The Hired Guns Blog

Bullet Points: “Did my boss really say that?”

The Hired Guns on October 13, 2011

• Do you think you have the chops for the Cut & Paste’s Digital Design Tournment? The deadline for entering the New York City competition for online entries is tomorrow — the final qualifier is this Sunday, and the actual live battle is Friday, October 28.
• We’ve all heard them — and maybe even we’ve said a few. Now The Hairpin is running a bracket contest to judge “Amusingly Horrible Things Bosses Have Said.” Here’s a taste: “It’s good for you because now you can spend time with your boyfriend,” said to someone who was just laid off from a senior-level job.
• Speaking of which, The Energy Project consulting group is holding a free webinar next Thursday, on the always-relevant topic of “How to Thrive Despite a Bad Boss and Difficult Colleagues.”
• The end of this year’s Advertising Week brought word of the rise of “front-running”—basically putting merchandise out way early. So it’s not your imagination — lots of Halloween candy really was available before Labor Day this year. [NYT]
• The IRS seems to have begun taking a tougher stance on who exactly can be classified as an independent contractor, rather than a full-time employee. If in doubt, you can ask the IRS for a ruling, but as Forbes contributor Robert M. Wood puts it, “remember the old adage, ‘Don’t ask the question if you can’t stand the answer.’”
• Skype and similar services have been making inroads as yet another way to do remote job interviews, reports the Globe and Mail. Many employers believe that they get a higher quality interview, with fewer of the distractions that come up in a phone interview — people dress for them and treat them more like “real” appointments. As for potential employees, the use of Skype might hint that a company is up-to-date and open to “telecommuting and working remotely.”
• Some red-blooded advice from Ere.net on what makes good recruiters tick: “Recruiters are big-game hunters, and having the mindset to hunt and be relentless until the hunt is done is a priceless skill set.”