TLA December Meeting 12/12

TLA December 12th Meeting Announcement

Technology Leaders Association (TLA) was established to help senior level IT executives develop and manage their careers. As part of this effort, we hold monthly meetings to network, share ideas, and learn from featured guest speakers in the career management field.

This month, Jim Fitzgerald will present, “Seven Obstacles to a Successful Job Search”.

“In brief, over the many years that I have been an outplacement counselor, I have seen the same seven obstacles slow down the job search process. I have verified the correctness of my observations regarding these seven obstacles that hinder the success in the job search process. I developed this presentation years ago and have delivered it to dozens of different audiences who have confirmed the reality and existence of these obstacles.”

Fitzgerald is a very direct and candid guy who will tell you like it is (at least in his opinion, in which he is not lacking). He is engaging, humorous, direct, knowledgeable, and decidedly in tune with the realities of the job search.

Date: Friday, December 12th
Where: IBM’s Oak Brook Terrace office (2 Lincoln Centre) – see directions below
Cost: No charge

Special thanks to TLA member and IBM employee George Shanine for hosting us this month.

As a special facilities note, all TLA members must be escorted throughout the IBM facility. Please do not leave the conference room without an escort.

For reservations, (1) Please sign up online on the TLA website (www.techleaders.net) under ‘Events’ – or, if you don’t have access to the website, (2) Please reply to Patrick.Moroney@gmail.com with your name and telephone number.

Reservations must be made before noon on Thursday, December 11th with the first 80 reservations accepted. No walk-ins please.

For location information: Contact Jim Anfield at jdanfield@illinoisalumni.org.

Directions
From the West - Take I-88 East and exit at Highland Avenue. Stay in the center lane until after the toll booth and turn left. Keep to the right crossing over the highway and turn right on Butterfield Road. Proceed east approximately 1 1/2 miles to Meyers Road. The Oakbrook Terrace office is approximately 1/2 mile ahead on the left in the Com Ed building. Turn left on Trans Am Plaza Drive and take a quick right into the parking garage attached to 2 Lincoln Centre.

From the North or South - Take North/South Tollway (I-355) to Butterfield Road East exit. Proceed east on Butterfield Road approximately 2 miles to Meyers Road. The Oak Brook Terrace office is approximately 1/2 mile ahead on the left in the Com Ed building. Turn left on Trans Am Plaza Drive and take a quick right into the parking garage attached to 2 Lincoln Centre.

From the East - Take I-294 (Tri-State Tollway) to the East/West Tollway (I-88). Take I-88 West (Route 83 North/Cermak Road) exit. Turn left (west) at the end of the exit ramp, on 22nd Street (Cermak Road). Proceed on 22nd Street approximately 3 miles to the stop light at 22nd and Butterfield. The Oakbrook Terrace office is approximately 1/4 mile ahead on the right in the Com Ed building (you'll see Com Ed at top of bldg). Turn right on Trans Am Plaza Drive and another quick right into the parking garage attached to 2 Lincoln Centre.

IBM’s Oak Brook office has an attached parking garage that all guests can park in. When you arrive at the building, let the security guard know you are attending the meeting in conference room 1D & 1E. All guests will have to sign in at the desk.

Agenda
7:00am – 7:15am Check-in and coffee
7:15am – 8:30am Structured networking – two table rounds
8:30am – 8:40am Announcements
8:40am – 9:30am Jim Fitzgerald
9:30am Adjourn

Structured Networking
Structured networking is a technique used at most major executive transition groups. It is meant to be a powerful method of generating ideas that might help each of our searches. During this process, we will quickly brainstorm potential job lead ideas, gain networking contacts at desired companies, and generate advice from the members by sharing our backgrounds as well as our career objectives. It is designed to generate ideas, but given the time constraints, not get into immediate detailed discussions. You should plan on following up with anybody who may have had an interesting idea or a good contact.
Please bring business cards, handbills (career overview) or resumes (plain paper is fine) to pass around if you have them. Figure on about 20 copies of the resumes/handbills and 50 business cards.
We will run our networking, dividing the room into small tables of a maximum of 8 people and doing 2 table rotations before our speaker begins. At each rotation, you will have 90 seconds for your pitch and about 90 seconds for Q&A. Spend no more than 1/3 summarizing your past (this is not the time to rehash your resume), then spend about 1/3 on what you are looking for and 1/3 on what we can do to help (such as target contacts) or ask for advice on an issue.

Speaker Bio – Jim Fitzgerald
A successful background in Career Transition & Management, Executive Coaching, Recruiting, Employment and Human Resources Management, supported by an earlier career in public accounting, marks Fitzgerald’s broad experience.

Fitzgerald’s experience spans over 30 years. He began his business career as a Staff Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He was a Senior Financial Consultant for several years, followed by eight years as Human Resources Manager. He then entered the executive search and outplacement field. Considered a pioneer in the career transition field, he soon joined forces as Principal with two others in forming a premier “boutique” consulting firm. Fitzgerald was hired away from his own business to become Managing Principal of the multi-office Chicago operation of Right Associates-- one of the world’s largest human resources consulting firms. After successfully creating a major Chicago area presence, he left Right to focus on coaching, writing, and selected outplacement assignments.

Fitzgerald has worked with hundreds of individuals who were in career transition, and has advised numerous organizations on effective approaches to downsizing, restructuring and re-engineering as related to manpower issues. He started his executive coaching practice several years ago. He brings great enthusiasm and excitement, along with extensive experience, to the coaching process.

Fitzgerald has provided programs for a multitude of academic, social and professional organizations, including the Career Transitions Center of Chicago, Loyola University-Chicago, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has written over 140 articles on the job search process and career management; in such publications as the National Business Employment Weekly, Personnel, and American Banker. He wrote a monthly Careers Column for the Illinois CPA Society’s magazine, Insight. He writes a Careers Column for the Irish American News.

Fitzgerald holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a Master’s degree in Industrial Relations, both from Loyola University-Chicago. After years as an active committee member, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Illinois CPA Society. He recently completed his fifth consecutive term as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Career Transitions Center of Chicago. He was on the Executive Advisory Board for the Graduate School of Management at Lewis University; he also taught Human Resources Management there. He was on the
Board of Directors for Options for People, Inc. and the College of Du Page Foundation. In 1997, he was elected the President of the Alumni Association of Loyola’s School of Business Administration.