Recipe: White Bean Rosemary Stew

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A variant on a recipe from Vegetarian Times, this is a pretty quick meal to make.  The original had peppers, which I dislike in some cases, so I focused on tomatoes.

 
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 medium-large sweet yellow onion, diced
1 Tbsp crushed garlic (about two cloves)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes or equivalent (A bit over 1 1/2 cups), drained.
1 can (14 oz), about 1 1/2 cups, low-sodium vegetable broth
1 can (14 oz) low-sodium white beans, drained and rinsed.
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed, dried rosemary
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

  1. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion starts to soften.
  2. Add tomatoes.  Saute until onions are soft.
  3. Add broth, beans, black pepper, rosemary, stir.
  4. Bring to boil, then simmer, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Add balsamic vinegar, stir in.  Cook another minute

The results?

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Ask A Progeek: Networking When You Can’t

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Ah, job ads.  How many times they have instructions that have our heads spinning.  Let’s take a look at our latest Ask A Progeek:

If a job posting says that “only qualified applicants will be contacted” and “no phone calls please,” it seems like they don’t want you to contact them after applying.  In that case, how do you follow up? (or should you?)

This is a case of a fundamental job search issue – two different principles colliding.  In this case the rules of “networking” and “followup” with the other rule of “don’t annoy the people who may want to hire you.”  Your job search plans grind to a halt when something like this happens, because where do you go?

Actually you don’t let the problems butt into each other head on – you go around the situation.  Just like any obstacle you find away to go around it.  You circle around the obstacle.

In this case?  The obstacle is the HR department policy.

Now this policy may make sense.  As much as it heads off your plans, they may be too busy, too concerned, too careful, or too antisocial to want you contacting them.  Ask yourself if you were recruiting or hiring, wouldn’t there be situations where you wouldn’t want anyone contacting you?  The answer, by the way, is yes.

So you can’t charge on ahead and bug HR.  So you turn around and find another way to follow up.

The big way is networking.

See you can probably find people at the company you want to work for, or find people who know people there.  These people, if you know them or can get to know them, can follow up with you personally.  It’s not going and bugging the HR department (who are probably overwhelmed), its just good networking

Now this is going to take persistence and can have you running round and round to find the right people.  But if it’s a job you really want, then it’s worth the effort to go around the barriers . . . that they kind of put in the way anyway.

A final tip – no matter how friendly they are on followup, give potential employers MANY ways to reach you – phone, email, web page, etc.  Make it easy for them to get back to you.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Why We Have Management

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As a Program Manager I sometimes speculate, analyze, and answer the question “why the hell do we have managers?”  Admittedly that question is usually “why the hell do we have this manager,” but people tend to tar us all with the same brush.

Management is a skillset like anything else, but here’s the thing – we’re all managers.  It’s just what we’re able to effectively manage.

Some people have the knowledge and intensity to write a program, others can lead and perform in a surgical team, others can guide a company.  All of that is management – even if you’re managing yourself (though sadly some people can’t manage that).  We’re all managers.

It’s just that some of us have the skill, perspective, and ability to manage people and organizations.  Not everyone can do it.  For that matter, some people who could manage a team couldn’t manage writing a book or managing a department.  We’ve got different management abilities – some of us just end up making a profession of it.

So we need managers – good managers – like we need anyone else.  I find looking at it this way gives a useful and true perspective.

So I don’t think less of people who aren’t managers, nor do I think everyone with the title is necessary good at it.

But necessary?  Yes.  Ask yourself how you organize things in your career, and what would happen if you weren’t there.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.