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Last week we learned that the Corpus Christi mail processing facility is going to be consolidated into San Antonio’s, part of a major endeavor on behave of the U.S. Postal Service to cut costs quick. In fact, the CC sorting facility is one of 223 slated for closure throughout the U.S.— of a total 461. Yes, very nearly half of our mail sorting facilities are closing.

It’s unclear what this will mean for Corpus Christi’s businesses. Part of the reason for the post office’s situation is that the sheer volume of mail being sent out, both by individuals and by businesses, has declined steadily as people have adopted email and cloud computing. The change may not affect you or your business at all…but on the other hand, it might, so now would be a good time to start preparing.

First and foremost, if you’re not already using your email for general correspondence, start! We’re not saying to stop penning hand-written notes to your pen-pal, but if you or someone you know is sending event invitations or resumes out by snail mail, now would be a good time to go electronic.

The second step is to start minimizing the number of documents you have to send or receive in the mail. Paperless billing is a great tool offered by many service providers, like your cell phone or cable company, and it saves paper and trees, too. If you find yourself sending a lot of documents or large files by mail, be aware that there are a wide variety of options for sharing these files online now. Consider using a service like DropBox to share large files (such as video or high-resolution images) with clients, coworkers, or family members. For smaller documents, like a resume or a contract, most email services will let you send attachments as large as 10 or 20 megabytes. If yours doesn’t, consider setting up an account with Yahoo!, Gmail, or another service, at least for sending these kinds of files.

The digital world is changing an awful lot of things about the analog world, and in a hurry. It’s no surprise that the U.S. postal service is having to downsize. Expected or not, though, it’s a shame to see people losing their jobs. If you or someone you know is among those, feel free to send them here to upload their resume!

Photo © Jon Parise

Lessons Learned from Steve Jobs’ FBI File

Steve Jobs' FBI File Teaches Job Seekers a Lesson

The FBI’s file about Steve Jobs, compiled in 1991 when he was being considered for George H.W. Bush’s Export Council, offers a great lesson on being prepared for your employer’s scrutiny. In the file, Jobs’ use of recreational drugs during his youth was revealed, and although people who worked with him spoke highly of his intelligence and abilities, he was also called manipulative and stubborn, especially when he didn’t get his way. In this case, the “employer”— the government —hired Jobs anyway, but in many situations that kind of information would leave your resume in the trash can.

Of course most of the people you send applications to won’t be able to conduct such thorough background checks and interviews…but they also don’t need to. They may already have direct access to you and your history, thanks to your participation in social media.

Whether you’re just starting a job search or are in the middle of one, you should take some time as soon as possible to look over all of your social media profiles. Look at every tweet, every status update, every photo, and ask yourself: “Would I have said this in front of or shown this to my toughest boss?” If the answer is no, get rid of it, either by deleting it or marking it private.

This is especially important on Facebook as the company gets ready to roll out Timeline, forcing every user to adopt the new standard. Here are a few tips:

First, check and see what your profile looks like to the general public (people who have no relation to you), how it looks to a friend, and how it looks to a “friend of a friend.” You can do this easily by going to your profile and clicking the “View As…” button in the upper-right corner, below the menu bar. Make sure you know what a potential employer can see— and what they can see if they ask you to friend them. (They might!)

A second helpful tip: if you go into your privacy settings, you can set what your posts default to in terms of privacy. You will probably want them to go “Friends Only” by default, but if you have divided your friends into Lists on the site, you can specify the individuals who you would like to have see every post.

Also on the privacy settings page is an option called “Limit the Audience for Past Posts.” To the right of this option you’ll see a link that says “Manage Past Post Visibility.” By clicking this link, you can automatically set all of your past posts to be viewable only to friends.

In today’s job market, you need to remove every possible disadvantage…and certain kinds of social media posts can be just that.

Above image © Ben Stanfield