The human resources department at the average UK automotive firm is a busy place. Positions throughout the firm are open on a weekly basis, which means that thousands of applications pour into the department via post or e-mail. Candidates come in for interviews with HR personnel while current employees utilise HR departments to answer pension or sick leave questions. All of these activities are happening simultaneously, with HR professionals trying to juggle one job responsibility along with several others. These professionals need a skilled HR manager in order to help them keep their automotive firm full of talented professionals.

The question then is how an HR manager can learn to succeed in the automotive industry. The first step for these management professionals is to assess their communication skills. Obviously, those who hired the automotive HR manager in question knew that they had the potential to be a great communicator. However, effective communication requires hard work and constant awareness of how different people need to be communicated with differently. By understanding how they communicate in various situations, an HR manager is aware of their shortcomings and may implement solutions to these issues.

If your next flight takes you through San Francisco, Oakland, or San Jose airports, you can avoid adding to your jumbo jet’s copious emissions by waving away the limo and taking PlanetTran instead. America’s first all-hybrid executive car service, just launched in the San Francisco Bay area with a fleet of leather-seated Priuses, started out in Boston in 2003. Two years later, two others followed suit: OZOcar executive car service in New York and Ecolimo in Los Angeles. Hybrids are making inroads at established car service companies as well. For instance, some Yellow cabbies in San Francisco now drive Ford Escape hybrids, and San Francisco Limo has added Priuses and Camry hybrids to its airport fleet.