My business tries to help other get their head around aspects of this as you can see in the below Prezi.

behr outcomes prezi

But if like me you have been involved both professionally in education and as a parent it becomes even more complex given the personal stakes.

I attended an interesting seminar yesterday in London at the Wellcome Trust, run in partnership with the Royal Society, which attempted to examine school accountability in-depth. Both organisations have an interest in this area, but perhaps the most useful high level contribution from the array of well-informed speakers was from Sir David Bell, former Chief Inspector of Schools in England, then top civil servant in the English Education Ministry, and currently the Vice Chancellor of a UK university.

If anyone has seen education from the top, he definitely has.

His conclusion? That instead of focusing on trying to find the perfect school accountability system to keep all us educationists and parents happy (I haven’t mentioned politicians … ), why not just concentrate on specific actions to improve teaching and learning?

Of course he is right. The problem is knowing what type of action and how to make it produce real benefits, which requires some kind of yardstick. Some would say base such actions more on education research evidence including from randomised controlled trials. I would ask that any outcomes are linked more to end of schooling destinations i.e. which type of university, course, employer or job will students go on to in their local area or further afield?

On the other hand Sir David also raised the role of subject leaders as ‘management’ experts in schools. This I think is getting closer to the truth.

Every good or aspiring school will be running projects to improve teaching and learning. Someone needs to approve, monitor, extend or close down such projects depending on the outcomes they are producing. The Head can’t possibly do this on his or her own so delegates to a senior manager, which provides them with good career development opportunities (forget about performance related pay – a better salaried position may arise eventually). These key people need both the knowledge to recognise the value of good T&L projects and the people/task management skills to know whether they are being run well and if not what interventions are required. We should ALL be supporting them to be as competent as possible.

Quite an ask you might say but why not be aspirational – we did it for the London Olympics after all.

Everyone knows that hiring the wrong employee can be costly, but few realize just how much. Careerbuilders.com estimates that employers lose $25,000-$50,000 per “bad” hire.  All too often employers hire someone only to regret their decision later, an unsurprising fact when studies show that 53% of all job applications contain inaccurate information. To help you avoid this expensive pitfall, below are time-tested tips to help you choose the best new hires.

1.      Have Well-Defined Objectives. You cannot pick your ideal job candidate without knowing exactly what you want them to accomplish. Make sure that the job description you post is well written and outlines both the necessary skills and your expectations regarding the post; otherwise, you may miss out on talent that becomes disinterested after reading a generic or outdated description. Having a clear understanding of the role will also ensure that your new employee does not feel misled about their duties, alleviating unhappiness later.

2.      Use All Sources to Get the Best People in the Marketplace. Often, companies post an ad on an online job board and stop there, without realizing that after a few days the ad will have fallen so far down the line as to be almost invisible. This practice weeds out all but the most aggressive job seekers, who are frequently not the best candidate for you. In addition to posting on job boards, consider leveraging your professional network. Contact former colleagues and your clients to see who they would recommend for the post. Find online communities, societies, blogs and websites that are related to your industry and post your job there where it will reach candidates specifically in your field. You can even engage a contingency search firm to find good candidates for you; there is no cost to you unless you hire someone they recommended. And don’t forget social media – make sure your job posting is on LinkedIn.

3.      Conduct a Successful Interview. Remember that your professionalism will reflect on your company, and you need to sell your company as the right fit for your candidate. Give timely feedback to the candidates after interviews and tell them where they stand. Use standardized questions to make comparing candidates easier and more fair. Go through references and background checks carefully. Don’t be afraid to have a second interview for top candidates, but be wary of adding more interviews after that, as it can be a turn-off for highly qualified candidates.

4.      Involve Key Employees in the Hiring Process. There is nothing more toxic to a team than when animosity builds between co-workers. To avoid this, include important employees who will be working closely with the new hire in the interview process. Let them meet your top candidates. Make it clear that you value their opinions and that you want to hire someone who works well with them. Not only will this help ensure that you hire a person who fits into your team, but it will also go a long way in making sure your current employees feel valued.

5.      Take Your Time to Find the Right Fit. When a key employee leaves, it’s not uncommon for hiring managers to panic and hire the first qualified candidate amid the rush to fill the position. After all, an open position in a key area can cause a lot of hardship if left open too long. But in the rush to hire, you may not hire the best long-term candidate for your company. Indeed, a CareerBuilder survey found that rushing the hiring process was the most common mistake employers made. If the situation and the workload are desperate, consider hiring a temporary employee to take on the backlog. This will allow you to your take your time and hire the correct person for the post in the long run, instead of hiring the first qualified candidate to apply.

Sue Bingham, founder and principal of HPWP Consulting, states that when companies involve their employees in hiring based on the personal attributes of candidates, “turnover immediately decreases by 60%-70%.” By following the right steps, you can not only hire the best people, but also increase current employees’ sense of loyalty and ownership in the company. Ultimately, Ms. Bingham says that “there is nothing a company does that is more important than hiring the right people.”

Hired a really great employee lately? Tell us how you did it at Facebook and Twitter.

It’s around now, when exams and revision are on your mind and the weather is just starting to perk up, that we start asking the question, “Have you thought about what you’re going to do when you finish?

As one student said when I spoke to them “Ugh.” Seemed to say it all. You don’t want to be thinking about career choices, you’re too busy with finishing off your course and finally having some freedom, right? True; focus on your degree and enjoy the final days of Uni life. But I’m afraid you also have to squeeze in some time to think about your career and I’m going to give you a few reasons why.

For new graduates getting a job straight after graduation is a race but a race where no one has to line up for the start. The starting pistol has already been fired, it just depends who notices and who doesn’t. Getting a head start, by not only focussing on your exams but also thinking about you career, can give you the distance on others racing who might be faster than you in the long run.

So what are your first steps when thinking about a job after Uni? Well, first put some time into your CV. Starting on this now is one less thing to worry about later. Usually Careers Services are quieter during the exam period so you will have more luck getting an appointment to go over it at a time that suits you. Make sure you don’t just get it ‘checked’; find out the reasons for changes so when you come to edit it next time you’ll not make the same mistakes.

Secondly, start your research into the job you want. Now this can seem more of a task than it is, especially with the internet and company websites; there’s a wealth of information out there just waiting for you to harvest it. A quick search of a job title or a company will easily bring up a good starting point and allow you to delve into the job you’re interested in. Find out about the sector, the day-to-day workings of the job, and the companies who employ (this last one is particularly important when going for interviews).

Thirdly, start looking for jobs. With your research you’ve probably turned up a variety of websites where people are hiring but remember, not all jobs are advertised. Start thinking about your network; who you know and who they know. Develop your on-line presence through your LinkedIn profile, Twitter handle, and blog (if you have one).

Remember there is always help from the Careers and Placements Service if you’re having difficulty. We are running bootcamps for your career throughout the summer and on 22nd May we are holding our Jobs and Careers Fair too. Take a look at the employers visiting and see if there are any that spark your interest. Remember though, both large and small companies might need people from all sorts of different courses, regardless of the industry their company is in. (Remember book on CareerHub and pick up your voucher from our offices for the free BBQ!)

It’s never too late to get on the road to your new job. Start on these steps to make sure you’re not left behind!

Jerome Price is an Employment and Placements Adviser in the Careers and Placements Service at the University of Hertfordshire

photo credit: rachel_titiriga

There was never any substance… any degree of personalization.  So, like an actor that knows his own strengths and writes roles for himself specifically to target them (Cough!  Adam Sandler.  Cough!), I decided to write the questions that I would rather answer, if given only ten of them.  So without any further ado, here they are…

———

1 – Do you think there’s a God?
I’d like to think so.  It’s a comforting thought, so long as you get to make one up.
Because let’s face it – if there were a God shop based on current known “gods”, who would most people purchase?  The “angry with the wicked”*, “jealous”**, homosexual-slaughtering, loves-you-but-has-a-fiery-pit-of-damnation-reserved-for-you-forever-if-you-don’t-love-him-back Judeo-Christian God?  Probably not.  If I had to go with a God that exists in current lore, I’d probably choose Bacchus/Dionysus, as he is the god of the theatre, wine, and ecstasy.  Granted, I’ve never cared for wine, but at least Bacchus’ downside has nothing to do with burning forever.

Personally, though, I see God as a good-humored, mostly benevolent watcher.  For this particular case, prayer would be useless, because if your “show” (life) is interesting enough, he’s already watching – and knows what you want anyway.  Of his Godly superpowers, the ability to watch an infinite amount of “channels” at once has definitely got to be (other than his omnipotence) most notable.  (That’s technically why I don’t understand people who subscribe to 100+ channels via satellite or cable – what’s the point?  You can only watch one at a time!  Me personally, I could’ve survived [prior to commercial-free programming like Netflix, DVDs, and Blu-Rays] with only three channels: Comedy Central, the Cartoon Network, and NBC [back in the 30 Rock, Conan O'Brien days].  It must be because I don’t watch sports and generally don’t give a crap about music.  I don’t know – this tangent is getting too long.)

Although other gods are powerful, I like to think the God of the Universe is the only one with supreme power – omnipotence that comes from just being him.  I imagine that every other god in the Universe was created by him, and that their power is dependent upon enough people believing in them (kind of like old Santa Claus movies).  So whichever god has the most people following him, the more power he has to affect the world we live in.  Yahweh and Allah seem to be battling it out the most currently (and let’s face it – they and their followers tend to be belligerent sons of guns), but Jesus used to be popular, Buddha and Shiva still have a faithful eastern following, and Zeus and his buddies used to be pretty badass in the ancient world.

I think the spiritual power struggle actually used to be a bit more even, and perhaps some spirits would even bless their followers with the bounty of their power, granting certain supernatural powers to humans… but that’s just a cool-as-balls premise for a magical story (which I intend to write someday).  But then Yahweh started in with “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”*** and all that ‘I’m the only God!’ business and things started getting pretty cutthroat in the spirit world.

Incidentally, of things I pretty much have no reason to believe in but still do (like God), I also believe in spirits – either original gods with/without power, or the cast-off life forces of people that used to be.  That’s what I imagine the afterlife to be like – you’re finally free of your corporeal form and get to zip all over the world seeing one cool thing after another.  But since that might eventually get boring, I think some spirits might choose to serve living humans and be bound to them.  Others still might rely on the God of the Universe to allow them to be reincarnated as something/someone else – but only so long as they can never (during that lifetime) fully recall what/who they used to be.

I’ve actually thought quite a lot about it.  The idea of God as sort of the “infinite couch potato” doesn’t seem disrespectful to me, either.  Man has forever longed to reach beyond what he could know – to touch the face of God, as it were.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have him be relatable on some level… possibly even interested in watching your “show” as a person?  That’s why I think people that don’t (responsibly) live a Hedonistic lifestyle do a disservice to the Universe, as you aren’t giving God anything cool to watch.  How would you like it if your eternity was nothing but C-SPAN?

2 – Would you ever get remarried?
Only on the off-chance that I got insanely wealthy and wanted to have a devoted hand in raising the perfect heir to my throne… and could have him with either a physically ideal woman who would forever relinquish all motherly rights to the boy, or with a woman raised in the East (where they still – as a society – know how to properly respect a man) that I could manage to keep sequestered from contact with any Western women, who generally poison the minds of any newcomers to America until they’re as jaded and awful as the Western women that live here.  (This isn’t a new revelation, either.  Eddie Murphy was doing a bit about it as early as “Raw“.)

The problem with Western women, generally, is that they are broken.  American society, run by loud-mouthed, feminist bitches, has stolen the essence of womanhood from women. When a woman feverishly chases after the things that are considered to be a man’s purview, she of necessity becomes like the man in order to gain them.  This changes a woman into something manly – not a man, but close enough to bar the interest of any Real Men.  That’s why it’s such a common complaint these days that there are no Real Men left. Well, guess what, manly bitch?  No Real Man will ever be attracted to you!  That’s why your dating pool consists of either spineless sheep (one of whom you will, at one point, trick into marrying your worthless ass) or douchebag pricks who only want to fuck you and chuck you.

Add (to this ludicrous clamor after manly things) a host of mental problems inherent in the feminist American system, and you’ve got the whole package deal of the “shit sandwich” that bitches are trying to sell.  Never in history (from my research) has there been such problems with women having histrionic, bipolar, and schizophrenic disorders.  Add to that – the likely fuck-fest of a sexual history these harridans have had before they’ve decided to “settle down” (emphasis on the settle – as they always see themselves as “settling” for any husband) with you – and you see why Western marriage is never a good investment of a man’s time and energies.  ”Broken” is perhaps a more generous term than these bitches deserve, but I’m benevolent if nothing else.

Also, considering the criminally unfavorable laws that have been passed (and continue to be passed) in America concerning women and divorce, you’d have to have an ironclad pre-nup and an absolute army of rabid lawyers to escape a bad marriage unscathed.  Ergo, why I’d have to wait until I were insanely wealthy.
…which is why there’s a very high probability that I will not ever get married again.

3 – What specific advice would you give your son?
Son, if I’m alive, spend time with me!  There’s a lot I need to tell you, and probably not a lot of time to do it in.  If I’m dead, read this blog!  As I write in it regularly, there is much to be gleaned from it.

For now, though, my primary advice is this: question everything!  Even me!  If someone tells you, “You just need to find the right woman and settle down.  Then, you’ll be happy,” ask them, “Why?  Since we all die alone anyway, why would having someone forever in my life with contrary opinions to my own make life more fun for me?  Or do you just like watching drama, especially when it’s not in your own miserable marriage?  Or is it just that misery loves company?”

If someone tells you that you have to do something merely because their “God said so”, ask them “Why?”  If you never personally meet this God of theirs, why is it any more imperative that you obey him than your own conscience?  How does their God line up with Truth?  If he at any point strays from Truth and human compassion, then why is he worthy of your worship and dedication?

Also, and this is because you’re still young (but probably won’t be by the time you read this), masturbation is your friend!  There’s lots of free porn out there on the internet (I recommend Tiava.com, son.), and there’s no safer way to discover what your own sexual proclivities are than to sample from an infinite smorgasbord in the privacy of your own room (which, hopefully, you remember to lock).

Once you get into the dating world, blowjobs and anal sex are your friends.  Any American bitch that wants you to have sex with her bareback in her vagina is just planning for her future… in which you pay her exorbitant amounts of child support.  Don’t believe her lies that she’s on the pill, or has had a hysterectomy or tubal ligation, or some other such nonsense.  Also, there’s a pretty decent chance (by your time) that if a woman is that open to having sex with you vaginally (and bareback, at that), then she is likely riddled with herpes or some other god-awful STD.

You see, son?  You don’t need any “thou shalt not”s to keep you off of premarital sex when Western women are such whores!  Seriously, though – only Yahweh has a problem with masturbation (look up Onan****).  I’m pretty sure the God of the Universe thinks it’s fine. And tissues never sue for paternity and child support.  I’m just sayin’.

Also, if by the time you reach your late twenties, you start yearning for marriage and a family of your own remember these two things first: 1) Your maximum SMV is yet to come, and 2) Even past president John Tyler had kids in his 60s, so those bad boys in your testes will be there plenty of time after you’ve established your “gilded cage” well enough to attract your choice of ladies!  Keep in mind as well, son, that as scarce as actual ladies (proper prospective mates) are in the West now, it may very well be the same story in the East by the time you begin your search.

Just do your research, my boy.  Make sure your potential mate respects her father – even if she disagrees with him – and does not raise her voice to him (always a good indicator of a lady).  Make sure she is not out of her SMP (18-25, regardless of your age), that her older mother is still slim and attractive (an indicator of good genes), and that the women in her family have not had a history of mental problems or breast cancer (Brad Pitt recently had to learn the hard way that Angelina Jolie’s mom had had breast cancer when Angelina decided to preempt the disease with a double mastectomy.  You do not want either of those outcomes in your blushing bride’s future, son!)

Lastly, use some common sense when choosing a bride (By the way, these are all things I wish someone had told me before I married your mom.).  Don’t marry anyone any shorter than you than six inches – it’ll help preserve the height and dominance of our lineage (e.g. – My cut-off should’ve been 5’10″, yet I married your mom at 5’4″.  That was silly.).  Don’t marry anyone that doesn’t defend you in public – especially in front of her own family!  If she is to be your future bride-for-life, she already should assent that you are the best in her eyes, and that your word is law.  If she shows any variance from those two points, she will defy you through others first, and then to your face later (e.g. – Even when we were dating, your mom would sit silently [silent assent, as it turned out] while that short troll aunt of yours – still unmarried at the time – would poke fun at me.  And when the large troll aunt of yours [the one in Oklahoma] would question my authority, your mom still sat silently.).

I’ve said it elsewhere, son, but marriage is not a democracy.  You alone will and should have complete authority.  Your bride is welcome to humbly give her opinion in private, but if you choose a different course of action, she should happily and graciously submit to it.  A marriage without a lord is anarchy – 50/50 never works!  Someone must have the preeminence, and if your wife insists on 50/50, it is only so she may bring your 100 down to 50, and then cuckold you into a 49.  Then, your rule is at an end, and your marriage will be miserable.

I think it also goes without saying that I would like the opportunity to meet and size up your lady in person before you ask her to be your fiancee.  If I see any deficiency (My eyes are wiser and more experienced than yours, son.), I will be sure to alert you to it.  Whether you take my advice or not is up to you, but if you choose a wife of whom I have not approved, then you will never ascend to my future throne – or even be granted citizenship in Xeresgate.  Only a Father of my line that meets the requirements for citizenship in Xeresgate may ascend the throne when I relinquish it or die.  If none exist at that time, then the kingdom shall perish.  And better that than to have some cuckolded sheep sit atop a lion’s throne, with the harridan that really runs things seated beside him.  That will never happen so long as I draw breath – or after, provided my legal team is as good as I wager it will be.

4 – What specific advice would you give your daughters?
Girls, if I’m alive, spend time with me!  There’s a lot I need to tell you girls, and probably not a lot of time to do it in.  If I’m dead, read this blog!  As I write in it regularly, there is much to be gleaned from it.

For now, though, my primary advice is this: question everything!  Even me!  If someone tells you, “You just need to find the career that best suits you and pursue it relentlessly.  Then, you’ll be happy,” ask them, “Why?  Since the workplace is the man’s dominion, why should I leave my nurturing duties to someone less interested in performing them, while I languish in a weary world of corporations and managers?  Or do you just like watching others having to go through the same flawed system that you chose for yourself, especially when it’s not in your own miserable life?  Or is it just that misery loves company?”

If someone tells you that you have to do something merely because their “God said so”, ask them “Why?”  If you never personally meet this God of theirs, why is it any more imperative that you obey him than your own conscience?  How does their God line up with Truth?  If he at any point strays from Truth and human compassion, then why is he worthy of your worship and dedication?

Also, and this is because you’re still young (but probably won’t be by the time you read this), masturbation is your friend!  There’s lots of free porn out there on the internet (I recommend Tiava.com, girls.), and there’s no safer way to discover what your own sexual proclivities are than to sample from an infinite smorgasbord in the privacy of your own room (which, hopefully, you remember to lock).  Regardless of whether you find that you like them or not, I’d stay away from dildos and vaginal insertables until you’re married – and then only if (hopefully) your husband allows them.  A large part of the modern dowry of a lady is her treasure that has never been opened to anyone else.  Feel free to experiment (safely) with anal play, but only open your vaginal treasure to your husband. After all, he will be paying for it with a life of work… so he deserves it.

Once you get into the dating world, there will be a host of strong, young bastards (far from their SMP) who will be actively attempting to despoil you.  Do not allow this!  Non-masturbatory sexual congress for a young lady is for after marriage, and your SMP is a relatively small window in your youth (18-25), so you don’t want to make the apple rotten before offering it to a potential suitor.  Any American bastard around your age wanting to have sex: A) likely does not realize what you stand to lose by doing so with him, and B) doesn’t care anyway – he just wants to “hump you and dump you” (as the saying goes).  You would do well to avoid nightclubs and bars (as these are the main places bastards like this hang out), but be aware that there are plenty of charming bastards in the everyday world as well.  To be chaste, you must always be on your guard – and I know it’s tough at that age.  Also, there’s a pretty decent chance (by your time) that if a man is immediately open to having sex with you (vaginally or anally), then he is likely riddled with herpes or some other god-awful STD.

You see, girls?  You don’t need any “thou shalt not”s to keep you off of premarital sex when Western men are such sluts!  Seriously, though – only Yahweh has a problem with masturbation (look up Onan****).  I’m pretty sure the God of the Universe thinks it’s fine. And if you know how to manually get yourself off, you’ll be that much better able to assist your new husband if he doesn’t quite do it at first.  I’m just sayin’.

Also, if you’re approaching 25, and you start yearning for marriage and a family of your own remember these two things first: 1) Though you’re approaching the end of your prime, don’t let that fool you into rushing into marriage or sex with the wrong man – only a Real Man will be worthy of my daughters as long as they keep themselves ladies, and 2) There will be plenty of Alpha options for you in Xeresgate… all of whom will know of your relation to the King!  Keep in mind as well, girls, that as scarce as actual gentlemen (proper prospective mates) are in the West now, it may very well be the same story in the East by the time you begin your search.

Just do your research, girls.  Make sure your potential mate loves his mother – even if he disagrees with her – and does not engage in public disagreements with her (always a good indicator of a gentleman).  Make sure he is at least into his SMP (33-43), that he is still slim and attractive (an indicator of good genes and life choices), and that the men in his family have not had a history of pattern baldness, mental problems, heart problems, or other serious health concerns.

Lastly, use some common sense when choosing a husband.  Don’t marry anyone any taller than you than six inches – it’ll help in social situations if even slutty 4-6 inch heels don’t give you a height advantage.  Don’t marry anyone that doesn’t cherish you in public - especially in front of his own family!  If he is to be your future protector, he should already be keeping you close at hand – protecting you from all manner of harm.  He must be a man that honors the Truth, respects the crown, and (hopefully) is a citizen of Xeresgate.  You must be certain that he is a man whose word you would have no reservations about following – for if he is not, then you should not marry him.

I’ve said it elsewhere, girls, but marriage is not a democracy.  Your husband alone will and should have complete authority.  You are welcome to humbly give your opinion in private, but if he chooses a different course of action, you should happily and graciously submit to it.  A marriage without a lord is anarchy – 50/50 never works!  Someone must have the preeminence, and if you insist on 50/50, any man worth his salt would leave you immediately.  Your place is not at his side – it is in perennial support of him and his decisions, and marriage is always much happier if you remember that.

I think it also goes without saying that I would like the opportunity to meet and size up your gentleman in person before you ask him to be your fiancee.  If I see any deficiency (My eyes are wiser and more experienced than yours, girls.), I will be sure to alert you to it.  Whether you take my advice or not is up to you, but if you choose a husband of whom I have not approved, then you will never have a place at court – and your husband will not be allowed citizenship.  My sincerest hope is that you will be the proper Mothers that your mom never was, and that you will always have a place near me at the royal feasting table.

5 – What vocations do you have the most respect for?
The short answer?  English teachers, Shakespearean actors, and military men serving in the front lines of combat.

And yeah, I know the common list includes policemen and firemen – but you know what?  While some of them may give their lives in the line of duty, A) not nearly as many of them do as our boys in combat, and B) a way bigger deal is always made of them than our military men anyway.  Add to that, that I’ve been inside even volunteer firefighters’ lounges in several states, and their off time (which is a lot) in the station generally has them enjoying a very comfortably equipped lounge area – not any of our boys on the front lines can say the same.  And cops these days are getting a little too goose-stepping, pepper-spraying, big-for-their-britches ornery if you ask me.

So yeah… the list stands as-is, and I’ll tell you why.  One of the main things about English teachers, Shakespearean actors, and our front-line military men is that they are all vastly under-appreciated.

No one is more unappreciated by today’s youth (whose texts often look like they were stolen from candy valentine hearts – “U R gr8t!”, and who often make a point of calling people that take the time to correct their lousy English: “grammar Nazis” [Half the time, the idiots misspell it as "grammer", too!]) than the English teacher.  In a world overrun by jargon, colloquialisms, and poetry that doesn’t rhyme (The last one really irks me – there’s a word for non-rhyming poetry, you idiots: prose!), the English teacher fights a losing battle every day, just trying to preserve the integrity of the English language.  You’ve got to respect that, and I most certainly do.

In today’s surfeit of truly talentless actors/actresses (Kristen Stewart, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Ben Affleck, and Jonah Hill, to name a few), it’s a rarity to find the few real acting treasures out there: the ones trained in Shakespeare.  If you’ve had the opportunity to see Sir Kenneth Branagh, Brian Blessed, Sir Derek Jacobi, Timothy Spall, Sir Ian McKellen, Ralph Fiennes, Kate Winslet, or even Sir Patrick Stewart act, you’ve likely not only had a thoroughly entertained time of it, but have left the hearing of their words as if your intellect has been magically ratcheted upward a few notches.  After hearing how true masters of both the King’s English and the craft of acting handle the average role, going back to standard Hollywood fare is like leaving a succulent filet mignon to feast on canned dog food.  But worst of all, considering the generations that have come up almost reviling their native tongue, the average American moron doesn’t even understand Shakespeare anymore – not even enough to grasp its initial meaning, let alone the intricate, masterful wordplay in The Bard’s texts!  So, do they appreciate Shakespearean actors/actresses?  Fahgeddaboutit!

Most of all, in all seriousness, I think our men on the front lines are deserving of our respect.  Sure, they might not always be fighting “righteous” wars (if there are such things anymore), but they don’t make those decisions anyway.  Your average front-line soldier may be some poor schlub with no other job prospects, he may be a guy hoping not to die long enough to be able to cash in on the GI Bill for college, or he may even be that rare patriot who daily risks life and limb merely because he recognizes the values of the freedoms he’s sworn to protect.  Regardless, these men serve in forward areas, fighting the most bravely for their countries where the casualties and disabled that come away from those places is the highest.  Like the men who fought in Vietnam, they often come home to far less gratuitous fanfare than they deserve.  Worst of all, even in death, their widows and grieving family members run a significant risk of running into those WBC assholes at their funerals!  These men – these soldiers, these selfless warriors – are truly deserving of our respect.

6 – What famous people would you most like to have in your life?
I realize they’re just charismatic commentators on life, but I’d like to have the following comedians in my life – Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Bill Burr, Jim Jefferies, and Anthony Jeselnik.  And by “in my life”, I don’t mean I’d like to live in their basements or anything.  These are the kind of friends you’d like to just be able to get together with every week or two, sit around a private table at a bar, and just shoot the shit with them about what’s going on in the world.  They strike me as very insightful people, that’s all.

Also, if I could choose five actors with which to do the same, they would likely be Sir Kenneth Branagh (my favorite Hamlet ever), Nathan Fillion (just seems like he’d be up for anything), Owen Wilson (same deal as Nathan), Michael Rosenbaum (favorite villain from TV – also a funny guy), and H. Jon Benjamin (have always loved him as Archer – and he’s got that understated sense of humor that keeps you on your toes).

Needless to say, if it was just me at the table with all ten of these other men, well… consider me to have won the Universal jackpot, my friend!

7 – What world wonders would you like to visit before you die?
I actually made this list (dubbed: my “Eternal To-Do List” – meaning: even if I die, I still hope my spirit goes on to visit these places) on June 26, 2012.  I know because I wrote them all down on a card that I brought with me from Baltimore to NYC… and I dated it.  These are the places I’d like to visit (preferably) before I die and be photographed there for posterity.  In alphabetical order (by wonder), they are:

* The Amber Room (Russia)
* Angkor Wat (Cambodia)
* The Baha’i Terraces (Israel)
* Chichen Itza (Mexico)
* Christ the Redeemer (Brazil)
* The Colosseum (Italy)
* The Giza Pyramids (Egypt)
* The Great Wall (China)
* Machu Picchu (Peru)
* The Moai statues (Easter Island, Chile)
* Petra (Jordan)
* The Taj Mahal (India)

Feel free to borrow from my list for your own “Eternal To-Do List” – I realize it’s pretty awesome.  ;)

8 – If it were possible to have a superpower, which one would you want?
I think this goes without saying (to anyone that knows me at all), but the superpower I’d choose for myself is the most ridiculously OP, godlike superpower of all time… the ability to manipulate time itself.  For reasons typically too complicated to go into, this would be the time around me – generally outside a reasonable bubble of personal space or contact.

If it doesn’t sound quite so awesome to you, then “Let me learn ya sumthin’…”
These would be the other superpowers you’d inherently gain by controlling time:
* Super Speed – Slow down time around you until you look like you’re moving at anywhere from naturally quick to unnaturally blurry speeds
* Flying – You could create a double-time bubble: stop time in the general world, and speed  up time in your own bubble, which would leave you moving at super speeds atop frozen-in-space air molecules
* Teleportation – Basically, stopping time until you move to a different place
* Martial Arts Mastery – Slow down time enough, and even the fastest martial artist in the world can’t touch you
* Invisibility – Slow down time until you’re too fast to be glimpsed, or stop it altogether – depending on what you need to accomplish
* Elemental Magic – This one would actually take a bit of special effects training, but if you had said training, you could stop time long enough – anywhere – to set up enough effects to make yourself look like a god
* Telekinesis – This one is labor-intensive, and requires a strong memory, but considering you can stop time, you can place things into different spaces (frozen in stopped air molecules) bit by bit until it looks like you’re moving them.  Considering you’d have to reset your original position each time to look like you’re not moving erratically as well, this one would likely be more trouble to mimic than it’s worth.

Now add to all that, that you could personally travel to any point in time (Ever wonder how Earth really came to be?), and even Doc Brown would have to say: “Great Scott!!“

9 – What would you recommend anyone do in order to be considered intelligent?
Well, obviously, the first thing is: Master your damn language!!  I say this to the shame of every so-called English-speaking American, because we (as a nation, not me personally) do not speak English well.  The English we speak nowadays is such a jargonized, bastardized version of the King’s English that most people don’t realize that Shakespeare is written in modern English.  Yeah, that’s right… all you morons that say Shakespeare is “old” English wouldn’t know old English if you heard it!  Hell, even Chaucer’s writings (The Canterbury Tales, et al) were only middle English!  Here’s an example of actual old English, you language idiots… now learn the difference, so you don’t sound retarded in intelligent company.

After you’ve mastered the usage of your own language (and I mean mastered – spelling, extensive vocabulary knowledge, grammar, pronunciation, writing), learn its origins.  The etymologies of words (like history as it relates to language) can be fascinating revelations of deeper meanings and the long-ago power of things now watered-down by modern society.

Once you’ve found the other languages that yours has sprung from, learn them!  Mastering linguistics not only teaches your mind to react to different stimuli – thus making it stronger (like switching up muscle groups or routines in weight lifting), but it also make you into a more cosmopolitan individual… opening up your cultural viability to parts of the world that you may yet to have even set foot on!  And let me tell you, nothing turns an otherwise xenophobic foreign national into a sympathetic Samaritan faster than you speaking (or at least attempting) their own language.

After that, I’d recommend learning to play the piano… especially if you have long fingers.  Translating notes from a musical score’s page to action in your fingers is yet another way to train your brain.  It’s a physical language translation – much like sign language (Which, incidentally, is universal – and also a great thing to learn!), as your action translates into sound.  Train yourself classically on the piano, and you’ve automatically got a high-class skill to show off in the politest of company as well.  So there’s that.

To top it off, I’d learn at least a moderate form of martial arts.  Tae Kwon Do is a fairly basic martial art, and if you learn new ways to move your body, new ways to concentrate, and new ways to become strong, it helps not only your general health but also your state of consciousness.  This, in turn, helps to facilitate the focusing of your mental acuity.

10 – What would you have to have accomplished in your life for you to consider yourself a success?
One word: Xeresgate!  This dream of mine is more than a mere life goal… more than merely something that seems well-nigh impossible.  The dream of Xeresgate is that of a heaven on earth (of sorts)… a utopia where what once was meets cordially with what now is in order to usher in the age of what yet may be.

The city of Xeresgate (though it lacked a name prior to 2006) is my life’s ideal.  It is everything that can be admired in man… everything that any one person could hope for.  It is true freedom – established by Truth, watched over by law.  It is the glory that exists in the brightest mind, made wondrous reality.

Granted, either before (in order to raise the funds for it) or after (in my “leisure” time), I may very well write my first novel, play, movie or television screenplay, or undertake an Emmy, Oscar, or Tony-winning acting role.  But those would either be the means to the end of Xeresgate, or a celebration of the accomplishing of Xeresgate.

Xeresgate, to me, is the legacy of all legacies – an empire built from one man’s dream.  It would be the True moral compass of a future society, the bulwark of a strong nation, and something wondrous enough to make the leap from the pages of fiction to the pages of history.  It is, quite simply, the goal to end all goals.  If I were to build Xeresgate and establish its throne within my lifetime, I would consider myself to be an eternal success.

* – Psalms 7:11
** – Exodus 34:14
*** – Exodus 22:18
**** – Genesis 38:7-10

———

There.  Of course, not every question in life has been answered, but I feel a lot better about what records there now are of me out there in the ether.

Transcription is one such career that affords you the chance to add something valuable to your portfolio of skills. The training that you get strengthens your base of knowledge about a sector that is bound to be unaffected by factors like recession – the medical sector.  Along with this knowledge that you get about a specialized field, you also gain other skills. These include:

• Keyboarding skill
• An ear for American English
• Good grip over English language and grammar
• Multi-tasking skills
• Good research skills
• In depth knowledge about the specialty of medicine
• Overall mentoring and leadership qualities

These are skills that prepare you for a fulfilling career for the rest of your life. This is one skill that you never lose no matter what. A skill that prepares you for this career that is actually recession-proof and offers you boundless opportunities to grow and prosper.

If you are a recent graduate wondering in what direction your career will lead, then it is time you considered a career in transcription. Once you have qualified in the simple entrance test, which comprises of a test of your grasp over English, you are all set to start a career in this sector.

You will be assigned to be trained as a Medical transcriptionist or proofreader depending on your performance in the test and subsequent interview. This will provide you with the foundation and base for the skills required for a long-term career in Medical transcription. Take the first step today.

TransDyne is the largest transcription company in Andhra Pradesh and ranks amongst the best in India. They have a strong client base, competence in multiple specialties, state-of-the-art technology and management systems, a 1,200 plus team of capable people, and unmatched physical infrastructure providing the stability and the strength to grow exponentially. 

Their contribution to the industry and employee-friendly management policies were recognized by the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, which honored them with the Best Management Award and the Best IT SME Award. 

TransDyne, as an industry leader, has already helped thousands of youngsters make a career with only good knowledge in English as the eligibility criterion. The sound training techniques used by TransDyne combined with extensive mentoring has helped many youngsters establish themselves as expert medical transcriptionists, proofreaders and quality auditors.

The best part about the training policies and methods of TransDyne is that, it is a dynamic process – subject to changes as per the changing needs of the moment. TransDyne offers free training to all the candidates who have been selected in return for a commitment from them. This arrangement has proven mutually advantageous to both the company as well as the employees. 

Click here to know more.

I WANT to be the starting point guard for the Pacers, but that ship has sailed. Or maybe it hasn’t. I’m small and in my mid-20′s. So probably. I don’t even know why i’m bringing this up. I’m sorry.

Anyways, I wanted to be a homicide detective, but I also want to be a rapper. I can’t be both. And I want to be a psychologist. And a magazine writer. And a photographer. And an actor You get the picture. I’ve gone to college for at least some portion of time for all of those things, but never finished any of them. I just couldn’t figure out which one I wanted to do forever or until I pass away painfully from some incurable disease. I wish I’d had more time to think about it. 

I think maybe I can do all of it, at least to some extent. At one point, I thought, “Maybe I can get a degree in psychology and then work on becoming a homicide detective. I’ll do that for 10 years, then write crazy books or scripts or whatever.” Stuff like that happens all the time. It helps that summer is here, as I can now explore some of these subjects that peak my interest, such as making films, to a further extent. I don’t know how the grammar is in this, but I’ve been up for like 32 hours straight. I’m rambling because I can’t sleep. I’ll stop now. Have a phenomenal day.

Marc Douch – Consultant

Blog author – Marc Douch, Consultant at Oasis HR 

So you want to move from agency to in-house? Here’s seven things you may not have previously thought about…

During my career at Oasis HR, I have spent a lot of time building my network within the internal recruitment space. I like to think I have a pretty solid understanding of the make-up of these teams and, in particular, what makes a strong internal recruiter stand out from the rest.

Almost everyday I speak with, or see the CVs of, agency recruiters who want to make the move into the internal world and every time I am asked the same question… ‘how do I do it?’

I wanted to take the time to share a few things I think are important to consider when making the move.

1.     Is it what you want?

All too often I ask people what their motivation for wanting to move in-house is and more often than not I am never given a straight answer. If your colleagues are doing it, or because you think ‘it’s the way recruitment is going’ then I would pause now and really think about what it is you are looking to gain (incidentally, I always believe there will be a place for good agencies, however, that’s a discussion for another posting).

Is it greater opportunity for progression or the chance to gain exposure to wider HR…? If you don’t think this through, you will likely end up making the move for the wrong reasons.

If money is your biggest motivator then, quite frankly, stay where you are. All too often people say to me ‘well… I’m on a £25k base and my OTE is £55k so, realistically I wouldn’t want anything less than £50k’. The big commission cheques don’t exist internally. The first thing you can do when making this move is to realise that you are no longer in a sales role.

 2.     Does your CV read like an internal recruiter?

This is key. It’s great if your CV talks about how much money you bill, that you win lunch incentives and that your business development is second to none… if you are trying to impress another agency recruiter. Internally, it will not be the sales elements of your role that impresses.

Highlight your metrics such as time to hire, what sourcing methodologies you use to find your candidates and how successful each of these have been. Show credible examples of building great relationships and adding value to your customer. Working internally means being able to demonstrate a clear return on investment and you need to tailor your CV to showcase your experiences in areas that actually matter to an internal function.

If you don’t know your metrics in these areas then it’s time you started to track them! Billing information can be useful but, internal teams want to know you will save them money so, talking about how great you are at finding candidates (and doing it quickly) is much more likely to gain their attention.

3.     Be targeted in your approach

Don’t apply for every internal opportunity hoping that you will strike it lucky! Only apply for roles where a willingness to look at CVs with no internal experience will be considered and where you have relevance recruiting in the particular industry/skillset that is required. By applying for anything and everything you will very quickly gain a poor reputation with organisations that may not then consider you for future opportunities.

4.     What’s wrong with RPO?

Absolutely nothing. I always encourage my candidates to seriously consider this route. RPOs are much more likely to be receptive to the CVs of people with little or no internal experience. What you gain is valuable on-site experience, working in a corporate environment along with the opportunity to prove yourself. RPOs make a huge number of hires compared to internal functions so you are likely to see a greater abundance of opportunities in this space too. They can provide fantastic career pathways along with a really solid grounding for the future.

5.     It’s not easier…

A common misconception is that working internally is somehow easier than working in an agency. Internally, you can be faced (in some cases) with up to 30-40 live vacancies at any one time, across multiple business units with multiple stakeholders. You can’t just forget about the ones that are harder to fill or say no to a role. Within a business, all of these roles need closing down and all of the stakeholders will tell you that their role is the highest priority and every one of them will have the expectation that it should have been filled yesterday.

Organisation is key, along with your ability to manage expectations exceptionally well. Internally there is no escape and you have to make sure you are prepared for that.

6.     … and it’s not for ‘failed recruiters’ either!

In fact, a recent survey by Aspen on candidates who were actively looking to move in-house found that over 70% had over 5 years’ experience and 68% had seen their incomes increase or stay the same over the last 3 years. This is all about moving away from a revenue-generating role and into a corporate career; linking back to point 1. about making sure you are moving for the right reasons!

7.     Be prepared to wait.

This is not going to be a quick process. You will not find the perfect role overnight and you should absolutely make sure you take the time to find an opportunity where you are going to be able to learn and develop.

Making the move internally can be a great career opportunity and will certainly open new doors for you. I always tell people to think of it as taking one step back, to then take two steps forward. Yes, sometimes you will have to take a role with slightly diminished responsibilities but, what you gain in being able to prove you have what it takes will more than make up for it in the long run.

Most importantly… don’t give up! There is a role out there for everyone, sometimes it takes a while but, if moving internally is really what you want, then you will achieve it.

Adult Learners’ Week 2013

Adult Learners’ Week is the UK’s largest annual festival of learning, inspiring thousands of people to discover how learning can change their lives.

It is the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of the benefits learning can bring, and to inspire adults of all ages to try something new. We have events in five of our libraries during Adult Learners’ Week -we hope to see you there!

What makes people happy?

Birkbeck University of London

Sharing the practical lessons from well-being research – Birkbeck academics have put together a series free of workshops which unpack cutting-edge research from a range of disciplines to help you better understand the science behind the smile, as well as giving you practical tips to increase your well-being.

• Please book your free place for these sessions on Eventbrite.

 How to be happy: some quick wins (and losses)

• Saturday 18 May, 10 to 11.30am, Brompton Library

This workshop will focus on what psychologists have learnt about the science of happiness, in particular the characteristics that allow people to remain hopeful and optimistic in the face of challenging and busy lives. We will also explore how this knowledge has been translated into practical interventions that increase hope and optimism. Participants should leave with ideas around how to translate this information into small and meaningful improvements to their own levels of hope and optimism and those in their care.

Using positive psychology to stay healthy and happy in your work

• Monday 20 May, 10 to 11.30am, Brompton Library

Find out how to safeguard and improve your happiness and well-being in professional settings. This workshop will help you better understand the science behind the smile, as well as giving you practical tips and strategies to increase your well-being.

Crocheting Divas

Crochet

• Saturday 18 May, 10.30am to 1pm, Notting Hill Gate Library
• Friday 24 May, 12 noon to 1.30pm, Brompton Library

Learn, chat and make with the Crocheting Divas. All materials and equipment will be provided – all you need to bring is your enthusiasm and creativity. There’s no need to book a place – just come along.

Online taster sessions

Computer training sessions

Want to do more online? Please book your free place for any of these sessions at Chelsea Reference Library.

Social media: how to make the most of Facebook, Twitter and more

• Tuesday 21 May, 2 to 4pm, Chelsea Reference Library

Beyond Google: high quality learning materials available free from your library

• Wednesday 22 May, 10am to 12 noon, Chelsea Reference Library

Career information online: finding the best career and training information for you

• Thursday 23 May, 12 noon to 2pm, Chelsea Reference Library

Colville Community History slideshow and talk

Tom Vague

• Tuesday 21 May, 5.30 to 7.30pm, North Kensington Library

Colville Community History Project’s Tom Vague presents a slideshow and talk about the history of the area. Come along to join in the discussion, share your experiences and find out more about the Colville Community History Project. Please book a free place for this event at North Kensington Library.

Writing Creatively in Kensington – a creative writing workshop

Creative writing

• Wednesday 22 May, 1.30 to 4.30pm, Kensington Central Library

Using photos and other artefacts from our Local Studies Library to inspire creativity participants will be encouraged to write their own pieces. Please book a free place for this event at Kensington Central Library.

Deep Recording Studios – information stall

Deep Recording Studios

• Wednesday 22 May, 12 noon to 4.30pm, Chelsea Library

Want to find out more about music technology or sound engineering? Then come along to our information stall run by Deep Recording Studios in West London. They run Levels 1,2 and 3 City and Guilds accredited Music Technology and Sound Engineering Courses (no qualifications required). Deep has a fully operational recording studio facility near Ladbroke Grove tube station in West London, running Logic Pro and Pro Tools music software .

Hand Sewing Workshop – make a felt badge with Eithne Farry

Eithne Farry

• Thursday 23 May, 2 to 4pm, Kensington Central Library

Are you passionate about clothes and accessories? Would love to create something of your own, but are unsure of how to get started? Then come along to our hand sewing workshop with Eithne Farry, where you will create your own badge out of felt.
Please book your free place for this workshop at Kensington Central Library.

How to Use Skype – over 50s session with Open Age

Open Age

• Friday 24 May, 10am to 12 noon, North Kensington Library

Are you over 50? Have you heard about Skype? Skype allows people to talk for free to friends and family around the world via a computer using the internet. Come along to this session to learn how to use Skype. Places are strictly limited for this class, so please book your place early at North Kensington Library.

More information

• To find out more about this festival of learning visit the Adult Learners’ Week website.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.  If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.  Don’t settle.  As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.  And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.  So keep looking until you find it.  Don’t settle.  Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.  Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.  Don’t let the noise of others‘ opinions drown out your own inner voice.  And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary.”

 view the speech here :http://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc

Every time I read it it challenges me on so many levels. The part that forces me to look and re-look at my thinking is the part about being trapped by dogma and living by other peoples’ thinking.

What voice is telling me how my life ‘should’ be? My heritage? My nurture experience? My religion? The media?  Social convention? Is my voice in there somewhere? Am I really choosing?

For me I’m learning that when I’m blindly following the ‘shoulds’ of others I’m not really making a healthy informed adult choice for me. Dogma insists on obedience without personal understanding, saying, “Trust me this will be good for you in the end”.

As children we can learn through dogmas, like, ‘Always cross the road at the crossing’. But as we get older we realise that the dogma is not enough. Yes blindly following the dogma might keep you safer but it’s not connecting you to taking responsibility for your own safety. There comes an adult point when you realise that you can be safe and cross the road in other ways. By making other choices you can obtain the same goal safely. I often don’t use the crossing these days.

Dogmas (those unquestioned ‘shoulds’) are ‘lovingly’ given by family, friends, religion, society, yes…but following them blindly without understanding the bigger picture can easily be a trap for us; limiting us from taking responsibility for own personal growth.

So when I’m faced with a challenge and I’m resisting doing it, I force myself to ask…

• “What voices are telling me not to (or even I can’t) do this?”
• “Are they valid; where is the evidence?
• “Do I actually agree with them or have I just accepted it as dogma?
• “Why would I do this; What’s my personal benefit?”
• “What do I choose to do?”

So…..

What dogmatic voice are you allowing to hold you back?

What is your own voice saying to do?

What do you choose?

David Foster Wallace. I like the man’s essays, I’m liking Infinite Jest (at least as far as I’ve gotten into it), and I like this commencement speech. Everyone is always concerned with what the real world will be and Wallace lays it out plain for any youth who cares to give it a listen. Life will have its patterns and repeat them over and over and over again, but it doesn’t have to be dull if you have the imagination and will power to step outside your own head and into the realm of possibility.

Using your imagination, but stepping out of your own head?? Is that a thing?? I’m going to say it anyway.

So I make no grand illusions about what my life will be after I leave college. I have quite a simple plan and I will explain it in descending order of fantasy. First off, we have the pipe dream: getting published and becoming fabulously popular, enough so that I can live off my royalties. Probably not going to happen, but a man can hope. Next would be working in the publishing industry somewhere/anywhere. I’d learn the system from the inside out despite the mundanity (this is the more fun version of mundaneness)  and use that knowledge to get my books out there.

Next comes the part more relevant to this video. Recent events have opened my eyes to the very real possibility of making a living for myself in the hotel industry. Recently I have come into a job as a front desk agent at a sprawling vacation resort just outside my home town. This is a respectable job that will look good on every resume and application I submit from this day forward. In the industry there is loads of data input and general administrative work that all meshes into one long stream of names, numbers, dates and faces either satisfied or irate. Day in and day out you take down numbers, say the same greetings, and deal with other people’s problems. It can get overwhelming but in general it is a steady job in a business that will never really die as long as there are people who live somewhere else.

This is my name-tag, there are many like it, but this one is mine.

The weird thing is, I wouldn’t mind supporting myself as an agent or concierge at hotels as long as they don’t suuuuuck. I’d even go as far as to say I like to work the front desk. Do not mistake my acceptance of the role as resignation to complacency. I will always be trying to get published, but I’ve found drudgery that I don’t mind and that I’m good at.

And finally, this job gives me the opportunity to choose how I experience the world, as Wallace expressed in his speech. Each customer is unique and has led an entire life up to the point that I hand them a key and will continue as such in a way no one else can fully comprehend. It’s kind of mind-blowing to think about. One experience I had of this type of situation sticks out particularly vividly in my mind, the man with the pierced nips…

So this is a story from the campground, people who know me know where I’m talking about and those of you who don’t suffice to say it isn’t real camping at all. But I digress. I pulled a morning shift seeing as it was my first season and I had yet to prove the competency to be left at the desk completely alone. It was a day just like any other until this big man comes through the door soaking wet and being trailed by three kids. Now I can’t remember his name or question, but I can remember his obscenely large nipples with thick piercings and his long and bound together near his chin mustache. His image screamed “Big mean biker man” but the three kids tugging at his trunks to get him back to the pool screamed family man. I spent the rest of my free time that day outside my own head exploring this man’s back story. As Wallace said, it doesn’t matter if it was true or not. It let me explore another possibility and a whole new set of motivations that I never would have before.

That’s the thing about the hotel industry. You meet so many people for such a short time that you can climb across the jungle gym of human experience over and over again whenever the slog gets you down.

Oh, and I suppose the step down in job aspirations from hotels would be any data entry job, then any mindless tasks, and then the food service industry.

“We do not write because we want to. We write because we have to.”
- W. Somerset Maugham

A lot of people spend their entire lives never knowing what they are meant to do. 

I am fortunate enough to not be one of those people.

I’m a writer. Plain and simple. It’s in my head and my heart and my soul. I can’t escape it, and I would not want to.

Some people like to run or knit or play sports or cook. But me? Let me write. It frees my brain up and focuses me and calms me down and makes me happy. There is nothing better to me than losing myself in penning anything–an article, a short story, a research paper. I can think of no better way to spend my time.

And it’s not that I ever stop either. If I’m not typing something up, I’m scribbling lines that come to me in the margins of my paper or on scrap sticky notes. I write blog posts or articles or stories in my head as I walk to class, editing myself in my head and nodding along when I come up with something good.

Writing has so many parts that make me happy too. It’s the simple act of creating a story. It’s that moment when you have that good line. It’s that unexplainable joy you feel when someone says, “Hey I read your story, and I loved it.” It’s creating a place in someone’s mind with a story that you simply can’t replace.

I sometimes feel that writing well is an undervalued skill set. Society is more interested in the doctors and engineers and celebrities and politicians than they are with the mere writers. Not that there is anything wrong with being a doctor or an engineer or a celebrity or a politician. Those just aren’t jobs for me.

But it’s like my dad told me. Writing can take you anywhere.

It can if you just let it.

I want to make a living out of telling stories. It may not pay well or make me the most famous person, but it will make me happy. And I hope that it makes someone else happy too.

The longer technical communicators stay with an organization or field, the more they become “subject matter experts,” if only through repeated contact and growing familiarity with the subject. That’s part of it. Another question one might ask, though, is what do I mean by engineering? Often the image one conjures up is someone sitting in front of a computer, developing CAD (computer-aided design) models, performing stress calculations, or doing hands-on work “bending metal.” Those are or can be aspects of engineering, but they are not the only ones. For instance, I wouldn’t trust me to develop a CAD model or handle machinery. I used to cut myself on a regular basis just working with box cutters as a stock clerk. I’ve flooded bathrooms and blacked out rooms. No, I am not the one you want touching the machinery. Fortunately, there are other aspects to engineering. One type of engineering in particular is a good fit for liberal arts majors–at least as a way to broaden one’s career choices–and that’s systems engineering.

Systems engineering, as I’m learning on the job, is all about understanding how complex machinery or software or processes fit together. And when you look at engineering through this perspective, it makes perfect sense for someone from the liberal arts to get into it. For starters, technical writers often get tasked to write content about multiple aspects of an engineering business, if only because a lot of engineers hate writing. So one week you might end up working on the production end of things, the next you might end up in software design, the next you could be supporting a program manager with a technical paper. Writing is often one of those underrated transferable skills that causes one to bounce around a company (or industry) a bit, learning useful content as one goes.

Tech writers–especially proposal writers–often have to tell stories to get their products sold. That means explaining how things fit together, what their meaning is, and communicating the meaning to uninvolved audiences. All of those skills can lead the writer unexpectedly into the role of an engineer or, barring that, a “subject matter expert,” a title I actually held prior to my role at Zero Point Frontiers.

Here’s another ugly little secret about systems engineers: a lot of their work involves simply making sure that Group A is sharing information with Groups B, C, and others. “Hey, they just changed the power in the space station from 28 volts to 120 volts. You might want to make sure all the avionics are compatible with that.” Or there’s the one that someone missed: “You guys are measuring descent speed in meters per second, right?” Incorrect assumptions can be corrected very easily just by asking what some might call an obvious or “stupid” question. If someone asks the stupid question and it saves $125 million, it’s not a stupid question.

There are other things engineers do that do not require mathematical skills but simple language, such as describing organizational, production, testing, operations, or risk management processes. And–here’s an advantage, English majors–the more clearly a process is described, the more likely it is someone else can repeat and use it later.

I won’t kid you: there are things in the engineering business might forever elude me and for which I must trust my properly schooled technical peers to understand, do, or explain for me. But my balderdash is getting better, which is to say: I actually speak Engineerish pretty well and don’t have to stop someone a dozen time to explain something while they explain it. Now it’s more like half a dozen. Or less. The trick is to maintain my ability to communicate clearly–not to “go native” and write like an engineer too much. I have products and services to market, after all. I am learning enough to consider supplementing my sporadic education with some sort of formal training in the systems engineering discipline, but my math could still use a little work. And my knowledge of tools. And many, many other things. But if you work as a technical communicator in a small-business engineering firm, the odds are good that eventually you will find yourself writing content that usually would be written by an engineer. It’s not a bad thing, just a sign that you’re learning to speak the language.

The anniversary of the NYSE today brings our thoughts to all those amazing business entrepreneurs that have forged their way into a fast-paced world full of competition and at times, uncertainty.

Entrepreneurs are often in the news. They always are when people are losing their jobs. Governments suddenly want to encourage new businesses to create employment and it’s difficult and there are risks. We admire those people who have taken their ideas and followed them through to develop a successful business.

That’s why we have our Amazing Entrepreneurs.  It depicts many who have launched a business and made millions. Surprisingly, many of them were school drop-outs and had little education.

• Thomas Edison, who founded General Electric, was a great example. He arrived in New York broke and had to borrow a dollar to get a meal. How he succeeded is one of the great stories featured.
• Andrew Carnegie went from rags to riches in 20 years.
• Coco Chanel went from the poorhouse to power in Paris. They are all amazing and inspirational stories that give us clues on how to succeed.
• The founder of McDonald’s, Ray Kroc, was a pianist and salesman. For years, he had dreamed of being very successful. But, he was 54 years of age before he found how to do it.

These stories are for you to share with students and family, to inspire them, to encourage their ideas. Our world needs new and inventive entrepreneurs and dedicated career people – to keep us focused on a positive future where there is still much to be learned.

Please share some of these stories HERE and HERE. We have a quick quiz for you about past entrepreneurs too – see how you go HERE – will you know who they are?

The Office and I have a special connection. I’m not a super-fan. I didn’t watch the original BBC version of the show. And I actually wasn’t introduced to the American version until the second season. But The Office did have a huge influence on my life. It’s how I met my boyfriend.

I was a sophomore in college and had agreed to do a charity run on campus with a friend of mine. She saw one of her friends there, so we stood near him and his roommate while waiting to check in. I had just eaten a large meal and was not excited about running. Since it was a Thursday, of course I was thinking about The Office.

I started talking about the episode in which everyone in the office does a charity run for rabies. I said something  like “Remember in The Office when Michael ate all of that fettuccine alfredo before the race? That’s how I feel right now.” I was talking to my friend, but apparently she wasn’t listening. No one said anything, and then my now-boyfriend chimed in from behind me and said, “I love The Office!” We ran the entire race together.

After that we had “Office” dates, which consisted of me going to his apartment every Thursday so we could watch The Office together. It was during those episodes that we went from awkwardly sitting with a couch cushion between us to snuggling up to one another while laughing at the ridiculousness of Michael Scott.

I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious. And I think The Office was my lucky charm to finding love. OK, that was a little corny but I wanted to get that Michael Scott quote in there.

Either way, The Office played a pretty big role in my love life and my current living situation. Since the series is now over, I thought a tribute to the sitcom was in order. So here are 10 lessons The Office can teach us about working in our 20s:

1. Your first job won’t be your dream job. Learn to cope.

“Right now, this is just a job. If I advance any higher in this company then this would be my career. And uh, well, if this were my career, I’d have to throw myself in front of a train.” — Jim Halpert

2. Try not to be the know-it-all temp or intern. You aren’t working with idiots; they’ll teach you valuable things.

Ryan: Do I have to go? I have a big test tomorrow.
Michael: Yes, you have to go. It’s mandatory. But don’t worry you’re going to learn plenty. This is going to turn your life around, Ryan.
Ryan: I”m already in business school.

3. You are going to make mistakes. It’s OK. Life (and work) will go on.

Dwight (singing): Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television, North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe, Ryan started the fire!
Ryan: I can’t believe I started the fire.

4. Give your boss a chance. He (or she) is trying to make a living just like you.

“The most sacred thing I do is care and provide for my workers, my family. I give them money. I give them food. Not directly, but through the money. I heal them. Today, I am in charge of picking a great new health care plan. Right? That’s what this is all about. Does that make me their doctor? Um, yes, in a way. Yeah, like a specialist.” –Michael Scott

5. If you love your job, work toward moving up in the company.

“Once I am officially regional manager, my first order of business will be to demote Jim Halpert. So I will need a new number two. My ideal choice? Jack Bauer. But he is unavailable, fictional, and overqualified.” — Dwight Schrute

6. If you hate your job, don’t become complacent. Make a change.

Darryl, interviewing for a dream job with Athlead: If this company’s going down, I want to go down on it. With it. I want to go down with it.

7. You might struggle financially, but you’ll figure it out.

“I declare bankruptcy!” — Michael Scott

8. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Jim: Question: What kind of bear is best?
Dwight: That is a ridiculous question.
Jim: False. Black bear.
Dwight: That’s debatable; there are basically two schools of thought…
Jim: Fact: Bears eat beets. Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica.
Dwight: Bears do not… what is going on?!? What are you doing?!?

9. Try to get along with your coworkers. You will end up spending more time with them than with your friends.

“I tried, I tried. I tried to talk to Toby and be his friend but that is like trying to be friends with an evil snail. I feel like I’m dying inside. I feel like Neve Campbell in Scream II. She thinks she can go off to college and be happy and then the murderer comes back and starts killing off all of her friends. I learned a lot of lessons from that movie, this is just one of them.” –Michael Scott

10. There’s more to life than work.

Such as love…

Jim to Pam: Not enough for me? You are everything.

…and beets.

“First rule in roadside beet sales, put the most attractive beets on top. The ones that make you pull the car over and go, ‘Wow, I need this beet right now.’ Those are the money beets.” — Dwight Schrute

Just kidding. Sort of. Working at a start-up is a lot of fun – if you’re working at the right one. However, it’s not for everyone, and it’s certainly not for the unprepared. It’s intense in a way that can be destructive if you don’t manage your time and yourself, as well as your experience. Here’s what you should consider:

1. If you don’t have 3-5 years of solid experience in your field, at a reputable company, don’t go work for a startup unless it’s big enough and strong enough that you have an insanely experienced, proven VP working above you and coaching you. Don’t expect to get this from someone who founded the company by themself at a young age and has no formal experience.

2. A lower salary than the standard for your industry is common at a startup, and that’s fine. However, that equity, benefits, or other perks should supplement that lower salary to let employees know they’re valued and cared for.

3. Don’t trust or rely on bonuses or profit-sharing, even if they’re promised. For one, profit-sharing is never guaranteed (what if there are no profits?) and bonuses, even when you’ve performed well, are likely to be wiped as well if there aren’t any profits. Start-ups are too volatile for these to be “for sure.”

4. Know that your status at the company is up to the whims of your co-founder(s) if the company belongs solely to them.

5. Ask about funding. Where is it coming from? A bank? Investors? Family and friends? This is important because it says a lot about who is in control. If there are investors, the head honchos have to answer to someone. If not, they don’t.

6. Have a very exact job description, expectations, and responsibilities. Otherwise, start-ups can get messy and accountability is difficult. This can create tough situations during reviews and feedback and have great impact on promotions, raises, lay-offs, or firing.

Start-ups are exciting. But, the pressure and uncertainty that come with a new venture make the work environment dicey. Be thorough when you’re considering when making the move, and beware the dangers.

From a learning point of view the premise was to introduce new students to the rich and varied world of mental health nursing, via a listening in to a reflective conversation conducted on the same. I found it an interesting experience, and hope the students did too. In my early morning mental preparation before participating it became necessary to conjure up people, places and events dating back to at least the late 1980s. So today I remembered my first student placement working (in East London) with a community mental health nurse, my first job as a qualified practitioner, and my eventual move to Cardiff. Fascinating

Follow @benhannigan

Cafferty has plans to improve and expand the way the EDC strives to establish more jobs in San Diego. Since taking his position at the EDC, Cafferty has been paying special attention to companies like Qualcomm, focusing on growing jobs in the area rather than moving pre-existing jobs here.

A recent study produced by Cafferty and the EDC, regarding Qualcomm’s overwhelming economic presence in the region, is intended to serves as a guideline for creating homegrown jobs in San Diego, like Qualcomm did. Rather than focus of the EDC being “to attract high-wage companies to the region from around the world,” as stated in the EDC’s mission statement, Cafferty hopes to expand that mission to include the generation of new local jobs as well.

Hear Cafferty discuss his most recent work at the EDC and give advice for job seekers in San Diego on the upcoming episode of Career Talk Radio. Click here to listen live Thursday June 13 at 10:30 am.

Check out this video of Cafferty talking about San Diego’s job summoning potential.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uzf-KafwGM

For other episodes of Career Talk Radio, visit the Career Channel at uctv.tv/careers.

Instead, the wise bureau chief gave me a hug and said “You’ll never regret leaving any job. Every time you leave a company or make a big change, things always work out for the best.”

Fourteen months on, I can honestly say he was absolutely right. Things did work out for the best. Just not exactly in the way we both imagined.

It turned out the decision to quit Bloomberg and leave Argentina was the decision that saved my life. The move to Ireland prompted me to return to the doctors for a second medical opinion, and the rest is history.

So, when a colleague at Facebook said the exact same thing when I told him I was leaving today, I couldn’t help but smile. Everything happens for a reason.

Some people have found it hard to see why I’ve been – for the most part – a happier person since cancer came into my life, and it’s always been a little hard to explain. Now, here goes:

When I was about six years old, I knew exactly what I was going to be when I grew up. I was going to be the editor of a magazine. From the day I learned to write, I was scribbling down stories, typing away furiously in MS-DOS and making my own magazines with cut-out pictures and Pritt Stick. Over the years, I broadened my interests and grew to love a lot of things, from acting to languages to teaching to sport. But one thing always remained constant: my passion for writing.

Somehow, though, my career took a different path. I took a languages degree, travelled the world, became a financial journalist. Seven years into my career, I left Bloomberg – partly for personal reasons, partly because I had lost track of my goals and wasn’t passionate enough about finance. I moved into a job at Facebook, continuing with my love of languages and Latin America, but it wasn’t right.

Then I got cancer, and every instinct in my body told me to write, write, write. And it was the easiest thing in the world: writing about something close to my heart, something I knew, something I truly cared about, something people wanted to read about.

Apart from my Mum and Dad, to whom I owe everything, writing was the thing that got me through the last 11 months of hell. My blog was what connected me with my friends, family and colleagues past and present when I was too sick to keep in touch with them in person. My blog was the thing that put me in touch with a whole new set of friends – a group of girls all over the world with whom I have cancer in common but who are by no means defined by their cancer.

But there comes a time when the Cancer part stops and the Life part starts again. I will continue this blog because there is still plenty to say and people who are benefiting from it, but I will be writing more and more about other things and the cancer part will take a back seat. It’s a shame when it takes a major illness to push you to follow your dreams, but if there’s anything I’ve learned over the last year, it’s that life is way too short.

Tomorrow is my last day at Facebook and after that I plan to take a few months to properly rest and reflect on the crazy year I just had.

In September, I’ll be moving back to London to start the MA Magazine Journalism at City University – a course I’ve wanted to do for about a decade but never got the chance because life was too busy passing me by. I may be the oldest student in the class, probably doing my knitting in the back row and drinking cups of tea while the rest of the class go out drinking, but that’s ok. I’m doing it for me.

I will be forever grateful for the amazing times I had working at both Facebook and Bloomberg – two brilliant companies that taught me so much. From the lifelong friends I made at Bloomberg, to the people at Facebook who supported me through the hardest time of my life over the past year. I’m so lucky to have worked with so many talented, inspiring people at both companies and I don’t regret a single moment of my career so far.

When I was on sick leave, a colleague wrote a career testimonial in which the main message was “Find what you love”. A couple of weeks before me, she took heed of her own advice and jumped bravely into an unknown world of book-writing and doing what she loves. She didn’t even need cancer to spur her on.

When I announced my resignation from Facebook a couple of weeks ago, a big smile spread across my manager’s face. While there is the smallest possibility that he was just pleased to get rid of me, I’m pretty sure the smile indicated he was happy because he knew I’d found what I loved.

Over the last few months I’ve realised that although I’m really close to my parents I know literally nothing about their lives – or to put it another way, I know little about their lives prior to my arrival (the late 1970s, apparently I was a happy-ish accident as they’d missed Coronation Street and it was a long time before The Sweeney was due on). Anyway, they were too busy working and bringing me up and watching me make a mess of my life to make any real comment on what their own youth was like.

My Mum and Dad are from the baby boomer generation, born in the 1940s, straight after the war, both of them. They are both fiercely intelligent people who could have done a lot with their brains, had they not been shunted straight into work from school by their parents. Dad in particular had a pretty rough time, he failed his 11+ when he should have passed it and missed out on a place at Grammar school. He did, in the end make a really solid career for himself as an Engineer which lasted until a few years ago, when he nearly died (that’s another story for another time) and took early-ish retirement.

Since Dad was ill and I’ve switched careers we’ve had more time to chat. I fell into the job I’m doing now – freelance writing – quite by accident, after a motley crew of techies decided to take me on to write for them and for their client base. It’s blossomed a bit and I work for more than one outlet now, so I tick by but don’t really make a massive amount of money. In the meantime, I’m working on a novel and a script (though isn’t everyone?) which I’m hoping to try and get out there later this year or early next.

While we’ve been chatting, it’s emerged that Dad’s teacher’s at school wanted him to train to become a journalist. They felt he had a natural aptitude for language and words (which he does, he’s awesome) and they got him an interview to start as a rookie on a county newspaper. Dad wanted to do it, and his parents wanted him to do it, but his friends were all going to work in the factories and mines and they put him under pressure to join them.

So he did.

Whilst he carved out a great career in what he did, he did rue the fact he’d given in and not done something literary. Just think, by now he could have been a respected and published author, or working for a top newspaper in Wappi…no, perhaps not that, doesn’t bear thinking about.

Now I’m writing full time, it feels in many ways like I’m living his dream – although I’m sure he would never have had to write about erection pills, hair loss tablets or 101 Ways With A Beetroot (clue – 100 of them are ‘chuck it away it’s foul’, and the remaining one is ‘fool your friends and family into thinking you’ve operated on yourself and it’s one of your organs’). Though I really do hope that I can go one step further and become properly published in my own right, rather than a constant ghost writer. The next time you read a generic sort of blog post online about health or food or something else and the tagline at the bottom is something like “Evelyn Titfeatures is a married full time mom of 3 and takes a real interest in nutrition and kayaking in the Gobi Desert. In her spare time she takes Valium and writes features about grilling small animals for pleasure” – it was probably me that wrote it. Or, give it a few years and it might be my Dad…

http://www.hrcommunication.com/Main/Articles/7875.aspx

SOURCE: HR Communication