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Jobkeepers: a Mensa SIG
This SIG closed with the April, 2003 issue.
- If you need specific information for job searches and career tools, click here.
- To access our career skills courses, click on the brainpower link in the navbar above.
- To find out about Jobkeepers, keep reading!
Jobkeepers interview | Sample newsletter
The Jobkeepers SIG is Mensa-sanctioned Special Interest Group, open to people from all walks of life--Mensa members or not. Members receive a good-looking, informative, concise paper newsletter every even-numbered month. It's packed with solid, useful information--and edited by a Certified Professional Manager.
Here's the explanatory letter that went with initial inquiries in the pre-Internet centricity days.
September 1998. Original version: July 1995 Welcome to the Job Keeper’s SIG. This is the standard letter to prospective members. What if I don’t have a problem keeping a job? Maybe a job isn’t the answer to "what should I do for a living?" Is it is a bridge to a new career? Holding a slot on someone else’s payroll is a product of the industrial revolution—a 20th century phenomenon. Jobs, as thousands of people discover weekly, appear headed for Jurassic Park. There is no security. If you can keep a job, then you have something of value to share. In exchange, you may learn more about improving what you do have. For most of us, job loss is traumatic and has long-lasting effects. Michael Ovitz had the comfort of over $100 million in severance—most of us are lucky to get enough to pay for parking at Disney Land. For the "disposable generation" (born since 1960), jobs are hard to keep. When you sacrifice to obtain credentials, and then work smart with the knowledge you have, you still lose. We look at why this is and what to do about it. If you pull rabbits out of your hat and save the company, why are you the first one let go during a restructuring? Does performance matter? Is there a magic bullet? We all have different experiences and sources of knowledge. If we pool our diverse information, we may unlock the secrets that allow incompetents to thrive (the Dilbert Principle) no matter what. We can apply those secrets to our own jobs. Tell me about the Newsletter. Our newsletter recognizes your time is too important to spend reviewing bloated tripe—our letter is lean and muscular (but not so dry you yawn at it). If you have really useful information, send it to me and I will include it. "Do a good job" is vague. A reader can focus better on something like, "work to make your boss look good." A reader can really bite into, "do those spreadsheets your boss has been complaining she hates." If you have found how to do something to your advantage, how to ride out the storm, how to get a good raise, then you have just the kind of information we’re looking for. Many of us are bosses, ourselves. How do you keep subordinates from undermining you? Do you catch your bees with honey or with vinegar? Do you use a carrot, a stick, or both? How do you use them, and when? Do you get someone else to use the stick so you stay clean? Are you the world’s best butt-kisser? Share your knowledge with the rest of us, as we come to the feeding trough! Are you the best backstabber there ever was? Do your associates get stopped at airport metal detectors after dealing with you? Now you can be recognized for your talents. How do you deal with the company backstabber? How can I get an idea to you? E-mail: writer @ieee.org. Snail mail: 4806 Wedd St; Merriam, KS 66203-5414. Anybody who joins this SIG can call me—I’d love to hear from you. Problem is, you’ll probably catch me @ a bad time. But hey, take a chance. My ph# is (913)UD1-RITE. (I’m an editor). Consider giving a gift membership. |