The Zaō Mountains, commonly called Mount Zaō, are a complex cluster of stratovolcanoes on the border between Yamagata Prefecture and Miyagi Prefecture in Japan. The central volcano of the group includes several lava domes and a tuff cone, Goshiki-dake, which contains a crater lake named “Okama”. Also known as the “Five Color Pond” (五色沼, goshiki numa) because it changes color depending on the weather, it lies in a crater formed by a volcanic eruption in the 1720s. The lake is 360 meters (1,200 ft) in diameter and 60 m (200 ft) deep and is one of the main tourist attractions in the area.
One striking feature of Zaō’s famous ski resorts is the “snow monsters” that appear in mid-winter. Strong wind over the nearby lake fling water droplets which freeze against the trees and their branches, until near-horizontal icicles begin to form. Falling snow settles on the ice formations, and the end result is a grotesque figure of a tree. The effect of a full forest of such trees gives visitors a ghostly impression. Zaō is one of the 100 famous mountains in Japan.
Rotaria rotatoria and Pinnularia spp. are found in the acidic Okama Lake. Wikipedia
It’s no secret that employee-employer tensions about heading back to the workplace are growing. As more employers push to get employees back in-house, the workers themselves are taking a harder stand. An April 2021 survey by FlexJobs found that 60% of women and 52% of men would quit if they weren’t allowed to continue working remotely at least part of the time. Sixty-nine percent of men and 80% of women said that remote work options are among their top considerations when looking for a new job.
The “official” reasons that they don’t want to head back to the workplace are well-documented. They’re more productive. It’s easier to blend work and life when your commute is a walk down the hallway. But, for some, the reasons are more personal and difficult to share. Who will walk the dog they adopted during the pandemic? They gained weight and need to buy new work clothes. The thought of being trapped in a cubicle all day makes them want to cry.
We spoke with several people who shared their very personal reasons why they don’t want to return to work. (Because of the sensitive nature of some of the comments, Fast Company has allowed some of the individuals to use a pseudonym to protect their identities.)
Recruiters are on a tear to fill a growing number of open roles as the U.S. hiring market rebounds this summer. As companies re-staff their workforces to meet rising consumer demand, workers who’ve spent the pandemic thinking of changing jobs are striking out into the job market, too.
Jennifer Shappley, LinkedIn’s vice president of global talent acquisition, tells CNBC Make It that news of the so-called Great Resignation, and surveys showing as many as 40% of workers are thinking of quitting their jobs, has made for a lot of work for recruiting teams like her own.
Employers are responding to the tight market by making their jobs more appealing, too, such as by offering hiring bonuses, higher salaries, additional time off, and the ability to work flexibly from home.
“If a candidate brings up the Great Resignation in their interview and wants to explore what’s out there, that’s not a red flag,” Shappley says. However, “while there are lots of opportunities out there, there’s obviously still competition for roles.”
Cádiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, with archaeological remains dating to the 8th century BC, was founded by the Phoenicians. It has been a principal home port of the Spanish Navy since the accession of the Spanish Bourbons in the 18th century. It is also the site of the University of Cádiz.
Situated on a narrow slice of land surrounded by the sea‚ Cádiz is, in most respects, a typically Andalusian city with well-preserved historical landmarks. The older part of Cádiz, within the remnants of the city walls, is commonly referred to as the Old Town (Spanish: Casco Antiguo). It is characterized by the antiquity of its various quarters (barrios), among them El Pópulo, La Viña, and Santa María, which present a marked contrast to the newer areas of town. While the Old City’s street plan consists of narrow winding alleys connecting large plazas, newer areas of Cádiz typically have wide avenues and more modern buildings. In addition, the city is dotted with numerous parks where exotic plants flourish, including giant trees allegedly brought to Spain by Columbus from the New World.
Very little remains of the Phoenician language, but numismatic inscriptions record that they knew the site as a Gadir or Agadir (Phoenician: 𐤀𐤂𐤃𐤓, ʾGDR), meaning “The Wall”, “The Compound”, or (by metonymy) “The Stronghold”. Borrowed by the Berber languages, this became the agadir (Tamazight: “wall”; Shilha: “fortified granary”) common in North African place names. (The Israeli town Gedera shares a similar etymology, as well as the Moroccan city Agadir). The Carthaginians continued to use this name and all subsequent names have derived from it. The Greek cothon refers to a Carthaginian type of fortified basin that can be seen at ancient sites such as Motya. Wikipedia
There is perhaps no better experience for a hiring manager than seeing the resume of an outstanding internal candidate land on their desk. You can fill the job immediately and because current employees know the organization and its quirks, they require less handholding in order to get up to speed quickly. You also rarely have to pay the premium typically required to lure in external candidates. As an added bonus, hiring an internal candidate signals to other employees that they too have a future in the organization, making it more likely that they will look internally when contemplating their next career move.
Given these benefits, firms have been expanding their efforts to make it easier for current employees to learn about and apply for new internal opportunities. Creating more open internal talent markets certainly increases the odds that a hiring manager will find that perfect internal candidate, but it also means that hiring managers more often find themselves in the unenviable position of having to tell other employees that they did not get the job. While good data on internal application patterns is hard to come by, recent estimates suggest that managers can expect to receive an average of 10 internal applications for every open job, a number that was confirmed in our conversations with talent acquisition leaders across more than two dozen large organizations. That means it is often the case that 9 employees — 10 if you hire an external candidate — hear “no” each time a job is posted.
No matter how many job interviews you’ve been on, or how well you think on your feet, most people are rarely as prepared as they should be.
In fact, as the CEO of a recruiting firm, I’ve spent decades interviewing candidates, and I’ve seen even the most experienced candidates — with the most impressive resumes — make rookie mistakes that can easily destroy the first impression.
My father died recently and left me and two siblings a house with no mortgage. I am in the process of being declared executor of the will. My brother goes to the house every weekend for a “staycation,” however my sister and I live in other states and can only return to the hometown a few times per year.
My sister and I think this is the opportune time to sell the house and divide our inheritance, but my brother thinks we should hold on to it as it is increasing in value. Of course, it will incur some expenses for upkeep, insurance, taxes, and utility.
Is it a better climate to hold it as an investment or to sell it and then invest the money into stocks or retirement accounts? I am 65, brother and sister are 60 and 57.
Thanks,
Feuding over the Family Home
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Dealing with a late parent’s home can easily lead to familial squabbles if everyone isn’t on the same page. Getty Images/iStockphoto
The background: After suddenly losing my job last year, I was thrown into an urgent hunt. Four months ago, I landed a position with a decent salary, doing much the same work I’d done previously but in a sector that I wouldn’t have chosen if I wasn’t desperate. It was definitely an “I’m taking the job because it’s the first I’ve been offered” situation, but I was grateful to get it.
The people here are nice, and they’ve put a lot of time into training me. They are evidently expecting me to stay for many years, as has been the pattern for most former employees in my role. I would like to work for myself in the future and am even thinking about completely changing fields, but that will take a long time to achieve and I need to stay employed until then. I figured this would be a good setup for, say, the next five years.
But I’ve realized that I just don’t enjoy the job at all. I’m used to working on projects that don’t set my soul on fire, but this has been the most stressful job I’ve ever had by far. Part of that is due to inefficient working practices, which I should be able to influence over time, but I don’t think they’ll completely go away. My department — and therefore me — also shoulders a huge workload that has nothing to do with our roles and should be done by a totally different team. It really interferes with my ability to get my main job done, and I’m working very long hours during busy weeks. I’ve been told that won’t change for the foreseeable future because of pressures from the pandemic. I’ve also encountered some ethical concerns with the company’s work that I didn’t expect.
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Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
An image of the Mount Zao Snow Monsters
[Source photo: Solovyova/iStock]
James' World 2 