We don’t use Monster, Dice or CareerBuilder to find our next employee. Instead we are big fans of Craigslist and highly focused community sites. For instance, when we are looking for CSS Expert we’ll target CSS Beauty.

Any job posting usually nets 20 resumes a day for at least 1 week after the posting. Experience ranges widely across any of the resumes we receive. We’ve seen everything from individuals who think they are a God’s gift to us; to people who have amazing web skills but send resumes loaded with typos and broken links.

We don’t read every line in a resume. We don’t have time for that, instead we believe in the “Blink Test“. We are looking at each resume for “it”, whatever “it” is. This means that each resume is scanned and decided on in less then 20 seconds. If we find a resume which takes longer then 20 seconds to evaluate we move it to the “maybe” pile and it’s passed onto the office for evaluation. If the majority of the office is intrigued then we move the resume to the “strong” pile where we proceed to the interview process.

So what is “it”?
There is consistency to our approach. I believe there is a set of 4 characteristics that the “maybe” and “strong” piles have in common.

• Simplicity: We look at the candidate’s ability to communicate their skills in the most concise way possible. This extends into code and design, not just written communication.
• Honesty: Yes, everyone believes they are hardworking, dedicated and organized. However, let us call references to figure that out for ourselves.
• Show Us: We are not looking a monster list of applications used, but instead we are looking for examples of how the tools were used to solve problems.
• Writing Skills: It’s tough to hide the inability to write. If the resume is fraught with poor grammar, typos and sentence structure then it will lead to ineffective email communication or poor internal documentation. (This one personally is my biggest challenge.)

So, if you know anyone who has these characteristics and is looking for an job, send them our way.

Being a small business owner and a supporter of Barack Obama I really want clarification on Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher’s two-hundred and fifty-thousand dollar question.

In the video Joe tells Obama that he is “getting ready to buy a company which makes between $250 to $280 thousand dollars a year.” OK… stop right there, is this gross or net?

As a small business owner you are taxed on your NET profits, not your GROSS. Let’s just make some guesstimates here, say Joe has 2 other employees. If Joe’s business is pulling in $250k a year and you minus expenses, say $45k per plumber, plus the cost of the trucks, gas, health insurance and various other expenses, then Joe might be left with under $100k in taxable salary.

Under Obama’s plan Joe will pay less taxes. This isn’t rocket science and I’m not sure why the difference hasn’t been asked. I blame Obama for not asking the right follow-up questions to Joe.

If Joe is REALLY pulling in NET profits of $260k then I’m going to start learning how to lay pipe!

Right on the heels of my Quantcast posting; I’ve decided to give Quantcast some respect for helping me figure out which of the microblogging services are on the rise. My gut told me Twitter and it looks like my gut was correct.

Initially I thought this chart was showing me the rise in interest in Twitter and the adoption of it by so many new users. However, ff we make this chart relative it even suggests that Pownce and Jaiku are loosing steam / users.

Is there anything wrong with Pownce and Jaiku? Jaiku yes, Pownce not at all. Jaiku was solid before Google acquired them but it has taken forever for Google to re-open Jaiku for the general public. Pownce on the other hand is a solid service and sometimes seems easier to use and more reliable then Twitter. Kevin Rose and gang are no strangers to high-use sites and I believe Pownce will compete better with Twitter over time.

Tonight Jason Fried from 37signals spoke at the Oriental Theater in east Denver. He discussed everything from client deliverables to the 37signals four-day workweek. In essence, Jason’s talk boiled down to three key points:

1. Don’t work on hard problems. Break them down and keep things simple.
2. Avoid distractions (open office environments, meetings, e-mail, etc.) get a site or product out of your head and into production ASAP.
3. Deliverables are bullshit, clients don’t care, the end product is what matters.

First off, I want to say I have great respect for 37signals and their impact on the industry. Having the chance to talk with Jason about issues such as: stopping IE6 support, disregarding Photoshop in the design process, and scaling with growth, was an absolute treat. Clearly the team at 37signals is one of the most innovative and talented in the industry.

However, I think 37signals dominance in the web products field has distorted their ability to critique the client-based approach. And while I don’t have knowledge to speculate specifically on day to day client interaction, I do have a few things to offer from a developer perspective.

Team chemistry is important.

First, people working from home all the time can be harmful to the group chemistry. Jason and team do a huge amount of work via telecommuting. Relying on campfire, screen sharing, and video chat interactions for the bulk of their communication. They feel this helps minimize distractions and keep people productive.

I’m not sold this is the way to go. I think it’s hard to truly feel connected and dedicated to your team if you don’t spend real time with them. When’s the last time you became really good friends with someone without spending some serious face-to-face time with them? For me it’s never happened, not once. And as great as chatting online is, it’s not the same as being in the same room and hashing things out. You miss the subtle face gestures, the inside jokes, the bantering, and the all around comradery that happens in the workplace. Part of the reason Imulus does great work is because we have dedication to one another. Even on days when I’m completely out of wack mentally I still find myself focused on helping the team. Why? Because I’m relied on to help create the great stuff we build. And I trust those I work with to do the same. As ridiculous as our office gets sometimes in the end we get shit done and we do it for each other and ourselves.

Deliverables have a purpose, it just needs to be refined sometimes.

Second, I don’t buy that all deliverables are bullshit. Just as some companies like to skip Photoshop (37signals) and go straight to coding, and others (Apple) like to make mockups pixel perfect it’s impossible to say that one solution is better than the other. Yet, we can agree that certain processes work better for certain people as well as certain projects.

Let’s talk about the way we work. Imulus’ basic approach is to offer the client a timeline, design brief, wire frame, and mockup of the final interface. Now, it’s important to realize that we haven’t always done it this way. In fact, for some time before I came to Imulus the wireframe process was basically nixed. What was the result? Instead of 5 hours spent reworking things in the wire frame process, 25 hours was spent reworking things in the development process. Look, we aren’t naïve, we recognize that clients change their mind and get new ideas all the time. However, we’ve found that most of this re-thinking takes place in the wire frame stage. And therefore we save hours of coding changes by altering the approach up front. In essence, if you’re building a car and the frame is faulty, why wait until the upholstery’s getting put on the seats to fix it?

Still, we know it’s a strong possibility that some of our deliverables are blown out of proportion. And as most firms do we will continue to collaborate and narrow down our inefficiencies. However, we have found that some deliverables are an extremely important step, and just because some projects or companies don’t require them doesn’t mean they aren’t important.

In conclusion

Clearly 37signals has clout and track record to support the way they work. And regardless of how that alters the Imulus process we love hearing about it. It’s phenomenal that they have so much passion behind what they do. I hope over time we can refine our own process to the point they have. Until then it’s great hearing a second opinion about things.

I’m from Philly so when I say any sandwich from a small deli in Estes Park, Colorado is better then anything I’ve had back East (Pat’s Steak Sandwich excluded) then you know I have to be serious. I’m talking about DeLeo’s Deli, recognized as one of the very best sandwich shops by The Food Network. Earlier this summer I had “The Big Reuboni”

Delicious corned beef topped with kraut, horseradish, banana peppers and Russian dressing, and finished with imported Swiss cheese…”To die for!”

Aside from the unbelievable menu selections; I think what is even more impressive is DeLeo’s customer service and passion for his work. Owner, Tom DeLeo, a transplant from Connecticut, is easily one of the most entertaining and charismatic people I’ve ever met. In this last visit, Tom remembered me from visiting the year before. I was floored that he recognized me, I have a tough enough time remembering my own Uncles’ names. While enjoying my Reuboni I realized it wasn’t just me that he recognized, Tom greeted everyone who entered like they were his best friend.

There are several factors which make DeLeo’s Deli a winning mix and hopefully a longtime staple of Estes Park. I personally believe that like his terrific sandwiches, these ingredients are the key to running a highly successful business.

• Passion! This guy loves creating sandwiches.
• Good Story. He’s an ex-insurance executive who was disenchanted with that way of life and was looking for something a bit simpler.
• Love of People. He adapts to every visitor and brings a smile to all who visit. It’s as if he can instantly read each customer like a book.
• Great Product. The sandwiches alone could sell this place. Tom could be the “sandwich Nazi and people would still frequent his deli.

I love my job, I’m excited about what we do, where we are heading and the team I have to work with. However, sometimes I think it’s really easy to get caught up in the daily grind. People like Tom remind me to keep it real; to wear the passion on my sleeve and throughly interact with every customer from the heart.

Tom, thanks for making a kick-ass sandwich and keeping it real, even if my Philly friends have now disowned me.