Worknow_Aotearoa_NZ

“The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation.  You are not discovering yourself, but creating yourself anew.  Seek, therefore not to find out who you are, seek to determine who you want to be.” ~ Conversations With God

Absolutely! I believe we create our own futures and I live the belief that one of the best ways to determine who we want to be is by focusing on our talents, interests and passion. At the same time though I cherish the fact that life is a process of discovery, discovering truths and purpose, talents and passion, discovering the joy of other people.

Augmented Reality

Over the last couple of weeks I have begun work on a project involving the deployment of an Augmented Reality showcase of Dunedin’s heritage, arts and culture.  Our project is inspired by immersive heritage experiences like  Museum of London | Street Museum with so much potential for the platform we propose, I feel amazingly blessed to have discovered collaborators to help create and share this vision for our City.

In order to create my own future,  I’ve committed to this project the most valuable resources I own, my talent and time, passion and energy. I wholeheartedly believe that this project will serve our City for years to come, providing not only a fun and engaging, compelling and immersive user experience but also establishing an open access platform that many members of our community can contribute to and potentially monetise.

Collaboration & Gratitude

I am inspired and encouraged by the range of support I have discovered in bringing together this collaborative. I see this project as a catalyst for on-going and future collaboration, spanning many of Dunedin’s most talented and creative industry sectors.

Most importantly, Thanks to my Great Omnipotent Deity for blessing me with talented people to work with. Thanks & massive respect to my talented collaborators Stu Fleming Tim Calder Pierre-Emmanuel de La Bussière and community support from:-

• Tourism Dunedin
• The Southern Heritage Trust
• Samuel Mann at Otago Polytech
• Applied Design Research Centre
• Otago Settlers Museum
• Taieri George Railway
• NZ Sports Hall of Fame
• many folk within the DCC &
• As always, my crew at The Distiller

Arohanui xo Renee Lee

Pursue your talent | live your dreams.

July 2010: Another year older, wiser and closer to living out some childhood dreams

Ever since the Jetson’s introduced me to holograms I’ve looked forward to the day that a similar type of technology would be within my reach. Over the last month several things happened that bring me closer living this dream. It’s exciting times.

Instead of going into the detail about how my life rocks what I would like to say is that the freedom I have gained ~ as an aspiring social entrepreneur ~ to choose how I apply my talent and time to this life, is my pursuit of happiness. I am blessed to have in my life many talented, beautiful people that inspire, challenge, support and love me.

Life is beautiful | live your talent | pursue you dream

I’m not saying that applying your talent to pursue you dreams is  easy, where would the fun in that be? And  although I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t envy my income at the moment, as cliche as this is, happiness is not something money can buy.

You can choose the work that you want. By creating an online talent profile with us and sharing your talents, your values and your passion with the world you too can begin to discover the beauty of living your dreams.

Catch22: Work Experience Required

You’ve got a great education, you’re keen to learn, you want to work and contribute to society yet it seems that to get the job that you want you need work experience, which first means you need to get a job

The transition from study to the workforce can be difficult even when you know exactly what is is you want and how you plan to get there.

Yet it is the minority of students that emerge from study that well prepared. More often than not, our work prospects and aspirations are about as clear as mud.

Talent vs Degree

I worry that our education system does not adequately prepare people for the realities of the workforce and that the career guidance taken up does little to inspire in young people the pursuit of the dream.

In fact in some cases, being sent off to talk to the local branch of some national or multinational company that has a internship programme that matches your degree, might be the completely wrong direction in terms of matching one’s talents and values.

As was indicated during a conversation I recently had with a final year commerce student (FYCS) – Majoring in Economics

Renee: So you’re final year right?, what do you wanna do next year? Work?
FYCS : Not really sure yet,
Renee: You can do anything you want, you know
FYCS:  I’m kinda interested in writing…
Renee: Yeah cool, I majored in journalism. What do you think is you greatest talent?
FYCS:  I’m not really sure…
Renee: Everyone’s got talents [usual expectant pause] ok then …how about looking at it like this. If you could have any job in the world what would you do?
FYCS: Writing, or design, maybe advertising?
Renee: So I’m hearing, something creative right?
FYCS: Yeah, but its not really my major”
Renee: Your major doesn’t really matter, it shows that you have discipline and you’ve already learnt the most important lesson, how to learn. Being able to learn, being able to solve problems you can take those skills anywhere. You can choose to do a job you will love.”
FYCS: But I worry about my grades”
Renee: Your grades won’t matter what matters is work experience. Find a company that you want to work with and offer to volunteer. It’s a foot in the door and I reckon volunteer work experience will trump your grades
FYCS: Thinks about this for a nanosecond and smiles
FYCS: You’ve just made me shift my idea of what I could do from here to here (indicating with hands an expanded vision)

While the above tale is unlikely to be a completely accurate replay – there were umms & ahhhh’s, frequent head nodding and gestures -  it’s the outcome that mattered.

It’s amazingly encouraging to have seen and heard someone gain even just an ounce more hope for the future. Score 1 to me! in favour of the pursuit of talent vs degree based career paths.

Volunteer Work Experience

We see volunteering as a highly effective means for young people to gain work experience, develop work ethic and build work skills.

Some of the skills volunteers can develop include:-

* Leadership & team building skills
* Relationship building skills
* Communication skills
* Negotiation skills
* Creative thinking skills
* Organisation & time management skills

Most importantly it is a testament to one’s willingness to work which, in my work experience, counts for a whole lot more than grades ever will. Welcome to the workforce people.

Four Simple Steps Towards Your Dream Job

It may seem too simple and idealistic but it’s worked for me. I love my job and would like to see more people living the work life balance that we enjoy

1. Identify you talents, your passion, your interest and values as it is these qualities when combined with work that will put you on the path to a job that you love!
2. Create you talent profile and list your talents, passion, interests and value and using the magik of the interweb we will match your talent profile with volunteer work opportunities
3. Put yourself out there to work and learn more about what motivates and inspires you
4. Gather  references that testify to your work experience so you can expand your options & pursue the dream then repeat

Pretty simple really. It’s about mindset and taking action don’t let others define your future for you. Start working towards you dream job, begin now.

Beta V1.0 Live 4:30pm Monday 31st May

It’s taken us a year, and four times longer than originally planned (luckily there was that recession) but we now have V1.0 of the online community marketplace live!

We are one step closer to achieving the goal of making it easier for us all to find volunteer work opportunities that match our talents, skills and interests.

Now that our design and development team have provided a marketplace the job becomes mine to find the people and groups that will benefit from our work and talent matching tools.

I hope, in collaboration with others to encourage more young people to volunteer

As life would have it, we live in a university town that is full of talented people pondering their future and with the support of brilliant teams like OUSA & Ignite perhaps the challenge to attract young volunteers will be shared.

If you are interested in volunteer work experience please create your talent profile today. N.B: we match you with all forms of work or potential new teams based on the keywords you include in your profile so list talents, interests, skills and passion because it’s time to start creating you dream job.

When we plan it is inevitable that we make some assumptions.

As we put our plans in motion however, we have talked to people, tested our service and developed means to continually question our assumptions

In doing so we recently discovered we were off target so we changed our plans. We haven’t changed our destination but we have re-prioritized development within the scope of our long term vision and purpose.

We decided to make this change in order to provide what we understand will be a more simple solution to matching people’s talents and skills to volunteer and paid work opportunities.

And then this evening via twitter I come across an article Venture Capital 101 for For-Profit Social Entrepreneurs. We are bootstrapping this journey but I aspire to implement new financial and business models for social enterprise so I was compelled to read further and view the presentation below.

Although most of the Venture Capital talk does not apply to us,  I discovered two slides #10 #11 that allay some concerns because although I intuitively trust that our decision is on track, it is a little at odds with recent sage advice concerning the importance of executing on plans.

The “execution paradox”

#10 Start ups need to be adaptable: Changing directions used to be a near-death experience for startups.  Now, it’s common fare.

“The pivot – what do successful startups have in common?Pivot is the ability to change directions quickly. The difference between a successful and an unsuccessful start-up is the number of pivots a start-up makes before it dies.” [Eric Ries]

“[...] some things that startups that aren’t run well do: You don’t change direction fast enough. Every startup should be looking at its direction every month or so.”  [Robert Scoble]

“In the average Y Combinator startup, I’d guess 70% of the idea is new at the end of the first three months.” [Paul Graham]

The “execution paradox”

Those startups who are adapting and changing like they should, are not “executing” against their prescribed milestones.  Consequently, they will get eaten up by VC with all the “downside investing”.

Those startups who are not adapting and changing like they should, are apparently “executing”.  In a high R-o-C environment, these are statistically likely to be failing.

Agility needs to be an intrinsic part of VC/startups.  Was: “execute, execute, execute”.  Now: “pivot, pivot, pivot”.

Free will & the freedom to choose

Free will, the freedom to choose and therein create our own future, is from my perspective the defining factor of what makes us human in this universe.

I was moved this week by the film “A Soundtrack for a Revolution” a documentary of the music that inspired and supported the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America.

It made me realise that I have the luxury of freedom. A luxury too often taken for granted considering that freedom has and continues to be for so many people a long and hard won battle.

I wonder, do we not then owe it to ourselves, our families and our communities to recognise and claim our right to choose and create our own futures? Yet, in a society where we have the luxury to choose any number of things we often fail to choose that which would make us most happy. So I am asking,

Why not choose to do what we love for a living?

Workplace Freedom: establishing the optimal work life balance

I for instance chose to leave a job in a recession to found a company despite a complete lack of funding or the income to cover my outgoings.

By all accounts it was a risky decision, but one that I chose to take in order to pursue my dream of building a company through which I could help other people.  It was one of the best decisions of my life.

Granted I am young and single so I was in the position to make this choice. Understandably, many people would say that they do not have the freedom to choose, when or where they work.

It may seem at times that the need to survive, to care for ourselves and others means we do not have the option to leave a job that makes us unhappy, unfulfilled or simply ambivalent. Yet at any time at least two options exist.

1. You can choose to do nothing and retain the status quo or;
2. You can choose to try something different, plant a seed see if it grows

The difference between one and two;  willingness to change and adapt.

Towards Work Place Freedom

Choosing what, when, even why you work can eventually transform the way you live.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to Work a day in your life.” Confucius

Here’s a couple of things you can do today to begin the move towards greater workplace freedom

Step 1 write down you answers to the following questions:

1. What are your greatest strengths or talents or to rephrase: what do you love to do?
2. What three things do you think you do best in life?
3. Are there any talents or skills you’d like to teach?
4. If you could do your dream job what would you do?
5. What could you volunteer to do or learn that would put you one step closer to that dream job?

Step 2 is to take your answers from step 1 and create an online talent profile so that we can match your talents, skills and interests to work opportunities.

I completely believe that we can all work at and be rewarded for doing what we love, I’m not saying that it will be easy, just that you’ll probably enjoy it.

However, work place freedom – like so many freedoms won before – can only be achieved through connected, collaborative community effort.

We need people like you to build this talent community in which each individual is willing to help others achieve the same freedom through active participation.

Samson Ootoowak, it is pronounced Oo-too-vuck

Back in February our Worknow mission gained added momentum by the addition of another talented programmer, Sam.

“…Yeah it is an Inuk name. Samson Ootoowak: it is pronounced Oo-too-vuck…”

Sam, you’re brilliant we wouldn’t be here without you, you rock! Here’s what new this April…

Invite to Trade: Matching talent & work opportunities

Now each time you post a request Worknow can suggest people for you to invite to view your trade by matching keywords on your post with the keywords listed within their talent profile. You can also invite people you know to view your trade by creating a simple email invite.

Simplified Talented Profiles

People mentioned that the talent profile was a mission so on the basis of quality vs. quantity, we simplified. With only a single field now for keywords we hope the change helps people focus profile keywords around the work opportunities they want to be matched to.

Organising trades

We’ve established Groups functionality  to enable existing communities to self organise and build community specific marketplaces. At this stage groups are created on request by providing a group name and contact email to renee@worknow.co.nz

We’re testing a new format for the Workspace to make it easier to define the status and actions pending on open trades. And we’ve updated the My posts page to provide a little more detail on the trades you have posted.

Work Opportunities

There’s bound to be some bugs and areas we can improve so we’d be really interested in peoples feedback but more than anything we’d love to see people building keyword rich talent profiles and posting requests so that we can match people with work opportunities

People are assets

I was moved today by a simple thank you from a friend…

thanks Renee for showing me I’ve something to offer

Perhaps I’m still a bit emotional from watching Avatar yesterday but her simple note made me cry because it reassured me that this concept – that People are Assets -  can and does make a difference in lives and communities.

This talented lady is currently my go to person for anything regarding the preservation of food. She is talented,  fun and generous with her time and knowledge.  She continues to teach and inspire me.

We volunteered together to provide a preserves workshop last year, in which she shared her time and knowledge about preserving. The connections made from that initial volunteer effort have lead to further connections and opportunities, in an ongoing movement toward community resilience.

It is people like this that make our communities stronger, happier and healthier places to live and enjoy life and I am immensely thankful today for these people who sustain my capacity  to live [work] & hope.

Statistics New Zealand today released the Household Labour Force Survey showing a rise in unemployment over the September 2009 quarter.

Sadly those most effected by unemployment are our future leaders, business creators and workforce:

• 15 – 19 Unemployed 25.1%
• 20 – 24 Unemployed 10.9%
• 25 – 29 Unemployed 6.8%

For more information click  through to Statistics New Zealand articles for download

Job Crisis or Opportunity for Change?

Business Week  recently lead with a story entitled The Lost Generation discussing  the effects of the existing job crisis on young people in the USA.

the continuing job crisis is hitting young people especially hard – damaging both their future and the economy…studies show that an extended period of youthful joblessness can significantly depress lifetime income

As today’s figures show, youth unemployment is also a problem here in New Zealand. Yet,  suggestions around creating a sub minimum wage to encourage employers to take on young people  does little to empower or improve their future earnings potential. It simply undervalues their time, skills and talent and feeds into the downward spiral of lower lifetime income.

We see ways to empower young people, support Gen Y’s potential, harness their talents and help them discover their place in the workforce

“…We seem to have focused wrongly on building CV’s rather than building businesses…” Sam Morgan

We currently have a wealth of talented young people preparing themselves to be employed rather than cultivating talents which could drive economic growth through the creation of new business and new jobs.

Things are changing on the education front but we believe there is  opportunity to provide additional tools to help young people transition from study to work.

The solution we are offering incorporates work experience, education and elements of the traditional CV

1. We want to encourage Volunteer Work Experience as a means to build confidence and valuable work skills  so we are facilitating a system of Time Trade (a.k.a Time Banking) to encourage, recognise and reward volunteer activity.

2. A Peer Mentoring Community connecting Graduates with recent Alumni who can share with students of the same / similar discipline their experience of the study / work transition and highlight the real life opportunities available in the marketplace.

Where to look, who to talk to, which skills are important etc. Existing examples include the future in tech initiative to which we hope Time Trade could be applied as a tool for rewarding their career ambassadors.

3. We are using social networking tools and talent profiles to allow young people to build a living work history, a CV with a wealth of testimonials to their talent, skill and work ethic. A talent profile against which they can also be matched with volunteer and paid work opportunities.

Youth unemployment is a major issue but it’s reassuring to know that there are many community based organisations stepping up to help keep young people engaged in productive activity despite the fact of high unemployment.

Build your talent CV

Without a doubt I believe the time I spent volunteering, after bailing on law school, helped me secure my first real job.

Working for the YMCA as a Gymnastic Instructor and Recreation Assistant was volunteer work experience in the traditional sense. Being new to the workforce it provided me with opportunities in leadership and team work and allowed me to communicate and work with people of all ages.

Personally, the experience is significant in terms of my lifelong aspirations, it highlighted the value of recreational education and the powerful, positive influence of role models on young people. It made me feel like a contributing member of society and in terms of my CV it reflected my willingness to work.

Volunteering for any of the many charitable organisations that support our communities is a great way to build basic work experience and skills.

But if you’re interested in developing more specialist skills, in line with you passions, interests or education then the potential to volunteer your time applies also to company’s that interests you.

It’s a great way to learn about the realities of the workforce to gain an inside look at an organisation and help you to acquire work experience. For a select few it  can even lead to jobs.

Indeed several people that I have spoken to in local community organisations say that when taking on new team members they look first to those that have volunteered time with them. Which makes sense right.

Ideally, we’d all like to land the paid internships but in such a competitive market why let those fortunate enough to score places gain extra advantage when you can as easily build work experience alongside them in the same industry with the increased flexibility of a volunteer position.

By creating your Talent Profile here at Worknow, we can help you find and match you talent, skills and interests with both volunteer and paid work opportunities. Register today