Sirona Says

What would you do with a career break?

Don't you just love it when a company does something different and innovative? Well, while spending last week in Dublin with a client, I came across this piece of innovation from an Irish Bank.

Permanent TSB has come up with the innovative (and brave) move of offering paid career breaks to their staff. Now, there may well have been other companies doing this, but have they done it in a recession? No, the likelihood is that they would have simply gone for redundancies instead.
Obviously the intention of Permanent TSB is to cut spending while keeping skilled workers on standby, rather than lose all that well gained experience. And career breaks are more cost effective than redundancy:
Employees will be given half their salary up to 20,000euros to take a two year break, or 35,000euros to take a three year break. And it is open to staff of all ages and levels!

There will obviously be certain conditions imposed, and of course it won't suit everyone, but to have a career break with a guarantee of a job at the end of it is a step forward for those that are in need of a break.

Then the question comes......what would YOU do if you had a career break?

Mine is a simple one (once the children are self succient) - I would fly to Canada with my wife, buy a motorhome, and spend the time working my way down through many of the US states until we run out of land (ie the Keys)!

What would you do with a career break? (Please share your idea in the comments.)

Thought Twitter was a waste of time, Corporate World?

Many people don't get Twitter , the micro-blogging site. They just think it is a load of pants occupied by geeky social networking nerds. I must confess until 'The Sniper ' encouraged' me to give it a serious go, I was the same (you can follow me here).
But Twitter is working and now mainstream companies have realised what a good channel it can be, when used in conjunction with other methods of marketing. But the problem has been to date, that there was no way of tracking your tweets, and understanding their effectiveness.
But a new product called Twittertise allows you to advertise on Twitter and track the success of branded communications with your customers. It will also allow you to schedule your communications on Twitter and using URL tracking technology measure the effectiveness of your traffic driving techniques on the platform.

Twittertise Overview from whalewisdom on Vimeo.

So, has the penny dropped with all you companies out there, looking to reach out to the fast growing twitter population? You can build a scheduled marketing/sales campaign, and then track how well it has performed. Not bad for a micro-blogging site is it?

The possibilities are endless, and for a recruitment this tool will be a fantastic way to engage with all those gen Y'ers, as Twitter can be picked up on nearly every mobile platform with things like Twitterberry, Tinytwitter, twitter for the iphone etc etc and as we know gen Y'ers are never more than 3 inches away from their phones!!

So take the step and incorporate Twitter into your marketing and communication strategy today!!

"Get to work, or it will be the Cattle Prod for you!"

Over the last couple of weeks, there has been much talk in the press about the idiotic decision to use a TV presenter to help drive down the numbers of long term unemployed people. It seems that many of the writers agree with me that a self opinionated, arrogant and 'ratings focused' person is probably not the way forward, and that there must be a better more focused way to help this group of people.
Enter the Australians, with an idea of how they should approach their long term unemployed.

Recently, one of their new politicians, John Williams, made his maiden speech in the Australian Parliament. In it, he was a little outspoken(!!!) on the subject of unemployment......."There are many people living on employment benefits who were 'determined not to work'. The long term unemployed are simply getting a free ride on behalf of tax payers of Australia and it is about time they received a touch on the backside with a cattle prodder to get them off their butts and actually do some work!"

He continued, "Those who were capable of working should not receive a dole cheque unless they made some contribution to society." He continued, "I believe that if you are in good health and are capable of working, then you should work. However, I do believe that the genuine unemployed should have a safety net and should be helped through their tough times until they find employment."

Now, while I wouldn't disagree that there is probably a section of the long term unemployed in the UK that could probably do with a cattle prod, it is of course not the approach (shame, I hear you cry!!!). But the metephoric short sharp shock could be used.
I agree with John Williams, that a good number of them have no intention to work, and that something needs to get these people of their backsides!  The trouble is that we have gone so far down the politically correct route, that it would probably be against their human rights to make them work, if they don't want to!!

It got me thinking, what other methods - fair or foul - could be used to "encourage" the hard core "don't want to work" unemployed back to work?
I will start the ideas with something simple..........Fair - manditory community work projects, Foul - Chinese water torture!

Now its your turn, what would you do? 

Is choosing a Marketing Agency any different to selecting a Recruitment Agency?

I ready an article today that was titled, "What to look for in an agency (marketing)" and my curiosity got the better of me! I wondered what the comparison would be with looking to hire in a recruitment agency to do some work (for this example the comparison would need to be with a retained consultancy, so likely a search firm).

I have used Sally Durcan's - from Hotcow Marketing Agency - Do's & Dont's of choosing a marketing agency (MA) with my comparison of a company choosing a recruitment agency (RA) to do some work for them. Obviously this is more about the selection process than it is the detail of the assignments, but as there are many marketing agencies running recruitment campaigns, it does make you think.

The Do's when choosing an agency

1. MA: Look at and understand creative ability and project flexibility. You want a team that can be flexible and adaptable.
RA: Same as for an MA - just that you will need to understand their recruiting ability (and track record) in addition to any creative ability.

2. MA: Look at their work ethic - response times, approval methodology, reporting and KPI's. They should have a similar approach to you and your team.
RA: Exactly the same, although they need not have the same approach, but they will need to show genuine empathy with your approach and your team.

Web 2.0 will reduce your carbon footprint

Earlier this year, a survey showed that 69% of businesses banned social networks such as MySpace & Facebook from the work environment, yet networking and relationship building are vital aspects to any business.
But are these same companies missing a trick when it comes to web 2.0 technologies? I don't just mean loss of morale  or loss of business, but something more important for their future (and ours!) - their carbon footprint!

Last year over 12.2 million business flights flew in to and out of the UK's airports (Office of National Statistics).
Why aren't companies utilising the power of web 2.0 to reduce the time that their employees spend in the air? 
In today's climate, globalisation, home working and outsourcing are all growing rapidly, and at the same time we all need to curb pollution from travel and better use existing resources. So surely it would make sense to use all the online tools that people love using every day, to also enhance their business communications, wouldn't it? Certainly in our industry we are seeing more styles of interviewing taking place via online, telephone & video for example. There are companies that do use things like;

• Cloud Computing
• Instant messaging
• Social networks
• VO-IP
• Webinars
• Video conferencing
• Webcams
• Widgets

to communicate, but with 12.2 million business flights, my guess is that not enough are doing so. Informal communication is a real driver within business, and that doesn't have to be done around a physical water cooler. This can be moved online, whether that be instant messaging or internal social networks, to allow a shared and open communication between staff and their employers.

I accept that within business you do need to have a certain amount of face time, but with the advent of social networking, people have become more accustomed to virtual relationships - in fact gen Y'ers have become very skilled at it!
So while there may well be the need for initial meetings and 'bonding time' (just for the record that means having a few beers!) needed, how many meetings from that point do really need to be scheduled face to face? Just think how much money your company would save if they only flew you over the the US once a quarter instead of twice a month? And of course how many '000's of tonnes of CO2  would you save polluting the environment with by doing so?

Instead of fearing the advent of web 2.0, surely they should be analysing, learning and capitalising on them to aid their business efficiency (and costs) with the added benefit of saving the environment at the same time. Take the three biggest areas of cost within a business - time, resource and travel. Web 2.0 communication technologies could improve all three, but travel will be the most affected as the virtual world will take over. 

10 Traits of a UK Entrepreneur - How many have you got?

With so many entrepreneurs in the recruitment sector, I was particularly interested in a recent survey by the Alliance &Leicester Commercial Bank. They conducted some research which profiled entrepreneurs across the UK, and subsequently identified a number of traits which today's achievers have in common.

These surveys always interest me, because like many of you I run my own business, and have done for five years so it is always good to see what traits I am 'supposed' to have!! So with your entrepreneurial hat  (and hopefully a successful one!) see if you agree with these results. Here are 10 profile traits from the UK to measure yourself against:

1. 60% are the first born child, revealing their inner confidence and healthy self esteem.
2. 85% have one or more siblings, putting to good use leadership and teamwork qualities learnt at a young age.
3. 71% have a state school education.
4. 17% left school with O Levels / GSCE's.
5. 34% have degrees or equivalent.
6. 93% from a middle or working class background.
7. 33% started their business the age of 26-35.
8. 62% wanted the Independence of working for themselves.
9. 56% wanted control over their working lives.
10. 57% didn't want to answer to anyone else.

How did you score? Mine was 8 out of 10!

This is a great way to add a recruitment video to your career sites

I have to say thanks to Jim Stroud for putting me on to this. What I am talking about is the website Animoto. It uses photographs, combines it with a soundtrack - it can be music or stuff that you have recorded, and then mixes the two together with its clever technology. This means that no two videos are the same. As they say on Blue Peter, here is one I made earlier as a demo.

This is truly excellent product, and it gets even better, because if you choose the 30 second video clips (which uses a minimum of 10 images) it is totally free! You only pay for the full length video's that are produced. It is simple and fun to use, so there is no excuse (not even for you Peter!) about not having a go. And as with other social media sites, it is hooked up with YouTube so you can just simply export the video with ease.

Go on have a go, and get those videos online!!

Lively! Google don't miss a trick do they?

In seminars that I have attended recently the subject of Second Life seems to have attracted interest again. Whether it is because there is a genuine recruiter interest I am not sure, but people still seem a little transfixed with Second Life as a concept.
So it should come as no surprise that Google have created their own version of the world of avatars - Lively. As you can see from their video below, they are going at Second Life directly. What's the betting that they start to do some of their recruiting through Lively sometime soon.

They are the WWW Multi-People - the Media Snackers

There has been much written about generation Y- who they are, what they are, what they do, their attitude to work etc. But trying to explain to people who have never heard of the phrase generation Y, can sometimes be very challenging. Have you tried explaining to a boomer about how the gen Y's are THE next most important part of the workforce? Just try it and see the abuse you get!!
Something that might help is a video that in 1.27 minutes explains succinctly what these 'youngsters' are all about. Interestingly they are referred to as Media Snackers in this great video, by the company of the same name. I think DK (the founder) has coined a much more descriptive name than generation Y!
They describe this generation as the WWW generation - Wherever : Whenever : Whatever - and for a parent who has a two daughters in this age group, I think that sums them up perfectly. So enjoy this definition of a media snacker!

Are Generation Y Women really 'Accidental Mashers'?

I have just read a fascinating article about how generation Y women are using their social networking skills to gain advantage in todays workplace. The utilise technology-friendly attitudes towards work, as well as the skills developed in the social networking world to improve their working lives. Serena Software, responsible for this survey, tag them as 'Accidental Mashers'!!

Just for the record, they define a Masher as a person who is able to use technology to be more productive in their personal life and at work.

Serena believe that the social networking skills learned online by the generation Y'ers, will actually be as important to their success in the work environment as their school/college classroom learning experiences. The study identified five unique segments - they call them Mashers - among technology early adopters. These five segments are:

• The Alpha Masher - The tech elite, drenched in technology, Alpha Mashers see it as having significant positive impact on their lives and ability to communicate. At work they are delegators, developing solutions to hand off (think: senior director, consulting firm). The most likely to agree that technology has a positive impact on the world (94 percent) and to be working full-time (91 percent). Predominantly males 35-44.