First Comment

We start out on this Wednesday with an interesting post from Fistful of Talent which talks about the sad state we've gotten to in job offers when verbal agreements aren't enough. While the author of the post first laments that candidates demand offers in writing but after more research, turns the table on those doing the hiring:

But, maybe, more importantly... why have so many job seekers been jerked around when it comes to employment offers that they have to be so overly cautious? I mean for those of you making offers out there, what the heck are you guys doing?

I agree with Jessica. If you're going to offer a job to someone verbally, make sure that it exists and there's money in the budget to pay for it. It makes things much more difficult for everyone else when candidates can't trust hiring companies at their words.

Next, from Yahoo! News via Reuters the question was put out to America if you should Facebook friend your boss and America said no (H/T Wendy*)."A survey released on Thursday found that 56 percent of Americans say it is irresponsible to be friends with a boss and 62 percent say it is wrong to be friends with an employee." The interesting part of the study is that more and more, people are feeling comfortable saying that while accessing social media/networking at work is OK, doing things like updating statuses uploading pictures, tweeting, or watching online videos are becoming less acceptable to people. Hopefully studies like this will allow more companies to allow access to social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter--and have confidence that the employees will act responsibly.

*Side Note: Wendy happens to be my boss...and she sent this to me--do you think she's hinting at something?

So, here I am. My very first blog post! I hope it goes well. Drumroll please...

Internet retail giant Zappos has an amazing policy called “The Offer.” This policy is basically a tool the company uses to weed out any potential employees who aren’t 100% committed to the company. Zappos has extensive training courses for all employees that runs four weeks long. After the first week is when “The Offer” is, well, offered. An employee is given two options:

1) Stay

2) Get paid for their first week here (these trainees receive full salaries) PLUS $1,000 bonus to quit.

Yes, you get bought out to QUIT. This is definitely a unique tool to use, but also a very effective one. The company has grown exponentially the past five years, and shows no signs of stopping. This kind of growth must be, at least in some part, related to the company retaining only the best of the best (and the most loyal of the best). You can check out a full article about Zappos’ organizational culture here.