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.

Have Cooler – Will Travel

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Most days I shop for groceries at the little neighborhood shopping centers near my house. The closest grocery store is actually walking distance, If I was willing to take a little cart on wheel to help carry them back. It’s probably a quarter mile walk, which is doable, but not so great when lugging groceries back home with you up and down the hills. There is one particular hill so steep that even riding a bicycle back would be a hard go for me. I’d probably have to dismount and walk the bike up to avoid congestive heart failure, considering how out of shape I am.

The closest full service grocery store is a Food Lion. This store is good for basics and a quick trip when I run out of something mid-preparation. They have a limited selection of produce and all I usually buy there is maybe bananas, onions or potatoes. Their meat section is not much variety and too high prices, so unless it is on sale I might pick up a pound of hamburger meat or a ham steak. Their freezer and cooler sections are good and when they put things on sale I stock up.

But today I’m heading out for a long day down in the “Land of Excess.” Their grocery store is a marvelous wonderland of all kinds of treasures shipped here from all over the world. If they have some good prices on meats and vegetables, I’m prepared to take advantage because I’m taking my cooler in the back of the truck to keep them cold while I finish my errands down there. The temps will be in the 90’s today, so leaving groceries in the truck without benefit of a cooler is not practical. But I’m prepared – let the adventure begin!

Web Sites for Beginners

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There are several family members clamoring for their own web sites. They already have tried MySpace pages and want to move up to something more sophisticated. They also want more control over the way the pages are laid out. So I’m trying to start them own the right path for finding the basic information they need and a few of the better resources they can use.

First, they have to buy the domain name that they want to use. There are so many domain names already registered that it is getting harder by the day to find an available dot com for the preferred names.

Second, they need to design the web page. There are lots of ways to get this done and I will be working on a list of resources for them that are free or low cost. Some web sites are dedicated to blogs and others are more complex, with submission forms, multiple pages, and extras like photo albums, music downloads, community calendars and other great features and tools.

Third, they will need web hosting. The domain they buy has to be assigned to a host for other people to be able to find it and to see it on the internet. There are thousands of hosting options and types. For the beginner, it is probably best to start out with the free or low cost hosting plans from a reliable hosting company.

Thanks for the Riffs, LeRoi

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Bummed out to learn this morning of the death of the sax player in the Dave Matthews Band, LeRoi Moore.

Beside some hit tunes, one of the things I really liked about the Dave Matthews Band is that it was a true college band gone golden story. The band was formed in Charlottesville, VA, which is a little college town in central Virginia.

LeRoi was a sax player trying to chase dreams of a jazz band but ended up hooking up with his friend and fellow jazz player, Carter Beauford (drums) and Dave Matthews who was working as a bartender, back in 1991. They went on to create a great sound and the band has a string of hit records and tours constantly.

LeRoi was riding an ATV on his farm in Charlottesville on June 30 when he wrecked it and got hurt. He’s been recovering at his L.A. home while Jeff Coffin filled in for him on the Dave Matthews Band summer gigs, but was rushed to the hospital yesterday where he died from “complications.”

Jeff Coffin has played with Bela Fleck and I wonder if he will end up staying with Dave Matthews? He has big riffs to fill with the loss of LeRoi.

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.