I hate the division represented in this title. It’s the major stumbling block in modern business. Power struggle is never constructive, and it at least doubles workforce effort at a time when streamlined is crucial for a positive ROI. You can spell “team” from the word “marketing,” but I’ve yet to see a sense of it in marketing. What can one spell from “creative”? “Reactive”? I’ve seen plenty of that, and for good reason.

Don’t get me wrong: I love marketing as a practice! Relatively speaking, marketing is a fairly new practice (marketing in the sense of “public”, broad mass marketing, applied to products in the modern age — ed.), and one that has to evolve each day to keep up with consumerism and technology. As a designer, coming up with marketing ideas is orgasmic. Guerilla, sabotage and viral marketing are the work of genius, which is why we don’t see them very often. But you are probably thinking horrid thoughts about marketing practitioners right now, so let’s rethink for a second.

Read the full article here! (via www.smashingmagazine.com)

Predicting the evolution of web design is like trying to milk a male goat. Despite ever-changing design trends and techniques, purists and idealists maintain that the principles of great design are timeless. This is true to an extent, but the recent rapid and consistent development of the Internet across many dimensions and in diverse ways has to be taken into account.

The Internet has provided us with such a huge platform to innovate and break design barriers; it allows the designer to apply variations and to slightly modify existing trends in order to make their mark. Global access to every kind of tool and technique is at the heart of this creative revolution, allowing designers from all over the world to explore new possibilities.

Read the full article here! (via instantshift.com)

How many times have you replied to a job ad via e-mail by shooting them a copy of your resume and cover letter? I’m going to venture a guess and say at least 20 (but more likely hundreds of times) if you’ve been searching for any significant length of time. Here are some of the most notorious cover letter mistakes we’ve seen—and what you can do to greatly improve your chances of being noticed.

Read the full article here! (via www.careerealism.com)

Our friends at Dumb Eyes, a fantastic Seattle graphic and interactive agency in Capital Hill, are looking for a new Business Developer! For info, or to apply please email Michael; info@dumbeyes.com.

3/31/11

6-8pm at Crocodile

Join AIGA board members and other Seattle designers (of all kinds) on the last Thursday of each month as we get together to swap ideas, vent about impossible deadlines, share inspiration, and have a laugh. No reservation needed, no cover charge. Everyone is welcome (including nonmembers)!

Most of us think that getting a raise is about asking at the right time or framing the question in a certain way. We worry about coming across as ungrateful or overbearing, and we don’t want to run the risk of creating a bad situation and upsetting our boss. However, the truth is that most raises are won long before we ever bring up the question.

Read more here! (via www.businessinsider.com)

IN early 2009, statisticians inside the Googleplex here embarked on a plan code-named Project Oxygen.

Their mission was to devise something far more important to the future of Google Inc. than its next search algorithm or app.

They wanted to build better bosses.

So, as only a data-mining giant like Google can do, it began analyzing performance reviews, feedback surveys and nominations for top-manager awards. They correlated phrases, words, praise and complaints.

Later that year, the “people analytics” teams at the company produced what might be called the Eight Habits of Highly Effective Google Managers.

Read the full article here! (via www.nytimes.com)

LinkedIn has announced that it has finally reached a major milestone: 100 million users and counting.

The company, founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, reached profitability fairly soon, and its growth has been accelerating over the past few years. It took LinkedIn six years to reach 50 million users, but it only took a year and a half for the business social network to double that number. LinkedIn hit 85 million members in October 2010 and revealed that it had more than 90 million users when it filed to go public earlier this year. LinkedIn is now adding one new member per second.

Read the full article here! (via mashable.com)

PARADE’s 2011 What People Earn survey reveals Americans’ salaries at hundreds of jobs — from teachers to app developers, chefs to park rangers. See how your income stacks up, check out careers that offer more money, and discover what your dream job pays.

See the full feature here! (via www.parade.com)

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The number of Americans filing either continuing or first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, a sign that the job market continues to slowly improve.

The number of Americans filing for ongoing claims dropped 80,000 to 3,706,000 in the week ended March 5, the most recent week available. That was the lowest number of continuing claims since September 2008, and below economists’ forecast for 3,750,000 continuing claims.

Although the decline is a welcome sign, Moody’s Capital Markets Group chief economist John Lonski warned that the figure may be skewed by the expiration of benefits for those Americans who have been jobless for long periods of time and are no longer eligible for unemployment insurance.

Read the full article here!

We are pleased to note that our Seattle smartdept. office is the only creative staffing agency ranked in the top 10 list at www.bizvotes.com!

Click here to vote for us or leave a comment to keep us going strong!

Generic resumes don’t work. Virtually any career coach or HR professional will tell you that to stand out from the piles of applications, you need to customize your resume to the job you want. Most job hunters will protest that they don’t have an unlimited amount of time to spend crafting their resume. True, but customizing your resume doesn’t have to be an arduous, time-suck. What follows are eight simple steps to creating a resume that will stand out.

Read the full article here! (via www.bnet.com)