I was recently directed to a post on Brazen Careerist that stated it was okay and sometimes even necessary to burn bridges. The article was interesting and certainly sparked some industry debate. But it brought up some questions I’ve always had regarding the Linked In Feature “recommendations” and I figured it was time to write a post about it. Obviously, LI recommendations is a newer version of the old (use to be obligatory?) references on a resume. 

I recently read a great post by Steve Levy, that outlined his career progression, his lesson learned and his personal views on recruiting over the last quarter decade. It was fascinating and humbling and it got me thinking. First about my career as a marketer (a decade old now!), second as a recruiter (just a toddler at 2) and my new addiction to social media (an enfant terrible, just 12 months old). I’ve been criticized for thinking that the world only began to notice something once I became a part of it, a narcissistic trait to be sure. I’ve always done this with other media:

Social Media is a blast. If you’re a social butterfly, which many of us are, you will find social media to be fun and a challenge, almost a game. I have happily played in the pool of social media for about 18 months now and have been making my living consulting in social media marketing for about six months. The applications to my two fortes, recruiting/HR and marketing are endless, allowing me to weave this incredibly fun, incredibly easy way of communicating into my tried and true strategies from B.T. (before Twitter).

But as Jeremiah O plainly states in his recent Forrester Report, the game is OVER. It’s time to get serious about the effects these applications will have. Yes, it’s nice to have a transparent and witty consultant on your side, but if said consultant can’t prove the numbers, the laughter may start to die down.

Even as mainstream comedians mock it (yes, you Jon Stewart) governments, big business and yes, even our mothers are jumping into it. While it’s not mainstream yet (a recent tweet stated, if you still have to explain it, it’s not mainstream) and it hasn’t jumped the shark as snarksters are quick to proclaim, social or new media is now being taken a bit more sersiously. This university will soon offer a Masters’ in the subject.

I recently gave a speech where I tried to articulate all the Twitter vocab, including such words as “retweet” “tweeted” “twellow” “twitpic” and the like. I casually remarked that if Twitter wanted us to take them seriously, they should have a more serious name and just as quickly realized that Google probably sounded very stupid when it first came out. Now it’s a verb, “Just Google it”. My 2 year old knows what Google is. My 7 year old knows what Twitter is. My 9 year old wants an account.

The truth is we’re putting new words into the vocabulary now. People are discovering ways to apply the technology and manipulate the data to find out what they want to know quickly and efficiently. People are doing business, bypassing email, raising awareness, raising money and advertising their wares.

There are still a lot of mistakes being made, but then the same can be said for direct email and banner ads, both of which have been around for a while. So how do we get people to take this phenomenon seriously?

1) Realize it’s not a silver bullet. Communications is shifting, even the most unplugged can see that. But that doesn’t have to mean that a social media tool comes in to replace every other marketing or recruiting tool we now hold dear. If you’re bad at your job now, all social media will do is let more people know that and…faster.
2) Do your job. I have found that unless you are paid and paid well by an employer to discover as much as you can about something, you should integrate social media into your current position. The best way to do this is by finding the function. Once you find the function of a tool in your current job, you can easily identify, via research the social media tool which can accelerate or transform that function.
3) Don’t sell it. I have not been doing this as long as some, but I have been doing it long enough to know that the results of social media sell themselves to those who are willing. Those who are not will not adapt easily nor will they understand the slowly emerging code of conduct that dictates social media strategy and actions.
4) Don’t embarrass me. You know who you are. You call yourself a social media guru yet no one knows what you’re up to. You say you are a new media maven, yet you recommend facebook for every client. If you want to work in this field, get to know the tools on YOURSELF first, try them out for your business and figure out how they work before mass-slapping them onto unsuspecting and frankly, hungry clients. Figure it out before hanging up your shingle.

Because this is no game.

True Story:

A young man was interviewing for his dream job. (We’ll call him Fred). Fred was in the final stages of the interview, you know where the formal interview room turns into a steakhouse and you get to order dessert and you KNOW you’re getting this job. Anyway, Fred was happily chomping through his asparagus when his boss to be (also the CEO of the company) said: “Fred, we’re excited to have you come on board. We want you to know that XYZ Corp. is more than a stepping stone for you. We want you to build a long lasting career here.”

If you haven’t yet heard of the March 10 article in CFO magazine, titled “Memo to CFOs: Don’t Trust HR”, you might just be living under a rock. Poised to go down in history right next to Fast Company’s post “Why We Hate HR”, the article attacked some fairly sacred trusts in the Human Resources field, including employee engagement, low turnover and even some training and development issues. Beyond that, it snatched away some of the most coveted buzz words in the HR profession including the shining star of HR “Employer of Choice” badge. The roundhouse kick? The article was based on a speech delivered by a professor of. . .Human Resources. In the speech, he sntached strategic recruiting from HR and kicked them in the shins by stating that corporate HR (note the distinction between speaker and subject) “are not businesspeople”.

It’s harsh, it hurts, it’s a corporate slap in the face for HR folks who have been writing, talking, blogging about a “seat at the executive table” for YEARS. But is it true?

HR Capitalist Says: (regarding HR’s general inferiority complex) The folks around you know whether you are any good or not as an HR pro.  I guarantee that.  For those of you who are strong, your business peers know the value. Let’s stop wringing our hands and start acting like we belong.  Please.  Every time you comment on a story like this one, you guarantee five similar studies/articles will come along in the next year.

Gartner’s Jim Hollincheck says: (regarding the slam on analytics provision by corp HR) Unfortunately, this is true in most HR organizations.  However, it is not universal and the trend I see is that more HR organizations want to build a competence here.  There is a lot of work to do though.

ERE’s John Zappe says: (regarding the dismissal of the importance of “employer of choice) I once went to work for a company that was anything but an employer of choice, and I can personally attest to how hard it was convincing people to come work there. Few top performers, including some I counted as close colleagues, would even consider the company.

ZDNet’s Dennis Howlett says: (regarding the one sided nature of the speech) Sure, the numbers matter but HR brings a human dimension that finance lacks. While the vision of the steely eyed bean counter may not be entirely dead, finance is not a place where you’ll find much sentiment. Having HR alongside acts as an essential counterweight to ensure that attention is paid to managing the right people well.

And a social median reader adds a snarky “those who can’t do, teach” intro to the full article here.

So what’s your opinion? Should we do as Kris Dunn says and stop stressing everytime someone says we’re incapable? Or try to get lockstep with the financial folks while simultaneously teaching them how to manage HUMANS? Or should we just tap out snippy replies? Or like this pollster (another professor…), find a way to refute the generalizations and commit to publishing what we find, no matter what?

What I Do

Recently, I had to do a presentation on what I do for my son’s fourth grade class. I was so nervous I nearly canceled the whole thing. Why would fourth graders care about my job anyway? I wasnt anything that could be traditionally explained, my road from communications to recruiting and over to social media infused (yep, I’m going with infused) marketing was not likely something they’d sit still long enough to listen to anyway. So why did I do it? Why didn’t I just let me mother in law wow them with her cool nurse stories and stethescope? Two reasons:

Okay so I am dating myself a bit there. This was a classic “I Love Lucy” line wherein Ricky Ricardo would explode at his hapless, troublesome redhead of a wife, usually when she had gotten into a scrape beyond. . .well, explanation.

Hey Maren,

My name is Andrea. I’m 26 years old and I work for a small regional staffing office that does mostly Administrative Support placements.

I’ve been following you on Twitter and reading up on the links you post to your blog and to Recruitingblogs. I think the information you share is really good stuff!

 

So, sorry but I am going to come at you with a little somethin touchy-feely today. As some of you know, I broke my arm ice skating awhile back and have been attempting to DO whatever it is that I DO for my clients and myself, ever since, with varying degrees of success. For example, on this blog, I posted a couple of videos, tried a talk to text post and used an old blog post as fodder in an attempt to keep traffic up (stupid I know). In my job, I tried to “learn” other skills that had lain dormant too long, like the ability to make a phone call and how to design left handed.

This one’s going out to all the candidates out there. The ones who just don’t know why they can’t get that job, who felt good but never got a call back. Here, this one’s for you.

1) Don’t interrupt. This one is SO natural. I do it all the time! But just because everyone does it, doesn’t make it okay! I HATE being interrupted and it does spoil any credibility the person has built up when they presume to read my thoughts before I say them. Practice NOT interrupting the days before your interview. Listen, nod and learn to repeat back what you’re hearing before proceeding. Don’t worry about not getting your point across unless you’re in the final negotiations of the interview. People like good listeners. Another plus? When you don’t interrupt, people listen to every word you say.

I’m sanding my floors. 2500 square feet of wood floors exist in my home and they all need sanding. Needless to say, this is a stressful and exhausting time for my family.

So, we need a lot of polyurethane. We talked to the folks at Home Depot and Lowe’s but neither sold it in 5 gallon buckets. So I remembered a vague ad I’d seen on TV and called a store called DIY Floors. Here’s how the call could have gone and how it did go with service folk at the aforementioned stores.

I had the best conversation with a colleague of mine the other day. We were talking about my amazing friends ( I really do have amazing friends who care for me very well) and I expressed ignorance as to what I could have ever done to deserve such kind people in my life. Jake said (that’s the guy I was talking to):

“Easy, you’re a bucket filler.”

OOOOOkay, that sounds not familiar and slightly naughty so I asked him what he meant by that.

“Well we all have this bucket and we walk around every day and people either fill it up or they dip in and drain some of your emotional reserve (the proverbial stuff in the bucket),” he explained.

I said thanks (because that was nice of him to day) and went on my merry way. But I have been thinking about that in conjunction with another post I wanted to write about supporting your boss and colleagues in the way they want to be supported, loosely tied to school of thought around emotional  languages. Although everyone has a bucket, there are likely different ways to fill that bucket:

Here are the archetypes as I see them and how to best serve them in the workplace. (Servanthood has a bad rap. It trumps ego when it comes to likability, you get more done when you know how to serve people in their language and people recognize you as a person they can trust with important assignements. Just don’t overdo it on the humility part. If you did a good job, say so and if you have too much work, say so.):

- What have you DONE for me lately? This person needs acts to prove that you are following up, following through and getting it done. You quickly leave their radar if the project isn’t done and on their desk. She’s not trying to be rude, there just tends to be a one track mind that goes along with this type. I have a friend who holds the door open for me when I walk into his office so that my arms will be free for the load of work he dumps into them. But the smile on his face when I get it all done? Priceless.

-I can’t wait to see you again. She wants quality time baby. Brain dumps, meetings, conference calls are all excellent ways to let this person know that you are on the job. Face time trumps all, and barring that a webinar or conference call. This type can be a litle frustrating to Gen Yers or those who feel constricted by regular office hours but knowing how to make them feel valued can actually lead to more freedom in the long run. If this type knows you’ll be at the office for a private meeting every Thursday at 3 pm,and will update her with phone calls or online file sharing periodically, she’s a lot more likely to allow you to work away from the office on a regular basis.

-Tell me all about it. This is the typical boss. Positive speech will turn this guy around faster than anything. He wants to feel valued by his team, he wants to know exactly how they feel about him (but only if it’s good, negative words carry equal weight with this type) and he wants to hear and see “good words” associated with his name. Now don’t assume that you HAVE to “suck up” or . . .lie. What you can do to make the working relationship smoother is to find specific things that he/she has done right and simply verbally praise them for it. This is the easiest and cheapest of the types BTW.

-The Material Girl. This person likes. . .presents! “World’s Best Secretary” mug or the free calendar that came with your marketing order, it really doesn’t matter, as long as you give them to her. This doesn’t have to be expensive. One time, someone gave me a pack of my favorite gum and her project got thrown straight to the top of the pile. I am a sucker for gum. (Guess which type I am?)

- I don’t want another Pretty Face. This type is no-nonsense and pretty much without guile. They are interested in you getting your job done and going home. If you are all hype as a boss, you will get called out by this type because they practice what they preach. They will never buy you a mug, toot their own horn or focus on how great you look in that suit. They will work hard all day, sans status updates and hand you a finished product at the end of the day.

Which type are you? How about your colleagues? See if you can guess and then try out one of the tactics. Get out there and fill some buckets!