thursday thoughts

Today's random set of thoughts -

:: The undercurrent of this whole week has been a nasty cold - hopefully nothing like tin can woman april of 2009, but still, not nice - hallo bolster brain.

:: Why is it that random people I meet and network with, think my competence background and USP (because apparently we all have that, it's kind of tiresome to think in those terms, I try not to do it too often) is fab, but HR people that matters (only in the sense of being responsible for jobs I've applied for etc etc) are so narrow-minded and ignorant? I've thought a lot about this over the years. Too many loose connections out there.

I recently read a very interesting article about this, employers complaining about a lack of competence in the people applying for positions when the lack of competence isn't with the potential employees, but in the employers and the HR-people who are too narrow-minded. They really need to broaden their views and look at the qualitative competence which can be so completely different from any degrees and on-paper-experience. Don't ask me who I am, but what I can do. The book quoted in the article (in Swedish), in case your Swedish beckons, is called "Kompetensbaserad personalstrategi: Hur du tar reda på vad organisationen behöver,  bemannar den rätt och utvecklar den inför framtiden" by Malin Lindelöw (~ Competence based personnel strategy: How to find out what your organisation needs, how to staff it right and develop it for the future).

To be able to click with such people, such recruiters would be wonderful.

:: I've had two pretty neat days with a course in strategic communication. Well, apart from my bolster brain (snivel, cough, sneez, days sadly filled with a few of my non proudest moments), there was some nifty ideas planted, business cards exchanged and who knows...

:: Talking about nifty ideas. I am so very very tired of all good ideas and talked-about-projects that are only discussed but never set into action. Where they just bad ideas, or perhaps the wrong amalgamation of people or are I/we just the too-much-talking-but-not-enough-action-kind of people? When I want to be a reasonable-amount-of-talking-then-action-kind of person.

:: There might be, ahem, some more bobbaloos catching a flight soon to join the Swedish settlement. Possibly. Like a clever woman named Julie said, there are worse addictions. And every day that might hold a bobbaloo acquisition is a good day, right? Right.

:: The highlight of my day might have been this picture. And here's the little story behind it. I'm a sucker for little moments that click like this. When the stars align. Now I would be even more happy if the stars would align in a more productive and gainful way. But until they are - and until I have to deal with the usual average crap we all have to deal with having to deal with people in general and not the very much forced crap by a wry political system held together by the non-common-sense people and little popes (who seem to be every where, I know...) and having to swallow, bite hard (leading to root-fillings...) said malarkey because you depend upon certain things and certain people - until they are, I cherish moments like this even more;

I love how so many stories can be told by and woven around pictures snapped in secret. Well over a year ago I spotted two middleaged men on this train station bench on my way home. Similar builds, similar dressed and similar backpacks placed beside them on bench. I found them somehow adorable. Since I didn't have the camera with me then and no cameraphone, it was a captured moment lost. I  have been waiting to spot them ever since.

Today when I passed the station and looked up I spotted one of them putting on his denim jacket, we made eye contact and I realised it was indeed those two fellas. It was very close to be too good to be true and I almost didn't remember I actually had the iPhone ready and willing to snap. When he sat down I quickly captured the moment (if only their backpacks would have sat on the bench instead of ground). And for a second I realised that there is such a thing as the stars aligning. And not only for two fellas on a bench.