Author Archive

Twitter Datacenter Opens in Utah

July 29th, 2010

Twitter‘s engineering blog noted last week that they are rolling out a Datacenter here in Utah to meet amazing increases in demand.

The success-plagued startup has garnered a lot of interest as well as frustration among its users who are "riding the rocket" of twitter’s incredible growth (the blog quotes 300,000 new accounts/day… amazing)

Keeping pace with these users and their Twitter activity presents some unique and complex engineering challenges (as John Adams, our lead engineer for application services, noted in a speech last month at the O’Reilly Velocity conference).

Interested in working @twitter? http://twitter.com/jobs

Popularity: 1% [?]

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Posted in Jobsearch, Utah

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IT Quality Assurance Engineer (QA)

July 27th, 2010

Company Name: One to One Interactive

Location (City, State): Riverton (South Salt Lake), Utah

One to One Interactive is looking for an individual to help design and conduct test plans for its web-based communication applications. These include applications for marketing and communications through email, mobile, web, social, and desktop. This position will also involve working directly with customers to troubleshoot and support their usage of these tools.

This person must have clear and professional verbal and written communication skills, with an ability to own the production of well thought out documentation around testing processes and methodologies. Applicant must have an analytical thought process, and be skilled at problem solving and troubleshooting.

Knowledge of Email Marketing, Mobile, Web, and SEO are definitely pluses

Apply By Email: apply@merrillrecruiting.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

This post was submitted by Robert Merrill.

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LinkedIn Inbox Gets Facelift, Power

June 29th, 2010

It seems like June is "we-just-updated-our-user-interface" month and follows suit with some nice enhancements.

The LinkedIn Inbox is cleaner and easier to manage. They’ve added interactive tabs to keep things simple from the home-page which I like, and some powerful features to help tame the flood of inbound requests (since you are so popular after all).  On the company blog, Yassine Hinnach lists out a few objectives to the inbox upgrade:

Here are your oft requested features that will be incorporated into your LinkedIn Inbox moving forward. Thanks for your feedback and comments.

1. New look and feel: Inbox and module on home page are now redesigned to be simpler and more intuitive. We’ve separated invitations and messages into two separate tabs making it easier for you to view and respond to your pending invitations.

2. Bulk actions: You can now archive a number of similar messages at once, making your Inbox even easier to maintain and control. You can also bulk accept or ignore invitations making connecting with others a snap.

3. Delete: The top request from our users was the ability to delete messages. Done and done.

This is just one more step in improving your LinkedIn Inbox experience. We hope you enjoy your new Inbox

And here’s a nice tips video highlighting what’s new:

Thoughts? Do you use the LinkedIn Inbox much?

Popularity: 2% [?]

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Posted in Networking, Tools & Resources

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General Ledger Accountant – Temp-to-Hire

June 17th, 2010

Company Name: Novell

Location (City, State): Provo, Utah

Position Title: General Ledger Accountant – Temp-to-Hire
Company: Novell, Inc http://novell.com
Location: Provo, Utah 84606 (Salt Lake City Metro Area)
NOTE: This position is a full-time temporary position with the potential to become a permanent Novell employee. Expected hours/week is 40 hours.

Job Description (Duties and Responsibilities):

This position will be responsible for:
- Able to reconcile all balance sheet accounts
- General ledger month-end closings
- Prepare and post Journal Entries
- Intercompany accounting (International)
- Assisting with preparation of Review Meeting and External Financial Reporting books
- Special projects as assigned

Required Skills:
- Education: 4 year degree in Accounting
- Years of Industry Experience: 2+ years accounting

Specific Skills and Knowledge:
Working knowledge of GAAP, general ledger experience, account reconciliation experience, strong communication, reasoning, and interpersonal skills, excellent computer skills.

Preferred Skills:
- Advanced Microsoft Excel user
- Oracle and Hyperion software

Apply For This Position

Apply By Email: rmerrill@novell.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

This post was submitted by Robert Merrill.

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Hiring: Marketing Database Administrator – Provo, Utah

June 15th, 2010

Company Name: Novell

Location (City, State): Provo, Utah

JOB SUMMARY

The Marketing Database Administrator will be responsible for loading and maintaining accurate databases of clients, prospects and customer lists globally. The successful candidate must have the ability to analyze data and to suggest best practices with information in order to maximize list data options. This individual will use their in depth knowledge of Novell’s customer and prospect data to assist marketing on targeting strategies and campaign executions designed to grow market share, increase customer retention and drive incremental sales.

Reporting to Global Marketing Operations, this key role is located in our Waltham, MA headquarters office. Qualified candidates in the Provo, Utah area may be considered.

RESPONSIBILITIES
- Serve as the database administrator for prospect and customer list databases.
- Oversee customer / prospect databases ensuring that the data is properly maintained, utilizing internal data cleansing tools.
- Perform database importing of leads data into the CRM (SAP) system.
- Extract prospect, contact and lead data for reporting and various marketing campaigns.
- Serve as subject matter expert for all prospect, contact and lead data housed in the CRM (SAP) database, while seeking to expand contact lists and validate/enrich existing data with additional sources.
- Assist with special projects as needed (such as optimizing integration of new data into the CRM (SAP) database, evaluating new data import vehicles, etc.)
- Work closely with marketing to create & maintain survey templates within CRM.
- Adhere to the lead process design, programming and application standards.

JOB QUALIFICATIONS
- Strong knowledge and experience with marketing processes and CRM tools, preferably SAP.
- OLAP and/or analytical reporting software tools.
- High level analytical and problem solving skills.
- Solid interpersonal, communication and organizational skills.
- Energy, enthusiasm and detail orientation to produce high quality work.
- Strong computer and data skills
o Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access.
o Experience with SAP or Siebel CRM a plus.
- Ability to handle multiple projects and prioritize work.
- College degree or equivalent work experience required.
- Minimum of 3-5 years marketing operations experience with a strong marketing orientation and database management background.

Apply For This Position

Apply By Email: rmerrill@novell.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

This post was submitted by Robert Merrill.

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MTV Hiring a TJ: Tweet Jockey

June 14th, 2010

image MTV (which, according to some sources used to play actual music videos) is asking the twitterverse and its audience to help them find the first ever TJ – Tweet Jockey, a social-media maven they will pay $100k to twitterfy the universe with MTV-rich goodness 24/7/365

Turn your tweets into a $100k job at MTV!

MTV and ZYNC from American Express(SM) have partnered to find the social voice of MTV. Nominate yourself or your favorite social media superstar and help them win the ultimate dream job: The first MTV TJ. The winner gets access to red carpet events, hot celebrities and earns a $100,000 salary. Follow @AmericanExpress for program updates. Read More

AP reporter Sandy Cohen adds:

» Read more: MTV Hiring a TJ: Tweet Jockey

Popularity: 2% [?]

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Posted in Millenials, My Side of the Desk, Networking, Odd Jobs, Salary & Wages, twitter

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Telecommuters Gain 2.5 Days Productivity Over Office Workers

June 3rd, 2010

Conventional wisdom suggests that having employees in the office means they will be more focused and more productive, but recent research from Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management suggests that Telecommuters – people who work from home one or several days per week – and those who have flextime available to them from their employers claim that they can work an average of 19 hours more per week before feeling that their job is interfering with their life.

image Researchers from Brigham Young University analyzed data from 24,436 IBM employees in 75 countries, identifying the point at which 25 percent of employees reported that work interfered with personal and family life.

 

For office workers on a regular schedule, the breaking point was 38 hours per week. Given a flexible schedule and the option to telecommute, employees were able to clock 57 hours per week before experiencing such conflict.

Not all of those 57 hours are telecommuting hours, notes lead study author E. Jeffrey Hill, a professor in BYU’s School of Family Life. The typical high-flexibility work arrangement includes a mix of office time and firing up the laptop from home, the venue depending on the task at hand.

 

“Telecommuting is really only beneficial for reducing work-life conflict when it is accompanied by flextime,” Hill said. ~ Source: BYU News

This isn’t completely a new thought, however.  Earlier this year, Discovery News reported findings from another study done in the UK that "working remotely appears to be connected with working harder and being happy with your job."

A recent study out of Cranfield School of Management in the United Kingdom suggests that workers given flexible hours by their employers tend to work more intensely than their counterparts with more rigid office hours.

 

The researchers posit that the reason for this phenomenon is a kind of payment to the employer from the worker in exchange for the freedom to choose where and when to work.

However, the reality of a down job-economy right now drives employees to put in longer office hours to appear indispensable which may actually drive down employee loyalty over time and increase turnover and recruiting costs:

That [employee's] jacket needs to be on the back of the office chair at 8 at night because everyone is trying to prove that they’re indispensable.
–Sylvia Ann Hewlett, president of the Center for Work-Life Policy, reported by CNN

What about you? Do you work longer when you know your company is willing to be flexible with your time and schedule?

Popularity: 3% [?]

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Posted in Better Recruiting, Career Management, Company Culture, Hire POWER!, Life, My Side of the Desk, Talent Management

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YES! Your Resume’s File Name DOES Matter

May 26th, 2010

Resumes are digital now. That’s good for everybody–easy to share, easy to search, easy to save, easy on the trees.  It’s all good. But in an attempt for job seekers to keep their resume files organized, people are forgetting that other people read not only the content, but the file name you give your sweet little piece of literary masterwork*. Be warned. Some resumes may get a bad-rap from the beginning because of a slip-up in the file name.

imageMy recommendation is a file name that actually sells you a little bit. For example, if you’re going for a project manager position and your name is Joe Cool, try out a file name like: “Resume–Joe_Cool–Talented_Project_Manager.pdf” and just see if you don’t get more bites on that little nugget of visual eye-candy of a hook!

Some real-world examples of either bad file names or pet-peeves of recruiters (ok, of me):

  • resume.doc – Really? I am a recruiter. Do you think I may, possibly, already have a file named that already somewhere on my system? I will have to rename your resume in order to save it (or rename some other file).  You may risk just getting deleted if you’re not a standout candidate.
  • 2009 resume.doc – This is worse than the previous one. Not only are you absent of creativity, you also haven’t updated your resume since last year.  Believe it or not, I have seen years in resume file-names dating back three years.
  • 2010 resume.doc – This one tells me that you look for a job at least annually.  This one is your current years’ attempt at a new gig.  I should tell facilities to not spend a lot on your office’s name-plate. You won’t be around long.
  • Micorsoft Resume.doc – If you’re applying for a job at a company (say, Microsoft), and you use that company name in the resume file name, please spell it right!
  • Apple Resume.doc — If you’re applying for a job at a company (say, Microsoft), please get the company name right!
  • anything.docx – “docx” is the new file format used in Microsoft Office 2007 or later. Some people don’t have that version of office and may not read your resume… or it may come out formatted very differently than you intended!
  • anything.doc – In fact, not every company uses Microsoft Word. You’d be much better off saving your resume as a PDF file, which is nearly universal in both availability to view and formatting fidelity.  Use something like PDFCreator (free) to “print” any document to a PDF file.
  • Joe_2010.05.0113.doc – You’re either seriously OCD organized, a librarian or an operating system. I don’t know what that says about you, but be aware.
  • Resume10_v3.doc – This doesn’t really matter to me what version your resume is, other than for some reason you keep changing it.  I don’t care, but you did lose an opportunity to share something about you in your file-name that might have made you a little more memorable.

*Please, please do not actually try and make your resume anything resembling a literary masterwork.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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Posted in Jobsearch, Know The Ropes, My Side of the Desk

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BTW, Txting in Mtgs is Rude

May 17th, 2010

image (From Lifehacker and NYTimes)

Solution? Have breaks during your meetings (or, you’re really not as important as you think you are)image

A professor of business surveyed more than 9,000 managers and workers and found a familiar paradox: nearly everyone considers email checking and texting during face-to-face meetings rude, but most people still do it

But, it’s of course only rude to the person holding the meeting (and others who are "in charge"). ShakespeareGeek in the Lifehacker comments had this to say about the Double Standard:

Grab a manager and say, "Can I show you a quick something at my computer?" If you can get him to go over to your cube at all, rest assured that he’ll be checking his Blackberry while you try to explain your demo. Remember, it’s only rude if *you* do it on *his* time.

Popularity: 2% [?]

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Posted in Career Management, Life, Management tools, My Side of the Desk

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