Archive for April, 2010

What is a Career Anchor, and how will it guide your job search? Unemployment can be devastating. It can also be an extraordinary journey that can lead you to you to your innermost self. Being unemployed offers the opportunity to discover, and uncover what it is you truly want to do. To do what you are, not what you know how to do, can lead to personal transformation.

When I was in graduate school studying organization development, I was introduced to the work of OD leader, Edgar Schein.

According to his website: “Edgar Schein of MIT has identified eight themes and has shown that people will have prioritized preferences for these. For example a person with a primary theme of Security/Stability will seek secure and stable employment over, say, employment that is challenging and riskier. People tend to stay anchored in one area and their career will echo this in many ways. ” (The link provided annotates Schein’s scholarly work)

What does understanding organization behavior, culture and change have to do with your job search? I contend that when a recruiter’s placements fail, it is in some measure because of a lack of due diligence to match the candidate to the culture. Conversely, job seekers don’t connect the dots to honestly assess whether or not the culture of the company with which they are interviewing is a match with their work style, personality type, values, and personal culture. Culture is the hidden ingredient to a successful transition.

First, you have to know yourself. Find an anchor, and do competitive analysis to determine if the organization is a fit. Too often, job hunters focus on skill sets, faulty job descriptions, vague explanations spoon fed to them by hiring managers and recruiters. (Please don’t cane me fellow recruiters-I know the good ones make efficacious assessments-and make informed decisions based on the available data).

This brings me to my next question, what do you do when the company with whom you are interviewing isn’t giving you a complete picture. Face it, some hiring managers don’t understand the question, “describe your organization culture.”

Now, the ball is in your court. I suggest you read more about Schein’s Career Anchor tool. It’s brilliant, and will provide you with insights you would not otherwise glean from your MBTI or DiSC profile. The Strongs Interest Inventory is too general in many cases. FiroB is not easy to understand without a trained facilitator. SHL’s Occupational Personality Profile is impossible to understand without a thorough WPS work place profiling system’s skill-based job profile.

An excellent career coach can take you through the Career Anchors Inventory, s/he can help deepen your knowledge and understanding of culture.

@HRMargo

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Failure is success when the lessons we glean create a stronger foundation. Failure can prune the soul of hubris, rid the mind of detritus, and like a swift slap across the face it can wake us up.

Photo credit: mconnors from morguefile.com

Abe Lincoln lost 5 elections before he was elected President in 1860. After his sweetheart passed away in 1835, he suffered a well documented nervous breakdown in 1836, but did that stop him? NO it did NOT!  He served with dignity, held his head high, and was respected by his peers.

As human resource, social media and recruiting professionals, we observe the phoenix rise from the ashes on career trajectories repeatedly. Change is growth. Failure is growth. How else can we know we are succeeding unless we have a benchmark of humble life experiences. The point is this, organizations learn from their failures.

Bill Boorman wrote a personal message on his blog today that moved me profoundly. He wrote candidly about his experience during the recession with bravery and valor.

Losing everything can be devastating, but there’s something the banks can’t take: our dignity, our integrity, and our self respect. Nor can business failure rob us of compassion, our lessons, and our spirit. I understand this all too well. What failure can do is deepen the grooves in our hearts, and give us the chutzpah to go on and do great things. Use crisis and failure as a spring board for learning. To learn, and not repeat mistakes can be a profound benefit. Fail spectacularly parties took place this year, and people in HR shared their horror stories.

We can laugh, but first, it’s ok to cry, to take inventory, and to grieve our losses. Sometimes, we have to grieve the dream, the Imago, the Archetype of what our failure represents. Once we get our arms around what our failures symbolize, our intellectual paths deepen, open and transform. I believe in transformation, faith in humanity, and the strength of character within each human being.

Career Development experts know this to be true. In our genesis of being, there is a still, small voice that speaks to us in truth. Listen. In the final analysis, life is school, so we might as well take the curriculum.

Your Twitter Pal,

@HRMargo

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If This Video doesn’t give you chills, and a sense of gratitude-nothing will!

Our differently abled Americans need recruiters, and hiring managers to value their talent. Our veterans and differently abled workforce become invisible, they fall through the cracks sight unseen. Yet, their voices must be heard. They WILL be heard on an upcoming episode of Compassionate HR with Josh LeTourneau, Gerry Crispin, Steve Levy, and Dave Mendoza. Please read Josh’s Post From Fistful Of Talent.

He articulates the importance of coaching veterans how to interview. He articulates how we can support our vets through transition. Josh, Gerry, Dave and Steve are on to something here. Their work is groundbreaking and I invite each of you to get involved (call to action time). Read Gerry Crispin’s inspirational article, he invites us to join a worthy survey effort regarding the disability candidate experience.  Imagine, being in a wheel chair, arriving on time for an interview, only to find you can’t make it up the stairs? Let’s change that.

Our workforce can only be strengthened when we put our differently abled veterans to work.

The Disabled American's are Differently Abled-Not Dis-Abled. They have strong skills and are worthy of a great job!

Many of our veterans have been rendered with disabilities by wars. They are NOT disabled. They are differently abled perhaps, and they deserve our respect. Our veterans, and people of different ability are still strong and capable human beings who can and want to work.

Don’t patronize a disabled American, hire them; they are gifted, and able human beings. A poignant article by the FederalTimes.com reports that The Federal Government is not doing enough to attract retain, and accommodate these incredible workers.

Unfortunately, many erroneous perceptions exist about their plight. For instance when a military veteran, fresh from the field returns homes, the business community doesn’t welcome them with open arms. As Steve Levy said on my show last week, “Hiring managers are afraid they are going to go postal,” whatever that means: it’s hogwash. Levy started a movement, 1000 recruiters of light. Veterans will be paired with a recruiter and will receive one to one coaching on how to get prepared to re-enter the workforce. Gerry Crispin and Dave Mendoza have embarked on a similar mission, and are working tirelessly to mentor, help and find jobs for our military veterans.

Today, and everyday ask yourself, what can I do empower our gifted, all too often invisible veterans and disabled workers in transition?

Please comment, share an experience. If you are a veteran, share your thoughts. Your voice is important to me. You matter in my life. And, if no one has told you “I care about you,” today, let me be the first.

Your twitter pal,

@HRMargo

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Yes, Glen Cathey is a genius. That’s not news.  His take on Semantic Search is.  Considering he is the black belt of Boolean search strings, hearing him discuss semantic search at the recent ERE Expo was eye opening.  Recently, I attended  a teleconference demo with the worldwide leadership of Monster.com.  Last fall, they rolled out their semantic search for recruiters and companies.  Now it’s gaining popularity among job seekers.

Glen Cathey The Boolean Black Belt

I’m going to break the 500 word blogging rule and deep dive into content.  Glen explained semantic search on his blog -here’s the link

At the recent ERE Expo, The Boolean black belt said: “Stop wasting time creating difficult, complex Boolean search strings.”   That nearly knocked me off my chair.  Glen had my attention.

He analyzed vendors that provide intelligent search, and suggests there’s a place for them.  It’s not the only place of course, but hinted it makes sense, at times, to use applications that can do the work for you.

Semantic pattern recognition will change how we recruit in the future.  Give AI a string/cluster, and semantic search and artificial intelligence will do the work for you.  Semantic Search on monster.com uses technology for Resume parsing. It takes a resume, and it chops it up by with semantic search capabilities.  It’s intuitive. Machine learning identifies skill sets, how long that skill has been used by the candidate, and how that skill has been applied to their recent jobs.  Parsing breaks down and extracts resume information, and it enables fielded contextual search.

Regardless of how sophisticated artificial intelligence becomes, we will ALWAYS need human beings to use the technology to make program, analyze, and interpret the data. Human sourcers can deduce potential experience, even with contradictory evidence, or the absence of information.

Semantic clustering, and unsupervised machine learning is a reality.  We still have much to learn.  I found it interesting that a person can program an algorithm to make decisions, using pattern recognition. AI aims to classify data patterns based on either prior knowledge, or on statistical information that’s extracted from patterns.

Some applications use statistical methods in an attempt to understand key words with the same, or similar meanings within natural language parameters.  Semantic sense tends to be close in units of google distance while words with dissimilar meanings tend to be farther apart.  One can use word and phrase variations, and  fuzzy logic will pick up misspellings.  Glen says “we ask too much of people to expect perfect resume.” Some people might not know who to find the best key words to make their resumes stand out. Many high level executives aren’t on job boards or linked in-sourcers have to find them. Semantic search can help.

I’ve been communicating with monster.com about their 6Sense semantic search technology since February.  I’m not going to assert I’m an expert on this topic, but I’ve been giving it careful consideration since the beginning of the year.  The CIA doesn’t use boolean search, in fact, if you suggested they do, they’d laugh in your face.  They’ve been harnessing semantic search for quite some time. There are critics who say their 6Sense semantic search lacks the strength that open web semantic search products like (Pure Discovery) has to offer. Pure Discovery’s search capacity is unsurpassed, according to Josh LeTourneau.

I contend that for the average job seeker, it’s a good start.  

Monster developed a unique product.  They purchased the technology from Trovix (which is no longer in business).  Here’s how monster describes their product:

“Developed through Monster’s 2008 acquisition of search leader Trovix Inc., Monster’s 6Sense patented semantic search technology utilizes intuitive, concept based searching, with a human-like understanding of the recruiting process and hiring needs. The 6Sense precision matching technology understands job titles, skills, experience level, industries, education and the hierarchy of concepts, evaluating a candidate’s work experience like a recruiter would in a fraction of the time.

While traditional keyword search engines are limited in their ability to distinguish concepts and meanings of words and cannot address things like recent vs. dated experience, the intelligence of the 6Sense technology contextually interprets the meaning behind words and concepts rather than relying on the narrow non intuitive search strings.

Monster’s 6Sense technology boasts it can reduce the time it takes to find the ideal candidate.  One of their clients said it only took 3 days from the time he signed on to use 6Sense to source, interview, and make a placement.  Cathey says, “It works well for position where titles effectively identify matches, and where there is a low volume and variety of key words.  Glen is the consumer reports of search technology.  After all, he is the Boolean black belt.  He reviewed artificial intelligence, and has written positive reports about monster’s 6Sense technology.

There’s been a lot of scuttlebutt of late that Job Boards are dead.  They are not dead, in fact, they keep evolving and improving.  Semantic search, which it’s artificial intelligence/machine learning capacity is exciting. Some recruiters say the big job boards like Monster are a last resort.  However, in Cathey’s report, he helped a fellow recruiter he was coaching find a candidate.  And, guess where that candidate was? Monster.com. Sometimes the needle in the haystack can be found in the haystack.

As the technology for semantic search improves, the way we source and find candidates will follow suit.  Boolean strings will always have a strong place in recruiting.  My key point is simply this: we have to keep our minds open to all the new tools that come down the pike, apply critical thinking measures to determine which are best for our searches, and using critical thinking, make informed decisions.

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This charming video created by Marie Journey symbolizes the excitement, and glee of connecting. Her cheerful voice says it all. TruUsa and SourceCon without a doubt had the biggest impact on my professional development than any other event in 2010. The video above was shot right before SourceCon, and it was the first time I met Marie Journey and Geoff Webb in person. I embedded this video because the same level of excitement was ever present at TruUsa.  The Men of HR were there, and boy were they hot! Check out the Calendar all the proceeds support Orchid Cancer Research. Orchid is searching for a cure for testicular cancer.  The Calendar will most certainly make you smile.

Joan Ginsbergy, Geoff Webb, Robert Long

When I arrived, I was greeted by Geoff Webb (who’s way cuter in person).

Jerry Albright and Ray Anne Thorne

Ryan Leary asked me if I recognized him. He doesn’t look like his avatar at all.   Richard Long’s NZ accent is incredible.  Several women and I asked him to “say this word, say that word.”  He graciously obliged.

Jerry Albright looks like a rock and roller, and he is so much more gracious in in person.

That was the joy of TruUsa, seeing the difference between people online and in person.  Sarah White “ImSoSarah” and Shauna Moerke “HR_Minion are every bit as lovely in person as they are online.  If we could bottle the happiness in Shauna’s laugh and market it, we’d be rich.  Sarah was so funny, and bright.  Sarah, Ryan, and Rich DeMatteo are not a fan of my late-night driving, but we did have a fabulous time at the Great Dane Brewery.  Turns out Marie Journey and Jerry Albright are pool sharks, and Jeff Lipschultz and Craig Fisher are Foosball pros.

Sarah, Shauna and Margo at The Great Dane Brewery

Maha Akiki, Marie Journey, and Chris Havrilla Tru Usa

Maha Akiki is the brains behind the organization of the TruUsa Unconference.  She is one of the most approachable and welcoming people I know.  Chris Havrilla, who I met last November at HRevolution led a track on social media tools with Craig Fisher, and Jeff Lipschultz.  Chris is incredibly knowledgable and always willing to share.  Of all the tracks offered, theirs stands out as one of the best.

I wanted to include a photo journal as a part of my TruUsa experience. The people I met, and the friends I made will stay with me in my heart and mind. If you attended TruUsa, or know the wonderful people in these photos will you please leave a comment? Thank you.

Kevin W Grossman, HRMargo, @BozziePup

RadicalRecruit and DriveThruHR

Jeff Lipschultz and HRMargo Rose

Craig Fisher "@Fishdogs and @HRMargo Rose"

My Twitter Niece and Nephew Sarah White, ImSoSarah, and Rich DeMateo, CornOnTheJob

@Akiki Maha and @HRMargo The best unconference organizer around. She's the glue that holds the TruEvents together

Ray Anne and The Band-She's Drop Dead Gorgeous and She can Sing and Dance.

The Red Recruiter was not at TruUsa, but if he had been, I would have worn these!

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