Big O Recruiting

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2008-11-12T10:00:00.001-08:00

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New Blog

2008-10-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hey all. I thought that I should let you know that my new blog home is www.marenated.com or you can visit me at www.marenhogan.wordpress.com. I hope you like the new format (although I still am not so much of a wordpress genius). Change your RSS feeds and get ready for me to talk about some cool stuff!

Omaha News, SPN, ROWE, Highlight MIdwest

2008-10-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

A bit of a local flavor to tonight's entry. Wanted to mention the great things that Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson (and various assorted mad genius crew) are doing with Silicon Prairie News. As soon as I get my blogroll up and, well, rolling, I will for sure have this excellent site as one of the top picks. Want to know what's happening in Omaha's entrepreneurial and tech communities? Go to SPN! Also, I like that @jjsnyc calls the SPN facebook fans, SPN'rs.

So one of the very exciting things that SPN is implementing is The Big Omaha Conference. I don't want to spill the beans, but Jeff is working on getting some pretty inspiring folks here.

Also of note, webdevgeek is asking @caliandjody for Omaha or Midwest employers that are successfully using ROWE. I have some answers for that!

Speaking of conferences, HIghlight Midwest is coming up and I will be in Florida! I cannot believe I am going to miss it but I know it's going to be jam packed with great speakers and tons of smart people.

Whew!

Ahhh, one last thing. I wanted to let you see my take on being corporate now. Scoot on over to Fistful, won't you?

Working for the man every night and day. . .

2008-10-08T21:30:00.001-07:00

[youtube=http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=54XRNQ2C2x0]So quite a few of you have been asking. ( I promise, evenutally this site will be far less personal and far MORE useful), but I wanted to mention that my new position, what it entails, how I think it will benefit my career overall and some key things I learned in the negotiation and role formation process.

My official title is CMO (Chief Marketing Officer). However, the title is pretty misleading since I have three major roles and a myriad of functions. I work for a financial services company (which owns three other financial services companies), where "the market" is also the majority of who we're recruiting.

Departments where I stick my nose:

Marketing- This is my creative outlet, I design and brand the entire firm and its subsidiaries and I love every minute of it. Creation, design, copy, layout, distribution are all MINE. Web, print, multimedia, events.

HR- I am responsible for the small amount of HQ employees. By year end, that will be at about 20 or so. I deal with interviews, offer letters, retention but NO COMP AND BENEFITS.

Recruiting- Yeah, I finally get to use the skills I have been sharpening for the last couple years. We recruit an outside force. Much of my marketing comes into play for employer branding and retention, since I am in charge of the numbers I then have to run and distribute.

Okay, so when you write it out, it sounds like a lot. But this is a small firm and even more key, I have absolute autonomy to build and run the departments as I see fit.

Oh my goodness, I am just realizing that there are SO many posts that can come from this, but for the sake of brevity, I will discuss the hiring process. As many of you know, the economy is . . .not great. So as employers began to say "Thanks, but no thanks" (usually in the form of hiring freezes) to outside recruiters, I began to market product packages that including sourcing, employer branding or consulting on how to build a talent pipeline while they were. . .frozen.

I had quite a few happy customers and one company in particular contracted with me for a substantial amount of time. Virtually every week I would get offered a full-time position with the company, always I would say no thank you. Meanwhile, I treated the client with the utmost respect, I rounded down when charging hours, I ensured projects were completed on-time and under budget and I made several key hires that would have cost a lot more had I been charging a contigency rate. So when my now boss came at me with an offer I couldn't reasonably turn down, I said "Yes, BUT. . ."

"Yes, BUT" can be a very powerful negotiating tool. I made sure he was aware that even if we could not come to an agreement on responsibilities, work schedule, further training and so on, that I would be happy to continue to contract with him at our agreed rate. We both knew there was no pressure and proceeded to go through a two week negotiating process that ensured we were both thrilled with the deal by the time the papers were signed. However, he was aware that I was not going to settle for anything less than what I received, in terms of compensation and flexibility, from my former employer.

I wonder if it's a bad sign that we began negotiations on Black Monday?

So that's it. I am now working for the man. However, I am also promoting my personal brand and consulting with all of my former clients (that I can reasonably take on at this point) with his full blessing (another stipulation). There is so much more to tell but I will leave it for another day, thanks for listening and thanks for asking (People asked!)

Talent Anarchy teams up with Chamber

2008-10-08T21:29:00.002-07:00

Young Professionals Training Series

Get Connected, Get Ahead - Thursday, Oct. 16
This seminar explores the amazing power of relationships and provides practical tools and approaches that will enable individuals to unlock the power of relationships in their personal and professional lives.

Reservations are due by Tuesday, Oct. 14.

Step Up: Taking Charge of Your Future - Thursday, Oct. 30
Step Up provides individuals with both the understanding of how to take control of their careers and the tools to do it. This seminar will illustrate that the path to success travels through authenticity, intentionality and accountability.

Reservations are due by Tuesday, Oct. 28.

Make It Happen: Leading Through Influence - Wednesday, Nov. 12
The Make It Happen seminar teaches participants that influence involves understanding the perceptions, desires and motivations of others. Make It Happen will give attendees the skills of influence they need to become empowered to lead in any situation.

Reservations are due by Monday, Nov. 10.

Sessions will be at the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, 1301 Harney St. from 3 - 4:30 p.m.

Sessions are $25 each or you can attend the series for $60. To take advantage of the special price for the series, register for all three sessions no later than Tuesday, Oct. 14. Space is limited.

All sessions are presented by Jason Lauritsen and Joe Gerstandt.

Things I am sorry for

2008-10-08T21:29:00.001-07:00

1) For never responding to comments that lovely and amazingly smart people left for me. I never had any idea that people were reading my blog and didn't get comments emailed. It was poorly constructed and I feel like a jerk for never responding. I am pretty sure Dan Schwabel would kick me in a sensitive area if he found out about this.

2) For having an exceedingly large picture at the top of bigorecruiting.blogspot.com forever. The site is still active but I am trying to port things over slowly and steadily, this should be a much better solution for all, which brings me to number three. . . .

3) Sorry in advance for all the little hiccups that will accompany this move. Sorry that the videos in all my video posts aren't working yet (you can click on the vodpod link to the bottom right), sorry that most of the badges of places I hang out aren't working well either. Hopefully, I will get those things fixed in the next few days.

4) Sorry that my blogroll has been so sparse up until now. I would like to start adding the blogs of people I have benefited from, soon. I was waiting until the new design! :)

5) Sorry to Eric Shannon, who sent me a badge to put on my site and I can't figure out how to post it or where. Sigh. Working on it!

Would it kill us, part two.

2008-10-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

Would it kill us part II:

Yesterday, my mom and I were talking about the economy (as we all are lately) and I told her a bit about the post I wrote. I mentioned that I was getting some pushback on it and she looked stunned. "Why? You're absolutely right!"she stated. I smiled and said, "Well of course you do mom, most of my strong opinions were basically formed under you and are, in essence, mini-your opinions." So it made me wonder, what my mother and her generation think about this and why she and I would agree on this. So let me tell you a little bit about my mother (and her mother).
When my mom was 11, her father died tragically. Her mother, my Grandma Lily, who had two children to feed, could not get a job anywhere, because jobs were scarce and they had to be given to men "with families to support". My grandma did not have the time or the money to mourn, no insurance paid for that. Lily painstakingly painted lines on her legs each morning to make it look like she could afford hose and went out looking for a job. Eventually, realizing the cards were stacked against her, she began taking in baby sitting, washing and ironing.

My mother won a scholarship to the prestigious music school Juilliard. However, there were no loans available for living expenses and she was forced to give it up. She married my dad, also pretty strapped for cash, and they made their living singing and playing in a band until I was born. My mom worked at AAA while I was a baby and put my dad through computer school. My dad, with little more than an associate's degree and child support to pay, fought his way to Director Level at a large company in Silicon Valley (just in time to pay for my wedding!). My mother went on marry a military man and raise five children. Both she and my step father studied for and achieved multiple degrees. My mother received her Juris Doctorate when I was 15, she is now studying for her Doctorate in Music.

My parents bought houses they could afford, took advantage of every GRANT (not loan) that was available to them, used a good chunk of their retirement to HELP us through college (each child has had to pay the lion's share of their college expenses) and raised a family of five in times of plenty (roasted lamb at Christmas, trips to Disney World) and times of want (powdered milk and a rusty old Blazer that wouldn't start on cold North Dakota mornings).

It has been amply pointed out that the crisis we face is of larger proportions than the hardships my mother or even my grandmother experienced (I will let you argue with them on that one). Maybe true, but I think there are lessons to be learned here. There are actual skills we can take out of this. I do NOT want to punish anyone, but discipline in our lives, spending habits and the example we're setting for our children will make us a better nation.

So without further ado, I present my top ten list for how to deal with this mess:

10) Watch Cinderella Man
9) Ask older, wiser business mentors what they did and would do
8) If you are worried about your job, find a way to make a difference NOW. Create something tangible.
7) Learn a new skill. Cooking, sewing, repairing your own car.
6) People will hate me for this. If you are so stressed about money, get rid of cable.
5) Sell your extra stuff.
4) Volunteer somewhere. True devastation might change how you feel about your situation.
3) Educate yourself. Further your education.
2) Let go of the assumption that security is your right and should be provided to you.
1) Talk to your mom. She'll tell you whatever you're doing, is right.

Would it kill us?

2008-10-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

There has been so much talk lately of how horrible things are, how horrible they've been and how horrible they are going to get. And it sucks. It's scary and a lot of people have lost their jobs and their homes and a good chunk of their retirement savings and it bites the big one. I get it.

But ever since I was a little girl watching "Little House on the Prairie" or listening to my grandma Lily explain her distaste for margarine, I have secretly envied the massive hardships suffered by other generations. Not because I am a glutton for punishment (I certainly HATE suffering) but because I wondered if my generation had actually been tried. And worried that if we were tried, we'd be found wanting. . .

Now I'm not so good with the numbers, but it seems that we've had market suckfests before and recovered. And I'm not going to try and get political and mention the word "bailout" or anything. I'm just saying, would the hardship kill us? I'm not sure that it would/will.

I feel that my generation is pretty scrappy, not because we've been through so much but because we've been given so much. When Jeremy and I first married I remember thinking that we were really lucky because we got to purchase a house for under 6%, while our parents told tales of 14-23% in their day. I was grateful that I had access to a safe and secure car with inexpensive gasoline, instead of the scary Pinto that gave off fumes (and eventually caught fire. . .)which my parents owned when I was an infant. The reasons go on. . .I learned how to work from home because of the technology available to me, the fabu "interwebs" that allowed me to "fax" (so I'm an edge millennial, sue me)or email my stories to editors while my babies were. . .babies. The idea that Nebraska, while near exile to my mother when we were stationed here 20 years ago, is now a central location where I can do everything (but catch a nonstop flight) I need to on the coasts.

So now, armed with my ROWE ethic and iMac and a super low mortgage, I am able to feel like I can take on some of what's coming. I think that my generation will surprise a lot of people when we come through this scarred but okay. Having been tried and tested and found. . .worthy. Like so many generations before us.

Tomorrow I will post my top ten recommendations for what to do during this MESS:

The worst recruiter EVER writes a memo

2008-09-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

I have to give props where they are due. Katie Tierney's open letter to an email she received inspired this post and before my morning coffee no less. So thanks Katie (by the way, for those of you familiar with Katie's work or her Twitter ragings, she is NOT from Texas.)

Dear New Recruiters!

We here at ACME recruiting are so excited that you have come to work for the premiere recruiting agency on Main Street. We're different because we CARE. We don't rely on old fashioned processes or call sheets, at ACME we flit from opening to candidate with no real framework even in place! But I am getting ahead of myself.

Step 1: Go sit at your desk. Do you see a phone? A subscription to Monster and Dice? Great! You are now a recruiter!

Step 2: Now getting on the phone is really scary and ACME realizes that. Take heart, here the phone is only used when a candidate or client calls you. We expect that very soon, the phone will be ringing off the hook. To "hook clients" ACME recommends the following:

- a barrage of mass-mailed, poorly worded emails with confusing links so the client HAS to call
- Punchy, colorful postcards with as little information about your current openings or specialization at all
- If you MUST pick up the phone, do it during your customers' lunch hour OR after work, so they are forced to call YOU.

Step 3: Hopefully, by now you have risen above the competition and people are calling you with job orders that you and only 11 other agencies are allowed to work on.

Step 4: Getting candidates is not hard. War for Talent? A myth! Especially now. All you need to do is find a profile that even remotely matches the Job Description you hold in your hand. Email them and call them relentlessly and then when you realize they are NOT a match, reverse market them to companies that didn't ask for anyone even remotely like that. It's wise at this point to forget all about your original JD to focus on the candidate.

Step 5: If you can't find a candidate for the client, forget about it. The payoff (which you likely didn't negotiate, ACME doesn't have a "set rate") isn't worth it anyway. If you haven't found anything for the candidate either, do not (under any circumstances) call them, email them or treat them like a person. It will only encourage them to think that you are an employment agency and ACME is staunchly against that.

Step 6: Sit back and reap what you have sown.

Brendan Shields from ERE made a video and I helped :)

2008-09-27T18:03:00.001-07:00

Wow, I am stunned. Here is me sandwiched between the likes of Susan Burns, Craig Fischer, Scott Love, Gerry Crispin, Dennis Smith and Jerry Albright. Special thanks to Brendan Shields of ERE for not making me look like an idiot.

Getting a job can take forever

2008-09-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a bit about the "talent industry" (for lack of a better term, if you think of one DM me) lately and while I think that recruiting in particular has taken some significant strides, I also think that the compartmentalizing we do to make OUR jobs easier can sometimes make the initial picture (to the average job seeker) more complex. For example, say a sourcer or researcher finds your information online BUT to flesh out your profile, they have to get your number. Depending on their job, they may find it online or they may call (or have their phone-sourcing counterpart call) your place of employment or home and get the extension. THEN, they hand over the profile to a recruiter and that person, maybe a pre-recruiter, maybe still the sourcer, calls to see if you are interested, presenting the position details (but not ALL of them). Once you have agreed to look further into the job, be presented that is, your profile is sent to the internal HM or recruiter, who (yay!) decides they want to interview you. Before this happens you may have to talk to the account manager (in some shops sales and client management is a different person and this person presents the candidate to the client for interviewing), they vet you a little and you jump on the phone screen with the internal HM. Oftentimes, in a perm position, that person will be within the HR department and possibly not the manager you will report to. So, say you ace that interview, and you are called back for another with the reporting manager and their department head. At this point, you, the job seeker (yes, even passive ones) may have spoken to at least 8 people about this ONE position. It's exhausting and takes time to go through all this. And this is before YOU the job seeker, have heard the final offer or been taken on site (if the position involves relo). Is this a sound practice? Does it make the process go smoother? Or does it make for a rocky road for anyone seeking gainful employment. This could be why so many vet recruiters insist on proteges who have run a full desk. Just sayin'. . .

RecruitFest (first annual) or I left a boot in Toronto

2008-09-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

Every so often you meet people with such a sense about things, such innate instincts that it awes you. That is the sense I had about Jason, his team (amazing wife and coordinator Michelle) and the teachers that he'd chosen to the lead the tracks at RecruitFest 2008 in Toronto.

Jason Davis is someone I consider a friend, so the opportunity to go to a conference he envisioned and implemented, particularly in his hometown, seemed like a no-brainer. But as the event got closer, I wondered if I could truly be objective of this "unconference" for recruiters.

I shouldn't have worried. In effect, RecruitFest addressed (in its differences) some of the issues I have with conferences at large. This is not to set it up as competition (although with a price close to a 4th of what other conferences charge, it could be) but to point out that there is value and some significant tactical advantages that can result from re-imagining what is.

RecruitFest's differences started in the promotion: There were no glossy mass-mailed slicks, no weekly email blasts, nothing but personal invitations from Jason and others who thought RecruitFest was worth a trip across the border. Also not present? bags of goodies, massive screens, brightly colored booths, and not a single iphone giveaway! (Please do NOT misunderstand, I dig iPhones and goodies and am nearsighted so big screens are not offensive, I am drawing "perpendiculars" if you will).

10 am Friday- I arrived early, as I am used to conferences beginning at some ungodly hour. But there was little to do but eat a leisurely breakfast and watch the guests arrive. Old friends and new faces, all were welcomed but at first the differences were not terribly obvious. People were at first reserved, there was some tentative passing out of business cards, all standard fare at these things.

But everything standard went straight out the window when we walked into a room filled with drums. A drum circle often conjures up visions of sweaty lodges, Birkenstocks and "finding yourself". However, with an energetic (and grounded) teacher who made it more about team-building and rhythym than anything "granola", it was a surprisingly efficient way to advance intimacy between participants and get energy going for the day. (IMHO, waaay better than asking your neighbor three things about themselves, yawn-ish).

Once that was done, there was no oversight of which sessions we went to or in what order we went to them. All the participants were encouraged to attend only three of the four sessions led by John Sumser, Susan Burns, Craig Silverman and Scott Love. One thing I didn't see? People standing in the halls. Ever. Another thing curiously absent? People tapping away at their laptops in the back of the room. In the sessions, every face was rapt with attention, every opinion was given floor time and even seasoned veterans were scribbling notes. People were (gasp) learning. . .

You have probably read write ups about the poker party and accompanying dance party/jam session that took place later at Jason and Michelle's beautiful home. Read more here and here. See pictures here.

On Saturday, after some (ahem) intense yoga, we had a great social media session led by the incomparable Dennis Smith, not about the how but the why.

But you've likely read about the sessions and I don't want to synopsize what the session leaders could likely do much better. What I want to discuss were the effects. From sourcing geniuses to multi-talented, in the trenches recruiters, to big billers recently featured in the WSJ, all the participants walked away:

- with their voice being heard
- greater pride and understanding of the industry
- practical ideas to help grow their business
- having just spoken with some of the greatest names in the industry
- inspired to take their honed talents back to the field
- pages and pages of notes
- a deeper sense of community (particularly important for isolated third party shops)

I could go on and on about RecruitFest, I really could (I think I actually have) but let me say this: When someone who loves the industry, has worked the industry from many different angles, and who effectively brought his entire family into the industry decides to hold a conference. . .you should go. You will not be left unchanged.

Two sweetheart Canadian ladies who should be mentioned: Alex and Maha, you ladies are great! Thanks for the shopping trip! And of course, Susan Kang Nam, my lovely (much neater) roomie.

Also I left my boot in Toronto while racing to catch the plane because I cannot apparently set an alarm properly. Hence the title.

first step/essentials in the recruiting process

2008-09-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

Talking about the very first essential step or framework that one needs to launch a successful talent management plan. I wrote my answer (one of them) here.

Finally! I have something to write about!

2008-09-17T16:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, when you write a blog, twitter constantly, make little videos that no one watches and have a constant stream of visitors into your office, picking your brain, etc. AND get offered three jobs in one week, you tend to. . . well, run out of things to say.

This can be murder on actual relationships. Since social media (while climbing in the ranks) is not generally accepted as a money making practice, most of us have to do it on our off time, or flit in and out during stolen lunch breaks. (In my defense, I think that social media "breaks" take less time than smoke breaks but whatever). Even RIGHT NOW, my wonderful husband is trying to say something to me and since I am FINALLY able to think of a blog topic, it's difficult to figure out what, exactly he is saying.

BREAK>>>> Okay, it was about how I am leaving him to go on a trip tomorrow to Toronto for this and my whole family is coming over while I am gone. What a trooper.

Anywho, sometimes, you run out of things to say. You think of great post ideas and then realize that someone already wrote them and wrote them better. You get so involved doing your job that it scares you that a simple process can make everything so simple and if THAT'S true then whatever will you write about? I am convinced now, that this is why Van Gogh cut off his ear. He just ran out of stuff to paint.

So, loyal readers, sweet impressionable recruiters, techies and friends. I'm sorry. Even though the fires of politickin' are roaring, Galveston is wrecked and the Dow fell over 500 points Monday, I am still at somewhat of a loss.

Oh well, I hear this this Brazen Careerist writer is having the same trouble, so I don't feel so bad. . .

Dream On

2008-09-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

This post is kind of personal FYI

The other day I realized that through all the high and low paying jobs I’ve had, my main “what do I do all day” has been writing. Writing, designing and talking. That’s what I get paid to do. By lots of people.

So the question that begs to be asked: Why would I do (essentially) the same job for different levels of income?

(The first answer is that as I worked my way up the ladder I had to take the lower paying jobs but there is more to it than that. To this day I write for sites where I make .30 per word and sites where I make $55 per 1/2 hour and jobs where I make $15 per story or write/design for free!)

Answer: Because it encompasses two really important components of any job/career search.

1) Your Dream- Your dream is what you always wanted to be. And if you are realistic or at all interesting, there will be more than one of these. In my life I have wanted to be an actress, a singer, a scientist, a real estate guru, a clothing designer, a rockstar, an interior designer, Miss America and Marie Curie. Oh yeah, and a writer. Most people are unaware that I wrote a statewide winning essay on ethanol in the fourth grade. It was literally meant to be. Writing jazzes me up as does speaking. I was told early on that I had serious speaking chops.

2) Your Strength(s)- I am a very big proponent of playing to your strengths rather than focusing on propping up your weak parts. There are numerous studies that support this. Obviously, if I were to focus in on say, the Miss America thing (I would not eat and also not be married) then I would not be drawing on my internal or external strengths. If I were to pursue the scientist thing, I would not have been able to (drop) test out of high school or skate through college. I would have had to take algebra 2 (yuk).

There you have it. You can be good at a lot of things and not have them jazz you like the dream+strength equation. That being said, there are so many ways to integrate your talents into everyday jobs (unlike the Miss America one, I guess I could have written out possible answers to questions). I have excelled at being a journalist, a graphic artist, a marketing director, a PR liasion, a CMO, a business development manager and much, much more! These have all in some capacity or another honed and sharpened my design and writing skills.

6 random things- I got blogtagged!!

2008-09-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

So I hope I am doing this right.

* I’m suppose to tell you six random things about myself and then assign this task to six more bloggers.

Laurie R from PunkRockHR told me to do this and I follow orders from anyone who can twitter Kalamazoo as much as Laurie does.

1. I wore an eyepatch as a kid to correct my lazy eye.
2. I have a heart for abused and orphan kids round the world.
3. I once played the cowbell in an SF blues band.
4. When I was 15, I hitched a ride down the coast in a red convertible.
5. I had three kids naturally.
6. I am in charge of (three years running now) of the St Paul Lutheran Bake Sale (for the Sauerkraut Supper!)

Here are the bloggers who are assigned to this task:

1. Happy Employee
2. HR Minion
3. Willy Franzen
4. MN Headhunter
5. Animal
6. Kris Dunn

The rules to play are …

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Resume Response System

2008-09-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

Here a talk a little about the conundrum facing recruiters. Should we respond to every resume? If so, with what medium? Phone? Automated email? Does a resume submission demand courtesy and respect (do you already know my answer??? :)

Resume Rantings

2008-09-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

Most resumes suck. I know, I’ve seen them. I hate to be hard on people and I’ve (impatiently) listened to all the blabbity bloo about how come resumes suck. They are (in descending order of suckiness):

5) My work speaks for itself: This is stupid. No it doesn’t. Work, unless you are a ventriloquist, does not, in fact, speak. So please do not say this. If you are a very high level employee/exec, this may be true but in this changing economy and with cutbacks, you may not be so high level tomorrow. So have some humble pie. Your work needs a platform and so far the resume is the best venue for that, so USE it.

4) I’m not in sales and I don’t know how to sell myself. OM. Whatever. I have worked in enough offices with enough braggarts to know that everyone has a story. Yes, there is always the sweet lady in the corner but even she knows how to brag about her grandbabies. Take that equation (timeline+goals+accomplishments) and write it out.

3) I have only been at one company/job/hot dog stand. Spin it baby. Here’s a post that tells it better than I do. But seriously, if you have to drag volunteer work, unpaid projects, church stuff out of the hole then do it. BTW, you do know you should be volunteering and freelancing right? No? Well the blog is new. YOU SHOULD.

2) I don’t need a fancy resume to be a great waitress, assitant, hot dog stand guy: Yeah you do. Because even if that is your role for life, there will be a time when you need to prove why you are the best for the job. Whether it’s negotiating a raise (careful bosses get torqued about this one), justifying why a company should keep you on when budgets are getting slashed or when you find yourself flat out of a job, that resume better be up to DATE. I recommend refreshing every six months as you learn new skills.

1) I usually stop listening at this point. Don’t read the blog if you don’t want job advice. The truth is, 98% of the people in this world are AWESOME! I can meet anyone and have a truly fun and exciting conversation. People are great and guess what? You’re a person. So it stands to reason, you are great. So take all those great skills and out them down on an 8.5×11 sell sheet. Pretend you are a product. Would YOU buy you?

Business Week's Top 100

2008-09-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

Gain an early breadth of experience, and then focus on what you do well and what you are passionate about. (John Gardner).

Great Advice John. Should you wonder who this fellow is,, he's one of the lucky 100 that made Business Week's list of Most Influential Recruiters. Things I noticed about this list:

1) Hardly any of these pros were recruiting or headhunting in the US alone. I guess the longtime investment strategy of Diversify rings true in other industries as well eh? (It stands to reason that many of them are multi-lingual as well).

2) Sigh. I didn't want to bring this up, but not one of these top dog exec recruiters (who BTW, bill about 300K ON AVERAGE!) listed their twitter handle and SOME don't even have a blog. Shhhh, don't tell Josh Letourneau. :)

3) Only about 23 females in the bunch. Seems a bit odd because I would say that overwhelmingly I meet female HR Pros and (less so) recruiters. I think this might go back to talent acquisition being a far different skill set that often can lap outside of the venn diagram that we've drawn of HR. Just a thought.

Human Capital Lab-- I get to go and you don't

2008-09-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

I live in Omaha, NE. Many of you already know that. What you may not know, and I didn't either is that we have a real treasure here in our backyard. Bellevue University opened the Human Capital Lab about a year ago and it has quietly been attempting to change the way recruiting is viewed (among other things, the Lab's actual analytics are more geared toward the ROI of employee tuition reimbursement programs).

Anyway, on my recent trip back from Colorado (hanging with Mendoza and fam, yes I am in fact, that hip), I cracked open on of the books founder Michael Echols wrote. Titled Creating Value with Human Capital Investment, the book aims to highlight three themes:

1) The external forces that have and are changing. Echols points out that the rise in value of intangible assets is measurable and staggering.

2) Behavioral and Motivational aspects of the four key groups of people (as these relate to WORK). Basically, this is the part where "people are messy" and how these (hopefully) measurable behavioral cues can start helping to determine the ROI of Human Capital Investment:

By Human Capital Investment, we mean the acquisition of know-how that results from the activities of talent selection, training, education and experience. These are the investment activities that create human capital. -- Michael Echols

3) How to effectively change the company policies and practices to increase human capital.

So far, I have found his hypothesis to be true and impressively measured. When I had the opportunity to meet with Jennifer Murname, Assistant Director of the Human Capital Lab, she gave me some of the background info on Capital Analytics (the firm that crunches the numbers that prove HCL's standing points) and the companies that have taken advantage of this great program (Sun Microsystems anyone?).

"Generals tend to fight the last war" quotes Echols in his book. I am finding that the numbers that the Human Capital Lab pushes out are going to help with these next battles.

Oh, and neener, neener, I get to go to their colloquiums whenever I want.

Tickle me GOOD

2008-08-31T18:03:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to write a post for three days now. Hanging out with awesome friends in Denver, brainstorming for the upcoming RecruitFest and a plethora of activity have put my posting on hold for a moment.

But for the last thirty minutes, a very cute little two year old girl named Siena has been trying to tickle me. And at first I gave her a little tickle back, hoping to appease her to allow me to finish this daggum post. So I gently chucked her under the chin and went back to typing.

Nope. She wasn't fooled. Clearly offended by my half-hearted attempt, Siena came back at me even harder, and again, I tried to pawn her off with a tiny tickle, figuring quantity would win where sunbstandard quality hadn't. No dice. Now remember this is Mendoza's daughter here, so she was bound and determined to ENGAGE me.

So, I shut the laptop, set it down and went at her. I took a deep breath, cracked my knuckles and tickled the heck out of the little princess. She laughed so hard she could barely catch her breath. She screamed, giggled, howled and yelled "TickAAAA" at the top of her lungs. Then and only then, was she able to cuddle down at my side, thumb in mouth and allow me to finish my "work".

I realized that I often apply the same backwards philosophy to my own work. After running the same search over and over, seeking for same old skill set, I forget that only with an enthusiastic, fresh approach am I ever going to satisfy the "demands" of the search. Furthermore, one GREAT attempt at a search will likely yield more quality results than several half hearted attempts.

Quality trumps quantity, in recruiting and tickling. Have a wonderful Labor Day!!

Social Media NaySaying. . .

2008-08-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

Social Media, Social Networking, Twittering, Vlogging, Blogging, etc.

Lately, these things are getting punched in the mouth and it's not a pretty picture. Check it out: First my friend and super awesomated networker Dave Mendoza gets his group disbarred (Dave's Six Degree list is famed among recruiters, meet him, get on it and watch your life change!), then Google and Facebook start making faces at each other; Ning gets grief from former prime vendor WidgetLabs (full soap opera length story here) and finally LinkedIn caps off what it started with a new and NOT improved user agreement.

In between all this rage personal battles about whether or not social media, networking et al are even GOOD things for our or any industry. I still say yes, some say yes with caveats, some sound an emphatic no.

My question is, without the social media stage, who's listening to the naysayers?

Meanwhile, this just in, I rule! My Fistful of Talent post on Working Moms made it to SmartBrief, yeah!

When is the right time to leave a job?

2008-08-25T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here I talk about when you should leave a job. If you know it's not right, is there a benefit to staying? What does job loyalty say about you when you HATE the position?

Travelocity is to Travel Agents as BountyJobs is to . . .

2008-08-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

I was booking my reservations for RecruitFest finally (first lost the passport, then had a schedule snafu, THEN my 2 yr old grabbed the mileage card) so I was booking my travel (online of course) when this occured:
Husband: Chuckle ME: What? Husband: Oh I was just thinking of Christy (his sister, who is a travel agent) fighting the online booking sites tooth and nail. ME: silence. (mentally composing blog post)

It made me think about the "Chicken Little" thinking of so many recruiters and HR Pros.

Ack! New ATS, they won't need us anymore!

Ooof, sweet job board, recruiters will be obsolete soon.

Crud, crazy algorithim thingy I don't understand but am visibly fearful of. . .

You get the idea. Seeing that same fear emerge in an industry which was based on relationship and networking what roughly a decade ago and watching the way they rode it out may have some very real applications for recruiters and the people who structure recruiting tools. Obviously, it's not 1998 and the tools are more sophisticated but Pam Claughton says it best here. And I say it pretty good over here when it comes to fancy tools (where I seemingly contradict myself but it's not so, welcoming change and innovation is different than relying solely on it).

Did people stop using travel agents? Yes, but not entirely. The agents willing to embrace technology and press deeper into existing relationships made their service a luxury rather than an annoyance. The pleasure of speaking to a real person instead of repeatedly clicking "buy ticket now" on the screen was treasured by many. Corporate travel, group travel and luxe travel were all elevated and are now, largely the purvey of professional travel agents.

So don't fret young recruiters or HR Interns, your expertise will come in very handy when you learn to embrace what's coming (already here actually) and set yourself apart from the recruiters who slap resumes up against the wall. In a way, the new fancy computer gizmos can be a blessing because they separate the "wheat from the chaff" and when the end of the day rolls around, you'll still have your carefully crafted expertise and your organically cultivated network. And all the cool tools!

Moms and Work

2008-08-20T13:25:00.001-07:00

I'd love to hear from Moms that are working or heading back to work. If there are recruiters out there working from home, I'd love to hear from them as well? What are you issues? Your struggles? What would be your ideal schedule and benefits package? If you are planning on going back to the workforce, what will you look for in a company?