What's on Your Facebook Page?

Would you show it to your mom? And don't tell me "yeah, my mom's totally cool with my nudie pictures..." You know what I mean.

I currently hire therapists, and in the past I've done hiring in other fields. When I get a resume, I do a couple of things (in addition to reading the resume, of course). If the applicant provides a url to a personal or business website, I usually check it out. I can get a lot of info about the person's treatment philosophy and experience from their web page. And I often Google the applicant's name.

CNN recently ran an interesting article, Should Your Boss Be Your Facebook Friend? As Facebook's logo states, it's "a place for friends." Well yeah, but it's not like having a private chat with your bff.

From CNN's article: "If you use Facebook to air political rants, document your wild weekend escapades, post wacky photos or vent about your job, you should obviously have some concerns about letting your boss view this aspect of your life," Rutledge cautions. "But what's important to remember is that no online content is truly private, even if your intention is to share this information only with your Facebook friends. Facebook makes your profile viewable to anyone in the networks you belong to, even if you're not directly connected with or even know all the network members," Rutledge says."

"Unprofessional online content, or 'digital dirt' as it's often called, is a problem that goes beyond Facebook. Anything you post online is essentially public and can affect your career and job prospects, both positively and negatively."

So just think about it before you Digg, flame someone in a newsgroup, or post to your MySpace or Facebook page.

Employer Improvements for Hiring Workflow

First off, thank you to every one for continuing to use Find Touch! Your feedback has been behind our success all along and now, based on feedback from a number of you, we have made yet another improvement I would like to let you know about:

Email notifications to job applicants are now optional

Previously, when you clicked the Hire or Eliminate action button next to any candidate for one of your jobs, two things would happen. The candidate would be categorized accordingly (as hired or eliminated from consideration) based on the action button you clicked and also Find Touch would send out a courtesy email notification on your behalf letting candidates know of your decision.

You let us know that you wanted to have the option whether an email was sent to an applicant when you click the Hire or Eliminate action next to their name and we have provided this option. Now you can organize and categorize your job applicants, at any time, without worrying about unwanted email communication. At the same time, you still have the time-saving convenience of having Find Touch send a notice on your behalf so you can manage your hiring activities most efficiently.

Keep enjoying Find Touch and keep your feedback coming!

Faces of the Find Touch Community

The Find Touch community is growing! We've made a little poster with the faces of some Find Touch massage therapists - take a look if you'd like.

If you'd like your picture to be featured in the next version of the poster, just add it to your Find Touch profile - it's super-easy!

Hope you're having a great day!

Laptop Ergonomics

How many of you use a laptop as your primary computer? How many of your clients do?

I confess. I'm a laptop user. I got rid of my desktop computer about two years ago when laptop prices and features got to the point where it seemed to make sense to get rid of the bulky old thing in favor of something I could use anywhere. I LOVE the convenience and flexibility. But...

Are Laptops a Pain in the...?
Ever since laptops came out, ergonomics experts have been (justifiably) harping on the inherent problems with extended laptop use. Because the monitor and keyboard are connected, you can't adjust them separately. It's interesting—even though laptops are supposed to be the "latest and greatest," their design actually goes back to the very early days of personal computing when screens and keyboards were integrated in a single unit. It was quickly discovered that this design caused a lot of musculoskeletal issues. Ergonomic design guidelines were written in the 1970's that called for separation of the screen and keyboard, and that's how pc's (and Macs) have been designed ever since. Until we "progressed" to laptops.

So what's the problem with laptops? In a nutshell, If the keyboard's at the right height, you're looking down at the monitor and putting strain on your neck muscles; if you raise the monitor to eye level, the keyboard's too high and you end up hunching your shoulders and elevating your arms and wrists to type.

Comfortable Laptop Computing
The best way to work ergonomically at a laptop is to connect either a separate keyboard or monitor to your laptop. That way you can position the separate pieces at the right height.

When you're using your laptop away from your primary location, think about whether you're going to be doing more typing or more reading. If you're going to be doing a lot of typing, position the keyboard at the correct height for typing, so your wrists are in a neutral position, your elbows at a 90 degree angle, and your shoulders relaxed. If the table or desk you're using doesn't allow proper positioning, try putting the laptop on your lap.

If you're going to be doing a lot of reading and not so much typing (checking email, watching a dvd, etc.) position the monitor at eye level (if you're at a standard-height table, this could involve putting something like a phone book or two under the laptop).

And when you're using the laptop in a way that compromises either keyboard or screen position, it's even more important to take regular stretch breaks, at least every 30 minutes or so!

To get more in-depth info on laptop ergonomics, check out this Macworld Magazine article and Cornell University's Laptop Ergonomics Guidelines.