alstin communications

4-color process printing can be full of curve-balls. If you’ve ever printed a photo from your digital camera, you know that what you see on the screen and what ends up in your hands can vary quite a bit. It’s the same on the professional end. We can calibrate our monitors, explain to the client that the final piece won’t look exactly like our toner-based laser prints, and even go over the color-correct proofs from our printer, but in the end, all of our colors in processed printing are combinations of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.

Those four colors can cover a good range, but there are weak points that either lie between the four or completely out of the gamut. You want a vibrant green or a juicy orange? Forget about it! You may as well be asking for a neon yellow, reflective gold or “shiny.”

What if you have a corporate color–one that designers and focus groups have whittled down to just the right shade–and it has to be exactly right for the newest batch of 50,000 company business cards?

The solution lies in spot colors. Spot colors are a pure, one-color ink, that does not vary (though you can get it in percentage tints). They don’t necessarily play nice with others, but can work well enough alongside. If you’ve ever heard of “Pantone Colors”, that’s what this is all about. You can get a great range of lush colors that encompass even neons and metallics, as well as spots of high-gloss (or no gloss) varnish. They give print-jobs a crispness that processed colors often cannot.

Most print jobs are 4-color these days and print jobs are identified by the number of inks they use on the front and back of the paper. A one sided flyer would be 4/0 (four inks on the front–zero on the back). An additional spot color would make that 5/0, which does add to the cost of the piece, but will hopefully bring some more zing for your dollars. On the saving money side, sometimes a job can be run as 2/0, with your favorite spot and black making up the front. This is common with business cards and stationary.

So the next time you’ve got a print job and you want to give it that little extra something, ask your account exec or designer if they have any catchy ways to incorporate a spot color or varnish into the piece. Not only will you end up with a little something extra, but your colors will be Spot On.   - j

If you are on Facebook, there’s a good chance that you’ve logged on to your account while you were on the clock. About 15 minutes per day seems to be the average according to a recent study by Nucleus Research. 

Although we have all read endless diatribes about lost productivity and the need to block social networking sites – even this survey equates time spent on Facebook to about 1.5% of total lost productivity – Rachel King of BusinessWeek offers up a unique perspective on all this. 

King asks us to consider “a correlation between employee use of social networking sites and the ever-shrinking lunch break.” 

99.9% of the time, you will find me at my desk during my lunch “break” and yes, I admit, if I have a yogurt in my hands, I just might stray to a quick diversion or two on the web while I quickly recharge. 

With downsizing and increased workloads, the fact that the average lunch break is now seven minutes less than last reported five years ago is no surprise. Are we seeing a transfer from physical lunch breaks to virtual ones? But more importantly, is this really having an impact on productivity? 

Since 2000 the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future has conducted a survey on changes in work performance and productivity due to work Internet access.  eMarketer offered up this table to demonstrate trends in the seven-year span:

The numbers are pretty consistent with the majority believing that productivity has improved “a lot” or “somewhat.” 

Enabling employees to be productive is key to success. So is keeping a team engaged. 

The School notes, “Internet use is growing and evolving as an instrument for personal engagement.” Completely blocking social networking sites, as many organizations feel they must do to remain productive, may not be the way to go. Taking advantage of the wide ranging ways that these sites can keep your employees engaged with your organization – and their world – can work to your organization’s advantage now more than ever.

This silly site under the guise of the Social Media Addicts Association  challenges, “Are you freaked-out by Facebook? Is Twitter twisting your mind? We’re here to help you!”

Their 5 Steps to Kicking the Habit include:

1 – Admit you have a problem but don’t tweet about it.

2 – Accept that you don’t need upvotes to feel validated.

3 – Understand the risks of poking strangers.

4 – Repeat after me: “Twitter and alcohol don’t mix”.

5 – Don’t go cold turkey! Just delete one friend a day.

Want to tell the world you are in “recovery”, or just weary of all things social on the web? There are also a few inspired t-shirts available that could be the perfect fit for you.

As VP of Client Development for Alstin, I (happily) find myself on the road a lot, talking to clients, prospects, people in the media, etc.–and I attend numerous industry functions each month. On Alstin’s blog, I’ll let you know where I am and what I’m hearing in the wonderful world of recruiting.

This is my favorite time of year: the long, languid days of summer. I hope you’ve been spending time catching fireflies, drinking from your garden hose, eating ice cream, dodging mosquitos, watching baseball, gazing at the ocean and all those things that make summer so great. I’ve been doing all of the above myself as well as getting lots of beach time–plus I just finished my 2nd triathlon. I’ll fill you in on the whole triathlon story in a future post, but if you can’t wait and want to hear a great story about a first triathlon experience click on over to this post from our very own Jennifer Hitchens-Greenfield, you’ll feel like you’re right there. Enough intro, let’s get back on the road!

Cape May Courthouse, NJ (sort of): I may gripe about it, but for the most part I have pretty good luck with traffic and avoiding jams. I guess sooner or later the law of averages was going to catch up with me–and brother, did it ever. The July PAAHCR meeting was being held in Cape May Courthouse, NJ by our good friends (and client), Cape Regional Medical Center. Perfect, I thought. I’ll drop my kids off at my parent’s house in Brigantine, zip 30 minutes down the NJ Parkway to the meeting and be back in Brigantine sitting on the beach by 4pm.

Nope. A very serious accident about a mile in front of me had me stuck on the Parkway for almost 3 hours, 2 of which were spent…not…moving…one…inch! I’m a pretty mild-mannered guy, but I was beginning to lose it–also there was nowhere to turn around (I love my friends at PAAHCR but by the second hour I was ready to bail). I must admit however, that when I finally arrived, I felt very loved as I saw the relief on the PAACHR members faces–they had been worried about all the people like myself who RSVP’d but hadn’t showed. The presentation was a good one on SEO and SEM marketing–a incredibly targeted, powerful tool that I feel is SO underutilized in recruiting.

Philadelphia, PA: Heather Gwin and I were lucky enough to be invited to a Customer Appreciation lunch held by our friends at the Legal Intelligencer (we’re proud to count several law firms as clients). The setting was The Prime Rib in the Warwick Hotel at 17th and Locust. Yummy food and great people–a nice treat by the folks at the Legal. The location is of interest to long time clients of Alstin as back in the 80′s and early 90′s our Holiday Party was held there–at what was then called Polo Bay. I started at Alstin in 1990 so I was there for the tail end of those days–and yes, the parties back then were complete madness.

Philadelphia, PA: Down on the waterfront at the Hyatt for a presentation by our friends at philly.com Any HR person in the Philadelphia area would be interested in this topic: Top Workplaces for 2010. This is your chance to get your organization noticed. Deadline to register is August 28th.You can learn more and nominate your company here.

Montgomeryville, PA: I delivered a presentation to long time client and friend I’ve worked with for close to 20 years. The topic? Social Networking and Recruiting. Obviously, social networking is a topic on everyone’s mind these days, and we are playing a key role in consulting, advising and implementing social network programs for our clients.

For more on what we are doing for our clients – and what we might be able to do for you – in regard to social networking and recruiting and SEO/SEM campaigns, drop me a line at blog@alstin.com.

Until next time, see you on the road!

I, for one, am sad to see the scratch-off lottery card-powered ERPs go. Alstin was the first to apply them to Employee Referral Programs — we even won a Creative Excellence Award for the original ERP we used them for. Those addictive little gold spaces revealed treasures to be coveted (usually a pen, water bottle, or a stress ball…remember those?). They added excitement to the referral process and were part of the movement that believed employees should be rewarded not only for a successfully hired candidate, but for going to the trouble of reaching out in the first place.

But then budgets shrank. Even for this most cost-effective of hiring tools — ERPs are shown again and again to the be the most cost-effective way to recruit the highest quality candidates — incentives fell by the wayside. The referral bonuses remained, but even those varied depending on whether you were referring someone for a “hot job”, a lukewarm one, or one of the Jack Frost variety.

Paper-based ERPs morphed into less wasteful online varieties. More instantaneous responses. Quarterly emails to remind people of the program’s rewards. The ability to capture resumes and funnel them to your ATS. Good times.

Then: “What are you doing?”

Or more to the point, “What are you doing at your current job when you could be finding a more interesting/higher paying/closer-to-home job?” Twitter arrived, and Tweet it has. For those who choose to follow an organization’s job updates, there’s no need to check a Careers website. To email HR. Or, (gasp) to ask a friend about opportunities. The viral version of the ERP is alive. It’s well…better. And it’s kicking fast and taking names. Don’t believe me? Check it out yourself.

I heard John Mayer just applied for a job with Apple.

Or maybe it was that Apple Paltrow-Martin was listening to John Mayer…

On May 4, 2009, Frankford Hospitals, a name synonymous with premier healthcare in our region for more than 100 years, became Aria Health. The name change was backed by a powerful media/PR and advertising campaign which has quickly familiarized anyone in the area with the new brand and vision for the health system.

However, on May 13, 2009, just nine days after the big announcement, the HR team was set to host a job fair for Physical and Occupational Therapists. We quickly had to get the word out to the right people that Aria Health (Who?) was hiring.

Working within a short window and a set budget, the usual media suspects – email blasts, banner ads, postings and yes, even our old friend print – were planned. Our plan took advantage of once unheard of packages with the media (be sure to read my previous post on that subject) that guaranteed plenty of exposure. In addition, I also suggested to Aria Health, what better way to capitalize on the tools of the trade – and build their new brand – than to add a landing page to the mix.

Landing Page: A page intended to identify the beginning of the user experience resulting from a defined marketing effort.

It’s not a website, it’s a single page on the web that delivers relevant information to the people you want to connect with. In this case the relevant information was focused on three things – the new name, a brand new unit (that created the openings) and the recruiting event.

I asked Judy Mazess of Aria Health HR why she made the decision to green light my recommendation and she replied, “I needed a quick way to announce a larger amount of information – our name change, a new service coming online, and an open house for interested applicants. Combining the landing page with an email blast, banner ads on targeted sites and print ads gave us a powerful tool in a short amount of time.”

A great feature to their page: The added ability to capture the email address of interested candidates. While not quite transactional – we didn’t require the visitor to provide their email address before they could view any content – adding this simple feature gave Aria Health the ability to connect directly with candidates that are particularly interested in these openings. By capturing the lead, the email addresses are now part of a growing database that allows for continued communication. Candidate relationship management tools are important and often forgotten! I couldn’t agree more with this point of view – read on here.

A second landing page for nursing soon followed with Judy commenting, “We experienced success with our first effort. We filled several therapy positions in a short period of time.” Not only that, the URL is theirs to update at any time to adjust to changing needs and campaigns. And when you bring SEO into the mix (more on that here and in future posts) combined with the expense – the landing page was less than any of the individual media buys we made – a landing page or two or three … should be part of your next targeted effort.

Do you have a Facebook Fan Page promoting your recruiting message/employer brand/job opportunities? If you haven’t heard already, a Facebook “Careers” Fan Page is a great way to promote your recruiting message and interact directly to your “fans.” However, when developing Fan Pages, I personally found job-related Apps lacking. There were Apps for “What is your spiritual animal guide?” Horoscope, Pieces of Flair and “What 80s Movie Are You?” but there wasn’t a decent, glitch-proof FREE App developed to feed Jobs content from an organization’s career site/ATS into their Facebook Fan Page…until now. Oh, did I mention it’s FREE?

Sure there are plenty of options in the marketplace for employers to pay thousands of dollars for this data feed through an external vendor. Or, tens of thousands of dollars (in the case of CareerBuilder) to develop a Fan Page and feed jobs (only posted to CareerBuilder) to the Fan Page (isn’t that double dipping?) but those pricey options aren’t in our clients’ budgets and probably not in yours.

Why do I find the new “Current Jobs at Our Company” App so refreshing? We’ll let’s see…did I mention there’s a FREE option? The free option will wrap/feed your five most recent job postings on your career site and publish them to your Fan Page. And, a very cost conscious $39/month Premium option is also available that wraps/feeds ALL of your jobs to your Fan Page.

What else did I find so refreshing? It’s easy! Within a few clicks following the tutorial (nicely designed—by the way—complete with screen shots for those of us speed readers) I had been notified that “Within 48 hours the LinkUp Web Development Team would contact me to finish the process.” Basically QC to ensure that I am who I say I am. Within one hour I was contacted by Eric (who was very nice and well informed about the application/product) to finish out the process and I was able to activate the Jobs app on my client’s Fan Page, create the tab and the feed was instantaneous! Viola!

(Actually, I think said “WOW!” – out loud.)

So…more about LinkUp.com…the mastermind behind this job search engine is none other than GL Hoffman. If you don’t already subscribe to his “What Dad Would Say” blog you’re really missing out on some seriously funny posts (and diagrams).

I hear ya saying, “Yeah, yeah another job search engine like Indeed or SimplyHired.” Not really. LinkUp.com ONLY aggregates jobs from company web sites (Translation: no job boards are allowed to spend big $s in paid search advertising to drive traffic to their sites and you won’t find crazy jobs like “Work at home and make $20,000/day!” Does anyone really believe those jobs are real??? But, I digress…that’s another topic all together…)

So, because there are ONLY active company career site jobs on LinkUp.com, it gives the job seeker a true picture of the recruiting landscape and ALL the jobs that are available.

Sure, LinkUp sells PPC advertising but these ‘sponsored jobs’ are easily recognizable and still very relevant to search parameters (much like Google Ad Words’ Sponsored Links). Full transparency AND the bonus that employers don’t have to bid against the ‘big boards’ for advertising/promoting their jobs.

Right now there are about 20,000 companies and 400,000 jobs on LinkUp.com. And, if you’re a smaller company without an ATS or Career Site,…LinkUp is affiliated with GL Hoffman’s JobDig and “JobDig Tracker” which offer cost effective web-based TAS and Applicant Portal solutions. Smart huh?

So…two thumbs up for LinkUp’s FB Jobs App. And, if you’re in the market for a cost-effective Facebook “Careers” Fan Page but don’t really know where to start, email me (blog@alstin.com) or post a comment – Alstin can get that done for you, and I’d be glad help.

When Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) wanted to develop brochures to attract technical and trade school students into entering their Internship & Apprenticeship Programs as well as the Skilled Trades in general, a series of brochures seemed like a great idea. The cost to design and print three distinct brochures, eh, not so much.

The solution? Design and printing of one tri-fold brochure with a center pocket panel and three distinct inserts touting each program. The brochure focused on SEPTA as an employer of choice for skilled trades, career pathing and benefits. The inserts explained each program in detail thereby giving SEPTA recruiters the flexibility to include one or all three programs depending on the event or school they were attending. Simple tri-fold brochures with inserts, the opportunities are endless…and easy on the budget.

As a creative professional with expertise specific to employment messaging, I’m doing some serious navel gazing these days. It’s a tricky time to be an expert in employment communications.

For more than twenty years I’ve worked on the creative side of an agency that specializes in helping organizations all over the country, big and small, find employees. But there’s no trick to finding employees these days. You probably know the numbers – millions of unemployed people looking for work. Millions more who are employed and looking to make a change. For every one opening advertised, companies are receiving hundreds, sometimes thousands, of responses. The biggest challenge for employers right now? Sorting through the responses. But that’s what got me thinking about pendulums.

One of the things that 20 plus years of industry experience has taught me is that the one constant is change. In the not too distant future, I believe that there is going to be a change. A big one. And, once again, a good employee will be hard to find. Anyone can react to the current circumstances; it’s the visionary who prepares for what’s next. And here’s what I think is next: The jobs will come to me. Directly to me. In my pocket. In fact, in some ways, they already do. I’m an iPhone user and I can currently find jobs through my Twitter app, my Facebook app, and any number of Job or Career apps that I could download, including my personal favorite, iJobs. A quick search in the app store using the word “job” brings up a host of downloadable job search options, including applications like “JobCompass,” “Job Search Coach” and even something called “JobRadio.fm.” A search using the word “career” brings up many more.

Now, here’s my question to the recruiters out there? Are you represented in my pocket job search? Should you be? In short, are you ready for what’s next?

Over the next few months, I’ll be taking a closer look at numerous mobile career apps. Stay tuned for details on what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next.

“I don’t wanna work. I want to bang on the drum all day. ”

It’s been many moons since I’ve hummed the bars to this Todd Rundgren song from the 80′s on my way into work. We’ve all had those kind of Monday mornings, haven’t we? But today, like many employed Americans, I’m singing another tune. And it has a lot to do with being grateful. 

The latest stats on employment in the U.S. were promising – the unemployment rate fell to 9.4% in July from 9.5% in June. This is the first time we’ve seen a decrease in 15 very long months. However, there’s one stat that I continue to follow more closely and with great interest and it’s the one about the average work week. 

In addition to the staggering numbers of those laid off, the numbers of those now working part time for economic reasons has more than doubled. Many of the new part-timers are people who are picking up a second job due to a reduction in hours by their full time employer. 

This article from The Boston Globe covering the troubling trend a bit more starts off with, “They still have their jobs, but the recession has not spared them.” Although one person in the report notes a “silver lining” to her reduced schedule – she’s able to spend more time with grandchildren – many workers don’t want to bang on the drum all day. They just want to get back to work. 

I was happy to see that July’s numbers showed that the average work week rose to 33.1 hours, after having fallen to 33 hours in June, the lowest average on record dating back to 1964. 

They only way is up for this stat before we start to see an increase in hiring. Companies are likely to increase their current employee’s work week before that happens. Considering how rough going it’s been, this increase, however slight, may be our first peek around the corner to recovery.

If you need information about a subject – just Google it! Search engines are now the first place the majority of us go to when we need information, including information on hiring organizations and their career opportunities. Search Engine Marketing makes advertising on the Internet easy and very affordable. With this approach, you will have the opportunity to target a passive audience who may not otherwise see your advertising efforts. Want to learn more about how this can all work for you? Click over to this month’s iOnline, there’s more after the jump.

Ask people if newspapers should charge for online content, and here’s just some of what you’ll hear:

“It’s coming whether we like it or not.” (In fact, here’s an article that predicts it will be here in less than a year.)

“No, that information is free now and should remain so. They can make money on advertising instead.”

“Newspapers should have been charging for it all along–not sure why we’re getting it online for free.”

“If they do start charging, there is a huge risk of a potential backlash resulting in even steeper circulation loss. It could be the final straw that sinks newspapers.”

“I don’t like when the Alstin team write serious blogs. I want to hear more about Tony’s ice tea addiction, Annette’s winery finds and Christy’s running trails.

Okay, no one really says that last one. Still, this issue is going to be talked about a lot in the next year, and you’ll be a much bigger hit at parties if you have an informed opinion.

So, should newspapers charge for online content? Of course they should.

Let’s put aside for now some of the thornier legal issues and the fact that newspapers are in desperate need for more revenue to survive (we’ll get to both those issues later).

For me, the free vs. not free argument comes down to a simple question: Is there true value in the news and other content newspapers publish, both in print and online?

I say yes, absolutely, and for over 200 hundred years most people have agreed with me, recognized that value and paid for it.

Of course, that leads directly to one of the newspaper’s biggest problems–and some would say one of their own creation–for the last 15 years newspapers have willingly given away nearly all online content for free. Some say that newspapers should be able to sustain online revenue with advertising (just as many free print newspapers like Metro, Pennysavers and other community newspapers have for years). However, it seems that will not be enough for most newspapers to survive–so I think we may need to pay for the valuable content we get, even if we were used to getting it for free. Not surprisingly, many disagree.

Still, when I think of my cell phone bill (connect fees anyone?) cable bill (monthly rental fee of the digital box?), electric bill, and so many other examples in our daily life where we get charged for every little thing, I find it hard to believe that something as important as responsible, relevant journalism isn’t worth paying for. It’s ironic that we live in an information age, but we don’t want to pay for some of the highest quality information.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that we should all start shelling out $30 a week per newspaper for online content. I imagine we might start seeing some models where we pay $5 a month for a newspaper’s exclusive online content–and perhaps they throw in the Sunday paper delivered to your home. Even if a newspaper loses 25% of its circulation in the transition, that’s still a minimum of hundreds of thousands a dollars a month in added revenue for most papers.

Plus, if newspapers start charging for content there will be a more definite line drawn between “real” journalism and what sometimes passes for journalism on the Internet–something I would argue is sorely needed.

Finally, and I know this sounds petty, I believe there is a fairness issue at stake. For example, I pay my $5 every Sunday for the New York Times. However, my neighbor Joe can read nearly all the same content for free. Either Joe shouldn’t get the information for free or I am a dope and should start reading it for free online as well, which would mean further loss in revenue for the newspaper. I think now is the time for newspapers to make that decision, even if it means possibly losing Joe as a reader. Either way, Joe should definitely stop the hammering he does in his garage after midnight.

I realize this is a bird’s-eye view of the issue, and there are many snafus that need to be worked out if newspapers do charge for content. The first is somehow protecting that content from appearing elsewhere on the web. Another big issue is “news” itself and the public interest it serves. As Peter Scheer said in his blog for Huffington Post:

“Suppose the New York Times moves all its content behind password protection and initiates a monthly subscription plan. Does the Times, which owns the copyrights and whose editors and reporters created the articles, have the right to stop these unauthorized uses, which we’ll assume are undercutting its effort to charge for its content? The answer depends on the application of “fair use,” a doctrine of copyright law that basically blesses (what otherwise would be infringing) uses of a copyrighted work when the ises are both insubstantial and deemed to be in the public interest.”

There’s so much more to come on this issue from both sides. We want to hear what you think so please weigh in with your comments below!

So you think writing, clever, catchy headlines is kids’ stuff? Play around and write a headline/caption for a recruitment employment ad that goes with this picture.

I heart this resume. There’s intelligence, a strong design aesthetic and originality all right there plain to see – and it’s even on one page.

There’s one problem though. You can’t enter a resume like this into an applicant tracking system now can you?

The other week I wrote about the concept of a personal brand someday replacing the resume as we know it. “No way!” was pretty much the consensus. Not yet might be more like it.

We’re certainly evolving technology simply by the way we use it – Twitter is the prime example. And there are a lot of us out there (not just the creatives or the marketers) who feel limited by the Word doc approach to a resume. Or want to create an online “portfolio” of our work at the low, low cost we’ve all started to become accustom to online – free.

I was sent more than one invite recently to check out VisualCV. It’s worth your time and a site to watch. It took me all of two minutes to set up an account and that included pulling content from my LinkedIn profile with one click.

Big deal, right? There’s more to it than that. Visual CV also provides the ability to add content – a video, a document, an audio clip, your best presentation via SlideShare – to your profile. Expertise and accomplishments can be more clearly demonstrated and it helps paint a better picture of an individual’s abilities for a recruiter.

What’s also valuable to a professional is that the virtual resume created resides on a URL that can be left open to the public, discriminately shared, or hidden until the person wants it out there.

The site’s name may lead you to believe that its only about CVs, but employers are also able to add Company Profiles. In addition to building your brand on a growing site – currently there are hundreds of employers and tens of thousands of resumes – you will have another opportunity to get more bang for your buck. Your efforts don’t end with the end of an email blast or print ad run so use those materials to their full advantage and populate a Company Profile with them (and a podcast, your video, etc.) on this site, on Facebook, on a potential landing page, microsite … you get the picture.

The resumes on the site may have the same problem that plagues Mike Anderson’s above, they can’t be dumped into an ATS. Considering all the technical issues that surround integration, that “upgrade” may be slow to come. But, as more people embrace this sort of option the evolution of how we sell ourselves and connect with the organization that ultimately employs us will continue change.

Want more of an overview of VisualCV? Here’s one in “plain English”:

Social media…social recruiting…social networking…call it what you want but don’t call it ‘useless’ for lack of tools/solutions to make life in this Web 2.0 world easier. I just participatedin a great demo with Jobvite (I think Matt talks faster than I do!) and was truly impressed with all the features and functionality of this product/software/interface/ATS/SaaS. Built on Web 2.0 technologies (has a nice ring to it), Jobvite would be one of the tools in my arsenal if I were a human resources professional or recruiter or employer for that matter.

It’s so robust, it’s almost scary! Imagine being able to provide all of your employees the ability to tap into all of their social networks (think Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) and promote your company career opportunities. And, be able to track every point of contact through the entire dialogue. Jobvite has an amazing matching technology that enables recruiters (and employees) to promote specific career opportunities only to the people in their networks that would qualify or be interested in that specific opportunity. Talk about finding a needle in a haystack!

Recruiters can open the lines of communication about specific career opportunities through the synchronization of Jobvite with their Outlook contacts, email a specific opportunity to all employees (or specific groups of employees) and announce a specific position to select LinkedIn or Facebook contacts (based upon available profile information). Jobvite immediately scans a person’s profile on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter for job relevancy, location, job title or industry and lets the recruiter select which individuals (in their network) they’d like to “Jobvite.” In a few clicks, your opportunities could be sent around the world! Makes my head spin

I could go on and on about the other functions (“Work with Us” Facebook app, scan a potential candidates social imprint, create custom trackable URLs for external site promotions, etc.) but time is flying by and my emails are piling up and I haven’t even read half of my Google Reader articles…stay tuned…

There is no doubt this recession has adversely affected men more than women. 80% of job losses in the last two years were among men. With the loss in manufacturing jobs (7 out of 10 workers are men) and residential construction (9 out of 10 workers are men) and no sign of reversal in sight, we’re in a “Mancession” baby.

In recent a WaPo op-ed, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman call on women to fix this mess. Citing recent studies by reputable firms such as Ernst & Young, McKinsey & Co., Goldman Sachs and stalwart academic institutions Columbia & Pepperdine University, women will play an integral role in getting the American economy out of the recession. Among the findings in the studies, companies with women in senior management roles make more money. They also claim that if more women had been in senior management Wall Street might have averted the downturn (something about hormones and management styles), and that more women in your company equals better performance. It’s a good read and supports why the Mancession might not be getting better anytime soon.