We’re carving our last pumpkins and sweeping up October’s leaves, about to let November move in. With one final look around, we’re donning our balloon boy costumes fondly reminiscing about all the things that made October such a special month. Where to start?

Ah, yes. There was that controversy over sex in the workplace, for starters. And employees dished about their most unusual excuses for missing work–including gems like “I was injured chasing a seagull” — and we promptly published them in a survey for employers everywhere to guffaw at (or scorn).

Employees come up with excuses for missing work for many reasons — including their boss. We spoke with the authors of “Working for You Isn’t Working for Me” about bad bosses, toxic workplace relationships, employee fear in today’s economy, and much more. Check out Part I, II, and III here.

Halloween begins the mad rush of the holiday season — and prime job search season. In the spirit of sharpening interview skills, we asked you to reconsider 5 “red flag” interview situations (yes, including a candidate’s lateness!), and in our first-ever contest on The Hiring Site, we asked you to give us your best interview questions–and you exceeded our expectations (and someone got a Flip Ultra video camera). We sorted through the many thoughtful, funny, and original responses, culminating in our Best of the Best interview questions–and Best of the Rest. Enjoy, and get in on November’s contest action!

Why aren’t you calling job seekers back? Many of you let us know that you just don’t have time –so we offered some solutions to get things back on track.

With all the Jon and Kate Gosselin Halloween masks out there, Halloween is scary enough. But in a recent CareerBuilder survey, we up’d the fear factor and asked employees which famous Halloween character their bosses most resemble  — and found that 18 percent of workers describe their workplace as scary. Mask or not, that’s no laughing matter.

On a positive note, lots of businesses are doing things right — and what better way to get tips on improving your own processes? We took a closer look at the things “best places to work” are doing to recruit and retain top employees.

Now go get that last-minute Halloween costume together.