Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Interviewing For Open Positions
I have been interviewing potential new employees at our firm.
Firstly, let me state that I am by no means a Human Resources Manager. I have worked for a large company before and gone through the hire process and the transfer / promotion process. I have a rudimentary understanding of the laws, rules and regulations of what can and can’t be asked. I have done sales in the past so I understand “open ended” questions and “closed” questions, and I understand how to take over conversations and get them back on track. With that said:
I posted two positions for our company online *. The first was a “Bookkeeper / Clerical” position. I devised a two on one interview session, including a list of five standard questions to ask (basic questions on history, expectations, future goals, and a couple out of the box questions like “what do you expect to do on your first day?, ext…). We successfully hired an employee who, after a month, is turning out to be a pretty good choice.
I posted the second position the other day; we sifted through resumes and found two candidates we identified as possibilities. I sent an email notifying these people we would like to interview them. In the email I listed five possible days and time slots that would fit our schedules. Immediately after the list was the line, “please let me know which two of these times best fits your availability”. This is a relatively simple task. Only one candidate replied with the instructed two slots.
It is very possible the “non instruction following” candidate is the more qualified of the two, and I am going to go ahead and interview this person anyway, but this is an absolutely horrible first impression. And I know prior to interviewing this person that it is basically a formality, and there is little chance of even being considered. Moral of this story… READ THE ENTIRE EMAIL BEFORE RESPONDING!!!!
This is a very difficult job market; no one knows this fact more than I. Do not eliminate yourself from contention for the position prior to even applying!
If you are interviewed, you are already on a short list of candidates. I understand that we are in a very technology driven society, but for crying out loud, spend the $0.50 to send a hand written “thank you” note and an email “thank you”. It makes you look like a considerate person.
* I used the Georgia State University job search page for current students and alumni (my boss is an alumnus of GSU, and we are confident the Robinson College of Business has adequately prepared its graduates).
Firstly, let me state that I am by no means a Human Resources Manager. I have worked for a large company before and gone through the hire process and the transfer / promotion process. I have a rudimentary understanding of the laws, rules and regulations of what can and can’t be asked. I have done sales in the past so I understand “open ended” questions and “closed” questions, and I understand how to take over conversations and get them back on track. With that said:
I posted two positions for our company online *. The first was a “Bookkeeper / Clerical” position. I devised a two on one interview session, including a list of five standard questions to ask (basic questions on history, expectations, future goals, and a couple out of the box questions like “what do you expect to do on your first day?, ext…). We successfully hired an employee who, after a month, is turning out to be a pretty good choice.
I posted the second position the other day; we sifted through resumes and found two candidates we identified as possibilities. I sent an email notifying these people we would like to interview them. In the email I listed five possible days and time slots that would fit our schedules. Immediately after the list was the line, “please let me know which two of these times best fits your availability”. This is a relatively simple task. Only one candidate replied with the instructed two slots.
It is very possible the “non instruction following” candidate is the more qualified of the two, and I am going to go ahead and interview this person anyway, but this is an absolutely horrible first impression. And I know prior to interviewing this person that it is basically a formality, and there is little chance of even being considered. Moral of this story… READ THE ENTIRE EMAIL BEFORE RESPONDING!!!!
This is a very difficult job market; no one knows this fact more than I. Do not eliminate yourself from contention for the position prior to even applying!
If you are interviewed, you are already on a short list of candidates. I understand that we are in a very technology driven society, but for crying out loud, spend the $0.50 to send a hand written “thank you” note and an email “thank you”. It makes you look like a considerate person.
* I used the Georgia State University job search page for current students and alumni (my boss is an alumnus of GSU, and we are confident the Robinson College of Business has adequately prepared its graduates).
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Immunizations
I looked through my immunization records and realized that I never got the Hep B third shot. Oh well, at lease I don’t have to get the entire series again. I also went and got a TB skin test. Obviously, since I am not in a high risk environment I tested negative. That was easy. I spent $20 on the TB test and $67 on the third shot in the series at a local Minute Clinic in the Virginia Highlands of Atlanta.
Now, at least there will be no immunization hold on my record when the time comes. Now I just have to head to campus at some time and turn it in.
Now, at least there will be no immunization hold on my record when the time comes. Now I just have to head to campus at some time and turn it in.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Acceptance Paperwork
Upon my acceptance, I was sent a link from the Admissions Department at Tech providing me information on the steps to accepting the offer. It was all around pretty easy. There was a survey for what they called their most “exceptional applicants”, and a follow up link for submitting the $500 fee for orientation and the one time lifetime membership fee to GEMS (Graduate Evening Management Students).
I received the Health Packet as part of the link with the required immunizations (more on that later) and a time line through the start of class.
I also called and asked how I would get a Ga Tech MBA t-shirt to wear around. They told me they would mail me one, but they only have XL and no L. They let me come pick it up instead. Now I have a very large MBA shirt to wear around.
I know the days are getting closer, and with each one that passes, I am more excited about starting this step in my life.
I received the Health Packet as part of the link with the required immunizations (more on that later) and a time line through the start of class.
I also called and asked how I would get a Ga Tech MBA t-shirt to wear around. They told me they would mail me one, but they only have XL and no L. They let me come pick it up instead. Now I have a very large MBA shirt to wear around.
I know the days are getting closer, and with each one that passes, I am more excited about starting this step in my life.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Guest Blogger: Paralee
Crime Wave at 939 Greenwood Ave.
Just to clear the air, Aaron and I are not moving out. We love our apartment and our neighborhood, and we promise to be much more careful about our windows and lug nuts. I have never seen more strangers get together to help someone they have never met just because they saw a neighbor in need than last night. But the story is better told from Tuesday morning at 3:30 am...
Cozy in bed, then rattled awake by my faithful guard dog/scaredy cat dog barking menacingly next to my face to warn me something was going on outside. As usual, I told him it was fine and to lay down. I got in another 4 hours of solid sleep, hopped out of bed to take a shower, drank delicious espresso, then skipped outside to meet my grandmother for lunch and to pick up my tickets to Croatia only to find that my car had lost of a few key parts in the night...all four wheels. Not just the tires, but the wheels. My poor ol' jeep was sitting on broken cinder blocks on its axles just looking sad. In our very own apartment parking lot. Too bad the landlord had scheduled the maintenance guy to replace the light bulbs a day too late. The policeman actually laughed a little saying he'd never heard of someone stealing wheels in the Virginia-Highlands before, let alone the factory rims missing the jeep logo and year old Costco tires from an old jeep. Thankfully a nice retired guy in Newnan sold me some replacement rims and tires for a cool $350 and my car looks nicer than it did before...the lug nut locks were extra from Advance Auto where the checkout guy was also pretty surprised to hear of my story.
Fast forward to the weekend. Awesome Halloween party, buying lots of snowboarding gear, dinner with friends, new fancy camera lens, come home around 12:30 am and see the kitchen light is on and the window is cracked. Now Aaron and I are apparently naive thinking that it is safe to leave the tiny kitchen window open since it is a good 8 feet off the ground on a flat brick surface with nothing to grip. Aaron noticed the cracked window (odd because we usually leave it fully open) and I thought it was weird as well. "Oh shit someone broke into our apartment!" Aaron yelled as he got out of the car to hear the the jingle of the front door knob on our apartment. "Oh shit he's still here!", and he races around the porch to see a guy running out of our apartment down the walkway. Aaron yelled expletives at the burglar while sprinting after and calling to our good friend Sean who lives above us. The burglar ran down the patio and Aaron sprinted parallel along the sidewalk, forcing him to a point at the edge of the building where the patio ends into a 6 foot drop. Add 4 feet of railing, a downward graded hill and utter blackness, and the burglar leaps 10 feet. He lands hard on his ankle, ripping through bone, exposing the muscle and tendon that comprise its inner workings. His foot is detached, hanging limp, and he runs with only a stump of a leg and nothing more than his sock and achilles tendon keeping his appendage attached to his body. Impressively, he made it two apartment buildings down before collapsing. Sean came running and held the situation down while calling 911. Five minutes later, police and ambulance arrive into a scene populated by a growing collection of neighbors. Returning to the house to investigate the damage, we were incredibly lucky to find nothing stolen. He must have broken in the exact moment we pulled into the driveway. He didn't even have a chance to turn on any lights.
But someone is missing. With all the screaming and yelling and emotion, Albus, who had been to dinner with us, jumped out of the car to see what was going on and flipped out, running the opposite direction. Poor buddy was scared out of his mind with the yelling and chasing and anger and just bolted. Wonderful neighbor Sean and his equally incredible girlfriend Lindsay were with me within a minute, scouring the streets and calling out for him, poking into every dark corner in the Va-Hi for the next 4 hours. Neighbors from all over and people coming home from good times all joined the cause to search for Albus, but to no avail. Lindsay and I actually saw him once and called to him, but being in his ultra paranoid state and having terrible night vision, he had no idea who we were and took off in the opposite direction. Eventually, we had to tell everyone to go to bed, that we would restart the search in the morning after we put up fliers with his picture and my phone number. Aaron and I tried to sleep for 2 hours, but all I could do was toss and turn and think about my poor pup hiding behind a dumpster or under some moldy stairs in the cold thinking something horrible had happened to his people.
The next morning resulted in a few phone calls of leads on sightings including Briarcliff Pl. off Highland, Druid Hills Baptist church at Briarcliff and Ponce, the Majestic Diner on Ponce crossing the street at high traffic, and running down Ponce towards the city. We mobilized the guys looking for work outside Home Depot and the homeless shelter's Sunday morning service, every man looking for Albus and a shot at $50. Chase and Taylor took over the computer at Staples to design and print new fliers, Pamela and Harris checked out every driveway in the Va-Hi. My mom drove in from Toccoa! After an hour and a half of no more calls and no sightings, I trudged back to the apartment from Inman middle school where he likes to play, taking the long way home. I asked 3 people if they had seen him with no positive response, then looked up to a house on the hill to see my poor puppy cowering under a blue SUV in the driveway. After 10 hours of yelling, running, squeaking toys, clicking clickers, and walking miles and miles of the same streets, I had found my boy. Scared, dirty, and limping, Albus slowly crawled toward me to investigate the plush squeaky toy I had carried for the past 10 hours. He realized it was me and we both got so excited! We called all our awesome friends and family and had a welcome home party back at the apartment.
After a bath, a few bandages, and a good dinner, Albus is happily lying on the couch with his head in Aaron's lap as we watch South Park just like a regular Sunday night. I just don't know if this scene would be the same without the help of so many close friends, family members, and neighbors. Thank you for helping me bring my puppy home.
You can follow Paralee on Twitter @SDparalee
Just to clear the air, Aaron and I are not moving out. We love our apartment and our neighborhood, and we promise to be much more careful about our windows and lug nuts. I have never seen more strangers get together to help someone they have never met just because they saw a neighbor in need than last night. But the story is better told from Tuesday morning at 3:30 am...
Cozy in bed, then rattled awake by my faithful guard dog/scaredy cat dog barking menacingly next to my face to warn me something was going on outside. As usual, I told him it was fine and to lay down. I got in another 4 hours of solid sleep, hopped out of bed to take a shower, drank delicious espresso, then skipped outside to meet my grandmother for lunch and to pick up my tickets to Croatia only to find that my car had lost of a few key parts in the night...all four wheels. Not just the tires, but the wheels. My poor ol' jeep was sitting on broken cinder blocks on its axles just looking sad. In our very own apartment parking lot. Too bad the landlord had scheduled the maintenance guy to replace the light bulbs a day too late. The policeman actually laughed a little saying he'd never heard of someone stealing wheels in the Virginia-Highlands before, let alone the factory rims missing the jeep logo and year old Costco tires from an old jeep. Thankfully a nice retired guy in Newnan sold me some replacement rims and tires for a cool $350 and my car looks nicer than it did before...the lug nut locks were extra from Advance Auto where the checkout guy was also pretty surprised to hear of my story.
Fast forward to the weekend. Awesome Halloween party, buying lots of snowboarding gear, dinner with friends, new fancy camera lens, come home around 12:30 am and see the kitchen light is on and the window is cracked. Now Aaron and I are apparently naive thinking that it is safe to leave the tiny kitchen window open since it is a good 8 feet off the ground on a flat brick surface with nothing to grip. Aaron noticed the cracked window (odd because we usually leave it fully open) and I thought it was weird as well. "Oh shit someone broke into our apartment!" Aaron yelled as he got out of the car to hear the the jingle of the front door knob on our apartment. "Oh shit he's still here!", and he races around the porch to see a guy running out of our apartment down the walkway. Aaron yelled expletives at the burglar while sprinting after and calling to our good friend Sean who lives above us. The burglar ran down the patio and Aaron sprinted parallel along the sidewalk, forcing him to a point at the edge of the building where the patio ends into a 6 foot drop. Add 4 feet of railing, a downward graded hill and utter blackness, and the burglar leaps 10 feet. He lands hard on his ankle, ripping through bone, exposing the muscle and tendon that comprise its inner workings. His foot is detached, hanging limp, and he runs with only a stump of a leg and nothing more than his sock and achilles tendon keeping his appendage attached to his body. Impressively, he made it two apartment buildings down before collapsing. Sean came running and held the situation down while calling 911. Five minutes later, police and ambulance arrive into a scene populated by a growing collection of neighbors. Returning to the house to investigate the damage, we were incredibly lucky to find nothing stolen. He must have broken in the exact moment we pulled into the driveway. He didn't even have a chance to turn on any lights. But someone is missing. With all the screaming and yelling and emotion, Albus, who had been to dinner with us, jumped out of the car to see what was going on and flipped out, running the opposite direction. Poor buddy was scared out of his mind with the yelling and chasing and anger and just bolted. Wonderful neighbor Sean and his equally incredible girlfriend Lindsay were with me within a minute, scouring the streets and calling out for him, poking into every dark corner in the Va-Hi for the next 4 hours. Neighbors from all over and people coming home from good times all joined the cause to search for Albus, but to no avail. Lindsay and I actually saw him once and called to him, but being in his ultra paranoid state and having terrible night vision, he had no idea who we were and took off in the opposite direction. Eventually, we had to tell everyone to go to bed, that we would restart the search in the morning after we put up fliers with his picture and my phone number. Aaron and I tried to sleep for 2 hours, but all I could do was toss and turn and think about my poor pup hiding behind a dumpster or under some moldy stairs in the cold thinking something horrible had happened to his people.
The next morning resulted in a few phone calls of leads on sightings including Briarcliff Pl. off Highland, Druid Hills Baptist church at Briarcliff and Ponce, the Majestic Diner on Ponce crossing the street at high traffic, and running down Ponce towards the city. We mobilized the guys looking for work outside Home Depot and the homeless shelter's Sunday morning service, every man looking for Albus and a shot at $50. Chase and Taylor took over the computer at Staples to design and print new fliers, Pamela and Harris checked out every driveway in the Va-Hi. My mom drove in from Toccoa! After an hour and a half of no more calls and no sightings, I trudged back to the apartment from Inman middle school where he likes to play, taking the long way home. I asked 3 people if they had seen him with no positive response, then looked up to a house on the hill to see my poor puppy cowering under a blue SUV in the driveway. After 10 hours of yelling, running, squeaking toys, clicking clickers, and walking miles and miles of the same streets, I had found my boy. Scared, dirty, and limping, Albus slowly crawled toward me to investigate the plush squeaky toy I had carried for the past 10 hours. He realized it was me and we both got so excited! We called all our awesome friends and family and had a welcome home party back at the apartment.
After a bath, a few bandages, and a good dinner, Albus is happily lying on the couch with his head in Aaron's lap as we watch South Park just like a regular Sunday night. I just don't know if this scene would be the same without the help of so many close friends, family members, and neighbors. Thank you for helping me bring my puppy home.
You can follow Paralee on Twitter @SDparalee
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Murphree Thomas Sled
I got my puppy, Murphree, in early October 2008. He was only six weeks old when I got him. I had never had a dog before, and really didn’t know how much work a puppy was.I have always believed in crate training, as every dog I have seen who has been crate trained is always very well behaved. I crated him while I was at work and both of us were asleep.
Almost every day, I would come home at lunch and walk him and then again when I got home from work. I would take him out again before bed and set my alarm for two in the morning wake up and carry him down the stairs. I would get up at 5:30 walk him and go to the gym, come home form the gym and walk him again. Rinse and repeat for about four months. It was exhausting (but worth every second). Just like having a real baby. 
When I came home from the first date with LM, I knew I liked her as discussed in the previous post. I wanted right away to let her meet the pup. I bought one of those crates that “grows with your puppy” including a sectional piece that can be moved as he gets bigger. When LM met him, he barely had any crate and bounded out with so much excitement.
I really think he getting cuter as he gets older. Now at 51 pounds he still thinks he is a lap dog and snores like he is trying to suck the blinds off the wall, but I couldn’t imagine my life without him. I want to be able to buy a house soon so he can have a yard to play in. He is part of my motivation for getting my MBA.
I mean: Look at that face!You can follow Murphree’s life on twitter: @murphface by clicking on any of the pictures above.
Quick and Dirty Version of How I Met LM
My Version:
I decided to work out in the morning in the Fall of 2008 because I wanted to spend as much time with my puppy, Murphree, as possible (but ultimately more on him later).
I don’t think anyone is at his or her best during a morning workout. But while working out for a week and a half or so, one lady in the gym always caught my eye. She was in there about as much as I was, which at the time was six or seven days a week. One day while she was on the leg press machine we made eye contact and a smile (and my infatuation was born).
I always have a hard time asking someone out, it is uncomfortable, no easy way to finish the conversation or walk away when the convo is over. Anyway, I just walked up to her while she was on the elliptical and introduced myself to her. Another week of “good mornings” passed and I mustered the courage to ask her out. We went to Two Urban Licks (more on that later) and had the best first date I have ever been on. Ever since that date I have wanted to be around her as much as she could stand being around me.
You know you are with the right person when they support and surprise you all the time. So, the reason for the quick introduction is… When I called her and told her I got into Tech she was more thrilled for me that I was for myself. She sneaked out of work and bought me my first piece of Georgia Tech garb, a t-shirt. My favorite new shirt!
If only I would have known on that first date that that this is the woman of my dreams, I would have popped some champagne when I got home.
I decided to work out in the morning in the Fall of 2008 because I wanted to spend as much time with my puppy, Murphree, as possible (but ultimately more on him later).
I don’t think anyone is at his or her best during a morning workout. But while working out for a week and a half or so, one lady in the gym always caught my eye. She was in there about as much as I was, which at the time was six or seven days a week. One day while she was on the leg press machine we made eye contact and a smile (and my infatuation was born).
I always have a hard time asking someone out, it is uncomfortable, no easy way to finish the conversation or walk away when the convo is over. Anyway, I just walked up to her while she was on the elliptical and introduced myself to her. Another week of “good mornings” passed and I mustered the courage to ask her out. We went to Two Urban Licks (more on that later) and had the best first date I have ever been on. Ever since that date I have wanted to be around her as much as she could stand being around me.
You know you are with the right person when they support and surprise you all the time. So, the reason for the quick introduction is… When I called her and told her I got into Tech she was more thrilled for me that I was for myself. She sneaked out of work and bought me my first piece of Georgia Tech garb, a t-shirt. My favorite new shirt!
If only I would have known on that first date that that this is the woman of my dreams, I would have popped some champagne when I got home.
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