28 July 2008

Hiring journalists from other professions

The Advocate in Burnie has advertised for journalists. Nothing unusual in that, except they have pitched the ad at non-journalists.

I find this intriguing and refreshing. I’ve employed some mature people before who weren’t trained journalists and I saw a couple come through earlier in my career with mixed results.

Mostly though, they were successful. It’s like the adage that nobody has stronger faith than the convert.

The Advocate has stated they want people who are committed to their community, adding that people skills and writing skills are key attributes. Read more »

Tags: employment, journalism, newspapers
2 comments


15 March 2008

The dyslexic postman

That’s a picture of our letterbox. The number 5 is fairly prominent. There are only four houses in our court, but for some reason we keep getting letters for number 3 delivered to our box.

We think many of our letters are being delivered to number 7, because every so often a bundle of mail is dropped in our box in the morning, several hours before the postie makes his rounds.

So what’s going on here? How hard can it be to put a few envelopes in the right letterbox? Read more »

Tags: Australia, economy, employment, Kalgoorlie, labor, Western-Australia
1 comment


14 January 2008

The sickie

In his latest comment Bill Sullivan touched on that great Australian institution, the sick day. While I don’t condone people exploiting the example he mentions (a hangover) I know it happens.

In Victoria employers have virtually conceded the Monday before Melbourne Cup day (the first Tuesday in November) as a holiday because everyone was treating it as such to create a four-day weekend.

Most awards and contracts enable employees to take at least three sick days a year with no questions asked.

I’d prefer to see the term “sick day” abolished for those occasions and replaced by something like “personal leave” or “flexible leave”.

It creates a degree of suspicion and mistrust in the office when people take unexplained sick days, not just between employees and managers, but among the staff as well. Nobody enjoys having to work longer or harder to cover someone’s mystery absence.

As for myself, I can honestly say that I’ve not taken a sickie since 1994 when I had my wisdom teeth removed.

Tags: Australia, employment, opinion, society
5 comments


30 December 2007

Working in the dark

It’s 42 degrees in Kalgoorlie today, continuing a run of hot, dry weather.

I was working for the second Sunday in a row and had to sub nine pages. Fortunately, the reporter (also a sub) and the photographer had everything ready to go early this morning and it was a smooth run, except …

The power went off about 11am. Our backup supply kept most of the computers going, but two employees working on the new server-based software were shut out of the system. It was only me with ongoing access to all the photos and articles.

Adding to the tension, I was told our backup electricity would only last for about two hours. We had no idea when the main supply would be restored. Read more »

Tags: employment, journalism, Kalgoorlie, media
5 comments


26 December 2007

Holidays essential

I just read a good article on The Age about why holidays are crucial.

The article reports: “According to a survey conducted last year for Tourism Australia, Australians have 70 million days of accrued annual leave owing to them. Nearly 60 percent of full-time workers don’t take their full four weeks’ leave each year, including a third who don’t take any.”

The writer Ross Gittins goes on to say why holidays are so important. As a manager and an employee I agree with him. Read more »

Tags: employment, media, society
0 comments


23 July 2007

If I ruled a country …

This is one of those five-question blog prompts. I first saw it on Synaptoman. The starting assumption is that you are the absolute ruler of a prosperous, stable country without any immediate threats, no poverty or unemployment.

That means I can answer this question safe in the knowledge I don’t need to interfere with the economy or the social structure. They must be working already.

1) I’d appoint an advisory council made up of community and industry leaders. I wouldn’t have to accept their advice, but I could not govern effectively without it.

2) I would guarantee the independence of the judiciary, appoint a powerful ombudsman and ensure the police force was properly organised and well paid.

3)  The only taxes would be a value-added tax and a bank debits tax.

4)  I would ensure free quality education to university level.

5) I would build an excellent public transport system and ban cars from city precincts.

Tags: blog, economy, education, employment, media, NSW, police, PR, rant, Sport, transport, WordPress, work
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21 July 2005

Standing for council election

Readers here are the first to know that I intend to stand for the Alpine Shire Council election in November 2005.

I’ve been thinking about this for several months now, but needed to resolve some employment and family issues before making a declaration.

I’ve established an online Campaign Diary for anyone who’s interested.

My public announcements will be made tomorrow to the media and the Alpine Community Forum.

On a practical note, I would appreciate the support of anyone who feels they might be able to offer it.

Tags: employment, family, media, PR
0 comments


24 November 2004

Alpine News

I’m undecided about the future of Alpine News. With looming changes to my employment and business arrangements, I’ve
decided to tinker again with a local online news service.

The standard of local news coverage in traditional media is appalling. I don’t have the time or resources to remedy that overnight, but perhaps in time …

Letting people know about the site and encouraging contributions is my immediate challenge, hence this blog entry.

Enquiries from potential sponsors would be welcome.

Tags: blog, business, employment, media, news
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31 March 2004

Meetings

One of my roles is to serve as Executive Officer for the local health board’s community advisory groups. It’s interesting work to interact with people who care about such issues.

I had two meetings today. They take a big effort to prepare for in terms of reports, agenda, minutes and correspondence. There are three groups and they each meet once every two or three months.

The Myrtleford meeting was very positive in the sense that we had a new group of people come on board. They represented a broad cross-section in terms of age, employment type, background and gender, which was terrific.

The final meeting in this cycle is tomorrow in Mount Beauty.

Tags: employment, health, office, PR, work
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