I F M A
December 2005 Newsletter
By Mary Duke

NOVEMBER 10 MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

HOLIDAY PARTY

We are three weeks away from our annual holiday party! Mark your calendars for Friday, December 16. Jamie Flemming, event chair has booked us at Esther's Follies. For those of you who are new to us - we always have a great time sharing friendship and laughs at the familiar retreat on Sixth Street. Watch for e-mails to get your reservations in for yourself and one guest. Dinner will be provided.

Anita announced that our holiday party would be Friday, December 16 at Ester's Follies, one of our favorite holiday party places! Mark your calendars and watch for an e-mail on the cost and reservations. Fajita's and fixin's will be provided. Dinner is at 6:30 pm and the show starts at 8:00 pm.

GOLF TOURNAMENT

Golf tournament chair, Glenda Stubbs, informed us that the tournament is scheduled for Monday, March 27, 2006 at the Hills of Lakeway. Mark your calendars and get the money into your budget now! Please e-mail Glenda your charity suggestions!

LUNCH SPONSORSHIPS

Be a sponsor and tell us about your business! The cost is $250, $50 dollars of which is used for a member drawing, plus you have 2 minutes to talk up your business. Contact Tux MacCaulley to sign up.

CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK

IFMA collected donated food items and cash for the Capital Area Food Bank during our meeting. Many thanks to Move Solutions who donated a truck to get the food from our meeting site to the food bank!

Remember that the food bank is having a hard time this year because of the multitude of disasters across the globe. If you can find it in your budget to donate, drop by some non-perishable goods. It's not just a Thanksgiving need - it's a year round need.

The Capital Area Food Bank Food Wish List Includes:

• Baby Food & Cereal
• Canned Fruit
• Canned Meats & Stews
• Canned Tuna
• Canned Vegetables
• Diapers
• Peanut Butter & Jelly
• Pasta Sauces
• Rice & Beans
• Personal Care Products
• Single Serving Pop-Top Canned Foods

LUNCH PRESENTATION HIGHLIGHTS

Nisa announced our guest speaker, Chad Williams, Property Manager, Moore & Associates.

Disaster Preparedness 
A Process, Not a Product

Ensuring preparedness for disasters is a process. Chad provided lessons learned in plan development for disaster preparedness along with the thought process for developing a plan. 

Chad Williams joined Moore & Associates, Inc. in October 2004 as a Property Manager. He is responsible for the day-to-day operations, capital and tenant improvements, contingency planning, life/safety systems, and tenant interaction for the Austin portfolio. His daily duties include supervision of the Austin management team, tenant relations and problem resolution, as well as general operation details required to maintain Class "A" properties. 

Chad's broad experience includes sixteen years in the US Air Force and Air Force Reserve. Chad's military experience included ground combat skills and special tactics instruction, base defense and anti-terrorism planning, instruction, and evaluation, operations planning and leadership, and large scale program development and management. Chad achieved the rank of Master Sergeant and received numerous individual and Air Force level awards. 

Chad holds a Bachelors of Business Administration and Management from St. Edward's University located in Austin, Texas and is nearing completion of the Masters of Business Administration program with specialization in the area of Entrepreneurship 

Chad gave us examples of his own recent problems when his building caught on fire shortly after they moved in. They had NO contingency plan! Because of their experience he came to the conclusion that a plan was not a product, but a process and a cycle. 

Lessons Learned

• Empower everyone to do his or her job.
• Know your capabilities
• Know (and remember) the human element (family will always come first)
• Collaborate and Communicate
• Know what you consider a disaster
• Don't focus on training for everything, but be ready to think about it.
• Keep it simple
• Communication is critical. Remember that a cell phone or Nextel phone won't work in an elevator, stairwell or garage, and, radios are not always on the same frequency!
• Insure that everyone has common goals and objectives
• Rehearse and practice your plan. Remember that your rehearsal is always under perfect conditions. Adverse conditions may exist during real situations and could negatively impact your plan.
• Remember, Murphy's Law - not matter what happens, something WILL go wrong.
• Train to act involuntarily, do not freeze during critical situations
• Train to know your environment, avoid calamity and injuries
• Manage your public relations. You are probably not going to be organized or prepared in the event of an emergency, but don't ever let it show. Be confident.
• During business resumption, know your objectives and remember your most important objective is your people.

Because of our holiday party, we will have a tour in stead of a regular meeting.

January 12: "2005 Changes in Texas Accessibility Standards for Facility Managers" Kristi Thomas, Accessology, Inc.

Helpful Hints for your Resume

Avoid the Top Three Cover Letter Mistakes! As a career coach and professional resume writer, I'm often asked, "How important are cover letters to my job search?" My answer is, "It depends on how long you want to search for your next job." If you are in no hurry to get interviews, then don't worry about your cover letter. The fact is I've never met a job searcher who wants to have a painfully slow job search. The whole point of sending out resumes is to get multiple interviews as quickly as possible. But many job seekers still unwittingly sabotage their efforts by using substandard cover letters. Instead of helping you, your cover letter may actually be hurting your job search. For fast job search results, make sure to avoid these top three cover letter mistakes: 1. Not understanding the hiring motives of your audience  2. Repeating rather than introducing your resume  3. Overuse of the word "I"  1. Not understanding the hiring motives of your audience There are three basic audiences that a job seeker sends his/her resume to: executive decision-makers, resume screeners, and third-party recruiters. Each of these groups has its own hiring motives. Executive decision-makers are looking for candidates who will have a significant impact on bottom-line initiatives, such as time saved, income generated, revenue built, etc. Resume screeners are searching for candidates who directly match the lists of qualifications in the job description. Third-party recruiters are looking for selling points to help position you as a top candidate. Knowing these hiring motives will help you craft your cover letter specifically to catch the attention of your particular hiring audience. By appealing directly to the reader, you are creating an immediate bond that will make you a stronger candidate. 2. Repeating rather than introducing your resume Repeating the exact same things you wrote in your resume is one of the most common cover letter mistakes. No one wants to read the same thing twice. By the time most people have finished writing their resume, they feel that they have run out of ideas and just cut and paste to create a cover letter.  Instead, the cover letter should be what sells the reader on your skills. Like the jacket-cover introduction to a good book, the cover letter should give the reader a taste of the great things to come and encourage them to read more.  If you are don't have any idea what your top skills are and how they will help the company, neither will your reader. Take the time to craft the right words and statements to make your skills shine.  3. Overuse of the word "I" A cover letter that begins nearly every sentence with "I" is as boring as a conversation with someone who only talks about himself. That kind of person one avoids at all costs. Is that the way you want your reader to see you?  Focusing all the attention on yourself may seem like a good way to sell your skills. But it can also reflect lack of interest in the company, in the job, and in making a real contribution to that workplace. There's a good balance to be drawn between selling yourself and selling what you can do for the company.  Creating variety in the sentences of your cover letter is an easy way to show your interest without being self-centered. By shifting the emphasis to the recipient/company-and away from yourself-you can prove that your main interest is not just in winning the job but also in doing it effectively. Try to rewrite sentences that start with "I," "me," or "my," to start with "You," or "Your." Show how you can make a difference for them. A cover letter that is poorly written may cause your resume to be ignored. But a well-crafted cover letter will invite and encourage the reader to take a closer look at your resume. You'll make a positive first impression before your resume is even opened.  Rather than making your cover letter an afterthought, take the time to really consider the type of presentation your cover letter will make. If your resume isn't winning you job interviews, consider hiring a professional resume writer to help. It's true what they say: You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

Deborah Walker, CCMC Career Coach ~ Resume Writer Find more job-search tips and resume samples at: www.AlphaAdvantage.com Email: Deb@AlphaAdvantage.com

MEMBER UPDATES

Title Changes

• Randy Berry, General Manager
• Neil Crump, Vice President Facilities Services
• Ed Roberts, Territory Manager

• Roger Elkhoury, P.E.

• Steve Dugas, Sales Manager, Central Texas Region, IPSA of Texas
• Eugene A. Hunter, Owner, Hunter Facilities Services

• Patricia Stutz, Manager, Corporate Services, Sage Software, Inc.

 

We hope you have enjoyed the newsletter. Your input is welcome for:  ?Articles  ?Business updates  ?Newsletter improvements  ?Links to other organizational news, meetings, and information that may be of interest to our members Please contact Mary Duke at Marydu@fmgi.com with your submittals. And, you can always call me at 908-4662! J