It seems these articles about the worst commutes come out every month. This month Forbes.com offers up The Most Unhealthy Commutes in America. First, the top 5 (with 2 California cities – no surprise): The Top 5 Most Unhealthy Commutes1. Riverside, Calif.2. Atlanta, GA3. Los Angeles, CA4. (tie) Houston, TX4. (tie) Washington, D.C. Then you get this interesting piece of data (emphasis mine): Not only do commuters in Southern California inhale the worst year-round particle pollution levels, but Riverside drivers also face the highest rate of fatal auto accidents per capita, and Los Angeles drivers spend the most time sitting in traffic. In 2003, the annual delay per traveler there was… Read More
Continue ReadingDirty Jobs And Common Sense
I’m a big fan of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel and have the Tivo set to record it every week. If you haven’t seen it, essentially the host goes around each week and works with people who have a dirty job. Well, not just dirty, usually disgusting to the nth degree. So I’m intrigued when I see this CareerJournal.com article – Putting the Spotlight On the Grimiest Gigs. It’s a fun read and the host, Mike Rowe, is an interesting guy. Read the article and you will find this great point (my emphasis): Wall Street Journal: Why do the workers highlighted on your show often appear happy in their… Read More
Continue ReadingA Smaller Monster
It appears that Monster.com’s legal woes are impacting their bottom line. They are laying off 800 employees. From the Pioneer Press’ Monster to cut 800 jobs: Monster, which has been grappling with an investigation into its stock-option granting practices, said second-quarter operating expenses swelled by 34 percent, largely because of higher legal fees and severance payments. Profit fell 28 percent in the quarter, even as sales rose. Good lesson here – businesses grow on profit, not revenue. That should be obvious, but we still talk to salespeople who seem unaware of this truth.
Continue ReadingThe Unacceptable Acceptance
CNNMoney.com has an article that really tweaked me this morning – Help! I accepted a job – can I change my mind? The article is the standard reader mail format with some good advice in the answer section. An offer letter – which is usually a brief document describing your position, duties and compensation – is generally less binding than an employment contract – which goes into much more detail and usually states how much notice you must give if you decide to quit. … So just be honest and say, ‘I’m sorry, but my dream job opened up and I really feel I have to take it.’ Most often… Read More
Continue ReadingTop Interview Questions
Check out this article – Top Interview Questions – from CareerBuilder.com. It provides a handful of interview questions along with the rationale behind them. A quick taste: How do you alleviate stress? Every job has stress. So if someone says they are not stressed or claim to not do anything about it, then they are either lying or they do not know how to control it. Look for positive activities or hobbies, rather than substance use or dangerous activities as stress relievers. What was a major obstacle you were able to overcome in the past year? Problem solving is the major topic covered by this question. What kind of thinker… Read More
Continue ReadingOver-Reliance Upon One Customer
Our local Pioneer Press offers a well-written story titled IT PAYS TO THINK SMALL. The article chronicles the up-and-down nature of starting a business from scratch. The piece that caught my attention was how this company, which makes wax-dipped pine cones for burning, grew almost overnight thanks to orders from Target, Wal Mart and Sam’s Club. But that growth came with a significant problem. The sales spike, though, concealed a weakness: The couple’s business was a one-product wonder. A seasonal product, at that. And its sales growth had been fueled by three big customers. Talk about over-leveraged. The allure of one big customer is enticing to a young, growing business. … Read More
Continue ReadingWho Have You Met?
I’m not sure this is the most compelling statement regarding your own skills on an email cover: I am better at network management than anybody I’ve ever met
Continue ReadingThe IM Wave
We had a rather robust discussion at Select Metrix yesterday regarding corporate uses of instant messaging (IM). I, being a self-proclaimed techno-geek, believe that IM will replace email in the near future. Well, according to a CareerJournal.com article titled Instant Messaging Is Invading And Changing the Workplace, that future may be now (emphasis mine): But tech consultant Gartner Inc. projects that instant messaging will be the “de facto tool for voice, video and text chat” for 95% of employees in big companies within five years.
Continue ReadingTelecommuting Is Becoming An Expected Perk
We have been discussing telecommuting in the sales world over the past year and have seen it appear in our sourcing efforts as a common topic. Inc.com looks into this trend in their article The Benefits of Telecommuting. The focus of the article is in the realm of IT professionals. That group is obviously an early adopter of technology trends so this isn’t surprising: In a survey of 1,400 chief information officers, 44 percent said their company’s IT workforce is telecommuting at a rate the same as or higher than five years ago, according to Robert Half Technology, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based technology-consulting firm. Many IT workers fall to the… Read More
Continue ReadingCEO Compensation
The CEO-bashing that has occurred regarding their compensation is a sore spot for me – especially since the criticism is leveled by people who have never spent a single day as a CEO. Now I catch up to this Foxnews.com story – Oprah Highest-Paid Star; Simon Cowell a Distant Number Two. Do you know how much Oprah makes per year? $260 Million. A year! Where is the outrage? If I am not mistaken, Oprah is the CEO of her production company. This number is her salary – what about her benefits and perks? The second highest television salary is $215 MILLION less than her salary! The mainstream media goes to… Read More
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