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Are You Pregnant from The Legal Edge

June 6, 2012
By Jack Garson

(As seen in the SmartCEO Magazine, March, 2012)

One of the first critical steps in building your business is hiring employees. Yet interviewing job candidates is often ineffective and, worse, presents abundant potential for costly mistakes and missed opportunities. Interviewing itself is far from foolproof. I work with numerous businesses on their employment matters, have led executive searches and conducted literally hundreds of interviews for many companies. Interviewing is not enough. Just like some people test well, others give great interviews and then fail miserably at their jobs. You need to do more than interview.

Weeding Do’s and Don’ts

Think of interviewing as one part of the hiring process. A good process increases successful hiring and weeds out candidates who are not suitable for the position. This process might start earlier than you think. For example, if your job posting includes a request for both a resume and a cover letter and someone only sends in a resume, then that person failed the first test. (more…)

How to Successfully Buy a Small Business Online

June 4, 2012
By Mike Handelsman, Group General Manager, BizBuySell.com & Bizquest.com

Thinking of turning your dream of starting a business into reality? You’re in good company. According to a Yahoo Inc. poll, two-thirds of Americans have entrepreneurial aspirations for reasons including the ability to do what they love and so they can be their own boss.

Realizing the dream of starting a business, though, can be challenging without the right know-how. Most small business buyers have never purchased a business before, and it can be difficult to know where to start. Keeping four critical factors in mind can help ensure success when investing time and money into a small business. (more…)

Exporting Commercial Items: ECCNs and EAR99

June 1, 2012

Does my product have an ECCN?; Where do I find my ECCN?; What is the ECCN used for?; What does EAR99 mean?; Source: Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)

The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy. We honor privacy, protect confidentiality, share our expertise globally, and conduct our work openly. We are guided on this mission by our strong and capable workforce, our readiness to innovate, and our abiding commitment to our customers.

Doing Our Parts to Help Veterans Find Work

May 30, 2012

There are many ways that we can all help veterans find and maintain employment. Sure, there are plenty of government services in place that assist veterans in this area but this is only half the battle, and besides, there’s always room for improvement. If we’re ever going to lower overall veteran unemployment rates it will require a collaborative effort from all of us.

Rather than focus on WHY it’s important to support veterans when it comes to seeking and securing jobs, because the answer to why should go without saying, this article is geared towards HOW we can provide solutions no matter what our age or position.

Help Raise Awareness

To every problem there’s a solution and positive change can all begin by raising awareness. A little support really can go a long way. As a member of your community, whether you’re a student, business owner or even someone who is retired, there are countless ways you can get involved when it comes to helping veterans in your neighborhood find work. (more…)

Organization

May 23, 2012

How do I build an organization? What does that organization look like?

The first step to defining an organization is to build yourself a model. You need to have an idea of what you want your organization to look like. Define what departments you think you need. Meaning you need to have a good understanding of what hat are needed in your organization.

Then decide which hats you are going to wear and which hats you will have your team wear. In the corporate world that’s known as delegation. The temptation is to think you can do everything yourself and this assumption can get you into trouble. It’s critical to understand the hats you’re going to wear and what hats your team will wear. Delegation is a key leadership skill and building the right team with the right skill sets and then delegating the responsibility appropriately is, like I said, critical to success. (more…)