Cornocupia Friday

First . . . Knitting!

Still working on mother's sock and mine as well. Can I say, I love shortrowing the heels? It makes so much sense, and this is what you find on commercial socks. I even managed to finish the sock which I'd been stuck on for the past 3 years. The rest of the pattern from IK Fall 2000 was clear reading. However, I'm not so in love with the way the toe that was shortrowed from the top looks. When I do a kitchener stitch on it, I end up with a noticeable ridge on the bottom that kind of digs into your foot.

Need to take pictures of what I've done so far . . .

Job Hunting and Resumes

As you all know, I've been looking for a job. This week I had my third interview - unfortunately, I won't get to meet with the recruiter's client because they really want someone who knows some other languages which I don't know. However, yesterday someone close to me forwarded my resume to another company - let's see what happens with that. Hubby is also chasing down a job lead, but I don't want to say too much about that just now.

While catching up on blogs, I came across a couple of interesting posts having to do with job search and resumes. Yes, the first one deals with Silicon Valley tech jobs, but I think principles apply - Guy Kawasaki: on "Everything You Wanted to Know About Getting a Job in Silicon Valley.

And the second one is more tailored for European jobs where you have to submit a CV, which from what I understand, is extremely ennumerated and can and should include personal details. Still the advice he gives are common-sense.

Bad Language:

• Don’t make absurd claims. In one case, I read: “I am interested in the triumph of justice.” I’ve seen a couple of candidates who claimed to have worked for MI5 or MI6. In general, try not to scare your prospective employers.
• Get someone else to sanity-check your application. I’m sure that the chap who wrote “I have a close, loving relationship with my two sisters,” meant it innocently enough but would have benefitted from putting it differently.

Corporate Responsibility

Meanwhile, I'm sure you've all encountered corporations where if something went wrong, and the company acted like there wasn't any problems or kept stonewalling as long as possible. A few weeks ago, there was a big fuss being made about allegiations of poor working and living conditions at the iPod factory in China. Well, Apple decided to investigate. Once they'd done so, they put a report on iPod Manufacturing up at their website:

Like many of you, we were concerned by reports in the press a few weeks ago alleging poor working and living conditions at a manufacturing facility in China where iPods are assembled. Our Supplier Code of Conduct mandates that suppliers of Apple products follow specific rules designed to safeguard human rights, worker health and safety, and the environment. We take any deviation from these rules very seriously.

In response to the allegations, we immediately dispatched an audit team comprised of members from our human resources, legal and operations groups to carry out a thorough investigation of the conditions at the manufacturing site.

I give them props for being forthcoming about their discoveries and what they intend to do in future, not only here, but at other locations as well.

Blog Update

I've been tinkering around with the blog to take advantage of new MT3.3 features. Some of these features should make for cleaner code management and organization. Then, I'll implement a new look, derived from one of the styles submitted in The Style Contest. But I also have a life, so I have to divide my time. Please excuse the look of the blog . . .