Why?  It happens.  But why?  Did you ever wonder why it happens?  Sure you don’t know when but you know it is going to happen so you worry less about the timing of it all.  Yet, the crux remains Why?

Some say why ask why?  That makes no sense though, you should ask why, that is fundamental.  Why ask why not?  I think that is the better question.

I am glad that we had this conversation.  Hopefully this cleared up some things for you.

Very interesting write-up today on TechCrunch about an Israeli startup job board.

In only three years, it has managed to form a 1200-strong partner network that is reaching 37 million job seekers per month with 60,000 positions available at any given time.

Realmatch’s end-to-end solution appeases employers, candidates and partners. It begins with employers who instead of shelling a couple hundred bucks, get to post their jobs for free. They’ll then start receiving candidates for which they’ll be able to view CV summaries for. Employers who want access to full CVs can either purchase a pack of six views for $95, or unlimited views per job posting for $195.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/14/realmatch/

Our stance has always been the more resources there are, the better off we all will be.

What is the only thing that is worse than Black Friday?  That’s right, Black Friday Monday.   The pain staking retelling of your co-workers Black Friday War Stories.  Some Mom will tell you that she got up at 3am for a toy that her 2 year old had to have.  The I.T. guy will tell you that he was at Best Buy at midnight for some tech item you never heard of.

Black Friday Monday is  here.

What can you do?  Short of calling out sick, there is not much you can do.  Old co-workers, young co-workers, they will all have stories.  Making matters worse is the people who hate Black Friday, they will talk about it as well.  You will not be able to avoid it.

Our advice?  Grin and bear it.  Showing disdain for Black Friday will only bring you more pain.  You would be called everything from Scrooge to Unpatriotic.  We are all about fighting the good fight.  Listen to us on this one though, sit it out.  Just realize you aren’t getting any work done on Monday.

Try and act excited that when you hear five different LCD TV stories.  Your boss now has a 23″ LCD in his bathroom.  The price was just too good to pass up.  That is so exciting.  Share in his joy.

Black Friday Monday; it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

We would like to thank Samantha Broherd for her dedication and loyalty to the cause here at amonstermoment.com.  Samanatha has decided to pursue other career opportunities at this time.

Did she have a monster moment of her own?

It is quite possible.  Regardless, we wish her well in the future.

Layoffs at Verizon continue, this time the Mid-Atlantic Region is being hit hard.  Corporate profitability?  Apparently that doesn’t matter, if they can cut, they will.

What does this mean to you?  It means that no matter how safe you feel, you should always be smart.  More and more loyalty is becoming a one way street.

BOWIE, Md. — Just in time for the holiday season, one of America’s most profitable companies announced plans to cut more than 1,000 employees in the mid-Atlantic region. In all, 1,078 employees, including technicians in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, could face the loss of their jobs. This is the third layoff at Verizon in recent months.

Verizon made $6.4 billion in profits last year and made $4.3 billion in the first three quarters of 2009. CEO Ivan Seidenberg is one of the country’s highest paid executives, grossing $18 million in 2008. Verizon has announced layoffs in other operations as well.

“At a very stressful time for our economy and working families, Verizon is abandoning the very employees who provide the quality service that makes Verizon so profitable,” said Ron Collins, CWA Vice President for the mid-Atlantic region. “This is an extremely successful company that should be helping lead our economic turnaround, not cutting jobs and harming service to consumers. This is all about corporate greed,” said Collins. “Verizon doesn’t have enough staff to meet the current customer needs, yet they have announced the current surplus.”

“The layoffs will have a ripple effect through the local economy, while other countries and regions stand to benefit,” Collins said. “Verizon nationwide has already sent thousands of good customer service and technical jobs to low-wage companies in Mexico, Canada, the Philippines, India and other parts of the United States.”

I was on facebook today and one of my friends made this post:

Just saw MY JOB posted on Monster.com.  WTF!!!

Well that, um, totally sucks.  Really is no other way to explain it.  Obviously at the point that you are on monster.com you are unhappy or concerned for your future.  To see your job posted though?  Wow.

That’s like going to break up and you get beat to the punch.  Just very anti-climatic.

What can you do about it?  Not much, short of speeding up your job search.  Although it is always helpful when you know bad news is coming.   You get a head start, some time to clean things up.  Most of all you get to avoid being blindsided by the impending news.

Good luck Frank, let us know how you make out.

Today is Veterans Day and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have served this great country.  We appreciate your sacrifice, your loyalty and dedication.

May God Bless you always.

Thank you to all those who have replied to us in response to our Craigslist ad.  That’s right we put up a Craigslist ad.  That doesn’t make us dirty.  We just needed some help.  Anyhow, we would like to give a warm monster moment welcome to:

• Samantha Broherd

She will be receiving her monster moment orientation packages soon.  Then she will start blogging about her corporate experiences.

We are looking forward to your work Sammy.

I am getting the Verizon Droid this Friday.  When I get it, I am going into work and I am going to play with it all day.  That is right, I will be alone in my office just playing with it.  First I will start slow, then I will increase my speed.  When the comfort level is there I will play with it really fast.

The guy in the cube next to me better bring headphones because I plan on playing with it long and hard.  If I get a good night sleep the night before, I think I can play with it 4-5 times on Friday.  I am not reading any manuals either.  Just old school playing with it.

If the phone rings I won’t answer because playing with it will be the only thing on my to-do list this Friday.  I might even change my email with an autoreply.

Thank you for your email.  I am in the office but will respond to your email on Monday 11/09/09.  Today I am focusing on playing with it.

Once I leave the office on Friday I am going to go home and take a look at my new Droid by Verizon.  I am really excited about that as well.

At the end of the day, what is important?  Work? Money? Career satisfaction?  As hard as it is to see at times none of those things make my list.  Yet they all seem to be what I stress over constantly.  It is a frustrating paradox that unfortunately has kept me up at night.

The things that mean the least are what often cause the most pain and frustration.  A co-worker of mine was recently fired.  When she left many of us realized that a lof of what she was doing wasn’t that important.  It seemed important.  She was always stressed.  After she left many of those tasks weren’t even reassigned.

Why is it that we worry about things we can’t control? We try to achieve a level of material wealth that probably wouldn’t make us any happier and certainly seems to take years off our life in the process.

I decided today that I am going to worry less.  Live more.  Going to enjoy what I have before it is too late.   Oh but, I will still b*tch and moan about the corporate world through this blog.  Just going to do it with a smile.

All I have is all I need.