2012 Year in Review from Talascend IT

Happy New Year!

In this New Year, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who read and engaged with Talascend IT and me personally in 2012; be it on the blog, LinkedIn and other social media, via email, and more. I’d also like to thank those of you who have felt compelled to share the stories with others.

The beginning of the year is customarily a time for celebration of what the future holds. It’s also a time for reflection on the past year.  Keeping that in mind, I wanted to share the Top 10 posts of 2012 from Talascend IT (just in case you missed one): 

 

10.   Real relationships, not online connections, build true professional networks

Nov 27, 2012 – LinkedIn is a great networking tool. There is a difference between the number of connections you have and the number real relationships you have online. I explore the idea further in this post, which climbed quickly into the top ten.

9.      Friday Bonus Blog: Forward this blog to 10 of your friends and Microsoft will pay you 1 million dollars (and other respect destroying communications)

May 18, 2012 – Even though spawned out of the spirit of competition between a colleague and myself; the message in this post regarding email ‘dos and don’ts’ was apparently pretty important to our readers.

   

8.      The Myth About Contingent Employee Engagement

Dec 10, 2012 – Contingent workers often get a bad rap. Two conflicting studies on the subject really got me thinking about whether or not there are that many differences between contingent workers and full time employees. Apparently I am not alone, as this story ended up being one of the top posts of 2012 in only three weeks.

7.      Back it up. Back it up. The Cloud isn't as safe as 'they' say it is.

Sep 4, 2012 – I think if I wrote ‘back it up’ one more time in this post, the ‘back it up police’ would have come to arrest me. An interesting look into a subject that affects anyone with anything stored online; from pictures saved to social media to data saved on the cloud.

6.      Words Matter: The importance of semantics in business.

Nov 5, 2012 – Simple phrases can make or break a conversation. They can mean the difference between getting buy in from others and ‘losing them’ in a business setting. This post combines some of the most powerful phrases my peers and I came up with in a recent online discussion.

5.      Some Thoughts Are Better Left Untweeted: Is Social Media Eroding Self-Control?

Mar 12, 2012 – The title says it all. Do you do and say things online you wouldn’t in person? Is the increasingly common ‘take it or leave it’ attitude towards others a result of social media use? The answers to these question and more garnered this post a seat in the Top Five of 2012.

4.      Three ways to get what you really want from an interviewee.

May 14, 2012 – An article from Forbes had a very profound message about how to get the most out of candidates while interviewing. I expanded on the idea more and received a lot of great feedback as a result.  

3.      I'm sorry I missed that: Is technology affecting the way we communicate?

Oct 22, 2012 – A post I saw on LinkedIn regarding etiquette in interpersonal and professional situations really struck a chord with me. This slap on the wrist to myself is an eye-opening look into the dangers of being distracted by instant communication that today’s technology provides us; and what it can ‘say’ to others while you’re talking with them.

2.      Another Dagger in the Heart of Job Boards?: BranchOut announces $25-million in additional backing for combat with LinkedIn

Apr 23, 2012 – The topic surrounding the decline of job boards definitely sparked the most interest and comments from our readers. Some praised the data and relevancy of major job boards. Some feel I am right in my opinion that they will become less relevant and viable as we move into the future. This blog was only a few readers away from being #1 in our countdown.

       

1.      The ’Beginning of The End for Job Boards’ Kicks into High Gear…Monster Announces It’s 'For Sale.'

Mar 26, 2012 – This follow up to an earlier prediction regarding job boards’ relevancy in this day and age of social networking caused a lot of discussion; both online and offline. It was the hottest topic in 2012.

Thank you again for all of your kind words, comments, and interesting points of view regarding the posts in 2012.  Look for more articles, thoughts, and bold predictions in 2013, and all of us at Talascend IT will look forward to hearing from you.

Happy New Year! –

JK

Josh Kaplan writes on various subjects including management, information technology breakthroughs, healthcare IT recruitment and innovations, big data, IT staffing and recruitment, and technical news and trends.

Real relationships, not online connections, build true professional networks

Some of the top recruiters start 10-20
quality relationships per week.

I am in the IT and Healthcare IT recruiting and staffing business. I am also a self-admitted technology maven and admirer. So when I ran across a blog regarding LinkedIn's affect on the recruiting industry, I felt compelled to expand on the subject further. While Navid Sabetian says that LinkedIn's bubble will burst and briefly, in closing, that one needs to cultivate relationships with top line candidates and build them over the years; with all respect to Mr. Sabetian, I think both points are obvious.

Here is the bigger picture:

Yes, Facebook will have a billion users soon enough, which equates to a ridiculous amount of influence.  LinkedIn is probably the largest network of potential candidates and recruiters on the planet right now.  There are the 'old' job board standards (Monster, Careerbuilder, Dice, etc…), Google+, and 'who knows what else' emerging that I haven’t yet fully experienced.

 

There is no silver bullet: Meaning, there is no next or current 'big thing' that is the source to go to find the best candidates for all the open jobs out there.  This new market for talent is not about finding a single, or even two or three sources to find people.  It is about creating a network of real people, across all the relevant channels available to you.  It’s not about how many connections you have on LinkedIn or Facebook, but about how many people in your specialty areas with whom you are able to create some form of human interaction.

In fact, some of the best sourcing around is still done the old fashioned way; through direct, in-person communication. The internet has a host of tools for finding qualified candidates on paper (or on your monitor if you've gone paperless); however, it doesn't replace the legwork of striking up a conversation and getting to know them.

Sabetian claims to have a professional network with 16,000 direct connections with another 12,000 waiting in the wings, with whom he cannot interact due to a glitch on LinkedIn. It raises the question of how one would interact with the first 16,000. In one work year, assuming no vacation or holidays, you would have to interact with 61 people per day. Is it doable? Yes. Is it realistic each contact will be a good connection and suitable for an ongoing relationship? No. Some of the best recruiters make 50 to 100 contacts and start building 10-20 solid relationships a week with candidates.    

To me, as a few of the blog comments also eluded to, it seems that LinkedIn will likely become less effective as recruiters start to use connections as a database. The relevance you can have to one another on a human level in a sea of 28,000 connections seems to be very low for both sides; rendering the service less valuable to both parties. It brought to mind Malcom Gladwell's idea in The Tipping Point that we, as humans, cannot maintain more than 150 real social relationships with others at one time.

In fact, I think it is why I am of the opinion that LinkedInitself is having trouble remaining relevant to users today.

Is the idea of having a professional network with thousands of connections compelling? Certainly it is. But only if you maintain contact with your network, remain relevant its members, and interact with them on a regular basis. Otherwise it's just an overinflated database; not a true network.

Even with all the technologies and social 'networks' available, the basics of recruiting haven’t changed; or maybe they did for a while and now they have come full circle. The only difference is that now, we have more sophisticated tools to make the job of finding real people to develop real relationships with easier. 

I haven’t been in the industry long enough to know how things were done pre-Internet circa 1995, but I do know there couldn’t have been any option other than building a real contact network.  It must be much easier now to find the people to build that same network today; but people are still people and they want good jobs, with good companies where they feel valued; and they want the same when being wooed for a position.

All of the perks that many companies are starting to offer (benefits, higher than average pay, flex-time, daycare, healthcare, free lunches, etc.) to make happy workers cannot replace investment in relationships with those employees. We'll explore this idea further next week.

Good recruitment firms and recruiters become an extension of their clients' business and are often the first point of contact a candidate has with an employer; making relationship building with both even more critical.

Josh Kaplan writes on various subjects including management, information technology breakthroughs, healthcare IT recruitment and innovations, big data, IT staffing and recruitment, and technical news and trends. 

I'm sorry I missed that: Is technology affecting the way we communicate?

 Can technological distractions ruin an event or conversation?
Photo by Moses - (The Crowd For DMB 2)

So there I am perusing through LinkedIn, not only looking for the next best candidate but also looking for topics to discuss and relevant industry news. Then I happen upon not a blog, but a very humbling post on my feed.

What's the all encompassing message of the feed? Bluntly stated, 'You are not paying attention! Turn off your phone or Skype and pay attention to me!' This LinkedIn post about distractions technology creates really hit home, at least on a professional basis. I try to separate my personal time from my private, family time at present. 

However, I may find myself in a meeting and, for 90% of the discussion, I am intently listening to the speakers. Then, in comes the important message I have been waiting on. I go on to miss 10% of what's being said while responding. Could I have missed something important? What if I completely missed an important question or a call for advice from one of my IT staffing team members or a fellow executive? I am certain it has happened.

  

The days of a working 9-5 in front of a desk, divided by non-work time where you are uninterrupted, are no longer.  A colleague recently posted a blog on this very subject of this 'very tough question for the future of work' where he delves into fragmented work days and what actually constitutes work.

Both articles offer such great insight into how technology is affecting the way we live.

Maybe instead of my smart phone saying slide to 'unlock,' it should say, 'slide to confirm you are not showing someone they aren’t important enough for your full attention.'

I’m an offender of this, and I’ve justified it because I see others doing it.  And 'no,' I wouldn’t jump off a bridge if my friends were (unless it was a small bridge, over a deep body of water).

In this case, if you need to glance at your phone, tablet, or laptop, to see if the one important thing you are waiting for has arrived; the action item that will require an immediate response; then I understand. However, my 'Pavlovian' response to the slightest perception of a vibration should not be an excuse for me to check all my e-mail, Facebook, texts, Twitter, and LinkedIn notifications in the middle of talking to anyone (other than telemarketers).

Perhaps my mom, who I often poke fun at for being a Luddite, knows something it’s taken me a very long time to realize. Having instant access to everything and everyone, doesn’t mean you should use it all the time.  Those old flip phones are good for something. They help ensure you aren’t watching life and relationships and success pass you by while you look at life through your phone’s camera.

How many times have you been to a concert or game where people hold their camera up the majority of the time and record the show? 

While I haven’t progressed to this level of obliviousness and the performers most likely don’t get offended (but maybe they do…Black Crowes, would you care to chime in?); what happened to experiencing the concert and losing yourself in the feeling rather than worrying about the person who keeps waving their hands in the air getting in the way of your recording?

My point really is that; although technology is advancing our ability to do more in less time, is doing more in less time really a good thing?

In one sense, we are on top of the world and markets as news happens; on the other, we find it difficult to focus or dignify the fact that we have another human in front of us saying something that may or may not be truly urgent to the business at hand.

I say let's turn off the Skype, turn off the social media, news feeds, and, yes,  email (again, unless absolutely necessary and preceded with an explanation), and really pay attention to the person in front of us no matter how important we perceived the incoming message to be. I also say, I need to practice what I recommend since I’m a horrible offender of this. Take some time to interact and really engage. A valuable lesson or business critical action you might not have thought of may have just been discovered by the person to whom you have entrusted the 'everyday' work.

Let's face it; we're all under the gun. Doesn't it make sense then when someone has garnered your time (or you, their time for that matter) that we focus on what is being presented?

I say 'Yes!' It could actually save you time in the future.

I am learning (slowly) to unlearn instant gratification. I suggest other 'offenders' might be wise to do the same. (And if you can't take that call, or message, or Skype, right then and there; simply tell the person calling: 'Hey, can I call you back at say 2 p.m.? I am in the middle of something and I really want to give this and you my full attention.' 

I welcome and truly look forward to your comments on the subject.

Josh Kaplan writes on various subjects including information technology breakthroughs, healthcare IT recruitment and innovations, big data, IT staffing and recruitment, and technical industry news and trends.