AMA Job Support Group Meeting Notes

In an effort to share more of what is happening around AMA Pittsburgh, Mike Kaulakis suggested that we share meeting notes from Wednesday's Job Hunting Support Group in this space.  The Job Hunting Support Group invites those seeking a job and those that wish to help job seekers to meet once a month.  It is people helping people and it is open to all members and non members of AMA Pittsburgh.

Thanks to Mike for preparing these meeting notes:

Good turnout - 15 or so and a good mix of job-seekers and job-helpers

Next meeting is scheduled for April 15 11:00 AM at Panera Blvd. of the Allies in Oakland.

Meeting notes will be available on AMA Pittsburgh blog for access to all interested.

Suggestions/Questions from Group

• Anyone familiar with Papen?  Local weekly job group meetings North/South split.  $10 contribution.  More info at www.papen.us 
• Kiran Shetty has a lead on medical product marketing positions in eastern PA - Contact Mike if interested.
• Attended Diversity Job Fair Tues Mar. 24th - a waste (Anyone know of any job fairs that would be of interest to more experienced job seekers?)
• Attended Pink Slip Party @ Mullaney's.  Got lead on George Swanik III - Action Mode.com career development
• Leukemia Society organized party w/$10 donation.  Contact Megan.nemecal@lls.org 412-697-2863
• Pittsburgh Business Times has a free SmartReader Strategies Seminar on April 3 from 8:30-10:00 AM
• Westvac career event April 22nd (If you have more details on this event, please leave them as a comment to this post)
• Volunteer opportunities posted to AMA Pittsburgh site for board.net and Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council
• TIE.org Pittsburgh Chapter has a Power Roundtable scheduled for April 8th.  Free for TIE member/$30 for others
• Innovation Works was mentioned as a source for events but none listed on site for 2009 (If anyone has more details, please let us know)
• Dave Roberts will research upcoming job fairs, etc. from his former employer (Thanks Dave!)
• Business Leads Exchange meets monthly for lunch - $15
• Vista Print is a source for free business cards

If you have any topics or comments, please feel free to submit them to the AMA Pittsburgh blog.  Don't forget the Hyde Park Happy Hour networking event is tonight.

Upcoming:

Apr 9 - Green Marketing Summit

Apr 15 - Job Hunting Support Group

Upcoming AMA Events

Next week features two free events from the American Marketing Association Pittsburgh Chapter:

Wednesday, March 25: Job Hunting Support Group

The new Job Hunting Support Group will meet at 8AM at Panera Bread in Oakland (Blvd of the Allies).  The group's mission is to help each other in difficult economic times.  All are welcome to participate and feel free to pass this invite along to others that may be interested.  RSVP to Mike Kaulakis mkaulakis@aol.com by March 24, 2009.

Thursday, March 26: Happy Hour at Hyde Park

Join us at the March AMA Pittsburgh happy hour.  Network with your peers and socialize.  5:30 - 7:30 PM.  Free appetizers, cash bar.  No reservations needed - this event is free.  Hyde Park is at 247 North Shore Drive (Next to PNC Park).  

Don't forget to mark your calendars for April 9th for the first Green Marketing Summit.  Details on the AMA Pittsburgh website.

Unsubscribe Reasons

This week's chart comes from Marketing Sherpa.  The survey details the reasons for unsubscribing from an email list.  

Join the discussion on the AMA Pittsburgh blog by submitting your topics or comments.

Obama's Winning Lessons

Join the AMA Pittsburgh for a luncheon on Thursday, March 12th.

Mar 12 Luncheon: Winning Business Lessons of the
Obama Campaign, Featuring Barry Libert, author of Barack, Inc.

Barry Libert is a business executive, author, and speaker based in Boston, Massachusetts. He has more than 25 years of executive leadership and entrepreneurial experience, and has been instrumental in advancing the awareness and use of Web 2.0 and social technologies within the business world.

You can register for this event here.

Integrating Social Media

This weeks chart comes from Marketing Sherpa. Marketers were asked how they are integrating social media with other marketing programs. Most are integrating with online programs only. Let us know how you are currently integrating social media into your marketing mix.
Join the discussion by submitting your topics or comments to the AMA Pittsburgh blog.

The Process of Finding Work

Tomorrow the AMA Pittsburgh Job Hunting Support Group will meet at 8AM at Big Dog Coffee at 2717 Sarah Street in the South Side. The event will focus on brainstorming. You are welcome to come out and share a cup of coffee and ideas on how to find a job in this economy.

Keeping with this subject, I have asked Neal Griebling of Future Design Studio to guest post in this space on the process of finding work in recessionary times.

From Neal:

It’s my experience that we, as Americans, are an impatient lot. We seek immediate satisfaction, gratification, and results. Moreover, we not only seek these things, we expect them. When our expectations are not met, we give up and walk away.

George Leonard in his wonderful book, entitled Mastery, writes with great eloquence about how certain types of individuals react to the challenges of mastering any skill. He focuses on the martial arts, but his analysis and insightful suggestions could apply to learning any skill. He counsels patience, discipline, and focusing on process.

The search for work is filled with stress and anxiety. We are impatient; we want results today, or if not today, then tomorrow. What we must realize is how little control we have over results. Will the HR specialist read our resume, will our friends seek leads on our behalf, will the interviewer recognize our skills and talents? All of these situations are not within our control.

What, then, is within our control? It’s our behavior, our action that we bring to bear upon our job search. When we focus on process rather than results, we are able to give our undivided attention to the task in hand, be it refining our resume, scheduling our networking appointments, or immersing ourselves in researching the job marketplace.

When impatience or anxiety arises, concentrate on what you can control — your process. If you are diligent about mastering your process, the results will, in time, take care of themselves.