What Makes You Come Alive

"Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~ Howard Thurman.

My "Twitter" Addiction

My name is Kathy and I am a “Twitter" Addict.

When I first heard of "Twitter", I thought, why would I want to use Twitter when I am perfectly happy with keeping track of my family, friends and "Farmville" - another addiction - on "Facebook", as well as, connecting with my professional network on "LinkedIn". I have been quite content with both of these social networking sites and the great way that they have kept me in the loop for some time now.   

Why would I want to use Twitter when it wants me to answer the question “What are you doing right now?" and only gives me 140 characters or less to do it in.  So I stayed away from it.

But I kept hearing - “tweet me”, "you don’t tweet?", "you're not on Twitter?", "you don’t know what you’re missing” -  by many of my friends.  My curious nature led me astray. I had to find out for myself what all this attraction to Twitter was about.

I opened a Twitter account and was truly amazed at what I found. 

Here are a few of my findings:

Search for Jobs by Keyword(s):
Use Twitter Search to look for jobs that are posted using keywords that pertain to what you are looking for. Any jobs that meet your search will appear. Example: Sales, Call Center, Rhode Island.

Search for Targeted Jobs with Keywords by Topic:
Type keyword(s), then # before  a word to search Twitter by topic. Example : Manager, Human Resource, Boston, #jobs.

Quick Search for Jobs by Title and Location:
Type http://www.search.twitter.com/ or http://www.twitterjobsearch.com/. Then type the desired job title, location, #topic. Example: Helpdesk, New York, #jobs.

Search for Recruiters:
Type TweetMyJobs or TwitJobSearch. Select: Advanced Search (select options to narrow down your choices). Press: Enter.

Stay in-the-know by following experts in your field or industry: Type twellow.com, the Twitter Yellow Pages, to search for experts in your field and industry.

Be viewed as current or knowledgable in your industry or field: At “What's Happening”:  Type an informative message about your industry. Select: Tweet.

I have learned so much from the career experts in my field that I am connected to on Twitter. And make it a practice to pass some of their career-related tweets on to my LinkedIn and Twitter connections (friends).

Uh-oh. . . here it comes  . . . I'm getting that urge to tweet again . . .


Gotta hit the keyboard . . . fast . . .bye-bye! ~ka

Disclaimer: I do not own anything this picture. No copyright infringement intended. It belongs to its respective owners.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Discover You

"Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.

You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you are doing. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself". ~Alan Alda  

The Answer Is . . . !

Alex Trebek delivers a clue in the form of an “answer” every week night on a game show called Jeopardy!  Players compete by buzzing in with the “correct answer” in the form of a question to win cash.

What does the TV show Jeopardy! have in common with your inner search for your dream career?  They both use Categories, Clues and Answers and deliver rewards. Let me further explain.

Contestants on Jeopardy! are introduced to six Categories that list welcoming topics like Science, History, Pop Culture, Literature, and Geography.  As Alex Trebek introduces each topic, the contestants and at-home viewers begin to probe their minds for possible answers to revealing clues.

This “Category” concept, is used in “The Flower Activity” within the pages of the NY Times’ Best Selling Career & Job Hunting Guide, What Color Is Your Parachute?, by Richard Bolles. Like Alex Trebek, Mr. Bolles introduces several categories that are used to guide the job seeker to a path of self-discovery as it relates to their career.  Their journey is aided by a large visual flower design. Each petal of the flower is individually labeled with a category that allows the careerist to better clarify where they want to head professionally.

The petals of the flower are labeled as follows:

“And Here Are The Categories”

Transferrable Skills & Values       Special Knowledge     

People & Environments

Working Conditions    Responsibility & Salary Level    Geography

From then on, like the contestants on Jeopardy!, the job seeker is prompted to reveal answers by exploring clues under one of the categories listed above.  Reflecting on career skills, identifying values and interests, desired company location and salary range, as well as other career components, are explored.

“The Final Answer”

Contestants on Jeopardy! reap large cash rewards for giving the right answer in the form of a question in the Final Jeopardy Round.  A “Final Answer” from the “Parachute Flower Activity” will also be revealed. The “answer” may be a nudge to change careers or to look into applying one’s skill set to another industry.  Other final answers may lead one to a conclusion that their current line of work is a “fit” that works.

Whatever the answer, there is one huge difference between Jeopardy! and the “What Color is Your Parachute Flower Activity”.  Jeopardy! is a fast-moving television show that enables contestants to give concrete answers and get instant rewards within a 30-minute time span. That is not true for a self-assessment career exercise like the “Parachute Flower Activity”. 


Self-assessment, especially career-related ones, almost never happens overnight. Time, energy, passion, hard work and continued inner-reflection will aid the job seeker in unlocking the answers that may inevitably reveal their chosen career path.  ~ka

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this video. No copyright infringement intended. Everything belongs to their respective owners.
"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Reach For Your Next Opportunity

"How do you meet a new person?
I was very stumped by this for many years.
And then I realized, you just say "Hi."
They may ignore you  or  you may marry them. 
And that possibility is worth that one word?" -Augusten Burroughs

Reach for your next opportunity and just say "Hi".

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in thispicture.. No copyright infringement intended. It belongs to its respective owners.
"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."