fine print: Ratings are based on a 20-question survey that evaluate eight key workplace factors including: Senior Leadership, Communication, Employee Morale, Career Opportunities, Work/Life Balance, Compensation and Benefits, Recognition and Feedback, and Fairness and Respect. For reporting simplicity, a company’s rating on the Glassdoor website and this list is limited to one decimal space although the actual calculations extend infinitely to determine final rank order.
A well known grocery chain recently posted a job for “Marketing and Community Relations Specialist,” a store level associate job, in a metro area where it has 7 grocery stores.
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:”
1. Creative Development.
2. General industry education geared toward the creative maximization of resources and their application to Whole Foods Market standards.
3. Facilitates creative problem solving.
4. Develops unique ideas.
5. Effective brainstorming facilitation.
6. Collaborates well with Store Artist and Regional Marketing Team for outstanding results.
7. Leverages regional and national programs; avoids creating separate messaging Team Dynamics.
8. General business/team dynamics and relationships to business operations.
9. Identifies roles and responsibilities of marketing team.
11. Ensures effective use of resources, equipment and distribution of marketing materials.
12. Ensures Sighmakers, Salud! Supervisor and Team Members are communicating and supporting all marketing events and store needs Marketing Plan Development.
13. Standard marketing plan development knowledge and application to Whole Foods Market strategic needs.
14. Understands how to facilitate, organize and communicate objectives, strategies, and tactics.
15. Establishes cohesion among national, regional, and store marketing objectives.
16. Establishes effective store marketing objectives.
17. Effectively uses, plans, and communicates store marketing budget Relationship-Building and Networking.
18. Makes effective use of time in and out of the store.
19. Evolves and broadens outreach to community partners.
20. Establishes expectations for reciprocal support.
21. Effectively communicates business needs to external partners.
22. Asks the right questions to leverage and match partner needs.
23. Positions company in external circles for maximum benefit.
24. Effectively builds relationships in the stores with team members and guests for networking purposes and garner of support for marketing events.
25. Captures detailed information from all stakeholders for optimum results.
26. Seeks and obtains help from available resources when necessary.
27. Uses effective project management skills and processes.
28. Establishes, communicates, and manages from a well-designed plan.
29. Responds to crises nimbly and resourcefully Communication Skills.
30. Proactive and effective communication with store, national, and regional leadership.
31. Builds effective relationships with Team Leaders, Coordinators, and staff.
32. Demonstrates effective email and phone etiquette and protocol.
33. Writes clearly and concisely in a variety of communication styles and settings.
34. Can get messages across that have the desired effect.
35. Trains Team Members to effectively articulate the message.
36. Effective in a variety of formal presentation settings.
37. Effective both inside and outside the organization.
38. Commands attention and can manage group process during a presentation.
39. Can change tactics midstream when something isn’t working.
49. Is action oriented and full of energy for things she/he sees as challenging.
50. Not fearful of acting with minimum planning when necessary.
51. Seizes opportunities Physical Work Environment Flexibility.
52. Comfortable in a busy, often chaotic retail environment.
53. Comfortable with limited and changing/mobile workspace.
54. Comfortable sharing workspace with others when necessary.
55. Demonstrates agility in an ever-changing work environment.
56. Comfortable with physical set up of events inside and outside of store Supervisory Style Flexibility.
57. Creates a climate in which people want to do their best.
58. Can motivate many kinds of people and team or project members.
59. Can assess each persons unique motivational needs lead them accordingly.
60. Adept with a Situational Leadership style and approach.
61. Empowers others.
62. Invites input from others and shares ownership and visibility.
63. Makes each individual feel her/his work is important.
64. Does not need to be the expert but needs to be the support in an ability to listen, troubleshoot Team Member problems, and implement solutions to Team Member work issues.
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.
Yes, we’re in a recession – but even so – I can’t imagine any really strong C++ developer with a Bachelor’s Degree in CS or Engineering from any non-diploma mill would ever consider this job or contracting agency’s “benefits:” Company: Populus Group LLC Job Location: …
Most job postings are dry. Really dry. And – they usually include “must haves” which require skills and/or experience with everything but being able to both plumb AND re-enamel a kitchen sink. As one hiring manager/Art Director I spoke with last week said – if any candidate ever met his team’s expectations, there …
The Job Posting I Wish I’d Written…. or, We’re All Mad Here, Part 2
There’s a truly brilliant job posting which is making the rounds on some of the developer email lists here in Seattle. I’d love to meet the programmer who wrote this job posting – it’s engaging while still full disclosure; I can already visualize the blog entries about meeting the client and actually interviewing …
Several weeks ago I blogged about some of the more… interesting… employment opportunities making the rounds within Seattle. Not surprisingly, at least one of them is still open… or, should I say, RE-OPENED. Two friends were contacted right around the time of my original post, but by two different agencies trying to …
Truth in advertising, especially employment adversiting, is rare enough that I think it should always be rewarded; and yet despite today’s still too weak economy, there are several jobs in the Seattle area which aren’t getting any takers: Program Manager Non Tech Position – Level 3 SharePoint, PowerPoint, MS Project and Excel Skills A …
This laundry list job posting just landed in my inbox, only missing a notation the correct candidate for this one must also be extremely fluent in both Farsi and Mandarin – NO EXCEPTIONS :) Job Announcement: Technical Product Manager Company : Title : Technical Product Manager Location : Redmond Job Type : Both Date : …
This one was posted to a Project Management group on linkedin.com; and while it may be legal to specify the candidate’s gender in India for this type of role, it definitely does not meet US employment law standards, or most people’s standards for good taste ;-): Life Sciences Graduates Hyderabad India …
If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. – Friedrich Nietzsche No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld There is a demand in these days for men who can make wrong appear right. – …
“Every man has three characters – that which he exhibits, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890)
“The more things change, the more they are the same.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890)
“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890)
“We can invent only with memory.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890)
“Uncertainty is the worst of all evils until the moment when reality makes us regret uncertainty.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890)
And, three not by Karr:
“The more things change, the more they remain… insane.” - Michael Fry and T. Lewis, Over the Hedge, 05-09-04
“The squeaking wheel doesn’t always get the grease. Sometimes it gets replaced.” – Vic Gold
“The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards.” – Arthur Koestler (1905 – 1983)
The author J.D. Salinger died today. These are some of my favorite quotes from his books, and by him:
“I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetary. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.”
- J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
I’m sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.
– J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
I’m not going to bed after all. Somebody around here hath murdered sleep. Good for him.
I can’t be running back and forth forever between grief and high delight.
– J. D. Salinger (1919 – 2010)
I’m sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.
– J. D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), Franny and Zooey Pg. 30
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.
– J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetary. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.
– J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
“I’m sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.
- J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.
- J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
I’m not going to bed after all. Somebody around here hath murdered sleep. Good for him.
As we are in the worst recession in 70 years, only three things are guaranteed: death, taxes, and a yearly 5% or more increase in cable subscription fees.
So – as a consumer, witnessing the on-g0ing scrimmishes between Broadcast TV providers and premium content (cable) providers is also entertainment.
Although this year’s skirmish between Fox and Time Warner was resolved at the 11th hour, Time Warner’s detailed instructions which show its customers how to watch Fox online, for free, with the suggestion viewers head to the likes of Hulu, Fancast, or any search engine–to find their favorite shows.
Time Warner Cable’s instructions on “How to Connect Your PC to Your TV” can be accessed by clicking on the image at the bottom of this post.
Still, no matter how this resolves, the danger for both sides is that consumers really do take up Time Warner Cable on its offer and start watching Fox stuff on the Web, since Fox definitely wants people keep paying for cable TV since Fox really covets subscription fees from cable TV providers.
To paraphrase Douglas Adams: Corporations, 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.
… would be a killer app – and in more ways than one; streaming more than one movie would easily eat up most people’s iPhone minutes package on AT&T without making *any* calls… Today, from TechCrunch, via Hacking Netflix: Rumor: Netflix Streaming Coming To The iPhone by MG Siegler on August 3, 2009 One big story …
Via CNN.com today: Comcast rolled out a Web-based on-demand television and movie service on Tuesday that gives customers access to more than 2,000 hours of television and movies. – more – The service, named Fancast XFINITY TV (formerly TV Everywhere), is getting mixed reviews on Twitter, and is in beta, with limited …
I’ve been broadcast/cable tv free for about a month now, with only mild withdrawal symptoms (having really re-run episodes of NCIS makes great white noise for me when I work from home; so now I have to improvise….). Even so – the combination of watching/running Netflix offerings in the background is …
When I still had cable tv, I loved my Tivo, even though I never upgraded my Tivo 2 box the Tivo HD. Why not? Pricing. I had a lifetime (of the Tivo 2 box) subscription, so upgrading would have been very expensive for me – first because of Tivo’s high pricing …
I seem to be thinking mostly in images these days, when not thinking in terms of databases… Related content: Help Wanted: Zookeeper with a Good Attitude. Most job postings are dry. Really dry. And – they usually include “must haves” which require skills and/or experience with everything but being able to both plumb AND …
According to Silicon Alley Insider, with data partly from Comscore, 38 million people watched Hulu at least once in July - a viewership which easily topped Time Warner Cable’s July viewership of 34 million. That same month, only DirecTV (47 million viewers) and Comcast (62 million) pulled larger audiences: While impressive, Hulu.com has a long way to go before reaching the cable companies’ …
From Techcrunch, last week: At first this announcement appeared to be a good candidate for “News of the Weird:” Microsoft Officially Retires Soapbox, The Poor Man’s YouTube by Leena Rao on July 21, 2009 Microsoft’s YouTube clone Soapbox is officially shutting its doors, according to reports today. Soapbox, which was launched in 2006 as a hub for downloading …
So – the featured speaker at the July 2009 Seattle Chamber of Commerce’s speaker at this month’s “Author Speaker Breakfast” is Chris Anderson, author of FREE: The Future of a Radical Price: FREE: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson the bestselling author of the The Long Tail In his revolutionary …
Free is Sometimes Free: The Future of a Radical Price
For those not able to make the Seattle Chamber of Commerce breakfast tomorrow, featuring Chris Anderson talking about his book Free: The Future of a Radical Price, his presentation at Wired’s “Disruptive Business Conference” is available online, for free: Related content: Free is Not Always Free. So – the featured speaker at …
Free: The Future of a Radical New Price is now…Free!
Late last month, Chris Anderson released a free downloadable unabridged podcast/audiobook version of his book, Free: The Future of a Radical New Price as zipped mp3 files, and via iTunes. It chapter is an individual podcast; all of which are narrated by Chris. [caption id=”attachment_1506″ align=”aligncenter” width=”162″ caption=”Free: The Future of a Radical …
Douglas Adams, that is … and re-reading – and re-thinking – his wit and wisdom is one of my favorite ways to start each new year.
His quotes are in no particular order; and all of them are worth thinking about. Enjoy!
“Anything that happens happens, anything that in happening causes something else to happen causes something else to happen, and anything that in happening causes itself to happen again, happens again. Although not necessarily in chronological order.”
“We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.”
“A learning experience is one of those things that say, “You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.”
“Some say that the universe is made so that when we are about to understand it it changes into something even more incomprehensible. And then there are those who say that this has already happened.”
“We are not an endangered species ourselves yet, but this is not for lack of trying.”
“A learning experience is one of those things that say, “You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.”
“Some say that the universe is made so that when we are about to understand it it changes into something even more incomprehensible. And then there are those who say that this has already happened.
“We are not an endangered species ourselves yet, but this is not for lack of trying.”
“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”
“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.”
“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.”
“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong, it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.”
“You live and learn. At any rate, you live.”
“He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it. ”
“When you blame others, you give up your power to change.”
“Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
“The impossible often has a kind of integrity the merely improbable lacks.”
“Once you do know what the question actually is, you’ll know what the answer means.”
“Let the past hold on to itself and let the present move forward into the future.”
“Everybody has their moment of great opportunity in life. If you happen to miss the one you care about, then everything else becomes eerily easy.”
“See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.”
“Anything that thinks logically can be fooled by something else that thinks at least as logically as it does.”
“See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.”
“There’s always a moment when you start to fall out of love, whether it’s with a person or an idea or a cause, even if it’s one you only narrate to yourself years after the event: a tiny thing, a wrong word, a false note, which means that things can never be quite the same again.”
“Life is wasted on the living.”
“The complexities of cause and effect defy analysis.”
“The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.”
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.”
“It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the end.”
Douglas Adams, that is … and re-reading – and re-thinking – his wit and wisdom is one of my favorite ways to start each new year.
His quotes are in no particular order; and all of them are worth thinking about. Enjoy!
“Anything that happens happens, anything that in happening causes something else to happen causes something else to happen, and anything that in happening causes itself to happen again, happens again. Although not necessarily in chronological order.”
“We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.”
“A learning experience is one of those things that say, “You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.”
“Some say that the universe is made so that when we are about to understand it it changes into something even more incomprehensible. And then there are those who say that this has already happened.”
“We are not an endangered species ourselves yet, but this is not for lack of trying.”
“A learning experience is one of those things that say, “You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.”
“Some say that the universe is made so that when we are about to understand it it changes into something even more incomprehensible. And then there are those who say that this has already happened.
“We are not an endangered species ourselves yet, but this is not for lack of trying.”
“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”
“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.”
“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.”
“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong, it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.”
“You live and learn. At any rate, you live.”
“He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it. ”
“When you blame others, you give up your power to change.”
“Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
“The impossible often has a kind of integrity the merely improbable lacks.”
“Once you do know what the question actually is, you’ll know what the answer means.”
“Let the past hold on to itself and let the present move forward into the future.”
“Everybody has their moment of great opportunity in life. If you happen to miss the one you care about, then everything else becomes eerily easy.”
“See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.”
“Anything that thinks logically can be fooled by something else that thinks at least as logically as it does.”
“See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.”
“There’s always a moment when you start to fall out of love, whether it’s with a person or an idea or a cause, even if it’s one you only narrate to yourself years after the event: a tiny thing, a wrong word, a false note, which means that things can never be quite the same again.”
“Life is wasted on the living.”
“The complexities of cause and effect defy analysis.”
“The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.”
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.”
“It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the end.”
