UPDATE: You can read a summary of the segment on the CNBC On the Money blog. The excerpt from the CNBC website is below. It will begin after a short commercial.

Full MP4 Version On the Money with Carmen Wong Ulrich Video Podct!

If you’re up at 10pm on Friday, you may be interested in watching CNBC’s On The Money.  One segment will focus on Social Media Networking and how it has helped my job search.

This is a follow up to the advice Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com, and the rest of the CNBC panel gave on the March 6th show.

Should be fun!  If you decide to watch, would love to hear what you think.

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Watch me on CNBC On The Money – Fri 3 Apr 09 10PM EDT is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

Sometimes we are presented with opportunities which cost us little, yet provide great help to others.

Today, April 1, 2009, along with other bloggers, I’d like to ask you to consider sending $1 or more to help replenish local US foodbanks.  You can give money directly to your local foodbank, or you can send it to Feeding America.  Below is a short description.

Thanks for your help with this effort.
With kind regards,
Alec

Everyday, the news is filled with the dire news about the current economic climate and a lot of us use the blogging community to take a break from the constant drumbeat. However, we can not ignore the fact that friends and family members, and even some blogger friends have lost their jobs because of the recession. People who never had a worry in the world now have to think about where their next meal is coming from. People who never would have dreamt that they would need help are now showing up at the local food banks. But when they get there, the shelves are bare.

There is not enough food being donated to meet the sudden rise in demand. There is not enough money to buy the food for the food banks. There is not a general understanding that food banks need help to help fill their shelves.

Bloggers and their readers across our country are joining together to contributions to either their local food banks, or Feeding America, a group of more than 200 foodbanks in the US. Every dollar contributed provides seven meals or 10 pounds of food. A gift of $25 provides 75 meals. If everyone makes a donation on April 1, April Food Day, we will be able to make an impact on hunger in America.

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April Food Day is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

It’s been a pleasure to create this blog for you

Over the past year of writing Making Project Management Better, my goal has been to provide at least one solid post every week.  The focus is to help you as a project manager become better at what you do – more effective, more skillful, and of more value to your employer.

It’s a soft skills blog

…because I believe project management is really about developing great relationships with people. Too little of our formal training helps us excel in this area. I want you to feel that by reading this blog, you are encouraged to better yourself little and often.  A wise person said that teaching others is the best way to learn.  By writing for you I continue to find areas for me to improve.  It’s an exciting and energizing process.

It’s about colleagues

My hidden purpose in creating this blog has been to develop lasting friendships with other project managers throughout the world.  Have you and I communicated through email, IM or twitter?  I truly look forward to continuing our conversation in future.

It’s non-commercial

If you read something here, it’s because I believe it to be worth your consideration – not because I’m getting a kickback of some sort. This blog is my way to serve.

Usually I don’t ask for your help.  This post is a rare and necessary exception.

Why this post

I’m getting ready to put up a separate hire me subdomain to help generate new work.   Work has been off for me as well as others in 2009.  I’m currently looking for a full-time project.  I can work 1099, corp-to-corp, contract or FTE¹ with or without health benefits.

How you can help

Have you had a positive experience with me?

If you have anything nice to say about working with me, or about something you’ve gotten out of a post you’ve read, or from this blog in general,
please add it as a comment to this post.

You don’t have to write much.  It can be unpolished.  Specific is good.
Real is best.

Your comments will be helpful for prospective employers in identifying why they might want to hire me.

Job leads

I’ve been focusing my search in the New York City area, and would particularly appreciate any leads you might have for people who have the ability to hire project managers, or know those who do.

I can easily travel up to 4 days per week, and would be happy to work anywhere in the US and/or eastern Canada.

My rates are market competitive – neither cheap nor expensive.

Please tweet this post

Spreading this message may provide a lead neither you nor I can envision.  Vive le social network!

Thank you

Your help will allow me to provide you with great content for many years to come.

(Photo credit: sidnid)

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Favor Request – I need your help is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

1. Full Time Employee

If you are deep in a job search, or contemplating one, you might be interested in this free offer from FedEx Office (formerly Kinkos). On Tuesday, March 10th, bring in your resume in hard copy or electronic form. FedEx Office will print 25 free copies on nice paper for no charge.  This may be U.S. only – check with your local store if you are elsewhere in the world.

If you are working, this could save you from the potential embarrassment of being seen copying your resume on the office printer.

No word on how popular this offer may be.  You might want to go early.  Still, a kind offer.  Thanks FedEx Office!

(Photo credit: Oliver Charavel)

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25 Free Resume Copies at Kinkos on Tuesday March 10th is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

Kimberly Wiefling has earned the 2008 Shrinkie Award from Project Shrink for her August series on the UCSC blog which included the posts “Manage Cows but Lead People” and “Leadership for a tiny planet“.

Her writing is consistently helpful and enjoyable.  If you have as a personal goal to continue your development as a project manager, you could do much worse than to subscribe to UCSC blog.

Congratulations, Kimberly!

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Kimberly Wiefling Earns 2008 Shrinkie Award – Best Project Management Post is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

If you have left comments on Making Project Management Better recently, you may have noticed a little heart icon underneath the comments box.

This icon and the links near it come from a WordPress plugin created by Andy Bailey.  If you have a blog, and leave a comment, commentluv finds your latest post and adds a link.  This helps readers find new blogs they may be interested in reading.

Andy has announced a very generous contest.  For every comment you make on a commentluv registered blog like this one, you will be automatically entered. You can leave comments on any current or previous post on this site.  You don’t need a blog to enter.  All you need to do is leave a comment.

Good luck!

P.S.  If you’re reading this, you’re not a spammer.  It goes without saying though that spam comments don’t count.  Here’s an example of a spam comment:  From: euxgue  Subject: The best ueoust yin you ind phoenix.

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CommentLuv Contest – Just Leave a Comment on Any Post! is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

On Monday night, a bright light departed. John was my buddy. He was one of my closest friends, and probably among the best friends of many people who knew him. He was in good health, always upbeat and filled with optimism. His death at 50 from aortal aneurism was sudden, unexpected, shocking.

On hearing the news, one of our mutual friends, JW, said, “I think about that guy every day. How can it be that he is gone?”

When someone dies, they are never replaced. The space John filled in our lives will never be filled by someone else.

Still, we go on.

When I heard the news about John I went into that quiet place we all have inside ourselves. The message I received said that it was up to me – to all of us that knew him – to be the love in the world that he can no longer be.

All about love

John loved love. He devoted a great portion of his research, reading, experimentation and infectious enthusiasm to the development of techniques for opening the heart and manifesting love in all situations and circumstances. He sought by example to give love, grow love, share love, build and teach love.

Service

At work, in his neighborhood, and in his friendships and dating relationships, John lived to serve.
Probably none of us that knew him knows the extent of all the ways he gave freely and without expectations of reciprocity.

His teachers

John was generous with his learning. He was graced with many teachers. Some of his favorites included Peter Ragnar (http://www.roaringlionpublishing.com/), Richard Bach, (author of Illusions, one of John’s favorite books), John Randolph Price (author of Superbeings), Kyriacos C. Markides (the Magus of Strovolos), and Og Mandino (author of the Greatest Salesman in the World).

His book

For the last 7 or 8 years, John spoke often of his book, Running and Being Love, Living the Runner’s High.
Even though he seemed more recently to be moving away from this title, to me it captures the true experience he lived and desired for others.

John, God bless you my friend. The world was truly a better place for having you in it.

Thank you for all the times we shared.

May our paths cross again on other shores than these, in that place where we shall remember our tears no more.

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In honor of John Harrell, Aug 26, 1957 – June 30, 2008 is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

Have you ever spent 20 minutes looking for a file on your Windows PC that you just knew was there, but couldn’t find?

Here’s a free tool that has helped me numerous times.

XYPlorer is a portable file manager for Windows with a powerful file search capability. Portable means that it can be placed on a USB flash drive (like the Ironkey) for use when needed.  Unlike Google Desktop or Windows Desktop Search, you only have to run XYPlorer when you want to use it.

While the most recent version requires purchase, the freeware version 5.55 is still generally available from the Portable Freeware Collection and other places.

Here’s a screen shot of XYPlorer:

On the upper left you can see a tree view to navigate along the directories on your computer.  This area functions much like the explorer built into Windows.  Just to the right is the results window.  The search area, which is what will help you the most in finding files, is on the bottom.

Notice that the search area has 7 tabs to help you specify your search.  In this image you can see the Name & Location tab, on which I have entered “build” for the name, and F: for the location.  Other tabs which are extremely useful include “Contained Text” which allows you to search inside documents.  “Exclude Folders” allows you to eliminate directories or sub directories from your search.

You can see that XYPlorer has found 2 subdirectories on the F: drive which contain the word “build”.  It has also found 8 documents on F: which contain the word “build” in their names.  This search took less than 10 seconds to complete on my Toshiba Centrino laptop running on power saver mode.

Under a tight deadline and must find a file?- XYPlorer could help.

Enjoy!
Alec

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Portable Windows Tools (2) – Find Windows Files Quickly with XYPlorer is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

While I’ve been a deep sleeper for most of my life, over the last few years I’ve had recurring bouts of insomnia.  Following the standard sleep dos and don’ts has not really helped my 4am awakenings.  When these times hit me, I am wide eyed with mind throttle wide open.

A few months ago a google search let me to the website for the Stress Eraser.  The Stress Eraser is an attractive, deck-of-cards sized biofeedback device.  Its purpose is to provide an easy way to bring yourself to a place of physiological equilibrium.  It’s convenient to carry, operates on 2 AAA batteries, and is easy and enjoyable to use.

The website marketing material is well written and is worth perusing if you are interested in this product.  I’m going to concentrate on how it worked for my insomnia.

Relaxing Nights
The product comes with a card describing the Relaxing Nights program.  Under this program, it’s suggested that you use the Stress Eraser nightly for a month.  When ready for sleep, you take 15 minutes to earn a score of 100 points.  (Points are gained by exhaling to a count of 4 when prompted.)  If you awaken during the night, you use the tool to earn a score of 30 points.

Did it work?
In a word, yes!  It worked so well in fact that I found it difficult many nights to keep my eyes opened long enough to get to a score of 100.  When I did awaken in the night, the short session allowed me to calm my mind enough to fall back to sleep.

I continue to use the Stress Eraser.

If you suffer from insomnia or work-related stress, this tool might be something that could help you also.

If you have employees…
You might think about making these available at very low cost (say $20) to anyone in your organization who wants one.  The cost to you will be more than made up in employee morale and efficiency.

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Is Stress Eraser the Definitive Insomnia Cure? is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

Are you tired of carrying a pile of catalogs from the mailbox to your door, and then out to the trash?  Do you get more junk mail than regular mail?

Is junk mail getting you mad as —- and you’re not going to take it any more?  (See the classic scene from the 1976 movie Network by clicking here.)  Here’s what you can do.

GreenDimes to the rescue
GreenDimes is an organization set up to help the planet.  (From their FAQ)  They can help you get rid of junk mail through their Green Dimes Basic Service.  They claim that this is a completely free service, proven to significantly reduce postal junk mail.

Best of all, they will pay you $1.00 to do this.

I’ve signed up today.  Have you tried this before?  Let us know in the comments.

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Annoyance Buster – Put the Kibosh on Junk Mail and Get Paid $1 is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process