Fire-Wired Blog

One of the stories buzzing around the internet right now is jobseekers being asked to supply their Facebook password during job interviews. American Public Media's Marketplace had a really good discussion on this week and Tuesday the ACLU fired off a declaration saying it's an invasion of privacy. Well yeah, of course it is. In the Marketplace story Kai Ryssdal brought up the bizarre fact that interviewers can't ask applicants if they have kids and yet somehow they can demand Facebook passwords. Very topsy-turvy. A few of the blogs I follow provide insight into how to handle interviews and provide well crafted answers to tough questions such as salary requirements, short employment stints on resumes, how to discuss negative experiences without coming off as snake bitten, etc. I'm going to assume this practice will become illegal just the same as the kids question, but until that point, if prospective employer makes this request it seems that there are a few p...

Somehow this TED discussion from threes years ago popped into my gReader today and I fell in love with it. I have never heard of this man before, Simon Sinek, but I love this presentation. People don't buy  what you do, they buy why you do it. If you're going to bypass my thoughts at least watch the first six minutes of this video. I love that Mr. Sinek broke down his thoughts on leadership, innovation, marketing and consumption based on brain processes and consumer intuition. "It just doesn't feel right" or the gut reaction is huge. The idea of unconscious intuition makes and breaks the leadership-innovation-product-producer-consumer relationship.  I'd say the majority of people work in an environment where they might believe in their organization but don't believe in their leadership. When you can't stand behind your leaders you aren't working to your highest. It's an idea that shows in Sin...

When you change jobs the first thing people ask you is how do you like your job. Hopefully most people like their new gigs otherwise you're in for a long and incessantly painful 9-5. Generally the second question is how is your new job different from your old one. For me the answer is easy: It's far more organized . I loved my old job. We were a bunch of kids having fun with cameras. We were very serious when it came to the news and public event production but outside of that it was a lot of goofing around. Each day was very casual and people were just expected to do what they could. With a smaller cast of characters you're just expected to do your job, accountability is front and center for all to see. The ISU Foundation is very different from CRI. The Foundation is 100 employees strong, whereas CRI was constantly in flux between 12 and 15 employees. When you work in an organization with 12 other people your work is very out in the open. Everyone knows what yo...

One of the few topics that comes naturally to me is history. My Dad is a bit of a history nerd and after childhood full of museums and presidential trivia I passively became infected with the passion for yesteryear. Seems fitting that I've worked on a handful of historical documentaries.  Recently, the Foundation made a decision to hold a major banquet at Iowa State's newly renovated State Gym, and as part of the program for the evening, I was tasked to dig up some history on the facility. I got really excited and contacted the ISU Special Collections Department  to see what they have on the old gym. Turns out quite a bit. Above is a picture of the Iowa State COLLEGE State Gym circa 1918. Built in 1913 and opened in 1914, the State Gym was at one point considered "one of the finest gyms west of the Mississippi." The State Gymnasium was the first multi-purpose gym on campus. It housed two basketball courts, a suspended track, a swimming pool, a basement lev...

When I blog about my 9-5 I tend to talk about the perks; interviewing someone cool, filming something people might be jealous of, getting into sporting events free...   For the most part I get to do some cool stuff because of the nature of my work. Some things I get to cover I assume are going to be cool but end up being something entirely different. Welcome to today.   This morning I set up shop at 9:30 a.m. in the atrium of Howe Hall for a town hall meeting featuring the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden. I was sent to film the event and the University's President interacting with him. Well the VP's people didn't want every camera man gumming up the works so during the time when Biden and Leath were together there were only 2 cameras allowed to film them, one from the news affiliates, one from the University. I let the College of Engineering guy take the University position. What I didn't realize was my choice doomed me to standing in p...