Saturday, May 29, 2010

7 Items Employers Want to See on Telecommuters’ Resumes

When you’re applying for a new job, your resume is often used as a fast way to assess whether you look like a good candidate for a position — at least on paper. That’s just as true if you’re looking for a position that allows you to telecommute as it is if you’re looking to work in an office.

But the skills and characteristics that a hiring manager is looking for on a telecommuter’s resume aren’t always the same as when you’re looking for other jobs. Among other things, employers are looking for the following:

  1. Prior experience. While it’s not always possible for an employer to find an applicant that has already telecommuted, having prior experience can move your resume to the top of the stack. There’s a learning curve that goes along with becoming a telecommuter, and every employer would prefer to hire someone who’s already figured out the nuts and bolts of telecommuting.
Read the rest at webworkerdaily.com

Here's all seven listed:
1. Prior experience (at telecommuting)
2. Self-direction
3. Great communication
4. Technical skills
5. Professional objectives
6. Access to (adequate) hardware
7. Your reasons for telecommuting

I haven't interviewed for a job that was starting out telecommuting, but these are all good points. Much of it is just good business sense, anyway.

Posted via web from dianaf's posterous

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Disaster recovery: Lessons learned from a volcano | IT Leadership | TechRepublic.com

Disaster recovery: Lessons learned from a volcano

Like thousands of other travelers, I spent several unplanned days in Europe recently due to the ash cloud spewing from the unpronounceable volcano in Iceland. I joked with friends and colleagues that despite several hundred thousand miles of business travel under my belt, if you asked me to write 50 reasons I would be stuck somewhere for several days, I most likely would not even remotely considered including a volcano on that list.

During the 14-hour drive from the shuttered Paris airport to clearer skies over Madrid in one of the last rental cars in Paris, I contemplated what lessons there were for IT and general disaster planning and recovery to be learned from this incident. There were three broad lessons I learned plotting my escape from the ash cloud that have broad applicability to corporate disaster planning...

read the rest of the post at blogs.techrepublic.com.com

These are good guidelines that your disaster recovery plans probably don't already have defined:

Lesson 1: Focus on outcomes not scenarios
Lesson 2: Provide empowerment
Lesson 3: Have a price tag
Lesson 4: Figure out who to talk to

Posted via web from dianaf's posterous

Video Gamers Have Power Over Their Nightmares

All good news, we should all play more games!

"What happens with gamers is that something inexplicable happens," Gackenbach explained. "They don't run away, they turn and fight back."

Gackenbach hopes to use the information she's gleaned from studying gamers' reactions to nightmares to see if she can apply it to victims of post-traumatic stress disorder, a symptom of which is usually terrifying dreams. Could video games help control PTSD? That's what she aims to find out.

Posted via web from dianaf's posterous

Monday, May 24, 2010

Our whole world will be a series of games

Our whole world will be a series of games

 by John Moe // Posted: 05/19/10 01:29 PM

We’re talking to Jesse Schell on tomorrow’s show. Here’s a video of a speech he gave not that long ago. It’s about what he thinks your future will be. Lots of games but it doesn’t sound all that … fun. You should probably watch this.

I agree it does sound a little… not fun, but I think his thoughts at the end are probably pretty accurate. I think his scenarios are also pretty likely to occur!

Posted via web from dianaf's posterous