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The Curious Case of William P. – Part 06

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Stage 1 – (Still) On the Verge of a Professional Job Search

William and I had a long conversation where he admitted that he was living out of his car. His mailing address was that of a former co-worker at the hardware store. He had some messages on his phone that he asked me to retrieve for him. One was for a doctor’s appointment for that day, he was sure, but he was unsure of the time.

Huge job search challenges: bad phone, impaired hearing, no home

He brought in his phone and I listened to his messages. He did have an appointment that day, but it was at the VA hospital in Menlo Park. That is quite a drive for him. I am still not certain that he can find the hospital in Livermore, because Chuck has taken him there every time. I called Menlo Park and they wanted to reschedule the meeting, which was a godsend.

There was another call from a VA administrator saying that his VA card had been returned, so I called her and found out that she had resent it. He went over that day and retrieved his card from his friend.

No interviews, but still progress – ID card found, appointments rescheduled

I asked him why he did not take his phone with him, so people could reach him. And why he never called Chuck back. I asked him to show me that he could call Chuck on the phone, while I was there and make plans to go out together to the VA hospital. He admitted that something was wrong with his phone and he could not make outbound calls. I tried to call Chuck using his phone and I could not figure it out. Something was definitely wrong with his phone. He agreed to go over to the phone company office and get it serviced. I also asked him to check into text messaging, because he could read those.

The next day I received a heartening call from Chuck. William had retrieved his VA card and they went out to the hospital and rearranged all of the appointments that he missed.

The two headed monster that strikes every job hunter

I asked William why he was so reluctant to disclose his problems to Chuck and me. He said that he was afraid. And I think he has been depressed, but coping. Slowly he has been retreating from society. Fear and depression, the two headed monster that strikes every job hunter. They are cunning and baffling emotions, cut from the same cloth. No job hunter, regardless of age, can escape these two. What makes the difference in the job search is how fast a person rebounds and gets back to conducting a professional job search.

William needs a place to live just as badly as getting his hearing restored. I placed a call to the Alameda County VA Helpline and got in touch with a case worker who will help Chuck and me. Next I checked in with a recent JobLink Alumni who recently landed a job. This person is connected to the real estate community and to the City of Dublin. He has agreed to help find a room for William to rent.

I would like to say we are into Stage One, but we need to take care of first things first.

Tags: Career Coach, Job Hunting, Mature Worker, Older Worker, Unemployed
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The Curious Case of William P. – Part 05

Friday, January 15th, 2010

Airplane above the clouds,

I met William at the coffee shop the day after he returned from his Christmas visit with his sister and family. I took my morning walk and dropped in for a coffee and there he was. He had a pleasant visit with his sisters and their children and grand children. He had the usual story about the awful plane ride from California to Georgia. I had wondered how that would go for him, since I made the reservations for him on-line. No more of that. It is time for William to learn how to do these things for himself.

A job won’t come easily to William

I asked William how his trip to the VA hospital went and he said it went well but he was unsure of what appointments were made. I agreed to meet him again the next day to go over the paperwork from his hospital visit. William did not take his cell phone with him and it was not charged up when he returned. I checked out his email and there was nothing posted.

There were two appointments that he missed while on Christmas break, but he could not hear the messages well enough. Why he did not take his phone with him was a puzzle. I guess he gets so few calls that he only uses it to make calls. The paperwork gave instructions on how to register for email from the VA, so we went on-line and filled out the questionnaire. I learned something that shocked me.

Twenty years more work experience!

William is not 59; he is 79. I got a clue about his age when talking with him; he mentioned that he was getting a Social Security Check. That led me to asking him if he was on disability. No he was not on disability; he had been receiving checks since he turned 62. So I asked him how long he had been receiving checks and he answered, “For a few years.”

I did not want to press him further on the issue, but the questionnaire demanded his birth date. So, what he was hiding came to the surface. He is much older than he looks and the fact that he is receiving Social Security benefits makes his job situation much less critical than I thought. I thought that William “needed” a better job. Now I know that William “wants” a better job.

Don’t keep your advocates in the dark

I had a blunt conversation with William. I require “rigorous honesty,” if I am going to be his career coach. He agreed that he was not being completely “transparent” with me. I have some suspicions about other “facts” about William. I do not question his Microbiology degree and work history, but his living conditions bother me. I suspect that he is living out of his car. He clothes are always dirty and his car is an awful mess. He must sleep somewhere other than his car on occasion, because he told me he wanted to sleep in before we met.

Job seekers need to be honest in interviews

As a career coach, I am not surprised when people give me misinformation, but it makes my job harder. Job seekers will not be able to hide information from potential employers; not in today’s modern age of information. William needs to get ready to interview. To interview well he needs to be able to hear well or not be afraid to inform the employer about his hearing disability. Secondly, he cannot hide his age, they will research his education and employment history and it will be apparent. These two issues cannot be hidden, so William needs to face the issues and turn them to his advantage.

We are on the verge of a Stage One job search, but first William has to become fully “transparent.”

Tags: Career Coach, Career Plan, Older Worker
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Job Search Commitment

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

There is an old joke about the role of the chicken and the role of the pig when it comes to bacon and eggs. The chicken gives, but the pig is committed. Many people in our demographic who decide that they want to continue working after retirement lay a lot of eggs because they lack focus. Let’s face it, when you haven’t had to look for a job, you don’t know how to do it. The task is how to find a job that you will find rewarding, fulfilling and worth the effort when that job is not what you have been doing to earn a living up to this point.

Create a Job Search Plan

What I mean about laying a lot of eggs is that most people may be busy yet do not conduct a serious and professional job search. They shortcut the assessment phase, update their old resume and then start contacting old colleagues and family to see what happens. In today’s tough job market or any job market this is a very discouraging process. Here are some guidelines that will help make your search productive.

Commit yourself to a professional search and create a plan so your search will be disciplined.
- A part-time job search requires 15 hours per week, full time means 35-40 hours.
- Schedule your time and build your plan
Get in shape. This is the best time in your life to get in shape, there’s nothing to get in the way.
- Physically – set up a daily workout, walking is a great way to start.
- Spiritually – if you have faith, put it to work.
- Emotional – Don’t start until you are emotionally ready to commit.
- Intellectual – Focus on the solution, not the problem.
- Social – Network, Network, Network…
Assessment is the key to targeting the job position that you will find rewarding and worth spending your valuable time.

Career Assessment is the Place to Start

Assessment is a process that takes a bit of brainstorming on your part. This is the process of discovering a position that will give meaning and purpose to your life. You may find one of the following assessment tools helpful to ensure your career plans will land you in an area of work suited to your likes and needs. Although they are designed for use somewhat earlier in your career, it’s never too late to know what suits you best.

The Seven Stories Exercise found in “Targeting a Great Career” by Kate Wendelton. Buy it used on Amazon: Click here for this book on Amazon.Com

This is an exercise in reviewing your accomplishments throughout your life. It is personal, proactive, affirming, and creates a list that you can use in resume preparation. Most people forget that they have achieved quite a bit and people tend to take their accomplishments for granted. In reviewing the “motivated skills” that repeat in your life’s accomplishments, clues start to form as to the kind of work you should target.

One good on-line tool is “The Careers Interest Game” which is a simplified version of “The Party Exercise” from the book “What Color is Your Parachute” by Richard Bolles.

Find out your three letter “Holland Code” a free test can be found at “Holland code“. The Holland or RAISEC assessments provide information on the relationship between job personalities and key characteristics, college majors, hobbies, abilities, and related careers, from the book “Making Vocational Choices” by John Holland.

“Career Games“, is a site that has a broad set of tools to help you in your career transition process. Go to the Self Assessment section, which will assist you to define 3 parameters for your job search: the skills you love, the working conditions that make you happy, and the traits you like to see in your colleagues.

Positive Attitude is Essential to Finding Work

Attitude will make all the difference in the world. Decide that you are going to enjoy this journey and commit yourself to a strong effort. Older folks are often heard to say that they are busier than ever and don’t know where the time goes. So you must be willing to look at your attitude, if you really mean it when you say that you still want to work, show it by the effort you put in. Most people update their traditional resume and start posting it to job sites and begin talking with friends and old colleagues. The results are often less than satisfying. Do yourself and your friends a favor and take the time to determine what you want to do with the rest of your life.

The saying goes that today is the first day of your life, so commit yourself to a professional job search. Be like the pig in bacon and eggs, don’t do as the chicken does and lay a few eggs – and spend your time on un-focused busyness.

Tags: Career Assesment, Job Search, Job Search Plan
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The curious case of William P. – Part 04 (Stage Zero, Time to Volunteer)

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

I haven’t see Bill for a couple of weeks, so I went looking for him. I had been to the coffee shop earlier in the week, but he was not there. As I pulled into the coffee shop parking lot, I saw him across the street in the Mall parking lot. He was sitting in his car; basking in the sun.

He told me about the comedy of trying to communicate with Chuck by phone. Chuck can’t hear his phone ring most of the time. When he calls William back, William hears well enough to understand the message. I know that Chuck will read his email, so we go into the Coffee Shop and we get on-line.

William has done the paperwork for the VA; he is ready to go back. Chuck sees the email and calls right away. We agree that the best way to contact William is to just show up at the Coffee Shop. William will be there or nearby.

We open William’s email to check on the volunteer work that William agreed to pursue. We registered William as a Volunteer at http://www.taprootfoundation.com/ and there was a welcoming email from the organization that said that they did not have any positions for a microbiologist. They recommended that someone with William’s remarkable talent could also look to donate time at other volunteer organizations.

“While we do not have the correct project to fit your background at this time, many non-profits could benefit from your remarkable skill set. We recommend that you visit www.handsonbayarea.org, www.volunteermatch.org and www.idealist.org to learn about other opportunities to volunteer.”

William really likes this response but doesn’t want to forge ahead until he can hear well. He says, “I am really only 50 per cent present. I am only half a person. I can’t hear well enough to understand what people are saying.”

I have a friend who is with a Special Industry Group in San Jose. Henry was a long time IBM engineer at the IBM facility in San Jose. It was sold to Hitachi and Hitachi has been downsizing it on a steady basis. Henry is looking for a new engineering job in the Green Tech Space and is a member of http://www.ecogreengroup.com/. Henry is checking to see if one of the members has a lab available where William can volunteer in his spare time. William really needs to do some current microbiology work to hone his skills and fill in the large gap in his work history.

William and I go on line and fill in his work profile to indicate that he is a volunteer with the Ecogreen Special Interest Group (SIG).

Chuck and William finally get out to the VA Hospital in Livermore and submit all of the paperwork and William is accepted right away.

Standby; we are about to enter Stage 1

Tags: Career Plan, Computer aided job search, Experienced Worker, Job Hunting, Volunteer
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The curious case of William P. – Part 03 (Stage Zero continues)

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

William’s demeanor is improving dramatically. Chuck and William went to the VA Hospital and got all the necessary paperwork. William has it all filled out. He is very open to the fact that his hearing loss dramatically impacted his ability to look for work. As he puts it, “I was only 50% present; half of the time I was guessing at what they were talking about.”

Out of the blue, I received a call from Mike Mc. He had had been taking job search classes specially designed for Veterans at the EDD office. Another coincidence; and I tend to pay attention to these kinds of occurrences. Mike wants some help with his STaRs and he shows me the work he has been doing at The Alameda County Veterans Employment Committee, see http://www.acvec.org/

Not ready for prime time (job fair)

The ACVEC group is sponsoring a job fair strictly for Veterans, so I encourage William to attend. I can tell he feels awkward about the possibility because he can’t find his resume and he still can’t hear. I tell William to “just go,” don’t wait for things to be perfect. He could use the practice. William doesn’t go.

Another two weeks go by and William has not gone back to the VA Hospital, but he has tried to see his old doctor. He is told that he has to be referred for treatment, so it looks as if the VA Hospital is his only alternative.

Joined Linkedin, cheered up by finding college professors

I bring my laptop to the coffee shop and we start working on William’s Linkedin profile. He graduated with an MS from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 1963. Two of his professors are still department heads at the University, so William notes their phone number. He really “lights up” at the thought of reconnecting with these two and the possibility of meeting again. They don’t have email addresses listed in their profile on the University’s website.

William hasn’t worked as a Microbiologist for over 5 years, so jumping directly into the job market without recent experience is not practical. We list William as currently seeking a volunteer position. We fill in his education and some details of his work history and we refer to a couple of his professional publications.

Will William take the lead in his job search?

Things are looking up for William P. but he has yet to take leadership in the effort. I have hope that he will keep taking steps forward. A job search is first and foremost an individual effort; each person needs to take personal leadership in the effort. All a coach can do is guide the effort; ask some questions as to why a job position is important to the person; and encourage. A job search is an “inside job.” We are still at Stage 0.

Tags: Career Coach, Job Search Plan, Mature Worker
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