alstin communications

Michael H. Campbell is the Executive VP, Human Resources and Labor Relations for Delta Air Lines Inc. – a company with 84,306 employees. For that he earns a total compensation of more than $5 million.

Workforce Management compiled a list of the 30 highest-paid HR Leaders among publicly traded U.S. companies. Although the average compensation for executives on the list has dropped 20 percent since 2007, one of the most notable trends on this year’s list is that many hold multiple roles at their companies. Half the executives on the list hold at least one other title outside of HR.

When I describe SlideShare, I usually boil it down to, “It’s like YouTube for presentations.”

I first stumbled upon the site when I set up my LinkedIn profile. Perusing the apps to make my profile stand out a little more and market Alstin in the process, I found SlideShare to be a pretty exciting site. Taking advantage of it seemed like a no-brainer. Why?

For starters, let’s admit the words “exciting” and “PowerPoint presentation” usually don’t go hand in hand. However, on SlideShare, you are bound to come across some great stuff (really!), and keep coming back for more.

In addition to a Top Presentation of the Day, you can search their ever-growing database by category or keyword. Particularly helpful if you are about to start work on a presentation of your own. From finding inspiration, to gathering helpful stats or connecting with experts on the subject you are tasked with, you are likely to be surprised by how much useful content you can discover.

Plus, the site is incredibly easy to sort through. Do a search, click on a presentation to view it in its entirety (and download it if the user allows) and you’ll also be provided with a series of related presentations. Happen to like what you see? You will also get to view a listing of  additional presentations created by that particular user.

It’s grown to become the largest community for sharing presentations on the web and it is social. Once you upload a presentation, viewers have the added ability to post comments. A simple, well-done presentation can easily turn into a dialogue with potential leads.

As a marketer, I see limitless possibilities here including using this tool to promote your employer brand, an employee referral program, the team culture for hard to fill positions you’re recruiting for and so much more.

People who aren’t aware of SlideShare or tapping into your LinkedIn profile will still be able to find your content. The transcripts of your presentation are automatically indexed by Internet search engines and will show up in search results.

And it’s not just a SlideShare/LinkedIn thing. You can embed a SlideShare presentation onto a blog or website too: 

If I were to find a con, it’s that the presentations are limited to “slides” – not so great if you have cool slide transitions or animations. However, you can now embed a YouTube video into a SlideShare presentation.

The site is also free. Need I say anymore?

In addition to viewing what Alstin is up to on SlideShare check out some of the other great presentations on the site. They likely won’t be like many of the snooze-fests PowerPoints you’ve sat through.

Interested in taking advantage of all that SlideShare has to offer with a sophisticated, branded presentation that’s not only memorable but designed to deliver cost-effective results? Drop me a line at blog@alstin.com.

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.

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.

“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.

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”:

It’s no surprise that even during such difficult economic times Americans remain as enterprising as ever.

The product description for these buttons reads: Got laid off? Not a problem! Who wants to spend days pouring over job listings? It’s time to have fun. This collection of round pins would make great gifts for people that still have sense of humor about the situation.

Place your orders  here.

Before I settled into my own digs after graduating from college, I lived in 12 different residences with my family across three states. (Not an army brat, a corporate one.) I understood all the abbreviations within the MLS by the time I was 10 and to this day save the Real Estate section in my Sunday New York Times for last.

Within another section of the paper, the Business section, there’s another favorite. A column called Corner Office. It “offers highlights from conversations about leadership and management.”

Although many of you reading this blog know me as your trusty account executive, among many duties here at Alstin I’m responsible for hiring on the account services side. I’ve been able to not only help my clients make the most of their employer marketing campaigns, but also swap stories about our approaches to recruitment and retention. This column, presented in a straightforward Q&A style, reminds me of many of those conversations. I always come away learning something. For example, here are a couple of points of view from previous columns that I relate to:

Do you have favorite interview questions? “Well, my first question is always, ‘Tell me what you think this job is all about.’ And I think just allowing them to speak about what they want to do, and what they think the job is about, is actually very useful, because it sheds light on what they think they want to do in the company.” – Shantanu Narayen, president and chief executive of Adobe Systems

My first question? Tell me what you know about Alstin Communications. It’s very open ended and I know within half a second whether the person has researched our company – by the look of terror in their eyes or the beginnings of a well thought out answer. Knowing as much as you can about a client, even before the business relationship begins, is key to the job here at Alstin, so this works well for me. Then I follow up with the same question Mr. Narayen asks for the reason he notes above.

How do you hire? “I really look for a kind of a passionate curiosity. I think that is indispensable, no matter what the job is. You want somebody who is just alert and very awake and engaged with the world and wanting to know more … I also look for a sense of humor, because that’s really the best indicator of some kind of perspective about the world. And ultimately I won’t hire anybody who can’t write.” – Nell Minow, co-founder of the Corporate Library

Ditto.

So when I saw this week’s column titled No Doubts: Women are Better Managers, I admit, I wrinkled up my nose even before diving in. The interview was with Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the media company, the Elle Group.

She says, “Hands down women are better. No contest. In my experience, female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers. Men love to hear themselves talk. I’m so generalizing. I know I am. But in a couple of places I’ve worked, I would often say, ‘Call me 15 minutes after the meeting starts and then I’ll come,’ because I will have missed all the football. I will have missed all the ‘what I did on the golf course.’ I will miss the four jokes, and I can get into the meeting when it’s starting.”

I can think of many common traits of good managers and looking at my list, I’m just not seeing gender anywhere in the mix. Creating a sense of camaraderie certainly is though.

In the end, although I totally disagree with her ridiculous generalization assessment, looking at the hundreds of comments posted online, it seems this interview also had others thinking along the same lines as me – gender generalizations do not belong in the corner office.

Tony Rosato’s confessional about his undying passion for Honest Tea caught a lot of eyeballs the other week, including those of the company’s founders. They not only left Tony a very nice comment, but tweeted about it and added a link on their Facebook Fan Page. It’s one of our most viewed posts of all time.

This little anecdote reaffirms the concept of six degrees of separation – we are now more than ever so closely interconnected. Anecdotes like these also abound for those of us who are using social media.

Using social media effectively can garner a lot of immediate attention and when you are looking for a job in today’s market, you want that immediacy and you really need to stand out.

The economy and our friends LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have created not only the desire, but the ability to establish and build a personal, virtual brand. It’s not surprising to me that people are using the principles I apply when creating employer brands to market themselves. And its even spawned a new niche – the personal branding expert.

There’s a particular book with the clever title Me 2.0 that’s getting a lot of attention. It’s written by Dan Schawbel – a “personal branding force of nature” (according to Fast Company). In the book Schawbel offers up a 4-step process to build a powerful brand (discover, create, communicate, maintain). He founded an excellent, award-winning blog on the subject and created an award for, you guessed it, the best personal brands. The awards are given to those “who express what it means to create and execute on their brand value to achieve their dreams.”

I came across this post titled The Brand Called You  and while it may be a wee bit dated, the rationale behind and advice on how to start building your personal brand is timeless:

• What makes you different?

• What did I do that I am most proud of?

• What do I want to be famous for?

The author states: “You are a brand. You are in charge of your brand. There is no single path to success. And there is no right way to create the brand called You. Except this: Start today. Or else.”

Hmmm, really? Or else?

Will using social media become the new job requirement and a personal brand the new resume? I blogged about this particular job that cropped up that clearly said “yes”, but what about the rest of us say in accounting? There’s much to debate and think about – time will certainly tell.

Social media is entering the work place in more ways than one, including certain job requirements. A recent posting for a Senior Manager, Emerging Media for Best Buy listed among its preferred qualifications at least 250+ followers on Twitter.

This particular job opening was announced on Twitter and became the tweet heard round the recruiting world – primarily because of that one bullet point.

At least 250+ followers? Although I can’t boast a stat like that (yet!), I also don’t approve everyone that wants to follow my tweets. It’s relatively easy to generate quite a “following”, but not so easy to have a following that’s truly engaged in what you have to say.

The resulting buzz generated quite a novel response by Best Buy’s CMO, Barry Judge. On his blog, Judge acknowledged the resulting commentary and revealed, “It seemed to us to be a natural progression to get the community involved in crafting the job description and qualifications. So that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

They turned the table, or the keyboard, over to all of us out there who had a thing or two to say about their job posting to help craft a better job description. Judge continues, “This role is a new one for us as it likely is for other companies. So instead of thinking we know it all, we’d like to increase our chances of getting it right by surveying the wisdom of the industry.”

Those who wanted to take a shot at the rewrite were directed to submit a draft through their Best Buy IdeaX site – a website dedicated to ideas on making the company better. All submissions have been entered and are now ready for voters to select what they think is the best entry. (Click on the job description tag on the site to view and vote.)

What a smart move. As I noted above, my opinion is that engagement is a key component to successfully using social media – particularly as a marketing tool, and that goes for marketing a product or a position. There’s no question that’s what Best Buy is doing here. Strong marketers in emerging media now have this job on their radar and I’m excited to see the results.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics recently reported, “Employers took 2,933 mass layoff actions in May that resulted in the separation of 312,880 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month.” *

Separation of workers – the words sound so cold. So impersonal. I know, I know – it’s a government reporting agency. They aren’t going to soften the blow.

But I am pretty sure that you are like me. You know someone who has been laid off, and if you are in HR, you may have had to be on the other side of the table – delivering the difficult news to a coworker that this would be their last day.

This video by the Cleveland Plain Dealer does just the opposite of the BLS Report. It puts a face – several faces – to the numbers.

Finding the right words to say to someone – whether that be a coworker, friend or family member – who was recently laid off can be awkward. I liked this line in a recent Philadelphia Inquirer post – “unemployment isn’t the measles” – so forget worrying about being awkward. If you’re concerned for your friend as well as about potentially putting your foot in your mouth, these tips from the aforementioned article are worth checking out.

* Mass layoff stats for June will be available from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics on Thursday, July 23, 2009.

Profile Completeness. Even after posting a picture, detailing my work history, entering regular status updates and posts from this blog, mine was only 85% there. That number kept staring at me every time I logged onto my LinkedIn profile.

The site also kept reminding me that “users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities.” So where was I lacking? Recommendations.

LinkedIn suggests gathering at least three recommendations and last week I decided I was going to once and for all get them. But who to target and what was I really looking for in these? Here’s the rationale behind my approach.

My first target – my boss. Credibility is a big component to what I think makes for a good recommendation. What’s more credible than a positive review of your work performance from the person who has the role of managing and mentoring you as a professional? And we all have seen them – and can see through them – the glowing performance review by a former classmate, or friend in the same profession on a profile or two. Not so credible and not the way to go.

My second target – a former client I really enjoyed working with. One of my favorite LinkedIn attributes is the ability to stay connected with ease. Asking for an endorsement from a person I once had a great working relationship with also helps keep the door of communication open. I encourage anyone who has a long-lost contact to use this site to its full advantage.

My third target – a current, long-standing client. If I am going to keep it credible, I felt that I had to have a recommendation on my profile that’s got real conviction and that can only come from a client that’s known my account management style coupled with the agency’s business philosophy (my entire career has been with Alstin) for the long-term.

I’m happy to say I met my goal and even went ahead and reached out to a few others that fit the profile to see what I get back – whether that be more recommendations or more business opportunities. Either or – mission complete.

While Will Ferrel may have “lost” his edge with Land of the Lost this summer, the clip you are about to see (admittedly from another easily forgotten comedy) is for those of us out there who interview candidates on a regular basis.

By the looks of this blog, you might think we over here at Alstin eat, breathe and sleep all that is recruitment and retention. Every so often we’ll stray from the HR talk and bring you more on some of our favorite things, places and activities that also populate our daily lives.

Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.
- Benjamin Franklin

Winery of the Year.
45 acres of estate vineyards.
All told, more than 200 awards and medals.

Sonoma County? Napa? Nah! New Jersey. Yea, that’s right Jersey.

Just off the Delaware River in Musconetcong Valley (Huh, Musconetcong Valley? Click here for directions.) rests Alba Vineyard. A place I’ve returned to again and again after discovering their wines about three years ago. This day trip just north of Philly offers worthy pit stops along the Delaware – New Hope, Lambertville and Frenchtown for sure – to a beautiful hillside setting (where I saw my first Orchard Oriel -I’m such a nerd a bird watcher) and 1805 barn turned tasting room. The journey in and of itself is great, but it’s the wines that will keep bringing you back.

2009 marks the third time in five years that Alba’s been honored as “New Jersey’s Winery of the Year” by the NJ State Wine Competition. In addition to scooping up 15 more medals, the winery also took home the “Best State Vinifera” for their 2007 Estate Reserve Chardonnay – my favorite Chardonnay of the moment. Really, it’s that good. So happy trails to you wine-lovers out there in the Delaware Valley – get on the road to Alba Vineyard, you will be glad you did.

Need to find something online? Step one – Google it. But if I were to ask you what the number two search engine is, you would probably guess Yahoo, right?

Video searches on YouTube now account for a quarter of all Google search queries in the U.S. More searches are done directly on YouTube – the number two search engine – than Yahoo. There’s a video answer to pretty much anything these days.

I go to YouTube every week to find some silliness to lighten up our blog. And in my Google searches, I’m starting to pay more attention to the fact that many of my search results come back with a link to a related video just a click away on YouTube.

Our online sources for news and information are also becoming more social. I just tweeted about an article I read this past Sunday that examined the difficult task Google has keeping pace with the flow of information on Twitter – Google is constantly checking the news feeds on Twitter, but is unable to search tweets in real time … yet.

New search engines specific to Twitter and all that is social on the web are cropping up and we’ve just been introduced to Bing. The verdict is out on whether Microsoft’s update to Live Search is up to snuff. But the $80 million in marketing will bring on visitors, searches and the reviews. (By the way, I really like this ad, the search engine – eh.)

According to stats from Google offered up in recent months, the search term “jobs” ranked sixth in the top ten search terms, above cars, games and some of the ever-popular naughty stuff. On average, more than 151 million searches are conducted each month that incorporate the key word “jobs.”

I now ask you to consider the job seeker experience as it relates to your career site(s) or jobs that you’ve strategically posted on a job board, a Twitter feed, your company’s FaceBook Fan Page, etc…  Are they turning up in search results? Google some key words and see. Wouldn’t it be great to get a search result that included your jobs, or better yet a well-done recruitment video right at the top?

If you’re not there yet, there’s an interactive recruiting solution for that – we call it applicantarrow. A little search engine optimization goes a long way and when you bring in analytics and our Interactive Services team into the mix, applicantarrow gets your career website and job postings performing at their optimum level.  Results count, so stop counting them the old-fashined way – you will discover ways to decrease your overall spend and increase the pipeline of talent.

While some of us here at Alstin really want to take Anne Hillman to the Twittersphere, we admit this clip is pretty hilarious.

Last week the nation’s unemployment rate shot up to its highest level in more than 25 years – 9.4%. Paired with this news was the latest figure on job cuts for May. That number was 345,000 – the lowest we’ve seen since September. There’s good, bad and certainly ugly in those numbers, but when you get down to it, does the slower pace of job cuts offer us a glimmer of hope? Are we starting to see the first signs of recovery?

The free fall of the job market may very well be over.  A recent survey of HR execs by Watson Wyatt noted that many companies “have done what they can in terms of using layoffs, hiring freezes and salary freezes to combat the recession.”

While more than half of the companies surveyed are not planning layoffs in the next 12 months, significant cuts on hours and pay to those who remain employed are still having a negative impact on the overall economy. The average workweek in May fell to 33.1 hours, the lowest on record since 1964, and when it comes to wages there’s only one word to describe them – stagnant.

The increase we saw in the number of unemployed may also very well be a direct result of new college grads hitting the market. Nearly 2.27 million young workers (age 20-24) couldn’t find work last month. That’s 15% of them.

There’s a lot to digest and the National Association for Business Economics  created a panel of 45 economists to analyze just what these stats mean. While the group predicts a decline in second-quarter economic activity, NABE president Chris Varcares concluded in a written statement, “The good news is that the NABE panel expects economic growth to turn positive in the second half of this year, with the pace of job losses narrowing sharply over the remainder of this year and employment turning up in early 2010.”

Although no one can predict the future, that’s good news. I for one am a believer in using a positive outlook to help create a positive outcome. Let’s keep that glimmer of hope glimmering for better days to come.

Finding time for a webcast in the middle of a typical work day – one that’s always full of curve balls –  isn’t always easy. On June 15th though I plan to head on over to this site dedicated to the Social Recruiting Summit 2009.

Hosted by ERE from Google’s headquarters in San Diego, this conference is bringing together the people in Talent Acquision who are most active in Social Media. The team behind the summit also note that, “The focus is on REAL tactics and strategies that are already in the field and working, not pie-in-the-sky ideas.”

That’s my kind of conference and plenty of people agreed – the event is sold out. Thanks to a live stream and real-time chat on the aforementioned site we’ll all be able to participate.

Although we’ll bring you a recap and review post-event, be sure to mark your calendar for this one, it’s worth checking out.

We recently talked to you about innerviews - a great, cost effective way to bring life to your website, postings and more with audio and video. Gathering testimonials and all sorts of content during a video shoot of your fellow team members can be a fun time for all. This particular example may not be exactly what you have in mind for your next day in the life/recruiting video, but it’s definitely entertaining.

The world’s largest supplier of commercial airplane assemblies and components, Spirit AeroSystems, was on a mission to go to as many college campuses that offer degrees in aerospace engineering as possible. The schools were identified, the events planned and the schedule set. That my friends, was the easy part. The hard part – deciding on whether to have a give-away item on hand.

Whether it’s a pen, a lint brush, a pack of mints, a magnet, you name it, these items emblazoned with your company’s logo and website can be seen by recruiters as:
A.) A great way to connect with talent and for them to reconnect with you
B.) More junk for me to lug to a job fair
C.) An opportunity to make a memorable experience – first impressions count!

This particular company may have had a mission, but after travel expenses were factored in what they didn’t have was much of a budget. A recent company name change left their supply closet full of dated materials – nothing was handy. So what to do?

The last thing I was going to do was click onto an online catalog, sort by price and give the client back a list of chochkey items that fit the bill for price and quantity. Even with a low to no-budget challenge, I’ve got to make sure that the end result is an A or C solution – we all know junk when we see it and that’s not the impression you want to give.

Reviewing the data we collected on aerospace engineering students we learned a couple of very helpful things about their common personality traits – including that many grew up making lots of model aircraft and rocketry and that they enjoy problem-solving.

Alstin’s solution exemplified the beauty of simplicity. We gave this aerospace company – a company behind some of the coolest stuff in the industry – a paper airplane.

With one 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper we told the story behind the name change, hilighted their key accomplishments and shone more light on the career paths they offered. Along the margins we  printed fun instructions on how to fold the sheet into a paper airplane.

The students got a kick out of them, the recruiters had a great (lightweight) tool to bring along to break the ice and in the end the increase in traffic to their website and applications by the soon to graduate beat any effort in the past – all for pennies on the dollar.

Is there such a thing as overuse of social networking tools? Opinions vary that is for sure – click here for some more on the debate.

A couple of months ago while heading to the office, I ran into one of my coworkers at the elevator. As I proceeded to turn off my iPod to say “Hi”, her twenty-something eyes took notice. She then said to me with some surprise, “You have an iPod?!!”

Honestly, I admit that the rock snob in me questioned the comment first – why wouldn’t I have one?  But then it set in a bit – does she think I’m too old for an iPod? What gives? And no – that’s not a picture of me to the right there. I’m 37.

While I know that the remark didn’t mean much of anything, I was reminded of a blog post I stumbled upon several months ago about Brian Ried, an accomplished computer engineer in his 50’s who was told he wasn’t a “cultural fit” (in addition to being called an “old fuddy duddy” and “lethargic” among some other not so-nice things) for the youthful atmosphere of Google. He was ultimately terminated.

I was reminded of this particular post because the average age of a person working in advertising is well … let’s just say it’s under 37. And I was really feeling my age for a moment there.

In addition to highlighting the case, the author also believed that copy in Google’s current job postings was questionable – questionable because Google is in the midst of a major age discrimination case brought on by Ried that’s now headed to the California Supreme Court.

The copy in Google’s job postings reads “We have a preference for those who like to work and play hard.” Is this copy really “code” for: only those of the younger-set need apply? After looking at the inner workings of the case the author felt so.

What do I think? Cultural fit should never be a cover for discriminatory practices whether that’s in the workplace or in messaging used to recruit talent. Not so sure that Google is crossing the line with their job posting copy though – that seems to be a bit of a stretch.

The economic downturn has led to many layoffs and we’re seeing age discrimination cases at record levels. This timely report from the Wall Street Journal has some more to say on the overall subject, what’s your take?

Alstin in no way, shape or form endorses this particular recruiting firm. However we do endorse funny stuff.

As the daughter of a newspaperman, I view the current state of the newspaper industry with some real sadness. With so many papers facing bankruptcy or shuttering altogether, I can’t imagine a Sunday without The New York Times or what might happen to my beloved paper (and Sunday ritual) if it were sold to Rupert Murdoch and turned into an online-only format.

But as an advertiser and marketer, I’ve got a different perspective. Print may not be the go-to solution it once was that’s for sure, but sales reps from papers, journals and magazines are often telling me that I can (almost) name my own price when working on a media strategy/plan.

About 80% of newspaper revenue comes from advertising, and the Newspaper Association of America expects those sales to drop 9.7% in 2009 to $34.2 billion, after falling 16.5% in 2008.

As newspapers reinvent their business model – as many of you out there have reinvented your recruiting strategy – the market has given me plenty of negotiating power. Wide reaching packages that combine both print (and not necessarily an ad in the classifieds) and online options can be had at a fraction of the old, trusty rate card cost.

So, if the price is right should you go for that great deal? Keep in mind that even with the Internet’s ubiquitous presence in our daily lives, nearly half of all adults read a newspaper every day and spent $10.5 billion last year to do so. But also keep in mind that something on sale doesn’t always equate to a good deal, or the right solution for your needs.

Your AE will help guide you on the right decision. Coming soon to our blog, one of our AEs will profile a client that’s successfully using print as an integral part of the mix for their recruitment plan.

I have a longish commute. It starts at around 7 a.m. with one two year old and several bags of miscellany in tow. I catch the 7:35 (OK, OK it’s usually the 7:50 … and sometimes the 8:20) train into the city – a trip that’s an hour and five minutes. Nine times out of 10, I am at my desk by nine. I do sometimes bring work-related tasks along for the ride, but if it’s between a spreadsheet, a good book or even (yes!) a nap, the latter options will always win out.

As Alstin winds down on the lease for our current office space, our team has started to give some thought to telecommuting. I’ve often wondered how much more productive I could be starting my day at 7:35ish from a home office.

According to WorldatWork, nearly 29 million Americans now work remotely. Their Telework Trendlines 2009 report based on data collected by The Dieringer Research Group found:
· Many workers not currently telecommuting think some of their job tasks might be suitable for remote work
· The most common locations for remote work are home, car and a customer’s place of business
· Occasional telecommuting is on the rise

Will there someday be a virtual Alstin?

The flexibility to work from anywhere simply put sounds great – great for overhead and great for attracting and retaining our talent. However, I am talking about “the a-team” here. What happens when you farm a great team out to a different playing field?

Does your company offer telecommuting as an option for select positions? Are you one of the 29 million Americans working remotely? Do you wish you were?

Give us your take on this topic and we’ll come back around to update you on how Alstin is evaluating and assessing the possibilities of telecommuting.

Let’s face it, the HR marketing budget is usually a lean one. It’s often been a key factor in my “being creative” on projects for my clients. Now that we are in the midst of a hard-hitting recession, the need to do more with less has never been so true.

Take a quick look around your office, the department’s waiting area or the space that you use to interview potential hires. There’s most likely some real potential to:

• Make a statement to potential new hires about the people who work for your organization
• Bring your employment brand home to current employees
• Provide a real sense of community for all, which is so important to retaining good people

These are posters that Alstin created for Maidenform’s offices.

These are their real employees. The same employees that inspired their brand’s core message that touts Maidenform as a company where you can “BE” your best. The taglines on these posters read:

Being an Engineer = A Drive to Problem Solve

Being a Bra Designer = A Dream Realized (This particular woman always wanted to design for intimate apparel. Working for this iconic brand really is her ultimate dream job.)

Being a Research Design Engineer = A Passion to Innovate

When people can see themselves in the job they are applying for, they know it’s right for them. And when employees see their efforts respected and admired in the halls of Human Resources it means a lot. And it all can be done inexpensively with a quality print job set in a picture frame. Making a big impact without a big budget can be done and we’ll continue to regularly spotlight some great examples right here on Alstin’s blog.