by Ashley Andrus

“Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.”
14th Century Proverb, Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

The Society for HR Management recently reported that expected hiring levels for May 2010 “could reach levels not seen since 2007″ and that this “spring fling” has led to increased difficulty in hiring qualified candidates.

In conjunction with the increased hiring many organizations will be implementing in coming months, we can also expect many current employees will take the opportunity to job hunt actively as the economy continues to improve and new opportunities open up.

And in the May 2010 Fast Company Magazine, Chip & Dan Heath argue that, “When you own the talent factory, you’ve created a permanent competitive advantage.”

Given these realities, now is a good time to examine the ways in which training and development directly impact YOUR organization’s employment life cycle and some high-return actions you can take to ensure you are positioned to take advantage of improving conditions. Read the rest of this article »

by Ashley Andrus

If Starbucks had a Most Valued Customer club I would have it made in the shade.  Those 600 locations they are closing?  Not my fault. Between my 6am get-‘er-done dose, various meetings, and insane afternoons that scream “get me a mocha STAT!” I estimate that I make an average of 2.3 daily visits to some Starbucks somewhere.

This has been my routine for the last 3.5 years. In that period I calculate I’ve consumed somewhere in the neighborhood of 35,259 ounces* of coffee.

That’s 275 gallons of coffee.

1100 quarts.

Heck, if coffee came in beer kegs, I would have consumed almost 18 of them. By myself.

And I did it all one “tall” serving at a time. Read the rest of this article »