Digital Recruiting

MyWorkingLunch - 13/8/08

As I'm sure you can tell from my last post the evolution of traditional media in the digital age is something I've been giving some thought to recently. I'm delighted to say that Mr Jamie Leonard, a good friend of all of us at Digital Recruiting, has taken this theme one step further and organised a whole event round it.

For those that don't know, Jamie has been organising a series of "speed dating style" events recently to give ad agencies and media the chance to get together and share information. They go under the banner of MyWorkingLunch and, on a personal note, the feedback from the members of my team at Barkers who have attended has been excellent.

On the 13th August they are running a "Print to Online Migration" event in London for traditional media to update agencies on their strategy in this area. You can find more information on how to book your place here.

With a number of key media and agencies already signed up it promises to be a very interesting afternoon! Oh and I won't mention who the guest speaker is ;-)

Matt

Old Media = Fail....but what dies first

Well I don't know about you but I've had a madly busy July that has been severely curtailing my blogging time. Don't worry though I've got some proper posts brewing....one on the proliferation of micro blogging platforms (Twitter, Plurk, Jaiku, identi.ca and Pownce to name a few!)and another which will be the next in the death of the CV series.

In the meantime I just spotted this on Mashable. Some interesting thoughts on the decline of old media........

Matt

Calling all Second Life Avatars (current or lapsed)

...and yes you 7ft tall, squirrel headed amazonian beauty - that means you Dave!

I’m currently talking with a Second Life developer about ways to use what is such a rich experiential environment in establishing more beneficial and engaging recruitment and assessment environments than the quick on the uptake, headline grabbing but generally pretty flat executions our industry has produced to date.

Well this lady, and yes she really is a proper real world lady too, is running some research about how people find their initial orientation - the experience you have on first entering the site that shows you the basics of what you can do and how to do it. In her words:

Second Life is a wonderful environment but it is complex and it is always a difficult call how much you try and tell someone and at which point. I suspect that quite a few people drop out of the Second Life experience because they don’t quite understand how to use it. I’d like to think that we could develop an induction programme that gives people a good start (without giving them a headache) and then encourages them to stay and take part in SL.

So if you have ever dabbled - or indeed are still dabbling - in Second Life then would you be so kind as to spend a few moments and complete this questionnaire.

The survey will run for a while - but if she gets anything back that might be of interest then I’ll be sure to pass it on.

thank you...Guess Whybrow

From Career to Cremation

Just read that Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com has decided to move into the obituary business. As a further assault on the revenues of classified newspapers, he has launched Tributes.com, and so it would seem that nothing, not even death is sacred to newspapers quest for survival.

The website will be in competition with the likes of Legacy.com and will make its money from selling ads, flowers and other such paraphernalia. Its a rather morbid topic but with families being scattered around the globe, the ability to pay your respects and show your loved ones how much they have meant to you, must mean, the reach of the Internet is the perfect and inevitable vehicle.

Not too sure if its an area that the UK online newspaper industry have developed sufficiently yet. Although I have to say, making money out of peoples grief at a time when rationale thinking is scarce, has always sat uneasily with me. I do hope the rates are reasonable.

Some desk based nostalgia and reflection

I’m currently doing a bit of office life laundry. Clearing out a desk after 6years, even with two office moves and an additional desk move or two along the way, throws up some interesting items.

Thought I’d share some things I’ve learnt, thoughts I’ve had and questions that have been raised by this whole episode:

1. As my own boss will I ever again need an “emergency tie”? Sure I’ll attend meetings where it may be advisable to ensure first impressions are smart and possibly even formal - but I’m not so sure that I need a tie to make a good account of myself, especially at a meeting called last minute at the behest of a client (potential or existing).
   
2. Shared wisdom is that vitamin pills don’t really go bad / off - watch this space for updates as to whether some labelled best before 01-07 have any noticeable side effects.
   
3. Secret Santa is a lovely idea - but if it gets to February and the thing is still in your desk then don’t worry about hurting that persons feeling and bin the flippin thing! If you haven’t done it by the following December then be environmentally conscious and recycle it for someone new to your particular Secret Santa network and donate your fiver to charity.
   
4. Unlike vitamin pills my recommendation is to pay attention to best before dates on chewing gum. (just trust me on that!)
   
5. I must set about creating a knowledge based wiki for my business before it’s too late and a real effort to do so - so much good stuff has literally been gathering dust on or around my desk or fading as a clipping on the wall next to me. As we work in a knowledge based economy then assimilating what we know and making time to revisit it & keeping it fresh (whilst continuing to learn new and different things of course) has to be pretty damned important, but easily overlooked.
   
6. I’ve been reminded why my first Digital Hire at ThirtyThree got the job. Printed proof reading / attention to detail tests are still a very valid means of assessing junior recruits - well done Mario.
   
7. Where the hell did that time go? Just looking at the photos tell their own tale of the passing years and it’s alarming how this has all been in just a blink of an eye - but nice to be reminded of the memories and a good opportunity to remind myself to ensure making new ones is an absolute priority.

But as a bit of fun - and with the relatively fresh news that one of the industry's nicest and longest standing media guys, I refer of course to Justin Wakeham, has moved on to see if he can teach those yanks a trick or two at CareerBuilder - I thought I’d put a challenge out there. Who’s got the Justin full set of business cards? I’ve got:

• GoJobsite (ahhh - the heady days when life was simple and Havant & Tiptree were the centre of the online recruitment industry)
• Monster
• RetailChoice & CWjobs.co.uk - combined
• Workthing.com - 2 styles of card

Now I know I’m missing one or two (not least the solus CWjobs card - gutted about that), but anyone out there got the full set? I dunno - maybe Justin’s mum is a reader of the blog? Maybe there’s someone else with a collector’s eye / even worse admin than mine.

Or perhaps you have someone else you seem to have tracked (come on - someone’s gotta have a Lister deck that can beat my two?) - or indeed a brand that you’ve seen evolve (I have 3 different styles of Broadbean card - go figure). Go on - give your rolladeck a spin, let the dust settle and take a moment to see which plastic sheath is bulging at the seams ready to burst forth with industry heritage. You know you want to!

Matt's Top Ten most read blogs - the end of a series!

A little while ago I posted a list of the fifteen blogs I'd read the most in the previous month. I revisited my Google Reader stats this week and found out a couple of interesting things. First of all the list had changed quite dramatically:-

1) Cheezhead

2) Louise's UK Recruiter

3) JPIE

4) E-Recruitment in Retail

5) Valleywag

6) Guru

7) Life Hacker

8) Brazen Careerist

9) Adventures in Digital Marketing

10) Jim Stroud

Secondly I realised that the way I read blogs has also changed dramatically. The reason behind this change isn't just because certain blogs are updating more (although that does make a difference) it's because I don't use Google Reader as my only main tool to read blogs anymore.

I also use Twitter and Friendfeed

A couple of examples to show how this works. PDA and Techcrunch were two blogs I used to read a lot via Google Reader and featured quite highly in my list, I still read them as much but now access them in different ways. I link through to PDA via Jemima Kiss updates on Twitter and I read Techcrunch via Michael Arrington's RSS feed into Friendfeed.

Just shows you how quickly things can change!

I won't be publishing a list like this again as I suspect the way I consume blogs will change yet again.......particularly if my new iPhone actually arrives!

Matt

The end of the annual CIPD conference? Change just isn't for some people.

At the not so long ago CIPD Guardian recruitment awards I was half involved in a conversation with a bit of a dyed in the wool old styleee agency type and picked up that, well what I thought was being said anyway, the CIPD annual conference was being canned after this year.

I wondered why and what implications for the Recruitment Industry this might have. I’ve only gone twice myself and whilst the social side for agencies is seemingly the reson d’etre, I would have anticipated the days of presentations and networking would surely hold some value for the rank and file (even if the days of the big decision makers attending is probably long passed). Personally I’ve, in recent years, quite enjoyed the Jobsite et al. LondonGate event that has popped up as a bit of an alternative bash for London bound digital types, but I still thought this was quite a big change in the HR & Rec Ad industry calendar.  But I was indeed mistaken by how I read the conversation - it’s Harrogate that’s being canned as the venue in favour of Manchester.

Old news now for many of you reading this I’m sure, but it struck me as a clear illustration as to just how uncomfortable change makes so many people feel, demonstrated in the way that they could talk about “the end of Harrogate” as if the whole thing was coming to an end. Perhaps I just haven’t been enough to get so enamored with the event or venue? Maybe I’m just too un-sentimental? Perhaps sentimentality and / or fear of change is so ingrained in Recruitment and HR land that that’s why digital media in our sector is still not embraced as emphatically and widely as it should be?

But at the same time there’s almost certainly a counter lesson - whilst Digital Natives come on stream in the employment world and more and more Digital Immigrants become assimilated - there’s still a massively significant population who want, and will continue to want, their world to be forever Harrogate once a year. And whilst the march of time and technological progress will reduce their numbers, they’re still target candidates for many an employer. The counter lesson then: Don't forget the mix, that's all.

Anyway - whilst I was pondering this I also recalled  a Joel Cheesman update about what I guess would be America’s equivalent event - SHRM - and one particular one where he covered off some of the entertainment that could be partaken in. I think, and I could be wrong, but didn’t one year the Guardian or Evening Standard dust off Tony Hadley (and this was well before 80s revival was cool). Well check out the headline SHRM headliners from this year:

CareerBuilder with a live concert from Maroon 5.

SHRM presents Lionel Ritchie.

Maroon 5?! The real Lionel “All night long / Dancing on the ceiling / Hello” Ritchie!! Flippin nora. I guess if the Americans know how to do one thing - its splash some cash (recession or no). Maybe with the digital recruitment element continuing to outstrip all other growth in our sector (and as it will continue to do so) we can look forward to Coldplay at LondonGate 2009? Although one thing I am is a realist and so as this is the UK I accept that it’s more likely to be Coldplace.

Where the hell is Matt?

You might well ask! Lots of travelling and the usual heavy summer (it is summer isn't it?) workload have curtailed my blogging time in the last couple of weeks. I'll be back with some thoughts soon though.

In the meantime the below is how another Matt answered the "Where the hell is Matt?" question. You can read more about him at his blog

The Perfect Employee

Was it inevitable? the Human race replaced by more efficient low maintenace robots? Is this the begining of the end for human capital?

Selfridges has just appointed their first robotic barman, who is described below:

"Robotic barmen don't have attitude problems, they work a bit quicker, they don't need to eat, they don't need loo breaks, so I think they are perfect."

Thinking of getting myself one....on second thoughts, this may give my boss some ideas.

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Just how important is being web savvy these days?

Possibly web savvy is over stating it - but given that the internet is accepted as an immensely disruptive global phenomena, then can you hope to appreciate the potential of it and the speed of change it's enabling if you don’t know how to even use a computer? And how important is that for top jobs - or indeed, THE (debatable) top job?

Picked this up from one of the people I’m following on Twitter (am I becoming a twitter fan? Maybe) and think it raises some very very interesting questions. When considering who should be the next “most powerful person (as things stand) in the world” – surely that person needs to at least be able to “get” why the world has changed over the past 10years and why, at this pace of change, it will be a very different place by the end of a double, possibly even just a single, Presidential term.

And you can argue, I think very well, that if one of the candidates doesn’t even know where the on button is on a computer (despite having what I’m sure would be a “great team of advisors and consultants” etc etc etc) then how can they truly “get” where the world is going to a decent enough degree so as to make some pretty important state and economy leading decisions. Or would a political camp actually concede that the presidential position has actually evolved into not much more than just a figurehead role?

If nothing else – I love the passion of this woman. As I believe the say state side – “you go girl!”.

But bringing this back to recruitment (always good to try and do that on a recruitment blog I think) – I wonder how long businesses can function without having Digital Natives or fully assimilated Digital Immigrants at their very heart of their business. And I mean the very heart. Be that Agency, Consultancy or Recruitment Department in a Blue Chip – it’s definitely time to get with the programme (and you still can - it isn't some dark art), or else get people in places to lead and direct your business who themselves “get”, or indeed "are" the programme.

So – onto the video (borrowed from here):

Mark Soohoo, the deputy internet director of the John McCain, was defending his boss for not personally understanding how to use a computer. Tracy Russo, Soohoo's counterpart on the John Edwards campaign (where she was deputy director of online communication), took issue with Soohoo, and then the fireworks started. Here's the video:

Read more on Tracy’s thoughts here