Category Archives: Business

Phone Interviews Save Time

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Got three emails from people who read my Craigslist ad for drivers and I sent them each a reply that we still have the positions available and the next step of the hiring process is to call me and we’ll do a phone interview. It doesn’t make sense to meet these candidates in person when so few of them pan out to be a good prospect. It would be a huge waste of time for me to sit around waiting on these people to show up, if they even manage to show up, and then talk to them face to face and have only 1 in maybe 30 be worth making an offer. The phone interview saves a lot of time and even when I get one to come in, only 1 in 10 can handle it. About half don’t come back for the second night and the rest might last a week. Even though I take great pains to explain how much work is involved, I really think most of them think I’m exaggerating and are shocked to find out that they actually have to work.

Help Wanted

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We have a lot of turnover at our company and we are almost always trying to hire for at least one open position. It’s hard work and rough hours, but the pay is good and I do my best to treat everyone well and keep them motivated.

We have been running a classified ad in the daily newspaper for over a year. The ad runs every day and is always on the front page of the newspaper’s classified section. As far as I can tell, we have not gotten one single call from that ad, in all this time.

The calls that we do get are from the ad we put up on Craigslist. Isn’t that amazing? That in just a few years, Craigslist can become the best resource for help wanted? They have decimated the classified section in the daily paper – no one goes to the newspaper for jobs. It used to be a large section, especially on Sundays. Now they are down to just one or two printed pages. But Craigslist has all the listings now and the search feature really helps target what you want. Almost everyone in town has access to the internet – either at their place of employment, in their homes, at schools and in all the libraries. It really has changed the quality of our lives in many ways and affected the way we do business, too.

Outsourcing HR

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A good friend of mine has worked in Human Resources all her professional life. At the company where we worked together for a couple years, she was taking night time college courses to get her Master’s Degree in HR and the company was helping her with the tuition for the classes. She was so proud to finally graduate with her Master’s and I must say that it was quite an accomplishment, as she not only had a very demanding job at the company, with long hours there, but she was also mother to three children in school and wife of a musician who traveled quite a bit and because of his touring schedule he would leave her alone at home with the kids for weeks at a time.

We were all shocked and amazed when our company made the announcement that the Board of Directors had decided to eliminate the Human Resources department and outsource those tasks as part of our staff reduction and reorganization plans. My friend was laid off and we were all instructed on the new processes for HR support within our departments. After the initial shock of losing a friend and co-worker, I must say that the new processes are not bad.

My friend has found another position and is very happy with her new company as VP of HR, and our company is happy with the move to outsourcing their HR. So it was a win-win change for all.

To Catch a Thief

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For the past couple of weeks we’ve had a puzzling series of events in one of our districts. Someone has been stealing our product from the stores, sometime in the wee hours of the morning between when we deliver it and when the store personnel arrive to take it inside. For many customers we place the product in a discretely placed black box, off to the side of the store entrance. Although the box can be locked, most merchants prefer to not lock it, as the fact that the product is not all that expensive and the black box keeps it out of sight, therefore out of mind. Plus there is a lot of police presence in this area and this kind of thing just doesn’t happen here.

But someone familiar with our system has been taking advantage of the unlocked boxes and raiding the boxes. For at least 2 weeks. They are smart enough to not take from the same store every morning – they switch out their target at random, and there are about a dozen from which to choose.

We finally caught on when one of the store managers saw a man getting into a large black Suburban parked in front of their black box. He had been standing in front of the black box and the manager thought he might have been delivering the product, although she had never seen this man before and didn’t recognize his car. It wasn’t until he sped off and she went to retrieve the product and found it missing that she realized she had almost caught the thief red-handed.

So now I am on the lookout for a tall white man with short dark hair who drives a black Suburban between 4:30 and 5:00 each morning. When I catch him, there will be drama, as I intend to have him arrested and prosecuted, and if he is who I think he is, I intend to have him lose his job, as well.

Wind Farms for Energy

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Years ago as we drove through Nevada and Southern California I was impressed by the lines of wind turbines along the ridges of the hills. The massive towers and slowly swirling blades are silent sentries generating electricity for homes and businesses without polluting the environment. The land around the base of the towers can still be planted and farmed, and livestock can still graze safely. Although some people have called them ugly, I think they are majestic.

With a little research on the internet I found that not all areas of the U. S. are suitable for making use of the wind turbines. You must have a sustained wind of so many mph to be able to harvest enough wind to generate electricity. There are wind maps that show zones of the different levels of sustained wind, and in my area there is not enough natural wind to take advantage of the turbines.

Recently there were news stories about T. Boone Pickens and his energy plan to involves erecting hundreds of thousands of wind turbines throughout the midwest and western states. He has a web site with compelling videos and energy facts supporting the plan. I see he will be on CNN today and talking about the status of his plan. It’s worth taking a listen and getting involved if you agree with the strategy and want to help solve our Country’s energy crisis.