Bravo to Ed Hunter, Executive Coach and Consultant - The Elevator Pitch - Poem: The Perfect Job

Ed Hunter was here two years ago at the Willow Grove Giant Supermarket. Weather was snowy but people were motivated to attend. View blog here. 

This year the weather was bitterly cold. Hat and gloves mandatory, as well as warm coat.

I'm always afraid no one's gonna show up.

Was I happy! The room was filled. I asked where people learned about the event.

When I came in the room, with three minutes before showtime, the room was filled up!

I had taken a short nap at home beforehand while watching a TED Talk.

I shook Ed's hand when I walked in, noting how tall he was.



This is NOT Ed, but certainly could be.

Ed shared a bit about his own history. Use these techniques in your own job search.

He found a start-up business online.  He told them how wonderful it was. The idea was golden. The new founder had just grad'd from Wharton Biz School at the University of PA. And his new company was funded by the Marketing Research Director of Wharton as he so much believed in the idea.

Ed did very well in the interview and they hired him.

What went wrong?

The company was moving out to California. Ed had a wife and two kids and family and friends here, so he recused himself.

Job search is like baseball. If a good ERA is 300, well, so are your attempts to find a job. If you get one out of three phone calls or emails back, you're doing well.

Important! You can't let your potential employer know how needy you feel. It's okay to tell someone, I'm in transition.

The Elevator Pitch is what you might say to someone in the time it takes to ride the elevator. It's a short ride on the Giant elevator. You don't have much time.

He had every person in the room come to the front and tell us:

I am a...

I currently....

What I'm looking to do next is...

What about you?

He had us write down the first names of people who spoke. Rich, Ada, Ruth, Ellen, Denise, etc.

Rich got up.

"I'm a filler," he said. "Anytime Ruth has a program, I fill up a seat to make sure she has at least a couple of people here." He aspires to be a filler at the Academy Awards to accompany someone onstage.



Rich and Ada Fleisher. We had delicious food put out by Robin Franklin. Rich wanted something sweet, so he ate a small blueberry muffin.

When you respond to someone's email, use words similar to theirs. It never hurts to write the word "professional," such as accounting professional, but not if you're with Price Waterhouse.

On your resume, put a summary on top but do not use the word summary as it's evident. Write in sentence fragments. Put in your skill set, things employers are interested in. May say "recognized by employer as having a driving work ethic."

Be sure you're speaking the truth and not exaggerating as when you meet for an interview, the guy/gal may wanna hear all them, plus any interests you've put down.

Why are these interests unacceptable:  Reading, watching TV, going to the movies.

Uninteresting and everyone does them.

Select unusual ones, like collecting a certain type of copper key.

Cover letters. Should you or not? They're difficult to write. Only write them if they're required. People are likely to make mistakes on cover letters.

I stood up and said to Ed, The time is officially over, but if you wanna stay here and help other people, feel free. People had soooo many questions.

I showed him the gift we got him

A shamrock plant. When I left about 15 people were in line waiting to talk about their resumes and ask other job questions.

I told one young man about the POWER program for Montgomery County residents, listed on our website.


Okay if you'll now excuse me, I'm gonna watch TV and then I'll read.

After the program, I watched a PBS show:

THE STORIED LIFE OF MILLIE BENSON recounts the inspiring life story of author, reporter and adventurer Mildred Wirt Benson.

Benson, who died in 2002 at the age of 96, is better known as Carolyn Keene, the ghost writer of the first 23 Nancy Drew mysteries who was responsible for the developing the famous young character as an independent, bold and risk-taking female sleuth.

THE STORIED LIFE OF MILLIE BENSON is an inspirational story for viewers of all ages, particularly for avid Nancy Drew fans. The program features contemporary video, archival films and photographs, interviews, and commentary by literary experts and family members who knew her best. The program provides an "insider's view" on how serial children's books of the 1920s through the 1950s were conceived, created and marketed.

How I loved those books! Read this surprising Wiki piece about whose idea it was about Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins. .




YOUR PERFECT JOB

Holden Caulfield, we remember,
the character - or was he a
real man? - taught us the
meaning of an authentic person,
not a phony - and wanted to catch
children as they played a game
on the rye field, else they'd
tumble down the abyss.

What would YOU like to be?
Would you like to work at
Meadowbrook Farm and ring up
sales for patrons who put plants
in a green wagon, dragged it
all around until they thought
I've got enough. And then said
Hold on, I forgot the zinnias.

Be honest. Be bold. We're
among friends. What would
YOU like to be?

Looks like I got the job, as
a message just came in over the
Internet. Even though Burt
Wasserman, a friend of mine,
has died in hospice.

I am to be the official
taste tester at a supermarket
that will remain nameless of
all the teas and the coffees
that appear on the shelves.
And what I say goes.

If I think the Yogi Licorice
Tea is unfit for human con-
sumption, it will no longer
be sold.

I will name my own price.
And with the money I earn
I just may visit your house,
your apartment, with an
assortment of Twinings and
Sons, Dunkin Donuts and
Starbucks coffees.

Who shall I visit first?

A Day with my friend Cynthia

Usually her sister/law drives her, but can't now as she's in Florida. Cyn requested my driving services but then cancelled em bc she felt so terrible, sick to her stomach. I'm coming over anyway, I said. Was with her from noon until 7 pm, when I drove home in the snow.

Went straight to Scott's - he's off tonight - and slept for three hours. Driving really makes you tired! Plus there were spots where I merged on the road and could barely see as cars zoomed over a suddenly looming hill.

She fell and walks bent over double. Seriously.

She walks with two canes. Her son Noam found a decorated cane at his workplace.

I just walked home from Scott's late at night. Brrrr! Looked up at the sky and could not believe what I saw.

The entire sky was filled, absolutely filled, with stars.

It was like a Field of Stars. If I could, I would press a button and open up the top of  my living room window so I could view them inside.

Spectacular.

We went to her bank. The Fulton Bank. HQd in Lancaster, one of the bankers said. To me it sounds like a bank akin to one of the big banks like Wells Fargo or Bank of America, you know, that rip off the customer and barely get in trouble. Liars like our new government and our old government.

Was wondering what son/law Jared Kushner calls Trump.

What's your guess. I always like to involve the reader.

Dad?

Don?



President Trump and Japanese PM Shinzō Abe, November 17, 2016

Big brou-ha-ha going on now about various politicans having visited foreign ministers. Jared and Ivanka are in the background.

Read about Kushner here.  Perfect fit for Trump. Shady dealings by family members.

At the Fulton Bank I managed a shady deal myself - came home with three Fulton pens.

Vince was one of the nice folks at Fulton. About his last name, I mentioned there's some famous writer with that name.

He shrugged his shoulders.

I was thinking of a Margurerite, who you'll shortly read about.

Read about Barbara.. Take a gander at her activities.

Esp these:   has been married five times as of 1995.^[3] Her spouses have included magician Doug Henning^[5] and author John Gray, who along with De Angelis while they were married, received an unaccredited PhD degree by correspondence from the now-defunct Columbia Pacific University.^[6]

And now, we remember Marguerite de Angelis.



Mailed out two postcards this morning to Max and Grace. Told Max to look outside tonight at the crescent moon. And told Grace, first grade, that my first grade teacher was Miss Katherine Allan.

All at Taylor Elementary School in Cleveland Heights.

So Vince at the bank is from Brooklyn. His dad owned the amusement park Nellie Bly. Believe it or not, Ripley, it's still there! Bought and sold many times.

I have a compulsion to share things with people, but would my 43-yo daughter wanna visit Nellie Bly? Maybe she could take her boxers there for a day off.

Should I write her? Why not? Hold on.

Also view this site about NYC Lost Amusement Parks. One had a particularly horrible tragedy.

At the bank, I told Vince I did a horrible job of parking and would go out and straighten out my car as it might get bashed into.

When I returned Cynthia asked me if I had shpildas, you know what that is? And I said Yes I do but I had to repark the car.

After our bank adventure - and the bank had a nice little hospitality center with Keurig - she said she was starving so we went to Robin Hood in Southampton to eat.

  So that's what it looks like. You can't see it from the car. It has a very heavy revolving door.

When I dropped Cyn off, she walked over to the door and fortly someone held the door open for her. You know, that woman could fly to Copenhagen, with several stop-overs, and get around just fine. She's about 5 years older than me and I'm afraid of just about everything! Very true.

  We each ordered scrumtious matzoh ball soup, loaded with a big fat matzoh ball, nodules, carrots, and celery.

I saw out the window it was starting to snow and figured it would stop by the time we left. It did. But then it picked up again.

Drove her home. She wanted to abandon me before we got into her apartment, but I insisted on accompanying her inside, where she gave me two twenties.

I kissed her on the cheek. Her husband Bobby has been dead for 8 years now. Self-taught, he used to teach Yiddish to rabbis.

Zay gezunt, as we say in Yiddish.

Am gonna take one more look at the stars and then go upstairs to read.

Amazon screws up but the lady from the Philippines fixes it - Poem: Garbage Night - Blog by Stephen Fratello0

Testing! Testing!

Tried to blog something but it wouldn't work.

Okay, now she works!

The problem was that I copied something I received from Amazon.com.

Woke up in the mil of the night to a note saying my A T and T telephone will soon be shipped.

I had cancelled it twice, so called this a m  and spoke to Peanat from the Philippines. I didn't tell her my entire life story, just part of it.

There's a wind storm with the winds coming at 50 mph.

Bob, the fastidious guy across the street, had his trash scattered all across the street.

    Great guy that he is, he picked up every single piece.

When I was talking to Marcy from CA last nite, I said to her, there's a cold breeze, gotta check downstairs.

Sure enuf, the door to my back porch was wide open! Twas freezing cold down there.

Marcy wanted me to watch a video on that little message box I can't stand.

Before I do, I said, I've gotta write a poem and post it, which I did. Took about 20 mins to write.

GARBAGE NIGHT

All along Cowbell Road
we await our turn.
The battered green
recyclable bins
filled with empty plastic bottles
of water, crushed beer cans,
stacks of pizza boxes, still
smelling of cheese and pepperoni

It's nice out here in the pre-dawn
Quite a wind, though, her plastic
garbage can had tumbled into the street
the lid still on, containing the
remains of her Novolog diabetes
pen, puffs of dust from her new
Miss Bissell carpet sweeper

The stars glitter like ice
in the sky, bidding us
adieu. Garbage! Precious
to the bins, the winds
and the darkest of skies.

***

I've probly written 20 poems about garbage night.

JUST DISCOVERED!

Blog by Stephen Fratello! Click here.

***
The Compass graphic designer writes we need two more pages. One of Stephen's blog posts will appear, as will one of Martha's poems.

She's wrin so many good uns I don't know which to choose.

***

Just watched a wonderful documentary about Flannery O'Connor.

Altho I set my timer for last night's program, I slept right thru it, so I watched this morning at 8 pm.

Took my breakfast up in bed with me, plus a cuppa coffee left over from OUTBACK.

My friend Teresa, a family member, gave me a $25 gift card for Outback. Met Judy there and we had a delicious meal, which was less than $25, so I got the coffee w the remaining money.

It was terribly dark at Outback. We could barely read the menu.

***
My plan for today is to submit to Blood and Thunder, a health-related mag from Oklahoma. I have until May.

I found a terrific poem on me blog I'd forgotten all about.

DIABETES  IS  A  PROGRESSIVE DISEASE

The Isles of Langerhas sounds like a lovely place
to visit. In fact, I just bought a ticket on a
cruise ship. Sure wish Lillian "Jackson,"
former librarian, could be there. Dead
of complications of diabetes.

The brochure informs me that many people
with progressive conditions will be on board.
Each will have their own state room and
steward. We'll all be treated swell, as
our conditions get the jump on us
Hospice will be provided. Just in case.

ALS, Parkinsons, Lou Gehrigs, Lewy Body
Alzheimer's. Songfests will be held on
the Upper Deck as the Atlantic swells
before us. I shall eat my coddled egg
on buttered whole wheat toast and
inject an even 12, as I sashay among
the passengers, thankful mine is
only fucking diabetes

Poems: An Experiment / Changes - Fresh Air: Creativity and Bipolar D/o

I sent out an announcement to New Directions that Terry Gross on Fresh Air was hosting a show on Manic Depression and Creativity. More than that I did not know.

  Turns out that Kay Redfield Jamison was interviewed about her new book:

'River On Fire' Explores Genius, Madness And The Poetry Of Robert Lowell

Click on the above and you can listen to the show or read the transcript. Also,  read a review of her book by the Washington Post.

Jamison mentioned that Lowell had a particularly virulent case of bipolar d/o and was hospitalized 20-some times. ECT, which she emphasized was/is very effective, was his main form of treatment. Today's ECT is more focused than earlier versions where people might break bones from thrashing around.

And then came lithium. Friends of Lowell said his poetry after he began lithium was tamer and less original.



What a curly-headed cutie.

Read about his life here.

For you, Dear Reader, I'm gonna select one poem. How about Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket. I have a tuff time understanding his poems also.

Jamison, who's a professor at Johns Hopkins - co-director of the Mood Disorders unit - speaks about bipolar d/o at college campuses. She describes it as a bad illness, really hard to get through, but treatable.

During various talks I've given about bipolar over the years, I never use words like 'bad' or 'really hard.' I'm much more positive, saying if you follow the rules you should be okay, though it will certainly be a struggle. I use words like struggle and challenge.

Just saw a video where a disease was described as 'serious.'

Rules? Meds, therapy, change your lifestyle.

***

Donald Trump gave his first speech to the joint houses of Congress. Read about it in The Times.

AN EXPERIMENT

The house was warm when I went
to bed, 71 degrees.
Instead of turning the heat down
I turned it off.

When I awoke just now, with
Tales from Watership Down
on my belly, I thought that
like in the book,

I was a downy rabbit
freezing to death. I
hopped downstairs and
checked the quiet
thermometer

Fifty-eight, it sighed.
When I turned it up
the entire house puffed
out its chest and re-
verberated with sigh after
sigh after sigh.


CHANGES

Eating my salad on the screened in back porch
I think of all the changes since the Travis family
moved out and the kids and I moved in.

The kids fled the nest. Sometimes when I'm
falling asleep I think I hear them tromping
through the backyard path and the screen door
slamming on the side door.

I await their appearance in the master bedroom.
Hi Mom, I'm home, says Sarah in a pink dress.
Or, Dan, Mom can AJ sleep over?

The backyard maples have been whittled down to
one. While reclining on Judy Diaz's wicker couch,
its stuffing pouring out like an old man's
whiskers, I hear a red cardinal too-too-ing from
the forsythia.

A sparrow stares at me from a still leafess lilac.
Amazing, thinks I. Everything has changed
except me!

 ***

I worked for about six hours today, actually yesterday, correcting the proofs for the Compass. Then I emailed the corrections to Rene at Boggs Printing.

My fantasy is that Rene is gonna email me and say, Ruth, you want me to put in every last comma and I simply won't do it! Ya want me to ruin my eyesight?

It's gonna cost a pretty penny, of course, and right now - and I kid you not - I don't have any money!

Somehow it always comes together, like a colorful knitted scarf.