Liesure life ends soon

Formal job offer arrived this morning via messenger before 10:00 a.m. All was in order. I emailed acceptance and placed formal, signed confirmation in the mail....also went to the lab and 'donated' a specimen for the required drug screening. About that same time my new boss called to confirm some details for networking stuff, email sign-in, etc. They must be planning on me, so this isn't some figment of my imagination.

I had lunch today with a former-work friend and will have another on Wednesday. Moving away from folks I know, trust, respect, and love will be the tough part.

I'm looking forward to the new gig. I really, really liked these folks while interviewing. This looks to be a culture into which I will fit very well. The work is stuff I can sink my teeth into and which I can help them get accomplished. There are more fun chores beyond the first set, so there's a future as well.

The company is Bay Valley Foods. They are a relatively new player, formed by executives of Keebler after that company merged with Kelloggs a few years ago. Bay Valley largely produces "private label" items --- that is they don't do their own brands, but make stuff for other folks, so I hadn't heard much about them and I suspect you haven't either. That doesn't mean that they are a 'light weight' -- 2008 sales were $1.5 billion. They have designs on acquiring more businesses and growing that to $3 billion in the immediate future. For you investor types, the parent company in Tree House Foods NYSE symbol TSE.

My duties will be to assume forecasting responsibilities for some portion of their business. I fully expect to also help with the implementation of new demand planning software that they are installing and to become involved in system updates that will be needed as they grow. These folks continue to grow in this crummy economy.

I'm excited to get started.....getting an old codger like me excited says a lot.

Landed

Formalities to be settled, formal offer to be reviewed, drug screen, background check, yada yada.

Start the new gig on May 4 once those hurdles are passed.

Now I can goof off for a week (without feeling guilty about it.)

These are screwy times

Survivor's remorse again.

I am having a hassle with the prescription service through which I order my med's. They do an exemplary job when everything goes according to standard process. After being laid off, there have been paperwork snafus and that throws a monkey wrench in the prescription service and heaven forbid someone take some individual initiative.

So I'm feeling picked on because getting my pills is being a nuisance.

Then I hear from an old co-worker friend from pre-Sara Lee times. He got canned this week. His severance package is the remaining paycheck that hasn't yet been mailed. He gets no continuation of health insurance benefits.

My problem can be solved by having my doctor write a small prescription that I can fill locally while the red tape gets worked out. For that I will have suffered an inconvenience. My friend is worried about getting his wife healthcare. He's worried about making his mortgage payments. He's worried about finding work.

We have survived that kind of hardship at our house in the past, and my friend will as well. I just need to keep my perspective focused on what's important.

I retired from running the West Suburban Job Seekers a few years ago. I may need to come out of retirement.

Ramblings

Good evening.

Life goes on here, even though it may be pretty mundane by some measures. Sue and Laura went to Rob & Amanda's on Saturday and did some painting and delivering of goods for the decorating of the nursery. When here for dinner on Sunday, Amanda seemed to be pleased with the progress. Amanda is definitely beginning to look big enough to pop, but she still has 6 weeks or so to go. Other than the general discomfort, Mom seems to be doing well.

Rob has finished (or all but finished) building a mission style oak rocker for the nursery. He has begun on a changing table to match....it will be convertible into a bookcase once diaper duty is past.

Laura seems to be a fixture here, and while some folks would complain about adult children at home, we don't. She leads her own existence, feeds and funds her own car, comes and goes as she pleases, but pitches in to help with the upkeep of the house as well.

Spring threatens to come around, but we've not had a good streak of nice warm days yet. This morning was a miserable time with temperatures above freezing, but not by all that much and raining besides. I had to be outside in that to do some chores and did not enjoy myself in the least....but survived.

The between jobs thing continues. One hassle is that the company that administers COBRA (extension of health insurance) benefits has been having system problems. This means that while my insurance is paid for and active from the day I left work, the carriers don't know it and they are declining benefits. This is all temporary, but a nuisance. I have a couple doctor bills that will need to be resubmitted. The biggest problem is that I have prescriptions that need refilling and the drug company isn't in the loop yet. I'm not out of meds yet, but if not straightened up in the next few days I'll have a hassle to get meds. It looks like system troubles are on the mend, but the problem isn't gone until I officially have benefits reinstated. What a nuisance.

With that venting accomplished, it's time to step back and consider how trivial the hassles in our life are. I'm not working for the time, but we're financially sound. I will have insurance, it's not that I have none and can't get it. We are secure and warm and have a nice house and money in the bank...so quit your bitching, James.

I even have job prospects. Had a phone screen last week for a job that isn't going to pan out (their loss, not mine.) This afternoon I was invited back for a second round of talks with folks who have a job in a culture that I think will be a really good fit for me. I'm very pleased about this and excited by the prospect. Even in these screwy times, there is still business that needs to get done, and that means it's only a matter of time before I find the people who need my particular talents and temperment to help their venture. Perhaps that will be sooner rather than later.

Sue and I head for the Twin Cities this weekend to do some family catching up and to deliver some merchandise from our house to other peoples' houses. Hooray for the chance to get stuff out of our place!

Considering a new blog

I already have 2 blogs -- this one, and one that is intended to promote myself as an invaluable job candidate that anyone would be foolish not to have on staff. The new one I'm considering is to help folks who need self-promotion to get some pointers about how to do so. I've seen some dreadful examples so far.

Earlier this week, I learned how to start filtering and sorting through Twitter postings ("Tweets") for the kinds of content I wish to view while searching for my next job. I've seen lots of good examples. Unfortunately, I've seen some that are pretty poor as well.

I have set up a search for the term "Supply Chain" and I see anything that's posted anywhere on Twitter that contains that phrase. There's some junk, like the several posting from students complaining about hard supply chain projects between themselves. They're easy to ignore. There's good stuff too; references to online conferences, job prospects, etc. Then there was the one that stood out.

A young man had posted a note (which I'm sure was intended to be read only by his personal friends) in which he declared that he'd applied for a supply chain internship with McDonald's (fine so far) but then went on to state that he hoped it would yield free f***ing fries.

I expect he thought that was a hoot for his buddies. Unfortunately, Twitter is very very far from private, and since I could view his message, so could anyone else. In a perfect case where I chose to ignore the common sense of MYOB, I sent back a note expressing my hope that no one at Mickey D's had a Twitter search similar to mine and that perhaps he would be better served to be more tactful in public forums. He hasn't flamed me back, so perhaps he will take the words to heart.

OK, long story, sorry. Anyhow, there's a need for the word to get out about how to ( and not to) use the WWW better for job hunting. Perhaps this will be my next do-gooder mission.

Career update

So, the marketing myself plan has fallen within the Web2.0 realm....developing a Jim Eilers Brand, putting my brand out there on my personal web site, a professionally associated blog, using LinkedIn and Twitter and all that stuff. In these times, I figured I needed to really find a way to pull away from the pack, especially being in the over 50 set. By using the web I can get myself in front of more prospects. I also can provide meaningful data about myself and my talents through the web in advance of interviews when prospective employers use the web to check out their applicants.

There are solid signs today that the strategy is beginning to take hold. I was able to contact an old colleague through LinkedIn and do some homework on a company that has an advertised opening. Becasue I found this old friend on the web, I was able to see that she had passed through this company on her way to her current job. We had a chat about her experience there.

I got an email from a recruiter in Hew Hampshire who was working on filling a job out there....she had a standing Google search for someone with my kind of background and Google sent her my way. While we won't be leaving Chicagoland for New England, I know some folks who perhaps would consider it, so the recruiter and I traded notes and we'll see if I can't steer her toward a live prospect.

Finally, I got a call from an HR screener at a company where I had applied. The call went well, and I'll be going in for an interveiw next week. I'll be curious to learn how much my Web2.0 brand contributed to getting my foot in the door (I'd bet better than even money it helped.)

So, for today, things are looking up.