Still Alive

Yes, I'm still here, though it might not seem that way. The new (old) gig is going well, and I will start another year of grad school in a couple of weeks.

I've got some possible post topics in the works -- anonymity and privacy online, long-term development, learning new skills, networking, and more. I'll post them as they are written; I tend to do much of my writing and brainstorming away from my computer in spare moments here and there.

So, in case I don't post again until Fall (hopefully I won't be that lame this time around), enjoy the rest of your summer!

Permanently Hired Mind

It's been a busy month. If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen that I was offered and accepted a permanent position at the company where I'm currently working as a consultant. Though I received word of this a couple weeks ago, I will still be a contract employee for one more week, and after that I will be a permanent employee of the company.

This is the first permanent position I've held since I graduated from college seven years ago, so it's a new experience for me. As such, I expect the transition will provide some good blog material, since I plan to keep this blog despite no longer being one of the people on which it focuses. When you've done something for seven years, you get a lot of experiences and subjects to talk about, and I'm not done talking about it yet.

On Disclosure

I hope you had a good May, since I clearly wasn't around here for most of it. Since I came dangerously close to letting the whole month go by with only one blog post, I decided that I should do something today in order to salvage it at least a little bit.

I want to talk a little bit about disclosure and what I do, since I haven't made any official statements about it before now. So, here it is:

-- I won't identify any companies I currently work for or have worked for in the past on this blog. If you really want to know, contact me by email or track me down using another method (I'm not too hard to find).

-- I also will not identify any consulting firms, staffing agencies, or other organizations that have placed me or that have had me do work for their clients. Again, I will discuss this with you in private, and am willing to share my experiences, but not in public here on the blog.

The privacy of those who employ me and their clients is very important to me and I will respect it. Now, that is not to say I will not ever mention these organizations, just that if I do so, it will not be regarding anything that affects or involves me. If my policy ever changes, I will post a notice to that effect.

Now, back to talking about being a Hired Mind. See you in July!

No, just kidding. I'll actually post some things this month, and I have a number of topics already in the pipeline.

Specialization is for Insects

If you're a fan of science fiction (like me), you've probably heard of Robert A. Heinlein. Even if you're not, I think the following quote is an excellent summation of the need to be well-rounded:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

I don't actually think he meant this literally, of course. It's very unlikely that someone would have all of those skills. However, the underlying argument -- that a person should know how to do as many things as possible and not limit themselves to one narrow niche -- is very sound. You never know when having a skill will help you take advantage of an opportunity that otherwise might not be there. This doesn't mean you should flit about from one discipline to another, being a Jack (or Jill) of all trades and master of none. But when you have the opportunity to learn something new, take advanatge of it.

The Top 50 HR Blogs to Watch in 2009

While Hired Minds isn't an HR blog per se, there's some overlap with them, as I talk about work and career issues in my corner of the world, albeit from the other side of the desk. As such, I read a lot of HR blogs, and think that anyone could benefit from doing so.

Evan Carmichael agrees with me that HR blogs aren't just for HR pros, and as such his list of The Top 50 HR Blogs to Watch in 2009 is definitely worth reading so that you can find about some of the best HR bloggers out there.

And, of course, I have to shamelessly plug it if for no other reason than my wife's blog, HR Minion, is listed at #45.

Wordle Resume Analysis

It's been a busy few weeks for me, what with starting my new gig and wrapping up my last class until next fall. So, it's time to ease back into blogging. To start, here's a neat little activity you can do with your resume that I discovered at Kerry Sandberg Scott's blog Clue Wagon:

1. Go to wordle.net.
2. Copy-and-paste your text resume.
   
3. See how it looks. Do you see a lot of action verbs? Do you reuse the same ones over and over? Is it too heavy on the buzzwords and acronyms?

I thought this was pretty cool. I'm familiar with Wordle and knew about its potential uses for text analysis, but I would never have thought to have used it for something like this. A big thank you to Kerry for showing us this!

Creative Resumes

Normally, when it comes to resumes, it's best not to get too creative. It's generally preferable to use an established format and layout with standard fonts.

That said, this resume is totally awesome, in a geeky way (you'll probably need to zoom in to see all the detail).