Free Up Some Time with a Virtual Assistant

One of the great things about the internet is that it removes a lot of the barriers that people face every day. No pesky brick and mortar store fronts to eat up overhead expenses, telecommuting reduces the need for office space substantially, and email and VoIP help keep people connected. With companies downsizing you might find yourself forced to do more with less and being squeezed to work longer hours. Or, maybe you own a business and are feeling maxed out. You might be able to get some cut rate freelance help whether you need it for a day or the next year. I haven't used any of the sites below, but I'm kicking around the idea of trying them out as projects present themselves or to give this site a face lift. In no particular order, here are some of the personal assistant/freelance websites that I've come across recently.

1. AskSunday.com

This site offers virtual personal assistants. Their website says that the most commonly requested services include: appointment scheduling, data entry, gathering information from the web and research, making telephone calls, booking travelnand ordering flowers or gifts. Pricing isn't available on the website, but new users can get a free week of service for signing up.

2. RedButler.com

This site offers similar services to asksunday.com with the addition of some membership rewards. The service starts at $36.95 for 15 requests / mo. and increases from there. Again, the site seems to specialize in the mundane repetitive tasks that often chew up a lot of time.

3. Elance.com

Elance more of a full-scale freelance site. Rather than outsourcing your projects to the company itself, Elance acts like more of a matchmaking service. Elance helps you match up people with projects and professionals who have the skills you are looking for. Professionals can then bid on the projects. At Elance you can hire IT professionals, lawyers, writers or finance specialists. Elance allows individuals to post opportunities for bid or search providers and contact them directly after reviewing their portfolios. I am considering using Elance to find someone to give this site a face lift, because my design skills leave something to be desired. If anyone has suggestions I'd be interested to year your experiences.

Has anyone used these sites? Are there better ones out there? Please let me know and I will post updates with any I receive. I will also update the site after I try them out myself.

Image Credit: vargklo @ Flickr

At Least One Place Is Hiring

While I am not a huge fan of big government, it's nice to know at least one place has jobs for people who are looking. The pool of employers looking for recruits and work for those who hang on to their jobs is dwindling, but Uncle Sam has been on a hiring binge. Reports peg the number of open positions in the FBI alone at 3,000. That's a huge number by any count, but there are currently approximately 30,000 employees in the agency right now, so this represents approximately a 10% increase over its current level. The positions on FBIJobs.gov range from linguists, special agents and mechanics.

Low Cost Employee Perks

Looking for a way to reward employees without breaking the bank? I recently came across a (somewhat dated) list of 20 ways to reward employees without breaking the bank on Entrepreneur.com. Below the Entrepreneur's list has been summarized, although I think some of them would end up costing a business more than expected. Would any of them appeal to you as an employee or manager?

1 - Work from home days
2 - Family days
3 - Yoga classes
4 - Community service days
5 - Pizza Fridays
6 - Movie days
7 - Reward a top employee with vacation days
8 - Pass discounts on to employees
9 - Bring your dog to work day
10 - Free car washes
11 - Give employees discounts on what your business does
12 - Swap services with another local business
13 - Games in the break room
14 - Health club discounts
15 - Flex hours
16 - Bonus for referring new hires
17 - Continental breakfasts
18 - Pass on company perks
19 - Free seminars
20 - Holiday family parties

Personally, for employees that have to stay at work until the work is done and can't clock out at 5:00 if it's not. I think that anything that keeps people at work and away from their desk will cause problems no matter how fun or beneficial it is (so #3, 4, 6, and 13 probably wouldn't work for my business). The bring your dog to work probably isn't practical for 99% of the workforce. So, we have food, free stuff, and vacation. All pretty good options.

While most of the working world has switched over to business casual, not everyone has. If you work in a formal setting, a dress down day or two is always a welcome change of pace for most people. I think the swapping services with another business is a very good and cost effective perk as well that every business can stand to benefit from. It exposes other people to your business and lets you offer a reward to your employees for pennies on the dollar.

Do you have any favorites or ones that should be added to the list?

Read the whole story at Entrepreneur.com

Immigration Myths and the Economy

I am quick to admit that the U.S. immigration system needs an overhaul, but when you listen to the pundits and talking heads go on and on you don't get an idea of how the system really works. I recently read an article from The Creativity Exchange about how the U.S. needs to attract top talent from other countries to stay competitive. I wholeheartedly agree with the theory, but don't think that opening up the floodgates is the way to do it. While I'm no immigration expert I know a little bit about the structure of the system so we'll start there.

To begin you have to know the three interests that drive the U.S. system 1) family 2) employment 3) diversity. Within these interests there are varying quotas and preferences that add other complexities to the system. As you get farther down the preference chain in each interest group, the less likely you are to get into the U.S. on a Visa for many years.

• The preferences for family immigrants range 1st - unmarried sons & daughters of U.S. citizens, 2nd - spouses and unmarried kids of lawful permanent residents, 3rd - married sons & daughters of U.S. citizens, 4th - brothers, sisters of U.S. citizens.
  
  
• The preferences for diversity depend on the number of immigrants that enter the U.S. in the other interest and tries to get other countries represented in the U.S. population. (ie. Mexican immigrants can count out diversity immigration because they represent a huge portion of the U.S. population.
  
  
• There are 8 preferences for employment so I will briefly list them but not go into much detail. 1st - EB-1's are extraordinary talents or "superstars" in athletics, education, business, research, professors, 2nd - Exceptional ability in science, business or the arts and advanced degree holders enter here, 3rd - Skilled and professional workers who have occupations requiring two or more years of training (bachelors degrees), 4th - Special immigrants includes religious workers or U.S. govt employees abroad.
  

Here is my problem with the pundit version of the argument. We need knowledge based workers no question. But we have to attract them. If they want to come here and they are qualified they will get in (so long as they aren't from a country that harbors terrorists). Take a look at the most current Visa bulletin put out by the State Department. The government NEVER fills the highest priority employment Visas. The laws allow for thousands more than there are applicants each and every year with basically no wait time to get approved. The first priority workers (ie superstars) are current in every country. The 2nd priority advanced degree holders are current in every country except for China and India where the wait is about 2 years and 4.5 years respectively. If we want these workers in then expand the 2nd preference employment Visas. There are plenty of people who have B.A. & B.S. degrees in the U.S. Then again if more advanced workers or B.A. degree holders are accepted then people will complain they are losing their jobs again because they have to work a little harder to find one. I definitely don't think the answer is to let everyone in nor is it to make people pay more. Most people entering illegally don't want to wait & can't afford it.

To me if the debate is focused on attracting people at the 1st, 2nd or 3rd employment preference it becomes a question of how many jobs are created v. the displacement of Americans. If there is truly a lack of qualified applicants in some sectors then by all means bring people in until enough people can be educated to fill the vacancies. People aren't told that employers must offer a U.S. market wage and post the job for hire in the U.S. for a certain period of time. They can't just bring a guy over here and undercut U.S. competition. I believe it does happen, but not as widespread as the media leads everyone to believe.

Just my 2c... Feel free to comment with what you think.

* Note: A lot of this is oversimplified. It would take a book, economist, and an immigration lawyer to give it the justice it deserves.

Links
The Creativity Exchange: Creative Class Lockout
Apr 2007 Visa Bulletin