Do Recruiters Have the Right to Privacy Online Cojones!

Do Recruiters Have the Right to Privacy Online Cojones! Yet another session with agency recruiters has forced me to publish a rant! I’m there talking about Twitter and Facebook and a consultant tries to persuade me that the Twitter account he has is private, can only be seen by him and his mates and is protected. He therefore has the right to do what he wants with it. I checked out his LinkedIn profile, spotted the account he referred to, noticed that he had the F word in his Bio (amongst other things) got out my collapsible soap box and…  COJONES! I work with some really lovely clients.   They are all really great people: funny, educated, great companyI really rate the industry. I have a Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Slideshare, blah blah account. I have a nice number of followers. However, I get really fed up when a recruiter tells me they can do what they like on Facebook and Twitter as it’s their personal space â€" it’s just Cojones: I dont spill my guts online â€" I’m a lady! I stick to the positive on my social networks, and tune into the news when I want doom and gloom I engage with happy, positive people. I don’t get involved in online chats with people where the content is negative, political or nasty (no matter how close I am to them offline). I value my business relationships, my pipeline and my kids’ futures. When I read negative stuff online I get down (and not in a funky way either!). You don’t need to spill your guts online to be interesting: I think I have a pretty interesting life, and I share stuff that I get up to inside and outside of work. I don’t share things that would lead to my clients disrespecting me. I aim to be positive and constructive â€" rarely negative. I have a pretty dry sense of humour; which if we met face to face would be coupled with a glint in my eye. You won’t see my cheeky grin / glinty eye online, and negative comments taken out of context will be misinterpreted I can add a :) but it just doesn’t convey my approach, so I try to stick to happy, jokey Lisa online. Recruiters are getting fired because they’re stupid: I know a lawyer who is currently working with 2 recruiters who have been fired due to their supposed privacy being interrupted by their supposed friends grabbing a screen shot of their supposed private Facebook / protected tweets and publishing this in public. So much for supposed privacy (that Print Screen button is the devil!) I am sure the “it’s not fair” mantra is prevalent in those homes right now, and who knows they may be reinstated if the tribunal finds that they were unfairly dismissed…but their careers have been interrupted, people have got hurt and all because they were stupid (or perhaps just a little rash and uneducated about how their “private” lives aren’t really private?) Educate rather than stipulate: I talk to clients and their recruitment staff every day about the potential outcome of theoretical privacy.   I believe a lack of understanding of online privacy is a massive risk to the recruitment industry for a number of reasons: 60% employers check employees out  Do they really log off when they bump into you online?   Bear in mind that most social media software is built around forcing you to bump into your real / potential contacts, so the likelihood of your clients accidentally finding you is pretty high. Serendipity does not exist online anymore â€" there are no happy accidents which show you profiles of people â€" it’s all engineered according to who you know and what you say. Ideas surrounding “views are my own” protecting individuals â€" Clients and candidates won’t care if they’re “your own” if your ideas are offensive, they’ll disconnect and move on to a recruiter who does not offend them. Many recruitment leaders shy away from social media   Through fear of a lack of privacy, and this behaviour also leads to a lack of expectation and endorsement of social media. Silly! Your clients and candidates are “on it”. Privacy online is an education piece adults need to know the potential outcomes of their behaviour if they’re to buy in to behaving differently and reducing risk to their jobs and the business which employs them. Do the math! Some cojones solutions: Advise your staff to go “underground” and have a separate Twitter account  This is akin to saying to your staff “yes, off you go and post what you want on your own Twitter page” Really?!? I rarely see this work, so unless your staff are so secretive that no-one knows them, or they work for Nasa and get how to lock down their profiles, I suggest you don’t bother with this approach, it’s just too dangerous “Views are my own” your bios â€" Not convinced that this protects your staff â€" but it does protect the business from lawsuits from suppliers, candidates, clients who may be offended / affected by what they post. But again it does not protect the user / business from a drop in fees if the clients / candidates spot theoretically private content not meant for them that causes harm. Lock down access to social media â€" ABSOLUTELY, let’s demoralise the workforce and prevent them from using the one thing that their clients and candidates are getting really savvy at in order to protect your reputation. After all, they don’t have smart phones, 3g, wifi, fag breaks, an axe to grind… So, what’s your plan? Educating your staff is key to helping them use these systems to deliver their KPIs.   Make sure that they are aware of what their actions could result in and make sure you have a policy that covers you if you want to something drastic.   And please don’t restrict your policy to “don’t do stupid stuff or we’ll fire you”.   You need detail and practical advice not an umbrella statement that is likely to be misinterpreted. Due diligence: And perhaps checking them out before they join the business to ensure that they are “on brand” before you get them to take your brand online too. What’s your plan? Note: Meaning of Cojones (in case you’re not bi-lingual like me! ??

Whats Wrong with Romneys Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

What’s Wrong with Romney’s Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” The New York Times’ David Brooks shared a historical perspective that puts Mitt Romney in a unique position. The candidate’s unfavorable ratings are 50%, causing Brooks to pronounce Romney: the least popular candidate in history. David Gregory, host of the show, attempted to define Romney’s personal brand: “Personally, I think he is a kind, decent man who says stupid things because he’s pretending to be something he’s not, some sort of cartoonish government hater.” That is perhaps the most generous, if incomprehensible, perspective one could have formed to explain Romney’s personal brand. If Gregory is correct, Romney engineered an inauthentic persona. He chose: Stupidity. Pretense. Hate. To hide his kindness and decency. In fact, if you look at both his off the record and on the record appearances, Romney’s authentic personal brand has nearly 50 shades of hate.   His personal brand consistently communicates sentiments that reflect disrespect, mockery, disdain, meanness, bullying, cynicism, anger and hostility, among other dark impressions. This is not the first time we have seen a persona like this in US politics. Romney apes Dick Cheney’s dark side personal brand. But Romney lacks a loveable sidekick like President George W. Bush whose cowboy persona communicated that sure: a sheriff’s in town, but that sheriff is Andy Griffith, this is Mayberry, and Aunt Bea is baking a blue ribbon pie. We’re seeing venom in Romney’s brand. Or as President Obama said, he “shoots first and aims later.” This careless but consistent attack pattern could be dangerous in a president. In May, Romney is caught on camera castigating nearly half of the US people who only pay payroll taxes or sales tax, but not federal income tax. Romney indignant and incredulous, reports that “these people” feel “entitled to…. food…” These people include the triple amputee solider who didn’t pay income tax on his combat pay. The elderly retired factory worker who worked 40 years paying into social security and Medicare. The single mother with two kids, working a fulltime retail job and taking an earned income tax credit on her minimum wages. Even Romneys humor is mocking and disrespectful. On April 19 in Pennsylvania, Romney opines to a woman seated next to him at a picnic table at a Pennsylvania reception, Im not sure about these cookies. They dont look like you made them, No, no. They came from the local 7-eleven, bakery, or whatever. Of course, the town’s legendary local baker John Walsh made those cookies for the gathering. Walsh suggested Romney, “eat cake.” Review Romney’s ascent into politics and there are dozens and dozens of these mean diatribes, moments and actions. “Hey, I’m unemployed, too!” he tells a group of unemployed workers. And who can shake the image that Romney took a family road trip with his crated dog strapped to the top of the car, vomiting? If there’s anything surprising about Romney’s favorability rating it’s that half the country is good with hate. And, that most of these people are receiving the assistance that prompts Romney to say, “My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” After all the 50% is likely to be in the 99%, not the 1%. But thats the statistics wonk in me. This is a personal brand looking to be hired by the American people. Can you imagine speaking the way he does, to your potential employer, investors or employees? And, it’s business that is Romney’s framework. As if we are working out a succession plan, Ann Romney claims on behalf of herself and her husband, its our turn,” and the dissed and the haves would be lucky to have him “run the country.” BTW, in America we say, “lead the country.” Author: Nance Rosen  is the author of  Speak Up! Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers. Read more at  NanceRosenBlog. Twitter name:  nancerosen

The Catch 22 of Organizational Structure, Talent Innovation Marla Gottschalk

The Catch 22 of Organizational Structure, Talent Innovation Marla Gottschalk Photo by LYCS Architecture on Unsplash At first glance, organizational structure may not appear to be an exciting concept. Yet, an HBR post discussing how established organizations just cant seem to keep pace with start-ups in the innovation arena â€" has caught my attention. It seems clear that the innovation dilemma has a fundamental relationship with the traditional elements of organizational structure, and how those elements develop and solidify over time. One key system which affects the potential to innovate: How organizations secure needed talent. Structure and Maturation As an organization matures, many systems within the traditional structure can become rigid. Communication channels become formalized, salary levels are set. On one hand, organizations become a safer and more secure place for employees. But, unwanted by-products such as inflexibility come along with this territory. Ultimately this affects how talent is sourced, limiting the ability of a maturing organization to effectively evolve and innovate. Ideally, the talent equation begins with leadership and the work at hand, where leaders have the responsibility of translating vision into specific goals and tasks. These tasks in turn, require a set of needed talent elements for completion. Often, the necessity to forecast these talent requirements can become a looming challenge for hiring managers and the entire HR function, which supports that search. The Catch The simple truth is that mining talent through traditional channels can take too much time â€" where a mature organization may not be nimble enough to find needed talent quickly to meet the demands key challenges. But, the clock is ticking if they hope to remain competitive. Its time vs. talent â€" and options which provide a more direct route to source and onboard needed talent are required. Gaining the right perspective is a great place for an organization to begin. In a previous post, I discussed a prediction by Gartner concerning the application of work swarming within organizations. This is a concept which implies that the structure of an organization must flex to allow needed talent to gather quickly (and organically) to tackle projects. The process should allow not only talent from within the organization to gather, but from the broader external environment as well. Breaking Down Walls Extending the virtual walls of an organization can greatly expand the talent horizon. One interesting option is to leverage contacts within the   industry, or related industries who might possess relevant knowledge concerning a project or subject. One view which has been posed is to collaborate with suppliers to source talent and solve key problems. Another method of sourcing talent would be to build or access a talent community, a method which capitalizes on the advantages of social media and employee networks when searching for needed skill sets. In this way, an organization develops an extended talent network which can be tapped as needed. Members of the community can be quite varied and can include potential contributors, such as freelancers or those working in related settings. Another avenue would be to utilize crowdsourcing techniques to staff specific projects. In this way, organizations   bypass portions of the traditional HR hierarchy to enable them to address talent issues in real-time. When a problem or challenge exists, it is placed in an open forum, and staffed.   Of course, there are issues that the organization would have address to maximize this process, but the potential seems apparent. (Platforms such as InnoCentive, have been already been successful in facilitating specific open innovation challenges for mature organizations.) Possible Snafus The overall goal of applying these methods is for the organization to have the capability of retaining that innovative edge, long beyond the start-up phase. In a sense, slowing down the solidification of a counter productive elements which deter talent from reaching an organization in a timely manner. The process would have to be perfected. Here are few issues that come to mind: What types of projects or challenges would be more appropriate for these solutions? How do we effectively track KSAs? (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) What specific legal steps must an organization take to make this happen? Overall, how will HR help to guide the process? The future of innovation within mature organizations is certainly dependent on finding needed talent. Hopefully, with collective thought we can improve opportunities for more established organizations to find that talent more readily, and retain their potential to innovate and excel. Dr. Marla Gottschalk is a Workplace Psychologist. Contact her practice at marlagottschalk@comcast.net. You can also find her on Twitter and Linkedin.

Stylish CV Template Freebie - The Modern-Day Candidate

Stylish CV Template Freebie - The Modern-Day Candidate Stylish CV Template Freebie The Modern-Day Candidate What does the modern day job candidate look like? They are detail oriented, tech-savvy, hard-working, and stylish. If this sounds like you, are you sure your CV represents that? A plain, drab resume will only bring you down and stop you from shining. Nobody needs that in this competitive job market.We think you will truly love this sleek and sophisticated resume template. Win those interviews with this resume template for the modern day candidate. Check out the polished layout and amazing color combination. It’s attention-grabbing without being flashy or faddish. This will make any resume much more engaging. Be proactive and make employers take notice. This is no time to fade into the background!Download the template today, and customize it with your work history and education. It’s free and so worth your time. You won’t regret it! File size: 27 KB Format: .doc Downloaded 24,075 times License: Free, personal use only. Please read the license terms for resources. Download p revious article Modish and Elegant â€" Freebie Stylish Word Resume Template next article Discover How to Nail Your Next Job Interview you might also likeCadmium Yellow: Simple, Yet Elegant Resume Template

6 Best Jobs for Highly Sensitive People!

6 Best Jobs for Highly Sensitive People! Photo Credit â€" Pixabay.comA client whom I work with for the last 4 months told me that she gets affected by the sound of fax and answering machine. She even gets turned off by the commotion in the streets, home, or office.Being a professional recruiter, my first reaction was to find a job for her that matches with her sensitive nature. The people who have a sensitive temperament tend to prefer working in an environment where they can easily gel with people, while the work environment is peaceful.While sensitive people tend to be creative, intelligent, and sensitive, they don’t always fit into the mainstream corporate world. After helping so many sensitive people with finding an appropriate job, I can understand today what defines a perfect career for sensitive people.evalTaking into consideration the many cases of my clients, I list down here some of the jobs that complement the nature of sensitive people. Let’s check them out one-by-one:1. LibrarianLibraries are meant for read ing books. So it is a peaceful place where you can focus your mind on your work without getting affected by any commotion. Similarly, there are no interference of co-workers in the libraries to give you a headache.So if you are passionate about books and have a knack for research, you can find a career as a librarian and assist academicians, scholars, and students find the best books for their research.2. PsychologistThis is another suitable career for the sensitive people. A psychologist treats the psychological disorders of people and heals their mental distress with counseling sessions. To become a psychologist, you need to have a degree in psychology. In addition, you need to demonstrate your patience and listening skills to treat the people suffering from mental disorders.A successful psychologist helps people achieve their personal goals, improve relationships, and make changes in their lifestyle. Many people mistake the job of psychologist for psychiatrist which is a rather e motionally challenging job. However, the two are different jobs.Unlike the job of a psychiatrist, this job does not require the intense medical treatments as a psychologist are not qualified to prescribe medications or treatment. Instead, they practice the psychotherapy to treat the mental disorders of a patient. You’ll be having a one-on-one interaction with a patient and provide them counseling to treat their emotional and mental distress.3. Special Education TeacherIf you are a sensitive soul, then this job is your opportunity to display your caring nature. In this job, you can work with mentally or physically-challenged children or adults who have trouble studying in a traditional classroom.evalBeing a special education teacher, you can help students assist students in the learning process which is not possible in the traditional classroom environment. This job gives you more meaning to your life as you don’t just earn money but also help the underprivileged students get the education.4. DietitianThis is yet another career for sensitive people. In this job, you can use your knowledge of food, nutrition, and the human body to guide patients through their dietary routines. Being a dietitian, you can work in hospitals, nursing homes, or schools where you can help improve the health of people through your expertise.5. PlaywrightIf you love storytelling and want to make a play out of it, you can consider a career as a playwright. If you have the ability to visualize a story, you can make it come to life on stage. When you become a playwright, you have the creative liberties to develop a play the way you want. So there will be no one interfering in your job. You can spend your time penning new characters and storylines. How cool is that!6. TranslatorDo you know more than one language? If yes, then you can use your skills in business, entertainment sector, and media industry. For example, you can translate what a guest speaker is saying for students at a scho ol. Similarly, you can interpret news reports from other countries, or even offer your skills to the President during foreign travels.

How to use Twitter to find a job by impressing the right people (not all the people)

How to use Twitter to find a job by impressing the right people (not all the people) How to use Twitter to Impress People to find a Job In the first part of this series on how to use Twitter to find a job, I interviewed Jacob Share, a job search expert who created the award-winning JobMob, one of the world’s most popular job search blogs. Hes also author of “ The Ultimate Twitter Job Search Guide, and you can follow him on Twitter @jacobshare. Share introduced us to Stacy, a young woman who leveraged Twitter to snag a job offer before she even left the parking lot of the company that laid her off. Stacy quickly found a new job because she used Twitter to: Build her personal brand. Network with people who appreciate her brand. Publicize her availability to a network of people who appreciate her brand. You can read the first part of the interview with Share here, and here is the rest of the interview. Question No. 3: Jacob, how should we use Twitter to network with people? Your objective is to impress the right people so that they jump to recruit you when they have a relevant opening â€" or refer you to someone who does â€" regardless of whether you actually need a new job or not. It doesn’t take a big Twitter following â€" quantity helps, but quality is more important. Look at Stacy: she had only 150 followers. Question No. 4: But who are the right people? Remember, we’re talking about a job search here, not socializing. These are the right people to target: People you know from work: current and former clients, co-workers, business partners, etc. People youd like to know for work: industry influencers, event organizers, tradespeople, headhunters, recruiters, and HR reps of companies youd like to work for. You can find them quickly on Twitter by using their email addresses or searching for them by name. Follow each one and add them all to a dedicated networkingTwitter List to keep them separate from your main Twitter feed. You might even make that list private, so only you can see it. Question No. 5: How do you impress the right people? 1. Have a good daily habit. For at least 20 minutes every day, 1-2 times a day, and preferably when your followers are most likely to be online (Tweriod will tell you when), catch up on recent direct messages and tweets from people on your list. Retweet the best tweets, and make an effort to respond to as many open questions as you can. Don’t limit yourself to just professional questions, but try to keep roughly 75% or more of your tweets and responses relevant to your profession or business. Tweet about achievements, but also about the occasional mistake and failure, especially when they hold a lesson for others. This will make you more likable and approachable. Include photos and videos when it makes sense, and sometimes when it might not â€" it makes you more engaging and attractive to follow. Popular but relevant #hashtags will improve your tweets chances of being discovered by people who arent following you. How do you know a #hashtag is popular? Do a Twitter search on it and see how often it was used in the past few minutes (popular) or hours/days (not popular). 2. Have a good weekly habit. Participate in at least one Twitter chat per week. Use TweetChats calendar to find upcoming chats in your industry or profession. Experiment with a few â€" if the regulars like you, theyll usually follow you. Introduce yourself the first time, but otherwise only participate if you have something worthwhile to add. Schedule at least a daily topical tweet for each day of the coming week such as an article you liked from the previous week, a favorite tip, or recommend someone worth following. After a few weeks, youll start to understand which people on your list arent really contributing to your networking. Maintain your list by removing a few people and adding others. Dont unfollow them; just remove them from your networking list so that their tweets dont get in the way of those from people who are actually contributing. On the other hand, through retweets and questions, youll discover new people worth following and adding to your networking list â€" you might also find people of interest on a friends relevant public Twitter list, or you can ask your followers who their favorite tweeters are. Question No. 6: Jacob, how do we use Twitter to publicize our career availability to our network? After a few months, you should start to feel the value of being on Twitter, and others should feel value in having you there. While a few weeks might be enough to make your presence felt, it usually takes more time to build strong ties with the people you follow. Continue moving forward with whats working for you: Once you get to a point where followers consistently share and respond to your tweets and â€" in particular, your questions â€" you will have enough network engagement on Twitter to get good job search results. Tip: Do NOT announce your availability on your bio. Sadly, employed job seekers appear more valuable to recruiters and headhunters than unemployed ones. While your engaged followers will know your work status, people who dont are most likely to discover you via your Twitter profile and bio. The appearance of being unemployed will be a turn-off for some. Worse, Twitter uses your bio to promote you on the profiles of other people with similar bios, and, unfortunately, that similarity might just be open to new opportunities. This will emphasize to the viewer that youre unemployed, and might lead them to someone who is virtually competing with you for jobs. Instead, announce your availability with your tweets: Follow Stacys example and tell your audience outright that the moment theyve all been waiting for has finally come. No need to be overly formal â€" mention it overtly a few times if your followers tend to come online at different times during the day, and bring it up again from time to time so people know youre still looking. Remember, even after you find a new job, continue your good Twitter habits. Dont let up: A strong brand is one that is consistently being reinforced, and the stronger your personal brand, the more easily youll attract new and better job offers in the future.

Whats My Job in Resume Writing?

What's My Job in Resume Writing?In resume writing, it is common to hear the words 'what's my job in resume writing.' A lot of people want to make the professional networking world a bit more personal.After all, with the human resource industry, a lot of businesses are committed to learning the details about their employees. So they will even add jobs that don't involve a specific industry. These jobs can include marketer or volunteer, rather than specialist, accountant or technical manager.So now the question is how can one differentiate the difference between these jobs? Well, for one, we can see how the professionals in this field are involved in research, documentation, presentations, press and product release. But the term 'job' really refers to having responsibilities.The way to see how a 'job' relates to a resume is by looking at a whole job that has an effective planning and management function. In resume writing, 'the job' is usually a functional function. In the case of non- functional jobs, the entire position will fit the definition.Another benefit is that it can be differentiated from two different types of resumes. It is possible to identify where the differences lie and they can differ from one form of resume to another. This is because not all professionals have a job description.For instance, an architectural engineer might have a job description, but it might just be design proposals. So, the architect job itself would be not included in the resume. Also, for those that do have a job description, you can just assume that the job does have a 'job'.The same principle applies when it comes to a job as a lawyer or a doctor. They have descriptions, but it doesn't mean that they have 'jobs'. A lot of jobs in these fields are just like roles that are assigned.So when you're writing a resume for a job, how you say what is a job? The best thing to do is to make sure that you know your job and what you do. If you understand how a job works, it will be eas ier for you to tell a resume from a resume.