The zavvi reunion

18:00: Big zavvi reunion tonight. I'm starting writing about it now while I'm sober, in the hope that when I write more on my way home tonight it'll compensate for the decline in quality from this point on.

23:00: OK, so it goes downhill from here as it's 11.00 and I'm on my way home. It was a mega night. I arrived at around 6.30 and, making my way to the bar, found David Green, who bought me a drink (which is a pretty good start) and promised, under some duress, to become a follower of melvtopia. This may be become a recurrent theme, because I have a target of 25 followers by the end of February - so if you haven't signed up yet please get following...

After chatting with David, and urging him to get a LinkedIn profile working for him, I spent some time with Steve and Heather, and then Simon. It's difficult for everyone, but when you've started the company it has to hurt even more. Some of the stories of stores closing down and how staff reacted are both heartbreaking and inspirational; we had something special going on at zavvi.

Then, the customer services team. Amy has found a new job, which is fantastic. Kelly is considering a local opportunity that she is so much better than. I mentioned that I'm going to meet with Ann Summers about a Head of eCommerce position and - well, let's just say there was some interest there - I may not get the job but I'll try my darndest to get Kelly a job there! As it happens, Richard W is interviewing for a position at Ann Summers too - so we agreed a mutual support strategy.

I didn't get to spend much time with Lee, but one thing I know is that if any of us are going to go on to greater success it's Lee. Delighted that he's been asked back to meet again with Best Buy.

I managed to catch up with Wren, Ned and Paul Byrne. As usual, Greg was giving little away...

There were lots of other people; Suki, Tilly, Kevin, Louise, Kirsty, Paul Pledger, Guy, Patrick, Dave R - and others that I've probably forgotten in my slightly mellow state. Good to see Michael again, too. Finally I spent some time with Suzanne. A while ago I thought of adding a zavvi 'hall of fame' to melvtopia, listing people's names as they found jobs. But we all knew that SJ would be the first, so there wasn't much point, was there?

12:00: I'm sitting in my kitchen, having just cooked myself a fry up since I haven't eaten for 12 hours. I can only reflect on the fact that I was privileged to work with such amazing people. And tonight was, for me, a form of closure. Not that I don't want to meet up with these guys again, but because this is now my last memory of zavvi; having a laugh and a good time. This is what I'll remember, not picking up my things from an empty office in January.

11:00: Tired. The head's not too bad but I'm starving. At least I can have a cup of coffee in my zavvi mug...

Getting my Hed round things

So I started at Ministry of Sound today, working with ex-zavvi colleague and good friend Rudy.

I'm there to manage the redesign and relaunch of the Hedkandi website, as well as managing improvements to the Ministry of sound site. Lots of requirements gathering, defining what they really want, and then managing the development team to deliver the various projects.

They gave me a Hedkandi pack of CDs and a canvas of one of their trademark illustrations - so plenty of opportunities to immerse myself in the brand. And they seem like a good bunch of people, so I think I'm going to enjoy my time here. Even though my brain feels a bit full up right now.

I'm excited to be working on such a great brand, and of course I'm relieved to be getting some money in. My challenge, apart from doing a brilliant job and delivering all that's expected of me, is to manage my jobhunting activities while I'm working. After working my way back into a proper job at zavvi, I don't want to slip back into consultancy. But sorting that out can wait till tomorrow. Right now the glass has just been topped up.

7 mantras for successful job seeking

There was an excellent article in Saturday's Guardian, looking at the differences between successful jobseekers ("Aces") and the rest ("Chasers"). The whole article is here, but since this situation applies to many of us I thought it would be worth summarising the key points.

The seven mantras that the Guardian's researchers found make the difference are:

1. I will think more positively
Throw the self-pity, bitterness and cynicism overboard. They discovered that Aces were over 60% more likely than the Chasers to have been very optimistic about finding the role they wanted.

2. I will be more pro-active
Looking for a job is a job in itself. Aces were more likely than the Chasers to register for job alerts and upload their CVs on job sites. Aces were 25% more likely than Chasers to use five or more sources to find a job. And they also used recruitment consultancies to a greater degree.

3. I will milk my friends and family for contacts
Get over your embarrassment and put that "friend in need is a friend indeed" saying to the test. More than two thirds of Aces rated friends, family, word of mouth and networking as useful, compared to just under half of Chasers. As the Aces are generally more optimistic and motivated than the rest, it's possible networking may well also have been used to better effect by this group.

4. I will speculate
He or she who dares wins when it comes to off-piste job-hunting. Aces are over 50% more likely to send speculative applications to prospective employers. And this method is obviously working for them. Almost half of Aces found speculative applications useful, compared to only a quarter of Chasers.

5. I will be decisive
How will you convince employers of your decisiveness if you can't even make up your own mind what you want? Another differentiating characteristic of Aces is their decisiveness in determining exactly which organisations to consider. They were more likely to be specific about potential employers and have more of an understanding of what they would be like to work for.

6. I will do more
Improve the odds on finding a job by cranking up your output. When the researchers first spoke to them, Aces applied for more jobs than the Chasers. One month on, they'd applied for an additional eight, again more than the Chasers. Aces had an average of two interviews when they first completed the survey and another two, one month on. Almost two thirds had applied for their job directly to the employer, and a third via a recruitment consultancy.

7. I will embrace the digital age
The web is the jobhunter's best friend. Aces are twice as likely as Chasers to use social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Myspace. Aces are also more likely than Chasers to read blogs written by current employees of potential employers, and to see if their employer of choice has a presence on their favourite networking site.

We're all different so the same approach isn't necessarily going to work for everyone, but I think this is good advice and worth taking on board.

Read full article

This just in: while registering with jobsites is good, registering with Monster might not be quite so good, now that hackers have stolen the personal details of 4.5 million UK users. Watch out for those dodgy emails!

What are the chances?

I walked up to Sainsbury's today, and bought the Big Issue from the lady outside. At the same time, I was listening to Bruce Springsteen's new 'Working on a Dream' album (have to say I'm a bit underwhelmed with it so far).

So I opened the magazine at a random page, in the arts section as it happens, and my eyes went straight to the headline of a film review for 'Tokyo Sonata' with a one word summary description: 'Bittersweet'.

At exactly the same time, Bruce was singing the word 'Bittersweet' in a song from the album.

How weird is that?

Readers, has something like this ever happened to you? Why not share your funny stories and weird coincidences by posting a comment below...

A bit of a week

Last week was the third week of jobhunting; the week when the adrenaline started to run out. The week when the brave new world of updating my LinkedIn profile, sending out my cv and selling myself over the phone was starting to become tedious.

It wasn't a particularly bad week, and a couple of very interesting new opportunities have come on the scene. But like I've said before, you start to measure your progress in short periods, and a few hours without activity can start to get you down. And the lack of people around you; on Thursday I didn't have any contact with the outside world for the entire morning.

So imagine my delight to receive a call at 6.00 on Friday evening asking if I could start a project next week. I don't want to say who it is until I've had my first meeting with the team I'll be working with, but it sounds like a really interesting project, with a fantastic brand, and I'm really looking forward to getting back on the horse again, even if it's only temporary and part time.

In the meantime, the search for a proper job continues. I'm meeting a recruiter on Monday to talk about one very interesting opportunity. And in the 'what a small world' category, it turns out that old mate and ex-colleague Russell is working at a company that I've been talking to about a position. So maybe a word from him to the MD might move things along a little...

I'm delighted also for Suzanne, who has secured a job for an agency working with a large broadcaster. As soon as they said they wanted to meet her in a bar for one of her interviews it was a foregone conclusion. It's just fortunate that they didn't suggest The Distillers at lunchtime a few days before Christmas - now that could have been a very different story...

I'm aware that there are people reading this who haven't been as fortunate, and are still waiting for a breakthrough. To them I say we're all in this together, and we'll continue to support each other. All of us who worked at zavvi have an extraordinary story to tell, so keep on telling it, keep strong, keep positive and and things will happen.

A mug's game

I'm whispering, because I don't want the administrators to hear; before I left zavvi I 'liberated' one of the mugs from the kitchen. I figure it might become a collectors, piece one day. I imagine turning on Antiques' Roadshow to see some expert on ceramics saying:

"This is a remarkable find. zavvi was an entertainment retailer around 2007-2008 but they were only around for about 18 months. There were only a small number of zavvi mugs produced, and - I do believe you've struck gold here - I think this is from the kitchen on the south side, so it's even more of a collector's piece since it would have been used by the eCommerce team. It's probably worth around £10,000 today."

Anyway, the thing is that I've found myself unable to drink from it. Bad karma. It reminds me too much of the painful last few weeks at zavvi. So I've decided that when I find my next job I'm going to make that coffee and use that mug. Until then, I'll keep it under wraps just in case I get a call from a bbc producer.

And while I'm on the subject of coffee, has there ever been a better smell than that of freshly ground coffee? I went to Martyns in Muswell Hill yesterday to pick up my favourite mix of colombian and java, and the aroma from my bag on the way home was just fantastic.

Quote of the week

"I'm not going to make a long speech. I've got to save my best lines for tomorrow"

Barack Obama, at Gavin Coolidge High School, Jan 19