Over and over, we hear how the American school system is broken. We hear about underfunded schools with oversized classrooms taught by uncaring, untouchable teachers where kids graduate without knowing how to read. Frankly, I’m not so negative. I believe most of our teachers really care about kids and most students get a good education. I believe there is great opportunity in the United States for people who really dedicate themselves to a pursuit, which is why people from across the world still try to come to America, above all other nations. But there is one thing America’s schools could …Read more »
Tag Archives: HR
The “Best Places To Work” Are Working Their Employees To Death
Glassdoor recently released its annual “Best Places to Work” list, based off of 800,000 anonymous evaluations completed in the past year. The winner, unsurprisingly, was tech giant Google. But what was interesting was not necessarily seeing the top 10 companies, but reading the reviews of those top 10 companies. I went through each one, and I noticed a theme: yes, they offered great benefits and great leadership. But, ironically, enough, a lot of the top 10 companies were working their employees hard. Really hard. For example, here is a review from a former employee of first-place finisher Google: “I don’t …Read more »
Is Our Self-Help Obsession Really Helpful?
In 2003, ABC News published an article entitled “Want to Get Rich? Write a Self-Help Book” that detailed the explosion of popularity of self-help books. Ushered in by the rabid success of Oprah Winfrey, the genre went from occupying one shelf in the back of the bookstore to being a legitimate, hundred-million dollar industry. Eleven years later, the self-help genre has gone far beyond books, with experts suggesting it is now a $10 billion-plus market that includes everything from personal coaching to motivational speakers. And that doesn’t include most content-producing websites, particularly ones playing to the business crowd, which are …Read more »
Is Amazon’s Data-Focused Experiment The Future Of Hiring?
In 2012, Target famously got in trouble when it was revealed that, through big data, it knew a teenager was pregnant before the girl’s father did. What happened was that through the girl’s purchases and Target’s data algorithms, the company correctly determined she was pregnant and began sending coupons for cribs and baby clothes to her house. Her father saw these coupons and went to Target to complain, only to discover that his daughter was indeed pregnant and she was hiding it from him. It makes for a kind of funny, if not a bit scary, tale of both the …Read more »
Why Is Nashville Booming While Memphis Busts?
One was recently named the second-best big city for jobs, with an unemployment rate just over 5 percent. The other has an unemployment rate of 7.9 percent, and has been one of the slowest cities in the nation to recover from the Great Recession. One has a show named after it, a thriving culture and was described by Forbes as “Nowville.” Meanwhile, the other was described by Forbes as being the third-most miserable city in the United States and the second-most dangerous city in the United States. One has attracted 48 percent more college graduates to its population of 25 to 34 year olds since 2000, according to the New …Read more »
The Motley Fool Has The Best Career Site. Period.
The Motley Fool, for those who don’t know, is essentially a news site dedicated to covering finance and the stock market, with the company also launching a mutual fund in 2009. They’ve been around since 1993, have about 300 employees and are based in Virginia. It is a successful company, becoming an influential voice in an increasingly-crowded market. But what really makes it unique is the amazing amount of energy and web space it spends marketing its employer brand. It isn’t wasted, either. Quite frankly, The Motley Fool’s recruiting team has the best presence on the web of any company …Read more »
Did Netflix Just Blow $90 Million?
In an obvious attempt to “follow in the footsteps”, i.e. rip off, the success of one of the most successful shows on television, Game of Thrones, Netflix is releasing its own Middle Age-set, highly-expensive dramatic series on Dec. 12, Marco Polo. Despite the show’s introductory season being a mere 10 episodes, it costs $90 million to make, making it one of the most expensive shows in the history of television. It is a massive chance by Netflix to try to lure (and, more importantly, retain) viewers with its own original content, which could work if not for one small detail… The show, according to the …Read more »
How To Write Amazing Job Postings (And Why That Matters)
There’s a new website called Cladwell that essentially serves as a personal shopper for men buying clothes. It’s pretty cool. Cladwell asks you seven questions, including your body shape, hair color, if you prefer fashion over function and your budget, and then it recommends clothes from around the web. So if you are 5’10” and prefer function over fashion and don’t want to spend a lot of money, they’ll recommend you some comfortable, cheap outfits from stores that will fit well. The concept of Cladwell is a perfect representation of where the economy is headed. Today, companies are working to …Read more »
Why Most Stories About Millennials Are Bunk
We’ve all heard it before. They only wear skinny jeans and chubbies. They can’t go five minutes without taking a selfie. According to NPR, they are “post-gender.” Heck, one 60 Minutes expose portrayed them as so dependent that if their boss says anything negative about their performance, the boss can be sure to get a phone call from their mother within 20 minutes, demanding an apology. They are obsessed with themselves, but want to do work that helps others. They are changing the world with new technology, but are lazy and unmotivated. They put money above all else, but they …Read more »
Black Friday Flopped And Cyber Monday Might Go Away. Here’s Why.
Black Friday profits were down this year, pretty dramatically. Bloomberg reports that sales were down by 11 percent compared to last year (which was down from the year before that), as six million fewer shoppers showed up. That decline certainly isn’t attributed to the economy. While wages haven’t increased much the past two years, America’s unemployment rate has steadily dropped from 8.6 percent in November of 2011 to 5.8 percent in October of this year (the latest stats available). When I saw those numbers, I assumed customers were going online, and Cyber Monday would be a big hit. While it …Read more »