While they hire some very smart people, they also hire a number of people who are book – and not business – smart…

The world’s great men have not commonly been great scholars, nor its great scholars great men.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
– Douglas Adams

Not surprisingly, working long hours is on that list:

Attributes of Success

The top attributes for success for senior technical women identified by the study:

• Analytical: The majority of senior technical women perceive themselves as analytical. Indeed, all technical employees tend to see themselves as high on this attribute, as technical careers tend to first and foremost look for analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Unafraid to Question/Desire to Learn: A majority consider themselves as questioning – having the ability to ask the right questions, which is critical to problem solving.
• Risk Takers: A majority of senior technical women view themselves as risk-takers, which was identified by technical employees as one of the top four attributes of success. Moderate amounts of risk-taking are an important part of leadership, and senior women and men are equally as likely to perceive themselves as risk takers. This research shatters the stereotype that men are more likely to be risk takers than women are.
• Collaborative: Senior technical women are collaborators. A collaborative work style is perceived as a critical success factor in high-technology by both technical men and women, and is consistent with a culture that values innovation, which cannot be achieved without extensive collaboration. Collaboration is both a critical source of success but also a great source of career satisfaction.
• Hard Working/Work Long Hours: Advancement for senior women comes with long working hours. This finding is consistent with the culture of technology where advancement is tied to increased responsibility and significant availability. This can be a barrier for women who seek advancement while juggling family responsibilities in dual-career couples. 72 percent of the senior technical women surveyed reported cutting back on sleep to advance their careers and nearly a third have delayed having children.
• Assertive: A majority of senior technical women describe themselves as assertive – significantly more so than women at the entry and mid-levels. In a professional culture that rewards speaking up, self-promotion, and ambition, senior women interviewed uniformly said they had to learn to be assertive and promote themselves in order to advance. However, research also shows that women have less freedom than men in assertive behavior. Because women’s assertiveness defies long-standing gender stereotypes, women often experience a “likeability penalty” when they are assertive.

Then again, women represented only four percent out of 1,795 surveyed for the report; would the study results be different if even 25% of the study participants were female?

Smart companies understand at any point in time, a job candidate is a past, current, or future customer; and similarly, a past, current, or future customer can at any time become a candidate.  So – smart companies invest a lot of time, money, and effort to create a strong well regarded employment brand/marketing effort to attract qualified candidates, and also to build their overall market brand and customer base.

One large software employer, located in the greater Seattle area stated in their 2009 US SEC 10-k filing  stated:

“As of June 30, 2009, we employed approximately 93,000 people on a full-time basis; 56,000 in the United States and 37,000 internationally. Of the total, 36,000 were in product research and development, 26,000 in sales and marketing, 17,000 in product support and consulting services, 5,000 in manufacturing and distribution, and 9,000 in general and administration. Our success is highly dependent on our ability to attract and retain qualified employees. None of our employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements.”

The company’s employment branding pitch to candidates for full time employee roles  is:

You have unique experiences, skills and passions—and we believe you can bring them all <here> for a rich, rewarding career and lifestyle that will surprise you with its breadth and potential. Just imagine the excitement and satisfaction of what you can do, where you can go, and the difference you can make with the resources of <companyx> behind you.

In addition to the 93,000 full time employees the company had as of June 2009, each  year the company also employs  an estimated 62,000 contract/contingent staff via 3rd party vendor firms, for roles the company has deems “non-essential.”

While the company limits each contingent employment contract to 12 months or less, the company’s third party staffing vendors  advertise an insatiable demand for contract software design engineers; software design engineer in test; and also  marketing, content, IT, and other operations roles, many of which require various combinations of  industry experience, training, graduate degrees, and/or professional certification.

Approximately one year ago, the company’s procurement office became responsible for the company’s contingent staffing and aggressively commoditized the process of  hiring contingent workers, including high skilled professionals, for roles which often require extensive experience; graduate degrees;  specialized industry certifications; and/or a combination of the above.  Also commoditized was the pay rate range for each position.

The end result is  one contract opportunity is often posted by ten different contracting agencies, none of whom offer the contingent employee any real employer paid benefits (i.e., paid or even subsidized health insurance, paid time off, etc.)

So – imagine the excitement and satisfaction of what you can do, where you can go, and the difference you can make with the resources of <companyx> behind you if hired for one of the jobs posted this morning by one of the company’s third party contingent staffing vendors:

Seeking Experienced Project Coordinators w/5-7 experience

Location:Redmond, WA
Employment Type:9+ Month Contract
Wage:$15.00 – $17.00 hourly

Description:
Large, well-known software company on the eastside is looking for qualified and experienced Project Coordinators. Please email resumes to the email above and our recruiters will contact you to set up an interview should your qualifications meet what we are looking for.

Managing and maintaining busy calendar
Coordinating planning, execution and review meetings with hosting local events
Gathering and managing reports
Coordinating the monthly reporting and processes (including producing show &amp; tell coverage presentations)
Updating content in the Infrastructure components
Help with support as required
Being the key go-to person for team members looking for existing materials and responses.
Supporting the development of new team efficiency systems and processes such as new briefing book and coverage report template

5-7 years business administrative experience, preferably in a high tech industry and in a team-oriented environment.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Experience in managing projects with team members
Microsoft Office proficiency (especially Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and SharePoint proficiency.
Must have ability to work independently while maintaining accountability with multiple stakeholders.
Organized, action-oriented team player and flexible learner able to multi-task.

Don’t have 5-7 years of  business administrative experience including experience in managing projects with team members, but you do have a university degree, plus the ability to get at least a 9 month hardship deferment from repaying your no doubt hefty student loans?

Seeking Tech Savvy Administrative Assistants

Location:Redmond, WA
Employment Type:9+ Month Contract
Wage:$11.00 – $13.50 hourly

Description:
If youre looking for a great way to start off your administrative career then you are in the right place. We are currently seeking qualified Assistants for a large software organization located in the Eastisde Area.

Assistant
We are looking for an Administrative Assistant to provide coordination, heavy calendaring, scheduling, and handling travel arrangements.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Other duties may be assigned.

Provides administrative and organizational support in a fast paced environment, particularly in support of special projects, which may include but is not limited to:
Mail delivery, shipping and building deliveries.
Fill office requests and maintain an appropriate inventory of supplies.
Maintaining heavy calendaring and scheduling.
Compile and develop records, charts and reports using knowledge in computer office applications (MS Office Suite, SharePointe, Outlook, Visio, spreadsheet, publishing and word-processing).

BA preferred, however, open to High School diploma or equivalent experience plus 3-4 years of demonstrated successful work-related experience in administrative support.
Excellent communication skills.

However – if you have both the skills and 4 – 6 of prior executive assistant experience, plus an interest to support one of their execs already fairly high up the executive ranks, this might be the opportunity for you:

Challenging Career Executive Assistant Position

Location:Redmond, WA
Employment Type:9+ Month Contract
Wage:$17.00 – $20.00 hourly

Description:
Challenging career position for an Executive Assistant in a prestigious, well-known Software company on the eastside.

Job Description:
Performs a variety of complex administrative functions for all levels of management including external business partners.
Manages schedule(s), coordinates travel arrangements and processes business expenses.
Coordinates meetings and events, department financial operations, personnel operations, and facility operations.
Manages procurement of goods and services including computer equipment, office supplies, reference materials, and vendor relationships.
Provides general office support.
Serves as the department/group contact.
Completes special projects as assigned.

Qualifications:

4 to 6 years demonstrated work experience in a fast-paced, senior management level administrative capacity.
Ability to interact in a professional manner with all levels of management; demonstrated ability to change direction in response to changing work situations.
Must be proactive, able to deal with ambiguity, self prioritize work resources, and juggle multiple tasks in a manner transparent to the team.
Must have the ability to work independently to achieve results with a high degree of accuracy.
Ability to work successfully in a team environment and build effective working relationships inside and outside of the group that involve contact at all levels of management.
Able to work collaboratively with other internal and external administrative and CS assistants within the team and across the company.
Ability to be entrusted with the knowledge and handling of confidential information.
Should be detail oriented and extremely organized.
Extensive knowledge of and proficiency with Microsoft Office including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, and would be preferred.
BS preferred.

If the contractor receives $20/hour gross, even with the 3rd party agency vendor markup the cost to the company would still approximately be less than $65,000/year, which is below market base pay for a full time, direct hire for that role, and does not include valuable employee benefits such as company subsidized health insurance; paid vaction and sick days; paid federal holidays, etc.

Smart companies understand at any point in time, a job candidate is a past, current, or future customer; and similarly, a past, current, or future customer can at any time become a candidate.

Smart companies also understand how expensive it is to rebuild a tarnished brand, and to rebuild a customer base after losing unhappy customers either due to personal experience, bad word of mouth, or given the above pay rates, a lack of disposable income.

We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless we’re in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. There’s no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either.  - Steve Ballmer

Brand-wise, and employer brand-wise, this sounds like it could be a really good job opportunity; although the level of detail in the posted job description – which includes 64 (!) “Desired Competencies:”

Don’t get me wrong – I think it is admirable for an employer to have thought through to that level each and every desired competency for any employee role – but having done that, I do wonder what they could possibly have forgotten to then include in the job posting:

12. This job description is intended to describe the general requirements for the performance of this job. It is not a complete statement of duties, responsibilities or requirements. Other duties not listed here may be assigned as necessary to ensure the proper operations of the team.

:)

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From Norad’s Santa Command website:

Why we track Santa

For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s Christmas Eve flight.

The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck &amp; Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.” The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.

In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, which then took on the tradition of tracking Santa.

Since that time, NORAD men, women, family and friends have selflessly volunteered their time to personally respond to Christmas Eve phone calls and emails from children. In addition, we now track Santa using the internet. Last year, millions of people who wanted to know Santa’s whereabouts visited the NORAD Tracks Santa website.

Finally, media from all over the world rely on NORAD as a trusted source to provide Christmas Eve updates on Santa’s journey.

“I have the greatest admiration for Col. Shoup and found delight in his remarkable humor with taking the first-ever call regarding Santa’s whereabouts back in 1955. His kind and thoughtful gesture will forever be a legacy at NORAD, and with the millions of people around the world who follow the NORAD Tracks Santa program each year. Truly, forever in the minds of millions he will be fondly remembered as the “Santa Colonel” and his legend will live on forever.”

General Victor E. Renaurt, Jr., USAF
Commander, NORAD
Commander, USNORTHCOM

From Norad’s Santa Command website:

Why we track Santa

For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s Christmas Eve flight.

The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck &amp; Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.” The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.

In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, which then took on the tradition of tracking Santa.

Since that time, NORAD men, women, family and friends have selflessly volunteered their time to personally respond to Christmas Eve phone calls and emails from children. In addition, we now track Santa using the internet. Last year, millions of people who wanted to know Santa’s whereabouts visited the NORAD Tracks Santa website.

Finally, media from all over the world rely on NORAD as a trusted source to provide Christmas Eve updates on Santa’s journey.

“I have the greatest admiration for Col. Shoup and found delight in his remarkable humor with taking the first-ever call regarding Santa’s whereabouts back in 1955. His kind and thoughtful gesture will forever be a legacy at NORAD, and with the millions of people around the world who follow the NORAD Tracks Santa program each year. Truly, forever in the minds of millions he will be fondly remembered as the “Santa Colonel” and his legend will live on forever.”

General Victor E. Renaurt, Jr., USAF
Commander, NORAD
Commander, USNORTHCOM

The “click to give” causes sites include The Animal Rescue Site; The Hunger Site; The Breast Cancer Site; The Child Health Site; The Literacy Site; and The Rain Forest Site.

Since donating via one of these sites really only requires a minute of or two of my time, I’ve worked hard to  build a habit of visiting each once a day to  ”click to give.”

By doing this, I’ve discovered netizens seem to favor feeding stray animals over feeding starving people; since more people click to donate food  to animals via CharityUSA.com’s sites than click to donate food to starving people.

Wow.    I believe in helping people and animals;  I hope you do too.  If so – be the change you wish to see in this world, and  ”click to give” to one or more of these sites each day, and on a generous day, maybe buy something via one of your chose charity site’s stores,  too.

The U.S. Department of Energy host the Solar Decathlon—a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The Solar Decathlon is also an event to which the public is invited to observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the best in home design.

The Solar Decathlon brings attention to one of the biggest challenges we face—an ever-increasing need for energy. As an internationally recognized event, it offers powerful solutions—using energy more efficiently and using energy from renewable sources.

The Solar Decathlon has several goals:

1. To educate the student participants—the “Decathletes”—about the benefits of energy efficiency, renewable energy and green building technologies. As the next generation of engineers, architects, builders, and communicators, the Decathletes will be able to use this knowledge in their studies and their future careers.

2. To raise awareness among the general public about renewable energy and energy efficiency, and how solar energy technologies can reduce energy usage.

3. To help solar energy technologies enter the marketplace faster. This competition encourages the research and development of energy efficiency and energy production technologies.

4. To foster collaboration among students from different academic disciplines—including engineering and architecture students, who rarely work together until they enter the workplace.

5. To promote an integrated or “whole building design” approach to new construction. This approach differs from the traditional design/build process because the design team considers the interactions of all building components and systems to create a more comfortable building, save energy, and reduce environmental impact.

To demonstrate to the public the potential of Zero Energy Homes, which produce as much energy from renewable sources, such as the sun and wind, as they consume. Even though the home might be connected to a utility grid, it has net zero energy consumption from the utility provider.

I really do want one of these houses – but am still watching the videos to figure out which one ;)

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