Social Media NaySaying. . .

Social Media, Social Networking, Twittering, Vlogging, Blogging, etc.

Lately, these things are getting punched in the mouth and it’s not a pretty picture. Check it out: First my friend and super awesomated networker Dave Mendoza gets his group disbarred (Dave’s Six Degree list is famed among recruiters, meet him, get on it and watch your life change!), then Google and Facebook start making faces at each other; Ning gets grief from former prime vendor WidgetLabs (full soap opera length story here) and finally LinkedIn caps off what it started with a new and NOT improved user agreement.

In between all this rage personal battles about whether or not social media, networking et al are even GOOD things for our or any industry. I still say yes, some say yes with caveats, some sound an emphatic no.

My question is, without the social media stage, who’s listening to the naysayers?

Meanwhile, this just in, I rule! My Fistful of Talent post on Working Moms made it to SmartBrief, yeah!

When is the right time to leave a job?

When’s the BEST time to QUIT?Maren Hogan- Trying to help a friend decide when is the best time to leave a position you know isn’t working. What do you think? Are there benefits to staying where you’re not happy?

Here I talk about when you should leave a job. If you know it’s not right, is there a benefit to staying? What does job loyalty say about you when you HATE the position?

Travelocity is to Travel Agents as BountyJobs is to . . .

I was booking my reservations for RecruitFest finally (first lost the passport, then had a schedule snafu, THEN my 2 yr old grabbed the mileage card) so I was booking my travel (online of course) when this occured:
Husband: Chuckle ME: What? Husband: Oh I was just thinking of Christy (his sister, who is a travel agent) fighting the online booking sites tooth and nail. ME: silence. (mentally composing blog post)

It made me think about the “Chicken Little” thinking of so many recruiters and HR Pros.

Ack! New ATS, they won’t need us anymore!

Ooof, sweet job board, recruiters will be obsolete soon.

Crud, crazy algorithim thingy I don’t understand but am visibly fearful of. . .

You get the idea. Seeing that same fear emerge in an industry which was based on relationship and networking what roughly a decade ago and watching the way they rode it out may have some very real applications for recruiters and the people who structure recruiting tools. Obviously, it’s not 1998 and the tools are more sophisticated but Pam Claughton says it best here. And I say it pretty good over here when it comes to fancy tools (where I seemingly contradict myself but it’s not so, welcoming change and innovation is different than relying solely on it).

Did people stop using travel agents? Yes, but not entirely. The agents willing to embrace technology and press deeper into existing relationships made their service a luxury rather than an annoyance. The pleasure of speaking to a real person instead of repeatedly clicking “buy ticket now” on the screen was treasured by many. Corporate travel, group travel and luxe travel were all elevated and are now, largely the purvey of professional travel agents.

So don’t fret young recruiters or HR Interns, your expertise will come in very handy when you learn to embrace what’s coming (already here actually) and set yourself apart from the recruiters who slap resumes up against the wall. In a way, the new fancy computer gizmos can be a blessing because they separate the “wheat from the chaff” and when the end of the day rolls around, you’ll still have your carefully crafted expertise and your organically cultivated network. And all the cool tools!

Moms and Work

I’d love to hear from Moms that are working or heading back to work. If there are recruiters out there working from home, I’d love to hear from them as well? What are you issues? Your struggles? What would be your ideal schedule and benefits package? If you are planning on going back to the workforce, what will you look for in a company?

Your Passport to Recruiting Success (I am rolling my own eyes at that title)

Being the perennially disorganized person that I am, I recently found myself in the position of looking for my passport (for the reason why I need my passport, see here). I looked everywhere it was SUPPOSED to be: the “family docs” baggie (no silly firesafe for us, our birth certificates, marriage licences, adoption papers, SSN cards, all in the trusty Ziploc bag), the bottom of the purse I took to Italy, my old wallet, my prototype of the travel book I meant to write, EVERYWHERE. It was in none of those places. I was flummoxed.

As I looked in old nightstands and moving boxes, I came across some neat stuff though. I found the “dating journal” that my hubby and I made with all the goofy junk you give each other when you’re young and poor, I found pictures and writing from the orphans in Albania I had kissed and cuddled nearly four years ago, I found old travel stubs and boarding passes and even a list I wrote in Spanish class about “stuff I want to do before I die”. It felt like a treasure hunt.

So I tossed all that stuff back in a box and didn’t care what happened to it. . . What? No I didn’t,
BUT

Sometimes we do that with candidates, um I should say PEOPLE. While on a search for something very specific, we overlook, press over, ignore and forget about the treasures we literally stumble upon. I’m not saying to let every resume grab your eye until you wind up chasing your tail. I am saying, carefully set those treasures aside with the respect they deserve for future examination. Ways to do this:

- Lend support. Not all job seekers need you to find them a job. But letting them know you’re keeping your eyes open and giving them specific insight into their market is invaluable.

- Evaluate their resume. It takes about five minutes for a great recruiter to give preliminary advice on how a resume could look better, read better, hone in on specific skills. Take those five minutes for those treasures. It’s worth it.

- Relo help. Your job isn’t over when they get a job (whether through you or someone else). Do they have questions about your town? Can you reccommend a great condo or neighborhood? Do it? It doesn’t cost you a thing!

I found my passport and the doozy is that it didn’t take me any more time to find it and still treat those other treasures to a little extra attention as well. Now I have a box full of memories to go through and I know just where that comic strip my hubby gave me in the 90s is!

The Dark Side of Twitter and Social Networking

Ive noticed in the last few weeks, disturbing trends that can catch you unaware if you don’t tread carefully where social media is concerned.

Diversity, the state of HR in Omaha and taking education seriously

Today, I’d like to turn the spotlight on someone else. (Shocking, I know). Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend a Talent Anarchy seminar given by Joe Gerstandt and Jason Lauritsen. I went with the intention of supporting them and maybe to learn a thing or two. I was shocked at the quality of their presentation.

I don’t mean fancy powerpoints, amazing statistics and funny stories (although their presentation contained all of these things). What I was shocked at was the sheer volume of information and research that went into their talk (just one of a lineup BTW). Normally, with that much information, very little that comes out is enjoyable or easily put into practice.

The presentation was on “Generational Diversity“, oft discussed ad nauseum in these hallowed halls. But this was a fresh take with new insight that I’d never heard before. Now many of you are thinking, well yeah, of course Maren has never heard of it before. But there were HR Pros from some of the biggest cos. in Omaha seated around the table and they were duly impressed as well.

Why am I waxing on and on about these fellas? Because they take the responsibility of education seriously. It’s not really about promoting themselves, although they wouldn’t mind that. The research, the well rehearsed presentations, the interactive way with the crowd, it’s about ensuring that people not only get what they paid for but get what they HOPED for.

And in that room, looking around at some of the women and men, genuinely seeking greater understanding of the different generations and how they could help make that happen in their companies, I was greatly encouraged at the state of HR. Someone called me an idealist today. I’m okay with that. Omaha is in good hands!

You’re ticking me off!

There are a lot of jobs you can get in this world. And there are a lot of ways to automate processes so you need fewer employees, there are also open source programs that eliminate the need for high-cost tech. But my particular soapbox is talent and technology (in that order), so I am going to say it.

You can’t keep eliminating people. There’s a company in Omaha who in an astonishingly dunderheaded move, is reducing its workforce very systematically (in an almost Nazi-like way). They let departments know that the later they get called in, the more likely they are to get cut, leaving entire groups of people fearful, uncertain and certainly unproductive. This company goes through this process nearly every quarter. ( I am not opposed to firing or even layoffs but this process is ridiculous).

Beyond the obvious, no wait, staying IN the land of the obvious, this will eventually kill a company and is extremely short sighted. While it’s possible that the company will never need to re-staff (doubtful but whatever), their reputation is so tarnished that the quality of hire will be very low. If they were to contract with an RPO or third party recruiter like myself, they would have to hand over the control of their entire recruiting (and some HR functions) dept. just in order to be taken seriously.

I suppose there’s a chance that some hotshot amazing HR pro will move to Omaha to provide a resurgence in Employer Brand but it’s pretty slim.

As repetitive as the “seat at the table” discussion has been, it’s obvious to me that now HR Pro worth his or her salt was present here. What a legacy. What a shame.

Non-compete discussion, what do YOU think?

Lonely Hearts, Hungry Recruiters and why Web 2.0 owes us

(Make no mistake. I am not ripping off ERE. I recently did a post on Fistful of Talent that was all about attraction, so the concept was there.)

In any case, I have been thinking lately about the impact that recruiting and dating both, have had on the social media/networking scene. It seems to me that the industry (Recruiting/HR/Talent Acquisition) and the social practice (dating, hooking up, marriage) both have the same base elements that make them prime “plantin ground” for the seeds of social media.

(There are a lot of similarities: key skill sets/age, weight, height; poorly worded JDs/that guy who just wants to be “friends with benefits; background checks/background checks; first interview/first date; placement that walks off the job/one night stands; I could go on and on. . .)

I remember about six years ago, a friend went through a divorce. Afterward, she tentatively went online to avoid the whole “dating scene”. She joined three or four sites, messed with her profile pic, said slightly different things on each site. I must admit, we all secretly scoffed, and said ” I told you so” when her first catch turned out to be a married man with lots of theories and no job. But when she snagged a cute scientist who trotted her round the world, we were . . .well, jealous but also impressed.

In recruiting, it’s the same deal. At first, it seems like a slot machine. You pull the handle and hope for some kind of match to appear. You cut a wide swath and hope the candidate is “in your pool” at the end of the day. Sometimes, like my friend, you get the slimy married dude. But when you learn how to use the technology and how to vet out the freaks, you can end up with a very qualified, professional partner (of sorts) that just wants to cut through the bull and have a relationship without all the extra work.

And what’s wrong with that?