Are the "non-hip" our next protected class?

Tip o' the porkpie to Dawn Burke of Fistful of Talent for this one: http://fistfuloftalent.com/2013/05/hipster-bias-another-hr-hurdle.html#comment-31097 I run into this all of the time with young organizations. They often don't realize the difference between selecting for cultural fit and selecting for talent. And then they end up firing people who can't do the job they were hired for. It's a delicate balance always to hire for past performance or future potential. But the idea of not hiring someone who isn't hip enough raises a whole new spectre of discrimination.

Remember the basics

Your LinkedIn profile and your resume are great tools, but only is they are crisp, to the point, and free of typos and chronological errors. These are things that bug most recruiters and bother Silicon Valley headhunters even more. If you can't attend the basics, you're probably not a very good candidate generally. And this applies to software developers just as much - if you make mistakes on your resume, your code is probably not error-free either. So, proof-read, proof-read, and then put it down and proof it again later. Better still, ask someone else to proof it a third time. It is worth the effort, I promise.

LinkedIn - Job Board or Social Network?

Tip o' the hat to Raj Sheth of Recruiter.com for this interesting article: http://www.recruiter.com/i/linkedin-job-board-or-social-network/?goback=.gde_4930685_member_236839301 While I'm tempted to say it doesn't matter, it really does. LinkedIn continues to develop new products for recruiters, a primary customer target group for the company. But I am finding, and hearing from other recruiters, that LinkedIn is now so overrun with recruiters that candidates aren't responding. When a passive candidate gets 5 or more requests per day from recruiters s/he doesn't know, the efficacy of LinkedIn drops way down. I have noticed that response rates to my InMails are dropping as well. With an average of 20% response rate over the long haul (I was a charter member of LinkedIn in beta), my response rate is probably half that today. So, I'm looking at other ways to reach out. I still use LinkedIn as much on identifying people I want to connect with. But I'm getting more creative about the "candidate acquistion" piece. What are your thoughts?

Resume or Tweet?

As a headhunter, I really want to know my candidates... I think trying to make a selection of any kind based on 140 characters is flawed. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323820304578412741852687994.html?mod=dist_smartbrief And a 6 second video doesn't do it for me either. I'm just sayin'

In vs Out part 3

Tip o' the hat to Steve Boese for a little more intelligence on another aspect of the telecommuting debate around Yahoo's policy change: http://fistfuloftalent.com/2013/04/would-say-500month-be-enough-to-get-you-to-move-closer-to-the-office.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FistfulOfTalent+%28Fistful+of+Talent%29 I like the incentivize aspect of this idea - rather than the "thou must" approach. Work-life balance is a key idea in why people choose to work from home. And removing barriers to employee productivity are as important as providing collaboration tools that enhance productivity. All of the moving parts need to be in place to have a productive team.

Employer Branding part deux

A critical piece of employer branding is all of the moving parts that result in a new hire for an organization. So many things CAN and DO go wrong. Great article that details some of the moving parts, and some stats on the how-to's and best practices. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225915 If you find any of this painful in your organization, I can help. The truth is often hard to hear, but having an outsider deliver the messages can ease the process. Contact info@broadbandhr.com for more information and HR Consulting.

Software Product Managers?

We're supposed to be at the heart of Silicon Valley... where are all of the experienced, high level, strategic, enterprise-class Product Managers with software expertise gained in an agile environment? All I'm finding are newbies that have 3 years or less of solid true product experience. And they're missing any of the depth of field that's needed for the combined enterprise to mobile and cloud systems that my clients are working with/in. I need people who can manage their way out of a paper bag and into a cloud-ready environment... and that takes an understanding of multiple distributed users on a big system. These positions also require an understanding of marketing and campaigns and marketing automation. So, if any of this sounds like you and you live in the neighborhood, drop me a resume at info@broadbandhr.com and we'll talk immediately. This company is not tiny but it's not huge and it ain't Google :^) Thanks!