jessica lee writes.

Yesterday on Fistful of Talent... Recruting is Like Dating.

recruiting is like dating. really. there's the whole process of finding a candidate/boyfriend - and the interwebs are changing that game significantly. and then there's the courtship process where hopefully, there will be some wooing. and then you've gotta hook 'em in - not an easy feat. then you add in maintaining the relationship once hired/married... now that's a whole different blog posting, or book. but for now, head over to Fistful of Talent to check out my post yesterday on how i made the realization that recruiting truly is dating after having a job offer declined the other week. DECLINED. yes! in this economy! i know. there's a pretty good discussion happening in the comments of that blog posting too. enjoy!

On Being Distracted by Shiny New Objects... Fistful of Talent Post.

before i forget...

the other day, i threw a post onto Fistful of Talent about new HR systems and tools, and the importance of not getting distracted by shiny objects. it was an important post for me to write as sometimes, i feel a little lost and inadequate when looking at all the existing HR and recruiting related systems or services out there. someone has something to offer me that promises to solve my problems. and same goes for theories and such in the HR realm. someone always has a new term to describe a process, problem, solution... i kinda just do my job with the tools available to me. i try my best with what we have and look to innovate where we can... but i'm not concerned with the latest and greatest shiny object out there. i just want to be effective, get the job done and have great relationships with my internal clients. and that's all that matters right? because maybe i don't need those shiny objects to get the job done. maybe they don't matter. it just depends on my goals and the organization's strategies.

and speaking of shiny objects and getting distracted... the post actually was born out of a conversation that took place in a meeting with some of my company's marketing team, some of our social media pros who provide our firm's clients with advice and social media strategies... and then me. we were talking about the company's social media presence and establishing a strategy for moving it forward. i've been chomping at the bit to get our Facebook page focused on careers up and running. i've launched our twitter feed. i'm experimenting in other places... and in this meeting, we just kept talking and talking about how we use social media, where we need to have a presence, other ways we can use social media. and at one point, we all just stopped and said for what? why are we doing this? what's the strategy?

i have a clear strategy in mind for how and why to use social media to recruit... but have we established the same for the company generally? we'll do a careers-focused Facebook page, i've set up a jobs-related twitter feed... but do we necessarily need to have a general company Facebook page or twitter feed? maybe not. it depends on the goals, what's trying to be achieved and the strategy.

don't get distracted by shiny objects. i tell all my friends to get onto twitter... but i'm actually not sure why. most of them haven't been distracted enough to jump in. and maybe that's a good thing. they should have a reason first. and that being said, i think i'll probably stop haranguing them about getting onto twitter.

as for you... if you're already on there, what's your strategy? what are you trying to achieve?

Today, You're Being Redirected Elsewhere...

guess what? i spend a good deal of time writing in other places and for other spaces. so today, i'm pointing you in those directions as oddly enough, i have a few different articles and blog posts dropping in various venues today.

• over on Fistful of Talent, i'm talking about offer letters and why some candidates refuse to give their resignation until they receive an actual letter with an actual signature. sure, as a job seeker, you want to be prudent before you call it quits at your current gig... but i kinda feel like if as a recruiter i've done my job properly, you should trust me. i am never going to make an offer to someone unless i know there's a job for them... so you should take my word that i'm not going to screw you over.

• i was also asked recently to guest blog/guest write a few different things. over on MediaBistro, a site dedicated to folks in the magazines, television, film, radio, newspapers, book publishing, online media, advertising, PR, and design industries, i'm squatting on their Media Jobs Daily blog on the notion of "great places to work" and what that really means. i think i might drop into their jobs blog more regularly with guests posts on behalf of the day job since the folks who read that blog are the kinds i recruit and hire. it's good exposure.

• then... at the end of June, i'll be in New Orleans for SHRM's annual conference and speaking on a panel with Lance Haun, Laurie Ruettimann and my pal Kris Dunn on HR bloggers... and in anticipation of that session, i've popped up a  quick and dirty post on the SHRM conference blog on e-business cards.

• lastly, my friend Martin Burns of Zoominfo who writes the blog good to know, asked me to contribute to Zoominfo's monthly newsletter which goes out to about 15,000 recruiting and HR pros. what an honor! i partnered up with Chris Ferdinandi of the blog Renegade HR to write a tutorial on using Twitter for employment branding. and really, the guide can be used for anyone who is trying to use Twitter to market just about anything. it's the basics... we might have to do a follow up that goes into more detail.

so there you go, folks! hop on over to any or all four of those locales to get your fix of my writing today. i'll be back tomorrow with more here though. here's to a fabulous thursday!

Fall Over to Fistful of Talent for Falling Into HR.

one of the reasons i love Twitter so much is for the instant, succinct feedback you can receive from your followers. the other day, under the Fistful of Talent account, i asked the simple question, why is HR so easy to fall into? and it got me thinking quite a bit. check out the post on Fistful of Talent today on the issue... and thanks to tweeters who responded to the question including... as well as fellow HR blogger, Robert Smith of the Maine HR Cafe who shared his story of falling into HR on his blog.

Red Wiggler Farm... Today on Fistful of Talent.

do you know any farmers? seriously. one of my friends, Adrienne, is a farmer, with a tractor and all. and yes, we both live in DC. check out Red Wiggler in Montgomery County, Maryland (30 minutes outside of DC) where she's a farm manager.  they are good people doing great work. and today, over on Fistful of Talent, i write about a little people management issue they are facing -at Red Wiggler. get my take on it... or rather, get my take on many on the people management issues HR people face and are challenged to deal with in the workplace. i think it's your typical "employee relations" issue. or if that topic bores you, just go check out a bit about the Red Wiggler farm by hopping directly over to their website or their blog.

This Week on Fistful of Talent...

some cool stuff on Fistful of Talent this week... i'll stay a bit quiet on this front while you hop on over to FOT and check out today's post on the importance of HR pros being PR pros... and then, we're following up with episode two of FOTv on tomorrow - and i'm hosting the episode! woo! see you there, folks.

Go to www.FistfulofTalent.com NOW.

dudes. go check out the group bloggy i write for, Fistful of Talent. go now. quit reading this! we launched the pilot episode of FOTv and the show is online. keep in mind it's a pilot - and we'll get better at this... but we're excited to jump into the video space. that's all for today.

Why You Need Facebook for More Than Just Recruiting.

in the recruiting and HR world, you hear a lot of talk about the value of social media to build communities and to recruit candidates. a funny thing happens though once you've brought a candidate in the door using social media... all of a sudden, it's as if social media isn't such a good thing, and in some organizations, maybe the use of social media is actually prohibited in the workplace - a big fat FAIL. check out my take on how to deal with the use of social media in the worlplace over on Fistful of Talent today including how it fits in with the engagement puzzle, and why gen y types won't understand you banning it. 

So You Want Some Blog Love, Eh?

over at Fistful of Talent, we put out our second installment of the The Talent Management Blog Power Rankings 2.0 [Sponsored by FOT and the HR Capitalist]. i have really loved seeing the appreciation and joy folks have shown for being mentioned or voted into the top 25. the pleasure is ours - to be part of the same community is really neat. one of the things we've seen happen after the rankings are comments from folks who didn't make the list about not making the list, or asking how to be considered in the rankings.

sorry to be the queen of mean on this one... but there's my take. we had 115 blogs on our "blogroll" for the rankings this time around. any of the pollsters can add to the blogroll at any time, and any of us can "write in" a blog if they'd like. if you weren’t voted on, if you didn’t make the top 25 though… is it because we just don’t know about you? sure, it's a fair enough question. the blogosphere is big. HUGE. so what to do?

to borrow from Penelope Trunk who provides a guide to blogging on her site, “blogging is conversation, and it is much more fun if you are part of it, instead of just talking at people.” so that means you've got to:

• get engaged.
• be an active part of the community, and join in on the conversation.
• but listen. listening to others is important.

there are a lot of tips out there for how to grow your blog and gain an audience. you can use SEO, and other tools/technologies that i don’t really understand… but i dunno if all that jazz is going to help if you aren’t part of a community, the community rather. it takes a village. another Penelope tip: write at the very edge of that topic. if you write in the center, that’s where everyone else is and it will be hard to present something that is unique.

so if you wanna be noticed? get in the game. be part of the conversation. i've discovered fantastic new bloggers who have visited FOT and joined in on the conversation there... so come, talk to us. tell us what's on your mind. you don't have to agree with what we write, but start a conversation, will ya? because if the first time we've heard from you is an email saying you would like to have your blog considered... eh, kind of a turn off. at least for me that, is. i'm just one of the pollsters after all... so you're lucky it's not all up to me.

happy blogging!

Happy Almost Thanksgiving & Does Love Conquer All? Another Vlog.

another attempt at vlogging! more rambling. while i'm writing this, is there a technology that exists where you can search through videos and link to what is mentioned? just wondering as i mention Fistful of Talent and the most recent HR Carnival in the middle, and at the end i reference Dean and Deluca.

FOT Talent Management Blog Power Rankings - We're At It Again.

on Fistful of Talent, the other bloggy i write for, we'll be soon unveiling the second go-round of our talent management blog power rankings... and i'm happy to be shepherding the rating of blogs through the process this go-round! wooo! just some thoughts about my personal process of ranking blogs:

• i voted, for the most part, with my heart. sure, you could use the analytics in your google reader like some of my colleagues did, but i have a good handful of blogs in my reader and just because i read a blog frequently, that doesn't seem to reflect who i like. there are some folks whose writing style, sense of humor, frequency of posting, depth of compelling content just speak much more loudly to me... and so i ranked them higher. it was interesting to hear how some of my colleagues ranked blogs though - some of us are working with our hearts, and others are a bit more rational in their rankings using cold, hard facts. it takes all kinds, i suppose.
  
• it seems that finally having now met a few recruiting or HR bloggers, being able to put a face to their names and blog makes a bit of a difference in my rankings. is that a little unfair? perhaps... but that's why there are ten of us ranking versus just me... but yeah - seeing and knowing the personality behind a blog has impacted me a bit; this goes back to voting with my "heart," right? i had to double check our methodology before i started writing this... what if i were going against out methodology? but it seems i found a loophole... so yay for me!
  
• my favorites last time weren't necessarily the same favorites this time around... new blogs pop up here and there, some bloggers fall off the face of the earth, others up their writing frequency or add new contributors to their blog or just resurface after a break... it's nice to see diversity in the rankings though. some veterans/pros will probably always rank fairly well, but there's always room for newbies and i have liked seeing new folks on the scene who are already receiving some love for the immediate impact they've been able to make.

rankings should be unveiled next week. the cards will fall however they'll fall (is that the saying?) but regardless, i've gotta say that there are some talented bloggers/writers in the talent management space - and i'm happy to be part of that community. the time and energy they devote to blogging is totally inspiring - so thanks to all for being there for me. you make me want to do more and do better.

Over @ Fistful of Talent - Confucious Says... Cultures (and Candidates) Vary In Their Willingness to Negotiate...

the other week, on Fistful of Talent, i wrote about how culture impacts one's communication style. specifically, we were discussing pay negotiations and my take was that as HR pros, we should be cognizant of the fact that not all candidates can and will negotiate. the conversation that followed the post in the comments section was great. receiving feedback from readers is something i enjoy - in particular though, getting people talking about intercultural comms was awesome. something that i wanted to repost here was in response to a comment Kris Dunn from the HR Capitalist wrote. KD commented,

"How many times did you negotiate today? I just counted and came up with four. And if I didn't do it, I would have been tire-tracked and ended up with poor results.

That's a learned skill over time. Like you and I talked about recently, I came from VERY private parents - you didn't ask others for things, you made do with what you had. That's my family, and it gave me some great qualities to be successful with in life."

KD made an excellent point to which i responded that something i came to the realization to about four years ago was that if i was raised culturally to be one way but in the business world, that way didn't jive, or that in order to be successful i might have to act another way... it wasn't necessarily compromising myself to act the "other" way, different from how i was raised.

it was a bit of an internal struggle coming to that realization because i thought 1) perhaps i was being fake if i acted differently (asked for more, upped my negotiation and selling skills, boasted and shared proudly of my accomplishments, etc...) and 2) i wondered was part of the problem that the "western" ideal for "leadership" and corresponding traits or competencies for success were one sided. were people disrespectful and discounting that some people may come from other cultures and that there are different ways to accomplish the same goals?

i definitely have been able to find a balance and put to rest that struggle. i've accepted that who i may have to be in the workplace and during the day in order to be successful might be just a role, and they just might be rules to the game i play during the day because i've chosen to partake in that particular game... but it doesn't compromise who i was raised to be, and i can be my true self when i get home and in my personal life. i'm okay with this now but it wasn't always comfortable and it took some sage wisdom from a mentor as well for me to get to this place.

this kinda came up last night as it relates to my personal life. people who meet me professionally first see me as one way and expect me to be that all the time... but the truth is, i don't always need to be alpha-female, i don't always want to be in control. i would rather just get in the back seat and let someone else drive. if i trust you, if i want to try to build something with you, i will let my guard down and i'll allow myself to be vulnerable. but how do i let people know that me during the day turns off when i get home? does that make sense? that's not just something you come out and say, is it? i just raise this because i've met fellers who worried that personally, we might struggle with one another because we're both too headstrong, too driven, too assertive, too controlling.

just some additional thoughts on this matter...

NotchUp.com... Big Sigh...

can i just say that i was kinda irritated when reading this?

so... NotchUp debuted earlier in the year and they threw up a blog to compliment the site in september. as i wrote over on Fistful of Talent, i was a little leery with the entire concept of NotchUp, but i was willing to give it a shot. i haven't tinkered around in there very much to be totally honest... (has anyone? just curious...) but i'm inclined not to simply to spite them. i'm that immature. yes. this particular blog entry was just too much as they discussed the five things a recruiter will never tell you:

1. "You're one of 200 people I'm cold calling."
2. "You're being interviewed to make my other candidates look better."
3. "I get measured by how quickly I fill a job opening."
4. "I'm using your confidential resume to market my firm to new companies."
5. "Last month I was selling subprime mortgages."

i mean i've never been the biggest fan of 3rd party recruiters, and i'm always open about that... but this whole list was silly. clearly their blog is geared towards job seekers, and clearly it isn't written by someone from the recruiting industry... way to alienate those who are actually going to pay to use the site, yeah?