Polly Pearson's Blog

What do you think about Glassdoor.com?

2010-03-20T15:42:31-04:00

Yesterday Glassdoor.com sent me a notice saying they are now showing relevant company awards for the companies on this "best place to work" site where employees share opinions about company strengths and weaknesses, and rate the CEO (among other things).

When I clicked through, I thought Glassdoor picked a couple cool awards to call out for EMC -- World Most Admired, by FORTUNE, among them.

I then noticed the latest CEO rating for our Joe Tucci -- 81%. Pretty cool. When typing in a few other companies to scan CEO ratings (such as IBM, and HP), I felt pretty psyched that our CEO was blowing their CEOs out of the water. (Wink and a smile. Know the company I represent is competitive about just about everything.)

--------------- Talk Back --------------

What are your latest thoughts about Glassdoor.com?

I've written about them a couple times on this blog. The first time, I blasted them a bit for promoting ratings when the site was just few weeks old, and most companies only had a handful of ratings. That said, I was favorable to the concept at scale. I think it is a rather natural evolution of transparency.

I haven't thought that much about it since -- other than, of course, enjoying seeing EMC moving the up the Top 50 Best-Places-to-Work rankings, as well as feeling proud when they release the top CEO ratings.

What has been your experience? Is it at the scale yet where the ratings have any merit?

Or, do you think it is a profit-seeking, scam-type venture which adds little to no value and penalizes people and companies for no good reason?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson

Humor: Employee Engagement Gone Bad

2010-03-18T16:42:24-04:00

Saw these photos today via @DailyCareerTips's link to this blog post on JobMob, and thought I'd share the laugh:

Posted with full respect to the value of McDonald's employees -- the details posted on the sign is the indication of engagement gone bad.

The photo below has nothing to do with Employee Engagement gone bad, but was certainly funny in a Dilbert sort of way. At EMC, we continue to pray to the cost leverage God, and are making our facilities more efficient at all times. On that note, I sent this photo to our CFO with a suggestion that he is perhaps, still a bit too easy on us:

This office must stink.

------------------ Talk Back -----------------

Any employee-engagement-gone-bad stories or photos to share?

- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@PollyPearson

The Future and Today ... Where Excitement, Value Creation and Cool Lives?

2010-03-16T18:22:27-04:00

This video from TED is a cool look at the future of our consumer lives and how we will interact with information.

Thank you to EMC Consulting's Matt Bagwell for bringing it to my attention (via his blog).

Viewing this was timely as I've recently engaged Mark, a college hire circulating through my group, to work with us on putting together a storyline geared to touch people's imaginations and make an emotional connection between the general public (a not-necessarily-technical audience), and EMC's opportunity.

Some elements of the storyline:

Add this digital calculator (shows us how many digital bits are growing in the world by the nanosecond today),

with
how we will depend on information tomorrow (see the above TED video as a starter); you might also want to read the recent special report from The Economist on this subject, or our ON Magazine on the web of the future
with

the need for 21st century information infrastructure -- like the railroads and even seemingly simple elements at the turn of the 20th century,

and the story unfolds where we can all see ...

the potential for awesome value creation, contribution to every day lives, and the enabling and sustainable foundation of the most terrific breakthroughs of the day.

That is where the opportunity for being part of EMC -- the company Where Information Lives -- sits today, as I see it.

--------------------- Talk Back ------------------

How would you paint the story of EMC's opportunity? A story that your neighbor could see and feel as well?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson on Twitter

New, New, and New! A Day at EMC.

2010-03-15T17:46:49-04:00

A few highlights crossing my life and in-box at EMC:

New 52-week stock price high. Let's start with the money. Ahhh. Up feels a lot better than down, now doesn't it?
New Vision. While EMC's vision was announced on Friday, all the write ups are flooding the "in-box" today. To know more, here's the must read blog, Go Big or Go Home, by EMC's Chuck Hollis. It is bold, and buzz-worthy. All in, pretty cool, too. Here's a recent view of the tweet stream -- comments or RTs coming in about every 30 seconds today:

New CMO. Welcome Jeremy Burton! Jeremy is our first major-wager-C-level marketing hire ... ever. Jeremy has has an EMC-like execution track record, a business-centric demeanor, an innovation and thought-leadership bent -- and the ability to build a brand such that it major-ly irks larger competitors. (Trust me on that. First-hand experience.) I love that we did NOT hire a fancy-pants, color-centric marketing person who thinks that branding equals advertising. I love that we did NOT hire a marketing person who is on the early stage ramp of understanding web 2.0. I love that we DID hire a marketing person whose most recent job was a CEO -- only a marketing person with a CEO-headset would thrive, I think, in our C-suite.

[PHOTO: Jeremy Burton, EMC's new CMO]

So What?

Here's my so what:

Such stock trends -- break-throughs on the upside -- indicate the market is in favor of your company's future. They understand where you are going, they believe you have a competitive lead that is likely to grow, and that you have an earnings profile likely to expand. Oh, and they believe they can make money by investing in your stock. All good!
When the market writes about your vision, this is good. When your vision is so bold they use the word "crazy" in the headline, this is even better. It begets more buzz. And, let's face it, the tech market hasn't had enough "crazy" in the headlines for the past 10 years. Things are getting exciting in tech!
Net new investments in marketing, in high-tech, in this market -- whoa, that's "let's secure this win!" confidence. Personally, I love that we have another in the C-suite who seems to share the beliefs of many of the 2.0 trailblazers at EMC. Beliefs like:
- leveraging -- not fearing -- 21st century business management models, inclusive of use of social media
- leveraging -- not fearing or minimizing -- the strengths and passions of your people ("employees") as the genuine brand.

------------------ Talk Back ----------------------------

Have you ever considered joining the EMC community?

If so, there are many ways to be part of this story. Some ideas:

Consider applying, or telling someone you care about, to apply. (http://www.emc.com/careers.)
Consider connecting with any of the many EMCers on Twitter, Facebook, and our Customer/Partner Network, ECN.
Consider using our products (Mozy and VMware for the home rock! As do, of course, our big business powerhouse products.).
Look to see if EMC is already in your investment portfolio. That could give you a reason to cheer (and to join us) as we execute our crazy good vision!

If not, please tell me that too.

-- Polly Pearson
@PollyPearson on Twitter

Crazy or Cool -- You tell me. Bold posts.

2010-03-08T19:17:18-05:00

Some fabulous finds for "brainfood" in the blog-world tonight on subjects circling leadership, organizational dynamics, the future of education, truly living the brand, the knowledge era, and stuff like that.

This is more than notable, from Jeff Jarvis -- notes from his TEDxNYed presentation, titled, "This is bullshit."

Loved this one by David Meerman Scott: "Social Business Beyond Just the Marketing Department."

(Be sure to click through to the Peter Kane post that David calls out.)

----------- Talk Back --------------

Crazy or Cool?

- Pollypearson

@pollypearson on Twitter.

Career Advice and the Job Interview: The Blue, Yellow and Red of Job Search Today.

2010-03-08T14:40:05-05:00

[Words from Polly Pearson; Color block image from About.com]

Could these potentially be the new basics -- the Blue, Yellow, and Red -- of job search today?

Dice.com today ran an interview with me covering just three questions. As I considered them in their most boiled down fashion, the image of three primary essentials -- Be Found; Be Relevant; Be Heard -- came to mind.

Here are the questions asked:

How can IT people build their brand? ( 0:51) BE FOUND.
What can set you apart during a job interview? (1:16) BE RELEVANT.
How important are soft skills? (1:21) BE HEARD.

Thank you Sonia Lelii

for coming out to EMC to do the interview.

The tips I mention in this interview, and more, can be found in the free eBook we published recently, containing real-time views from tech recruiters themselves.

---------------- Talk Back ----------------

What are other key tips from your vantage point for the 21st Century seeker of productive connections (sales, marketing, job search, etc)?

-- Polly Pearson

http://www.pollypearson.com

@PollyPearson

Our next eBook, geared to helping the careers of professionals in IT

2010-03-05T17:42:47-05:00

So last quarter we published a free eBook geared to help people find jobs in this market. We called it, "100 Job Search Tips from FORTUNE 500 Recruiters." It continues to be forwarded around and well received.

What's next?

Serving the "other half" of the employment coin, those who have a job and who wish to further their careers. We first envisioned,

"100 Career Tips from FORTUNE 500 Executives."

We still may do that -- but not this time around. On discussing the idea with my colleague Chuck Hollis, Chuck made this suggestion, "Why not make it even more relevant to our key audience, and feature our customers in the book, thereby honoring them?"

Love it!

After talking it around a bit more, we're now looking to feature people who are working in some of the hottest areas of IT. The notion being that the world of IT is forever changing. Let's share some relevant and current career stories and tips -- so that others in IT can consider these insights in relation to their own career paths.

Once again, "Why do this?"

The most common desire among workers is to make progress on the job, and further their careers (so says research I've seen). I've noticed that any forum I attend which offers a session on career tips or mentoring is always packed. There is pull for this subject.

Let's give these tips to people dear to us, professionally -- our customers, employees, and prospective customers and employees. For those on the IT career management journey currently, it should be a nice find. For those who aren't interested in thinking about career growth or development today, it might be a nice feeling just knowing it is there and that EMC offered it.

------------------- Talk Back ---------------

If you're in tech, would you like to read one page profiles with tips and insights from IT pros who are working in hot areas such as Virtualization, Security, Cloud Computing, and HealthCare IT? Would you like to read their views on key tips for success and career mis-steps they've observed?

What would you like to know?

We're currently thinking of these 10 questions:

(As a potential reader of this book -- do these hit the mark for you?)

1 Share 3-5 key positions you've held in IT:
2: How old were you when you decided you wanted to get into IT? What inspired this decision?

3. How did you break into your current specialty area?:
4. What do you see as exciting opportunities in IT today?:
5. What are your top 3 tips for how to be successful and/or remain valuable in your profession?:
6. What advice do you have for someone who feels stuck in their current IT position?
7. What resources (training, publications, networks, etc) do you find essential to stay current in your field?:
8: What is a common career mis-step you've seen others make in your profession?:
9: How would you define a great day on the job?:
10: What is your favorite business communication tool today (phone, email, social networks, IM, other)?

If anyone would like to test drive these questions, please do so! Share your answers or suggestions of any kind in the comments section, or email me at pearson_polly@emc.com.

THANKS!

-- http://www.pollypearson.com

Reality TV communication for Employee Engagement and Connection to Strategy

2010-03-01T18:46:41-05:00

Today we issued the third "episode" of Reality TV-Meets Employee Communication -- Web 2.0 style.

[A screen shot, this of Frank Hauck, from one of the clips.]

Called "Leadership in Action," the intent is to better connect the people of the company with the culture, the strategy, the values, and the leadership of the company. And by leadership, I mean "leadership at every level." While most of the clips are of the C-suite type leaders, not all are.

The content is presented as Infotainment that can fit "inside a cup of Joe." Meaning, the video clips can be consumed quickly and are short. All the content is housed on our internal "collaboration network" (aka social network), where employees can comment on the videos, ask questions and even rate the content with Amazon-type stars. Every clip is indexed, tagged, and searchable.

[Pictured: Frank Hauck, EVP, and Joe Tucci, EMC CEO share a laugh while I interview them for this "Engaging," web 2.0, employee communication.]

In this edition, we included a casual, high energy exchange between CEO Joe Tucci and EVP Frank Hauck on the day we announced earnings. It was the end of the day, and they were casually leaning against the stage where our record results were just reviewed. (You read that right. Record results. Recession year; Record results.) They talked about the vibe at the company, the position we were in for the year ahead, and what got them excited as we looked forward. Best of all, I think, is what wasn't said in words. It is the body language, the laughter, and the clear comfort they had with each other. In other words, the stuff people generally don't get to see when left to see just the business-as-boring type of corporate communication.

[Pictured: Famed blogger and EMC VP, "VirtualGeek" cracks a joke on stage in the reel made for our Board.]

Also in this edition was a 'fly on the wall' view of what happened at an 'exclusive' series of strategy meetings to frame the year 2010 execution plan. This video was actually created, on request of our Vice Chairman and head of global sales, for our Board of Directors. The Vice Chair gave us the okay to share it with all 43,000 employees. (What? You let your employees see content that was exclusively created for your Board of Directors? Content from a company strategy meeting no less? Yup.) What did it contain, exactly? A highlight reel of sorts from presentations and panels, and even cocktail parties -- inclusive of friendly peer-to-peer joking. Only by including the Full Monte, could everyone be able to feel (and reinforce for those who were there) the energy and optimism that oozed from these sessions.

[Pictured: EMC Vice Chair/Head of Global Sales Bill Teuber discussing international go-to-market strategy with AsiaPac President, Steve Leonard.]

What else? Really cool clips of our "theater leads" the people who own the revenue and profit plans for each major geography. The Sales organization made changes this year to its market coverage methodology and it is important for everyone to know the what and whys of these changes, at least at the highest levels. Each leader provided facts, figures, context and stories -- of the type you might get if you had a cup of coffee with them, and they knew you well. They were straight-talking business, yet of a personal and trusted nature. Like-able candor was a take away for me.

Here is a screen shot of how the list of offerings looks, about 6 hours after being announced to the workforce:

You can see that one of the videos has over 400 views already -- and that the full "video collection" has almost 4,000 views.

Our model isn't perfect yet -- and the video clips never will be perfect. But they are real, and that is our commitment to the people of EMC. Nothing fake. Just real, the way you want want to get the information if you worked here. That's the goal anyway.

Here's a link to a prior blog I wrote about our second edition, with more photos and color.

Here is a sample of one of the clips from our second edition, this of our newest President, Pat Gelsinger, discussing his first 45 days on the job. My peer, Chuck Hollis, called it out on one of his blogs as a way to introduce Pat, now the guy behind EMC products, to the tech readers who frequent Chuck's writings.

------------------ Talk Back ----------------------------

What do you think?

Thoughts to improve the model?

One idea came from an employee who viewed the videos. He pointed out that he was deaf, so he only "got" about half the content, and wondered if we could provide transcripts. Humm. I never would have thought of that. You? (consider it done!)

http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson

Have you Ever Gone Night Hiking?

2010-03-01T13:59:04-05:00

My family had a sleep over party at my best friend from childhood's house (Melissa Ruttle) over the weekend out in Princeton, Mass* (home of Wachusett Mountain.)

Before dinner, we toasted marshmallows in the cool 3-sided stone building they have on their property, complete with a big stone fireplace. While we were still filled with energy from a bright, sunny and snow-filled day, our host, Brian Ruttle, said something about possibly doing a night hike after dinner.

Fast forward ... amazing lasagna dinner, red wine, peanut-butter ice-cream cake (!), board games by the wood stove ... and someone (wait, was that me?!) said,

"What was that about a night hike?"

My 14 year-old Sophie perked right up, eyes bright, "Yea! Let's do it!!"

So at 10pm, we were all jumping into our snow clothes. Sixth-grader Jake Ruttle said, "Better put your snow pants on. The snow will be deep out there."

We all piled out of the house ... 4 year-old Oscar, included.

The Ruttles live on the edge of a mountain. It was a full moon. The white snow was glowing, even in the deep, deep woods.

In about 100 yards, the snow was over my kneecaps (and nearly over Oscar's head). We we took turns carrying him on our shoulders over the truly deep parts.

There were no trails. Only trust in our host -- hoping he knew where he was going!

At the top of one ledge, there was a very cool building made of stone and wood, with a porch. Inside, a grand fireplace and built-in benches along the other 3 walls. "They call this the music house," said Brian. They used to keep a piano in here and the music would wash down the mountain to the Pond House below (yet another outbuilding, in front of a mountain-water pond.)

Gorgeous! Envisioning the perfect sunset spot, I said, "I want to spend my birthday here!"

From there, the Ruttle kids begged to go to the "stone table."

"Don't know if I can find it," said Brian, as he headed Northeast, deeper into the woods. I looked down at young Oscar and said, "Sure you want to head deeper into the woods?" There was no going back! The troops were in motion.

Every tree looked the same. Everywhere there was DEEP snow. A turn here, a turn there, a few more hikes up -- and they found it! The snow was suddenly a foot or so higher, popping up from the elevation made from a table the size of a VW bug. The table was a round sheet of stone, and was surrounded, conveniently by nicely crafted snow benches (or so it seemed. They were all crusted with a good foot or more of snow.)

[Shown: Brian Ruttle, the Pearson kids (Oscar, Margo & Sophie), and Ruttle boys Jake and Wyatt standing on the "stone table".]

-- I had visions of people crafting these tables back around Roosevelt's day, when people had summer "cottages" (think Newport, RI "cottages") in these mountains for the quality air. --

After the stone table, we headed out to an old logging road for a bit. At some point, Brain pointed to a 4' snow bank and said, "behind there somewhere is the trail to the pond house."

Sophie took a turn carrying Oscar. Then Brian. We tromped through the mountain river to the pond, where we saw an old stone building with a Spanish-tile roof.

Then, the return home: back over the river, 7 year-old Margo now was suddenly sitting under the giant snow-covered trees -- saying "can't we take a rest?" I looked at my watch. It was 11:06 pm.

We arrived back at the house around midnight. Oscar's cheeks were flushed. Everyone was buzzing with delight.

"Gee, will we be able to get to sleep," I asked, (secretly envisioning a nightcap)? "Yep," was the answer.

Fifteen minutes later the house was silent and the bright moon beamed into the guest room keeping me wide awake, for at least another minute or two!

* From the Town of Princeton's website: "In 1842, Thoreau and a friend walked from Concord to Mt. Wachusett, where he was stirred to write of the mountain, " who like me/standest alone without society."

--------------------------- Talk Back ----------------------

Have you ever gone on a night hike?

I imagine snow shoes would have made it easier on little legs. But it was GRAND fun, just the same.

There are lots of things I could be, should be blogging about today, but I'm still a bit tired you see. I was wondering why, when I recalled our little adventure and thought to share it here.

A Hot Job Category and a New LinkedIn Value Prop?

2010-02-25T19:15:28-05:00

I was delighted to be greeted like a rock star at a conference in Miami earlier this week.

Moments after my presentation was over, a person came up to me and said excitedly, "You are Polly Pearson!"

Me: "Ah, yes."

Then she said, "Because of you I have my job!"

Me, with quizzical look, "Really?"

Her: "Yes! I found you on the Internet. I read your LinkedIn and said to myself, 'That's it! That's the job for me! I modeled my ideal job description after yours and presented it to my company. They said 'Yes!'"

This person, btw, works at one of the largest and most reputable consumer brands in the world.

So Cool.

Way to go assertive career management skills, the Internet, LinkedIn ... and what the heck, the Smart Engineers of the world who figured out how to harness all the bits of digital information so that they may be stored, shared, accessed, and retrieved in such a way that they add value in the most remarkable and humanly impactful ways!

... For the non-techies, that was a blatant plug for the abilities of the good and brainy engineers at EMC.

---------------- Talk Back ---------------

Are you having similar experiences thanks to LinkedIn, a cool job title or category, (brainy engineers,) or other? Please share!

Interestingly, when I asked the people at this national employee engagement and employment branding conference, how many were in their jobs less than 3 years, 90% of the people in the room raised their hands.

Innovation Mashups: 2.0 Customer and Employee Engagement

2010-02-25T11:58:05-05:00

I saw this little brainchild floating around EMC today and thought it pretty cool -- see image below.

By now, most of us have heard about open source, mashups, and new avenues of innovation -- but have YOU brought them into your company yet?

A group of folks here are doing that in a new way. It is branded. It is fun. It offers nice prize money. It harnesses the global genius of external minds and internal minds. It builds community around EMC brands. It furthers innovation around EMC products -- positioning the company for greater customer satisfaction and revenue in quarters to come.

Check out the Monster Mash Contest in the EMC Community Network (ECN) if you're interested in seeing more.

---------------------- Talk Back -----------------------

Cool example of "leadership at every level?" Why not?

I also like the fact that one of the people behind the program "marketed it" to other EMCers and asked their help to get the word out. Again, why not? Why not ask for help from your peers on things you know can help your company in so many ways?

Kudos to the team behind this.

The New Important Currency

2010-02-22T19:40:38-05:00

I saw a futurist recently recap a conversation she had at Davos with a room full of CFOs. She asked them, "What is the second most dominant currency in the world?"

Not one of them got it right.

Can you?

The answer might make you think about a lot of things -- such as marketing, product offers and pricing, and even employee incentives.

THE ANSWER:

POINTS

------------- Talk Back --------------

Make sense?

Virtual Money.

Bartered money of a sort.

Consumer-centric, consumer-decision-friendly money.

Globally-friendly money.

Airlines and credit card companies have been using it for years.

Valentines Day Gifts for the Passionate, Tough, and Stylish Leader in your Life!

2010-02-02T18:29:32-05:00

Photo: London Wasp Rugby, Sponsored by EMC. Player in EMC- and Wasp-branded Canterbury Shirt.

VALENTINES DAY GIFTS! For those in the extended EMC community wanting to give a loved one some cool branded material, check out the Wasp site. Lots of wearables that would amp the hottness of your hottie.

My husband has two Rugby shirts made by Canterbury (the maker of these Wasp shirts), and my fashionable 14 year old daughter wears one constantly as well. They ooze with cool you can't easily find in the US. Even guys comment each time my husband wears one -- ("Hey, where did you get that great shirt?").

Top the quality shirt with the brand attributes in the headline and I'm thinking these could be cool gifts. For guys, get ahead of the curve and pick one up for yourself (she'll be thrilled the pressure is off!). Give it to yourself for Valentines Day, or Father's Day, or just because. She'll just be happy you look hot and compliment-worthy!

------------------------ Really? --------------------

While in college at St. Louis University, I fell in love with Rugby.

I was raised a football kid, my brothers were big players -- every Sunday we'd head to the field to see them play. I didn't know the first thing about Rubgy.

At my college, there was no football team. Rugby, I suppose was the closest thing to it. Oh, but in my book it is so much better! Action, Speed, and Zero Padding-Tough! And for the college club fans, kegs on the sidelines.

So imagine my delight when I saw on EMC.com tonight two of my favorite things linked together: EMC and Rugby. I LOVE the team's name (Wasp ... nice brand affinity -- tough to compete against!), and I LOVE the brand that makes their gear (Canterbury; my sister-in-law used to work in marketing for them and as a result, we've been wearing the brand at home for years. Quality & Stylish), and of course, EMC's coolness as a brand leader which continues to win year-after-year sort of speaks for itself, doesn't it?

I'm only sorry I did not know about this Wasp/EMC relationship before.

Must find a way to take in a game! Must find a way to get them (the players! the shirts!) into the EMC HQ!

10 FREE RESOURCES for your Journey with Social Media in the Enterprise and Employee Engagement

2010-01-22T17:48:45-05:00

My friend Allan Steinmetz of Inward Strategic Consulting and I just finished a Webcast featuring EMC's story on building an employment brand and engaging employees by leveraging web 2.0 and social media behaviors /tools.

I discussed how the body of work started, our strategic approach, how the brand was built out across multiple mediums and social properties, and how along the way organic brand ambassadors emerged and started making real magic happen.

This topic always draws a large audience and today was no exception.

For those who want to start the social media/Web 2.0 behavior and tool movement at your company, I thought I'd share a few resources which could help:

1st: This white paper, "A Journey in Social Media," by EMC VP and Marketing CTO Chuck Hollis. Chuck was instrumental in this movement at EMC and kindly dedicated his personal cycles to pulling some of our strategic inflection points, key learnings, and approaches together in this white paper. The white paper is marked "draft" and his promises likely typos within it -- no matter, this is GOLD for anyone about to start the journey. It is a superb documentation which should save you a ton of headaches and unnecessary consultant fees. It is also filled with the type of frankness you just don't seen enough in business. Like this, which addresses the likely request for a business case, an ROI justification, or another means to counter the concerns of your Chief-Apprehensive-Executive.

One of our most effective justification techniques tended to be slightly manipulative given our corporate culture. We frequently pointed out to people that -- due to the extremely competitive nature of EMC and our business -- we would not want to be in a situation where our competitors had a significant competitive advantage through social media proficiency that we did not have. People tended to understand that concept in a very visceral manner. ----> I love that explanation! It is very "real world."

2nd: The blog, "Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang." Jeremiah is the top rated analyst in the social media and the enterprise space. He has the top blog on the subject, has been named the top (and most trusted) analyst on Twitter ... and puts out non-stop gems via his Twitter feed and blog.
3rd: The blog, a Journey in Social Media. Chuck Hollis documented EMC's journey over the first year or so on this blog. He doesn't post any longer, but the content is awesome and could answer lots of questions for those companies of this FORTUNE 500-size.
4th: The blog, "Confessions of an eBiz Junkie." It is written by EMC's Web Master -- the guy behind those .com, and Knowledge Management Platforms of the '90s ... which are morphing into the social platforms of the 21st Century. Len has been the guy getting his hands dirty in this technical stuff from the beginning -- and today serves as our head Social Media Strategist as well. Check out his tag cloud on this blog -- that will give you a feel for what he writes about all the time. I think you'll enjoy following his work.
5th: The blog, "Social Media Musings." It is written by EMC's Jamie Pappas, Len's parter in social media strategy and the woman who was chief community manager and chief Road Show Pitch Person at every staff meeting at EMCin the early 2.0 days doing show & tell on how this social network thing worked. Jamie is in the top professional organizations and can give you the inside scoop on worthy and waste-of-time things to consider as you move forward.
6th: My blog, "Building and Branding Careers, Culture and Cool." Hardly a post goes by here where I don't reference the positive transformation evidence at play in cultures, careers, brands, and business strategy as a result of the behavior models and tools in our 2.0 world. This blog provides case studies and stories, along with strategy and reports on our latest thinking with regard to engaging people and building brands.

And for those individuals who are still on the journey of understanding how this all works and getting personally comfortable with the tools and the career benefits, I recommend these resources:

7th: The blog, "Community and Social Media," by Chris Brogan. Chris offers a ton of free eBooks, a free newsletter and a very friendly blogging style which taught me a lot. Now he's a top consultant, and author in this area as well.
8th: The "blog roll" of every one of the above blogs. This is generally a list, listed on the right or left rail of the blog, of the favorite blogs these authors read. Poke around in there. See who these people are following.
9th: Twitter. Sign up and then leverage Twitter Lists or Twitter Search and type in words like "Social Media." Follow the pre-populated lists of people who write about that subject. Save Twitter, or a more robust version like "Tweet Deck" on your desktop. Visit it a couple times a day -- like when you need a stretch from email. See what content the gurus in this space are attaching, forwarding, and talking about. You'll be up-to-the minute in no time!
10th: Google Reader. This is your new daily newspaper and on-line mentor for how this world works. You pop all these blogs onto this one space, set it as your home page, and experience the learning start to happen! If you have an internet-enabled mobile device, be sure to bookmark your Google reader so you can have your "newspaper" with you where ever you go!

Okay, that's 10 Free Resources that will get you smart in no time. I'm talking about 30-60 days if you dedicate just a little bit of time each day on your Google Reader (it will also suggest blogs to you as well, based on who and what you show an interest in!), and on your Tweet Deck. You'll learn even faster if you join the discussions, post a comment and -- horrors -- start a blog.

For those who have a decent Gen Y dynamic at play in your company, here's a bonus:

#11: Personal Branding Blog. Get in the head of the 2.0 movement via this blog's 20-something leader, author, speaker, and career counselor, Dan Schawbel. Dan has been my reverse mentor and chief cheerleader in gaining a hands-on experience in this space. I encourage you to get a reverse mentor of your own (someone of any age or rank who gets excited about this subject and clearly seems to 'get it.') Until you get that person, subscribe to Dan's blog. It is loaded with fresh research and insights and shows you how this 2.0 world can put a brand, including a personal brand, on steroids.

-------------------- Talk Back -------------------------

What are your favorite free resources?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson.com

The White House and EMC -- Cool Brand Affinity

2010-01-22T11:32:16-05:00

The White House Likes Us! The White House Likes Us!

When I was the PR manager at EMC (long ago), we liked to find customers who were happy about our products and willing to be featured in News Releases. To my knowledge, 99 out of 100 times, it was us, rather than the customer, who would be issuing the new release and discussing how EMC's technology benefited their operation or business.*

So it was with delight when I opened my news feed on EMC this morning to see the headline generated by The White House declaring that they were using EMC technology -- and had been using it ever since Obama's first day in the office. They highlighted this, granted in response to legal inquiries, to show how they have elevated their game. They also detailed why they chose EMC technology.

In my book, that's pretty cool! Here is an excerpt from InformationWeek:

In December, the White House agreed to catalog the White House's current e-mail archiving and backup systems, and provide a detailed description of controls that prevent unauthorized deletion of e-mail records.
... [following a suit] in 2007 after reports that millions of White House e-mail records had gone missing after the Bush Administration abandoned an e-mail records management system that had been installed during the Clinton Administration.

According to the letter, the White House has been using EMC's EmailXtender e-mail management software since Obama's first day in office. The letter says the White House chose EMC's product because of its security, central management, ability to automatically and in near-real time capture messages sent even from Blackberries. It also cited the EMC system's ability to archive messages in their original formats and convert them to another format for transfer to NARA's e-records system, and its ability to provide a searchable online archive and audit reports, among other features.

The White House now fully and automatically backs up its e-mails to a secure off-site data center on the second Tuesday of each month, with incremental backups several times each week and "frequent" tape back-ups. Audits verify that only authorized individuals access the repositories and the EMC system alerts the White House if anyone tries to delete an e-mail without permission, the letter says.

So my mother may not yet fully get who EMC is, and what the company does for the world -- but THE WHITE HOUSE does! I'm good with that.

*I remember our first news release with Delta, back around 1992. They said they could get the airplanes off the ground faster -- less wait time on the runway for the passengers; more "on-time" status for Delta flights -- because of the EMC information management technology in our Symmetrix products. I still think that's pretty cool.

-------------------- Talk Back ---------------------

Good brand affinity, yes?

I see the White House brand as enduring and quality -- which manages to rise above the popularity ratings or scandals at any given time in the Executive Office.

- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson

How Significant is Social Media for Job Search?

2010-01-21T19:26:06-05:00

This week DICE.com came to visit me for a video interview on job search for technical talent in today's market. A big take away for the interviewer was that job seekers needed to break out of comfort zones and "get out there; be found on the Internet." Recruiters operate on-line today. If they can't find you on-line, you are at a competitive disadvantage. And the disadvantage is GROWING by the day.

Check out this just-issued chart by JCSI. They state that more than 50% of recruiters will use social media to find candidates, get referrals and post open positions in 2010. If there was a chart that showed what recruiters were doing in the tech space alone, I'd guarantee the numbers would even be HIGHER!

There were Smart Dinosaurs, Too

I was at a cocktail party over the holiday and happened into a group of engineers. One of them had been looking for a job for some time. We got to talking, and I saw some classic brainy-engineer patterns start to emerge. To him, being "excellent" at what he did was the way to get a job. Doing anything that might look like he put an ego-centric spotlight on himself was fully distasteful. Never would he get on "LinkedIn," or other such network.

That way of thinking is dated, and in my book, dumb. That is, if you want to get a great job, as fast as possible.

It can be very cool to be found and engage with other engineers and thought leaders in your field today. Check out the string on Twitter dedicated to just about any subject of substance, and you will see substance in the discussion. There will be hyper-links to the freshest content and research on that subject. There will be opinions, debates, and cult-like passion too.

What is a modern approach for a Smart Job Seeker?

Be found on-line. Being on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter will elevate your name (SEO) in a Google search by simply just being signed up on those networks. You don't have to play the stupid games or tell everyone when you opened the refrigerator. Just get on these networks with a name that is close to your exact name as possible. On LinkedIn, have an up-to-date profile ... this is your modern resume. (Advanced job seekers should also get recommendations up there and be "connected" to past colleagues and anyone else who may know of a job opening perfect for you!)
Don't go it alone. Enlist an army. Tell everyone you know what type of position you're looking for. If they don't know, they can't help.
After you master knowing with confidence what your value proposition is, and being able to tell others what it is (A quick definition of "value proposition" is "Benefit exceeds the cost." What is the benefit you would bring to a company or a position?) SPEND EVERY MINUTE RESEARCHING AND THINKING ABOUT THE COMPANY(IES) YOU WANT TO WORK AT. When interviewing, make it about THEM. Show that you understand, passionately, what business they are in, who are their competitors, what are their opportunities and challenges, and what it takes to be successful there. The social networks make that type of research today fun and easy. Turn the tables and be the master of the networks. Put them to work for you. Use them to find people who work at the company you are interested in. Watch, and engage with what they are saying -- start a dialog with them on-line. Use these networks to "eavesdrop" (ie Twitter Search Column) on the conversations your ideal company's customers, competitors and employees are having about the company.

By using social networks to your favor, you should be able to be found, and found faster. You should also be able to blow the interviewer away with what you know about their company. Recruiters consistently report that top mistakes job seekers make is 1) not researching the company enough and 2) not being passionate enough.

For added points, read the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People." I know, the title makes me want to barf as well. But especially for the soft-skill/interpersonally challenged set, it is a SUPERB guide to making connections with people and selling (in this case, you will be selling yourself.) It tells you tricks that can help you greatly, like being sure to remember people's names, and to say their names when talking to them. (The sound of one's name is music to people's ears.)

Get Smart.

------------------ Talk Back ------------------

Engineers -- what have you done to get a new job, or a better job, in this modern job market? What do you think of these tips?

To those who find these tips as basic, I hear you! It never fails to shock me, however, to see the look on people's faces who haven't been thinking in these terms.

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@PollyPearson

Quite Nice Today ...

2010-01-20T09:40:31-05:00

About yesterday's post with the awful snow photos ... thought I'd make up for that today with some nice shots of my backyard in Westborough, MA this morning.

It was actually stunningly gorgeous when I drove my daughter to her friend's house at 6:50am. There were people out walking dogs and jogging -- the sky was bright and the air was crisp.

When I got home from work last night, I was delighted to hear my kids had spent the afternoon out sledding. My two little ones had so much fun, they kept playing sweetly when they got in-doors ... including rehearsing for a musical that they later performed for me, and deciding to have a sleep over with one another. Margo, 7, not only "allowed" Oscar, 4, in her room, but insisted that he sleep next to her in her bunk bed.

When they woke up this morning, they were still playing like pals.

So I guess bad snow days make us appreciate the good the snow days all the more.

Now, back to thinking about work!

Photos of Life in Hopkinton, MA today

2010-01-19T19:07:12-05:00

Yesterday, I stayed home with the kids -- MLK Holiday, they were home from school, big snow. Visions of sledding, tubing, etc. It was so thick, cold, gray, and snow-filled outside I couldn't get them out until 3pm. I then spent from 3 until past-dark doing the hardest shoveling job of my entire life. (Snow blower broke in the during the last storm.) Recessions are for shoveling I suppose! Generally, I can find some fun in shoveling. But yesterday, the snow was so wet and heavy, this is what happened to the brand new gloves Kurt got me for Christmas!

That said, I did eventually get in a few really great sledding rides in. The kids had long gone in-doors, but I had fun!

Woke up to more snow, and these snow banks on my way in this morning. Heading out of the office now ... into the dark and wet snow-filled evening!

Winter in New England. Exhilarating!

Haiti Relief: Company's Employees and Communities Tweet and Click Into Action; Social Media and Engaged Employees Help Get the Word Out

2010-01-15T18:35:58-05:00

9 Hours. 650 employees. 156,000 dollars.

In the course of just 9 hours at the tail end of a busy week, 650 EMC employees logged onto a Red Cross donation site to do their part today. What prompted their activity TODAY? A company email at 8:03 am (see below), followed the full engagement of many, leveraging the speed, power and viral influence of Twitter. The result, only 9 hours later? One hundred and fifty-six thousand more dollars for Haiti relief, and an unknown number of proud employees, customers, company watchers, and Haiti-concerned.

While the official EMC email, which offered a compelling prompt, an easy mechanism to donate, and a company pledge to match donations came out early this morning, I got the sense of the employee response, and that of the greater community of EMC followers, by observing Twitter starting around 10am, and throughout the day. Here are a few examples:

Note this Tweet, where @the_super_dave adds to EMC employee @storageanarachy's tweet: "Proud to be a customer!"

By 11:00, Tweets on my column dedicated news at EMC were streaming in like raindrops:

Late this afternoon, the tweets were still rolling in, like this from employee @jakeroz

Here is the EMC Community Involvement email which started the ball rolling:

EMCers, and EMC in total, have a strong track record of jumping in to help in such situations. I'll never forget, some 18 years ago, when a man who worked on our manufacturing floor had his house burn down. A note when out to all EMCers, and checks (on-line transactions had yet to be invented!) from employees who never met this person started pouring in from around the country, and around the world.

The stories of EMCers efforts in the midst of Hurricane Katrina, the Tsunami, and the 9-11attacks are beyond words -- their time and love far exceeding the $3 million or so in dollars EMC and EMCers have donated in such times of need.

2009 changed the game of caring though. Social media, paired with engaged employees and an engaged company community on Twitter and Facebook, helped give hope where there was none for Nick Glasgow and his family this past summer. And now, it gives hope to the people of Haiti, and my personal friends the Gengels, who await word if their college-aged daughter Brittany, in Haiti for a mission, has yet to be saved.

If you haven't given a little bit of yourself or your wallet yet, please consider what you can do.

---------------- Talk Back -------------------

For the people who work at companies who discourage employee activity on social networks, consider sharing this story with them ... or talking back. Why wouldn't a company want this type of engagement to happen? Really. I don't know.

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson

First Quarter Goals for the Employment Brand Office

2010-01-14T19:19:50-05:00

As I continue to document our Employment Branding journey on this blog, I thought I'd share a few of my just submitted Q1 goals. (I would love your input or help!)

INTERNAL ENGAGEMENT and BRANDING:

Design, vet, and work toward piloting an EMC Ambassador program to further engage, recognize, and leverage the (passionate and) accomplished people of EMC.
"Leadership in Action" (our Reality TV-type video clip communication linked to an internal collaboration network): Launch additional episodes and work to make them more interactive, including questions and topics in which we'd like to involve the "global genius" of EMC. Start our second mini documentary featuring and recognizing "leaders at every level" and the story of the team behind Symmetrix under the banner, "Industry Innovators Series."

EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT and BRANDING:

Launch production of a second eBook, (draft title): "100 Tips to Get Promoted from FORTUNE 500 Executives"
Engage with select Firms, Universities, Media, and Peers to learn from, as well as share EMC's work in progress story on our Social Media, Employee Engagement, and Employment Branding journey.

OPERATIONAL STUFF:

Evaluate external Best Place to Work award findings and analyze them against our internal Employee Satisfaction and Motivation Survey results. Triangulate. Look for opportunities to improve ... and, in some places, where to just call a spade a spade.
Research and elevate EMC's Career content and interactions in the

BRAND AWARENESS cycle, found on EMC.com/careers, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
BRAND CONSIDERATION cycle, found in the job candidate experience with EMC
BRAND PURCHASE cycle, found with the on-boarding and new hire programs.

Did I get it right? What else should I be looking at, in your opinion, as we kick off 2010?

------------ Talk Back -------------

Ideas?

Insights?

Want to help, just because? (This is a small staff, small budget operation!)

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson

BRAND ENGAGEMENT: Cultural Storytelling and Walking the Talk

2010-01-13T17:29:36-05:00

I spent the last few days at EMC's Leadership Meeting -- where about 300 of EMC's execs came together to discuss strategy and offerings for the coming year.

One particular highlight of the meeting just jumped to mind as I read this blog post, written by a blogger who goes by the name, "GumpyStorage."

The highlight was a presentation made by Frank Hauck, which, via a series of short and compelling stories from his 20 years with the company, brought to life (and reinforced) who EMC is as a company and as a culture.

[PHOTO: Frank Hauck]

One such story was how and why a particular sales rep, whom I'll refer to as Tony, left a competitor some years ago to join EMC. The story went like this:

Tony had a meeting with a CIO of a global bank. The meeting opened up by the CIO saying, "You know, I came into work today and my message light was on. The voice-mail was from EMC's CEO, Dick Egan. Dick had called to tell me one of the EMC storage products was down in my South African data center. He said the EMC team was on it, wouldn't rest until it was resolved, and if the customer had any questions or concerns, he could reach Dick at the following number."
The CIO then said to Tony, "I didn't even know I had an outage." he continued, "Tony, who from your company will call me if and when one of your products has an issue?"
Tony quit his company that day and set out to join EMC. He knew he had no answer to that question, and that he, too, wanted to work with a company which was so focused on customer caring.

What did this story have to do with GrumpyStorage's new post? Everything.

BRAND ENGAGEMENT at its Grounded Best

Gumpy's story is a perfect example, I believe, of Genuine Brand Engagement: one that is testimonial based, given of free will, and centered on an attribute that that is core to a brand's desired and true identity.

[Image: Canonical polygonal schema; two independent loops associated to a (w)hole.]

Before reading what Grumpy has to say, note his blog template tells readers to "Expect general grumpiness, frequent rants, and plenty of complaints & challenges re vendor FUD and hype."

An excerpt:

I spent 3 days the other week in Prague at EMC's annual EMEA Customer Council.This really is one of the best organised & structured council/feedback/user-group sessions I've ever seen with any supplier throughout my career. I'm lucky enough to have been invited to attend for many years and it's always been more than worthwhile. Despite EMC's somewhat historic arrogant image they really are actively listening, engaging in dialogue, taking feedback and changing approaches & technologies. In short customer feedback really does make things happen.

It's also clear from the past results, the level and qty of mngt attending, level of investment and detail of follow-up actions it's obvious EMC take this very seriously.

During the sessions there were many points that got my mind racing, and at least one occasion I was so shocked with the dialogue I was stunned into being speechless.
All in these 3 days tend to be the most valuable conference / workshop days I spend during the year, I hope they continue, and I hope more suppliers adopt the approach!

Three Things I believe about Brands and Branding:

BRANDING STARTS ON THE INSIDE.

GOOD BRANDING IS NOT ADVERTISING OR ANYTHING THAT TELLS or SELLS. IT SIMPLY IS.

A GOOD BRAND IS A GENUINE, TRUSTING, MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL RELATIONSHIP.

I love brand synergy! While even the Ritz Carlton, The Marine's, and Nordstrom don't get brand intent and brand experience synergy 100% of the time, like EMC, it is clear that they try their best, with the best of intent. AND it begins inside, by knowing who you are and what you stand for.

----------------- Talk Back ----------------

What is your favorite definition of brand?

How are good brands built, in your view?

How expensive is branding? How do you quantify, or itemize, brand spend? Are your employees factored as an active element in your branding approach?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@PollyPearson

Employee Engagement and Recognition: Case Study

2010-01-08T18:39:53-05:00

Every Employee Satisfaction and Motivation survey I see indicates people want more recognition.

Execs and managers scratch their heads, wondering what else they could do.

Why don't the current, seemingly abundant methods meet the need?

My theory: we leave too much on the shoulders of the executives. Sure, they should do their part -- but they make up, what? 1% 10% 20% of a company? What if the model was turned around? Set the expectation that the other 99% 90% or 80% should recognize often as well! Then you will have 100% of the company involved in the recognition process, and, eventually, people will truly know, see, and hear they are making a difference on a much more frequent basis.

I believe the big breakthrough for "people management" is in the Peer Model in this Knowledge Era of the 21st Century. Create an environment where leadership happens at every level -- and you will have more of everything you want.

Imagine: An individual contributor serving customers better, inventing better ways to do things, telling his peers what an awesome job they're doing ... and multiply this magical CEO dream by the number of your workforce.

Why not?

Kudos for Oracle for doing more of this new model. On their internal social network, they have a ticker running constantly called "Kudos" where anyone is welcome to recognize anyone else. Why hide the "thanks" in an email? Share it for all to see!

Following is an example on how a peer effort at EMC was a 360 degree win for everyone involved -- and took no Presidential decree, or even an ounce of money, to make happen.

*The Case Study

A group of folks at the company had the idea to film the inventors/employees of an industry breakthrough, which resulted in one of the most successful products at our company. The breakthrough happened over twenty years ago, and the product platform which resulted from it is still contributing millions in revenue to the company. In fact, you can likely not go a day in your life without this product somewhere storing, moving, or managing the digital bits of on-line information that make up your life. YET, it was realized, no one at the company had yet to document the story on film -- or truly recognize to a notable extent the people behind the breakthrough.

So with that, it was decided by people who had never done this before, to set up a round table with these inventors and record it with a Flip Camera to ensure this story got captured.

Flash forward a bit. Another individual employee, Tom Bennett, having nothing to do with PR, HR, or Marketing of any sort in his official job, let it be known to someone familiar with this "inventor story" footage that he was a movie maker/producer/editor in his spare time, and would like to help the company if there was a need for such skills.

The following short, documentary-story-telling video was edited and produced by Tom. A company engineer by day, he was able to converse with the featured engineers in their terms to understand the truly potent segments and pull out supporting clips and collateral to help tell the story. He did this on his own time.

The result? Recognition for inventors Mark Lippitt, Bob Solomon, Dave DesRoches, and Steve Todd -- and the contribution their breakthrough had on EMC, and the industry. ALSO: Culture-Building. People displaying their passions, and making use of passions whether they are related to their obvious day job or not. Oh, and, in total, making the company a much warmer, nicer place. All for Free. Now consider if everyone at your company felt empowered to help make this type of magic happen. Money doesn't drive recognition. It is the environment that says, "Go ahead! You're empowered! Spread the Good News."

This film got its worldwide debut in a distribution titled, "Leadership in Action," to all 42,000 company employees spread over 85 countries. It was released on YouTube the same day and currently boasts a viewer review of 4 stars. :) The film and the story currently lives in the "Culture Talk" community of the company's internal social network, where people can converse with the inventors and discuss memories they shared from that pivotal point of our industry.

A few months ago, Harvard Business Review posted this article, titled, "Four Simple Ways to Make Your Employees Happier." It seems to ring true against the backdrop of this little case study as well.

----------- Talk Back ----------------

What is your view on recognition? Is there merit to everyone putting a little bit in the game?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson

Top Job Trends of 2009 -- and your relevance

2010-01-06T03:48:29-05:00

Jason Alba of JibberJobber.com started a discussion string some time ago on LinkedIn on the subject of "job security." Everyone knows there is no such thing any longer -- so, he asked, what would be the appropriate way to refer to the concept in "today's terms?" I remember what I thought the answer could be. In one word, "Relevance." Are you relevant? In addition to being able to execute and deliver results, are your skills up-to-date and in-line with where things are headed? That might be the best thing you can do for yourself in the realm of job security.

With that as a backdrop, I found this just published data from Indeed.com quite interesting. It lists the

Top Job Trends of 2009.

Where does the data come from? According to the graphs, "Indeed.com searches millions of jobs from thousands of job sites. This job trends graph shows the percentage of jobs we find that contain your search terms."

Here's the graph for the #2 most popular job trend (aka fastest growing job term), "Cloud Computing." (Your knowledge is up to date and relevant on this subject, right?)

cloud computing Job Trends

cloud computing jobs

What is #1, most popular Job Trend? "Twitter."

Twitter Job Trends

Twitter jobs

Indeed's full list of the 10 fastest growing opportunities of 2009:

1. Twitter
2. Cloud Computing
3. iPhone
4. Facebook
5. Corporate Social Responsibility
6. Blogger
7. Pediatrician
8. Hospitalist
9. Social Media
10. Speech Language Pathologist (SLP)

------------- Talk Back ------------

Cool graphs, eh?

Do the trends -- or their order -- surprise you? I found them noteworthy.

If you're looking for a job, be sure to check out -- and subscribe to alerts by area of interest and/or geography, to EMC's oodles of global job openings: www.emc-careers.com. This is a link to our relatively new and cutting edge SEO-optimized job opening site.

My thanks to the blog "Gautam on Organizations 2.0" for the heads up on this data.

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@PollyPearson
pearson_polly@emc.com

"How To Get A Better Job?" A post for employees and job seekers alike.

2010-01-05T18:23:32-05:00

Most of the planet, it seems, would like to get a job, get promoted, or a get a better job.

How does one go about making this happen (in this century)?

I'm reminded of a great post I saw a couple of years ago. An employee made a comment along the lines of, "HR stinks. No one from HR has come to me to discuss my career in over two years."

In moments, someone replied,

"You do realize that you are in charge
of your own career, right?"

So if your manager isn't promoting you like mad, and HR isn't beating down your door to discuss your personal aspirations, what do you do?

Some thoughts:

1. Ask yourself how you are staying up to date on your profession. (question stolen from Kris Dunn)
If it involves learning from people in your department or company, going to an annual conference, or being a member of a professional organization, that is not enough. Get Better At What You Do.

Action: Connect with thought leaders in the space you want to know more about or master. Don't leave anything "hot" for the "young kids," or the people with seniority. Learn about it. Thanks to Google, Bing, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Amazon, and good old fashioned volunteering via personal outreach, anything you want to know about is just a click, or request, away. 99% of information and connection with the thought leaders in the space you wish to master is free.
There are LinkedIn professional groups on just about every topic. In these groups, people are having real-time discussions and solving real-time problems. By listening to, and eventually joining, the conversation you'll pick something up. This will make you more valuable at your current job -- and people you work with will start to notice.
If that is too aggressive for you, do a Twitter Search on the professional topic you're interested in. Look at the people who pop up under that category. Follow the people with lots of followers -- they likely are saying something of value. Read what they're saying, and what they are linking to. Eventually, consider engaging with them by commenting on something they said, or simply "ReTweeting" something they said that you found of value. In the process, you get two benefits. You are seeing new insights that will add value to your professional knowledge, and you are starting to build your network of people you know outside of your current life circle.

2. Ask yourself (and reply honestly!) if you are leveraging the resources at your disposal today. Get Better At Using What Is Available to You.

ACTION For those with jobs:

Look with fresh eyes at your Relationship with your Manager. Work to connect better with him/her. Know his/her goals. Look for opportunities to take things off his/her plate. Give more than you get. Exceed expectations. Support others on the team. Mentor others. Be positive. Be passionate. Care more about the success of the company and the mission than you care about your status. Always have a proposed solution at hand when you discuss what could be better. Evaluate your proposed solution like the CEO would -- does the benefit exceed the cost? Will the solution work to expedite the strategy, revenue and profit?
Are you getting to know others at your place of work? Join affinity groups, sit down with people you may or may not know at lunch, ask for 15 minutes of someone you admire's time, buy someone a cup of coffee. Read/listen to the articles and discussions taking place on Intranets and Social Networks. Reply to the people who wrote them with thoughts that further the concepts discussed. Work to expand your circle of people you know, and thus your circle of influence. Plan to give to them (in time, insight, volunteer effort) more than you get in return.
Do you have an agent set up on the company's job posting web site? Many/most of these allow you to key in search words and get alerted via email the next time a job opens up with that word(s).
Do you have an up-to-date profile on your internal network? (These are becoming internal resumes for talent seeking managers -- many of whom are searching with word searches. Do the words you used on your profile reflect your skills and aspirations?)
Are you leveraging your company's training and education offerings? These are a great way to meet others -- expanding your network and your company insights -- as well as to expand your skills.

ACTION For those looking for job:

Have you mastered your elevator pitch? This is the pitch that states what you're looking for and why you are well suited to do it. Have you shared this pitch, and mastered it further, with everyone you know? Have you changed the hat you wear on your head to that of chief salesperson and chief marketing officer for YOU?
As chief salesperson and chief marketing officer, how are you making sales calls, building relationships, and looking for potential space to advertise? Now is not the time to be meek or shy. You need to be proud of the product you are selling.
Has everyone on your FaceBook, LinkedIn, Alumni, Neighborhood, and prior workplace networks heard/seen your elevator pitch? Have you turned the table on LinkedIn and FaceBook started to USE them -- seek out people who know people at the companies where you would like to work? Read blogs and books on how to best use these networks for job search. Believe me, there are TONS of new ways.
Are you recruiting recruiters? This was called to my attention just this week by JP McDermott over on Examiner.com. Don't forget to market yourself (and this means many contact attempts) to the people with the jobs! Understand they are busy, but also make sure they know your elevator pitch and how you can help them.
For more tips, be sure to read our new eBook on 100 Job Search Tips from FORTUNE 500 Recruiters.

NET: Remember the old line that has never been more true, or easier to accomplish in this social network-rich-on-line-world: Who You Know Is More Important (in job search) Than What You Know!

Action: Work to know more people with knowledge important to you. Give them more than you hope to get.

Good Luck! For me, the networking-oriented things are new tools in my career tool kit. Since I started using them, I've built more relationships, made more connections, learned more, and added more value to my company. Oh, and I've had more fun in the process as well.

-------------------------- Talk Back -------------------

What are your tips to help get a better job?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson

How To Track Reception of an eBook

2010-01-04T19:00:52-05:00

Wearing my marketing hat for a moment, I am tickled by how easy it is to get a view into the real-time, person-on-the-street reception of the free Job Search Tips eBook we recently published.

I am no whiz at some of the new tools out there -- so I'll share with you the 3 novice-level things I did today to see what was happening with the book.

1. Did a Twitter search. I immediately saw the book referenced in tweets and blogs (including number of retweets). Have you seen the Twitter Trackbacks yet? It tells you how many tweets the content had, and also lets you sort views of the tweets by "top influencers." Cool (and, of course, free).
2. Went to Convotrack -- LOVE THIS!! So easy (and free) to use. Drag this Google finding for Convotrack to your browser toolbar. Go to the URL of choice. (Here is the URL to our eBook.) Click on Convotrack from your toolbar, and see what people are saying and tweeting in real time!
3. and then, I did the old obvious ... Googled the name of the book -- It has 864,000 references to the book as of this moment! (Are you kidding me? It was released about 10 days ago, over the dead zone of Christmas and New Year's Eve.) I then Googled a name similar to the name of the book (using "by" instead of "from" in the title), and found 144,000 references to the book. Granted, some of these search findings are not for the book-- but I had to go to the 4th page of search before I found any finding that wasn't an exact reference to this free eBook.

Geez, finding out what my husband wanted for Christmas should have been that easy!

I should also note that we set up a bit.ly URL so that we can track downloads. While this is showing amazing data, I suspect it tells only part of the story as more and more people posted hyperlinks directly to the exact URL, or via a URL shortener of their choice.

... At some point, I'll request a more formal report from our web team (who run EMC.com) on the precise number of visits and downloads of the book.

---------------- Talk Back -------------------

Was this helpful or interesting? What tips do you have to share for tracking reception of on-line content?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson

Polly Pearson's Blog

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