BCS BS

Oklahoma is in the driver seat for the BCS National title game. Win out, hope those you beat get better and you're in. This worries me. OU has let teams back games they were controlling and didn't look good. I knew the bye week would help, 52-0 over Iowa State but was Iowa State. Hopefully they'll start kicking butt the way they normally do after playing Texas.

Everyone wants to see their team win the National Championship but I'd hate to see another loss. Then again, you can't win it if you don't play in it.

Not A Bad Weekend

Three out of four will make you some coin, so it was a good weekend in college football. Of course the previous one out of seven will put you in a huge hole.

4 for Friday

As my buddy Joey Z. says, "Leave the handicapping to the pros." Well Joe, I'd have nothing to write this Friday, so here it goes.

Cinncinatti (could care less how you spell it) -3 over Louisville
Pitt -1 over Syacuse
UNC -6.5 over UVA
SMU +4 over Navy

At the rate I'm going, I'd lay a bunch of money the opposite way.

I Suck

An 0-4 weekend picking winners. I gave the National Championship to Alabama, and they go and lose to South Carolina. I hand the Heisman to Denard Robinson and he looked absolutely plain. In my Yahoo College Football pool, the leader is Canadian.

I think my dog hates me too.

4 Pack Friday

Each Friday I'll pick four winners for you. Started keeping track last week and I'm 1-3. Here's what I have.

Temple -2 over N. Illinois

TN +10.5 over UGA (Will Georgia continue to lose?)

ND -8 over Pitt (please note, I hate ND)

Baylor +3.5 over Texas Tech (I like Tuberville but loved Mike Leach)

Florida vs. OSU??

A month ago I made my prediction for the National Championship game. Florida didn't hold up their end. Might as well have Alabama leave the trophy at Walmart because it won't be changing hands this year.

Early predition for next season? Michigan if it gets a defense. Denard Robinson is the most exciting player out there today. I can't remember there being a player that I looked forward to watching each week. There have been teams but not a player.

Where To Go From Here?

I haven't written anything in quite awhile. The problem is not writing but what to write. I called the blog "Tales from the Unemployment Line" but I'm employed now. I'd hate to change the title. I think I'll start writing about anything I want but two things will dominate.

I'll write about college football. I love college football. Not a big fan of pro football. I'm really not a big fan of pro sports, not that major college football isn't close to being the pros.

I'll also write about some changes that I'm going to go through, like a butterfly. I'm fat, so I joined weight watchers. Lost 5 lb. in 2 weeks. I walk with a limp due to a crappy hip and back. Yeah, weight loss will help but I'm guessing surgery will too.

My ultimate goal is to run in a 5k race. I just want to run it and finish it, not looking to be the next Jim Fixx...especially not wanting to check out as early as he did. I have special incentive to accomplish this goal as my good friend Cindy will run the first one with me.

By the way, this post is dedicated to my father. I notice that he continues to look for new posts every day. Love you Dad.

My Stories

I had an Aunt Peggy who used to watch soaps operas back in the day. When she would visit with my Grandmother, you knew not to bother Aunt Peggy during her stories. Oh, she wouldn't get mad but out of respect, you were good.

I have my own "Stories"...college football. I love college football. I'd say it's a hobby because I don't play golf and I don't do much of anything. Nothing stirs my passion like college football. I could talk your head off all day long about it if I could and you would let me. I'm not talking big time Division I either ( bullshit, I will never call it Div. I Bowl Division. It's I, IAA, II, III and NAIA I and II), I watched Grand Valley State and West TX play a fantastic game the other night, Divison II powers.

Those of you who know me, know I love Oklahoma but I love the sport too much to say they'll win a National Championship every year, they don't. My second team is Temple. No, I didn't jump on the bandwagon last year. When they brought Al Golden in and joined the MAC, it was a great move and I started to really suport them at that point. Virginia is my third favorite as my brother Bryan is a graduate and I got to go to games during his years there. As a matter of fact, he writes about his game day tradition in his blog today. Check it out.

My prediction for this year? Florida vs. Ohio State with OSU winning it all. See, I'm not an OU homer after all...but they may just sneak their way in.

Computer problems

Yes, I have neglected my blog duties. Computer problems have me down. Lost the hard drive to my desk top, no problem there are I'm all backed up on an external. Wif'e's laptop runs like crap. Again, no problem there as I'll just reformat the drive and start fresh. My daughter has the nasty Security Suite virus on hers. I've been able to get rid of it a on a few machines for neighbors but this time it's tough. I'll fix it today as I have time during the games today.

Everybody's Working For The Weekend

No, I was never a Loverboy fan but now that I work in a real office, I look forward to the weekends and humpday and Thirsty Thursdays and so on. You see, when I traveled 4 days a week, I had an office day at home on Friday. Oh yes, lots got done but you could always knock off early get it done Saturday or Sunday nights. Now I'm in an office and I'm there 40 hours a week until I start to travel. Travel is different here because it's more flying out for 1 to 3 days.

So, How's That New Job Going?

Been having computer problems lately. My desktop did want to let me sign on to my own page. Something to do with google-analytics or something, then the computer crapped out on me. Hard drive is shot. Thank goodness I was planning on reformatting the drive and copied all my info to an external HD. Thank goodness again as I turned in a mess of used ink to Staples and had a $30 credit to buy a new HD.

So today was day 6 of the new job. So far so good. I was assigned 13 states and all 13 are virgin territories. I jumped in and started making contacts with state DOTs. It's very hit and miss right now. A bit fustrating as it's like moving through a maze. You think you're heading in the right direction and you run into a wall. You have to back up and try again. The company knows this and they aren't expecting me to set the world on fire right now, but I certainly am trying to set it on fire.

New Job On Monday

I can't wait to start my first day with this company and can't wait to finish my last. What I mean by finishing is that they asked what I was looking for. I told them I wanted my last best job, I think they liked that. Seems like a great group of folks. Got my benefit package and was blown away by how good it was. I feel like a state worker! Benefits start the month after my first 30 days, which will be October 1st. I think the first thing I will do is get a physical.

So, What Have You Done For The Past 8 Months?

I was unemployed for eight months. That's a long time. You certainly can do a lot around the house in eight months. I didn't do any of it. The walkway project, where I got all the materials for free, did not get done. The railing upstairs, or down depending on your point of view, never got off the ground. The paint touchups that I could have been doing....nope. Why? I think it was/is a bit of depression and fear.

Depression is to be expected but fear? I feared not being there for when the phone would ring. I checked messages every 10-20 minutes when I was away. Yes, they could have and did, leave messages but I thought I needed to answer that phone. I look back at the time and energy I wasted for the past 8 months. Time I'll never get back. I know, stop beating myself up.

I also spend the past 8 months being a social loser. I was invited to a few outings with friends but always made some type of excuse not to go out. I made a deal with myself that as soon as I got a job, I would celebrate a bit. Maybe have that long awaited beer then again, maybe a diet Pepsi. Who knows, it's time to shake this thing.

Where Do I Go From Here?

I won't be standing in the unemployment line any longer, not that I ever did, so can't write about being unemployed or a job search. I never got much readership but then again I am new to this. I think I'll continue writing about the new job and the state of the economy as it relates to the regular guy.

I Got A Job!

Got an offer today from the company I had lunch with 2 weeks ago. Had a final interview on Tuesday with the President and 3 Vice-Presidents. With 3 Vice Presidents, I thought they had a corporate structure like Primerica, where everyone signed up was a VP. Not the case. Anyway, they made an offer of a base salary plus commission and they will guarantee my commission for the first year as they know it's going to take awhile to get ramped up.

Had a great interview yesterday with another company and walked away knowing that I would get strong consideration for the position. They are supposed to make their decision either tomorrow or Monday. Who knows, I may have two to pick from.

Eight months unemployed sure sucks.

Unemployment And A Political Brother

I was reading this article the other day about a Republican Congressman voting against the extension of unemployment benefits and his brother being unemployed. I had thought about that previously because I have a brother who is quite the go getter and will probably run for something some day. How would I feel about this? Probably the same way as US House Republican Leader John Boehner's brother, that I wouldn't want him voting for programs that aren't paid for, even though it would hurt.

Then again, I'd expect my politically connected brother to hook me up, or I'd pull a Billy Carter on him.

Huge, Huge Week

Huge and busy week this week. Final interview on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday is going to be the first and final at the same time as I don't see the guy coming back a second time from Canada. Had a one hour telephone interview two weeks ago and when they called back to set things up on Wednesday, they were asking about salary. Tuesday's also talked salary because they didn't want to embarrass me with low numbers. At this point, embarrass me.

Also, Tuesday night I'm heading to the local college to see what and if NJ is willing to fork over to retrain me. Thinking about taking a few psychology classes to become a Life Coach...sounds like a good racket to me. Teaching is something I would love to do. NJ is tough for that right now but maybe by the time I'm done with classes, there would be lots of openings?

Wow, My Kinda Guy

Had a dinner interview this evening. The guy was from NY but working out of the Philly office, so he invited me to dinner. Very nice conversation, as a matter of fact, he said something that I always thought to myself. He said that if you're a good salesman, you can sell anything.

I agree with that statement. Yes, I may not have contacts in your industry but don't you? Don't you have a list of customers for me to see and then add on to? I probably don't know your products but I'm not a tool and it's not rocket science is it? I had one person downplay the fact that I sold concrete but their product was a bit more chemically involved. I then let him not that there was a chemical process behind concrete and that over or underwatering the product was bad. Concrete heats up, it's part of the process and causing it to heat to fast will cause it to crack. Oh, I didn't know.

So when this guy made that statement, I lit up. Yes, I was previously in his industry, wire and cable, but it's been awhile. He's looking for someone with industrial experience and he'll worry about products later. As a matter of fact, he said it's the inside guys that need to know a lot about the products and the outside guy to establish the relationship.

My kinda guy.

What's with these lunches and dinners?

Have another interview tomorrow with a wire and cable company. We are meeting at 6pm for dinner. Am I a good excuse for the sales manager to run up his expense account? Just throwing that out there, actually very excited to be going.

I'm very excited to try out a new line when I'm asked if I have any questions. "Yes, thinking back to people who have been in this position previously, what differentiated the ones who were good from the ones who were really great?"

Saw that on a blog I'm reading called "Ask A Manager".

Ground Rules

Had an interesting telephone screening today by the Sales Manager for a large construction equipment dealer. He stated the ground rules right off the bat. We would talk for 10 - 15 minutes. If he liked what he heard, I would get an email before 12 noon tomorrow with links to the next stage. If I didn't get it by 12 noon, they wished you luck. Simple.

One of the first questions he asked was if I had the ad for the position in front of me. I did not but told him I remembered it very well. He asked me what they were looking for and he was impressed that I hit all the key points they were looking for. Does that mean I'll get an email before 12 noon tomorrow? Let you know at 12:01.

UPDATE:

No email.

An Old Fashion Interview

Went on a lunch interview this afternoon. I have only gone on one lunch interview before this and the guy told me that I wasn't his kind of guy. That was a good thing because two years later, his picture was in the paper along with others that were arrested in a child porn sting. True story.

Anyway, met this guy for lunch and I could tell right off the bat that he does this to get you to talk a bit more about family and interests. You know, the kind of stuff you really can't ask about. I could tell that they wanted someone with a bit of folksiness. Very nice guy and a great company. He told me during the process that he would like to set up a second interview. Gotta like that.

Today's Happenings

Had an interview with a company in Allentown, PA. It's a little over 70 miles but fighting traffic through Philly is a pain in the butt. Met with the President of the company for a total of 20 minutes. When I went back to HR, she said he's a type A+ personality and 20 minutes was a long time for him. He did say he'd call back but I've heard that before.

On the way home I checked messages and got a call from a guy wanting to do a lunch interview on Wednesday. Never did a lunch interview before. We'll see.

2nd Tier?

I got the following email today from a position I applied for:

"You have most of what we are looking for (sales experience, marketing to architects, ability to read layouts/designs) but the one missing part is experience with natural stone. I have about half a dozen candidates who I am currently interviewing and who seem to fit the bill. However, I will keep your resume on file in our 2nd tier applications and will contact you if we have the need in the future."

Yes, I did write back and let him know I'm not 2nd tier to anyone. I wasn't going to be considered for the position and I'm not burning bridges. He did respond back for his lack of better words.

A Worthwhile Time at Unemployment

Spent some time today at the Unemployment office or rather the Re-employment office. Got an overview of services and website to help the job search. The instructor was rather useful. Yes, I know, a state worker that is useful, who would have thought.

She went over a few techniques in online job searches and some ideas on resumes. She also gave out her email address and told us to email our resumes so shen could critique them. She worked in the private sector for years and knew all the HR tricks of the trade. She will becaome my new pen-pal, we'll see how it goes with that.

Gutted

I have a facebook friend who used the term "gutted" when she lost her job. I don't know why the term always stuck with me but it has. Recently, I was gutted. I interviewed for a position and didn't get it. Not that I expected to get it, but I really thought I'd be a final candidate interviewing in Florida.

I had a phone interview that went real well. I was told that I would get great consideration moving to the next level, which I did, I got a face to face with the President of the company. The interview went real well, so well tha as I was leaving I was told that I was the leading candidate. I expected a call on Wednesday with information as to the next interview...it wasn't to be.

He called an said that although I was an excellent candidate, two others had process experience in that industry, while I had experience building the housing for the processes. I was disappointed to say the least and told him so.

He told me that he didn't want to tell me what place I fell in but he interviewed 9 people and I was in the top third. What a moron. Maybe it's a good thing I din't get picked? Naw.

"We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." - Nathanael Greene

Things I Want To Buy When I'm Employed

I'm making a list of things I'd like to buy once I'm employed. You know, things to stimulate the economy. I'd like a new TV. The one I had in out living room went a few months back. We took the 19 inch from the bedroom and put it out there. I can't read the crawls on the bottom of ESPN, so I never know any scores.

Yes, I'd like a new TV but there are more important things. A guy can dream, right?

Business Casual Today

Today is the interview where I'm supposed to be business casual. We'll see how it goes.

UPDATE:

Interview went really well. It was like a casual conversation between friends. Of course I didn't let my guard down but I really liked the way it went. When leaving and shaking hands, he had some encouraging comments. The next step will be an invite to their home office, which will be extended next week. Stay tuned.

Where Have I Been?

It's been almost a week since I last posted something. No, I haven't lost interest, or received a job offer, I was having computer problems. My daughter did something with her ipod or Itunes account and screwed up my computer. Yes, she has her own computer so I don't know why she has to use my hunk of junk. My wife has a computer too, my old laptop hunk of junk, or that's what it has become as it's slowwwwwwwwwwwwww.

I seems that I had a lot of spyware on this computer and I'll take the weekend as a great opportunity to reformat the hard drive and clear out all the junk and start fresh.

Big One Today

Big interview with a rather large national company. They are heavily into the construction market but now they want to go after the industrial industries. Looking for someone with contacts with utilities, refineries, chemical facilities, any type of industrial processing facility. I sure have been in enough of these facilities to more than qualify.

I'll be meeting with two people today and if all goes well, I'll be asked to take a personality test. I believe they use the Caliper test, one that I took 6 months ago and did very well on. So well that the company I took it for wanted to offer me the position until one of the brothers, family own company, got his nose bent out of joint that he didn't get a chance to interview me. He got his chance and I knew right then and there that he was not going to OK me to spite the others. My Spidey sense was confirmed a month later after bumping into the hiring manager, who was a rather cool individual.

Unemployed Need Not Apply?

Here's an article from CNNMoney about companies telling the unemployed not to apply.

Business Casual?

I'm meeting with someone next week to interview for a sales position. It's a construction product used in the utility industry. I feel very excited and positive going into this interview except one thing, the gentleman said to dress business casual as he would be too.

I wear a suit for every interview. I even write down what color suit, shirt and tie so I don't wear the same combo twice. Should I wear a suit or business casual? Every article I have ever read has said to dress up for the interview, of course, but I have never seen anything saying business casual if the interviewer is going that route.

My instinct tells me suit, to show him this is important to me but what if I make him feel out of place?

Your thoughts?

Rejection Letter

Do you feel you are owed a rejection letter, email or phone call if you have not been asked to continue in the hiring process or they have hired someone else?

I certainly do not feel that you are owed anything, just for sending in a resume. However, today, I did receive an email from a company that I sent a resume to. It's a rather large construction company with many divisions and they let me know they received my resume and it has been forwarded on to the hiring manager. It was a personal response, not computer generated. It's a well know, quality first company.

I have been on many interviews and second interviews. It would be nice to get an email stating that they were moving on in the process without me. I know I'm not owed it but you took the time and expense to meet with them, a quick email is not going to kill anyone.

What do you think?

US vs. England In Legos.

For you Lego lovers out there.

And I Thought Every Day Would Be The Weekend

I used to think that every day was the weekend for those unemployed. How wrong was I? My week consists of interviews, resume rewriting, searching and calling people. Yes, it's very stressful, that's why I need my weekends to recover.

This week, I have a huge interview that I'm really looking forward to. Actually, I look forward to all of them but this position sounds very interesting. I also had a telephone interview with a company, last Friday, that I expect to hear from this week. I just got good vibes from the call. Oh, you were expecting a link to the Beach Boys?

College Football Happenings

Those of you that know me, know that I'm a huge college football fan and The University of Oklahoma is my favorite. Looks like OU will be taking their game to the Pac10 or would that be Pac12 now that Colorado is in? I really haven't had a chance to cry over the demise of the Big 12 but let's just take a quick look at the winners and losers.

Biggest loser in all of this conference realignment activity? The Big East. They'll probably wind up losing Rutgers, Syracuse and Pitt to the Big 10, WV and UConn and maybe Louisville to the ACC.

Winners? Pac10, Big10 and the ACC. Pac10 will get a conference championship as well as the Big 10. Big 10 will get the NY market with the addition of Rutgers. ACC will just get a few more teams. SEC? If they get Texas, it's a plus but if they don't, who cares, still the best conference in football. The Mountain West would wind up being a winner since they add Boise State and pick up a few teams from the Big 12.

There's even some talk of the Big 12 sticking around, adding BYU from the Mountain West and a few other schools.

Does this force ND into joining the Big10? TV money is huge. It will all depend on what the BCS decides to do once things shake out.

Damn, I love college football!

Oddball Interview Questions

Glassdoor.com lists some oddball questions that were asked during interviews. I have never been asked an oddball question but at least I'll be ready if it ever happens. Have you ever been asked a weird question?

Tick Bite NC?

Come on, you got to be kidding me! There's an application on the right side of the blog that shows where people are checking in from, don't worry, it is anonymous. Someone checked in from Tick Bite, NC. I'm waiting for my first visitor from Bird In Hand Pennsylvania, down the road a bit from Blue Ball and Intercourse.

Interesting Point

KP posted something interesting yesterday about receiving 60 to 100 resumes through CareerBuilder or Monster. They suggest handing a resume to a company or even calling them. I did a little research last evening and calling a company directly was mentioned as something to do. Also, when sending a resume you should let the person know that you will call to follow up.

I am in sales and I do this all the time, being proactive and letting someone know I will follow up with a call. It's what good salespeople do but at first I thought it might be a bit pushy. Then again, you are selling yourself and all good salespeople follow up with phone calls.

I'll let you know how this works out as I'm going to include this in future cover letters and will be calling the ones I just sent out. What are your thoughts?

Today's Action

Got a call from a company that I really want to work for and set up a 2nd interview for next Friday.

I have sent a number of resumes through Monster and CareerBuilder but haven't received a call from the ones that I figured should be calling. I resent a resume directly to the hiring manager from one company and got a call 4 minutes later. I'll have to go back over the resumes I sent through these people and resend them. Has anyone else had problems like this? This is the second time that I have done something like this and received a call within the half hour.

When Unemployed, Run For Office

NJ Primaries were held on Tuesday and it looks like I have something in common with Alvin Green. No, I do not have a felony complaint sworn out against me but I did run as a write in candidate for local office as an unemployed American. I noticed that there were 4 people running for 5 spots for Township Committee. I don't have a clue what they do, they don't run the town, but this didn't stop my write in candidacy.

I'll call the election board office today to see how I did.

Flyers Lose

The Philadelphia Flyers lost last night ending their Stanley Cup run. It was a fun run and I'm sure I'll hear a lot of comments like "We'll get them next year." I believe this is the sixth consecutive Cup final loss since back to back Cup wins in the 70's. "We'll get them next year" is getting old.

Winning those Cups, in 74 and 75, was a lot of fun. Gene Hart, the voice of the Flyers back then, making one of my all time greatest final seconds calls. Playing street hockey before and after the game, just loads of fun.

This years team was also fun to watch because of the way they bounced back so often. I guess we'll get them next year?

Needed A Topic For This Blog

I certainly will not bore you to death with my job search but I did need a topic and a title so we'll go with the employment thing for now. A little commentary here a little pop culture there, maybe a shout out or two is what we'll be doing. My sister started a blog about turning 40 but she ran out of steam. Maybe I can get her to write a thing or two about something we both enjoy...coupon shopping! Hey, when you're unemployed you need to cut corners.

My younger brother writes a very cool blog called the Conservative Wahoo. Although he's a lot more conservative that I am, he's probably a lot more fair with opposing views than I could ever be.

My older brother doesn't have a blog that I know about but he knows a lot of stuff, maybe we'll get him to throw something out there.

I promise I'll get better as I move forward.

I Don't Understand Unemployment

The state of NJ makes it so easy to file for unemployment. File online and claim your benefits online. It's a pretty smooth transaction until a problem occurs and then you're on the phone forever. Last week I went to claim online and a message said I needed to call in to claim. No big deal as I had until 5pm to do this and it was 4:30. I called and another message said I had to speak with someone but they all left for the day.

The following morning, I call back and was told that I could not claim that week, had something to do with NJ having to contact PA about unemployment funds I had over there. Why couldn't someone let me know sooner? I was told that there was a message on my last mailed statement. Had that puppy right in my hand and there was no message to be found. Now she makes an appointment for me to speak with someone on the 15th at 11:20am and I also had to call in for benefits today, although I would not be getting anything until I speak to the next person. I asked her to explain why we are doing this and she tried her best but I'm afraid I don't speak the language of the state worker, which is very fast. Hopefully someone will talk slow and explain it to me on the 15th.

Today's Action

I interviewed with a company 2 weeks back. It was for an Architectural Sales position. The first interview was tough as I felt I was being put through the ringer. I decided to push back a bit because I didn't want to walk away from it thinking that I should have been more aggressive. It worked. After the interview the guy told me that he's not a "dick", his words, and that he wanted to see how I responded to possible rejection.

I got to meet with the President of the company and I felt real good about the interview. I felt good because I gave 100 percent and walked away knowing I could not have done any better. I also walked away knowing that I wasn't going to get it. Although I worked getting products specified by many of the top Architects and Engineers, this was a high end glass company and I knew they wanted someone with more of an eye for art, more of a designer. My idea of art is Kieth Haring, theirs was Degas or Daygas as I called him while ordering tickets for an exhibit a few years ago. I'm not into ballerinas.

I got the bad news today but they did leave the door open a bit. They are building a new sales force and the next position is for a national specifier and the President asked that we stay in touch.

Now it's on to next week's huge interview with a large equipment company. The position deals with industrial accounts. They are a nationwide company and this is a new position for them. They liked that I have construction and industrial experience. I'll update this next week.

The First of Many...or Maybe Not

I have some time on my hands from being unemployed, so I decided to blog. I'm sure some may say that if I have time on my hands, I should be looking for a job. I'm doing that too, along with laundry, cleaning, cooking and driving the kids around. You know, mom stuff. Just kidding!

I lost my job November 30, 2009. I knew it was coming. I was in the construction products industry. I'll explain in future writings why I knew this was coming besides the obvious...THE ECONOMY! Since November, I have been on numerous interviews. Some pretty good, some pretty bad. My intention is to blog my job search process and hopefully get people to respond to some of the things I say and do. Rip me apart if you like, or make me feel good and praise me. I won't be mentioning names because I don't want future employers viewing this blog knowing it's me.

I titled this "The First of Many... or Maybe Not" because I figured if I get a job I would quit blogging. Then again, I could always change the title to something else if people care to read and follow.