3 Day Weekend Favorites

Idyllwild, CA – Rent a cabin or stay in town at a bed and breakfast or motel. Idyllwild is a fun small town with lots to do! Hiking, mountain biking, fishing at Lake Hemet or Lake Fulmor, off-roading in Garner Valley, shopping in town – our favorite store is Rough Riders -  for all your outdoor needs!

La Quinta, CA  – we love La Quinta Resort – 41 pools – YES 41! They love dogs and kids. There is tons of outdoor space for kids to play/run all over the expansive grounds without bothering anyone. We bring scooter or bikes and rafts to play with in the pool.  Order room service pool side for lunch and go to Twenty6 for dinner.

The Beach – Any beach will do but we usually stay close to home. Newport to be exact. Go early to get parking. For little dudes Blackies is usually the best place – check surf report if you’re not sure. It’s near the Newport pier and has all the amenities - bathrooms, restaurants, lifeguards and smaller surf in the summer. (Again - check surf report!) For bigger surf head North to the 40’s or 50’s – the streets are all numbered and the numbers correspond to the lifeguard towers.  We recommend SlapFish for lunch – yummy food! 

TEAM

Years ago, with my business coach Tony, we defined our companies version of team. It’s a pretty good definition and holds up today be it your home team or work team - 

A group of people who function together in an extraordinary way – who trust one another, who complement each other’s strengths and compensate for each other’s limitations, who have common goals that are larger than individual goals, and who produce extraordinary results.

Texting a Job Offer

Since my blog post in 2012 about not texting offers – it’s happened a lot – texting an offer. And it works.  To make a text offer go smoothly the key is to make sure as a candidate, that you’ve had a detailed communication with your recruiter/HR representative/potential boss about salary, benefits, vacation, bonus etc.  Seems obvious, but in this age of minimal phone calls and even shorter texts - good, solid communication is ideal.  Have that detailed talk sooner rather than later.  

Holly, jolly tips and tricks for the holidays!

Food -

Don’t make everything from scratch – cheat a little with quality premade delicious treats and sides.

If you decide to cook everything get most of your side dishes and desserts done ahead of time.

You don’t need 6 side dishes - pick 2 or 3.  

Put out a bar so people can make their own drinks.

Say yes to help in the kitchen!

Travel -

Ship gifts ahead of time.  

At the airport pack your food and toiletries in their own separate zip lock bags so you clear security easily.

Pack fun toys or candy for the kids.  

Load up your iPhone or tablet with lots of games, music and books.

Day of the party -

If politics are too much to talk about - plan an activity. Make ornaments, decorate cookies, play a game or grab the old photo books and go through them. Create something to do to avoid the discourse.

Set the table ahead of time and set out the serving dishes too.

 If the standard gift exchange is getting old – go with a theme – white elephant, flip flop exchange (I’d say socks but we are here in SoCal and we are in flip flops more than socks!), cooking spice exchange, snack/cookie exchange, favorite Christmas movie or favorite candy!  There are lots of fun possibilities – get creative.

Again, if people ask to help clean up just say YES!

Merry Christmas! 

Our Kids at Work

We are a family run company so sometimes our kids end up at the office. For instance my son after hitting a few balls walked over from the local golf course near our office. He is now practicing putting into a cup down the hallway. He was supposed to be reading but the hallway is just too perfect for putting.  Having them be able to come in occasionally is convenient but other days it’s hugely distracting.  It’s a balance of fun vs. productivity.  Good thing I got most of what I need done because the fun is out weighing productivity. 

Leaving San Diego

No one leaves San Diego. It’s just a rule here at our firm – don’t even try to recruit out of San Diego.  It never works – NEVER. You’d need a pirate to go kidnap the candidate to move them. It’s a lifestyle down there that they won’t quit.  You can move them around San Diego but they won’t leave. You can promise them more money, moving costs covered, 100% paid insurance, a huge bonus and you know what -  99% of the time we still get a NO.  Can you blame them? Seriously, it’s amazing down there. 

The Climb

Some weeks it’s all about the climb. It’s the insurmountable odds, the failures and the frustration.  It’s about the people who ignore your calls, the unreturned emails, the lack of communication and trying to work around it.   Eventually I’ll get to the top of the wall.