CareerBuilder.com of Chicago, Illinois, won a Stevie Award for Best Sales Organization in The 2007 American Business Awards.  Here’s some humorous advice from them on job interviews.

What’s the most unusual thing a candidate did in a job interview? Fall asleep? Disappear? Bring his/her mom? This month, CareerBuilder.com released its annual survey of the most outrageous interview mistakes candidates have made, according to over 3,000 hiring managers and HR professionals nationwide. This year’s Top Ten list includes:

1. Candidate answered cell phone and asked the interviewer to leave her own office because it was a "private" conversation.
2. Candidate told the interviewer he wouldn’t be able to stay with the job long because he thought he might get an inheritance if his uncle died--and his uncle “wasn’t looking too good.”
3. Candidate asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview.
4. Candidate smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room.
5. Candidate said she could not provide a writing sample because all of her writing had been for the CIA and it was "classified."
6. Candidate told the interviewer he was fired for beating up his last boss.
7. When candidate was offered food before the interview, he declined, saying he didn’t want to line his stomach with grease before going out drinking.....

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Borgess Health, Kalamazoo, Michigan, won a Stevie Award for Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program in North America in The 2007 International Business Awards.

Borgess Health is a multifaceted health system comprised of hospitals, physician practices, home health services, and a nursing home.  Located in Kalamazoo County, southwestern Michigan, it is a values-based health care provider that respects the dignity of human life and actively responds to the needs of the poor.

"Although we are a major southwest Michigan health care provider and
employer, we are a health ministry, not simply a medical business," said
Paul A. Spaude, President and CEO, Borgess Health.  "Borgess Health is
honored to have won a Stevie Award for Best Corporate Social Responsibility
Program in North America in the 2007 American Business Awards.  It shows
that we are continuing the mission established by the Sisters of St. Joseph
who began Borgess Hospital 118 years ago."
         
The core values of Borgess Health are:

1. Service to the Poor:  Generosity of spirit, especially for persons most in need;
2. Reverence: Respect and compassion for the dignity and diversity of life;
3. Integrity:  Inspiring trust through personal leadership;
4. Wisdom:  Integrating excellence and stewardship;
5. Creativity:  Courageous innovation;
6. Dedication:  Affirming the hope and joy of their ministry.

Close to 80,000 residents live in Kalamazoo County. Of that number, nearly 28,000 have incomes at or below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). During the past decade Michigan has experienced a severe economic downturn.  Kalamazoo County has experienced closures and reorganizations in the automotive, paper, and banking industries. Those changes have impacted the health insurance status of some 4,500 employees and at least 11,000 family members.  Many of the higher-paying jobs once held by persons without college degrees were replaced with lower-paying jobs in service areas such as food preparation, home health aides, wait staff, retail, and janitorial service.  The average income for such professions is just over nine dollars per hour.

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Suzanne Richard is an on-road supervisor with UPS who's worked for the company for 23 years. In 2006 Suzanne started the Renaissance Foundation, an international scholarship program at Bowling Green University in Ohio. Suzanne initially funded the foundation with UPS stock she had accummulated over her years of employment. UPS has since matched her contributions to the foundation.

For their support of the Renaissance Foundation, Suzanne and UPS were honored with a Stevie Award in the category of "Women Helping Women" in the 2007 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

We recently spoke with Suzanne about her background, how and why she started the Renaissance Foundation, and the lessons she can offer to others who might want to start their own charitable endeavors.

Listen to our podcast interview with Suzanne Richard...

Read UPS's winning entry in the 2007 Stevie Awards for Women in Business...

Learn more about the Stevie Awards for Women in Business...

Blogs, or web logs, are all the rage these days. Each month in this space we'll point you to several blogs that we think might be of interest to you.

Valleywag.com : Silicon Valley's tech gossip blog.
Angry Journalist : A site that gives journalists a chance to vent their feelings about work lives and their profession.
Journerdism.com Will Sullivan's blog with links to a number of useful resources in the media.
Grammarphobia: Sound off on your pet language peeves at the blog of Patricia T. O'Connor, author of Woe Is I, and Stewart Kellerman.