Recruiting Revolution

Workplace Hugging

2009-10-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

I believe this is the first guest blog post I have ever put on Recruiting Revolution. This was just too good to pass up. One of our recruiting team members (Shine Thomas) sent this to our team today:

What are the rules for workplace hugs? Here are some ideas I have been pondering on:

The guy / girl hug. A quick hug and 2-3 slaps on the back. Keeps movement going and ensures there is not an awkward too clingy stage. Someone will always get the wrong impression even if it is for a nano-second.

The two girls who work closely hug – This sort of hug usually starts with a squeal of “HIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!”; big arms, big smiles” maybe some swaying ; some more squealing. Special occasions (such as babies and engagements) can take this hug from 30 seconds to up to 5 minutes and multiple repetitions.

The sideways half hug - Also good for guy/ girl workplace hugs. Affection is being shown but not too much to give the wrong impression.

The First hug - When your relationship goes from being friendly hello to hugging it is a very instrumental point in your relationship. It can determine how the relationship will move ahead. If the hug is not equally reciprocated it could lead to bonding issues. However, if the first hug is a good quality hug, immediate life long workplace bonding is sure to follow.

The outside of work hug - You see someone you know from work and chat to occasionally at random spot out and about in your hometown. Maybe even another city. It’s far enough away from the workplace to warrant extra excitement. You will probably do a “HEEEEYYY (guys) or semi-squealing “HIIIIIIIEEE” (girls); lean in, reach out arms a bit and maybe do a quick hug. Risk takers will go straight into the hug.

Candidate interview hugs - I have been known to hug my close candidates in the reception area. I must admit I advise against this practice though. I would recommend sticking to a warm extra long handshake and big smile. Some of my candidates have close/ stalkerish relationships with me.

The new hire hug - There are some candidates you court for a long time. Lots of conversations. Lots of “one more question” phone calls. Lots of trips in for interviews, emails with smiley faces, the excitement of an offer, the acceptance of an offer, relocations and finally they are here at the village. It is really a special day almost like a wedding day. I know on Sunday nights, when I know a new hire is going to start on Monday, I do get nervous excitement! You meet them on day one or sometime during their first week. You walk up to them and say “HIIIIIIEEEEE!!! Welcome aboard!!!’. If you're a female recruiter who has just hired another female recruiter, a hug is critical at this point (unless they are a VP in which case personal discretion should be used). If you have a guy / girl situation a hug might not normally be a good idea. It all depends on if you have developed a good candidate brotherly / sisterly bond.
The performance review hug - Not much to be said there. If you get a pay rise or promotion a hug is warranted. Or at least a semi hug for two guys. If you didn’t get a good review, a simple “OK then, I have to go now, I have a crazy day working my butt off for you and you don’t even appreciate me and I could be your boss“ look could be OK.

The termination hug - avoid hugging in termination conversations at all times. It sends a confusing message to the terminated employee. Even if they are crying their eyes out maintain a neutral corporate stance but try and be sympathetic with your eyes so they know you are not an A**. Also, do offer tissues.

The manager hug - I would follow your manager’s lead and watch their body language. They will definitely be slow moving. If you feel like they are going in for a hug and are OK with this, then hug back immediately. It’s hard for boss people to take that risk so reward them with a lot of enthusiasm. If however, you are not wanting to receive the hug, take 2 steps backwards, cross your arms and smile. They will get the hint.

The client hug - I find this the most challenging because I really do love my clients and I want to hug them all the time and have to refrain!! (I know I am a freak but I am still in my honeymoon phase). I think when you get to the point of hugging your clients you have become a true trusted advisor. They will listen to anything you have to say because you are at Hugging level. You can get away with anything when you get to this level :Examples below

I’m sorry I don’t have a single qualified candidate – but I can give you a hug!!!
I’m sorry the candidate declined our offer – but let’s hug and cry about it together.
I’m sorry you cannot replacement hire the 5 people who have left your 7 person team
Your team hates your management style, you should really hug them more often

Dumbed Down World of Clichés and Pop-Psychology

2009-10-13T11:13:00.001-07:00

Feedback is good as long as it’s constructive…

Really? So if I tell you that you are ugly but the good news is I have a great plastic surgeon I can recommend, that’s good, right? Just because you use the word constructive doesn’t make it so. Don’t hide your political posturing and sarcasm in “constructive” feedback. If you give it truly think about how you are affecting the person receiving it.

You can be anything you want when you grow up…

Really? So your kid wants to be an astronaut yet they suck at math but can draw a perfect flower. What the heck—encourage them to be an astronaut—I’m sure they’ll be great at it. Instead you may want to consider actually encouraging your kids to do what they are naturally very good at. And hey, who knows, maybe they will actually be able to get a job when they graduate because they are good at what they do.

You have all the time in the world to figure out what you wan to be when you grow up…

Really? Let your spouse pay the bills why you figure it out. Oh, and the kid in India that figured it out fifteen years before you did, guess what, they got the job. You don’t have all the time in the world! You don’t even live that long!

There are no bad questions…

Really? Have you ever sat in a meeting where someone asks the same question that the person right before them did because they were playing on their blackberry? But hey—still a great question right? Why not start a meeting and say please be thoughtful of your questions? Or please ask questions that will advance the discussion forward. We aren’t in kindergarten. We are paid money to think—not ask stupid questions.

It’s all about communication…

Really? So if someone sells you a crappy car but over communicates why it’s so great then the problem is solved, right? Communication doesn’t solve everything. Sometimes you have to actually do work to solve it. If you are being strategic you will ask yourself if it a communication problem or a true business problem. Don’t always assume communication is the answer to everything.

Work-Life Balance…

Really? I didn’t know we died when we got to work and came back to life afterwards. I must have missed the transition when this oxymoron was first coined…”from here on out work is no longer part of your life.” That really must suck for a farmer—they must never be alive. Stop thinking life and work are separate…got news for you-life is work and work is life and if you don’t like your job don’t try to solve it by spending the least amount of time there.

If you are communicating with a leader it needs to be high level…

Really? Because no problem (like the collapse of our economy) requires more of an in depth look at an issue. “Our analysis on risky lending practices indicates these three bullet points… Executive writes back from their blackberry, “Thanks for info” message sent via blackberry. We need to get real and stop thinking our executives can’t handle information. If we have a complex and important problem to solve give them the facts so they can make a solid decision.

Work Hard Play Hard…

Really? Because you work hard you have a free pass to do beer bongs on the table? Just because you work hard doesn’t make you exempt from looking like a complete idiot. How about work hard and be yourself. Not work hard and act like you are at a college frat party.

We are the largest…

Really? Who gives a rats ass how large your company is. Every time I go to a conference I hear speakers say “we are the largest heating company in New England”, “we are the largest beer distributor in Florida”, “we are the largest this, we are the largest that”. Who cares! What is with the largeness syndrome? Do you think someone hears that and is like, “wow, your company is large”? No—it’s totally forgettable. How about come out and say we are the SMALLEST company in the world at annoying the hell out of people by saying we are the largest. Now that is cool!

Gen Y/Millennial’s feel they are entitled…

Really? I see this written about every day from someone in the industry. Of course—it’s not written by the Millennial’s because like the WWII generation, Baby Boomers and X’ers—when their parents said the same things about them they viewed it as OLD and ARROGANT. Just like all of the other generations there are lazy, entitled people and hard workers. Please stop clumping them together in one category—it’s just truly an inaccurate way to view the world. The same inaccuracy that the WWII generation had of their kids listening to Elvis and the Beatles!!

When you hear one of these statements don't just take it as some form of wisdom someone is giving you. Think!

#talentcamp

2009-09-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

Susan Burns and Jeff Hunter wrote powerful and provocative blog pieces on the elusive Talent Camp (#talentcamp). If you haven’t read these two pieces you are missing out on true thought leadership; you would be remiss not to pay attention to these two if you are a recruitment professional. With them, a group of industry visionaries are coming together to discuss the future of the talent acquisition space. There will be specific attention paid to one of the most misjudged and poorly understood organization assets--TALENT.

Rapid changing currents of socioeconomics, social innovation, environment and quality leadership have made our space more relevant than ever—but only as relevant as our ability to show responsible leadership. If achieved we can bring profound, long lasting credibility to our craft. If we as a collective industry can agree on common principles and focus our efforts we can influence an entire market. If we cannot make this shift the market will dictate the future of our profession. Focused attention to the long lasting health and sustainability of our profession and the impact it has on society will be a key focus of mine at Talent Camp.

Within organizations, marketing, sales, operations, production, etc., are often thought of as drivers of the business. HR/recruiting often is thought of as influencers/supporters of the business (I’m stereotyping a bit—this is not true in all organizations). One of my goals is to break down the difference between an influence model and a true business driver model. All too often recruiting professionals ask me if I had to get permission from this department or that department to implement a program or campaign. If the program or campaign falls within our area of expertise why would we ask permission? You may need buy-in depending on what you are trying to accomplish but this is different than permission. Practitioners in our space are often waiting for something to happen in the business or waiting for permission while the organizational need is already there. How do we as an industry shift this nuance in how we execute strategy and tactics within our space?

There are large disconnects between strategists and tacticians within the recruitment industry. We lack clear, definable understanding between the differences of organization building and talent acquisition. We battle points of view on whether it’s better to pick up the phone and cold call or brand. We argue about the best sources of our hires. We tend to avoid questions on how to shape the future generations of recruitment professionals and the political and corporate institutions we operate in. If we avoid these discussions we do the whole industry a disservice. I have been invited to keynote at several industry events over the past few years. At recent events I have presented on branding and marketing in the area of recruitment. Some of the feedback I received was around why I was so focused on marketing. A few people said I came across more as a consultant versus a practitioner. When I get up on that stage my focus is straight forward. Advance the industry. I often educate myself by looking outside the recruitment space. I learn from brand marketers, operational experts and other disciplines to understand how these can be applied to our space. There are a lot of questions about how practical this is. If you’re paying attention to the industry you will find more and more organizations are pulling leaders from these other disciplines to lead recruiting functions though. Why? Because they came from areas of the business that have credibility! If we fail to pay attention to the socioeconomic currents, the entirety of our discipline we will see more and more of this.

For some reason the recruitment industry has not been able to get this as a whole. Don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of individuals who do but there are too many who would rather spend their time derailing progress. It’s entirely possible to unite the industry though and advance our craft. The freemasons did it in the 1600 and 1700’s and remained strong into the last century—maybe an extreme example. The Human Resource profession has done a better job of it. Take a look at the size of SHRM and the speaker line-ups they get: Colin Powel, Jack Welch, Covey, etc. Business leaders! They are sizable enough and powerful enough to impact legislation. Recruiting industry pundits and speakers often criticize our HR colleagues for not partnering or valuing the staffing function. I’m not arguing that HR is the most progression function within an organization but where are we? The list of industries/crafts that have been able to organize effectively goes on—American Marketing Association, Information Technology Association of America, etc. Take the Information Technology Association of America (www.itaa.org) as an example. Here is one of the first things you see when you go to their site:

"Tech Leaders Urge Investments in Digital Infrastructure as Part of Recovery Plan– In a letter sent to House and Senate leaders, The Technology Association of America, formed by the merger of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and AeA, formerly the American Electronics Association, joined over 100 companies urging lawmakers to include strategic investments More..."

This is an organized and focused effort to influence the government to spend in their sector. They believe this will help Americans, create jobs and as a result shape the future of their industry. This is strategic. If you are sitting in your recruiter seat filling roles and think that taking on something like this is way outside your sphere of influence—we need to rethink this. It’s about organization and coordination of common principles that we all share. And it’s this very thinking that can secure our future and the entire industries. We sit within one of the most relevant and vital disciplines to an organizations survival and we have not stepped up as an industry to create change in the way organizations value talent. Sure we talk about. But it’s going to take much more than chatter to significantly impact the fabric of how talent is valued.

I like how Susan Burns positioned her post about Talent Camp—“The Big What If”. Here are my big what ifs:

What if we can get agreement/synchronization on the industry future, the industry players and a game plan to focus and coordinate our efforts?
What if we can define the distinction between the sphere of influence and business driving within our industry?
What if there was formal education for the craft of talent acquisition?

Can all of this happen? It can. It’s not going to happen right away. This is just a start. The only way we can get there is if enough people in our industry can agree on a purpose and a direction. I meet brilliant people in our industry every day. It’s an incredible, passionate group of people. I meet fun people, creative people. We simply lack unity and direction. Whether this becomes something more, or simply a dream, I’m looking forward to the discussion the following Talent Campers:

Susan Burns

Financial institutions contributed to the collapse of our entire economy. People institutions bring economies back to life. Shaping the thousands of people institutions out there is what we do. It deserves thoughtful, educated and measured commitment. Let the discussions begin!

#talentcamp

ERE EXPO--A Recruiters Dream!

2009-09-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Just sitting here on the airplane (using GoGo wireless) and reflecting on all that is being accomplished in the recruitment industry and in recruiting at adidas. I’m going to forewarn you that this post is going to seem a bit random but that’s where my head is at right now. Spinning with reflections and ideas!

I’m returning from a recruiting industry event called ERE Expo (http://www.ere.net/). I know there are tons of industry associations out there but anybody who is in the area of recruiting can most likely attest to the caliber of individuals you meet at ERE. This one was a favorite. Beyond my favorite industry guru hall of famers like John Sullivan, Gerry Crispin, Kevin Wheeler and John Sumsner we also had our super innovators like Jason Davis (http://www.recruitingblogs.com/) , Joel Cheesman (http://www.cheezhead.com/ just sold to http://www.jobbing.com/) , Neal Bruce (http://www.fadv.com/), Shally Steckerl (http://www.jobmachine.net/) & one of my favorite industry rookies of the year and industry MVP Josh Westover (http://www.enticelabs.com/).

In addition to being able to network with some of my industry favorites I got to co-present, sit on panels with and meet many talented industry professionals. A few that really stood out to me were…Marvin Smith (Talent Community Evangelist at Microsoft), Mike Grennier (Sr. Director Corporate Recruiting at Walmart), Brian Schaffer (Recruiter at DaVita), Sejal Patel (Project Manager Staffing Marketing and Channels at Intel), Chris Hoyt (AT&T) and Angela Guidroz (Sodexo). In addition I got to see many industry friends including Grant Hubbard with Qualigence http://www.qualigence.com/, Sarah White with HRM Direct http://www.hrmdirect.com/, Master Burnett with http://www.drjohnsullivan.com/ and too many more to mention here. And last but not least I have to call out my partner in crime Steve Bonomo—Global Head of Recruiting at adidas www.adidas-group.com/careers. He is a great friend and leader. I’m truly honored to work under his leadership at adidas. I also need to mention my direct supervisor in Portland, Jochen Eckhold, for his support and leadership in allowing me to come to these events, learn and grow.

There are a few themes and trends I would also like to call out that I see in the industry. Everybody seems to like to recap themes at these types of events. I actually enjoy reading these because everybody seems to bring their own twist…so here is mine:

Advertising—Traditional advertising in our industry is officially dead (dead of course is relative because dead things in industries don’t always die right away but can take many, many years simmering along with small beacons of success in niche areas—you don’t need to quote me examples of where it’s used). But the reality is that we will start seeing more and more shifts in advertising spend to pay-per-click and web advertising using contextual targeting, rich media, social networking, guerilla, word of mouth, PR. It’s been happening for a while but new players in this space will dramatically speed this up.

Media Fragmentation—With traditional advertisers threatened many new up and comers are emerging. Some are great and others offer false hope. Some show great ROI and others appear to be money traps. It’s becoming imperative to get educated on who the players are and what’s effective. Those that don’t will waste valuable organizational resources. There is a ton of hype in this space so practitioners will need to be more discerning than ever on which channels they choose.

Employment Branding—Is finally getting the respect it deserves in the industry. While companies may not totally be there yet they are getting the importance of it and are starting to look beyond the basics. I’m seeing more and more recruiting departments hire Marketing people from the business side. This is very intriguing and promising for the industry.
Integration—Everybody seems sick of the lack of integration in our industry, both from a technology perspective and a cross departmental perspective. Companies are starting to work hard and put more emphasis on this. There was a great article by John Sullivan today on http://www.ere.net/ on this topic.

Social Recruiting—You can’t find a conference these days that doesn’t focus at least 25% of it’s sessions on this topic. This is hot, hot, hot and more companies than not seem to be experimenting with how to best harness it’s power and show ROI. There are many promising stories in the industry right now. There are still a lot of hurtles in this space but progress is being made. In my opinion there is no turning back in terms of the importance of this in our space.

Candidate Experience—Still suffers in our industry. Candidates continue to feel that they don’t get the respect they deserve from organizations. This one is sad in that it’s been an age old problem we have not cracked yet as an industry. Those that due though can show true competitive advantage.

Employee Engagement—is a hot topic for organizations right now. With organizations becoming leaner and meaner it’s even more important to engage the current workforce. Internal careers plays a major role in this so more and more recruitment leaders will need to turn their focus internally over the coming months and years.

Conferences—less people are going but most of those that are going are creative, innovative and hungry to learn. This makes the experience of going much more exciting. This last ERE proved to be one of these cases. It was a fantastic conference all around. That said I still see many disengaged people at many of the conferences I go to. I also see a lot of disbelievers in industry advances and innovations. My prediction for these people—find another industry to get into because you will most likely not survive with that approach.

Industry News and Networking—I’m blown away by how learning, networking, conference going is combining so many forms of community, technology, communication, etc. At this ERE, the events and sessions were set up and advertised using social media, changes communicated real time. Events were streamed live. People were Tweeting what they liked real time. Highly organized events were intertwined with guerrilla events and parties are turning into charities and vice versa. And all of this is weaved together in this way that just seems to make sense—maybe it’s the freeing nature of the internet and technology. There are not a lot of rules and so it becomes thoughtful and human. This is one trend I love!

Hiring—Is picking back up. Almost everybody I talked to tells me they are seeing an upswing. This is one of the many things I love about the recruitment industry. It’s my personal barometer for how the market is doing. This is the greatest news of all! When the market is hot recruiting is HOTTER!

Final Thoughts—I want to thank Dave Manaster www.ere.net/author/dmanaster/ and his team for putting on such a fantastic event and for the opportunity to keynote at this event. I also want to say that if you are out there reading this and you haven’t ever attended an event like this in your industry or raised your hand to present at a conference consider it. There is no better way to give back to your craft and to learn from others.

At this event Steve Bonomo and I got to tell our Employer Brand story and share what we have learned in recruiting. The questions we get from the audience inspire us greatly. The fact that people care and are willing to take a stand to make our industry even stronger is profound. And the opportunity to inspire others is a chance of a lifetime. The one comment I won’t forget is when someone walked up to me afterwards and said that he wasn’t an adidas guy but is going to buy his first pair. He said that during the videos it made the hair on his arms stand on end. If we can touch one person like this, create one better candidate experience or inspire a recruiter to want to learn and grow it’s all worth it to us.

Follow adidas Careers on Twitter

2009-09-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

For up to date feeds on new adidas job postings and career information follow adidas Careers on twitter: www.twitter.com/adidascareers

adidas Launches New Global Career Site

2009-09-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Check out the new face of adidas careers: www.adidas.com/careers

Hopefully by now you have noticed that this is not your average career site. Here you will get to experience some of your favorite athletes and learn about careers at adidas in a fun and interactive way. You also get to hear first hand from our employees on what it’s like to work at adidas. There are many things we would like to tell you about working with us but we will let the site speak for itself.

The one thing we do hope you take away from the site is that working at adidas is much more than a job. We did our best to convey this on the site, and hopefully, someday, you can experience this first hand. Until then we hope you continue to visit our site, check for updates, and apply to the many career opportunities offered by adidas and our sister brands.

We also want to hear your feedback. Creating the best career experience for you is our end goal. We aren’t perfect though and will work hard to continually improve this experience, especially as we receive your feedback. Under the "Why adidas" link at the top of the page you will find our feedback section where you will have the opportunity to take a quick survey or e-mail your feedback directly to us. While you are there you may also check out our mission statement, overview of benefits and application process. Other areas you might want to check out are:

Future Talent Section: Here you will find our internship and graduate programs. Read program descriptions, view videos of current employees in these programs, and apply.

Locations: We have created robust location pages so you can get a sense of what it’s like to work at adidas locations around the world.

Sustainability: This link will direct you to our main corporate site and give you information about what adidas Group is doing globally in the area of Social Environmental Affairs.

adidas Group Career Sites: Check out our adidas Group career site and our sister brand career sites--TaylorMade, Reebok and Rockport.

Retail Stores/News & Hotjobs: Learn what it’s like to work in retail, check out our hottest jobs, and read about what’s new.

We believe the greatest value is interacting with the athletes and learning about the departments you are interested in. Of course if you want to skip all of this and jump right into the job search you can do that too.

Impossible is Nothing

adi Dassler's Birthday Video

2009-07-29T08:51:00.001-07:00

It's adi Dassler's birthday (adidas founder) and we are having a Party! We had an internal contest at adidas to see who could come up with the best birthday video. The Global Head of Recruiting, Steve Bonomo, along with other HR, Recruiting and some Marketing team members produced the following video. If you like it give us your vote by giving it a favorite rating!!

Reinvigorating the American Brand, Part 5 of 20

2009-07-21T21:54:00.000-07:00

Giving Back

We now know our ecosystem, our economy, our consumption needs to be a balanced system for it to work in the long run. We have a symbiotic relationship with the world we live in and the people we live with. If we take we need to give. Giving powers positive influence in the people around us and the cultures we interact with. If one of our major oil companies enters a country with an agreement from their government they should also be held accountable for giving back to the direct community they are taking resources from. Chances are these communities didn’t have a say in the government’s decision, yet they are the ones most affected and impacted by the company taking resources there. We need to hold these organizations accountable for giving back. Organizations that are taking resources need to boost the well being of the community they operate in to maintain a balanced system. I say this needs to be regulated because the giving often doesn’t come close to what is taken. An organization is an entity that will maximize profits above all else. This is not a bad system but the flaw in the system is greed. I will touch on this topic later. Most companies will resist regulation but they need it in certain areas. We should not be fearful as citizens to regulate where needed. Capitalism has proven to be the best system on earth but it’s not a perfect system. To protect this system it’s our responsibility to make sure we strengthen its weaknesses—this is one of them. As a global leader we need to show compassion, especially to those who need it. We are Nation but we are also citizens of this world. The health of those around us impacts our health. Our social systems that enable dependence may have flaws but letting people suffer has even greater impact to the long term health of the system. The balance between a free system where we can acquire unlimited wealth and one where you can end up with nothing is not one were simple solutions can solve these complexities. We need to move past the sound bites and really think and analyze how our tax dollars and our votes impact this ecosystem. It’s delicate and when our gut reaction may be to get angry at a political agenda it’s our responsibility not to choose sides but use our brains to make informed decisions. We give back in many ways including our votes and our tax dollars. From an individual perspective if you are successful and obtain wealth then give—learn from Bill Gates and Warren Buffet in this area—two guys that absolutely understand this delicate balance. These guys aren’t driving around in Hummers and staring in “The Hills”—they are curing Malaria and Polio on a global level. These guys get it!

Coming Next-Part Six: Sustainability/Consumerism/Productivity

Reinvigorating the American Brand, Part 4 of 20

2009-07-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Hard Work

Past generations worked very hard for what we have today. These past generations weren’t perfect but they did build America and we have the same responsibility to leave something better for our kids, grandkids and future generations. This is one of my biggest fears in terms of the sustainability of America’s strength and influence as a Nation. There have been several documented examples that have shown when Nations become too wealthy people tend to outsource all of the hard work—even work that is core to the Nations sovereignty. There are theories that the Aztecs fell because of this and the Romans as well. In the early days of the Roman Empire friends and brothers fought side by side. They fought fiercely to protect their people. When they retired from the military they would earn a plot of land and could live out their lives peacefully. Later in Roman history, after acquiring a lot of land and wealth, the government used mercenaries to fight their wars. These people weren’t as loyal to the cause and the Romans started to lose ground. There were several factors that came into play with the Roman’s at this stage in history but the empire started to fall. Our Generations—Boomers, X’ers and Y’ers have been handed a lot. We can’t take this for granted. There are other superpowers emerging around the world with people who have had very little and their motivation is high. Early on in my career I started at a staffing firm and I placed people in lower wage positions mostly in the manufacturing and clerical fields. I worked in a Downtown office in Portland, Oregon which happens to have a relatively high homeless rate. The theory for the high homeless population is because of the amount of social programs offered in the city. Just outside my office I would often run into people who would ask for some spare change. These were people who appeared to be perfectly capable of working. Many of them spoke articulately and appeared physically and mentally healthy. I started off giving people my spare change but when I saw the same people day after day I decided to start giving them my business card. I told them that if they came up and talked to me I would look into placing them at one of companies I worked with. Not one of them ever came up to see me. I thought this was interesting. As I would drive through the city I would also notice the amount of Americans hanging out in the front of 7-11’s and other areas for extended parts of the day. I thought why are there so many people just hanging out during a time when we were in an economic boom. Then one of the most alarming things I heard was the High School drop out rate in Oregon. Right now about one fourth of all freshman four years ago won’t receive a diploma. This number startles me—we aren’t talking about college here. We are just talking High School. When I think about emerging countries where people are so hungry for more and the amounts of engineers and programmers graduating from some of these countries it starts to become a scary picture for Americans. Couple this with the amount students who are halfway through their University education and don’t know what they want to do yet—or don’t even know what they are good at. I bring groups of students in to tour the companies that I have worked for. I would say that a good third of the students don’t know what they want to do, they haven’t done any internships and they have, “I have all the time in the world to figure it out,” attitude. The good news is that there is still a portion of them that come in, know what they are good at, have internships in their field, and show immense passion for what they want to do. These students will hands down end up getting the jobs. It’s not enough anymore to tell our kids that they have all the time in the world to figure it out. If we tell them they can be anything they want to be when they grow up we also have to instill the hard work ethic that needs to go along with it. We are very fortunate that we still live in a place where we have limitless possibilities. This does not exempt us from hard work though. Our primary school system needs change. I believe this could be done for relatively low cost but it will take an astronomical shift in thinking. My suggestion is that we get rid of tenure and we instill a true performance culture. Administrators should be given far more control over the performance of the system and to make faster decisions to make changes when something doesn’t work. I know many people who work in the school systems and you would be amazed at the piles of bureaucratic red tape they have to go through to have something as simple as a performance discussion. This would never happen in the private sector. If something is not working or a person isn’t performing in a private organization it is going to act fast. This is not the case with our school system and our youth is suffering because of it. Parents, professors, career councilors need to ensure we are giving a current picture of the competitive landscape out there. The advice should no longer be—you have time to figure it out. We don’t have time to figure it out. Those seeking counseling should be given advice that will truly make them competitive in this new landscape. At the same time they should be guided to do what they love no matter how impractical it may be. If the impractical is complimented by a person’s true passion, hard work and focus then they will mostly likely land a career in their field or something related. Because they are passionate about it they will out compete others in the same field—no matter where they are globally. Hard work does not mean seeking out something you don’t like just because it’s practical. Over there years I have seen many people who have made this choice and they can easily be out competed by others that love what they do. My advice is the exact opposite. Figure out what your strengths are, what you’re passionate about and then work super hard to be the best in the world at it. And do it quickly. The last piece about hard work is that we all have jobs we don’t always love as we are working towards building our craft and building our career. Performance in every job you ever do will impact every job you have after it. Hard work opens doors, builds references and builds networks. Laziness and complaining because your aren’t in the ideal role yes does the exact opposite. It destroys references, shrinks networks and closes doors. Every job counts. Find what you love and work hard at it. If you don’t have it yet work hard at what you have and set your sites on where you want to go.

Coming Next-Part Five: Giving Back

Reinvigorating the American Brand, Part 3 of 20

2009-07-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

American Jobs

We have taken outsourcing too far. The government needs to have better oversight of this. Powerful lobbyists have tipped the pendulum too far. There is an economic theory called creative destruction. This occurs when we invent something, maximize our benefit from the invention and eventually let it go when it’s no longer innovative or profitable for us to build in the US. Other countries at this point can take the technology and produce product more efficiently at a lower cost. If this is done right then we transition the industry over time to a more viable/innovative industry and American’s benefit because they get the same product at a lower cost. Because the move is gradual it gives our people enough time to make the transition and garner new skills needed. I’m over simplifying the theory but this is the drift of it. The problem now is that we are outsourcing at rates much faster than we had in the past. How does this happen? When companies assume a cost effective labor pool doesn’t exist at home. Where we have very low tech product it makes sense in certain areas to outsource. Because these products generally have been around for a long time there is typically heavy global competition. In order to compete with price you need to outsource to lower cost labor markets. Where I believe we have gone wrong is in highly innovative sectors where we assume the more mundane work is low tech. The work may be repetitive but it’s still innovative. And there are many American’s that would find these jobs viable careers. We also potentially give away trade secrets to countries that will easily take these and replicate and rebuilt at lower quality and cost thus exacerbating the issue. On the flip side we should be less concerned about letting foreign workers into the country. We mainly do this in two areas, low skilled labor and highly specialized labor. The low skill labor enables small business to operate competitively and efficiently. There are also less Americans willing to take these jobs. In the highly skilled areas we obtain knowledge in the US by allowing these individuals to come in. We are bringing them in generally for a skill we cannot find here. Therefore the organization gains knowledge versus lose knowledge. There tends to be a lot of fear in the country about allowing too many people in. We need to remember that this country was built on allowing people in. If you think about the country like a company then you know that surrounding yourself by brilliant people is healthy—this will be good for America. We will attract the brightest most diverse minds from around the world. We can all learn from these people. This is not a job killer for Americans. This is a job creator. We should be more concerned about what types of jobs we allow out and at what point. It’s not a simple problem and it’s one that won’t regulate itself. We need to be less naïve about what experts tell us. When we see jobs leaving that don’t make sense then we should put pressure on our representatives. Are the jobs leaving for the right reasons? Or are jobs leaving simply as a cost savings wrapped in a beautiful red bow of expert language that spins it into some other elusive, complex reason that nobody can understand.

Coming Next-Part Four: Hard Work

Reinvigorating the American Brand Part 2 of 20

2009-07-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

Global Resources

I’m taking this one right from teachings of Thomas Freedman http://tinyurl.com/6ynn26. He visited Portland recently to discuss the “environmental/green” movement. Something that really resonated with me was how this was being defined in America. He said that by calling it the “green” movement we make the whole thing elusive and unfocussed. It’s a good point. What does green really mean? Recycling? Car Pooling? Localization? In his world travels one of the things that scared him most was that more and more people around the world are consuming resources like American’s. We know there are finite resources and this is unsustainable in the long run—it will cause political struggle and environmental impact in massive ways. What really matters is who leads the charge in renewable energy. The country that makes it efficient and affordable will become a global leader well into the future. It will be our next economic bull run and its reach will be global. This is an area where we need focus. Our entire system is based on petroleum right now. Every car, every product moved and every e-mail sent. Fluctuations in petroleum price cause fluctuations in our entire economy. If we find renewable energy EVERYTHING as we know it will advance rapidly. We will be able to travel further, compute more—everybody globally gets more. The social, economic and political impact of this one thing would far outweigh any other single thing we can do in the “green/sustainability/environmental” space. It’s very important that we continue to keep pressure on our representatives to move scientific investment dollars into the area—we need to be loud about this. This doesn’t mean we need to stop focusing on other environmental issues but we need to ensure this issue stays 100% in focus and prioritized. The country that figures this out will advance beyond all of our wildest dreams. We want that to be America.

Coming Next-Part Three: American Jobs

America 3.0

2009-07-12T15:37:00.000-07:00

20 Steps to Reinvigorate the America Brand

Why even write about this? Well I’m in recruiting and people in recruiting get to see a very sobering view of the economy. When it’s up we see millions of lives changed positively, people getting new jobs they love, making money and further fueling the system. When it’s down we see the exact opposite. These cycles will exist no matter what but the long term health of the economy ensures that the lows aren’t too low and the highs are built on substance and not fluff. And all of this depends on our collective health. And our Nations health depends on how we exercise our collective minds and bodies. We have let this go a bit and it’s time to get healthy again and stay healthy for the long run. This is as much about recruiting as it is the health of our entire system. If we want to be a high performing, winning country in the long run we got to think big now. It’s time to reinvigorate our American brand.

This is a longer read but I hope you take the time read it, comment on it and share it with friends if you feel it’s worthy. We have moved into an era of instant gratification and sound bite information. The news gives us very little depth these days. Leaders want everything delivered in high level sound bites. The answers to a strong American brand cannot be delivered in simple sound bites though. I have narrowed the solutions down to a list of twenty. I could easily break each solution down into far greater depth but I would rather hear your feedback, comments and additional solutions if you have them. As you read this you may ask why the American brand is reliant on so many things. Like any great brand EVERYTHING matters, EVERYTHING. This list is not exhaustive. These are just the top line items that I believe can have big impact in positively affecting our brand. I would like to add to it though as other ideas come in from you.

The America brand stands for a place where all men and women are created equal and where we can all live out our dreams—put simply, our single differentiating factor is FREEDOM. If you take brand strategy into account we do a lot of things right. We have a single differentiator--Freedom. We tend to infuse this message into everything we communicate as a Nation. We have what brand experts call strong alignment. This means we align everything we communicate to this single differentiating factor. And we use strong design, symbolism and multi-media to ensure nobody else’s brand is confused with ours. The http://www.goarmy.com/ website is a strong example of this. Differentiation, Alignment and Linkage are the fundamentals of strong brand strategy. So where do we fall short? How come our brand has been negatively impacted as of late? With brand strategy you are trying to influence two things, choice and expectation. You are born into America and you can choose to stay or leave. If you immigrate to America you make the choice to live here. Once you are here your expectations are either met or they are not. Earlier I said that we infuse our brand positioning into everything we communicate. A brand needs to also be authentic—you need to say and DO what the brand represents. Notice the words I chose earlier. I said we communicate or SAY this message. The challenge now is the authenticity of the message. You can’t just add a veneer and call it good. I believe this is where we have fallen short as of late. When I say, as of late, I mean the last 40 years and it’s been a gradual shift which makes the core issues more difficult to pinpoint. The challenge with this is that it’s not just a marketing problem which we have more than enough experts who can help us with this (and the government does hire PR firms and marketers to assist with the America image). What we have instead is a true organizational issue. When you are looking at issues you need to ask if it’s a communications problem, a business problem or both. I believe it’s a bit of both but it has become more of a true business problem as of late (I’m using the term business and applying it to government). Our actions as a country are not aligning with our brand positioning. It would be like Starbucks saying we always get your order right and then only getting it right one out of five times. Very quickly you are going to stop believing them. This is the issue we are up against as a Nation and it’s more difficult to fix than a communications problem. It can be done though. I’m going to attempt to shed some light on these core issues and offer up suggestions. The first step is awareness.

When you are born in America it’s easy to take the American brand for granted. I know I have many times in my life. As of late I’ve seen many reminders of what America stands for though—this is what motivated me to write this series. One recent reminder for me was from one of my ex-colleagues. She is from Iran and now lives in the United States. She told me that she is amazed that people don’t understand what they have here and she is grateful for every day she lives in this country. She went on to say that it’s hard to put into words what not having freedom feels like on a day to day basis. She said she used to be stopped in the street in Iran because a few strands of hair were hanging outside her hijab (veil) and she was told to fix it immediately. I also recently heard a radio interview with a French Professor who also now lives in the US. He said it’s time American’s remember what is so great about this country. He said he lived in France but is here for a reason. He went on to say that we, as American’s, have amazed the world once again with electing our first Black President. Never could he imagine this happening in France. This made me really think. I have friends on every side of the spectrum and I have heard all of the good, bad and ugly points about our country. But these stories reminded me that we have far more good to offer. We can reinvigorate the American brand. We can bring authenticity back to America and give it more luster and shine than it has eve had. How do we do this though?

We need to look at how the American brand was first built and how it became great. We were a vast land populated by Native American’s for thousands of years. We were a beautiful, vast continent with people who lived in harmony with the land. Then a combination of greed and power drove governments of Europe to fund exploration of far away lands. This coupled with adventurers who needed to find new uncharted places (I would hope I would have fallen into this camp back then) created the perfect breading ground for finding this new world—and it was found. Then people who could not live out their dreams in their home countries, persecuted for their beliefs and values, started off for this new world, to live new, free lives. There were of course power struggles early on up until the Revolution where the free world prevailed and the United States of America was formed. We had a melting pot of ideologies and beliefs and we struggled through them over 100’s of years—brought together by the foundation our forefathers put in place. Goodness prevailed in the end and we continued to advance as a society. At our peak was the Kennedy era, civil rights movement and a society willing to stand up for those that could not stand up for themselves, no matter what the cost. This generation was raised by what we call the greatest generation of all. They were the World War II generation. This group knew what struggle was; what hard work meant and understood that their word was everything. To fully understand what this generation sacrificed for us watch the beach seen in Saving Private Ryan and put yourself there. Capitalism and Democracy proved to be a global force to be reckoned with and its influences were spreading virally at this point. The past several generations worked very hard to preserve this. Our most recent generations, the X’ers (my generation) and the Y’ers tend to be more self critical, less confined by continents and governments and more lenient towards a culture of sharing. The X’ers and Y’ers have grown up with the most advanced communications vehicles in history and we have access to more information than any generation before us. We are also the most open to diversity and heavily focused on sustainable living. We can focus on these things because we have been given the foundation and wealth from the generations before us to have this luxury. I call it a luxury because in countries where this wealth does not exist people are focused on feeding their families, not the factory down the street polluting the environment. We have had and continue to have the DNA as a society to be a great Nation. So we have a brand position and we have the people to carry it through—where then does it break down. This is where simple sound bites don’t help and pop psychology solutions fail. The answer is complex but I’m going to attempt to dissect it. America has succeeded over and over again and now it is our time to once again make our indelible mark on history and create the next millennium of the great American brand.

Part one:

Conservative vs. Liberal—We need to move away from this battle as a Nation. This whole red vs. blue states, bible belts vs. tree huggers, conservatives vs. liberals. Differing points of view are always going to exist in America—this is not going away so we need to learn a new way forward. Disliking the other side is bad for the American brand. Let’s learn to disagree peacefully. This should be an area where we have learned from the mistakes of our past. Our country was populated by people who escaped religious persecution in other countries. They came here so they could practice their beliefs in peace. Freedom of belief applies to all religions though—Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Christian Scientists and all lesser known religions that the mainstreams tend to call cults. Everybody has the right to their own belief system and that is what this country was founded on. And non believers have the right to not believe. The sides should be able to disagree but should avoid disrespect. We are all Americans. We know this division does not advance us as people and yet we revert back to disrespect especially during times of difficult debate. We need to be careful not to be split by politicians and interest groups with agendas that use dividing arguments to get us to take sides. These are the abortion, choice, gay marriage, etc. issues. We are never going to fully agree on these things; we aren’t going to magically convince the other side to change their minds. We need to accept these differences and instead look at what we do agree on. By doing this we advance versus stay in a perpetual cycle of argument without progression. There are many groups out there that would like us to stay in this state because it’s profitable for them or advances their own agendas. In business they teach us to give constructive feedback and not make it personal. We need to learn to do the same when we have differing points of view as Americans. Make your argument, back it up with facts but don’t make it personal. When we hear leaders and interest groups disrespect other groups, religions, ideologies we need to call them out on it—it’s okay to disagree but disrespect halts progress. One more point on this topic. Our forefathers separated church and state for a reason. This needs to be upheld. I realize many will argue you can’t really make this separation. Yes, you can. I would argue that it may feel perfectly okay to you as long as your religion is represented. If this line is not clearly drawn though one day a group will come into power that is not your religion and they will push their agenda—then it won’t feel okay to you anymore. This separation exists so you CAN freely practice your own beliefs and not someone else’s. We need to honor and protect this separation.

Coming Next-Part Two: Global Resources

2009-06-21T22:01:00.001-07:00

Now I have ping.fm on my iPhone too...this is a powerful social networking tool; impressed!

2009-06-21T18:05:00.001-07:00

Trying Ping.fm out for the first time--updating Twitter, FB, MySpace, LinkedIn & Blogger all at the same time. Here it goes!

Ultimate Workout Mix

2009-06-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

I get bored very quickly with music so I have to constantly change up my workout mix which is an essential part of my routine. A great mix can increase my performance two or three fold. A good beat gives me the extra energy to lift harder or run longer. I'm constantly looking for new tunes to keep myself going. So I thought I would share my most recent mix in hopes that someone will share their mix with me. I have to admit my genre for working out has to be fast, high energy. I typically like club mixes, hip hop, dance, electronic, etc., for working out. I like a lot of genres of music but when I'm in the gym I need this style. If you have similar taste please share your favorite tunes.

Here is my latest workout mix:

Punkbitch by 3oh3
I can't Do it Alone by 3oh3
Don't Trust Me by 3oh3
Richman by 3oh3
20 Dollar by MIA
Fire Burning The Dancefloor by Sean Kingston
That's Not My Name by the Ting Tings
Shut Up and Let Me Go by the Ting Tings
Feel the Beat by Darude
Battleflag by Low Fidelity Allstars
Foundations by Kate Nash (I know, weird one but I think this is my wife's theme song for me)
You Sping Me Right Round by Flo Rider
Still D.R.E by Dr. Dre (I know old school--like to reset my pallet with old school Dre)
Party and Bullshit by Ratatat (Ratatat Remix of Biggie Smalls Song)
The Hand That Feeds by Nine Inch Nails
Poker Face by Lady Gaga (Okay, this one is lame but it has a great beat for running)
Dance Mix by DJ Danny D

I have some others in my mix but I'm too embarrassed to admit what they are. I'll start with this in hopes others will share some killer beats I can add to my mix.

Germany to Vegas to Portland

2009-05-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

What a ride! The last few months have been like setting up your cube in the center of a Nine Inch Nails concert and head banging while researching, building strategies, presenting, facilitating, touring, fixing issues, recruiting, pitching, project managing etc. Just non-stop action! And I wouldn't have it any other way...and in between all of this spending time with the fam, friends and keeping up with my voracious reading habit!...

I don't understand people with quiet lives. Not that I have anything against them I just couldn't imagine my life like that. Calmly going to work at the same time everyday, leaving at the same time, eating dinner at the same time. Just doing your job and not making noise or pissing off a person or two in order to push the status quo. I think I would cease to live at that point--so instead...

I took on 3 massive projects...

Global Career Site: Launching one of the most state of the art corporate career sites in the world on June 15th--has taken a year and a half to build, Global collaboration, massive stakeholder buy-in, athlete and employee coordination, thousands of lines of copy editing, CI reviews, etc. Hundreds of hours, early morning calls to Germany and late nights have gone into this. Worth it? Every second of it. Why? Because it's not just doing a job but helping build a top organization. That is satisfying!

Project Managed US Engagement Survey and Action Committees: Launched and Marketed survey to 3000 employees, Collaborated with our global vendor and project managers from other regions, identified demographic breakdown, worked with leadership to communicate results and helped launch action committees as well as participating on the Careers action committee. Coordinating findings with global colleagues to build consistency in how we address engagement. Worth it? Every Second. Why? Getting feedback first hand from our workforce is empowering. Working to build a top organization through engagement is priceless.

Rebuilding US Onboarding Experience: Working with a project manager to rebuild our US onboarding experience. Why? Because the first project is to bring in the best and the brightest people, the second project is to ensure they are engaged and high performing while they are here, and onboarding ensures they get connected to the organization in the right way, from the beginning. Onboarding isn't a day signing up for benefits but an experience overtime to connect employees with the organization, the brand and their team. Worth it? Without a doubt. Why? Because I manage recruiting but recruiting alone doesn't build top organizations and I view the role of recruiting as organization builders--not role fillers.

But wait...there is also the day job:

--Filling positions
--Building Pipelines
--Building out Web 2.0 and Advertising/Marketing Strategies
--Participating in Management Development Program
--Building Microsites
--Fixing and Developing New Recruitment Processes
--Participating in Best Employer PR Strategy
--Giving Feedback on eRecruiting Strategy and Tactics
--Pulling Metrics for Leadership when needed
--Helping Manage Affirmative Action planning
--Participating in Global HR Engagement Action Team
--Just got back from Vegas--Speaking Event at Recruiting Conference
--Recently back from Germany; presentations to 7 countries
--Facilitated Root Cause analysis session for internal team
--Hosted multiple Universities and Tours over the past few months
--Working on a couple of partnerships and class visits with key universities

I'm sure I'm missing a few but I'll save those for a future post..

Worth every hour put into it? Yes!!!!

You live once and you get to the impact the world once....I wouldn't give it up for anything.

So...that's what's going on in my world at adidas these days. We do a lot but then again...I can be churning on widgets on a confabulator and watching the clock everyday. Not in this lifetime!

Impossible is Nothing!

What's Going On at adidas These Days?!?!

2009-02-13T12:03:00.000-08:00

First of all....it's a big weekend for adidas. Check out Dwights invite....

Click Here!

And it's been a little over a year and a half since I've started at adidas....and I'm still waking up ever single day and getting ready for my next win!

If you were to visit my office you would see our Impossible is Nothing mantra written across one wall. You would also see a life size wall picture of Mohamed Ali, a lighted Originals globe and wall banner, and many other adidas Sport Performance and Sports Style artifacts. You can’t help to be consumed by the brand when you have first hand visibility into what it represents.

When I started at adidas and told people I work here I would hear all kinds of stories. People would tell me about their first pair of adidas or recall one of their early childhood sporting events where they wore adidas product. One technology vendor told me that he used to breakdance on cardboard boxes wearing adidas Superstars. When I was recruiting and conducting interviews I started looking forward to hearing about people’s connection with the brand and hearing their stories.

About a year into my role an employee from our Germany Headquarters was visiting and presented on the history of our organization. He is someone that has been with the organization for a while and traveled all over the world. He also had the opportunity to speak with many people that actually had worked directly with adi Dassler. He told us how adi would fill a bag with shoes, throw it over his shoulders and pass them out to athletes at sporting events. Those must have been the days! That same spirit lives on today.

Last....and important announcement went out this week. adidas Group has made the list of the worlds 100 most sustainable companies. This is our 5th time in a row making it on the list. If you are interested you can read more about it here: www.global100.org

So in short...life at adidas is great!

Burning Man Meets Recruiting

2009-01-30T21:47:00.000-08:00

Recruitfest is on and it's going down in Vegas this year! I haven't been to one yet but I know Jason Davis and the first thing that comes to mind is Burning Man meets recruiting.

I do know that the seed of Recruitfest was born from Jeff Hunters Talentunconference. This was a grassroots gathering of recruiting professionals and leaders. Instead of traditional presentations the focus was on learning organically from one another. Jeff hosted the event at Electronic Arts. If you ever get a chance to tour their facility you'll find that it definitely stimulates the right side of the brain, and so did this event. Traditional thinking and old paradigms were thrown out and many new, innovative ideas were born.

Jason has evolved this concept with Recruitfest. It's a smaller, more intimate conference but from what I hear it tends to attract some of the industries die hards as well as newcomers that want to learn, share and push the boundaries of our field.

I had the honor of being invited to facilitate one of the sessions at Recruitfest. I couldn't be more thrilled. This setting allows me to learn and grow as much as it allows me to share. Brand building has been a major focus and passion of mine and I'll be leading a session on how to leverage it's power for recruiting. Some of the ideas I'm thinking about are:

Reverse Engineering Product Marketing to Build Powerful Recruitment Advertising Campaigns.
Recruitment Market Segmentation--Doing it the Marketing Pros Way
Understanding Difference in Kind versus Difference in Degree
And....?????

If you are intrigued by the event I highly recommend you check it out. Just click on Recruitfest if you want to learn more or register for the event.

I hope to see you there!

Little Things that Make a Big Difference

2008-11-30T14:05:00.000-08:00

Experience!

The following entry is from the adidas-Group Global Head of Recruiting, Steve Bonomo. One of his biggest passions is candidate experience and he wants your feedback!

from Steve Bonomo.....

In an earlier entry, I wrote a bit about the candidate experience and how important I feel this is to the reputation of an organization and ultimately it’s employer brand. We are entering into a big project in 2009 that is focused on finding the actions at the key parts of the recruitment process that truly make the difference in the eyes of the candidate.

There are key stages in the recruitment process that we are currently looking at:

Perception – the general perception of the adidas Group that may attract a candidate to look a bit closer.

Initial Contact – the point at which the candidate first comes into contact with a recruiter or HR representative.

Screening – the first communication between the candidate and recruiter/HR person.

Interview – the in person interview.

Offer – when the candidate gets the offer.

Onboarding – the time between offer acceptance and 6 months into the job.

I would like to get feedback from anybody interested on the above 6 items plus any others I may have overlooked, and the actions that a company should do to make the recruitment experience an exceptional one.

This could be anything from the way advertisements are displayed, career site presence, ease of application, phone screen, what happens in the interview, the atmosphere, feedback, giving offers and getting people started.

In order to gather real data on how to improve in these areas, I would like to solicit feedback.

If you would be interested I helping us shape our strategy around “candidate experience”, feel free to email me directly at steve.bonomo@adidas-group.com

Focus, Music, Sport--Leadership

2008-11-29T13:00:00.001-08:00

I recently returned from the Florida Kennedy conference and as part of my trip I got to visit my father in Tampa. He is a 40 year exec with technology company that competes with IBM among others. I got to spend time with him on his Birthday along with my boss from Germany. We started talking about great leaders and executives and what makes them truly great. My father got on this kick about focus. He said the single commonality that he saw in them was a deep, unbreakable focus. He talked about Steve Job's ability to focus on the right priorities.

I hadn't thought about the discussion again until about a half hour ago. I am not a big runner but I've been trying to do more of it lately. I grabbed my ipod this morning, threw on some tunes and went for a run. By the way, this all ties together...just bear with me for a moment here. I ran down my street, along the ridge on Willamette Blvd. near the University of Portland, down a dirt path along the ridge and ran on railroad tracks along the Willamette river. I ran by large tanker ships and old closed down industrial buildings. It was an intersection of natural form infused with gothic machine like relics. I cruised by this while listening to my favorite beats. The mix of imagery, rhythm and beat made me forget that I was running. This is important because when I focus on the running itself it's a boring act, my muscles ache, and I feel fatigued. With my favorite tunes and stimulating scenery I'm able to focus on my end goal--run three miles faster than I have in the past and turn my body into a machine.

Towards the end of my run my conversation with my father came to mind, as I was accomplishing my goal. I starting thinking about the ability to focus and how this is critical to success. I also started thinking about how this is very difficult to do in modern corporations. Everyday I get hit with a thousand ideas, pressures, roadblocks, etc. If I focus on strategy and it takes too long people get skeptical, want to do something easier, etc. It's a battle to pick the three most critical things you need to accomplish and make them happen without them being sidetracked, budget cut, death my committee. Yet, that's exactly what my father was talking about with these leaders. They sometimes come across as a$$holes in order to stay focussed; they may seem hyper focussed on something that someone new coming in doesn't have a clue about because what they are focussed on is an end goal established before that person started. And yet they stay focussed, their brains are like laser sights on an assault riffle and they never take their eyes off the target.

Not many people have this resolve. Nobody has it all the time; there are just too many distractions. But think about the parallel with my run. I don't like running but I accomplished it. Many people think the answer is clearing their mind to focus but it's different for everybody. For me I am more focussed at a rock concert than in a library. Quietness makes my brain wonder all over the place. Music and physical energy allow me to get focussed and determined. This is part of the problem with all the pop psychology that is out there...most of it talks about meditation, quiet time, figuring stuff out, bla, bla, bla...how about the complete opposite. Finding the things that get your adrenaline cranking, your blood pressure racing, heart pounding, mind working at full throttle and then go hit your toughest problem. Not everybody needs zen to stay focus.

The other piece to this is the intersection of music, sport and focus. How many people do you know that throw on some tunes when they want to stay focussed on a problem or task. How many people do you know that go for a run at lunch time or hit the gym after or before work to relieve stress? Try combining all three! Seriously. I think you will find it pretty amazing and maybe a total alternative to the zen approach. It makes me think of Rob Strasser, ex CEO of adidas North America. This guy was the brains behind some of our most compelling and emotional campaigns. He was anything but Zen like. The guy bellowed in meetings. Now--I don't think the guy really took care of himself and unfortunately had a short life span. But, he was a creative genius. I see Jobs as the same way---anything but Zen like. These guys have amazing energy, passion; they go at full throttle always. I'm not advocating everybody juice up five shots of espresso in the morning, throw on some hardcore thumping music and hit the gym right after work for a killer hour and a half workout....that's not too far off a typical day in my world by the way...but it's to find your inner focus and not let anybody break it. I meet so many people with amazing ideas but they have no focus and ability to execute them, drive them culturally, push the limits...I believe if you find your way to focus you can do all of these things. So if you tried the peaceful approach to staying focussed and that hasn't worked for you--grab some beats, push your body to the limit and shoot for your end goal if you if you were a sprinter in the Olympics. Oh, and tune out the nay sayers and non believers in what you do.

Tell me how you find you focus?

Apple Store on Black Friday

2008-11-28T13:00:00.001-08:00

They say retail is down but it certainly doesn't look that way at the Apple store. I love that Apple is reaping the rewards it deserves. It deserves them because they care about design and view it equally as important as function. So many corporate bureaucrats discount design as fluff or tactical...not Apple! And if this video doesn't make the case for what so many companies don't get then let them fail...no bailouts for them!!

Future of Search

2008-11-28T10:48:00.001-08:00

I used to get into heated debates all the time about the relevance of 2nd life. My point was never that 2nd life itself would be a major online force but that it was a precursor to the future of search. If you pay attention to how search is integrating into so many different apps you start to get a picture of where it is heading. Take Google Earth for instance, you have the beginnings of search integration with maps, satellite imagery, three dimensional space. Then take 2nd Life where you have businesses introducing real product that you can buy in a virtual world, with an avatar that you created. If you think about the internet even 15 years ago, before the first visual search engine (Mosaic) it was just black screen with text. Then it became two dimensional. Now take Google Earth, 2nd Life and Search and combine them. Let's say you enter your body type, height, weight, features, upload your picture, etc and create a perfect avatar of yourself. Now you go to search, look for your favorite clothes store, walk down a street in Soho with a Google Earth type app and then walk into a store with a 2nd life type app, try on clothes with your avatar and buy. This isn't too far off in the future. A blog post that I saw today predicts something even cooler with a future wireless device.

Check this out..it would be a phone with a clear screen that you line up with a city scape, it scans it and tells you what the building is and integrates search with this. So the final element would be making all of this mobile and using proximity apps to guide you to and give you information on certain locations. All of this is VERY close. We are talking within five years my feeling is that this will start to show up widely and have a relatively high adoption rate.

Nuerosciencemarketing on Bad Bosses

2008-11-27T11:08:00.000-08:00

I found and interesting article from a Neurosciencemarketing blog on how bad bosses can shave off years to your life. Neuromarketing in general is an interesting subject. I've come across a few good books on it and I'm tempted to pick one up. They tend to get into the deeper science of why people make choices, which of course if crucial in Branding. The two main principles of branding are choice and expectation. If you build a strong brand people will choose it and if you meet their expectations they will continue to choose it and tell others. Therefore if you study Neuromarketing and know how people make these choices then you can design your marketing around this. I'm somewhat becoming more of a pragmatist though so this has been my only hesitation on getting into Neuromarketing. I'm not quite sure how much is theory and now much can really be put into practice. If anybody has an opinion on this I would love to know.

The blog entry from Neurosciencemarketing caught my attention mainly because it touches on employment branding specifically. I have been on this mission to get recruiting professionals to get away from giving the same canned speeches around worklife-balance, work hard play hard and all the other junk that all companies claim they have. Instead we should focus on what truly makes our organizations unique. A boss may be an interesting way to do this. I wonder what it would be like to sell a boss over selling a company....hmmmmm. Anyway, check on the article and let me know what you think.

http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/

Live Your Impossible

2008-11-25T22:53:00.000-08:00

I just returned from the Kennedy Recruiting Conference in Orlando. You know, I have to say that I finally feel that recruiting technology is catching up. It's becoming simpler yet more powerful--the way technology should be. A refrigerator runs--it keeps your food cold and you really don't need to know how it works. I'm glad to see that there are people building technology out there for recruiting with the same premise. Don't get me wrong, I'm a geek in many ways. But when I'm working I don't want to have to read a 700 page manual to do a simple task. That said I don't think we should skimp on design either. I want my technology to be impressive (beautiful), simple and powerful. If it has those three elements I will buy it.

My latest gadget, the Flip camera. It meets these requirements. A small rectangular device, video camera. You unpack it and all the software is built in. you click a button and record video. You plug the USB port into your computer, the software loads and your video downloads. The picture quality is strong, it records one hour worth of video, no tapes or disks, the design is beautiful and it fits in your pocket. That is worth every penny that I paid.

I also just brought on a new technology called Vipe that allows me to easily upload and send video. There is a lot of very cool new tools out there. The challenge for corporate recruiting functions is that there is also a lot of vendors holding onto old paradigms and antiquated technology and they are selling harder than ever. Organizations can easily get distracted by the long standing relationships and addictions to worthless tools. If you are one of those people you should really look at your return on investment and put a stake in the ground. If you don't you fuel dinosaurs. Wouldn't your rather reward the companies making things better for us and fund innovation? Just a thought.

Until Next Time....oh, wait...if you get a chance check out our new networking site on Ning: http://liveyourimpossible.ning.com/

adidas Design Studios

2008-06-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

To all those interested in footwear and apparel design the adidas design team created a site where you can meet the designers. It's pretty cool because this is the first time they have opened the team up like this to the outside world. Feel free to check it out @ www.adidasdesignstudios.com

My Favorite adidas Commercials

2008-04-02T22:08:00.001-07:00

I'm working on a website project for adidas and I've been reviewing some of my favorite adidas commercials that I feel convey our brand spirit and the energy of working for adidas. Below are some of these commercials. Let me know what you think. What is your favorite and why?

Digital Trend Setter Openings @ adidas

2008-02-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

Our Global Head of Recruiting sent me an overview of several new digital trend setter roles they are hiring for in Amsterdam. They will consider candidates from anywhere in the world for these positions. If you are interested check out the overview below. At the bottom there is a place to apply.

Digital Marketing Innovator

adidas is focused on taking our marketing efforts to the next level and entering the world of 2.0. The “Impossible is Nothing” mission lives true here as we are looking for highly innovative and imaginative people ready to bring their creativity to the table. The role is based out of Amsterdam, but would have world wide responsibility for the successful implementation of digital creative and media 360 degree solutions.

We are looking for a trendsetter, a progressive thinker and someone who wants to bridge web, mobile, creative, gaming, etc and provide solutions to our customers and adidas fans around the World. It’s a tall task, but one that a digital enthusiast who is passionate about sports would be successful in.

Today we are looking for people to satisfy two types of roles:

Digital Concept Manager (2 positions)

Mobile & Media Partnerships
eRetail / eCRM

To lead and oversee the planning, implementation and strategic development of key marketing initiatives within one of our key categories (mentioned above).
Champion Innovation as the adidas digital face of creation, overseeing all emerging, exciting and soon to be popular media channels, devices and tools.
Inspire adidas to think digitally as consumer centric and digitally led thinking is the mantra of our digital marketing department.
Understand, master and evolve existing adidas digital proprietary strategy and planning tools.
Bring adidas to a leadership level in worldwide digital communication channels.
Find the next big thing, and bring adidas there…

Senior Digital Project Manager (4 positions)

adidas.com
Running
Women’s & Training
Sports Style

Lead and oversee the planning, implementation and administration of all digital initiatives for one of our key categories (mentioned above).
Global concept development, agency briefing and management, regional feedback and local implementation on key projects.
Take 360 degree ownership over the strategy within your given category.
Effectively communicate digital strategy by presenting ideas and innovations that will impacting the adidas brand digital footprint.
Work closely with international marketing teams to drive the strategy forward.

Our Promise:

What makes adidas a special place goes way beyond our products. The growth opportunities presented to employees, the work climate they come to each day, and the focus on end results versus how they get there allow people to reach success in their very own way.

We don’t focus on hiring people for the skills they already have, but instead look to bring people onto our team with the right attitude of commitment and passion. A career with the group is a process of continual growth and development.

Coming to work with adidas means working in a truly unique atmosphere revolving around authenticity, diversity and ethics. We blend work and life in a way that brings out the best in both, through a passion for sports.

We care about results far more than the way you choose to get there. We expect our teammates to find their way to break new ground. This provides our employees with room for freedom, creativity and innovation.

For more specific information about the above positions, please email jobcast@adidas.com or to apply directly, CLICK HERE.

Important Links:

Corporate Site
http://www.adidas-group.com/

Corporate Career Site
www.adidas-group.com/careers

Information Links (Amsterdam)

http://www.iamsterdam.com/ http://www.amsterdamtourist.nl/ http://www.holland.com/amsterdam/gb
http://www.amsterdamhotspots.nl/

adi History Video

2008-02-12T09:05:00.000-08:00

Here is a killer video on adidas History!

Six Months

2007-11-20T11:57:00.000-08:00

It’s been about six months since I joined adidas and several posts ago I wrote about my experience of starting my new career here. Many of you have written me to ask why I haven’t continued to talk about what it’s like to work here now that I’ve been here for a while. To be honest I’ve been working on so many projects that I haven’t had time to write. It’s amazing though in six months how much more insight you have into an organization, it’s culture, norms, etc. So here I am, working from home this morning with a little bit of spare time to write an update about my experience here six months later.

Again—I want to premise that I’m a recruiter so it’s my job to sell the organization. I’ve lived by some simple rules though—I won’t sell something that I don’t love. If I didn’t love it here so far I would leave. The experience has been amazing so far and everyday this place grows on me more. First off—there is a realness and rawness about working at adidas. Maybe this stems from being born of sports. The culture is one where people don’t look for the barriers—we focus on where we want to go and we work hard and fast to get there. It’s very much like being on a sports team at adidas. It’s not about personal gain here. It’s about team gain. We play to win. The organization is also nimble. We aren’t this massive bureaucratic, red-tape environment. We tend to have smaller teams, bigger roles and responsibility and a lot of creative latitude. If we screw up we get back up and play harder next time. I’ve had the experience of working on fat, over-resourced teams in the past and while this is probably appealing to some—I’m really enjoying having a broad scope and nimble team with fast execution.

We have a new president that started not long before I started. He leads with a strong vision and clear goals. I can’t get into details of his specific strategy but he brings a clear path that the entire organization can work towards. With this there is a lot of change within the organization. We have built the organization on this nimbleness though and will continue to do so. If you are reading this and thinking you want to work here the more flexible you are the better. If you are mobile, can try new things and adapt quickly to strategy changes then you will thrive here. If you are the type of individual that wants to come in and do the same job for five years you will struggle. I worked in the tech PR industry before this so change is the only thing I knew—for me this is perfect.

It’s also energizing to see the love for the brand people have. Random people come up to me all the time to tell me about their first pair of adidas and what the brand has meant to them. I recently did focus groups for an employment branding project I’m working on and almost everybody universally told me that they love that adidas has always remained authentic. I understand what they mean to. Most companies I have worked for in the past overly fixate on their competitors and try to do it better. At adidas the focus is really on the customer and staying true to them. Of course I can’t say we don’t want to beat the competition but we don’t do this by replicating what others are doing. We do this by listening the customers and making product that caters to them. I think this is what makes adidas unique and not just another mass production consumer goods company. I like working in environments that are just different and unique.

I get to work on projects that have global scope. I’m on the phone weekly with other countries. It’s almost impossible to work at adidas and not interact with people from around the world. This doesn’t make the job easy but it makes it rich. The ability to have global perspective opens up entirely new possibilities and perspectives on a project that you would never otherwise get. The adidas vision is really premised on improving lives through sport. Bringing people together on a global level, getting kids to focus on the right values and becoming good teammates, improving the performance of athletes and everyday people so they can live healthier lives. We get to see this inside and outside the company around the globe. You realize we are part of something much bigger working at adidas. You get to see it first hand. This has been invaluable learning so far.

Okay, I can go on for hours about different aspects of the adidas culture. I will write more about it soon. I’ll leave you with this; I’m not going to say every aspect of the job is easy and always fun. All jobs have challenging aspects about them. What I will say is that I’m given the latitude to make real change, take on meaningful challenges and have an incredible team and support by management to achieve impossible things.

CEO of Facebook Wears adidas

2007-10-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

I love this—the CEO of Facebook (one of the fastest growing social networks on the net) wears adidas Flip Flops. It’s the CEO’s (Mark Zuckerberg) trademark footwear. Below is an article about it and a gallery of him wearing the flip flops. I love that our brand makes such a connection with youth!

Article and Gallery (Mark Zuckerberg Wearing adidas)

Adidas HQ and Cool Kicks Vids

2007-08-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

So I've been at adidas for almost two months now and I just got back from Germany after visiting the adidas HQ. I'm even more psyched about the company now! The World of Sports headquarters is located near a small village in Germany called Herzogenaurach. This place is SWEET! The people at HQ were awesome. They were super charged, energetic--their passion for sports was amazing. While I was there I played softball, kickball (for kicks), and was invited to play ultimate frisbee. There is literally something going on every minute. I also had meetings with team members from around the globe. You truly get a sense of what a global organization adidas is when you visit their headquarters.

I also found some killer old school adidas videos on YouTube. I figured I would share some of them on my blog. Enjoy!

Join the Red Ball Movement

2007-06-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

I knew adidas had a culture built around sport and living the brand but I never realized how deep this passion ran. It's pervasive everywhere you turn at adidas. At lunchtime the halls are empty and the building becomes quiet. The steets, the fields, the courts, the fitness center, the trails are teaming with adidas employees though. One guy on my team runs six miles at lunch, showers, eats and is back at his desk within an hour. One girl bikes 28 miles into work and often swims or jogs after work. These aren't the exceptions either, they are the norm. The organization stands for team, for healthy lifestyle and for helping people win. We even look at how sport can assisant in humanitarian efforts.

So what do you ask is the Red Ball Movement? This is a movement supported by the Adi Dassler Fund to support the international humanitarian organization Right to Play. The Adi Dassler Fund was founded to support organizations that connect children with coaches who teach life values in addition to sport. When you purchase a red mini ball you will be able to support the Right To Play organization. They are cool little red soccer balls--I bought two of them for my kids and they loved them.

If you want to support the organization go to any adidas retail store and you can't miss them!

Required Transportation

2007-06-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

Scooters are pretty much required transportation living in Portland, Oregon. I've wanted one for a while and I finally broke down last weekend and couldn't resist anymore. I bought a Buddy (I know, I know...not the most masculine sounding vehicle) which is manufactured by Genuine Scooter. Genuine Scooter also manufactures the classic Stella pictured below.

So I gave away a Vespa a few years back for a contest I put together at work. The guys at Vespa Portland let me borrow a scooter to keep in our lobby until we had the giveaway. They also let us put up one of their retro vinyl banners. They had since moved their shop to 23rd and I happened to be walking down the street last weekend and all of their shiny new scooters caught my eye. This guy named Justin works there on the weekend which is the guy that loaned me the scooter for our giveaway. The dude knows his stuff about scooters and after talking with him it was clear that I needed at least 125cc's. This thing goes 60 mph and gets over 100 mpg. It is a sweet ride! So now I work a few miles from home and I can ride my bike, jog or take my scooter into work...or I can take my scooter over the St. John's bridge and ride through Forest Park. I'm also thinking there needs to be an equivalent of Sturgis for scooters. Stay tuned for that one!

P.S. You can find Vespa Portland at www.vespaportland.com and they are located on 808 NW 23rd Ave.

Sourcing Strategist Job @ Waggener Edstrom

2007-06-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

I told my friends at Waggener Edstrom that I would support them by posting my replacement position on my blog. This is actually a very cool role and I would be happy to share more with anybody who is interested. Feel free to click on the link to learn more about the position.

My Bio 3.0

2007-06-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

I finally found time to create a new bio for my LinkedIn profile. I was sick of writing my bio in the standard chronological format so I took a bit of a different approach. Let me know what you think...

My Bio 3.0

Current Gig: Recruiting Programs Manager, adidas North America
Mission: Build a world-class talent acquisition program
Years: Less than 1 year

If you threw some adidas originals on Doc Holiday, asked him to give up dentistry and take on recruiting and took his pistol from him and gave him the internet then you have the role of talent acquisition in the 21st Century.

Doc Holiday ventured into the wild frontiers and to survive he needed to understand the landscape he was in, had to have strong relationships, a reputation or a brand and then an ability to act on it. This made him a legend. Equally important for doc was the incredible stories that generated out of his Wild West days that have transcended cultures and times.

Talent acquisition is the wild west of the 21st Century. Think about it. You have the internet which is really like the gold rush days. Everybody is out there looking for their plot on the internet with the desire to build something great. Everybody is racing for this. You are either a bystander or you are in the game. Doc was in the game. Then you have the villains. These are all of those competitors out there looking at how they can build it better, faster, smarter. You have the struggle of staying in a top position; the landscape is constantly changing and information flows from every direction. You have to get smart about what’s relevant and what is not. This also happened during the gold rush days. Reports were coming in from all over but choosing which direction was critical. With limited supplies, harsh conditions and hostile territories you couldn’t afford to be wrong. And if you play all your cards right you make it through the struggle, defeat the villains and make your indelible mark in digital history. Welcome to my frontier—the Wild Digital West.

At adidas I am tasked with building a world class talent acquisition function, a kicking talent brand, Web 2.0 recruitment strategy and whatever and wherever else the twists, turns, clicks and crashes of the Wild Digital West takes me. The thing that Doc did not have was a pair of kick’n adidas originals which I personally believe are a necessity in the Wild Digital West.

Yes, I know, this is an odd bio but I’m not sure how else to explain what talent acquisition strategists do. We go where the wagon trail ends…or shall I say we go where the fiber optics start to fray!

Prior to adidas I spent almost seven years at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. Waggener Edstrom is a global PR agency focused on innovation with clients such as Microsoft, AMD, T-Mobile, GE Healthcare and Amazon.

My role at Waggener Edstrom was to develop and implement integrated strategies to attract key talent. I served as a digital “trend spotter” for the agency’s staffing function as well as played a key role in advancing our talent relationship capabilities with CRM and Web 2.0/social networking strategies. Prior to this I lead recruiting for the Microsoft PR team. Over the six and a half years at Waggener Edstrom I have recruited for just about every business unit within North America as well as spent a small stint of time recruiting for our UK team.

I spent the first two years of my career on the agency side. The volume and intensity of agency recruitment laid the foundation for where I am today.

The Wild Digital West isn’t always a friendly place or easy to navigate but it’s a whole new frontier to explore. Maybe it’s the last great one in our lifetime. To embrace it you must accept it for what it is. As the Doc said in Tombstone, “There is no normal life, there's just life, ya live it.”

First Week at adidas

2007-05-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

So I made it through my first week at adidas. I mean—I WORK AT ADIDAS NORTH AMERICA and it is my FIRST WEEK! I know, I know...a little dramatic…but it is exciting none the less and I don’t hold back. Company culture is an interesting thing though and it’s probably a little pre-mature to say that it’s a great place to work. Of course—I’m a recruiter so isn’t that what I ought to say? Frankly, anybody joining any organization should wait to judge or assume or lie—to themselves. Sorry—I just watched an episode of House and I love when doctor House believes all humans lie. I kind of agree with him though. So here is the thing—organization culture is a tough thing to figure out for anybody on the outside. On the outside you are influenced by media, marketing, advertising…essentially the company or product brand. This may be good or bad. So you leverage your networks and learn more about the culture. You still need to be leery though. People in your network may want you to join the organization for a host of reasons, and while they are trying to be authentic, they may unintentionally positively spin the company.

So use your vision! There is the facility, the web pages, the people you see in the halls when you walk into interview—this to me is the visual side to culture. Yes, this is important so don’t take it lightly. Think about how you would feel walking into a building with 70’s carpeting and paneling on the wall versus flat screen TV’s playing sports and holographic light fixtures. Then there are the interviews, the people interaction—you start to understand the norms, the rules of engagement, and the intellectual capital. All of this builds in understanding the culture. Hopefully, during this process, you don’t lie to yourself about the challenges ahead. You won’t really know the true challenges until you disagree with an approach after you’re hired or you try to implement something that goes against the grain, the way things have been done. This is when you WYSIWYG. At this point you will either run or accept the challenge.

So—I AM WORKING AT ADIDAS. Okay—let me be a bit more tempered here. I work at adidas but I have not had my first big challenge yet. BUT—what I see today…an amazing product brand, high energy—creative talent, state of the art facilities, incredible perks like great benefits, product discounts, sample sales, employee events at their Pearl District retail store, workout facilities, basketball courts, soccer fields, gym, flexible work environment, super flexible dress code, café’s, line cooks, view of DT Portland and the Willamette and the list goes on. This isn’t the work though and nobody should join an organization because of this. What do you get to DO—I mean, what do YOU get to DO. This is the most important question. I have objectives that I feel SUPER passionate about. Everything else to me is secondary. SO I’M WORKING AT ADIDAS and I’m doing what I LOVE. But I don’t know what It’s truly like to work here yet because I have not challenged the norm, I have not made change, I have not disagreed with a colleague, I have not run the hardest leg of the race. The nice thing though is I can’t wait to do this!!!!!!!

If you read my blog and adidas is a place you want to work here is some advice….don’t assume the product brand is the employment brand. Don’t assume it isn’t—in fact don’t assume. Evaluate what you bring and what adidas offers and then align. Keep an eye on our careers page and apply for positions where your strengths can be leveraged and where your passion will show. Don’t apply randomly just to get in. If you don’t see a career that matches now then submit your resume without applying to a specific role—but keep an eye on the site for roles that you have experience in and apply to these. Network, network, network—I have a LinkedIn profile. Send me an invite—look up other adidas employees and learn about the organization. Leave a comment on my blog…join the dialogue. Remember that adidas was founded on a passion for sports. Think like an athlete—train at what you want to be good at and don’t give up.

IT”S MY FIRST WEEK and I get wear the coolest kicks now, everyday, to work!

BEE GEE ME

2007-05-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

I’m going to be a good sport here and post a video that my buddies on Waggener Edstrom’s Digital Strategies team pulled together for me. Just for the record this was not a video resume for adidas! This was a spoof on our agency values that our HR team pulled together for our annual agency business meetings a few years back. I was the only male on the HR team at the time and they needed male vocals so I really didn’t have a choice. I’m going to miss this place!

Cheers to all the amazing, talented and creative people at WE! Moments like these will never be forgotten.

My Third Stripe

2007-05-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

I’ve joined Adidas!

I’ve been recruiting for over eight years now and it’s been a wild ride. My career started with an internship at Johnson Matthey Electronics in Spokane, Washington. My role, Human Resources Intern. My job, revamping their 200+ job descriptions. My degree was in Human Resources so this really allowed me to cut my teeth on some basic HR tactics. I quickly learned though my strength was not in HR administration but in relationship building, problem solving, innovating process and marketing.

When my internship ended I started to apply to roles throughout the Northwest and California. There were a few things that I was certain about at this point in my career. I knew I needed to get out of Spokane. I needed a larger marketplace. I also knew that I needed to work in an environment that was intense, that forced fast learning and constant problem solving. I was offered a role at a local recruitment agency in Portland, Oregon—Employment Trends. Here I quickly moved into a recruiting role and was able to build one of the agency’s largest accounts. I found that I loved recruiting. In recruiting you always have variables that create constant challenge. You can build the best process in the world but when you are working with people there are always situations that are going flip things upside down. To be good, you have to stay razor sharp on business indicators, know your clients business inside and out, be a master of relationships and know how to leverage marketing/branding to attract talent. These were the skills I learned quickly in this environment.

After two years I wanted corporate experience, greater challenges and greater resources to sharpen my craft. I moved over to Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, one of the top PR firms in the world. I recruited for just about every business within the agency and worked my way up to leading Waggener Edstrom’s Microsoft Staffing team. Here I learned how to plan for intense shifts in the business, how to continually innovative our process to stay ahead of the business, how to lead, how to amplify a brand and become a true brand ambassador. This lead me to my most recent role as Strategic Sourcing Strategist, which focuses on development, and implementation of strategies to build talent networks across the world—focusing on skill rarity and business criticality. I also am responsible for implementing the technology to support these efforts, which include a CRM build-out, a host of on-line media/social networking tools, blogging tactics…essentially evangelizing Web 2.0 to give us competitive advantage.

So now this leads me to my third stripe, Adidas North America. I just accepted the role of Recruiting Programs Manager at Adidas and will be leading the charge in developing Adidas North America’s recruiting strategy, in partnership with our global lead of recruiting, Steve Bonomo, and Adidas North America head of HR, Jochen Eckhold. There are many things I will be charged with in my new role but the thing I’m most excited about is building a world-class employment brand for Adidas North America. I’ve been fortunate that I have had the opportunity to work in PR, work around creative people who know how to solve intense business problems through strategic communications—including branding and PR. I have also worked in a culture where innovation and creative ideas are more important than profit itself—yes, this is true believe it or not. Waggener Edstrom puts people and innovation before profit—but profit always followed with this approach. This I will be forever grateful for because it taught me that no idea is too big or too bold or not worth considering. Now I plan to take this to the next level. Failure is not in my vocabulary, average is nothing, good is average—which is nothing—The only thing left is great. So my plan is to build one of the most innovative talent brands in the world. Nothing will be off the table, nothing too bold, and nothing too hard. To Adidas impossible is nothing. Impossible is nothing to me. As my former CEO used to say…”I want to work with companies that are on the lunatic fringe.” This is where I will spend my time building something great.

More to come on my role at Adidas…. I welcome feedback from anybody out there who reads my blog, people in the creative fields, innovative recruiters, passer by’ers--to comment on what you believe to be great employer brands. What makes you want to work at an organization, what creative tools amplify this message in the marketplace. OR…if you are interested in a career at Adidas I would also encourage you to leave a comment or send mail. I will be updating my profile and contact information in the coming weeks.

Now it’s time to earn my third stripe!

Authentic Advertising

2007-04-29T23:03:00.000-07:00

I came across this Adidas Ad on a blog and thought it was a very clever way to show authenticity and leadership with a print advertisement....

Creative Resumes

2007-04-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

When I first started in recruiting I was trained to look past the flashiness of resumes and screen for experience and skill. This training carried through my first few roles. When I started recruiting in the PR industry I came across resumes that were highly creative and memorable. I ran one of them by a senior member of my group and she asked me if I was going to reach out to the candidate. I said I wasn't sure because the candidate didn't have much experience in the area I was hiring for. She asked me if creativity was important for the type of person I typically hire. I said of course. She asked me why I wouldn't then at least talk to this person. Duh...she obviously had a good point. So I did and I ended up being very impressed. This is when I took a 360 when it came to creative resumes. The candidates that do this stand out to me, they break through noise and they leave a lasting impression whether they are hired or not.

I included some pictures of resumes that I have received. These aren't all of them by any means. I received a resume that was created on top of a cake using frosting. We hired this person and he is a high performing employee. I was also sent a resume that was folded into a pyramid and then had another copy crumpled in a ball in the center. One candidate sent me her shoe with a note saying if the shoe fits… I have also received some interesting thank you cards. One was hand made and had our team logo on it with a piece of gum taped to the inside—it said, “Here is something to chew on while you consider my candidacy.”

If you are going to create one you do need to have an understanding of your audience. If you are an accountant interviewing with one of the Big 5’s you probably don’t want to send one of these. If you are applying at an ad agency you are probably pretty safe. The rest most likely fall somewhere in between so proceed at your own risk. If you apply for a role with me though….you will probably capture my interest.

Coopetition, Brand & Transaction

2007-03-31T19:38:00.000-07:00

Over the past several years of recruiting in PR I've built a pretty strong network with great people! Some of them we hired and others went to other firms or corporations. Some have come and some have gone. Others work on the next floor or a cube or two away from me. No matter where people in my network are though, whether they currently work with me or not, there are some that are like beacons in my network. They are rememberable, there is some level of attraction to want to reach out to them over an over again and when you do it's like you just left off your last conversation with them. I often ask myself why these people are different? What is about them that is different than the next person I just talked to. After all, I'm a recruiter, so I talk to 100's and 1000's of people in a given year.

I think there are few things that sets these people apart and this ultimately affects your company's brand. You may ask how I make this connection and I'll tell, but I do believe it's an underestimated impact on brand image. Those beacons in my network first and foremost are ultra authentic. It's like when you meet people when you are a kid and then lose contact with them for a while and then reconnect. Some of those people you reconnect with and it feels like you never lost touch. They are who they were. Others you feel like you don't know anymore. I don't know if this is authenticity or just that people can completely change. That being said there are those people that have so much soul and are so human and self aware that they are always who they are. These are people that I tend to trust implicitly which is the second factor. So the first is that they are authentic which leads to the second which is trust. Some of those beacons that I talked about work for competitors. That said I can still trust these people when I reconnect with them. I know our relationship is important to them and that they will protect this first. This leads me to my third factor which is that each encounter is building upon a relationship and not a transaction. If I'm working with a candidate and they decline joining our agency I don't see this at all affecting my relationship with that person. The relationship is separate from the transaction of hiring someone. Nobody in my network should ever feel that not doing something they don't want to do will affect the relationship and vice versa. If anything this should strengthen the relationship as long as each individual is being transparent with each other. This is the last factor. What they are saying they mean and what I'm describing about our environment is true, the good, the bad and the ugly. When all of these factors are in place the relationship moves beyond a business acquaintance and becomes real--you start to really know who that person is, you feel like yourself when you interact with them and this ultimately compels you to nurture those relationships--it feels good to do so.

So how does this affect brand. When people you connect with like this go to places you trust that they are choosing great places to work because they are great people. When they say they have picked a bad place their word means a lot to you. When those people you don't connect with go to places it makes you wonder if there are other people like them there. When you are building a company brand or employment brand the authenticity of your interactions with people can make or break this. The more authentic, the stronger the connections, the brighter those beacons become and more people are drawn to those beacons. When this happens the more your authentic brand message gets shared. When people do join your organization they will say everything you told me about this place was true and good or bad you will have protected your relationship--only goodness comes from this.

No matter what you do in life, be it sales, advertising, marketing, PR treat people like they are your brother or your sister and not a transaction. This isn't only important for the business you work for but for the authenticity of your entire life!

Bizzare Shape Found at Saturn's North Pole

2007-03-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

This is totally off the subject of PR recruiting but I love it when I see things that are still so bizarre and unexplained about our universe. These are new pictures of Saturn and they found a hexagon shape at Saturn's north pole. This defies everything we know about weather patterns. There is still so much we don't know about our universe. Here is a link to the article: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm

2007-03-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

Waggener Edstrom Lunatic Fringe 2007

My blog has mostly been about recruitment technology and for the most part spoke to an audience of my peers. More and more I find that candidates are interested to know more about who they are speaking with before their interview and often will Google me and read a few blog entries. For this reason I'm going to change the focus of my blog to be more geared towards the industry I recruit for--Public Relations. I will probably keep it a little more broad than this though and include information on creative talent in general--advertising, marketing, PR, new media. To kick things off here is a YouTube video from Waggener Edstrom's agency business meetings last week!

Paying off a 1946 Parking Ticket--My Role Model...

2006-08-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

Everybody seems to have role models in their lives, for me there is clearly one that stands above and beyond them all—my Grandfather. You know who your role model is when you hear their voice of reason before making a decision or wonder what they would have done in the same circumstance once you have made a decision. A story was just posted in the St. Petersburg Times about my Grandfather. This exemplifies why I’ve always aspired to be more like him….

$1 and debt-free
William Fogarty doesn't like obligations. So when he found a 1946 parking ticket, he paid it.

By DEMORRIS A. LEE
Published August 10, 2006
________________________________________

PALM HARBOR - William Fogarty doesn't know what the fuss is all about.

He simply forgot to pay a parking ticket. When he realized the oversight, the 86-year-old Palm Harbor retiree made good and mailed in the money order.

Why the hoopla?

It was for a $1 parking violation that occurred 60 years ago.

"My father always taught me to pay my debts and any obligations," Fogarty said Wednesday in his home office. "At my age, when I go out of here, I don't want to owe anyone a dime."

In May 1946, while his black 1935 Ford coupe was parked outside a Norfolk, Va., movie theater, Fogarty received a parking ticket. He bought a $1 money order to pay the fine. But soon afterward, he was discharged from the Navy, and somehow forgot that the money order was in his wallet.

About a month ago, as he was looking through a box of collectibles from his Navy days, Fogarty discovered a three-fold leather wallet that first belonged to his younger brother. Fogarty carried the wallet after his brother, Edward, was killed in 1944 while fighting the Germans in Italy.

The wallet still had the impression of the jump wing insignia his brother pinned inside and a picture of Jesus. The $1 money order was tucked in one of the folds.

Fogarty penned a letter to the Norfolk police and enclosed his debt. The money order was dated May 14, 1946.
"So belatedly I am enclosing the Money Order," Fogarty wrote. "I hope you will forgive me the long delay in sending it to you."

Sixty years ago, violators paid tickets on the honor system, said Norfolk police Officer Chris Amos. There was no way to track who was issued a ticket.

Fogarty's money order will not be cashed, Amos said. Instead, it was sent to the Police Department's museum, where it will be framed and displayed.

"It's one of those restoring your faith in mankind things," Amos said.
The recent discovery has made Fogarty, a father of two, a debt-free man again. The find also brought to attention a family heirloom, the wallet.

"I'm passing it on to my son with my other mementos," he said.

Here is the original Link: http://www.sptimes.com/2006/08/10/Northpinellas/1_and_debt_free.shtml

Is Compelling Work Really Better than Great Comp?

2006-07-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

I read an article recently from Dialog NewsEdge about compelling work being more critical to job satisfaction than comp. In fact, I see a lot of these articles and see several potential pitfalls in taking this information at face value. The article says that Lawyers were asked which areas provide the greatest job satisfaction and they ranked challenging assignments at 42%, Comp at 22%, relationships at 20% and so on…

The challenge I have with this is that they assume a person’s decision making is linear—which it’s not. If it were linear, and challenging work ranked first, then theoretically you could ONLY offer challenging work and NOT offer any pay and people would do it. These surveys are linear in nature. They should ask a series of questions about rewarding/challenging work and level of pay that would keep them there for each increase or decrease in the level of excitement factor of the work. So, I would do a survey that looked like this….

Please Rank in order of interest which career you would most likely be attracted to: (0 being least important or 5 being most important)

The most exciting work in the world and NO pay
0 1 2 3 4 5

Very exciting work and 20K per year
0 1 2 3 4 5

Etc……

I would of course word these differently but you would eventually get to where the threshold was. Then you would have better understanding of what the trade off is instead of just knowing that people want exciting work before they think about pay—you would have the correlation between exciting work and pay. From the survey below it assumes that comp plays into 22% of a person’s decision to take a job (ASSUMES). BUT—a lot of people might say that It’s 100% of the job first, then it’s 80% comp between all of the most exciting jobs. This is the information that will give an organization competitive advantage if you ask me. It also takes into account that human decision making is not typically linear.

Ahh--The Air Smells So Good!

2006-07-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

Wow! It’s been a recruiting roller coaster over here, hence why I haven’t written for a while. My current role is to lead staffing for one of our largest teams. We are a 650 person company so a lead role is a very hands on role. It includes strategizing, managing and executing. There is never a boring moment and it’s a constant dichotomy of balancing the longer term view with the tactical execution. There are big, big expectations for a recruiter in a professional services firm. You have billable hour employees so when we bring in new business we lose money until we can staff those accounts—so there is a lot of pressure. It’s also a business that changes directions constantly so even the best predictive models lag the pace of change. Given the unpredictability I always fall back on the basics—and every GOOD recruiter knows what this is. It’s not the job boards, not the networking tools or your ATS—it’s the ability to pick up the phone, make the connection, assess and close on an offer. I have done quite a bit of interviewing for my own team recently and it’s pretty amazing how many recruiters out there aren’t learning these basics. It’s not always their fault either. There are a lot of companies that still don’t understand why this is important and rely only on the mass advertising tools or completely rely on search firms. I’m not complaining though—for those of us that do still value the basics we are able to bring an added layer to the organization that makes our firms more competitive and better poised for success in the future. That’s job security if I have ever seen it. Okay—so, as you can see, this is what happens to a recruiter that gets stuck in the trenches and finally has a chance to come up for some air. The craziness of it all tends to make us rant about nothing at all….so there you go.

Oh—and before I forget. One of our own agency superstars just transformed his internal blog into a public blog. Frank Shaw leads the Microsoft PR account—he is a very interesting fella—check out glass house if you get a chance: Glass House

Show Up!

2006-03-17T11:09:00.000-08:00

The ERExpo this year was energizing! It seems that more and more organizations are adopting practices that have been a direct result of the presentations from these events over the past several years. I’ve always been amazed at how many poor recruiting practices exist. I spoke to many attendees this year who are really starting to raise the bar in our profession. For those of you that read my blog and have not attended an ERExpo you need to. I’m convinced that many of the best recruiters in the industry attend this event. One of the other observations I’ve made is that business leaders (in general) understand the importance of talent. You may say—duh, of course, but I don’t think our business leaders understood talent in way they should—they see it as imperative for survival now. I also believe this is a result of recruiting and HR professionals putting meaningful information in front of them. This is an exciting time in the history of recruiting because more eyes, from the world’s top business leaders, will be on us. We will be looked at to help business succeed and will be held in the same regard as other business leaders if we do our job well. If you are not attending events like this, connecting with leaders in the industry and learning you will put yourself at a major disadvantage. I will be writing more about some of the highlights from this years event. Stay Tuned!

One Small Innovation One Giant Leap for Blogs

2006-03-15T23:26:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading a white paper about blogs written by one of our online/new media experts. One of the things that caught my attention was the rate of adoption versus the earlier personal website/html development. This really got me thinking about innovation and how small conceptual differences can have profound impact on the adoption of the technology.

I developed my first website back in 1994. Many of you who built personal websites then probably remember the process. You of course needed an ISP that gave you some space on their servers to host your site. Then you needed an FTP program to get your HTML from your computer to their server. Then you needed to develop the HTML. If you were like me you found sites you thought were cool and then you would view the source, copy the code and rewrite it to fit your style. Then you would upload this one page and one picture at a time. After you updated the code you would then go to your URL and see how it looked. If it looked good you would keep it. If it didn’t you would update the code, delete the old page from the server and upload the new code. One can only imagine why the masses didn’t adopt this process.

Now—let’s move to 2005. You sign into one of many sites that host blogs. You sign-up; this takes five minutes. Then you choose your blog template and layout. Then you click “post an entry”, write your blog and then you are published, searchable, and can be instantly viewed by millions connected through social networks. Someone basically took the process of 94 and simplified it. The technology change is pretty subtle when you think about it but the impact is huge! Remember Windows 95 when Microsoft said DOS will become invisible? What consumer wants to mess around with DOS? They just want to turn on their computer and have it do what it is supposed to. Like with blogs this subtle difference made the Windows 95 launch one of the most significant Windows launches in history.

I do believe there has to be one other component that makes adoption complete. There seems to have to be a voice behind the innovation so consumers can accept it. There were probably thousands of people back in 94 that said, “hey, I can easily simplify this process.” I bet there were many developers that did; however, their inventions probably didn’t get much further than their 250MHZ IBM’s. If there was a powerful voice behind these inventions then the leap may have happened sooner. The voice can be viral—a zeitgeist if you will. Or the voice can be driven by PR/Marketing/Advertising.

When I write about recruiting technologies I often hear from representatives from recruitment technology firms that say, “I hear you—but check out what we did.” To be honest, I’m still waiting for that small innovation and giant leap. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen some great evolutions in the past few years. I just haven’t seen the giant leap yet. What will this look like for me? When I can come into the office and know that every candidate who comes into contact with my company has a great experience whether I talk to them or not—my ATS works as fast as I can click a button, total integration and total simplification. Is this a lot to ask or a pipe dream—NO! We shouldn’t settle for anything less.

Like with blogs I believe we are in store for one small innovation and one giant leap for recruiting technology. Listening to the many recruitment tools vendors at this years ERExpo I believe we are close. The vendors understand the business problem so now the question is can they achieve the “duh factor.” When they make that small innovation that creates the tipping point people will say, “duh, I should have thought of that.”

The Luxurious West Tower

2006-03-13T23:52:00.000-08:00

I just arrived at the 2006 San Diego Electronic Recruiting Exchange conference. This is my first official (live) blog update on the ground at ERE Expo. I missed the 2005 conference but did attend the 2004 expo which took place at Lowes Coronado on Coronado Island. This year the conference takes place at Sheraton San Diego.

When I got out of the airport I jumped in a cab and asked if he took credit cards—he did, but when I gave him the address he pointed to the hotel across the street from his window and said he wouldn’t take a credit card for a four dollar ride. I was a little embarrassed that I could have practically walked there but being lazy I stuck with the cab instead of jumping in a shuttle. So I arrive at the Sheraton, and while it’s not the Coronado, it seems nice. There is a big beautiful fish tank the lobby, internet area, nice restaurants and relatively swanky décor. I check in at the front desk person says “your in the west tower.” I think—that’s fine by me. Okay—anybody that’s staying in the west tower knows where I’m going with this.

I walk out the back door, past the nice fountain and beautiful pool and notice another Sheraton that looks like it’s across the Bay—I just thought, oh, that must be another Sheraton all together. Then I continue to walk down the side walk, around a bend, past a little shack, and then proceed to go to what looks like a Sheraton power station. Nope—that’s the luxurious west tower. I didn’t notice a whole lot of cars in the parking lot…hmmm, a sign maybe? I proceed in past several conference rooms and I’m thinking, oh, maybe this is the wrong place. This must be the conference area when the other hotel fills up. Uh, No—this is the hotel. So I ride up in the elevator that looks a bit worn, little chipped and smelling like bourbon and half smoked cigars. The room actually turned out to be okay—and hey, they have broadband.

At the end of the day does any of this really matter? Not one bit! I’m just psyched to be in San Diego and hanging with some of the best and the brightest in the industry. I’m looking forward to seeing you all!

Lies, Smarts or Just Plain Tact?

2006-03-09T15:52:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting conversation with our new Worldwide Talent Acquisition Leader. We were talking about influentials in the recruiting space and the dialogue that has occurred in the online space regarding ethics around headhunting and guerrilla recruiting. My inclination has always been to lean in favor of a more, let’s say, aggressive approach to finding and hiring the best talent. I have no problem calling a candidate from a competing firm and offering them an opportunity to explore a career with Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. Companies do not own employees and if another firm offers a career opportunity that is a better match than so be it. I don’t think she disagreed with this but she did provide an interesting point of view to consider regarding guerrilla recruiting tactics—and it really made me think that there is a lot more at stake then ethics……let me explain…

Her example involved a very large retailer, and a competing firm. This large retailer had employees attending a conference in Las Vegas. The other retailer was also attending the conference and had employees staying at a hotel across the street. Here’s where it gets juicy! The competing retailer had their recruiters wear shirts with branding used to recruit employees from her company. The kicker is that they entered the hotel and mingled in the area where her company’s employees were staying. She asked me if I thought this was unethical. I thought about it for a moment and I couldn’t find an ethical dilemma with this. BUT….I did see a dilemma….

The dilemma for me was that this technique lacks tact. This is an important distinction. If you are only looking at ethics as a filter for your approach you may overlook this. She didn’t disagree with being smart and strategic about how we source candidates; however, she did have a very good point that some of the tactics being suggested out there should come with a warning label. She’s right. An organizations recruiting brand should be kept sacred. What does a tactic like this do to the brand? If I worked for her firm and witnessed this I would think these recruiters from the competing firm are cheesy and aggressive. This would not give me a compelling reason to want to work for the competing firm.

So next time you develop a sourcing tactic you think is smart, and you ask the question—is this ethical, also ask the question around tact. Will this approach convey a message that is consistent with your recruitment brand? How will this ultimately be perceived by our target audience?

The Good, the Bad and Supriya's View

2006-02-28T14:47:00.000-08:00

Supriya e-mailed me in response to my blog and I found her feedback poignant and true! The point of my posting was to play a bit of a devil’s advocate. I constantly hear American media tell the story of outsourcing/jobs from a standpoint of fear. It’s always about American jobs going away and lack of educated talent in the US. I wanted to provide an added point of view or perspective around this. But for every good usually there is a bad. Supriya makes some very compelling points around the down side. I will let you read for yourself.

From: Supriya Venkat
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 12:01 PM
To: Steve FogartySubject: A comment on your blog entry

Hello Steve,

I occasionally look up your Recruiting Revolution blog (as a PR/Wagged job seeker) and just wanted to share my thoughts on your entry today ("the Emigration Zone") and your closing comment: "If we see an up swing of emigration how does this affect consumption of American products overseas. In a way we are teaching people how to consume like American’s. This may mean more jobs in the grand scheme of things."

I'm originally from India but came to the U.S in the very late 80s to go to grad school. I get the opportunity to go back to India frequently to visit family and I must say that in recent years, I've been stunned at the growing consumerism of middle-class India. A large catalyst for this phemonemon has been the surge in the "returning Indian" population with its significant disposable incomes. And while much has been made in the Western press (including Friedman in his articles about India) about how middle class India is in fact "consuming like Americans" as you state in your blog, I've been disillusioned about how little has been said in the media about the downside and serious pitfalls of "importing" America's vision of "growth" and "prosperity" to a country like India, which is still largely illiterate and a rural-based economy. Sure, a small segment of the 1 billion + population has benefited from the "boom", but try telling that to the maid who cleans my brother's home in the hi-tech mecca of Bangalore for less than $20/month! She (and her daughter) know that the only jobs at their reach --now and in the future--- are the ones they have right now. I know this observation has little to do with recruitment woes in the United States but it's just something that struck me and I thought I'd pass it along...

Happy blogging and best regards!

Supriya Venkat

Supriya—Thanks for your point of view. It’s one thing for us to discuss this from our cubicles behind our computers. It’s a whole other thing to experience it first hand! Your perspective is invaluable.

The Emigration Zone, Lefkow Style....

2006-02-28T10:51:00.000-08:00

Lefkow posted an interesting article about America's brand and emmigration on today's ERE: ERE Article.

It would be interesting to look at where emigrants are going. I don’t mean which country but which companies? I have talked to several recruiters who have mentioned an increased number of immigrants who want to work for an organization that will give them the option to work in their home countries in the future. I also still notice a large number of people interested in immigrating to the US. I think there are several simultaneous forces affecting the perception of what’s happening with immigration/emigration. Here are a few more things to think about with regard to this subject….

We ran out of H1B’s a few months into this year and congress is working to approve more. This to me means that immigration is still running strong
I don’t have the numbers in front of me but I would suspect that H1B’s increased significantly with the advent of the technology boom in the early 80’s
My guess is that we are starting to see a cycle occur—as H1B status ends US trained immigrants head back—but I believe many of them stay working for multinational organizations—in some cases it’s the same company they worked for while in the US
US companies now have a US trained person working in their home country which helps create better relationships/synergies with their overseas operations
US companies also get the caliber of a US trained individual for lower labor costs (If we are talking about China/India etc)—but they are being paid a premium in their home country because they are more valuable to the multi-national; the emigrant now has a better standard of living in their home country

I agree that Dave’s article is good and makes you think. It also makes me wonder how this really positions America in the global economy. If we see an up swing of emigration how does this affect consumption of American products overseas. In a way we are teaching people how to consume like American’s. This may mean more jobs in the grand scheme of things.

SHOUT IT OUT! WE Named Best Large Agency to Work For!

2006-02-26T21:45:00.000-08:00

I get asked what keeps me at Waggener Edstrom by about 90% of the candidates I interview. Below is an e-mail our CEO sent out to our employees last week. This is what keeps me here.

From: Melissa Waggener Zorkin
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 10:48 AM
To: WAGGENER EDSTROM
Subject: SHOUT IT OUT! WE Named Best Large Agency to Work For!

Out of ALL the agencies who participate in the (U.S). Holmes survey, WE had the strongest voice. With more than 400 people responding, we outdistanced all other large agencies in our responsiveness and expression about our work. YOU SAID THAT WE IS A GREAT PLACE TO WORK AND YOU SAID IT LOUD AND CLEAR – SO THE #1 HONOR AGAIN BELONGS TO…WE.

“Opportunity. The opportunity for advancement,
the opportunity to work with some of the smartest people around,
the opportunity to learn and grow and the opportunity to make a difference.”
– WE employee, November 2005

When I reached out to over half of the agency last Fall, you said to me that the #1 reason you come to work is the opportunity to make a positive difference. Today you can feel proud because your voice and contribution have definitely made a difference.

Waggener Edstrom Worldwide has this year been ranked No. 1 Best Large Agency to Work For in the (U.S.) Holmes Report’s Best Place to Work survey. That means we have received a top rating in two of the last three years – a significant accomplishment and a great source of pride. This award affirms how far you have helped us come in creating the culture we want at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. This ranking also gives us a competitive edge in recruiting new talent, marketing our services and attracting new business.

I am not blind to the fact that you also gave ample input on how we can improve, and believe me that input is taken very seriously. We already have a number of new programs (inspired by your input in the last 4 months) that we MUST get into everyone’s hands NOW, and you will hear more about those later this week and at the Agency Business Meetings. From the many voices who took part in this survey, it’s clear that we are a company that likes to BETTER OUR OWN BEST!!

But it’s important to stop along the path to greatness to reflect on just how far we’ve come. And that is what I am asking you to do today – maybe even for this week J!

We the Killers of Innovation

2005-11-20T00:32:00.000-08:00

What kills innovation? When I think about true innovation I think about the things that truly change the way I view the world and my work. When a friend of the family showed me that he could write code to develop games for the Commodore 64 it mesmerized me. I never knew a regular person could understand dots and dashes in a way to create something logical and stimulating for a human being. This was the first glimpse I had into what was about to occur. It was innovation self aware.

I grew up around computers. My father worked for a technology company and used to bring home the first small mainframes. I would actually work on a dummy terminal set up in an office in our house. The printer on this thing made the house shake—seriously! But it wasn’t until college that I saw the next significant leap in technology—turning the world wide web into a graphical environment. I played around with the web prior to this but it wasn’t that stimulating. You could find information but most of it was geeky and for a college student not that exciting. Mosaic changed this. A friend of mine showed me a browser that allowed me to see pictures on the web. This was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Okay, I’m known for being dramatic—but at the time it was truly amazing to me! I don’t think any of us realized what this meant or how it was going to change the us.

The next big leap for me is when DOS went away. I worked on Windows 3.2. I tried to stay away from DOS as much as I could but there were times I was forced to get in there to do certain things. I was also using a Mac at school and preferred this environment over Windows 3.2. Then Windows 95 was about to be released and I knew DOS would go away. I remember arguing with a computer geek I worked with who thought I was crazy when I said no common person would ever use DOS again. She thought I was an idiot. Long story short, I was right. Who would want to use DOS? If technology isn’t making things easier than what’s the point? Mac lost massive market share and I became an avid Windows user—along with millions of people around the globe.

What now—Google? Search? Yes, this is part of it but I’m not sure this is the end all. Google Earth is probably one of the most impressive things I’ve seen recently. It’s not perfected yet but it’s taking the web and adding a whole new dimension to it. This is significant. I’m not going to go into a seven page rant on why this is significant but it is. You will see. This is my next prediction and I’m sure I’ll hear people tell me I’m an idiot—but who cares. I won’t even say I told you so—it’s just my opinion. For the most part the web is two dimensional right now. Google Earth is making it multidimensional. We all know search is the hot topic right now and we know why—because information is power, there is a lot of information, and search helps us find the information we need to have power. Google Earth allows us to see this information in a way that is more human than it has ever been. Okay—that’s all I’m going to say about this.

So, what kills innovation? How many of you have asked your ATS vendor to customize their product? Why?...because you need it to play well with your internal bureaucratic created processes? Right? If it was truly innovative would you need to customize it to work for all of your processes? Probably not! If it was truly innovative wouldn’t it just work? Wouldn’t it just make your work better, faster, more efficient? We kill innovation when innovation truly doesn’t exist. The recruiting tools industry hasn’t really been that innovative. Right now most recruiting tools are based on a database with recruiting steroids. That’s it! There are innovators out there and I know who they are. They may not be innovative in every part of their business but they are innovating. The ATS space has been underwhelming to say the least. The entire industry has been. If you dropped your ATS tomorrow and used Outlook would life really be that different? REALLY?? REALLY, REALLY? Do you think you could create a system without it and keep your time to fill and quality of hire the same or better? I would put money on it that you could.

So what the heck is my point here? Three things!

When innovation truly doesn’t exist we ask vendors to customize the heck out of it to fit our crummy processes. We kill anything that they developed that is unique because it wasn’t innovative to begin with.
Innovation doesn’t come often—but you know when it does. Don’t confuse design for innovation.
Never underestimate crazy ideas. Whenever someone is running an idea by me that I think is crazy I always stop myself and think twice about it. It may be the next greatest thing. Don’t underestimate the power of dreamers.

We kill innovation because we spend money on things that aren’t innovative. We also criticize ideas that we think are crazy. Take a look at what your recruiting team spends money on and ask yourself what would happen tomorrow if it was gone. What else COULD you be spending money on? What would happen if you took the most obscure idea you heard this year and actually tried it? What would happen? What would really happen? I know, some bureaucrat would probably complain and it would feel like the end of the world. But what would really happen……..

Jobster Advisory Born

2005-11-04T10:17:00.000-08:00

I’m a firm believer that relationships that start off controversial can lead into some of the strongest. This is the way I feel about Jobster. When Jobster was in its early stages, about a year and a half ago, I heard rumor of them from some of my colleagues in the industry. I knew that there were a few organizations working with them on a pilot program and I knew it had something to do with a referral network. Other than this I didn’t know much else about them.

I then started to receive e-mails from Jobster. They were personalized mails signed by the CEO himself, Jason Goldberg. The Senior Vice President of my team received one, our President received one and I received one. The mail basically said that this is a new innovative way to build your talent network and we would love to tell you more. When we replied to this mail we got nothing back. This was frustrating, especially since our President specifically asked me to see what Jobster was all about. I went onto their website to learn more. I immediately felt a connection with their brand (from a look and feel), however, it was still confusing to me what they did. I got the fact that their tool was about networking with the right candidates but it was hard to figure out how it actually worked. Finally, out of frustration, I put up a blog entry about my experience with them. This was the first time I saw some light at the end of the tunnel.

Miraculously, the chief Jobster himself, Jason Goldberg, read my blog and sent an e-mail to me. He basically said anytime you are ready to know more about what we do, bring it on. This immediately impressed me about the organization. It was the first step in changing my perception and my experience up to this point with them. I told Jason to sign me up—I wanted to know more. He sent Heather Grey out—one of his top sales executives, to show us the product. After my meeting with Heather my perception of them had gone full circle. I hadn’t used the product yet but I knew that I would. There were several things that jumped out at me. They were hiring smart people, they understood the power of a brand, they care about their customers, they are in it because they are passionate about it and they are innovating.

Then we tried the product. Our start was slow. We had to manually enter the contacts into Jobster, enter in our job advertisements and then manage the leads that came in with minimal information about them. It was something new and with anything new it takes some pain to get to where we needed to go with this. This was several months ago. We just ran our latest account executive and senior account executive campaign and the light bulb finally went on. We made contact with several great people. One of them is in Hong Kong and the other in Seattle. These are the type of people that I definitely want to talk to. We haven’t made a hire yet but we are in interviews with candidates from Jobster and I have no doubt that we will make our first hire very soon—and they will be strong hires. If I look at what I invested in the product so far, even if I make two hires this year, it will pay for it. And this is just the beginning. The product is starting to gain momentum.

So where are we now? They value the customer’s voice and they invite controversy. They truly feel this is the essence of what will allow them to become better. So they invited several recruiting professionals up to Seattle to listen about what they can do better and what they are doing well now. This is something I value about them. They brought me up to Seattle and did a lot of listening. I also had the honor to sit in the room with other top recruiting professionals from Nike, Starbucks, EDS, MITRE among others. We had the opportunity to meet their people. Later on we went to Wild Ginger and got to know each other on a more personal level. Over dinner I had the pleasure of talking with John Atkins, lead Product Manager, and Ethan Lowry, Vice President of Product Design. In addition to almost figuring out the future of all innovation I learned how to get all the food to our end of the table. Ethan also taught me how to accidentally lose a glass of merlot and miraculously end up with some top notch Pinot from Oregon—one of Goldberg’s favorites. The night ended with Heather Grey and me chasing a mini-van through the rain. All in all it was a great experience. The Jobster team realizes there is still a lot of work to be done but they are listening to their customers and they are thinking about the right things. They have the building blocks for something great. Thanks for the experience Jobster!

King of Connections

2005-10-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

We just launched our new Waggener Edstrom Worldwide brand. This is exciting news especially for those of us on the Staffing team. Our new career site features employee vignettes, accolades, cultural anecdotes, career paths, and, of course, our job listings. If you get a chance check it out: http://www.waggeneredstrom.com/

I had the honor of conducting the interview for our featured employee vignette. I included this below. This is from one of our PR pros on our T-Mobile team—Jackson Jeyanayagam.

THE WE IN WAGGENER EDSTROM:

King of Connections

Jackson Jeyanayagam is well-connected. Whether sharing ideas
with co-workers, chatting with editors at Glamour and Maxim, promoting
after-hours parties, or reaching out to the broader world, Jackson enjoys
building relationships as part of his job. He is in the know and on the go.

A senior account executive at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide,
Jackson works with wireless service provider T-Mobile USA. He helped launch the
wireless industry’s first nationwide service to play ”ring-back tones,” real
songs that callers hear when calling a mobile phone. Jackson also manages
celebrity product placements for the fashionable T-Mobile Sidekick II product.

”I like the WE culture. It’s an open environment and I have
lots of good friends here,” he says. “There is an entrepreneurial spirit here,
so you can carve your own way. There are so many things you can get involved in
from staying connected with colleagues and clients to giving back to the global
community. Where else would I get to do this?”

Staying current on what’s considered hot among consumers.
Working the phones. Contributing to corporate giving efforts. Getting paid to
read Gear, Spin and Details and watch MTV’s "Total Request Live.” Hooking up
hip, young celebrities and fashionistas with the latest mobile data devices.
It’s all in a day's work for Jackson, and the connection - even friendship -
with colleagues and consumers makes it more worthwhile.

VALUING VOICES:

“I speak my opinion and people listen to me. The agency is
shaping its vision and I feel I get to give input,” Jackson says. “When I have a
meeting with executives who ask my opinion, that means a lot to me. Everyone
here has a say and you can make a difference.”

Visual Mapping

2005-10-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

I had the fortunate opportunity to hire an individual that wrote her dissertation on clustering blogs based on market demographics. She is originally from Hong Kong where she was a journalist and public relations practitioner before coming to the US to obtain her PhD. She recently turned me onto a blog that focuses on visual mapping. I have included the link below; I believe this work WILL have an impact on recruiting.

Visual Mapping Site: http://infosthetics.com/

Two of their maps really jumped out at me--the first was the map that showed the overlap and differences between search engines. It’s actually a map that they pulled off of www.dogpile.com. What’s interesting about this is that when we are thinking about search optimization we need to be thinking about multiple sites. It also made me think that aggregate sites don’t win out over well branded sites. This has implications for what they are calling “vertical search“. You would think a user would use a vertical search site for the convenience of having all of their jobs in one place. If this were true users would use Dogpile more than they would use Google. Google’s brand far outweighs Dogpile’s so it’s just not the case. Dogpile is also symbiotic of the other sites--if they didn’t exist Dogpile would cease to exist as it’s currently known.

The second and more interesting post was mapping around social networking. This is very exciting work. This will most likely be the future of social networking where you can actually see how your connections visually. Jobster is doing some of this now but it’s not as advanced as what’s shown on infostetics. This concept really makes sense to me because when you think about relationships they are not linear--they are multidimensional. Let me give you an example of this:

You have a co-worker that works in recruiting. She owns a piece of the pie and
you own a piece of the pie and your day to day responsibilities are to service
those clients and fill roles. Your relationship with her is as peers in this
instance. Your co-worker also owns college recruitment and you support her on
initiatives that she is driving. Your relationship with her here is as your
project lead. You also know her husband and go out for drinks with them on
occasion. Your relationship with her here is as a friend. Some relationships can
obviously be very complex but I think this demonstrates that relationships are
not linear.

They also show how this same concept can be used in e-mail. Furthermore, David Lefkow also had a post recently mentioning how cool Google Earth is. This is another example of visually mapping search. All of this research will have implications for how we recruit--the web is becoming more and more multidimensional than it has ever been.

It’s RAD!

Cybersleuthing & Digibility

2005-10-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

I just came across two very interesting blogs. This first is Digibility authored by Jim Stroud and the second is Cybersleuthing by Shally Steckerl. Both of these authors are Microsoft employees. If you want to be top of your game in on-line recruitment then you should check these guys out--especially Shally Steckerl--a lead researcher at MS.

If you want to simplify the business world into three main categories from the context of innovation here it is:

There are those that innovate--changing the way we work in live with their inventions; they are rapidly changing the marketplace
There are those that react to this; they try to catch up and make sense of the change around them
There are those that ignore the change; they don’t want to believe things are changing around them and do nothing to keep up with the advances

The on-line recruiting world is changing. Search is more relevant than it has ever been and search optimization is critical. If you don’t understand this or don’t know what this is you should. Shally and Jim are a good place to start. If you are completely unfamiliar with this subject then some of their postings may be confusing. Shally in particular can be a bit daunting.

Regardless, check out their posts and start asking about search optimization for your recruitment site and job postings if you aren’t doing this already. Both of their sites are included below:

The Digability Blog http://digability.blogspot.com
The Cybersleuthing Blog http://www.erexchange.com/blogs/CyberSleuthing/

Make vs. Buy

2005-10-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

I just read an interesting article about make versus buy talent acquisition decisions. I posted a link to the article below. The article presents a case for firms that have high R&D investment and short product release cycles to hire external talent versus train an internal workforce. They go on to say that if you have longer product release cycles and lower R&D investment than it’s better to train your internal workforce. The article is focused on technology firms.

Check out the article and post a comment if you agree or disagree with this….

Make vs. Buy

Go Cheap or Go Brand

2005-10-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

David Monreal posted an interesting comment on my blog asking, “why spend X in Monster or any other big job board if I can use a cheaper small one and get also listed in Indeed, WorkZoo or Hotjobs.”

First, this is a great question David, and I have an answer for you. The answer is brand recognition. This is still one of the most important factors driving traffic to a site. Most of the job boards, job search and other job tools out there are not genius technology. The reality is you can hire a web developer and build a crummy job board in no time. The true genius comes from the ability to get your brand through the massive clutter.

Here is a simple exercise to test this theory. Go find a few of your top performers—not including recruiting or HR. Then ask them if they have ever heard of Indeed or WorkZoo (Jobster is a different story because they actually are making huge strides in brand strength, but still have a long way to go). Now go ask them if they heard of Monster? What do you think the answer will be?

As recruiters we have to be careful not to underestimate the brand of the top job boards. We live in the recruiting world and read about all the new tools out there—but does the average person? You can post to some cheap job board and have it picked up on Indeed but do you think there are more people looking for jobs on Indeed or Monster? Just because there are thousands of jobs posted there doesn’t mean the people you need are there.

Hotjobs has an interesting model—they say you can search the web for jobs. Have you ever conducted a test search on their site? Try it and see what comes up. Hotjobs postings come up first—several pages before you get to general web postings. Then the kicker is that their search algorithm excludes their competitors—you don’t see Monster postings popping up. So the reality is that it’s not a true web search.

The one job board that seems to consistently fly under the radar that in my opinion should have competitors worried is Craig’s List. Their brand is viral and their traffic is very strong. In my opinion they are the Linux of the on-line job advertisement world. Until the Indeed’s, WorkZoo’s and SimplyHired’s of the world increase the brand strength I wouldn’t put my money on the cheap job boards. But hey, throw your jobs up on the free boards and on your blog and let these sites spider them. There’s no harm in this.

Innovation: Through Thick and Thin

2005-10-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

My pals over at Jobster have given me an excuse to swim back up to the surface from my staffing abyss and do some blogging. It looks like Jason is back at it talking about what Jobster is all about. He recently did a webcast from the September ERE conference. Feel free to check out the link below to see what Jason has to say.

Here's the link to view the video: http://www.jobster.com/corp/erewebcast.jsp

The thing I like about Jason and Jobster is that they seem to be in it for the right reasons. They are a company in search for a better, more innovative way to recruit. Monster.com is this way as well. The reality is that they care about the recruiting industry and want to make it better—I don’t believe it’s all about profit for these two organizations. We often get excited about the very small start-ups and criticize those that are in the spotlight. However, many of those small start-ups are working to build a brand and then just sell it off to a larger company. I’ve been very under impressed with this. These mostly comprise of 30 something’s trying to retire early.

This all goes back to choosing a career you love. Look at Jeff Taylor—he can retire but he is starting another company called Eon’s. It’s a company that will be focused on the Baby Boomer’s. I suspect that Jason and Jeff will be at it for a long time whether they are rich or poor—again, because they are in it for the right reasons. So next time you talk to someone saying they want to start some new recruiting site and sell it off to a larger company—you got to ask yourself…what are they doing to make our industry better, faster, smarter?

Bravo to the true recruiting innovators out there…..and thanks for staying with it through the ups and downs…..

Public Relations Careers @ Waggener Edstrom

2005-08-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of attention to my blog. Many of our PR clients have their fiscal year change during mid summer and staffing really picks up. We have several PR roles available in the NW so I thought I would post them to my blog. If you know anybody in PR and think they might be interested please feel free to pass the word along.

Account Executive-Waggener EdstromSeattle

Waggener Edstrom, also popularly known as Wag-Ed, is hiring four (4) public relations account executives. These positions are located in the Seattle metro area. At Wagged, an account executive is a pivotal role within our agency. What do I mean by this? You ARE the daily driver on our key accounts. Some of these accounts include Microsoft, T-Mobile, AMD, Boeing, GE and many other clients that are changing the way we work and live everyday. As an AE on one of these accounts you will have opportunity to work with some of the top marketing minds in the world and advise them on their PR needs. At Wagged you will have the support and tools necessary to deeply immerse yourself in your client’s business. You will be guided and mentored by stellar PR pros. You will be encouraged to absorb the world around you, to know what’s happening in the most remote corners on earth and then to see and understand how your clients fit in. It will be your inherent responsibility to tell their story in a way that transcends cultures and continents. We don’t just put on catchy events and bombard the media with worthless stories. We partner with our clients on one of the most important areas of doing business of this millennium, strategic communications!

We are looking for people that want to be involved in helping tell the story of innovation, science and technology in this important time in history. We want you to be curious about the world. You don’t need to have all the answers. You do need to have some experience in Public Relations. We will be putting you in front of some of the top marketing minds in the world. You will be expected to learn their business, know their influential landscape inside and out, their competitors, and the market in which they operate. You will apply your PR knowledge against their threats, weaknesses and opportunities and WOW them with your smart and innovative approach to doing PR. You will guide and mentor a small team of individuals working with you to achieve these results. You will be a leader.

Specifically we are looking for 4-6 years of PR, media relations, analyst relations or marketing communications experience. Your experience could come from an agency or in-house role but it’s important that you are involved with external communications and/or media relations. You have to have a passion for technology, innovation or science. We look at these areas broadly. We will relocate you from anywhere in the country if you are offered one of these roles. So talk to us; see if this is you! Come hike Mt. Rainier, buy a fish from Pike Place Market or explore the San Juan Islands! Then come to work at Wagged on Monday and help put a voice on some of the world’s most profound innovations!

So tell us your story! E-mail your resume to stevef@wagged.com.

Senior Account Executive-Waggener EdstromSeattle

As a Senior Account Executive at Waggener Edstrom you are not just an up-and-coming leader; you are a leader! This responsibility is held at the highest regard by your peers and agency leaders and comes with a set of profound responsibilities. As a leader at Waggener Edstrom you have become ultra self-aware, you lead by example and foster innovation, curiosity, passion, integrity and respect amongst your team. At this point in your career you know what it takes to earn the respect of your clients as an expert in the field of PR. You are a master of relationships and understand the intricacies of the influential landscape that you live and operate in. PR is no longer a function of a plan that has been handed to you. You now look through a lens that spans continents and cultures and you apply this perspective in a way that enables your clients to share their passion for discovery and innovation in a very powerful way. Your passion for innovation and PR is viral!

We have two Senior Account Executive roles available in the Northwest. We are open to candidates located in both Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington metro areas. If you are interested in exploring one of these roles further tell us your unique story. We want to hear about your passion for innovation and examples from your five to eight years of experience in the field of Public Relations. We also want to know about your ability to proactively craft and shape stories and your ability to operate with grace in crisis situations. Tell us how you worked with your clients and helped to give their ideas a powerful voice. We want to know!

Our people and our clients come before all else at Waggener Edstrom. We understand that our value is derived from the minds of our employees. Our benefit package is designed to offer Waggener Edstrom employees opportunities to develop their expertise and continually hone their PR skills. In addition we offer strong compensation packages and excellent healthcare benefits. We believe our employees should get the support they need so they can focus on what they love to do—INNOVATIVE COMMUNICATION!!

So tell us your story! E-mail your resume to stevef@wagged.com.

Classic Contractor Lines....

2005-08-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of attention to my blog. I have to say that I highly respect those that maintain their full time jobs and write on their blogs daily. When things heat up in recruiting there is no time to spare--none! Even if we worked 24 hours a day our jobs will never be done.

Okay--so with a little more levity I present you this. One of my colleagues was looking through our recruiting database last night and found an old candidate correspondence from one of our ex-contract recruiters. This recruiter was classic--we had some good times working with him. He used terms like "smiling and dialing" and "good old fashion". He was a crack up! He was a good recruiter though and got the job done. We found an old e-mail that he sent to a candidate and we all had a laugh. I figured why not share it with the world. Here you go--typos and all. You may want to use this one sometime--it's a true classic!

Good morning. In this economy a little time away is ok. Send my your resume and I'll run It up the flag poke and see if anyone salutes.

Seattle ranks #1 on the most overpriced places to live

2005-07-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe….Portland, Oregon made it on the list of Most Overpriced Places to live. Seattle ranked number 1.

I guess you pay for clean air, great city, snow capped peaks, Ocean, rivers, lakes and NW culture. You know what though—it’s worth every penny in my book!

“Most Overpriced Places”

Is it the Next Great Weapon?

2005-07-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

Michael Homula wrote an article on “The Next Great Weapon on the War for Talent”

I didn’t particularly find anything new in this article but I’m always interested to hear what folks in our field have to say about secret weapons.

Some highlights he mentions are:

The movement from candidate tracking to CRM. This is something that I have written about several times and I do agree that this is key. It’s sort of the buzz on the street right now and those that are good at managing the relationships will lead. There is no question in my mind about this.
He talks about referrals—I don’t even need to go here. We all know that this is key! Nothing new… Companies that don’t have good referral programs are living in the dark ages.
He also mentions presentation. This I thought was interesting. Of course this seems obvious but it’s amazing how some people present themselves. We did a training at our agency called “Brand Me”. We really took a good look at the perception of ourselves that we were projecting. Most people think they know what they are like but they don’t really have a clue. Most people a very self-UNAWARE! I get calls from sales people and often I hear this relaxed, deep, male voice. Often times it’s a voice that is trying to convey confidence, someone that has been around the block, calm and smooth. These messages drive me nuts!! Have some energy. It doesn’t impress me that you are calm and smooth and comfortable. Be excited, have new ideas, be passionate. I agree 100% with Michael here.

I don’t know if Michael portrayed the next best thing. What I do think he told is that the things we are already doing—we better do them well!

My First Jobster Campaign

2005-07-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

I feel like a little kid back from summer break and about to get on the school bus for my first day back to school. My brand new jeans are crisp and still have the store pressed creases; I have my brand new backpack filled with school supplies and my bagged lunch filled with the essentials of elementary dining.

Ayh, scraaaatch that....I don't have the anxiety associated with a first day of school because Jobster made it pretty darn easy for me to sit behind my computer screen and build my network. I'm posting my first campaign to my blog because I'm pretty proud of the tools that Jobster has available. They just make it easy. If you are interested check out Wagged's first campaign below. And hey, if you know any good PR people…..

Waggener Edstrom is hiring!

View jobs

Why are you punching yourself?

2005-07-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

One thing that always gets me is how the successful organizations tend to be the ones to always get attacked by the underdogs. Maybe this is just inevitable but I really think they are fighting the wrong battle. I read through the influential blogs in the recruiting industry and Monster tends to be constantly under fire. Why? They have been one of the most successful on-line recruiting advertising organizations in the world. Why don’t you see blogs talking about all the crummy sites where we have spent time and money with no results? We aren’t a huge Monster user. We get about 5% of our hires from Monster, however, this is huge when you are hiring very niche, hard to find people. We easily get our ROI from Monster.

So why fight Monster? Why not take market share from the Newspapers where there are still billions of dollars up for grabs if the on-line recruiting industry can get their act together and continue pulling customers away from newspapers. By the way—if you really want to make a big deal about organizations getting into what they are calling “vertical search”—which is totally inaccurate by the way, then the credit should go to Flipdog. They were the first major player in technology of this kind. Oh, and did I mention that Monster purchased them a long time ago. This just happened before people were making such a big deal about it. Let’s give credit where credit is do—this is no new innovation. And my advice to the on-line recruiting organizations is fight for more market share from the news papers instead of each other. Once you have achieved this then feel free to attack each other. Monster gets this….maybe others should listen.

WorkZoo, Indeed & More on Vertical Search

2005-07-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of meeting David Hardwick, from Jobster, in person this week to get a more in-depth view of how to use Jobster’s tools. We also had a chance to discuss Jobster’s recent acquisition of WorkZoo. WorkZoo is another job search tool being classified as vertical search. I’ve been having a tough time figuring out why the industry has been calling tools like WorkZoo, Indeed, and Yahoo’s new tool as vertical search.

David helped clarify why recruiting industry pros are calling this vertical search. With tools like WorkZoo and Indeed it allows the candidate to search in their particular area of interest across all the job postings out there (on the web) in that category. So, yes, this is technically a vertical search. But when you think about it how is it REALLY different from what’s out there—is it the fact that the search is vertical? Not from what I can see. Think about it. If a candidate goes into Monster.com they can choose to search for jobs in the Accounting/Finance Industry. This is a vertical search. So how is this different from a candidate going into WorkZoo and searching for jobs in the Accounting/Finance Industry—which is also a vertical search? Do you see where I’m going? The uniqueness or innovativeness in these tools isn’t the ability to search vertically; it’s actually in their ability to search broadly. If you Search Monster’s jobs then you get results from Monster’s subscribers. If you search on WorkZoo or Indeed you get Monster jobs, Craig’s List jobs, jobs posted on company websites and more. So basically these tools allow you to search more broadly across the web versus the traditional job boards. It would be like having someone pull accounting jobs from every newspaper in the country and sending them to you versus picking up your local newspaper and looking at jobs in your market. It’s really that simple—well, not quite…

Anytime you are doing a broad search across the web there are processes and technologies that will allow certain search results to appear more than others. What is interesting about WorkZoo and Indeed is that when you do a search most of the jobs that appear are ones posted on the job boards. So ultimately since the job boards are pretty good at branding and a few of them have very high volume traffic, by posting there your jobs appear on sites like WorkZoo and Indeed. In a way it’s a symbiotic relationship. It’s hard to say how well one would survive without the other. The large job boards could survive independent of the WorkZoo’s and Indeed’s of the world. I’m not sure if this would be true for WorkZoo and Indeed without the large job boards. Maybe someday they could with the increased use of blogs. This is because the more organizations post their jobs to the web, and the more views they get, the more their jobs will show up on sites like Indeed and WorkZoo. I don’t think we are there yet. I’m not suggesting this is a bad or a good thing I just think we should call things what they are. Indeed and WorkZoo serve a purpose. I’m just not convinced that I would classify this as vertical search. I believe this is an inaccurate category to place them in.

One thing I will say—if you get a chance check out WorkZoo’s use of mapping and demographics technology. This is impressive. If you search for a particular job type in a specific area it will not only pull your results but allow you to visually see where all the jobs are in this category across the country. This isn’t something I’ve seen from Indeed or other players in this category.

Vertical What?

2005-07-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

All of the hoopla about vertical job search doesn’t make much sense to me. Vertical search does. So the major search engines are getting into vertical search—jobs, shopping, etc… Yahoo was already in vertical markets with hotjobs—they just didn’t have an entire web based job search. In terms of anything revolutionary in recruiting—give me a break! It’s just another Flipdog rip off. It’s nothing new. Indeed does it, Flipdog did it and now Yahoo. Big deal!

What would be more impressive to me is to see the job boards tap deeper into vertical industry. For instance—I’m in PR. How could the job boards dig down deeper into this particular industry to target the people I need? It gets back to push versus pull. With Flipdog, Indeed and now Hotjobs this allows the candidate to search half a bazillion jobs—there is still only one candidate qualified for maybe one of those jobs. So ultimately—how does this solve our business problem? It’s nice to have but I’m not convinced of anything revolutionary here—in terms of job search.

The Youngsters Want it All, Now!

2005-06-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

I always find these articles interesting—regarding generation gaps. Are there really distinct generations or is it a continuum? Also, are new generations REALLY having more fun than past generations—the roaring 20’s looked pretty happening to me! It’s also interesting that out of one of the most advanced countries in the world in terms of heath care we still have higher morbidity rates than other superpowers—why? Last time I checked you can find most of our 20 something’s online at almost any hour of the night. The big difference I see is that they aren’t afraid of rapid change—they live and breathe it and they don’t want to follow antiquated corporate, bureaucratic rules that are going to slow them down—some managers look at this as defiance. They look at it as the right thing to do…

You can read the full Associated Press Article Here

The Ritzcarltonian Weapon!

2005-06-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

The most under estimated secret weapon in recruiting. The RECRUITING COORDINATOR! We, visionary recruiters, sit around talking about all the technology hoopla to help us attract, find and on-board candidates but who/what really makes it all happen? Is it the technology that listens to the candidates’ individual concerns, gets them flawlessly from point A to point B, takes care of their every need and ensures their experience with your company is Ritz Carltonian? Heck No! It’s the recruiting coordinator.

I would put my money on a recruiting coordinator any day over any of the next generation recruiting technology out there. Give me MS Outlook, give me the Internet and give me a coordinator and I will hire the best and brightest professionals.

Let’s face it, we’re recruiters and if we know a thing or two about recruiting we can find a candidate blind folded, sitting at table in Starbucks on a Sunday morning. We really don’t need 10K per seat technology solutions to solve our recruiting woes. Yes these little bells and whistles help but this is a relationship business. Once we find them then what. If we are efficient we need to be able to quickly establish an honest, mutually beneficial relationship and maintain this throughout the recruiting process. BUT, we also have to find new candidates for other positions. So how on earth do we make that person feel valued when we are constantly on the prowl for new talent? Do you believe technology will do this for you? Your weekly sales logic pop-up appears and you do your check in call? I have a better idea. You work with a recruiting coordinator that knows your business, the teams you support, your style, your objectives and they take the candidate once you have established the relationship. That’s how you recruit!

Look, this isn’t a slam on all the great technology tools out there. This is about thinking of the most treasured resources we have and investing in them. I’m successful at my job because of the recruiting coordinator I work with. I have been able to hire some of the top talent in my industry because of her. We have had executive talent come in and interview with us while also talking to some of the top brand companies in the world. We ended up hiring many of them. The one consistent thing we always hear is awesome they were treated throughout interview process. Our coordinators roll out the red carpet.

Think about how you would like to be treated in an interview process. If there was a representative from a company that worked with you on your customized flight itinerary, gave you your interview schedule well in advance, bios on the interviewers, information on the role and organization, got your lunch order, gave you clear instructions on how to submit any expenses you incur what would you remember when the interview was said and done with. How would you feel, and more importantly, how hard would it be to turn down an offer from such and amazing company.

Next time you go to work walk over to your recruiting coordinator and thank them for helping you be a great recruiter.

Adopt a Chinese Blog

2005-06-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

Slashdot reports on hosting a Chinese Blog

Here is an interesting read from Slashdot. It’s about adopting blogs from China. Since the Chinese government is adamant about censoring certain language there are people from other countries allowing Chinese bloggers to make posts.

Adopt a Chinese Blog

Naked Interviewing

2005-06-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

Oh, this one is good. I picked this up from the SHRM website. I don't have time to summarize because I need to jump into some panel interviews so I'm just going to paste the whole article. Enjoy! (By the way...I think I would have had to hire this guy for his creativity..ha, ha)

Probation for naked interviewer

Akbar was nude apart from a clipboard, the court heard a man who tried to conduct a job interview naked has been sentenced to three years' probation and placed on the sex offenders' register.

Glasgow Sheriff Court was told that Saeed Akbar, a manager at an interpreting and translation company, "had wanted a bit of excitement".

Sheriff Brian Lockhart described the behaviour as "wholly unacceptable".
Akbar, 35, left the interview room and came back in to speak to his female victim naked and clutching a clipboard.

When the job candidate refused to strip as well, he put his clothes on and attempted to continue the interview as normal, the court was told.

Akbar, from Fife, said: "I wanted a bit of excitement that afternoon, that's purely all it was."
'Safety fears' Passing sentence, Sheriff Lockhart said Akbar's partner had now left him, he had lost his job and his friends refused to associate with him.

Referring to the 25-year-old victim, he added: "I can really understand how the police report describes her as extremely distressed, intimidated and fearful for her personal safety.
"I understand that you now accept that she would not know your thoughts and appreciate that she did in fact, fear being harmed by you in a sexual manner.

I have to take into account the catastrophic effect this incident has had on your life
Sheriff Brian Lockhart "On the one hand, I have to take into account the distress which you caused your victim. "On the other hand, I have to take into account the catastrophic effect this incident has had on your life. You have suffered severely as a result of your actions."
The father-of-one, from Dunfermline had pleaded guilty to committing a breach of the peace.
He worked at Alpha Translating and Interpreting Services in Glasgow, which advertised for a translator.

'Role play' The woman answered the advert and was invited to attend an interview at the firm's Glasgow office the following day.

When she arrived, Akbar - who was held in "high esteem" by his company - asked if she would mind if they took their clothes off.

The £25,000 per-year executive tried to restart the interview after putting his clothes back on, but his victim fled and reported the matter to police.

He initially told police his strip was a consensual "role play" as part of his "tough interviewing technique".

Aamer Anwar, defending, said: "He totally accepts his guilt. It was a serious abuse of his position as he foolishly believed the complainer was interested in him."

Our Friends, The Hiring Managers

2005-06-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

You have probably read Gretchen Ledgard’s Microsoft Tech Recruiting Blog. I mentioned her blog in a post below. Her most recent entry was a rant about working with Microsoft Managers through the recruiting process. Her blog ended up getting picked up by cnet which caused a bit of heartache for Gretchen. The thing is that this is by far not just an issue for Microsoft. This is an issue for our entire industry. The clients/hiring managers that we work with aren’t immersed in the world of recruiting so we can’t expect them to automatically understand why we don’t have three top candidates to give to them immediately after we receive their job specifications.

It’s our job, as trusted advisors, to work with managers to address the labor market challenges, the realistic outlook for finding their talent and what the process is going to feel like. This is not easy. Most managers are very busy and immersed in creating the revenue—that ultimately pays our salaries. They expect us to do our job so they can do theirs. This is a completely realistic expectation. If you went to Burger King to order a hamburger you wouldn’t want them sitting their explaining why it’s taking so long to get your hamburger—you just want the thing. Part of our job though is to help solve our client’s business problem—that’s having the right talent, in the right place at the right time so our organizations can remain competitive in the market place. It’s our job to solve this, but to solve this we need to involve our hiring managers/clients. The big difference between the Burger King example I used and the recruiting model is that we work for the same organization.

I’m writing this because I had a manager come to me the other day and we discussed what we were doing to find candidates for his role. He had some suggestions and we talked through these. He was non confrontational and mainly wanted to understand why we did certain things and offered some suggestions. The next day he read Gretchen’s blog and came to me and asked if I thought he was being difficult. He wasn’t. He came to me and wanted to be involved. What more can you ask for from a client? This opens the door to talk, to debate, to discuss. This is how problems get solved and both parties can understand the world of the other. Just because things aren’t always happy and peachy doesn’t mean they are bad. People get stressed, there is a labor shortage, we all need more top candidates; this will continue to be a challenge and will most likely become more of a challenge. I think organizations will learn from this. They will learn that finding top talent is as important as selling widgets and eventually will put more resources in finding people. Some organizations get this now and others will be forced to get it as the labor market continues to tighten. Keep the dialogue going though—good or bad!

If you are a recruiter and your clients/hiring managers are always happy with you and feel you always have the best talent for them at the right time, can you let the rest of us know where this place is? I have yet to find this utopia in my career.

Future of Recruiting Part 2

2005-06-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

Have you read Lefcow’s blog—it’s about the future. Not just the future but the future of recruiting. This is probably the most important topic in the recruiting field and we spend little time thinking ten and twenty years out. The fact is that we don’t even need to think that far out anymore because it’s the age of acceleration. There are companies out there changing the way we live and work. Some lead the effort and others react. Those in the recruiting field that are thinking about the future and making the changes now will be the ones to lead. The challenge is that the same organizations providing us the resources to advance the field are the ones that create the bureaucracy which can hold us back. Recruiting, HR, Marketing and IT will have to work in harmony to obtain many of the advancements that are at our fingertips. I wrote an article about the future of recruiting. This topic is too big to discuss in one blog. Here is future of recruiting part 2.

Most of what I’m going to write about are things we can be doing now. Let’s face it, we can make all the predictions we want about the future but finding good people is tough NOW and it isn’t getting any easier. We know that the future is going to bring added complexities to what we do. The demographics of our labor force are rapidly changing. Our skilled labor force is more mobile than ever. The new generations demand more from employers. IP is becoming harder to protect. Technology is making the work/time/space irrelevant. I can go on and on but the fact is that we can’t know exactly what it’s going to look like 10 or 20 years out but we know finding and retaining people will be tough. We also know that there are inefficiencies in what we do now; we know technology can help or hinder what we do based on how it’s designed and how we use it. So how can we make this all work to our advantage instead of hinder us?

Some folks from TMP recently visited our office. They talked about Best Practices, but more importantly, they said they would also like to talk about Next Practices. I liked their thinking around this. I, in a way, discounted best practices in my last article on this subject. We need both. We have to ensure our practices are the best now and that we are incorporating new practices to lead the charge into the future. So in this blog entry I’m going to talk about three recruiting “next practices” but also about what we can do now to address what’s to come.

Integrated Branding

A lot of the smart recruiting bloggers out there have been talking a lot about branding. Check out Joel’s SEO blog for example. If you don’t get branding or why it’s important then you should spend some time reading and studying brand. This is my first topic of discussion, integrated recruitment/company branding.

This may seem obvious. Integrated branding. But it’s only by happenstance in most situations that the branding is integrated. And…it’s usually recruiting just leaching onto the company brand. Take Nike for example. They have an extremely powerful brand. Recruiting can simply stick a swoosh on their ad and candidates will instantly have an emotional connection. I know the Nike recruiters are more sophisticated than this—I’m only using this as an example. The point is that they have very powerful tools at their disposal. This comes from a very strong marketing team. In how many organizations does recruiting take an active role in company wide marketing? Probably not many! But why not. We want candidates to have an emotional connection just like customers. This is truly our most powerful tool in recruiting hands down. If anybody thinks otherwise let me know. Think about it. Nike doesn’t pay the highest salaries in the market job for job. Yet they have people lining up at the door to come work for them. Why? BRAND!

Recruiting will be a driving force of company branding in the future. Now as much as I like to try and predict the future I’m also a realist. Do you like when people that have never recruited before tell you how to recruit? “Why don’t you just throw an ad on Monster.” Oh gees, thanks, I wish I had thought of that—duh! Well marketing isn’t going to want some recruiter walking in and telling them how they should do their job either. I’m all about what we can do now to prepare for the future. How about ask if you can join some of your marketing team meetings. Let them know you are interested in incorporating more of the overall company brand image into your recruitment campaign and would like to learn more. This way you get to know the marketing team. Who knows, maybe you will even have an opportunity to give input.

Talent Pools

There are companies that have excellent talent pool programs now. One that comes to mind is GE. They hire top grads from around the country and allow them to spend time working in different business units throughout GE. They get to travel, learn about different business groups, and then settle down into a group that they will thrive in. GE has the resources to do this but this would obviously put a strain on medium and small business. With the added demand for talent, competition, and the changing demographics of the labor force we will see more companies considering talent pools. Organizations will pre-hire top talent, rotate them through business groups and then move them into new positions as they open.

I believe this is something we can sell into our organizations now. If you are from a Fortune 500 firm you are probably saying big deal, we have this now. This one is geared more towards medium and small business, especially for businesses that hire niche skill sets where talent is very difficult to come by.

Pick a position within your organization that you have a constant need for, where it’s difficult to find talent, and is considered an important or revenue generating role. Determine what the business could sustain in terms investment hire. If you are a small business this may only be one hire. If you are a mid size business maybe this is five to ten. Pull in a senior level champion from the business unit you will be hiring for and get them involved. You will need them to sell this back to your hiring managers when the time comes.

Once you have buy in from your leadership team develop a program to attract the talent. You need to think long-term here. What is going to attract someone to join an organization without moving into an actual job. Think of GE”s program. They allow people to travel and experience different business units. The program has an elitist feel to it. They hire from top universities. What could your organization offer that is unique? How will you brand this program? .

New Media

I have written about new media in my last “Future of Recruiting” blog but this is an important one. The media landscape is changing so rapidly that we have to keep a pulse on it.

I’m going to focus on a few forms of new media that I did not mention in my last blog. Most of these forms of media are available to us now and a few are years out.

Product Placement: Because of Tivo and digital recording consumers are choosing what they want to watch. Advertisers can’t force ads on consumers any longer. Because of this we have seen more product placement integrated within TV shows. Just think if you got Ross from friends to say that he has applied to a job opening at your company. Then he makes some joke about why he wasn’t qualified for the position. This one is a little more blue sky but the point is that we need to be thinking about new ways to reach candidates.
Gaming: I was talking to a TMP rep from Boston and she mentioned that one of the big five consulting firms had developed an on-line game that they rolled out to college students throughout the country. It allowed them to compete against each other. They were able to sell it to the universities because it had a learning component. They were able to track whom the top students were and brand their organization at the same time.
Spatial Recruiting: In the not to distant future we will have access to Smart Phones that will use GPS and triangulation technology to locate and identify people in any given location. Yes this sounds far fetched but it’s only because it’s new to us. How can we use this? Let’s say you go to a university to do a college recruitment fair. The turn out is a little bit less than expected. You can use your smart phone to send an instant message to everyone within a quarter-mile radius of your booth inviting them to come by. Now how cool is that!

I’m not going to go into every form of new media out there. I could go on for pages. I will save this for the next chapter in the future of recruiting. Lets go back to my first point, branding. You can use all the new media in the world but if you don’t have a defined and consistent brand you will confuse your audience. If you are sending IM’s with one look and feel and then running on-line ads with a completely different message then candidates may not be able relate or connect with your organization. They may end up viewing it as spam. Remember the Nike logo. The feeling you get from it. Make sure you audience FEELS IT!

Stayed Tuned For Future of Recruiting Part 3

The Job that Never Ends

2005-06-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

It’s Friday. The day is almost over. Summer is almost here.

But I still need Account Executives!

You know, it’s funny. One of our Senior HR coordinators recently joined the recruiting team. She is overseeing our infrastructure staffing. At her second recruiting meeting she said that she was getting good traction with a few of her roles and should have several of them closed soon. I said great! We should have you take a few from some of the other recruiters to help out. She said, “well, let me just get the ones I have closed then I’ll take some of the others.” It made me chuckle. I asked, “do you think that’s how it works in recruiting?” We all had a laugh about this. Welcome to our world!

It makes you wonder…are there jobs out there where you can actually get all your work done for any given point in time. I wonder what that feels like?

I guess that’s what makes that special bond with us recruiters. Happy Friday Recruiting Friends!

Did Greatchen do the Right Thing?

2005-06-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t read this yet check it out. Gretchen has some guts! Give me your opinion. Did Gretchen do the right thing?

Monster and Microsoft Kick Ass!

2005-06-08T16:58:00.000-07:00

It seems like every article and blog I read uses Monster as an example when criticizing job boards. Here’s the thing, job boards aren't the issue IT'S THE USERS!! Jobs boards are just one form of media. Just like billboards or TV or newspapers or any other form of media. Like any of these forms of media you need to know when to use them and be sure you are using them for the right reasons.

The way I view Monster is like Microsoft. The guys at Monster might disagree with this comparison but I happen to think Microsoft is a great company. There are so many people that bitch about Microsoft’s power, their competition practices...and on and on and on… Well let’s see….how many people that bitch about them use their products? If you don’t like them don’t use them. The fact is that Microsoft has allowed us to communicate around the globe on a similar platform. Are they perfect? No. Are they evil? No. They want to be the best just like any other company. If there were 5o companies creating operating systems what would interoperability look like today? I’m sure there are many people with opinions on this and I’ll see a few comments from the “I don’t like any big successful entity” people out there. But I really view these people as complainers. They are probably the same people that complain about logging and then live in a wood house. Go build a mud hut or come up with a better solution!

So what does this have to do with Monster? Well let me give you my opinion. If every job board was as successful as Monster then we would have to spend our money in multiple places rather than one that has the best market share. The bottom line is that they are one tool for us to use and a damn good one. Their brand is like 95% market penetration. Who can argue against that? If you think you can brand better than Monster let me know. Monster pretty much translates as Monster in most cultures. This wasn’t something they intended but just happened. Now I know you get a bazillion resumes when you post a job on Monster and many of them aren’t the right ones. In my opinion this is better than most. I would rather get two hundred resumes and have two or three that I can hire versus paying 600 dollars and getting five unqualified resumes. And believe me when I say I have done this before. Also, Monster has excellent customer service. These guys are a smart bunch of people. They aren’t a bunch of kids running a start up. They really care about our industry and where it’s heading.

Also, would you rather type up an ad, try to fit into a half inch column at some obscure cost per line, by a drop dead deadline or post an ad at any size, at anytime, with a clear cost, and your own branding from the convenience of anywhere in the world? (please excuse the run on or whatever the heck that was) Well this is what job boards have done for us. They have taken one form of media (newspapers) and modernized them for us. Monster has broad reach so people should consider Monster a branding tool. If you are out there headhunting yet have no jobs posted anywhere then some of the people you touch may be discouraged. You might call someone and they aren’t interested at that moment but you peaked their interest. If they go to Monster or your job site and see jobs posted they know you are hiring. This increases the chances of them applying.

Last, what is the ROI on Monster? To be honest, less than five percent of our hires come from Monster. But what we pay versus what we get makes it 100% worth it. We can pay more on one headhunter fee than our entire year long contract with Monster. It’s one tool, not an end all. Those that use it as an end all are the ones to criticize. The candidates that apply to every job on the planet should be the ones to criticize. But let me tell you something, Monster is out there working their asses off trying to make it better for all of us…and make some money at it. You can’t fault someone for that. So, I’m a Monster Defender! And I’m a Microsoft Defender! I don’t fault companies because they are successful and that kick the crap out of their competition. I respect them—I like bad ass companies!

Wait, wait…one last thing. Next time someone says a company like Microsoft is trying to take over the world go check out how much Bill Gates has donated to charity. No one on the planet has EVER donated as much as him. And why does he still work when he can buy a small country and retire there??? Ever wonder that? Because he loves what he does and is passionate about technology. Why don’t you go criticize the .com’ers! Most of them didn’t have a product to sell. They built a fluff brand only to be sold so they can retire at 30. What do they care about this world and making a difference? They only cared about themselves and we all paid for it. Before you jump on the bitching band wagon and start rattling off about a company because they are successful stop and think about it…..

Bring on the comments!!!!

Job Interview Pointers

2005-06-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

I get asked on a semi-regular basis for tips on interviewing. Most of these requests come from friends and colleagues about to embark on a career search. I had the opportunity to participate in an interview by Thad Peterson over at Monster about a year ago and he wrote a story about interview tips. He is a great writer and I believe the article is solid. I’m posting this on my blog so when I get asked in the future I have something to direct folks to. Feel free to take a glance if you are interested.

Job Interview Pointers
Get Advice and Insight from Waggener Edstrom's Staffing Partner
by Thad Peterson
Monster Staff Writer

Like many career advice experts, Steve Fogarty, staffing partner at Waggener Edstrom, says candidates should research a company thoroughly before an interview. And if the company is a private firm, that's not an excuse to skip doing your homework.

Where there's a will, there's a way, and finding a way to gather information on a company “distinguishes the great candidates from the good candidates,” says Fogarty.

Consider Fogarty's company, a large independent public relations agency. He says that if someone were trying to find out about Waggener Edstrom, the candidate could take a number of steps. In addition to simply visiting the company's Web site, joining a trade organization like the Public Relations Society of North America would almost certainly give someone interested in his company exposure to people who work there.

Fogarty offers a less conventional method as well: “People might be able to find a press release that one of our PR people has written and contact that person and say, ‘I saw your press release. It looks really good. Would you be open to me asking a few questions? I'm doing research on your company.' That's a way to get information.”

What else can you do to improve your chances at the interview? Try these tips from Fogarty:

Be Concise

Interviewees rambling on is one of the most common blunders Fogarty sees. “You really have to listen to the question, and answer the question, and answer it concisely,” he says. “So many people can't get this basic thing down. You ask them a question, and they go off on a tangent. They might think you want to hear what they're saying, but they didn't answer your question.”

Provide Examples

It's one thing to say you can do something; it's another to give examples of things you have done. “Come with a toolbox of examples of the work you've done,” advises Fogarty. “You should come and anticipate the questions a recruiter's going to ask based on the requirement of the role. Think of recent strong strategic examples of work you've done, then when the question is asked, answer with specifics, not in generalities. You should say, ‘Yes, I've done that before. Here's an example of a time I did that…,' and then come back and ask the recruiter, ‘Did that answer your question?'”

Be Honest

Somehow, candidates get the impression that it's best to try to dance around difficult questions. “If you don't have a skill, just state it. Don't try to cover it up by talking and giving examples that aren't relevant. You're much better off saying you don't have that skill but perhaps you do have some related skills, and you're happy to tell them about that if they like.”

Keep Your Guard Up

According to Fogarty, you can split recruiters into two schools. There are those who are very straight-laced and serious, and candidates better take the process seriously as well when dealing with them.

“Then you have recruiters like me,” he says, chuckling. “I'm going to be that candidate's best friend when they call me. My technique is to put them at ease, because I want them to tell me everything, and a lot of candidates mess up in this area. They start to think, ‘Oh, this guy is cool. I can tell him anything.' And then they cross the line.” And that can take a candidate out of contention. Remember: Always maintain your professionalism.

Ask Great Questions

Fogarty says nothing impresses him more than a really good question that not only shows you've researched the company in general, but the specific job you're hoping to land as well. “That makes me go, ‘Wow, this person has really done their homework. They not only know the company, but they know the role.'”

Book Tag

2005-06-07T17:40:00.000-07:00

I’ve been book tagged! That Canadian Headhunter is up to it again. I do think it’s interesting to get a sense of what people read so I’m going to play along here. I’m not going to tag five bloggers though, only three. I will however share five reads:

Tipping Point By Malcolm Gladwell. This book is about viral marketing, rules of epidemics and how they spread and what makes for a sticky campaign. It also explores people that are natural connectors. They have hundreds of contacts and they are key in the spread of epidemic campaigns. It’s a very interesting book!
Trusted Advisor by David Maister. This is the ultimate client relationship book. I highly recommend this if you are in a client management role. Feel free to read my rant below about consulting…
DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. I don’t think this one needs explanation. I have to say though that I rarely read Fiction. It just doesn’t do much for me. I absolutely loved this book though. I could not put it down. The fact that this was based on part fact made it more interesting.
Tuesday’s with Morrie by Mitch Albom. I know, I know…half the world has this one on their list. This book is truly amazing though. I haven’t read it in a while but I should read it again. It truly makes you re-think how you are living your life.
Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR by Al Ries, Laura Ries. This is an excellent book about the power of PR. I’m in the industry so I read it, however, I would recommend this for anybody. Most people don’t truly understand what PR is. This book will explain it!

Okay….I’m going to tag:

Bill Zolna
Dan Miller
Thad Peterson

You’re it!

A Trusted Advisor

2005-06-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

One thing I'm learning quickly about blogs is that you have to be specific. When you don't it can be easily interpreted in ways that you did not intend it to, hence the reason for this post.

In my post, “Stick a Headhunter in a Two-Thousand Person Call Center," I mention that the best recruiters are consultants. The Canadian Headhunter with Recruiting.com was not overly impressed with this statement. In fact, he down right disagreed with it. I quote:

I wish I was a business consultant but I'm not. I'm not bad at finding people. That's all. And no one pays me 40G's for my services either.

I'm going to post about an interview I had with an executive recruiter who wanted me to do some research for him/her. S/he blabbed so much about how s/he did business consulting. I spent an hour with her and didn't understand a thing she said. And, you know what? If the client needed a business consultant why did she hire me? Personally, I think it's a scam.

I actually really appreciate his candor and his opinion on this matter. If I had read that myself without any further context I probably would have had a similar reaction. I think people throw around the term consultant very loosely. It's as if you call yourself a consultant and you're some corporate superhero. The fact is Mike is right. We should just call ourselves what we are. Michael, the Canadian Headhunter, is a headhunter so he says he finds people. I respect that. So let me explain what I meant by saying that a good recruiter is a consultant.

The head of our People Services team (includes training, HR, internal comm and recruiting) came over from Nike. She headed Nike's Global Organizational Development team. She was very particular on how each and every person on the team interacted with our clients. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical at first. She handed us books like the “Trusted Advisor” and brought in experts in the field to evaluate our current processes and methodology. The tipping point for me was when I saw her quickly gain credibility with our agency leaders. Soon after she was invited to sit on our company's executive advisory board. HR and Recruiting now had a seat within the highest office at our agency. I realized that she was much more than fluff.

So what did I learn from her. When I talk about being a consultant I'm merely referring to the type of relationships we build with our clients, whether they are internal or external. It's a partner versus an order taker. I use the term consultant and trusted advisor interchangably. I believe they are one in the same. A consultant is essentially a trusted advisor. When start out in our careers we tend to do exactly what our clients ask….

Manager: I have five important roles that I need opened and filled immediately

Recruiter: Okay, let me help you get those posted and I'll get started right away.

Manager: I know this doesn't fit within our typical comp structure but we need to make this happen.

Recruiter: Okay, I'll talk to our comp analyst and see if I can make this work.

Manager: I can't believe he asked for more money; that just really turns me off. I want to see other candidates.

Recruiter: Okay, let me see who else I have in the pipeline.

These are exaggerated examples but you get the point. The relationship between the manager and the recruiter above is one of customer and order taker. In my opinion the best recruiters work as trusted advisors, not order takers. When you do this effectively your clients want your opinion before just coming to you and demanding that you help them with something. This is what I would consider a “consultant” or “trusted advisor” approach:

Manager: I have five important roles that I need opened and filled immediately-these are critical. Who do you have in the pipeline?

Recruiter: When we reviewed your business plan you showed two hires for the first quarter. We just hired the account executive and I'm currently working on your Director. I'm assuming these are additions to your original plan. Is this due to increased business?

Manager: Yes and No. We have two people going on sabbatical, we just got another 25K retainer and I have one person on a performance plan that I don't think is going to make it.

Recruiter: When do the sabbatical's begin?

Manager: One leaves next week so I need to hire someone right away. The other doesn't leave until the 20th but I want to get a head start.

Recruiter: Since these two are sabbaticals have you considered using a contractor?

Manager: I have, but I figured since I have some upcoming long-term hiring needs that I could kill two birds with one stone.

Recruiter: Since these two are urgent I would suggest contractors. This way we have some time to find the right people versus just finding a short-term fix. I have a few Waggener Edstrom alumni that are interested in contract work. They left on good terms and I can have them up and running in no time.

Manager: I like that idea. Let me run that by my team and get back to you.

Recruiter: Great. With regard to you 25K revenue increase I'll work with you to get some job reqs posted and routed to finance for approval. In the meantime I will take a look at the pipeline and get back to you right away with a plan to get these filled. I'm going to touch base with Jane (our HR Business Partner) to bring her into the loop on the person on the performance plan. I just want to be sure we think through all implications before binging in external candidates on this one. However, when I bring candidates in to interview for your other roles you can keep in mind that you might need to hire one more.

Manager: Sounds good. Thanks for your help.

This, in essence, is what I mean by consultant. I don't think being a trusted advisor or consultant is some obscure term for a person that sits around and analyzes the business without getting a thing done. I look at a consultant as a person that stops and thinks before reacting, pushes back on our clients when necessary and offers solutions to the problem versus just doing what they are asked. I know this isn't rocket science and most of us do this naturally. I'm surprised, however, by the amount of times I see people jump at a request without stopping and questioning why they are being asked to do it. You owe it to yourself, the client, and the business to think through the problem. You are in fact the expert and your opinion should matter.

So when I throw around terms like consultant loosely I'll stop and think next time. I can't say that I have always acted as a trusted advisor. When I started in recruiting I just wanted to please everybody. I tried to do whatever was asked of me. I was pretty good at getting the work done but not nearly as effective at doing what was best for the business. I still standby my statement:

To me, a good recruiter isn't a headhunter or a “corporate recruiter.” They are professionals who understand the business problem and develop a solution to solve it. The best recruiters, whether on the agency side or corporate side, have this ability. They are business consultants.

Why Headhunt When You Can Psychometric?

2005-06-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

There was yet another article, this one from John Sullivan, debating the approach of having candidates come to you versus we go to the candidate, “The Best Recruiting Strategy Is the "We Find You" Approach”. I still hold that this is not the best approach in all cases.

Let me give you one other example, Hollywood Video. They use a product from Unicru which allows them to set up kiosks in their retail outlets so candidates can apply while they are in the store. The goal would be to drive as much traffic as possible to these kiosks and allow Unicru’s psychometric tool to help narrow down the search. In this case you need to drive volume to the kiosks. The skill set needed is very general and broad. You would not hire a headhunter to research lists and cold call with this model.

I agree completely that recruiters should have “headhunting” skills. I just don’t buy that this is a one size fits all model. A headhunting style of recruiting will not work in every case. John Sullivan is still my hero. I just think this subject is multi-dimensional and only one side is being represented.

Stick a Headhunter in a Two-Thousand Person Call Center

2005-06-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

“Can you imagine sticking a couple top-rated headhunters in a two-thousand person call center and asking them to find passive candidates to fill all of their positions?”

There has been a lot of talk regarding corporate recruiters, headhunters, and the need for corporate recruiters to be more like headhunters. The most recent example is Lou Adler’s article, “So You Want To Be a Headhunter.” The discussion itself is always good. If nothing else it reminds us of all the tools available to us as recruiting professionals. To be honest though I have a different perspective on this whole discussion.

First, most of the corporate recruiters I know have come from a variety of backgrounds. Many of them have been on the agency side at one point or another and have acted as what one might consider a “headhunter”. So I don’t look at it as much of a distinction between corporate recruiting and headhunting. I see the distinction coming from the type of positions that are being filled.

Recruiters need to have a toolbox that ranges from traditional advertising to cold calling/networking—both on the agency side and on the corporate side. Most of the blogs and articles I’ve read focus on corporate recruiters needing to sharpen their ability to headhunt. What about search firms? I’ve worked with headhunters that aren’t as good at filling roles as corporate recruiters and have seen them place ads like the rest of us. To me, a good recruiter isn’t a headhunter or a “corporate recruiter.” They are professionals who understand the business problem and develop a solution to solve it. The best recruiters, whether on the agency side or corporate side, have this ability. They are business consultants.

Let me give you an example. My old manager went over to a T-Mobile call center in Bend, Oregon. Both Waggener Edstrom (pr agency) and T-Mobile are corporate environments. Now the distinction between the two comes from the type of skills needed to do the job. At Waggener Edstrom the majority of our hires are exempt level, niche, hi-tech and innovation focused PR professionals. Do we advertise? Yes, but less than 5% of our candidates come from advertising. All of our recruiters have to act like “headhunters.” We need to network, use referrals, cold call, research and do whatever it takes to find our people. When my old manager was with Wagged he played this role.

Now let’s take T-Mobile. Their call center is hiring non-exempt, entry-level customer service reps. They hire in very high volume. In this case you are going to have job fairs, advertise and use many traditional means of recruitment. They also use a referral program. With any type of skill set or job people know like people. So the referrals work in both scenarios.

Now let’s take search firms, agencies, and headhunters. It’s pretty much a similar model. If you are a temporary agency you are going to operate on a similar model to a T-Mobile call center. If you are an executive search firm you are going to operate more similar to a Waggener Edstrom. Both agencies and corporations use both models in many cases. At T-Mobile you might deploy traditional recruitment tactics for the call center and more of a “headhunting” model for a call center manager. Many agencies also have temporary and permanent search divisions that may use both methods or some combination of the two.

It’s not one or the other and I don’t fully agree that corporations should just focus on getting good at “headhunting”. Can you imagine sticking a couple great headhunters in a two-thousand person call center and asking them to find passive candidates to fill all of their positions? That would be a fun experiment! They would probably sink pretty fast unless they learned how to get good at recruiting volume. I think we can learn from both sides. There are times we may have to recruit in volume and there are professional recruiters out there that know how to do this and can teach a thing or two to headhunters, and vice versa.

It’s not headhunting versus “corporate recruiting”. It’s knowing when to deploy the right methodology for the given business scenario.

Campaign for Real Beauty

2005-06-03T16:44:00.000-07:00

Within weeks these two campaigns hit the marketplace….

The Campaign for Real Beauty: Normal People Click Here
The Campaign for ???? Beauty: Airbrushed People Click Here

Which will win the minds and hearts of the people?

If you have an opinion leave a comment!

Center For Information Worker

2005-06-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

This is very cool stuff from Microsoft! I know it sometimes seems sexier to look at all the cool stuff the start-ups are doing but you should always keep an eye on how Microsoft is innovating. Let’s get real! When Microsoft innovates it impacts us all. Their Center for Information Worker is a forward look at the future of work. Microsoft has talked to the Gen Y’ers, they have done their homework and I would suspect that most of their projections will become reality. This will undoubtedly impact the way we hire and the types of skills we look for. Check it out: MS CIW

Almost the Real Scoop On Jobster

2005-06-02T22:01:00.000-07:00

I blogged on Jobster a few weeks back. I wrote about my skepticism of the product, how I didn't get replies to my e-mails, how I was unsure what the product even did and wondered if Jobster is really any different than Linked in.

It's funny who might be out there reading your blog! A few days later I received an e-mail from the Chief Jobster himself, Jason Goldberg. His e-mail was basically saying…bring it on. Now, it was much more subtle than that. He actually said…”anytime you want to be educated on our product, I'm ready when you are.”

I immediately liked the guy’s directness and his sarcastic sense of humor. Second, I was impressed that he is out there reading the blogs and responding. The guy is a CEO of a start up and he is spending the time to become self aware. I believe companies that get this are usually the survivors. Last, the Chief was willing to tell me how it really is. Yes I was still skeptical; yes I wanted to find the flaws; yes I wanted to believe that this was no better than anything else and why should I invest. BUUUTTTTTT…..it's no, no and no. I think Stevie likes it!

Was it just because the Chiefster sent his top, high powered, ex TMP superstar to my office to seduce me with her Jobster superpowers? Nah, she actually had a nervous twitch, she mangled her words, was spitting at me when she talked and it looked like she shopped for her clothes at garage sales. Okay, I'm being totally facetious here. I know she may read this and how it would be her worst nightmare if I actually meant it. The real scoop on her, her name is Heather Gray and she is Jobster's West Coast rep. She knows her stuff…she pretty much ran the show for TMP NW when she was there and she is smart as a whip as well as a darn good presenter.

So Heather gave our team the scoop. What did I learn….

It's basically a viral advertising tool. It is definitely different than your standard networking tools although it incorporates the six degrees technology. In terms of what I've been saying about the need for on-line media experts on your recruiting team…these guys are giving us a tool to start doing this ourselves.
The concept is simple and it makes you wish you thought of it yourself. It's very innovative though and takes things to the next level in terms of on-line recruiting. If you are going to pay for a product you want it be easy to use and effective.
I’m just going to say exactly what it does (since they don’t really do this on their site)-it allows you to send a customized job advertisement to your network, and allows them to send it along to their network, and then to theirs and so on. If this stuff works then I think they may have something quite revolutionary. The product also allows you to see the progression of the campaign. It tracks each time it’s passed to a new lead. This to me was one of the most interesting tools within the product. You can go in and review each individual the campaign touched.
Their dashboard is sleek and clean. Once you are in the dashboard area their product appears to be easy to use. I still think when you go to their main page it's a bit confusing. Part of this is probably due to the concept being so new. The other reason is because I don't think they just come out and say what it does.
The pricing is fair and similar to the way job boards price their products. I don’t see them replacing job boards in any sense. It’s a different type of tool. Job boards will continue to expand their category and time will tell if Jobster will be the next big thing in on-line recruiting.
They plan on adding new online media targets in their next versions. They are thinking about every device and every platform. I liked this a lot!

Now for the disclaimer, I still have not actually used the product. I am going to give it a try though. I was more impressed than I thought I would be after the meeting with Heather Gray. Either Heather should get a raise for convincing me or the product really does have some substance to it. I will of course have an update on this product once I use it.

Oh..and on a final note….their business cards a cool. They are little text bubbles with their Jobster characters. They also have cool quotes on the back of the cards. The card that I have reads, “Some people dream of success. Other people wake up and work at it.” I love cool business cards! Heather also informed me that the characters aren’t actually representations of real Jobster employees. Oh well, nobody can be perfect.

Shout Out From A Canadian Headhunter

2005-05-31T15:21:00.000-07:00

Well, the Canadian Headhunter gave me a shout out on his Recruting.com site. He says he likes me because I put Recruiting.com at the top of my blog list. How can I not? They are the best recruiting blog out there and probably the only one that is dedicated to blog multiple times a day about my favorite topic—recruiting!

The post was pretty darn funny if I must say. First of all—he called me Stevie. My grandparents still call me Stevie! I think I should take this as a compliment coming from someone that calls himself the “Canadian Headhunter”. By the way—Gerry Crispin’s article was so warm and fuzzy that it made me want to move to Canada. No..seriously—Crispin has a darn good point and you should take a look.

The Canadian Headhunter did correct a grammatical mistake on one of my postings. This is what I appreciate about this guy. He is dedicated to getting things right. This is what it should be about. By the way—this has been fixed. In my opinion a good blogger should act like a journalist. If something is wrong call it out. It shouldn’t matter if you like the person or not. Correct the error!

Now, as a final note, I did find it interesting the little Newsweek jab. Yes, Newsweek did screw up. But many ground breaking stories have come from unverified sources. The Watergate scandal is one of them. What would be the alternative? The media not take risks and only publish “safe stories”? Can you imagine what people would get away with in this world if that was the case! And who’s really to blame? Do you blame a kid’s parents if he murders someone or do you blame the kid? Newsweek publishes a story and a bunch of people kill each other and it’s Newsweek’s fault? Not in my book.

To get back on track, I’m honored to be part of Recruiting.com’s blogroll and to get the shout out from that crazy headhunter from the North. By they way—who’s idea was it to require passports as of 2006 to get over the Canadian border? It was probably us but what a stupid idea!

Talent Storytelling

2005-05-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

Nelson Ferris of Nike visited our offices a couple years back. I will never forget the stories he told. In fact, the very nature of what he does is storytelling. He is the chief storyteller at Nike. He talked about the transition from Blue Ribbon sports to Nike…how he didn’t even know if Nike would be able to pay him when he first started; he talked about Nike before they hit 1 billion and the growing pains they went through. Any of these stories could probably be found on the web but it’s the art of how Nelson told them that made them so compelling and sticky.

The way Nelson told stories reminded me of my Grandfather. I always admired his ability to tell stories. He could be in a room filled with people and start to tell a story and the entire room would gravitate towards him. For some people telling stories is natural. Others struggle explaining what happened to them that day. Whether it’s natural for someone or not there is an art and methodology to story telling. Being a recruiter in an PR agency also gives me an inside look at what storytelling can do for an organization. But what about recruiting? Why should storytelling be important for us?

Storytelling is crucial in recruiting. A recruiter’s ability to tell a story is the building block of your organization’s relationship with the candidate. It’s what brings the organization to life for them. They may research your company, see the physical surroundings but until they can connect with a phonetic masterpiece their emotional attachment to the company will be no different than any other outsider. If you can bring them inside with a compelling story, one that is sticky, then you will have your candidate’s attention and possibly several others. This is what truly separates great recruiters from good ones. Their ability to tell a sticky story!

You don’t have to be an expert to tell a good story. There are several critical elements in a good story. Most of these elements are consistent in stories throughout history. I don’t claim to know them all but here are few to consider as well as examples of how they might be used in a corporate setting:

1. The Plot: Maybe this is your organization’s win of a major account or client
2. The Struggle: The unbelievable feat your company had to overcome to win
3. The Antagonist: This is your company’s competitor (If Gates this is Jobs)
4. The Hero: The one person in your company that helped overcome the obstacles
5. The Win: How the Hero and the team celebrated the win.

Now think about the close of an interview with an all-star candidate. Let’s say the candidate asks about your clients. You choose to tell them about your companies methodology for targeting and winning top-global brand clients. You also tell them about a recent important win. Think about how you can tell the story so it’s sticky. Do you talk about the struggle, the antagonist, the hero and the win? Or, do you simply tell them that you won this great account. Which one do you think will stick with them? Every question the candidate asks gives you an opportunity to tell a compelling story. Take the opportunity to tell one.

TV Blogging

2005-05-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

There was an interesting article in this week’s issue of Newsweek around the future of television. Steven Levy wrote a piece around the technology and Conan O’Brien did a commentary around the television now and in the future. It’s a good article.

The most interesting part of it to me was the concept of tv blogging. It never really occurred to me that this would be a reality in the future. However, when you take into consideration that all TV is becoming digital, interactive TV will eventually be rolled out to the masses, thousands of networks and channels will be available to us and with continuous improvement of bandwidth we will be able to host our own television blogs.

In a way we are starting to see this with podcasts. But think about it, if the internet and TV have strong interoperability in the future then podcasts will run on your television. Then as bandwidth continues to improve you will be able to run full length video on your website which people will be able to view on their TV. The article also discussed TV on every platform and every device. So not only will we be able to broadcast to TV sets but we will also be able to broadcast to cell phones and other devices.

It makes me wonder who will be the pioneers of tv blogging?

Blogging from Kevin Maney

2005-05-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting take on blogging from Kevin Maney, click here. I’m not going to summarize the whole article because it’s good and you should read it. He did include some interesting and funny stats that I will share.

A recent Pew Internet & American Life Project study found that 16% of the U.S. population reads blogs and that 6% of adults have created a blog.

(According to "Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General," 6% of U.S. adults use specialty mental health services each year. Do you think it's the same 6%?)

Worklife, An Oxymoron?

2005-05-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

I love working with people [who] challenge conventional thinking. Nowadays people throw around the notion of worklife balance as if it’s something we are all missing and desperately need. We should all have it. Then there are those that live at work and everybody tells them to go home, enjoy life, and you can see them gleam with joy when these words come out. It’s as if they sit at work and wait for people to tell them to take time off, only so they can turn it down and act like they are fulfilling some important void. The void being all the other mortals that actually go home and do other things.

I joined a casual conversation that a few of my colleagues were having about a year ago. I’ve never forgotten this conversation because what we talked about clicked with me. It was one of those…oh yeah, kind of conversations. We were discussing worklife balance when one person says—isn’t that an oxymoron. I’m like..what do you mean. She said think about it. Think about the very essence of the term—worklife balance. It then clicked. She was absolutely right. Work…Life….huh? Is work not life? Maybe we should also think about familylife balance. I would love to hear someone discussing how they are spending way too much time with family and really need to spend more time drinking beer with their buddies. Or how about sociallife balance. Wouldn’t be great to hear a college student talk about spending way too much time partying with friends and the need to spend more time with family and studying.

Why do we HAVE to think of work as separate from life. Is work that bad? For some it definitely is. But for others what would life be without work. When you are in a job that you are passionate about, that you studied hard and worked hard to achieve and are in a place where you can make a difference in the world how is that not rewarding, stimulating and worthy of a solid chunk of your time. For some work is their life and I don’t look down on that. Do any of you watch the show House? House essentially works late into the night to save lives. When he is home he is either sitting as his piano or popping pain pills. His colleagues tell him to go home or ask him if he slept at the office again with a disapproving look. But what else does the guy have to do. Why do people care? The guy gets most of his fulfillment from his job—it is his life. Instead of people saying they need worklife balance they should just say they need to spend more time with their family or want to take a vacation. Stop separating work from life. If you absolutely need to look at work as separate from life then you should really consider finding a new career.

Great Cafe Catering Vendor

2005-05-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

This is a plug for a great espresso catering vendor we used in the Portland market. If anybody out there needs to host an event and wants to serve coffee/espresso you may want to consider these guys....

The Waggener Edstrom Staffing team contacted Gretchen Oberle with Best in Brew for the launch of our new/re-invigorated employee referral program. We wanted to do something this year to get people energized and passionate about the program again. We wanted something people can see, touch, taste and hear. We decided that we would give away a Vespa Scooter! We developed a launch event that had a quaint European feel. We borrowed a red Vespa Scooter from the local Portland Vespa dealer and had Best in Brew come in to serve espresso.

The event was a big hit! Best in Brew came in early to get set up. They were very open to setting up their cart in a location that we chose and let us put marketing materials up on their cart. We placed our Vespa near their cart and a large retro picture of Henry Fonda behind the Vespa.

We then announced to our employees that we would be serving free espresso! Our employees came in droves and Best in Brew moved them through quickly. We have tried other coffee/espresso caterers in the past but their coffee was bitter and the lines were slow. Best in Brew made excellent drinks. Many people came back for seconds—including the Staffing team! The entire event was a huge success and I believe the biggest attraction was the free lattes. The Best in Brew staff were very friendly and polite and excellent to work with as a vendor.

Too Much Junk Food Man

2005-05-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

Now "too much junk food man" implies that I just eat lots and lots of junk food during the day. This isn’t the case--well, there is more to the story here. I hit this energy lull from just before noon until about 3pm. There is an absolute energy lag and I need to constantly supply myself with nutrition. Now the reason I call myself I junkie is because I prefer to swipe and mooch the snacks off of my colleagues as opposed to buying my own. Call it denial, or call it what you will. I just have to do it.

My colleagues don’t get it. They don’t get why I don’t just go to the store and pick up my own snacks. Here is the scoop. If I go buy the snacks that means I’m admitting that I have a problem. That doesn’t feel good. I would rather think I don’t need all of this food and then just “borrow” the occasional granola bar to keep me going. Also, it’s just fun to hear your colleagues complain about mooching their food. They probably get a little annoyed with this but why not give people something to complain about during the day that doesn’t relate to tough clients or losing good candidates. It’s nice to have some harmless conflict every once in a while.

Now they have started to lock their drawers when they go on business trips which makes the act of “borrowing munchies” even more taboo—and of course this makes it just that more tempting. They cause me to have to go on covert munchie missions in between sourcing and phone screens.

I’m a recruiting, caffeinated, sugar junkie. The life of the recruiter….can anybody relate? By the way, Too Much Coffee Man is my idle! Too Much Coffee Man

John Sullivan's Post Today

2005-05-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

John Sullivan posted a story today "Making the Business Case to Shareholders--It's Never Happened Before!"...it's a good article. If you haven't read it yet go to: ERE Article.

My favorite part of the article is about branding the recruiting function internally. This is something that I believe whole hardily and most people are just like, huh?..when you bring it up. If your department is truly operating like a business within the business, and you treat the hiring managers like your customers, then why shouldn't you market your services. It's the same as any other business. You want your managers to know the tools that are available to them and create a campaign that makes it clear what your service is about and how to use it.

You also want to invoke emotion within your organization when people think of your group. Do you want people to think of your IT department or accounting and finance departments as more friendly, business savvy or easy to work with then your department--absolutely not! Think about your favorite brands out there and what they represent. The executive team at Harley Davidson was asked once what their brand represented--they eventually came back with..."it's about a middle aged accountant in a boring job who can put on chaps and get on a Harley and feel bad as they ride through town". What is Nike's brand? What kind of emotion to you want your recruiting team to elicit when people think about it.

John Sullivan points out a few ideas to help brand your team. You should also look at how to carry your brand through everything you do. Do your e-mails carry your brand, your programs, etc.

We recently launched a new employee referral program where we wanted to show the more edgy, exciting side of recruiting. We are giving away a Vespa, we did a launch event, supporting marketing materials and carried our brand through then entire event. You would be amazed how the perception of a team, the teams intelligence, status can all be affected through strong brand. It will help you gain the resources you need and get the job done. You will quickly find the ROI when you see how much easier it becomes to get the resources your team needs.

My New Home

2005-05-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

They say moving to a new home is one of the most stressful things a person can do.

I can tell you that moving my blog to a new home was no stress at all. I originally hosted my blog on MSN. It was a good site in terms of convenience—I could access my blog through MSN messenger. And no matter what anybody says messenger is by far my favorite IM tool.

The reason I changed is because MSN is a little too brand heavy for me. It’s like having a book and the most noticeable thing on the book is the publisher. No author would be happy with that. With Blogger they put their brand secondary to your own. Blogger only uses a small logo on your page. Other than that you have a lot of editing control over the look and feel of the page.

So here I am--again--On my own ;-)

Doctors and Recruiters

2005-05-20T16:14:00.001-07:00

Are doctors and recruiters really the same? Maybe the end result of what we do is different—they save lives and we give jobs. However, I would argue that there are more similarities than we care to admit. Unfortunately, most of these similarities come in the form of shortcomings….

1. Doctors have you schedule appointments in the middle of your work day. There is no regard for those of us that have full time jobs. They also have no problem making us wait once we show up at the appointment.

2. When you schedule an appointment you never get to talk to the doctor to see if you even need an appointment--you talk to the assistant that can't tell you anything.

3. Once you get into see the doctor you feel like you are talking to a robot. They ask you questions as they look down at your chart. They look into your eyes once every 10 minutes. When they are done asking you questions you usually walk away with no diagnosis. You are just given some prescriptions for the symptoms and told to come back in a couple of weeks to see how things are going.

4. If they do take blood or you have you take a diagnostic test you usually never get the follow-up call. You have to call the doctor to find out whether you are living or dying. Even then you usually talk to an assistant and they say that they will send a letter.

5. When you have your follow up meeting they usually forget what you even talked about from your first visit. They told you to come back if you are still feeling the symptoms--you say you are and then they tell you to come back in two weeks again.

Now let's take the world of recruitment....

1. Most recruiters try to accommodate their own schedules, not the candidates. We expect candidates to be available if they really want the job.

2. When the candidate is setting up the appointment or wanting information about the job they are often speaking with the coordinator, not the recruiter. If they have questions the coordinator usually needs to find the recruiter to get the answers.

3. When we are interviewing candidates we are usually taking copious notes instead of really interacting and having human conversation with the candidate. Do we really hear what they want, their concerns, strengths etc.?

4. Once they leave the interview many candidates never hear back; or it takes a long time for them to hear back unless they are someone we want now. Often the candidate is left to call us in order to find out what their status is.

5. The next time we talk to them we often forget where we left off. Are they strong and just not a fit for that role, or not a fit at all? Chances are, we have so many notes that it’s hard to tell.

A perfect world….

1. You can visit a doctor on nights and weekends; you can interview nights or weekends.

2. When a patient calls they talk to the doctor and he/she can answer questions over the phone; when a candidate calls they get a recruiter and they can get their questions answered over the phone.

3. When you go to the doctor they engage in a conversation with you; they only take abbreviated notes on the important elements of the conversation; with interviews we put down the note pad and engage with the candidate. Only jot down the most important facts.

4. When the patient is at their first doctors appointment they run the diagnostic right there while you wait; you walk away with a diagnosis and you get a live follow up call from the doctor within a day. When a candidate is in to interview they know right away if they are eligible or not; they then get a follow up call within a day from the recruiter.

5. The next time the patient comes in the doctor remembers exactly what the problem was, addresses that directly and reassures the patient that they will be by there side until the problem is solved. When a candidate comes in to interview with the hiring manager the recruiter meets them, reassures them that they are there for them and a decision is made that day.

9M

2005-05-20T16:14:00.000-07:00

There was a post on the Monster.com blog today about the monotony of keeping up with the blogosphere….that it's hard to keep up with your own blog let alone the 9 million that are out there. I actually thought the same thing when this whole blogging thing started--but then there is Google which enables you to sort out the good from the bad. Well…at least some of the top viewed sites from the least viewed.

Google your blogging flavor and you will come up with some of the best. Then it's a matter of weeding through these...doing a little monitoring and fine tuning it for the most influential. You wouldn't read all the blogs out there just like you wouldn’t read the 10's of thousands of publications that are out there. You pick the ones that you get the most reliable information from and those that are in your range of interest.

I do believe there are some great ideas out there. This is similar to the media. Should we assume that the media is better than the bloggers? When you have people dying in Iraq and the headlines on some of the publications are focused on the Michael Jackson trials you really have to wonder. Just because there are big advertising dollars behind something doesn’t mean it’s good.

Also—the media are outside. Bloggers are inside. This gives us a whole new perspective on corporations from people that work there. We of course need to beware of the infomercials out there but so far the best bloggers are presenting fair arguments just like the rest of the media.
My vote is that blogs are good. They are just too new for us to completely grasp. 10 years ago could you have ever imagined being on the phone, browsing the web, working in several applications, e-mailing and IM’ing simultaneously? This is now the day and the life of GenX’ers...my guess is that blogging will soon be the same way.

Blogosphere--The New 60 Minutes Test

2005-05-20T16:13:00.000-07:00

Most of us have heard of the 60 Minutes test. It's actually a great filter to have for ourselves before we make a statement to a group or take a stance on an issue. For those of you that haven't heard of this I will briefly explain.

I you are about to make an important decision or make a statement about an important issue think about how the public would react if you were to interviewed about your decision or statement on 60 minutes. Would the public agree? How would it be viewed? It's a good quick test to see if your decision might have negative backlash.

Our SVP of People Services (HR) was joking about watching what she says in the meeting because it could end up on my blog. It was funny but also true. In a way the blogosphere acts as the latest 60 minutes test. Except now instead of having one portal broadcasting nationally you have many, many portals broadcasting to targeted audiences. Also--this new media has a much better insider ear.

...and she was absolutely correct--it did end up on my blog.

HB1515

2005-05-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

The case of HB 1515 (making discrimination against sexual orientation illegal) in Washington state and whether corporations should take a stand either way on this is an interesting issue from a recruitment point of view.

Anybody that has worked in recruiting knows all to well how a company image directly impacts the work we do. We constantly get inundated with questions about the good, the great and the ugly about our organizations. A corporation is a living, breathing entity and it makes good and bad decision just like the rest of us. We get to witness the impact of this on the front lines.
So--should organizations take a moral stand? Obviously it depends on the stand, who its stakeholders are..and what they stand for. Also, it depends on whether the corporation is a driving force of change and innovation--and the advancement of society.

But I think an even more important factor for taking a moral stand is timing. Unfortunately many have to suffer to get to the ultimate good or truth. An example of this would be those that helped slaves escape (the Underground Railroad) or those that hid Jewish people in their homes during the Nazi regime in Germany. At the time these were not popular decisions...they took enormous risks and had immense opposition. We look back now and they are heroes. Those on the opposite side are considered evil. And then there are those that completely separated themselves from the situation--they aren’t considered one way or another…maybe cowards. Now--looking back we can say that the RIGHT decision was to help those that were being treated unfairly.

In other decisions that haven't yet been morally sorted out by society it's much more difficult to take a stand. Does a company take the path of not having an opinion one way or another? Do they support a view they we know will ultimately be the wrong view? Or do they take a moral stand and suffer now so they can come out a hero in the future...of course...this shouldn't be the ultimate motive but more a symptom of taking this stand. The Zeitgeist theory pretty much sums it up--Societies Mind. Is society at a Tipping Point in terms of changing it’s morale stand for the good.

Either way, as recruiters we have to be prepared to take the hard questions from our recruits and make sure that we represent the organization fairly. It won’t do anybody any good to spin the company. It’s presenting the company in the best light possible while being clear and transparent. Allow our candidates to make a decision about a culture they will or will not want to be part of.

Future of Recruiting

2005-05-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

Best practices, strategy, key metrics, end result, objectives, key learnings….bla, bla, bla. Do you hear these terms often? If you haven’t then you probably don’t work in corporate America. How does this relate to the future of recruiting? It doesn’t. That’s the point. Sometimes the vocabulary that’s used to show our business smarts halts us from advancing the field.

I recently had the opportunity to facilitate a discussion with top-recruiting professionals from several world-class organizations. The discussion was supposed to be focused on best practices. Before we got into it I had made a decision not to go the route of best practices. Think about it. If we want to advance the field we have to do more than refine practices that haven’t changed for the past 100 years.

I pushed the group to go beyond everything we know and think about what they would do differently if resources and money were not an issue. To think about some of the changes we are seeing globally and what we should do now to address these. We put the business jargon aside and the conversation started to get interesting. Here are the “top 5” ideas this group discussed. Do them now if you dare.

THE TOP 5 FUTURE OF RECRUITING IDEAS

1. Hire an on-line media expert. Let’s face it, the media landscape is changing dramatically. Part of our function is to disseminate the company brand to candidates. If we can’t master the new media then we will not have the ability to convey the brand to our target audience. Blogs, broadband, advanced search, wireless—these are all realities now. We need experts to get the word out on these various platforms and portals. We need the ability to target candidates using any device on any platform at anyplace during anytime!

2. Applicant Tracking Systems Move to Candidate Tracking Systems. Think about this. It’s ludicrous that we think in terms of applicant tracking. Applicants imply they are already in our system and are interested. We all know the majority of what we do is to go out and find the candidate. So why not have a system that goes beyond tracking what comes in. We need a system that reaches out and grabs the candidate.

Why don’t ATS’s implement a sales approach? Let’s say you research a competitor of yours. You find a name on their website and call them. They say no but call me back in a month. Your system should have a sales methodology that allows you to track, monitor and close on a lead even if it takes years to get them!

3. Bigger is Better? It’s amazing that we are still running recruiting departments like we are in the industrial revolution. We ALWAYS hear that we don’t have the right candidates at the right time in the right place. Okay-maybe not always but you catch the drift. Take my organization for example. We are a 600 person PR agency and we have a research team that supports our main operational function. This is a team of 30 people. Our recruiting team has 8 people supporting the same group. 30 people providing research and 8 people providing talent. Research is predictable. Talent is fluid, moving, changing, deciding, contemplating, and emotional. Does this make sense?

Knowing that talent is, and will increasingly be, the differentiator of business in the future, why, why, why do recruiting functions continue to operate on the notion of more for less. Technology may help offset this but it’s not going to close the deal on an executive candidate with three offers on the table. Technology isn’t going to help someone decide whether or not to relocate his or her family across the country. We got to go beyond building staffing teams on a bulimic model.

4. Build a Global Network. It’s obvious that not all companies have operations in other parts of the world but eventually this may be a reality for even mid and small size businesses. With the labor shortages imminent and the globalization coming to a head we discussed building a global network of recruiters. Find out how recruiting is done is various parts of the world, who is doing it, and start building relationships with them. When the time comes to start recruiting in these areas you will be one step ahead of the rest. Third world countries, like China, are doubling and tripling the amount of PhD’s they are churning out of their educational system. These PhD’s may not be at the same standard as US degrees yet but having numbers of PhD’s is good and we need to be prepared to tap into these candidate pools.

5. Corporations build Universities. There were a number of healthcare and mechanical trade recruiters at our discussion that said there is a major shortage of people in these areas. Both industries pay well but you don’t have many people entering the workforce and there are many capable people out there that just don’t have the technical training or skills. These are industries that are contemplating how to build their future workforce outside of the standard educational system. Other industries already get this. There was a recruitment representative from one of the Big 5 consulting firms that said they do this now. They have an internal university to churns out top consultants. Why aren’t other industries like the trades and healthcare following suit?

It’s not enough to look at best practices in HR and recruitment. We need to go beyond this and look at completely changing the —(sorry, used corporate jargon again). Let me state it differently. We need to not let past behaviors alone be the guild for our future. The industry needs to be flipped on its head and pushed into the new millennium. Cheers to all the brave recruiting professionals out there that are bold enough to take on the challenges ahead.