Sometimes you have to sing a verse of "Alice's Restaurant" to see whether you're crazy or part of a movement

LYRICS - Alice's Restaurant: "('KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?') I went over to the sargent, said, 'Sargeant, you got a lot a damn gall to ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin here on the Group W bench 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug.' He looked at me and said, 'Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints off to Washington.'

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say 'Shrink, You can get anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.'. And walk out. You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the guitar. With feeling. So we'll wait for it to come around on the guitar, here and sing it when it does. Here it comes.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant"

You Leave and You LO$E

An Open Letter to OfficeMax.

Dear Mr. Bonner,

I don't intend to shop again at OfficeMax until you reverse this decision about the corporate headquarters. I am hoping others across Ohio will feel the same. You have not justified this departure to the community and it mocks your Code of Ethics. It is about the extra burden you will place on the unemployment roles. It is not simply about lost taxes in Shaker Heights, nor no new gain in Cleveland. I have been over a year trying to find employment in my profession in Northeast Ohio. Now you've added to the competition.

This is one time it is easy to vote with my feet. My attachment (to the original letter) is a copy of my $15 purchase made at Staples today. I hope you see many more from businesses and individuals in the near future, both retail and contract. May they return unopened merchandise and cancel your contracts.

Please forward this message to Mr. Duncan's office.

Copyright 2005 Harlan R. Cohen MBA,CPIM

Indecision, Bias, and Overcoming Objections

Indecision on the part of a hiring manager, like Bias in a discussion at my job seeker group yesterday seems to fall under the general heading of 'Objections'. Indecision can often arise out of unspoken objections. Biases might be thought of as preconceived objections. Overcoming objections is a natural part of the selling process, so turn to what you've learned about salesmanship to find your answers.

Objections can fall along a dimension with Intrinsic characteristics on one end and Extrinsic factors on the other. Intrinsics are what you can't or won't change. Extrinsics are the opposite. Not having an MBA is an extrinsic and may be solved by going after an EMBA.

Intrinsics are generally the things left unstated: too old, too young, too white, too black. Of course having an MBA is something you can't really undo, so if being 'over-educated' is a beef for the hiring manager, it's an intrinsic.

Intrinsics can be minimized, maximized or reframed. If I'm 'over-educated' I can play it down or I can make my target market Higher Education, where it is valued.

Am I a 'diversity' candidate? I am Jewish and White and Male AND I grew up in multi-racial Cleveland Heights with children whose parents were everything from janitors to university professors. Cleveland itself is ethnically diverse and our family-owned grocery store introduced me to a number of cultures and the importance of customer service. Then I went to a university with many South American, Asian, and Middle Eastern students and started a career with General Electric, which was one of the more culturally diverse firms at that time.

My feeling is that an extrinsic is something you can act on or promise action on, even during that indecision period. And if I don't want to act on it, can I say I'm really going to be a good fit for the job? Will I have to change the organization's culture to what I feel is superior or am I going to synthesize from the best aspects of the organization and my own experiences?

Inexperience with the industry? "I've been reading the trade magazines, networking with ..., attended the ... seminar, and skimmed the classic .... Is it true that ...?".

Extrinsics can be turned back on the interviewer. "What do you recommend to strengthen my knowledge in the short term."

Of course there are only so many ways I can split my interests, and one reason I have so many technical books left unread at home is that I can't figure out whether to pursue Oracle, Java, and Banner or look further at Microsoft .Net, Business Objects, and some other major application.

My previous job search classes taught me to overcome each objection in turn and ask for the job each time the list of objections runs out. If the same objection keeps re-occurring, and I've exhausted my tactics for overcoming objections, it may simply be time to withdraw and move on. And withdrawing my candidacy is just one more tactic to overcoming an objection.

Copyright 2005 Harlan R. Cohen MBA,CPIM