I am truly amazed and ashamed at the way most of our service-related peoplekind treat their customers – even themselves or fellow employees IN FRONT OF YOU.  I can remember an era when service was KING and companies actually wanted your business enough to manage, instruct and oh my god NO – supervise their employees.  There were business ethics and those expectations flowed all the way down each rung to the bottom of the business ladder. 

But things change.  For longer than I care to remember, I’ve had to control myself from slapping some smart a** sales clerk, waiter or service rep who could care less if you ate/bought/worked right/lived.  (Yep, my patience isn’t what it used to be.)  I keep thinking – WOW – if I managed this group – I’d fire every one of them and start over.  I believe that this is a direct result of the loss of the ethics I talked about above – the embarrassing, financially devastating, greed and power grabbing that has infested our businesses and politics every where you look. As I am sure you can attest, we have suffered grievously because of it.

But things change.  I may be taking too early a temperature – but I wonder if the issues we have gone through/still are going through are spinning a reversal.  Lately, I‘ve worked with  the nicest, eager to please/want to help – are in it for the long run with you till its fixed kind of employees and service peeps.  It is such a great juxtaposition that the good attitudes and cheerful “how can I help yous” really stick out. Outrageously better. And I’m finding this wonderfully pleasing attitude everywhere.  People want to help me.  People want to do their jobs.  WHAT A CONCEPT.  Despite doing the work of 3 people they are happy to have a job – and want to keep it? And they have pride in what they do?

Things Change. I know we still have a huge mess that needs fixin (excuse my Texism here) – but perhaps those hard working peeps somewhere near the bottom of the ladder who have realized what is important and express/display good business ethics and joy in what they do can infect those at the top?  We can only hope.

SIMPLE….. it allows you to make calls from one computer to another, anywhere in the world, totally free of charge.  Now that should be VERY attractive, especially in this economy that has yet to totally recover.  I myself have been using Skype for a few months and will be using it more now that fellow colleagues/friends/family are getting in on this act.  Is Skype just for making phone calls you may ask??!  NO, not only does Skype allow for voice communications but it is used for video (with the addition of a Webcam).  Many newer computers, particularly laptops, have the webcam, microphone, and speakers built in for just this purpose.  Ever go to one of those FedEx stores to video conference?  I did and it was plenty expensive.  At least with Skype you have another alternative.  The Cons?!?  Well, it isn’t a suitable substitute for regular phone service, nor does it pretend to be. From a safety standpoint, it’s important to know that Skype CAN NOT be used to make emergency 911 calls.  Other free services on Skype include: transferring and forwarding calls to others on Skype, instant messaging and group IMs and conference calls.  Give it a shot; I did and it is worth the hype!

Interruption? What is that?  HELLO – we all get interrupted daily, whether it be professionally or personally.  Have you ever taken the time to consider how many interruptions you encounter each day?  A phone call, an email, or anything else that unexpectedly demands your attention, and, distracts you from the task at-hand…
The smallest of interruptions can rob us of time we need to be successful and achieve the task(s) at hand.  As important, an interruption breaks your focus which adds more time to your day when you have to re-engage yourself to get back on track.
How do we control interruptions?  GOOD QUESTION!  I have been trying to figure that out for years.   Here are some steps I have figured out so far:

• Make time for priorities. Handle larger, important projects early in the morning, before you read your e-mail and before interruptions are likely to take place. Schedule some quiet time – sign out of IM, shut down your computer and turn off the ringer on your phone.
 
• Inform your co-workers that you are “going away” so you can get some important tasks accomplished.

• Share with people that unless a situation is urgent, to save up information and approach in one email and/or call- to prevent unnecessary interruptions.

How do you handle interruptions?  Please share!

 So, I am the IT/Systems Coordinator for our company.  Now, I never know exactly what to expect from day to day, make that hour, no minute to minute. For about a month’s time there had been talk, but more rumor than talk, of our company setting up a fun, thrilling, cutting edge, full of not only industry information, facts, advice, and over all knowledge, but also an intriguing, hilarious, attention grabbing blog. Of course I offered to help where and if I could, but I was told that “they” would come to me if anything came up.

So I’m peacefully working – minding my, well mine and everyone else’s business, nature of my job! Slowly meetings start to happen and from these meetings “they” start asking questions, and, of course, I find the answers. Then WHAM! All of sudden I find myself right at the end of “here’s everything we have gathered, here’s all our information, and some blogs we have written”. And just like that I can add company blog administrator to my resume.

So you may ask “What’s this blog for?”  As I mentioned above, we thought that not only can we bring you our MANY years of knowledge and experience in Recruiting and Competitive Human Capital Intelligence, but we know we can give you a place to explore, laugh, empathize, and just take a break from the mundane.

So you may ask “Who will be bringing me all this excitement and stimulation”, right? We have the most educated, professional, skilled, witty, and diverse group of individuals in our industry blogging for us and they have friends.

So you may ask “Why I should come back?” Well, how can you even ask that question?   I spent a lot of time getting this thing up and running!