But EB isn’t limited – I also signed up for the Social Media Breakfast Austin (which I missed unfortunately for an unannounced customer call – customers trump all as you know), but I’m making the next one! TechRanch Austin is having one of their campfires on Friday. There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on in your locale, so check it out: www.EventBrite.com.

I’ve also seen meetup recommended, although I’ve just started to explore it. MeetUp.com.

Halfway through the 1st month of 2010 and a theme emerging in the blogosphere and social media as it relates to Human Capital Management, is that the mass exodus of talent is imminent. Various studies cite from 50 to 85% of employed workers are unhappy in their current positions and/or their employers. Their reasons vary from the tried and true “overworked/underpaid” to lack of recognition and positive reinforcement.

Setting aside my disagreement with the rhetoric of “Human Capital,” these are some pretty stark numbers. Jannone points out that some of this may be pent up frustration from the downturn, where either respondents were in danger of being let go, or otherwise unable to move because of the overall economic situation. Even if true, he’s right that the emphasis on the company end needs to be on retention. To that I’d add that it would behoove managers to try and ascertain which relationships can be repaired and which can’t. Just as you have a pipeline forecast or product roadmap, you need to be aware of your employees disposition. Like poker, this is a game of incomplete information, but you can’t plan for headcount with a attrition number set by the Board or someone outside your group.

On the other hand, companies expanding should be in a great position to snap up some of this talent.

Open your desired stream on Sopcast,
Copy the URL (right click the picture, properties),
Go to TV Channels in Orb
There is an add button that will pull up a box for you to put your url into,
Your PS3 should pick up orb, you select orb and there is an internet television folder in the video folder, open it,

The channel you made from your url should be here, double click and it should open on your tv.

It might take a few seconds to come up but seems to work great. Shout out to kpatel for the orb suggestion.

Yuri

59% fingernails
27% clothing
19% skin care
15% shaving
13% body odor

Now I’m not H. Ross Perot about this kind of thing since I believe some of these (clothing, shaving) depend on the job description (and personal disposition – see my pic). Not sure what “skin care” means. But fingernails and body odor? C’mon people – is it too much to ask that you get the dirt and smell off of you before you interview?

Survey says: NO!

I’ve been using CATS for a couple of months, and had previous trialed it with a free account. I first heard about them through another recruiter in Austin, Dave Perque. Have to say I’m pretty happy with it. Being in the cloud is a big benefit. Recently I purchased a new HP laptop and several weeks in I had a hard drive failure. Oops! No problem though – switched to my desktop while the laptop got fixed with no seams. Customer service has been great and quick. If you’re in staffing and looking for a solid and inexpensive managed solution, be sure to check them out.

Location: Austin, Texas Area

URL: http://www.saminc.biz

“The difference between hiring and recruiting

Bob wonders if there’s a difference. I’m pretty sure there is.

Hiring is what you do when you let the world know that you’re accepting applications from people looking for a job.

Recruiting is the act of finding the very best person for a job and persuading them to stop doing what they’re doing and come join you. Hiring is easy and fast and is basically a retail operation. Recruiting is artful and slow and is essentially a direct marketing effort.

Recruiting raises the bar because it demands you have a job worth quitting for. The recruiter doesn’t solve an urgent problem for the person being recruited, in fact, they create one. That person already has a job (hence no problem). The problem being created is that until they change over to your job, they’ll be unhappy. That’s a huge hurdle for a job to overcome, which leads to this key question:

Is your job opening so good you could recruit great people for it? If not, perhaps you need to work on that.”

I like the attempt to distinguish between the act of hiring and the precursor to the act, recruiting. I’m not sure I agree that recruiters are creating a problem. Someone successful in their current position might still be interested in new challenges. Recruiters create an opportunity for the candidate. Having too many good options is a problem most people would like to have on their plate.

TAMSG: “The Austin Media Sales Professionals Group will not allow recruiters or advertising agencies (unless in business development) in the hope of creating an environment designed for true sales professionals”

That’s not exactly a thinly veiled shot at Recruiters and advertising agencies, is it? I’m not sure about how it works in advertising, but in Recruiting you have to sell two directions instead of one. We’ve got to convince the candidate that the position is a good move and the company that the candidate is a good hire. How many times have you wrangled with your platform over whether or not you could sell it? We are true sales professionals.

Now it may be true that we are selling something different, or in a different industry, or maybe to a different buyer. But I like to think I can learn a lot about Sales from people selling different things, in different industries, or maybe even to a different buyer. Cutting across disciplines to question current practice is a time tested mechanism for innovation.
TAMSG: “Our primary goal will be to share leads, train & teach one another while creating an environment where members focus on our market and our businesses.”

OK, fair enough. You don’t want the focus to be on jobs, but on sharing ideas on Selling. Got it. Not a problem. Yet again I can’t help but think of the point above in regards to learning. However, even if the group focus is on sales technique, LinkedIn also offers group a jobs page. That clearly separates out job posting from mainstream group discussion while providing members an area to explore the relevant job market. That seems beneficial to the group without distracting from the stated mission of it.

TAMSG: “This group is designed to focus on the development of all members w/ meetings, happy hours & educational seminars that are relevant to those who “do the real work!”

Who does unreal work? I’m somewhat sad that the recruiting industry has such a poor external image. Despite the fact that companies almost universally claim that hiring and retention practices are at the heart of their success, and at the top of their priorities, the industry that drives much of that process is seen as an unreal worker. Part anonymous charlatan, part snake oil salesman, and part greedy middleman. Sure there are recruiters that disappoint you. You’ve never spoken with any other kind of ‘real’ salesperson that did the same thing? As in every industry there are levels of competency. If someone seeks out your group and is interested then maybe they should get the benefit of doubt. Just like any other member, if they end up not contributing or spamming up the works you can revoke their membership.

Like I said, James is a member of the local PTA, a well liked and by all accounts successful Salesman and Manager. Maybe he’ll keep an open mind about the rest of us Salespeople.