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Here is a little tip for everyone out there that is, like me, searching for work in this down economy – stay organized.

If you’re like me, you’ve been checking sites daily and submitting resumes, cover letters and applications like crazy for the last few months.  Depending on the organization, it may take months for the position to be filled.  By the time you may get a callback, the odds of remembering the particulars of the job posting are fairly small.  If you’ve been putting in the effort you should be, you may have multiple versions of your resume out there, and each cover letter you submit will be unique.  You also need to keep track of all the people and companies that you have submitted to, have received replies from, have interviewed with, etc.  For professionals, the job-hunting process can generate large amounts of data.

During my last term of job-hunting, I didn’t use anything other than plaintext to keep organized.  The format was rather simple, including the job posting, a plain text version of my resume, a cover letter and any notes about the position.  I kept each posting in a separate file and each was named with the job title.  They were all held in the same location, and could easily be indexed by name or file date, which was all I really needed for my rather short job hunt.  There were several obvious problems with this system.  The biggest being I didn’t use it consistently.  My disdain for Window’s Indexing Service also killed my ability to search within the system. Inevitably, I received phone calls from hiring managers and had to stretch to remember what the position was.  A tip to hiring managers – your posting is not the only one I’ve replied to, try to remember that when you call and just identify yourself and the company you work for.  It will help minimize the time you have to spend listening to my attempts at small talk while the brain boots up.

This time around is proving to be a good bit different; I want to avoid a couple potential stumbling blocks that I left myself open with my last system of records.  First, I do not want to apply to a position more than once, as it will likely disqualify me completely and may blackball me completely from any other work with said company. Second, I want to know what position I’m talking about, and more importantly, exactly what I said about myself in my cover letter and resume, when I actually get a callback.  I’ll also need access to the resume so I can take a few copies along with me if I have an interview.  The current system of records I’m keeping is a good bit more organized than the last one, and infinitely more searchable

I’ve been using Microsoft’s OneNote to keep myself organized for a few months now, and it continues to impress me with its ability to hold the notes and coursework for my degree program, my random project notes, recipes and blog drafts.  It is a logical place to keep all my job search information, as well.  I’m not going to drill-down and explain how to start a new notebook, add sections for resume, cover letter and job postings replied to (by month).  I do keep a new page for each posting, titled to match the job posting.  I’ll copy and paste in the details, which OneNote automatically time and date stamps for me.  There is also a URL pasted so I can easily look up the originating site, if need be.  I’ll include a copy of the cover letter and attach whichever of my 5 different resumes I used (in plaintext and as a Word document).  I can include notes as need be.

This system works wonderfully for me for several reasons.  I’m not tied to a rigorous format thanks to the flexibility in managing multiple chunks of text and data that OneNote provides.  This allows me to spend as little time as possible creating the entry when I’m replying to a posting.  As anyone who has ever managed a project knows, the easier it is to document something, the more likely it is to be documented.  I also have a very quick visual index of job titles readily available to me – a quick rundown of the page tabs on the right side of OneNote lets me know if I’ve applied to a position already.  If I need to search for something like a hiring managers name to see if I’ve sent them something already, OneNote’s robust search feature handles it well, and has proven to be a lifesaver on more than one phone interview.  Notes I take during a phone in face-to-face interview get added to the posting, and life rolls on.

As with any organizational system, this is not perfect.  I don’t like tying myself to a single vendor with any process, even documentation.  Also, I don’t have reliable access to the information when I’m on the move.  Sure, I can connect to my Laptop via my Android-powered G1 and view the data that way, but that isn’t practical.  I also don’t want to fill my inbox with copies of the OneNote pages.  For now, it is only a minor problem.  I am, after all, looking for work, so it’s not like I have anywhere to go during the workday.

Congratulations are in order for my Brit friends – your guy may have just locked up the season. Some of the most exciting Qualifying sessions I’ve seen in a while. A great race overall, Ferrari’s 3 – 4 finish seems to suggest they may be getting their cars together. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is also the first podium for a KERS-equipped car, also. Should be an exciting season, presuming that someone can start beating BrawnGP on race day.

Today I snuck off to catch a 10am screening of Terminator: Salvation at my local megaplex, since the wonderful, if not slightly musty-smelling Alamo Drafthouse isn’t running it.  I’m going to avoid as many spoilers as possible.

Rotten Tomatoes states that this latest Terminator outing lacks the heart of the original movies, which is true.  Truly beneficial.  After three movies and a failed television series that all espoused the unavoidability of the destruction of the human race, maybe we are bored with that story.  I was tired of it after T2.  Perhaps our collective conscious, brought low by years of warfare, financial distaters and political scandals will prefer to see something a little more upbeat, like its ability to survive.  I say that Terminator: Salvation has saved the series.  Of course, for some unknown reason, I love just about everything that involves humanity rising from the ashes of its own demise.

Take a few things into account – if you’re seeing this fourth Terminator movie, I’m assuming that you know the history, but are not a frothy-mouthed fan boy.  McG, despite a ridiculous name, has done a great job of continuing the Terminator future.  His style is easily recognizable, and he obviously has been keeping up with my” favorite action sequences” list.  Nothing is copied, but stylistically I can pickup elements that made my favorite sequences my favorites.  I see a little Blade Runner hiding in there, too.  Oh, and the best GnR song ever, that’s in there, too.

The movie avoids the issue of time travel almost completely, which is a really, really good thing.  I’ll accept the concept of time travel as a vehicle to get the Terminator storyline started, but I never, ever want to see something like what the Sarah Connor Chronicles did with it.  It’s also nice to see machines that are, in fact, programmed to “kill all humans” and not do much else.

Anyway, good continuation of the story set out in T1 and T2, loads of explosions, great direction, a slightly annoying Christian Bale over-emphasizing every single bit of dialogue, robots, robots, robots, explosions.  Oh, and everything is dirty,as in filthy dirty,  but somehow Skynet has the decency to keep itself sparkling white. I guess we didn’t get to see the T-800 wielding its most deadly weapon – the feather duster.  Maybe that will be on the DVD extras.

Yeah, that sums it up nicely.  Go see it, its a good summer popcorn movie.

…So thats what its called.  Besides the occasional posting about fly fishing or Formula One racing, I’ll maingly be chasing Online Reputaton Management.  I came across this interesting posting over at Walden University’s ThinkUp blog site today, and it is a good starting place while I learn more about what I need to get the name ‘Chris McNeill’ pointing here from most major search engines.

I was thinking of things in terms of SEO for a person, but Online Reputation Management sure sounds a little better.

Read the article at the ThinkUp site here, or visit the original source here.

I’ve been catching up on this years F1 season with this years Spanish Grand Prix, thanks to the ever-handy DVR.  A nice continuation of the season so far.  As much as I don’t like seeing veteran teams like Ferrari and Williams running towards the back of the field, I’m loving the new blood we have at the front.  Ross Brawn is, so far, the man this year.

I hear mention of the US F1 team perhaps being two teams rather than just one.  Exciting prospect!  Peter Windsor, who we should all recognize from his pre-race walks of the grid on SpeedTV race broadcasts, and Ken Anderson, former race and team engineer for Rick Mears in the 80’s, should hear in the next couple of months if their team will get a shot at the starting grid next year.  They are planning on having a car ready for testing before the end of 2009.

I’m not sure who the rumored second team may be, but I’d love to see some more drivers in the series, and more teams competing for the championship.

To top it off, their headquarters is in Charlotte, NC.  The heart of NASCAR country.  I know next time I fly out to see my folks, I’ll be looking to see if I can stop by their shop and get a tour, a photo op, a die-cast replica, some sweet Puma racing gear and anything else they’d like to toss my way.

I attended the last US Gran Prix as Indy, and was absolutely blown away.  Loads of fun at one of our nation’s best racing venues, the race unfortunately had a lower turnout that desired.  Most of the people I’ve chatted with in the US don’t even know what F1 Racing is, let alone who the teams and drivers are.  Considering that I get a little confused by the new rules that are put into effect every year, I doubt that the general public has a clear handle on things.

I’m going to do some legwork to gather more information on these teams and rumors, and will add some more info as I find it. In the mean time, I’ve added an RSS fead from formula1.com to the sidebar.