Job interviews: Does age matter?
Over lunch, a colleague mentioned that she had been on a job interview where the recruiter pointedly told her, “We have a YOUNG team here.” Do I need to mention that my colleague would not be considered “young” but what you might call “more seasoned”? I suggested she...
‘Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride of movies’ and more expressive writing
Don’t you love reading the expressive ways people find to make a point? Some of them make you laugh; some conjure up an appealing image or make an unusual connection. Here are a few of my latest finds, with the part I particularly liked in bold: “If you...
Lessons from DWTS
The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy, without much time for an online life. But — shh! don’t tell! — I still allowed myself the guilty pleasure of watching Dancing With The Stars on Monday and Tuesday nights. And yes, I even had dibs on the...OMG, I’m late!
I’m late to the game talking about this, but I’ve noticed that a lot of people seem to be upset that the Oxford English Dictionary will now include OMG and LOL, as of the March 24 update. This adds insult to injury, I suppose, after previous additions...
6 ways to improve email subject lines
An email arrived the other day and was promptly sent to the junk folder by my mail program. The reason? The subject line read, “Thought you might be interested in this.” I do scan mail in the junk folder, especially because postings to my school forums...
Still room for odd book titles
The wonderfully quirky Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year has a new winner: Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way, by Michael R. Young. The prize is given by British trade magazine The Bookseller, a leading trade magazine for the book industry....
Want people to do what you ask? Explain why
I’m sitting in my curtained cubicle, in jeans and a drafty cotton hospital gown, waiting for the technician to usher me in for a mammogram. I’ve had this procedure before and know enough not to wear deodorant, which can apparently leave tiny deposits on...
An unpaid bill tells more about you than you think
In two short weeks, I will encounter a milestone, of sorts, not seen in 21 years of independent business: an invoice that is one year past due. In most cases like this, you’d write off that invoice as something that never will get paid. Half of me is resigned to...