April 24, 2009
Posted by jimintriglia in Communications, Internet/Web Services, News & FYI, Personal Computing, Personal Interest.add a comment
Recently, I was motivated to setup an account and establish a profile on Facebook. While I have maintained a presence on LinkedIn for several years, not everybody that I need to stay in touch with has a LinkedIn account. Further, LinkedIn is geared for professionals and executives, while Facebook is targeted at the general population who basically want to engage in recreational social networking.
A high school buddy contacted me several weeks ago. After catching-up a bit, our dicussion turned to what other members of our circle of friends were up to of late. One of our mutual friends has done extremely well career-wise, and is currently the CEO of a Fortune 1000 ranked company. Much to my surprise, this friend did not have a LinkedIn profile, but did have a Facebook page.
Trying to contact my friend through his executive assistant would prove difficult and time-consuming. (How many people try to contact CEOs of major corporation using the guise of being a “good friend”?). His personal contact information was unlisted, not unusual for executives. So, I created a Facebook account and contacted my friend through a Facebook “friends” invitation. A few days later were were in touch and catching-up on the events of the past years.
An unexpected surprise was finding that my friend had stayed in touch with other high school friends who I had no luck in finding current contact information. Additionally, through my Facebook page, I’ve received invitations from other friends. I’ve also received invitations from people around the world that share common passions and interests.
As a person who values his personal and professional network of friends and associates, Facebook appears to be a valuable web service for staying in touch with friends and meeting people form all walks of life. While I can visualize people rolling their eyes wondering what took me so long to discover this, I would remind them that many similar services promise the same benefits as Facebook and fail to deliver anything other that an increase in junk mail.
I would also argue that some popular web services, such as Twitter, can be extremely addictive and serve to disrupt people from focusing on their own life pursuits. (For more on this perspective, have a listen to Mark Horstman on Twitter.) I have seen some unique applications of “Twittering”, so I may revisit Twitter at some future date. In the mean time, there are many other great web services rolling out that hold greater promise of delivering benefits that are of interest to me and those that I count in my circle of friends and colleagues.
Review of Parallels VM for the Mac February 26, 2009
Posted by jimintriglia in Apple Mac, Microsoft Windows, PC Security, Personal Computing.add a comment
Cameron Sturdevant of eWeek has written a review of Parallels VM software for the Apple Mac. I chose VMware for my MacBook Pro with no regrets; I’ve been running my Microsoft Windows XP applications flawlessly under SP3.
If you are a fan of Acronis True Image and Kapersky virus/firewall software, the Parellels software may be a better deal as compared to VMware. The license fee for both the Acronis and Kapersky software is included in the cost of the Parellels software.
I’ve used Acronis for many years and Kapersky Internet Security 2009 to protect all of my home and business PCs with excellent results.
A Lifeline for Troubled Marriages in Tough Economic Times February 14, 2009
Posted by jimintriglia in Marriage, Personal Development, Relationships, Self Help.Tags: Marriage, Personal Development, Relationships, Self Help
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Tough economic times are taking a toll on married couples, as employers continue to trim payrolls. For couples experiencing significant problems with their marriage, the stress associated with a spouse losing a job can easily lead to fights about money and worries about how to pay the the rent and continue to keep food on the table. For some couples, unresolved financial difficulties coupled with a poor marriage relationship leads to divorce, which significantly adds to the emotional and financial burden of husband and wife.
Where can a couple go for help toward resolving their marital issues while growing closer to one another in their marriage relationship? Retrouvaille, a nonprofit organization, has provided weekend events for over three decades where couples can begin to reconcile their differences while healing and renewing their marriage relationship. Weekend events for couples are reasonable in cost. No couple is ever denied participation in a weekend event due to a lack of funds– especially important for many couples in distress.
Karen and I will be traveling soon to Marvin, South Dakota, to present a multi-state Retrouvaille weekend event. Reservations are now being accepted for the next Retrouvaille weekend event to be held in April here in Colorado (the hotel is located in the Denver Tech Center area).
If you are experiencing severe difficulties in your marriage, I encourage you and your spouse to seriously consider registering for the next Retrouvaille weekend event. Members of the Retrouvaille community are available to answer any questions that you may have about the program, so take action now and set the stage for creating a better marriage for you and your spouse.
The Job Search Plan: Being Effective in Your Job Search January 30, 2009
Posted by jimintriglia in Career Development, Career Management, Education, Job Search Management, Job Search Strategies.add a comment
It’s been said that most people invest more time and energy planning their vacations than they do planning their job search. While this is true for some people, successful professionals set aside time each week to develop and execute a job plan that leads them to their next best job opportunity. Such professionals often measure their time between jobs in weeks rather than months (or years, in tough economic times such as we are experiencing these days).
Several years ago, I adopted the Highly Effective Job Search (HEJS) developed by
Orville Pierson, a career development expert and Senior Vice President of Lee Hecht Harrison, a global career services firm. The results I achieved by using the HEJS method were significant, as my next job opportunity was indeed measured in terms of weeks rather than months. The position I accepted met most of my needs and expectations. My job search required significantly less time and energy as compared to my former job search strategy. Since that time, I have continued to use Orville’s HEJS strategy with excellent results.
I spoke with Orville before the holidays about the possibility of creating a virtual collaboration site to support job seekers that wanted to collaborate with other professionals interested in developing a highly effective job search plan. We agreed that an Internet-based virtual collaboration resource would enable more job seekers to develop a HEJS plan, regardless of their geographic location or time schedule. As a result, I’m happy to announce the launch of the virtual Pierson Highly Effective Job Search Work Team resource for job-seekers.
The Job Search Work Team (JSWT) resource is designed to enable job-seekers to develop a highly effective job search plan using Orville’s job search strategy as described in his book “The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search“. Ed McEneney, Career Consultant with Lee Hecht Harrison, has agreed to moderate the new JSWT. I’ll be leading the first team with the goal of enabling each team member to develop and execute their Highly Effective Job Search Plan.
Job Search Work Teams are limited to six (6) people per team. We are now accepting requests from job seekers who would like to significantly improve the effectiveness of their job search by participating as a member of the first virtual HEJS work team.
If you are committed to significantly improving your job search strategy, send me an email by COB Friday,
February 13, 2009 (JimIntriglia@wispertel.net). In your email, tell me why you believe Orville’s HEJS virtual Job Search Work Team could benefit you in your job search.
Due to the success of the HEJS team approach, we expect to receive many requests to join the team, so send your email ASAP.
We will contact prospetive team members based on email submissions we receive by COB February 13th, so don’t delay with your email response. Submit your email today so you have an opportunity to take advantage of a great opportunity to enable you to land that next great job or career opportunity using a more efficient and effective approach.
Effectiveness in Winning Scholarships January 18, 2009
Posted by jimintriglia in Career Development, Education, Winning Scholarship Strategies.Tags: academics scholarships
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Process, Planning, Strategy and Knowing Oneself Key to Winning Scholarship Dollars
As a life-long learner, I have met college graduates over the course of my academic career that scoffed at the notion of using student loans as a principal means of financing a college education.
These grads would often ask me why I would choose to go into debt through a student loan when there was an abundance of free money available in the form of scholarships and grants?
I had always considered the prospect of winning scholarship as being reserved for a small percentage of students that were either geniuses, athletes, minorities or unique in some other special way that would serve to opt me out.
When I returned to college a few years ago however, I learned during the college admissions process that I automatically qualified for a $500 Pell Grant. It suddenly occurred to me that there was money available to help students finance their education.
Could I really finance most of my college education through winning scholarships and pursuing educational grants? I decided to dedicate some time and find out if what I had been told over the years was indeed true.
In researching the topic of winning scholarships, I came across several good books that addressed the subject of applying for scholarships. While these books addressed certain parts of the scholarship winning process, none of them presented any kind of a strategy, plan or process that addressed how to go about winning scholarships.
In reading about students that had won scholarships over the years, it was apparent that they had both a defined strategy and process that they used to win college scholarships. Simply applying for scholarships willy-nilly did not appear to be the strategy that these students used to win scholarships of any financial significance. There was growing evidence that a “shoot-from-the-hip” approach to winning scholarships was an excellent investment in frustration, as well as a waste of valuable time and energy for students and parents alike.
Along the lines of having a proven systematic process and strategic plan to
effectively winning scholarships, one series of books stood alone from the rest. The author, Benjamin Kaplan, financed most of his Harvard education at age 21, by winning two dozen merit-based scholarships totaling $90,000. His national acclaim and testimonials by parents and students that had used his winning scholarship approach supported his claim that many more students could finance their college education through winning scholarships.
In reviewing Kaplan’s “10 Day Scholarship Success” plan present in audio book format, his book “How to Go To College for Almost Free” and accompanying website Scholarshipcoach.com, several key requirements essential for winning scholarships were apparent. Some of the key areas that addressed an effective winning scholarship strategy include:
- Investing a significant amount of time to discover one’s career interests, unique talents and skills, before beginning the process of researching and applying for scholarships.
- Investing time to learn how to organize information needed to launch an effective winning scholarship campaign.
- Realizing that being effective in winning scholarships is a process that requires advance planning, organizational skills and a good deal of patience.
In applying Kaplan’s approach to winning scholarships, I discovered that his approach provides a systematic means for students to discover their true career interests, strengths and unique talents. The benefits alone gained by embarking on his winning scholarship journey can be greater than the actual winning of a scholarship itself, as the so much self-knowledge and career planning clarity is gained by a student during the course of using his process.
Kaplan’s personal style and his approach to winning scholarships resonates well with high school students. His strategy translates equally well for adult learners and even middle school students and parents that want to get an early start funding their college education.
For college-bound students that endeavor to minimize their college education debt by employing a winning scholarship strategy, Ben Kaplan’s winning scholarship books are a must-read.
