of those I spoke to were of the opinion that what I present here can only serve to fill out a picture of me as a 'well rounded' individual (and, incidentally, that anonymity would drastically curtail whatever small readership I've developed!)

I have therefore decided that , despite the frisson of 'Belle de Jour' naughtiness that I might gain from anonymous publication, I will adopt the Duke of Wellington's maxim: "Publish and be damned!"

I am however looking into Christopher's suggestion that I get involved in developing some software for an 'open source' project, in the hope that it will serve as an example of current work to show to prospective employers.

"So," you sigh impatiently, "enough waffle: what's been going on this week?"

Well....phone calls from agencies seem to be on the increase, and, after running through my CV, they seem to be becoming more inclined to put me forward to prospective employers.  This can only be a positive, and at this rate I might actually find myself in a position where I need to sharpen up my interview skills (and perhaps think about becoming a trifle less 'well-rounded' in a purely physical sense!)  I've also put myself forward as a volunteer for Age Concern (Hampshire)'s computer literacy scheme - I'll let you know how that pans out!

After a fairly uneventful 'Job Club' session with A4e on Tuesday, I then had an interesting 'transferable skills' session with Robin at A4e in Winchester on Wednesday.  We looked primarily at those skills which, for whatever reason, one might have the potential to develop, but (through anxiety, fear, unfounded beliefs or whatever reason) opt not to.  This, to me, seemed, serendipitously, to tie in quite closely with Paul's session at the North West Hampshire JC last week.

Sam from A4e in mid-presentation

Speaking of which..... Thursday saw the long-anticipated coming together of two major strings of my job-hunting bow (now there's an interesting image!), as Sam and Neil from A4e paid us a visit at the North West Hampshire JC.  Sam (one of the advisers covering the Andover area from their Winchester office) gave us a short presentation on A4e and its involvement in the government's 'Work Programme', both nationally and in our area.  He and Neil (A4e's local manager) then fielded questions from the group.  Overall they (I believe) helped to get rid of some preconceptions, and reassured any of our members who might find themselves on the scheme in the future that we're all essentially on the same side.

There then followed an especially lively and productive group discussion, with a wide variety of practical advice and assistance being shared among club members.  (I would, at this point, like to say how good it's been to see some new faces at the club recently, but won't do so, as that somehow sends out the wrong message given that it's a job club!)

Finally, on seeing Sam and Neil again on Friday, their first impressions of the North West Hampshire Job Club included "the sort of thing more people should be doing" and "inspirational". 

So, on that positive note, farewell until next we meet!

The nature of belief...

Aside from the usual 'routine' stuff, the main jobsearch-related thing to have happened since last we met here was another presentation from Paul Sherwood at the North West Hants JC.

I think he really outdid himself this time, with a really powerful session entitled "Believe - A shadow of the past, a window on the future."  As is usual for Paul, this was far from being a 'talking head' presentation, with much group participation and, I think it's fair to say, self-examination, involved. (The latter is true, at least in my case, if nobody else's.)

Allowing for my usual 'it's what I took from it' caveat; what we looked at was how our beliefs, be they justified or not, are ingrained into our world-view very early in life and how they have an enormous influence on how we perceive and interact with the world.

Given this situation, we looked at ways of replacing 'Limiting Beliefs' (negative beliefs which create a negative feedback loop and thence restrict the capacity to achieve one's goals), with positively-worded and success-focused alternatives.

I'm, by nature, quite sceptical about this sort of exercise, but was amazed at the burst of 'positivity' that came with crossing out my old belief and then writing down and reading aloud the new one.  Perhaps most importantly, that feeling didn't dissipate as soon as I walked out of the room!

Unfortunately, one positive belief that I took into this meeting was that an agency guy I'd spoken to earlier in the week was getting straight back to me with news of a telephone interview.  Unfortunately, no amount of positive belief and/or email communication seems to have brought this about as yet.

Ho hum! 

So THAT'S how LinkedIn works!

Hello there!  Apologies for my extended absence from the blogosphere - it's what comes of relying on the (excellent) local library for Internet access during the bank holiday season!

Again a quiet early part of last week.  A4E still have to confirm what training they've got lined up for me.  Their job club session was slightly enlivened by their LAN playing up a bit, limiting computer access there as well!  Since I've largely settled into a routine of working my way through the weekly list of C++ developer applications emailed to me by indeed.co.uk it wasn't really a problem.

No NW Hants JC (Easter Break!) on Thursday, but post signing-on on Wednesday I hung around Andover for a few hours (always a joy) to attend a really useful 'getting the most out of LinkedIn' session.  This is run (out of the goodness of their hearts, as far as I can tell!) by two local businessmen, Ian Malcolmson and Ed Thomas, on the first Wednesday of every month at the Wolversdene Club.  It was suggested at the start of the session that those present divide into two groups: total LinkedIn novices and an 'experienced' group of those with something approaching a workable presence in existence.

Much to my amazement the second group consisted of .......me!  I'd never considered my LinkedIn presence to be anything more than scratching the surface, but I suppose all things are indeed relative!  This meant I had Ed's undivided and wholly supportive attention for the time I was able to stay, for which I am extremely grateful.  His advice was mainly concerned with the value of joining existing interest groups within LinkedIn, and even more pertinently, identifying a unique factor to justify establishing one's own group.  'Lone Dads with Blue-Haired Sons and a Desperate Urge to Reenter the World of Software Development' anyone? 

Ed's other suggestion, apart from some tweaks to the history in my profile (another work in progress slowed by lack of on-line time) was that I establish a link to this blog within my LinkedIn profile.

So, if you're a new reader who's stumbled into my ramblings via this route, a very warm welcome to you!