Archive for May, 2008

Archives for Research

You can’t fault popularity contests - they’re so democratic. But are they a useful way to help job seekers find a job?

Universum, a Swedish research firm, fields an annual study of MBA students on behalf of Fortune that ranks the 25 most popular potential employers. The MBA graduates who participated were asked to list their top five potential employers.

The exercise yielded no surprises: These are all blue chip companies known for high growth, excellent management and intellectual property. You can’t blame anyone for wanting to work at Google or GE or even No. 25, Coca-Cola. Of course, if you like large corporations, there are more than 1,700 billion dollar-size firms to choose from in the U.S. alone.

Archives for Research

Most of us want to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with our work. But the vast majority of us aren’t what HR experts call “engaged” by our jobs.

What can we do about that? First, we can realize that this is a universal problem. A recently released study of 88,612 workforce members in 18 countries by Towers Perrin finds that only 21 percent of employees are engaged in their current work. In fact, 38 percent of workers feel partly to fully disengaged.

Does this sound like the weather report for your cube? Patchy clouds of engagement, followed by chilly co-workers, and a chance of hot air from your boss.

The litmus test goes like this: If you care about the future of the company and are willing to make a discretionary effort, then it’s likely you are engaged. Translation: You’re willing to work 65 hours a week because you like your job and you like your company.

Archives for Research

What do you look for in a good corporate careers site? Good jobs, certainly. A design that’s easy to navigate? Information about what it’s like to work at the company?

Most companies forget that last point or possibly they don’t know where to start.

Deutsche Bank delivered on all of the above when it created several Web-based videos of employees talking about why they work there.

And having checked it out, I can see why Deutsche Bank was proclaimed the best corporate careers site by a group of students, recent graduates and Swedish researchers.  

Archives for Career Advice

When was the last time you learned something useful from someone a couple of decades younger than you? Overcoming age bias is all in a day’s work for Peter Sheahan, a consultant and author of a book about Generation Y.

Sheahan, a 28-year-old expert on workforce trends and generational change, says that he has consulted for Google, Apple, Coca Cola, Harley Davidson and News Corp. among others.

His latest tome is called Flip - How to Turn Everything You Know On Its Head - and Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings. The over-the-top title is typical of non-fiction books these days. Unlike Sheahan, I’m not trying to exceed my wildest imaginings - I’m angling for meeting my goals.

At first blush, Sheahan, an Australian, reminds me more than a little bit of Timothy Ferriss (Four Hour Work Week), except that he seems more interested in branding others than himself. Writing about Generation Y led him to consult about workforce trends for corporate clients, even sitting on boards in his early 20s.

Archives for Employment

Today’s papers tout that April’s job losses aren’t quite as bad as feared. One possible exception to that would be if you’re the one affected.

U.S. employers cut only 20,000 jobs in April - some economists had predicted four times that number. That gap’s not surprising considering all the announced corporate layoffs, particularly in the automotive and financial sectors, but some of these won’t go into effect immediately.

April marked the fourth consecutive monthly decline, according to the NY Times. The unemployment rate dropped from 5.1% to 5%, not a big drop, but given that under 5% is a proxy for healthy national employment, these numbers matter in an election year.

Archives for Job Boards

Do you work in a predominantly Christian workplace? Increasingly, Christian job boards are making this mission, as some put it, a reality.

My take on the job boards that match “followers” with “Christian employers” is that a Christian workplace is at least partially about excluding non-believers who may undermine their value system.

This statement on Christian Staffing’s website summarizes the mindset: “Have you dealt with staff problems including stealing, fraud, sexual harassment, lack of work ethic, tardiness, etc? We did, and so we have decided to try to hire people we knew had a good reputation … and more specifically followers of Jesus Christ.”

In a pitch to Christian recruiters and employers, Bill Clark, Director of Sales & Business Development for ChristianJobs.com, writes on About.com that there are 200,000 job seekers on their site each month. “These folks are in need and we believe that it is our responsibility as members of the body of Christ to help them in every way possible,” writes Clark. “As such, we invite you to visit our site and see if you can embrace our mission … expressing your faith by posting your positions ….”

Archives for Social Media

If I belonged to a football team, a fraternity, or an office of 20-somethings, I’d use Twitter to “tweetup” with my friends. It’s not the place to find a job – is it?

Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, an Internet entrepreneur based in Amsterdam, recently posted a job listing on Twitter that caught my eye:

Wanted: CTO type for new secret project. PHP, MySQL, CakePHP knowledge important. Money + shares.

“People always know people and telling it to 450 people makes sure that the word gets out,” explains Boris, who has openings for three ventures at the moment and lots of evangelists among his connections. “And - don’t tell – [Twitter] is a cheap way of finding people too.”