 October
27,
2004
Welcome again from the Alternative FUTURES Letter, a career
management newsletter published by the Alternative FUTURES
Press in Berkeley, California. We hope you enjoyed
the last Letter with the article entitled Self
Sabotage: Ways We Get In Our Own Way . This issue of the Letter
offers lots of additional information and commentary
plus a timely article about one of Clay's clients entitled It's
About Time--A
Reluctant Journey .
Please print and post copies of this newsletter
and pass on copies of the Letter to your colleagues, friends and relatives.
News
from The Front Line
What's the Real Unemployment
Rate?
San Francisco Chronicle
Despite what you may think, the unemployment rate is not based on
the number of people collecting unemployment benefits. It is based
on a monthly survey of 60,000 households by the US Bureau of Labor
Statistics, asking people 15 and older a series of questions to determine
their employment status.
People count as employed if they are entrepreneurs
or employees, or worked 15 hours of more without pay in a family business.
For people to qualify as unemployed, they must be actively looking for
a job or going through a temporary layoff. Those who have stopped looking
for work are not included! Also, if you work one hour a week you are
considered to be employed!
Offshore More Not Less!
Washington Post
A report by an influential consulting firm is exhorting U.S. companies to
speed up offshoring operations to China and India, including high-powered
functions such as research and development.
In blunt terms, the report by the Boston Consulting Group warns American
firms that they risk extinction if they hesitate in shifting facilities to
countries with low costs. That is partly because the potential savings are
so vast, but the report also cites a common view among U.S. executives that
the quality of American workers is deteriorating.
"The largest competitive advantage will lie with
those companies that move soonest," the report states. "Companies that wait will be caught in
a vicious cycle of uncompetitive costs, lost business, underutilized capacity,
and the irreversible destruction of value." Boston Consulting, which counts
among its clients many of the biggest corporations in the United States, admonishes
them that they have been too reluctant rather than too eager to outsource production
to "LCC's," or low-cost countries.
I'm Outta Here!
CBS MarketWatch.com
Inspired by an improving job market and tired of years of productivity
gains wrought on their backs, almost one-half of U.S. workers are
ready to jump ship at the next opportunity, according to a recent
poll.
Forty-seven percent of workers are currently looking for another
job or plan to look within the next 12 months, according to an online
poll of about 2,600 workers conducted by Web portal Yahoo.
"It's been more of an employer's market for the last couple
years. A lot of employees have been feeling overextended and under-appreciated," said
Marc Karasu, vice president of marketing at Yahoo.
"Now that we're beginning to see the first glimmers of potentially
a reversal in the economy and more hiring starting to pick up, it's
logical to take it to the next level. These employees who are feeling
oppressed are starting to feel empowered and are starting to look
at options and see what's out there," Karasu said.
Railroads Plan to Hire Thousands!
CBS MarketWatch.com
NEW
YORK - If railroads are in decline, you wouldn't
know it by the Help Wanted shingle they've recently
hung out.
Major U.S. freight haulers plan to hire thousands of engineers and
conductors in the coming year to handle unprecedented volumes of coal
and consumer goods. Union Pacific alone plans to hire 5,000 by year-end.
A wave of retirements sparked by a recent change in federal law prompted
the current shortage of highly-paid train operators, who can earn
$100,000 a year. The hiring boom may be short-lived, though, due to
expected technology-fed efficiency gains in the decade ahead.
Would-be applicants take note: The hours are tough,
as is the workload. Engineers work on an as-needed basis, requiring
they be on call 24 hours a day, seven-days-a week, for potential cross-country
journeys.
Inspiration
In creating, the only hard thing is to begin.
A
blade of grass is no easier to make than an oak.
~
James Russell Lowell
Teachers may open the door, but you must enter
by yourself.
~
Chinese Proverb
The Lost Dr. Seuss Poem
I love my job. I love
the pay!
I love it more
and more each day.
I love my boss, he is the best!
I love his boss
and all the rest.
I love my office and its location.
I hate to have to go on vacation.
I love my furniture,
drab and grey, and piles of paper that grow each
day!
I think my job is really swell, there's nothing
else I love so well.
I love to work among my peers,
I love their leers and jeers and sneers.
I love
my computer and its software; I hug it often
though it won't care.
I love each program and every file.
I'd love them more if they worked a while.
I'm happy
to be here. I am. I am.
I'm the happiest slave of
the Firm, I am.
I love this work. I love these chores.
I love the
meetings with deadly bores.
I love my job - I'll
say it again - I even love those friendly men.
Those friendly men who've
come today, in clean white coats to take me away!!!
Dr. Seuss
(Deceased)
Feature
Article
It's
About Time--A
Reluctant Journey From Cab Driver to University Professor
By
Clay Parsons
Motivation is the bottom line behind most major career changes.
When you have it you can achieve anything.
The gentleman I affectionately call The Cabbie is one of the most
interesting individuals I have ever worked with.
He also succeeded in making one of the most
dramatic career changes, from cab driver to
university professor. This is his story.
Click
here to read the article (PDF)
New
Career Milestones
Examples of
what Parsons' clients at Alternative FUTURES' are
doing
Greg
P. consulted Clay when
he was working as a
driver for a package
delivery firm. In his
own words he was "in
the depths of misery
and trying to find
a career path to some
happiness." His dream
had always been to
become an airline pilot. After working
with Clay and a short assignment with
the US Customs Service as a Customs
Inspector he was recently hired as
a pilot for a major US airline. His
comments in a recent e-mail: "Dreams
do come true. After 23 years of temporary
jobs after college,
now I can finally begin
my real career!"
David B. recently accepted a position as
the marketing director of a major credit union.
Dave was student body president of a large public
university during his college years and has continued
to be active in local and state politics as a volunteer.
His long-term goal is to develop a professional practice in political
consulting and eventually run for statewide and maybe even national
public office. "Dave in 2008!" 
Until
next time,
Clay
Parsons, MA, MLA Alternative
FUTURES Press
2034 Blake Street
Suite 6
Berkeley, CA 94704
Tel:
(510) 287-5664
Fax: (510) 548-9921
www.alternativefutures.com
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