The Interview Of Tomorrow

Original Post: The Interview Of Tomorrow

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Image by re-ality


Someone referred me to an article in Time Magazine entitled How Skype is Changing the Job Interview. The title gives it away: the article is all about how Skype is seeing a lot more action in the interviewing process for organizations. After all, it’s free to use (so long as both parties have it) and it simulates an actual face-to-face meeting. Seems like a logical step, right?
Video conferencing is becoming more and more prevalent in businesses for internal communication, especially now with companies seeking to reduce their overhead costs. High-profile, mega-companies like Deloitte have gone to great lengths to get video conferencing in place in its offices. I read an article from the New York Times last year that talks about how much video conferencing has come to replace airplane travel – again, in an effort to cut costs.
So why should interviewing be any different? Let’s be practical here. A company can’t afford to fly you out somewhere. You’re suffering from the recession economy just like everyone else is. If you’re a recent college grad, like several of the people in the article, you have no money and no savings. Since the company won’t bring you to them and you can’t get yourself there, your choices are:

1. Correspond by e-mail.
2. Talk to HR/a hiring manager by phone.
3. Employ video conferencing, which, despite its imperfections, will actually give the people you’re speaking to an opportunity to see you in action and will allow you to use gestures, facial expressions and body language to assist you as you speak and listen.
   

Yeah, like that’s a tough choice. I’ll take #3.
Consider the work of Albert Mehrabian who identified the three elements of communication: word, tone of voice and body language. He posited that if a person is communicating with us, our opinion of them (i.e. whether we like them or not) is based on these three elements in a set ratio: 7% based on the actual words, 38% based on tone of voice and 55% based on body language.
Now, keep in mind that this theory (which has seen wide distribution and is frequently misrepresented) is only meant to be applied when people are talking about their feelings or attitudes (since that’s what Mehrabian’s research was about). Still, while the numbers may change, the message is clear: the actual words don’t account for NEARLY as much as the nonverbal cues that are sent out. Since it’s hard to really get a feel for someone based on their words alone (e-mail) or just their words and tone of voice (phone), that really means that you want as much face time as possible.

So download Skype and start practicing how to interview over a video connection. Welcome to the future.

Mike Kohn is an HR Generalist and avid social media enthusiast working for a design firm in Washington, DC. Having gone from intern to professional within recent memory, he talks about working in the HR industry and making it in the workforce through his Gen Y lens. Check out Mike on Twitter (@mike_kohn), look him up on Facebook or visit his blog, The HR Intern, to hear more from him.

Why Companies Still Aren’t Hiring (And What You Can Do About It)

Original Post:Why Companies Still Aren’t Hiring (And What You Can Do About It)

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There are two words that most job seekers should fear more than any other, that permeate the current domestic (and to some degree, global) work climate, and can spell certain doom for almost anyone who is complacent in their current position.
Those words are “lean production.”
If you had an introduction to business class (or checked Wikipedia), you may remember lean production being defined thusly (on Wikipedia):

Lean production (or manufacturing) is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination.

But in this case, we’re using the term lean production in the context of human capital. And as companies are tightening their wallets, the chances of them using this practice increase. Here’s a fake-textbook example:
Herman and Martha both work for the Acme Company making Widgets. They both get paid a salary of $40,000 each, and have a monthly production of 100,000 widgets each. The Acme Company is in a tight financial spot, so they fire Herman and tell Martha to increase her production rate. Fearful of being fired, Martha starts making 150,000 widgets per month, without any change in pay or benefits.
When both Herman and Martha were working, the cost of a widget that they made to the company (versus their salaries) was 3 cents. With Herman gone and Martha’s increased production, a widget now “costs” 2 cents. Despite a loss of 50,000 widgets per month, the company still comes out ahead. And now that Martha is more cost-effective, an improving financial situation still gives Acme no reason to hire Herman, as production levels would return to where they were, making the company lose money.

Boy, that sounds like an exaggeration, huh? Well, not really. Companies across the country are laying off workers and having their remaining employees pick up the slack. New responsibilities are added without any financial compensation, and production remains virtually unchanged.
Even though the economy may be improving, there’s not enough incentive for them to hire new employees, especially when the costs are so low.
But doesn’t that drive up the value of employees to the companies, causing more problems when they get sick, demand extra pay, threaten to quit, or so on? You ask. In most cases, no. Because there’s the ace in the hole that has been created by the loss of jobs and the need for employment: freelance workers. And since freelancers are often paid at a different rate than full-time employees (usually without benefits), more money can be saved than by making a new full-time position.
So how can a job seeker combat against lean production and freelancers in the marketplace?
We’ve previously discussed some options for the unemployed that don’t involve directly combating the job market, but for those who insist on joining the corporate world, there are four solid options:

1. Start freelancing. Some companies hire on a contract basis to determine whether or not to employ someone full-time. There’s no reason to not dive into the freelancing deep end, provided that you have some way of getting health benefits.


2. Intern or volunteer. It’s much cheaper for a company to take someone on for little (or no) cost as an intern or office volunteer. Besides getting more knowledge about your future position, you may get offered a full-time job after your internship/volunteer period is over.


3. Move laterally. If the company is hiring for a position in another department that you are qualified for, go for it. You can then begin taking the steps to make the move to the department where you want to be.


4. Work for a competitor. Not every company is using lean production; many are hiring right now. Check out industry news and related job search sites to find other businesses that you could work for in the same capacity – you might even find something better!

Even though many businesses are not hiring, there are still options for job seekers to get where they want to go. With a little ingenuity and know-how, you’ll be on your way to the job you want in no time!

Job Seekers Are From Mars, Recruiters From Venus

Job Seekers Are From Mars, Recruiters From Venus

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image by paulisaac333


After a great weekend in New York and a really fun, informative, idea-filled day at the Social Recruiting Summit on Monday I’m still processing many of the conversations I had and sessions I saw.

In two sessions, one led by Carmen Hudson and one led by Susan Burns, attendees were asked to think about recruiting from the job seekers perspective. For me this is really easy, as I’ve never been a recruiter…but have often been a job seeker. After 20 years and 8 employers, I consider myself pretty well versed in the act of job-seeking, both passive and active.

So I offered my two cents to some of the attendees. And it was greeted with a look as if I was from Mars. My take was that while career sites are great…it’s not where I turn to to get a job. Here is how I did it and what I believe many others do, as well:

Job 1 – fresh out of college, in a recession no jobs to be found (sound familiar). So I started temping. The temp agency knew I was looking for a permanent position, they knew my skills, they shopped me around while I was in a temporary position. It took them 5 months, but they found me a full-time gig.

Job 2 – a friend had told me her company was hiring and she thought I’d be a good fit. I was sort of over the entry-level work I was doing and wanted to move up but wasn’t sure. Then I walked into work where they had some financial pressures happening and the phones didn’t work…because they hadn’t paid the phone bill. I went downstairs to the cafeteria and used the pay phone (yep, I’m that old) to call my friend to tell her I was interested in more info. I was interviewed and offered a job within the week.

Job 3 – A former colleague from job 1 was hired as the operations manager at a new TV Station and I heard about it. I had been working at an ad agency and was ready to go back to TV world. I gave him a call. He told me to fax him my resume. I did. I was interviewed and hired.

Job 4 – After an amazing 5 years of growth and development at the TV station – the owners sold it – and laid off almost the entire staff, me included. I took the summer off to consider my options, while keeping in touch with friends. One of those friends got a contract to produce college hockey games. He hired me to be a freelance producer along side him on the games.

Job 5 – I had always wanted to work on the Olympics and they were coming up again. I contacted Mike Eruzione who had been the color commentator on the college hockey games I had been producing. He was involved in the olympics for years and gave me introductions. His contacts could not help me, but they put me in touch with the people in charge of the TV production for the games in Salt Lake City. Before a ski trip to Utah, I contacted the head of production for the TV people, told him I would be in town and could I have an informational interview. They agreed and asked that I bring my resume. My informational interview was on day 1 of my ski vacation…an offer was extended on day 4 of my ski vacation.

Job 6 – I took some time off after the olympics to travel the world with my husband. But we stay connected via email/internet with our friends and family. I had also put all my information on a “keep in touch” list of people who worked on the Olympics. While overseas I got an email from an olympic colleague who was now working in media relations for the Sundance Film Festival. She needed workers during the festival and knew that coincided with my return. I signed on.

Job 7 – I was returning home to Boston and not sure what I wanted to do next…but knew it was not in TV. And suddenly I had a mortgage to pay for the first time. For years my husband and I had participated in a great 2-day charity bike event that rode from Boston to Provincetown. I emailed the head of the event dept. (who I had met several times) about the fact that I was returning home and would like to work for them because they put on such great events. She had an opening to fill. I was interviewed and got the job.

Job 8 – The non-profit I had been working for decided to cut down on its events and I had less and less to do. As I was also one to donate to this charity it didn’t make sense for me to stay on. So I went back to temping…to figure out my next move. The temp agency placed me in a marketing manager role for a local company. After 2 months on the job they and I wanted to make it more permanent…and we all did.

I am now on Job 9 which is this website. Obviously no resume was needed to get me here. Many of the situations above required a resume at some point. But not all. And sending a resume was never the entry point into that company. Nor was it the biggest consideration from the person doing the hiring on whether or not to hire me. So while I wasn’t surprised to see that recruiters still think the best way for a candidate to get a job at their company was by uploading a resume on their career portal. I was a bit disappointed. And I personally think that’s not how many job seekers (passive & active) end up getting their jobs.

I also thought this was a great way to illustrate how recruiting has always been social. That’s my experience. Social media is just a new tool in the recruiter’s and job seeker’s arsenals to reach out as the telephone, email, fax machine and networking have been in the past.

What do you think? Am I from Mars?

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ConnectingCareerAndLife/~3/E9w-F3tYE2Q/

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Turn Twitter Friends into Real Friends

I found this fascinating quote today:

We all have them—”social media friends”—people who we talk to online but most likely have never met in person. We connected with them because of a common interest via Twitter, engaged in interesting conversation with them and shared a bond, but we don’t really consider them a true friend.twitip.com, Twitip, Nov 2009

You should read the whole article.

Give Me My Time Back!

Give Me My Time Back!

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Image by tdub303


One of the more interesting posts I read today was from David Spinks and the debate of why 9-5 should be eliminated. It took on the idea that the 9-5 should be set aside for the sake of personal lives/lifestyles, work preferences, and getting-things-done how the employee feels comfortable.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m currently not a 9-5er and love workshifting on days I feel the need. Doing work in the digital space gives me the freedom and flexibility to do so. It’s how I stay connected with my community, how I continue to learn and grow, and how I’m able to get closer to that next opportunity. Most would probably think that I’m an advocate of this lifestyle – but I’m not all for it, as I question this logic with this piece of my comment:

We work at all times of the day because we’re able to. But does that mean we have to?

We’re wanting and given this flexibility so that we can adhere to different work and life styles, but when do we realize that it may be having an adverse effect on our personal lives than actually helping our schedule? This is a thought that I’ve gotten into deep discussions about recently with Teresa Basich. Talking shop on work methods and how we can better manage and create efficiency in our everyday and professional lives.

Don’t get me wrong – I love that I can work on projects throughout the day, while creating blog posts and connecting with folks on Twitter and other networks – but the deeper I get into this space that I love, the more I realize that the line is becoming blurred to the point that people can’t pull themselves away and disconnect online, and reconnect offline.

I’m conflicted and wonder where we draw the line and get back the time that the non 9-5 life has taken away? Are we spending these newly found working hours inefficiently, or is it the desired course of the digital space, giving us the responsibility to utilize it efficiently?

I’d love to hear your side of it.

How to Become More Intelligent

Original Post:Here

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Intelligence is your capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding and mastery. It’s your aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts and meanings.

Knowing a great deal is not the same as being intelligent; intelligence is not information “alone,” but also judgment, the manner in which information is collected and used. -Dr. Carl Sagan

This article will offer you five ways to increase your intelligence by showing you how to enhance your capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding and mastery.

5 Ways to Become More Intelligent

1. Read Often
   Do you realize that through reading you can learn in a few hours what took someone decades to learn? Reading not only informs, but it also increases your capacity for learning, thereby increasing your intelligence.
   
   Although knowledge is not the summation of intelligence, it is the foundation of intelligence, so it’s crucial that we cultivate the joy of reading.
   
   It’s an amazing thing, people who become successful write down how they did it, and then sell that information for a few dollars. For a few dollars and a few hours you can literally pick someone’s brain; you can buy a piece of their intelligence.
   
   Reading gives you insight into great minds and sharpens your intellect. This allows you the ability to make greater logical connections because reading gives you more pieces of life’s puzzle. By reading from a multiplicity of sources, you gain the wisdom of many.
   
   Reading (blogs like this one) is a great way to increase your intelligence. Remember, readers are leaders, and leaders are usually intelligent.


2. Teach Others
   
   
   

   “Those that understand, teach.”- Aristotle
   

   
   Teaching increases your capacity for reasoning, a critical aspect of intelligence.
   Anyone who’s ever successfully taught anything realizes that teaching increases your capacity to reason. When you teach, you’re often required to view what you’re teaching from a variety of perspectives.
   
   

   “I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.”-Abigail Adams
   

   
   When you teach, it’s often essential that you question what you believe in order to deal with objections and oppositions that are sure to arise. Teaching is often more beneficial to the teacher than the student.
   
   
3. Get Into Action
   Action increases your capacity to understand a subject. As the old proverb goes, “In all thy getting, get understanding.”
   
   You can have information, and you can teach what you know, but you will never fully understand a subject until you put it into practice. If you want to significantly increase your intelligence related to cooking, don’t just watch the Cooking Channel and don’t just tell someone how to cook; you must master cooking yourself by trying, failing, and perfecting the act of cooking.
   
   You will always understand things better when you do them yourself. Knowledge gives you the pieces of the puzzle; understanding helps you put the puzzle together.
   
   
   

   “A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.”-Henry David Thoreau
   

   
   
   
4. Master One Subject
   Mastery is a sign of intelligence. Mastery comes from focusing on one subject until you fully understand it. If you can fully understand one subject, it will help you to better understand other subjects. In other words, mastery will increase your aptitude for grasping truths. If you can master playing the piano, you will better understand music in general.
   
   Additionally, if you can master any subject, you will understand what it takes to succeed.


5. Bonus: Watch More Television
   You probably didn’t see this one coming.
   
   By watching more television, you can become more “well-rounded.” Of course I’m not referring to watching more of the The Simpsons, I’m talking about watching television shows that offer an educational message such as political shows or shows on The Discovery Channel or The History Channel. These shows can increase your capacity for learning, reasoning, and understanding as long as you don't choose educational shows that also stress you out.

By putting these principles into practice on a consistent basis, you will begin to take on the characteristics of an intellectual. Your capacity to learn will be stretched, your reasoning skills will be utilized, your understanding will increase, and you will master at least one subject.

Written on 11/05/2009 by Mr. Self Development who is a motivational author that offers a practical guide to success and wealth; support him by visiting his blog at mrselfdevelopment.com. .

Photo Credit: Kamil Porembiński

Upgrade your career

Original Post:Here

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Do you like your job?

Do you enjoy the people you work with?

Would you want to have lunch with them? Every day? Alex Papadimoulis thinks that Fog
Tyler Griffin Hicks-Wright Creek’s free lunches are “cultish,” but everyone at Fog Creek loves them. Maybe it’s the mandatory brain implant we install in each new worker, but I like to think that we just enjoy eating together because we genuinely like each other and like spending time together. If you can’t imagine eating lunch every day with your coworkers, I hate to break it to you: you might not like them. Is it OK to spend most of your waking hours with people you don’t like?

Do you actually enjoy doing your job? If you wake up an hour early in the morning, do you think, “Yay! I can go in early and get another hour of work in!” Or does that sound ridiculous to you?

Are you learning? When was the last time you had to learn a new skill? Is this year kind of like last year, or are you doing something new, stretching yourself, challenging yourself to be better?

At one of the recent DevDays events, I asked the audience (almost 100% programmers) how many of them were incredibly satisfied with their job, found it fulfilling, and were treated well by their employers. Only about 25% of the hands went up. I asked how many people either hated their job and couldn’t wait to find something better, or were actually actively on the job market. Again, about 25%. The rest were somewhere in the middle: maybe they can tolerate their job, but they’re keeping an eye open for something better.

Who is this DevDays audience? They’re the elite of the elite of the best programmers out there. They’re the people who participate in Stack Overflow, the people who read, the people who are constantly trying to learn more about programming and software development. More than half of them paid their own money to attend a one day conference. They’re the most desirable software developers on the planet. And 75% of them are not delighted with their job.

That’s unacceptable. I’ve been saying for ten years that the top developers have a choice of where to work, and the top employers need to work harder to attract them, because the top developers get ten times as much work done as the average developers.

And yet, I still keep meeting ridiculously productive developers working in shitholes.

We’re going to fix this, right now. Thus, Stack Overflow Careers.

We’re going to completely turn the job market upside down, for the best software developers and the best companies.

This is a talent market. Developers are not even remotely interchangeable. Therefore, recruiting should work like Hollywood, not like union hiring halls of the last century.

In a union hiring hall, downtrodden workers line up like cogs, hoping to make it to the front of the line in time to get a few bucks for dinner.

In Hollywood, studios who need talent browse through portfolios, find two or three possible candidates, and make them great offers. And then they all try to outdo each other providing plush work environments and great benefits.

Here’s how Stack Overflow Careers will work. Instead of job seekers browsing through job listings, the employers will browse through the CVs of experienced developers.

Instead of deciding you hate your job and going out to find a better one, you’ll just keep your CV on file at Stack Overflow and you’ll get contacted by employers.

Instead of submitting a resume, you’ll fill out a CV, which links back to your Stack Overflow account, so that you can demonstrate your reputation in the community and show us all how smart you really are. To a hiring manager, the fact that you took the time to help a fellow programmer with a detailed answer in some obscure corner of programming knowledge, and demonstrated mastery, is a lot more relevant than the Latin Club you joined in school.

Employers can see how good you are at communicating, how well you explain things, how well you understand the tools that you’re using, and generally, if you’re a great developer or not. And they can see your peer reputation, so all that hard work you’ve been putting into helping people on Stack Overflow can karmically come back and help you upgrade your job to the latest, state-of-the-art, great place to work.

Stack Overflow has grown incredibly fast. After a year in business, it gets over a million page views most weekdays and currently stands as the 817th largest site on the Internet, according to Quantcast. It reaches 5.2 million people a month. But Stack Overflow Careers doesn’t have to be massive. It’s not for the 5.2 million people who visit Stack Overflow; it’s for the top 25,000 developers who participate actively. It’s not for every employer; it’s for the few that treat developers well and offer a place to work that’s genuinely fulfilling.

Read the FAQ, then go file your CV now, and upgrade your career.

Need to hire a really great programmer? Want a job that doesn't drive you crazy? Visit the Joel on Software Job Board: Great software jobs, great people.