I attended my 2nd job search work team meeting today. Job search work teams are offered by the outplacement agency my company provided. I wanted to go through 2 rounds before sharing my take on it.

I love it.

I didn’t realize until I attended how “out here on my own” I felt. Here you meet with 12-14 folks from varying industries, but all in the same boat with you. As is the case with grad school and other group settings, you learn as much from each other as you do from books,web,etc. We report the number of hours we spend on job search each week, number of contacts made,etc. This isn’t a competition, rather, I find it gives me a feeling of usefulness. I have a report due with metrics each Wednesday, and that is actually very healthy mentally.

There seems to be some interest among my group in learning more about social media tools for job search, especially Twitter, so I am going to put a little workshop together.

Never thought I’d be this happy to go to a meeting.

…and that’s exactly what I did with my family on Sunday. Champagne brunch. I’m laughing because my sister was trying to be Annie Libowitz Jr. and give me all these posing instructions. It’s all good though. Had a blast. Cheers to another year of life!

If there were such a thing as a blogger Congressional Medal of Freedom, .Jeremiah Owyang deserves one.  Jeremiah has been dedicated and selfless in helping people find jobs in social media. Using his wide influence in the blogosphere network, he’s been dedicated to posting openings, promotions, and hirings.This post shows results of  a “time to landing” (a job) survey he conducted recently.  Standing O, Jeremiah.

PS. My dream is to one day make your “On the Move in Social Media” post series.

Jonathan Fields is a godsend for anyone who’s been downsized or is making a career change.  If you haven’t yet, get thee over to his Career Renegade site and immerse yourself in it. This particular post was on time for me today, with a bout of the layoff blues hitting me this afternoon unprompted.

Mr. Fields’ book of the same name launchde earlier this month. If you purchase the book, (about $12-13 on Amazon.com) you can participate in Career Renegade Flight School, which is 16 free hours of online education about how to truly “make a living doing what you love.” as the subtitle says.

Thank you Jonathan!

I posted earlier about not making it to my 25th anniversary with my company, and not getting a lavish lunch and stainless steel Rolex such as they used to do back in the day. Not sure if they still do this even.

As I was driving in for my exit interview, the thought came to me:

You can buy your own Rolex.

I took this celestial news flash as a metaphor, not a literal command. (My family reads this blog, they’d have had me on speed dial by the time you read this.) It’s just that, more and more in life, I learn I cannot look outside myself for: validation, recognition, approval, rewards, et al.

Years ago one of my wonderful IBM mentors, Ms. Cheryl Buckner, shared this mantra with me (based on the infamous Bartles & James wine coolers commercial) :

“Sometimes,I have to go buy my own Bartles & James and thank me for my support.”

So if I can share this one thing with those out there who are smarting from the sting of a layoff: Go find a way to thank you for your support. Of your team, company, agency, plant, whatever.

Buy your own Rolex.

EDITOR’s NOTE: Mine will be white gold with diamonds and the Havana jubiliee face, thank you very much. One day…one day.

EDITOR’s NOTE: Dan Schwabel of Mashable offers some streamlined,pratical advice for stepping your job search game up with a few free low-cost steps. –K

With a social media resume, you’re able to paint a completely different portrait of yourself for hiring managers and customize it to reflect your personal brand. With the inclusion of various multimedia elements, sharing options, integrated social networking feeds and the same elements you’d find in a traditional resume, you are better equipped for success.

Read Dan’s entire post here.

Want to manage Britney Spears’ online persona? She’s on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other sites, and somebody (not her of course) has to do all the hard work of posting and responding to content.

That’s where you come in. If you went to Harvard, that is. Brandcasting Unlimited, Britney’s online manager, posted the job listing below for “Britney Spears 2.0 Media Manager” yesterday on a Harvard-only private job board. Among the not-so-tough job requirements: you must be “addicted to social networks such as MySpace and Facebook.”

via Britney Spears Is Hiring An Online Media Manager.