user: Input: Allusions - NYTimes.com
1. I don’t have an original source for Williamson on “immaculate transfer” — I heard it from him verballyorally at a conference at IIE many years ago, and it’s hard to find a reference that doesn’t trace back to me.

2. Yes, I was invoking Anatole France.

3. But Yves Smith wins the allusion game today, with her reference to Joseph and the Scientific People. Quant Suff!
What was this article about?
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It's about: I uses them.


Problem: Investigation reveals Red Cross ‘botched’ responses to Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy

A lengthy investigation published this week by ProPublica and NPR finds that the Red Cross completely failed many of its rescue efforts during Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy in 2012.

The joint report, released Wednesday on the anniversary of Sandy, found that the agency stumbled at every corner.

Red Cross veteran Richard Rieckenberg detailed an instance in Mississippi after Isaac struck the area in August that year. He said 80 nearly empty trucks that should’ve contained food were told to drive around to “look like you're giving disaster relief” so that the agency would impress Red Cross “brass” in the area.

In another foul-up, the Red Cross brought pork lunches to a Jewish retirement community in New York.

The report also alleges that the agency diverted trucks from disaster areas to instead be used as backdrops during news conferences.

A member of the Red Cross distributes food to residents of Coney Island affected by Hurricane Sandy on Nov. 9, 2012.

People wait in line to get food items from a Red Cross Disaster Relief truck in the Sandy-affected Rockaways on Jan. 25, 2013.

Red Cross veteran Richard Rieckenberg emailed a vice president at the agency in 2012 because he had more concerns about making ‘the numbers look good’ and in ‘showing a presence.'"

"In the ensuing chaos, the caterer was only able to deliver 70,000 Danishes the following day, Rieckenberg says. The cost to the Red Cross: about $7 apiece, much more than normal. Top Red Cross officials had assured Rieckenberg that someone would get him the locations where staffers could deliver the meals. The list was never supplied. About half of the pastries were wasted. The caterer couldn’t produce the lunches and dinners. Red Cross volunteers had to distribute cold leftover Danishes instead."

These examples and other highlight the overall criticism by ProPublica and NPR that the agency was too focused on public relations and not strategic enough in their core rescue efforts.

In November 2012, Rieckenberg emailed Red Cross Vice President Trevor Riggen to voice his concerns about the lack of priorities.

“We became focused on making ‘the numbers look good’ and in ‘showing a presence ... I was quite bluntly told that they didn’t care — it was the plan that was going to make the ARC [American Red Cross] look the best to the local politicians.”

Write a one or two sentence summary.

Summary: A lengthy investigation launched this week by Pro Publica and NPR finds that the Red Cross completely failed many of its rescue efforts during Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy in 2012.


Q: Still not putting volunteer work on your resume?

True, you didn’t get paid to streamline the database at the local Red Cross office, or organize that huge fundraising auction for Oxfam, or put your accounting skills to work at your church. So it doesn’t really count — right?

Not so fast. According to a new survey from LinkedIn LNKD , 89% of U.S. businesspeople have significant volunteer experience. Yet only 45% include it in their resumes.

The same report tells why leaving it out is a mistake: 41% of hiring managers say they consider free labor for a good cause to be “equally valuable” as other experience, and one in five has hired someone for a paying job because of his or her volunteer work.

“Professionals often have the misconception that volunteer work doesn’t qualify as ‘real’ work experience,” observes Nicole Williams, whose title at LinkedIn is connection director. “But in the current hypercompetitive job market, when hiring managers or potential business partners are comparing candidates, volunteer experience can be the deciding factor that makes you stand out.”

Williams adds that volunteer work is a great way to rub elbows with “driven, conscientious professionals” who often make great references in a job hunt. “The most successful people dedicate some of their efforts to a cause that extends beyond themselves, and hiring managers are well aware of this,” she says.

For all of those reasons, LinkedIn just introduced a feature that makes it easy for the site’s 120 million members to include a “Volunteer Experience & Causes” section in their LinkedIn profiles. Adding the information to resumes as well would be a smart move.

A:

assistant: If not, new research from LinkedIn shows why it’s time to start.