I got some information from my good (virtual) buddy Jessica Lee yesterday that really blew me away. I’ve blogged about health care here a few times - starting from when I cut my hand open to my thoughts about Obama saving the healthcare system… but this one is really heartening.  And I get to blog about it on the Fourth of July weekend… I can’t help but think how dang American (or COOL, or HUMANE) this is, and how Pfizer is treating us right (I really don’t know much about Pfizer, so if you are a Pfizer hater and think they are not treating us right, leave a comment elsewhere).

I’m going to show you the email I got from Jessica, who is helping spread the word about this… it’s kind of formal, but since it’s about getting free prescriptions I don’t want to paraphrase.  Note, the end the email talks about people who don’t qualify - bottom line is to go to Pfizer Helpful Answers, or call their number (866.706.2400).

This really is the bomb - thank you Pfizer for stepping up and treating us right!  The email from Jessica (with my bolds for emphasis):

I wanted to touch base with you as I’m working with Pfizer to raise awareness of its new patient assistance program called MAINTAIN, which became fully operational on July 1, 2009. MAINTAIN helps eligible unemployed Americans (and their families) who are in financial need and lack prescription coverage continue to get their Pfizer medicines free-of-charge for up to one year or until they become insured, whichever comes first.

Based on your coverage of issues affecting job seekers on the Jibber Jobber blog, I thought you would find this program relevant – and helpful – to your readers.

Through MAINTAIN, more than 70 Pfizer medicines are offered that treat a range of chronic health conditions. It is easy to learn if you may be eligible, by visiting www.PfizerHelpfulAnswers.com or calling 866-706-2400. The program is user-friendly, with a one-page application that Pfizer will typically process within two to three weeks. The program is expected to accept applications through December 31, 2009.

There are four eligibility requirements for MAINTAIN:

• Applicants must be able to demonstrate loss of employment since January 1, 2009;
• Lack prescription coverage;
• Attest to financial need; and,
• Be on their Pfizer medicine for at least three months prior to unemployment and enrolling in the program.

If you would like more information about MAINTAIN, please let me know and I can put you in touch with someone from Pfizer Helpful Answers.

I hope you will take a moment to learn more about MAINTAIN and to post details about it on your blog. It’s a valuable resource for the millions of newly unemployed Americans who may need help to continue getting their Pfizer medicines, but who may not be aware that this program is available.

Thank you,
Jessica

P.S. Uninsured patients who need a Pfizer medicine but who do not qualify for MAINTAIN may qualify for Pfizer’s other Patient Assistance Programs. More information is available at www.PfizerHelpfulAnswers.com. For patients who are taking Pfizer oncology or specialty medicine and need assistance, Pfizer Helpful Answers also runs programs designed specifically to meet the needs of those patients including those who have recently lost their jobs and their insurance. These programs include RSVP for anti infective, HIV and PAH medicines, FirstResource for oncology and the Pfizer Bridge Program for endocrine care medicines.

How many other companies are doing something like this? Please help spread the word on this - I think it’s just plain COOL!

A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to chat with Mark Hovind, of Job Bait, about this recession.  Mark is a numbers nut… he is very analytical and loves trends and crunching numbers and stuff like that.

We talked about a particular graph he developed showing the trends of the recession… I had seen this graph before but listening to him talk about various points, like times in history, what the trends mean, his predictions, etc. was fascinating.  It was one of those times I wished I had my JibberJobber family/users on the call.

Fortunately, Mark agreed to talk about it on a webinar - there is limited seats available so hurry and register here.  We will do this webinar on Tuesday, July 21at 11am MST (that is 10am PST, noon CST, 1pm EST, and I have no idea what time it is in Arizona - you’ll have to do your own math on that).

If you have any questions for Mark, please leave them in the comments on this blog post.  Otherwise, GoToWebinar will allow you to ask questions during the webinar, but I guarantee we won’t get through all of the questions.

Here’s the graph we’ll talk about (we might go to other graphs):

Finally, I didn’t know what to call this webinar… some of these came to mind:

• Where is the recession headed?
• When will the recession end?
• What should I do in my job search, career, or business, at this stage of the recession?

I guess it could all be summed up with “where are we at, where are we headed, and what does this mean for me?”

If you want to learn more about Mark you can check him out here:

• Mark Hovind (JobBait.com) on Brands, Tag Lines, and “Getting It” (JibberJobber blog post)
• Networking Doesn’t Work (JibberJobber blog post)
• Are you a “Fierce” Job Hunter? (Total Picture Radio interview)

Sign up for this webinar here, and tell all of your friends about it!

One of my favorite HR blogs is Punk Rock HR, written by Laurie Ruettimann.  Laurie just … tells it like it is.  Lots of surprises, and tons of honesty.

A few weeks ago she wrote a blog post about career options for HR professionals, based on a question she got from one of her blog readers.  The reader asks would she “suggest HR as a career?”

Laurie leaves the question to be answered by her readers… and this is where it gets really interesting.  Wonder why they say a job seeker should avoid HR?  Perhaps there is insight in some of these responses (you need to go to the original post to see all the comments, I’m only putting snippets here):

Ben Eubanks writes:

If you are wanting to be in HR because you’re a touchy-feely person, then I wouldn’t advise it.

Jen writes:

I would advise her to think of it as a career in babysiting. I hold hands when people get boo-boos, give them time outs and sometimes have to send them home. You also must have a high tolerence for crying, fighting and cleaning up messes.

HR Chick writes:

There are many days that you feel like someone’s admin assistant, nurse, counselor, mother, and babysitter. The reality is it can be frustrating and can make you jaded (if you let it).

Kerry says:

… HR is a people-watcher’s job, not a people-lover’s job.

There’s a ton more - go here to read the post.  The comments get pretty nasty… not towards an individual but towards the profession… to the point where Kerry says:  “Wow. We’re a really disgruntled group. Perhaps we ALL need ice cream.”

They really say to avoid HR in a job search because HR isn’t in a decision-making role, rather, they are in a screening role… but this post gives insight into another reason why you might want to avoid HR in your job search.

As a followup to my post Uncomfortable Networking (which got tweeted and shared a lot more than I would have guessed), let me throw out another job search networking post.

In my job search, after I read Never Eat Alone and had some personal paradigm shifts, I grew to LOVE networking.  Networking was FUN!

I wasn’t focused on landing my next job, which is stressful if that’s what you have in mind with each conversation.

I wasn’t focused on “what can this person give to me,” which is the wrong reason to talk to someone.

I wasn’t focused on wondering if I was best optimizing my time every second of the conversation, as relationships take a while to mature.

I was focused on learning about people (individuals):

• Who they were
• HOW I COULD HELP THEM
• and possibly, how they might be able to help me in return

Once I got over all of my initial assumptions about what networking was and should be I started to have FUN!

Yippee, whoohoo FUN!

I thought it was just me, for a while, because a lot of people I networked with were stressed, but my stress somehow subsided.  I thought it was because I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, as I started to formulate my own income security with my multiple streams of income.

However, one day I was talking to someone and he said “Man, this networking stuff is really fun!”

He had gotten the bug, too.

He had started to concentrate on the other person, not on himself.

I heard this from a few others, and I realized that networking could be, should be, fun.

If you are not having fun, perhaps you aren’t doing it right.

Yes, I know the job search is beyond stressful… but I wonder if there are some things you can do differently to have fun in this period of your life.

Whaddaya think?

When I started doing research on JibberJobber I had a notion that this would become a personal relationship manager.

Most CRM tools, including Salesforce, Goldmine, ACT!, etc. focus on a sales process.  They have sales jargon, sales reports, etc.  I wanted to develop something that did not have that jargon or emphasis, but would help people manage personal relationships.  I wanted something that would become a PERSONAL CRM, not a corporate CRM.

I should say, in the CRM world there has been a lot of talk about the phrase “manage relationships,” which sounds cold, calculated and transactional.  I agree that it might not be a terrific phrase, but I do think that in order to nurture relationships, and to build “intimate relationships,” it’s darn useful to have some tool to help us remember when we last talked, what we have ever talked about, and when I need to followup.  So until I hear something better, I’ll continue to say “manage relationships.”  I hope you get the idea, though, that I’m not talking about the cold, transactional aspect of managing a relationship.

Let me talk about CRM really quick… CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management.  Companies would buy a CRM solution and give it to their sales professionals and business development professionals.  This is one reason why those who have had sales experience see JibberJobber and immediately “get it” … because they used something very similar in a prior job.

CRM tools allow a sales professional, or anyone who deals with external customers and prospects, to know who is in their pipeline, where they are at with each individual (has the sale been made, was there an offer, when does a follow-up need to happen, etc.), including a running log of all of the past communications.  It’s an extremely important part of a professional’s toolset, as it allows you to keep up with your relationships (and, sales).

JibberJobber came out in May of 2006, and was positioned to offer this same level of functionality to the individual, whether they were in sales or not.  Oops, what I meant to say is WE ARE ALL IN SALES, AND WE ARE ALL CEO OF ME INC.!  What do we sell?  Ourselves!  Our brand!  Our value proposition!

Whether we are unemployed or not, we are always in sales, and we should always work on our pipeline!

Here are a few relationship management tasks that JibberJobber helps you with:

• Knowing WHO is in your network. Not just the name of the person, but information like when you met them, who introduced you to them, are they associated with any of your target companies, when you last spoke with them, etc.
• Knowing what your target companies are. Not so much on individual relationships, but you need to know your prospects… JibberJobber helps you keep notes on your target companies, and allows you to keep track of how you “network your way into a company.”  This is critical, whether you are in a job search or not.
• Images and log entries. Putting special extra information on a record can help you remember who the heck they are.  Many times I’ve looked at a business card and thought “I have no idea who this is, and why I have the card.”  Putting a picture on helps a lot, and putting log entries with snippets of an email conversation, or notes from a phone call, really help remind me who each person is.
• Ranks the relationships. It’s not enough to simply have a network, or a big network, or a wide network… I want to know how strong the relationships are with each individual.  Keith Ferrazzi, in Never Eat Alone, talks about ranking the strength of the relationship with each contact - that was one of the first things designed into this personal relationship manager!
• Tags and Categories. This helps you “slice and dice” your data later… if you tag and/or categorize a contact you can later get their info based on the tag/category.  For example, i regularly go in and say “give me all the email addresses of my blogger contacts, or my family.”  This is done by tagging and categorizing.

And, as a bonus,

• JibberJobber is a great tool to manage a job search. While it is a comprehensive job search manager, it is not just about job search…. it is about relationship management - which is a LONG TERM thing that you do throughout your entire career!

You can see we’re merging the concept of customer relationship management and personal relationship management… and we’re doing it for YOU.

Don’t have an account?  Get one here.

When I started my job search I knew I wouldn’t have to waste time networking.

I was too busy looking for a job to spend time networking.  I didn’t want to take hours each week in the car, spending money to going to events, and schmoozing with people who really had nothing to offer me.

One day I broke down and thought I’d give it a try, but I did it on my own terms.  I really was uncomfortable putting myself out there in front of people, not sure how to network.  And of course, since it was on my own terms, I didn’t get much value out of it (and I guarantee I didn’t give any value to anyone).

My terms included:

• going to the meeting late… heaven forbid I got there early enough to have to talk to people,
• leaving the meeting as soon as the speaker was done… again, no need to talk to people!

Reading Never Eat Alone and Thom Singer’s Some Assembly Required helped change my thoughts about networking… I got excited about those meetings, and changed the way I thought about the attendees.  I started going earlier and stayed until almost everyone was gone.  I started asking for lunches from individuals, and following up in email and on the phone.

Everything changed.  Even, and especially, the results.

At lunch a few days ago I was talking with a local entrepreneur and I had a thought - sometimes you have to be uncomfortable in your networking.

If you look at me now, especially if you don’t want to network, you might think that I’m a networking fool… a crazy networker who does nothing else, and thoroughly enjoys networking.

The truth is, many times I am uncomfortable.

I am not saying we have to be in ethically or morally uncomfortable situations, but many times we are sitting in the network meeting, or in the parking lot before the meeting, or right by our phone before we make *that* call, and we are uncomfortable.  Queasy.  Scared.

I’m going to guess that everyone, even Mr. Networker himself Thom Singer, who has written multiple books on networking, gets uncomfortable sometimes.

But let me encourage you to go through with it - don’t let the discomfort be a show-stopper for you.

Go into that meeting, open your mouth, meet people, and grow your network!  Uncomfortable is OKAY.

Seems like nowadays everyone says they are a LinkedIn expert… there are a bunch of people talking about LinkedIn… how to use LinkedIn in a job search, how to use LinkedIn to make a sale, how to use LinkedIn for  _________.

I realize I’m totally biased about my LinkedIn DVD (I’m quite proud of it :p), perhaps it’s not fair to tell you what I think of it.  Let me share what others are saying about it on Amazon.com:

VerySuperCool Sue writes from Austin:

I was surprised at the amount of information that was on the dvd. I thought I had finished, when I realized I was only beginning! I think everyone who has a Linkedin account could really benefit from watching this.

Paul Jones from Salt Lake writes:

I loaded Alba’s LinkedIn DVD and immediately started using the spacebar. You know, the spacebar pauses the video. And I needed to pause the video because so much of his advice was immediately actionable.

Kelly Kennedy says:

What I especially liked is that the DVD is a webinar format of Jason using LinkedIn, not just him standing there talking about it. As you view the DVD you see what he is clicking on, what Jason thinks about various features, and what you should do with LinkedIn for job search and career management. It is especially helpful how Jason highlights sections of the program and then discusses each section individually for clarity. Our undergraduate and MBA students have taken full advantage of the program and I admit that it was clearly worth the small investment we made.

Jeffrey Ogden in Bethpage, NY writes:

Jason has created a very useful and informative DVD for anyone who wishes to optimize his or her Linkedin profile. Why is it important? I just met with a Chairman and CEO of a good sized business. He said “I loved your resume.” I responded “What resume? I never gave you one.” He said “Oh, I mean your Linkedin profile.” [I LOVE THIS STORY!!]

Sophie Lagace from Eureka (!) writes:

I have used several other LinkedIn resources, including Jason Alba’s own book and blog, and I’m employed, not looking. Yet I still found value in the tutorials, and I took several new actions to connect with people and improve my profile.

Cultural Tofu writes:

Although it’s geared towards job seekers, I found the information to be relevant for non-job seekers just trying to build their professional brand and grow their professional network. … I highly recommend this DVD to anyone interested in updating their professional brand using LinkedIn.

Thom Allen in West Jordan, UT writes:

Most of the information in the DVD isn’t a secret, but Jason brings new ideas on how to use the features that already exist for LinkedIn users. You will find more opportunities to improve your LinkedIn connection base than ever. You need this DVD.

Julie Walraven in Wausau, WI writes:

… even though I have read his book before and worked with LinkedIn for a couple of years, I found a few more tips and changed my profile once again. … Screen by screen with Jason giving clear advice, jobseekers will learn what to do and what not to do with LinkedIn and why. As a professional resume writer, I am excited to use this new tool with my clients and am recommending it on my website.

Marc W from West Jordan writes:

Jason Alba shows us in his new DVD what works and why and how to implement it. He presents his material in a very easy to follow format with excellent examples.

Thomas Clifford writes:

What I like best is I can review any of the segments quickly and easily and then jump onto LinkedIn and execute the concept. … Books on LinkedIn are fine; this is like having a private one-on-one tutorial in your home. Pretty cool!

Awesome folks, thank you for those testimonials!

If you haven’t gotten a copy of LinkedIn for Job Seekers, the DVD, yet, click here to order.

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I have career envy.

There’s this guy I know who had a spectacular career, made decent money (wasn’t rich), and now has a pension that would make a working person jealous.

In retirement he makes more than many people will ever make during their career (especially in this economy).

Actually, it’s not just one person who I’m jealous of, there are three people who come to mind immediately when I think about this.

Sometimes I wish I could just have a nice corporate (or even government) job, with a nice comfortable salary, terrific benefits, and know I’d be there for a few decades, to retire and be set forever.

Like those three I sometimes think about.  What would it be like to never worry about the next paycheck, or a health insurance issue….

The irony is I know some people who are in that situation - nice corporate (or government) job, with a nice comfortable salary, terrific benefits, and a hope they could be there for a few decades, to retire and be set forever.

Actually, that’s not necessarily true…. everyone I talk to in that situation is worried about where they’ll be in a few years.

And as we talk more, they share with me that they are envious of me.

Because I own my own gig.  I work from home.  I am free to do what I want (speak, consult, write books, make cool DVDs, etc.).  I won’t ever get laid off…

It turns out that we both have career envy, of one another.

Isn’t that ironic.

One of these days I’m going to figure out how to be happy with what I have.

How about you?

Meridith Levinson wrote  Where Personal Finance and Career Management Meet at CIO.com - it’s a really good, thought-provoking read… go check it out!

JibberJobber is a job search tool, right?

Not really.

It’s a personal relationship management tool (shhh!  don’t tell all the job seekers using JibberJobber that it isn’t a job search tool!).

Let me give you an example of how JibberJobber could be used to manage relationships…

My wife’s grandma (affectionately called Nana) has a special gift - she always sends just the right thing on birthdays.  Sometimes its a thoughtful card with a bit of money, sometimes its a shirt that is stylish and just the right size - we don’t know how she does it, but she (a) never misses and (b) always sends the right thing.

We, on the other hand, miss just about everything we can.  My wife regularly finds fathers day cards, birthday cards, etc. from years ago.  We’ve been known to send a batch of these lost cards to cover the last few years :p

So what we should do, and anyone who sends cards and presents and well-wishes, is put our loved ones into JibberJobber (this is private, no one can see the people I put in (unless I make them my Coach)) and put their birthdays in.

All I have to do is put a name and birthday.  That’s it - you don’t even need the year.

Then, JibberJobber emails us on the first of each month with a list of upcoming birthdays (for the next five weeks), and another email on the day of (or a few days before) the birthday.

It is really quite powerful to get these reminders - whether you are in a job search or not, retired or in middle school, I think this birthday reminder is a very cool feature to help you stay on top of those special dates.

This is a free feature in JibberJobber - just login and start entering the info!