Catch Ya Later, Downtown Charlie Brown!

As a result of some organizational changes at work, Wednesday is moving day into new office space for my company. For me and my friend/colleague, Kri, today marks our last day of occupancy in the shared office we affectionately refer to as "Downtown Charlie Brown." After today, not only will we be in a new building, but we will also be in separate offices.

Kri and I have been working together for nearly 3 years, but only lately have we worked in such close proximity to each other. With my responsibilities in Product and Marketing, and hers in Operations and IT, we balance each other out quite nicely, and make a pretty dynamic team. The proof is in the pudding. We get our work done, and always do so in a solid fashion - and we're known to have our fun in the process. Kri and I have mastered productivity in a way that still allows us to not get caught up in the stuffiness of our office environment.

Since news of our move broke, we've frequently discussed the impending separation anxiety that we expect from transferring into different offices. "No More Shenanigans," has been the unspoken theme of this relocation, but those who know us best are completely aware that no wall shall break our spirit.

This afternoon, our office neighbor and friend, Todd, walked into Downtown Charlie Brown with gadgetry in hand as Kri announced to me, "I have a surprise for you! In preparation for our move, Todd's gonna hook us up with web cams!"

I often joked how weird it will be to be in an office without the ability to just spout out some random complaint/question/statement to my office mate. Rooming with Kri had made me completely independent of utilizing instant messaging utilities, and even phones. I've been able to turn to her and mouth off whatever I was thinking at the moment.

Hence, the web cams have been set up to help avert the feelings of detachment. Those web cams have already proven their worth! Once Todd got them working, Kri and I were watching ourselves dance and make faces into the web cams like kindergartners. I pointed out how the chat screen reminds me of the Brady Bunch, so we attempted to recreate our own version:

Absolutely ridiculous.

Putting On My Recruiter Hat

This morning I posted an ad online for an open entry-level position within my company. That was a little past 9am. Near close of business, I received about 30 resumes. Throughout the day I glanced at cover letters of sorts, resumes, and combinations of them. It was the sort of tedium that I prefer to avoid on a Monday.

Despite the humdrum, there are a few things I am quickly learning from this process. One, there are those out in the world who are not as resourceful as I would expect, nor do they seem to have much concern for how they present themselves. Perhaps it is a bit unfair of me to presume negligence on their part, when in fact it could just be plain naiveté. There is the ever-popular Spell Check, various sites that provide job-hunters with very useful advice, and even resume builders. Too bad people don't use these tools more often. Some of the resumes I reviewed were riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, or the layout was ill-constructed.

This brings me to my next lesson learned: First overall impressions determine whether applicants get an interview. Resumes are a reflection of who we are, what we have accomplished, and how we could potentially fit into an organization. However, organizing all that information the wrong way could have adverse results. This is something I finally understand from a recruiter's standpoint, and will keep in mind in cases where I may again be an applicant. In essence, those who are hiring don't have time to read every minor detail on any given resume. Furthermore, they don't care about the particulars that are not relevant to the job at hand. (Note to self: Brevity highlighting key, pertinent content is a must - time to reevaluate my own resume!)

On the ad, I listed basic requirements in order of importance. The top 3 criteria state that the candidate must be Spanish bilingual, have at least a high school diploma, and have a year of customer service experience. I developed a method to narrow down the best candidates by scorecard. If the resume or cover letter did not have indication that the applicant speaks Spanish, it was scored with a zero and completely disregarded. If a resume addressed all of the remaining basic requirements without me having to spend more than a couple of minutes reading it, it was assigned a base score. Job experience relevant to the position yielded even more points. Ultimately, the candidate pool was whittled down to seven prospects, out of the 34 resumes received.

Now time for some pre-screening phone calls to hopefully eliminate a few more applicants, just so I don't have to have more interviews than needed. I don't want to waste anyone's time, including my own. Besides, I'd prefer to avoid wearing my "recruiter cap" too much - it may have given me some insight, but boy, it sure is heavy!

Affiliate Summit West 2009

Affiliate Summit West, taking place here in lovely Las Vegas, is considered the premiere affiliate marketing conference in the industry. Today, my colleagues and I finished up our first full day of exhibiting our products in a strategic attempt to generate more business for our company.

Yesterday we met in the morning to set up our booth in the exhibit area and then proceeded to the networking event called the "Meet Market" where affiliates and vendors had stations set up to share information about their programs or products in a preliminary attempt to do business with the early attendees. We meandered from table to table, exchanged pleasantries and contact information and, on occasion, teased people. Thank goodness these folks were fun and friendly.

As mentioned, today was our first full day in the exhibit area. This required a lot of standing around, reciting variations of the same product descriptions as people asked, "So what do you do?" We had a significant amount of foot traffic visit our booth, and ultimately a ton of strong leads. There is no doubt that we will build a handful of productive partnerships as a result of these leads, especially with the shared goal of more revenue at the forefront.

Despite the tired legs and the sore throats, we are looking forward to doing this all again tomorrow. There's nothing like the prospect of more money to distract us businesspeople from pain.

Never Too Sick To Snowboard

It's my second snowboarding season, and I've decided to take some vacation days here and there during the work week to get some all-day snowboarding practice in. Yes, that means I will be playing hooky during the snow season. Fortunately, I have a boss who is completely understanding of my newest addiction, and is totally open to me taking off to play in the snow - as long as I don't have any critical deadlines to meet and there is someone to cover for me in the office.

I told the bossman that I will be using some of my many vacation days accumulated over the past year. "No calling in sick," I told him. "I'll just give you a few days notice." He teased that I might as well feign a cough when notifying him.

More often than not, I call into work when I am severely hungover or incapacitated/disoriented from illness that would keep me in bed all day. However, I have managed to come into work on occasion slightly hungover or sick, while still able to function. Some of my friends have come into work still drunk from the previous night's festivities - they're brave and obviously far more skilled as drinkers than I.

Anyway, I suck when it comes to faking sick when I have to tell a boss I'm not going to be in the office, when in fact I am on my way to the ski resort for a day of fun. My conscience becomes far too guilt-ridden with a lie like that. And besides, if I were to call in sick then show up to work with snow burn or a snowboarding injury, I'd have to create another lie to cover for it! Clearly, that's a bad cycle I'd rather not get into.