Copyright (c) 2009 Michael Ogden

We had decided to try the Caribbean as a January destination as it is always warm the whole year, the people speak English, the country is stable economically and otherwise, and it offered scuba diving. We tried destinations closer to home such as Eilat, Hurghada, Lanzarote and Tenerife. I was coming to scuba dive whilst Alison was coming to do some sunbathing at the pool. But we discovered a “buzz” that which had not been described in the guide books……

The airport then was nothing like as modern as it is now and by the time we had waited in a tourist minibus for about an hour in the carpark for other passengers, it was already getting dark. We’d arrived from Heathrow on an AirJamaica Boeing 747 flight

The road took us along the edge of the airport and then on a number of occasions it ran alongside the shore on a sort of corniche road. We quickly discovered that the Jamaicans drive like mad, blow their horns a lot, while dodging the potholes of which the old road had plenty. The first town we reached was Falmouth, which seemed rather old and tired. We were glad we had not hired a car at the airport as we would already have been lost.

Subsequently, we learnt that Falmouth is frequently used as a location for films because the houses in one part were built in Victorian times. Along the way, we noticed that Jamaica has a large number of different churches. There were stalls and roadside cafes and restaurants with signs promoting such dishes as jerk chicken and jerk pork, whatever they were. The road then took us to Trelawney and then Duncans, where the singer Sir Harry Belafonte was raised and then to Discovery Bay where Jamaica’s first tourist, Christopher Columbus, landed. It seemed to take forever to get to the hotel in Runaway Bay. At long last, after nearly 3 hours we reached our hotel, Royal Decameron Club Caribbean.

There was a warm gentle breeze wafting into the lobby area from the beach and there was the the sound of Jamaican calypso music too. We were served with a fruit punch cocktail while we were allocated our accomodation. Then a porter collected our bags and room key and asked to follow him. It appeared the rooms were separate, rondavel-type bungalows set in a garden, which added to the mystique. We followed hime down the path and it was all very strange, with gentle light showing the way through tropical vegetation. It was warm too. We reached our bungalow which seemed enormous with a kingsize double bed and subdued lighting. We had a quick unpack and then set off for dinner in the restaurant wondering if we would get lost on the way back to the central area! So what was the buzz we had not bargained for?

My wife, Alison, said that her most memorable impression was the buzzing sound from the trees, which we later discovered were tree frogs. They perfomed every night after dark.

Mallard Golf INC. and scuba diving for golf balls.MIAMI, FL — If you thought you had tough job, try spending the day with Mallard Golf INC. where each hour brings a new set of obstacles.”It’s a challenge, some golf courses have alligators, snakes or different hazards so it makes for a pretty fun and exciting way to make a living,” says Douglas Bounassi. Bounassi takes this plunge daily hoping to capitalize on that slice or hook. It’s a dirty job where face to face encounters with gators, snakes and snapping turtles are just par for the course.”There’s pieces of houses and roofs in some of these ponds,” says Bounassi.Each twist and turn uncovers something new in their quest to fill a daily quota of 2,000 golf balls per diver. That’s money in the pocket when they’re cleaned and resold but there’s a price to pay.”I got bit by a small gator once, I probably won’t forget that,” recalls James Oatley.hazard pay doesn’t accompany these divers. Instead it’s all sheer guts to get in the murky water and scoop up golfs poor shots.”You got to work for it, you got to do things somebody else necessarily doesn’t want to do,” says Elead Oatley.From clubs to a complete set, golf ball retrievers score big when it comes to their find which stretches beyond Nike or Callaway. Decades of experience has helped polish this year round business from watering holes in the Keys all the way to New Jersey.”It’s kind of like a competition with me and my dad and started off at a young age and just became a game for us almost,” says Oatley. A father and son duo working with Bounassi completes another day at the office carting off their prize catch in hand ready to tee off on a new set of terrain tomorrow.”I get to be outdoors, I get to go scuba diving which I love to do,” says Bounassi. Ironically out of all the hazards in the water the worst according to these divers comes from flying golf balls hit off tees as they approach or exit the water. Visit mallards website to see what happens to all of the golf balls they collect..http://www.ilovetogolf.com

So what do you do after you’ve had a 45-minute networking meeting with someone? 

 

You want to continue to demonstrate your genius after  you’ve met with them, starting right after you’ve made contact with someone.

 

The master networkers have a way of keeping their name continually in front of their contacts in a way that demonstrates their genius – their innate ability to know what is going in in their industry and this world.



Most of the time, he hasn’t immediately told you where the perfect job is for you.  And six months from now, he may have forgotten who you are.

 

You need to stay in touch after your meeting of course, because eventually one of the people you meet will hear of the perfect job for you.  But how?

 

The first thing you need to do after a networking meeting is send a thank you note, and not by email.  Job hunters stare at empty email boxes all day long, but busy managers get 250 emails a day, not counting the porno ads and other spam.  An email note is easily deleted, and usually will be, or never read at all.  I can’t tell you the number of people who are past networking contacts who send me regular email updates that I skip over, along with the this is so funny emails that friends forward to me that I never have time to open.

 

Instead, send a snail mail thank you note and include something of interest to the person along with it.  A good thing is an article from a magazine or trade journal that is interesting enough for him to read, or better, one good enough for him to pass along to someone else after he’s read it.  Best to aim for something from a publication that your contact normally doesn’t read, or he may have seen it already.

 

As an alternative, send your contact something about a hobby that he mentions.  If she explores caves or scuba dives, send an article along about this activity, or about a Gaugin expedition coming to town, if he tells you he’s a fan.

 

Keep doing the same thing to stay in touch.  Continue sending articles or other bits of information that are of interest, with a handwritten or customized, typed note on expensive stationery (handwritten will really make it seem like it is personal, even if you are sending the same article to 100 people). 

 

This is far better than sending updated copies of your résumé, which some job hunters insist on doing (some send their resume over and over again, mentioning that they’ve made some subtle changes or whatever).  That just reminds your contacts that you’re still out of work or still looking for a job, and doesn’t project the image you’re trying to project.

 

What image are you trying to project?  You want to remind him of your genius – that you are someone who is really with it, and very knowledgeable about what is going on in their industry.  At the same time, these regular mailings keep your name in front of the person, just as any good marketing program would do.

 

You can call back on occasion for a how the hell are you call, but once again, bring some business intelligence with the call, and don’t make them too often – perhaps every six months.

 

***

 

Job Magician (www.jobmagician.com) is a web site that provides free advice to 6-figure job hunters, including advice on networking, resume and cover letter development, using direct mail and answering ads.  It is written by a retained executive search consultant who works on positions paying in the $100,000 to $500,000 range.

 

Copyright 2009 by Job Magician