LMS Announcement: A New Chapter Begins

A little over three years ago I set out on a journey as a reunion volunteer for my alma mater, Lake Forest College. Because of my leadership and success in that capacity, I was quickly invited to join the Alumni Board, where I immediately proved my stripes as not only a reliable and talented volunteer, but as a leader on the Board and became the co-chair of the Alumni Relations Committee.

At about the same time, I got more involved in the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce when I joined the Board of Directors and became the chairperson of the Professional Women's Council. My active involvement in the Board and leadership in the PWC, led to a nomination for the 2010 Business Leader of the Year. (I didn't win, but it was a huge honor to be nominated. Honestly.)

Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with alumni relations and discovered I had a talent for it too. That's not to say I haven't continued to love my Mary Kay business, but the volunteer work I was doing allowed me to stretch my muscles in a different way. In fact, one of the things I have most enjoyed about my Mary Kay business is also what I most enjoy about volunteering in alumni relations: building relationships. In my opinion, alumni relations comes down to relationships. Alumni who have positive and satisfying relationships with faculty, staff, and other alumni, are more likely to be more involved in their alma mater by attending events, volunteering their time, and donating their money. Building the relationships is key too all success.

As I've continued to evolve as a volunteer, I began taking classes in non-profit and volunteer management. I even seriously considered getting a master's degree in it. Who knows, I might yet do it. In the fall, LFC offered members of the Alumni Board the opportunity to attend the alumni relations industry conference in Chicago, on their dime. Knowing a great opportunity when I see it, I jumped immediately.

The conference was an incredible experience. I picked up many tools and ideas that I would love to implement with volunteer programs at LFC, but the biggest thing I learned was that there is no "one way" of doing things. Yes, there are best practices, but many ideas, implemented well, can succeed.

Late in the afternoon of the second day, I was standing at the hospitality desk speaking with my friend Tim (the Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations at LFC) about alumni relations employment opportunities when a man I didn't know walked by and said "Hey Tim! I see LFC is hiring!" as he pointed to the message board about 10 feet away. Tim assured him and me that wasn't true, but I was already pulling the lone job description off the board and discovering a job called Alumni Relations & Events Manager at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management (not affiliated with Lake Forest College, although many people believe them to be one-in-the-same).

And that was the moment my world changed. Reading over the job description, I just kept thinking "These are the things I do now as a volunteer! This job was custom made for me!" I put my desire for a position in alumni relations out to the Universe and the Universe answered in record time, just as had happened many times before in my life.

I applied for the job (with the help of the incredible Lake Forest College Career Services Center because I'm embarrassed to tell you how long it had been since I looked at my resume), had a total of 10 interviews with 8 different people, and tonight, I am thrilled to announce that starting Monday, February 14th, I will be the new Alumni Relations and Events Manager at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management!

Once again, when I put something out to the Universe, the Universe answers with amazing speed. I hope the Universe is ready for what I'm about to ask for next.

Road to Recovery - Thank You President Obama

Numbers don't lie. No, we haven't recovered yet. We're not done. But fewer job losses each month is a good thing and is a large step in the right direction.

Click on the image to see it in full size.

From Organizing for America:

One year in, the evidence is clear – and growing by the day – that the Recovery Act is working to cushion the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and lay a new foundation for economic growth.

• According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Recovery Act is already responsible for as many as 2.4 million jobs through the end of 2009
• As a result, job losses are a fraction of what they were a year ago, before the Recovery Act began

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

• Cut taxes for 95 percent of working families through the Making Work Pay tax credit
• Cut taxes for small businesses
• Provided loans to over 42,000 small businesses
• Funded over 12,500 transportation construction projects nationwide, ranging from highway construction to airport improvement projects
• Made multi-billion dollar investments in innovation, science and technology that are laying the foundation for our 21st century economy
• Provided critical relief for state governments facing record budget shortfalls, including help to prevent cuts to Medicaid and creating or saving over 300,000 education jobs

Economists on the left and the right have stated that the Recovery Act has helped avert an even worse economic disaster.

Dude, Do You Need A Job?

Have you been having a difficult time finding a job because of your pot smoking? Do you have Glaucoma and need a hook-up for medicinal marijuana? AND are you a talented writer?

Westword, the Denver News Blog has the job for you. They are looking for someone to review medical marijuana clinics for their new blog "Mile Highs & Lows."

According to the job description,

The job is simple: Visit a different dispensary each week (without revealing you're working for Westword) and pen concise, impartial and snappy accounts of your experiences. Keep in mind this isn't about assessing the quality of the medicine on site; it's about evaluating the quality of the establishment. After all, we can't have our reviewer be stoned all the time.

The perfect candidate will be a talented writer who's not about to play favorites -- and, of course, someone who has a state medical marijuana ID (or the ability and need to obtain one). Compensation will be meager -- and no, we can't expense your purchases, although that would be pretty cool.

They'll accept informal resumes, but not ones written on rolling papers. Sorry. Oh, and they'd like a one paragraph essay on "What marijuana means to me."

I'm guessing that in this job market there will be kilos of applicants, so you'd better get rolling.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go find some snacks. I've got the munchies.

DISCLAIMER: LMS does not endorse pot smoking or the use of any illegal drugs. In fact, LMS is proud of the fact that we have never smoked pot or taken any illegal drugs. We took Nancy Reagan's advice to "just say no," preferring to just remain high on life.

Dear President Obama

Dear Mr. President,

Early Friday morning, I received a text message from my dad confirming the news I'd been expecting since Thanksgiving: He had lost his job because his company went out of business.

His company had previously been one of the largest retail bedroom furniture companies in the entire state of Indiana. And now they are out of business.

My dad had long seen the writing on the wall. Last summer, he told me about how their business had been adversely affected because the Chinese government, in preparation for the Olympics, stopped all furniture shipments leaving China. As you probably know, over the last decade, almost all U.S. furniture production has ceased to exist because it was simply unable to compete with the cost of furniture made in China. Consequently because of the Olympics, my dad's company (and I'm sure many others) were held hostage by the Chinese government last summer.

With no time to recover from that, the economy collapsed in September. You know exactly how deeply Indiana has felt the impact. You've visited the state multiple times yourself and seen the devastation to people's lives first hand.

Yes, my dad stayed with his company until the end. He's been an employee there for 12 years. What other choice did he have? I know he's been looking for a new job for months, in hopes that he'd avoid being unemployed, but so far he's found nothing.

My dad is a college graduate and has worked hard his entire career, all of it spent in the retail industry. He's loyal, patient, great with customers, knowledgeable and has always been one of the top sales people at his various companies. He's been in management, but prefers not being the boss.

It's been great hearing you talk about expanded health care benefits for the unemployed, but I don't think your programs go far enough because they only benefit those eligible for COBRA. You see, my dad's not eligible for COBRA because his company went under. So now he's completely uninsured and that's a problem. My dad has epilepsy and asthma. I can't tell you the last time he had a seizure, but that's only because of the medicine he's taken daily for the last 40 years. How will he afford this medicine now? He's not eligible for Medicare yet because he's only 63 1/2.

In fact, because my dad is 63 1/2, who is going to hire him? Yes, we both know that equal employment laws prohibit discrimination based on age, but that's nearly impossible to prove. He looks pretty good for his age, but a cursory glance at his resume by anyone with rudimentary math skills and his age becomes obvious. In spite of it being illegal to do so, I worry that companies will realize his age and not hire him because they'll think he'll retire in a year or so and not around for the long haul.

Finally, the thing that upsets me the most about this horrible situation is that because his company no longer exists, he didn't get paid for his four weeks of paid vacation and he discovered yesterday that he wasn't getting paid for his final two weeks of work. That's 6 weeks of pay he's lost and no way to recover it.

I won't get into how big of a hit his retirement savings have taken in the last 6 months.

He's got no debt, except for his mortgage, which I'm certain he's up-to-date with. My dad's a frugal guy

Mr. President, what do I tell my dad? How do I help him? I wish your health care benefits through the stimulus package also helped people who aren't COBRA eligible. It's not my dad's fault he's not COBRA eligible. He's just a guy who's worked hard his entire adult life and through no fault of his own, finds himself completely unemployed 18 months before he's eligible for retirement.

I listened to your press conference last night, but didn't hear anything that gave me reassurance that anyone really yet "gets" the plight of Main Street and not just the loud whining from Wall Street. Please prove me wrong. Please do something to help my dad.

Thank you.

Little Merry Sunshine

Looking For A New Job? Barack Is Hiring!

There's a very short application (more info here). I'm sure it will take you just a few quick minutes.

Good luck!

And feel free to use me as a reference!