U.S. Army Spc. Zachary Boyd in the Pink
When I first saw this photo in today’s paper I laughed, thinking it was an example of dereliction of duty. I began forming a Blog post in my mind about how important dress codes are. But as I looked at it further and read the story, my eyes watered up; they still are. Here we see a 20 year old boy hunkered down in a fox hole, exchanging deadly fire with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Young Zachary was sleepng when the shooting started. He leapt from his bed and grabbed his helmet, vest and rifle, but not his pants and shoes as he took his station behind sandbags. His comrads didn’t seem to see any difference.
I found myself thinking, “This kid should be on the beach somewhere, or out on a date with his girlfriend, or having dinner with his family back in Fort Worth, Texas.” All of that was far from real for this young MAN, and this photo truly does bring home the reality of the serious dangers being faced in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
His mom was contacted and she said she hopes to see her son back home by the Fourth of July. She was asked if he would he be wearing pink boxers in any Independence Day parades? “Don’t challenge him,” she said, laughing. “He just may do it.” I too hope that he is home as well as all of the others, and I don’t care what they are wearing. 

It’s Tough These Days
I was amazed this week when I ran an ad on Craig’s List for a successful client of mine that is hiring. The ad broke on Sunday and I was immediately bombarded with inquiries. By the end of the day on Monday the number totaled over 50. What amazed me more than anything were the sloppy e-mails and horrible resumes I got. You would think that someone looking for work would realize the importance of the first impression made via e-mail. I saw such things as blank subject lines, empty text boxes, attachments without labels, basic misspelling and poor grammar with no sense of punctuation rules. Most amazing of all were the college students and even graduates that were among the poorly worded applications.
Besides the bad imagery and poor wording, I had people applying for a clearly defined retail selling job with absolutely no relative experience. I got the feeling that they were just responding to every ad listed. I wanted to send most of them a copy of E-Mail Etiquette Made Easy, but I doubted if it would ever be read.

Diamond Diving
I have always been willing to dig through the garbage (not literally) to find the occassional diamond in the rough, and that was the case here. Out of the 50 responses, by Wednesday evening we found eight great prospects for three jobs.

If You Are One, Contact Me
There are always people looking for a job, and always people in need of an employee. If you are either of these two, and not currently employed by a Success Dynamics client, send e-mail to me.
Ron
-Three Students From Chile Available Until February 23
These three girls are squeaky clean and willing to work as much or as little as needed. They have working Visas and proof of health insurance. If I had a retail store I would hire them in a heartbeat. To meet any of them, CLICK HERE to reach me by phone, or send a secure message with your e-mail address included.