Fun Tech Edition

Okay this is NOT for you early adopters. But for those of you looking for fun apps and web stuff that you haven’t stumbled onto yourself OR that you wouldn’t click on unless provided with a bunch og handy links, read on. . .

Okay first up, loving Twitter. According to research goddess Amybeth Hale, it has accounted for 20% of her clickthroughs. Very cool use of social media and pretty easy to just text the world about what you’re doing right? Another plus? it’s super easy to set up, pick a name, and start typing. . .

Also, this app for Photoshop virgins is cool. Some see it as a user-freindly app for those used to PS already. I see it as the wading pool for those of you (me) too scared to attack full-frontal Photoshop.

Here is a really neat data mining site. It’s by a super cool former Omahaan who just settled into Austin, so any Austin readers might want to give a shout out. I would like to use my blog to say Chris? Donato. Donato? Chris. You two were made for each other.

Adobe Air is available for Linux? Do I think that is cool?? Yes. Do I understand WHY that is cool? Not really.

Also, you’ve prolly heard of it but HULU rules! Why oh why is WIFI not every single where!?

Okay so PLEASE stay tuned for updates on the ERE conference and all the stuff I’m gonna learn and people I’m gonna meet. You can also check my tweets!

California Love. . .

Couldn’t help yet ANOTHER Tupac reference. For those who missed the first one, please see this post on Fistful of Talent (not for the general public just yet, just the discerning, cutting-edge type reader).

Yes, you heard right. Tomorrow morning I am headed to beautiful San Diego to take part in the ERE conference. This last minute trip is courtesy of a great opportunity from a very generous individual. You can check out his awesomeness at RecruitingBlogs.com

So I hope to learn even more cutting edge phenomenal recruiting techniques while I’m there. I also plan on meeting up with Jason Davis, Michael Homula, Donato Diorio and loads of other great people. If you haven’t noticed, I’m EXCITED! If you’re there, shoot me an email and maybe we can meet up!

I promised to mention the local HRAM Diversity luncheon coming up on April 8th. I’m on the media committee, so I’d be remiss not to! Diversity is an incredibly important subject in a city like Omaha where nearly 75% of the population is Caucasian.

Although I hear it’s just in the 60s there, I still might figure out how to get a tan. This California Girls is going home for the week!

H1B Talks, Mommies to be get targeted, and

Man, I am so not smart enough to understand all the issues related to this post about Gates’ request to raise the amount of H1Bs allowed but I do know it seems off to me. I posted a podcast about this very issue from Jim Stroud’s blog (speaking of which, check the blog, what the. . . ?) a while back. Still seems relevant. Other bloggers are saying. . .

Also, mommies are being targeted by wellness programs. Great idea. I personally would vote for a NAPPING program but that’s me.

And it’s round 759 of recruiters vs. in-house HR! Who will be the winner in this age old debacle?? Stay tuned. . .

White sock in a black sock world

I have always worn white athletic socks. No matter how chic I may have looked on the outside (and for those who know me, that’s pretty chic) unless I was in open heels, I was wearing some cushy white thing with “Hanes” written on the toes. There were other women, women with trouser socks, socks of argyle, even monkey and holiday theme footwear. Not me. White socks are comfy, easy to match and no one sees your socks anyway.

Until lately that is. Now that the “take off your shoes and stay a while” craze has taken over, I am suddenly exposed for the un-chic fraud that I am. I have to resort to beige and even black socks to be presentable at a party. I still haven’t quite gotten over the shock of “black toe” but I’m sure I will adjust.

This is the same adjustment many young students entering the workforce will have to make. With MySpace and Facebook (and the zillions of clones) proliferating the internet, posts about illegal drugs, cursing your former co-workers and semi-nudity gotta come down folks.

I’m stunned at the response I get when I tell future (or new) workers this. They seem offended. Many state they would not want to work for an employer who would not hire them based on one picture or comment. Some think to think it will be taken “in context” as if the context a potential employer has is more dimensional than a white 8.5 x 11″ piece of paper in Times New Roman. I mean they are looking for context when they Google potential employees. That’s the whole point.

I could remain stubborn. I could continue to wear my white socks in an increasingly shoeless world. I could say “to heck with you all. I love my Hanes!” Worst case scenario: I lose my coveted moniker of “most fashion forward mommy of three who also blogs about tech and talent”. Stubborn young workers who refuse to monitor their online reputation risk much more. Especially in the face of coming recession.

Published: March 19, 2008

Thanks to great Omaha hot spots like Slowdown, Film Streams and Trocadéro, Omaha is receiving national publicity. Slowdown was named Club of the Year by Esquire Magazine, Film Streams was featured in the New York Times, and Elle Magazine highlighted Trocadéro in its Elle Fashion News section. Omaha was also ranked among the top five best cities for mid-career professionals in Richard Florida’s new book, “Who’s Your City.

Source: www.omahachamber.org

Pretty great huh? Meanwhile sources tell me that there are lots of larger companies looking to relocate here. One of the interesting points Dr. Sweeney brought up was the fact that Omaha is primarily a service industry center. That made me wonder, are we just Midwestern and naturally inclined to “serve” others? Is it that we lack innovation and so must service what is created? What is the differentiator?

So today, over a savory bowl of Grape-Nuts, I was reading about (sigh) another guy who started something or other in his garage in Silicon Valley (yawn). Sheesh! How come you never read about some Minnesota kid who wrote some sweet new programs and is now lauded worldwide for both his brilliance and his arrogance. Writers we got, innovators, not so much, at least not the garage variety.

It was then that a flash of clarity came over me. I realized that young people from Omaha cannot start businesses in their garages. Why? It gets cold out people! Six months of the year are closed for innovation! That’s why there is no silicon valley in Kansas. You get a great idea, like my idea for a kid centric internet (taken) and you just get too darned cold to implement. Sigh.

One of my favorite blogs on marketing (one of my many, many passions) is Patrick Byer’s Responsible Marketing. Today, he had this video on his blog. So cool. I could riff about Passive Sourcing and how the thing you’re looking for can be hidden, blah blah, but you’re smart enough to figure that out right?

Coolest Treadmill EVER

I was going to write about migration patterns of candidates coming in and out of my region. I was going to share my thoughts on yesterday’s fantastic AIM presentation (it included the phrase Early Adopter, thankyouverymuch Malci G addicts). I was going to finally, in this one amazing and brilliant blog post unseat Penelope Trunk and Jim Stroud at the top of the blog heap and take the coveted spot of awesomest ever HR/Recruiting/Neato young person blogger forever. And then I saw this. . .

Oh my heavens. I do not know who this guy is or what he even blogs about (I’ll find out in a minute) but I do know he’s FRIGGIN awesome! I want one of these. Forget the Segway (although they are very smooth and easy to ride as I can attest to since I in fact rode on at a rooftop party in D.C. and if that doesn’t convince you of my utter coolness, I really do NOT know what will) this is the rockin machine that will change the future. Dude, my husband is going to kill you. I just sold our treadmill and now we have to buy another one.

I guess the top bloggers can hold on to their spot. BUT, only for one more day. Oh and total shoutout to Amybeth Hale, whose blog (which is on my reader and should be on yours) for finding this phenom contraption!

Exactly what I think but. . .eloquent-er

This article, by Paul Hawkinson, is great. It’s called “Why recruiters are worth what they charge” and it told me stuff about how great recruiters are that even I didn’t know. It can be hard with all the new talent flooding the industry but I believe that recruiting and sourcing are really great professions.

Stay tuned for my take on today’s AIM presentation (which was awesome) and my notes (which are slightly less so but still valid).

CIOs, List Merit and the Adler 1 question interview

Great take on two great articles that talk about how and why to integrate the IT dept.

What? Integrating? From my seat, it seems that IT is going to take over the business unit instead of waiting to be integrated.

Please note the great recommendations at the end of the article, pulled from TechRepublic, who in turn adapted it from March 10’s WSJ:

My only complaint with the article is that I think you can break down the solution to this problem in three basic steps:

1. Hire a CIO who has business savvy but can also gain the respect of the techies in the IT department
2. Improve IT awareness/training among executives and team leaders throughout the business
3. Improve business awareness/training among the company’s IT managers

Hear that? Step one: Hire a CIO. Hire a great one. I will add to that. Allow him or her to oversee all the hiring decisions. The problem, as stated by many people who are lots smarter than me, is that the rest of the company views IT as a money drain, as an issue. IT is quickly becoming where innovation happens and creativity can thrive (in the right environment). Companies that realize this and make sure that hiring policies are based on the right fit rather than the right resume, will find a more personable IT department that will add in measurable ways to the company’s bottom line.

Here is an excellent article by the inimitable Lou Adler on the one question interview. Amazing. I used this on a candidate who seemed great at the outset but was quickly exposed to be better suited for a more junior role. Now I’ve integrated it into every interview I do. If you read the article carefully, which you should, you note that there are some decided tips in there for HR Pros and Recruiters (even some pre-sourcers). I like to reduce these down to two basics: Don’t be a pushover and don’t be a big baby. But read the article, he says it better.

Donato’s neat post about list quality (which is already getting linked to by zillions) came right after spoke to a friend planning her HR budget. Fate I guess, but it seems that a customized list would cost a great deal more than a standard issue list but to plan in these large shift changes (especially in a highly competitive industry like hers) from general to specific at the beginning of the fiscal year makes great sense. That way your boss doesn’t get all ticked off when you want all the boards, the general list subscription, the customized list AND the courses with cybersleuthing gurus. Oh and a ticket to that sweet social media conference that just happens to be in California. A girl can dream right?

So stinking cool, why can’t I be cool?

This site for meaningful, idealistic, amazing start ups and the neato jobs–Check the panic button. Genius!

In the last few months I have been meeting with people all over the Omaha area to hear their take on recruiting, IT and whatever else happens to spill out over coffee and stacks of files. My conclusion? Omaha is currently the Wild West of recruiting. While there are TONS and I mean a really super lot of recruiting firms here and some pretty up there companies as far as tech talent goes, we still haven’t connected, regulated, formulated a plan. Paul B. in MN has a plan for the recruiters in his area. Some Austin recruiters get together. What’s the deal?

So keep your eyes open. Hopefully, sometime soon all these talks and meetings will come to fruition in an actual community that Omaha area recruiters (wondering why there is no link here? because there is no site to link to, no blog, no network. . .) can participate in. Stay tuned. . .

Like the above vid. So glad not everyone in the world takes themselves waaaaay too seriously.

When coming here to type this post I typed: www.bigOrecruiting.blogpost.com and got a junk page. I realized that this could be a great opp for someone before realizing further that since the Google acquisition (some time ago now. . . ) that this is called Blogger and that was a stupid observation in the first doggone place. Write woman! Like my husband says :”It’s a wild ride”.

OKay some interesting stuff this week. I really like this post about being a great recruiter. As many smarter than me have noticed recruiting is a field that is seeing a great deal of growth. People my age (the largest group currently branding themselves recruiters) are not stupid and in a “stagflation” see the gold mine that is temporary or contract labor. Simply change your business card and slap a website up Fredo! So, as good spaghetti sticks to the wall, here is the advice for those of you who want to stick it out. Courtesy of Paul in Minnesota:

Usually I would have new members to introduce to you to but since that task for the moment is accomplished let me “promote” a few resources you may not be aware of:

-There are 70+ groups within RecruitingBlogs.com. Should you want to expand your knowledge and network check them out here http://www.recruitingblogs.com/groups

-Dave Mendoza is likely a name you recognize but if not check out his blog, www.sixdegreesfromdave.com, his LinkedIn page, http://www.linkedin.com/in/davemendoza, and his LinkedIn group Six Degrees, http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/37511/3DC0233041F8. Dave is one of the most connected people on LinkedIn and most of his connections are Recruiters like you and me.

-John Sumser and his Recruiting Roadshow, www.recruitingroadshow.com, will be in Cleveland, April 29th. These are great locally focused recruiting events that will appeal to corporate recruiters and search firm professionals. John started last year in Minneapolis and then went to Atlanta and Dallas. Last month John was in Las Vegas. If you have colleagues in the Cleveland area forward them this link, www.recruitingroadshow.com.

-The Fordyce Letter, http://www.fordyceletter.com/, has been for 30 years a significant resource for the search firm community. You may not know that our own Jason Davis has been writing a blog for the site and that recently material from January 2003 to January 2006 has been archived online and is accessible for free. Yep, free. Check it out.

I point to the above items because in seeing members profiles I have learned that quite a few in this group are new to being a Recruiter and I want to be sure you know what resources are available to you.

OK, that’s it for now.

Any questions or comments send them to me:

Paul DeBettignies
paul@mnheadhunter.com
www.mnheadhunter.com

Visit Recruiters On LinkedIn at:
http://www.recruitingblogs.com/groups/group/show?id=502551%3AGroup%3A6085

–

Also, here is a fantastic article by fabu Toni Bowers (points for the Star Wars ref, you will surely get nerd hate mail for that one), whose articles are always right up my alley and teach me a little something that tweaks my marketing-esque perspective and jerks it over to IT reality (or real-I-T for those of you who adore cute letter texty puns). Resume mistakes are annoying. A good recruiter should and can catch them but if like my friend Eric, you want a “sports agent” in your corner, act like a superstar! Well, not a real superstar, because I would doubt the spelling capabilities of most of them save Claire Danes, Natalie Portman and Phoebe from Friends, but you get my drift.

I found out that I am a millennial this week. Which makes me inexplicably happy. Once I left the 18-25 range, I thought I could never feel young again. I have a point and it is this: I like Janet from Plaxo. Click here to read the string and her advice, which is particularly good, as is Joe Sacco’s.

Okay, last note. People are always inviting me to join their networks online. I am open to this and frequently accept these invites. I no longer invite people because LinkedIn’s automated Gmail contact feature didn’t work for weeks and then when it finally DID, it said I was trying to import too many names. I am so not about to manually type all those names into that five space thingy.

So, people always go “Let’s network”. So the ball is in my court. What do I do? What does that mean? I want to oblige but know not how. . . .What’s an aspiring sales genius to do? I like Amybeth’s advice but have little time to implement it. ?????