Beyond HR

Moving on to Wordpress...

2010-07-03T09:29:00.002-05:00

I realize it's been a LONG time since my last update on this blog...mainly because I've switched over to a new blog, "Do What You Love." Lots of the same information, but a little more focused on helping others find their true calling.

You can find it here.

Great Article by the Networking King

2009-06-24T09:16:00.002-05:00

Came across this great article by Keith Ferrazzi that I wanted to post up real quick. This is the same stuff that we stress with our Hob Nob chapter members all the time!!!

Why School Loans Suck Even More

2009-05-28T09:32:00.002-05:00

I came across this article from Businessweek about student loan debt, and started to think through a few things as a result. According to the article, the average college grad is 33 before their net earnings catch up to counterparts who never went to college. And get this: this data is for public university grads--meaning the age is older for those of us "lucky" enough to go to private institutions.

Without going off on too much of a rant, this is all the more reason to understand what you want to do with your life while you're still in college. If the statistics hold true, the average student changes their major nearly three times before they graduate college. In some cases, this results in more time than the standard 4 years at school...which means more money being spent staying IN school. Which basically means you're likely be nearly 40 by the time you pay off all your debt. And this doesn't even include graduate schools for professions like law or medicine (speaking of which, over 50% of general medical practitioners say they wouldn't be doctors if they had to do it all over again).

Consider this: Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, dropped out of Washington State College after only two years. Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers, never finished at the University of Texas. Barry Diller, CEO of IAC Interactive, dropped out of UCLA after only 3 weeks. And the list goes on and on with the likes of Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Bill Gates (Microsoft), and Steve Jobs (Apple).

...It strikes me that a lot of people who drop out of college early and go on to have wildly successful careers seem to be the ones that knew what they wanted to do and just went after it. So aside from saving a bunch of money, they saved a bunch of time and were able to hone in on what they were interested in much earlier than most of us.

Maybe all those dropouts were onto something...

The Cover Letter That Mocks...Sheer Brilliance

2009-05-04T16:55:00.002-05:00

Today I received an email from one of our Emory student leaders, and what I received was too funny NOT to blog about.

The concept: a book (called "Overqualified") composed entirely of cover letters to companies around the world...cover letters that mock the very companies that they're being written to.

I gotta say, if I ever want something to read on the toilet, this has got to be it--and I don't mean that as a slight. The letters are short, entertaining, and showcase something that we've felt like doing at one point or another in our careers when experiencing the frustration that comes with applying to scores of companies that never seem to respond. Or maybe that's just me. ;)

So, without further ado, you can click here and be entertained.

The correlation between the economy and job applications

2009-04-30T21:59:00.003-05:00

Part of what we do at Hob Nob is help recruit internship talent for organizations, and consult with employers on how to create great internship experiences. As a result, we get our fair share of applications from college students on a daily basis for the opportunities that we showcase within our campus chapters.

And you know what? I've noticed something.

With the state of the economy not exactly rosy at the moment, it's sending students into a flurry of activity...which is not exactly good in this case. Why? The flurry of activity is students applying to every internship opportunity that seems remotely viable, irrespective of their qualifications, interests, or talents.

Now, I can't exactly blame the students--after all, the prospect of landing a job are extremely hard in this environment. But this is precisely why I'd argue for the case that students, more than ever, must figure out ways to become "sharp."

Sharp is understanding your strengths and how to leverage them. Sharp is knowing your weaknesses, and finding ways to minimize them without pretending they don't exist. Sharp is articulating what makes you different than anyone else. Sharp is the opposite of being well-rounded. At the end of the day, being sharp means knowing what you are looking for and seeking opportunities that align best with what you bring to the table.

If you're a student trying to find an opportunity, I have just two words for you: Be Sharp. You'll gain better traction with the focus that comes from knowing what you want. It's not to say you don't have to apply to a lot of positions--I'm not disputing the fact that this environment is challenging and you might have to be more patient than ever in this job market. What I AM saying is that you will have a greater chance of being noticed through the noise if you find a way of differentiating yourself. And that usually means figuring out what makes you unique...and what makes you different.

In this climate where there is an "abundance" of talent looking to get plugged into careers, it's easier to be remembered for being unique in a sea of sameness.

Does Anyone Care About Microsoft Anymore?

2009-04-28T08:44:00.002-05:00

Well, I just couldn't resist writing about this...reportedly Microsoft is releasing a new service called "Vine," which is described as a service that allows people to:

“Stay in touch with family and friends, be informed when someone you care about needs help. Get involved to create great neighborhoods, communities or causes. You select the people and places you care about most. Use alerts, reports and your personal dashboard to stay in touch, informed and involved.

“Information associated with the places you have chosen will appear on your map, including articles culled from 20,000 local and national news sources as well as public safety announcements from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Information associated with the people you care about who are in your Vine network will appear on the dashboard too. You will know when they send you an alert, post a report or update their Facebook status information.”

But I can't help but wonder if people would actually use this service. Hate to say it, but I think Twitter and Facebook kind of spoiled the party for them--how is Microsoft going to convince people to use Vine when they're already twittering and status updating amongst the people they're connected to? Why would you try to go to a completely new community, and try to drag your friends to it when they're already on Facebook, Twitter, or a half dozen other social networking sites?

Unless Vine leverages some new way of allowing people to communicate to each other (ie like how Twitter came up with the concept of micro-blogging), I just don't see it taking off. I'll reserve judgement until I see the actual service...but it doesn't look good so far.

Going Internship Crazy

2009-04-23T14:16:00.002-05:00

Alright, so last posting on available internships, I promise. At least for now. ;)

We have two other opportunities available with Hob Nob, a Graphic Design Internship and PR Internship. Click on each one to read more details.

At least the good thing is that having internships means we're growing, right? This summer may prove to be crazy busy...but I'm really pumped about all the progress we'll be making!

Till next time, folks...

IT Internship

2009-04-23T13:32:00.002-05:00

Got another internship available for this summer, so here it is: we're looking for a bright computer science or computer engineering major to help architect our growing web presence.

Among other things, you'll be working on:

Creation of various pages under the Joomla CMS
Creation of video upload, video player, and video search functionalities within our site
Helping to architect our site layout
Troubleshooting website issues and all things IT

For more information, read here.

Video Production Internship

2009-04-10T14:49:00.006-05:00

We happen to have an internship available at Hob Nob, so wanted to post about this real quick. We're looking for a video production guru who can work for us during this summer to help create inspirational videos to spread the Hob Nob message.

We're a bit idealistic, so it doesn't hurt if you're a "place a dent in the universe" type of person...we want to talk to you! ;)

Some of the things you can expect to work on throughout the course of this internship are:

Film and edit interviews with highly successful individuals in the Atlanta professional community
Film and edit viral videos to promote Hob Nob's brand and services
Help create storyboards for video shorts
Create a web strategy to spread the content that you help create

You can read more here.

I'm in a...book??

2009-04-10T08:08:00.003-05:00

Just saw the other day that I actually made it into a book written by Jennifer Remling, called "Carve your own road." It's a little weird seeing myself in a business book...but it's not like I'm complaining either. :)

Check it out--the book is about individuals who changed their careers, and how you can do the same if you find yourself in a career rut.

A Lot Can Change in a Year

2009-04-05T21:43:00.004-05:00

It's been more than a year since I last posted on this site. Wow.

That said, I'm sure I managed to drive away what few readers I had to begin with through my lack of updates. ;) I didn't mean for there to be such a gap between postings. In my defense, I had quite a busy year...

First, I resigned from my career as a HR/Recruiting professional to create a start-up focused on helping people find their life callings. It is one of those "dare to be great" moments in one's life that I just couldn't ignore--let's just say I finally accepted the fact that my calling was to help other people find their callings. So, with that thought, I packed up my bags and left a good company where I had been for nearly 3 years.

Here's the kicker: I did it well into 2008, when we were officially in a recession/depression or whatever you wish to call it.

But I don't regret it one bit. The roller coaster that I've been on since has been great, and I've been able to already impact people's lives in a way that makes the whole painful process of starting up a business worth it. But back to why I've been so busy over the last year...

Second, in the midst of all the lunacy that I was in while starting up my company, I decided to get married. Not much else to say here, other than marriage is great. :)

Third, my business partner and I have been busy with all things Hob Nob, which is the name of our organization. We've put together a Board of Advisors, a website, an Emory campus chapter, a business plan (which became irrelevant on day 2), business service offerings and collateral...and a million other things that go into starting a business.

There's much more to the madness, but for now, just wanted to update y'all on what's been going on. Now that my schedule has become a bit more predictable (I use that loosely), I'll be getting back into the swing of things with my blog posts.

Till next time...which WON'T be a full year from now. ;)

It's the System, Not the People!!

2008-03-17T11:55:00.003-05:00

Seth Godin wrote an interesting blog entry this morning that I found myself needing to comment on.

The basic premise...you don't need a resume if you are truly remarkable. That a resume just points out all the things you DON'T have in order to qualify for a job rather than point out what makes you so good at what you do. Plus, a resume is just so...drab and unimaginative...and just puts you in the rest of the heap of people that are all trying to be "cogs in the big machine."

I agree where Seth is going with this...but I disagree with his audience (ironic given that Seth is a marketing guy). You see, I never thought remarkable people needed to be the ones who had to be prodded to do away with their resumes. I talk to people each day who are extraordinary at what they do--and none of them have had to write up a resume for as long as they've been doing what they love.

So where is the breakdown? My contention is the "big machines" that employ these people. So rather than deliver this message to the people, I think Seth needs to address the main culprit here: employers.

For employers, resumes are safe. They're consistent. They provide some sort of "objective" way of filtering through the hundreds of resumes they come across each day. Like one person commented on Seth's blog post, resumes are a "necessary evil." Why? They're necessary because of the system in which we all operate in.

So to take a cue from Andy Stanley, I want to suggest one thing: rather than change people, we need to change the system. Systems drive behavior. It's not that people WANT to write resumes. They have to. But why do they have to? Because it's the stupid employers who demand them!!! A whole industry (job boards and resume databases) has spawned from this system!!!

In the end, my suggestion is that a few bold companies just need to step up. More importantly, a few bold recruiting departments need to step it up. In the frenetic, chaotic environment that recruiters often operate in...it's too easy to fall back into the resume system that we all know and are familiar with.

This is the challenge for recruiters: When you have 300 positions to fill yesterday, what are you going to do? Go through 800 resumes in the hopes that you find some qualified candidates? Or (gasp) buck the trend and begin to utilize non-traditional ways to evaluate talent? The latter takes more time (A LOT more time). Time that recruiters don't really have.

This brings us to the challenge for recruiting leaders, or HR leaders: What are you going to do to create a SYSTEM that supports recruiters who take the time to evaluate talent apart from resumes? Because if your system supports resumes...guess what? Your recruiters will too. And no amount of talk, conference calls, or incentives will motivate them towards the other route over the long term.

Sure, overhauling the system isn't easy. It sure isn't going to happen overnight. But like I said, if a few bold companies begin to take steps towards creating new systems...I think people like Seth Godin will have less to worry about in the future. The remarkable people will finally have a system that embraces them.

Cover Letters Can Be A Good Laugh

2008-03-04T14:39:00.003-05:00

So if you wanted a good laugh today, here are some fun reads from the world of recruiting...ah, yes. The notorious cover letter. Done well, they can distinguish you from a stack of resumes in a recruiter's inbox. Done poorly...well...you end up on blog postings like this. ;)

My personal favorite? Ironically, it would still probably catch my attention because of its sheer absurdity. :o So I guess it would work. But that's just me.

"My name is ____, and I kick ass. See resume for details."

LinkedIn's New Look

2008-02-28T14:11:00.002-05:00

So I log into LinkedIn today...and what do I see? A fresh new site layout! Except that it's not so fresh...and not so "new."

Why the hater-ade?

Anyone else notice how the re-design mimics (ever so slightly) the look of Facebook? You have two main white spaces on both sides of the main page view. And now because of this new increased white space on either side, you cause the user to focus on the middle where you have features like Network Updates or Company News...which in my opinion is not so different than the Newsfeed section on Facebook when users first log in. If LinkedIn introduces a Slide wiki in the near future, I'll officially lose all faith that this site is on the right track here.

But all kidding aside, there were also recent murmurs within the walls of LinkedIn's corporate digs that things were not all that great. Hmmmm...

You get where I'm going with this. I've never been a fan of following an industry leader if you can avoid it. My fear for LinkedIn is that they begin to operate in follow mode vs. trying to out-innovate their competition. This, coupled with the fact that they seem to have their own issues in-house, has me wondering where the heck LinkedIn is going to end up in the next 1-3 years: has been, cash cow for a media conglomerate, or web networking visionary?

My money isn't on the last one...

How Employer Branding Should Look Like

2007-10-29T10:06:00.000-05:00

Long lines in the middle of the night at the NYC Apple store seem pretty commonplace, apparently. What is the cause of these lines? The iPhone.

Even though the iPhone isn't superior in all ways compared to other phones like Blackberrys, HTC or Nokia smartphones...it's managed to create a cult following that none of them have ever achieved.

Which leads me to wonder: what's your company doing to create a killer app/product to attract the masses? Specifically, what's your company doing to attract the best talent out there? I'm more and more convinced that in order to recruit the best...you gotta have a cult following. Like the iPhone.

For All You Search Engine Geeks

2007-10-11T15:18:00.000-05:00

Stumbled upon this humorous site that shows which keywords have more results vs. others. Creative and quirky...which is probably why I'm posting this to begin with. :o

Google Might Not Be Invincible After All

2007-09-27T16:50:00.000-05:00

Very interesting development here on the Google and Doubleclick deal.

If this deal falls through, you can bet Steve Ballmer will be laughing himself silly as one of his chief rivals experiences the bitter taste of anti-trust cases...

LinkedIn Introducing Photos...Seriously?

2007-09-27T08:59:00.002-05:00

So this morning I open up my Google Reader to find a few articles about LinkedIn introducing photos starting tomorrow, Sept. 26. After blinking a few times to check whether or not my coffee had kicked in properly, I read the articles to discover a little more about the rationale behind this latest move by the professional networking site.

First off, LinkedIn is stipulating that the photos be "serious-looking" headshots...the kind that you normally see accompanying executive bios. Apparently the suits at LinkedIn are worried about degrading their website and taking away from the professionalism.

Second, it appears that LinkedIn is taking some measured steps towards opening up their site to the development community. But, much like the photo feature above...it sounds like this is not going to be anywhere near the open community that the Facebook platform has created. Moreover, this initiative isn't going to see the light of day until Spring 2008.

With all this said, here's my take on this whole thing. The "serious" photos? How can one NOT think that this is a deliberate step towards creating a more sticky website in response to Facebook's growing popularity amongst the tech illuminati? LinkedIn's PR reps can talk all they want about how this is not in response to Facebook's increasing web presence, but I'm more than a little skeptical given the fact that LinkedIn's own co-founder (Reid Hoffman) said in August that "photos and business don't go together." Huh? What's with the turn around?

And from early indications, I'm not a huge fan of LinkedIn's cautious approach towards drawing in the development community through its site. If the new web has proven anything, it's that the sites which leverage crowdsourcing tend to flourish and grow beyond even the founder's expectations. Why? Because they're engaging. They're sticky. You need to be sticky if you're a networking site.

Like I've been ranting for a while now, LinkedIn needs to be a little more innovative and a little less serious if it intends on being around for the long haul. While these latest developments are a step towards that, I still feel like they're moving too slow while their competition moves a lot faster. With Facebook adding 200,000 users per day compared with 36,000 for LinkedIn, each day literally counts.

For right now, I'm leaning towards Facebook winning this war. There. I said it. ;p But LinkedIn still has some time to change my mind. Hopefully they do.

Riding the Insanity Train

2007-09-26T12:00:00.000-05:00

So apparently I'm not the only one raising my eyebrows at the latest rumors swirling around Facebook and Microsoft. Kara Swisher of the WSJ (ironically the same publication that broke the news first regarding this odd marriage) goes even further by saying that this potential deal qualifies as a sign that the end is near.

But in all seriousness, she has some interesting points regarding the logic behind Facebook's proper valuation. I tend to agree with most of her points--although, I think she is somewhat underestimating the whole geek factor in Point 3. It's these same geeks that are capable of creating some major game-changing apps for the Facebook platform that will separate it from its competition, after all.

And yes...like her conclusion from all this, I think if Mark Zuckerberg manages to squeeze as much as $500 million from Microsoft's pockets...he should run. Run as fast as he can while having a giggling fit away from the tech giant after stuffing his pockets full of that cash. :o

Microsoft: A Case of Throwing Money at Your Problems

2007-09-24T15:37:00.000-05:00

So apparently Microsoft seems to think Facebook is worth $10 billion. Yes, this after analysts gave the social networking platform a valuation of $4.5 billion a little over a month ago. According to the WSJ, Microsoft is in the early stages of talks with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg about possibly buying a 5% or less stake in the company worth around $300-$500 million.

I'm scratching my head on this one. Mark Zuckerberg, in the meanwhile, is laughing himself silly.

Microsoft hasn't proven too adept at taking advantage of the social web thus far--and this latest move has me wondering how exactly they would integrate Facebook's community into their own products and services. This is the same feeling I had when Microsoft purchased aQuantive back in May. Steve Ballmer really has some work ahead of himself in light of these recent seemingly disconnected moves.

But here's an interesting thought: the fact that Microsoft is even thinking of buying a stake in Facebook is telling on some levels. For one, it could possibly mean that Microsoft is still suffering from the halo-effect that Google has created on the Internet which has caused Ballmer & Co. to react (in some cases) very irrationally. Second, I wonder if Microsoft is in fact worried about Zuckerberg's aspirations for his exploding site. Earlier speculation had Facebook potentially becoming a next generation OS, if you recall. Is this Microsoft's way of keeping the enemy nearby?

It'll be very interesting to see how this discussion between Microsoft and Facebook turns out.

We're on to you, Mark Zuckerberg!

2007-09-18T09:25:00.001-05:00

Has anyone been keeping up with the Facebook media frenzy? Actually, has anyone been able to avoid any of the Facebook hype machine in the last 4-6 months? ...this is nearly analogous to how Lakers fans must feel about Kobe Bryant--it's nearly impossible to go too long without hearing something about the NBA superstar. But I digress. :o

So here's the latest in the whirlwind of activity happening within the walls of this social networking site: Facebook is taking a page out of Amazon and offering data storage to developers of Facebook applications. The news in of itself isn't too shocking; it's the most logical step in their evolution from niche social networking site to major Internet portal.

Internet portal? Yes...I truly believe that Mark Zuckerberg and company are devising a strategy to become THE Internet destination of choice. We're beginning to see the pieces slowly coming together. The first major move was releasing their API to the development community. Since then, we've seen a flurry of activity around the creation of applications on the Facebook platform. This in turn has led to a mass movement of developers to the Facebook community vs. other social networking sites like Myspace or LinkedIn (if you can even count them in this category).

And now this latest news about offering data storage to developers? Something tells me this is the second major move in a long term strategy that Facebook has up its sleeves. I'll talk more to this point in future postings.

But for now, I'll just throw this out there: what's LinkedIn, Myspace, or Xing doing? What about the job boards? For the time being, they're looking on the sidelines as Facebook races past them. LinkedIn has already stated that they will be releasing their API to the development community later in the year to early next year. But my gut tells me this is too little too late.

It's a classic example of copying a competitor's strategy as quickly as possible...however on the new web, this strategy fails miserably because the name of the game is innovation. It's about jumping from one S-curve to the next. Not riding on the tails of another model. And no matter how much LinkedIn believes that they are different compared to pure social networking sites like Facebook...let's face it: Facebook's strategy includes going into LinkedIn's sweetspot of professional networking.

Which means something has to give.

My bet? Without some true innovation from within, sites like LinkedIn are going to be looking quite out-of-date as new sites pop up...or existing ones innovate past them.

Which begs the question: are recruiters really following all this? They've become quite comfortable with LinkedIn's pool of talent. What happens when that well dries up because it's no longer popular (ala Xanga or Friendster)?

Yes, I'm Still Here

2007-09-10T09:31:00.000-05:00

As the title implies, I wanted to let everyone out there know that I am still here. Although, if you were to gauge that based on my posting consistency...you'd probably have a different conclusion. :P

So to make amends for not posting in what seems like forever, I at least have a new site to offer to those digging the new social networking trend that is taking over corporate America: digFoot. So what is digFoot? It's a directory of social networks around the world.

It's an interesting little site that allows you to find social networks that may not be on the mainstream radar just yet. From a recruiting perspective, it's also a great way to educate yourself on the networks if you're not at all familiar with them since the directory gives you a high-level synopsis of each site when you search.

Pass the Hatorade, Please

2007-05-31T15:22:00.000-05:00

Just came across this interesting dicussion thread on Slashdot, and thought I'd share. Apparently employed IT folks hate recruiters.

I have to admit, reading through some of the ideas make me chuckle. Others made me a little worried about the sanity of the people that posted the ideas. :o

Facebook: The LinkedIn Killer

2007-05-25T08:09:00.000-05:00

As some of you may already know, there's a big hoopla over what happened yesterday at 3pm in San Francisco. What am I talking about? The Facebook Platform Launch, an event that elicits comparisons to Steve Jobs and his keynote sessions for Apple (it's funny to hear other people say that Mark Zuckerberg was "channeling" Steve Jobs at this event...).

The most evident thing at this event? Facebook's undeniable ambition to become the #1 most visited site on the Internet...which also leverages its community in a manner that will allow it (and many partners) to build unprecedented services and applications for the semantic web. The most striking comment in this event? That Zuckerberg and company are "targeting Google next." Joking or not, I think it's safe to say that even making a comment like that speaks to their ambitions of taking Facebook to the next level.

So here's something I'll throw out there. Facebook is already stickier than MySpace and LinkedIn. The fact that they now have 70+ applications under way for the site only means they have the potential for getting more sticky as it expands its user base. Indeed, nearly 50% of its user base is 25 years or older. I can believe this statistic because I'm one of them...

My bold claim: Facebook has the potential of disrupting LinkedIn's model...and the model of many other social networking sites. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Facebook begins to play on the same fields as some of its other peers such as LinkedIn. What if Facebook created a professional networking forum within its site? It's feasible, given its current growth rate of non-college students...

For the time being, I don't think LinkedIn has anything to worry about since it has a handle on its demographic. But if they're not careful...and if they don't constantly innovate...I wonder just how much staying power it will have.

Digg Marries Monster...Meet TalentSpring

2007-05-18T10:20:00.000-05:00

So I have this dilemma that everyone else has (at least, anyone that spends a lot of time on the Internet)...keeping track of the semantic web/social networking phenomenon. I swear, a day doesn't go by that I don't hear of at least 3 or 5 new sites that have "interesting" twists on current sites.

I only wonder how many of these have staying power...how many of them are "sticky" enough to create communities that keep coming back. But it'll be a few years before we know the answer to that question, so in the meanwhile, here's a new site that has yet another interesting premise.

If Digg and Monster were to be mashed up, I would imagine the result would be similar to TalentSpring. Read on from Techcrunch:

Like traditional resume marketplaces, TalentSpring is database of resumes from those seeking work or looking for new employment opportunities. Where as tradition resume marketplaces are generally search driven databases, categorized by user submissions based on location, experience etc, TalentSpring uses a ranking system to rate resumes so that top resumes float to the top of TalentSpring whilst lesser resumes drop. Resumes are ranked by other job seekers. Upon signing up and submitting your resume, to have your details included on TalentSpring you must score 12 sets of other candidates in your own professional area. The voting system is a one resume or another proposition x 12. Users are presented two resumes side by side and must mark which candidate they feel is better suited for a position in that particular field. ...Costs for the service are highly competitive, starting at $195 for a single position with various unlimited use packages also available.

So...check back here in a few years to see if this latest site gains traction. ;) At $195 a pop, it doesn't seem like such a bad deal if TalentSpring can actually get a decent collection of resumes. Which makes me wonder: how long is Monster going to take before they roll out any Web 2.0 initiatives of their own?

This Isn't a Tribute to Star Trek...

2007-05-14T12:32:00.000-05:00

So after months of waiting, I finally got my invite to Spock. It's one of many new "people search engines" that is debuting on the web right now. It's still in invitation only beta, so if you want to check it out you'll have to sign up and wait for them to come calling you.

I've been playing with it thus far today, and I have to admit, I'm beginning to believe their claim of having 100 million plus profiles on their site already. I've gone through a good portion of my own hiring team, and haven't found one yet that ISN'T indexed in this site.

On top of that, I've been giving it a run through with the current project I'm working on...and it seems to be holding up pretty well. Granted, it's far from perfect. Many of the profiles have only the most basic information about individuals (city, sex, company, title, etc.), so as a Talent Researcher one still has to do some legwork to uncover more information. But if you're just starting your search on a particular individual, it's a good start.

I'll be interested to see how this site evolves as it draws nearer to a "Go live" date. Until then, I'll continue tinkering around...and giving updates on my blog whenever I find something new.

The Top Brand?

2007-04-24T09:12:00.000-05:00

So apparently, the meteoric rise of Google doesn't seem to be slowing down all that much. A new research study on brands by the WPP Group has ranked Google as the most valuable brand.

The crazy thing? It happened in about a decade.

Just more proof that the business landscape is getting faster with globalization. As walls begin to come down between countries, communication across barriers becomes less inhibited. More communication...facilitated properly of course...often times leads to faster innovation. Hence what you see occuring with Web 2.0 firms right now.

Web 2.0 has officially gone...mainstream

2007-04-04T11:52:00.000-05:00

It's pretty safe to say that once a "trend" has entered the ad-world, it's gone mainstream, right? After all, inserting something that used to be cutting-edge isn't so effective as a communication piece to the masses unless the masses understand the context.

Well, I came across this quirky and amusing advertisement (although, whether or not this is a real ad from the company is still up for debate) today, and just had to post it up on the blog.

...yes, I realize that it's been 3 months and counting since my last post. Let's just say that I have been extremely (and still am!) with so many different projects that I hardly get time to write anymore. :( Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things and start posting consistently.

Christmas Thoughts

2006-12-22T14:18:00.000-05:00

...Tom Peters manages to do it again. For me, at least.

Here's a recent post from him.

Perhaps the reason it feels so close to home is that this is what leadership is all about. And yet, it's lost on so many people day in and day out...including me. Fortunately for me, I've had occasional epiphanies where I've been able to witness how doing a small thing like this can make a HUGE difference. On your co-worker. On your team. On your business unit. On your organization.

Thanks, Tom.

Powersetting Your Search

2006-11-25T15:53:00.000-05:00

New search engines on the Internet are a dime a dozen nowadays. Or so it seems, right?

I ran across this new search engine today called Powerset. But before I had a chance to roll my eyes at yet another search engine...I realized that this thing is definitely getting the hype machine treatment in techdom.

Part of the reason is the "who's who" of supporters behind this thing. On its list of investors includes Eric Tilenius (former CEO of Answers.com) and Esther Dyson (techdom's queen), among a slew of others. It's even got a few heavy hitting VCs behind it..

So what's going to make Powerset so special compared to all the other search engines getting created out there in cyberspace? It claims to be a search engine based on "natural language processing." By focusing on the structure and nuances of natural language, Powerset has its sights set on breaking search free of traditional keyword confines. Or something to that extent.

It shows promise. Unfortunately, it's not available to the public yet. Claiming that it's operating in "semi-stealth" mode for now, it looks like those of us wanting to get a glimpse into the "future of search" will have to wait until Powerset's creators are ready for prime time.

I for one will be very interested to see if Powerset can live up to all this hype.

Microsoft rolling out another social networking site?

2006-11-13T16:11:00.000-05:00

Hmmm...some interesting bit of news I came across today. It appears Microsoft is trying to form another IT community site.

How it differs from The Hive, I have yet to determine. Right now Aggreg8 is so bare bones that it's hard to tell if this thing is going to take off.

I do have to say that as it stands now, Aggreg8 is definitely not ready for primetime. It may have some interesting things here or there, but nothing substantial that would tantalize any user.

More to come as I uncover...

In the meanwhile, I will be posting more frequently!

Using Online Lead Generation Firms for...Recruiting?

2006-10-10T19:09:00.000-05:00

So it's been a very long time since I last posted on my blog. I guess I can't complain too much...things have been extremely busy for me, which is normally a good thing when it comes to business. I think. ;) My only worry is if I begin to routinely start off each one of my new blog posts with "it's been a long time since..."

So I came across a very interesting firm the other week. The name? Root Markets, founded by Seth Goldstein. The idea behind the firm? Create an online marketplace where people can trade...Internet leads. The idea goes like this: instead of being at the mercy of marketers and advertisers, let consumers regain power by controlling their own online data. Oh yeah, and make money doing it.

Here's a scenario of how a typical transaction might occur on Root Exchange, the online marketplace set up by Goldstein's firm: 1) Using an add-on to Firefox called Attention Recorder, you literally keep track of your personal searches on search engines, sites you click on, etc. 2) You store all this tracking information in a private online vault that you'll be able to share selectively with others. 3) Online firms, such as Mortgage providers, can pay you money if you allow them to know that you just ordered the latest book about purchasing homes from Amazon. 4) This signals to the online firm that you might be open to "pitches," such as loans for a home.

So what's the big deal?

What if Root Exchange (which currently is doing mortgage leads, auto loans, and insurance) becomes an online marketplace for recruiters?

In a sense, this is what agencies and staffing firms have already been doing for quite some time.

Except, it's translating it into a Web 2.0 (yes, had to use it...can't think of something else to call it) experience. And that's the key. It's an experience for the user. Which is why the potential for it blowing up "could" be real. If you don't believe that experiences are the way of the web right now...just read the news about the latest deal that Google made with YouTube. The main appeal of YouTube is the experience. And apparently it's worth $1.6 billion to some firms (I'm depressed at the fact that I didn't execute against the idea of a video sharing site sooner...but I digress...).

All I know is...I would not be surprised at all if some recruiting firm has already talked with Mr. Goldstein or is trying to put something together like this. And if they haven't...what's the holdup?!?!

Needless to say, you can bet I'll be looking into this matter myself. ;)

For All You Bloggers Out There

2006-09-20T12:23:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while, I'll come across some useful bit of information that makes me want to post up on my own blog. This is one of them. Neil Patel describes how bloggers can leverage Digg and Netscape to their advantage...and drive traffic to their sites as a result.

Very cool information.

Now if I could only find out how to increase my 24 hours in a day to a nice round 30 in order to do some of this stuff I keep reading about...

From Vision to Great Groups

2006-09-19T19:01:00.000-05:00

You started with a vision to create an innovative culture within your recruiting function, HR department, or entire organization.

You decided to leap with it.

Now what?

You need a Great Group, as Warren Bennis calls them.

Hopefully you're not one of those individuals who believes that one person can always out-innovate a group of people. Remember that old saying you learned as a kid? "Two heads are better than one?" They created that saying for a reason. If you think about nearly every great innovation that changed the rules, a group of people were behind it. Not a single person.

Enter the Great Group. Great groups are often the difference between an idea...and an idea that's actually executed. A group of committed, aligned, and passionate people is a very powerful thing. When groups like this get together, cool things happen. Cool things like:

1) The Disney team that created "Snow White," the first full length animated film.
2) Apple and its vision of toppling Big Blue (IBM)...which ultimately led to the creation of many things, least of which is the iPod.
3) Google's team that created Adwords, one of the most successful advertising inventions in the Internet era.
4) The invention of the personal computer by Xerox PARC.
5) The formation of General Electric, perhaps the most valuable organization in the world, from Thomas Edison's original group of 14 scientists.

You get the idea. All these things (and many, many more) were created through the efforts of Great Groups.

So this begs the question: how can I go about creating this Great Group? And what if you're literally the department within an organization? What then? In my next post, I'll talk about these things.

Until then, I'll leave you with this quote from Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

As far as I can tell, Margaret Mead was talking about Great Groups. ;)

Visioneering: The Who

2006-09-12T19:28:00.000-05:00

After a long hiatus from my last post on creating an innovative culture within your organization, I'm back. I'm beginning to discover the challenge in having a full-time job and also blogging every day. :) So without further ado, let's continue the discussion around the first step of my innovation framework (The "IF").

With every revolution...every movement...every change...a champion is needed. The "who," in other words.

Typically, a vision (remember...visions are solutions to problems) originates within an individual as a concern for something. In my experience...those individuals who begin to listen to this concern more and more...begin to feel like the vision is some sort of moral imperative to do. And as a result, this imperative compels them to action. This is the power behind vision.

And guess what? If the vision starts with you...well, don't look around for anyone else to lead the charge. You ARE the charge. The spark plug. The catalyst for your organization for this particular vision.

If you can come to believe that you have the time, the talent, and the skills to go through with this vision, then all you have to do is jump. As one of my professors at school used to say, "leap and the net will appear."

This is where most people stumble. They don't leap. In other words, they don't leap because they don't believe in themselves. I've seen people hesitate to make this initial jump for various reasons. According to Seth Godin, two of the most prevalent reasons are: 1) you don't know how to get your organization to actually do what you think should be done, or 2) you don't think you have any worthwhile ideas that people will follow.

Here's a thought. Every true vision that originates within individuals or organizations seems impossible at first. But this is precisely why visions are so powerful: they force individuals and organizations to align against a common cause...and when that cause is achieved, there is no better feeling in the world.

So don't let doubts derail your original passion. Don't let unanswerable questions quell your fire. Become the champion...and leap. The worst you can do is fail (failure is good for innovation).

What happens if you DO make that leap? What happens next?

That's what I'll write about in my next post. And this time, I'll try not to let a week go by in between posts. ;)

The End of the Job Interview? Seth Godin's Thoughts

2006-09-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

Before I get back to writing about innovation, I wanted to comment on something Seth Godin wrote yesterday. According to Mr. Godin, organizations should destroy the way they do interviews. According to him we should:

1) Admit that we've got this whole interviewing process backwards.
2) Re-examine the "why" behind most hiring decisions.
3) Have a "guided tour" of our organizations and the opportunity in question ready to go for any candidates who apply or are recruited directly.
4) Abolish one-on-one interviews and instead place candidates in situations where they would actually be doing the work they're being interviewed for.
5) Like the person so far? Hire them for a weekend for 20 hours and see how they perform with regards to both outcome and process.

I like the idea. But like what many people have already said, I have to say that I don't think Seth Godin's suggestions are practical. Mostly, I think the business world as we know it isn't ready for something like this. I also think the landscape is changing in such a way that tactic 5 would be a HUGE road block for attracting top talent.

The process that Seth Godin wants to put into place would work...IF and only if the interviewing process within an organization was already pretty good to begin with. For instance, how many organizations have dived deep into their positions? How many of these have figured out what makes someone successful for that particular role vs. someone who is just an average performer? Have they learned how to identify these success factors? And can you design an interview that shows managers these success factors within the people they interview? Most organizations that I've interacted with don't even keep track of the types of questions their hiring managers are asking. Related to this is the fact that many organizations don't look to see that hiring managers are being consistent from one interview to the next (like asking the same questions to be as objective as possible).

The second thing is...I truly believe the business landscape that we're operating in is changing towards a talent economy. In other words, an economy where organizations can only survive by "getting" the whole talent thing. As more and more organizations realize this (and as more and more Baby Boomers retire), I think we'll see an increasingly competitive environment for talent of all varieties. So the question becomes, can you realistically make candidates work for free for 20 hours over the weekend when they're getting hounded by a handful of your direct competitors? My answer is: no.

However, you have to hand it to Seth Godin for at least trying. And trying in a fresh way. So before you're so quick to criticize (me included), just know that revolutionary ideas often stir up emotions (angry or otherwise) precisely because they are...revolutionary.

Sometimes it just takes a while for these ideas to "stick."

Recruiting with Blogs: A Short-Lived Trend?

2006-08-24T20:25:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks as if blogging may take a turn towards more privacy. Blog site Six Apart has launched Vox, a blogging and social networking site "with highly customized privacy settings."

Among other things, bloggers can restrict access to their content according to "buckets" of readers..."friends," "family," or "the world," for instance. What makes this a little unique is the fact that users can mix and match within a single blog, meaning that bloggers can actually aim content at several different readers exclusively of each other.

What will be interesting to see is how blogging behavior changes with these available settings. Will more people opt to allow only select readers enjoy their content? Or will bloggers stick with the "open to the whole world" format that we've become accustomed to?

If you're a recruiter who has been using blogs to identify talent...wonder what will happen if this channel gets shut off?

Of course, we won't know the answer to these questions for the next couple of years. It's highly unlikely that behavior will change that drastically in several months' period.

Of course, with the Internet, you can never be too sure...

Visioneering: The Why

2006-08-23T19:42:00.000-05:00

So you've decided that your organization, business unit, or team needs a little innovation. A little spice. Something that will help stave off irrelevance.

Congratulations. You've taken the first step: admitting that you're missing something.

Now for the hard part: taking that thought and executing against it.

Before you can set out and create a world-class organization that gushes with creativity, innovation, or ideation...you need VISION.

What is vision? It's the ultimate why. As in, "why should we care?" "Why should we do this?" "Why is this so important?" ..."Why should we follow you?" "Why should we trust you?"

Aristotle once said, "the soul never thinks without a picture." That's what a vision is: a clear picture of what could be...what should be. (Incidentally, for those curious about the origins of the word itself, vision in Hebrew roughly translates to "a dream from God.")

Why have a vision to begin with, you ask?

Because there's a problem.

And a vision...is the solution to that problem.

But let's back up here, because this is the part where I feel like a lot of organizations screw up the process of visioneering. They don't properly define the problem. It's the classic problem that consultants are confronted with when they start engagements. They have to help clients properly define the RIGHT problem. In some cases, this means correcting previous definitions of what was originally thought to be the problem.

Identifying the problem has an added benefit to the process of visioneering: it engages the minds of the people you're trying to cast the vision to. In fact, the degree to which you can enable people to see the world as you see it...that is the degree to which they will be willing to listen to your solution to the problem.

In other words, by not successfully defining the problem, you can never effectively cast a vision that people in your organization, business unit, or team will follow. After all, why should people even bother if they don't really see the need?

And therein lies, as I've already stated, one of the main purposes of a vision: giving a clear picture of what could be so that people will rally around it and help create what should be. People need to be willing to follow the vision that you cast...otherwise, you will never be able to effectively enact sweeping change.

So...what does visioneering, or the process of creating a vision, have anything to do with ideation?

Because if you ever wish to successfully create a revolution...a movement...a mantra...in your organization, business unit, or team, you MUST first align them to your vision for ideation.

Without a vision, they won't know the problem. (We're bordering on becoming irrelevant)

Without a vision, they won't see the need. (Our competitors are re-inventing themselves)

Without a vision, they won't know the solution. (We need to re-imagine ourselves)

Without a vision...they won't care like you do. (We're AREN'T fine the way we are!)

And this brings us to the other thing that vision does for all of us: it weaves four (a BIG four) things into the fabric of everything that we do.

1) Passion
2) Motivation
3) Direction
4) Purpose

It's these four things that vision incorporates into our daily routine that makes us care enough to help deliver the solution.

By now, hopefully you have begun to get the idea of "The Why" behind visioneering.

Tomorrow, I will cover "The Who" of visioneering.

The IF: An Ideation Framework

2006-08-22T20:28:00.000-05:00

I wanted to start off my framework for ideation by acknowledging those people that helped pave the way for my ideas and thoughts on this matter. After all, I will be the last person to claim that I have created an ingenious roadmap for organizations for decades to come. Rather, I have simply taken what these thought leaders have written/spoken about and added a dash of my own ingredients (analysis, insight, experience, and of course...creativity).

Ideas always start from a foundation, and hopefully I can give credit to those who helped create that foundation. Many don't know who I am today...but hopefully someday I'll have the honor of meeting them. ;) Tom Peters, Warren Bennis, Tom and David Kelley, Seth Godin, Joey Reiman, Andy Stanley, God, and my family are just some of the people that have helped create this foundation.

Hopefully this framework will help you and your organization...and help revolutionize the HR and Recruiting industries in the process.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing the first step in "The IF," or The Ideation Framework. I decided to call it (tentatively...if everyone hates it I might be tempted to change it;) "The IF" for this simple reason: creating an organization that constantly innovates is only possible IF you actually do something about it. Otherwise, it's just another thing you read and don't internalize. Another thing that sounds nice but is never used. And that's what I don't want to see...

So what's the first step?

Visioneering.

What is it?

You'll have to read tomorrow to find out.

Non-Traditional HR Leaders

2006-08-21T09:53:00.000-05:00

Before I get to my ideation framework, I wanted to write something that I read about over the weekend.

My thoughts stem from an article by Jack and Suzy Welch, which talks about elevating HR to the front of an organization. ...For those of you who don't know, Jack Welch is one of those executives who passionately believes that HR should be the most powerful part of any organization.

One of the more interesting thoughts presented in the article: getting someone to lead an HR organization who has experience leading a function OUTSIDE of HR. In Jack's opinion, these people truly get business...its "inner workings, history, tensions, and hidden hierarchies in people's minds."

This idea creates so much controversy on the conventional HR Management front that I almost want to say it's a GREAT idea by that fact alone. ;)

But in all seriousness, perhaps this is a good strategy to get more business-minded people to lead HR functions. Like in my previous rants, I think one of the biggest drawbacks for HR functions is the fact that they are often filled with people who have no concept of how business operates. They might contain people who have received their MBAs...but when's the last time an organization has allowed an MBA-only person take the helm? MBAs must be accompanied with experience, and this is precisely where traditional HR heads are found lacking. They've rarely had to lead other operations within the organization...and as a result, don't truly understand the P&L responsibilities, hierarchies, turf wars, etc. that might be going on within an organization.

So here's a thought: if you are thinking of making someone head an HR function, make it a prerequisite that they successfully lead another non-HR BU for a few years. My thought process is that if they can successfully lead a non-HR BU, then they can take those lessons learned "in the trenches" and truly understand how to leverage those insights within an HR capacity.

...I'll have to research this a bit more to see if any organizations currently do this already.

Ideation in Recruiting and HR: A Basic Framework

2006-08-17T20:22:00.000-05:00

In my last post, I posed the question of whether or not creativity contributed towards the bottom line. We saw some interesting points of view from Robin Hanson and Richard Florida.

Regardless of which point of view you agree with, I think we can agree on one thing: in business, one can't afford to NOT innovate. It doesn't matter that you focus on the big idea or several "small" ideas...what matters is that an organization is constantly trying to improve itself. Without this, they go one step closer to irrelevance.

So here's my next question: how do you become an organization that is capable of constantly creating new ideas? More importantly, how can you become an organization that creates ideas that will be used?

In the coming weeks, I'll be posting some steps that organizations can take towards achieving this. Consider it a framework that organizations can adopt. The beauty of it is, it's a framework that can be adopted by business units within organizations....or a framework that can be adopted by an entire organization as well.

With that said, I'll be creating this framework with an eye towards recruiting and HR. I think out of a lot of internal functions within an organization, these are the two that don't have ideation built into their DNAs. And if you ask me...if these functions continue to NOT innovate from within, they will increasingly become susceptible to being irrelevant.

Does Creativity Contribute to the Bottom Line?

2006-08-16T20:42:00.000-05:00

After a bit of a hiatus from my series on innovation and creativity in HR and recruiting, I'm back with a new entry.

My last entry spoke about firing your internal clients a la Crispin Porter + Borgusky. It was a good look at how thinking outside the box (for some, this was an example of thinking way outside the box) can sometimes be healthy for your organization.

Now for a completely different take on this debate.

Enter Robin Hanson of George Mason University. For Professor Hanson, there's a myth of creativity that has been overblown in Corporate America. Executives have been issuing this innovation war cry for the last few years..."pleading" with their employees to put their creative thinking caps on.

But for Hanson, this is all for naught. Among other things, Hanson argues that there are too many people focusing on "big ideas"...and not enough people focused on the "millions of small changes we constantly make to our billions of daily procedures and arrangements." You can read the whole thing for yourself here.

It's a very pragmatic view of this whole debate...and a very tempting stance on innovation and creativity.

Is he right? Perhaps. Can he be wrong? There's always the possibility, of course.

If you're interested in who might disagree with Hanson, look no further than Richard Florida. Click here for a full rebuttal to the above stated viewpoint.

Looks like a feisty intellectual debate!

Firing Your Gatekeepers

2006-08-15T18:48:00.000-05:00

Question: who or what keeps you from doing remarkable things for your organization?

In most companies, there are gatekeepers...those people or processes that have become so ingrained into an organization that they prevent things that go WOW from happening.

In one company, it's the technology that everyone has to use on a daily basis. The technology bogs down innovation, productivity, and inspiration.

In another firm, it's the person who always says "we can't do that." "We can't change the reporting structure." "We can't send them a large fruit basket...it costs too much." "We can't create a different work flow process because it will screw up all the other business units." "We can't hire this person because we don't have approved headcount." "We can't...we can't...we can't..."

The funny thing is, these gatekeepers somehow stick around without getting noticed. And when they are noticed, organizations do little to remove them.

Why is that?

Sometimes organizations become insular and comfortable with the status quo. They don't see the gatekeepers because they have become a part of the organization itself. Thus, people within the organization have a harder time seeing these gatekeepers. As a result, the gatekeepers stick around and lay waste to ideation, WOW projects...and overall remarkability.

Sometimes organizations spot the gatekeepers. But then after much lip-service, the effort to eradicate them fizzles and never really achieves its end goal. Most of the time, it's because the effort lacked a champion to help drive the effort through to the end. Everyone in the group effort agrees that it is a worthy cause to go after, but as usual...work gets in the way. People have other projects to complete. Corporate silos prevent certain things from happening as smoothly. Bumps along the road cause people to slowly lose passion. And then...things...revert...back...to normal. Perhaps some slight modifications are added to the regularity of business as you know it. But nothing too drastic.

I mention all this not to just address business in general (although it applies perfectly to it). I mention all this to also speak to those individuals responsible for the talent within their organization.

Think about the gatekeepers you face on a daily basis.

Is it the sluggish process? Tough to get-in-contact with hiring managers? The incredibly non-user friendly ATS system? The organization's inability to accurately predict how many people to go out and hire?

Fire them. Fire all the gatekeepers. If you need help, you can read this. Or this. Or this. Or this.

And then you can start doing some things that go WOW.

And if you're thinking to yourself, "We don't have too many gatekeepers around here," what's keeping you from doing something remarkable?

Could it be...that you've become a gatekeeper yourself?

Recruiting in The Age of Creation Intensification

2006-08-14T08:04:00.000-05:00

If any of you have read any of my previous posts, you've probably read a few where I bash Microsoft for some of their more block-headed moves.

Well, today I want to applaud them for a very smart move.

Today Microsoft is getting ready to announce the availability of software tools for aspiring young game developers. With this move, young generations of game lovers can create their own games on their PCs using XNA Game Studio Express...and then play them on their Xbox 360s or computers running Windows operating systems.

What's even more cool than creating your own video game? How about selling it on Xbox Live for the whole wide world to play? Call it the YouTube for video games.

Obviously Microsoft is hoping that this will create a big push behind its Xbox 360 game system. But something also occurred to me while reading articles about this announcement.

This is a great magnet for young talent.

Whether Steve Ballmer and the rest of the Microsoft crew realize it or not, they're planting seeds in the next generation of game developers with XNA. And what's the first thing that these kids will see as they create numerous editions of their own creations? The Microsoft brand, no less.

Call it a genius marketing ploy.

Or a great PR campaign.

Or...a potentially cool talent pipeline builder for years to come.

It's no different than some of these programs that firms like Deloitte or Intel run for younger generations. Deloitte participates in a program called "Virtual Enterprise" that helps high school students set up virtual businesses with the help of local businesspeople. Intel has long sponsored its "Intel Science Talent Search" in order to identify tomorrow's class of aspiring engineers and math gurus.

These initiatives are all about engaging the New Economy workforce.

And when you engage talent, you're more apt to attract talent.

So it'll be interesting to see how XNA develops through Microsoft's efforts. If Microsoft is smart, they'll figure out how to create this thing into a juggernaut of engagement for talent.

...because in the Age of Creation Intensification, talent is all that matters.

Google Flexes its Muscle

2006-08-08T06:57:00.000-05:00

Seems Google just landed a deal with MySpace to provide Internet search and keyword advertising software to the tune of $900 million in revenues (over 3 years) for Fox Interactive's new baby.

As a result of this sweet deal (for Fox), Google beat out Microsoft and usurped Yahoo! for access to MySpace's 52.3 million users.

My question: did Google grossly overpay for MySpace? After all, it has yet to be seen whether MySpace's torrid growth is sustainable over the long term. Google may be celebrating now, but Microsoft may have the last laugh if this proves to be a short-sighted move. But regardless of what happens, you know these two guys in the photo are laughing all the way to the bank...

The good news is Google didn't commit too many years to this deal. So perhaps that's why they were willing to go over the top with a bid, knowing that 3 years in the grand scheme of things isn't that long. Of course, 3 years for anything on the Internet is still pretty long. ;)

My next question: we've got Web 2.0...but are we headed towards a new Bubble 2.0?

The Art of Connecting Dots

2006-08-03T20:37:00.000-05:00

After writing a few posts about ideation in the HR/Recruiting industries, I got to thinking about some issues that professionals in these jobs face on a daily basis.

One of them is the fact that HR/Recruiting is still not seen as a strategic partner among corporate executive leadership. There have been countless things written about this topic, so hopefully I won't be beating a dead horse...at least, not too much. ;)

But it occurs to me that one of the problems is that these two departments (HR and Recruiting) have historically done a horrible job at "connecting the dots." In other words, seeing patterns and themes as they emerge and making sense out of them.

At the most basic level, that's one of the things every leader must do. Make sense of all the "stuff" flying around and then connect the dots for their people. On top of this, great leaders string these threads together faster than anyone else does. They communicate these threads in a manner that makes sense to the people that follow them, and in a manner that motivates them to do something.

Question: how fast can you thread together what you just read on Google News, the conversation you had last night with a colleague in the paper mill industry, a recruiting idea that you just talked about with your team, the latest quarterly earnings statement of your organization...and figure out what you as a leader need to do in order to position yourself, your team, and your organization for what needs to be done in order to survive in the New Economy?

The sad thing is, the recruiting and HR functions I've personally witnessed have always RE-acted to everything. Is this a symptom of something else? Perhaps it means that these functions aren't doing such a great job connecting all the dots. Perhaps these functions are being led by leaders who haven't been able to string the external threads together fast enough to keep up with the rest of the business landscape.

An example? What about the Director of Recruiting within a large Fortune 500 firm that, when asked, can't really articulate what is going on in other functions within the organization? Worse yet, what about when the Director of Recruiting really can't articulate how the actions of other BUs affects his/her department?

Is that an indication that the pulse of the organization is not being kept by such leaders? Or is it an indication of something deeper?

...that perhaps, as numerous people have already said...people in HR and Recruiting just don't "get" business?

Firing Your Internal Clients

2006-08-02T20:32:00.000-05:00

In my last post, I gave an example of an organization that utilized "borrowed" best practices from many various industries in order to achieve premier employer branding status. The organization? PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Now I'll give an example of an organization that is doing things a little radically. Keep in mind, however, that this isn't a specific example as it relates to the HR/Recruiting industries. It IS, however, a good example of how re-imagining things can rock your client's world. Thus, it's a great example of what internal HR/Recruiting functions could do to achieve premier status within their respective firms.

If you asked anyone in the advertising world who the hottest firm is right now, the majority would probably say "Crispin Porter + Borgusky!" They've been around since 1965, but it wasn't really until 1999 that this firm really started turning some heads...and creating some raised eyebrows...and some polarization among consumers.

CP+B's most recent campaign involves the venerable Volkswagon brand. This brand has been resurrected twice already by two other firms in previous decades past; now, it's CP+B's turn to re-focus, re-align, and re-imagine a brand that has seen sales drop steadily from a peak in 2001.

So what exactly does CP+B do that prompted me to write about it?

They fire clients who treat them like vendors!

They turn away organizations who don't give it access to every part of the company!

Come again?

As CP+B sees it, everything it does for a client is "with an eye toward gaining media attention for the brand." To that extent, the firm insists that clients break down corporate silos...otherwise, CP+B doesn't feel that the business is worth pursuing.

...not worth pursuing.

Now that would be a novel concept within internal corporate functions.

So I ask this question: what would happen the next time a hiring manager refused to get back to his/her recruiter in a timely fashion, and that recruiter then refuses their "services" to said manager?

Would all hell break loose? Probably.

Would a point be made? Perhaps.

It's a fine line, but I'd be really interested to see if any recruiting or HR function would be daring enough to do this. There's no question that as a recruiter in particular, there are certain inter-dependencies that require attention from a variety of people. If those people don't do their parts in a timely fashion, the whole recruiting process gets mired in a bottleneck that may take days or weeks to get out of. And by then, key talent may have been lost.

If the argument can be made that recruiting/HR will be one of the most important issues in this New Economy, then why can't an internal function demand that internal clients do their part?

Is it any different than how Crispin Porter + Borgusky does business in order to achieve remarkable success?

So there you go...an example of something more "sexy," more paradigm shifting, more intrusive.

The question is: which is the more effective approach?

To be continued...

Innovation in Recruiting and HR

2006-08-01T20:11:00.000-05:00

A while ago, I asked whether the HR/Recruiting space was following one of two lines of thought concerning ideation.

So here's my first jab at that debate: PricewaterhouseCoopers. Consistently listed among the top "ideal undergraduate employers" in Universum Communication's annual employer survey, PricewaterhouseCoopers is a glimpse into how execution and a genuine understanding can help vault an organization's "employer brand" into the stratosphere.

Students consistently cited the firm's care and attention to its employees as a big reason they were sold to come on board. Intern training is another highly recognized program that helps people gain a glimpse into how PwC conducts business from within. Overall, students liked the firm because it "provides a basis for anything that you want to do in life."

And PwC has some cool programs to boot. Flexible Fridays over the summer, tailored performance coaching/mentoring/teaming, and partner-staff relationship programs are just a few of the things that the organization has developed to help its talent grow internally.

So why all the fuss? PricewaterhouseCoopers is an example of an organization that doesn't necessarily focus on that paradigm shifting idea, per se. No...Pwc would rather work around the fringes and create programs based on some best practices already out there, with a tweak or two.

Sexy? No. Effective? No doubt.

More to come...!!!

The End of Social Networking Sites?

2006-08-01T09:44:00.000-05:00

Some of you may know that the Senate last week passed a law meant to enforce Internet safety regulations for children and teenagers.

Unfortunately, some of you may also know that this law is an ill-conceived (yet well-meaning) piece of legislation.

Why?

Rather than attacking the root of the issue (online predators), it curbs children and teenagers from using social networking sites at public places like schools and libraries. I gotta wonder what the logic is in all this.

It'll be interesting to see how this law affects the popularity of sites like Facebook or MySpace. My guess is it won't drastically undercut the population that's become addicted to these sites. At the same time, however, I wonder if we're cheating people out of potentially using network systems that could be used to foster collaboration and innovation in school settings.

The real problem, in my mind, is not the use of social networking sites at schools or libraries. It's the use of them at home. Which is why I'm confused about why a law such as this was passed, which seemingly does little to eradicate the issue that pervades our world today.

Want to Work in the Middle of Nowhere?

2006-07-25T09:12:00.000-05:00

Here's a common plight of many organizations: trying to attract top quality talent to remote locations. It's one thing to convince someone who lives in New York City to move down to Atlanta. It's a completely different beast when you're trying to get someone to move from Los Angeles to...Skaneateles, New York.

If you work in an organization that "gets" it, even a move like this shouldn't be too daunting. Why? Because an organization that "gets" it will have many things going for it: remarkable products, an empowering culture that engages talent, and the lead in their industry (or a close second). All of these things can be summed up with the term "employer branding." With a strong employer brand, even the most remote places seem less intimidating for a good recruiter.

Here's a blog post by Bart Cleveland of Advertising Age (thanks goes out to Danny Palmer for forwarding this blog to me). It's an interesting look into someone's actual experience trying to recruit creatives into Albuquerque for a small agency that doesn't have the name...yet. THAT folks, is a pretty good challenge.

Harry Potter...Inspiring Real Products?

2006-07-18T09:03:00.000-05:00

If you're a fan of the Harry Potter series, here's a bit of news that might cause you to sit up in your chair.

Apparently HP has created a new chip that it unveiled on Monday. Called the Memory Spot, the tiny chip is seen as a potential rival to RFID tags.

The beautiful thing? How it was conceived!! An HP scientist actually thought to themselves "wouldn't it be cool if I could make talking pictures?" ...Wonder if Harry Potter inspired this?

Either way, it looks like as this technology matures, moving and talking people in digital picture frames is not too far off.

Although...I've got to admit, it might take a while for the public to become accustomed to talking pictures of loved ones. Can you imagine walking past a picture of your grandmother who then barks out "eat your peas!" each time you pass?

What's In An Idea?

2006-07-17T08:39:00.000-05:00

When it comes to the process of ideation, I've come across two main lines of thought. The first, which is the more "sexy" notion, is that organizations and people should focus their energies on that "aha!" idea or concept...that earth-shattering, paradigm-shifting, industry-shaping concept that then turns into a billion dollar industry within 5 years.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who believe that there is no such thing as a "new" idea. This line of thought follows that all ideas are just simply recycled ones from other industries or previous times...that any "new" idea is a result of just combining a few good ones to create something meaningful for a particular organization or industry. As a result, people who agree with this thought process also believe that spending time on the aforementioned "paradigm-shifting" idea is a waste of resources, since the probability of that occurring is very rare.

I bring this up because I wonder which track the HR/Recruiting space is following?

Or is it following either at all?

More to come as the week goes on...

How NOT to Design...

2006-07-11T09:07:00.000-05:00

Well this has nothing to do with what I normally write about, but once I saw this I had to comment on it...

So it's finally happened. Microsoft has decided that it wants a piece of the market that Apple and its iPod line has created.

No problem with that.

The thing is, I still can't figure out who's responsible for designing these products that Microsoft is pumping out. First there was the Xbox (a hideous looking black box). Then came the Xbox 360 (a curvier looking white box).

And now, the announcement of the product that's supposed to be the "iPod killer," the Argo. Please tell me this is just a mock up design and not the final version.

Because if this is the direction that Microsoft's going with this thing, I predict failure.

Part of the allure of the iPod is the experience people have begun to associate with it. The Argo? I don't feel any emotion when looking at this thing. My first reaction: "iPod wannabe."

Could this be the reason why MSN has yet to find the right formula against Google? Because it lacks the experiential factor? Put another way, these things are lacking in my mind because they have no "soul."

Wow...

2006-07-10T12:21:00.000-05:00

...apologies for not posting up in a long while. This is what happens when the perfect storm of "no time because of work" and long vacation weekends come together.

What have I been so busy with, you ask?

Among other things, I've been busy collaborating with my team of interns for a white paper. I'll let you guys know the topic once we get close to finishing it. ;) I've also been very busy with some key client engagements that my company has recently undertaken. And did I mention I'm also gearing up to hire two more people on my team? :o

Exciting stuff...but hard work nonetheless.

...sometimes I wonder how cool it would be if I could just clone myself somedays to get more work done. But then that might be too scary for some folks!

Is Your Organization Hip?

2006-06-21T12:02:00.000-05:00

Here's a great post from Guy Kawasaki where he interviews Kathleen Gasperini, an expert on the global youth culture.

After reading this, I gotta wonder...how many organizations are staying in tune with this youth culture? And how many organizations are looking at these trends and applying them to their employer brand?

Sure, companies like Verizon, Levi Straus, or Burton all try to understand the youth culture in order to sell more products. But I haven't really seen too many companies that take this message and translate it into their employer brand.

Why is this so important?

Well, for one...these young people are the future talent force.

Two...these young people will begin to dictate markets in ways that previous generations never thought was possible.

And three...who else is going to fill the void left by the Baby Boomers?!?!

Ok, so points one and three were the same thing. I'm simply trying to hammer in a point here. ;)

My prediction: this youth culture will increasingly dictate the types of policies, cultures, and workforces that organizations create.

Because in the end, these organizations are trying to cater to this very youth culture in order to sell more widgets. And if that means transforming their culture to become one that exudes youthful optimism in order to create products that appeal...then so be it.

What will definitely be interesting to see is if some organizations try to meld two different types of brands under one roof: one that appeals to the youth culture, and one that appeals to the Baby Boom generation.

Even more interesting: research that shows how Baby Boomers are more likely to view themselves as younger than they physically are. I wonder if anyone will try to adopt similar tactics used for the youth culture on the Baby Boomers...like a MySpace for people 50+ years??? :o

How Brand You Has Changed

2006-06-20T09:26:00.000-05:00

An interesting article from Fast Company that I came across concerning how things have changed since 1995.

And my oh my, how they have changed.

It wasn't so long ago that it seemed like Monster or personal web pages were the only means to create an online brand for yourself.

Now it seems you can't go anyplace on the web without getting smacked in the face with sites like MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, Ryze, Doostang, etc. etc.

Is there such a thing as TOO networked?

It'll definitely be interesting to see how things evolve as our society begins to get accustomed to this ever connected world we live in.

A Non-US Search Engine? What's That?

2006-06-19T12:22:00.000-05:00

Interesting news from Tara Calishain of Research Buzz: it appears Japan is trying to halt the domination of the search engine market by US firms. Citing fears that having three dominant search engines may prevent Japanese companies from entering markets, a consortium of 30 organizations have banded together to "develop technology for a new advanced search engine."

Who's hopping onto this bandwagon? Hitachi, Fujitsu, and NTT Docomo are among a few of the organizations who are participating in this project.

It'll be really interesting to see if this group can come up with something significantly different than what is already out there.

I'm especially interested now that NTT is involved. They have a pretty good history of progressive thinking as it relates to consumer trends.

The most logical development I'm almost certain will develop from this project: a platform that will leverage wireless/cell phone technology for users. Wonder if they'll have suggestive search terms pop up everytime you walk past a kiosk or vending machine...?

Is There a Defined Search Experience?

2006-06-13T18:07:00.000-05:00

Gord Hotchkiss has written an interesting article talking about how Google has established a "de facto" standard of sorts for the search experience. While I may not necessarily agree completely with Gord's analysis, he has some very interesting points.

To say that Google is soley responsible for establishing a standard in search experience is a little extreme to me (yes, I can't believe I'm saying something is "too extreme" either). I agree that they are the current thought and market leader in this area...and their ability to maintain this leadership will be tested in the coming year as other services begin ramping up on re-defining the search user experience.

Google's simple interface won favor with a lot of people...hence, it's current popularity. I think where the rest of the search engines have gone wrong is trying to mimic this interface. Rather than trying to create their own experiences, they've tried to mash the Google formula onto their sites.

If you want to become remarkable, imitating someone else is NOT the way to do it.

Which is why the other engines have experienced limited success to date.

Which gets me to thinking...Google has been getting a lot of hype lately about their recruiting engine. Now you begin to see a lot of organizations begin to adopt some of the same programs that Google has established in order to attract top quality talent.

But I ask again: is this the way to become remarkable? Is this the way to make people go "wow?"

I Have a Friend of a Friend...

2006-06-12T13:04:00.000-05:00

Here's a site that was referenced in my previous posting. It's the Friend of a Friend network.

It encourages people to create web sites that utilize the RDF format so that computers can interpret them more easily. In essence, it's a movement that is trying to create the Semantic Web.

It'll be interesting to see if this thing gains popularity.

Note: for you aspiring Talent Researchers out there, check out the FAQ section of the FOAF site. Did you catch the first section talking about what home pages might "typically" say? Very handy phrases for keyword searching! ;)

So You Think You're A Good Researcher?

2006-06-12T12:37:00.000-05:00

Hmmmm...I came across a very interesting article towards the end of last week courtesy of one of my brand new interns, Sarah Hewitt. Thanks Sarah...hopefully you don't mind being mentioned in cyberspace like this. ;)

So it seems that the NSA is beginning to become interested in keeping track of all the information on social networks that are popping up all over the place. Sites like MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn...they're all beginning to pique the curiosity of the NSA.

What's interesting is that the NSA is trying to create a "universal" format for the web. The name: RDF (Resource Description Framework). Using RDF, the NSA (among other organizations) hopes that current incompatibilities in formats will be ironed out over the next few years. In short, the hope is that "one day every website will use RDF to give each type of data a unique, predefined, unambiguous tag."

Why the effort to establish RDF? According to David de Roure of the University of Southampton (UK), "It means that you will be able to ask a website questions you couldn't ask before, or perform calculations on the data it contains."

The implications of this development will probably leave people a little torn: on the one hand, it'll create unprecedented access to sites for scientists who want to analyze each other's experimental data sets. Search itself will be redefined with this new standard format. But on the flip side, it'll mean prying into more personal data will be a breeze.

I wonder: are recruiters going to jump up and down about this bit of news? After all, mining the Internet for its nearly limit-less data will become even easier. Or will they become concerned about the impact on privacy as a result of this?

P.S. If you're curious about what the heck the picture above is all about, click here.

Google vs. Microsoft

2006-06-06T20:16:00.000-05:00

Google fires another shot...rather than be content with their share of the search engine market, it looks more and more likely that the firm is aiming their cross-hairs on Microsoft's software domain with their latest invention.

So what have they done? They've created a new spreadsheet application which is available for free in limited quantities. As with all new Google products, it's in beta.

So what's next, I wonder? A PowerPoint application? Google's already purchased Writely...

Think Steve Ballmer is looking over his shoulder more often nowadays?

How NOT to Interview

2006-06-05T07:07:00.000-05:00

I'm in the midst of delivering training for some folks on my team this week, so I probably won't have as much time to contribute to the blog. Nevertheless, I'll do my best!

Below is a funny clip from YouTube (this thing is taking over the net) about how NOT to interview. It's a video created by the local Austin, TX government for their workaustin.com site. It's nice to see that even cities are beginning to ramp up on their recruiting efforts to attract high quality talent. Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvU8fL4MiSQ

McDonald's and the Future of Job-Sharing

2006-06-01T12:05:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting experiment that McDonald's is conducting at some select British locations: allowing employees from the same immediate family to fill in for one another without having to clear it with the store manager.

The "Family Contract" program is an effort to address absenteeism and turnover issues that McDonald's has always experienced.

Talk about a bold step towards something different...

...but it's not surprising to me. As we move towards a world where talent will come in limited supplies, and where retaining talent will be a vital key to success...I think we'll begin to witness more and more organizations creating some "radical" and innovative programs for their people.

It's about time!!!!!

On another note, check out the story about "Irate Shoppers" located beneath the McDonald's one. This is my exclamation point to a previous rant I had about a large retailer not caring about its customer service.

This is exactly why saving a few dollars over providing great customer experiences never equals a win.

Invisibility Cloaks to Flying Cars

2006-05-26T08:54:00.000-05:00

Looks like innovation is leaping forward again. Check this story out on ZDNet about how a group of researchers and scientists have taken a big leap forward towards creating invisible materials or cloaks that can make objects "invisible."

This has nothing to do with recruiting, business, or HR in the traditional sense. But whenever an innovation comes out that has the potential to change the dynamics of everyday life (or even industries), I have to give it some love.

You might be asking yourself, "what's next? Flying cars?"

Apparently, yes.

Recruiting: The Google Way

2006-05-25T12:31:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting post about how Google is beginning to recruit college grads. According to this report, Google is beginning to keep tabs on IP addresses of users in order to differentiate those who are coming from a college.

Apparently for a while, Google has been placing Google Scholar as one of their search tabs if they detect that you are coming from a college. Now, they're being more direct by placing a link directly on their front page in order to attract college recruits.

Here are some other articles about Google's recruiting ways:

John Sullivan's Case Study
Allan Hoffman's Article

In case you're wondering, no...I'm not on the Google bandwagon. ;) Although, in some cases, Google is making it harder NOT to be.

Bad Bosses

2006-05-24T12:17:00.000-05:00

This is almost funny and saddening at the same time. I came across a site completely devoted to dealing with bad bosses.

It's a typical gripe that you hear or have experienced yourself: "I work for an idiot." (Hopefully I don't have anyone saying that about me ;)

The site features a "helpful resources" section that boasts, among other things, articles like "Why Jerks Get Ahead in the Workplace," and "10 Tips for Surviving a Bad Boss."

I could go into a long description of how having bad managers is another quick path to irrelevance, but something tells me this site might give you a good idea why. I'll expand on this topic after things die down for me here.

The Quickest Path to Irrelevance: Empowerment

2006-05-22T13:46:00.000-05:00

Out of the many things an organization can do on a consistent basis to become irrelevant, I think one of the biggest is this: not empowering your own employees to do what is necessary.

What do I mean by this?

Let's take the example I used in an earlier posting. Throughout the whole experience, the one thought that kept leaping up in my mind was that this large retailer didn't empower its own employees to do anything necessary to make customers happy. The same thing kept coming out of each employee's mouth: "It's store policy, sir. We can't do anything about it."

...Can't do anything?

In essence, what the organization is saying to each employee is that it doesn't care about happy customers who offer repeat business. Rather, it values saving a few bucks here and there at the expense of its brand.

Many of you have heard that legendary story about Nordstrom and the man who returned a tire. Here's another great example of how far this company goes in order to please its customers.

Tell me one thing: if an organization went to these lengths to make you happy, would you not become a fanatical evangelist for them? Would you not find every excuse to shop at their stores instead of a competitor's?

I wonder how this problem of empowerment might play out in recruiting or HR?

What about when a recruiter, after sharing their passion about the company to a candidate, goes on to find out after an initial interview (or two) that the company has decided to close the position indefinitely? What about when an employee asks the HR department to rectify a situation in the workplace, and HR really can't do anything because they don't have "power" to discipline a high level VP?

In each of these cases, people are left feeling helpless and at a loss for an explanation for the candidate or employee involved. And in each case, people walk away...respecting the organization and its brand a little less.

What's worse, those affected by this lack of empowerment will never become evangelists for your organization.

...And when you don't have people willing to evangelize for your organization, you eventually become irrelevant.

The Quickest Path to Irrelevance: Compromise

2006-05-18T20:51:00.000-05:00

What happens to products, services, or ideas when people compromise on them?

Irrelevance happens.

In continuing my series on how organizations make themselves irrelevant in the world, I've come to agree with this thought: that compromise on an idea, product, or service often times leads to mediocre things.

You might be raising your eyebrow now. Compromise leading to mediocrity? Blasphemy! Indeed, our whole modern culture is built around this notion of "tolerance." It's politically correct. It's less abrasive. It's less stubborn. It's more forward thinking.

I say it's backwards thinking...when it comes to certain things. For instance, when you have a WOW idea. Or when you have a vision of what could be, and you want to turn it into what will be.

Unfortunately, organizations sometimes prevent these WOW things from happening. I take that back...not sometimes...MOST times. Why? You get together with people. Ideas are thrown around. People have different agendas. Before you know it, the original vision or idea takes a backseat to what becomes a conglomeration of thoughts from everyone in the room. Then of course someone (aka the leadership team) has to approve the idea/product/service. More deliberation ensues. More crap gets added on to satisfy "them."

And then...what was a WOW idea becomes a compromised "huh?" idea. It's a "huh?" idea because after the dust settles from all the meetings and deliberations, the eventual customer for that idea looks at it and doesn't understand how it addresses a need in their life.

This happens in a lot of departments, projects, or BUs in organizations. And recruiting and HR departments are no exception to this. How many times have recruiting departments compromised on an ATS system in order to satisfy every single "stakeholder?" And how many times has that lead to a system...which originally was intended to make recruiters MORE efficient...that leaves everyone wondering who in the world picked this thing to begin with.

Even worse, what about when organizations compromise on talent? How many times has an organization looked over a talented candidate because HR says they're not within the "Sr. Associate payband?"

Day in and day out, I see how a lot of people make compromises. And slowly...their projects, BUs, or departments begin becoming irrelevant. Maybe that's why executives hate HR (recruiting included...let's admit it, they still lump all of us together with that term): It's made so many compromises over time that it's become irrelevant to an organization's strategic roadmap.

Maybe I'm way off here. So don't take my word for it. Just check out what others think.

Maybe you'll see that sometimes...it just doesn't make sense to compromise. Not when irrelevance is on the line.

Did you know...?

2006-05-16T08:06:00.000-05:00

No, no...I'm not stopping my series on "The Quickest Path to Irrelevance." But as you all know (and I use the word "all" very generously here...hey, it's my blog), whenever I come across some interesting things, I have to share it.

Today's interesting thing is dedicated to those who like to follow news about search engines. Seth Finkelstein posted on his blog the other day a Top 10 list for things you may not know about Google (actually, this blog entry was not written by Seth, but rather by a guy named Philipp Lenssen). While some of you search engine geeks may already know a lot of these things, there's still probably one or two on the list that you never knew until now. And if you don't know anything about Google or search engines...well, this list will definitely shed some light on some useless facts. ;)

The Quickest Path to Irrelevance: A Case Study

2006-05-15T18:51:00.000-05:00

I recently went through a bad customer service experience (technically, I'm actually still going through it), and it got me so riled up that I was compelled to blog about it as thoughts shot in and out of my head. In fact, I'm going to be doing a new series titled "The Quickest Path to Irrelevance"-- it's a series devoted to things that organizations do on a daily basis that takes them one step closer to...well, irrelevance.

Specifically, this whole experience got me thinking about the recruiting process...because when you boil it down, good customer service IS good recruiting.

For all intensive purposes, let's just say I recently purchased something from a well-known retail outlet (a $2 billion publicly traded firm with over 7,000 employees based in Italy). When I tried to return the item I purchased (because it didn't fit the intended recipient that I sent it to), the course of events that followed truly stunned me. And it is a case study of how NOT to treat customers.

The aforementioned retailer has a very strict return policy. Of course, the sales associates who happened to assist me on that day neglected to mention this fact even after I told them my situation (I was trying to purchase a gift for someone out-of-state). Long story short, when I tried to return the item after having it sent back to me, I was told I would be unable to because of the 14 day return policy.

So I told them to give me store credit. They said no; they didn't do that. I asked if I could get my money back. Again, they said no. So I asked them what I could do. They told me I could exchange it for something else in the store. Given the fact that I didn't want anything they had to offer at the moment, I asked what happens if I didn't want to exchange it.

They said I would have 30 days from the original purchase date to find something I want.

What really irked me was that during this whole process, I wasn't treated as a valued customer who's purchased clothes from this retailer in the past. I was simply given a scripted, robotic answer to all my questions.

And I wondered: at what point do you sacrifice customer service for the sake of efficiency and "store policies?"

I think this same question can be posed for recruiting processes. Think about it: candidates who go through an organization's recruiting process are essentially no different than customers. They experience your firm from the inside out. They are exposed to "representatives" of your firm (hiring managers, associates, etc.). After all is said and done, they're left with an impression after the whole experience.

The question is: do they leave with a good experience? Or a bad experience?

I've seen too many organizations who don't treat candidates like "valued customers." They shuffle people in and out of the recruiting process like they're billable resources. No deep thought is given to the experience. How does your front lobby look like as candidates walk up? Do you make them wait for half an hour before they see anyone? Is it apparent that your hiring managers don't prepare adequately for interview days?

All of these things (and dozens more) make an indelible impression on candidates. Just like customers when they walk through a store and experience its customer service for the first time.

The major retailer in this case still has a chance to redeem themselves even after all that I've been through. Unfortunately, when it comes to the recruiting process...it'll take a whole lot more than a refund (or free gift certificates) to win back people once you've left a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to their career.

What kind of customer service does your recruiting process have?

Interviewing a Web Developer

2006-05-11T16:17:00.000-05:00

Seeing as how Web 2.0 is in full effect, I'm guessing many recruiters out there have been furiously interviewing candidates with various web skills (has anyone seen the ludicrous fees some of these web people are commanding? ...but I digress...).

Danny Palmer sent this link to me (thanks Danny), and I thought it was a useful tool for anyone having to interview web developers on a consistent basis.

The cool thing about this site is that not only does it provide good questions for a recruiter, but also hiring managers or others involved in the interviewing process.

Getting an International Perspective

2006-05-10T08:29:00.000-05:00

If you ever find yourself needing to get some fresh perspective...one of the best ways to do this is to look beyond our borders. Why? In a lot of cases, our US-centered thought sometimes causes us to view things through a specific lens.

In my dealings with foreigners (and being Asian American myself), I've realized that people outside our country sometimes have drastically different ways to approach problems or make observations.

With all this said, I came across this one site that keeps track of blogs across the globe. Specifically, it focuses on "bridge bloggers," or people who are talking about their country or region to a global audience.

It's a pretty cool site (which was launched by the Harvard Law School interestingly enough) with good potential. At the least, it'll give us all a fresh perspective...and sometimes, that's all we need.

Generation Y: Coming of Age

2006-05-09T12:10:00.000-05:00

I love when you think about an idea and someone comes along and adds an "!" to the end of it.

Here's a little snippet about someone who feels the same way I do when it comes to Generation Y...that Baby Boomers need to prepare to hand over increasing amounts of responsibility in organizations, whether they like it or not.

Maybe I'll get more "!" for other ideas as time moves along... ;)

The Art of Thin Slicing

2006-05-09T08:21:00.000-05:00

Well...this might be a tad bit confusing, but here's the explanation: I sat down to write a blog entry last Friday, and never got around to finishing it. Until now.

So if you're curious about the Art of Thin Slicing, just scroll down.

Or, just click here. (you lazy person)

Facebook: Selling Out?

2006-05-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

An interesting bit of news just came across my lap(top). It seems that Facebook, the popular most popular social networking site among college students, is going to open up its membership to corporate America.

While I'm happy that my company is among the initial list of 1,000 companies that membership will be available to, I wonder if this is the best thing to happen for this site's membership.

I'll be curious to see if attendance drops off once college kids realize corporations are using this site for various purposes (the most obvious in my mind is to assist on the recruiting front). You have to admit, when corporate America becomes involved in stuff like this, the "cool" factor goes down. A lot.

It's not surprising that Facebook made this move, however. Anytime venture capital firms get involved with funding, you know something like this is on the agenda list.

The Art of Thin-Slicing

2006-05-05T09:06:00.000-05:00

One of the books that I'm currently reading is Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. I'm not done with it yet, but so far it's been interesting...especially when one thinks of how it affects one's profession.

For me, I've obviously thought about how snap judgements affect the talent acquisition (aka recruiting) realm. And it got me to thinking...I wonder how many recruiters out there are successful at "thin-slicing" candidates (read the synopsis of Blink in the link above if you have no idea what "thin-slicing" is).

If you take what's said in the book to be generally true, it means that in the first moments of interacting with a candidate a recruiter makes their decision on whether this person is going through to the next round or not. The kicker, as Gladwell explains, is that this decision is most often times done subconsciously in the brain.

As a result, if you don't understand how to correctly thin-slice your subconscious, you might end up making some costly decisions along the way...like passing on a candidate because you make the assumption that based on their clothing, they wouldn't be able to be an all-star consultant in your firm.

Reading through this book, I realize that when it comes to recruiting, these snap judgements are one of the most costly decisions a professional can make for an organization. You make the right decision, congratulations...you've selected an all-star that will add millions to the bottom line. If you screw up...well, either you hire a person who ends up leaving after a short while (and not really contributing that much) or get a person who costs you millions because he/she is an ineffective manager who drives away all your good talent.

One of my rants has (and still is) always been that not enough organizations have sat down and defined what talent is. As a result, when they clamor for talented people, the recruiters who go out and look for this "talent" have no idea what exactly they are looking for. They might have a general understanding. But is that enough to successfully thin-slice? What makes an all-star an all-star at their organization? Has anyone bothered to define this? If not, how do you know what to look for when people walk in to interview with your organization?

My sense is that an overwhelming majority of recruiters are relying on their past experience to help them make their snap judgements. There's nothing really wrong with this approach, especially if the recruiter has been at the organization long enough. The only problem lies in the fact that sometimes organizations decide to create new positions. Or hire new recruiters. Or re-align divisions. When it comes to issues like this, my question is: can we still rely on the gut instincts of recruiters when the rules of the game change (read: the recruiter has never had any experience with this type of profile/organization before)?

While most in the recruiting profession will defend their judgements, I don't think organizations would be comforted with the fact that the only thing lying between them and irrelevance is "gut instinct." With the War for Talent in full force, organizations are going to want to quantify more and more of the recruiting (and not just recruiting...but HR in general) process. The most logical step (to me, at least) in this whole progression is going to be quantifying how talent looks like in an organization.

So then the question becomes: is there any way to create an interview process that helps recruiters successfully thin-slice their thoughts on candidates? Perhaps designing such a process would minimize the margin for error during the recruiting process.

Or should the question be even more basic than that: how many recruiters even know how to thin-slice their thoughts? If the answer is "not many," perhaps we have a much more fundamental issue on our hands here. It's an issue that I'll have to think about another time though...

A Humble Day for Microsoft

2006-05-03T08:50:00.000-05:00

Wow. Never thought I'd see this day so soon after Google's meteoric rise to tech fame.

Seems like Microsoft is coming to grips that its MSN search engine will never be able to reach Google or even Yahoo's market share of the search engine industry. As a result, it appears that top management at Microsoft have been mulling over buying a stake in...get this...Yahoo!

This is just the latest round in the war over the Internet. What was the last bit of big news to emerge in the battle between Google and Microsoft? When Microsoft attempted to strike a partnership with Time Warner's AOL unit before Google shut them out of the talks by purchasing a 5% stake in the former Internet titan. It's David vs. Goliath again...with an ironic twist.

The Future of Recruiting...Vindication!

2006-05-01T19:24:00.000-05:00

In an earlier post, I had a theory: recruiting organizations may find themselves shifting more and more to where modern sports organizations are today.

Much like how scouts are tracking athletes at early ages (in some cases, reports have indicated that they've gone to middle school games), my assertion was that organizations in the business world would find themselves keeping track of talent much earlier than they're historically used to.

Having said that, I now have an example of how this trend is playing out!!

Today, as I opened my issue of BusinessWeek, I came upon an article about Merrill Lynch's recruiting strategy. Since I can't provide a link to this article (you have to be a subscriber), I'll offer a brief snippet from the article:

The Draft Picks Get Younger
Merrill Lynch is identifying the best recruits as early as freshman year

Last fall an intense competition swept a half-dozen U.S. college campuses. Four-person teams of undergraduate business majors battled to generate the biggest returns -- using "fantasy funds," not real money. It was all part of a "portfolio challenge" game designed by Merrill Lynch Inc. (MER ) to help identify young talent for analyst jobs. Winners pocketed $9,000 in cash prizes and other giveaways. More important, the finalists nabbed a coveted place at the top of Merrill's callback list.

Such games might seem unusual to anyone who graduated from college more than a few years ago. But in the increasingly competitive war for fresh talent, a small group of companies including Merrill, PricewaterhouseCoopers, L'Oréal, and others is changing the rules. A growing economy and the need to ramp up hiring quickly and cheaply have spurred recruiters to bypass MBA programs and hire the bulk of their new people straight out of college.

...It's an increasingly common strategy. In 2004-05, according to BusinessWeek's survey of corporate recruiters, 28% of new entry-level hires were former interns, up from 26% the year before, and one out of four reported that at least half of all new hires came from the intern pool. What sets Merrill apart is its willingness to hire younger interns, including freshmen. Says Elton Ndoma-Ogar, head of diversity campus recruiting: "We're trying to build relationships earlier and turn these young people into professionals." - By Bremen Leak, with Lindsey Gerdes in New York

What's even more wild about this article? It also mentions another theory of mine: that organizations will have to increasingly rely on younger talent to help lead them into the future as the Baby Boom generation gets closer to retirement.

Call me crazy, but I think Merrill Lynch is onto something BIG. At the least, they're trying innovative solutions in order to stay relevant. What's your organization doing?

Technical Difficulties

2006-05-01T14:48:00.000-05:00

Apparently I am experiencing technical difficulties on this blog site. Be patient with me as I work through this issue. In other words, I'm quite annoyed that this issue is not resolved already!!!!!

I suppose this is my reward for not posting for a few days... :P

P.S. Among my loyal fan base of single digits, if any of you are technically adept enough to explain my problem away, feel free to drop me a comment and we can connect.

Cool...and useful (?) tool

2006-04-20T12:05:00.000-05:00

I ran across this little tool just now, and couldn't resist posting it up here. What is it? It's a webtool that allows you to view the PageRank (Google) of links visually rather than in text on a particular domain.

I'll leave it up to you to figure out how this helps your life. ;)

Firing Back

2006-04-20T09:02:00.000-05:00

It's always interesting to see once-invincible titans of industry get passed by fresh upstarts every now and then. It's the age old tale of David vs. Goliath. Except in business, Goliath typically gets so big that they are slow to move on new ideas and technology...whereupon David enters the picture and is able to sidestep everyone in the industry with a "WOW" idea.

What's even more interesting than that?

When these titans attempt to fire back on these young upstarts to "protect their turf."

I came across this little news tidbit that claims AOL is joining the social networking foray that is currently dominated by MySpace. In fact, it appears AOL isn't even being shy about confronting MySpace "head on."

As comedian Russell Peters likes to say, "somebody gonna get a hurt real bad."

It'll be interesting to see who comes out on top for this one.

Offshore Teams: The Next Big Thing?

2006-04-18T20:39:00.000-05:00

I've noticed an interesting thing while working in US-based organizations that utilize offshore teams: somehow, it's always the offshore team that's vilified for stuff that goes wrong (and there's always something that goes wrong).

In recruiting, the most often use of offshore teams tends to be in what has traditionally been called "research and sourcing" (I dislike that name, which is one of the reasons why I've re-branded it Talent Research within my company). I've also seen organizations delegate more process-oriented work to their offshore counterparts.

In nearly every case, I've heard the US-based organization complain about their offshore team's incompetence. "They aren't sending me the right candidates" is a typical lament. "Why are they sending me rodeo clowns when I obviously want bozos" is another one. "They just don't pay attention to the details"...you get the idea.

And yet, I have a hard time imagining how these offshore teams are THAT incompetent. I will admit that sometimes offshore teams just aren't up to fluff. However, I still argue that it's ultimately the US-based organization's fault--after all, they're the ones that put that team together.

This whole situation is a little ironic to me. You see, what it boils down to is our unwillingness to devote time to develop these offshore teams to the level of "competence" we want. Once we have a team in place, we (the mighty US multi-national) expect the offshore team to automatically overcome language barriers, cultural differences, and other idiosyncracies in business and provide "great" deliverables.

This approach has obviously failed. Many times. And yet, companies continue to do this.

Why is it ironic? Because as I've ranted before, the next big thing in business is going to be Talent Development. As more and more organizations begin to realize that there simply aren't enough people with "perfect" experiences...developing "raw" talent is going to become ever so important on the corporate agenda list.

And yet...here are these same organizations...unwilling to put aside time to develop offshore talent.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure there are great examples of organizations that have made remarkable strides in utilizing offshore teams (and I'd love to hear about them). These are the "WOW" companies.

Right now, I'm simply addressing the unremarkable companies.

Kan't Zpell? Try Orangoo.

2006-04-17T08:57:00.000-05:00

For all you aspiring bloggers, here's a cool little tool I came across this morning. You're reading the first posting here that used Orangoo's application.

So does anyone else doubt that we're in the "Age of Creation Intensification?" Web 2.0, you have officially become the catalyst for this new era.

Here's the question: which one of the Big 3 (Google, Yahoo!, MSN) is going to look at this thing and try to either 1) Copy it or 2) Buy it?

Idiotic Product Design

2006-04-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

I've been on the road for the past couple of days, and there's one thing that I've decided I can't live without: smartphones.

The problem is, I don't have one.

But after lugging around a 6 pound laptop with a battery that lasts no longer than it takes me to type this blog, I've come to the realization that carrying a smartphone would have allowed me to pack ridiculously lighter. It would have also saved me the irritation of having to sit next to a power outlet at the airport. (For those wondering, my laptop isn't ancient; it's a new Sony VAIO)

Or perhaps it's not the fact that I need a smartphone at all. Maybe I just need a better designed laptop.

This is what happens when you have bad product design: you get customers who begin to wonder how much life would be easier with SOMEthing else.

End rant.

The Growth of an Organization

2006-04-10T08:21:00.000-05:00

By now we're all familiar with Google's meteoric rise. Their formula was pretty simple: take a simple concept (search) and then make it free to the masses. Once the masses become addicted to it ("hey, Google it"), charge corporations advertising fees using an innovative scheme.

As with all organizations, Google is beginning to look at other growth opportunities outside its core function. Check out this interesting alliance between BearingPoint and Google. Wonder if this is a blueprint for what Google would like to do in the future for the corporate world? It'll be interesting to see if this thing takes off with BearingPoint...

The Age of Creation Intensification

2006-04-07T12:25:00.000-05:00

I recently mentioned Murakami Teruyasu's prediction that we're shifting from an Age of Information Intensification to an Age of Creation Intensification. As you can probably tell, I agree with this theory.

Why? Check out this story. And this site. When 15 year old kids are creating things that actually address legitimate business needs, you KNOW something's about to happen.

All of this boils down to what I've been ranting about for a while: like it or not, younger kids are going to be the leaders of this new age we're about to step into. The Baby Boom generation had its moment in the spotlight. As they begin to retire in the next 5-15 years, it's the young ones that will be taking over in increasing numbers. And it's the young ones that will be asked to handle leadership tasks sooner than any other generation previous to them.

We all see the signs: technology is increasing efficiency more than ever, outsourcing is here to stay, and the pace of business is getting faster by the second. In order for the US to remain on top of the developed world, we'll need people (in increasing numbers as the Baby Boomers retire) who are capable of "architecting" and managing ever complex organizations and situations/problems. In essence, the business world is going to be handed to the "knowledge workers."

Which makes me think: in this new age, recruiting might not be the key to the War for Talent after all. It might be the first step in the important process (the MOST important process that a company will ever do), but not the most important. Rather, I think (more than ever) that an organization's ability to DEVELOP its talent will be the key to this whole thing. Put another way, an organization's ability to take raw talent and create the all-stars that it will need...THAT will be the single most important thing in the coming years.

Yes, coming from someone who is in the recruiting industry, that might sound blasphemous. But at the same time, doesn't it make it that much more powerful?

It's one of the reasons why I refuse to accept that recruiting and HR cannot co-exist together under the same department. Having the two functions work separately on their own little islands is a one way ticket to irrelevance in my mind.

Feelin' Too Busy?

2006-04-06T12:12:00.000-05:00

If you're one of those people who just can't seem to find enough time in a single day...I welcome you to this creation I just came across.

Makes you wonder...are people living too fast? Maybe the best thing to do in this Age of Creation Intensification is to slow things down a bit. Maybe then we'll actually be able to think.

Behold...the Future of Advertising

2006-04-06T08:14:00.000-05:00

As you all know, Web 2.0 is in full force. Whether you've embraced the term or hate it, the reality is that new business models are popping up on the Internet every single day. Of course, most of them are doomed to failure, but there are some intriguing ones that if done right, could actually alter industries.

Here is the newest tool for aspiring companies trying to gain the attention of the masses: Spot Runner. It's still in "beta" (as all these Web 2.0 things are)...which basically means they're still working out the kinks in their business model in order to actually churn a profit after year 10.

So what's Spot Runner? It allows businesses to place 30 second TV commercials during prime time. Want to run a commercial on ESPN during SportsCenter? It costs as low as $44.

A very cool concept...granted, it still costs money to make a fairly decent commercial nowadays. But being able to afford prime time TV spots just might alter the way small businesses market themselves in the future.

For those that thought mighty Fortune 500 firms couldn't be defeated by small 5 person organizations...welcome to the "Era of Creation Intensification" (as Teruyasu Murakami would say). And say goodbye to the "Era of Information Intensification."

Are You Feeling the Net?

2006-04-04T12:10:00.000-05:00

Here's a cool little tool from a company called Netvibes. What's so cool about their service? It lets you customize your own "web page," where you can put things such as RSS feeds, frequently visited sites, and anything else at your leisure. And as any new Web 2.0 tool, you can access this page anywhere as long as you have an Internet connection.

But the thing that I'm looking forward to: if this site catches on with people, it could be a very cool tool in the researcher's utility belt. Why? A "search for feeds" ability is currently in the works...

Is Jigsaw Really Evil?

2006-04-04T08:56:00.000-05:00

We all know people have strong feelings. Especially when it comes to products or services that companies offer to the public. Ever bump into someone who swears by Apple? What about someone who loathes Bill Gates and all his evil empire ways? (I think Google is beginning to replace Microsoft as the new evil empire, but I digress...)

So I came across this one posting on Techcrunch that basically villifies Jigsaw. Jigsaw is one of those tools that many business people (and recruiters) use to connect to others all over the world. But according to the author of this blog, it's evil.

Which makes me wonder...what other tools out there are evil? :o

Are You A Heyoka?

2006-04-03T11:48:00.000-05:00

Today's posting actually appears on Jim Stroud's blog site. For those of you not in the know, Jim is a member of the Elite Cybersleuthing community, and a good guy all around. If you guys are ever curious about what's going on in the recruiting industry, his blog is a must read...and no, I promise he's not paying me on the side for saying that! ;)

The Secret Talent Pool

2006-03-31T10:39:00.000-05:00

I came upon this interesting article the other day.

According to a study by the Consumer Electronics Association, one third of adult gamers spend 10 hours or more per week playing games. I don't know about you, but that figure is a lot higher than I expected. Another surprising statistic? 58% of teen females play online games. In an industry traditionally dominated by the male sex, this figure is certainly surprising.

...this might be another talent pool that organizations start looking into. Of course, I'm not encouraging that since the last thing people want to see is recruiters start infiltrating the gaming forums. It can be done tastefully of course, but organizations have to tread carefully...

Scary Research Tactics

2006-03-30T19:56:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this last week when I happened upon this article, but as often happens...life just gets hectic sometimes.

Check out this link.

Can you imagine if any evil recruiters got their hands on this when the flaw was discovered? The horror...the horror...

The Future of Recruiting = The Modern Sports Organization

2006-03-29T20:05:00.000-05:00

Here’s a thought. What if recruiting evolved into what has happened in the sports world? What if due to the talent shortage in the workforce, recruiters were forced to start tracking students while they were in high school?

You look at how NBA scouts have progressed from evaluating college talent…to watching high school talent…and now, they are beginning to “drop” by middle school games. Why? NBA organizations value talent. To them, keeping track of these kids as early as possible gives them an “edge” against other organizations who don’t. You know the ins and outs of the individual. You know what they like. What they don’t like. You know what they can do…and what they might eventually be able to do. NBA organizations keep track of all this stuff because you never know when the next LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, or Tim Duncan is going to come along.

An extreme scenario…but is it really that far off for the business world? Corporations have begun to assemble competitions among business school students in increasing numbers. Do you think they do this for the heck of it? No. It’s a way to scope out potential talent at the university level.

Some companies have taken it further. They have high school competitions. Again, it’s conceivable that many have used these competitions with an eye towards the future.

Any thoughts?

Eureka!!...I mean, Eurekster!!

2006-03-03T09:20:00.000-05:00

I came across this cool little social search engine the other day, Eurekster. What's different about Eurekster compared to the other search engines out there on the web? It allows YOU to create what they call "swikis" to search what you want to search for.

What is a swiki? Just think of it as a natural extension of personal publishing on the web...very much like a blog, podcast, or personal webpage. The unique thing about this search engine is that it's community powered, meaning that the engine you create begins to learn from its community of users as they search. Moreover, as the creator of the swiki, you can choose which websites to exclude or "promote" in the search results as they pertain to the relevancy of the community that you're trying to establish.

The premise behind Eurekster is simple: let publishers of web content, communities, and communication services offer more relevant search to their audiences and "to earn their share of the $5 billion paid search and advertising market." I'm a much more visual learner than the average person, so it might help you to see this tool in action. I picked a popular swiki on the main site of Eurekster for video games (at the risk of labeling myself a geek). You can either search for something unique by typing a keyword in the search box, or picking from the "hot searches" box. You can even compare search results to the same search on Google.

A cool web tool? Most definitely. Can it be used as a professional tool for recruiters or HR departments? That's still up in the air. There's definitely potential though, which is why I'm going to be tinkering around with this thing until I can find some use for it. ;)

The End of An Era...Part 2: Something's Gotta Give

2006-02-17T09:13:00.000-05:00

I have a prediction (this may not be a new prediction, so bear with me in my ignorance): in the next five to ten years, organizations will increasingly be forced to put younger employees in positions that demand more responsibility than previous generations before them in the same roles. Put another way, organizations that want to survive in this New Economy must begin placing younger talent in “stretch” roles to ensure a solid foundation for the future.

For me, there are no “if” “ands” or “buts” about this statement. The Baby Boom Generation’s gradual retirement over the next 10 -15 years is inevitable. And so is the fact that at the end of the day, there will be anywhere from 30 to 40 million less workers by that time in the US.

Something’s gotta give.

This will be part of an ongoing “series” of rants for me, so I’ll gradually speak about all the ramifications of the above statement I just made. For today, I want to address one aspect of how companies view candidates interviewing for open opportunities.

Let’s start at the beginning. The typical company usually opens a job requisition when there is an available position somewhere. Once that job requisition (or “req.” as it’s so often called) is opened, recruiters usually huddle with the hiring managers involved and discuss the details of the position. After this, the green light is given and it’s all systems go. The recruiter begins to scour the corners of the Earth looking for the perfect candidate, while the hiring manager tries to balance their work load with interviewing candidates that pass through the screening process.

In my personal opinion, though, there’s a BIG disconnect in this whole process. It’s at the point where the recruiter and hiring manager huddle together to discuss the “details.” Experience, educational background, communications skills…all of these (and many more) things end up being discussed at some point in the process. That’s not the problem. The problem is the lens through which the recruiter and hiring manager are evaluating these prospective candidates.

You see, recruiters and hiring managers (more often than not) look for someone who “fits” the description they’ve laid out for the position. They have to have 6-10 years of experience…possess an MBA degree from a top ten school…come from a top competitor…and so on and so forth. If candidates don’t possess these minimum qualifications, they’re usually given the boot. Especially if the organization is a reputable one that has a good brand name.

My point? Talent for a particular job doesn’t always necessarily “fit” the description the company has laid out. In fact, I’d argue that in a lot of cases, some of the most talented people for the position wouldn’t even come close to “fitting” the description.

Some examples:

Steve Jobs – The iPod guy. Do you honestly think a sane company would have hired someone as CEO who dropped out of college after one semester? Forget hiring for the CEO spot. Do you think a brand name firm (like Intel) would have taken a chance to offer Jobs a full time role as a regular employee? This is the same guy that went to India and came back with a shaved head and traditional Indian clothing when he went back to work for Atari.

Ben Wallace – Some of you might be scratching your heads on this one. Yes, he’s an athlete. A 4 time NBA All-Star to be exact. But it doesn’t change the fact that all organizations, sports or not, tend to filter candidates a certain way. Big Ben graduated from a no-name college. Went undrafted because teams thought he was too small for his position and scouts said he had no offensive game. Guess who’s laughing now?

Andy Stanley – Pastor of North Point Community Church. Again, try to view this from an organizational bias perspective. Andy was a mediocre student in high school. He went on to an average university, where he admittedly wasn’t a candidate for any academic distinctions (except for maybe the bad kind). His parents even worried about him at many points along his collegiate “career.” And now…he’s the leader of one of the most influential churches in the US. Business leaders have recognized his leadership abilities, and his ability to connect to large audiences when speaking. He even came up with a new term to address what everyone in this world needs: “visioneering.”

These examples just go to show that sometimes, the best people for your organization won’t “fit” into the mold that you create for them. So the question is: will organizations begin to break the mold and see candidates in a whole new light? Moreover, will recruiters and the HR function as a whole learn to filter candidates so that the good ones don’t fall through the cracks?

As more and more Baby Boomers retire, I have a feeling that more and more organizations will be asking and telling themselves “is he/she ready for this type of role?”…”they don’t have enough experience”…”they don’t have the educational background we like”…etc. etc.

But like I said earlier, something’s gotta give.

Otherwise, a lot of organizations are going to find themselves looking up at competition that they previously looked down upon. And it’s because that competition figured out that sometimes, you have to take chances on people who don’t “fit” perfectly…and invest the proper time and energy to make sure they succeed in these “stretch” roles.

Random Musings

2006-02-16T11:05:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted anything in a while...my apologies to all my readers (at this point, it's believed to be in the single digits still). Things have been quite hectic for me as of late, but I promise to post Part 2 of my "series" of rants very soon. In the meanwhile...

I came across this video clip on Garr Reynold's blog. Very cool.

Now what would be even cooler is applying this technology to candidate management systems. That's one system I would not mind using on a daily basis!

The End of An Era...Part 1

2006-01-29T13:17:00.000-05:00

As you can tell from my first post, I feel that HR is long overdue for some major overhauling. As someone with a business school background, I look at the HR function and see a department that in some ways has lost touch with the rest of the business world.

While the majority of the business world has changed with the times, it seems HR has been stuck in a rut for the last decade (or even longer). What do I mean by this? If you look at other business functions like marketing, manufacturing, IT, or management (among a slew of others), they have evolved as the market has demanded. More than ever, organizations are focused on solutions…experiences…”dream fulfillment”…brands that inspire…design…and WOW projects.

As a result, there is more and more press on how organizations are “thinking outside the box.” The way I translate this: more than ever, organizations are willing to take risks on the intellectual capital (read: Talented people) within their walls. In the past, large corporate entities were hesitant to hand over anything significant to the “risk takers” who wanted to go against the grain. It was “safer” to instead make incremental improvements that management teams suggested after thorough “analysis.”

But times have changed. As I said in my previous post, we live in an Age of Talent. But the catalyst to this age has been disruption in the business world. Organizations find themselves having to compete in a global landscape against competitors that didn’t even exist six months ago. Witnessing the quick rise of Google should tell you that this disruption is a new reality…a new constant in this age.

Now organizations are finding themselves becoming more and more reliant on the group of people they once ignored. It’s the creative, the nutty, and the risk taking individuals who are helping to push organizations ahead of their competitors. In short, it’s a new breed of intellectual capital that’s helping to open up new markets for these large firms. The “White-Collar Revolution” (as Tom Peters calls it) has officially begun.

Tom Kelley, founder of the acclaimed design firm IDEO, addressed the new collective spirit of this movement fittingly when he said, “weed out the dullards, nurture the nuts.”

This is where the staid HR department comes in.

HR needs more nuts. It’s the only way we can survive in an era when change and disruption are the constant. It’s the only way we can finally begin to pay Talent its due, rather than giving it lip service.

Let's get it started...

2006-01-24T22:06:00.000-05:00

This marks my inaugural post here on Beyond HR. What is Beyond HR? It's a space that is dedicated to revolutionizing the human resources industry. In addition, I'll do my best to convey the latest HR trends, ideas, technologies, and tactics through as unique a lens as possible.

So what do I mean by "revolutionize HR?" It means...

...coming up with a new name for human resources. Some of you may say it's just semantics, but to me the "human resources department" just does not inspire. When's the last time you heard HR and excitement in the same sentence from someone OUTside the HR department? Changing the status quo sometimes means using different words to begin shifting people's perspective away from the old, and on to the new.

...destroying the way corporations think about HR. Rather than make HR into a paper pushing department concerned with tasks like benefits and payroll, I want to start seeing organizations utilize HR to "quarterback" the War for Talent.

...taking the War for Talent seriously. This phenomenon has been paid so much lip service over the last couple of years, but I have yet to see more than a handful of organizations put the money where their mouth is. We're witnessing a shift towards a New Age right now. What is it? The Age of Talent. I'm convinced that old tactics such as TQM (total quality management), CI (continuous improvement), and the balanced scorecard (as well as many others) will not be enough to help organizations thrive in the coming years. What does that mean? The sole differentiator between excellence and mediocrity in an industry will be Talent.

...redefining job descriptions and job requisitions. I hate both of them. The reason I hate both of them is the same reason I hate the "human resources" name. They don't inspire. They don't excite. They don't evoke passion. When's the last time that you met a Talented person who doesn't exhibit these three qualities? Then why do we insist on using tools that don't speak the same language?

...changing the way the HR industry "views" Talent. Some recruiters don't think every person has Talent. Some recruiters believe everyone has some ounce of Talent. At the very root of the issue is: WE HAVE NO CLUE WHAT TALENT IS. And it scares us as HR professionals. So we avoid the issue by concentrating on stuff like years of experience, knowledge acquired, and educational background. I want to see this industry begin taking measures to define what Talent means...how Talent will elevate your firm to unprecedented heights...how you will attract Talent...how you will develop Talent in-house...and most importantly, how you will retain Talent.

I could go on and on about what a revolution means. But I think you get the point. Besides, if I included everything from the get go, I'd have nothing to write about in the future. ;)

My hope is that some of the things I have just written resonated within you. And if they have...join me in trying to change the status quo...and start a revolution. It all starts here.