Talent Alley

There’s a philosophy that’s permeating workplaces that says not having all the answers is OK.   It’s a counter-intuitive perspective with some valid points. As Janine Popick points out in Inc: In today’s ultra competitive work environment, many people feel the need to be “super workers” and have an answer to every question. But, it’s not always [...]

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It’s true. We tend to value extroverted, type-A personalities. But that’s business, right?  It’s a cruel world where the loud and agressive move to the head of the pack, and leadership and team work win out over solitude because it’s better than business. Well, according to Susan Cain, that’s an incorrect assumption that is actually [...]

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One of the trends in this ‘jobless’ recovery from the Great Recession is the noticeable skills gap that impacts many industries today. At Nesco Resource, we sometimes struggle to match available employees to the specific job requirements outlined by our clients. In the Cleveland market near our corporate HQ, this skills gap is clear and [...]

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Joel Splosky, founder and CEO of Fog Creek Software, writes about a transparent payscale in his article Why I Never Let Employees Negotiate a Raise.  At first glance, Splosky seems to be suggesting one of those crazy, radical, workplace ideas that only software companies can handle.  Like free cappuccinos or air hockey: I wanted Fog Creek to have [...]

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The dynamic is supposed to be that you’re pushing upper management to embrace social media and those ludites won’t budge. The reality is that your boss has probably read about Twitter and thinks that your company should start tweeting. About what, nobody knows. Now it’s fallen to you to tweet and finding pithy 127 character [...]

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The website Technorati claims that there are more than 100 millions blogs crowding the web. The types of blog vary enormously ranging from personal diaries, fiction, hobbies, experiences, opinions (professional and personal), and reviews. Many professionals have created blogs as a way to stay active and involved in their professions when between jobs, to keep their [...]

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The IT guy in your office might be a perfectly likable member of the team.  But in many offices, he or she is an odd, introverted person that pops up every once in a while to tell you what you’ve done wrong with your computer. The gap between IT and the rest of us has [...]

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A recent article in the New York Times captured the current employment turmoil that defines our domestic manufacturing sector. Although a number of companies do have staff openings, they’re discovering it’s very difficult to find candidates with the advanced technical skills that the company needs. Dispelling much of the media hype about our country’s decline [...]

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The idea behind Prezi is simple: let’s build an alternative to PPT that isn’t difficult to use, looks great, and is sharable.  Prezi has definitely accomplished a lot and you should give it serious consideration for your next presentation for the ‘Wow’ factor alone.  You can zoom in and out of pictures and words and [...]

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In this TED video, Tom Wujec explains the Marshmallow Challenge and why kindergartners perform better at it than CEOs or business school grads.  Wujec focuses on it as a design process, but it really applies to any business situation. Basically, The Marshmallow Challenge gives teams some sticks of spagetti, string, tape and a marshmallow that [...]

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