Volunteer work...

Last night, after a lot of beers, I told Nazaire I was taking him job hunting this morning.

Nazaire is Alyssa's boyfriend. I told him to get up at 8 am and make me some breakfast and by 9:30 am I'd be coaching him along. The plan was to find him a job today. He woke up tired. He couldn't sleep. The pressure was getting to him.

First thing we did was stop by his house to get his resume. I took one look at it and it was all bad. I have a lot of experience reading resumes and if I got his, I would have thrown it in the garbage. I had to think fast, giving out that resume would have been a complete waste of our time.

We stopped by Staples and for $20 I had 100 business cards made up. I included the line "Try Me Out. Two Weeks Free". We did our first trial interview at Staples and spoke to the Manager. It was the only time I was directly involved and it didn't work well. It became apparent he had to work alone with me coaching behind the scenes.

First stop was a fishing shop. He was so scared. I walked around the store as he waited to talk to one of the guys behind the counter. He told me he felt like the walls were closing in and he didn't have a good vibe. I told him "don't worry, use it as a practice run".

For the next 4 hours we stopped at 29 business and he would ask for the manager, introduce himself, and drop off his business card or pick up a job application. He actually had at least 5 really positive opportunities. Some gave him applications, others said drop off your resume and some took the card and said they'll let him know.

Naz started the day negative with a "victim" mentality. He was saying, "there's no jobs around here". Then we saw "now hiring" signs and talked face to face with people who said they were hiring. I kept "rubbing his nose in his negativity".

I tried to teach him that "looking for a job, needs to be treated as a full-time job". Naz said he's never called on 29 businesses in a month, let alone a day, and he had never went in and asked for the manager and presented himself in person. He normally just dropped off or sent in resumes.

I came up with the phrase, PMA Baby!!! It stands for "Positive Mental Attitude" and I even had a fist pump sign. From a distance, when he saw me pump my fist, I told him to say to himself "PMA, PMA". I kept telling him, "someones getting offered a job today, why shouldn't it be you?"

As part of my helping him, I negotiated that he'll do some handy man work around my house. He's got to take down the Christmas lights and fix parts of my lawn. I also made him make me breakfast this morning. His eggs were good, his pancakes "sucked".

All and all, it was a good day. I think Naz learnt a lot about how to find a job. I told him that he gets Sunday off and he needs to start looking again on Monday. I also want daily reports listing the names of the companies that he applied to. I'm showing him how to find a job "Training Payne" style. No surrender, no excuses, no laziness.

When we got home, I started working on his resume. He's had a lot of jobs and hasn't spent a long time at each job. It's been, "quit that one, quit that one, quit that one, blah, blah, blah". I listed some of his jobs and got rid of others. It required a lot of massaging and took me over 6 hours. By the time I was done, his resume was a work of art. He looked desirable.

By the end of the night, Naz was tired by me just grilling him for information. I need him to get a job, he has to repay the $20 I loaned him to get the business cards made up and he owes me at least a case of beer for drinking mine.

I taught him how to prospect for a job. I've given him a great looking resume and tomorrow I'm going to drill him with interviewing questions. Come hell or high water he better have a job by Friday. I'm going to be unrelenting. I'm sure Reid's enjoying it, it gives him a "torture" break.

Not much more to say other than Reid had two swim club sessions today. He did 90 minutes of weights and 90 minutes in the pool. He also found out that tomorrow is a 2.5 hour swim session, 1 hour longer than normal. I caught the tail end of his training today. He had a backstroke race against a little girl. He won and he's looking good.

Alice also caught Reid watching Michael Phelps on You Tube and studying his stroke technique. I'm shocked at how into swimming he's becoming. I'm waiting for that day when he starts whining about having to train. I'm starting to get worried that it's not going to happen. I'm sure Nazaire is looking forward to that day happening as well, it'll give him a brief "torture" break.

IMSG Recovery Day - No training.

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