Posts Tagged ‘Opportunities’

After the layoff, I’ve thought a lot of about the role of fear in my life. I’ve realized that if one only listens to fear, it covers up who we really are, our essential nature.

Part of living in fear may include an inability to ask for help. Fear tells us that we shouldn’t ask for help because it will make us vulnerable and show that we’re weak. Fear also tells us that asking for help will make us look selfish and feel stupid because we can’t do it all ourselves.

Fear tells us these things but we know they are not true. Most of the people I respect and admire are those who knew the power of asking for help and used it to build movements and achieve transformational change.

I’m looking for job opportunities and I’m asking for your help. I listed my job search areas below and some helpful bits of information that demonstrate my experience in each area. You can help by connecting me with possible opportunities, spreading the news, and by just saying hello and sending encouraging words. I’ve already received a great amount of support and I’m grateful.

Are you also on the job hunt?

If you’re on the job hunt as well, I encourage you to ask for help. If you have your target job areas posted publicly, go ahead and put a link to the page in the Comments below. This will help others reach out and connect you to opportunities and to spread the news.

My Job Search Areas

My personal mission statement is to empower people through technology education. This includes empowering individuals and small businesses.

I’m primarily looking in Ventura Country and Southern California, but will consider moving to the Bay Area or other locations if the salary & growth opportunities are there.

My LinkedIn is at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jpluna
Visual CV: http://www.visualcv.com/jesseluna
My blog: http://www.jesseluna.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jesseluna

I have three main search areas:

• Technology Training/advocacy,
• Online Marketing Manger, and
• Community Manager

Details and experience in each area:

Technology Training/advocacy

• I taught elementary and middle school for seven years in El Monte, Redwood City, and San Francisco (Mission District)
• I was a “user advocate” and tech systems trainer for CDI for the first three years with the company, in addition to doing web design and programming.
• I was a lecturer at Cal State Channel Islands for over a year, teaching Business students the ins and outs for Information systems management and teaching them to blog and build Web sites. I have an MBA and a Masters in Computer Information Systems.
• In 2009, I created an online blogging class. The class was created using the WordPress platform.
• I’ve also done volunteer Internet consulting work for non-profits (low-income law advocacy, alumni group, social justice groups, political campaigns, sustainability)

Online marketing manager

• I’ve worked in this role for the past seven years. Includes online advertising (including Google AdWords), product marketing, email newsletter creation and delivery, SEO, e-commerce site design
• I created and managed over 500 online promotions
• Have also done a lot of offline activities such as print/signage design for marketing collateral and trade shows
• I’m seeking a position that includes social media management.

Community Manager (in social media)

• I introduced social media to my previous company and we took a stepwise approach to folding it into the business
• I managed the company’s Twitter account (@cdi) and created a Facebook group for the company
• I helped set up the company with a blogging infrastructure. We created our first group blog a year and a half ago and now the company has several people blogging. I trained everyone on how to use WordPress.com and WordPress.org sites.
• I was an active part of #Eric campaign, an effort to save a young man’s life. More information is available on the Eric’s Law site and you can see my interview with What Gives on the campaign via my Visual CV page.

I appreciate your help and you can reach me via email at jesse [dot] luna [at] gmail [dot] com.

Photo Credit
Andries3 on Flickr – Creative Commons license

I made a huge decision a couple of weeks ago. My remote work location Web Marketing Manager position was terminated as part of a reduction in forces. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I had the opportunity to move to Denver for a different position with the same company.

My first thought was that I had to move to Denver. I started making plans, setting time-lines, notifying family, and stressing out. It wasn’t just the right thing to do, it was the only thing to do. Or so I initially thought.

As the days went by I noticed that my morning walks were no longer cheerful ones. I use the walks with my lab Ivory (@niceblog on Twitter) as a chance to reflect and enjoy the beauty of the morning. I say hello to everyone I meet – the early-working men on their way to fields or to cut grass who hang out near the bakery, my neighbors, folks at the park. I also use the walk to reset my energy. It’s just like when a dog shakes in place. They do so to shake away the past and to get back to a calm and present state of being.

But that was changing. At one point I looked up to say hi to a passerby-er and realized that my face didn’t convey its usual confidence and cheer, but something quite different. It expressed pain.

When confronted with a tough decision, we have two immediate thought inputs. One is instinct and the other is fear. The first works off of concrete experience, intuition, and confidence and the second works off of insecurities, cumulative fears, and a fictional past and future. This is what they said:

Fear: Boy, you really dodged a bullet there. Of course you only have one choice. Let’s pack up the house, put it in storage then lets move to Denver. Yes, you’ll probably lose the house, wont’ be able to take Ivory with you, and will be a thousand miles from all your family but at least you won’t be unemployed. If you don’t take the job you’ll never find another one and you’ll be a loser.

Harsh.

Instinct: You’ve worked so hard over the past 12 years to build a career for yourself outside of your daily job. You earned two Masters degrees, ventured out and co-founded a Dot Com startup, were a University lecturer, and have learned how to foster online communities. This may be a good time for you to break away and fully match your personal interests with your everyday career path. You can do this. It’s time.

Fear likes to keep people quiet. It tells us to keep things to ourselves so that people don’t think we’re losers, petty, or insignificant. Fear tells us that we need to be quiet because we have no idea what we’re doing or how things will turn out. But the more we listen to fear, the more we internalize those insecurities and act based on them. Eventually we end up projecting those fears to others.

I don’t know where this adventure will lead me, but I choose to move forward with courage and to continually empower myself and others around me. And yes, fear will creep out from time to time. But now I’ll see it as an indication that I am progressing and moving into new and uncharted waters while staying true to myself.

I intend to share this journey and some of the tools, inspirations, and approaches that I’ll been using to stay focused. Thanks for listening and for joining me on this adventure. Thanks to all those who have already sent encouraging words and job leads. I truly appreciate your words and actions and am grateful for your support.