Are we falling or flying … and will we ever know?

Life, the universe, technology, project management, and why change management is so incredibly hard.

Posts Tagged ‘winston churchill’

Scapegoat Wanted, Part II

July 15th, 2009

Several weeks ago I blogged about some of the more… interesting… employment opportunities making the rounds within Seattle.

Not surprisingly, at least one of them is still open… or, should I say, RE-OPENED.

Two friends were contacted right around the time of my original post, but by two different agencies trying to staff that same job; one actually interviewed with the hiring manager for that role; their summary of that experience sparked my original post.

Today, another agency contacted my friend about that same job, which now has a few new requirements.

Enjoy:

A competing agency filled that contract senior project manager position on June 1st; their new employee hired for that role started June 29th.

Today the agency who filled that job called me today and asked me if I’d be willing to start a job, oh…tomorrow?

I asked what the positon was…they began to rattle off something all too familiar: Must be very proficiant with SharePoint, must know Excel and know how to use lookup formulas. They need someone immediately.

But – this time the project manager must be less of a leader and be more of a team player. And the contract was demoted to PM2 instead of PM3.

Hmm. After subtracting the federal holiday Friday, July 3 – that contract Senior PM survived either 11 or 12 days with that team. Based on the original job posting – I think they earned a gold medal for sticking it out that long.

I’m sure the next update will be equally entertaining, if not more so. The already late project is now three weeks further behind; it’s a safe bet that hiring manager and team are more pleasant and flexible than ever.

Stay tuned…. :)

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” – Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)

Scapegoat Wanted.

June 19th, 2009

Truth in advertising, especially employment adversiting, is rare enough that I think it should always be rewarded; and yet despite today’s still too weak economy, there are several jobs in the Seattle area which aren’t getting any takers:

Program Manager Non Tech Position – Level 3 SharePoint, PowerPoint, MS Project and Excel Skills

A Global team is currently in reactive mode, trying to prepare for the launch of this program, so things are very fast paced with quick turnaround. It is a high stress environment, but the team does it’s best job to be friendly and flexible. This program will involve 10 small projects under one major project.

Beyond the obvious spelling and gramatical errors, the ultimate punchline is not included in the fine print – which is the hourly rate to take on an obviously failing and potentially career ending project comes out to about $70,000 a year, and without compelling health or vacation benefits.

Another company in this area has struggled for months to fill several full time employee corporate recruiter roles in a market where many really good senior recruiters are desperate for work. I no longer work in staffing, but still am aware of 3 candidates who declined offers for those jobs; several friends still in recruiting think the actual number is two to three times higher.

If a job opportunity or work environment is such that even in today’s economy multiple candidates decline offers for those jobs – the only time and mental bandwidth I’ll spend pondering on those is being thankful those problems aren’t mine.

At the same time, I realize the end result is truth in employment advertising will become even more rare than now.

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” - Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)

In the end, here it is.

January 13th, 2009

Well, it’s the New Year. My hope for all of us is the economy will only improve from here.

Yeah, right. Good luck with that.

Lately I’ve become a fan of Winston Churchill quotes:

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” - Winston Churchill

“A man does what he must – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality.” – Winston Churchill

“War is a game that is played with a smile. if you can’t smile, grin. If you can’t grin, keep out of the way till you can.” – Winston Churchill

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill

“When the war of the giants is over the wars of the pygmies will begin.” – Winston Churchill

And – my all time favorite Churchill quote, just because:

“The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.” – Winston Churchill

Speak of the Devil…

December 16th, 2008

I started this blog almost a year ago when I realized blogging was cheaper than therapy, and also more fun – since it allowed me to humorously capture some of the …um… interesting experiences… of my then-day job, plus other things I learned from life, most often the hard way.

I changed employers; now life is good. But the reality is good managers are few and far between, and like Elvis, bad managers are everywhere. These days several in particular are running amuck in and around the Mid-Atlantic states.

Some quotes which helped me through those dark days, and may also help you:

“War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can’t smile, grin. If you can’t grin, keep out of the way till you can.” – Winston Churchill

“Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.” – Mark Twain

“Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.” – Winston Churchill

“It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the end.” – Douglas Adams

“I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.” – Mark Twain

“Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.” – Winston Churchill

“If A = success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X = work. Y = play. Z= keep your mouth shut.” – Albert Einstein

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

“When going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill

“Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.” – Abraham Lincoln

“I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt