After the Meltdown Is Your Network a Trap

After the Meltdown Is Your Network a TrapAfter the Meltdown Is Your Network a TrapSolid suggestions for networking in tough times.When a market crashes, the advice career coaches give displaced senior-level executives matches financial experts guidance for consumers Dont abandon the assets youve spent years building just because they suddenly look at best like major liabilities.Thats easy to understand with a stock stock prices recover. But what about the Rolodex of contacts so devastated by layoffs and fear that they suddenly seem less like a supportive community and mora like an army of rivals?It makes job hunting a lot harder and networking a lot more awkward. But it also means networking becomes even more important as a recovery strategy, job seekers and recruiters told Ladders.Estherbei, a member of Ladders, recently lost her job as a lawyer for a major financial institution her second layoff in two years. Two years ago I got laid off as parte of a merger I survived four merg ers, but elend the fifth, Esther said. In that case my company was fine, but my department was bedrngnis, and I had people calling me to say they were sorry to hear I had lost my job and ask what they can do. One called a contact, who was a client at a financial institution, and said, I have this great talent who lost her job because of a merger and I couldnt recommend her highly enough. And they said, Thats great, because I just lost so-and-so.That was in 06, Esther said. Now those same people are in a different situation. Given the scope of the current finance-industry woes, potential referrers have to worry about their own reputation and about imposing on their own contacts. So, where recommending someone used to be a win-win-win the referrer got the credit, the employer got a good hire, and the person got a good job now they feel like people are not in hiring mode and theyre just asking a favor. And they dont want to cash in a chip on a recommendation to a company thats not hi ring.Even recruiters are much more selective, largely because their clients are double-checking every new job opening to see which can remain unfilled and building much more elaborate requirements for the job openings that are approved.The bullet lists have gotten very long, Esther said. Before they would have a general description of the job now, the requirements have gotten excessively specific. Thats mainly for the HR people, though, who often dont really know exactly what theyre looking for. In real life, once you get in the door and talk to the people who would be doing the hiring, they dont really expect you to have that full list of qualifications.If youre in a marketplace thats been completely eviscerated, its true that youre just not going to have as many sympathetic people out there looking to help you, according to Robert Hawthorne, president of Hawthorne Executive Search, which works with Ladders. Its pretty tough in financial services right now, he said. Weve had more r esumes come in over the transom in the last three months than you would in a year from that industry.I just spoke to a gathering of Financial Executives International in Halifax, and they were all quaking in their boots, Lynne Waymon, co-author of FireProof Your Career and co-founder of career- and networking-coaching consultancy Contacts Count, told Ladders.Companies in financial services cut almost 200,000 jobs between August 2007 and August 2008, according to a report from outplacement consultants Challenger, Gray and Christmas, and more cuts are likely in the next six to 12 months.After Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. declared bankruptcy in September, Wall Street recruiters predicted no more than a quarter of Lehmans 25,000 employees would end up working on Wall Street. No one is making precise predictions about the fallout from Bank of Americas acquisition of Merrill Lynch or J.P. Morgan Chases digestion of Washington Mutual. More than half of Bear Stearns employees lost their jo bs earlier this year, after it was acquired by JP Morgan Chase.Dont Give up Those Contacts No matter how bad the carnage or what the industry, however, the one thing anyone with long-term career goals should never do is abandon the network of contacts they spent years building up, recruiters and career coaches told Ladders.Dont ever forget about your network, according to Jim Villwock, president of expense-management service IEM Group Inc. and author of the forthcoming Whacked Again- Secrets to Getting Back on the Executive Saddle. You may have to network outside your traditional network, but you have to work it more than ever, and that doesnt mean just going to someone for help. It means helping someone else out, because no ones going to help you if they feel like youre there to take advantage.Youve got four networks, Contacts Counts Waymon said. Take a pencil and divide a sheet of paper in four In one corner you have your worknet ansicht are the people you work with. Since you got laid off, they may have been too, or might be, so these are really tenuous right now. To the right is your orgnet thats for people who work for the same company, but not in the same department. Clever networkers build that orgnet so they know people in other teams and geographical areas that can be useful you might end up working as the only one with your skills in a different department, for example.In the upper left corner is your pronet people you know professionally who do the same kind of work, but not at your company. Those are very valuable for specific leads, even in a bad market, Waymon said. In the last corner is your lifenet your family and friends. Most people quarantine their lifenet, but thats the place the most unexpected opportunities come from. Your mother-in-law may know someone who should be in your pronet and who could connect you with someone with a great recommendation for a job. The best networkers are aware of all of these, and the magic is in the synergy. The key is not to rely on just one or two sets of connections, IEMs Villwock said. Professional organizations, especially those that dienstgrad a fee and vet their membership to enkoranvers everyone in the group is qualified at the same level or in the same specialty as others in the group, were invented largely to help members during exactly the kind of downturn currently ravaging the financial-services industry.You have to do more than just talk, Villwock said. We tell people to find three to five peers, people you feel very comfortable with, and who are looking for the same thing. Even if you feel like youre in competition with each other, meet once a week to share leads and help each other out.Hang Together or Hang SeparatelyIf one of you gets a call from a headhunter for a perfect job, your job is to tell the others about that opportunity, Villwock said. Most people will say thats a terrible idea. Its not. You want to make sure as many of your team as you can gets on the slate that headhunter is putting together. The job doesnt depend on you being there alone its chemistry and differences in background that make the difference.Not everyone in your group is going to fit you might not win it the first time, but doing that with five people in your group, youve increased your leads by 500 percent, Villwock said. The group has to commit that theyre going to help each other, even after one or more of them have got a job.Networks need to extend beyond one geographic or technical specialty area, as well, according to Bob Cozzens, president of the National Banking Financial Services Network - a network that connects individual and boutique recruiters nationwide in the same way the Multiple Listing Service connects real estate agents.Just because one part of the market is being decimated doesnt mean they all are, Cozzens says. New York might be in deep trouble, but Texas? Maybe not. Even in New York, typically the people being laid off are not the people with the skills that are needed, Cozzens says.Everyone in the market is very risk-averse, Esther said. The last few weeks have been like 9/11 all over again. Its just been devastating for the financial industry. But people who think theres no hiring are wrong there is, you just have to work at it a little harder.There is still a lot of traditional hiring going on, Cozzens said, especially people who are skilled in fixing the kinds of problems that afflict the rest of the market evaluating the value of bad assets, or working out payment plans for loans that would otherwise default.Weve noticed an increase in the credit side of the equation.

An Exoskeleton, Batteries Not Included

An Exoskeleton, Batteries Not Included An Exoskeleton, Batteries Not Included An Exoskeleton, Batteries Not IncludedSteven Collins, associate professor in the department of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, was part of a team that found a way to create a better exoskeleton for walking, but with one small twist.It doesnt rely on power. We tried to make the body mora efficient, so that it doesnt require extra power and might be cheaper and andrang for longer periods of time, Collins says. We set up to try and design a device to reduce costs.But how? They tried to draw from decades of biomechanics studies on calf muscles for walking. We ultimately had the thought of acting as a clutch, a catapult-like situation with the ankle and foot. Your Achilles tendon ends up stretching and, at the end, theres recoiling and pushing you forward. Most of what the calf muscle does during this process is hold on to one end of the Achilles tendon as it is stretched, but muscles arent very efficient at producing force. It saves a person energy and improves efficiency of walking. A walking-assist clutch design. Image Steve CollinsApproximately five years later, the exoskeleton device was built. It consists of three main pieces a frame that connects to your shank (lower leg) and foot, a spring, and a clutch. Beyond the spring, the frame is stiff, lightweight carbon fiber that is attached to the lower leg and foot, he explains. The clutch? Well, thats trickier, like a pen-click mechanism. It goes through a cycle. When the foot touches the ground, the ratchet ratchets and pulls up any slack that connects to the spring. The clutch locks up and the spring stretches and then recoils. It stores a bunch of energy and returns the energy. At the very end, the toes come off the ground and the clutch is disengaged and can move the foot freely through the air. At the end of the swing phase, it resets to the beginning.And again, this version had no ex ternal power no motors, no batteries, no chemical energy. A laboratory demonstration of the exoskeleton. Image North Carolina State UniversityA challenge in creating the device was keeping it light because every gram added to a persons legs increases the effort to walk. The first prototype was about 500 grams and we went down from there, he explains. The efficiency reduction in metabolic energy expended during walking was seven percent. That isnt a small amount. It reduces fatigue, like taking off a five kilogram backpack.In the future, they would like to make the device more robust and versatile for commercial translation. And, Collins says, this one will allow for power but on a very small scale. The clutch we used doesnt offer very good controllability so we developed a clutch that will not only be applicable to this system but to other systems. The cool thing abut this clutch is its just a couple of grams per operating element at a low voltage of around 250 volts. It s low enough voltage that you can use standard electronics hardware. Low power consumption and reasonable voltage means you can have lots of clutches in the system, and all with the power of maybe a watch battery.Eric Butterman is an independent writer. Learn about the latest trends in bioengineering at ASMEs Global Congress onNanoEngineering for Medicine and Biology. For Further Discussion We tried to make the body more efficient, so that it doesnt require extra power and might be cheaper and run for longer periods of time. We set up to try and design a device to reduce costs.Prof. Steven Collins, Carnegie Mellon University

How to Handle Job Search Burnout

How to Handle Job Search BurnoutHow to Handle Job Search Burnout3In todays economy, the professional playing field is no longer fit for everyone. The endless online job boards, networking events, and one-on-one meetings are equal parts daunting and exhausting for job seekers. Its no wonder more and more job seekers are experiencing job search burnout.The effects reap wider than mere frustration and stress, creating a real physical and mental disrupt in the body. Job searching isnt easy to begin with, so how do you distinguish typical stress from job burnout stress?With your career and your health on the line, here are a few of the signs and causes of job search burnout, as well as prevention tips and ways to handle itSigns/Causes of Job Search BurnoutStress from Overwhelming or Monotonous Tasks Facing tasks that are overwhelming or monotonous in nature can cause stress and over time can cause job burnout.Decreased Health This includes all areas of your health. Perhaps youre experienc ing disrupted sleeping patterns, you are not eating well, and you find that you are contracting colds more often. Physical health is not the only item to evaluate. Dont forget to consider your mental health as well. Signs that your emotional well-being is out of balance is feeling over-stressed, more anxious than usual, and losing hope about the future job prospects.Irritability and Frustration Are you finding yourself getting irritated in other parts of your life besides your job search? Frustration and irritability are sure signs of increased stress levels.Lack of Social Interaction Humans are social creatures. If you are used to going into work, and are now spending your days alone scouring job boards, then that lack of a social support system can be a stress creator and emotional drainer.Preventative Tips Talk It Out Find someone, a professional ratgeber or a friend, to discuss your job search process with. Human contact and discussion are key to staying focused and objective in this process. Talking with others can create a healthy brainstorming environment to help you improve your search tactics.Set a Limit Creating boundaries and scheduling blocks of search time will aid you immensely in avoiding burnout. Set a limit for a certain amount of jobs to apply for each day. If, at the end of the week you dont get a response, re-evaluate your parameters. If youre a dedicated worker and are eager to get back into the professional working world, chances are you could drive yourself crazy spending all your free time applying- because youre that dedicated. Scouring job boards all day isnt the best use of your time either, as some resources say you should only be spending 10 percent of your time on job boards, and more time interacting with actual people.Re-Examine Your Goals If youve been at this for months and its not yielding any results, its time for a self check-in. Re-evaluate your search parameters- perhaps they are not specific enough. If you only know you want to work in a specific industry, then hone in on that. If one of your requirements is workplace flexibility, has thousands of flexible employment opportunities with specific search parameters. At first sight, job boards can be intimidating. Fine-tune your searches to avoid getting overwhelmed.Combine Your Search with Networking If only 10 percent of your job search should be using online job boards, then that leaves a great verstndigung im strafverfahren of room for personal network building. Dedicate specific time for meeting with professionals in the industry, former colleagues, LinkedIn connections, or companies you admire for informational interviews. Quality face-to-face time with people will energize your search, and open up the door for greater professional growth.Take Time for Other Activities Self-care is imperative for sustainable job searching. Evaluate how many hours you are allocating to job searching. Have you had to sacrifice your personal life in any way? Be sur e to unplug now and then. Catch up with a friend or plan a spa day- unplugging is key to revitalizing your task at hand. Volunteering is another great way to spend some of your newly freed up time. Volunteering is great for both professional networking, and for re-energizing the soul.What are your tips for avoiding job search burnout? Share your advice in the comment section below.