Conversations in my Head

Now, before you jump to "Wow, this guy is a crazy.", let me explain.

Sometimes when I'm stressed out, or I feel like someone is expecting something from me that I can't fulfill, I start to have these conversations in my head. Essentially it is very simple. The person I feel like has some demand for my time or some expectation of me is who I converse with. Usually it goes something like this:

"I thought we were going to "

"I'm sorry, I have too much going on and I'm struggling to keep up with it. I feel really overwhelmed."

"Yes, but you know we do , so I'm expecting to do it"

"Yes, I know. I can't though! I'm sorry. What am I suppose to do? I can't do everything for everyone."

"Yes, but still, I don't want to be disappointed."

"I'm sorry, but it can't be about you all the time. This time it's about me, I'm the one who needs help."

"Yes, but I can't help you."

"I know, but you could at least not add more stuff."

"Yes, but..."

After actually writing it down, I'm starting to see why I'm so stressed out all the time. First, I seem to create obligations in my mind that may or may not actually exist. Second, I have an inability to actually let other people help me. Third, I'm always trying to do everything, even though it just isn't possible.

Ok, now you can go to "Wow, this guy is crazy."

Split Focus and Time Management

After moving over the weekend, I am now focusing on repairing my routine and getting to a stable situation. Here are some of my observations about this process:

- When I signed up for commitments, I made the decision based on my schedule and the time available at the time of the decision, with no considerations of future demands.

- One main thing trapping me in my current job is that, in order to fill the boredom of the downtime, I've made other obligations that now require me to have a certain amount of down time at work.

- There are an infinite number of things a person could do, but inconsistent effort is wasted due to all the directions it pulls an individual being in opposition.

- Everything in life involves elements of resource management, there is only so much time, effort and energy a person has.

- A team of people can accomplish so much more than just one. This is why quick sort and heap sort work so well.

- Roommate dynamics, without existing relationships, are similar to entering a prison. You have to establish the ground rules immediately, but at the same time not make decisions too early.

My final conclusion in all of this is that there is no right/wrong way to do things. You cannot do anything 'perfectly' because everyone has their own perspective and definition. Life is all about making things work effectively.

Is the Resume dead?

With high unemployment rates (9%?) and jobs becoming harder and harder to find, esp for new grads, is the resume dead?

The resume, or the "Curriculum vitae" is a listing of experience and qualifications. While there are a large variety of formats and a larger body of recommendations for how to write a resume, the concept is to display what you have done in the past that will qualify you for the future. As technology has progressed, resumes seem to have boiled down to documents sent through key word searches or quickly scanned and parsed by a Human Resources professional.

Just because an applicant has a well presented and written resume or a large list of qualifications, there is still no guarantee that they will work for the company or that the company is the right fit for them. In fact, the flat, stale document only tells a small story that can make the matching process almost impossible for anyone who is not highly experienced or in some cases, just lucky.

So what solution is there for this problem? With the trend in technology towards the sharing of more and more information, shouldn't the resume also get a face lift? Why not present a more holistic approach where the elements that makes up a person's life are included in the hiring determination process? Already places like Facebook, MySpace and even Twitter are being examined, sometimes without the prospects knowledge. Why not make this information part of the process for the applicant?

My proposed solution is for prospective employees to scrap the online application process. Instead of having to fill out the same forms for every application, this information should be included in our online representation of ourselves. Entered once, privacy can be placed around it so that it is not visible to the general public but could be quickly sent out to companies of our choosing. In this ideal representation, an individual can keep record of all the activities they feel are relevant and then these will be displayed as a listing of credentials.

The benefit of leaving it to the user to update their profile, is in their choosing of activities worth listing. While they may participate in ten activities, the two or three they then write into their profile are going to be the ones they enjoyed the most. Essentially this filtering allows for the individual to lay out their interests and passions for all to see. Companies can then find the people who are most likely to enjoy the job they need filled based on a quick search of public profiles.