I bit my lip because it seemed everywhere I looked people were happy it was Friday, happy the week had passed. They didn’t even want to experience the day — they wanted to jump right to the end of it. My fingers began to work their trickery in the status field…

Does anyone “savor the moment” these days? I see a bazillion posts about tomorrow, tonight, next week, looking forward to Fridays.… what about the moment we are in? This moment too is marvelous and to be savored. You’ll never get it back so unless it is unwrenchingly intolerable, wishing it away and trying to pull the future forward is wishing your life away… living it is much more rewarding.

It seems life passes so many people by. How often I hear, where did the time go, it was just yesterday (last week, last year)? Is it a sign of the times that people are living rote lives?

Have you ever sat quietly watching a clock? Why is it so difficult for most people to relax watching it tick, enjoying the rhythm of the timing? Time passes much more slowly when you watch it. It seems to make many people feel uncomfortable to sit idly “not doing anything”. My grandmother used to say “a watched pot never boils” and I used to challenge it. I learned to notice every second with every tick of the second hand and realize I would never see those moments again.

Each moment should be felt and celebrated, when it passes it’s gone forever. So OK, maybe all moments aren’t the ones you jump for joy over, some hurt. But, they are the ones you learn from, the ones that make you feel to the core of your being that you are alive and that you are significant and insignificant all at the same time.

Do you ever just sit and look at your fingers, watch them move, be conscious of them and then mentally move to your wrists, arms, shoulders, up the back of your neck, to the top of your head, to your forehead.. down to the bottoms of your feet? Are you conscious of your heartbeat?

I admit that each night as I reflect on the day and look forward to the next as I drift off to sleep, I am a little bit saddened that I now have one less day left in my life.  They’re all so grand I wish none would ever end.

Day, n.  A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent.  ~Ambrose Bierce

A short Twitter conversation happened on Friday, sparked by Laurie Ruettimann’s revelation that she “received feedback that “google it” as an answer to a question is rude.” I recall my father telling me to “look it up” plenty of times when I was a kid.

I would understand if someone needed information that couldn’t wait and didn’t have access to the Internet or a phone directory or 411 (how often is that really the case?). However, it was hard for me to understand why a certain person calls me every quarter to ask the local unemployment rate so she can complete her report.

My quarterly response has always served to qualm the curious  mall lady. Except for this time…

“That doesn’t seem high enough, are you sure” she asked?

I told her I googled it and got the graph.  Then she did it… She asked if it wouldn’t be better to get the information from the government. I explained that indeed it came from there but rather than having to know exactly which website to go to I just googled it..

I explained how she could go to www.google.com and enter the search term to use and eventually the conversation ended.

Keith McIlvaine asked the burning and seemingly logical question, “if you have a questions, why wouldn’t you “Google It” first then ask someone if you don’t get the answer” but it was Maureen Sharib who made sense of it all…

It made me stop and think. The mall lady called from her desk and she was using a computer to do a report, but where I have an igoogle dashboard as my homepage — tracking reputation of the organization I work for (and mine too), the weather, feeds from BLS and other data important to me, the mall lady doesn’t even remotely understand the power of search.

I’m really independent and I can’t come up with an example of a time I wouldn’t try to figure out something myself before asking, just like Keith suggested. But maybe that’s why we do what we do and we are who we are. When the mall lady calls in September I’ll be ready.

Do you find people ask you things they could look up themselves or are you a mall lady?

Of course, smart companies and recruiters have job boards on their own sites and today there are many options for paid and open source (free) job board software. They’ll even get picked up by LinkUp at no cost. Others launch lists of jobs and invite job seekers to post their resume on blogs, but the truth is that without robust job board software they don’t work very well or ever get much exposure and over time will become cumbersome to manage and use.

Barak has publicly declared FindAJobAlready will remain free forever.. this isn’t a BETA phase. Job seekers can post profiles/resumes and search jobs in the US, Canada and UK. They can also read 101 Ways To Find A Job (good stuff). Recruiters and employers can post jobs and search unlimited resumes for free. There are even ATS features –> just like those big expensive job boards have, great for small companies who do not have a budget for posting and access.

If you’re a job seeker you can also follow @faja_jobs. They have tweeted 123,065 jobs — that’s a lot of opportunity! The only advice I have is that they need to ditch the little bird and put an avatar up.… wake up guys!

One of the IMHO super cool features is a suggestion page. It’s smart and just good business.

This is the way to go. This is the right thing to do. FREE Job Boards rock!

P.S. I love the Eshet Chayil amulet on Barak’s other site and I’m going shopping there right now.

P.S.S. I don’t know Barak but I hope he accepts my LinkedIn invite.

I know that numbing pain gradually crept up my left arm with each successive transfer.

I know I was sold the wrong service package.

I know I shut the boardroom door because I was starting to lose my cool and didn’t want people walking by to think they should call the ambulance to bring a straight jacket.

I know in my frustration I resorted to Twitter and all of a sudden with one tweet my problems started to melt away.

Twitter?

My real problems are not technical in nature. Sure, there is either a driver or registry problem that needs to be taken care of, if not something more complex. Yes, I was upset there would be no walking the floor for me because I would be tied to the arrow key during my presentations this week. But, I understand broken, messed up, old and needs fixing. I have an abundance of patience for an inanimate object.

I too have tons of patience for people who need help and instruction. I can do that and not lose my composure. But it gets challenging when a mega colossal company who touts they “care” shows me (and come to find out after a little Google action a bunch of others) they don’t.

So, the fact that 6 transfers later, 6 times giving my name, service tag, email address, phone and alternate phone numbers, 6 times having to re-explain (and in some cases re-explain) a wrong service contract purchase and 5.5 hours later –> NO RESOLUTION…

A tweet

It’s called public humiliation, being taken to task, forced accountability.….. It’s a shame it had to resort to that but I did it because I felt I was at the end of my rope.

It works

What’s missing in the Dell tag cloud from their blog on Customer Service & Technical Support is “customer service”.

What’s missing at Dell is an appropriate CRM system or the enabling of technicians and/or customer service representatives to access it.

What’s missing at Dell is training on warm transfers — where the employee transfers your call and your information SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO REPEAT IT 6 TIMES…

What’s missing at Dell are pre-employment assessments for listening skills and talking over the customer.

What’s missing at Dell is acculturation and training of off shore teams on US customer expectations.

Personal note to Michael Dell:

Dear Michael, if you would like to talk about fixing the type of customer service complaints that are abundantly populated all over the Internet I would be happy to have that conversation. You see, the general consensus is that you make a great product — but the lack of customer service skills your off shore teams provide is a gaping opportunity for improvement. Let me help you fix that. ~Karla

P.S. My new family member is a black cat (haven’t even seen him yet) that was abandoned & I couldn’t be responsible for his euthanasia so instead I gave him a spa overnight at the vet clinic that included vaccinations and a little nip tuck =) Please support animal rescues so they can afford to offer low cost spay and neuter programs and by all means –> adopt from a shelter, do not buy from breeders and stores and spay and neuter your little furry loved ones. We’ll have a pawty when he gets here and I’ll post a pic or 2.

If you have questions about the presentation don’t hesitate to find me on a social network or just click the G and you’ll be connected to me.. I love it when I rhyme =)

Social Media 4 Older Job Seekers

Then, last year I transitioned to a new job with a significantly more visible presence in the community. One of the things I do on the job is manage social media for the organization and several of its projects on Facebook and Twitter. Since Facebook hasn’t bothered to allow for the separation of church and state (your personal account is tied to fan pages you create) one of the side effects of my becoming more virtually “local” is that I have accepted many local businesses as friends or become their fan. I could ignore them but let’s be honest, I’m an open networker and really unless you are inordinately weird I’m very open minded and accept your virtual friendship.

This blog feeds into Networked Blogs on Facebook, and the RSS Feed goes to LinkedIn and most every social media account I have and I will tweet the post too. I’m outwardly hoping it will be read and taken for what it is worth by some of my followers who have businesses and have taken marketing into their own hands. This is a sincere effort on my part to tell them and many others who are doing their own social media marketing that they’re screwing it up, they don’t know what they’re doing and they’re doing more bad than good…

They’re turning me off

I have read many public floggings of companies — outright smack downs. But, that’s not my style. So here are two sanitized examples of local companies turning me off completely and what they could do to try to turn me on. I could contact them privately and offer consulting services but I’m also a realist… it is highly unlikely they would go for it because they think they are doing it right.. Consider this pro bono.

Profile #1 — Therapy Practice (I don’t know what else to call it)

The Facebook Fan Page posts 3rd party articles on why xxx is the key to health. It does not appear to engage members because there are no comments on the wall — at all and there is no steady growth (even slow) of the fan base. The administrator sends messages to fans about specials, discounts and how our health could be optimized, and sends me @ tweets stating Hi, Im Dr. XXX local xxx I see u have disc problems. I can Help Call me 000‑0000. xxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.com

Wait, what did you say????????

Uhhhh.. You have x-ray eyes doc? You don’t know anything about my body and you’re are spewing “facts” about me that I don’t appreciate at all. This is a huge no no… you publicly stated I have disc problems and you don’t know me from Adam. Yet, a prospective employer could see that and think it is true. Maybe an insurance company I am trying to buy a policy from is checking me out. Maybe I wouldn’t want the PUBLIC to know I have this supposed disc problem. Are you thinking about how you are potentially impacting me? You would think someone who must be familiar with HIPAA would never think of doing this.. The worst thing is you have not only done this to me you have done it to all of your 23 followers in your 227 spammy tweets. Maybe that’s why you have only 23 followers.

My advice for this business is:

• Make your Facebook activity interactive. Stop pumping out blatant ads and be social.
• How about commenting on something I post or visiting my blog and letting me know what you think? Let me know you actually pay attention to me and are not just looking to bill my health care insurance.
• Ask fans if they have questions and post the answers on the fan page.
• Try posting trivia or history of the discipline. Be a person, put up some pics of your vacation or something a little off topic that shows you are a person with a personality, have a little fun!
• Remember it’s got to be reciprocal. I was nice enough to become your fan so don’t say something stupid like “I see you have xxxx problems”. I don’t think you are psychic and it does not make me want to let you touch me.
• Do not use Twitter to tweet the same thing to all 27 followers thinking you’re being swift by personalizing using my name. I’m smarter than that. I just pulled up your tweets and see you are an assembly line tweeter. There are many successful health care providers who post helpful advice and tips, ask and answer questions and engage their followers with great dialog. They “get” social media and know that engagement through soft selling is the best sales tool. They make friends with their followers and become the name on the tips of their tongues when it comes to their profession.

Profile #2 — Service Provider

One of the owners of this business mans the social media and is pervasively visible on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.. probably other places too. Apart from generating sin fin varieties of never to miss deals you will surely die without, this person posts comments and tweets about arguments and problems with the spouse, disdain for another job and painfully complains about just about everything to the point I don’t want to look. Other times there are blissful messages of love and contentment..

My advice for this business is:

• Please note that I have heard from other locals that you appear unbalanced because of the bipolarish Sybilesque inconsistent personal messages you mix with business. Stop — It’s disturbing not only to me but others as well.
• Do a Google search on yourself and then on your business. Pretend you don’t know yourself and read the search results. Look at the personal and professional brands you have created. You have mixed the two so much they are virtually indistinguishable. It doesn’t look so good, does it?
• Think before you post.The worst is when your LinkedIn status messages are utterly unprofessional in your expressions of anger at the world and feelings of being unloved. Ask yourself if you would pay an agency to post the things you post yourself .… or if you would fire them.
• Do not trash your business partner and spouse as if a criminal and louse and then expect people to become a customer and trust their expensive personal possessions with you guys..
• Remember that the words personal and personable have much in common.
• The service you provide is a non-essential one as much as you like to promote it to be as important as the air we breathe. Face it, most people can only afford DIY. You have a niche service and it should be marketed as such.
• Identify the profile of your customer and then post things that are interesting to that demographic. Be engaging and tactful, witty and charming. Show you have knowledge.
• In lieu of the blog you don’t have, use Facebook notes to write authoritative posts on your area of expertise.
• Post tips, trivia and advice.  It seems to me you would have a lot of seasonal advice and reminders to offer that people would really appreciate.

You can do a good job of social media marketing if you use common sense. Think of successful companies and competitors you admire. Study how they use social medial. Don’t copy what they do but emulate the types of messages they deliver and the image they project. After all, they are successful because they are doing things right.

Just for the heck of it, I’m going to watch to see if these guys get the hint…

What are some of the things about social media marketing gone wrong that turn you off?

You’ve heard the stories about employees “caught” napping on company time. Everything from being laughed at to a verbal lashing  or actual administrative discipline ensue.

But, HRecruiting Alert recently reported on Pew research indicating that 33% of those earning six figures nap regularly on the clock.  And apparently there is a whole niche industry around the practice. There’s a PowerNap NapMachine which touts 3 hours of deep sleep in just 20 minutes and a Power Nap Kit™ with versions for teens, college students and adults.

What about the time honored Latin American tradition of the siesta? It’s actually a pretty cool concept. Work days are split into 2 parts with a 2 hour break in the middle. Go home, have lunch, take a nap, see your family.… Of course it might not work well for long distance commuters. But, progressive companies could have quiet rooms.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, “more than 85% of mammalian species are polyphasic sleepers, meaning that they sleep for short periods throughout the day. Humans are part of the minority of monophasic sleepers, meaning that our days are divided into two distinct periods, one for sleep and one for wakefulness.” They go on to say that it’s is not clear that this is the natural sleep pattern of humans. I don’t put myself above other mammals, especially when it comes to napping.

What about the stigmas attached to napping like laziness, a lack of ambition, and low standards or that it’s only for children, the sick and the elderly? With a whole foundation that recognizes the benefits it seems that napping just needs a better PR campaign.

Some of today’s employers permit napping at work. More than one third of Americans (34%) say that their workplace permits napping during breaks at work, with 16 percent reporting that their employer even provides a place for them to nap. An additional 26 percent say they would nap on a break at work if their employer were to allow it.

If you work in one of the 66% of workplaces that don’t permit napping on the clock I want to help. Here’s a sample Workplace Napping Policy I devised. It can be customized to meet the needs of your workplace. If you’re not in a position to implement company policy you can forward this post to whomever is and request they review it for consideration in your workplace.

Workplace napping is a company benefit that recognizes that similar to diet and exercise, sleep needs to be an integral element of a healthy lifestyle. The impact of not getting good sleep is far reaching and has Americans compromising their productivity, safety, health and relationships – both on the job and at home.

Employees are provided the opportunity to nap during work hours on their paid break without fear of being stigmatized as lazy, unambitious or lacking in standards. Napping is permitted in areas where the work of others will not be affected such as private offices, break areas and quiet rooms. It is the responsibility of employees to monitor their nap time via personal alarms to ensure they do not go over their allotted break time.

If you don’t now how to power nap wikiHow offers some great tips.

National Napping Day is each year the Monday after Daylight Savings kicks in. It will be celebrated March 9, 2010.

I will be celebrating.

Is napping allowed where you work? if not, how do you manage to nap when you need it?

Michael VanDervort told me he was sending a guy my way who wanted to discuss onboarding. A few tweets and emails later and we were on the phone. It was G.L. Hoffman, a serial entrepreneur and venture investor/operator/incubator/mentor. Two of his companies have traveled the entire success path from the garage to IPO. Currently, he is chairman of JobDig, and his blog can be found at WhatWouldDadSay.com or at JobDig.com. You’ll also find his thoughts all over U.S. News and World Report, Forbes, FastCompany, the Wall Street Journal and other business publications and newspapers.

Of note is his project LinkUp, a job search engine with a twist. What makes LinkUp better than other job websites like Monster or CareerBuilder?

The most significant difference between LinkUp and other job sites on the web is that we only list jobs from company websites. Companies interested in getting their jobs on LinkUp must send us the URL of their company website so we can link to them. This allows us to maintain a much higher quality database of jobs than you will find on any other job search site on the web today. There are no outdated jobs that have already been filled, no ads posted by recruiters and headhunters, and no identity thefts or work-at-home scams. Linkup will always generate the highest quality jobs available.

G.L. is quite personable and friendly. He travels a lot and is a never ending fountain of ideas which he has most recently taken to documenting in the form of Gruzzles from his command post in Minneapolis. He wanted to talk about the application of Gruzzles in the onboarding process. That morphed into many other topics of discussion. I had a suspicion Gruzzles might be ruling his life and that he was obsessively viewing everything concentrically.

When did you create the first one? What was it? What inspired you?

GL: I was exploring a new way of presenting a new business plan using simple graphs and language.  I was trying to take the executive summary idea to a new simpler level.  The task was to find if I could explain a new business with circles, with the connections being the differentators of the business.  The Gruzzle came out of this experience.

Are Gruzzles just a fad until you latch onto a new concept or are you completely obsessed with creating them as a lens to explore our existence?

GL: I am a bit obsessed on them now, just like I am when I get involved in a new company.  I think there is a commercial product and I am trying to figure out how to do it.  That is the fun part. What I am really obsessed about is our new job search engine called LINKUP.COM…it is the only place where someone can go to find jobs ONLY from company websites.

How do you take complex situations and questions and simplify them into a few intersecting circles?

GL: I am not sure to be perfectly honest.  I do know that trying to make connections amongst three disparate elements stimulates my own creativity, so I thought it might do the same for others.

Do you keep a notebook with you at all times or do you grab napkins in restaurants?

GL: I have notebooks all over.  Some I can do in five minutes, but most take a lot longer, days even.

Can you define Gruzzles into categories?

GL: A publisher contacted me and tried to tell me that there was a series like CHICKEN SOUP or DUMMIES in them.  I think there might be a place for a Gruzzles for Babyboomers, Golfers, Enrepreneurs and so forth.  Although I am finding much harder to create the narrow topics.

How do you think Gruzzles can help mankind?

GL: I don’t think they are going to cure cancer, but they might be a new way to communicate in a different, faster, funnier way.

How do you pick your next project? Or, do they pick you?

GL: Good question.  I am always receptive to new ideas, new concepts, new projects.  The challenge is in picking which one to spend the time on.  I am getting better at prioritizing, and knowing where and how to spend my time.

What will you be doing 6 months from now?

GL: Not ice fishing.

I also asked G.L. if Gruzzles keep him up at night. He said no but I’m not completely convinced. I see him up at all hours on Twitter.

What uses do you envision for Gruzzles? Inquiring minds want to know.

]]> http://karlaporter.com/interviews/what-gruzzles-you/feed/ 4 http://karlaporter.com/interviews/an-interview-with-steven-rothberg/ http://karlaporter.com/interviews/an-interview-with-steven-rothberg/#comments Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:01:29 +0000 Karla http://karlaporter.com/?p=396 When you visit CollegeRecruiter.com it’s kind of hard to leave, especially if you are a Recruiter and interested in recent college graduates and interns. The content is dynamic, encyclopedic and well archived. I first connected with Steven Rothberg, President and Founder of the company, through Facebook.  My work locally with colleges and universities in workforce development really sparked my interest in the site and in Steven’s work.

Career paths can be amazing journeys and I wanted to know how a law school graduate ends up with the dream of having the the premier information source for college students, grads and recent graduates who are seeking employment, continuing education and business opportunities. He graciously agreed to an interview..

SR: I was a law clerk for a year with a trial court and had been hired for an appellate court clerkship the second year but I decided to accelerate my plans by going into business a lot sooner than five to seven years after graduation. I had figured that I’d practice law for the experience and then either start my own business or join someone else’s but I didn’t like what the practice of law was doing to some of my friends and I was a lot more excited about the world of business than the world of law so I let the appellate court judge know that I wasn’t going to show up, he hired a replacement, and I started my business part-time while I was completing my trial court clerkship.

I wondered what type of internship experience he had in college and what he thought of it looking back.

SR: I had a number of career-related positions but virtually no one had “internships.” It just wasn’t a term that was used that much back in the 1980’s. One of the best jobs that I had was after my sophomore year when I spent four months working as a highly paid temp in London. It was my job to help a national retailer that had virtually no computers figure out how to computerize its management compensation review system. They wanted to formalize the process to make it more fair and figured that it was the logical time to computerize that portion of their business so I created a Lotus 1–2-3 database with loads of easy-to-use macros so their secretaries could keep it up-to-date and I trained them on how to do that.

Working so closely with institutions of higher education that are concerned about placement for their students, I asked Steven his thoughts on how the average career services office on campus meets the needs of students seeking meaningful internships.

SR: Unfortunately, the average career services office does not come close to meeting the needs of the vast majority of its students because the vast majority of students never give the office a chance. Nationwide, only about 15 percent of students even step foot into their career service office and I’ve heard estimates that fewer than five percent actually find internships or jobs upon graduation through their career service office. The problem is much more with the students than the offices as the offices tend to be staffed with dedicated, well trained, and professional people but they’re fighting a losing battle in trying to lead that horse to water and make it drink.

Living and breathing the transition from college to career, I wanted Steven’s opinion of what they could do better.

SR: I would like to see career service offices return to becoming placement offices. If they don’t, I suspect that within a decade many colleges will outsource that function to outplacement agencies like Lee Hecht Harrison. It will be cheaper and I think that the students will be more likely to use a service like that in part because their parents will recognize the value better.

From law school to career development and transition, there had to be a path that led Steven to collegerecruiter.com. It turns out that his entrepreneurial spirit developed early on, as a student.

SR: I created a small business in college that published a map for my school. I generated the revenues through the sale of advertising around the borders. I then resurrected that business after graduating from law school. To diversify revenues, I added an employment magazine in four major markets across the country in 1995 and then the Internet came along so we added a web site in 1996. That gradually took over the business so by 2000 we had stopped publishing the maps and magazines.

After 14 years in the business, 9 of them exclusively internet based, I was curious to know the impact CollegeRecruiter.com has on college students and recent graduates from Steven’s perspective.

SR: CollegeRecruiter.com is one of the valuable tools available to college students searching for internships and recent graduates searching for entry-level jobs and other career opportunities. We help hundreds of thousands of students and grads each month better prepare themselves for the job hunting process and their careers as well as help match them up with leading employers.

Finally, I really wanted to know the vision for the future of the company and its product. Could the leading job board for college students hunting for internships and recent graduates looking for entry level jobs and other career opportunities continue to innovate and evolve?

SR: I would like to see CollegeRecruiter.com be widely recognized by those in college recruiting as the dominant college job board and I believe that we will get there within a few years because we focus on the needs and wants of our candidate and employer users AND we’re continually adding and improving the tools we make available to both groups. Most job boards are stuck in this rut of selling job postings and resume searching and very little else. We sell job postings but it is far from our biggest product by revenue and we stopped selling resume searching 1.5 years ago to protect the candidates using our site from identity theft and other such issues.

Just for fun I wanted to see how Steven would craft his career into a Twitter resume… just for the heck of it.

SR: Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com, the leading job board for college students and recent grads.

Many thanks to Steven for sharing his interesting career path and vision for the future.

Johnny, you’re our star Admin Assistant and as part of your “other duties as assigned” I’m giving you a new project. I need to hire an Account Manager and we don’t have a budget to hire an agency to do it for us. You’re always on Facebook and Twitter, do some social networking and find me one…

Here is the job description. I have highlighted the keywords that are important.

Just set up a Facebook Fan Page — stream good stuff about the company, it’s free. Then, create a company Twitter account — tweet about it and search and follow similar people, be friendly and say good things about us, it’s free. Join some LinkedIn groups — post the job in the jobs sections, it’s free. Google free job boards — post it everywhere, they’re free.

Have the resumes sent to you and scan them for the keywords and 3 years of experience. Put the ones that match on my desk. I’ll review them and give the ones I like back to you to set up appointments for an interview.

Do a good job and I’ll take you out for pizza to that place you like down the street.

Does this sound far fetched to you?

The TechCrunch Europe post How free social media beat the recruitment consultants to death gives quite a blow by blow account of how companies are doing it. Though it may sting to read it at first, it brings up an excellent point for discussion.

“I think what the recruitment industry should take away from this is that prospective clients really can beat them at their own game, if they want to make the effort. The recruitment industry needs to recognise this and innovate… find ways of adding value… and justify/rationalise their proposition.”

Get out your value proposition.