In September, I was diagnosed with conjunctival melanoma. That’s melanoma on the white of my eye. Surprise! It’s very rare and most people, myself included, have never heard of such a thing. I [...]]]> Yes, it’s been several months since I’ve posted anything here. But I have an excuse … well, for some of the time anyhow.

In September, I was diagnosed with conjunctival melanoma. That’s melanoma on the white of my eye. Surprise! It’s very rare and most people, myself included, have never heard of such a thing. I lucked out by going to the right doctor that had actually had a couple of cases.

The thing is that because it’s on the eyeball, they can’t do a biopsy like other places. It actually takes surgery just to do a biopsy. My October 6th surgery confirmed it was melanoma … and that the surgery didn’t remove it all. My second surgery was 2 days before Thanksgiving and, fortunately, everything came back negative.

So while I haven’t been blogging here, I have been blogging about my eyeball (www.westrick.us) for those interested in the gory details. I still can’t wear my contact lenses again yet but, for all appearances to most people, my eye looks normal and feels fine now.

Okay, so that was a really great excuse for a limited time but I’ve still been very slow to get back on the HR blogging wagon. I was procrastinating because I need (really need) to update the software I’m using for this blog and want to change the look to match the new look of the rest of my site. Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah.

However, I’m done waiting for other things to come together. You’ll have to live through the growing pains with me because I’m ready to blog!

So … this is where YOU come in. Please, please add [...]]]> Can we talk? This past month I’ve been swamped and, not surprisingly, my blogging count is down. It seems that when I’m busy I don’t get around to blogging until the evening. Unfortunately, by then my brain is mush and nothing wonderful pops into my head.

So … this is where YOU come in. Please, please add your comments to this post telling me what issues you’re having with employees, what advice you need, what you’d like to have me write about. If you’re too shy to comment publicly, email me instead.

Of course, I can just keep rambling on about whatever pops into my head. However, I know there are a lot of people coming to my blog so I assume you’re looking for something. Tell me what it is so I can try to make my posts more useful for you … and I can stop squeezing ideas out of my tired brain! If you don’t have any immediate needs, then just throw out ideas that you think would be of interest to my readers and subscribers.

I look forward to learning what you want and/or need … thanks for your help!

A man planned to rob a restaurant and was biding his time waiting for the customers to leave. His idea of remaining inconspicuous was to sit and complete a [...]]]> When dealing with people I find there are certain things I consider an intelligence test. Recently in the paper there was an article that confirmed my thoughts.

A man planned to rob a restaurant and was biding his time waiting for the customers to leave. His idea of remaining inconspicuous was to sit and complete a job application while he waited. Not bad so far, right? Wait, what’s that on the application? His real name and his uncle’s phone number. Duh! Needless to say, the police had no trouble catching up with him.

Another favorite of mine is the applicant’s reference list. Many companies don’t bother checking the references provided by the applicant because, duh, who would provide a name of someone who isn’t going to sign your praises? Well, start checking those references. While you might think it’s obvious, not everyone does. I’ve even called a past supervisor that was listed and the supervisor berated the employee performance and was really glad he was gone. Oh, and he didn’t recommend hiring him.

Lies on a job application are another. However, this only really works well if you are conducting background checks (which I highly recommend). Since you have to mention on a job application that you conduct background checks and/or drug testing, you’d think applicants would understand that the information on the job application must match what turns up on the background check. However, the applicant continues to try to lie their way out of the "mix-up." Degrees are the biggie here. If your position requires a degree, you really should have the degree listed on the job application verified through a background check. It’s difficult to verify degrees on your own, which may be why so many applicants try to fake it.

What’s on your duh list?

It all started with just trying to watch a pay-per-view movie on television. Ordered the [...]]]> It’s funny how life can move along smoothly where the worse thing happening is that you’re feeling a little overworked. Then BAM, suddenly life gets complicated. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you already know I’ve been "bammed" lately.

It all started with just trying to watch a pay-per-view movie on television. Ordered the movie but couldn’t get it to start playing. After several attempts and 40 minutes I finally called the support number. However, I wasn’t the only one with this problem because it took 20 minutes to get through to a real person. A half hour later, the problem was fixed but I was no longer in the mood for a movie.

I decided to get on my computer and upgrade my blog software. As you’ve seen, that didn’t really go well. As I’m looking at my upgraded site it becomes obvious that my blog posts are missing. I tried to call my web host to send me a backup, thinking the non-upgraded site was better than an empty site. Surprise, my cell phone (my only phone) isn’t working. It looks like it’s calling but never connects.

An hour later my phone decides to work again so I could call my web host and order the backup. Over the next week it became obvious that it’s important to read the fine print. The web host said they would put a folder in my root server (like I knew where that was!) but it was up to me to rebuild the site. The support group for the blog software said it wasn’t their problem. Hmm.

Meanwhile, when I mentioned all this to a friend, she merely nodded and said, "Of course, Mercury is in retrograde and that affects technology." Of course.

I didn’t have the time to work on rebuilding this blog until this Sunday. Guess what? The backup they sent was created AFTER the disastrous upgrade attempt, so it was still missing my posts. When I called my web host again I was informed that they only keep backups for 3 days so … too bad, too late. What you are looking at is the upgraded site. I’ve had to spend hours searching Google for any of my posts they had cached and that’s how I’m recreating my blog.

Now it’s only Tuesday but I discovered that Mercury is still affecting me. I was at a meeting this morning and, afterward, was waiting at a red light  when a car hit mine. A woman caught her heel in the floor mat of her car and used my car as a brake, punching a hole in my rear bumper. Bam.

Then I stopped at the phone store. Did I mention that my cell phone is three years old and apparently doesn’t like the technology of the company that recently bought out the original carrier. I’ve been told I need a new cell phone or I have to keep staring at the never-disappearing voicemail reminder (no, it doesn’t go off).

I started using a phone service reseller when I first moved to San Diego but no longer find it advantageous to stay with them so I plan to contract directly with the carrier now. However, I was told that it could take up to 3 days to transfer my service from the reseller to the carrier. When can I be without phone service for 3 days? While it might not actually take that long, they say it could so that’s what I need to plan for so I’m not caught unprepared. Bam.

So … how’s your month going thus far?

What you may have already [...]]]> While I’d love to blame the sunny summer season for my lack of posting the past couple of months, it would be a lie. After all, I live in San Diego and we’re pretty spoiled year-round with good weather. I’ve actually been working very hard in a couple of areas.

What you may have already noticed is my latest offering, Employer’s Guide to Interviewing. This has been a time-intensive effort but one that I hope will benefit many of you. If you don’t have a lot of experience interviewing … or lots of experience without succeeding in hiring that perfect candidate, then you should take a look at this. Not only do I give you detailed information on how to conduct interviews but I’ve included 750 interview questions in numerous areas and specialties. In addition, one of the bonuses takes you through the "art" of developing lots of interview questions just from a job description. I’ve added my own personal insights throughout the material to help you learn from my own experiences.

I’ve loved putting this website together and offering whatever help I can to those of you struggling to understand or manage HR in your companies. However, I also love getting involved face-to-face with small companies. Consulting directly with companies continues to help me grow, stay challenged, and better understand your business needs. In fact, you often see the results of this in my blog posts.

The past couple of months have been filled between writing the Employer’s Guide to Interviewing and networking to build the consulting side of my business in the San Diego area. Although I’m not entirely limited to San Diego, the type of consulting I can do depends on location. Helping you set up your HR processes typically requires me to be at your office to do so (but I’m working on that!). However, troubleshooting employee issues can often be handled strictly via phone calls and that allows me to develop a client base beyond San Diego.

The diversification of my website, creating new products, and my consulting business offers me the variety I thrive on and keeps things interesting. But, it seems, I need to try much harder to keep a better balance between them!

I realize that I probably care about that more than you, but it’s been frustrating to think I’ve been so close to offering small businesses valuable information and services and not being able [...]]]> After spending the last two months trying to make my HR products available online, I’m excited that my shopping cart is finally working.

I realize that I probably care about that more than you, but it’s been frustrating to think I’ve been so close to offering small businesses valuable information and services and not being able to complete that last step.

Although I will be creating more HR products and other services, you can currently access my Solutions book covering many common HR mistakes and a kit with ready-to-use templates for Emergency Action Plans and Injury & Illness Prevention Plans. Coming soon will be individually tailored Employee Handbooks.

If you are particularly interested in an HR topic or service, I’d love to hear from you as I build my list of future offerings!