I do a bit of freelance marketing, copywriting, conversion optimization and the such. I'd be glad to chat if you want to email me. Address is in my profile.
> In security you can only be as strong as your weakest link, and when dealing with a global organization you will surely have weak links.
This is the point that this, bandwagon, article misses completely. They may be judging right, the smart criminals (or terrorists) understand tradecraft and how to avoid using obvious means of detection. However there are always many more low level folks that wil slip up due to lack of competence and lack of experience. When this happens we (non-terrorists) are able to establish a foothold at some, any, level of the organization and start to pick it apart.
1.) Take a page out of the Buffer playbook and start guest blogging everywhere you can.
2.) If it is truly easy to use (more so than competitors) then I would demonstrate that. (Video, Gif, Vine video of someone searching, etc)
3.) Your core value proposition isn't immediately recognizable when one lands on your home page. Why should I use this site for my home search? Why is this better than the other guy? Etc...
4.) Reach out to agents in the area and offer to help them out in some way. Partnerships, referrals, asking them to guest blog on your site to build their rep, etc.
This was required reading for me (and most others) while going through the Marine Corps officer training program... A great read and probably one of the core reasons to hire former members of the military (in my biased opinion) along with a handful of other reasons that can't be taught in school.
The officer selection program screens individuals for potential to lead and thrive in a variety of very stressful situations THEN once they've screened for top performers they assign them a job and train them how to do it.
A completely different process than most companies who expect all of their talent to show up with a very specific skill set. Unfortunately this leads to some amazing people being excluded for the talent pool because "it is too much work to train" someone. If one learns the traits to look for I'd guess that training them becomes a breeze and you'll end up with a better hire who will stick around in the long run.
Great question and something I'm interested in finding out as well. We currently use Skype but I'm not totally happy with it.
I've looked into a few others but if I'm going to go through the trouble of switching I'd like to find something HIPPA compliant so we can use it for more than general basic conversation...
For small businesses using direct mail (well written sales letters) real first class stamps convert at a much much higher rate than bulk mail postage in many cases.
I would love to see more non-technical/semi-technical posts on the thread as well...
Most of the companies that I've dug into from the "Who's Hiring" thread seem to have non-tech jobs open once you get to their site and poke around but they don't seem to get posted on the thread.
All human movement is a skill and anything you "do wrong" over and over again will eventually cause injury. I'd recommend you take a look at Dr. Kelly Starrett's book "Becoming A Supple Leopard" the title may seem silly but the information inside is life changing.
I think this is a good idea. The downside I see here (For me personally) is it is location prohibitive. I can see the value in spending $10k to get this education from some top people int he field, building a good network, and assistance landing a job. I don't think the cost is too high. I'd say most top performers could probably make there money back with a signing bonus if they job a good job offer.
Personally I'm looking for something like this. There are a million ways to learn to code online (without much risk) but there are very few good resources for learning performance marketing. My personal issue is I would not be able to spend 8 weeks away from my wife and kids while also coming up with the cash to feed, shelter, transport me around SF during the program.
I think the idea is solid though. I think the best non-traditional education programs out there need to offer job assistance in order to attract people. At least until there is a paradigm shift away from the high value on traditional education, no matter how useless it is.
> I stretch before and after my daily runs under the assumption that this has been reducing my injury risk. From these results, I should stop wasting time on pre-run stretches.
Have you been injured? Have you seen and/or felt a decrease in fitness due to your stretching routine? If not, I wouldn't change much of what you are doing due to a blog post or this study...
The problem with all these studies is that those that are on the bleeding edge of Strength and Conditioning research are the coaches out in the gym working with athletes and soccer moms. Sadly, no matter how many lives these people change for the better, their methods are discounted due to the lack of scientific rigor.
I've been a strength and conditioning coach for 5 years now and I get very little value out of any of the articles and studies published by NSCA, despite their clout. I continue to pay my dues for access to the information.
You do have a great point though about how well trenched the conventional "wisdom" is in these areas and the large commercial influence that controls these studies through funding or not funding a program.