Posts Tagged ‘HR OD Recruiting’

Mobile or Noble? You Can Be Both!

You don’t have to be noble to go mobile.  On the other hand some people think they are too noble to go mobile.  Mobile apps for job search, you can love them, you can hate them, but they aren’t going away.  Tonight I spent most of the evening digging into the Facebook Apps Chachinko, Beknown, and BranchOut. Monster, and Career Builder have mobile apps, as do big corporations like Starbucks, and AT&T.  I wanted to test just a few.  I downloaded LinkUp and played with the Indeed Mobile App on my iPhone.  I built out my networks, beefed up my Google+ connections, linked it all to my smart phone.  Then I spent a chunk of time testing these apps.  Here’s what I found.

LinkUp is my favorite mobile job app because it leads you ONLY to jobs posted by companies.  No spam, just jobs, good jobs at that. It’s on my iPhone, and I like a lot.

Beyond.com is an iPhone app that allows you to surf jobs at lightening speed.  I was really bothered by the push Ads you had to scroll through to see jobs. (Not cool, but I guess they have to pay for it somehow). I also noticed their jobs were not current.

Indeed is a great aggregator, and the jobs on their mobile app are easy to access.  The iPhone app works great, it’s smooth, and simple to navigate.  You can easily email jobs to yourself if your resume isn’t saved on your smartphone for distribution.  Indeed had the largest database for social media jobs, and I was impressed.

Mashable is an amazing app, particularly if you want to find out about jobs in social media, and the digital space.

LunchMeet is one of my new favorite mobile apps, you can contact any of your LinkedIn contacts, and set up lunch, or coffee meetings with a few clicks on your mobile phone.  Very smart indeed.

Chachinko lured me into applying for a very cool position that sent me to a spam site where in order to apply for a job, I  had to sign up for an ‘educational assessment.’  In other words, it’s was spam.  I reported it on their Facebook page.  That’s the fun part of being a cyber sleuth and checking out the jobs these apps lead you to-it’s hit or miss…but as a secret shopper, I’m often surprised that the newer mobile and Facebook job apps aren’t more careful. Chachinko is the new kid on the block, and they are going through growing pains.  It’s still worthwhile to check them out on Facebook.

Talent.me is in my top 5. As a social media recruiter, I love it because it is easy to find people, as a job seeker, I love it because the profile buildout is robust, and the ability to shine on that Facebook App is great.  A lot of recruiters are watching this one, so get on it.  Make sure you profile on this (or any App is 100% complete).

BeKnown is much cooler than I originally thought.  I had fun building my network, recommending my friends, and their jobs looked pretty good.  Downloading it to my iPhone was easy, and fun.

BranchOut has a lot of potential.  They are on the right track.  I like the way they connect people, and relevant networks. They have  1 million monthly users.  Not too shabby.  (I’m also partial because they recently hosted an HFChat on Twitter). You can import your resume. Watch it because when it imported mine, it eliminated my recent jobs, and aggregated my experience under the oldest job on my resume.  I  opted to cut and paste my LinkedIn summary instead. Sometimes you have to tweak your strategy.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be watching the mobile, and Facebook job app world, as I’m giving three presentations in Jan/Feb.  I’ll keep you posted about what I find.

I purposely didn’t link back to all these apps until my research is finish, but it’s easy enough to find them yourself, just search any of the above mentioned in the App store on your smartphone, or on Facebook.

Happy hunting,

Margo

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The toxic workplace.  How many of us have seen them?  How many of us have worked within them?  You don’t have to be the environmental protection agency to condemn an organization’s culture a super-fund site.    How many times has your system been poisoned by lethal bosses who are emotionally violent?  While these questions are pointed, and my language is strong, I implore you to consider the damage that a bad boss, or a toxic work environment can do to your health.

With unemployment still rearing its ugly head, most people that have survived the massive cut backs are in many ways stuck.  Some have survivors guilt, particularly after seeing people they grew to love depart from the organization.  The pressure mounts as organizations have to do more with less.  And who does this hurt?  YOU!

If your organization doesn’t have a healthy culture, you might find yourself feeling torn to bits.  Sometimes the organization is broken at the systemic level.  Sometimes it’s toxic bosses that poison the well.  Regardless, if you are stuck in a workplace that’s eating you alive, and keeping you up at night all is not lost.  If you wake up in the morning dreading getting out of bed, you are not alone.  Here’s a few of my ideas to help you survive.

1) Create a short-term survival plan. Decide what, if anything you can do.  You might want to use a tool called mind mapping.  Mind mapping allows you to brainstorm on paper, and organize your thoughts. It’s an excellent planning tool.

2) Do a spot check inventory of yourself. Ask yourself honestly, am I contributing to the situation? How can I make it better. If there is something you can do to improve the surroundings around you, figure that out, and put your good ideas to work.  Sometimes it’s not about you.  Sometimes is the people around you, or perhaps you have what Chris Pentilla calls a “Boss Hole.” Bob Sutton wrote a good book on this topic, “Good Boss, Bad Boss.  If you are plagued with one of the many profiles of a toxic boss, read these articles for more insight.

3) Make an exit strategy.  Work with a coach, a friend, or even a family member to discuss your situation.  Design your signature path,  put the wheels in motion to get out.  Finding a new job doesn’t begin with a job board, or your resume.  It begins with you.  Dig deep down into your gut and decide once and for all what would make you really happy. Then craft your resume, create a job search strategy, and start networking.  I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to take the path of self-discovery first.  It will help you build a firm foundation upon which the rest of your career is built.

4) Desperation is a gift.  Our desperation can turn into inspiration.  It is a pivotal shift that can shape our new life. Use your sense of feeling stuck as a spring board up and out.

5) Blow the whistle.  Most organizations have dispute systems where bad behavior can be reported. Don’t get paralyzed by fear.  Go through the proper channels.  If you feel your physical, or legal rights are being violated, and you have the courage to report it, then do it.   That’s a personal decision that only you can make.  Only you can decide if you want to live with the consequences of doing so, but if in the final analysis you decide to launch a case, know that there will be plenty of people in the online community that will support you. The point is: you are never alone, so you don’t have to feel isolated.  There are so many people in our HireFriday community who may have experienced the same thing, and could support you regardless of what you decide.

The good news is this: most companies have dispute systems where offensive behavior can be reported.  If your organization has a union, it’s much easier to file a grievance than not.  However, if someone is violating your rights, or if you feel you are working in a hostile environment, get help.  Taking action is a very personal decision.  Only you can make that decision.

I’ll leave you with this final thought.  If you ever need someone to talk to, connect with someone on our HireFriday Leadership team. Whether you stay, or leave our HireFriday community is here to help.

Your job search pal,

HRMargo

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This week, I interviewed two recruiting industry titans, one controversial, one gentle giant, both were extraordinarily interesting: The Recruiting Animal, from BlogTalkRadio, and Jeff Lipschultz of A-List Solutions. (hint-hint, you can hear the show now if you click on the Compassionate HR tab on top of this page.)
Their stories with both shock and amaze you. One thing’s for sure, they will open your eyes to things you may on not considered before.
Both of these recruiting experts have done service work behind the scenes.  Most people don’t know that Jeff Lipschultz has two degrees, one of which is in engineering.  He used to be a columnist for AOL.com, and he continues to write for career-blogs around the US, and is sought after as a speaker, and recruiter alike.
For intance, Jeff Lipschultz rode his bike cross-country to raise funds for LiveStrong, which was founded by Lance Armstrong.
The Recruiting Animal works behind the scenes to help individuals from all walks of life improve their Twitter profiles.  Animal, is perhaps the most misunderstood social media phenom of them all.
What I do now is go behind the scenes to tell the true back story of the lives of my guests, their triumphs, their failures, and most of all what they learned from it all.  My primary goal is to uncover their contribution to society, and to their communities.
Listen, and you decide:  http://blogtalkradio.com/comhr
And don’t miss tomorrow, I’ll be interviewing Guatam Ghosh, the brains behind Brave New Talent!
Via www.blogtalkradio.com

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This week’s guest host for #HFChat is Dave Ryan, SPHR is the Director of Human Resources for Mel-O-Cream Donuts International in Springfield, IL. He has been in HR since it was Personnel.  Dave is also Director of Social Media, and Chief Blogger for the Illinois State Council of SHRM. On his blog site, HROfficial Dave talks about his role in HR and his role as USA Hockey Certified Referee. Dave has two sons and a wife of 32 years.  Dave is active in Social Media, SHRM, and Ice Hockey and loves all things electronic. You can find him on Twitter asDaveTheHRCzar, Linkedin and Facebook. Here is his topic:

Hire Friday is an event that has been around for a long time, at least in the twittersphere. If you have been out here in the HR space you would know this. The genesis of show is based in “good,” and is the brain child of HRMargo.

I have been friends with Cyndy Trivella for quite some time. We interact on twitter frequently. Well recently, she asked me if I would Guest Host a chat session.  I was flattered, honored and flabbergasted all at the same time, but without question happily agreed to do so.

So part of my responsibility as the host is to frame the discussion with a concept and five questions to drive the discussion.  The concept is gaining employment in a small to medium size organization, compare to large organizations.  So here are the set-ups and the questions.

Just like gaining employment in a larger organization, finding a cultural fit with the organization is crucial.

1.) How do you learn about the culture of a small privately-held Company?

Smaller organizations may be more difficult to get specific information about products or services, however if you have some mastery about the Companies offerings you will appear to have a leg up on other candidates.

2.) Where do you go to get good insight on a small Company’s product or service line?

Smaller Companies often times do not have the resources (dollars) allocated for research, marketing or other project.  In an interview you might be asked to solve a $500,000 problem with a $5000 budget.  This often involves technology or equipment.

3).Do you have a story of effective and cost effective problem-solving which might intrigue a small Company recruiter?

While most of us HR veterans know that nepotism is not a good thing, you should be prepared to see it in a smaller Company.

4.) Working in a small Company, how can you prepare yourself for dealing with management decisions involving nepotism?

We have talked about many of the down sides of smaller employers.  There are also many opportunities that a smaller Company would afford an employee that a larger Company could offer.

5.) What type of opportunities might you get in a smaller Company that you might not get in a Fortune 500 Company?

Ok so there is the discussion for Black Friday #HFchat. I hope to see you on the tweet stream.  – Dave “theHRCzar” Ryan

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