alstin communications

Memorial Day, a federal holiday celebrated in the United States on the last Monday in May to commemorate the men and women who have given their lives in military service to our country, has gained more significance in recent years for many of us. Our country is now fighting two wars overseas and more than quarter of the military consists of the National Guard and Reserves. Due to the downturn in the economy many of these men and women have returned home to find their employers closed and their jobs gone. In conjunction with Memorial Day, I am writing this blog post with the help of Rick Jones from RecruitMilitary on the benefits of hiring veterans.

Rick Jones is a 24-year Veteran of the US Marine Corps. He retired in 2006 and currently works as the Director of Sales for RecruitMilitary.

RecruitMilitary is a veteran-owned, veteran-operated, and veteran-advised. All of the account executives and search consultants are either veterans or active or former reservists

Theresa Hastings: Does the military have jobs that are compatible with civilian jobs?

Rick Jones: Yes it does. The Department of Defense (DOD) trains thousands of new military members in their specialty (Military Occupational Skill) during their first year of service. This adds up to thousands of skill sets in communications, information technology and many of the healthcare fields, which cross over into the civilian community with little or no training at all.

TH: How does military training transfer into experience for a civilian job?

RJ: After a service member completes their tour of duty, which may range anywhere from 3 to 6 years to over 20, that person has accumulated quite a bit of experience in their specialty and also factor in the conditions in which they have worked, this should qualify them for multiple opportunities in various disciplines. They often deal with deadlines and stressful conditions that could be of importance to our National Security.

TH: In your opinion what will an employer gain by hiring a veteran?

RJ: Employers will get the best of what this country has to offer. Our military members today have some of the best training in the world and do their jobs in conditions that most people couldn’t imagine. They have worked hard protecting us; don’t we owe them a chance at a new career?

Recruiting is Social! Twitter Job Channels, Facebook Career Pages, LinkedIn Company Profiles, Blogging, Video Blogging … its all part of what makes up Social Media and most of us are already doing it. This question, however is still being asked quite a bit: Why should my company use social media as part of their recruitment campaign?

The most talented people aren’t looking for a job; they’re working for your competition. Social media gives you and your organization the opportunity to reach not only passive job candidates but also provides access to the competition’s talent. Social media is just another way – it’s not the be all, end all solution – to build and cultivate a pipeline of talented people that can be tapped into when an unexpected opening occurs.

Social media also gives employers the opportunity to take positive control over their employer brand by personally conveying the meaning of a career at the company and connecting with people directly.

There were plenty of great speakers on hand this Tuesday at the Social Media Plus Business Summit and for me, a couple of real standouts.

Here are a few interesting facts from Brian Cavoli’s presentation on “The Future of Recruiting is Social – Leveraging Social Media to Attract Quality Candidates Faster and at a Lower Cost”:

· Facebook recently topped Google as the most visited website
· Facebook is more popular than email (If you are on Facebook think how often you communicate with your friends and family there vs. an email message.)
· Time spent on Social Media jumped from 2 hours a month to 5 ½ hours a day (Do we have games like Farmville to blame for that one?)

Of course social media should not replace all job sourcing and should not be used to just push jobs. Social media, plain and simple, is people helping people.

If your company isn’t using social media then it might be time to catch up. How do you get started? Besides calling Alstin (shameless plug, I know, I know) I agreed with Brian who suggested creating a plan, like this:

People ->who is your target audience, where are they and what are they doing

Objective->what are you looking to achieve?

Strategy->how will you achieve your goal?

Technology->choose the appropriate technology

Still don’t have any ideas? Check out your competition.

Are you worried about your employees? Afraid they might say or do something wrong? Most of you are. Nadine Hogan, who presented “Social Media in Recruitment and Branding – How Do You Start?”, suggests creating a social media policy that communicates the risks and rewards of social media, list the dos and don’ts and make sure internal and external social media outlets are included. Your employees are probably already using social media. Give them the chance to tell their story and what a job at your company means. Remember employees are your company’s strongest advocates. Alstin’s got a little more on how to go about creating a policy and some examples here too. And I am always open to more discussion on all things social media and HR, so drop me a line here or email me at blog@alstin.com

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Even though employment seems to be increasing, according to the Department of Labor, unemployment among people ages 20 to 24 is 15.8 percent.  The lack of employment opportunities for the graduating classes of 2009 and 2010 has led some college students to change their focus – if nobody will hire them, self-employment may be the way to go.

Major colleges in the Philadelphia area have programs to encourage and support budding entrepreneurs such as Temple University – Fox Business School – Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute, Drexel University – Le Bow College of Business – Baida Center for Entrepreneurship and University of Pennsylvania – Wharton School – Entrepreneurship Program.  The Philadelphia area also has businesses, organizations and events to help young start ups get funding and network, in order to help them succeed and grow.  Could this be the beginning of a perfect storm in Philadelphia? 

The silver lining very well could be found on the cloud of this recession by checking some of the competition winners:

• Drexel University –  Business Plan Competition
• Temple University – Be Your Own Boss Competition
• University of Pennsylvania – Business Plan Competition

In recent months social media, especially Twitter and Facebook, have gotten quite a bit of negative attention due to the recent Flash Mob incidents, which occurred in Philadelphia. I would like to balance this local negative attention with a global positive use of Social Media, especially Twitter.

On Thursday March 25, 2010 a Twestival (Twitter Festival – an event that brings people together offline for one day or night to raise money for one cause) was held in 175 cities all over the world to raise money for education in developing countries and 100% of the profits went to educational projects around the world. 

The PhlTwestival – Philadelphia’s Twestival  – “Search for Concern” consisted of a scavenger hunt/pub-crawl thoroughout Old City.   Participants started at a bar in Old City, put themselves into teams and got clues for an Old City scavenger hunt combined with pub crawl. Over the course of the evening, participants competed against each other to earn points by taking pictures and answering clues via Twitter while traveling to several area bars. Ticket sales to participate in the event and donations via sale of raffle tickets went to Concern Worldwide. Raffle prizes were donated from local companies such as Lucky Strikes Lanes, Four Seasons Hotel and the Arden Theatre.  Last year’s PhlTwestival event was held on South Street and was called ‘Tweet.Meet.Give’. 

This is only the second time this event was held, the first Twestival Global happened just a year ago on Feb 12, 2009 with over 1,000 volunteers and 10,000 donors in 202 cities around the world. They raised more than $250,000 for clean water projects in developing nations.  

Here are two examples of how a group of people used social media to make an impact on society, one negative, Philadelphia Flash Mobbing incidents and one positive Twestival Global. Which got the most media attention?

Debating an email marketing campaign vs. the old familiar direct (snail) mail approach? Let me give you a few good reasons why an eblast may be the way to go.

First, let’s get the big question out of the way: Isn’t this approach just creating more spam? We’re an information and technology driven society. People opt-in (and have the ability to opt-out) to receive these messages – messages that are proven highly effective.

Effectiveness: An Ad Effectiveness Survey commissioned by Forbes Media in 2009 revealed that email and e-newsletter marketing are considered the second-most effective tool for generating conversions, just behind SEO.

Reduced Cost: We are always looking for ways to reduce costs, aren’t we? Most email blasts are considerably less expensive than direct mail – no postage, no printing. (Plus, it’s Green!: No postage, no printing = a paperless solution.) According to the Direct Marketing Association, advertisers are likely to spend $700 million on email marketing campaigns in 2010. That number jumps to a projected $45.5 billion for traditional direct mail efforts in 2010. (Makes you wonder, is there more “spam” in your mail box, or your in-box?)

Ability to Measure: When building a strategy on budget the ability to measure ROI becomes essential. Stats on open rates, click thrus and applies are made relatively easy with an electronic approach. This is valuable data that can be further used to refine your message and approach.

Highly Targeted & Personalized: Email blasts are an excellent way to target both active and passive job seekers in very specific skill sets and geographies. Plus, there may be an opportunity to personalize the message with the subscriber’s name – you can increase click-thru rates tremendously this way!

I know from experience that email marketing works. Want to learn more about how an eblast may be thie right solution to fill your next “hard-to-fill”? Drop me a line here, or send an email to: blog@alstin.com.

Most if not all non-profit organizations depend on grants and donations in order to do what they do. Many also further depend on unpaid volunteers to help them carry out their mission. I recently began a volunteer position at Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences in their live animal center. The work is not very easy; most of the job involves quite a bit of messy cage cleaning and food preparation. However, I am an animal person and knew going into it that I wouldn’t mind those aspects of the job.

What I didn’t expect was just how much I am enjoying my volunteer work. Yes, volunteering doesn’t come with a paycheck, but it provides a tremendous amount of satisfaction and fulfillment. I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity and am so glad I volunteered to do it.

Matching work that you enjoy to an organization that needs help is always a win-win and often provides inspiration to others.

Share with us your experiences performing volunteer work, and/or opportunities that may exist within your organization

The Internet is evolving faster than anyone can imagine.   Web 1.0 (1991 – 2003) was all about the availability of information. Everyone who was anyone had a website; .com, .net, .org, however viewers were unable to participate or contribute to the available content on the Web.   Web 2.0 (2004 – present) is a version all about Social Networking - user-generated content, building connections and socializing. What’s next? 

Web 3.0 – The Semantic Web

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, credited with inventing the World Wide Web, predicts the Internet will soon have the ability to understand services and information without any human direction and will be able to connect  machine information with human information. Can you imagine our computers having the ability to read websites and comprehend that information almost as good as a person can? Some people predict Web 3.0 will equate to more 3-D (such as Secondlife.com) where people can go to a destination without physically leaving their living room.

I believe a big change in Internet technology will come sooner than later, probably within the next year or two. My guess is that the software developers and computer geeks who have been laid off during this recession have not been spending their time at home watching infomercials! They are planning, looking ahead to the future and hoping to get there before everyone else.

My prediction? When the dust settles on the economy we will begin to see what they have been tinkering away on.  What are your predications for Web 3.0? More importantly, what do you hope to see?

If I asked you to name your favorite search engine, I am sure Google, Yahoo and Bing would rank right at the top. How about your favorite Job Aggregator (Indeed, SimplyHired) or a Job Search Engine (LinkUp)? Are you just as familiar with these? What are the differences and why should you pay attention?

Well, they each allow a user to find job openings and offer sponsored pay per click campaigns for employers, but job aggregators and job search engines have an advantage – only job openings and nothing else come back in the search results.

Indeed now boasts 16 million unique views and over 300 million page views per month and LinkUp is quickly expanding its user base with currently over 3 million job views and 700,000 page views.

Search engines base their results (what pops up once you’ve entered what you’re searching for) on website content, keywords and structure. Search results are free and based upon formulas created by the search engine. With most people viewing the first several links to obtain the information they need, paid locations called sponsored links can help ensure that your job doesn’t get lost in the mix.

The pay per click (PPC) locations for these sponsored links appear at the top and to the right of search results. As an advertiser you will only pay when a user clicks on the link to your job opening.

Benefits of Pay-Per-Click advertising include:

· Budget Control – Spend as little or as much as you want, you can set a limit of how much to spend per day

· Flexibility – Change budget, keywords, try new landing pages

· Pay for Performance – You only pay when someone clicks on the link

· Measurable Results – How many clicks? You will always know!

· Access Social Networks – Target passive candidates based on their profile

· Behavioral Targeting – Access those truly passive candidates based on online interactions

There are searches conducted — millions of them, actually – every second. It’s a search for information, entertainment, news, and of course: jobs.

Web advertising, particularly targeted ads based on behavior, is on the rise. According to Business Week advertisers will spend $960 million on personally targeted ads next year, up from $708 million last year.

Not familiar with the term behavioral targeting? It is a technique used to collect information on an individual’s web browsing habits (pages visited, searches made, etc.) or geography and demographics to display relevant content in the form of online ads. Many of us have pretty much learned to ignore this type of advertising, but behavioral targeting ultimately works by showing content to people who are more likely to take notice and click through.

While behavioral targeting has certain advantages (including a more targeted audience and often times a lower cost) there are some disadvantages. Jon Leibowtz, Federal Trade Commission Chairman and a consumer watchdog, is talking about eliminating – or at least reigning in – behavioral targeting practices. The thought behind his proposed changes is that behaviorally targeted ads can induce a customer to make a purchase or decision that they would not have made if they didn’t see the ad. But wait a minute? Isn’t that the purpose of advertising? The FTC and some consumer advocates however further claim that the general public is not made fully aware of how their information will be used or shared which (let’s admit) can be troubling.

The increase in behavioral targeting may also backfire. Internet users are already saying that they do not like being targeted. A recent survey by the University of California at Berkley and the University of Pennsylvania found that 66% of Americans do not want marketers to tailor online ads according to their interests. Even young adults ages 18 to 24 were more likely to say “no” to behavioral targeting than to accept it. 

While I believe that behavioral targeting is here to stay in some way, shape or form for the long-term, what are your thoughts? Comment here or take this week’s poll.

It used to be: job opening + job posting = hire. This formula, in the not so distant past, often equated to a posting on one, or all of the “big three” general job boards: Monster, CareerBuilder or Hot Jobs. With aggregators like Indeed, SimplyHired and LinkUp, social networking and many other factors at play (particularly the economic climate), are job postings even relevant anymore?

While the general job boards have certainly lost ground niche sites have gained plenty and I believe will remain relevant for quite some time. Why? Here are my top three reasons:

· Cost = Added Value: Many niche websites are still inexpensive and a surprisingly high number provide resume access for the duration of the job posting at no additional cost.

· Audience = Quality Over Quantity: Niche sites deliver targeted content, so the larger proportion of site visitors will likely be the right target audience. Many association sites also require that job seekers are members of their organization in order to view job openings. This may decrease the number candidates who view job postings on their site, but it certainly provides a more targeted audience for the employer.

· Passive Job Seekers = Larger Market Share: One of the most coveted groups out there for recruiters is passive job seekers. Sometimes the right person for your job opening just isn’t someone who is actively on the market. Niche sites are go-to destinations and communities for professionals who like to stay in-the-know in their fields. An interesting position may spark interest and convince a mind or two to apply.

Is your company using Social Media as part of their recruitment strategy? If not they are missing a chance to communicate and connect with top talent. Alstin has developed a Social Media starter pack – ‘sociability’ to help you get started.  Read more in this month’s iOnline.

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.

An online degree on a resume may have raised a questionable eyebrow by recruiters in the not so distant past. However, today’s lifestyle combined with more distance learning opportunities offered by “mainstream” colleges and universities have changed that perception.

55% of 2-year and 4-year institutions offer college-level credit-granting distance learning courses at either the undergraduate or graduate level. The National Center for Education Statistics also predicts that by 2013 19% of those pursuing a degree will do so in an online classroom. I recently completed my degree from Drexel University online. What was my experience? Click here to read more in this month’s iOnline.

With access to all types of technology such as voicemail, email and now social networking, delivering great customer service should be easier than ever. But we’ve all sent an unanswered email (or two or three…) or found ourselves pressing every button on our phone’s dial pad in a futile attempt to find a human being – and not a recording – on the other end of the line. Or better yet, throughout an entire business day listen to a recording tell you that the person you really, really need to reach – and who is not answering – has a full voice mail.

Those who call into Alstin Communications are surprised that we do not have voice mail. I find this a refreshing approach to customer service. Our phones are answered by a real live person – usually one of our Account Executives – so clients, really anyone, calling into our company can be immediately taken care of.

The debate to add voice mail has been ongoing in my long tenure here at Alstin. As our business model and the way the world communicates has changed, voice mail may be more of an asset to our team than ever before. Will voice mail grace the phones of Alstin Communications? The debate goes on.

Many in the medical profession are required to take continuing education credits to keep up with new advances in medicine. Is this a good idea for the rest of us? How does heading back to school sound to you?

To the Obama administration, workforce education is an essential part of the economic recovery plan. There’s 3.5 billion stimulus dollars dedicated to job training. The administration has further revised rules to now allow the unemployed to continue collecting benefits while attending school. The prior rules stated that someone collecting unemployment must actively look for a job, forcing the person to give up their unemployment benefits if they were to continue their education. “The idea here is to fundamentally change our approach to unemployment in this country so that it’s no longer just a time to look for a new job, but is also a time to prepare yourself for a better job,” Obama said.

For those who are still employed and want to update their skills or learn something new, the government also offers substantial tax credits.

Our clients who are on the front lines of recruiting talent know that an investment in education can equal a career with more opportunities, better pay and job security. For more information about the administration’s education plan and the available options check out opportunity.gov.

Do you allow employees to go on their Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn accounts? Many employers block social networking sites for fear of losing productivity. Others allow access with the mind-set that these sites aren’t a problem just as long as the work gets done accurately and on time. We all need a little break from work, but for HR, this issue needs to be managed properly. For more on policies, practices and a survey of what other organizations are implementing, read iOnline.

Is there really such a thing as Internet privacy?

I recently read an article about two New Jersey restaurant employees who created a forum on MySpace and trashed their company, customers and supervisors. They invited other coworkers (who used personal computers/email addresses) to join the forum. Well, you can guess what happened next – the employer discovered the forum.

Although it is not yet clear how the employer found out about the forum, MySpace is a password-protected site. Someone provided the employer access to the negative content.

The identified employees were ultimately fired. Is this fair? If an employee is not at work and is using their personal property to conduct this activity does a company have the right to take disciplinary action against them? The employees are making the case that their managers illegally accessed their online communications. A federal court will now decide who was in the right.

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA), commonly known as the “wiretap law,” allows employers to monitor employee conversations if the monitoring occurs in the ordinary course of business or with the employees’ implied consent. Some states also protect employees for their “off-duty” behaviors, but statutes specifically for instances related to social networking or blogging are not on the books yet.

With this particular case, the federal court will soon decide:

• Are negative Internet postings about employers by employees grounds for discipline or termination?
• Do password-only postings have special privacy protections that preclude any type of discipline by employers?
• Can employers establish policies about employee expression and attitude that extend to Web postings?

No matter what the court decides employers are going to have a difficult time controlling the Internet content posted by employees. Once something is posted it’s viral – spreading like wildfire, especially when it is something that’s potentially controversial.

My advice is to frequently monitor the Internet to see what is being said about your particular company. Warren Buffet once said it takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. Make that one minute on the Internet.

We’ll continue to follow this landmark court case and keep you updated on the outcome.