Author: Portfolio Creative

Do you have or know a creative school age student who loves to doodle? You can encourage them to enter Doodle for Google! It’s a competition where Google invites K-12 students to play around with the homepage logo and see what new designs they come up with. This year’s intriguing theme is “What I Wish for the World.”

The National Winner will win a $15,000 college scholarship to be used at the school of their choice, a trip to the Google New York Office for an event on May 20, 2009, a laptop computer, and a t-shirt printed with their doodle. We’ll also award the winner’s school a $25,000 grant towards the establishment/improvement of a computer lab. The winning doodle will also be featured on the Google homepage on May 21, 2009.

“These are exciting times and both our country and the world are on the brink of significant change. At Google we believe in thinking big, and dreaming big, and we can’t think of anything more important than encouraging students to do the same.”
Registration closes at 11:59:59 PM Pacific time on March 17, 2009 and entries are due by 11:59:59 PM Pacific time on March 31, 2009. Teachers, you’ll find everything you need to get started on the Registration page. Only teachers or school employees should register. Parents or students who are interested should contact their teacher to register them.

Marketers, market thyself! Whether you are currently looking for a position or want to brush up on your skills just in case, the Columbus Chapter of the American Marketing Association has a workshop for you.

I love books and I love design. So what could be better than a review of design books? The Designer’s Review of Books includes content that makes me think, images that inspire me, and occasionally work that simply makes me drool (and wish I had done it). Founded, edited and mostly written by Andy Polaine who is an interaction designer, journalist and lecturer.

Thanks to Lance Osborne for sharing this on Facebook.

Communications Arts has announced their Call for Entries for the 50th Annual Juried Photography Competition. More info and online entry here, deadline is March 6th.

Three creative team members from Kernacopia, an outstanding firm in Marysville, recently participated in a competition to rebrand the city. Senior designer Jen Peters designed the winning entry, full story is here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Jen Peters is a very talented designer we helped place with Kernacopia some time ago…and we still think of her as one of ours. Once you’re part of the Portfolio family we never forget you!

Janice Worthington‘s article from Business First this week really struck me as a great reality check for job seekers. The advice is sound in any market, but especially important in today’s climate. If you’re a Business First subscriber you can read the full article online. Key points below.

What you should know about the changed landscape for job seekers:

• No one will knock on your door–even if you were always recruited for jobs in the past, expect to be the one looking today
• Realize the hunt–it requires creative hunting in corners relevant to your skills and expertise
• Type…Point…Click is not a job hunt–this is passive job searching and employers are swamped with online resumes, only using online job boards is equivalent to only looking at newspaper classifieds
• Interview schmooze is out–don’t be try to be a buddy or divert from the interview topic of how you can meet the employer’s needs, be friendly of course but stick to the relevant discussion
• Welcome new arrangements–consider all options…jobs that require longer or weekly commutes, contract-to-permanent jobs, relocation or paying your own relocation expenses
• Know the players–both internal and external recruiters work for the employer, their mission is to fill the position with the best possible candidate not to find you a job
• Career coaches for candidates–career coaches advocate for you, walk you through the search process, provide professionally prepared resumes, networking assistance, search strategy tools–their mission is to find you a job. In the interest of full disclose, the author is a career coach that we do recommend to our associates.

Recently Eileen wrote about a book she read called “FISH!” Another book in this series by Stephen C. Lundin is called FISH! Sticks. Like the previous book, Lundin continues to weave his teachings in a fictional story about Good Samaritan Hospital in New York; however, this story talks about adapting to changing times and how to keep your work fresh.

With so many stories on the news about companies closing or laying off employees, there’s a lot of people hoping President Obama can fulfill his campaign vision, “yes, we can change.” At the moment, this energy is external and you need that to get people to jump on the band wagon. Lundin states that “external energy is necessary at beginning of any large-scale change initiative. But it’s only effective for the short-term.”

At some point in order to sustain change, the energy “must be replaced by natural energy in order for the change to stick,” otherwise you’ll backslide into old ways. Lundin says that natural energy is created when we “find IT, live IT, and coach IT.” IT is how we see ourselves personally contributing to the vision, whether it’s President Obama’s vision, your company’s, or your own.

Once identifying what your IT is, you need to find opportunities to contribute to the vision, called “vision moments.” Lastly, in order to achieve natural energy that will sustain a changing environment, you need to coach IT. Coaching isn’t about who is right or wrong, who is the boss, or more senior; instead it’s about keeping everyone on the same path. “Coaching is the glue that holds us together and the fuel for the little corrections that keep a place burning bright.”

So if you really want change to happen, read “FISH! Sticks” to understand how important your actions are to fulfilling the vision.

In celebration of International Coaching Week, Sharon Delay of Permanent Ink is offereing complimentary (yes, free) micro-coaching sessions to the first 25 people who email her! Contact her. Now. What do you have to lose?

Have a burning career question? Have you hit a wall in your career search? Want to try LinkedIn or Twitter and not sure how to get started? Need to figure out how to state something on your resume? Use your 15 minute micro coaching session anyway you want to fit your career transition need.
 
The first 25 people to email Sharon at permanentink@insight.rr.com will be scheduled for a free 15-minute telephone micro-coaching session. When you e-mail, include FREE MICRO-COACHING in the subject line, include your name, e-mail and telephone number and choose one of the following time blocks (she will confirm your 15-minute session via e-mail):
·        Monday, February 2, 5:00-7:00 p.m., EST
·        Wednesday, February 4, 10:00 a.m.-noon, EST
·        Thursday, February 5, noon-2:00 p.m., EST
 
Include your question or issue in the e-mail to can maximize your micro-coaching session.

One school of thought claims social networking via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like are just an excuse to hide on a computer and not meet “real people”. Definitely old-school thinking; in reality these tools can help bring us together both online and in-person. People are social beings, and with all of these great ways to find and connect with each other, our world is becoming more social rather than less. Of course I realize I’m preaching to the choir, if you’re reading a blog you probably are somewhat involved in this world of online connection already. But I only recently got more involved with a few of these platforms, and am surprised by some of the results.

Some connections are purely online, which is to be expected. The surprise for me has been how online interactions can lead to in-person connections, often reaching a much wider audience than any one person could directly. Tweet-ups bring people together in real life who previously only knew each other online. Dating sites help people meet each other who never would otherwise. People find old friends (and sometimes romances) through Facebook. Organizations offering training or events can spread the word quickly to a large and more diverse audience. Initial meetings online can lead to meaningful in-person interaction.

A few examples:

Ryan Morgan is organizing a fund-raiser for a business hurt by the Grandview fire via Twitter.

Fuse Factory can quickly promote their training offerings, which are passed on from friend to friend.

People from high school that I haven’t seen or heard from in over twenty years are now friends on Facebook.

I got a mp3 player for Christmas and am hooked on audiobooks. Seriously. I don’t even have music on it yet, just books and podcasts. What I love about it is that I can “read” tons of books that I don’t have or take the time to read normally.

I just finished The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm, by Tom Kelley. To be honest when I downloaded it I didn’t really know what it was about, the title just caught my eye. But once I got into it and I realized exactly who IDEO is I was hooked! They are in the business of product design, but really consider themselves in the business of innovation. The book is inspiring with ideas and thoughts about how you can bring a culture of innovation to your own business or workplace. Loved it!