EDITORIALS

A long time ago I received an email from one of our members comparing and contrasting the job leads he was getting from various sources. The quick story is that he was a subscriber to two paid services in addition to our newsletter. What I found disappointing was his closing comment which ...

It’s very easy in these difficult and unusual times to feel that there is nothing you can do. With the constant barrage of the 24/7 news cycle, it is also very easy to believe that what is going on is never going to end. Well, it may never end. Be that as it may, while we are waiting for i...

When my wife and I were first married, we had occasion to go to book a several day vacation at Kutsher’s Hotel and Country Club. I’m not even sure we had children at the time, it was that long ago. For those of you not familiar with the Borscht Belt of grand resorts in the Catskill Mountai...

The long history of telephone use in this country is pretty obvious. And, unlike all the bad jokes I have seen over the years about “young folks” today never having known a time when ….. (you fill in the blank), I have to say that I am amazed and astounded most days by the lack of knowledg...

My dear friend Norm Weinstock passed away a little over 10 years ago. Norm agreed to Co-Chair of The FENG when I began my Chairmanship back in 1996 and he also acted as our Treasurer and raised money for us to buy our first computers and to hire our first Administrative Assistant, Ann Mari...

The second Wednesday in November we will be having another meeting of The FENG’s Westport chapter. I tell you this not so that you will attend. Goodness knows, it is probably a little far for most of you. (But if your travels bring you to Westport on the evening of one of our meetings, ple...

As I am sure you know, Bruce Lynn and I run a chapter meeting here in Connecticut every month. Marty Latman runs two each month in New Jersey. I am always a little disappointed at the number of people who aren’t properly prepared. I am not criticizing the quality of 90-second announcements...

According to a survey that Bruce Lynn completed late last year, only about 30% of our members have ever been to a chapter meeting. In a word, those of you who have never attended a meeting of The FENG are missing out big time. (And no, we don’t wear funny hats or actually have a secret han...

From time to time I give a presentation to the Westport Chapter about how to use our website, and in particular how to use our not so new Member Directory Search feature. Based on the great interest of those attending, apparently there are quite a few members who haven’t taken the time to ...

On the way down to Washington, DC a few years ago to speak at the chapter meeting, I had the distinct opportunity and pleasure to sit with one of our esteemed Co-Chairs of The FENG, Bruce Lynn for several hours. Most people don’t know this about Bruce, but among his many talents is running...

One of the many things I have heard mentioned to me after our various chapter meetings is “I can’t believe the talent in the room. How can I ever expect to get a job if all of these folks are out of work?” I am not sure why I am usually caught off guard by this comment, but I am. Perhaps i...

I have never quite understood why the emails I get are so sloppy. I fully realize and accept that most people don’t type 90 words a minute like I do. Still, even if you only hunt and peck, it is my honest advice to you that you make an effort to spell words correctly and to check your sent...

One of the little jokes I used to tell back at the office was how hard it was to get anything done, what with an hour coffee break in the morning, two hours for lunch, another hour coffee break in the afternoon, combined with leaving early, there just isn’t much time to get things done. In...

I was recently reminded of one of my favored approaches to networking that I discovered in the early 90’s. (Sometime in the late-90’s I stopped calling some of the things I was doing “scams” and started calling them “approaches,” which for some reason those in polite society found more acc...

As we all blast out of here for the long Labor Day weekend, let me give you a few suggestions to make your “time off’ most productive. I hope that all of you will be sharing some good times with family and old friends. (All my friends are old, but I digress.) If you are currently unemploye...

I had an interesting comment from one of our members of long standing several years ago to the effect that no one was calling him. Of course, the ultimate revenge would be to give all of you his phone number and ask you to call our very own “lonesome George,” but that would be mean. While ...

The newsletters the past few weeks have been a little thin, so I thought I would take this opportunity to remind all of you of our mutual commitment to share job leads, even those in which we are an active participants. Yes, I know it is counter-intuitive to share leads in which you are an...

I hope I will not sound like I am in a bad mood or anything, but I have to tell you that the bulk of the messages I get from members need a lot of work to make them appear as proper business correspondence. I wish I could believe this is only how you write when you are corresponding with y...

Ah, if only there were such a thing when it came to job search. Alas, there isn’t. From time to time I get emails asking about the various “blood suckers,” who claim to provide variations on outplacement. They profess to be able to do either mass mailings, mass emailings or the ability to ...

I don’t know if you will agree, but I’m almost convinced that email is going to stick around for a while as a business tool. This being the case, I would like to make the bold suggestion to all of you who write emails (and hopefully that is everyone in The FENG) that you “get with the prog...

As you know, each week I publish a list of our new members and I ask each member of our august body to call at least one person from the list. I sometimes spend close to a full day out of my personal schedule to review new member candidates. I only ask that each of you call one person &#82...