Desert Wave Enterprises
PO Box 2361
Alice Springs NT 0871
Australia

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Dear !*FIRST_NAME*!

Here is the latest edition of HRD Alert! to which you subscribed.

If you have trouble reading this, an online copy is available here. You can load it into your browser and save it in HTML format and read it off line.

This past month I've been busy implementing my new mail management and marketing system and preparing for the release of a fee-based newsletter called Important Updates for Human Resources Specialists. For less than the price of a cup of coffee per week, anyone wanting to keep up-to-date with contemporary, global HR trends and practices, can receive crucial, summarised information at their desktop complete with references. More info and a special offer below.

Mailloop 5.0 will manage all my online marketing activity - automatically! It's so good that when someone subscribes online through Clickbank, my credit card transaction merchant, it will send a thank you email, enter the subscriber's details in my database and personalise copies of the newsletter that I send out. You have to see this program to believe it.

Safety at work is important to all employers and employees, but unfortunately often takes a back seat until something goes amuck. Comcare has implemented a novel approach to get people to conduct internal safety audits. You can read about it this issue and try the self-auditing process.

This issue has some ideas about how to improve your memory, from that master of motivation, Og Mandino. And of course there are several sites to visit in Worth a Look.

Welcome to those of you who are new subscribers and thanks for your ongoing support to those who have been subscribers for some time ... several have been with me since the beginning. Next issue I'd like to introduce some of you to your fellow readers, so when I email you for a bio, don't be reluctant.

Until next time, stay well.

Robin Henry

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How safe is your workplace? In all Australian jurisdictions and no-doubt most overseas jurisdictions, occupational health and safety legislation sets standards and requirements for employers and employees to follow.

Not only is the burden on employers to provide safe working environments, but employees also are expected to work safely, report hazards, and to contribute to a safe environment. Something we can do to help ourselves, which is often overlooked, is self-audit; checking out our work environments against a list of known safety and health hazards.

Comcare, the agency that administers occupational health and safety, rehabilitation and compensation on behalf of all Commonwealth Government Agencies has come up with a novel approach to self-auditing.

Their virtual office is a web-based tool that provides a range of information on office-based hazards. It's interactive, interesting, and engaging. It includes easy to navigate links to occupational health and safety (OHS) regulatory and guidance material for Commonwealth agencies that may be used in the development of OHS policies and procedures.

Much of the information on the Comcare site is suitable for non-Australian Government agencies and the private sector. And there's some really top stuff in the publications area. But before you go off looking for publications, try out the Virtual Office and then get your team, office, corporation or whatever, to audit their offices. It's a good way to raise the status of health and safety and at the same time encourage people to identify and rectify OH&S hazards.

You'll find a link to the Virtual Office at Comcare's site: http://www.comcare.gov.au.

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I've always been convinced that we remember everything that happens in our lives. Today I'm no less convinced that this hypothesis is correct. Of course, I can't prove it anymore than anyone can disprove it. Where the problem exists for us, I feel, is that while we remember everything, we have problems recalling the vast amount of information stored in our databank.

Possibly it's nature's way of protecting us from an overload of useless and meaningless information. For example, why would I ever want to recall what I had for lunch on 15 August 1990? Did I even have lunch on 15 August 1990? Who knows? Who cares?

Unfortunately, the discrimination mechanism which allows us to conveniently forget the meaningless, sometimes also causes us to forget the things that are important for us eg, our partner's birthday. (No, I've NEVER forgotten that!) But you know what I mean ... we can't always recall information we would like to recall.

Fortunately for us, thousands of intelligent human beings have had similar experiences and have followed them up with research. One such person is the remarkabe Og Mandino who has written a small library about the human condition and how we can come to grips with it. In his interesting title Og Mandino's University of Success (1982), Bantam Books, Inc, New York.

Mandino says that we cannot improve our recall ability as such, but that we can improve the way we record information so that it makes it easier to recall. This can be done by applying the following guidelines:

• "Commit things to memory when you are rested. If you try to memorize when you are fatigued, you will most likely find it frustrating
• Break down lists into smaller, manageable units and subcategories before trying to memorize them. If you have to learn the capital cities of 20 nations, break them into five groups of 4, or 6 groups of 3, and 1 group of 2
• Repeat the material to yourself several times. Writing the material also helps
• Space your learning into several periods. Begin each new period by reviewing what you have preciously memorized to keep it firmly planted in your memory
• Relate material you are learning to familiar ideas, persons, symbols, and other things that are already firmly planted in your memory
• Arrange ideas to be learned into a formula system or code word to aid your recll. For example, advertising teachers use the code work AIDA for 'arouse attention, create Interest, stimulate Desire, and move to Action'. Another example is the five-step study method called SQ3R - Study, Question, Read, Recite, Review
• Use spare moments, such as waiting time, for memorizing. Carry note cards in your pocket for quick reference"

These are not new ideas ... I remember using the SQ3R method when I first began tertiary studies. They are tried and tested and since they have worked for others, will most likely work for you.

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training.com.au
The Australian National Training Authority has produced this site as a one-stop shop for everything to do with the Australian training agenda. It is a comprehensive site apparently a conjoint effort of all Australian State and Territory governments and the Australian Government. It's worth a look and I'd suggest you bookmark it if you need to know anything about apprenticeships, traineeships, the qualifications framework, courses etc. Overseas readers will also find some topics of interest eg, there is a short document about training needs analysis.

Go to: http://training.com.au

Billabong Consultation web Site
This site offers a meeting place for Billabong Project Partners. It has information about the project's background, how to participate, news about the project and a 'yarn' facility. So what is it? It's essentially a development and career acceleration project for VET staffs who identify as Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders.

Unfortunately, you have to register to surf the site, however, it's worth it and you don't have to nominate to receive email as a result. If you're in VET and/or identify as being indigenous, this may be of interest to you.

Go to: http://billabong-project.training.wa.gov.au

New Zealand Institute of Management
Visit the home of the New Zealand Institute of Management and you'll find a smorgasbord of topics to keep you engaged. There are several interesting articles, an online book store and more. It's always nice to see what managers in other countries are doing and New Zealand is no exception.

Go to: http://www.nzim.co.nz
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Important Updates for Human Resources Specialists releases in July 03 and is intended to help Human Resources specialists keep up to date with our profession for less than the price of a cup of coffee per week.

Most busy professionals haven't got time to surf the Internet, read all the professional magazines, and network with their fellow specialists just to keep up with the latest trends. We do the hard work for them and deliver a summarised, referenced monthly newsletter with a swag of hot-off-the-press information - for a very small weekly price ... less than the price of a cup of coffee.

And that's not all. As the subscription base becomes larger, we'll be able to negotiate special discounts and deals ... just for our subscribers. In fact I'm already contacting book sellers and others to try to arrange some special purchase deals for the first edition in July.

As a subscriber to HRD Alert! you are the FIRST to receive our special introductory, limited duration offer.

Subscribe today using Clickbank, our credit card and cheque transaction merchant. Click the subscribe box below to go to our secure online payment site and enter your details exactly as they appear on your credit card.

As soon as I receive confirmation from Clickbank I'll send you a receipt and acknowledgement. Then you'll receive your newsletter commencing in July. The more subscriptions we get, the more bargaining power we will have with suppliers of goods and services. I'll be offering some discounted goods and services too ... just for subscribers.

HRD Alert! will continue as is, but I won't be marketing it. Although the format and content is different from Important Updates for Human Resources Specialists, it doesn't make much business sense producing a free newsletter that might compete with a paid subscription newsletter does it?

For more information please go to http://www.dwave.com.au/iuhrssales.htm. If you have colleagues who might be interested, please advise them that I have a discounted price for subscribers until I reach my minimum target subscription level, possibly by mid June.

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