Fashion is a fleeting thing.  My daughter, Laura, has a closet full of clothes ? most of which she doesn?t wear.  What makes a garment desirable to her?  Fit, style, originality and timeliness.  Is it bleeding edge now?  To say the least, many suitable items sit in her closet unworn yet I hear she ?hasn?t got a thing to wear.?

She is not unique.  The American public desires the latest and greatest.  Sports fans, in particular, want to align themselves with the best and they want alignment now.  Case in point is the Super Bowl.  Fortunes are made by ...

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How much time are you spending in front of your computer?  With internet recruiting, research, e-mail, social networking and blogging, have you evaluated how much time you actually spend on-line?  While telecommuting, are you finding yourself checking in with candidates and clients on weekends and night?  Then there?s a myriad of articles and web-pages like ERE that can help improve your career which makes it even more difficult not to be sucked into the cyber world?  Is your time in front of the computer screen steadily increasing? Are you approaching burnout? or are you adapting and fast becoming a ...

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I am in Chicago.  On a cab, I see a sign.  It reads?..

?I?m so over you, Sarah Marshall!?

?Interesting message,? I think to myself.  You hear of guys that rent bill boards to propose to their girlfriends.  I?m wondering if someone took the time, effort and expense to create a public message that assures his former girlfriend that he is officially through.  I see a second cab with the message? and a third.  I?m now haunted by the thoughts?

?Who is Sarah Marshall?
?What has she done??
?What is this all about??

I now have come ...

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My childhood Easter basket held all the usual goodies.  Jelly beans, marshmallow Peeps, chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs.  But I had the best Easter basket of all.  My basket held the plaid Easter egg!

Most unusual ? a plaid Easter egg.  My father was a tool designer.  Along with his technical talents, he was incredibly inventive. My father created a plaid egg. He patiently used four different colors.  He would balance the egg on the delicate wire egg holder and submerge it a third of the way in the first color.  Then he would turn it 90� and redip in a ...

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?Going Green? is all the rage.  Everyone wants to jump on the conservation band wagon with their green initiatives to save the environment. If you are reading this to learn how your company can ?Go Green?, read no further.  This is about one wild party in Chicago.    

Chicago will be celebrating St. Patrick?s Day this weekend. If you?ve never been to Chicago on St. Patrick?s Day ? you haven?t lived.  (Especially if you?re Irish.  And I am.)  Yes, New York has its celebration ? and so does Boston ? and Savannah, GA.  They all have Irish descendants that ...

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I live in suburban Seattle. The location we selected is referred to as ?The Plateau.?  Basically, it?s a large, volcanic rock that 40,000 people call home.  I would estimate that there are about 15,000 homes on the Plateau.  The vast majority are built in a woodsy Northwest style and painted a drab grey or beige.  (I find it odd that a place that is known for somber, gray skies so much of the year, would decorate its dwellings in such a drab manner.)  As I commute home, most homes just blend into the scenery.  Nothing exceptional.

But ...

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Today kids watch DVD?s and iPods as their form of entertainment.  Way back when, around the beginning of time, I had a phonograph player and a vinyl 45.  The title of my favorite record was ?Chicken Little? and at age six, I wore the groves out on it.  The 1950?s version told about a chicken, hit on the head by an acorn, who erroneously spread the word that ?The sky is falling!? All her barnyard associates (Henny Penny, Goosey Loosey, Turkey Lurkey, etc) all believed the concerning news and general panic ensued. 

So what do you think about ...

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I am very heavy of foot ? meaning I?ve collected my share of traffic tickets.  Recently I have become painfully aware of signs that cameras have been mounted in traffic intersections to catch offenders who run through intersections.  Not that I would ever purposefully do that, but it has happened when I?ve been distracted. Guilty as charged.

I read an article about a traffic offender who was issued a ?virtual ticket? ? a moving traffic violation by mail.  There was the pictorial evidence ? unmistakably him, with the back of his car and his license tag in clear view.  Thinking perhaps ...

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Driven to Distraction

Did you catch the ?Tide to Go? Super Bowl Spot?  Talk about a commercial that speaks directly to recruiters (and candidates.)  A young man dressed in a white shirt and tie begins an interview.  The interviewer starts with a question, but when the candidate speaks, the interviewer?s attention is riveted to the obvious stain on his white shirt. Every time the candidate begins, the stain screams.  The stain?s screaming is unintelligible, but its volume completely over powers anything the candidate says and continues to get louder.  The candidate can?t get his message across. The ...

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After last week?s blog, ?The Waiter Rule?, a valid point was raised. When do we, as recruiters, shield our hiring managers from making decisions?  When do we give them all the options and let them decide?

Earlier this week I prepared a response built around a hypothetical situation involving mercurial head basketball coach, Bobby Knight.  What would the challenges and opportunities be to recruit and present him for a prestigious head basketball coaching position? Just my luck.  He resigned his post from Texas Tech on Monday night! (Without consulting me!  Doesn?t that take him out of the realm ...

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My early jobs gave me a perspective that I will carry with me throughout my life.  I was a dishwasher, waitress, gardener, and factory worker.  Many of those first experiences ...

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Next week is  my 31st wedding anniversary. And where will I be?  Sitting at SeaTac Airport waiting to catch a plane to Denver.  Major faux pas - booking a flight out on my anniversary.  When I booked the training class, I forgot that I would have to travel the day before to ensure the class started on time.

After 31 years, I?m taking a lot more ribbing then grief from my wonderful husband about the mistake.  ?Just tells you how important this date is to you!? Bob chided.  We?ll celebrate Saturday night After 31 years. We are pretty flexible ...

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We were a struggling staffing office.  With a staff of three, we were starting to pull ourselves out of the hole.  In the Mid 90?s my sales representative went into the industrial district of south Seattle and was canvassing for new business.  He entered a warehouse that was a bare bones operation. The owner, Jeff, was there with his wife and a few employees.  All were boxing up books for shipment.  His was a fledgling business with a new concept.  On that day in that sparse warehouse my sales representative met Jeff Bezos, the founder and today?s CEO ...

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The Brighton Girls.  Oh, how I love the Brighton girls!  They are sisters. Karol and Marilyn.  They could be my daughters.

I knew Karol first.  She was a friend of my son, Jay.  The first thing I noticed about Karol was her inquisitive nature.  She had a gift for asking thoughtful questions because she sincerely wanted to get to know us.  How we did do things? How we felt about things?  What were our future plans?  We got to know her quickly and by asking questions, she certainly got to know us. Before I knew it, she felt like part ...

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How many times have you sung those words and didn?t really know what they meant?  ?Auld Lang Syne? literally means ?old long since.?  No one is sure exactly where it came from ? but it seemed to come out of antiquity from celebrations of the winter solstice, an old Scottish poem and finally an adaptation from the poet, Robert Burns who presented the verse as we know it  today.

Along with this song which we all equate with New Year?s Eve, the Scots have a custom that dates back just as far as the origins of the song.  Until ...

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Christmas time is here again. Don?t we all have traditions we enjoy when celebrating our holidays?  At least once a holiday season, I like to gather my kids, the dog and my husband ? who is not a ?nostalgic picture? kind of guy.  He puts up with this to participate in family holiday ?bonding time.?  We build a fire, pop popcorn, make hot chocolate and sit back to enjoy my favorite holiday movie, ?It?s a Wonderful Life.?

If you haven?t seen it, this famous Frank Capra film is a classic.  It has been named by the American Film ...

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It?s my lucky day!  Look what I received via e-mail!

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Bachelors, masters, MBA, and doctorate (PhD) diplomas available in the field of your choice - that's right, you can become a Doctor and receive ...

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When I was a kid, we used to play a game called ?Sardine.?  It was a variation of ?hide and seek.? One person was designated ?it? and ran off to hide.   After a couple of minutes of lead time, the rest scattered in different directions and began to look for ?it.?  When I found ?it?, I joined him/her in the hiding place ? thus the name ?Sardine.?  The number of hiders grew and squeezed together like sardines in a can. The very last seeker darted from place to place, desperately seeking the rest of the group.  Usually the muffled giggling ...

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 Have you ever run away from something?  Who hasn?t?  My daughter, Laura, and I were discussing her friend who just became engaged. I wouldn?t consider Tiffany?s fianc� ? her choice for a life partner - to be a match made in heaven.  Nice enough boy, but brings with him some heavy issues.  I asked Laura what she thought of the match and she agreed that she didn?t have confidence in the long-term success of the union. 

?Why would Tiffany make this choice?? I asked.

?I think she just wants to get away from home.? Laura responded.

It made ...

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I lived in Georgia for 17 years.  The South can be a lovely, genteel place.  The art of hospitality and good manners is prized and passed from generation to generation.  Children refer to their adult acquaintances as ?Miss Sue? or ?Mister Bob? ? a way of combining the familiar with the respectful.  They answer ?Yes, Ma?am? and ?No Sir.?  An effort is always made to make the other person feel comfortable.  They have a name for it.  They call it Southern Hospitality.

In the South, displaying bad manners is inexcusable and akin to being ill-bred.  In our industry, unfortunately, the ...

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