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Yankees Parade Picture, Boeing and AOL

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:16:00 +0000

Wanted to post a picture from the New York Yankees victory parade down the Canyon of Heroes. This is one of the many pictures I snapped that day showing Jorge Posada telling us all the Yankees are, in fact, #1. I've put some more pictures over at my sports blog, No, You're a Towel. I don't believe that any work actually got done in the financial district that day as employees hung their heads out of windows. Unfortunately, according to MLB.com, some of those employees hanging their heads out the window got a little "overzealous" and threw private data out the window including unshredded personal financial documents that included Social...

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Yankees Win, thhhhhheeeeee Yankees Win (and a few HR articles)

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:19:00 +0000

We don't hide our baseball loyalty very well here at the Astron Solutions blog. We're (Myself, Jennifer and Mike) big Yankees fans and we're gloating today after the Yankees took home #27! They were able to overcome controversy, weak areas and past failures to finally capture the biggest prize. Love or hate the Yankees, you have to respect how well-run their organization is, regardless of the money. They put the right people in the right situations to succeed and pushed guys when they could be pushed. They stuck behind guys like Alex Rodriguez who had trouble outside the workplace and allowed him to succeed at the workplace. It's a good...

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Astronology - What Type of Managerial Attitude Do You Have?

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Astronology Volume X Issue 18 November 3, 2009 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software. ...

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Military Experience As Job Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:17:00 +0000

I was reading an interview from National Review yesterday about how the Israeli military has helped their economy grow by leaps and bounds over many much bigger countries, especially in the technology sector. As the interviewed author, Dan Senor, states: Israel represents the highest concentration of innovationand entrepreneurship in the world today: the most start-ups per capita; the highest percentage of GDP invested in civilian R&D; more companies on NASDAQ than all of Europe, Korea, Japan, India, and China combined; and the biggest destination for global venture capital per capita. Israel raises 2.5 times as much global venture...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

Don't Report Your Time Off?

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:19:00 +0000

WorldAtWork recently posted a blog entry titled: "Vacation time: Is It Time to Stop Tracking?" It's an interesting question and one which has a lot of different answers depending on who you ask. From WorldAtWork: Many companies over the years have migrated from siloed leave policies that designate a specific number of days for vacation, sick leave and personal time off to paid time off (PTO) banks programs that provide a total set number of days off that employees can use for any reason. Newer, even more flexible, programs now provide employees with more informal personal time and vacation arrangements with their managers when it suits...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

ESPN an HR Nightmare

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:04:00 +0000

It has happened before at ESPN. Harold Reynolds and other on-air personalities had been fired for inappropriate relationships with subordinates. It has happened with other staffers as well. Yesterday, it reached a boiling point after former New York Mets General Manager and ESPN personality, Steve Phillips, took a leave of absence after a bizarre story involving a relationship with a 22-year-old production assistant, detailed in yesterday's New York Post. According to sports blog Awful Announcing, in 2007, ESPN hired a new Senior Vice President, Human Resources, in part to help with the rash of sexual harassment complaints. It didn't seem...

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Astronology - Giving Constructive Criticism

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:20:00 +0000

Astronology Volume X Issue 17 October 20, 2009 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software. ...

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Letterman and a New Look

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:34:00 +0000

A lot was written last week about the David Letterman situation and how Human Resources should handle this. Let's look at a few examples: -Careersolvers asks if we're all that different than Letterman and gives, in the spirit of the man, a top 10 list of reasons why people get involved with co-workers. -The Boston Globe Job Doc has a Q&A on "An Awkward Invitation" and whether you should go to HR for quick decisions. -Hot HR Tips... says let this be a wake-up call for all Human Resources professionals -Lastly, a Letterman insider writes about the incident for The New York Times and the atmosphere does not seem to be a good one. The...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

The Job Market As It Stands

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:33:00 +0000

We all know the job market isn't good. Despite any numbers to the contrary, we are pretty sure we'll see 10% unemployment very soon and all of us know at least one person who is currently out of a job. I know of almost 20 people who have been laid off. It's not pretty out there. The Wall Street Journal says that it will be years before lost jobs return. And some may never return. 7.2 million jobs have just disappeared since December 2007 and there will be many Americans left standing on the sidelines once their unemployment runs out. Sad times. The New York Times tells the story of a pair of identical twins who are living in New York City,...

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H-1B, ARRA, and TARP

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:10:00 +0000

I was forwarded a job description for a position at Capital One by someone I know. They didn't want to know anything about the job or my advice on taking it or anything to that effect; they wanted to know what this note meant at the bottom of the posting: As a recipient of TARP funding and under ARRA regulations, Capital One will not sponsor new H-1B petitions or transfer existing H1B Visas. I was curious myself. So I did some research. The Washington D.C. Employment Law Update laid it out in March: The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that employers receiving funds through the Troubled Asset Relief...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

Astronology - Win At Selling Your Value

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:03:00 +0000

Astronology Volume X Issue 16 October 6, 2009 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software. ...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

$25 an Hour Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:48:00 +0000

Great post from The New York Times Freakonomics Blog (and a true, but funny ending as well): Yahoo! recently ran a story entitled “Surprising Jobs that Pay $25 an Hour.” The author writes, But you don’t necessarily need a post-graduate degree to qualify for a job that pays several hundred dollars a day. While it may be true that helicopter pilots, high-tech administrators, and civil engineers earn $25 an hour or more, so do many other professionals in careers that require only an associate or bachelor’s degree to leap onto the playing field. The jobs listed are electrical and electronic engineering technician, human resources...

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Stating the Obvious

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:44:00 +0000

Sometimes, the news just states the obvious...or what we think to be the truth (I call these "duh!"s). Here are a few examples of "duh"s in the recent news relating to the job world: Watson Wyatt and WorldatWork did a survey that Workforce Management quotes which says that cost cutting has damaged worker morale (duh!). Yes, if you have been managing and awake at all during this Big, Bad Recession, you know that A) organizations have been slashing budgets and cutting costs in order to survive; and, B) that such large-scale cost cutting tends to have a highly negative impact on the most critical part of your organization—your workforce. So,...

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A Wish for an Easy Fast

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:05:00 +0000

Tonight starts the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. As I fast for the day, I wish an easy fast for everyone else who is fasting. We are told to remember our last year and to ask forgiveness for those we've wronged the past year. Even for those who are not Jewish, this is a good time to look around your life and work to rebuild relationships that may have been harmed in the past year. This includes in the workplace where we may have wronged our fellow co-workers, especially in the tough last year we all just went through. Regardless of the time of the year, we can all work to help to make our workplace a more peaceful and enjoyable place...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

Astronology - 2010 Salary Budgeting Forecast - What a Difference a Year Makes

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:06:00 +0000

Astronology Volume X Issue 15 September 22, 2009 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software. ...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

Happy New Year, Coaching, Inter-connectivity and Passion

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:56:00 +0000

L'shana Tova to our Jewish readers. I apologize for being away for a while but between the Jewish New Year and a recent business trip, I was out of commission for a little while. My recent business trip wasn't much "business". It was an "Early Career Summit" which was basically a 4-day leadership development conference. We learned networking skills and then had the chance to network with functional heads, ran an industry simulation in small groups, got personal coaching, were talked to by senior leaders (the CEO, CIO, and others), and got to present on what we learned to a panel of senior leadership team members (among other...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

Remembering 9/11: How Sports Helped Heal

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:58:00 +0000

Reposted from my sports blog: It's true that you'll never forget where you were when the towers fell. I was a senior in high school and everything that happened--from hearing the news from the football coach to watching the first tower fall in the teacher's lounge surrounded by baffled students and teachers and the second tower fall on makeshift TV set-ups in the campus commons--seemed totally surreal. But I think the thing I will remember most about 9/11 in New York is how the whole city came together and sports, however cheesy that sounds, was the driving catalyst to bringing the city back to life that fall. Many forget that Shea Stadium...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

Some Office Faux Pas

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:19:00 +0000

CNNMoney did a great job going over 10 office faux pas that you should avoid to keep yourself off the potential-layoff list (H/T Sarah). I'll list those here and add a comment of my own after each one Don't! Be the Office Downer- This does not mean "don't be serious". It just means that you should be amenable to your co-workers. When your name gets floated around as a potential cut, you want someone going to bat for you. Don't! Microwave Fish in the Office- Also, don't pop popcorn unless you're going to share it with everyone. I hate when someone pops a big bag for themselves and it smells throughout the entire office. It's selfish. Don't!...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

Astronology - Honoring Ted Kennedy

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:13:00 +0000

Astronology Volume X Issue 14 September 8, 2009 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software. ...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

What I'm Hearing...Complaining about Co-Workers

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Loftus) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:21:00 +0000

This morning I heard that CareerBuilder recently released the results of a survey about interacting with co-workers. Their latest findings suggest that complaining about your co-workers - why is he always on Facebook?, why does she get more vacation time than me? - is a sure fire way to fall out of favor with your boss. Intuitively, this makes sense. Few people like a whiner or a tattler. Of course, if the person is commenting on something involving personal safety, the organization's financial well-being, etc., then bring on the commentary. Otherwise, most likely the person on the receiving end of things doesn't want to hear...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

DON'T EMAIL LIKE THIS!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:03:00 +0000

Yahoo! Tech has the news of one unfortunate woman who was fired for getting to Caps Lock friendly (H/T Wendy): That's exactly what happened to Vicki Walker, who was abruptly kicked out of her job for sending "confrontational emails" with text formatted in a variety of red, bold, and all caps fonts. Walker had sent the emails to fellow workers within the company, usually with stern and detailed instructions on how forms should be properly filled out. Someone at ProCare didn't like her approach, suggesting she caused "disharmony in the workplace" and was being too confrontational via email, eventually firing her without warning. Walker,...

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What I'm Hearing...Customized Rewards

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Loftus) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:28:00 +0000

Over the next two months, I'm going to be on the road giving presentations on total rewards. Hopefully among my travels I'll come across some blog worthy discoveries! One of the key themes of my presentations is that, in today's economy, employers can't rely solely on base pay and benefits to attract and retain employees. Rather, total rewards is the new focus. Total rewards includes pay and benefits, and also adds work/life balance, career advancement and development, and performance management and recognition into the mix. Moving forward, organizations will have to tap into all 5 of these areas, and customize their blends to meet...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)

The HR Impact of Sterling Cooper in 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:53:00 +0000

If you don't watch AMC's hit show Mad Men, you should start immediately. It's a fabulous show about a fictional 1960s Madison Avenue advertising agency named Sterling Cooper and the trials of tribulations of the agency and the main character, Don Draper. One of the things that's great about the show is how they keep everything authentic for the time. That means that people drink, smoke, and take part in a lot of other activities that make Human Resource professionals cringe today, including excluding all minorities (and Jews), gender discrimination, and sexual harassment. But how much of what takes place in Sterling Cooper would not be...

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Nearly 1 in 2 Companies Now Screen Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:24:00 +0000

This news coming from Mashable: This according to research firm Harris Interactive, who was commissioned by CareerBuilder.com and surveyed 2,667 HR professionals, finding that 45% of them use social networking sites to research job candidates, with an additional 11% planning to implement social media screening in the very near future. According to the study, “thirty-five percent of employers reported they have found content on social networking sites that caused them not to hire the candidate.” The big lessons you can learn are quite obvious, but bear repeating. Provocative photos and info are a bad idea (53% of employers...

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Now That Was Quick...

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Katz) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:11:00 +0000

On Monday afternoon, I did an orientation for a new employee who had started that morning. The employee started in a senior position, requiring at least a decade of experience. He spent all of Monday in training and setting up his computer and was set to start the actual work of the job yesterday. This morning, he didn’t show up for work. His manager e-mailed him repeatedly, hoping to reach him on his Blackberry. Finally, worried that something was wrong, the manager called the new employee to see what happened. The employee let the manager know, on that phone call, that he had quit. He said he left his Blackberry at...

(THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. PLEASE CLICK THE LINK ABOVE OR CHECK OUT ASTRON'S BLOG AT http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/ FOR THE FULL ARTICLE)