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I've been working, on and off, to refine a measurement formula for the better part of two years. My hypothesis was simple: the return on investment is related to the intent of the communication and the outcome it produces. For anyone interested in communication measurement, you can find a link to the abstract, Measure: I | O = ROC, a.k.a. The ROC, on my company's blog.

Lots of pixels on the screen and ink on paper about personal branding - a key element of assessment prior to launching a job search.  What does the recruiter community think of branding? 

• Do candidates who have completed the personal branding process tell a more compelling story in interviews? 
• Does branding help the candidate and recruiter focus on the right target industries and companies?
• Are candidates who have completed a branding exercise more likely to be satisfied at the new position, reducing turnover for your client?  (Do your clients want to reduce turnover?)
• What do recruiters think of the newer, "branded resumes?" (see Animal's 11-24-08 post)

If you aren't sure what branding is all about, check-out this video from ABC-TV, SF, "Personal Branding in a Tough Job Market."  The video features Reach360 Brand Strategist, Susan Chrittron (President, Pathways~Careers & Life Strategies, SF, CA)

Karen P. Katz
Career Acceleration Network (CAN), LLC

by Glenn Gutmacher

It seems dozens of new third-party Facebook applications are launched daily. But ones of direct value to sourcers / recruiting researchers are rare, so I eyed with curiosity the aptly-named Advanced Search (also at apps.facebook.com/advancedsearch). While the Google hack for LinkedIn profiles that Shally initially developed is very effective, there's nothing analogous that's great for Facebook -- it's been a much more closed site to search engines.

In some respects, the Advanced Search app is more valuable than Facebook's own Profile Search because the latter only displays people in your networks. If you like Facebook's Friend Finder then you need to try this.

This app spiders data off profiles, and if you add the application, it gives you a chance to fix values on the version of your profile that this app uses. As its Manchester, UK-based inventor, Chris Claydon, describes it:

• Find facebook profiles for people who went to a particular school, college or university
• Find facebook profiles for people who work (or used to work) at a company
• Meet new people - Find people in your area by age/gender/relationship status
• Find people by any location or network - not just your own
• Find people even if you don't know their surname - narrow down the possibilities with age, location, etc.
• Displays big profile pictures in search results so you can recognize people you know

He claims over 80 million people's facebook profiles, 100,000 schools, 500,000 place names and 300,000 different workplaces (growing daily) are included, so let's help this app become more popular and we sourcers can take particular advantage of it. Where I see the most value is:

1. geographic searches (it lets you find people in locations outside the geographic network you belong to)
2. employer searches: for example, let's say you do a normal Facebook search across All Networks for Oracle. That delivers the maximum 500 results, but they are random (many having nothing to do with the company). If you type Oracle in the company field in the "Search by company or school" section at the bottom of the aforementioned results page (don't selected the prompted company choice of Oracle or Oracle Communication), that's better, but again you hit the maximum 500 and it's still not obvious which Oracle these people are from. Instead, go click the "a Workplace" tab in the Advanced Search app and type Oracle. Now you get the number of people currently or previously at each of 15 different companies containing the word Oracle! Though the resulting profile only links to details if the person has added this app to their own profile (another reason to promote this app to your friends), at a minimum, you still can see the person's name, the "Add friend" link and "Send message" link.
3. combine all criteria: The best part is you can combine the various types of searches into one (e.g., diversity criteria plus company name) like Facebook's own Profile Search but on a much larger scale. It's not exactly intuitive how to do this, so follow these steps: Start with your primary search criterion (click one of the tabs and search), then on the results page, click the "Find a date or new friend" link next to the appropriate result. For example, you could do the company-type search (e.g., type Microsoft), then next to the largest result (e.g., the one with over 1800 people), click the "Find a date or new friend" link. Now select Females for gender and MA for location. Ok, only a handful of results (and there are probably many more Massachusetts Microsoft women on Facebook), but you didn't need to be a member of the Microsoft network to run that kind of specific query!

The Groups search and Applications search are powered by a Google API, similar to what you can do with Custom Search Engine functionality so that's slightly disappointing, but it's convenient to have those searches here, also. Anything else? Advanced Search has a discussion board where you can ask questions, request additional functionality, etc., or you can ping the inventor directly about the app if you want to keep it private

Try out the app and comment below to tell me what you think of it, or any other great Facebook apps you've seen.

By Richard Becker

Never mind external communication for a minute, think internal too. According to Watson Wyatt, more than one in five companies (23 percent) plan to make layoffs in the next 12 months, with almost two in five (39 percent) reporting that they have already done so. But layoffs aren't the only concern employees have.

Hiring freezes also jumped from 30 percent in October to 47 percent this month. Eighteen percent are planning a hiring freeze in the next 12 months. Salary freezes jumped from 4 percent in October to 13 percent. And 61 percent are revising merit budgets. Other changes include any combination of the following: travel restrictions, benefit reductions, restructuring, reduced training, health premium increases, and salary reductions.

“All indications are that 2009 will be a difficult year for both companies and ultimately employees,” said Laura Sejen, global director of strategic rewards consulting at Watson Wyatt. “It will be up to employers to find an effective way to manage this challenge by balancing their financial situations with the likely impact on employee engagement.”

Watson Wyatt's report encourages employers to help mitigate the effect of any decision by considering employee morale, including: choosing the greatest cost savings while doing the least damage to the company's employment brand; communicating extensively and frequently; differentiating bonuses and pay increases; and heightening employee recognition programs. Here are some additional tips from employee communication programs we have developed with several companies over the years:

• Educate supervisors about any upcoming changes first. Not only are employees likely to go to them with questions first, such meetings also provide a forum to prepare for any unforeseen questions.

• Allow supervisors to communicate the basics. Studies consistently conclude that employees trust face-to-face communication the most, and look to their immediate supervisors as the most credible source of information.

• Demonstrate consistency in communication. Depending on the changes being made, employ the company's standard communication model (face to face, video conference, etc.) as a means to connect employees to top executives.

• Provide employees with written material. The outline should include why changes are occurring, what changes are being made, the rationale behind those changes (it will save jobs), and a defined timeline for communication updates.

• Establish clear lines of two-way communication. When employees have questions their supervisors cannot answer, scale for appropriate contacts, such as designated human resources personnel and/or high level management. Collect feedback and address concerns in follow-up communication.

• Communicate straight. Provide employees with clear expectations of what the changes mean, what management expects to happen, what management expects to do if it does not happen, and the frequency of updates to come.

• Notify all external stakeholders as appropriate. Provide a consistent message, including to the media if appropriate, with similar commitments to keep communication candid, open, and honest. In every case, communication should flow from the inside of the company, out.

• Follow up the communication frequently. Communication from supervisors should be reinforced by other established communication channels (eg. bill inserts, newsletters, bulletins, etc.), demonstrating the progress of the plan. (Avoid e-mail notifications as electronic communication elicits stronger emotions and has a higher risk of being forwarded.)

• Increase management visibility. Change represents an opportunity for management to establish trust with employees. It is especially worthwhile for upper management to visit departments to recognize top performers and teams.

While one Gallup poll pinpointed that employees are hoping to be reassured that they have "stability, trust, hope, and compassion," the word to remember is empathy. Understanding a person's experience by sharing that experience, especially in regard to layoffs or temporary cutbacks, can help communicators and management avoid breakdowns that leave management appearing unconcerned and untrustworthy.

Keep in mind, like all communication, communicating change is not a cookie cutter operation. It is a process that guides communicators through a series of steps, allowing them to make situational adjustments. Almost every company culture is slightly different.

More importantly, internal communication remains top of mind because no amount of external communication can reverse employee morale once it is damaged. In some cases, the effects of improper communication won't be felt until an economic turnaround, when disengaged employees will quickly leave. Where will they go? Somewhere that has created a climate of trust.

  December 3rd: Josh Kahn

HIGHLIGHTS - LinkedIn Group - Reviews
Archive - Show Format - iTunes - Facebook

Source: OtherInbox.

Every Gmail account supports "plus addressing".

Every email address contains 3 parts. Let's call them the prefix, the @ sign and the suffix.

In bozo@gmail.com, bozo is the prefix and gmail.com is the suffix.

You can add "+anyword" to the prefix.

If my email address was bozo@gmail.com, I could use bozo+amazon@gmail.com on Amazon.com and bozo+facebook@gmail.com for Facebook.

Then I could set my email software to filter them into different folders based on the +anyword part of the address.

Many websites, however, won't allow you to sign up with a "+" in your email address, including Google Alerts.

Deb Dib on Resumes

Who Is Debbie Dib,
- a certified personal branding strategist

Length
- your resume has to be easy to read on a Blackberry
- that means two pages tops

- your other info can be shoved onto "collateral documents"
- eg. a case study of your top accomplishment, lists of speaking
  engagements, achievements, deals

Focus
- a personal brand is a well-defined image of you
- a clear, memorable image cannot be diversified
- you have to pick one or two strengths and market yourself on these
- your other skills are reduced to secondary status as value-adds

- hiring managers are more interested in an expert
  than a jack-of-all trades and master of none
- so she advises us to be brave enough to limit our offerings

Content
- if you list an accomplishment it means nothing in itself
- you have to prove it was important by showing its impact on the firm

How To Start
- lead off with your most important accomplishment with its
  proof-of-value so that if someone is scanning they are sure to see it

Impact Statements
- a sales rep can measure her impact on the bottom line by
  her relationship to quota and her rank among her peers
- if you build a process, there is no direct feedback in measurable revenue dollars
- however, you are supporting the departments that create the revenue
  and you have to highlight your relation to their earnings
- if your process saved x amount of dollars which was re-invested some
  initiative, you were a key factor and have to say so

Targets
- you can't make a one size fits all resume
- you have to talk about what is of interest to a specific target audience
- review your strengths and accomplishments then present the most relevant

Formatting
- leave enough white space to make it look visually pleasing
- get rid of grammatical and spelling errors

My Comment
- ironically, when you are up against other experts, your secondary skills
  (the value adds) might be the key differentiators

Source: Susie Guarnieri interviews Debbie Dib, at the Personal Branding Summit (audio here). Hat Tip: Diana Jennings

A Success Tip From The White House

Johnson also upset aides with his habit of adjourning a conversation to the bathroom when the need arose.

Those who were reluctant to follow him to the toilet were a source of great amusement to him.

He frequently recounted a story about "one of the delicate Kennedyites who came into the bathroom with me and then found it utterly impossible to look at me while I sat there on the toilet.

You'd think he had never seen those parts of the body before.

Source: Trivia Library

Losers find it almost impossible to act like winners even when they win. -- Baldilocks

You’d think they’d be happy to have won, with no need to waste time and energy on such entertainment. But... the feeling of triumph goes hand in hand with the desire to spit on others in their overwhelming delight at their own victory.
-- neo-neocon

]]>Losers find it almost impossible to act like winners even when they win. -- Baldilocks You’d think they’d be happy to have won, with no need to waste time and energy on such entertainment. But... the feeling of triumph goes hand in hand with the desire to spit on others in their overwhelming delight at their own victory. -- neo-neoconhttp://www.recruitingbloggers.com/rbs/2008/11/a-bad-attitude-is-hard-to-change.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RecruitingBloggerscom/~3/HoFZVy4HXZk/charlie-rose-interviewed-the-emanuel-brothers-he-asked-about-the-reason-that-three-brothers-in-the-same-family-are-all-so-su.htmlRecruiting AnimalSuccessRecruiting AnimalMon, 24 Nov 2008 08:57:00 PSTtag:typepad.com,2003:post-58980074

Charlie Rose interviewed the Emanuel brothers. He asked about the reason that three brothers in the same family are all so successful.

Here are the main points put forward.

1. Their parents are very smart and well educated.

2. Their grandfather and parents were all very active politically. They had the guts to speak their minds and were determined to do so. The kids felt an absolute obligation to follow the same course of action and stand up justice themselves.

3. Failing was okay as long as you got up and carried on.

4. They claimed that coming from an immigrant family was important. They felt that they were lucky to be in the country and had to make their mark.

5. They claimed that if you saw them in elementary school and high school they would not have seemed on their way to great success. I kind of doubt that this is true especially for the doctor but that's what they said.

SPIEGEL: You initially favored John McCain?

Ferguson: I have become a convert in the last six months because of Obama’s extraordinary combination of rhetorical genius, coolness under fire and organizational skills. This was the best election campaign we have ever experienced.

SPIEGEL: Which doesn’t necessarily have to mean a great presidency.

Ferguson: ....Obama can stimulate self-confidence because he is so calm and collected. He will not simply put an end to the crisis or ensure that banks lend money again.

He is a politician, not the Messiah. But he can change the national mood. Americans are lucky that they were able to elect him now...

SPIEGEL: So what can Obama do?

Ferguson: He can give a great inauguration speech.

SPIEGEL: And what else?

Ferguson: Give more great speeches.

SPIEGEL: He can’t do more?

Ferguson:: No, because he will have the least latitude of all presidents we can remember. Obama wants to assemble a nonpartisan government, and we will experience a more cautious first 100 days than we did under Bill Clinton. He will be cautious to the point of being boring. This will be precisely his great strength.

SPIEGEL: Where does the problem lie?

Ferguson: With Hank Paulson.

SPIEGEL: What does the current treasury secretary have to do with Obama?

Ferguson: Because of his big bailout plan, Paulson has already spent the money for Obama’s healthcare reform and for his tax cuts. The money is gone.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Ferguson, we thank you for this interview.

Source: Hiistorian, Niall Ferguson interviewed by Der Speigel via Belmont Club.

In an interview published Tuesday in the London-based Al-Hayat, Dr. Ahmad Yousef, political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said senior Hamas figures had held a secret meeting with advisers to Barack Obama in Gaza before the U.S. elections.

Throughout his campaign Obama’s official line was that he would “only talk with Hamas if it renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and agrees to abide by past agreements.”

-- David Hornik, Pajamas Media.

Robert Fulford, National Post.

Olbermann and O’Reilly are both admired for their ability to express violent opinions. Rage, simulated or real, is the governing principle on cable.

Keyword: schnorrer.

Productivity501 warns us to make sure that we don't waste hours figuring out how to do something that someone else can explain in 5 minutes.

He urges us to deliberately build relationships with people who have expertise in different areas than our own.

Offer to help them with your special knowledge, he says. Then they will want to reciprocate.

Problem:

This author is telling you, essentially, to set up an informal barter network for information sharing. The problem is that it comes in the guise of a personal relationship or friendship which really doesn't exist.

This amounts to using people for practical purposes.

Many outgoing people can do it easily. And, indeed many don't mind taking advantage of people, plain and simple. But lots of people don't like doing this. And they can't always offer something in return.

Moreover, often, you need a lot of preliminary knowledge before the expert can tell you something in five minutes. And the only way she can help you is to do the job herself. Or spend an age explaining it to you.

See also: How To Mooch

1. Hint that you need help.
2. Show a bit of pain.
3. When the offer comes, say something like "I don't know. Are you sure
   you can spare the time?" That shows you care about the donor. (haha)
4. Don't take too much.
5. Offer something in return when you can.

According to the JobMob:

The Unbranded Life
- You live spontaneously according to the needs and feelings of the moment.
- As a result, you show a different face at different times.

When you Brand something,
- You choose to leave a deliberate, consistent impression
  so there's no confusion about who you are.
- You hide the multi-dimensional you
- You present a one-dimensional you
- So people get a very clear impression about what they can expect from you.

Is that authentic?
- You are showing a real part of yourself. But only part.
- By removing anything else from view, you help people
  forget that there is more to you.
- The result is a version of you that is highly edited
- The clarity this brings is useful as long as a relationship
  is based on this alone
- when the hidden factors are significant, branding is deceptive

Lindsay Pollack says that if you have low grades the only way to get a job is through networking.

"A resume with a low GPA will likely never make it out of the slush pile, so your better bet is to find jobs through networking..." (GPA = Grade Point Average)

The same rule applies to anyone who has bad marks of any sort on her record.

Audio version here

Frizzy-haired, New York-based, Canadian author, Malcolm Gladwell has just released a new book that everyone is talking about. It's surely going to be a bestseller.

And perhaps that's partly because the main premise is very simple and easy to understand: even naturally talented people need practice to become really good at what they do.

That's pretty obvious isn't it? But sometimes the obvious has to be pointed out again and again and again.

And that's why I'm going to remind you now that 99% of the people who go around boosting Gen Y are just plain dumb.

Outrageous Claims

Listen to this claim that about Barack Obama’s victory. It's not only the best example yet of the growing influence of Generation Y in America and the world.

"Gen Y is smart, diverse, energized, socially and politically aware and able to use the Internet to do pretty much anything."

"Pretty much anything." What does that mean? Everything and nothing.

Well-Informed

You know what? I don't think the average person is well informed politically no matter how old they are. And I don't think they ever will be. You know why? It's too much work.

Look. If Gen Y is so busy being well informed, who's watching Access Hollywood? The old guys? The Boomers? Come on, look at the ads. They're not selling Depends.

A Deceptive Brand

And you know what? Gen Y isn't diverse either. When people talk about Gen Y they're only talking about middle class college educated people who plan on having careers.

And here's something else. When people talk about Gen Y they never tell you stories like this.

Queens University is one of Canada's top universities. It's across the lake from Rochester in the United States. Every September, they have a big homecoming party and a few thousand old students march around the football field during half time.

Drunken Brawl

But recently they had to cancel this event because the current students like to get drunk and wreck things. For instance, this past September, a customer at a fast-food restaurant was attacked and put into a coma. He woke up after a month but he's going to have permanent brain damage.

And this was really a Gen Y event because the Queens University students put out the word on Facebook that this is going to be a big drunken brawl and students came from all around to participate.

Now it's possible that the student who put that guy into a coma was "smart, diverse, energized, socially and politically aware and able to use the Internet to do pretty much anything." But he was also a goof. And he wasn't the only one.

In Conclusion

As history progresses, education is becoming more widespread. So does freedom spread in all sorts of relationships. Nevetheless, Gen Y is, in many ways, as ignorant and foolish as any other generation. In fact, they're almost as ignorant as their much-maligned parents, the baby boomers. But the boosters, they forget to mention that.

The Recruiting Animal Show
Featuring: CHUCKIE KRUGEL of Chicago.

On The Couch:
Maureen Sharib, Carl Chapman, Jerry Albright, Cliff Mintz, Julia Stone.

CLIP: Intro & Legal Interview Questions

Maureen Sharib "No laws against ruse calls." Am I hearing this right?
Julia Stone bart simpson will be relieved

Posted by Maureen Sharib
Relax - it's out there but you'd best know how to phone source!

The Oct 2 MagicMethod Phone Sourcing Classroom Chat over on the MagicMethod network at noon (EST) continued the discussion about HOW TO FIND SOURCING WORK in these scary times.

Watch Scott Love's video on "How to Sell to HR" - it's posted here as part of class preparation. Also, read this posting about panic.

See you in class at noon (EST)!

Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer

"In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly." ~ Coleridge
******
Attend the MagicMethod FREE one hour LIVE phone sourcing classroom chats on Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon EST on the MagicMethod network here.