Recently a friend of mine, Kris, responded to a job posting online for The Money Store by submitting her resume. The HR person called her and left a message. Then Kris called back and spoke with her to set up an interview. During the interview, they gave her an overview of the company while getting acquainted. And unbeknownst to her, they checked her references at the same time. By the end of the interview, they made her an offer. She accepted. Now she works there and enjoys it.

But how many companies are that serious about grabbing good talent when they want it? And how many others are A-OK with wasting time and energy and money going though recruiting activities – as well as the time of the candidates’?
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Last Thursday night I had the privilege of hearing a pioneer in nanotechnology speak at the University of Texas at Dallas, sponsored by the UTD Entrepreneur’s Club.  James Von Ehr, after a stint as an engineer at Texas Instruments, traded a stable work life in the bureaucratic corporate world for one in entrepreneurism.

Now one of James’ claim to fame is that he has invested more of his personal money into nanotechnology than any other individual in the world. The audience responded with chuckles to his “I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad.”  His nanotechnology research company is Zyvex Group.

As an aside, for those of you to whom “nanotechnology” is new, “nano” means really tiny.  Nanotechnology is all about manually moving  parts of atoms around in order to change them into different atoms; like converting hydrogen into water and oxygen, or maybe a little more excitingly someday, sand into sugar or coal into diamonds.  More specifically, while there are chemical processes already to perform “atomic conversions” such as refining sugars and petrochemicals, nanotechnology is different in that the subatomic changes are actually performed by tiny machines.  Machines so itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny that they can’t be seen by the naked eye or even with a magnifying glass.  Real, literal machines.  Nanotechnology.

But before we join James where he is, let’s take a look at where he came from…
Continue To Read More About James Von Ehr and Nanotechnology

Tuesday night this week brought a band of violent storms up through Texas and beyond.  In and around the Dallas area, emergency sirens blared as the weather radar glowed red and purple with hail and high winds.  Ripping through to the north and east, the storm spawned at least one tornado which claimed the lives of 8 people in Oklahoma.

Instead of being in control of the storm, the storm happened to them. Life happens. The job market happens. Recently I took a look at Beyond.com’s Career Trends Analysis Report (4th Q 2008).
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