03.29.06
Posted in General at 12:26 am by Paloma Cruz
The good news is that I can order Pappa John’s pizza any time I want. The bad news is that I still have to wait for delivery.
Papa John’s launches around-the-clock online ordering
– reported by the Business First
Papa John’s International Inc. has upgraded its online ordering system to allow customers to place orders 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Customers who use www.papajohns.com now can specify the date and time of deliveries or carryout orders and plan orders up to 21 days in advance.
[snip]
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Posted in Career, News at 12:23 am by Paloma Cruz
I know that we’ve all been tempted… or maybe only I’ve been tempted continually to make myself sound better than I am.
It’s something I was very tempted to do when I started. Now, not so much. Though there are things I’d like to take some creative license with, one of my rules is that I don’t like if I can avoid it. I sidestep, offuscate, give vaguely specific info… but I don’t lie.
Statistics reveal that near 36% of applications are falsified!
(Stat found at InfoLink Screening Services, via Communications Overtones.)
In the age of Social Media, it is more important than ever to be truthful and transparent in all that you do and the resume must be especially pristine. Why, because you are more likely to be found out and exposed to the cold, hard light of day that the Internet shines on all activities.
Yep, there’s that too. So, again, don’t lie.
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03.28.06
Posted in General at 12:10 am by Paloma Cruz
I just bought a shredder yesterday, and then I came across “The Torn-Up Credit Card Application” which shows that you should buy one as well.
From LifeHacker (who pointed me to this experiment):
[snip]
…it turns out that simply tearing apart the forms may not be enough of a deterrent.
Results of the Torn-Up Credit Card Application experiment show that a bank may issue a credit card when the application is received on a taped-together form, so shredding such documents is a much better approach.
[snip]
I got mine at Target, which probably means that I paid too much for it. I like it, though I haven’t used it for a lot yet.
I’ll report back when I start to do a lot of shredding.
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03.27.06
Posted in General, Health at 12:44 am by Paloma Cruz
Blog business world argues that blogging can be as therapeutic as therapy:
Because establishing and maintaining a blog is a postive action in and of itself, becoming a blogger is taking a huge step toward building self esteem. For many introverted people, who lacked self confidence in the past, writing a blog has helped to establish their presence in the world. When bloggers meet each other, instead of remaining silent as they might have in the past, they now have common ground for discussion and friendship.
Personal bloggers have found writing their posts to be powerful therapy. Putting their thoughts and ideas to keyboard, and then presenting them to the world is a courageous act. For many people, the personal blog might be their first entry into the internet community. That first step can be very frightening for many people. Once that initial hurdle is cleared, however, the blogger can continue posting with confidence.
I agree. One of the main reasons I keep posting, even though it isn’t daily, or even on a regular schedule, is that it’s a great outlet. This medium gives me the possibility of pushing my words out. I love being able to purge my thoughts and feelings and interests with those of you who are interested enough to read these posts.
It feels good to get the words out. I don’t think I would give this up willingly.
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03.21.06
Posted in Career, News at 6:08 am by Paloma Cruz
In the new list of career-search tips I seem to be pulling together.
How to Write a Career Summary
Generate Interest with a High-Impact Summary Statement
- Conduct Research on Your Ideal Job
- Assess Your Credentials
- Relay the Value You Bring to the Table
- Add a Headline
- Focus on Your Goal
- Proofread, Refine and Perfect
The article includes a sample.
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03.20.06
Posted in Career, News at 11:37 pm by Paloma Cruz
“What’s the Secret to Your Success?” from Working Smart covers how responsiveness is a key to success.
So many people I meet are unresponsive. They don’t return their phone calls promptly. They don’t answer their emails quickly. They don’t complete their assignments on time. They promise to do something and never follow through. They have to be reminded, prodded, and nagged. This behavior creates work for everyone else and eats into their own productivity. Sadly, they seem oblivious to it.
How does email equate to this?
Reality is that we live in an “instant world.” People want instant results. They don’t want to wait. And if they have to wait on you, their frustration and resentment grows. They begin to see you as an obstacle to getting their work done. If that happens, it will begin to impact your reputation. Pretty soon people start saying, “I can never get a timely response from him,” or “When I send her an email, I feel like it goes into a black hole,” or worse, your colleagues just roll their eyes and sigh at the mention of your name.
So what’s the answer?
The truth is, you are building your reputation—your brand—one response at a time. People are shaping their view of you by how you respond to them. If you are slow, they assume you are incompetent and over your head. If you respond quickly, they assume you are competent and on top of your work. Their perception, whether you realize it or not, will determine how fast your career advances and how high you go. You can’t afford to be unresponsive. It is a career-killer.
My basic rule is this: respond immediately unless there is a good reason to wait. Obviously, this isn’t always possible, especially since I spend so much time in meetings. Nevertheless, I rarely let messages sit longer than a day. Twenty-four hours is the outside edge. If you can’t respond now, then at least acknowledge that you have received the message: “I received your message. I don’t have time to give it the attention it deserves right now, but you can expect to hear from me before the end of the day tomorrow.”
The great thing about being responsive is that it will quickly differentiate you from your peers. People love doing business with responsive people. Nothing will advance your career faster than this.
Found via LifeHacker.
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Posted in News at 2:50 am by Paloma Cruz
The Sandwich Generation Balances Children and Elderly Parents
– by Monster.com
Does your typical day include leaving work early to pick up blood-pressure medicine for Dad before racing to day care to beat the $150 late fee, then heading home to worry about missed work time?
Welcome to the sandwich generation.
Millions of middle-aged and older workers feel squeezed by the needs of dependent children and aging parents. Nine percent to 13 percent of US households with two or more people age 30 to 60 have two earners and care for both elders and children, according to research by Margaret Neal and Leslie Hammer, both professors at Portland State University in Oregon.
And the sandwich generation is growing. “More and more working people are finding themselves squeezed between child care and caring for a parent,” says Kathie Lingle, director of the Alliance for Work-Life Progress.
[snip]
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03.19.06
Posted in Career at 10:32 pm by Paloma Cruz
Since I’m looking for a job, this article made me sit up and take notice.
Job hunting online gets trickier
Federal regulations kick in today that will make Internet job hunting more complicated. Here’s what candidates need to know – and change — now.
[snip]
New federal guidelines meant to standardize how employers track data on the diversity of their job-applicant pool are taking effect starting today for jobs at federal contractors — and similar rules will kick in later this year at U.S. companies with more than 50 employees. And resumes and search approaches that worked perfectly well before may no longer do the trick.
In the new system, federal regulators will be checking to see that companies are keeping diversity data on all applicants, according to a new, more uniform definition of “applicant.”
[snip]
To comply with these new rules and get the most diversity, employers will have an incentive to keep the pool of applicants for each job relatively small and as random as possible. To make sure you’re considered now, you’ll have to:
Follow the company’s instructions. “If an employer says that, to apply for a given job, you must go to their web site and enter a certain code number, then do that,” says Crispin. “Otherwise your resume will never be seen.”
Spell out your qualifications clearly. “Pay very close attention to the specific qualifications an employer lists for a particular job, and make sure your resume contains those exact words,” Crispin says.
[snip]
Keep your resume up-to-the-minute current. “The rules allow companies to pick a random pool of applicants by searching the job boards for ‘most recent’ qualified applicants,” Crispin notes. “In those cases, no one will even look at a resume that is more than two or three weeks old.” Yikes.
Target specific companies and visit their web sites often. “The first announcement of a job opening very often appears on a company’s own site before it is posted anywhere else,” says Crispin. If enough applicants turn up on the site, the employer is unlikely to look any further. “Companies really do not want 500 or 1,000 applicants for each job,” Crispin says. “If they get 30 who are qualified, that’s a reasonable number for a hiring manager to consider and select from.”
If someone is referring you for a job, make sure you — and they — understand how to do it. About one-third of all new hires now come through employee-referral programs, and companies are still permitted to run these however they like, as long as they follow a consistent policy. So if your pal at Ostrich Corp. wants to refer you for a job, know what Ostrich’s policy is (whether via the company web site, having your friend submit your resume for you in a particular way, or what-have-you) and follow it to the letter.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether the new rules will actually increase diversity in companies or just create extra work for everybody. Either way, if you’re looking for a new job, you can’t afford to ignore them.
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03.05.06
Posted in Health, News at 2:16 pm by Paloma Cruz
In a continuation of this topic…
High Court Rules In Favor Of Abortion Protesters
– reported by Click2Houston.com
Anti-abortion groups won a victory at the Supreme Court Tuesday, in the latest round of a 20-year legal battle over clinic demonstrations.
All eight justices who participated said federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used to ban abortion protests.
The appeal was brought by anti-abortion groups, following a request from a federal appeals court. That court had asked a trial judge to determine whether a nationwide injunction could be based on charges that protesters had made threats of violence — if there was no connection with robbery or extortion.
[snip]
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