tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1185219031783989911.post5505779894473623645..comments2023-12-23T02:16:43.463-08:00Comments on "Rational Preparedness" : The Blog: Staying Marketable No Matter What the CircumstancesJaneofVirginiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15320442534060401465noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1185219031783989911.post-25564893892274922242014-05-06T19:33:22.678-07:002014-05-06T19:33:22.678-07:00Sounds like you kept and developed broad skills an...Sounds like you kept and developed broad skills and have helped others with them also. I applaud that !JaneofVirginiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15320442534060401465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1185219031783989911.post-53790574548742479292014-05-06T18:51:58.637-07:002014-05-06T18:51:58.637-07:00I never went to college, I learned trades and deve...I never went to college, I learned trades and developed many skills and they served me well over the years, I also owned a few of my own businesses and did okay with them. Now I just live in my little cave and do volunteer work helping others on my own terms. BBChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15323188240580782454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1185219031783989911.post-9111386982950297492014-05-05T03:40:30.230-07:002014-05-05T03:40:30.230-07:00Yes, a piece of paper may get one the interview, b...Yes, a piece of paper may get one the interview, but whether one has the ability to do the job or not is what will keep the job, if you are able to get it. Most of us have done the grunt work behind someone who got the credit. Eventually in combination with "on the job training" and seeing which certifications and trainings an employer will pay for, we are able to move ahead.<br /> You weren't dumb. It's the way most of us start and then we find other positions in other places where promotions and recognition are a bit more possible. Thanks for posting.JaneofVirginiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15320442534060401465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1185219031783989911.post-2500666342116395562014-05-04T18:12:25.907-07:002014-05-04T18:12:25.907-07:00That little paper of certification shows INTENT to...That little paper of certification shows INTENT to an employer, but not ability. And lacking that paper keeps many people from rising through the ranks. You might rise to be working for someone who HAS the certification, but that's usually all you can do.<br /><br />While on the fire department, I had great interest in everything involved in arson investigations. Eventually the Chief of Arson had me walking through the soot, taking photos, drawing the layout and pin-pointing the accelerating chemicals that were used.<br /><br />My photos, paperwork, and deductions were submitted to court by the Chief as I stood in the peanut gallery. Anything I could have said in court would not have been considered laughable, but when presented by the Chief, he was lauded for his great abilities - when he had none, just the credentials,<br /><br />When I look back, <b>I</b> was the dumb one after all. dumb dumb dumb lotta joyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12742978845913126675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1185219031783989911.post-2805396302171411712014-05-04T07:08:23.956-07:002014-05-04T07:08:23.956-07:00Exactly ! You and Jam epitomize exactly what I me...Exactly ! You and Jam epitomize exactly what I mean. Of value in being successful not only in jobs, in entrepreneureal pursuits or in life, is the willingness to read about something, teach it to yourself and be willing to take additional training in something. Probably the best indicator of success is the willingness to be flexible. Of course, something approaching a healthy economy is also really helpful ! Thanks for your post.JaneofVirginiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15320442534060401465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1185219031783989911.post-5517239370657406522014-05-04T05:49:27.017-07:002014-05-04T05:49:27.017-07:00Jane - being able to acquire new skills, even whil...Jane - being able to acquire new skills, even while in a particular job, is something that a lot of people don't think about. then when they are laid off, they continue looking for jobs in the same field thinking to themselves "well, i am a teacher" and therefore only look for teaching jobs. the same applies to some people who retire. jambaloney was a waiter/bartender while he was getting his BA in philosophy and then went on to become the executive assistant at a very prestigious IT corporation here in canada. while there, he taught himself everything he could about IT and all of it's technologies, eventually moving to a new company as an entry level IT analyst. as he kept teaching himself more and more - he has no certification in IT, he kept moving up in jobs and when we left the city he was a senior IT business systems analyst for the gov. of canada. but, as we knew for a few years before we left that we would be moving here, he taught himself how to work a chainsaw, learned about septic systems, gardening, etc. once we got here - well you know just how handy he is!!! his years of waitering/bartending have really paid off at our functions, he's done 3yrs of working on our friend's commercial blueberry farm and now he is back working in the IT field at LobstersRUs. i am just using him as an example of someone who never put it into his head "i have a philosophy degree" - i should be a teacher, or something along those lines.<br /><br />another great post, Jane! your friend,<br />kymberkymberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02607117635648274823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1185219031783989911.post-82453624380651770912014-05-04T03:43:27.885-07:002014-05-04T03:43:27.885-07:00I was amused when I read about your friend. It re...I was amused when I read about your friend. It reminded me of something my father used to tell us. In one of his jobs in corporate America, he had a secretary. My father had been a radio-electronics officer in WW2 and one of the skills he had is that he had to be able to type as fast as he could think as a radio telegraphist. In the seventies, when he needed a letter readied quickly, he used to send his secretary on an errand and complete the letter quickly himself, because he could type at 144 words per minute with excellent accuracy, and she could type as 45 words per minute with so-so accuracy.<br /> My father had said that the "typing skill" which he acquired at about 16 took a long time for him to get, and at first it did not look as if he were going to be able to acquire the skill. Eventually, when he did, he excelled.<br /> My mother felt the same about typing as your friend originally. She "had people" for that, and felt it took her off executive functions. She never did learn and had a secretary in her last job, until her secretary died, and then was not replaced.JaneofVirginiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15320442534060401465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1185219031783989911.post-9353813141235501112014-05-04T03:34:55.656-07:002014-05-04T03:34:55.656-07:00Yes, this is an issue in many places. I have a fr...Yes, this is an issue in many places. I have a friend who lives in the Raleigh, NC area where there are the largest number of Phds compared to any other area of the US. This makes it very hard to get a job with only a bachelor's degree.<br /> Speaking as a former college instructor, I don't think the higher the degree indicates more trainable. I don't even think it indicates more brains. I do think that getting degrees does entail a certain amount of frustration and annoyance. I think that when a company hires someone with a higher degree that they are not simply buying training or smarts. I think they believe they are hiring a person with a certain level of tolerance for annoyance and frustration, which is useful in most any job. In the forties such tolerance was simply called maturity !JaneofVirginiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15320442534060401465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1185219031783989911.post-1319936175728395452014-05-03T22:37:17.162-07:002014-05-03T22:37:17.162-07:00My friend who had an MA in math from Georgia Tech,...My friend who had an MA in math from Georgia Tech, was a Major in the AF, flew 100 missions over Vietnam had one big regret. He said he rebelled against taking typing in high school and was forever at the mercy of someone else when he needed something typed. I asked him why he refused to take typing. "I was better than those guys who trained to be a drudge as I saw it." I am sure that the class having an abundance of girls in it made him not want to train to be like a girl.<br /><br />However, he bought his wife the best Selectra money could buy and depended on her. Once she was gone, he had to pay people to write his college papers. Yes, she took the typewriter! <br /><br />We will never know how much the suggestions of the British schools made you choose nursing. I am quite sure those words stuck with you. Dreiser, one of the worst writers when it came to technicalities was told to keep writing, that correcting papers was what editors were for. Thank goodness teachers can see who is a good writer. <br /><br />Most jobs I had were not as a school teacher (have the certification), but having a MA in education was a requirement or put me ahead of the pack for some jobs I had.Practical Parsimonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08419071209412207674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1185219031783989911.post-69785041286720076322014-05-03T16:07:33.774-07:002014-05-03T16:07:33.774-07:00Quite an interesting story. The problem that we ha...Quite an interesting story. The problem that we have in my area is that therre are so many unemployed college graduates that many places want a degree that don't even need one to do the work. They just figure the better the degree, the more trainable they are. Maybe they're right.Gorges Smythehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08777621500611603786noreply@blogger.com