Community Blog: Pursue the Passion - LA

Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and 4,000 other social media tools.  How do you use this social media stuff to benefit your business?

Why?

Currently there is the richest talent pool in decades with fewer recruiting dollars and positions available.  How do you create a long term talent and recruitment pipeline as opposed to a flow through recruitment interface?

What?
Jobing Social Media Solutions allows you to leverage the experience and expertise of our in house Social Media Directors to hit the ground running.  It can take months, even years to understand your online identity, find your community and create an appropriately branded user interface.  There's enough subjectivity in social media… why not take out some of the guess work?

How?
Every company has a recruitment brand.  This is becoming increasingly influenced by your online identity.  Recruits are using the internet to find the most transparent, relevant information about your company.  Shouldn't some of that information come from you?

We have experience determining where you're company is already being discussed, how to find your company stakeholders and how to build a relevant, transparent and branded content stream.  There are five areas we focus on:

• Recruitment Social Media Assessment
• Account Creation Management
• Account Integration
• Social Media Training
• Account Promotion Strategy & Implementation

Who?
Jobing.com's internal Social Media Directors, Zach Hubbell and myself.  Our Social Media Experience in the business realm started with the creation of our own web community at http://www.pursuethepassion.com.  Our website and community were built on free public software and grass roots community efforts.  Through sites like facebook, wordpress, flickr, myspace, youtube and dozens of other free tools we built a business and community that would send 1,200 students out on informational interviews, spawn 2 cross country tours and brand ourselves as online media and generational recruitment experts.

Recently we used these experiences to transition into social media roles at Jobing. This has included a national twitter initiative with over 950 accounts and a cumulative following of over 35,000.  We've recently undertaken a similar initiative on flickr to ensure that the employment communities in our networks are taking shared experiences online and utilizing them to deepen relationships.

Where? 

To get more information and have either Brett or Zach contact you to assess your social media needs, please go to http://losangeles.jobing.com/socialmedia and fill out the contact form.

Ever since Twitter has come around, I've been telling Zach that public speakers have more pressure than ever to deliver an entertaining, insightful speech. The reason? What you say can, and will be tweeted about.

We just got back from delivering a speech entitled 'What Our Generation Wants' to 300 chief executives in DC at an ASAE conference called FBOS. I decided to search Twitter to see what, if anything, was tweeted about during our speech. This is what I found:

How about that for instant feedback on whether your speech went well? So speak wisely. And beware of asking people to put their cell phone away during the speech...they could be twittering about you.

Brett Farmiloe is the social media manager for Jobing.com.  He and Zach Hubbell also give keynote presentations from time to time about social media and www.pursuethepassion.com. Connect with Brett on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter. 

Do you Twitter?  Do you want to stay abreast of what is going on in your Jobing Community?

Follow us @JobingLA.  Periodically throughout each day, we will be bringing you the latest information on what's hot with regard to employment in Los Angeles.  Whether it's inviting you to networking events, directing you to resources in the city, or giving you the behind the scenes look at what we're doing at Jobing, you'll always know what's going on in Greater LA. 

This is one more way in which Jobing.com has become your source for everything needed to attract your next great local candidate.  Follow @JobingLA today!

One of the things Zach and I talk about in our speeches is the need to take an entrepreneurial approach to work, no matter what the job may be.  I’ve identified four ways that you can be entrepreneurial in the job you currently have, and if you’re currently out of work, you can certainly apply these tips to your job search as well.  

1)  Find out what pisses you off, and fix it.  The entrepreneurs I’ve interviewed have identified what makes them angry, and they’ve developed plans around how to fix that problem with a business idea.  

The same thing applies to individual roles at work.  Simply ask the question, ‘What can be done better?’  

2)  Identify areas in your job that could possibly bring in money.  Then, develop a plan and present it.  Companies need any additional ways to make money right now, and if you’re not thinking about how you could make money in your role, or save money for the company you work for, I’d say you’re at risk of being let go.  

Employees have to think like they’re self employed within their roles.  They have to ask themselves that if they were doing the same thing independently, would it make sense to do it the way they’re actually doing it?

The list could go on and on here of ways to bring in or save money.  For penny pinching, identify what costs you currently have and think of ways to cut costs.  For generating revenues, challenge yourself to think both in traditional and non-traditional ways.

3)  Expand your network.  Every entrepreneur I know has a strong social network that has helped them get to where they are today.  If you have relationships that could potentially benefit the company, then those connections count towards the value you have as an employee.  

I would suggest that you get on Linkedin, Facebook, and/or Twitter if you’re not already.  You’d be surprised at what opportunities will come from those social networking tools.  And to get started, you can add me as a connection in all three places by clicking on the links above. 

4) Do informational interviews. Last week we launched the first ever Pursue the Passion Entrepreneurship Conference to drive home the point to be entrepreneurial in work to hundreds of FBLA high school students.  Every student who attended the conference conducted their own informational interview with a professional who works a job they're interested in.  The student's reward was a ticket to a conference filled with engaging speakers and workshops, and of course, a ticket to that night's Suns game.  Your reward for doing an informational interview could be a client, a connection, or some new insight that would allow you to be more creative in work.       

If you’re looking for more advice than these four ways, here's a video featuring the Pursue the Passion conference speakers and the advice they had for the students who attended.  Remember, be entrepreneurial!    

Pursue the Passion brings you one career interview every week to expose you to career possibilities. For a complete list of interviews, visit www.pursuethepassion.com, and to sign up for the newsletter, click here. You can also add Brett on Facebook, Linkedin, or Twitter.

One of the things we talk about with Pursue the Passion is the fact that you have to take risks.  You have to take chances.
 
Well, last week Zach was snowboarding in Colorado.  On the third run of the day, Zach got a little riskier, took a chance, and dislocated his shoulder.  He had to go to the emergency room.  One of the first questions he received upon arrival was, 'Do you have your insurance card?'
 
We decided to be timely with this week's video and feature an insurance agent.  Joy Estes, our interviewee, provides rebellious individuals like Zach with coverage to protect them from accidents.  She's also the first woman to be admitted into West Point, and has been an agent for 27 years. 
 
So check out the video, be safe this week, and I guess the moral of the story is, take risks...with insurance.

The office is like walking onto Main Street in the 30’s. A fire pole spans from the ground to the blue skied ceiling that’s eerily similar to Caesar’s Palace in Vegas. A popcorn machine sits in front of a wall exposing a few painted bricks and an old school car with the license plate reading ‘Joyest.’ Employee placards are displayed proudly with ‘addresses’ marking the start date for their length of service. Joy Estes has one outside of her office reading, Joy’s Junction, 1982.

Joy Estes, the owner of this place, greeted us with road atlases and hugs in a State Farm jersey. Here are a couple questions we asked her about being an insurance agent.

Why go to such extremes to decorate your office this way?

This is where most of your life takes place when you’re awake. Why wouldn’t you want it to be your dream? I try to make it nice for everyone.

What’s an insurance agent do?

In a nutshell, I help individuals, families, and businesses select insurance policies that provide the best protection for their lives, health, and property. I love what I do because I get to be the hero. I get to be the solution. When someone gets in an accident, the doctor tells them they have a problem by diagnosing what’s wrong. Their lawyer outlines their problem for them. The banker is going to tell them they’ve got the problem. Well guess what? I’m the solution to their problems, because I’m the one with the checkbook. And I get to be their hero when I cut their check, instead of the goat.

Right now the insurance business is probably one of the only businesses to be doing well in these economic times. Why is that?

There’s no other business where your clients and revenue compounds and stacks upon each other. It’s all built on relationships. If I can build a good relationship with a client at the start, that will create a long lasting revenue stream. Because everyone needs insurance. So you work really hard at the start to get the clients, and be the solution to their insurance needs, and then it gets really easy for them to renew. Because no one wants to change their insurance once they’ve signed on. It’s too much work. So you just have to make sure that they’re happy, and by a result of them being happy, you’re happy because you’ve got a new check coming in every month. It’s a great business to be in.

You were the first female to be admitted to West Point. Mind telling us how that happened?

Yes, I was the first female to be admitted into West Point Military Academy. It started in high school. I got really good grades and I really excelled in athletics. One day I got a letter addressed to Jim Estes, not Joy. They must have thought I was a boy! I decided to roll with it and apply anyway. On July 4th, 1976 I became the first woman to be admitted. I started with about 200 other girls in the program. Then I got a call from my high school volleyball coach, asking me to come back to Arizona and marry him. So I did. I dropped out after eight weeks in the program and ran back to Arizona to marry this guy. But, it didn’t work out. I wish I could say I graduated from West Point, but the story didn’t happen that way.

What other qualifications do you need to be an insurance agent?

This business is about people and relationships. You have to be able to build trust with people. I’m a hugger. I hug everyone who walks in my doors. I hugged you guys, didn’t I?

You did.

I graduated from NAU with an elementary education degree. My dad hired me as a staff person. After awhile he suggested I get my own agency. So I started the process of becoming an agent with State Farm, taking an aptitude test, going through training and interviews, and they awarded me with my own agency opportunity. At 22, I got my first client, Edith Brown. I’ve been in the business for 27 years now.

Pursue the Passion brings you one career interview every week to expose you to career possibilities. For a complete list of interviews, visit www.pursuethepassion.com, and to sign up for the newsletter, click here. You can also add Brett on Facebook, Linkedin, or Twitter.

For this career profile, Pursue the Passion interviewed a LPGA golfer and instructor, Shirley Furlong. Shirley’s pointers weren’t limited to just a golf swing; she also shared tidbits that could be applied to being successful in a career.

Here is a video of the career interview, followed by a Q&A of questions that were submitted by Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter followers of Pursue the Passion

When you’re playing golf professionally, who are you competing against? The players around you? The course? Or yourself?

A lot of players when they are in the lead of a tournament play against the player they’re playing with. I could never play like that. When I’m playing golf, it’s just me and the course. Focusing on your game, on that one shot that you have in the moment, that’s the biggest competition you’ve got.

I think it extends on to business and life as well. You can focus on all the things going on around you. You have to focus on what you can do and what you want to happen, and let that be good enough.

Do you have a ritual, mental or physical, in preparation for taking a shot?

Yes. There’s two things I try to do to get my focus together and prepare myself for a golf shot. One is to see it. I step back and visualize what I want to happen. I see the ball landing and ending up in a certain place on the green. Or when I won my tournament on the LPGA, I saw the ball hitting the dirt at the back of the cup and dropping to the bottom. So I see it.

Next, I have to feel it. I have to take a step back from the ball, take a practice swing, and I have to feel what I just visualized. Then I’m prepared to take the shot.

How long into your career did it take you to identify that routine?

I’m still working on it.

Do you consider golf a job like a lot of 8-5ers? And do you ever get sick of playing?

When I was playing golf professionally, about 80-90% of my whole life was devoted to playing golf. That’s all I did. And it was my job. Where I finished in the field determined whether I was eating Taco Bell that night or treating myself to a steak dinner.

Later on in my career a lot of my friends on tour started retiring. I asked them when is the right time to retire, and they said you’d know the time when it came. And that was true. On morning I woke up in Canada, I went out and had breakfast by myself, played golf, had dinner by myself, and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and I thought, ‘You know what? This just isn’t fun anymore.’ About a month later I retired and now I’m a golf instructor for Bird Golf Academy. Because when you’re playing golf for a living, you’re living out of a suitcase. You’re waking up on Monday morning and trying to figure out what city you’re in. I only play golf now when I get asked to, or when friends are coming in town. It’s just more fun.

What were you doing before you were on tour?

I started playing golf at a young age and was surrounded by the game. I remember being a young girl and pointing at the TV and proclaiming I was going to be a professional golfer. I got a scholarship to Texas A&M and got a degree in education. Then I qualified to be on the LPGA tour. So that’s how it happened.

Pursue the Passion brings you one career interview every week to expose you to career possibilities. For a complete list of interviews, visit www.pursuethepassion.com, and to sign up for the newsletter, click here. You can also add Brett on Facebook, Linkedin, or Twitter.

For this career profile we interviewed the battalion chief of a fire department, Lisa Clinchy.  Lisa is one of four female battalion chiefs with her city’s fire department.  Here is a video of the career interview, along with a Q&A of questions that were submitted by Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter followers of Pursue the Passion.   

What’s a common misconception about the job?

Our job title is ‘firefighter’ but we spend 85-90% of our time doing something other than putting out fires.  We’re the first responders to car accidents, shootings, stabbings, or any other scene that calls for medical assistance.  But don’t get me wrong, putting out a fire is what we live for.

How many calls in a 24 hour time period do you receive? 

Anywhere from 24-32 calls.

How fast do you respond to a fire? 

Let’s put it this way: if you’re in the way, you’re going to get pushed out of the way.  We are quick.

What’s the ratio of female firefighters to males? 

There are 1700 sworn in firefighters.  About 60 of them are women.  I’m one of 4 battalion chiefs who is a woman out of 27 chiefs in the area.  And on any given day, there are 420 firefighters working, with 9 battalion chiefs on duty.

What’s a battalion chief do? 

The battalion chief exercises supervision over the fire captains and indirectly over the firefighters.  I’ll go out to the really big fires and report a status update to the assistant fire chief. But mainly, just direct, supervise, and manage the operations of this fire department.     

Does the state of the economy affect the number of fires reported? 

Yes.  The number of fires goes up in a bad economy.  The reason for that might be arson, we don’t really know.  Our job is to put out the fire, not figure out why it happened.  But with the number of foreclosures, you can always guess that the easy way out would be to set your house on fire.

What kind of requirements do you need to be a fireman? 

Everyone here is an EMT.  Emergency Medical Technician.  You need to be at least 18 years old.  You need your high school diploma or your GED.  A college degree is not required, but right now we’re going towards requiring a college degree down the line in the promotions process for battalion chief.  

How competitive is it to become a firefighter? 

Well, it took me two years to get my foot in the door.  It’s a long application process that can last around six months.  2,000-4,000 people apply for a dozen or so spots.  So it’s difficult and very competitive.  There’s a physical portion, oral interviews- you really have to want to become a firefighter and have that passion.

What’s the best part about being a firefighter? 

The people you work with.

What’s the most challenging part about being a firefighter? 

The people you work with.

Why?  

We’re literally like a family.  When I wake up in the morning, I think about coming here and being with everyone here.  Just coming here in the morning and cleaning and checking gear.  We have one of the guys cook lunch and dinner for everyone, which can be quite an ordeal for 18 guys.  We workout together, lift weights, play Xbox, basketball you name it.  But we do it all together.   

So that’s why it’s enjoyable, because what we do, we do together.  But we’re all very different.  We all come from different backgrounds.  We all have different political views.  The toughest time to be a fireman is during an election because everyone has their opinions, and you’re with each other for 24 hours.  We live in our stations for 24 hours at a time.  Then we’re off for 48 hours, and do it again.  So 24 on, 48 off.  But with each other all the time.  So that’s the challenging part, but also the reason why I love this job.  

Plus, being able to help someone out on one of the biggest days of their life.  Often the most painful day of their life.  Because maybe they lost a house.  Or maybe they were in a really bad accident.  And you’re there to help someone.  So that’s the rewarding part.

How long do fireman stay in their job? 

That’s another good part about the job.  This isn’t just a job where you try it out and then move on to something else.  Firefighters can retire after 20 years.  Most don’t.  Just because they love it so much, and love the people they work with so much.  Like I said, it would be like leaving your family.

Is the label ‘hero’ over-used? 

Yeah.  It is.  Because we're just doing our jobs.  We're just doing what we love to do. 

Pursue the Passion brings you one career interview every week to expose you to career possibilities.  For a complete list of interviews, visit www.pursuethepassion.com, and to sign up for the newsletter, click here. 

Yesterday I worked the Jobing.com Career Expo in Phoenix.  Over 12,000 people attended, the line to get in took an hour, and there were about 125 employers once you were inside.  Assuming each employer was there to fill one job, that’s roughly 1 job for every 100 people.  There’s got to be better odds out there than 1%, and this blog is about better those odds for yourself in a bad economy.  It all relates to doing what no one else is doing.

1) Get on LinkedIn.  I’m sure many of you have heard the term, ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.’  LinkedIn is one excellent way of making contacts at a company you want to work for.  Simply sign up for a profile, start adding people you already know as connections, and then start typing in company names in the search box.  You’ll immediately be able to see if your connections know someone who works at the company you want to work for, or at the very least, you’ll have a name of someone who works at that company you can contact.  You can start by adding me as a contact.

2) Show Up.   Half of the battle is just showing up.  My suggestion would be to put on a suit, get on Mapquest, and spend a day just showing up at companies who have job postings on Jobing.com with a catered resume in hand.  I would politely ask to speak to an HR manager about the job posting on Jobing.com.  And if the receptionist says they’re busy, I would say that you’re not in a hurry, and you can wait.  And I would wait until you talked to someone about the job.    

This worked for one person we interviewed.  He saw a job posting, submitted his application, and did not hear back.  He called and called and called, and did not hear back.  So he went down to the company and didn’t leave until he got the interview.  You can read the rest of the story here. 

3)  Volunteer.  The goal in any job search is to get a foot in the door.  If you can afford to, one of the ways to get a foot in the door is to work for free.  Volunteer, or ask for an internship.  Many people have started their careers at the bottom and worked their way to the top.  By volunteering, you can show the company your work skills and dedication, and after a few months, they might offer you some sort of compensation.    

4)  Give up the job search and create a job for yourself.  One of things I say to people looking for a job is that you are not ‘unemployed,’ but you are ‘self-employed.’  By choice or not, you are responsible for creating opportunities with the goal of finding something that pays you well.  Why not take the full leap and really be self employed?   

Start a business.  Be a freelancer.  Do anything that can start to move you from being unemployed to self employed. 

Brett Farmiloe is the co-founder of www.pursuethepassion.com, a site that offers interviews with people who have made their passion into a profession.  Visit the site and check out some of the interviews- many of their stories talk about creating a job for themselves.  Brett can be contacted by following him on Twitter, by befriending him on Facebook, and connecting on LinkedIn. 

This week's career interview is with an aeronautical engineer who works in rocket science.  Here is a video profiling his career, along with some interview questions that were submitted by people like you through Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  Next we'll bring you a video of video game designers.  

What gets you out of bed in the morning? 

The sun.  I got to work this morning at 9:00, 9:30.  We’ve got flex hours.  Basically I have to work 80 hours over a two week time period.  

How often do you use the phrase, ‘it’s not rocket science.’ 

There’s people that joke about that at work.  ‘It’s not rocket science.  Well, it’s not rocket science.’  Ha ha.  It’s not funny.  

What’s the best rocket science joke? 

Engineers are introverts.  And at my company, we’ve got these big hallways where you have to walk past other employees all the time and make awkward eye contact.  The joke is that you can spot a social engineer because he’s looking at your shoes, and not his.  

Does saying you’re a rocket scientist work for picking up girls at a bar? 

I actually say I’m a fireman.  But when I do say what I do, I say I’m an aeronautical engineer.  Then they figure out I work with rockets.  If they’re smart, they figure it out intuitively.  That scores big points.  Way bigger points than if I told them outright that I’m a rocket scientist.

What education do you need to be a rocket scientist? 

There’s basically three things you have time for in college.  Study, sleep, and party.  And you only have enough time for two.  You really have to focus early on if you want to be an aeronautical engineer.  Pay attention in math classes.  And pay attention in English classes.  That’s one the biggest surprises I had with this job.  You have to write a lot.  

What’s your ultimate goal? 

To work part time.  Like, by the time I’m 30.  I’d like to do some consulting.  I’m thinking about getting my MBA.      

Other interesting stuff about your job? 

Well, we work on a lot of military defense projects, so a lot of the stuff we do is top secret.  The way that I work is that I have to bill for every six minutes I work.  They divide it into tenths.  So sixty minutes, one tenth of that is six minutes.  So I bill every six minutes I work. 

Pursue the Passion exposes people to career possibilities by conducting career interviews with people working jobs ranging from goat farmer to rocket scientist. For more career interviews, please visit www.pursuethepassion.com.

Two condors, one mountain lion, four giraffes, and a collection of men and women wearing dirty pants are under the direction of Dan Subaitis. As the Director of Animal Management at the Phoenix Zoo, Dan’s responsibility is to make sure the men and women in dirty pants properly care for the animals and plants that visitors come to see.

I’m one of those very lucky people who enjoys what I do for a living,” says Dan as one of the 250 species of birds found at the zoo squawks in the background. “The older you get the more you realize how rare that is.”

Dan has been working with animals for over 30 years. He’s been all over the world- Japan and Kenya to name a few- in pursuit of his love to work with animals. The journey began in high school when the local zoo was on the outskirts of his school’s campus. Dan worked at the zoo during his high school years, volunteering and working part-time, which is advice he’s quick to offer today.

“You can always volunteer at a local zoo. We have volunteer opportunities in our horticulture department. We have volunteers that help out at our animal clinic. Pretty much anything animal wise, we try to do it here.”

One misconception of the job is that although Dan’s job suggests he only deals with animals, he doesn’t. “A lot of people say they want to work with animals because they can’t stand people. If you can’t stand people, then don’t come to a zoo. People are what make us function. We’re here for those people. I spend about 25% of my time directly related to animals.”

For any aspiring zoo directors out there who are wondering what skills and education you need, here’s what Dan had to offer:

“Most people who work in zoos these days have some type of life science degree. But I’d say the most transferable skill is how to use a rake and a shovel.”

Pursue the Passion produces weekly career interviews featuring people working their job. You can get involved in these interviews by following on Twitter, adding us as a friend on Facebook, or by connecting on LinkedIn. You can view a complete list of career interviews at www.pursuethepassion.com. 

There are two desks in her home. One desk is illuminated by sunlight in her living room, where she makes a lot of phone calls and tries to line up interviews. The other desk sits in a converted garage, outlined by various plaques and awards that serves as motivation to produce another award winning story. This is where she spends hours working with audio equipment, that is, when she’s not logging tape on the couch with an episode of Golden Girls in the background. This is the working environment of Rene Gutel, a freelance radio journalist.

“What I’ve been able to do is basically set up my own shop and hang up my own shingle, and ensure that I will have work. I’m basically my own boss. I have to produce stories, a certain amount each month in order to pay the bills. I work on contracts for different outlets,” said Gutel, who contributes to outlets like National Public Radio, World Radio Switzerland, and Radio France International. “Who knew that there was a job that would pay you to run around with a microphone all day, interview people about their lives, and produce small snippets about them?”

Pursue the Passion produces weekly career interviews featuring people working their job. Occupations range from CEO’s to goat farmers, rocket scientists to tattoo artists. You can view a complete list of interviews at www.pursuethepassion.com.

Remember when your mom sent you outside to play and make friends? With all the social networking tools available online today, making friends has taken on a whole new meaning.  You make friends by staying inside, and on the internet.  If you’re not already on Facebook orLinkedIn with the intent to get hired or maintain professional connections, you need to go make some friends.  Here’s why.

1)  Increase your visibility. By adding connections, or ‘friends,’ you increase the likelihood that people will see your profile and think of you when they’re searching for someone to hire or have an opportunity to do business. 

2)  Enhance your search engine results.   When someone types in your name on Google, what comes up?  Wouldn’t you like to control what comes up?  Having a facebook or Linkedin profile will be the controlled public information about yourself. 

3)  Give you the inside track for an interview.   If you know who you’re going to be interviewing with, you can look them up on either Linkedin or Facebook and know more about them than any candidate.  This might sound creepy, or borderline stalking, but it’s common in today’s society.  People use the internet to get all kinds of information.  Just make sure that what you say in the interview doesn’t come across as creepy, but something like, ‘I was on LinkedIn and I saw that we attended the same school.’ 

4)  Transition into a new job.   When you start a new job, you don’t know many people.  But as you meet people, you can add them as friends and maintain a social connection, even from a distance.  So if you meet someone in training but they live in Florida , you can still maintain that connection.

5)  Keep people up to date.   If you’ve found yourself unemployed, or self employed as I like to call it, you can let people know you’re looking for a job in a direct way.  For instance, in the facebook status update you can put, ‘Brett Farmiloe is looking for a job in the sports industry.  Does anyone know someone who works in sports?  Or know someone who might know someone in sports?’ 

By being direct and utilizing the social capability of Facebook and LinkedIn, you’ll be able to increase your chances that you’ll find a job.  So, go out and make some friends.  You can start by adding me.

Brett Farmiloe is on Facebook and LinkedIn.  You can add him on Facebook by clicking here, and on LinkedIn by clicking here.  He and business partner Zach Hubbell are co-founders of www.pursuethepassion.com.         

  

I was reading a Jim Collins article published in the Harvard Business Review that discusses a company’s purpose.  Collins challenges businesses to identify their core purpose by forcing them to ask the question, ‘Why is it important?’ five times.  

Here’s the result of my exercise to define the purpose of Pursue the Passion.  I encourage you to ask the question for your own business so you can find the purpose behind your daily activities…

What’s the purpose? 

The purpose of Pursue the Passion is to help people figure out what they want to do with their life.

Why is that important? 

Because there is a huge gap of people who are unhappy in their work.

Why is that important? 

Because people should be happy in their life.

Why is that important? 

When people are happy, their work is better and companies achieve better results.

Why is that important? 

When companies achieve better results and people work happily, it creates a better society and marketplace.

So what is the purpose of Pursue the Passion? 

Pursue the Passion’s purpose is to create a better society and marketplace by helping people find their passion in work.  

That’s a fun exercise.  And it applies to more than a purpose for a business.  I think it can be applied to shopping for Christmas presents in a recession too.  Try it out and tell me what you think.      

Pursue the Passion is a program of the Jobing Foundation.  For more information, visit www.pursuethepassion.com.  

This weekend I attended my first work party of the holiday season. Seeing as it was not my own it was a great chance for me to spectate and mentally prep myself for the possible pitfalls of the much anticipated, and often abused, work Christmas party. Many a poor decision has been made in this deceptively laid back atmosphere and the time to address the potential land mines isn’t at the beachhead.

To help me work through some ground rules of my own I’ve decided to post a few do’s and don’ts to observe at a work holiday party.

1) Tap it Light – This is the most important and often abused rule of any office party. Many mistakes have been made after exceedingly liberal use of the open bar. The office party is a great time to relax and relate to your co-workers in a more casual manner, drinking can be a healthy addition, just make sure it’s a subtle as opposed to an overt contributor. The biggest problem with abuse of this rule is that it is often the impetus behind abuse of all the others. Foul language, off color jokes, TMI; they’re all the result of excess libations. So, as a rule, tap it light.

2) Engage Spouses/Sig Others – Holiday parties are an opportunity for you to learn more about the people you work with. The best way to do this is by learning about the people most important to them. In addition it will make your co-workers more comfortable if their guest is able to enjoy themselves. The first rule of party conversation is the more the merrier. It can be work engaging the newbie’s early in the night, but if you get them on board early it will be much more fun as the night wears on.

3) Don’t Talk About Work – This rule will be broken. There is no way to spend extended amounts of time with your co-workers and not acknowledge the primary commonality that brought you together. But, as a rule, try to avoid work chatter. It’s boring often default conversation that you can have at any time. It also alienates guests who don’t have the background knowledge to engage in the interaction.

4) Remember Table Manners – You may love the restaurant that is catering the party, and it may seem like a waste to moderate with so much food already paid for, but don’t let your eating habits ruin others appetites. And remember, nothing will destroy your streak of hilarious, witty cocktail banter like an industrial size food sedative.

5) Thank Your Host – It’s easy to feel entitled to a holiday party and as a result take it for granted. The fact is; they’re expensive and a liability and it is a very gracious thing for any employer to do. Make sure to let them know you appreciate the gesture.

In observance of #5 I’d like to take a moment to thank my current and ex employers for engaging themselves in the holiday spirit. For the second year in a row my old accounting firm has invited me to the holiday party, one of the kindest gestures I’ve been a party to, and Jobing is hosting a holiday event this Friday. I’ll do my best to observe theses basic party tenets and encourage you to do the same, but not at the expense of the most important rule of all. Have enough fun that it doesn’t feel like work!

There’s a strong connection between childhood interests and a current career. It’s something that I’m a victim of.  My favorite video game was Crusin’ USA while growing up.  And you wonder why I toured around the country ten years later…  

Those things that you enjoy as a kid, it’s amazing to see how they can come back later into your profession.  

Here’s a collection of people we interviewed who have taken a childhood interest and turned it into their career.  

Park Ranger: I’ve loved the outdoors since I was born.  Always have and always will.  

Tattoo Artist: I envisioned having this job when I was a teenager.  When I was 13 and handpoked the very first dot on my wrist and wiped it away, and saw there was still a dot, I knew that’s what I wanted to do.  

TV Host, Wild Kingdom: If I can step backwards a few years, as a child, my grandfather was a forester.  My childhood playground was 3600 acres of trees and wildlife.  My entire childhood was in wildlife, and in wild places.   

Goat Farmer: When I was 15 I was trying to decide what I wanted to do. My mom asked me what I liked to do.  Because that’s where you always start.  ‘What do you like to do?’  

We had woods behind our house and I’d spend a lot of time out there.  I’d say well, the only thing I know for sure is that I like to be outside.  She thought a minute and said, ‘Well, we all like to do that.  You’ll just have to get over it.’  

So I decided to go into information systems which ended up being accounting.  I sat in an office for fifteen years trying to figure out how to get outside.  Then eventually I decided I needed to be outside.  Because what your passion is at 15 is more than likely going to be your passion when you’re 30.

President, Phoenix Suns: My passion comes more out of when I was a kid.  We used to gather all the cousins and relatives almost every weekend in a town north of Seattle called Mount Vernon .  All the cousins would use my grandparent’s driveway and garage as a stage.  The garage door would be the curtain.  We would put on shows for all the family every weekend.  Because I was the oldest cousin, I got to be the director and help put the show together and see the results of what we did.  I really think there’s as much as that drive in what I do today as there is my love of sports.

Director of Communications, Georgia Aquarium: For me, part of the reason of why I work here is when I was five years old growing up in Boston , I went to the New England Aquarium.  I picked up a horseshoe crab and touched it.  I still remember that and I love those types of engaging experiences that really register with you and stick with you.

Child Therapist: My parents got divorced when I was 13.  They forced me to go to a therapist.  For about a month I was totally against it.  Then I was like, ‘Wait a minute.  This person is totally objective and they’re just listening.’  I didn’t realize you could actually do that for a living.  That’s where it all started.

Jordan Footwear Designer: I started drawing shoes in the 7 th grade on little 3 x 5 index cards.  My teacher, her name is Mrs. Weathers.  She used to keep them.  I actually used to get in trouble because I was drawing instead of paying attention.  

But I’ve been drawing ever since I can remember.  I just had a gift to be able to draw anything I could see.  For me, as the years got longer, I just started to channel it more and focus on drawing specific things.

Accountant: When I was a kid I used to watch the old westerns that were black and white.  There would be the guys in the white hats, who were the good guys, and then the guys in the black hats.  They’d fight against each other.  Now that I’m a CPA, I help young families and couples.  I look at myself as the guy in the white hat, and the IRS are the guys in the black hat.  My job is to help them keep as much of their money as they can and help them out.

President, Phoenix Suns: I think if you can honestly think back about what experiences led you to where you are, there’s big influences almost always in your childhood or early teen years.  You probably found something that you were drawn to or incredibly interested in or got great joy from.  If you’re lucky enough to parlay that into your career, you’ll almost inevitably be successful.  

Brett Farmiloe wants to know what you think about presenting information using this type of writing style.  Does it peak your interest?  Make you want to read more?  Or does it just flat out suck?  Let him know by commenting below.  It will help him as he formulates a book about Pursue the Passion.