With the holidays right around the corner I thought I would share a few ideas on how to keep your mental health and save a few dollars.
1 – Instead of sending Christmas Cards, call everyone on your list. We all have free nights and weekends on our cell phone, so use them. Don’t focus on your situation, but ask how they are doing, what is new, how are the kids, etc.
2 – Only purchase gifts for the younger children or grandchildren. Your adult relatives and friends all know that you are in transition and that your financial resources may be limited. Agree up front not to exchange gifts this year.
3 – Teach your children the real meaning of the season. Ask them if you can donate to a charitable cause instead of buying them tons of gifts. A small donation to the cause of your choice in their name is far more memorable than the latest Wii game. Let them decide on the charity, Heifer Int’l, Salvation Army, Food Bank, Pet Shelter, or religious based charities are all good causes.
4- Volunteer your time somewhere and include your family. Consider contacting a nursing home to see if they need help. You could go and read to someone who can’t anymore, or just visit and learn about what they did at the holidays as a child. Consider tutoring school age children. You probably have a great knowledge base and can definitely impact a child’s future.
5 – Limit your time at family events. Many of us have relatives that just don’t understand the current job market and will ask why you haven’t found work yet. Others may have just purchased a new house/car/boat or traveled on vacations while you have been counting every penny to pay the bills. . Avoid long discussions about your job search and focus on them instead. By limiting your time, you limit your exposure to these influences.
6 – Throw out the Sunday paper color guts. If you are not shopping for gifts, don’t tempt yourself with all the fancy electronics and gadgets that you can’t afford right now. It will only make you depressed.
7 – Make of list of everything you DO have. Most likely you have many things to be thankful about, your health, home, family and support group.
8 – Stay focused on your job search. I won’t dwell on this since there have been many articles about this subject in the newspapers, on the web, and as discussions on LinkedIn.
So there you have it. These are just a few suggestions to get you going and I’m sure you can easily add more.
What am I doing to survive this holiday season? My wife and I have agreed to limit our gifts to each other. We will each only purchase a few items and then they need to be useful items such as socks, sweats, t-shirts, etc. I have been trying to give of myself by hosting a networking breakfast for my job seekers group and will be playing “Santa Claus” to the same group this week. I have solicited donations to use as prizes, obtained some games for us to play, and my church choir is baking cookies for the event. It won’t be “over the top” but everybody will go home with at least a little something. As I have heard how some of the members are struggling to survive not only Christmas but the coming months I felt I needed to give of myself in some small way to help lift the spirits of my new found friends.
Merry Christmas and I hope that all of you have a wonderful and prosperous New Year!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Are You A Susan Boyle?
Susan Boyle, the unknown singer from Scotland who last year inspired the world with her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” on “Britian’s Got Talent” has again rocked the world. Her new album has sold more than 700,000 copies in the first week out selling giants such as U2, Eminem and Snoop Dog. (Thanks to Connie Schultz of the Cleveland Plain Dealer for these statistics.) Who would think that a 40 something unemployed women could have such amazing talents?
Well, there are many Susan Boyle’s out there. We may not be singers, but we are over 40, unemployed, not stunningly beautiful and maybe even a little frumpy looking. But guess what. We are ready to ROCK THE WORLD. We too have talents that are not being recognized by potential employers. Our resumes are being spit out by automated parameters. Hiring managers do not return our phone calls. Maybe we don’t have a degree or it is not viewed as coming from the right school or proper background. Age discrimination may be taking place as well, but we are still here.
In my case I know I have many skills that an employer should be interested. I am a leader. I can hire, train and motivate a team to exceed sales goals. I create loyalty to me among my employees. I am computer literate. I have managed a $50 million territory. I can establish relationships with my customers that lead to additional sales. I can solve problems when they occur. I can see a project through from start to finish. I know how to seek help when I need it and smart enough to recognize that I don’t know it all. I am a team player who is not afraid to express my thoughts and ideas, willing to argue my point, and then go forward with the team’s decision even if it was not what I thought we should do. I am dedicated to my job and will do what it takes to get it done on time and on budget.
I too am a Susan Boyle (just not female!)
We too are ready to rock the world. We’re just waiting to be found. So what are you waiting for?
Life is good!
Well, there are many Susan Boyle’s out there. We may not be singers, but we are over 40, unemployed, not stunningly beautiful and maybe even a little frumpy looking. But guess what. We are ready to ROCK THE WORLD. We too have talents that are not being recognized by potential employers. Our resumes are being spit out by automated parameters. Hiring managers do not return our phone calls. Maybe we don’t have a degree or it is not viewed as coming from the right school or proper background. Age discrimination may be taking place as well, but we are still here.
In my case I know I have many skills that an employer should be interested. I am a leader. I can hire, train and motivate a team to exceed sales goals. I create loyalty to me among my employees. I am computer literate. I have managed a $50 million territory. I can establish relationships with my customers that lead to additional sales. I can solve problems when they occur. I can see a project through from start to finish. I know how to seek help when I need it and smart enough to recognize that I don’t know it all. I am a team player who is not afraid to express my thoughts and ideas, willing to argue my point, and then go forward with the team’s decision even if it was not what I thought we should do. I am dedicated to my job and will do what it takes to get it done on time and on budget.
I too am a Susan Boyle (just not female!)
We too are ready to rock the world. We’re just waiting to be found. So what are you waiting for?
Life is good!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Thank God I'm Unemployed
Well, I’m not really that thrilled with the fact that my company ceased operations this past April, and yes I do wish I was back in the workplace contributing to a company’s bottom line while drawing a paycheck, but I thought I would look at the silver lining inside of the dark cloud.
Being unemployed can force you to discover who you are. I’ve assessed my skills and strengths and have looked at my weaknesses. I have learned about new industries and I’ve learned about what other people really do at their jobs and careers.
I have met so many new people and am developing new friendships. I would not be out attending networking events and attending job group meetings if I was still employed. My circle of contacts would still be limited to that safe area we all fall into.
I would not have discovered how deeply concerned others are about my situation. My support group at church has been phenomenal about praying for me and asking if they can help me in any way. They lift my spirits every week and are there to talk to when I am really down about not finding a new career opportunity.
I would not have attended a four week session on how to become more employable. The information and insights I gained will stick with me long after I am employed again. I would not have met Don McLeod who so freely gives of his time and talents to help others.
My last position had become a dead end job. I loved my job but the company was reducing it’s workforce before it ceased operations and unless it had dramatic growth I would have continued not utilizing many of the skills I possess. I am thankful I have the opportunity to find a position where I can again utilize those talents and succeed in ways I could not imagine.
I am thankful for Facebook. Yes, some people overdo it, but I have been able to connect with my former co-workers. Many of us regularly communicate with each other where before we only saw each other at annual meetings.
I am thankful that I have a source of income while I pursue a new career. I have spoken with many people whose situations are far worse than mine will ever be. They have no health insurance, have depleted their savings and IRAs and some face the prospect of losing their homes. They are becoming desperate and will take about any job they can find.
Finally, I am thankful for all the little things we tend to overlook when we are rushing to get to work or to a meeting. My wife, my family, my dog (even though he sleeps all day), having a working car, food on the table and a roof over my head, good health and friends who really care.
Happy Thanksgiving to All.
Being unemployed can force you to discover who you are. I’ve assessed my skills and strengths and have looked at my weaknesses. I have learned about new industries and I’ve learned about what other people really do at their jobs and careers.
I have met so many new people and am developing new friendships. I would not be out attending networking events and attending job group meetings if I was still employed. My circle of contacts would still be limited to that safe area we all fall into.
I would not have discovered how deeply concerned others are about my situation. My support group at church has been phenomenal about praying for me and asking if they can help me in any way. They lift my spirits every week and are there to talk to when I am really down about not finding a new career opportunity.
I would not have attended a four week session on how to become more employable. The information and insights I gained will stick with me long after I am employed again. I would not have met Don McLeod who so freely gives of his time and talents to help others.
My last position had become a dead end job. I loved my job but the company was reducing it’s workforce before it ceased operations and unless it had dramatic growth I would have continued not utilizing many of the skills I possess. I am thankful I have the opportunity to find a position where I can again utilize those talents and succeed in ways I could not imagine.
I am thankful for Facebook. Yes, some people overdo it, but I have been able to connect with my former co-workers. Many of us regularly communicate with each other where before we only saw each other at annual meetings.
I am thankful that I have a source of income while I pursue a new career. I have spoken with many people whose situations are far worse than mine will ever be. They have no health insurance, have depleted their savings and IRAs and some face the prospect of losing their homes. They are becoming desperate and will take about any job they can find.
Finally, I am thankful for all the little things we tend to overlook when we are rushing to get to work or to a meeting. My wife, my family, my dog (even though he sleeps all day), having a working car, food on the table and a roof over my head, good health and friends who really care.
Happy Thanksgiving to All.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Who Will Change Your Life?
So, who are you going to meet who will change your life?
I’ve been attending a self improvement seminar by Donald Wayne McLeod of Listen Up. (http://www.listenup.biz/) He ended this past week’s session with “You never know who you will meet who will change your life”. He then asked how many of us were married. His point was made. Since then I’ve been thinking about some of the people who have changed my life. This list is hardly inclusive but will highlight a few that immediately come to mind. I’ll skip over my wife since that is so very obvious.
Bill O’Neil
We moved from Cleveland Ohio to the small town of Circleville about 25 miles south of Columbus just prior to my sixteenth birthday. My father was transferred to the PPG facility that still operates on Rt. 23 south of town. I enrolled in choir that fall as I have been a singer most of my life. Bill was the band and choir director at Circleville High School. I started playing the organ at the age of 10 and at age 12 became the organist at our small church in Cleveland. I loved making music but certainly was not considering it as my college major. I was a pocket-protector, slide rule geek who was planning on a career in engineering or math. Bill changed all of that.
Bill recognized my talents. He encouraged them and nurtured them. I was not part of the band and did not play any instrument besides the organ. In the Cleveland schools you had to choose between choir and band in elementary school and I chose choir. Bill was short of tuba players in the marching band and asked me to learn the instrument. I went home with a tuba and by the second semester that year I was ready to join the band. When it came time for state solo and ensemble contest Bill encouraged me to form a men’s quartet to sing in the competition. I did. Then I formed a folk group that sang at nursing homes, civic meetings and choir concerts. He helped me select music and guided me along the way, but I was able to stretch my wings and direct these groups.
After graduation, Bill moved to Marion Ohio and besides teaching in the schools became the brass instructor for the Marion Cadets Drum & Bugle Corp. Bill asked me to come and march that summer with the Corp. I played contrabass bugle, practicing in my back yard, and then moved into the spare bedroom at Bill & Dee’s house for the summer. I was the smallest contrabass player we saw the entire year. It was me at 135 lbs vs. a 23 lbs. bugle. I later spent a year as an assistant brass instructor with a now defunct NJ drum corp.
Bill allowed me to become a leader. He ignited in me a passion to teach that I still possess today. He encouraged me to pursue a college education in music and I am forever grateful to him.
Eugene Roan
Gene Roan was my organ teacher at Westminster Choir College in Princeton NJ. Tall, lanky and about 15 years older than me, he was a mentor to so many of us. He was born with incredible musical talents and generously shared them with others. I had a one hour lesson each week with Gene and he taught me that even though I did not have the talents to become the next international organ recitalist it really didn’t matter. What is more important is that I utilize the talents that I have to the fullest. During my sophomore year I was part of the European Organ Study Tour and Gene was on of the two faculty members that lead the trip. I am happy to say that during those three short weeks he became not only teacher, but friend.
Larry Gelfund
Larry became Director of Training and Development at Handleman Company in 1999. He was hired to create what became known as Handleman University, a complete program to provide continuing education to all employees of the company. Though I had been training all the employees I’d hired for a number of years, Larry rekindled in me a desire to become the best trainer. He developed a course known as “Train the Trainer”. We explored how people learn and the various means of recognizing and utilizing learning styles. I had been part of two previous Presidential Review Committees that had updated our field training materials in the past and I soaked up every minute of the classes. I was hooked on teaching again. It was Larry’s clear and methodical method of teaching that enabled me to later become part of two international training initiatives.
Ann Abel
Ann was our Regional Director at Handleman when we acquired a company in the UK. I still remember being at a regional managers meeting in Detroit in the spring of 2001 when Ann asked me if I would like to travel to England to be part of a training initiative. I would be one of four field sales representatives chosen to help facilitate training the use of hand held computers, laptops, and in house field sales software. I think it took me less than two seconds to decide.
That July I traveled to St. Helens England, between Manchester and Liverpool. It was a week to remember. I meet so many great people, had the chance to chug down a few beers at The Cave in Liverpool, the Beatles home club, and then to spend time in London before returning home. I also had the opportunity to continue to hone my skills as a teacher and trainer.
It was during this trip that I meet Maggie Curtis. A fellow manager from Ohio had worked with Maggie a few months prior as they transitioned the UK accounts. He suggested we connect when she came in for the training. Maggie and I have staying in touch since then and we had Maggie and her husband Alan as house guests last summer.
Thank you, Ann.
Glenn Dangerio
In 2003 Handleman launched a company wide update of our field hardware and software. Each of the three US Business Units, Canada and the UK each recommend two people to work with our corporate field sales staff to test the units and software, develop training materials, train all our district trainers and facilitate training all 400 plus US and International field sales staff. Glenn chose me as one of those two people from the Central Business Unit. I will save for another day the whole story of SFAII as it was known for it will take more time than allows at present, but thank you Glenn for giving me such an incredible opportunity.
I want to end by telling the story of how Glenn became part of Handleman. Bob McCann was one of my full time employees and was seeking an opportunity to become a District Manager (I think we were called Supervisors when this happened.) I had spent two weeks in NJ helping out with store remodels and our team leader happened to be the Assistant Branch Manager. He mentioned that they were in need of a Supervisor in NJ. Since there were no opportunities for advancement in our branch I suggested Bob contact the Baltimore branch. He transferred to NJ shortly afterwards and became a supervisor for the northern portion of the state. Bob had an opening for a full time rep and Glenn applied. Bob hired him and as they say the rest is history. Glen went on to move up in the Baltimore branch, became Regional Director, Regional Vice President, Vice President Market Development, Vice President of Marketing and Merchandising and is now Director of National Accounts at Walt Disney Music. That chance meeting with Bob McCann truly changed his life.
So, who will change your life? Are you ready to recognize the opportunity? Are you ready to take the risk? Are you bringing your best everyday?
I know I am.
(Note – Handleman Company entered a closure of business plan in June of 2008 and currently has ceased all operations)
I’ve been attending a self improvement seminar by Donald Wayne McLeod of Listen Up. (http://www.listenup.biz/) He ended this past week’s session with “You never know who you will meet who will change your life”. He then asked how many of us were married. His point was made. Since then I’ve been thinking about some of the people who have changed my life. This list is hardly inclusive but will highlight a few that immediately come to mind. I’ll skip over my wife since that is so very obvious.
Bill O’Neil
We moved from Cleveland Ohio to the small town of Circleville about 25 miles south of Columbus just prior to my sixteenth birthday. My father was transferred to the PPG facility that still operates on Rt. 23 south of town. I enrolled in choir that fall as I have been a singer most of my life. Bill was the band and choir director at Circleville High School. I started playing the organ at the age of 10 and at age 12 became the organist at our small church in Cleveland. I loved making music but certainly was not considering it as my college major. I was a pocket-protector, slide rule geek who was planning on a career in engineering or math. Bill changed all of that.
Bill recognized my talents. He encouraged them and nurtured them. I was not part of the band and did not play any instrument besides the organ. In the Cleveland schools you had to choose between choir and band in elementary school and I chose choir. Bill was short of tuba players in the marching band and asked me to learn the instrument. I went home with a tuba and by the second semester that year I was ready to join the band. When it came time for state solo and ensemble contest Bill encouraged me to form a men’s quartet to sing in the competition. I did. Then I formed a folk group that sang at nursing homes, civic meetings and choir concerts. He helped me select music and guided me along the way, but I was able to stretch my wings and direct these groups.
After graduation, Bill moved to Marion Ohio and besides teaching in the schools became the brass instructor for the Marion Cadets Drum & Bugle Corp. Bill asked me to come and march that summer with the Corp. I played contrabass bugle, practicing in my back yard, and then moved into the spare bedroom at Bill & Dee’s house for the summer. I was the smallest contrabass player we saw the entire year. It was me at 135 lbs vs. a 23 lbs. bugle. I later spent a year as an assistant brass instructor with a now defunct NJ drum corp.
Bill allowed me to become a leader. He ignited in me a passion to teach that I still possess today. He encouraged me to pursue a college education in music and I am forever grateful to him.
Eugene Roan
Gene Roan was my organ teacher at Westminster Choir College in Princeton NJ. Tall, lanky and about 15 years older than me, he was a mentor to so many of us. He was born with incredible musical talents and generously shared them with others. I had a one hour lesson each week with Gene and he taught me that even though I did not have the talents to become the next international organ recitalist it really didn’t matter. What is more important is that I utilize the talents that I have to the fullest. During my sophomore year I was part of the European Organ Study Tour and Gene was on of the two faculty members that lead the trip. I am happy to say that during those three short weeks he became not only teacher, but friend.
Larry Gelfund
Larry became Director of Training and Development at Handleman Company in 1999. He was hired to create what became known as Handleman University, a complete program to provide continuing education to all employees of the company. Though I had been training all the employees I’d hired for a number of years, Larry rekindled in me a desire to become the best trainer. He developed a course known as “Train the Trainer”. We explored how people learn and the various means of recognizing and utilizing learning styles. I had been part of two previous Presidential Review Committees that had updated our field training materials in the past and I soaked up every minute of the classes. I was hooked on teaching again. It was Larry’s clear and methodical method of teaching that enabled me to later become part of two international training initiatives.
Ann Abel
Ann was our Regional Director at Handleman when we acquired a company in the UK. I still remember being at a regional managers meeting in Detroit in the spring of 2001 when Ann asked me if I would like to travel to England to be part of a training initiative. I would be one of four field sales representatives chosen to help facilitate training the use of hand held computers, laptops, and in house field sales software. I think it took me less than two seconds to decide.
That July I traveled to St. Helens England, between Manchester and Liverpool. It was a week to remember. I meet so many great people, had the chance to chug down a few beers at The Cave in Liverpool, the Beatles home club, and then to spend time in London before returning home. I also had the opportunity to continue to hone my skills as a teacher and trainer.
It was during this trip that I meet Maggie Curtis. A fellow manager from Ohio had worked with Maggie a few months prior as they transitioned the UK accounts. He suggested we connect when she came in for the training. Maggie and I have staying in touch since then and we had Maggie and her husband Alan as house guests last summer.
Thank you, Ann.
Glenn Dangerio
In 2003 Handleman launched a company wide update of our field hardware and software. Each of the three US Business Units, Canada and the UK each recommend two people to work with our corporate field sales staff to test the units and software, develop training materials, train all our district trainers and facilitate training all 400 plus US and International field sales staff. Glenn chose me as one of those two people from the Central Business Unit. I will save for another day the whole story of SFAII as it was known for it will take more time than allows at present, but thank you Glenn for giving me such an incredible opportunity.
I want to end by telling the story of how Glenn became part of Handleman. Bob McCann was one of my full time employees and was seeking an opportunity to become a District Manager (I think we were called Supervisors when this happened.) I had spent two weeks in NJ helping out with store remodels and our team leader happened to be the Assistant Branch Manager. He mentioned that they were in need of a Supervisor in NJ. Since there were no opportunities for advancement in our branch I suggested Bob contact the Baltimore branch. He transferred to NJ shortly afterwards and became a supervisor for the northern portion of the state. Bob had an opening for a full time rep and Glenn applied. Bob hired him and as they say the rest is history. Glen went on to move up in the Baltimore branch, became Regional Director, Regional Vice President, Vice President Market Development, Vice President of Marketing and Merchandising and is now Director of National Accounts at Walt Disney Music. That chance meeting with Bob McCann truly changed his life.
So, who will change your life? Are you ready to recognize the opportunity? Are you ready to take the risk? Are you bringing your best everyday?
I know I am.
(Note – Handleman Company entered a closure of business plan in June of 2008 and currently has ceased all operations)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Who Designed That Packaging
We’ve all seen it on the store shelves. That product where you pick one up, look at it and when you set it back on the fixture it falls over because it is top heavy and a half dozen others fall over. Or you pick it up and the bottom opens spilling the entire contents out on the floor, usually a powder of some type while the twenty other shoppers in the aisle all turn and look at you. Then there are the ones where you have to pry it off the peg hook because the hole is too small and you end up setting anywhere since there is no way you will ever be able to put it back where it came from.
So, like me, you wonder “Who Designed That Packaging?”
Shortly before my company ceased operations we received a work order to reset 16-20 feet of air freshener products in a national big box retail account. The order came down on Tuesday and we had the following three weeks to complete them with billing for up to 3-4 people per store per set. The project included not just our client’s product but all air freshener products in a set group of stores. I had resets available in ten of the 30 stores in my territory and it was a great opportunity to provide my teams with work and to provide billable income to my company.
The next day I was in one of the 10 stores assigned to me and after speaking with the store management I discovered that they needed to have the project completed by the end of the following week! My fire drill began. After checking work availability with my part-time employees I then contacted all of the stores involved with the reset in my territory and was able to schedule 9 of the 10 resets for the following week. Kaching! Billing for my territory!
We arrived Monday morning at 7:00 AM to start our first reset. Since we were going to perform the reset the department manager decided to take the day off and we had never handled this product category before. We persevered.
Now this large big box retailer uses “pushers” to bring the product forward on the shelf. You know, those spring loaded devices that once you remove something from the shelf it is next to impossible to put it back. They were labor intensive to reset and it wasn’t long before we all reeked of air fresheners.
One manufacturer had a particular group of products that were packaged in that heavy plastic that you need a pair of tin snips to open. It conformed to the shape of the product, their brand was prominent on the package and it basically looked great. There was only one major problem. Once you tried to merchandise it on a shelf with pushers it would not stay in place. It would immediately pop out onto the floor or fall behind the pushers where you could no longer see it and the allocated space was on the top shelf! It had been designed to hang on peg hooks and not sit on a shelf!
I was back in this store the following week and ventured down the air freshener aisle and sure enough all of this product was either behind the pushers or stuffed elsewhere on the fixtures.
Now I do not have years of experience as a product category manager in consumer goods but I do have a basic understanding of how a product is brought to market. Market research, graphic design, manufacturing and shipping costs and being able to be cost competitive with the item are a few of the aspects the teams that major manufacturers bring together consider when bringing items to market. How could they have missed that final step? How could they have overlooked how that packaging would function on the shelves of the largest retailer in the world?
So I ask “Who designed that packaging?” Or better yet, maybe I should have!
So that’s my story for today.
Share your stories with me. I would like to hear your tales of the worst packaging you’ve encountered.
Life is Good!
So, like me, you wonder “Who Designed That Packaging?”
Shortly before my company ceased operations we received a work order to reset 16-20 feet of air freshener products in a national big box retail account. The order came down on Tuesday and we had the following three weeks to complete them with billing for up to 3-4 people per store per set. The project included not just our client’s product but all air freshener products in a set group of stores. I had resets available in ten of the 30 stores in my territory and it was a great opportunity to provide my teams with work and to provide billable income to my company.
The next day I was in one of the 10 stores assigned to me and after speaking with the store management I discovered that they needed to have the project completed by the end of the following week! My fire drill began. After checking work availability with my part-time employees I then contacted all of the stores involved with the reset in my territory and was able to schedule 9 of the 10 resets for the following week. Kaching! Billing for my territory!
We arrived Monday morning at 7:00 AM to start our first reset. Since we were going to perform the reset the department manager decided to take the day off and we had never handled this product category before. We persevered.
Now this large big box retailer uses “pushers” to bring the product forward on the shelf. You know, those spring loaded devices that once you remove something from the shelf it is next to impossible to put it back. They were labor intensive to reset and it wasn’t long before we all reeked of air fresheners.
One manufacturer had a particular group of products that were packaged in that heavy plastic that you need a pair of tin snips to open. It conformed to the shape of the product, their brand was prominent on the package and it basically looked great. There was only one major problem. Once you tried to merchandise it on a shelf with pushers it would not stay in place. It would immediately pop out onto the floor or fall behind the pushers where you could no longer see it and the allocated space was on the top shelf! It had been designed to hang on peg hooks and not sit on a shelf!
I was back in this store the following week and ventured down the air freshener aisle and sure enough all of this product was either behind the pushers or stuffed elsewhere on the fixtures.
Now I do not have years of experience as a product category manager in consumer goods but I do have a basic understanding of how a product is brought to market. Market research, graphic design, manufacturing and shipping costs and being able to be cost competitive with the item are a few of the aspects the teams that major manufacturers bring together consider when bringing items to market. How could they have missed that final step? How could they have overlooked how that packaging would function on the shelves of the largest retailer in the world?
So I ask “Who designed that packaging?” Or better yet, maybe I should have!
So that’s my story for today.
Share your stories with me. I would like to hear your tales of the worst packaging you’ve encountered.
Life is Good!
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Unemployment Blues
I have all the required skills and experience they want and they still won’t hire me!
This past week I located a job posting for a Regional Sales Manager with a large greeting card company located here in my home town. The position was basically managing the part time people who service the greeting card racks in large big box accounts. It carried with it all the other expected management tasks, staffing, P&L, sales oversight, inventory control, etc. It was MY job.
For the past number of years I have been performing that exact type of management for my former employer. I would recruit, hire and train my part time and full time employees, schedule their activities, meet with the management of the accounts they serviced and perform the other day to day functions that come with overseeing a fairly large team of employees. I also know most of the management personnel in many of the very accounts the greeting card company services and am extremely well versed in the accounts policies and procedures. I have been recognized with awards in the past for my management skills and been involved with various district, regional and national training initiatives and other special projects.
I applied for the position online and then searched my network to see if I had any contacts within the organization. BINGO! I was directly linked to one of their national account managers and we recently exchanged emails regarding a question I had posed to my job seekers group. I immediately contacted him about the position, my qualifications and mentioned that I have 3 years of college but no degree.
He responded that he knew everybody in that area of the company and would pass my name around. I’m now starting to get excited! Maybe, oh maybe…
About two hours later my balloon was deflated. Even though I had everything this potential employer could ask for their policy was no degree, no job.
I now have the unemployment blues.
I like many people of my generation do not have a degree. The reasons are varied but most of us have since worked our way up at our companies by working hard and learning new skills. We have adapted to the constant changes in our industries, learned new technologies and in many cases survived years of constant downsizing. We now find ourselves unemployed. I my case my company was sold and we were all let go.
So, why didn’t I finish my degree?
I attended a small private music conservatory in Princeton, NJ with all of 400 students in the undergraduate and graduate programs. I was working on my Bachelor of Music Education Degree and was in the middle of the first semester of my senior year. While completing my senior teaching I experienced a medical issue and was unable to complete the semester. The entire semester was lost.
My family was far from being wealthy. We probably just fit into the bottom rung of being middle class. In the 1970’s there was not the same kind of assistance available to most people to fund an education as there is today. The school thought my parents made too much money to be eligible for the few grants they had available and the bank would not loan them money for my education since they thought they did not make enough money. We had scraped together enough money for my freshman year and figured we would go from there. My father died just before exam week my freshman year and we used the meager life insurance my mother received to get me through the next two and a half years.
The money was gone.
I moved in with friends in the Bronx, the three of us, two dogs and three cats in a one room flat. Gene had the bedroom since he was paying the rent. Ken slept on the couch and I used a sleeping bag on the floor each night. I found a job in the Freight Cashiers office of Hapaq-Lloyd, an international steamship agency. It was Hell and I needed out.
A friend visited and he had come upon a job working carnival games back in Ohio. Like me, he was trying to save enough money to go back to school in the fall. We took the jobs and off we went.
For the next five months I worked a balloon dart game on the Ohio carnival circuit. “Hit em and get em here, step right up. I have snakes for your date; I have teddy bears for your love affairs, why I even have alligators for your mother-in-law. Hey Red, you won one for the brunette last night, how bout winning one for the blonde tonight!” We slept on sleeping bags in the back of the trucks every night and worked from around noon till midnight but by the end of August we had both earned enough money to at least pay our tuitions.
I returned to school that fall, located a cheap place to live and found a full time job as a night security guard in Newark NJ making rounds to a complex of old industrial buildings down by the waterfront. The setting was very reminiscent of a scene out of The Godfather or any other gangster movie where they “off” someone and then dump the body into the river!
Part way into the semester I lost my job. It was my fault. I was sleeping! Imagine that! With trying to carry a full course load, commute over an hour each way on US1 and working 10 hours each night I feel asleep at the job! It didn’t take long for me to lose my housing as well.
So now I was a homeless college student in the middle of November in NJ living out of my car and having friends sneak me food from the cafeteria because I had no money and no job. The college was no help. They just couldn’t conceive the fact that I was homeless and threatened to expel me if I was caught sleeping in someone’s dorm room or accepting food from the cafeteria.
I guess there just came a point where all of the events of the prior year overwhelmed me and I took any job I could. As they say, desperate situations require desperate actions and that was basically the end of my college education.
Now, I don’t tell you all of this for you to feel sorry for me or to ask for pity and I know some of you will question why I haven’t gone back to school since then. I’ll just have to cover that another day. If these events hadn’t occurred, I probably would have never meet my wife of almost 32 years or made friends with all the wonderful people who have so greatly enriched my life. I wouldn’t have the loving support system from the church I serve as Director of Music Ministries and probably wouldn’t be living in Cleveland writing a blog. It is what it is and I can’t change the past.
But, if you are reading this and just happen to be someone who runs a company or hires people, please remember that those of us who do not have degrees are not useless or unqualified. We are just that large group of people who have accepted the past and moved on. We are survivors. Many of us probably have more character, stamina and self-motivation than many people with degrees. We have had to work harder to move up in the companies we’ve worked for. We have had to prove that we too can do the job. Just give us all a chance.
Well, it’s a beautiful Friday morning, the sun is out and the water lilies are blooming in the pond. The bills are paid and we have a roof over our heads and food to eat so…Life is Good!
This past week I located a job posting for a Regional Sales Manager with a large greeting card company located here in my home town. The position was basically managing the part time people who service the greeting card racks in large big box accounts. It carried with it all the other expected management tasks, staffing, P&L, sales oversight, inventory control, etc. It was MY job.
For the past number of years I have been performing that exact type of management for my former employer. I would recruit, hire and train my part time and full time employees, schedule their activities, meet with the management of the accounts they serviced and perform the other day to day functions that come with overseeing a fairly large team of employees. I also know most of the management personnel in many of the very accounts the greeting card company services and am extremely well versed in the accounts policies and procedures. I have been recognized with awards in the past for my management skills and been involved with various district, regional and national training initiatives and other special projects.
I applied for the position online and then searched my network to see if I had any contacts within the organization. BINGO! I was directly linked to one of their national account managers and we recently exchanged emails regarding a question I had posed to my job seekers group. I immediately contacted him about the position, my qualifications and mentioned that I have 3 years of college but no degree.
He responded that he knew everybody in that area of the company and would pass my name around. I’m now starting to get excited! Maybe, oh maybe…
About two hours later my balloon was deflated. Even though I had everything this potential employer could ask for their policy was no degree, no job.
I now have the unemployment blues.
I like many people of my generation do not have a degree. The reasons are varied but most of us have since worked our way up at our companies by working hard and learning new skills. We have adapted to the constant changes in our industries, learned new technologies and in many cases survived years of constant downsizing. We now find ourselves unemployed. I my case my company was sold and we were all let go.
So, why didn’t I finish my degree?
I attended a small private music conservatory in Princeton, NJ with all of 400 students in the undergraduate and graduate programs. I was working on my Bachelor of Music Education Degree and was in the middle of the first semester of my senior year. While completing my senior teaching I experienced a medical issue and was unable to complete the semester. The entire semester was lost.
My family was far from being wealthy. We probably just fit into the bottom rung of being middle class. In the 1970’s there was not the same kind of assistance available to most people to fund an education as there is today. The school thought my parents made too much money to be eligible for the few grants they had available and the bank would not loan them money for my education since they thought they did not make enough money. We had scraped together enough money for my freshman year and figured we would go from there. My father died just before exam week my freshman year and we used the meager life insurance my mother received to get me through the next two and a half years.
The money was gone.
I moved in with friends in the Bronx, the three of us, two dogs and three cats in a one room flat. Gene had the bedroom since he was paying the rent. Ken slept on the couch and I used a sleeping bag on the floor each night. I found a job in the Freight Cashiers office of Hapaq-Lloyd, an international steamship agency. It was Hell and I needed out.
A friend visited and he had come upon a job working carnival games back in Ohio. Like me, he was trying to save enough money to go back to school in the fall. We took the jobs and off we went.
For the next five months I worked a balloon dart game on the Ohio carnival circuit. “Hit em and get em here, step right up. I have snakes for your date; I have teddy bears for your love affairs, why I even have alligators for your mother-in-law. Hey Red, you won one for the brunette last night, how bout winning one for the blonde tonight!” We slept on sleeping bags in the back of the trucks every night and worked from around noon till midnight but by the end of August we had both earned enough money to at least pay our tuitions.
I returned to school that fall, located a cheap place to live and found a full time job as a night security guard in Newark NJ making rounds to a complex of old industrial buildings down by the waterfront. The setting was very reminiscent of a scene out of The Godfather or any other gangster movie where they “off” someone and then dump the body into the river!
Part way into the semester I lost my job. It was my fault. I was sleeping! Imagine that! With trying to carry a full course load, commute over an hour each way on US1 and working 10 hours each night I feel asleep at the job! It didn’t take long for me to lose my housing as well.
So now I was a homeless college student in the middle of November in NJ living out of my car and having friends sneak me food from the cafeteria because I had no money and no job. The college was no help. They just couldn’t conceive the fact that I was homeless and threatened to expel me if I was caught sleeping in someone’s dorm room or accepting food from the cafeteria.
I guess there just came a point where all of the events of the prior year overwhelmed me and I took any job I could. As they say, desperate situations require desperate actions and that was basically the end of my college education.
Now, I don’t tell you all of this for you to feel sorry for me or to ask for pity and I know some of you will question why I haven’t gone back to school since then. I’ll just have to cover that another day. If these events hadn’t occurred, I probably would have never meet my wife of almost 32 years or made friends with all the wonderful people who have so greatly enriched my life. I wouldn’t have the loving support system from the church I serve as Director of Music Ministries and probably wouldn’t be living in Cleveland writing a blog. It is what it is and I can’t change the past.
But, if you are reading this and just happen to be someone who runs a company or hires people, please remember that those of us who do not have degrees are not useless or unqualified. We are just that large group of people who have accepted the past and moved on. We are survivors. Many of us probably have more character, stamina and self-motivation than many people with degrees. We have had to work harder to move up in the companies we’ve worked for. We have had to prove that we too can do the job. Just give us all a chance.
Well, it’s a beautiful Friday morning, the sun is out and the water lilies are blooming in the pond. The bills are paid and we have a roof over our heads and food to eat so…Life is Good!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tinkle, tinkle, crash....
Well, I thought this would be a daily blog, but yesterday was so packed with activities that I was too exhausted to sit down last night and create an entry. After church my wife Karen and I attended the last day of the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. The weather was perfect for an August afternoon in the woods watching jousting, eating, drinking and generally having a good time. We stayed till closing and joined in an extended pub sing chatting with friends and joining in toasts. It was a great experience and we look forward to it every year. We arrived home late, scrounged up something for dinner and then it was time to watch Design Star on HGTV. (Yes, we are addicted to this show) I immediately followed this with sleep!
So, today's topic is "Tinkle, tinkle, crash..." Since I decided to title my blog "Did I just really see that" I thought I should at least have one entry that relates to the title. The following story is true and happened quite a few years ago in the Buffalo NY area. I don't remember the exact location but I think it was in Amherst.
Back in the 1980's I was a District Manager with my former employer. I covered the west side of Cleveland, Elyria and Sandusky markets, Erie Pa, part of the southern tier of NY and the Buffalo/Niagra Falls area. We not only shipped and serviced music, video and computer software, but books under the name National Book Distributors. There was a chain of stores called Hills that had acquired most of the Gold Circle chain properties when they went out of business. As the District Manager I was responsible for setting up all our product lines in these recently acquired locations.
I had been in the store earlier in the week, confirmed the exact location of our fixtures with the store set-up manager and my team had assembled all of our fixtures. Unlike most modern fixtures in big box retailers, these fixtures were made out of particle board and all bolted together to create on long 20' run. They stood about 7' tall and had a lit canopy on top that hung out over the product to illuminate it and there was a slot on the front for a translucent category sign such as "Romance" or "Fiction". There was only one problem with them - they were top heavy. As long as you didn't move them they were fine.
Well, I returned to the store to start the process of placing product on the fixtures and arrived to the set-up manager informing me that he needed to move the fixtures. He had screwed up! His spacing between aisles was off and he needed to move the entire run of fixtures over about one foot. I informed him that the only way to accomplish that was to first remove all of the lit canopies from the fixtures since they tended to tip over rather easily. He insisted that his crew could just slide them over as they needed to do it NOW.
Well, here goes... Yes, you may have guessed it....
I stood back after claiming no responsibility for the impending consequences as his team all sat on the floor spaced about two feet apart, placed their feet against the bottom of the fixtures and on the count of three all pushed.
The fixtures moved about 3-4 inches, rocked back and forth and then in one fleeting instant the entire run fell over away from his crew. I stood and watched it fall, in slow motion, as it hit the next 20 foot run of book/software fixtures which then rocked for a second and fell over as well.
They in turn toppled over onto the next aisle of the stores gondolas, which of course, fell over as well.
Guess what was on the store's gondolas? Glassware. Cups, drinking glasses, wine glasses, dinnerware, vases, cookie jars, etc.
The sound was horrendous and it seemed that it went on forever! First the crashing sound of the lit canopies with their fluorescent bulbs breaking, the splintering of particle board followed by the sound of breaking glass. And breaking glass, and breaking glass. For the next five minutes you would hear tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, crash as items slowly slid or rolled to the edge of the shelves that were no longer horizontal only to join the growing pile of debris on the floor!
Did I just REALLY see that?
I decided that maybe it was a good time to take lunch.
Ultimately we salvaged what we could of our fixtures, ordered replacement parts and the store did open on time. I took home some of the unusable lit canopies and they worked great in my garage for years.
Well, that's my story for today. I could go on about lessons learned or preach about "Gee, I warned you not to..." but I won't. Life is Good.
So, today's topic is "Tinkle, tinkle, crash..." Since I decided to title my blog "Did I just really see that" I thought I should at least have one entry that relates to the title. The following story is true and happened quite a few years ago in the Buffalo NY area. I don't remember the exact location but I think it was in Amherst.
Back in the 1980's I was a District Manager with my former employer. I covered the west side of Cleveland, Elyria and Sandusky markets, Erie Pa, part of the southern tier of NY and the Buffalo/Niagra Falls area. We not only shipped and serviced music, video and computer software, but books under the name National Book Distributors. There was a chain of stores called Hills that had acquired most of the Gold Circle chain properties when they went out of business. As the District Manager I was responsible for setting up all our product lines in these recently acquired locations.
I had been in the store earlier in the week, confirmed the exact location of our fixtures with the store set-up manager and my team had assembled all of our fixtures. Unlike most modern fixtures in big box retailers, these fixtures were made out of particle board and all bolted together to create on long 20' run. They stood about 7' tall and had a lit canopy on top that hung out over the product to illuminate it and there was a slot on the front for a translucent category sign such as "Romance" or "Fiction". There was only one problem with them - they were top heavy. As long as you didn't move them they were fine.
Well, I returned to the store to start the process of placing product on the fixtures and arrived to the set-up manager informing me that he needed to move the fixtures. He had screwed up! His spacing between aisles was off and he needed to move the entire run of fixtures over about one foot. I informed him that the only way to accomplish that was to first remove all of the lit canopies from the fixtures since they tended to tip over rather easily. He insisted that his crew could just slide them over as they needed to do it NOW.
Well, here goes... Yes, you may have guessed it....
I stood back after claiming no responsibility for the impending consequences as his team all sat on the floor spaced about two feet apart, placed their feet against the bottom of the fixtures and on the count of three all pushed.
The fixtures moved about 3-4 inches, rocked back and forth and then in one fleeting instant the entire run fell over away from his crew. I stood and watched it fall, in slow motion, as it hit the next 20 foot run of book/software fixtures which then rocked for a second and fell over as well.
They in turn toppled over onto the next aisle of the stores gondolas, which of course, fell over as well.
Guess what was on the store's gondolas? Glassware. Cups, drinking glasses, wine glasses, dinnerware, vases, cookie jars, etc.
The sound was horrendous and it seemed that it went on forever! First the crashing sound of the lit canopies with their fluorescent bulbs breaking, the splintering of particle board followed by the sound of breaking glass. And breaking glass, and breaking glass. For the next five minutes you would hear tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, crash as items slowly slid or rolled to the edge of the shelves that were no longer horizontal only to join the growing pile of debris on the floor!
Did I just REALLY see that?
I decided that maybe it was a good time to take lunch.
Ultimately we salvaged what we could of our fixtures, ordered replacement parts and the store did open on time. I took home some of the unusable lit canopies and they worked great in my garage for years.
Well, that's my story for today. I could go on about lessons learned or preach about "Gee, I warned you not to..." but I won't. Life is Good.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
So here we go....
Day one. I decided that it was time to keep moving forward with learning new technology and new ways of communicating to more people. I'm sure that I will very quickly become a wizard at all the options for creating this blog. I hope to share my thoughts about many topics in the coming months. Some will be funny, some sad, some deep and some will hopefully make you say "What was he thinking?" I will try to protect the names of the innocent until proven guilty. I will avoid legal actions against me by not mentioning specific stores or products if I decide to slam their products or services since I really can't afford legal fees at the moment. I promise to try not to be to corny - I'll leave that to some of my friends. Please feel free to comment. I won't hold it against you, so here we go....
It's Saturday, the sun is shining and life is good. Emo, our dog, is asleep in bed as usual having had his breakfast and the remains of my wife's yogurt cup. We are attending a picnic this afternoon and will be re-uniting with friends we haven't seen for quite awhile. The appetizer is ready so there will be no last minute trauma over that and car is all gassed up for the trip cross county. We have our Green Cards. (for anyone not from the Cleveland area, you HAVE to have a green card to cross the Cuyahoga River,) It should be a really great time.
So, last night I actually had a good nights sleep. It seems that the past few weeks I have sat up in bed in the middle of the night with my mind going a million miles an hour wondering if I will ever find a new job. I was talking with a friend last night about the trials and tribulations of being unemployed. The deep fear that you'll end up saying "Would you like fries with that?" or "Welcome to Wal-Mart". We talked about how we have so many skills that we have developed and nutured through the years but it seems like they are all the wrong skills. We talked about how you can have everything an employer is looking for but you were not able to attend college or unable to finish. (more on this later) We also talked about how the process of finding a job has changed so drastically in the past few years since we both had long tenures with our former employer.
We then started a discussion about the good things that happen when you find yourself unemployed. There is a sense of freedom and tranquility that can occur from no longer having to worry about performing tasks that you really hated. There is a release of tensions from having survived years of constant downsizing and the worry that comes from being in that situation. Then there is the reconnecting with people.
We all have friends and acquaintances that we have lost touch with for one reason or another and since all the job seeker groups and counselors are saying that finding a job is all about networking, networking, networking, I have been reaching out to everyone that I can. It has been a truly rewarding experience.
Then there is meeting new people. I have been attending meetings for two job seeker groups and have started attending networking events. This can be both an uplifting and humbling experience. I have met people who have started, run and sold their own companies. I have met others who speak multiple languages or are fluent in 5 or 6 computer languages while I still struggle with English. I have met people with PhD's in their specialty and former CEO's,CFO's,etc. And I have meet people who have offered their help. I have recieved job leads though none have worked out yet and a few leads I am working on. I have new friends.
Well, I probably should stop rambling on but think I will leave you with one story. I spoke with a gentleman on Wednesday night at a networking event. He had worked for many years for GM and then decided that he should move on. He acquired a position with a company in Canton Oh as an engineer four years ago. Just after moving and starting his position his wife was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. She fought for three and a half years before passing on. He had taken the last three months of her life off from work to be with her and help her. After her death he returned to work and three weeks later they let him go.
I was almost moved to tears as he told me his story. I can't begin to imagine the pain he is feeling and the challenge he faces in picking his life back up and moving forward. I am in awe of his strength and courage. And I will pray for him.
So, as I move forward with my day I can only say that for me Life Is Good.
It's Saturday, the sun is shining and life is good. Emo, our dog, is asleep in bed as usual having had his breakfast and the remains of my wife's yogurt cup. We are attending a picnic this afternoon and will be re-uniting with friends we haven't seen for quite awhile. The appetizer is ready so there will be no last minute trauma over that and car is all gassed up for the trip cross county. We have our Green Cards. (for anyone not from the Cleveland area, you HAVE to have a green card to cross the Cuyahoga River,) It should be a really great time.
So, last night I actually had a good nights sleep. It seems that the past few weeks I have sat up in bed in the middle of the night with my mind going a million miles an hour wondering if I will ever find a new job. I was talking with a friend last night about the trials and tribulations of being unemployed. The deep fear that you'll end up saying "Would you like fries with that?" or "Welcome to Wal-Mart". We talked about how we have so many skills that we have developed and nutured through the years but it seems like they are all the wrong skills. We talked about how you can have everything an employer is looking for but you were not able to attend college or unable to finish. (more on this later) We also talked about how the process of finding a job has changed so drastically in the past few years since we both had long tenures with our former employer.
We then started a discussion about the good things that happen when you find yourself unemployed. There is a sense of freedom and tranquility that can occur from no longer having to worry about performing tasks that you really hated. There is a release of tensions from having survived years of constant downsizing and the worry that comes from being in that situation. Then there is the reconnecting with people.
We all have friends and acquaintances that we have lost touch with for one reason or another and since all the job seeker groups and counselors are saying that finding a job is all about networking, networking, networking, I have been reaching out to everyone that I can. It has been a truly rewarding experience.
Then there is meeting new people. I have been attending meetings for two job seeker groups and have started attending networking events. This can be both an uplifting and humbling experience. I have met people who have started, run and sold their own companies. I have met others who speak multiple languages or are fluent in 5 or 6 computer languages while I still struggle with English. I have met people with PhD's in their specialty and former CEO's,CFO's,etc. And I have meet people who have offered their help. I have recieved job leads though none have worked out yet and a few leads I am working on. I have new friends.
Well, I probably should stop rambling on but think I will leave you with one story. I spoke with a gentleman on Wednesday night at a networking event. He had worked for many years for GM and then decided that he should move on. He acquired a position with a company in Canton Oh as an engineer four years ago. Just after moving and starting his position his wife was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. She fought for three and a half years before passing on. He had taken the last three months of her life off from work to be with her and help her. After her death he returned to work and three weeks later they let him go.
I was almost moved to tears as he told me his story. I can't begin to imagine the pain he is feeling and the challenge he faces in picking his life back up and moving forward. I am in awe of his strength and courage. And I will pray for him.
So, as I move forward with my day I can only say that for me Life Is Good.
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