alstin communications

I wish the title of this post was really my band name and 1st album title but alas it’s not. Debt, debt, and more debt. We are in a serious amount of debt globally, nationally, and as individuals. All of whom I can expand on in upcoming posts but for now I reserve my dismay at the situation in Europe or, more precisely, the PIIGS – a nasty acronym relating to sovereign debt markets used by financial types likes bond analysts, the international press and academics alike when referring to the economies of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain.

There has been much written and said in the past year about the PIIGS but just how bad is it? This article from the Economist (from May2010) sums it up nicely replete with charts and interactive graphics showing just how messed up troubled the euro-zone PIIGS are.

Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain share the currency (the euro) and an ugly acronym (the PIIGS). Each lost competitiveness after 1999, seeing prices and wages rise more quickly than the euro-area average. As members of the euro, the PIIGS cannot devalue their currencies, making the struggle out of recession harder. Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain share the currency (the euro) and an ugly acronym (the PIIGS). Each lost competitiveness after 1999, seeing prices and wages rise more quickly than the euro-area average. As members of the euro, the PIIGS cannot devalue their currencies, making the struggle out of recession harder.

Add high wage costs, poor productivity, love of cheap imports, and running of huge deficits, the perfect storm many have predicted, is finally here. The economic havoc she reeks worldwide is evident and more remains to be seen but the fiscal health of the PIIGS will remain in question as concerns about the health of banks in Europe have escalated and the tenuous fiscal and financial conditions continue to weigh on the Euro. On the sorta bright side, the dollar has gained in recent months in large part to Europe’s woes and the resilience of our own economy.

The debt crisis is very, very real. And while the battle rages on in DC on whether to practice austerity or stimulate the economy with more state aid, unemployment benefits, small business loans, etc, the regular folks are left to pick up the pieces of a battered economy. But at least the problems are no longer being hidden or shuffled, all this bad news has been out there plain as day. OK world, accountability is the order of the decade. Time to move on…and up from here.

Aye Caramba! When Denny’s Restaurants exhausted the Cheyenne, WY market in a search for Cooks via internet postings and local print ads, we needed to think outside the box and pursue some non-traditional means of media to get out their recruitment message particularly to a Hispanic market that posseses the right skill set. Unfortunately, there is no dedicated print or online media to cater to this small, highly targeted market. There was however a small Hispanic radio station in nearby Laramie that could provide the reach to the market Denny’s was looking for. Several years ago in a much more robust job market, non-traditional media outlets for recruitment including radio, cinema, billboards, and bus wraps were used with surprising frequency – employers had to use new and ambitious ways to get the attention of the right candidates. Are those days are coming back? 

The economy is in pretty bad shape still, duh. And recruiting budgets are typically the last to be restored as we crawl back, inch by inch, from the recent recession. It is no surprise that many companies, our valued clients included, have cut back, cut corners, just plum cut anywhere they can – a do-it-yourself in-house approach in order to save precious recruiting dollars. So when Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company needed to update their in-house flyers advertising their job openings (which change on a weekly basis) to hand out at job fairs, they needed a solution that combined developing a professional, branded image unique to Philadelphia AND the ability to change the content as their recruiting needs dictated without incurring the time and money it would take for a vendor to update and produce small run flyers that would be useless after a week.

The solution? The Alstin design team created a “bottle image” that incorporates iconic Philadelphia photos and the coke bottle design executed in both print ads and the folder shown. Inside we took the traditional “step card” which is difficult to print on a traditional office color printer and turned it into “step flyers” allowing Philly Coke recruiters to update and print in-house the “Job Opportunities” and “About Philly Coke” flyers that are inserted in the folder.

There are many ways we can help your organization develop an eye-catching, memorable brand that can be used in collateral materials, direct mail pieces, e-mail blasts, microsites, print, online, and more without breaking the bank. Also see my blog Multi-tasking, brochure style for another example how Alstin can work with your budget to create brochures you can get some mileage out of.

Good creative is worth it folks! Step away from the clip art.

Here at Alstin, we know when May is coming with all it’s beautiful flowers simply by the high volume of  requests by healthcare clients to design eye-catching, inspirational messages of gratitude and thanks to their nurses for a job well done. A small token of appreciation but one, I am told by nurses, that does make a difference – it’s nice to be appreciated and read all about it. National Nurses Week starts each year on May 6th, Florence Nightingale’s birthday, and ends May12th.

 Which brings me to this wonderful article I came across in our own Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper about a 105 year woman, Ada Mutch, who is preparing to be honored by her Alma Mater, the Baldwin School (Class of 1922!), a venerable Philadelphia college preparatory school for women that has been in existence since 1888. An incredible life Ada has led – from Baldwin alum to staff employee then finding her life’s passion in nursing after having her appendix removed, to enlisting in the Army Nurse Corp during WWII and leaving a lieutenant colonel, to coming home to be a Nursing Director at Lankenau Hospital then spending her last 30 years volunteering for ElderNet – and one that has left her looking back with no regrets. While Ada says none of her feats in life were ever planned, she credits confidence and curiousity as her catalysts for seizing opportunity.

“I feel sorry for people who can’t think of what they want to do”

In August 2009, I wrote briefly about the corny sounding “mancession” and the role of women in fixing the economy. I revisit this topic based on two recent articles from the Atlantic Monthly and The Economist.

When The Economist asserts that the “economic empowerment of women across the rich world is one of the most remarkable revolutions of the past 50 years” they aren’t kidding. This article highlights the social aspect of this dramatic change: “…millions of people who were once dependent on men have taken control of their economic fates” and cites the remarkable nature of this change that has produced little friction “change that affects the most intimate aspects of people’s identities has been widely welcomed by men as well as women.”

Reasons for the change include politics via feminism and governments passing equal rights acts, the decrease in the “rich nation’s” demand for physically demanding labor (much has been outsourced to emerging economies), decline in manufacturing jobs traditionally held by men, and the expansion of higher education for women (women earn nearly 60% of university degrees in America and Europe) just to name a few.

Unfortunately, both articles touch on the pay gap inequality. “The average full time female worker in Britain or the U.S. earns 80 percent as much as her male equivalents.” Great articles if you have the time to read but make no mistake, women are changing the workforce of the future. Now, Tedesco, go get me a coffee!

Not sure what is more pathetic here – the fact that the 16 year old employee was fired for losing a “tenner” she was given to run a biscuit fetching errand OR the pathetic language used by her manager to fire her via Facebook no less. 

‘hiya Chelsea its Elaine from work. Sorry to send u a message like this but bin tryin to ring u but gettin no joy. I had to tell the owner bout u losin that tenner cos obviously the till was down at the end of day. she wasn’t very pleased at all and despite me trying to persuade her otherwise she said I have to let u go. I’m really sorry.’

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.

For me, the only thing funnier than Graffiti artists beefin’ with each other is when the venerable Wall Street Journal covers it. Enter Robbo -  a pioneer of the 80′s London Graffiti scene, Banksy – Graffiti artist turned world-famous street artist, and a stretch of wall, under a bridge, along the Regent Canal otherwise known as London’s “Little Venice”.

The bite sized chunk version: 1985 Robbo classically tags the wall “ROBBO INC”, Robbo becomes legendary “Graffiti artist” by tagging the hell outta London with his traditional (time consuming), freehand, spray-painted work through the 80′s & early 90′s, slides into obscurity to be a dad and gives up Graffiti altogether. Banksy enters the “street artist” scene in the mid/late 90′s, becomes a master at the stencil & postering stealth style (quick & easy according to Graffiti artists), exhibits & sells his street art to worldwide acclaim (2007 work “Keep it Spotless” sells for 1.87 milli at Sotheby’s), publishes books, and exhibits in reputable galleries around the globe AND THEN in December 2009 visits the Regent Canal and defaces “ROBBO INC”. Team Robbo and Team Banksy war ensues. The article must be read to be believed. And I thought I was gonna read about the DOW tanking again. Thanks Wall Street Journal for a great piece. 

Since we are on the subject of Graffiti, I have to admit I am a big fan when it becomes sanctioned street art/Graffiti. Jane Golden, founder of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, is a local and probably national hero at this point in her career with what she has done with the program, an organization whose mission is to “unite artists and communities through a collaborative process, rooted in the traditions of mural-making, to create art that transforms public spaces and individual lives”.

Recently the husband and I went on a Mural Arts Tour around Valentine’s Day affectionately titled “Love Letters”, a public art project consisting of 50 rooftop murals from 45th to 63rd Sts. easily viewable from the Market-Frankford El line. Stephen Powers, the mural artist, was born & raised in Philly and became a renegade (illegal) graffitti artist.

Jane, who legitimized the medium IMO, famously gets renegade graffiti artists like Powers to pledge not to do traditional tag & run graffiti but rather develops their skills and artistry into city-sanctioned beautiful works of art that often reflect the spirit of the community in which they are displayed. Powers did not want to sign the pledge but went on to become a famous NYC based artist. “Love Letters” is not only a personal exchange between him and a woman, but between him and the city he grew up in as well. 

You can visit the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program website to find out how you can take the “Love Letters” tour, or grab a $2 SEPTA token and take a self guided tour. Be sure to jump out at a few stops along the way and view from the stillness of the El platform- 52nd and 63rd Sts. are good stops where you can see a number of “Love Letter” murals.

Also be sure to check out this New York Times story featuring this and other Philly based art: Art to Make You Laugh (And Cry).

GDP – Fourth Quarter 2009 (Second Estimate) 

“Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter) according to the “second” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis”

Wow, awesome, super, start hiring people, recovery is here! Errrrt! Not so fast. While this should be taken as positive economic news on it’s face, I am afraid to be a Debbie Downer,  but reality checks are my speciality. Inside the numbers, the revised estimate from 5.7% to 5.9% comes from gross private domestic investment which indicates that businesses are leading the recovery and the change in private inventories which showed the biggest upward revision to make up for 3.9% of the 5.9% GDP growth. Nerdy economists (the original Debbie Downers) however are not impressed with this revision as a sign of economic health rather a belief that recovery is sure to come…but not here yet. So, I guess that is the good news. The bummer of the 4Q GDP is that personal consumption is weak which, given the high unemployment and underemployment rate, is understandable as people are just unable to spend money – both paper and plastic.

Consumer spending accounts for a large part of GDP – almost 70% – so we need that to rise or else growth in the next couple quarters will go down. However, we cannot go into additional debt for consumption sake. Cases in point: Consumer debt: $13.5 trilly, Non-financial business sector debt: $11 trilly, Financial sector business debt : $16 trilly, State & gov’t local debt: $2.3 trilly, federal debt – not including future entitlements: $7.5 trilly (“Trilly” is my cute word for “trillion” as in trillions of dollars, eases the pain. ) Net exports increased from 1.9% to 2.3% – Hooray! But imports were revised up from 1.4% to 2% – Boooo! While I am happy to see the GDP revised upward we have a long way to go. Baby steps people.

Just two short years ago Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sat down with TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington to talk about FB’s privacy policies and controls – controls Zuckerberg describes as integral to the core of Facebook. “That’s the vector around which Facebook operates.” Information was only intended to be visible to your Facebook friends. That was then.

Is he now singing a much different tune? This is Zuckerberg now: The Age of Privacy is Over.

 Zuckerberg is quoted as saying: “People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time.”

Has it really? Openly sharing personal information is the new social norm? Sigh.

My reluctance to personally jump into the wonderful world of social networking has been well documented here and around Alstin’s office. I feel lots of pressure to follow the herd, break down and get me a Facebook page so I too can brand myself through status updates. Maybe I could start doing all this under a fake name? Resurrect Lisa Licketto from Runnemede, NJ – my first fake ID. If it weren’t for that darn privacy thing…

Personal information is sacred to many of us. And I for one really hope the age of privacy isn’t over.

After a miserable, gut wrenching, stress-filled year courtesy of the 2009 economy and job market, nothing warms the cockles of my heart more than a positive story coming out of the U.S. manufacturing sector.

Ahhh, manufacturing. Where real people make real things that consumers and businesses will buy in this country and abroad. I’m not against outsourcing labor but preservation of this sector in some relevant form must be present in order to create the jobs that will allow this country to rev its economic engine again and then purr peacefully like a classic car down the highway of opportunity. Cheesy statement – oh yeah. But I am genuinely happy for the prospects in places like burgeoning data corridor resident Catawba County, NC with their new Target Distribution Center, Google server farm, and soon to be home to Apple Incs East Coast Data Center and Elkhart County, IN where after severe layoffs last year in the RV industry, one employer recalled or hired 200 laid off workers over the summer to meet an unexpected sales boom that overwhelmed inventories and left producers unable to meet demand. Baby steps people.

I came across an interesting post while on The Urethane Blog (what can I say, I like to keep up on the Urethane industry) to an analysis done by 24/7 Wall St. Blog of the 25 most valuable blogs in terms of operating profits and revenue. Value is measured by a variety of data including public sources such as Alexa, Quantcast, Compete, and comScore, estimated CPMs (cost per thousand impressions), and multiples of revenue and operating income.

A more detailed valuation explanation can be found in the link above but what I found most interesting is the sheer variety of the Top 25. From the gossip mongering of Perez Hilton to mega-gamer blog Destructoid to the battlefield of online partisan political leanings of Drudge Report & Huffington Post to the financial content aggregation site Seeking Alpha, there is something for everyone on this list. And who knew they could make so much money?!

The advent of e-mail drastically changed how business was done just a little over a decade ago. The rules of the game changed – the phones stopped ringing, the faxes stopped littering the floor below, and the inbox started piling up. While phones still do ring and faxes do come in, let’s face it – it’s just about all sales calls. And while just about every employed person I know is working less hours yet maintaining a heavier workload due to the economic slowdown and its buddies layoff, attrition, and furlough to name a few, no one has much extra time in the day to field sales calls. And e-mail, while we all still use it to connect, has seen it’s heyday. Logging in and checking your inbox in spurts has given way to the era of instant information. Sometimes your question is answered via status update before you even have the chance to make your inquiry. Enter Facebook, Twitter, and the newest latest – Google Wave - all will reign as the new kings of communication.

What does this mean to your organization? Is your company on the Facebook Fan Page bandwagon and “tweeting” new job opportunities via Twitter? Are you reaching potential job seekers before they even start looking for a job? A Twitter account or Facebook Fan Page may not produce instant results and applicant flow, building your network now will reap benefits years down the road. 

This Wall Street Journal article “Why E-mail No Longer Rules” is a great read on where we are going in the world of communications and why you and your employer should already be on the wagon.

Here at Alstin we are always looking for great places and delicious things to eat. If we were based in St. Louis, rest assured this would be the water cooler topic of the week. Wondering why healthcare premiums continue to skyrocket? Enter the bacon cheeseburger served between two Krispy Kreme glazed donuts. This, my friends, is a sign of the Apocalypse. I just don’t know what to say here. Yum?

Facebook recently purchased FriendFeed -  a little known (but not for long) social media platform that can aggregate all of your social media activities -  for $47.5 million. And with that cost, Facebook could just about own everything you do online – from Flickr photos and Twitter Tweets to articles you “Digg” and more.  This seems to be very big brother a very big deal, but for some of us will this provide a reason to ignore the Great Social Media Experiment of the new millenium?

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.

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.

One of the best aspects of my job is getting there. When there is no rain or snow, I walk or ride my mother’s sweet 1974 Schwinn suburban. I always pack a camera and take shots along the way, to and from work. It’s a nice 24 block haul and there is always some great art along the way whether it be public & commissioned; renegade, free & illegal; or a moment in time I capture myself.

I came across this article the other day in the NY Times titled “On a Furlough, but Never Leaving the Cubicle” that lays out a lot of the frustration many workers feel right now about having to take time off with no pay. It appears many people are not getting the pay as promised but also not being able to take the time off due to being short staffed. Out of loyalty to their employer, fear of losing their job, and feeling guilty about strapping their co-workers with extra workload, many employees are just working whether they are getting paid or not. In this economic climate, the ‘consider yourself lucky to have a job right now’ attitude is starting to wear thin.

What am I missing? Am I an old codger-in-training? I’m not Facebooking, Twittering or Linking In. It’s not that I’m against them as a statement of non-conformity, I just don’t care to spend the time. It’s precious, really it is. I’ve got to spend it on the people I love…I’m just able to love them more in person. Professionally, I still prefer picking up the phone and calling or meeting face-to-face. What’s wrong with me? The way I see it, nothing at all.

LinkedIn. Wow, there are 40 million active users. Facebook – over 200 million. Twitter – 40 million and each are growing at an incredible clip. I get invitations all the time to “join my professional network” on LinkedIn. Why don’t I want to network? I could reconnect with former clients. It could land me a great job offer. It could be the network I need if I were to ever put myself on the market.

The answer: while there is a big part of me that thinks this is all a giant social ponzi scheme, I’m just not interested right now. I always question, what would I really get out of it? How better am I knowing that ‘Joe hates rainy days’ or ‘Belle is going to market’.

In the social networking age, I see the formula as: Possible Reward = Less Privacy + Unwanted Acquaintances – My Free Time or PR = LP + UA – MFT.

I admit that I’m sounding a little cynical, but believe me – I am very social. I love people. I love going out and meeting up with friends and colleagues old and new. But I usually call them, make plans to meet, and then have a great time in person. It works for me that way.

At my workplace however, I’m feeling particular pressure to get “LinkedIn” – helping my clients navigate this site to make the most of it for their branding and recruiting initiatives is after all part of what I do. I am just not ready to log on. But if you’re looking for an honest answer to the question of ‘to social network or not to social network’ you can give me a ring at 215-568-3200. We can talk about it.

The job market is tough, no need to remind a job seeker of that fact. Check out some of these unique, non-traditional ways the unemployed are getting themselves noticed and getting their resumes circulating. From singing in “Careereoki” to standing on a street corner handing out resumes to dressing up in a gorilla suit to drop off a resume, here are some links to stories that are sure to make you laugh at some of the ways people are trying to get their foot in the door.

Singing for a career makeover: CAREEREOKI!
“Nicole Nagy had gone back to school, hoping that a new career would lead to a better job. When she was turned down for financial aid, Nagy was told that she could, as a song goes, “sing for the money.” She was directed to a contest called Careereoki. Anyone brave enough to videotape themselves singing — and sometimes dancing — about their dream career karaoke-style was qualified to enter the competition.”

The Street Corner Resume:
“Joshua Persky, 48, stood on Park Avenue, handing out résumés to passers-by and wearing a sandwich board that said, “Experienced M.I.T. Grad for Hire.” The sign included his name and contact information.”

Tampa Woman Uses Streets Smarts in Job Hunt:
“At the break of dawn, she stood at the corner of Humphrey Street and North Dale Mabry Highway and handed out 100 resumes. Her face-to-face style may have paid off. About an hour after she started, she had gotten three bites.”

Some Gimmicks do Backfire!
A couple of highlights:
…A junior marketing professional tried sending his resume to a company hiring manager via homing pigeon, says Cynthia Shapiro, a job-search coach in Chatsworth, Calif. But as far as the job hunter knows, the recruiter wasn’t interested, because the animal never returned….
…Ms. Shapiro says a job hunter in a gorilla suit once dropped off his resume at her office at a construction company. Then, she recalls, he burst into a song describing why he would make a strong candidate. “The receptionist said he couldn’t come in, but he kept running around with balloons and calling my name,” she says. “Everyone thought it was my birthday. The CEO came out. It wasn’t cool.”

How will the passage of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 affect the job market now and in the future? Billions in appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy and science, extended unemployment insurance, monies for state and local governments have been allocated. But will it work and where is the money going?

I found a fun place to keep track! While you can go to the fluffy government website recovery.gov and not find much of anything with detail, see what’s proposed for stimulus money in your community and the estimated number of jobs each project will create at stimuluswatch.org instead.

This watchdog group was built “to help the new administration keep its pledge to invest stimulus money smartly, and to hold public officials to account for the taxpayer money they spend.” Visitors to the site are encouraged to search for and view the proposed projects, vote on whether you think they are critical or not and post comments about each project. (Note: These projects are not actually in the stimulus bill, but are candidates for funding by federal grant programs once the bill passes.)

This is a great outlet for adding your two cents, that is, if you have two cents to spare and see what this money could be used for in your area.