Jerry D. Thurber's Posts - RecruitingBlogs2024-03-28T19:18:53ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurberhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1526968039?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://recruitingblogs.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=1hworhmd7wsgh&xn_auth=noFinding Work at 60: A Tale of Talent Losttag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-04-17:502551:BlogPost:16909032013-04-17T17:44:54.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>Upper middle-management and out of a job.</p>
<p>Too qualified,</p>
<p>Too set in your ways</p>
<p>Not right for the job</p>
<p>Too old fashion for our hip new company</p>
<p>And too many other things you aren’t allowed to say.</p>
<p>How many really talented people are out there looking (and looking) for work who can’t find a job because the 30 (or 40) something that is in charge of hiring has a pre-conceived notion that the person they are looking for is “younger.” How many automated…</p>
<p>Upper middle-management and out of a job.</p>
<p>Too qualified,</p>
<p>Too set in your ways</p>
<p>Not right for the job</p>
<p>Too old fashion for our hip new company</p>
<p>And too many other things you aren’t allowed to say.</p>
<p>How many really talented people are out there looking (and looking) for work who can’t find a job because the 30 (or 40) something that is in charge of hiring has a pre-conceived notion that the person they are looking for is “younger.” How many automated resume screening tools see someone who was highly successful for 30 years as not qualified for the new product manager position that just opened up? </p>
<p>I am closing in on that generation. I know a lot of people who are there (guess when you’ve been around a long time, a lot of the people you know seem to have aged on you). My brother is 59 and just got laid off from a career of 25 years as a successful disc jockey. Seems they don’t need disc jockeys much anymore and really don’t need old ones. He’s applied to sell cars, drive trucks, work at most anything that a 20-something might apply for. Nothing, Nada, No reply.</p>
<p>I just got off the phone this morning with an old (sorry for the use of that word) friend of mine who was a very successful business man. Built a company from scratch and made himself, and a lot of other people, a pile of money when he sold it. He doesn’t need a lot of money now, but he wants the stimulation of work. For 4 years now: Nothing, Nada, No reply.</p>
<p>Seems to me that we have a lot of talent out there that current hiring (and recruiting) processes don’t know how to deal with. The Great Recession put a lot of talent on the street, but the great boom in new business processes leaves them out of the picture.</p>
<p>That’s a shame: A generation lost.</p>
<p>Read more an <a href="http://anhrinnovator.blogspot.com/">AnHRInnovator</a></p>An Ode to SEO For Recruiterstag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-03-14:502551:BlogPost:16749802013-03-14T14:53:09.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>If I were to SEO</p>
<p>What would be the way to go?</p>
<p>Would I blog or would I write<br></br> A mighty pen to make me bright?</p>
<p>Key word phrases all strung out<br></br> Makes my writing all flung out.</p>
<p>Search for hires<br></br> High and low<br></br> Better with my SEO<br></br> 20 key words I must sell<br></br> Will you promise not to tell?</p>
<p>My marketing Director does insist<br></br> That all my writing should consist<br></br> Of random words<br></br> Thrown to and fro<br></br> Just so Google loves me…</p>
<p>If I were to SEO</p>
<p>What would be the way to go?</p>
<p>Would I blog or would I write<br/> A mighty pen to make me bright?</p>
<p>Key word phrases all strung out<br/> Makes my writing all flung out.</p>
<p>Search for hires<br/> High and low<br/> Better with my SEO<br/> 20 key words I must sell<br/> Will you promise not to tell?</p>
<p>My marketing Director does insist<br/> That all my writing should consist<br/> Of random words<br/> Thrown to and fro<br/> Just so Google loves me so.</p>
<p>So homage to the SEO<br/> Throw those words in, watch them flow.<br/> Add some funky phrases too<br/> Let them know just what we do.</p>
<p>Company name, best hires too<br/> JAVA, Lava, and Code Blue<br/> I’ll get those words in when I can<br/> And hope you understand my plan.</p>
<p>So if what I say seems out of sorts<br/> Trust my words to the Google courts</p>Recruiting Technology Can Be Les Miserablestag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-01-16:502551:BlogPost:16498082013-01-16T15:13:35.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>With apologies for my miss-use of the French word form, a lot of the recruiting technology that is out there today really is “<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=les%20miserables&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CFwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lesmis.com%2F&ei=EtruUO3OLsbHqAGLxYHwCw&usg=AFQjCNEZ5zvAsVdRIFcuYe8N2CTKq_scyQ&bvm=bv.1357700187,d.aWc">Les Misérables</a>”. If Fantine was a recruiter and left alone, unemployed and destitute – I could…</p>
<p>With apologies for my miss-use of the French word form, a lot of the recruiting technology that is out there today really is “<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=les%20miserables&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CFwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lesmis.com%2F&ei=EtruUO3OLsbHqAGLxYHwCw&usg=AFQjCNEZ5zvAsVdRIFcuYe8N2CTKq_scyQ&bvm=bv.1357700187,d.aWc">Les Misérables</a>”. If Fantine was a recruiter and left alone, unemployed and destitute – I could hear her sing:</p>
<p><i>I dreamed a dream in times gone by</i></p>
<p><i>And hope was high</i></p>
<p><i>Recruiting software was worth the buy</i></p>
<p><i>I had a dream my life would be</i></p>
<p><i>So different from this hell I’m living</i></p>
<p><i>So different now from what it seemed</i></p>
<p><i>Now recruiting tech has killed</i></p>
<p><i>The dream I dream!</i></p>
<p> </p>
<p>The problem has really been that most of the products on the market out there today take a broken process that was developed 20 years ago and try to make it more automated. The only thing you get from automating junk is faster junk. There have been some attempts to get at the heart of the problem (getting the best candidates to want to apply for your job) but little innovation has really helped much. The standard recruiting organization uses a tool to manage the requisition, create a job post, shove it out to irrelevant job boards, and pray for a good outcome. When that fails they call a headhunter. Ugh.</p>
<p>Maybe there is more help to come. Recruiting is going to change because job seekers (both passive and active) are going to change. The target audience for recruiting is more online today than ever before. They like hearing about opportunities – as long as they don’t get spammed. They like to move around a bit to find the best fit.</p>
<p>One area for hope is with referrals. Our employees are connected to huge number of people. But we don’t know how to tap the reservoir. Opportunity knocks. </p>
<p>So in spite of the efforts of Javert to thwarts the best efforts of change, perhaps there is hope for the dream over this next decade</p>A Lean Start Up Holiday for Recruiting Entrepreneur?tag:recruitingblogs.com,2012-12-21:502551:BlogPost:16370672012-12-21T14:30:37.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p><span><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557506501?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" height="273" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557506501?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="195"></img></a> OK, I have been buried up to (and over) my head for the last couple of months getting our new product ready for development. I finally looked up from my desk and realized it was almost Christmas and I am way behind. Since we have been following the basic principles of the Lean Start Up I have visions of MVP’s dancing through my head, so what choice do I have but to try…</span></p>
<p><span><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557506501?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557506501?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="195" class="align-left" height="273"/></a>OK, I have been buried up to (and over) my head for the last couple of months getting our new product ready for development. I finally looked up from my desk and realized it was almost Christmas and I am way behind. Since we have been following the basic principles of the Lean Start Up I have visions of MVP’s dancing through my head, so what choice do I have but to try and see if I can accelerate my “Presents To Market” strategy this Christmas. So here is how I am applying the Lean Start Up to Christmas this year:</span><br/><br/><b>Test My Fundamental Hypothesis</b><span>: Giving is better than receiving.</span><br/><br/><span>To test this hypothesis I quickly headed down to the local stores and bought 4 presents: 2 for me and 2 for my friend. So far I really like my two presents.Hum, make a note, hypothesis may be faulty.</span><br/><br/><b>Develop My MVP</b><span> (in this case, it means Minimum Viable Present):</span><br/><br/><span>I have designed a strategy that allows me to buy some lumber, some bolts, nails, paint and a few decorative glue-on pieces. I am going to give one each to my two sons and observe what they do with them. Once I see what it is they really want, I’ll give them a gift card.</span><br/><br/><b>Assess My Leap Of Faith Assumption:</b><span> That my wife will let me play with the iPad I am giving her (otherwise – why give it to her!)</span><br/><br/><span>I am worried about this key assumption. If I give it to her and she doesn't let me play with it, my whole plan for the week is ruined. I wonder if I should just keep it for myself.</span><br/><br/><b>Pivot or Persevere</b><span>: If my Xmas plans seem to be failing, can I quickly adjust?</span><br/><br/><span>I have looked at the possibilities of a mid-course correction. They are limited. I suppose if the presents fail, I could offer to cook (and clean) all the holiday meals.</span><br/><br/><span>Now with a solid plan in place, I can confidently go forward with my holidays!</span><br/><br/><span>Best wishes to all for a great holiday season!</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://anhrinnovator.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">AnHRInnovator</a></p>
<p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span></p>5 Things That Will Change Recruitingtag:recruitingblogs.com,2012-11-26:502551:BlogPost:16249642012-11-26T18:00:00.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>When people talk about HR trends they tend to look at what we do today and discuss ways it can be done better in the future. Applications and tools for recruiting, training, on-boarding, etc. are being developed at dizzying rates. Problem is – these new HR innovations are going to have a short half life.</p>
<p>Another way to look at HR trends is to look at the way business is changing.</p>
<p>The changes in technology, employee motivation, globalism, and resource mobility, just to name a…</p>
<p>When people talk about HR trends they tend to look at what we do today and discuss ways it can be done better in the future. Applications and tools for recruiting, training, on-boarding, etc. are being developed at dizzying rates. Problem is – these new HR innovations are going to have a short half life.</p>
<p>Another way to look at HR trends is to look at the way business is changing.</p>
<p>The changes in technology, employee motivation, globalism, and resource mobility, just to name a few dynamics, will dramatically affect the way companies work in the future, which will mean that a lot of the things human resource professionals spend time on today won’t even be a part of the equation in the future.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The 5 trends that will radically change recruiting in the future are:</p>
<ol start="1">
<li><u>No one will want to work for you</u>: When you look out over that vast forest of cubicles they will be either empty or they will be populated with people you've never seen before because the majority of your resources will be “just in time” contractors and consultants brought in to get a project done.</li>
<li><u>Resources will be for sale in a giant resource bazaar</u>: When you need to find someone you don’t post a job you surf a network.</li>
<li><u>You won’t just hire a person, you’ll hire their network</u>: People will be much more comfortable working together to solve problems. The best resources don’t just show up with good individual skills, they show up with a network of resources that can help get the job done. (Think that is far fetched – talk to a Director, Producer or Editor in the entertainment industry!)</li>
<li><u>Middle management will (finally) go away</u>: Middle management was created because people couldn't manage 100 direct reports. In the future, 100 direct reports won’t be a problem anymore. Work will be done in work units naturally structured around projects and work clusters. Everyone will follow the rules because they will be built into the project workflow application.</li>
<li><u>No one will get benefits from their employer</u>: Because people will stop working full time for only one company, people will get their insurance through co-ops and exchanges. Companies are lousy at benefits anyway!</li>
</ol>
<p>In this new world HR will serve as a resource coordinator. HR will be like a grand orchestra leader, making sure that all the moving parts are there when you need them, can play to the same sheet of music and can come in on the right beat. Think in terms of the Player Personnel function on sports teams.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And such beautiful music it will be. Play on maestros! </p>
<p><a href="http://anhrinnovator.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">AnHRInnovator</a></p>Yoga Poses for the Angry Recruitertag:recruitingblogs.com,2012-11-07:502551:BlogPost:16205392012-11-07T15:00:00.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<div><p>Recruiting can be stressful. You try so hard to find the perfect candidate and sometimes it seems like all the stars are aligned against you. To help with this problem, I have come up with some yoga poses to be used for some of those more stressful moments.</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p><b><u><i>Down Dog</i>:</u></b> This pose is used when that candidate you had high hopes for totally pisses-off the President of the company by saying something really stupid. The pose is to be executed at…</p>
</div>
<div><p>Recruiting can be stressful. You try so hard to find the perfect candidate and sometimes it seems like all the stars are aligned against you. To help with this problem, I have come up with some yoga poses to be used for some of those more stressful moments.</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p><b><u><i>Down Dog</i>:</u></b> This pose is used when that candidate you had high hopes for totally pisses-off the President of the company by saying something really stupid. The pose is to be executed at the end of the day when you are debriefing the candidate and he says “So how did I do?”</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p>To perform this pose, you should lay down on the floor with your feet facing toward the candidate. Slowly walk your hands toward your feet until your butt is facing high in the air and say: “Take a guess.”</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p><b><u>Angry Cat</u>: </b>In this situation, you have found the perfect candidate for a position and all the interviewers loved the person. At the last minute when you are about to make the offer, the department head says they want to interview them too and asks that you arrange for the candidate to come back next week.</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p>With this pose, you climb up on the manager’s table and with your face about 3 inches from his nose, you arch your back and hiss really loudly while you spit out the words “Why didn't you say you wanted to be involved in the interview when I asked you last week!”</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p><b><u>Warrior Pose</u>:</b> This pose is best used when you are trying to round up a group of people to interview a candidate and no one will get back to you. The candidate has called and let you know that she has another offer but would really like to work for your company and has to get back to the other company by the end of the week.</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p>This pose is most effective when you execute it in the lunch room where most of the people you are trying to contact have gathered. You stand up on one of the tables and spread your legs far apart while lifting your arms to be even with your shoulders. You look fiercely over your right arm and shout: “Everyone out the door this minute and do not come back until you have signed up for tomorrow’s interview.” If they don’t move fast enough, start throwing food at them.</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p><b><u>Corpse Pose</u>:</b> Ideal for end of the year goal reviews, the time for this pose comes when you have spent your year fighting all the obstacles put in your way that prevent you from finding and hiring the best people. The Director of HR calls you into his office and hands you a piece of paper with a bunch of graphs. He explains politely (he is in HR after all) that the graphs and charts clearly show that you missed your goals for time to hire.</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p>To execute this pose, you calmly lay on the ground with your arms to your side and your feet slightly splayed. You don’t really need to say anything – he will get the point.</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p><b><u>Hero Pose</u></b>: This pose is reserved just for you. After you have busted your “back side” trying to find the best people possible you step back and look at all the good people you were responsible for and allow yourself a minute of self congratulations.</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p>To execute this pose, you turn on some highly inspirational music (like the theme from Chariots of Fire). You lower yourself to the ground with your legs bent to the sides so that you create a firm base. You raise your hands in the air and scream out "I Rock.” Note – this is best done while wearing a superman T-shirt.</p>
<p></p>
</div>
<div><p>Happy recruiting and may you find your inner peace.</p>
</div>Big Data Is Big Deal for HRtag:recruitingblogs.com,2012-11-01:502551:BlogPost:16189602012-11-01T19:35:48.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>After the movie Moneyball came out there were lots of blog posts about how Moneyball had lessons for HR. Essentially this was a Big Data argument. The essence of what the Moneyball process was all about was taking vast amounts of information about your people and your potential recruits and applying data analytics to see that information from new angles. The new angles allowed them to see productivity and efficiency differently than conventional wisdom had always said it should be…</p>
<p>After the movie Moneyball came out there were lots of blog posts about how Moneyball had lessons for HR. Essentially this was a Big Data argument. The essence of what the Moneyball process was all about was taking vast amounts of information about your people and your potential recruits and applying data analytics to see that information from new angles. The new angles allowed them to see productivity and efficiency differently than conventional wisdom had always said it should be viewed.</p>
<p>Take out the subject “Moneyball” and this sounds a lot like an HR problem we all face: How can we make our staff more productive and more efficient by being better at recruitment and deployment (and do that better than the competition)?</p>
<p>That is what Big Data is all about. There is more information out there than we have ever had before. Over one billion photos are posted on Facebook every month. There are over 200 million “tweets” per DAY posted on Twitter and there are 140 million professionals with profiles on Linked In. Couple that with all the data companies compile about people and production and you have one huge pile of data (Big Data to be sure). Pulling that information together and looking at it from different angles allows you to see things that could never be seen before. How does participation in social media predict employee performance, how do patterns of participation in internal and external groups help understand employee engagement, how do hobbies provide guidance for employee learning styles? This is information that was not readily available to us in the past but can be gleamed from multiple sources these days. Enough of the noise about social media and invasions of privacy (that is a real problem but it clouds the real opportunity this data provides). HR needs to think about big data as a tool for tracking, managing and adjusting how we recruit, on-board, develop and deploy our resources.</p>
<p>Now if we can just find the right HR Data Nerd to lead the way! When the movie comes out - I want to play the Brad Pitt role.</p>And Why Should We Ban the Resume: The Three C's of Career Arctag:recruitingblogs.com,2012-10-29:502551:BlogPost:16177732012-10-29T19:19:06.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>Over the course of several years – be it 10 or 40 – you leave a wake behind you that represents the impact you've made. Recruiters traditionally relied on your resume to tell them about your career arc, but today a lot is being written about how your electronic footprint may be a better, more complete representation of your professional mark.</p>
<p>I have fully embraced social media as a grand, open marketplace of resource communication, coordination and exchange. I saw early on that this…</p>
<p>Over the course of several years – be it 10 or 40 – you leave a wake behind you that represents the impact you've made. Recruiters traditionally relied on your resume to tell them about your career arc, but today a lot is being written about how your electronic footprint may be a better, more complete representation of your professional mark.</p>
<p>I have fully embraced social media as a grand, open marketplace of resource communication, coordination and exchange. I saw early on that this was a quick and easy way for me to display my accomplishments. And while we may have (somewhat) valid concerns about privacy, it really is the best medium to showplace your skills and accomplishments. Both common social media platforms like Linked In, Google+, Twitter (and – to some extent Facebook) and specialized professional sites like HR.com or Toolbox.com provide ideal environments for displaying your talents much more broadly than traditional resumes might do.</p>
<p>There are many defenders of the traditional however.</p>
<p>We can say all we want about how traditional methods of work, of recruitment, of talent management form a solid rock-bed of the human resource process, but these foundations are being shaken to their core in the New Employee Economy. One place where this challenge is heatedly discussed is within the “resume is dead” discussion. For some of these pundits, the new Career Arc, represented in your social media foot print is the way to go.</p>
<p>Why is social media career arc potentially the best way to get a feel for a person? Here are three reasons I believe it is:</p>
<ol>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Context</strong></span>: A good social media footprint can show you the impact of your career activities. It can show whether the things you did mattered to anyone. It can show what kind of influence you have.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Comprehensiveness</span></strong>: You can’t say much in a two page resume. Even a greatly written resume has to leave off important things that have happened in your life. Your social media footprint can provide some much more rich detail about who you are and what you've done.</li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Community</strong></span>: We all perform in a broader professional community. How we interact with that community, how we are perceived by that community and how we contribute to the community are important elements of the kind of employee you might be.</li>
</ol>
<p>Obviously not everyone actively participates in social media, but for those who do, using social media to understand your candidate is a great way to help find a better fit. </p>The New Employee: A New HR Dynamictag:recruitingblogs.com,2012-10-25:502551:BlogPost:16170392012-10-25T21:14:46.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>In several blog posts over the last year or so I have referred to “The New Employee Economy.” So what is it? In a nutshell – it is the future.</p>
<p>Anybody over the age of 35 has grown up in a world where they mostly understand work as a commitment to some organization or company that lasts for 8 to 10 years (maybe more) and you move on one or two more times before you retire. The company takes care of your insurance (increasingly less so) provides you with a career path, some on-the-job…</p>
<p>In several blog posts over the last year or so I have referred to “The New Employee Economy.” So what is it? In a nutshell – it is the future.</p>
<p>Anybody over the age of 35 has grown up in a world where they mostly understand work as a commitment to some organization or company that lasts for 8 to 10 years (maybe more) and you move on one or two more times before you retire. The company takes care of your insurance (increasingly less so) provides you with a career path, some on-the-job training and regular raise that maybe gets you a bit ahead of where you started.</p>
<p>In the next decade those days will be gone – replaced by the new employee economy</p>
<p>What are the main elements of this new economy?</p>
<ul>
<li><u>Technology has enabled people to work wherever, whenever they want.</u> Everything from tools that support remote access, to the rise of self-service HR, has made it easy for employees to work from anywhere in the world. This has also made it easy for people to choose to be contractors – or short term employees.</li>
<li><u>Twenty-somethings don’t see themselves as employees</u>. The generation coming into the workplace today doesn’t feel the need to attach themselves to one corporate entity and stay there for several years. They are more interested in the work. Where the work is interesting, they will go.</li>
<li><u>The rise of entrepreneurship</u>. It is no longer that hard to strike out on your own. More and more people are choosing to start up a business than ever before. These businesses are predicated on a new model where people work together for a common goal, then move on.</li>
<li><u>The lessoning role of the corporate support infrastructure</u>. Companies just don’t offer much in the way of incentives to work for them anymore. Benefits are not that good, layoffs are always a possibility, training and investment in your future is more limited, retirement plans are dismal, and raises are usually just cost of living adjustments. What a deal!</li>
</ul>
<p>The new employee economy is going to be characterized by the free movement of resources from job to job. The prediction that one day the company of the future will involve only 5% “traditional employees” is coming to pass. It has just taken a bit longer than first predicted.</p>
<p>If this seems farfetched to you, just look around and you will see it happening in many industries today. The entertainment industry is perhaps the best example. The actors, the production people, the editors, the support staff all come together to get a job done. They don’t get their benefits from the company – they get it from unions, co-ops and guilds. The resources required to create a play or movie or TV show come together for that project because they can ply the work they love. When the project is over, they move on.</p>
<p>I see this as an exciting challenge for the future of HR. The entire infrastructure that supports HR will have to be adapted to this new employee economy. I am looking forward to being a part of that change.</p>
<p>Read more on HR Innovation at <a href="http://anhrinnovator.blogspot.com" target="_blank">AnHRInnovator</a></p>Presidential Debate Misses the Employment Pointtag:recruitingblogs.com,2012-10-22:502551:BlogPost:16159592012-10-22T13:25:20.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>The Presidential Debates are almost over. I wish they would talk more about how exciting and dynamic the new employee economy can be. I wish they would tell us what they are going to do to make sure we have an economy where individuals can thrive (as opposed to stale old structures). Sure there are jobs be created again in manufacturing - but that is just plugging holes. </p>
<p>They will talk back and forth about a myriad of ideas. And certainly they will talk about jobs. They will talk…</p>
<p>The Presidential Debates are almost over. I wish they would talk more about how exciting and dynamic the new employee economy can be. I wish they would tell us what they are going to do to make sure we have an economy where individuals can thrive (as opposed to stale old structures). Sure there are jobs be created again in manufacturing - but that is just plugging holes. </p>
<p>They will talk back and forth about a myriad of ideas. And certainly they will talk about jobs. They will talk about tax incentives, jobs training, labor unions, and off-shoring. They will argue about trickle-down and trickle-up, (they won’t use those terms but that is what it boils down to: Does a really healthy “rich sector” make for better jobs, or does a really healthy “labor sector” do the trick). But they will be wrong either way.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Neither candidate understands the new employment economy</span>.</p>
<p>Some of the major trends driving the new employment economy today are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Rapid growth of self employed</li>
<li>Explosion of social media as a “skills for sale market”</li>
<li>Emergence of job titles that didn't exist even 12 months ago</li>
<li>Rejection of the idea of traditional “employee”</li>
<li>Rapid growth of social entrepreneurs</li>
<li>Workers who follow a “skills path” rather than a career path</li>
<li>Virtual companies that don’t care where the employee works from (or which country)</li>
</ul>
<p>These trends aren't supported by diatribes about sending work overseas, or shoring up America’s manufacturing, or supporting America’s unions, or even forcing trade wars with other countries.</p>
<p>If you want to help the people hit hardest by unemployment, don’t try and prop up the infrastructure that supported employment in the last 4 decades, support the creation of a new infrastructure that will enable employment for the next 4 decades.</p>
<p>I’d love to hear the debate talk about breaking the traditional bounds of employment and creating a new FDR like “Public Works” project that will build the infrastructure for the new employment economy. (BTW – a short commercial here: one of the biggest impediments to people taking risk, or working in non-traditional employment is the lack of access to health care – I would think both the GOP and the Dem's would understand that point!).</p>
<p>How many of us think our sons and daughters will have a career path just like we did? Not many I would guess. So why do we want to create an artificial support system that is mired in past economies?</p>
<p>I have an idea, let’s Crowd Source the Presidency (and the congress). Maybe that would generate some cool ideas.</p>
<p>Read more at <a href="http://anhrinnovator.blogspot.com" target="_blank">AnHRInnovator</a></p>I Tweet Therefore I Hiredtag:recruitingblogs.com,2012-10-19:502551:BlogPost:16153412012-10-19T13:58:33.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>In a world where seemingly everyone has gotten involved in Social Media (still hate that term), is it odd when you run across someone who is not? I am not talking about someone in their 80s, but someone in today’s work-a-day world. Certainly there are many people who do not feel they have time, or who may feel that their personal involvement in social or professional networks adds little value to either their professional standing or their company’s performance. But isn't this a dying breed?…</p>
<p>In a world where seemingly everyone has gotten involved in Social Media (still hate that term), is it odd when you run across someone who is not? I am not talking about someone in their 80s, but someone in today’s work-a-day world. Certainly there are many people who do not feel they have time, or who may feel that their personal involvement in social or professional networks adds little value to either their professional standing or their company’s performance. But isn't this a dying breed? Don’t many execs’ still make sure their profiles are up to date? In fact, aren't most of these exec’s using staff to make sure their word is heard? Of course they are.</p>
<p>So how does Social Media participation effect career growth? Can this participation help you move up in your current job or help you find a new one?</p>
<p>In a Blog post by Matt Petronzio on Mashable he writes about a web site called Jackalope that uses your social media connections to help you find a job. What if you don’t have any connections?</p>
<p>Is this a first step toward social media being part of your professional vita? I can see that day when social media participation is considered a positive aspect of your professional profile – just like the school you went to or the extracurricular activities you participate in. This information gives the recruiter or hiring manager a better feel for who you are. Why not your social media footprint as well? Participation in social media shows you as an active, connected and (hopefully) thoughtful person. Can considering this information as part of the hiring decision not be too far away? </p>Skills Path is the New Career Pathtag:recruitingblogs.com,2012-10-15:502551:BlogPost:16140242012-10-15T17:20:48.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>Stop worrying about a candidate’s career path. For certain types of positions it is all about Skill Path, not Career Path.</p>
<p><u>What is Skill Path</u>? Skill Path is the development of an increasing set of capabilities and/or a deepening level of expertise: regardless of where you worked. How have you advanced as a software developer, a health care provider, a manager or leader? Are those skills relevant to the challenge your company faces? Skill Path, especially for specialized skill…</p>
<p>Stop worrying about a candidate’s career path. For certain types of positions it is all about Skill Path, not Career Path.</p>
<p><u>What is Skill Path</u>? Skill Path is the development of an increasing set of capabilities and/or a deepening level of expertise: regardless of where you worked. How have you advanced as a software developer, a health care provider, a manager or leader? Are those skills relevant to the challenge your company faces? Skill Path, especially for specialized skill areas, is far more relevant to getting the job done than career path. In fact working in a lot of different places probably makes you more prepared to succeed than working your whole career at a single company. </p>
<p><u>Why is Skill Path Better than Career Path</u>? Many companies today are struggling to be more inventive, more entrepreneurial, more nimble, but they still use decades-old strategies for evaluating the right people to hire. Is it really important that everyone you hire have a track record of 8 to 10 years with previous employers? Is it really important that they work for one of the other “big names” in the industry?</p>
<p>Here are the top three reasons Skill Path is the new career path:</p>
<ul>
<li><b><i><u>Flexibility</u></i></b>: Both employees and companies talk about wanting to be more flexible. Focusing on skills development rather than career development avoids the ruts.</li>
<li><b><i><u>Interchangeability</u></i></b>: Getting something done usually means a standard “position set” but not a standard skill set. In other words you may need software developers, project managers, process analysts, etc. But it is rare these days that any project that the skills you needed for last year’s project are exactly the ones you need for this year’s project. Skill path allows you to focus on structure, while allowing positions to be interchangeable with skill set.</li>
<li><b><i><u>Incredibility</u></i></b>: Too many companies try and force new, innovative projects onto people who lack the skills to make the project incredible. Focusing on Skill Set helps you achieve incredible results by breaking the boundary of hiring everyone to be a traditional employee, and instead, focusing on finding talent that can really push the envelope.</li>
</ul>
<p>I don’t know about you – but a decade of working at most any of the traditional Big Names doesn't mean what it used to. Most of those people have deep ruts in their brain that make breaking patterns very hard to do. My dad used to tell me that he hated hiring MBAs because you always have to re-teach them. To me, the same can be said for people who hang out in the same old big company for too long!</p>
<p>Read more at <a href="http://anhrinnovator.blogspot.com" target="_blank">AnHRInnovator</a></p>Social Media search is not just about screening out—it’s also about screening intag:recruitingblogs.com,2011-07-14:502551:BlogPost:12811852011-07-14T13:00:00.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>A common misconception is that social media searches are only used to find negative information for screening <u>out</u> candidates. However, businesses using <a href="http://backgroundcheck.tandemselect.com/bid/55671/Social-Media-Background-Checks-Just-New-Not-Scary">social media searches</a> recognize these searches can be very beneficial in verifying positive affiliations, associations and activities. For example, a social media search can identify if the candidate is active in…</p>
<p>A common misconception is that social media searches are only used to find negative information for screening <u>out</u> candidates. However, businesses using <a href="http://backgroundcheck.tandemselect.com/bid/55671/Social-Media-Background-Checks-Just-New-Not-Scary">social media searches</a> recognize these searches can be very beneficial in verifying positive affiliations, associations and activities. For example, a social media search can identify if the candidate is active in volunteering or a part of a Board or committee, etc. outside the workplace that is relevant to the work place. This can help you to verify or confirm activities they have mentioned and can help you determine how influential your candidate may be within the industry.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b><u>Some positive attributes to look for in a social media search include:</u></b></p>
<ul>
<li><b>Volunteerism</b>- You can quickly verify whether your candidate takes an active role or is influential with any charities or non-profit organizations.</li>
<li><b>Professional activities</b>- Determine your candidate’s involvement in professional affiliations and the extent of his/her professional network.</li>
<li><b>Industry influence</b>- Identify the depth of your candidate’s leadership and influence in an industry through his/her published works, blogs, tweets, followers, etc.</li>
<li><b>Accomplishments</b>- Validate a candidate’s personal and professional accomplishments-- education, jobs, awards and honors.</li>
<li><b>Communication skills</b>- Confirm whether your candidate displays good communication skills in interacting with others. <b> </b></li>
<li><b>Cultural fit</b>- See if your candidate demonstrates traits and characteristics that will help him/her to be a good cultural fit with your organization.</li>
</ul>
<p>Just like a professional and/or personal reference check, a social media search can help you understand the extent to which a candidate will bring <a href="http://tandemselect.com/img/site_specific/uploads/TS_WP_Social_Media.pdf">positive attributes</a> to your workplace too.</p>New Jobs Ain't What They Used To Be: A challenge to change.tag:recruitingblogs.com,2011-07-07:502551:BlogPost:12741352011-07-07T16:30:00.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>My son recently graduated from college. As with so many young people just out of school, there were not a lot of job opportunities that awaited him. Rather than move back home (whew, we avoided that bullet), he and a group of friends piled into his car and took off to Boston to find their fortunes. My son is extremely energetic and is a bull dog when he sets his sights on something, so I knew he would find some sort of job to tide him over. I figured he would call me to say he’d found a job…</p>
<p>My son recently graduated from college. As with so many young people just out of school, there were not a lot of job opportunities that awaited him. Rather than move back home (whew, we avoided that bullet), he and a group of friends piled into his car and took off to Boston to find their fortunes. My son is extremely energetic and is a bull dog when he sets his sights on something, so I knew he would find some sort of job to tide him over. I figured he would call me to say he’d found a job in retail or maybe selling burgers. He was, after all, a<a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557490893?profile=original"><img width="192" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557490893?profile=original" class="align-right"/></a> history major – so I figured his immediate prospects were limited. But here is where the story took a different turn. My son never left his new apartment. What he did was pursue his dream online – but not just search for a job online – he actually found a job WORKING online. And not just one job, but about 4 or 5 jobs. He found he was able to be a writer/researcher/blogger for hire. He’s an online freelancer picking up jobs in an open market for talent: working for 3 weeks editing a manuscript, working part time writing for an online publication, bidding to develop marketing collateral for firms seeking quick, affordable help.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This experience got me thinking about the world of <a href="http://backgroundcheck.tandemselect.com/bid/45471/5-Trends-That-Will-Change-the-Business-of-Background-Checking">employment in the future</a> and how my industry – <a href="http://tandemselect.com/">background checking</a> and pre employment screening – will have to change radically to be able to serve the new careers of the future. My son’s experience is the epitome of that saying I have read several times in airports around the US: “10 years from now, the fastest growing jobs will be ones that aren’t even invented today.” Professional blogger, online editor, content developer, these are jobs that did not exist 10 years ago and now are very much a part of our working world. What comes next? In my opinion we will see more and more people holding multiple jobs all at the same time. The word “employee” will one day be a quaint old term from the past. There will be a large workforce of professionals who offer their services for hire. How will we conduct background checks in the year 2020?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Let us know your thoughts. We’d love to hear from you. Be a part of <a href="http://tandemselect.com/tandemonium">Tandemonium</a></p>Can Background Checking Screen for Attitude?tag:recruitingblogs.com,2011-06-16:502551:BlogPost:12446002011-06-16T15:13:13.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
I just got back from a long flight. It was your typical business trip. Head to the airport – jump on a plane (after suffering the crush of too many people trying to avoid “Bag Check”), get off the plane, rent the car, find the hotel, sleep poorly, get up early to work out (this for maintaining sanity) then spend the day working with a client. Then off to the airport (30 minutes later than you intended to leave, which puts you in a heated rush) and do all the same in reverse. When I get on that…
I just got back from a long flight. It was your typical business trip. Head to the airport – jump on a plane (after suffering the crush of too many people trying to avoid “Bag Check”), get off the plane, rent the car, find the hotel, sleep poorly, get up early to work out (this for maintaining sanity) then spend the day working with a client. Then off to the airport (30 minutes later than you intended to leave, which puts you in a heated rush) and do all the same in reverse. When I get on that plane is it too much to ask that the airline personnel don’t act sullen and churlish? Yes – I do run into the occasional happy flight attendant, but so many of them act like the passengers are simply a necessary evil. This got me wondering, how do you best screen for attitude? <br/><br/>There are pre employment tests that try and figure out a person’s psychological profile and then map that profile to the job type. These might work – but I wonder if the airlines are using them. <br/><br/>Background checking companies often talk about the fact that they want to help find the right person for the job. We conduct criminal history searches, driving records, credit history, previous employment, education verification and occasionally personal and professional references. At the end of all that, we have helped you “screen out” people who have a background that creates risk in your organization. But does any of this help you find the people who show up with a good attitude and willingness to work? <br/><br/>At <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tandemselect.com">Tandem Select</a> we have worked with a few psychological profiling companies. Maybe there is some hope these tools will get better. Maybe a social media search will help. Whatever. Maybe some of the so called soft tools that we use to assess someone’s attitude do help. Maybe you can’t really test for that. But I am hoping that the airlines I fly most frequently figure something out soon!Social Media, privacy and employment background checkingtag:recruitingblogs.com,2011-06-09:502551:BlogPost:12339042011-06-09T16:20:11.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>There are several dimensions to the question of privacy and how it plays into background checking (and I may talk about some of them in future blog posts) but here I want to address the issue of what I call the “always there” trend. The trend itself is not all that new. Since the invention of email and laptops employees and managers have felt an increasing obligation to always be available for work: Nothing new there. The new part comes when you start to look at the opposite side of the…</p>
<p>There are several dimensions to the question of privacy and how it plays into background checking (and I may talk about some of them in future blog posts) but here I want to address the issue of what I call the “always there” trend. The trend itself is not all that new. Since the invention of email and laptops employees and managers have felt an increasing obligation to always be available for work: Nothing new there. The new part comes when you start to look at the opposite side of the equation. How much does our “social life” blur with our work life? The huge rise in social media has lead to the situation where an increasing number of us are “always there” for our friends and family who want to Tweet Us, Friend Us, Tube Us or whatever else may be the latest social media trend. We are connected to social media the entire waking day (and some don’t seem to sleep much either). And the trend increases rapidly <a href="http://www.briansolis.com/2010/02/time-spent-on-social-networks-up-82-around-the-wrold/">http://www.briansolis.com/2010/02/time-spent-on-social-networks-up-82-around-the-wrold/</a> . While a lot has been written about how the lines have blurred between work and home, very little has been said about the fact that the reverse is now truer than ever: the lines between home (our social media connections) and work have blurred. Keeping track of the kids, catching up with old school mates, seeing what past colleagues are doing – it’s all in a day’s work.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With this blurring of lines – where lies the distinction between what employers should know about your “social media life” and what belongs only to you? Do companies have a right to assess some aspects of an employee’s social network “footprint” when they are conducting a pre employment screening or an employee background check? Can employees make the case that they should be allowed to have access to Facebook, linked In, YouTube etc. but companies don’t have the right to know what they are doing on these sites? Let me be clear – I am a strong believer that companies don’t need to meddle in the personal life of their employees – they should focus on things like performance, productivity, and effectiveness, and leave the personal stuff alone. But I also believe that what we do in the new world enabled by social media (by the way, I hate that term, since social media is so much more than social) has a great deal of relevance to who we are as employees. The “footprint” we leave says a lot about who we are. If you believe a person’s previous employment, hobbies, outside activities, volunteerism are all areas that effect how well a person will fit into your organization, then why not also asses what they do on social media. I, for one, hope companies do look at my social media profile. I think it only helps define who I am. Background checking needs to get on board with the social media trend and find ways that protect privacy, but add value to the pre employment screening data set. I am no longer defined by my job – I am defined by my Linked In profile – so get on board and tweet me!</p>Social Media Background Check: 5 Things Not to Tweettag:recruitingblogs.com,2011-05-18:502551:BlogPost:12018012011-05-18T16:56:51.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>Tandem Select has been assessing the value that might be provided to both candidates and hiring managers with a <a href="http://backgroundcheck.tandemselect.com/bid/52613/Job-Relevance-in-Social-Media-Background-Checks">social media background check</a>. We think it is promising and have written several articles and blogs on this topic. A recent blog post addressed…</p>
<p>Tandem Select has been assessing the value that might be provided to both candidates and hiring managers with a <a href="http://backgroundcheck.tandemselect.com/bid/52613/Job-Relevance-in-Social-Media-Background-Checks">social media background check</a>. We think it is promising and have written several articles and blogs on this topic. A recent blog post addressed <a href="http://backgroundcheck.tandemselect.com/bid/52306/9-Suggestions-if-Considering-Social-Media-in-Pre-Employment-Screening">9 Suggestions if You Are Considering Social Media Background Checks.</a> This blog was oriented toward companies, but what the candidates? Some see the use of social media in background checks as a threat, while others see it as an opportunity. Either way – there are some simple guidelines people should take when using social media so that they don’t compromise their professional image. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>To keep it simple, below are some (hopefully) common sense suggestions that people should consider before posting that Tweet, Facebook, or blog. While I am a strong advocate of privacy in social media – it is smart to understand that some public data is appropriate for background checking and will be used in the social media background search. So here are my suggestions of <u>5 Things Not to Tweet</u> if you want to stay away from problems with pre employment screening that may include a social media check:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>1) <b>The Hate Word</b>: Feel free to have strong opinions, but don’t blatantly (and aggressively) rant and rave to the point where people will worry about your temper and your judgment. I suggest you stay away from “hating” too much in your post.</p>
<p>2) <b>Racist Comments</b>: It shows intolerance and suggests you won’t work well with a diverse group of people. (And besides – it is just wrong)</p>
<p>3) <b>Negative Comments about Previous Employer (or employees)</b>: There are certainly things about your job or your co-workers that you might want to complain about with your friends, but remember to be civil. This is a public conversation. </p>
<p>4) <b>Comments about Weapons and Violence</b>: It is OK to like guns, feel free to be a hunter or enjoy sport shooting, but if you step over the line and talk too aggressively about using weapons (especially toward people) you are passing over the line of a safety risk.</p>
<p>5) <b>Bragging about “Taking Advantage” of Someone or Something</b>: Some people are proud of their prowess in the competitive world we live in and like to talk about “besting the other guy”, but if you cheated a clerk at 7-11, or are proud of “lifting some notebooks” from the supply cabinet – you aren’t a good hire.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Social media information will be used in background checking. You should not have to worry about every line you write being scrutinized, but you should also exercise good judgment about what you write (and more importantly) how you say it. It is your choice to speak openly in this new public arena, just do so knowing that your words say a lot about who you are.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>9 Steps if Considering Social Media in Background Checkstag:recruitingblogs.com,2011-05-02:502551:BlogPost:11883182011-05-02T17:18:31.000ZJerry D. Thurberhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/JerryDThurber
<p>Face it, more and more hiring managers are admitting that they will look at a candidate’s social media profile at some point during the hiring process. And why shouldn’t they. There is a lot of valuable information to be gleamed from a candidate’s electronic footprint. A lot has been written about some of the pitfalls and problems with using this data, so I won’t hash over it here. My focus is on 9 things you should consider if you are going to adopt a strategy of using social media (social…</p>
<p>Face it, more and more hiring managers are admitting that they will look at a candidate’s social media profile at some point during the hiring process. And why shouldn’t they. There is a lot of valuable information to be gleamed from a candidate’s electronic footprint. A lot has been written about some of the pitfalls and problems with using this data, so I won’t hash over it here. My focus is on 9 things you should consider if you are going to adopt a strategy of using social media (social intelligence) in the screening process.</p>
<ol>
<li> Screen in a consistent and uniform manor – make sure you follow the same process for everyone you are screening. Don’t follow a random process of only checking up on people you think may be hiding something or may have some secret life you think you should know about.</li>
<li>Screen the same sites for everyone and maintain the list of sites you screen – determine which sites you think are the most relevant to look at (Linked In, Quora, Spoke, Twitter, etc) and don’t alter the list just because of the candidate. In other words – if you feel like Facebook is really a social environment without much relevant job information – don’t suddenly search it for the candidate that has a funny tattoo. </li>
<li>Pre define the types of information you are screening for and the criteria used for screening – <u>This is a KEY point:</u> You are looking for relevant, work related information only. You probably don’t need to know about someone’s partying habits, but you probably do need to know about threats of violence, hate messages against minorities or ethnic groups, a pattern of disparaging comments about previous employers, or misleading information about their college degree.</li>
<li>If you don’t plan to screen everyone, be clear and consistent about what groups you are not screening – like all background checking, social media is not that different in a case like this. You don’t have to screen all job categories, but be clear (and document) why you screen some and not others.</li>
<li>Have a neutral party do the screening to avoid hiring manager seeing protected data (age, race, religion, health conditions, etc.) – The fundamental point here is – if you are going to look at data on a social media site – you will see more than you need to. To avoid that risk – use a third party that will filter out that data.</li>
<li>DO NOT friend an applicant – this is fraught with all kinds of problems. Not only does it provide you access to information you do not need to know, it opens up all kinds of issues with privacy, harassment, etc.</li>
<li>View only publicly available information – most of what you need to know can be found in the public data. No need to ask for an applicant’s access or password, or to friend or “connect” with them to see additional data.</li>
<li>If you use social media data to reject an applicant, point to clear, legitimate hiring requirements for reason to not hire (e.g. poor judgment) – your reason for not hiring someone should be sound. Enough said. Social media data is no exception.</li>
<li>Gain applicant’s consent – it really is a good idea to follow the same notice and disclosure policies you would with any pre employment screen. Let the applicant know you will be checking their social media footprint and gain their consent.</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<p>Using social media in the hiring process is a very real and very valuable tool. Be aware of the issues involved, consult legal advice to help you set up your program and feel free to contact us at <a href="http://tandemselect.com/">Tandem Select</a>. We are leading the way.</p>