1)      Twitter has had lots of service interruptions. Sometimes it has been totally unavailable and other times it’s been available with limited functionality.

2)      Twits, my term for people who Twitter (more formally Tweet), find all sorts of ways to use their 140 character mini-blogs.

3)      Some Twits shamelessly promote whatever they are up to. There are lots of tinyurl.com links to blogs.

4)      Some Twits like to let everyone know where they are and what they are eating.

5)      Just like any form of self-promotion, some Twits are much better at it than others. I think that Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock Human Resources does a nice job. She has an interesting avatar, she tweets regularly, and she has a nice mix of personal tweets and promotional tweets.

6)      Much like LinkedIn, some Twits are building really huge networks. One fellow started following me. I was pleased that he thought that I was worth following until I saw that he follows 29,510 others!

It’s been an interesting exercise but I remain unconvinced as to the value that being active on Twitter provides. However, people are tweeting away at a great rate so they must be getting something out of it…

1)      Login to LinkedIn and expand the Contacts menu in the upper left hand corner of the LinkedIn home page by clicking the “+”.

2)      Click on Network Statistics

You should see all sorts of statistics about your network including the number of 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd level connections, the total users you can contact through an introduction, and a breakdown of your network by region and industry. Cool!

I've noticed that when people write their autobiographiesthat their story about their life, and how they became successful, is oftenjust a story about what they say happenedrather than what really happened. It's rare that people acknowledge that luck,or being at the right place at the right time, had a lot to do with theirsuccess. Sometimes people are humble and acknowledge that surroundingthemselves with people much smarter than themselves made the difference.Whatever the truth actually is, most of what people write or say in interviewsis highly sanitized.

Steve Levycalled me in response to my recent blog WeNeed Your Help if You Know about Placing Software Engineers in which Iwrote about our daughter's inquiry about what to major in for a software engineeringcareer. He also wrote aninteresting comment to that post where he said, "Above all, I've hiredpeople as developers with the same range of degrees as found in a collegecatalog."

So what follows is my best attempt to document how I endedup with an honors degree in science with a major in physical geography.Remember that it's my story about what happened. My promise to you is that itis as accurate as I can make it and that it is completely unsanitized.

I was a good student in high school back in Sydney, Australia.I was smart enough to get good grades but not motivated enough to work reallyhard to truly excel. I did well in the college entrance exam and had lots ofchoices that I could make. The problem was that I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do. I did know what I didn'twant to do (medicine, dentistry, law, architecture, etc.). So I found myself ina car with my two best buddies who had both done extensive research into thebest thing to major in. And that thing was chemical engineering. I didn't havea clue what a chemical engineer actually did but my buddies explained that Icould always change to something else later and that most of the first year'scourses would be transferable too. So I signed up for that.

My first 2 years at college were mostly fun. I studied math,organic and inorganic chemistry, drafting, physics, and some engineeringcourses that I can no longer remember. My school required students to take one general studies course each semester. I doremember those courses: Philosophy of Religion, Existentialism, Philosophy of Science, China:Since the Revolution, and Women and Work: The Australian Experience. Some of itwas fun and the engineering courses were mostly boring. One day I was lookingthrough some pictures of the recent chemical engineering grads and noticed thatthey all looked like dorks and that Icouldn't picture myself being part of that group. So I determined to change mymajor.

So now what? I figured that I needed to graduate insomething but I still didn't know what. So I fell back on the classic advice:do something that you love. I had always loved geography at school andinvestigated a transfer to the Schoolof Geography. I hadlittle idea what people with a science degree in geography did, but it soundedlike fun. And it was! The next couple of years flew buy. I studied climatology,soil science, arid zone geomorphology (landforms), and other similar things. Mygrades where good and I was invited to do an extra year of study by the head ofschool and ended up with a B.Sc. (Honours). That looks funny to me now butthat's the Australian degree. It's basically a 4 year B.S. majoring ingeography. My professor wanted me to continue in the master's program but I waseager to move on.

So I'd graduated with a degree having changed my major onceand still had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was in theperfect place to try some things, toinvestigate, and to live my life.

And whatever happened to my two buddies? One switchedto medicine. He's had several different careers in medicine, the latest beingpsychiatry. The other buddy completed his chemical engineering degree and wentto work for Shell Oil. He no longer works there.

Here's how he describes it:

Defense Recruiter is a new national networking organization for corp recruiters in the defense and government contracting industry. Membership is moderated, and you must be a corporate FTE recruiter or hourly contractor to join.

You can also join the Google Group.

On a related subject, go listen to Peter Clayton'sTotal Picture Radio interview with Shally, LinkedIn, Reloaded.It's 28 minutes well spent.

We could spend months talking about what new hire quality actuallyis. There are all sorts of metrics to measure it. For me a quality new hire issomeone who does a good job and who stays with the company for a reasonableamount of time. Sure, we could define what a good job constitutes but we're notgoing to do that here. Consider these questions: Is the manager satisfied withthe employee? Are co-workers happy to work with them? Is the work product morethan satisfactory? Does the employee create problems or challenges for othersto fix? Would you like to hire another person just like them? You get the idea?And what about reasonable tenure? How long that is will depend on theindividual company. It could be anything from days to years depending on thejob and situation. So bottom line is that quality has something to do withperformance and duration.

So do corporate recruiters care about new hire quality?I suspect that most do. If you're in it for the long haul, you'll want to besure to hire people who do good work and who last. Surely you don't want todevelop a reputation for quick fills that don't work out? There isn't much jobsecurity in having to fill positions a second and third time. But what of theargument that the corporate recruiter is mostly a facilitator and that thehiring manager is the one who actually makes the hire/no-hire decision? Here'swhere you can distinguish yourself as a truly professional corporate recruiter.If you think that a hiring mistake is about to be made then it's your job toexercise appropriate leverage to influence that decision. You do care aboutquality...right?

The Big Cheez

You can follow me here. 

So what value will twitter provide for me? I have noidea yet but I'm watching...

Search by keywords for groups to join on LinkedIn.com.

There are thousands of groups to join on LinkedIn. However, LinkedIn does notyet have a "group search" feature. I have noticed many of us LinkedInmembers asking how to find and join groups. My goal was to provide us with asimple solution.

New groups may take longer to display in the search results pages. Therefore,it is advised to search often for the types of groups that interest you themost.

Supports Google's Advanced Search features.

Examples:
"alumni", "marketing -web", "certified ORcertification".

searches 3 sites, including: www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation*,www.linkedin.com/e/gis/*, www.linkedin.com/static?key=groups*

Are there any contenders to replace the resume as we knowit? The hullabaloo about the video resume seems to have died down. Sure, thereare some vendors touting various advantages of a visual approach. A search for"resume" on YouTube yields about 23,700results but  the video resume hasn't madea dent in the lives of either corporate or agency recruiters. I guess you couldsay that profile pages on Myspace, FaceBook, and other social networking sitesare a kind of resume. But pictures of your scantily dressed friends partyinghard are probably not the best way to attract a potential employer. LinkedIn profiles are probably the mostwidely used alternative to resumes but they are so similar to the traditionalresume that one could easily argue that they actually are resumes. But the factremains that by far the majority of people looking for their next gig will start their search by dusting offtheir resumes.

So there seems to be an opportunity for someenterprising people to invent something better than the traditional resume.Something modern. Something electronic. Something searchable. Somethingportable. Something, well, something that fits with our modern culture...

This Podcastwill answer many questions you may have had about why build a LinkedIn network,why you might want to build a large rather than small network, quality versusquantity in networking, how to use LinkedIn day to day, how much time it takeseach week, why be an open networker, and why bother to have an on-linepresence?

Looking at the cover letters, resumes, and other things from these clueless people is a bit like watching the early auditions for American Idol. I've weaned myself offthat activity but these are just too good to pass up!

See some of my favorites here,here,and here.

Let's look at several different scenarios to see where thebest candidates fall:

1)  Joe Always Looking is always open toevery opportunity. He just took a new job but he's ready to jump shipimmediately if the pay is better, for a grander title, for a shorter commute, orjust about anything. Take a look at Joe's resume. How many jobs has he had inthe last 5 years?

2) Emily Never Looking is never open totalking with you. She never returns your calls and only answers your call ifshe picks up the phone by mistake and then she ends the call abruptly. Don'teven think about asking Emily for referrals. Of course you'll likely hear fromEmily the same day the layoff notice arrives.

3) Nancy What Have You Got is open to anew opportunity if you catch her interest in the first 10 seconds when you callher. She's happy at her current job but reasons that it just makes sense tokeep an open mind. She's a realist and knows that a seemingly secure job canevaporate in an instant.

4) Jeremy Open Networker is always workingto expand his network of contacts. He believes that the more connected he isthe better. He'll often refer candidates to you just to help them and you.He'll give you leads and is open and friendly. He's probably totally happywhere he is but wants to be connected with you.

5) Joyce Quit Calling Me is pissed offbecause you called and bothered her. She'll call your boss to complain if youdon't cut it out or at least will threaten to do so. It's a race between Joyceand you to see who can get off the call fastest.

I could go on. There are lots of other examples of the typesof potential candidate interactions out there. Should you care? Probably not!If you're making calls to generate new candidates then you are going to have tomake some calls. Most of the people you reach will be polite and some will beinterested. But should they be interested?

In a declining economy candidates should be more aware ofthe lack of security of their current position. In the good times, wheneveryone is fat and happy, many people believe or hope that things will go onforever. Reality is that nothing continues the same forever and those same fatand happy candidates will be clamoring at your door when the wind changes.Recruiters who have established strong relationships during the good times willhave lots of people to call and lots of candidates calling them.

My view is that every candidate should always beinterested in a brief conversation about a new opportunity with a recruiter.It's just such a short sighted and narrow view to not be interested. However,if you're hearing a lot of "not interested" when you call, perhaps the problemisn't with the candidates but with your approach? The rejection to your callisn't personal but the results you produce are.

Just in case you run into this guy, the substitute nameused was Alok Bhargava. No doubt that name is bogus. The email address used wassoftdspace-tabaf@yahoo.com.

Is a stable job history good? Is an unstable job historybad? Both are true and false incertain situations. Read on to see why.

The first thing to consider is the requirements for theposition you're trying to fill. Is it a regular, full-time position or perhapsa requirement for a temporary worker or consultant? Does the client tend tohire people with stable job histories or do they focus mainly on experience.Startups tend not to care much about job history while Fortune 100 companies tendto care more. So consider the job and the client before accepting or rejectinga resume based on job history.

If you match resumes with requirements primarily by matchingskills then clearly job history doesn't much matter. In fact the more jobssomeone has had the more likely that they have been at least exposed to a widervariety of experience. This kind of matching is prevalent in temporaryplacement. It makes sense that this is true because, by definition, temporaryworkers aren't expected to stay in any job very long. But what if you'relooking at a resume of someone who has had 3 regular, full-time positions inthe past 10 years and now they say they are interested in a temporary position?They probably are getting desperate and need the work. Nothing wrong with thatbut they are not likely to be as strong a candidate for temporary placement assomeone whose resume is full of temp jobs. Of course, if the job is temp todirect then they are ideal because they will likely make a good direct employeeshould they convert.

Now let's say we have a resume with 8 temp jobs and one 2year regular, full-time job over the past 5 years. Would you represent such acandidate for a regular, full-time position? The best answer is maybe but it depends. It depends, ofcourse, on the whole story but I'd probably present them as a temp to see howit works out.

Consider the case of someone who has had 5 jobs in the past10 years. Twice their employer went out of business and they were laid off 3times. Unlucky perhaps, but they are probably not a very strong candidate.Their judgment about what companies to work for is questionable. They may havea history of settling for what they can get. And a history of being laid off isnever good. I'd probably keep looking in a case like this.

What if the resume you're looking at is for someone who has20+ years with the same company right out of school and they tell you thatthey're looking to see what's out there? Folks like this are really hard toplace. They are certainly stable, too stable! They only know how business isdone in one place. They have no variety of experience. Unless your company orclient's business is very similar to where they currently work, placing them ishigh risk because they will likely have a difficult time adapting to a newenvironment. I'd probably keep looking.

The reason for giving you these scenarios is to make itclear that job history does matter. It may not matter in the way you firstthought it may when you started reading this blog.

Thoughts? Please leave a comment...

• Spock plans to include every living person and every person ever living.

• Spock is not a social network site. It is a people search engine.

• Spock users do not have to do much to get a lot of value.

• Spock is quickly becoming the #1 place on the Internet to find great images of people.

Go listen to the podcast.It's about 19 minutes long.

When you're done, see if you're already on Spock.

Read What's Written
Lots of the best lessons are explained in detail in myere.net article: ExpandingYourLinkedIn Network. Many of those lessons were first written about by ShallySteckerl. You can see one of his blogs from way back in December 2006 here.

Prime the Pump
I remember a great story, told with much gusto, by ZigZiglar where he explains how to prime a water pump. For those not familiar withold fashioned hand pumps, there's a lot of work at first to raise the waterlevel from the well so that it flows out the spigot. Once primed, however, a slow,steady, rhythmical turning of the pump handle is all that is needed to keep thewater flowing. My LinkedIn experience is like that. Yes, it took some time tobuild a complete profile, to invite some power networks,and to do all the other things that are mentioned in various articles andblogs. But now it's easy! Just 5 minutes a day and my network continues togrow.

Is It Worth It?
Sometimes I question if building my network was and is worththe investment? Almost every day someone contacts me with an opportunity. Someof those opportunities are wonderful. I've found that the best candidatesactually do research! They target a company with which I consult, they find meon LinkedIn, and they contact me with a request for assistance. Now you knowI'm going to look at their resume and at a minimum will email them back.Oftentimes I'll forward their resume to the recruiter who is working the requisitionthat interests them. What I've created is a network that is feeding themachine. And the contacts that result, I assert, are significantly higherquality than those that result from other commonly used means.

Spam
Spam is not a problem. I talk a little about spam in myarticle but it's worth reiterating here that you can't avoid spam but you canmanage it and apply the right tools. There is no substitute for a great spamfilter. I use gmail and theirs just works. If you're like me you probably gettons of email. I find that the very best way to handle LinkedIn communicationsis on the LinkedIn site. That way you are not adding to your email load. There aresettings for just for just about every form of communication on LinkedIn and Irecommend that you set most of them Web Only.

Drive to 10 Million

My next goal is to reach 10 million connections onLinkedIn. If we are not already connected then connecting with me will give youaccess to all of my 1^st and 2^nd level connections. Myguess is that you are probably not connected to all of those almost 600,000people already. If you'd like have access to them then please send me an invitationby following this link. Sometimes, and I have no idea why, following that link results in a Profile Not Found message. In that case please just search on Simon Meth and you'll find me right away.

Thanks's for reading and looking forward to connecting with you on LinkedIn...

So what's on my desk today?

• 1 Administrative

• 3 Legal

• 17 Engineering

• 10 Finance

• 3 Human Resources

• 3 Information Systems

• 5 Operations

• 2 Sales

That's 44 requisitions with very few duplicates, located ontwo sides of the U.S.,in at least 8 different disciplines. Maybe you could handle that and still havetime to spare, but I can't so I've had to come up with ways to continue to beeffective rather throwing in the towel.

1) What there is to do today is what there isto do today. What I do today is what there was to do today. Sounds weirddoesn't it? But it's clear that I am not going to do more today than I actuallydo today. Now I may wish that I could do more but that's a pipe dream. When theday ends I'll have done what I did and nothing more.

2) Who's screaming the loudest? It worksbest to return calls and get to work on the tasks for the hiring managers whoscream the loudest. You know the types: those who call multiple times each dayto see what you've done since the last time they called. They are not goingaway! Find some resumes. Send them and move on. Maybe you'll have a few hoursto work on something else before the next call?

3) Work the funnel. Most experiencedrecruiters know the funnel analogy. The resumes flow into the funnel and theplacements flow out. When you're overloaded and you just don't know what to dofirst, just work whatever is closest to flowing out of the funnel. So you'dclearly extend an offer if you were ready to do that before you'd call areference on another candidate or source candidates for another requisition.

4) Give some work away. What's on yourdesk that you can give to others? Ask you manger to reassign some reqs. See ifyou can get assistance with other tasks. Can someone else check some referencesfor you? Perhaps someone else can screen some resumes? You get the picture?

5) Update your managers. You may have donenothing for a particular manager but hiding from them only creates more workand creates an unhappy customer. What follows may actually be my favorite thingto do: preferably call, if you can't do that then email, and let your managerknow that you know their req is important and that you'd like to give them anupdate. The update may be that you have time scheduled to screen some resumesin the next few days. Make sure you really do have it scheduled and they'llappreciate the update and will look forward to resumes in a few days.

6) Schedule everything. If you're runningfrom one fire to another and getting nothing much done then you probably have ascheduling problem. Schedule everything you have to do. Be realistic about howlong things take to do. Schedule catch up gaps. For example, where I consult,we conduct debrief meetings following every interview with the entire interviewteam. Meetings are routinely scheduled to last 30 minutes which is fine formost groups but one of my groups always takes longer than that. I block thefollowing 30 minutes for all their debriefs so I won't get behind.

7) Schedule some more. Didn't believe mein point 6 above? Schedule everything, and I do mean everything. If it isn't onyour schedule then it isn't getting done.

8) Set realistic expectations. This isoften touted as a great thing to do. Make promises that you can keep. Declinerequests that you are able to decline. Keep your lines of communication open.Let people know that they may not receive the same high level of service fromyou that they are used to for a period of time due to your increased work load.

9) Eliminate the non-essential. Whenthings really get out of control you're just going to have to not do somethings. Are there meetings that you can decline? Are there things that you can moveto a list of things that will be good to do later but are not important enoughto be on your schedule and therefore will not get done now or anytime soon?

10) Run screaming from the building! I'mnot really serious about this but you may just need to take a break or risktotal burnout. I have to force myself to heed this advice because I'm a get it all done when it is supposed to bedone personality. I can usually do that but not always and my default wayof dealing with too much to do is to just work harder and longer. That worksfor a short while but not for long. Sometimes you just have to stop and smellthe roses. The work will still be there when you come back.

So what do you think of this list? Any other practicesthat you use when you have too much to do?