Steve Levy's Blog – November 2008 Archive (41)

A Financial Times Saturday

Nothing like reading the Big Salmon on a Saturday morning to take in a global view of business. From letters and op/eds on the editorial pages, here's my take on how FT and it's readers view the world and how it relates to recruiting...

As a result of the global financial pickle, many around the world can see that regulators have "a legitimate interest in how… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 30, 2008 at 10:15pm — No Comments

Recruiting for Obama's national CTO/CIO

President-elect Obama has intimated that he wants to appoint someone to a cabinet-level position that oversees technology. Makes sense - there are existing positions that oversee everything except for technology (unless you think of the DoD as technology...technology that is inaccessible to all but the military). But I agree with Eric Lundquist of CIO Insight:… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 29, 2008 at 9:19am — No Comments

The DogHouse - a video that must be seen by men (and women who think their men are morons)

My friend Marian sent over this link to a great "training" video. What do you think?

Added by Steve Levy on November 27, 2008 at 1:44pm — 6 Comments

Job Centers See Crush of People in Need

"They have little in common: Ron Jones, 52, short and strong, a union carpenter with decades of work experience; and Jerome Grant, 20, tall and thin, a Jamaican immigrant with a degree in culinary arts. But the economy has pushed them to the same difficult place.

On a recent morning, they sat across from each other at a one-stop career center here, feverishly applying for two months of temporary work with United Parcel Service. The pay was $8.50 an hour. There were 150 slots, and… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 24, 2008 at 7:38am — 3 Comments

Had a Facebook dream all night long

There is something demented in the mind of every recruiter...

Added by Steve Levy on November 21, 2008 at 6:37am — 1 Comment

Ethics in recruiting, abortion, waterboarding, affirmative action, gay marriage, religion

Perhaps this will come as a surprise to some in this community but recruiting leads to winners and losers - someone receives a new opportunity and others are left to (a) fill in the holes left by someone's departure and (b) others are "hurt" because they weren't selected for the new opportunity - as a candidate and in all likelihood as internal candidates on both sides of the departure. This scenario cascades because like the… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 20, 2008 at 10:13am — 2 Comments

All that Internet socializing really isn't bad for teens

“It certainly rings true that new media are inextricably woven into young people’s lives,” said Vicki Rideout, vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation and director of its program for the study of media and health. “Ethnographic studies like this are good at describing how young people fit social media into their lives. What they can’t do is document effects. This highlights the need for larger, nationally representative studies."

“But their participation is… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 20, 2008 at 8:04am — No Comments

Yah-whooooooooo?

"The next hire has to be a statement; it can't be from inside the company," said Rick Munarriz, an analyst with the Motley Fool.

Yah-whoooooo will it be?

Added by Steve Levy on November 19, 2008 at 7:54am — 2 Comments

Your CEO's screen name

A few weeks back, I sat in the last row at the haughty Princeton Club in NYC with Dennis Smith taking in Kennedy's 2008 Executive Search Summit where he was a speaker. The ESS is very much traditional blue blood retained search so talking about the ubiquitous Web 2.0 tools - as Dennis did...twice - were met with a little consternation,… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 18, 2008 at 6:41am — 1 Comment

Tsk, tsk Rachel Benji

Seems like Rachel has been busy this morning adding shameless self-promoting comments touting some village in India named HR...

I know for fact that Slouch knows where the delete key is on the keyboard.

Added by Steve Levy on November 18, 2008 at 6:00am — 1 Comment

Off topic: What love is to 4-8 year olds

I don't care if this is comes up in Snopes.com as being written by a 32 year old male who's living with his Mom - who still cooks and cleans for him; it's adorable...

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore

So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”

Rebecca (8)

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.

You just know that… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 17, 2008 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Why Are There So Few Female Computer Scientists?

"When one looks at computer science in particular, however, the proportion of women has been falling. In 2001-2, only 28 percent of all undergraduate degrees in computer science went to women. By 2004-5, the number had declined to only 22 percent. Data collected by the Computing Research Association showed even fewer women at research universities like M.I.T.: women accounted for only 12 percent of undergraduate degrees in computer science and engineering in the United States and… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 17, 2008 at 1:54pm — 3 Comments

I'm in love with my gadgets

But I think I may need therapy...

What I'm noticing about people and the dumbing-down thing is that we respond to the affordances of technology. If you send me a letter, my expectation is that I should answer within two to three weeks. If you send me a fax, I have the expectation that within two days I should be getting back to you. If you… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 17, 2008 at 9:09am — No Comments

When the going gets tough, recruiting cries "SHORTAGE!!!!!"

If you can't find talent for your IT/technical positions in a world that is reeling with layoffs, you have a problem. Or your hiring manager has a litany of issues. Or the people who could work for you have an inflated sense of salary.

Some think there really is a shortage and that offshoring is overblown. Yet those who are in the field believe...

I believe… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 17, 2008 at 8:30am — No Comments

50,000 job cuts - the Citi never weeps...

More carnage yet more great people to hire!

Added by Steve Levy on November 17, 2008 at 8:20am — No Comments

Sunday Food-for-Thought

Random sites of interest that may - or may not - have something to do with recruiting...

Office Politics

CareerAdviceBlogs

50 Things Everyone Should Know… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 16, 2008 at 11:33am — No Comments

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

Some of my favorites:

The Law of Expansion: The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope. Brands that spread themselves across categories lose brand focus, identity, and ultimately market share. Look at the career pages of company websites - sure sounds as if many are trying to be everything to everyone.

The… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 16, 2008 at 11:16am — No Comments

Tough job requirement

Added by Steve Levy on November 16, 2008 at 10:16am — 1 Comment

TARP won't cover it at all

The Treasury Secretary said it was clear by the time Congress passed the Tarp legislation that the plan to buy assets would “take time to implement and would not be sufficient given the severity of the problem”. Capital injections offered a “more powerful” way to shore up the financial system and support lending.

“I will never apologise for changing an approach or strategy when the facts change,” Mr Paulson said.

There are so many people to blame here but it makes… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on November 13, 2008 at 8:00am — No Comments

63 Questions: Be part of Obama's Team

"They must include any e-mail that might embarrass the president-elect, along with any blog posts and links to their Facebook pages."

If you really love Barack, why not be part of his team?

Added by Steve Levy on November 13, 2008 at 8:00am — No Comments