With Jobs to Fill, Employers are Looking for the Purple Squirrel
American employers have a variety of job vacancies, piles of cash and countless well-qualified candidates. But despite a slowly improving economy, many companies remain reluctant to actually hire, stringing job applicants along for weeks or months before they make a decision.
If they ever do.
The number of job openings has increased to levels not seen since the height of the financial crisis, but vacancies are staying unfilled much longer than they used to — an average of 23 business days today compared to a low of 15 in mid-2009, according to a new measure of Labor Department data by the economists Steven J. Davis, Jason Faberman and John Haltiwanger.
For more, click here ... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jobs-fill-employers-wait-perfection-190422709.html
Crowdfunding Project of the Day -- CoolShip
Today's crowdfunding project is a CoolShip, a simple computer that looks like a keyboard and can hook up to any television. It is ideal for young children and elderly users.
If you want to be a contributor, click here http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/coolship-an-android-desktop-computer-that-looks-like-a-keyboard
Here is their description of their product:
CoolShip is different from any other computers that you
have seen on the market.
What are the features of CoolShip:
► A desktop computer looks like a full-size keyboard with
a 1.5Ghz dualcore ARM processor inside,1GB RAM,4/8GB Nand flash memory.
► A desktop computer with standard android 4.0 OS and an
optioinal customized android OS(we named it CoolShip OS) that allows users
having an user experience close to that of windows OS.
► A desktop computer provides users an access to web
surf,Google Play,Google Docs,Google Chrome,online or local 1080P HD
videos,Facebook and other android apps on a bigger size screen.
► A desktop computer with both wifi and Ethernet card.
► A desktop computer that supports both VGA and HDMI
output synchronously on 2 displays.
► A hardware upgradable desktop computer only require a
replacement of a palm-sized core board to upgrade its processor,RAM and ROM at
one time.
► CoolShip has ergonomic keyboard with chiclet keys and
customized OS functional keys enable users a comfortable typing experience and
very useful shortcuts.
What CoolShip can do for you?
♦ CoolShip is an android desktop computer for home users.
♦ CoolShip can be the first computer for elderly or
children.
♦ CoolShip is one of the best solutions to upgrade hotel
facilities with very low cost in the long run as a computer for guests.
♦ With Apps like android-rdp-client,CoolShip can connect
windows server remotely,which is a low cost solution of educational computer
for schools.
♦ CoolShip with android TTS voice Apps can be a computer
for the blind.
Words of Advice: Leave Money on the Table for Your Partners
I love the series on LinkedIn in which people tell the
best words of advice they received. One of the top ones is
from Anthony Scaramucci, Managing Partner at SkyBridge Capital and
Owner, SkyBridge Capital
(http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130228135244-10667678-best-advice-leave-money-on-the-table-for-your-partners)
When asked about the best advice I ever got, I can’t help but refer back to an excerpt from my book Goodbye Gordon Gekko: How to Find Your Fortune without Losing Your Soul (Wiley, May 2010), because it recounts all of the great advice I have collected throughout my career.
One Sunday on a business trip in Hong Kong back in 1998,
a former boss and mentor took me to meet an “old man.” From the book:
The “old man” was Li Ka-shing, the great property
tycoon known across Asia and the world for his investment savvy,
entrepreneurship and leadership skills…A long-term, patient investor, he is
often referred to as the Warren Buffet of the East.
“If it isn’t too much of an imposition, I would like to
ask you a question. I’m turning 35 this year and you are about to turn 70. What
can you tell me about your life that I can take with me for the rest of my
life?”
After telling me a short version of his life story, he
then gave me the best advice:
Anthony, leave money on the table for your partners. Not
only will you be very rich, you will be very happy. If you allow your partners
to benefit from the deal, they always come back and want to do business with
you. There will never be a shortage of opportunity.
It is the man who goes to the table to ask and squeeze
for the last nickel who is never happy. Do you know why? It is because that
person leaves the table, typically getting the nickel, but then hates himself
for not asking for the two nickels. As a result, he is never happy.\
I immediately thought about all of the people I knew from
Wall Street who were very rich, but also miserable. While I may be driven to
the point of driving those around me crazy, I have never let success stand in
the way of my happiness. And, as I’ve put this advice into practice in the
years since that meeting, I have also realized the value of many other forms of
capital. Again, as described in Goodbye Gordon Gekko:
Capital is not only cash, stocks, and real estate.
Capital is any asset that you can store and rely upon, and it comes in many
forms. There is capital in economic terms, which consists of investment assets,
cash, and things like equipment on a company’s balance sheet. There is also
human capital, which is made up of those who work with you. When you establish
healthy win-win relationships with people, your capital account grows and can
earn you a lot of dough. But accumulating enough of any of those can only
happen if you trust that your actions are worthwhile no matter what the return.
National Margarita Day
The Worst Job Interview Ever, Brought to You by Heineken
Husbands who do 'her' chores have less sex, study finds
"Households with a more traditional gender division of labor report higher sexual frequency than households with less traditional gender divisions of labor," says Sabino Kornrich, lead author of a study that appears in the February issue of the American Sociological Review. "Housework is something that people use as a very important way to express gender, masculinity and femininity. We weren't surprised to think that sex might be more tied to this type of gender expression."
Other studies have found that men who make the bed
also get to romp around in it more often. But Kornrich and his research team
from the Center for Advanced Studies at the Juan March Institute in Madrid
wanted to test claims that women might “exchange” sex for men’s participation
in housework.
"For couples in which men did no 'core' housework, sexual frequency was 4.8 times per month," says Kornrich. "For couples in which men did all of the 'core' housework, sexual frequency was 3.2 times per month."
Kickstarter is Growing Up
David
Gallagher, a deputy editor for technology at The New York Times, is leaving the
company to work for Kickstarter to become the new director of communications.
As Kickstarter expands, they will need to bring more adults to the
management of the company. This seems like a good start especially after
the whole we are not a store fiasco. I would not be surprised if they
bring in a new COO in the next few months.
To learn more, http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-times-tech-editor-leaves-for-kickstarter-2013-1
Why are People Late to Meetings?
I get frustrated with people who are late to
meetings. Is it too hard to show on time
especially after they agreed to attend a meeting? Are they saying that their time is more important
than your time and the other people at the meeting? I found an article by Alfie Kohn who explores
this concept (the article can be found at http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-homework-myth/201107/why-are-some-people-always-late-and-other-human-puzzles
).
I will go with the fact that these people are inconsiderate. Alfie goes on and says that either they have a case of egocentricity (they're caught up in their own needs and preferences and fail to take the perspective of others -- a prerequisite, perhaps, to making an effort to be on time). The other possibility is that late people do not have executive functioning (self discipline, lack of awareness or as my wife says an inability to juggle multiple tasks).
Nevertheless, I wish I had an effective way to address this situation.