Five things for employers to consider when hiring students
At this time of year, no doubt a large portion of employers will have a pit in their stomachs, knowing they may well have to take on a bunch of new graduates, who swagger around thinking they are God’s gift to their subject whilst thinking they have the relevant life experience to support themselves financially, mentally and independently.
1. Give them plenty of advice, direction and support.
While they are still in their learning phase, it is important to ensure they are given constructive criticism to help them fulfill tasks in the future to a better quality, but praise is also very important to maintain self-esteem and boost confidence levels. With this, give extra, specific and almost gratuitous details of the task in hand but without sounding patronising.
Have a read up on Herzberg’s two-factor/hygiene theory and put yourself in the mindset of the new employee.
Read all five here.
How to use Facebook if your company blocks it at work
I chose to post this because you might find it useful in reducing unproductive employees time at your own business.
For frequent users of social networking sites, finding a FaceBook unblock services can be truly valuable. The growth of the internet has lead many companies and schools to install internet filtering software that can prevent many web surfers from gaining access to desired websites.
While users of social networking sites may find themselves frustrated at looking at a “blocked website” message on their computer screen, there are ways to bypass filtering software. Proxy services are the way to work around filtering software. Proxy services work by allowing members to sign up for a membership that provides access to a proxy server. The proxy server site is not recognized as a dangerous or malicious website and is not blocked. Once logged on, members can anonymously go to their desired website without being tracked. And good proxy services prevent hacking by encrypting both incoming and outgoing activities as long as the user is signed on to the proxy server.
Free AK-47 for every pick-up truck
Max Motors, a Missouri, car dealer, is offering a voucher for a free AK-47 for every pick-up truck bought in August.
Auto sales have been absolutely clobbered–down 28% year over year–so the government, dealers, and auto makers are coming up with all sorts of inventive ways to attract business.
Mark Muller, owner of Max Motors, said the program builds on an earlier offer where customers had a choice between a $250 gas voucher or a gun voucher of the same value. An AK-47 can cost twice as much. Muller calls the initial deal an overwhelming success. He also says it generates a lot of publicity and really angers “liberals.”
Max Motors also offers more family-friendly promotions. Last Saturday, four used cars were sold for $5 each. The cars–including an 2001 Mustang and a 1998 Jeep Cherokee–went fast, and brought hundreds of customers to the lot. Max Motors sells several brands including Chevrolet, Ford and Pontiac.
A Flash PDF Viewer for Reading PDF Files without Acrobat
Ever had a problem showing a PDF file too big for emails or slow internet connection? Make it into a Flash movie format which has smaller file size and can be viewed anywhere.
Like Scibd and SlideShare, PDFMeNot is an online PDF to Flash converter that will instantly convert any Adobe PDF document into a Macromedia Flash (SWF) movie while preserving the original layout, image graphics and formatting.
To create a PDF into flash, go to www.pdfmenot.com and either feed the PDF’s URL or upload the file itself to the PDF-to-Flash engine. Once the conversion is finished, you will get a link to view the Flash equivalent of the PDF.
And if you want to download the Flash file, go here for instructions.
Grab Your Local Listing in Bing
by reliable-web-hostings.com
Last week, Microsoft unleashed its brand new search engine onto the market. It’s called Bing and, contrary to what the name suggests, you do have to take it seriously. Even if you’re not planning to give up your Google search habit, you’ll still want to familiarize yourself with Bing to understand how you can help your site rank in their local search index.
To list your local business in Bing, head to the Bing Local Listing Center. From there, you’ll be able to check to see if you already have a local listing set up. If you do, you can modify it. If not, now’s the perfect time to create one.
China suicide puts spotlight on secretive Apple culture
by reliable-web-hostings.com
The case puts the spotlight on Apple, whose public face as maker of the wildly successful iPhone contrasts with its reputation for a highly secretive corporate culture.
But according to a report in the influential Nanfang Daily, Sun, a 25-year-old product manager, became frantic after discovering that one of 16 prototypes of Apple’s fourth-generation N90 iPhone had gone missing. The iPhone is Apple’s hottest-selling device and the latest version is a well-kept secret.
Sun vented his growing frustration in text messages to his girlfriend and a former classmate, and tried to find the missing device, the Nanfang Daily said. But company officials from Foxconn’s security division apparently got suspicious and raided his home.
The Yunnan native jumped from his 12th floor apartment the day after, according to the report.
The incident, which triggered an investigation from local police and within Foxconn itself, sparked a Web firestorm in China and has provoked criticism of Apple’s intensely guarded culture.
The company has previously threatened lawsuits against media and bloggers that try to publish information about its upcoming products, often arguing they obtained the information from employees who violated confidentiality agreements.
Stealth Starbucks: Seattle-based coffee giant opening neighborhood shops in disguise
How’s this a good idea? You will still be selling the exact same things that caused customers go somewhere else in the first place.
A Seattle outlet of the 16,000-store coffee behemoth is being rebranded without visible Starbucks identifiers, as 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.
Two other stores in Starbucks’ native Seattle will follow suit, each getting its own name to make it sound more like a neighborhood hangout, less like Big Coffee, a Starbucks official told The Seattle Times on Thursday.
“The Goliath is coming at me under a new name,” said Dan Ollis, owner of Victrola Coffee Roasters, a coffee shop on 15th Avenue in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, about a block-and-a-half from the made-over Starbucks set to open next week.
