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Industry Articles Carlos Hernandez on 29 Dec 2008

“Your Success: Status, Fortune or Good Work?”

I typically start my Sunday morning ritual of sipping hot java and reading the New York Times before attending church services, but not last Sunday.

Alas, my ears perked up when the priest began his preaching with a story from that morning’s Times titled “It May Be a Good Job, but Is It ‘Good Work’?”

Turns out that a since retired New York City bus driver named Govan Brown had received over 1,400 letters of commendation and not a single complaint.  He made it his personal mission to tend the needs of his flock, the passengers of Route “M101″ by offering timely and valuable information along his route.

I feel especially blessed to have transformed a 28 year corporate career to helping Baby Boomers, especially the unemployed, to “get” Web 2.0 social media networking tools such as blogging and being on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to find work.

What proportion of your efforts qualify as “good work”?

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Industry Articles Carlos Hernandez on 24 Dec 2008

“How Are You Re-Tooling?”

The October 20, 2008 Times Magazine edition article “One Bright Spot on Main Street” caught my eye when noting the first paragraph addressed Pittsburgh, PA.’s experience at handling a recession.

My corporate career with Westinghouse Electric Corporation was initiated in Pittsburgh in 1979, and I vividly recall seeing my first “smoke-stack” steel industry plants while driving on the Parkway East. The impressions were most  colorful during the evening when  flames rose up from the stacks like birthday candles on a cake.

I also witnessed Pittsburgh’s identity struggle as steel manufacturing began to move overseas and the native Steel City worker was  faced with having out-dated skills.

Fast forward to February 2007, and now it was me who had to face the harsh reality of being out-dated as a 50 year technical sales engineer who elected to leave Eaton Corporation (they had purchased $1.1B of Westinghouse’s operations in 1994) after 28 years of service. While in the act of searching for meaningful work in other industries, it also became clear that while I knew how to e-mail and search the web, I did not have clue to what Web 2.0 and its tools were about.

LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogs were a foreign language, but fortunately the San Francisco business climate offered conference and other net-working events “to decipher the code.”

Today I enjoy being familiar with these cool tools, and having met other knowledgeable people who use them too. But, more importantly I derive meaning by helping other Baby Boomers “break the code” to utilize these powerful social media networking tools in their job/career search.

How are you re-tooling?

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Community News Virginia on 18 Dec 2008

Community Alert: Marin Food banks

Ann, our beloved bookkeeper, spoke with a representative of the Marin Food Bank this a.m. to ask what foods they as most useful to receive this Holiday Season. They mentioned canned protein items such as:

  • Tuna
  • Chicken
  • Chili
  • Stews
  • Soups

www.marinfoodbank.org
75 Digital Dr # 4
Novato, CA 94949
(415) 883-1302

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Industry Articles Carlos Hernandez on 16 Dec 2008

“Eco-Shopper Asks:Does The Down Economy Mean Better Customer Service?”

I worked my way through high school and college (Stanford University) at a San Francisco based grocery store chain. In fact, my Stanford application essay was based on my observations as a shelf stocker and product packaging schemes.

Fast Company’s Melanie Warner’s “Green Business: “The Sad Life of the Eco-Shopper”
relays her unpleasant shopping experience in the quest to be evironmentally responsible.