Why The Undercover Boss Should Be An Undercover Job Seeker Part 1 Of 3

CBS rolled out a new show following Super Bowl XLIV called Undercover Boss. Reviews of the show have been fairly good with many saying how cool it is that a CEO or President of a company would hang out with the “little people”.

I think it is a cool idea. I do wonder though, if CEO’s were providing real leadership they should be doing this already on their own to learn what the real impacts are of the decisions they make.

Anyway, to this blog post...

Last summer I was asked to speak to a C- Level peer group on a HR topic of my choice and was told I could “be real”.

Home Run, I thought. Turns out I had no idea...

Paul DeBettignies To Present At The Fordyce Forum 2010

I have written a few times how 2010 is shaping up to be a time when stars are aligning for me and that I am going to do some butt whooping. 2008-2009 was not fun and I am taking my revenge on 2010.

I have accepted an invitation to present at The Fordyce Forum 2010 this June in Las Vegas. This will play a big part in the whooping of 2010.

For those not familiar with The Fordyce Forum it is annual event for the Search Firm industry. Or to put it another way, this is where the Big Dogs go for their event and to be asked to speak is a big thing for me, well, anyone.

The Fordyce Letter is the source of information for the Search Firm industry and I will be able to do an article leading up to my presentation.

So what to talk about? Here it is:

Job Seekers Creating “Black Lists” Of Employers

The blow back at employers for not being able to reply to job seeker inquiries has finally hit a level of frustration where quite a few job seekers are creating lists of companies they will never talk to again.

No doubt most employers are receiving more resumes, email and phone calls than they can handle and no doubt many have downsized their HR and Recruiter staff. Why keep these folks when there is no hiring right?

WRONG!!!

If there ever was a time to be creating those talent pools it has been the past 18 months but most “C-Level” decision makers have their head in the sand.

9 Ways to Motivate Employees

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: David McGillivray

Human Resource Management is about achieving the best from your workforce. Achieving high levels of motivation, engagement and productivity is impossible when employees are unsatisfied or actively looking for alternative employment. Do you know which team members are seeking alternative employment and are these team members critical to your business? It is vitally important to business performance and success to understand the answer to this question.

HR Management can help you to understand employee satisfaction, retain key team members and improve productivity. In every organisation, employees will fit into one of the following categories:

Paul DeBettignies A Panelist At University Of Minnesota Carlson School Of Management Event

While I truly have enjoyed all of the opportunities to be a presenter/panelist over the years I am super psyched for an event Tuesday October 20, 2009 at the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management.

Being on the U of M campus is like being home for me and to be talking Recruiter, HR and Social Media topics is really cool. The bonus is the description of the event:

“Social Networking in Business: How to Navigate the Playing Field without Fumbling the Ball"

6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Hanson Hall Room 1-109

Football is back on the University of Minnesota campus this fall and excitement is in the air!  This professional development event on the implications of social networking in professional work environments will kick off with comments from subject matter experts in the fields of recruiting and employment law.  We will also huddle as large and small groups to discuss using Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, etc. in the business world from the perspectives of students, alumni and other human resource professionals.

The subject matter experts for this event include:

• Sarah Beaty, University Relations Leader for U.S. Recruiting at General Mills
• Teresa Thompson, Attorney with expertise in legal issues surrounding technology in the workplace, from Fredrikson & Byron, P.A
• Adam Sprecher, Business Development Manager, Oberon.
• Paul DeBettignies, Author of the Minnesota Headhunter Blog

So I get to be a part of a Recruiter/HR chat about Social Media on the University of Minnesota campus with a football theme. Heaven for this guy.

Go Gophers!!!

And a Minnesota Rouser too:

Who Uses Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace As A Recruiting Or Sourcing Tool?

Who do you know who is using the following tools for Sourcing and/or Recruiting:

• Blog
• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter

Let me also add in:

• YouTube (creating videos)
• Podcasts
• RSS Feeds (email subscription too)
• Newsletter

Are You Ready for the Next Hiring Frenzy?

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: John Butler, Vice President SearchLogix Group

Whether you believe the recession is over or not, now is the time for companies to get ready to find talent for the increase in business that is coming.  For the past 12 to 18 months, companies have had the luxury to be picky about when and who they will hire.  Most hiring managers have increased the job requirements and the interview process to ensure they got the best talent as they perceived it.

Companies now have to start preparing themselves for the hiring process to speed up.  We will not see the ridiculous hiring frenzy from the dot.com era, but hiring managers can no longer take months to hire a person and expect them to wait patiently to get hired. Highly qualified candidates are getting more recruiting calls and are beginning to have multiple job offers.  They are quickly entering the job market and just as quickly they are accepting good offers and are no longer available. 

Twitter Is A Silver Bullet: Do You Know Anyone Who Has Said That?

I need some help. Do you know of any articles, podcasts, blog posts, etc where a truly knowledgeable, experienced and practicing professional in any industry has said Twitter is the end all?

Here is why I ask. I am doing research for an article I am writing and a well known Recruiter/HR guy is poo pooing the use of Twitter and Social Networking sites in general. And he keeps talking about how people are talking about Twitter as the end all of recruiting much like people spoke about Monster.com and the job boards in the late 90’s.

The thing is I cannot find who this person’s sources are.

Sure a lot of folks are talking about this revolutionary new tool (memo, Twitter has been around a while) and how it can help companies, marketers and yes recruiters get their message out and find people to “sell” but I have not seen anyone say it is the end all.

Can you point me to any credible person in or outside of the Recruiter/HR world who says Twitter will change the axis of our planet?

LinkedIn Is Not A Social Networking Site

I know a number of people are going to disagree with me on this but read on and then tell me what you think.

LinkedIn is a professional networking site.

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and the rest are social networking sites.

Sure LinkedIn has some of the features of other sites like:

A Rebuttal To Peter Weddle And His Blog Post The Great SCAM in Recruiting

UPDATED: 

- Check out Jim Durbin’s blog post Peter Weddle Owes A Lot Of People Apologies

OK, before I go on a rant a few disclaimers:

• I have never met Peter Weddle
• I respect Peter Weddle
• I am responding to his blog post with a blog post rather than comment there as I have a lot to say.
• I am responding because for someone who is highly respected in our industry to have this opinion and state it so strongly it needs a rebuttal

Wednesday Peter Weddle posted The Great SCAM in Recruiting on his WorkStrong blog. I had copied and pasted his post below but took it out. Read his post, see my reply below: