Friday November 5, 2004 by Hal → Weblog
Some of you’ve probably noticed the paypal and amazon links up at the top of the page. It’s a good thing I do this for the joy of it! Because evidently nothing I’ve written is of any value to anyone (based on donations)!
But this is my first blatant “ad” herein posted. As I’ve said before, I am a professional career counselor and work with clients from every walk of life. It’s my job to put their experience and their achievements into the best possible light.
So I’ve signed up on Elance as a provider of Executive Resumes. If you know of anyone who is looking for a new resume or a resume re-write, would you do the kindness of letting them know of this page.
The following link will take them to my profile page where they can see sample resumes I’ve done that have gotten “real people” “real jobs”.
The price, believe it or not, for the work that it takes is quite reasonable. The finished product is based on current knowledge of what it takes to get noticed.
There are some additional “bells and whistles” that the client gets but they can read about those on Elance.
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming already in progress … (fading to black).
Monday October 11, 2004 by Hal → Weblog
For many years I’ve been a fan of Tony Buzan’s brainstorming technique called MindMapping. This is a technique of writing ideas on paper and connecting them with circles, lines and other symbols in order to create order out of chaos.
And, as with so many other manual processes, there are software versions for doing mind mapping. While some are commercial, I’ve discovered FreeMind which is a Java app that has all the same functionality.
Give FreeMind a try and cause your brain to storm!
Wednesday October 6, 2004 by Hal → Weblog
Do you know your heart? Do you follow your heart? Or does your head win out? At least once a week I see profile of a successful person; usually printed in the business section. And almost without fail when asked “what helped make you so successful?”, they answer, “I followed my heart, I’m passionate about what I do, I’d do this even if I wasn’t paid.”
This bothers me - for so long I;ve done the “have-to-do” - that I’m not even sure what my heart is. How many of you are like me - you’ve always done the “responsible” thing. You’ve toed the line, took the serious approach, did what you were supposed to and were a very responsible person.
I’m concerned that I’ve done the “right” thing for so long that I may not be able to recover my “dream” or even be sure I ever had a dream. Now I make the house note, the car note, the utility bill and any other bill that comes in. I sit and wonder what I would do if I followed my heart - but when you are a responsible person you realize that it might be foolish to spend time wondering in that way.
I don’t have any answers here - just questions.
If you are young, I might suggest that you do not let life’s responsibilities fence you in too early. Test your heart; try to live life from that which makes your heart sing. Once you start down the ‘responsible road’ you may find that it’s a limited access highway with very few exits.
Tuesday September 7, 2004 by Hal → Weblog
My first laptop was a Gateway Handbook. It was a 386 running Windows 3.11. It was the size of a large paperback and my pride and joy. Over the years I experienced a number of mobile computing experiences including a Palm VII with an early radio technology.
Today, I am cruising down Interstate 24 about halfway between Nashville and Chattanooga on a Teklogix Netbook Pro - a Windows CE mini-laptop with a Verizon wireless card giving me full internet and email access as I drive (or ride actually).
But I guess the more I have the more I want - a company called OQO has released a full Windows XP machine with a 20 gig hard drive which is the size of a 5 x 8 card - see it here.
Monday June 7, 2004 by Hal → Weblog
I finally finished my children’s book. (I have to stop and look at that sentence a for a minute. Okay, on with the entry.) Not that I think they’re great literature but I’m amazed each time I read them.
I love words; I’m one of the few people I know who can amuse themselves for hours with a dictionary. (note to self: get out more … ) [Reply to self: I’m an introvert, remember?]
If you’re interested, you can find “Tales from the Clan of the Shadow People” over here at my other website (where I store my brain).
The order is wrong over there - It should be “Introduction to the Shadow Clan Stories”, “Who they are”, “The Box of Tears”, “The Chamber Mountains”, “Fire Night”, “The Darkness without a Disguise”, “The Day of the Airborne Dreamers”, “The King of Circumstances”, “The Impatient Farmer”, and “The Stillness Broken”.
Now I’ve got to find an illustrator …
Tuesday May 25, 2004 by Hal → Weblog
Did I ever tell you (you as in “all you millions of imaginary blog readers existing in spacetime”) that I was/am a career counselor?
Well, that’s as good an intro as I can come up with to introduce this exchange of emails:
Here’s the question: I am a graduate and searching for job for a year…being at home i have become so lazy that i feel to much tired and rejected always…i want to overcome this and become what i want…please help with some advise or something to avoid this.
And here’s my cliche, er, answer:
A lot of my ideas may seem like clichés, but here goes anyway. First, action begets action - the more you sit around the more tired you’re going to feel.
Volunteer somewhere - at a hospital or clinic or homeless feeding station. You must have something regularly scheduled to give you a sense of purpose and a reason to get out of bed.
Second, instead of “searching for a job” work on building a referral network - go to friends, neighbors, associates with your resume. Instead of asking for a job, say “I’m trying to determine my best course and I would appreciate you taking a few minutes to give me your advice and any information you might have.”
Everybody loves to give advice, ask them if they know anyone else you could speak with and contact those individuals as well. This approach to job hunting is a job in itself and attitude is EVERYTHING. But if you keep this up, sooner or later someone will connect you with the right person or company with the right job for you.
Best wishes,
Hal Warfield
Of course, then the question comes up, “what’s an introvert doing counseling others on their careers?” Remember that Introverted doesn’t mean anti-social; it means we draw our strength and find renewal by turning inward rather than outward.