Random Social Media Thoughts for #Jobseekers

Posted by Steve on May 7, 2013
Posted in: Recruiting. 3 comments

Lately, I’ve offered quite a few thoughts on how to use social media if you’re a jobseeker. Here they are in one place. What do you think of them?

Twitter

Before you start sending out 140s, do some homework. Identify the twitter handles for (a) target industries AKA industry associations – like @PRSA if you want to be in public relations, (b) target companies, and (c) target skillsets – like @Java if you want to be a software developer. Create Twitter lists from each entitled, MyTargetProAssociations; MyTargetEmployers; MyTargetSkills. When the “handles” see that they’ve been added to a list, many will investigate; this is one way to get onto their radar screens.

From here, go to each Twitter account and start looking at the bios of whom these accounts follow and who follows them. In many instances – especially for the company accounts – you’ll see many of the company’s employees as Followers. Make note of these people; we’ll return to these later.

Be sure you d/l Tweetdeck; it (and Hootsuite) are pretty good social media clients where you can create columns from your lists – and thereby “see” what’s taking place in your target associations, companies, and skills.

As far as content, each of these provides fodder for tweeting. DO NOT become a serial retweeter or favoriter; when you see a 140 that is interesting, engage the tweeter by adding an opinion or asking a question (as in, “I’m not sure what this means to a newbie; can you explain it a bit more? ty”). When someone responds back, Follow them and if they don’t fall into any of the 3 categories, add them to another list entitled, SmartKindTweeple (and also add this column to Tweetdeck/Hootsuite) – they’ll notice.

Twitter and LinkedIn go more hand in hand than any other 2 social media platforms – let’s see how.

Contrary to what some might think – Twitter and LinkedIn will be your primary social job search tools.

LinkedIn

So with these target companies, head over to LinkedIn and perform and Advanced People search. Plug in the name of a target company in the Company field and select “Current”; in the Title field, enter the name of the function where you want to work and select “Current.” Run the search. Now start looking at the search results; depending on what your level is, consider anyone with a title of Manager or above as a potential future boss.

With these names in hand, check to see if they have a Twitter account (I’ll talk about connecting with them on LinkedIn in a bit): Under contact info, you just might find their Twitter handle. If so, follow them and add them to a new Twitter list entitled, MyFutureBossMaybe and also add this column to Tweetdeck/Hootsuite. More people with whom you’ll actively engage.

Back to connecting with them on LinkedIn…you want to connect with all folks you add to MyFutureBossMaybe. When you do so, send this – or something like this – in the invite…

Frick-

I hope you don’t find this presumptuous but I’m in a quiet job search; not only have I identified XYZ as a potential employer but also YOU as a potential future boss. While this might appear to be stalkerish, I prefer to think of it as ‘professionally proactive’ and would like to stay in touch. Thanks!

Frack

Twitter? Check…

LinkedIn? Check…

Blogs

As a veteran of the Blogiverse, blogging takes time and the ability to not only ask the Andy Rooney question, “Ever wonder why?” but to come up with plausible stories that support your point of view. In other words, if you’re going to blog you better keep a little notebook handy to record all the random thoughts you have about topics to be blogged about.

I disagree that you want to be seen as a SME; IMO you want to be viewed as entertaining and insightful. If your purpose is to blog to enhance your social media footprint, then you’re going to have to address the past, present, and future of the area in which you want to work. It has to be a combination of yes, no, maybe, and I-don’t-know. When I recruit, I want to see people’s divergent POVs; suck-ups and egoists are quite frankly boorish and annoying. If you believe a target company’s posturing is offbase, tell them; if they don’t respect your POV and engage you because you hurt their feelings, that sure says quite a bit about them.

Branding Yourself

Whatever you believe your brand is, others will likely read into your social media footprint and think of things you missed. My advice is to forget about consciously branding yourself; instead, focus on engaging people on tough topics and offer your truthful POVs whether some might find them objectionable or not. It’s like lying – if you can’t be yourself, you WILL get caught up in a lie. Always happens – and will happen during an interview.

Facebook

Meh…as the commercialization of Facebook continues it will lose its luster as a social media platform for job search and recruiting. That’s my story…

Vine/Vimeo/YouTube

If you can tell me a story in a 6 second Vine video (Vine is owned by Twitter), you’ll win my recruiting love. A short and powerful message is very liberating. As for Vimeo versus YouTube – I don’t care; I look for creativity and content. Both are fine; your choice.

Bottom-Line

Job search – like recruiting – is a contact sport. For all the press given social media, in recruiting we like to say that the two most important social media tools are the telephone and the handshake.

Believe it.

The Social Tsunami

Posted by Steve on February 12, 2013
Posted in: Character, Communities, Facebook, Learning, Social Media. 12 comments

It’s so darned easy to get sucked into the social Tsunami called Facebook and ride the same waves that your Friends ride. You hear about music their listening to, places where they eat, teams they root for, pictures of them doing stuff…

You Like a page someone else likes and then you never touch that page again. You Like someone’s comment but you never comment yourself. You tell others when you’re happy, when you’re sad; when you found a new job, when someone close to you died. When your baby burped, when you burped. You tell someone you love them – as if it carries more weight when the entire world knows. You denigrate someone in a post and then feel sad and reflective when they commit suicide…

There’s also a preponderance of “look at me” posts – isn’t it enough to know you possess a six-pack? Or that your kid is an honor student at the middle school? These posts actually sadden me; are people’s self-esteems so damaged that the only cure is to post to Facebook in the hope of feeling the miniscule spritz of dopamine whenever someone clicks “Like” or comments?

The dangers of “social stupidity” are personal and professional: Facebook is identified in far too many divorce cases as “a cause” and far too many people rant about the professional shortcomings of their employers and bosses. Of course, I feel that I have to also mention the polarizing effects of political discussions: Does anyone really believe the hard left/hard right discussions of anarchy build real communities? Or do they simply foment something ugly and insidious without a chance for seeking a common ground?

Would it surprise you if I told you that although some view me as a moderately influential “social recruiter” I have grown weary of the Weight of Facebook? Although I can make any social channel “sing”, I’ve concluded that there are far more effective ways to recruit than with Facebook and there are far better ways to stay in touch with friends than with Facebook. It’s time to shut it down.

I’ve done quite well the better part of my life without it. How about you?

Gamification in Recruiting is Weird Science

Posted by Steve on December 26, 2012
Posted in: Recruiting. 2 comments

Congratulations for applying for a job at Gamification Inc – Just apply to Five More jobs and you’ll earn a really cool badge which you can proudly display on your resume! How great is that?!?!?!?

What does it tell you when the ability to win and display Cheesy Badges gets people hotter and “more engaged”? Do the he words “pathetic” and “demise” come quickly to mind?

On many levels, gamification is one of the better ways to engage the average 68% (plus/minus one standard deviation) of a talent community on a common task; for those in the upper 16% – the intrinsic reward of performing is likely to be sufficient by itself. The irony is that for those companies that claim to hire only the best, the presence of gamification in the hiring processes proves that in fact they don’t hire “only the best” but “tease the average.”

Perhaps it really is too difficult for many companies to have open discussions with candidates  about the real problems to be solved once hired.

Weird science, if you ask me…

Hey Luftmensch! Did I just hear you Faamiti?

Posted by Steve on December 4, 2012
Posted in: Faamiti, Luftmensch, Recruiting, Words. 1 comment

Some articles serve no purpose other than to cause one to utter, “Huh” aloud (but not too loud). This was one of them for me – words without an English equivalent. However, since this is the Recruiting Inferno, there’s always a recruiting equivalent…

Zhaghzhagh (Persian). The chattering of teeth from the cold or from rage. If ever there was an apt equivalent in recruiting, zhaghzhagh is what jobseekers feel upon attempting to apply to a job through most companies’ ATS as well as their response to having not received a job offer upon completion of the 6 hurdles, 18 interviews and 57 hoops through which they had to navigate just to get to the point of rejection. Zhaghzhagh…

Yuputka (Ulwa). A word made for walking in the woods at night; it’s the phantom sensation of something crawling on your skin. In recruiting, this is what many recruiters feel after meeting someone for an interview. Folks, as tough as this might be to be digest, the industry can offer many stories about people who inch close to your face while staring without blinking; of those with breath so bad it could curl steel; of anger so palpable that you begin to think about how quickly you can dial 911. Of course, as jobseekers, it’s also the same feeling you get when you just know that there’s no possible way you could ever work for this person. Yuputka…

Slampadato (Italian). Addicted to the UV glow of tanning salons? The day I interview someone whose skin has the same color and texture as a Thanksgiving Day Butterball is the day I retire. Slampadato…

Luftmensch (Yiddish). There are several Yiddish words to describe social misfits; this one is for an impractical dreamer with no business sense – literally, an air person. In recruiting, we see these all the time; generally these are jobseekers who apply to jobs that are in no way, shape or form associated with their skill sets, like financial analyst applying to an engineering job, or an admin assistant looking to become the head of digital marketing. Behind much of the incongruity between the jobseeker and the job are two factors: One, unemployment insurance “requirements” (have to show activity); and two, the unfortunate belief that recruiters and hiring managers are effective at “seeing” talent and will be able to find the jobseeker a more appropriate position. Now that I wrote that, I can easily see the degree of Luftmenchia in recruiting and job search. Oy vey…

Iktsuarpok (Inuit). You know that feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for someone to show up at your house and you keep going outside to see if they’re there yet? This is the word for it. It’s also the word for an interview “No Show”. Who knew?

Cotisuelto (Caribbean Spanish). A word that would aptly describe the prevailing fashion trend among American men under 40, it means one who wears the shirt tail outside of his trousers. Of course in terms of the jobseeker, this also extends – or drops – below the belt line. I think I’ve seen more than my fair share of mid-butt-drooping trousers. Yes, the shirt-tail-hanging, mid-butt-drooping interview outfit. Next…

Pana Po’o (Hawaiian). “Hmm, now where did I leave those keys?” he said, pana po’oing – it means to scratch your head in order to help you remember something you’ve forgotten. Happens quite a bit during an interview when the candidate is asked to answer performance questions rather than the banal ones whose practiced answers can roll off their tongues. I will ask about performance – how you do things; I won’t – never never, never – ask you about your strengths and weaknesses. I want to see you Pana Po’o just to see how you think under pressure…

Gumusservi (Turkish). Meteorologists can be poets in Turkey with words like this at their disposal; it means moonlight shining on water. Ever have a perfect interview? You know – the one that doesn’t feel like work? The one in which neither side has to struggle or make up stuff? The one where both know that the search is over. This is the word for it…

Vybafnout (Czech). A word tailor-made for annoying older brothers; it means to jump out and say boo. Great recruiters do this all the time – these are questions for which there is no possible way to have “studied” a “right” answer. These are cognitive questions that tap into your lateral thinking abilities – situations where an answer (there are many) is not intuitive. The reason the word seems difficult to pronounce is because in an interview, an answer is just as challenging to produce…

Mencolek (Indonesian). You know that old trick where you tap someone lightly on the opposite shoulder from behind to fool them? That’s what this word describes. I love doing this in an interview; these are questions that we ask to back check what someone said earlier in the interview.  Yep, some of us do listen to what you say, put a neat little bow around it, and unwrap it when needed. Tap, tap…

Faamiti (Samoan). To make a squeaking sound by sucking air past the lips in order to gain the attention of a dog or child. I’ve never done this in any HR situation. Perhaps at the next career fair when I see you speaking to one of my competitors…

Glas wen (Welsh). A smile that is insincere or mocking; literally, a blue smile. Sure, we’ll get back to you within two business days to discuss the next step in the interviewing process…

Bakku-shan (Japanese). The experience of seeing a woman who appears pretty from behind but not from the front (there must be a form of the phrase that pertains to men). In recruit-speak, someone who looks great on paper but couldn’t describe in detail anything they’ve accomplished in detail beyond what’s on the resumé. Beware of anyone who claims, “This person looks great on paper.” A corollary is “good from far, far from good.”

Boketto (Japanese). It’s nice to know that the Japanese think enough of the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking to give it a name. From time to time, it’s how I felt while interviewing someone; sorry, it’s a fact – anyone who’s spent time in recruiting has those interviews where death is the only option (the recruiter’s). More often than not, it’s not the candidate but the recruiter who’s Boketto’ing. You have to know when to call it a day…

Kummerspeck (German). Excess weight gained from emotional overeating; literally, grief bacon. Typically caused by hiring managers who signed a Service Level Agreement then reneged on the terms during the 11th hour. Also as a result of that perfect candidate dumping you at the altar for a competitor (which is not as bad as deciding to stay where they are).  Now where’s that bag of potato chips?

If you couldn’t tell, I had fun with this one…

DriveThru Inferno

Posted by Steve on November 27, 2012
Posted in: BlogTalkRadio, DriveThruHR, Reality Show, Recruiting Inferno. Leave a Comment

Was reminded that I’ve done two episodes of the daily DriveThruHR BlogTalkRadio show; decided to share them here (with thanks to Bryan Wempen and William Tincup for having me)…

Steve Levy at Lunch with DriveThruHR 10/19 by Wempen and Tincup | Blog Talk Radio.

Steve Levy at Lunch with DriveThruHR 02/03 by Wempen and Tincup | Blog Talk Radio.

The Finger and Two Pink Slips

Posted by Steve on November 25, 2012
Posted in: GenY, Human Resources, Learning, Military, Millenials, Moron, Social Media, Veterans. 7 comments

If you’re part of the Millenial or GenY factions in society who whine when some nitwit gets fired for posting something stupid online, it’s time to stop cowering behind your collective sense of superiority, dump the labels that guide your actions, and join the rest of us who take responsibility for our actions and who know that an 8th place finish isn’t worthy of a Blue Ribbon.

She’s 30 years old and her picture was taken by her 38 year-old boss. Both were fired (more here). Outrage by those who are not attorneys yet Freedom of Speech experts aside, all you need to do to figure out why their employer gave these two pink slips is to look at the Board of Directors of “Living Independently Forever”; see why the employees were fired?

These two weren’t born stupid but they sure were raised stupid – to a degree by their parents, their school systems, by the friends they associate with, by the social platforms that allow someone to be more outrageous than the next person then be RT’ed or Liked by others, and by the belief that private means private. In other words, they allowed themselves to be stupid.

At their ages, it makes sense that at least one neuronal element would have figured that at the very least taking the picture was in bad taste. Another neuronal element should have fired back with “No, no, no” as they were about to press when posting the picture to Facebook (another reason for Facebook quickly becoming the global repository for stupid). A final neuronal element should have flicked on the light switch when the posters reiterated their belief that “Oh, my Privacy settings will ensure that this remains private.”

For those who believe that nothing is sacred (read the Gawker comments) or that what “someone does on their personal time” is immune from “social laws”, please keep in mind that the human cost of all US Wars since 1776 is somewhere in the vicinity of 1.3 million Americans KIA and 1.6 million Americans wounded. Whether you believe it or not, you simply wouldn’t be able to make an ass of yourself or be a hipster or post stupid to Facebook or listen to the music of your choice if it weren’t for Americans putting themselves in the paths of bullets. At the very least, if you’re going to learn to respect something in this life respect those who died in creation of this great country – or for that matter, any great Democracy (please don’t bore me with the faults of our system; it will always be a work in progress and you can both vote and run for office if you want to do more).

Now…should these two have been fired? Absolutely not. I would have made them volunteer at a VA Hospital for a good period of time and write about their experiences. Helping to clean the amputated stumps of soldiers who lost limbs, console those with TBI and PTSD, change the bed linens of those who are permanently bedridden all come to mind.

While we must be intolerant of abject stupidity, we must also be tolerant of people who have yet to learn the real meaning of being an American. Since Civics is no longer taught in schools, some people just take longer.

My question is now What will it take for this social nincompoopery to make a turn off the roadway that leads to a one-thousand foot cliff?

Losing to Win

Posted by Steve on November 21, 2012
Posted in: Communities, Football, Long Beach, Superstorm Sandy, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

Beginning empty handed and alone frightens the best of men. It also speaks volumes of just how sure they are that God is with them. (A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness) ~Gene Edwards

Her height varied from 4’ 11” to 8’ 3” depending upon the tone and pace of her voice but her heart was always in the right place. She was one of the hundreds of volunteers, and members of the ARC, FEMA, local and state law enforcement, and other religious and support organizations who have toiled under exceedingly physical and emotionally challenging conditions while working at the relief center located at the Long Beach Recreation Center following the rude entrance and ugly exit of a Hurricane named Sandy.

My niece and ex-sister-in-law lost their cars but other friends lost their houses, family heirlooms, and wedding pictures. Boats ended up in car washes; raw sewage coated square miles of suburban neighborhoods. Trees died.

People died.

Go outside and stand in front of your house; if your entry is on the street level and you have a mailbox next to the door, put your hand on the mailbox: This was the surge height of the water at sea level. We’re talking about a real car pool.

Sandy decimated the Long Beach High School athletics program, taking away facilities and whatever equipment remained at the waterfront school; the playoff-bound football team was unable to practice leading up to the game and its players relocated to other parts of the country – even to equally destroyed Staten Island – in search of places to live, many with their families who left with the just the clothes on their backs.

Boomer Esiason’s Foundation heard about the plight of the team; so did Hofstra University. The players heard about it too and found ways via carpools and the kindness of their coaches and parents to get to practice; they jumped around like they probably do on Christmas morning as they tried on their donated new gear. They were at this one moment in time faux-men acting like little boys in the middle of a storm. All wore the same clothes; there were the embodiment of a real team.

I saw the eyes in each person on the coaching staff dancing with the joy of getting football back and the anticipation of the upcoming game; no, winning the game. It didn’t matter that in the two weeks leading up to the game the team would only have three days of practice, a two week period in which many of the players lost their houses and had to wade through polluted waters to save what little that wasn’t destroyed.

There was Arnie Epstein, Long Beach’s Athletic Director, burning up every minute he had on his cell plan, fielding calls from high schools, major sports equipment manufacturers, and news reporters looking to follow the team’s path to the playoffs. There was also another side of Arnie – the person who offered consolations to all players and coaches who simply needed a hug. For three days I was with the team during their practices at Hofstra – unloading boxes, affixing “LB” and stripes to the brand new Zenith helmets with others who were helping, chilling water, and Tweeting out a few pictures and videos to anyone who cared (especially Boomer Esiason)…

The mettle of a real leader is tested when all odds are seemingly against them; say what you will about educators these days but the Long Beach High School coaches, the teachers, social workers, guidance counselors, and friends of Long Beach Football – Boomer, you’re now a Lifetime member of the team – put together their collective arms and hugged these kids. They gave them a massive rainbow of hope. The team left Hofstra on Friday night believing they were going to win.

They lost the game…big.

The coaches gathered the team in the middle of the field after time ran out. When used in a sports context, pride is often quoted when a coach or a team leader wants others to raise their game to achieve a goal of not being humiliated by the other team. This was a very different category of pride; not one of forestalling humiliation but of pulling oneself from an abyss of despair all by the hands of a community.

“We are rarely proud when we are alone.” ~Voltaire

The players weren’t happy but more and more smiled as they left the high school field – some for the last time. Then there were the coaches…

I don’t think that truly great coaches are anointed (and I use the word specifically in a quasi-religious tone) the accolades they deserve. The Long Beach High School Football coaches were visibly downtrodden as they picked up the last vestiges of the game; some had housed players during the preceding weeks, all had reached into their pockets to help. I know these guys felt that somehow they had let down the players but time will show that the efforts had given the players lessons in “hope” and “teamwork” that under the circumstances would never have been taught in a classroom or on the field. Even more, I suspect that the players, coaches and Arnie learned that no matter how dire a situation might ever get, that they’d never be alone. Community pride is always more powerful than individual pride…

On one of the days at the Long Beach Relief Center, I’m certain I personally moved at least 5,000 pounds of pet food and at least that much in cases of water. How bad was it? When a member of Long Beach Police Department comes by and asks if he can have a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and a razor so he can clean up – because he lost everything – yeah, it’s bad. A middle-aged woman who clearly hadn’t time over the past days to take care of herself came to me and asked for, among other basics, cleaning supplies and #2 diapers for her grandkids. The center was running very low of some of the basics but I knew she really needed the few items for which she was asking (unlike some of the slithering people who came by to shop for “free” stuff – everyone working knew who these folks were – this person was also in dire need) so I ventured back to the hockey rink full of inventory, put together a care package and carried it out to her car.

It was a fairly new Jaguar…

Being the sensitive type, I asked her if she ever thought that she’d be driving a Jag and coming to a relief center for cleaning supplies (yes, I inserted my entire leg into my mouth) – and she burst into tears. Seems that the car had been designated as “totalled” by the storm – it smelled really bad inside – but it was where she was sleeping because her house – and the houses of her friends and family – were destroyed. Everything she had in the world was stuffed into the car.

I stayed and talked and made sure she had taken the necessary steps to meet with her insurance companies and FEMA; said if she needed anything else to come back and ask for me.

Then she said to me, “Thank you so much for doing all this.” All this? I made an insensitive comment and carried cleaning supplies to her car.

But she smiled as she opened her car door, dropped in and drove away. I’m sure she’ll be fine.

It’s easy to let “losing” shake you to your core and stay down on the ground. When you think that no one cares about you, it’s very difficult to get up off the ground. Yet when you realize that community pride can help unlock personal pride when personal pride has taken a beating – that there are always others around you who will help – it makes giving up a very unattractive course of action. Perhaps this is the best Thanksgiving message I can offer: Whether it’s after a natural disaster or with someone you know is having difficulty finding a job, communities do pull together to help.

People can lose but communities can win…