Scott L. Newman - September 2009 Entries

September 2009 Entries

Tuesday 22^nd. Wow it has been an interesting 4 days. Since I posted that those two messages in LinkedIn groups. My group has taken off, I have had over 100 join in 4 days. Wow…this is good right? I mean I love the fact that I seem to be helping others (thank You Lord) but, at the same time, I am still out of work. Went to pink slip networking expo on the 21^st, I cost me 5 dollars to get in and there was only 5 employment vendors there. Talk about waste of time and money and those vendors were not even hiring for my profession (gee). Most of the time in last 4 days my job hunting has been from the PC. At lest I got a new head hunter company interested in me. O back to Gray Matters, I have a sub group called “Gray Matters international” so we are going world wide. Here is a posting for it.

Gray Matters international, a group for and by the over 40 World wide. I started this sub group after noting that it was not just the voice of the over 40 in the USA that was not being heard or noted, in the matter of getting jobs. It was world wide, people whose wealth of experience should make them on the top of the hire list, were not even on the list. The main reson seem to be that they were over the age of 40. They could not find work, no matter what their qualifications were and believe me some had qualifications that made me look like entry level. Our/my main focus is to help my fellow over qualified job seekers world wide. We have in the main group Job Search Coaches, recruiters and news sources for the over 40 crew. We also have a under used JOB section. Which I urge you to post any jobs, here in the USA or international, your come arross that you think some one in our group could do. I also urge you to post news and helps here too. I don’t know about you but, I AM NOT OVER THE HILL, I AM ON TOP OF THE HILL

I know it is almost the same as my main group but, I need to get the same message a cross world wide.

Posted On Tuesday, September 22, 2009 11:27 PM | Feedback (0)

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So you’re over 40 and unemployed.

Sorry, I just did not feel like posting any thing till, well today. Well to bring us up to speed, I finish the patio and my wife is happy with it. My daily thing since 14^th to Friday the 18^th, has been, out side work in the AM till it gets too hot and then job search, job search and work on my group “Gray Matters!” in the networking site LinkedIn. Speaking of which here is two of my latest articles, I have posted.

Your job hunt is coming up empty. No one seems to want to return you emails on a job. Your resumes seem to be going into an internet black hole. We know what you’re going thru. Join us at the “Gray Matters!” group. Where we will help each other, support each other and we will get our message out that just because we are older DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE OUT OF TOUCH OR OVER THE HILL.

Gray Matters, a group for and by the over 40. I started this group after noting that our voice was not being heard or noted, in the matter of getting jobs. I grew tired of what seem to companies Human Resources passing over my resume, with out a reply. At first I though it was just me but, soon found there was more out there with the same problem. Which seem to be they were over the age of 40 and could not seem to find work, no matter what their qualifications were and believe me some had qualifications that made me look like entry level. One of my former bosses informed me that he had been out of work for over year and half. Now he was senior IT VP and he could not find work. At first I though good I am not alone then, wait a minute what is going on here. So I started “Gray Matters!” At first we just sent an email to the White House, each Monday (and we still do that) on the lack of jobs for us but, now my main focus is to help my fellow over qualified job seekers. We have in the group Job Search Coaches, recruiters and news sources for the over 40 crew. We also have a under use JOB section. Which I urge you to post any jobs you come arross that you think some one in our group could do. I also urge you to post news and helps here too. I don’t know about you but, I AM NOT OVER THE HILL, I AM ON TOP OF THE HILL

Posted On Friday, September 18, 2009 10:35 PM | Feedback (3)

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Again, a late post.

Saturday 12^th. Well off to the Home Depot in the morning to get the stuff for the project (and more). Spent most of mid-day working on it (brick patio), but could not get the old bricks to level out with new. Also found that I was 10 bricks short. Well stopped for the day and took a nap and I was not planning on sleep long but, shortly after my wife asked if I was going to finish the job it started to rain and rain and rain. Next day Sunday 13^th. We went to that little church again. Not, bad, the only thing is the song leader was out of sync with the power point printed song that was being displayed. After the service my wife was asked it she would be the piano player and looks like I may end up as a part time song leader. Hmmm no, I am not very good at singing but, I don’t scare people away either. After Dinner me and our little girl and her little sister, she had come up for visit and no not the one that had the baby. My 10 year old is really our grand niece (we had adopted her due to family issues). Well we got the bricks and they got two potted flowers. Along with some plants for out front. Put the new bricks in place but, found as I was finishing up that yesterday’s rain had made the brick patio even more uneven. Well it was getting late and so I finished for the day. Monday 14^th. My wife had found a job offer near our house (State Farm), so off I went and applied for it. Came back after ward and pulled up the worst of the uneven bricks and tried to level it. Looks better I think but, I will know tomorrow when the cement dries and I clean it up. Had some bad news, go a call from that job I interviewed for and sent a thank you card to. I didn’t get the job. I am kind of feeling down right now. What am I doing wrong, what is wrong with me? Am I too old for any one?

Posted On Monday, September 14, 2009 11:39 PM | Feedback (0)

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Where were you on 9/11?

Well its 9/11 again and my mind goes back to that day but, first what have I been doing since the 9th? 10th Thursday, Well I heard from that CU, got a letter. No it did not say that I have job and it didn’t say I did not have it. It said they have not decided yet. Hmm, that’s a good thing, right. Well, my wife though it might be a good idea to send a thank you card for the interview (I was just going to send a thank you email, her idea is better). So as we were going out to find some material for a honey do job. We also picked up a thank you card. I tell you, I got to find a job or these honey do jobs are going to kill me (well not really). Friday 11th of September. I and my wife worked outside on the project, until we ran out of materials for the job (most of it was recycled materials that we had. Now we are going to have to buy some to finish the job). Now back to work, finding work but, there was a problem. My firewall was down and I could not get it back up. So it took till about 13:00 till, I had it fixed (I had to reload it). Then I could get down to finding work (same old same Old). Later on I watch the history channel on 09/11/2001 and though back to that day. Where was I? On family vacation at the Grand Canyon railway hotel in Williams, Arizona. We had ridden the Grand Canyon Railway to the Grand Canyon the day before. That morning, I went out to hotel lobby to sit and read a paper (they have real nice lobby) and over heard something about New York. So I asked the counter staff, what was going on. They told me that a plane had hit one of the trade center towers and that they had TV on in the conference room. So I went in to see, what it was all about. I got there just in time to see the 2nd plane hit the other tower. The rest of our vacation was over shadowed by what had happened. We ended up, driving home from Las Vegas (we had flown in) and took us about 35 hours to get back to St.Pete Fl. (with only a 4 hour stop at a hotel). There is more about that day and trip but, I will save that for another time. Lets get back to today, I went out to pick up my Rx at the CVS and looked across the street where a Walgreens is going to be and though wait a minute. I have never applied to them. So as soon I got home, turned on the PC and applied for a Pharmacy Technician job (hey they will train you for the job). Well wish me luck.

Posted On Friday, September 11, 2009 10:23 PM | Feedback (0)

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Ok so I goofed off for 2 days but please don’t press delete

Well the 7^th turned out to be just your average Labor Day for goofing off, except I am still unemployed so off to the PC for hunting for jobs on the internet. It seems so fruitless lately; I feel out applications and send out resumes. I get thank your for your interest emails and few no thank you emails. But, not much else. The 8^th, same old same old and still no job. The 9^th, have not heard from that CU that I interviewed with last Friday. One of the reasons I am feeling so down. What am I doing wrong? I would take a hamburger job if there was one around here. Yes I have checked. In some ways I feel like I have been cast a side as no use to any one. Back about 25 years ago when I lived in Flint, Mich. There was news article about a man, who was going to kill him self, because he had been unemployed for a long time. Jobs offers pored in to the new paper and my only Claim to fame came, when I wrote a letter to editor. Saying I am glad for the man but, what about rest of us. I ask now, what does it take to get a job! What do we have to do?

Posted On Wednesday, September 09, 2009 9:50 PM | Feedback (0)

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Doesn't experience count for anything these days?

Here is a Discussion I started in my group "Gray Matters!" on LinkedIn.

Doesn't experience count for anything these days? I have over 20 years experience in what used to be called "DP" and have a Associate degree in same. Worked on large WAN/Cisco routers for over 2 years and got pretty good at it but, do not have CCNA for cisco routers. BUT, still after almost one year of being out of work, no job offers are coming my way. It seems having 20+ years of experienc, means your too old, no CCNA means you dont know any thing about routers, a associate means to HR as almost no degree and those that do count it as a degree, see my degree as so old fashoned (meaning he cant realy know computer systems with that degree).

Posted On Monday, September 07, 2009 9:48 AM | Feedback (0)

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Again Gomennasi!!!!!!!!!!!

Again Gomennasi!!!!!!!!!!! Saturday 5^th was a day for finishing the lawn, cutting back bush & trees in the back, moving bricks and doing the weeding whacking. True my 10 year old was helping out but, there is a limit to how much she can do. All this in the Florida heat, so by 15:00 I was more than just tired. Sunday 6^th, went to that little church again, this time the bath rooms were working. It was a nice service after which, I had to drive 20 miles away to a DQ and drop off some stuff toys. Yes, I had a DQ while waiting for the lady who was to pick the toys up. After the drop off came home and BQ for the family (Ok I just cleaned and started up the grill, my wife took over from there, something about she didn’t want burned food). Well after that, I well went to sleep for about 3 hours after checking my email and working on my group Gray Matters. At 18:35 we went to our normal church and that bertty much was it. Well, except for checking on my group, my email and doing this blog.

Posted On Sunday, September 06, 2009 10:59 PM | Feedback (0)

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Gomennasi

Friday the 4^th, I am sorry (Gomennasi). I was real tired last night, after mowing the front lawn (it finally stopped raining), the back will have to wait till Saturday (it is still too wet). As well as looking for work, pay bills (not easy with out a job) and looking for sites to look for work. Oh I got a call from a HR person at a CU for a Network administrator job. The only thing is she needed my ok to have my credit report pulled. I said ok to it, thinking there goes another job opportunity but, what hek. I was surprise 4 hours later with call back asking for interview. Is tomorrow too soon? So I had an interview at 14:00 on Friday. After all of that I wanted to go to bed earlier and rest up for interview. On Friday, I did some checking on the person that I would be interviewing with. Came up with something like over page and half of info on him and his CU. My wife though I looked to gray so she died my hair. She used to do this for living. I was going to leave at 12:00 to give me 2 hours to get to the site (which would give me 20 minute lee way) but, ended not starting out till 12:21 (Now only a ten minute lee way). I thought, I was going to be ok until I came up to one of the two rail road crossings I had to cross. Yes a train and long one at that. So I ended up with no lee way. Got to site at 12:02, rush into the lobby and then waited ten minutes while they go find the guys, I was to interview with. Well the interview went well, they seem to like my experience and way handled my self. The only minus was that I did not have VOIP (Voice over IP). Well they have more persons to interview and should know if I get a call back, some time next week. I am praying. Well that is it to date. See ya later

Posted On Friday, September 04, 2009 10:53 PM | Feedback (0)

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no exercise for me

Wednesday the 2^nd, well spent most of the day at Work Scours, taking tests to see if I qualify for grant to take classes for a CCNA. I passed but, boy was my mind tired. Found an interesting news article on Inside Tech, called Stalk Your Way to a New Job. “Interested in a company and need to find a person to contact? Google away. Trying to suss out the guy who’s interviewing you next week? Facebook him!” I used it to find a person I knew at company, I used to work at and found his Email. Also found out that he is now a VP. Very interesting. Well I am going to use this more to target the IT personal that does the hiring. On a sad note, had to go to a notary and witness a power of att. For my father in law. His mind is going down hill. It is so sad see some one close to you going that way. Well I am going to bed; have to get up at 06:00 to get the 10 year old up. Which did not get up today until 06:45 and we are suppose to leave at that time. Had to run her up to bus stop in my truck (Gee wasting gas and no exercise for me). Type to you all tomorrow.

Posted On Wednesday, September 02, 2009 10:45 PM | Feedback (1)

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Let’s get this up to date….

Today is the 1^st of September. Over last week end (29^th and 30^th) we went down to see our grand son with my in-laws. They ended up staying the night, with my sister in-law, a long with the 10 year old at nice house with a pool. I and my wife stayed at our son’s. But, let me tell you about the trip down and back. 5 persons in a sub-compact car for 4 and half hours. Ow! My legs still hurt a bit. O I forgot to mention that we visited our daughter and grand son at hospital on 22^nd and before we left on the 23^rd. Stopping at my in-laws to pick them up, my wife driving their car and me driving our truck. On the 24^th Monday, the 10 year old started 5^th grade. I was one picked to walk her down to bus stop at 6:45 AM every day, which means I have to get up at 6:00 AM, every day. So now my week days are get up at 06:00, make coffee, get the little girly up at 06:15 (well try and get her up, usual time for her to finally get out bed is 6:30). 06:45 walk to bus stop, around 07:05 walk back, turn on the computer and start looking for work (and try not to fall asleep). I am usually at the computer till late at night. Looking for work, redoing my resume & cover letters. Filling out applications, checking on my group Gray Matters in LinkedIn and yes some goofing off (you try sitting for more than 8 hours looking for work and not goof off, just to keep you from falling asleep). And oh ya, fitting in yard and house hold work. Hey it’s getting late, I will try to bring this up to date tomorrow (ops it is tomorrow)

Posted On Tuesday, September 01, 2009 11:19 PM | Feedback (0)

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