Viewing June, 2009 Archive

Self Branding

Other than a painful, drunken practice of Frat Brothers and frontier cowboys or the latest topic on Oprah, I’m not sure this term should actually be used as a verb. 

I prefer the noun: “Personal Brand”

As with a corporate brand, your Personal Brand may be something you “manage”  but it is created by the way you work and may not be as you intend.

In corporate America, those of us who do the work of the company (separating from the C-level executives to whom NONE of this applies) are annually evaluated on not only what we’ve done in the last year but how we’ve done it.  Typically a bi-modal evaluation program like this results in great “what” score and a confusing “how” score that is less than anticipated.

Why?

For one simple reason; measuring your Personal Brand (i.e., reality checking it internally at the company) is virtually impossible.

Now HR practitioners will argue that a 360 degree review (where your Mgt, co-workers and subordinates are all anonymously polled and the feedback provided to the individual) account for this internal Personal Brand check but anyone who has been through a 360 knows that’s not true.  So not true that I once completed one for a manager of mine and in our next 1:1 she said to me “I heard your voice in my review”!!  I had been honest and made some grueling recommendations for improvement in her “how”, was assured it was confidential and low and behold – she parsed the comments out and knew what I had said.

Needless to say, any 360 degree review I was involved in from that point forward was a highly edited, cliff notes of what the true feedback could be.  This is true for a large majority of people being polled in these “feedback” sessions.  Your true Personal Brand is what is said about you around the water cooler.

So what does this look like (inability to accurately access your true Personal Brand) in real life?  Let me ask you if you know this person at work:

1. Considers himself a “SME” (subject matter expert).  Note; I said “considers himself” not “is considered by the team/group/company!
2. He’s always adding his 2 cents to a conversation, even when he’s not really part of it.
3. Acts like he’s always too busy so that any time he gives you is perceived to be at a premium.
4. Asks for ideas and input but does what he originally intended to do in spite of it.
5. Lets everyone know every time he has a conversation with an executive and it always seems to be that this Exec asked for his advice.
6. Eats lunch alone.
7. Is never invited to the after work impromptu beer gatherings
8. Has been in his same job for 10 years + (consistently passed over for promotion)
9. Bugs you.

Now when someone asks this guy how he’s seen at work, he’ll rave about how he’s respected, consulted and admired.  But, is that the way you really feel about him?

Before we can go about “managing” our internal Personal Brand, we have to find a handful of honest co-workers, supervisors and subordinates who will tell us the hard-to-hear truth.  And then we have to accept it with grace and go about changing the things that caused us to shudder when we heard them.

Fact is, YOU have some things you can change today to make your self-brand better – are you willing to hear them and do the hard work to change them?

Recruiter Match Race

Since Thoroughbreds were first brought to the American colonies more than 300 years ago, match racing — featuring one man’s horse against another man’s horse — has been an important part of the sport of racing. In the 1800s, match races took place with regularity.

None was bigger than Seabiscuit vs. War Admiral (you may have seen the movie).

So I just read the “Recruiting’s Smart Experiment with Social Media” article on ERE and in it one of the quoted Recruiters said;

“As the only recruiter, it’s hard for me to sit there and Tweet all day (something she says often goes on with independent recruiters). I’m not a beginner with Twitter. I think I know more than a lot of people out there. But it’s time-consuming. I am glad I work really fast. I’m glad I can multitask. My cell phone is loaded up on tweets. Some people just Tweet all the time.”

I also read a great article by Seth Godin about what people really want out of social media and other “connections”;

…….the fact that what people really want is the ability to connect to each other, not to companies. So the permission is used to build a tribe, to build people who want to hear from the company because it helps them connect, it helps them find each other, it gives them a story to tell and something to talk about.

So I got to thinking; if I put together a “Recruiter Match Race”between a modern, Social Networking Recruiter vs. an old fashioned “smile and dial Recruiter”, who would win?

I believe Seth, that people connect with people not with companies.  Maybe the hardcore Apple fans will argue that they hang on every word the mother ship utters but few people will argue that they really enjoy connecting with a company.  Even employees don’t necessarily connect with a company!  Heck, that’s why employee engagement is such an illusive subject for HR folks!

So if you are a recruiter who believes the size of your facebook “Tribe” or the number of people following you on Twitter make you a better recruiter (better than my headhunter with a research list) PLEASE send me an email or comment on this post and tell me why you think that.

By the way, Seabiscuit was a 4 year old (ancient in horse racing) and War Admiral was the new, innovative favorite.  Here’s how the result was written at the race track:

“When they were at the last furlong pole, it was evident that the race was over. Both jockeys put up their whips and Seabiscuit, going strongly, the Admiral a very tired colt, the bay won by three open lengths.”

Dogpile on the Job Seeker

I never watch nature shows where they show one animal eating another because I find nature very brutal.  It’s always the sick or weak or young that are getting eaten and it’s never with a knife and fork.  While my college education provided me a backdrop on natural selection and the food chain – I’d rather watch CNN.  Here, I can see many of the same predatory behaviors being acted out by civilised people in business suits.

For instance, recently there has been a rash of what I call “dogpiling on the job seeker” – spamming them with false hopes of jobs, treating them like a commodity, internet phishing scams simply becasue they posted their resume and now the worst of all – charging them money for the false hope of getting a job.

I recently received a newsletter from one of the “6-figure” job boards – it came from their CEO (as it usually does) but I can’t believe a C-level executive would put this in writing.  However, this particular job board has always charged job seekers (they let you have a “free” account where you can see summaries of jobs available and even be contacted with “someone wants to talk to you” offers but if you really want to make contact with any of the companies – who they charge for postings now – you have to pay to get connected.  Charging job seekers and employers in this market) so it shouldn’t surprise me that they view the millions of out of work people as a great revenue source. 

Here’s how the “Newsletter” read;

Good Monday morning, Phil,

…And what I’ve discovered over the years I have been in this business (9 years in job boards, none in recruiting – PH) is that it takes a professional writer, who is familiar with what recruiters are looking for, to turn your resume into a very effective advertisement of your skills, talents, abilities and background.

 …

we have seen average applicants per job rise from 15 per job two years ago to 26 today.And that extra competition means you have about 10 seconds to stand out – to ensure that your audience can find exactly what they need to know about you, and find it fast.

And those are the most important 10 seconds in your job hunt.

Are you going to leave your fate in the hands of an amateur?

 

 

So here’s a guy who’s probably reviewed 100 resumes in his lifetime (look him up on linkedin) telling his readership that they all need to go hire a professional writer to create their resumes or risk their FATE!

Whew!  I’m so freaked out I’m going to go hire a professional PR Firm to manage my job search becasue without it, I’m leaving my fate in (que the vampire music) my own hands!!

Actually, I’m just freaked out that a Harvard educated (”with high distinction”) CEO would be this transparent.  You see, neither he nor anyone in the traditional job board industry is actually interested in helping you get a job.  Proof point: if he WAS, he’d be writing about how tough the market is and that you may actually have to go get a “survival job” to carry you through this downturn.  He’d write that you may have to put your ego in check and just do whatever you can to keep your house and fancy car or even downsize and go minimalist. 

Oh, but wait, who would sign up to pay him to look at 100K+ jobs if those people who LOST their 100K+ jobs started working for less than 100K?  Hmmm…

Instead, he’s advising his “readership” to go “spend money” or risk their fate.  (transparent fear sales pressure) What he’s not telling you is that the professional writer can’t CREATE JOBS which is the only reason people are not getting hired left and right.  Remember 4 years ago?  Who was advising job seekers to get professional resume writing when the unemployment was at 4%?  No one because everyone knew (and still knows) that a resume is a poorly written document, professionally or not. 

I HAVE read hundreds of thousands of resumes in my career (17 years, look me up on linkedin) and I can tell you it’s easy to notice the “professionally written” ones from the “leaving fate to an amateur” models.

I can also tell you it made NO DIFFERENCE in my decsion as a Recruiter whether I put a candidate into a process or eliminated them.  You see, that’s what I get paid to do, decipher resumes, uncover talent and get them hired. 

The moral of the story is thus; in this economy as in ANY economy – as a job seeker you should never have to pay to get a resume, get interview coaching or get a job.  Only job board CEOs and Chicago Congressmen belive you should.

The Message is Now Mainstream

For the last year, I’ve been writing on, quoting, tracking back to etc. any hints that the “candidate is customer” message may be getting the attention it deserves in Recruiting.

While AllianceQ is making great gains in membership and therefore the message is getting out, having it written about in the New York Times means that the message is finally mainstream:

In this new world, candidates’ correspondence to companies is rarely acknowledged. Calls are seldom returned. Status updates are not routinely provided. Rejection decisions are not consistently communicated.

I highly recommend that you read Jon Picoult’s article.  Job seekers will be expecting more civilised treatment now that word is out.