TGIF – What To Do If You Are Out Of Work

As the week winds down, we wind down with some tidbits for your information, education, health, and enjoyment.

Quote of the Week: “The hardest work in the world is being out of work.” Whitney Young, Jr.

or if you prefer

“The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.” Oscar Wilde

Humor Break:

Bev: I am so upset with my boss.  He criticizes everything I do.  Nothing pleases him.  Do you think I should tell what I really think of him?

Al: The truth shall set you free.

Stat of the Week: A CareerBuilder survey offers the following Stats reported by hiring managers regarding what to put on your resume if you have been unemployed for a long time (your marketability). 

79% look for a contract or temp job
61% look for continuing education
60% look for volunteering
28% look for starting your own business
11% look for writing a professional blog

Action Tip: If you are unemployed, or even employed but very dissatisfied, make sure you are on the right career path.  Check out The Career Profile Inventory to see if it would be helpful.  If you like what you read (I did and found it very helpful) you can take this online profile for free by sending a request to ken@envisiaonline.com.  Please tell him you read it here.

Weight Watch – Week:  (A personal 16 week Healthy Life style report)

The fourth week’s results are in: I LOST 1.6 pounds on the official digital scale.  Four weeks into the program and I am down 11.1 pounds.  I am 25% through my 16 week self-designed healthy life style program.  I’m extremely pleased to be down 11+ pounds, especially because neighbors and friends are starting to notice.  At the same time I am a little discouraged that the rate of decrease is smaller each week.  Nothing much is different in the routine, so what’s going on?  Any coaching suggestions (or encouragement) from you readers?

I did receive a nice email from reader Andy.  I would like to share with you his basic recommendation:  “I must recommend a book called 4-Hour Body. There is a diet plan on there that has worked ridiculously well for me and other friends (I’ve lost 15lbs of fat in 4 weeks while maintaining muscle) ….  The plan is pretty simple. 6 days a week you eat nothing but protein, legumes and vegetables. No dairy, rice, sugar, bread or starches. 1 day a week you eat whatever … you want….”  Thanks Andy.

I also found some helpful insights from this video of Harvard Professor Leslie John who presented a study that examines different economic incentives for weight loss during a 16 week intervention.  The presentation was at the “The Science of Getting People to Do Good” research briefing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business three weeks ago.

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.