Well, I've spent most of the past week fluffing around with my new web site, which is stored on my laptop for development purposes. After having got the main guts of the site downloaded and installed in about 3 days, I'm now up to my armpits in the fine tuning.
I can see that I am approaching the end of my present knowledge about web sites, and that I'll need some professional help sooner rather than later. There's only so much you can do before you have to start fiddling around with the source code, and that's a place I don't want to go to at all - too dangerous for the uninitiated like me! I've looked at a few other sites which are using the same template as me, so I'll try to do as much as I can before getting in the professionals.
The old adage that the last 10% of the process takes 90% of the time is pretty much true in this case. I have spent hours trying to change one small thing. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't. Sometimes it's because I have to delete one space from a line of code. I don't mind doing this if I know what to do, but I'm not a computer programmer, so the lines of code look like Sanskrit to me.
I love the idea of this open source programming, though, and have nothing but admiration for the people - unpaid - who create and develop it. This must be a true labour of love. One major hassle I see, though, is that the documentation and help which accompanies this free software isn't terribly good. Unless you can "talk the talk", you are going to get stuck. Then you'll either tear what's left of your hair out and throw your innocent laptop out the window, or you'll pay to have someone fix it for you. The ideal scenario would be for each development team to find a computer geek who also is able to explain the entire installation and modification process very thoroughly and systematically. Such a person will not be easy to find.
I suspect that most geeks have progressed way too far along the path of computer coding to remember what it was like to be a rank newbie. Writing something as particular as a help file for a computer program requires some real communication skills. You would have to keep simplifying the language, whilst at the same time remaining factually accurate. This would be a lot harder to do than it may sound.
So, I'm heading back to the laptop now to see what useful changes I can make to my site - wish me well.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Joomla!
So, what is "Joomla!"? An African form of abuse? A new recreational drug? The chances are pretty good that if you are a regular Internet person you may have come across the term somewhere before.
OK, enough suspense. It's the name of a website Content Management System (CMS). What that means is that you can use this CMS to create your own website without having to know anything at all about writing computer code. The great thing about Joomla! is that it is free and open source. You can download various templates, modules and plug-ins and literally create your own fully-functioning website. For someone like me who is not a technical person and who has very limited knowledge about HTML and all the other web acronyms, it's nothing short of miraculous.
My existing website was put online in 1998, a long time ago in the history of the Internet. Little has been changed on the site since, apart from me uploading new product information and images. In 1998 there was no Joomla!, and without being certain, I suspect that the only way to create a web site in those days was to sit down and physically type in all the code. I paid two young guys about $15,000 to create a site for me, one which we would now call an e-commerce site. It has links to various news items and a shopping basket. The main purpose of the site from my point of view was to allow the increasing number of on line clients of mine to order products from me through the site.
The various databases on the site run from FileMaker Pro, and the scripting language was cobbled together from different sources. Not being a technical person, I knew then - and know now - very little about what this involves. The guys had to create both a front end and a back end, which I could maintain remotely from my home computer. It took some months to get this done. I remember problems getting the site hosted on a stable platform. The site was moved from company to company, which may not have helped, as crashes were pretty common in the first few years.
My lovely wife, who in a previous life was a computer analyst at the Sydney Stock Exchange, has been gently nudging me to create a Joomla! site for some time. She spent a few years, going to college at night, doing a computer course to update her skills. One of the modules she studied was on using Joomla! to create a web site, and since then she has been a big fan. Knowing that I wasn't happy with the way my site looked, and knowing also that we needed some income (!), she made the very good point that I should look into creating my own site using this freely available product. It all made sense to me, but it's taken me some time to finally sit down and do it. This I did two days ago.
What I've managed to do is:
I realize full well that I have a long way to go. Now comes the time-consuming part: working out how I want the site to look and function, what goes where, the fiddly stuff which takes 90% of the total time, but the major front end items have been done - the site works!
It would have been much harder without the help from various sources on the Net. If you are looking at installing a Joomla! site, I will gladly give you this wonderful source - go to YouTube and search for Joomla! Template Modification. Find the tutorials by Norm Douglas, who is one of the folks from the Joomla! Forums (and an Aussie). I followed Norm's process to the letter, and it worked. I'm not sure if Norm is a Catholic, but I'd vote for him as our next Pope. You will find various tutorials by Norm on different Joomla! subjects. If you are interested, I would definitely subscribe to all of them. With so much Internet content being plain rubbish, it is a joy to find people like Norm, who are giving up many hours of their time to help dumb arses like me.
Finding such a source is one of those lovely, unexpected moments which can help restore your faith in mankind. Long Live Norm!
And on a related note, a big hello to Patrick, who is now my 2nd follower (and the first one who is not related to me!).
OK, enough suspense. It's the name of a website Content Management System (CMS). What that means is that you can use this CMS to create your own website without having to know anything at all about writing computer code. The great thing about Joomla! is that it is free and open source. You can download various templates, modules and plug-ins and literally create your own fully-functioning website. For someone like me who is not a technical person and who has very limited knowledge about HTML and all the other web acronyms, it's nothing short of miraculous.
My existing website was put online in 1998, a long time ago in the history of the Internet. Little has been changed on the site since, apart from me uploading new product information and images. In 1998 there was no Joomla!, and without being certain, I suspect that the only way to create a web site in those days was to sit down and physically type in all the code. I paid two young guys about $15,000 to create a site for me, one which we would now call an e-commerce site. It has links to various news items and a shopping basket. The main purpose of the site from my point of view was to allow the increasing number of on line clients of mine to order products from me through the site.
The various databases on the site run from FileMaker Pro, and the scripting language was cobbled together from different sources. Not being a technical person, I knew then - and know now - very little about what this involves. The guys had to create both a front end and a back end, which I could maintain remotely from my home computer. It took some months to get this done. I remember problems getting the site hosted on a stable platform. The site was moved from company to company, which may not have helped, as crashes were pretty common in the first few years.
My lovely wife, who in a previous life was a computer analyst at the Sydney Stock Exchange, has been gently nudging me to create a Joomla! site for some time. She spent a few years, going to college at night, doing a computer course to update her skills. One of the modules she studied was on using Joomla! to create a web site, and since then she has been a big fan. Knowing that I wasn't happy with the way my site looked, and knowing also that we needed some income (!), she made the very good point that I should look into creating my own site using this freely available product. It all made sense to me, but it's taken me some time to finally sit down and do it. This I did two days ago.
What I've managed to do is:
- choose an existing Joomla! template, one which could include a shopping basket.
- download and install the template on my laptop (I wanted to install the site somewhere where it was not online, so that I could play around with it first).
- choose a shopping basket system and install it into the website.
I realize full well that I have a long way to go. Now comes the time-consuming part: working out how I want the site to look and function, what goes where, the fiddly stuff which takes 90% of the total time, but the major front end items have been done - the site works!
It would have been much harder without the help from various sources on the Net. If you are looking at installing a Joomla! site, I will gladly give you this wonderful source - go to YouTube and search for Joomla! Template Modification. Find the tutorials by Norm Douglas, who is one of the folks from the Joomla! Forums (and an Aussie). I followed Norm's process to the letter, and it worked. I'm not sure if Norm is a Catholic, but I'd vote for him as our next Pope. You will find various tutorials by Norm on different Joomla! subjects. If you are interested, I would definitely subscribe to all of them. With so much Internet content being plain rubbish, it is a joy to find people like Norm, who are giving up many hours of their time to help dumb arses like me.
Finding such a source is one of those lovely, unexpected moments which can help restore your faith in mankind. Long Live Norm!
And on a related note, a big hello to Patrick, who is now my 2nd follower (and the first one who is not related to me!).
Friday, March 20, 2009
Virtual relationships
Most of my job applications have been online, which has probably been a mistake. It is hard to avoid, though. Employers don't want to spend their days interviewing scores of people, most of whom will be unsuitable for the position, so they outsource the process to recruitment companies. For their part, the recruiters are in the same position. No-one wants to spend hours eyeballing lots of different people for the same job. Much easier to assemble a short list of about 3-6 candidates and then invite them in for a chat.
If you can handle it, it's probably better to be more proactive in your job seeking. Maybe find a small group of employers that you would like to work for, then phone the relevant HR person and see if you can get in the door to have a talk with them. You can impress them with your initiative, plus leave a copy of your CV. A brief, followup phone call every week or so will keep your name in their heads. With some luck, patience and perseverance, this might pay off.
This is not an easy thing to do, though. Not everyone is a salesperson who feels comfortable about imposing themselves on others and trying to sell themselves. I find this very hard to do.
You can try to trick yourself into believing that you are not really acting like a stereotypical salesperson. After all, you have a lot of skills and talents which would be beneficial to the employer, right? It's just that they don't know about you yet. You are giving them the opportunity to discover someone who will prove to be a real asset to the business. You are doing them a favour by knocking on their door.
There is a lot to be said for face-to-face meetings. So much communication today seems to be done through a computer, and so much of it is shallow, thoughtless and bad. Emails are a disaster for real communication. I can barely think of one which I've received (or sent) which had any real thought put into it. It's perfect for those people who you really don't want to talk to at all. Just a quick email to say that you're still alive is much easier than having to phone them up and listen to all that whinging and moaning.
Writing something to someone whilst looking at a computer screen is not the same as looking at that same person across a coffee table. So much of what we "say" isn't said in words at all. The hundreds of small indicators which we unconsciously use as body language tells a lot more than words can. We get immediate feedback on our comments, and learn a great deal more about our friend than through a text message.
There is so much nastiness on the Internet, too. So many young punks who seem to feel brave because they can trash someone else on an online game, or on YouTube, or on a Message Board. There's no way that 99% of these cowards would dare to say such things to a real person's face, regardless of their age.
I think this is an important trend - this lack of responsibility for one's actions. The online untraceable, bombastic coward feels like they can do or say what they like, with impunity. Your actions seem to have no consequences. You get away with it. It doesn't take long before you lose any sense of shame or regret or even responsibility about posting some awful video on YouTube, which might be devastating to the person featured. It's easy to forget that the person in the video or post is real. It seems like fun, so you do it. You just don't care. This emotional detachment in our dealings with our fellow humans is being exponentially exacerbated by the Internet. There is no virtual "kick up the bum" to someone who behaves badly.
How many of us write letters anymore? It takes too long. It takes some real effort to sit down, assemble your thoughts, and tell a story with a beginning, middle and an end. I'm talking about writing a letter with a pen on paper, not in a Word document. I have read letters written hundreds of years ago which are masterpieces of expression. Letters written not just by statesmen, but by soldiers and farmers and widows. I doubt I could write anything approaching the eloquence of these people, yet I am infinitely better educated, fed, housed and clothed than they were.
I'm sure it's partly a question of time. Is there anyone out there who doesn't feel that their life is always busy? That they don't have the time to do certain things (like write a decent letter to someone)? If you ask anyone how they are, they'll say they're busy, as if this is a good thing. Try telling someone that you are not busy and watch their reaction. Say that you have spent the day sitting under a lovely tree, reading a book, and watching the birds flying overhead. Not a very productive way to spend your day, especially when your friends have been working long and boring hours at a job which they really don't like, with people that they don't really care for all that much. Tell them that in an email, sent a few days after you received their email, and they'll probably hate your guts.
If you can handle it, it's probably better to be more proactive in your job seeking. Maybe find a small group of employers that you would like to work for, then phone the relevant HR person and see if you can get in the door to have a talk with them. You can impress them with your initiative, plus leave a copy of your CV. A brief, followup phone call every week or so will keep your name in their heads. With some luck, patience and perseverance, this might pay off.
This is not an easy thing to do, though. Not everyone is a salesperson who feels comfortable about imposing themselves on others and trying to sell themselves. I find this very hard to do.
You can try to trick yourself into believing that you are not really acting like a stereotypical salesperson. After all, you have a lot of skills and talents which would be beneficial to the employer, right? It's just that they don't know about you yet. You are giving them the opportunity to discover someone who will prove to be a real asset to the business. You are doing them a favour by knocking on their door.
There is a lot to be said for face-to-face meetings. So much communication today seems to be done through a computer, and so much of it is shallow, thoughtless and bad. Emails are a disaster for real communication. I can barely think of one which I've received (or sent) which had any real thought put into it. It's perfect for those people who you really don't want to talk to at all. Just a quick email to say that you're still alive is much easier than having to phone them up and listen to all that whinging and moaning.
Writing something to someone whilst looking at a computer screen is not the same as looking at that same person across a coffee table. So much of what we "say" isn't said in words at all. The hundreds of small indicators which we unconsciously use as body language tells a lot more than words can. We get immediate feedback on our comments, and learn a great deal more about our friend than through a text message.
There is so much nastiness on the Internet, too. So many young punks who seem to feel brave because they can trash someone else on an online game, or on YouTube, or on a Message Board. There's no way that 99% of these cowards would dare to say such things to a real person's face, regardless of their age.
I think this is an important trend - this lack of responsibility for one's actions. The online untraceable, bombastic coward feels like they can do or say what they like, with impunity. Your actions seem to have no consequences. You get away with it. It doesn't take long before you lose any sense of shame or regret or even responsibility about posting some awful video on YouTube, which might be devastating to the person featured. It's easy to forget that the person in the video or post is real. It seems like fun, so you do it. You just don't care. This emotional detachment in our dealings with our fellow humans is being exponentially exacerbated by the Internet. There is no virtual "kick up the bum" to someone who behaves badly.
How many of us write letters anymore? It takes too long. It takes some real effort to sit down, assemble your thoughts, and tell a story with a beginning, middle and an end. I'm talking about writing a letter with a pen on paper, not in a Word document. I have read letters written hundreds of years ago which are masterpieces of expression. Letters written not just by statesmen, but by soldiers and farmers and widows. I doubt I could write anything approaching the eloquence of these people, yet I am infinitely better educated, fed, housed and clothed than they were.
I'm sure it's partly a question of time. Is there anyone out there who doesn't feel that their life is always busy? That they don't have the time to do certain things (like write a decent letter to someone)? If you ask anyone how they are, they'll say they're busy, as if this is a good thing. Try telling someone that you are not busy and watch their reaction. Say that you have spent the day sitting under a lovely tree, reading a book, and watching the birds flying overhead. Not a very productive way to spend your day, especially when your friends have been working long and boring hours at a job which they really don't like, with people that they don't really care for all that much. Tell them that in an email, sent a few days after you received their email, and they'll probably hate your guts.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
A bit of a laugh
Ah, it was good to have some laughs today. I can take myself too seriously.
The cause of the laughter? Finding some new websites which appeal to my sense of the ridiculous. Try this one - http://www.theonion.com/content/video/sony_releases_new_stupid_piece_of
Parental warning though - it does contain lots of f**king bad language.
In a previous life I worked as a film editor at a commercial TV station. I started off in the news department, cutting together stories to meet the daily deadline. A good way to learn the trade quickly. Despite the last-minute shitfights to get the lead story to air on time, there was a tremendous team spirit in the newsroom. This was in the days when local news stories were still shot on 16mm film stock, no video.
Then I worked in a newly-formed documentary unit as the lead editor. This was probably the highlight of my working life. I just loved it. I had a lot of autonomy and got along well with the various producers I worked with. This was in the late 1970s and early/mid 1980s.
Watching someone edit a story is about as exciting as watching paint dry, but if you are the one doing the editing, and you enjoy the process, it is totally absorbing. The idea of combining vision and various audio tracks to tell a story is something I loved doing. During the 2 years or so of the doco unit's existence, I was editing about 1 one hour documentary a month. This is quite a workload, but it was terrific. Included was a series of 13 docos in the lead up to the Los Angeles Olympics.
I was also in charge of the annual Christmas reel. This is a collection of bloopers and other embarrassing moments, which had been carefully kept by some deviant soul - me - who would then turn them into spoof stories, or set them to music. This would then be aired for the first time at the annual Christmas party. This was in the days before blooper shows were seen by the public, and were, in any event, much too naughty to be aired commercially. Great fun was had by all.
So, I've always enjoyed stories which are told using film and sound. I especially like the irreverent ones, when they are well written, acted and presented. If the link above doesn't make you laugh, then we are on very different wavelengths.
It's been so long since I've had a really good bellylaugh, that I was initially a bit concerned. The thought crossed my mind that I might wind up having a heart attack. I held my breath, my face went red, then this strange guffaw came out of my mouth - quite strange really. I suppose that laughing takes some getting used to.
Years ago I remember hearing about these Laughter Clubs, which I think were started by an Indian man. A place for people to get together and laugh. This might sound insane, but I suspect that this man is a genius. The idea is that you join in with other people and you try to laugh. OK, to start with this might be hard or impossible, so you fake it. You pretend to laugh. You keep faking it for as long as it takes. Eventually some emotion will rise up. Perhaps it will be fear, anger, sadness, maybe joy. Whatever it is, it's a good thing to let it out. Chemical reactions start happening in your brain and body. You might even consider it a form of cardiovascular exercise. At the end of 15-20 minutes, I'd imagine you would feel quite exhausted.
No drugs, no how-to books, no gurus. Just a group of people, getting together and sharing some wordless emotions. I like the sound of it. I should probably join.
The cause of the laughter? Finding some new websites which appeal to my sense of the ridiculous. Try this one - http://www.theonion.com/content/video/sony_releases_new_stupid_piece_of
Parental warning though - it does contain lots of f**king bad language.
In a previous life I worked as a film editor at a commercial TV station. I started off in the news department, cutting together stories to meet the daily deadline. A good way to learn the trade quickly. Despite the last-minute shitfights to get the lead story to air on time, there was a tremendous team spirit in the newsroom. This was in the days when local news stories were still shot on 16mm film stock, no video.
Then I worked in a newly-formed documentary unit as the lead editor. This was probably the highlight of my working life. I just loved it. I had a lot of autonomy and got along well with the various producers I worked with. This was in the late 1970s and early/mid 1980s.
Watching someone edit a story is about as exciting as watching paint dry, but if you are the one doing the editing, and you enjoy the process, it is totally absorbing. The idea of combining vision and various audio tracks to tell a story is something I loved doing. During the 2 years or so of the doco unit's existence, I was editing about 1 one hour documentary a month. This is quite a workload, but it was terrific. Included was a series of 13 docos in the lead up to the Los Angeles Olympics.
I was also in charge of the annual Christmas reel. This is a collection of bloopers and other embarrassing moments, which had been carefully kept by some deviant soul - me - who would then turn them into spoof stories, or set them to music. This would then be aired for the first time at the annual Christmas party. This was in the days before blooper shows were seen by the public, and were, in any event, much too naughty to be aired commercially. Great fun was had by all.
So, I've always enjoyed stories which are told using film and sound. I especially like the irreverent ones, when they are well written, acted and presented. If the link above doesn't make you laugh, then we are on very different wavelengths.
It's been so long since I've had a really good bellylaugh, that I was initially a bit concerned. The thought crossed my mind that I might wind up having a heart attack. I held my breath, my face went red, then this strange guffaw came out of my mouth - quite strange really. I suppose that laughing takes some getting used to.
Years ago I remember hearing about these Laughter Clubs, which I think were started by an Indian man. A place for people to get together and laugh. This might sound insane, but I suspect that this man is a genius. The idea is that you join in with other people and you try to laugh. OK, to start with this might be hard or impossible, so you fake it. You pretend to laugh. You keep faking it for as long as it takes. Eventually some emotion will rise up. Perhaps it will be fear, anger, sadness, maybe joy. Whatever it is, it's a good thing to let it out. Chemical reactions start happening in your brain and body. You might even consider it a form of cardiovascular exercise. At the end of 15-20 minutes, I'd imagine you would feel quite exhausted.
No drugs, no how-to books, no gurus. Just a group of people, getting together and sharing some wordless emotions. I like the sound of it. I should probably join.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The GFC hits the GDP of the OECD!
Once you locate Australia on a map of the world, you might be struck at how removed it is from the rest of the world. It seems to be drifting between Asia and Antarctica, framed by the shattered necklace of the Indonesian archipelago and PNG to the north, with New Zealand offering a bit of assistance to the east. Being so isolated from the major countries of the northern hemisphere has had a profound effect on the history of this strange place, floating somewhere in the southern Pacific Ocean.
But, as we keep being told by the economists and politicians, no country is an island anymore, even a large island continent like Australia. The Global Financial Crisis has spawned its own acronym, as sure a sign as any that this phenomenon will be around for a while yet. The suddenness of the collapse of credit has crippled huge companies and governments in a few months. I'm sure that many doctoral theses are being written about this right now by MBAs at the Harvard Business School.
For those of us down near the bottom of the economic food chain, this collapse is nothing but bad news. I have a lot of practical experience in different professions, but not much in the way of formal qualifications. Most middle management or management positions require a piece of paper. I don't have that. Finding a job which offers some challenges and a reasonable rate of pay was hard enough before this GFC hit, but now it's worse. Employers are nervous about hiring new staff; many skilled professionals who used to work in finance, IT and engineering are looking around for something to do; youngsters out of school are now competing with their parents for available work.
I heard a rather poignant story on the radio this morning from the USA, where tens of thousands of new unemployed are appearing every month. Proud people, who have worked hard to get where they are, often having to overcome real prejudice, now find themselves, for the first time in their lives, standing in line at the dole queues. The interviewer spoke with a lady who sounded like a middle-aged black person. She had worked at the same company for 16 years. In the space of one cathartic day her world had been turned upside down. She was the sole wage earner in her family, which included 3 young kids. She cried as she told her story - her pride disappearing as she stood in line with all the others.
Perhaps I can empathize with her more, now that I have gone through the same process. It was about one year ago that I found myself at the local CES (Commonwealth Employment Service), also standing in line. I was 51 years of age. This was the first time I had ever applied for unemployment benefits, and it was yet another blow to my fragile ego. I stood there looking at my fellow attendees: guys with tattoos running up their legs; migrants with little English; young kids who were just out of school; and my self-centred thoughts were, "what the hell am I doing here with these people? I'm better than them, surely. I have run a business. I have worked overseas. I have employed people, paid my taxes, and been a good provider for my family. These people look like uneducated bums."
Ah yes, we humans have an amazing gift at being able to rationalize just about anything which happens to us, and our egos can turn these events to our favour.
When I had filled out the forms, I was directed to a CES person who explained the procedures to me. He was direct, knowledgable and spoke quietly. I appreciated his manner and demeanour. His would not be an easy job.
I was given a job diary, into which I was required to enter details of jobs which I had applied for. This diary would be reviewed, and if I wasn't applying for sufficient jobs, and showing proof of my serious attempts to get those jobs, then I would be in default of my obligations. It took a while, but the money I got was a great help during a difficult period.
My rational friends said things like, "you shouldn't have a problem with claiming some money back from the government. After all, you've been paying taxes for years." True, but it still felt awful. I had failed in my self-appointed role as financial provider for my family.
But, as we keep being told by the economists and politicians, no country is an island anymore, even a large island continent like Australia. The Global Financial Crisis has spawned its own acronym, as sure a sign as any that this phenomenon will be around for a while yet. The suddenness of the collapse of credit has crippled huge companies and governments in a few months. I'm sure that many doctoral theses are being written about this right now by MBAs at the Harvard Business School.
For those of us down near the bottom of the economic food chain, this collapse is nothing but bad news. I have a lot of practical experience in different professions, but not much in the way of formal qualifications. Most middle management or management positions require a piece of paper. I don't have that. Finding a job which offers some challenges and a reasonable rate of pay was hard enough before this GFC hit, but now it's worse. Employers are nervous about hiring new staff; many skilled professionals who used to work in finance, IT and engineering are looking around for something to do; youngsters out of school are now competing with their parents for available work.
I heard a rather poignant story on the radio this morning from the USA, where tens of thousands of new unemployed are appearing every month. Proud people, who have worked hard to get where they are, often having to overcome real prejudice, now find themselves, for the first time in their lives, standing in line at the dole queues. The interviewer spoke with a lady who sounded like a middle-aged black person. She had worked at the same company for 16 years. In the space of one cathartic day her world had been turned upside down. She was the sole wage earner in her family, which included 3 young kids. She cried as she told her story - her pride disappearing as she stood in line with all the others.
Perhaps I can empathize with her more, now that I have gone through the same process. It was about one year ago that I found myself at the local CES (Commonwealth Employment Service), also standing in line. I was 51 years of age. This was the first time I had ever applied for unemployment benefits, and it was yet another blow to my fragile ego. I stood there looking at my fellow attendees: guys with tattoos running up their legs; migrants with little English; young kids who were just out of school; and my self-centred thoughts were, "what the hell am I doing here with these people? I'm better than them, surely. I have run a business. I have worked overseas. I have employed people, paid my taxes, and been a good provider for my family. These people look like uneducated bums."
Ah yes, we humans have an amazing gift at being able to rationalize just about anything which happens to us, and our egos can turn these events to our favour.
When I had filled out the forms, I was directed to a CES person who explained the procedures to me. He was direct, knowledgable and spoke quietly. I appreciated his manner and demeanour. His would not be an easy job.
I was given a job diary, into which I was required to enter details of jobs which I had applied for. This diary would be reviewed, and if I wasn't applying for sufficient jobs, and showing proof of my serious attempts to get those jobs, then I would be in default of my obligations. It took a while, but the money I got was a great help during a difficult period.
My rational friends said things like, "you shouldn't have a problem with claiming some money back from the government. After all, you've been paying taxes for years." True, but it still felt awful. I had failed in my self-appointed role as financial provider for my family.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
When the phone doesn't ring
It's a major bummer when you have spent an hour writing what you think is an inspirational cover letter, attached your carefully worded CV, clicked the "submit" button, and then find out that absolutely nothing happens. This has happened, and continues to happen to me. It's no fun at all.
If I had a breezy, optimistic New World-type personality, I'd brush aside these brush offs, tighten my smile, seize the day and grab a job from somewhere. I admire people with those qualities - what I think of as American qualities.
I suspect I'm more an Old World type: more pessimistic, less prone to great emotional highs and lows, slower to get excited, perhaps a bit more thoughtful.
The question of how much of this personality type is due to genetics and how much to societal influences I'll leave to the social anthropologists. Can someone change their basic personality type - turn from a pessimist into an optimist? I suspect that it can be done, although I've never seriously attempted it. This might be a case where those who have done it, know; and those who have never tried, or tried and failed, don't.
Whatever personality type you might have, it's not easy being rejected. For what it's worth, I think that being rejected for a job is easier than being rejected by someone you might fancy. In my online experience (for jobs, not relationships), it is all very remote and emotionally detached. You read a job ad, written by someone at a job agency (an ad which probably contains basic spelling and punctuation mistakes). You write a new cover letter, click on some buttons, and your work history disappears into the ether somehow. At the receiving end, the designated recruiter finds your email, along with perhaps several hundred others for the same position, and then makes some decisions.
Spare a thought for this person.
How long would it take to read several hundred CVs, let alone give some serious thought to each one? What criteria does this person use to cull the selection down to a managable few dozen? Can such a person spend a few days making a shortlist and then phoning and interviewing the remainder? It's impossible. Such a person, possibly a new person to the world of recruiting, perhaps even filled with some sincere desire to treat each candidate with thoughtful respect, would not last long. They would be up before the boss within a few weeks, facing charges of spending too long on each position. They would be told that their time spent on one position is making them uneconomic - the cost of their time spent on that one job versus the financial reward from the client does not add up. The recruiter will have to use some techniques to speed up the selection process.
I have heard whisperings that some recruitment companies use image scanning software to "read" the cover letters and CVs, looking for key words. If your letter contains enough of these words, then you escape the rubbish bin for now and proceed to the next stage.
Another handy technique is to list in the selection criteria that a university degree is required, even when a degree doesn't seem to make any sense. Do you need an MBA to manage a retail shop? Will this make you a better manager? Does having the piece of paper mean that you, perhaps a young person in your early 20s, will be able to deal with employees, suppliers and clients, all of whom will be of varying ages, backgrounds and life experiences?
Ageism might be a factor as well. It wouldn't take a lot of experience at reading CVs to get a sense of how old the applicant might be. The future employer might have told the recruiter that they are looking for someone young, with perhaps a bit of experience, someone with a bright and bubbly personality. If you want to be a PA to a powerful corporate executive, then it would also help if you are an attractive young woman with nice tits. Yes, yes, of course you can't list the tits in your selection criteria, but having a nice pair would be regarded in most corporate offices as definite assets.
Being a middle-aged male (MAM) means that not only do I not have nice tits, but I also have a history, as does a middle-aged woman (MAW). This is not necessarily a good thing from a future employer's point-of-view. MAMs and MAWs can be complicated creatures to deal with: they have had triumphs and tragedies; possibly a few marriages and children; they have definite views about most things; they may not respond very well to certain types of managers who remind them of their former partners, parents or neighbours. They can be a pain. It would be easier to get some impressionable young blood who can be moulded into the corporate image.
If these are the realities of life, then what can a MAM or MAW do to make themselves visible to the recruiters (who are probably young enough to be their own children)? Nice question. If you have any ideas, please let me know :)
If I had a breezy, optimistic New World-type personality, I'd brush aside these brush offs, tighten my smile, seize the day and grab a job from somewhere. I admire people with those qualities - what I think of as American qualities.
I suspect I'm more an Old World type: more pessimistic, less prone to great emotional highs and lows, slower to get excited, perhaps a bit more thoughtful.
The question of how much of this personality type is due to genetics and how much to societal influences I'll leave to the social anthropologists. Can someone change their basic personality type - turn from a pessimist into an optimist? I suspect that it can be done, although I've never seriously attempted it. This might be a case where those who have done it, know; and those who have never tried, or tried and failed, don't.
Whatever personality type you might have, it's not easy being rejected. For what it's worth, I think that being rejected for a job is easier than being rejected by someone you might fancy. In my online experience (for jobs, not relationships), it is all very remote and emotionally detached. You read a job ad, written by someone at a job agency (an ad which probably contains basic spelling and punctuation mistakes). You write a new cover letter, click on some buttons, and your work history disappears into the ether somehow. At the receiving end, the designated recruiter finds your email, along with perhaps several hundred others for the same position, and then makes some decisions.
Spare a thought for this person.
How long would it take to read several hundred CVs, let alone give some serious thought to each one? What criteria does this person use to cull the selection down to a managable few dozen? Can such a person spend a few days making a shortlist and then phoning and interviewing the remainder? It's impossible. Such a person, possibly a new person to the world of recruiting, perhaps even filled with some sincere desire to treat each candidate with thoughtful respect, would not last long. They would be up before the boss within a few weeks, facing charges of spending too long on each position. They would be told that their time spent on one position is making them uneconomic - the cost of their time spent on that one job versus the financial reward from the client does not add up. The recruiter will have to use some techniques to speed up the selection process.
I have heard whisperings that some recruitment companies use image scanning software to "read" the cover letters and CVs, looking for key words. If your letter contains enough of these words, then you escape the rubbish bin for now and proceed to the next stage.
Another handy technique is to list in the selection criteria that a university degree is required, even when a degree doesn't seem to make any sense. Do you need an MBA to manage a retail shop? Will this make you a better manager? Does having the piece of paper mean that you, perhaps a young person in your early 20s, will be able to deal with employees, suppliers and clients, all of whom will be of varying ages, backgrounds and life experiences?
Ageism might be a factor as well. It wouldn't take a lot of experience at reading CVs to get a sense of how old the applicant might be. The future employer might have told the recruiter that they are looking for someone young, with perhaps a bit of experience, someone with a bright and bubbly personality. If you want to be a PA to a powerful corporate executive, then it would also help if you are an attractive young woman with nice tits. Yes, yes, of course you can't list the tits in your selection criteria, but having a nice pair would be regarded in most corporate offices as definite assets.
Being a middle-aged male (MAM) means that not only do I not have nice tits, but I also have a history, as does a middle-aged woman (MAW). This is not necessarily a good thing from a future employer's point-of-view. MAMs and MAWs can be complicated creatures to deal with: they have had triumphs and tragedies; possibly a few marriages and children; they have definite views about most things; they may not respond very well to certain types of managers who remind them of their former partners, parents or neighbours. They can be a pain. It would be easier to get some impressionable young blood who can be moulded into the corporate image.
If these are the realities of life, then what can a MAM or MAW do to make themselves visible to the recruiters (who are probably young enough to be their own children)? Nice question. If you have any ideas, please let me know :)
Friday, March 13, 2009
Must have strong customer service skills
Having worked for myself for so long - 15 years - it was a shock to have to rediscover the job market. I had memories of looking through the major newspapers on a Friday and Saturday. There was no Internet when I last looked for work.
As my small retail shop bled money for the last year of its life, I looked around for something else which I could do to earn some dollars. The Internet was an obvious and easy option. You just log on and start going through the dozens of job categories until you find something which looks interesting.
Having worked in retail/customer service, I thought that it would be pretty easy for me to be the manager at someone else's shop. After all, I had started my own store from scratch and its history, I thought, did sound pretty impressive: selling high-ticket items, not seen before in Australia, during a recession, at one of the major retail centres in Australia. I had no previous retail experience at all, had never even worked in a shop, and used my own money with no help from the banks. A business advisor would look at this scenario and shake their head, but that's what I did - largely an emotional, gut reaction which seemed right at the time.
I remember being stunned at the variety of jobs shown in the online sites, and especially some of the job descriptions. What was a BDM? Took me a while to find out it was a Business Development Manager, which led to the question, what does that person do? Took me a longer while to work out that that means a salesman. I was naive to all the acronyms which had popped up. What was a recruiter? A recruitment company? I had never heard of these things before.
So began my education in the methodology of the modern workplace. I had to cobble together a CV (I knew what that was) and write cover letters.
In my own mind, I felt confident that I could run another owner's business without much fuss. Typically for a small business owner, I had worn all the hats during my shop's existence. I had done all the financials, marketing, found suppliers, learnt desktop publishing so that I could produce my own newsletters, maintained a web site, made overseas trips to find new contacts, trained staff etc. To do all this requires some willingness to take risks, to go outside your comfort zone, to be entrepreneurial. It was all new to me, a challenge, selling items which I personally liked and cared about. It was - most of the time - fun.
I didn't have to love someone else's products or services to manage their shop well for them. My professionalism would ensure that the business was well run, the staff engaged, and plans made for the future. For someone who takes pride in doing a job well, I had no doubt that I would add a lot of value to anyone's business.
So began my experience of sending out job applications to recruitment companies. For those of you who don't know what they are, recruitment companies are engaged by employers to find future employees on their behalf. The RCs get a brief from the employer and then send out an ad looking for suitable candidates. Various methods are then used to shortlist a few people who then come in for a face-to-face interview. It can take a few months to go from the initial enquiry to landing the job, although this does depend on the industry, the required timeframe, and the seniority of the position.
I started to send off my CV and cover letter to future employers (or more commonly, to the recruitment firms they employed). I got no answers. Occasionally I would get a phone call and chat to the recruiter looking after that position, but very rarely did I get to meet someone in person. This was confusing and disappointing. I knew I had the skills to run a DVD shop, for Christ's sake, but I didn't get the job. Sometimes I found out exactly where the store was located and would go there to have a look. It's a blow to the ego to find out that the manager is a pimply youngster who seems to spend all his time looking at the TV monitor.
In my early days of unemployment, I took this rather to heart and got angry about it. If only these stupid bastards would give me an interview, I would blow them away with my life skills and business knowledge. My poor, fragile ego was undergoing a reality check.
As my small retail shop bled money for the last year of its life, I looked around for something else which I could do to earn some dollars. The Internet was an obvious and easy option. You just log on and start going through the dozens of job categories until you find something which looks interesting.
Having worked in retail/customer service, I thought that it would be pretty easy for me to be the manager at someone else's shop. After all, I had started my own store from scratch and its history, I thought, did sound pretty impressive: selling high-ticket items, not seen before in Australia, during a recession, at one of the major retail centres in Australia. I had no previous retail experience at all, had never even worked in a shop, and used my own money with no help from the banks. A business advisor would look at this scenario and shake their head, but that's what I did - largely an emotional, gut reaction which seemed right at the time.
I remember being stunned at the variety of jobs shown in the online sites, and especially some of the job descriptions. What was a BDM? Took me a while to find out it was a Business Development Manager, which led to the question, what does that person do? Took me a longer while to work out that that means a salesman. I was naive to all the acronyms which had popped up. What was a recruiter? A recruitment company? I had never heard of these things before.
So began my education in the methodology of the modern workplace. I had to cobble together a CV (I knew what that was) and write cover letters.
In my own mind, I felt confident that I could run another owner's business without much fuss. Typically for a small business owner, I had worn all the hats during my shop's existence. I had done all the financials, marketing, found suppliers, learnt desktop publishing so that I could produce my own newsletters, maintained a web site, made overseas trips to find new contacts, trained staff etc. To do all this requires some willingness to take risks, to go outside your comfort zone, to be entrepreneurial. It was all new to me, a challenge, selling items which I personally liked and cared about. It was - most of the time - fun.
I didn't have to love someone else's products or services to manage their shop well for them. My professionalism would ensure that the business was well run, the staff engaged, and plans made for the future. For someone who takes pride in doing a job well, I had no doubt that I would add a lot of value to anyone's business.
So began my experience of sending out job applications to recruitment companies. For those of you who don't know what they are, recruitment companies are engaged by employers to find future employees on their behalf. The RCs get a brief from the employer and then send out an ad looking for suitable candidates. Various methods are then used to shortlist a few people who then come in for a face-to-face interview. It can take a few months to go from the initial enquiry to landing the job, although this does depend on the industry, the required timeframe, and the seniority of the position.
I started to send off my CV and cover letter to future employers (or more commonly, to the recruitment firms they employed). I got no answers. Occasionally I would get a phone call and chat to the recruiter looking after that position, but very rarely did I get to meet someone in person. This was confusing and disappointing. I knew I had the skills to run a DVD shop, for Christ's sake, but I didn't get the job. Sometimes I found out exactly where the store was located and would go there to have a look. It's a blow to the ego to find out that the manager is a pimply youngster who seems to spend all his time looking at the TV monitor.
In my early days of unemployment, I took this rather to heart and got angry about it. If only these stupid bastards would give me an interview, I would blow them away with my life skills and business knowledge. My poor, fragile ego was undergoing a reality check.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Blog virgin seeks understanding audience - view to fame and fortune?
Hello world!
It's Thursday March 12 2009 and the sun has come out through the clouds in this part of the world (Sydney, Australia). A nice autumnal day.
My first post will be short and to the point. I feel a bit silly, a bit nervous and a bit hopeful - probably not a bad mix. My hope is that this blog of mine will continue, and that it will evolve over time into an ongoing conversation. Initially I'll just be talking to myself mainly, but I'm used to that. Eventually, some of you good people out there might start reading it and responding. I think this will be fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this evolves over time.
I can't give you a theme yet - it's too early. I suspect that my writings will ramble over quite a bit of territory, both personal and impersonal. I also suspect that I will get better at this with practice.
Here's a snapshot of where I feel I am right now: married, two teenage sons, one mortgage and one cat (the cat has to live at my brother-in-law's place for the time being). I'm unemployed - again - and struggling to find some work which has any meaning for me. Feeding the mortgage is one of my prime concerns. The business which I owned and operated for 15 years closed down about 3 years ago now. I have a lovely family and should feel relatively fortunate, but I don't. All of us are reasonably healthy, with no major incidents.
I'll probably talk about my work experiences over the past few years, since earning money seems to have become the focus of my life of late, but it won't be all serious and sad.
I do have a rather well-developed, dry sense of humour, and I'm hoping that after an initial vomit of "bad work experience" posts, that some of my unique craziness and irreverence will come to the fore. Hang in there, people.
It's Thursday March 12 2009 and the sun has come out through the clouds in this part of the world (Sydney, Australia). A nice autumnal day.
My first post will be short and to the point. I feel a bit silly, a bit nervous and a bit hopeful - probably not a bad mix. My hope is that this blog of mine will continue, and that it will evolve over time into an ongoing conversation. Initially I'll just be talking to myself mainly, but I'm used to that. Eventually, some of you good people out there might start reading it and responding. I think this will be fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this evolves over time.
I can't give you a theme yet - it's too early. I suspect that my writings will ramble over quite a bit of territory, both personal and impersonal. I also suspect that I will get better at this with practice.
Here's a snapshot of where I feel I am right now: married, two teenage sons, one mortgage and one cat (the cat has to live at my brother-in-law's place for the time being). I'm unemployed - again - and struggling to find some work which has any meaning for me. Feeding the mortgage is one of my prime concerns. The business which I owned and operated for 15 years closed down about 3 years ago now. I have a lovely family and should feel relatively fortunate, but I don't. All of us are reasonably healthy, with no major incidents.
I'll probably talk about my work experiences over the past few years, since earning money seems to have become the focus of my life of late, but it won't be all serious and sad.
I do have a rather well-developed, dry sense of humour, and I'm hoping that after an initial vomit of "bad work experience" posts, that some of my unique craziness and irreverence will come to the fore. Hang in there, people.
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