Ding dong, Usama(?) is dead.

May 1, 2011 marked the date of a great victory for our country as it was the day that we found out that the man responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks was killed. Facebook flooded with status’ regarding the incident, but it was not the killing of Osama that caught everyone’s attention rather FOX News’ “spelling error” when they reported “USAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD,” across television monitors nationwide.

The “spelling error” stirred up a lot of commotion, however I am here to inform you that it was not a spelling error at all. Usama is how the FBI, CIA, and many other government agencies transmit his name. So to all of you who doubted the “system," we did kill the correct man, FOX News is still a reliable source and it’s true, Americans may not be as intellectual as the rest of the world; hey, I’m no genious ;) (genius) either.

Imagine the flack FOX would have gotten if this were in fact a spelling error. 

The Applebee's apple juice nightmare... again

The Applebee’s PR staff was put to work after one of the chain’s Detroit restaurants served a15-month-old baby tequila, yikes! The restaurant claimed that the margarita mix was mislabeled as apple juice. That is one big “uh-oh” for the Applebee’s name. At first I felt bad for the restaurant because it could have happened to anyone, it just happened to be them. I also wondered how a restaurant would go about dealing with such a crisis. I’m sure there is a crisis plan set incase they ever get in trouble for serving minors, but not so much when the minor is a 15-month-old. There is no possible way they could have had a set plan to deal with something of this nature; it is such an unusual event.  However, it is allegedly the third time it has happened in five years.

So how did the restaurant chain react? Applebee’s sent out a press release apologizing for the incident, sympathizing with the family. They explained to the public that they were looking into how this could have happened, and that they were going to be retraining their workers on how to label the beverage cartons.

If this were a one-time event for Applebee’s I might cut them a little slack, but it isn’t. I think the restaurant might want to do a little more than revamping their training program for carton labeling. If this is the third incident in the past five years than they may want to start looking for a root cause to this problem, perhaps suppliers, before this crisis becomes a tragedy. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/8443478/Applebees-serves-toddler-margarita-instead-of-apple-juice.html

Beefing up your resume

By now I’m sure you’ve all realized that our economy is not exactly at its peak. Some of you, like myself, may be in school so you aren’t really worried about job-hunting yet. Others of you have been looking for employment for some time now, but your success rate has been quite low. Regardless of where you are at, this economy is not showing any sure signs of recovery in the near future, so it might be time to beef up those resumes.

If you are having a hard time finding a paid job or internship than maybe it’s time to lower your standards. Settle for an unpaid position by volunteering your time; when you do a job well, and prove to be reliable even in an unpaid position, it’s a sure way to catch the organizations eye. Sometimes you have to bend over backwards to get a foot in the door, and this is just one way to do so.

Another easy way you can extend your resume is by doing volunteer work. Not only does it show an organization you are willing to go the extra mile, but you never know who you might meet in the process; it’s a great way to network. Imagine this: You volunteer for a local church event and you end up working with a woman who owns her own PR (insert employment interest here) firm, talk about getting a foot in the door.

One last thing I’ll leave you with is something that helped me get my internship this summer. Create an online portfolio. My online portfolio serves as an extended resume and it showcases some of my schoolwork samples and resume in an attractive manner. I sent out the link to a number of employers and I got a lot of positive feedback from it.

Although times are tough economically, there are things you can do to help yourself stand out from the hundreds of other applicants vying for the same positions. Start being proactive, companies won’t just come knocking, you have got to go earn it.