Outplacement and Career Transition

Magntize - a fresh addition to the old resume game

2010-01-12T23:15:00.000-05:00

Resume Templates

Resume Help with a Creative Twist

Jan 12, 2010 Karen Masullo

Many web resume and portfolio companies can help job seekers look professional, but one wants to make them look beautiful as well.

Job seekers look for interesting ways to stand out to potential employers, and interactive resumes and web portfolios are a great way to maintain a living, current work archive that is easily accessible.
A new player in this space is...Read the rest of this article at Suite101: Resume Templates: Resume Help with a Creative Twist

Tips for Job Seekers - A Job Search Social Media to-do List

2010-01-10T19:41:00.000-05:00

Just published a new article at Suite101: Tips for Job Seekers: A Job Search Social Media to-do List

"It's a new year, and for those currently in career transition, these Social Media action items may help start or re-energize the job search." Read more at Suite101: Tips for Job Seekers: A Job Search Social Media to-do List by Karen Masullo

Also read a GREAT article from Alison's Job Searching Blog By Alison Doyle, About.com Guide to Job Searching on Paying for Job Listings

"Regardless of what you read, it's important to be aware that job seekers don't have to pay to access listings from employer web sites...more)

Willows Marsh Partners with CareerAdvantagePortal!

2010-01-08T09:07:00.008-05:00

Willows Marsh is pleased and thrilled to announce a new partnership with the brilliant folks at CareerAdvantagePortal!

CareerAdvantage provides relevant, actionable business information and career campaign management tools to help candidates (from entry level to C-level executives) research potential employers, identify new relationships, and find "hidden" job opportunities.

Willows Marsh Outplacement and Career Transition Partners with CareerAdvantage Portal from Karen Masullo on Vimeo.

Want to research your contacts on LinkedIn? CareerAdvantagePortal is integrated and seamlessly displays your LinkedIn contacts with one click .

Additionally, the career portal contains fast, accurate information including in-depth information on millions of companies and key executives, a national recruiter database, hidden job opportunities obtained directly from employer’s web sites.

The future of career search belongs to those professionals who have access to superior business intelligence and know how to use it. CareerAdvantage offers candidates a competitive advantage with access to in-depth company profiles, "hidden" job opportunities comprehensive recruiter databases and online career networking tools.

CareerAdvantage provides candidates and career professionals tools they can use to research companies that may be hiring. Career Advantage contains rich content on millions of business, executive contacts, recruiters, job postings, "hidden" job opportunities, and includes social networking tools and a built in CRM system to track and manage the job search.

Comprehensive Company Search
Search millions of potential employers within our Career Portal or research companies before you interview with them.

Hidden Job Opportunities
Receive information and indicators about companies that are expanding, and will be hiring. Many of our "job triggers" indicate new products, signing new custom contracts, hiring senior executives and indicate a need to hire new employees BEFORE they publicly post a job.

Advanced Search by Companies & Executives
Use advanced search to filter out companies and find potential employers that meet your criteria such as industry, size location, title, or even a keyword searches such as “Harvard MBA” or “IBM”.

Job Postings from Employers
Find “hidden” job opportunities. CareerAdvantage aggregates job postings directly from employer web sites and updates the listings each day. Many of these job postings are never listed on some of the Job Board web sites such as Monster.com, Hotjobs.com or CareerBuilder.com

Recruiter Search Database
Search for thousands of recruiters around the country. Our database includes detailed information such as retained recruiters, contingency recruiters, industry specialization and positions (i.e. marketing, C-level, entry level, finance, sales, etc.).

Manage and Track Job Opportunities
The average candidate researches over two hundred potential employers and may apply to dozens of job opportunities. Career Advantage makes it easy for candidates to track and manage their search online.

Contact us today at info@willowsmarsh.com or Toll-Free: 866-214-5445 for an Overview of our complete Outplacement and Career Transitions solutions. Whether you are a Company seeking to provide best of class transition services to your workforce, or an individual wishing to accelerate your job search, Willows Marsh provides affordable, customized solutions.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2009-12-22T18:56:00.004-05:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from WILLOWS-MARSH!

Behavioral Interviewing Part II - Practice makes perfect

2009-11-24T10:09:00.002-05:00

I received some great email comments regarding the post on Behavioral Interviewing, and have decided to keep this ongoing by posting, every month, a different set of Behavioral Questions for you to practice. With the Holidays upcoming, you may want to leverage some of your downtime by thinking about these. Answering tough questions for the first time in the actual interview is unwise, so answer here first.

You can also run your answers by us and our readers by posting in the comments section.

The first step in Career Transition is Self Assessment. These Behavioral Questions target this specific area. Have at it!

Self Assessment

Can you recall a time when you were less than pleased with your performance?
Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see things your way.
Give a specific occasion in which you conformed to a policy with which you did not agree.
Give an example of an important goal that you had set in the past and talk about your success in reaching it.
If there is one area you've always wanted to improve upon, what would that be?
In what ways are you trying to improve yourself?
Tell us about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.
What do you consider to be your professional strengths? Give me a specific example using this attribute in the workplace.
What goal have you set for yourself that you have successfully achieved?
What was the most useful criticism you ever received?

Need Some Validation?

2009-11-18T17:29:00.001-05:00

"Validation" is a fable about the magic of free parking.

Starring TJ Thyne & Vicki Davis. Writer/Director/Composer - Kurt Kuenne. Winner - Best Narrative Short, Cleveland Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Jury Award, Gen Art Chicago Film Festival, Winner - Audience Award, Hawaii Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Comedy, Breckenridge Festival of Film, Winner - Crystal Heart Award, Best Short Film & Audience Award, Heartland Film Festival, Winner - Christopher & Dana Reeve Audience Award, Williamstown Film Festival, Winner - Best Comedy, Dam Short Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Film, Sedona Int'l Film Festival.

What happens when you get laid off? How about you make a movie?

2009-11-05T09:53:00.010-05:00

I am so inspired by this project, and I hope you will be too.

If you'd like to help the Lemonade project, you can contribute here. Your donation will go to legal fees, distribution costs, and screening expenses. Again, nothing is expected. But every bit matters. Thank you.

About Lemonade, the Movie:

More than 130,000 advertising professionals have lost their jobs in this Great Recession. Lemonade is about what happens when people who were once paid to be creative in advertising are forced to be creative with their own lives.

DETROIT UPDATE: 11/13/09

News from Eric Proulx:

In case you're in the advertising industry and haven't heard yet, BBDO in Detroit is closing its doors after losing the Chrysler account, laying off nearly 500 people. It's the latest in a long string of bad news for the Detroit ad community.

As Todd Gilleland of Cola Creative describes it, no one in Detroit leaves their homes anymore. No one socializes or attends Red Wings or Pistons games. It's an entire population trying to figure out how to survive.

Eric is working closely with Todd to bring an event and screening of Lemonade to Detroit. Tentatively planned for December 17, we want people to come out of seclusion, even if for a night, to watch a movie and enjoy each others' company. And maybe, collectively, we can start to think about what's next.

Ideally, we'd love to find a sponsor or two to fund it, including the costs of getting my partner and I out there, food & beverages. (The venue is graciously being donated by Ringside Creative.) So if you know anyone in Detroit who might want to be associated with this event, please do no hesitate to give them my name.

As for distribution of the film, there's still no official news to report. But if you happen to be in Miami next week, there is a pre-screening at Books and Books next Tuesday, November 17. You can register at www.adfedmiami.com.

Stay tuned. And thank you for all your support!

Sincerely,

Erik Proulx

PS - If you'd like to help the Lemonade project, you can contribute here. Your donation will go to legal fees, distribution costs, and screening expenses. Again, nothing is expected. But every bit matters. Thank you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/11/09

If you are in Boston/Cambridge area, please support the movie's Premiere.

Monday, 11/30 7:00 PM, premiere for movie Lemonade at the Brattle Theater Cambridge, MA

In addition to the movie, creator Eric Proulx is writing a book as well. Here is his call for submissions:

"Lemonade, the book will assemble a collection of essays from people telling stories of reinvention in their own words. Only this time, I don't want to limit it to the advertising industry. Imagine all the inspirational personal triumphs that arose after the auto industry crash. Think of all the school teachers, engineers, and finance professionals who have found their life's work thanks to being downsized. Those of us in advertising provide just one, very sheltered viewpoint of what's possible in unemployment.

If you lost your job but found your calling, Eric wants to hear from you:

"You can submit a simple abstract of your experience, or an entire 1k - 3k word essay. (I want this to be more about the quality of your story and less about the quality of the writing. If your story is inspiring enough, we'll get it written.)

Here are the general guidelines for your submission:

It can be a 1-paragraph abstract, 3000-word essay, or anything in between. But is has to communicate your inspirational post-layoff story.
The submission must be an original, unpublished work.
There's no submission fee or cash prize. This is simply a forum to tell your story and inspire others who need to hear it.
All entries become the property of Please Feed The Animals and Fighting Monk, Inc (the legal entity for my business).
I want to be ambitious about getting this completed. So all submissions must be received by November 30.

Please email submissions to me directly at erik@pleasefeedtheanimals.com with the title "Lemonade Essay."

And if anyone knows anything about the process of book publishing and wants to lend a hand, I'm not shy about accepting the help.

Thanks everyone. Hopefully there will be more news about the movie with my next email.

Sincerely,

Erik Proulx"

Well Hello Tracked.com, Where Have you Been all my Life?

2009-10-21T13:30:00.012-04:00

ALERT JOB SEARCHERS: Research just got a whole lot easier for free!

I've told you never to approach a company without a firm understanding of why you're approaching them, based upon extensive research you conduct on your target companies.

Toward that aim, we've used a variety of free and proprietary databases, but the best ones are very expensive. Not anymore.

Meet Tracked.com

Tracked.com launched today, and I am impressed. In the past, I was a buyer of information services, and I have reviewed hundreds of companies who offer less than this at premium prices.

From company breaking news, extensive bios, and customized watchlists, Tracked goes one step further than "old school" databases, and makes it social; profiles, 140 character messages, connections, groups and more.

Image from Tracked.com Insights

Go get an account - understand they are in Beta, and will be improving and adding features as they go forward, and at times the server may slow a bit, but jump in now. Visit the "Tour" link for great walk-throughs, and their youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/RakedInsights is chock-full of good demos.

Next, Connect to me @ http://www.tracked.com/user/OPCGal to start your connection list.

Then research your target list! Using Tracked.com in combination with other search tools will absolutely prove valuable to you in your job search and interviews.

A note to users regarding record accuracy: ALL research databases are only as good as the information that is confirmed by principals in the company, and data is generally updated on a rotating basis. Ideally, data should not be modified based upon anything other than a company authorized principal confirming the modification. All databases - Hoovers, OneSource, D&B, etc. will have inaccuracies even in their premium pay subscriptions - it's the nature of the beast as people move on to new roles & companies and it may take a bit for the updates to be confirmed, so double-check, and expect occasional discrepancies.

from Miles Lennon of Tracked.com: "We spend many cycles on creating new ways to curate data both algorithmically and manually. Although we're striving for near-perfect accuracy, we understand that sometimes incorrectly reported data will hit the site. That is the nature of the beast, but it's one of the many reasons this project is so intellectually stimulating."

And, folks, this company just launched and I heard from the support team immediately! Within ten minutes of my inquiry, I had a response. Outstanding!

I'm a fan! Can you tell?

Any one can get a Nobel Peace Prize - On Google Wave

2009-10-09T22:32:00.002-04:00

As seen on Twitter: "RT @mozami OH: Sure, President Obamas got a Nobel. But did he get a Google Wave invite?"

(This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

Created by User:Evil_saltine using Graph 2.6, Photoshop, and Microsoft GIF Animator)

I've been experimenting with Google Wave for about 3 hours now. I like it, but then I like waves. Sine, sound, standing, and now Google.

To start with the basics, the default view has two main panes, with a simple menu on the far left of the two panes. For my screen-shot below, I'm only showing the two main panes.

When creating a wave, you either invite only specific Google wave users to join, or you make it public.

To make a wave private for only a select group of users, create a wave and select only specific people from your contact list.

To make a wave public, you add public@a.gwave.com to your contacts, and then add that contact to the wave.

The left pane is the Wave In-box. This includes private and public waves. To get started, the key search term is [with:public]. Remove my brackets. Using this command, I see every wave currently public.

By viewing with:public, all waves appear.

Once I open a specific wave, it will appear on the right-hand side of my view, next to my main in-box pane. I can re-size these panes to suit my view.

If I leave a wave and return later, I can then see the number of new responses indicated by a green icon, and when I open the wave, I hit the SHIFT key on my keyboard to forward to any new messages I haven't read.

I can join in, read, drag other waves into a wave, and a wealth of other actions I'll cover in another post.

To focus in on a specific interest, subject, or group, I narrow my search terms. In my last example, I used search term with:public Charleston, SC.

In this way I found local folks, and a wealth of helpful advice. Thank you Calvin Webster!

Tomorrow, I'm going to experiment with adding Blogger and Twitter Robots, and next week I'll be real-time collaborating on a paper via Google Wave with a very talented CTO (more on that later).

I'm on the Wave!

2009-10-08T22:47:00.004-04:00

Well, I received my Googlewave invite about an hour ago, stumbled around for 15 minutes, and then broke down and read some of the massive help material.

I gotta' tell ya', so far I like it. I conducted a quick search and found a group of 61 users in my local city, added them to my contacts, and had a great chat with Calvin D. Webster II of http://thinksea.info/blog/. Calvin is also coordinating Charleston's first BarCamp. http://www.barcampchs.org/ Cool guy.

I'll post screenshots tomorrow with some quick navigation tips. I will say for the record, it's easier to navigate and use than I first thought it would be.

Nice job Google. Now let's see what we can do with it. karenmasullo@googlewave.com

Dressing for the Job Interview for Men

2009-10-02T12:10:00.002-04:00

From those great guys at men.style.com

Mass Layoffs Summary from DOL

2009-10-01T11:56:00.016-04:00

Related to the below data, if you are in transition, you have to think like an independent contractor.

The way you secure work today is by establishing yourself as an expert and developing opportunities to solve problems in your area of expertise with other folks in the same situation. Crowdsolve. That is the bottom-line.

Make sure you understand Social Media tools as well; build your brand via your Google Profile, a blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and tools like VisualCV.

If you say none of these things are for you or don't relate to you, you will struggle in the current highly competitive climate.

MASS LAYOFFS -- AUGUST 2009

Employers took 2,690 mass layoff actions in August that resulted in the separation of 259,307 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer. The number of mass layoff events in August increased by 533 from the prior month, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 52,516. Over the year, the number of mass layoff events increased by 803, and associated initial claims increased by 70,356. Year-to-date mass layoff events (21,184) and initial claims (2,162,202) both recorded program highs through August. In August, 900 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 93,892 initial claims. Over the month, the number of manufacturing events increased by 279, and associated initial claims increased by 21,626. (See table 1.)

During the 21 months from December 2007 through August 2009, the total number of mass layoff events (seasonally adjusted) was 44,669, and the number of initial claims filed (seasonally adjusted) in those events was 4,556,636. (December 2007 was the start of a recession as designated by the National Bureau of Economic Research.)

The national unemployment rate was 9.7 percent in August 2009, seasonally adjusted, up from 9.4 per-cent the prior month and up from 6.2 percent a year earlier. In August, total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 216,000 over the month and by 5,830,000 from a year earlier.

Industry Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

The number of mass layoff events in August was 1,428 on a not seasonally adjusted basis; the number of associated initial claims was 125,024. (See table 2.) Average weekly layoff events rose from 285 in August 2008 to 357 in August 2009, and average weekly initial claims increased from 28,000 to 31,256. Seven of the 19 major industry sectors reported program highs in terms of average weekly initial claimants for the month of August: construction; wholesale trade; retail trade; management of companies and enterprises; educational services; arts, entertainment, and recreation; and accommodation and food services. (Average weekly analysis mitigates the effect of differing lengths of months. See the Technical Note.)

The manufacturing sector accounted for 31 percent of all mass layoff events and 33 percent of initial claims filed in August 2009. A year earlier, manufacturing made up 29 percent of events and 37 percent of initial claims. Within manufacturing, transportation equipment comprised the largest number of aver-age weekly claims (2,269) despite experiencing the largest decrease in average weekly initial claims over the year (-1,688) among three-digit NAICS industries. (See table 3.) The administrative and waste services sector accounted for 14 percent of mass layoff events and 12 percent of initial claims, down from 15 and 14 percent, respectively, the previous August. Construction accounted for 11 percent of events and 10 percent of initial claims, an increase from 10 percent of events and 7 percent of claims in August 2008.

Of the 10 detailed industries with the largest number of mass layoff initial claims, 3 reached a series high for August: motorcycle, bicycle, and parts manufacturing; warehouse clubs and supercenters; and casino hotels. The industry with the largest number of initial claims was temporary help services (6,721). (See table A.)

Table A. Industries with the largest number of mass layoff initial claims in August 2009

Geographic Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

Among the 4 census regions, the West registered the highest number of initial claims in August due to mass layoffs (36,897), followed by the Midwest (32,197) and the South (29,486). (See table 5.) Average weekly initial claims associated with mass layoffs increased over the year in 3 of the 4 regions, with the Northeast experiencing the largest increase (+2,064). In 2009, the Northeast reported its highest August level of average weekly initial claims (6,611) in program history.

Of the 9 geographic divisions, the Pacific (30,781) had the highest number of initial claims due to mass layoffs in August, followed by the East North Central (25,962) and the Middle Atlantic (23,491). (See table 5.) Seven of the 9 divisions experienced over-the-year increases in average weekly initial claims, led by the Middle Atlantic (+1,786). This year, the Middle Atlantic, Mountain, and South Atlantic divisions reached program highs for August in terms of average weekly initial claims.

California recorded the highest number of average weekly initial claims in August, with 6,521, even though it had the largest over-the-year decrease in average weekly claims (-704). The over-the-year decrease was largely due to a drop in claims from the administrative and support services industry. The states with the next highest number of average weekly initial claims were New York (2,851), Pennsylvania (2,481), and Florida (1,949). Thirty states and the District of Columbia experienced over-the-year increases in average weekly initial claims, led by Pennsylvania, New York, and Illinois. In 2009, eight states reached program highs in average weekly initial claims for the month of August: Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.

Note

The monthly data series in this release cover mass layoffs of 50 or more workers beginning in a given month, regardless of the duration of the layoffs. For private nonfarm establishments, information on the length of the layoff is obtained later and issued in a quarterly release that reports on mass layoffs lasting more than 30 days (referred to as "extended mass layoffs"). The quarterly release provides more inform-at ion on the industry classification and location of the establishment and on the demographics of the laid-off workers. Because monthly figures include short-term layoffs of 30 days or less, the sum of the figures for the 3 months in a quarter will be higher than the quarterly figure for mass layoffs of more than 30 days. (See table 4.) See the Technical Note for more detailed definitions.

_____________
Mass Layoffs in September 2009 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, October 22, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

Metropolitan area over-the-year unemployment rate increases, August 2009

For the eighth consecutive month, all of the nation's 372 metropolitan areas had over-the-year unemployment rate increases. The largest jobless rate increase from August 2008 to August 2009 was reported in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Michigan (+7.9 percentage points), followed by Muskegon-Norton Shores, Michigan (+7.0 points).

Link to Civilian labor force and unemployment by state and metropolitan area

For more, visit http://www.bls.gov/
Related News: New Unemployment Claims Rise Unexpectedly to 551,000

Introducing Belbin Team Roles!

2009-09-30T17:03:00.004-04:00

My friend and a co-collaborator Steve Jandrell of CandidAdvisors (I consult to CandidAdvisors) has introduced me to Belbin Team Roles. Steve is certified in administering the Belbin, and we used it so we might collaborate more effectively.

Well, I loved it and encourage you to consider a Belbin workshop for your team. While I am promoting this for a partner, I have been through it as well, and have seen how utilizing the knowledge gained about self-perception can impact a team's achievement.

The Belbin was developed by Dr. Meredith Belbin and his team who conducted research at Henley Management College in the UK over a period of nine years and studied the behavior of managers from all over the world. Their book, Management Teams - Why They Succeed or Fail was cited by the Financial Times as one of the top fifty business books of all time.

Steve has developed a workshop around the Belbin, and you can read more at CandidAdvisors

Waht Typo? 6 Simple Tips for Web Profile Quality

2009-08-28T10:00:00.020-04:00

Is a typo on a paper-based resume worse than a typo on the web?

I'm active on LinkedIn. I like it. Occasionally, while reading someone’s profile, I'll notice a typo. Common ones I see are “employement” and “developement.” I generally drop a quick note to the profile owner and mention it. I usually receive a nice thank you in return.

I think I'm more forgiving when I see these web-based profile typos than when I see the typo committed to paper.

Yesterday however, I was reading a web-based news story from a major news outlet and shuddered when I read the word "suspisions" in the body of the story.

While I understand the web-typo - we move fast, type directly into a CMS, read something so many times it looks correct - there are certain instances where I feel it's unacceptable, and that's for the job seeker (and for the major news outlet, but that's another blog post).

As I've said before, during a job search, every piece of information you put out for public view is the first example of your work product.

For me, a typo shows a lack of thoroughness, and I'm not alone in that point of view.

It only takes a moment to type your information into Word or some other application that allows spell-checking and review. Dictionaries, both web-based and old-school, are readily available. I personally use Firefox as my browser, and have selected Check Spelling as I type (under “Options,” I love this feature).

So I was wondering: What are other people’s tolerances for the dreaded typo? I created a poll on LinkedIn to find out, and frankly, I was surprised at how forgiving certain demographics of responders are. Tips to avoid typos are at the end:

Top of Form

The Poll: 63 Responders

The Responses:

By OCCUPATION: HR folks were more forgiving than I would have assumed, but just barely. The most forgiving group were Operations folks, the most unforgiving Product:

By COMPANY SIZE: Small and Enterprise-level companies were the most flexible, Medium-size the least:

BY JOB TITLE: If you're interviewing with the Owner or C-Suite level of a company, you are more likely to be forgiven than if you are speaking to Management. The C-Suite is also more likely to let you know you have an error:

By GENDER: There ya' go. Pretty straightforward with men being a little bit more flexible (but not much):

By AGE: the lower the age, the less tolerant:

Last, the OVERALL: DON'T have a typo; you may still receive contact; about a 25% chance you may be notified, and people do appreciate being told they have a typo, but if such a small percentage is telling, how do you know?

That's the point, don't wait to be told.

How to Avoid the dreaded typo whether you are job searching or not:

Start your document, blog post, VisualCV, Google profile etc. in Word or a like application. Check your Document Review settings - make sure you do not have options set to ignore words in Caps or other terms. Spell- and Grammar-check.
Do not automatically accept word processor suggestions: Somewhere, out there today, is a major proposal that has the word "seamy" where "seamlessly" should have been. Really changed the meaning of the paragraph.
Copy your text into Notepad to strip underlying formatting & HTML that may create issues if you are pasting into a CMS.
Copy and paste using a Browser that has a spell-check option.
Used web-based resources if you are in doubt of spelling or meaning of a word. http://www.wordcentral.com/ from Miriam-Webster is a good, free tool. There are many others.
Have an objective party review whenever possible, or set the work aside for at least a couple of hours so you may review it with "fresh" eyes.

I also received some good comments from participants:

Did you find a typo in this post? Let me know, would ya'? OPCGal on Twitter

How To Fire Half Your Company Without Being Hated

2009-07-28T12:59:00.007-04:00

Video courtesy of http://www.businessinsider.com

Henry Blodget CEO & Editor-in-Chief of The Business Insider, in a short interview with Kevin P. Ryan, one of Silicon Alley's most well known Internet entrepreneurs. Mr. Ryan has started six New York-based businesses - Silicon Alley Insider, Gilt Groupe, Music Nation, Panther Express, ShopWiki and 10gen in the past two years. He presently serves as chairman and CEO of AlleyCorp.

Prior to AlleyCorp, he was first president then later became CEO of DoubleClick. There, he was instrumental in building the company from a 20-person startup to a global leader with over 1500 employees. Silicon Alley Reporter voted DoubleClick "New York Company of the Year" and Kevin was named one of the "50 Most Influential Business People" by Crain's New York Business.

A great Outplacement and Career Transition partner can certainly help any CEO in this situation as well.

Helping employees transition with dignity is a huge part of preserving your company's brand in down times, especially if you wish to re-engage transitioned talent at some point in the future.

When did Rude Become the New Black? Tell me YOUR Story

2009-07-27T05:59:00.007-04:00

Situation 1: I was standing in a check-out line at the grocery. The person behind me had a six-pack of a carbonated adult beverage. One can from the six-pack chose to make its escape, experienced a little thing called gravity, hit the ground, burst open and sprayed the back of my legs (and a lovely new pair of sandals I might add). The cashier called for a mop. The holder of the now five-pack issued an expletive. No one said "Oh excuse me" or "pardon me" or "sorry about your legs now smelling like a brew-house."

Situation 2: 45 minute commuter flight from Charleston to Atlanta. My head was smacked twice by luggage - once going in the overhead, once coming out. I do not have an overly large head. I am 5'1" inches tall. I am not an easy target. I also understand that these things happen, but would an "excuse me" kill you?

Situation 3: Same flight. De-plane time. Man three rows behind me grabs luggage and lunges in front of other folks who are attempting to exit in a polite, row-by-row manner. The plane is not late, we are 3 minutes early. He crushes the foot of a gentleman attempting to stand and exit. He does not slow down or acknowledge his victim. I look at crushed-foot man sympathetically.

Situation 4: Line in airport restroom. 70-something woman in front of me mowed down by 30-something woman exiting stall with cell-phone glued to ear who does not slow down, but rather glares at 70-something woman for having the audacity to occupy space. I apologize loudly on behalf of all persons who are offended by rude behavior. Cell-phone woman rolls her eyes and click-clacks away.

From the people who dead-stop to chat at the bottom of the escalator to those whose entire private lives are broadcast via their overly loud public cell-phone conversations I say STOP!

Simple civility is called for. Are we so preoccupied with our own self-importance that we have forgotten we occupy this Earth with other humans? Have we become so used to inferior service in the marketplace that we undervalue our own service interactions with others?

Let me tell you this: I was once cut off in traffic by someone who then glared at me and saluted in the traditional one-finger manner. Twenty minutes later she walked into my office for an interview. She did not get the job.

Do me a favor please? Practice civility each day. Hold a door, step out of the way, lower your voice, be aware of your surroundings and respect other people's space. Say "excuse me" "thank you" "please".

And stop hitting my head with your luggage. Please?

Thank you.

ScamWays - Keep Your Money in Your Pocket

2009-07-23T10:06:00.007-04:00

While in Atlanta on business this week, I mused with Bill Frech and Steve Jandrell of CandidAdvisors (candidadvisors.com - disclosure - I am also a member of their consulting team), that I had seen a repetitive bit of SPAM on Twitter announcing "Make $180 a day the easy way! I can show you how!" and how tired and frustrated I was that these leeches continue to prey on the recently downsized.

The too sad truth is that many recently downsized, severanced, gotta' roll my 401k over transitioned employees in this very tight job market are perfect targets for thieves, scammers and the pitiful, dishonest, manipulative bottom-feeders of the Web/Franchise/Affiliate/Whatever Marketing world.

Am I being harsh on these Marketers? Yes, yes I am, and I make no apologies.

I have run two businesses folks, and it's a wonderful thing to create a vision, a quality standard, a deliverable, and a customer base that trusts you. It takes work, focus, and a whole bunch of other stuff, but what it does not take is giving a stranger $x dollars to show you how they made millions with some passive Twitter/Facebook/Pyramid party.

The likelihood of your retiring on your yacht as a result of your $x dollar investment is equal to that emailing Dr/Barrister/Representative from Nairobi/Nigeria/Wherever who wants to send you $4.6 million from a long lost relative if only you'll pay the handling fees out of the initial (bad) check they send you. It ain't gonna' happen.

Please understand as well, that many of these folks who look so nice, have such nice bios, have pictures of their kids as their Twitter Avatars are robots - automated feeds owned by one person with many, many "spoof" accounts made up to fit your fantasy - your demographic profile - of what a trusted person looks and sounds like.

If I can tell you one thing, it is Please invest your time in your job search in investing in YOURSELF.

At the end of this month at his annual appreciation dinner, my pal Paul Zaio is having a speaker from the FBI present a talk on security and scams. Here's a bit from the FBI's website on this subject - specifically for Job-Seekers:

Here are a few of the most common work-at-home scams.

Advance-fee: Starting a home-based business is easy! Just invest a few hundred dollars in inventory, set-up, and training materials, they say. Of course, if and when the materials do come, they are totally worthless…and you’re stuck with the bill.
Counterfeit check-facilitated "mystery shopper:" You’re sent a hefty check and asked to deposit it into your bank account, then withdraw funds to shop and check out the service of local stores and wire transfer companies. You keep a small amount of the money for your “work,” but then, as instructed, mail or wire the rest to your “employer.” Sound good? One problem: the initial check was phony, and by the time your bank notifies you, your money is long gone and you’re on the hook for the counterfeit check.
Pyramid schemes: You’re hired as a “distributor” and shell out big bucks for promotional materials and product inventories with little value (like get-rich quick pamphlets). You’re promised money for recruiting more distributors, so you talk friends and family into participating. The scheme grows exponentially but then falls apart—the only ones who make a profit are the criminals who started it.
Unknowing involvement in criminal activity: Criminals—often located overseas—sometimes use unwitting victims to advance their operations, steal and launder money, and maintain anonymity. For example, they may “hire" you as a U.S.-based agent to receive and re-ship checks, merchandise, and solicitations to other potential victims…without you realizing it’s all a ruse that leaves no trail back to the crooks.

What can you do to avoid being scammed? We recommend you practice safe surfing by taking the following steps:

THINK TWICE about telling all on your online résumé. Do you really need to provide detailed personal information? Consider posting your résumé more anonymously…with an e-mail address as your primary contact point.
NEVER provide a potential employer with your bank account or credit card information, a scan of your driver’s license or other ID, or a detailed physical description of yourself. That’s just asking for trouble.
NEVER pay upfront for any job opportunity (they’re supposed to be paying you!) and never forward, transfer, or wire money to a prospective employer.
BE WARY of job listings with misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and terms such as “money transfers,” “wiring funds,” “package-forwarding,” and “import/export specialist.” Those are big clues that something is amiss.

Resources:

Illinois Secretary of State - Get Rich Quick Employment Scams

FBI: Cybertheft Division

Lookstogoodtobetrue.com

United Breaks Guitars: The Power of Social Media

2009-07-08T19:29:00.003-04:00

Watch the Video and then read the full story Here

Do You Suffer from IOS Syndrome? A Friday laugh from Xerox

2009-06-19T19:04:00.001-04:00

Taking Financial Stock During Career Transition: Part I of II

2009-06-09T18:22:00.013-04:00

Recently, my friend Paul Zaio and I were discussing the financial impact of job loss and career transition, and I asked Paul what the number one piece of advice he would give

to a professional in transition. Well, Paul has ten points of advice that we'll cover in this two-part series, and I hope Paul will contribute more often.

A little about Paul: Paul J. Zaio, CFS is a 17-year professional in the financial industry. He specializes in working with those who want to protect their principal and ensure that their money lasts a lifetime. He resides in Mount Pleasant, S.C., is a member of the LPL Directors Club, and teaches financial education at universities and corporations, and is a genuinely nice guy.

10 Financial Questions & Answers for Job Changers - Part 1 - One through Six

Getting you started on the next chapter of your life.

What’s the purpose of this blog posting?

Changing careers is a decision that deserves almost as much attention as starting a family, buying a home or retirement. Career changes can have a profound effect on both your finances and your lifestyle. That’s why it’s so important to approach a job change with three things: knowledge, goals, and a plan.

• Knowledge. In an era of forms and paperwork, changing jobs has become increasingly complex. There are many available options in regards to compensation and benefits, but many pitfalls as well. Knowledge of these is crucial to ensure getting the most out of both your job and future retirement.

• Goals. Changing jobs is not just about a new place of employment. It’s about living comfortably and well, about fulfilling your dreams and building a legacy. The successful job hunter sets goals that are designed to fulfill these objectives.

• Plan. Application of knowledge and reaching goals means having a plan. This report is designed to be the first step in creating that plan.

Below are ten of the most common and important questions you can ask regarding a job change – specifically in regards to how it will affect your retirement savings.

The accompanying questions are designed to be quick, helpful references to you as you begin readying yourself for new employment.

What do I do with it?

Some will use this as a handy reference from which they can always draw. Still others may use this as a kind of jumping off point – once knowing the kinds of questions to ask, they can then begin researching the answers with greater attention and thoroughness.

Finally, many people find that subjects such as 401(k)’s and IRA rollovers are easiest to manage with the help of an expert financial professional, someone who can advise them on everything from the proper investments to retirement planning to managing their existing assets. The choices are limited only by your own imagination.

A quick glossary of terms:

IRA – An Individual Retirement Account is a retirement plan that provides tax advantages for retirement savings. There are several different types, that may be either employer or self-provided.

401(k) – A retirement plan in which an employee chooses to have a portion of his wages deferred directly into a 401(k) account. The money in this account is usually tax-deferred, and most employers will provide a number of investment options that provide an opportunity for the employee to augment his savings.

Roll-over – A tax-free reinvestment or transfer from one retirement plan to another. For example, to transfer assets from a 401(k) to an IRA. Many employees, upon changing jobs, transfer the money from their previous employer’s retirement account to one provided by their new employer.

10 Questions & Answers for Job Changers - Part 1 Questions One through Six

1) What financial preparations should I make before changing my job or if I feel a layoff is imminent?

1. Stay up-to-date. Even if you aren’t actively seeking new employment, it pays to stay on top of your resume and talents. It’s the best way to both seize a sudden opportunity, and ensure your ability to bounce back swiftly should you suddenly need new employment.

2. Review vesting schedules. Double-check your retirement plans at your current job. Are you vested? If not, how much longer before you are? How much will the benefit be? This ensures that you leave your job at the right time – in other words, not a few months before you become fully vested. Knowing the right time to change jobs can guard you from the perils of a hasty decision – and potentially save you thousands of dollars.

3. Build a rainy-day account. Having cash set aside to help through your transition (no matter how smooth that transition may be) is a good idea, since you may go for sometime without a paycheck. In addition, that extra margin of safety can be a lifeline should your job be unexpectedly downsized. The last thing you want to do is find yourself unprepared and have to rely on high-interest credit cards to keep you afloat.

4. Educate yourself on finances. This report is a good first step, but one of the best things a job-changer (or pre-retiree) can do is continually educate themselves on finances. For example, research the best options for your IRA. Many people make the mistake of cashing out of their retirement plan when they leave their job. This creates a significant tax burden, and really sets your retirement savings back. It’s also unnecessary. When you move your money to an IRA, you control when and how much you take out because you now have direct ownership. It will also allow you to continue delaying taxes. Learning simple (but essential) facts like these are the best investments.

2) What about early retirement? How do I know if that’s an option?

The advantages of an early retirement are obvious. However, the financial challenges are significant, and should be carefully considered when pondering early retirement. The earlier you retire means the longer you must live off an income that does not come from a steady paycheck. Social Security is helpful but often not enough to provide the desired lifestyle. Early retirement means increased reliance on pensions and retirement savings. Thus, the only way to know if early retirement is right for you is to take a long, hard look at the numbers. Is your portfolio large enough to provide for 15, 20, 30 years of unemployment?

A person’s needs will vary, but do you know what your needs are? How much will your dreams cost? To find out, your best bet is to run a retirement budget alongside a tax-and-income projection with the help of a financial professional.

3) When can I start withdrawing money from my IRA?

The normal age at which you can begin distributions is 59 ½.

4) How do I handle a severance packages?

First you must decide how to receive your severance package, should you be offered a choice. If you would like to immediately invest your money, taking a lump sum is advisable. However, because severance pay is usually taxable, spreading out your package into multiple payouts make taxation easier to handle.

Balancing immediate needs versus your overall goals is also important. Paying bills or eliminating debt may be a necessity when receiving your severance, however it’s never a good idea to spend the entire amount. Allocate the minimum you need into your checking account, and the rest into conservative investments that will give you a higher return than a simple checking account. This balance will help you both use and grow your money should you seek a different job.

5) What are my options for the money that is in my 401(k) or other pension?

Usually there are four broad choices, each with different advantages and disadvantages:

A. Leave it invested in what the company offers
B. Annuitize and receive an income for life
C. Withdraw the account balance, potentially pay a 10%penalty on top of taxes, and then invest the funds
D. Roll over to an IRA or other pension fund, paying no penalty, and continue to defer the income tax.

6) Why should I consider a rollover to an IRA?

An IRA offers the possibility of higher returns and increasing income potential. The account can be rolled over tax-deferred to a surviving spouse with the remaining balance distributed to beneficiaries at the death of the spouse.

End of Part 1. Part 2 Monday June 21st. Have a question for Paul? Leave a comment and he'll respond and as always, our thanks.

To learn more or contact Paul Zaio:

Paul Zaio, CFS, RIS
LPL Registered Principal / LPL Branch Manager

Securities offered through LPL Financial
A Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC

1156 Bowman Road, Ste 200—Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
Phone: 843-416-1144
Toll free: 888-277-0095
http://www.lpl.com/paul.zaio

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Is The WARN Act Changing?

2009-05-15T12:30:00.004-04:00

Recently-introduced legislation would require employers to provide Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices to employees in the event of mass layoffs that occur at more than one worksite, and would double the penalties for violations.

The Alert Laid off Employees in Reasonable Time (ALERT) Act (H.R. 2077), introduced by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill) and co-sponsored by four others, expands the current WARN requirement that employers provide 60 days’ notice of an impending mass layoff affecting either 500 employees or 33 percent of the workforce impacting at least 50 employees at one particular worksite.

The ALERT Act would amend the definition of “mass layoff” to cover an employment loss of this size not just at a single site, but for a single employer at more than one worksite. The bill also increases penalties for employers that order a plant closing or mass layoff in violation of the WARN Act by providing for double back pay for each day of violation.

Specifically, the ALERT Act would amend the WARN Act by including as a definition of “mass layoff” a reduction in force which:

(C) results in an employment loss for a single employer at more than 1 site of employment during any 30-day period for--

(i)(I) at least 33 percent of the employees of the employer (excluding any part-time employees); and
(II) at least 50 employees (excluding any part-time employees); or
(ii) at least 500 employees (excluding any part-time employees).
Additionally, the new bill would require employers to award employees double the amount of back pay as a penalty for violating the provisions of the WARN Act.

DETAIL:

2009-2010
Alert Laid off Employees in Reasonable Time Act 4/23/2009--Introduced.

To amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to require notifications under that Act for mass layoffs that occur at more than one site of an employer and to increase penalties for violation of the Act.

H.R. 2077: 111th Congress

This is a bill in the U.S. Congress originating in the House of Representatives ("H.R."). A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate and then be signed by the President before it becomes law.

Bill numbers restart from 1 every two years. Each two-year cycle is called a session of Congress. This bill was created in the 111th Congress, in 2009-2010.

The titles of bills are written by the bill's sponsor and are a part of the legislation itself.

Alert Laid Off Employees in Reasonable Time Act - Amends the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN ACT) to require an employer to give 60-day written notice to employees and to appropriate state and local government officials before ordering a mass layoff that results in an employment loss for a single employer at more than one site of employment during a 30-day period for: (1) at least 33% of the employees (excluding part-time employees); and (2) at least 50 or 500 employees (excluding part-time employees).

Makes an employer who violates such notice requirements liable to each aggrieved employee for double the back pay (under current law, only the back pay) for each day of the violation for up to 60 days.

The bill has been referred to the House Education and Labor Committee

Alert Laid off Employees in Reasonable Time Act (Introduced in House)

HR 2077 IH
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2077

To amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to require notifications under that Act for mass layoffs that occur at more than one site of an employer and to increase penalties for violation of the Act.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 23, 2009

Mr. GUTIERREZ (for himself, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

A BILL
To amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to require notifications under that Act for mass layoffs that occur at more than one site of an employer and to increase penalties for violation of the Act.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1.
SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Alert Laid off Employees in Reasonable Time Act'.
SEC. 2. MASS LAYOFFS OF A SINGLE EMPLOYER AT MULTIPLE SITES.

(a) In General- Section 2(a)(3) of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101(a)(3)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (B)(ii) by inserting `or' after the semicolon; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
`(C) results in an employment loss for a single employer at more than 1 site of employment during any 30-day period for--
`(i)(I) at least 33 percent of the employees of the employer (excluding any part-time employees); and
`(II) at least 50 employees (excluding any part-time employees); or
`(ii) at least 500 employees (excluding any part-time employees);'.
(b) Conforming Amendment- Section 3(a)(2) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 2102(a)(2)) is amended by striking `to the State' and inserting `in the case of a plant closing or mass layoff described in section 2(a)(3)(B), to the State'.

SEC. 3. INCREASED PENALTIES.

Section 5(a)(1)(A) of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2104(a)(1)(A)) is amended by striking `back pay' and inserting `two times the amount of back pay'.

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez [D-IL]

Cosponsors [as of 2009-05-07]
Rep. Grace Napolitano [D-CA]
Rep. Jim Costa [D-CA]
Rep. Raul Grijalva [D-AZ]
Rep. Daniel Lipinski [D-IL]
Rep. Rosa DeLauro [D-CT]
Rep. Steven Rothman [D-NJ]
Rep. Janice Schakowsky [D-IL]
Rep. Marcy Kaptur [D-OH]
Rep. Betty Sutton [D-OH]

Behavioral Interviewing - Practice, Practice, Practice

2009-04-28T17:03:00.008-04:00

Recently, in working with corporate-sponsored outplacement candidates to prep them for various interviews, we focused on the subject of Behavioral Interviewing, its importance, and how to prepare.

Behavioral interviewing is a style of interviewing that was developed in the 1970's by industrial psychologists. Behavioral interviewing asserts that "the most accurate predictor of future performance is past performance in a similar situation." Currently, most organizations are using behavioral interviewing to some degree.

Unlike traditional interviews, which include such questions as:
Tell me about yourself.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Why are you interested in working for us?

Behavioral Interviewing poses questions like these:
Tell me about a time you disappointed a client or your supervisor.
Tell me about a situation you really exceeded expectations.
Tell me about a work environment that you didn’t enjoy.

Behavioral interviewing emphasizes past performance and behaviors. As a consequence, candidates unprepared for behavioral interviewing will not fare well; simply practicing the list of common interview questions no longer works.

To start in the reverse and address Preparation is appropriate here. We put our clients through a good deal of brain work; from the very first conversation, we use a variety of methods suitable to the individual candidate to pull information from them regarding how they did their jobs in their unique fashion, always working to establish articulate, quantifiable contribution in every instance.

I contacted an expert or two, and together we present the following, with 7 specific areas to practice at the end:

Many interviewers typically start with a behavioral question, like “Tell me about a time you had conflicting priorities. How did you handle that situation?” If a candidate says they never have them, that’s a red flag. Even someone who is perfectly organized will have personal conflicts that come up during their time at work.

Once a candidate tells the interviewer the situation and explains how they handled it, there will be a follow up question or two, such as:

“Were all the people involved completely happy with how you ended up prioritizing your work?”
“If you could do it again, would you prioritize those items the same way?”

How do you answer the question "Give me an example of a time you've failed?"

This is always a tough question for interviewees. The first time you reflect on this, on anything, should not be in the high-stress environment of an interview. Think about this and all possible questions beforehand, write down your answers, but don't get too rigid to adhering to your script. For this question specifically, remember you don't have to immediately relate the last most devastating failure in your life - don't aggravate a fresh wound. Rather, go to an instance you've had time to reflect upon.

One expert we consulted advises:"First, if you tell me you've never failed, I know that's not true. Sometimes you have to fail, so tell the story of what you learned. Tell the recruiter what you would have done differently in order to avoid that situation in the future. Be honest, and know that some employers want people who take risks. Those people do fail from time to time, and often learn the most highly valued skills and lessons.

What are the examples of behavioral based sales questions?

While your resume may list that you achieved your former employer's "President's Club" six times, you do have to explain the "how" of it.

Here are examples of questions we gathered for Sales Interviews, and in preparation for a Sales interview, be ready for drill down, follow-up questions like:

The Recruiter may ask “Tell me about a time you really exceeded your client’s expectations and closed a great deal”

The follow up questions will likely be:
How long did it take you to close this deal?
How long is your average sales cycle?

Another hot button topic most sales people avoid: “Do you get your sales reports done on time?” Recruiters know it’s an area that most sales people procrastinate, so they ask!

Can you be Over Prepared?

We encourage our candidates to remember that an interview is a conversation between two professionals about a common interest, subject, and passion. I recently had a candidate get thrown by the question "Give us two instances of success you've experienced." The candidate has many, many instances, all outlined clearly on his resume, however, he only practiced one aloud to that specific question. He was both over- and under-prepared. You're going to go "off-script" so know who you are, take a deep breath, relax and tell your story.

Do your homework, but be genuine.

"Just tell the truth," states one expert, "I'll get to it one way or another through follow-up questions, but being prepared is key. I know it’s not comfortable, but ask a friend to interview you. Or find questions on the internet and answer them out loud, then scratch that answer and give another. Be prepared for the detailed follow up questions. I remind candidates that they are an expert in what they are discussing – themselves! It’s easier to think of it that way and can often ease nervousness.

How much research on your potential employer is enough - or too much?

Recruiters value that you have done your research and have a true interest and passion for the role, citing that you know the recruiter loves dogs or the color green is just plain creepy.

"Don't stalk the recruiter or "over-share". It comes off as disingenuous. Talk about what interests you based upon your research, but keep it relevant to the position and your potential for contribution. Although there is a plethora of information about your Recruiter and Hiring Manager on the internet, be careful what you reference during your conversation. Not everyone is prepared to discuss personal information to a candidate, so take their lead. If they keep it strictly professional, you should as well. What would be appropriate is to ask why they chose to work for that organization and what they like and dislike about it.

Just one piece of advice?

Ask questions! Sounds simple – but you would be surprised how many candidates don’t. Even if you ask everyone you speak with at the same company the identical 4 questions, its great information. You can evaluate how each person’s answer differs and if there are any concerns that you might have from their answers. And for you sales people out there – are you asking for the job or closing?

We further provide the below list of 7 key Behavioral Interview question areas for you to review. Good luck, and remember: be yourself, be honest, and be prepared!

1: Decision Making and Problem Solving

Give me an example of a time when you had to keep from speaking or making a decision because you did not have enough information.
Give me an example of a time when you had to be quick in coming to a decision.

2: Leadership

Tell me about a time you had to work with a group or client that was challenging. How did you overcome it?
Tell me about a time you had difficulty getting others to accept your ideas? What was your approach? Did it work?

3: Motivation

Give me an example of a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty.
Describe a specific situation when you were able to have a positive influence on the action of others.

4: Communication

Tell me about a situation when you had to speak up (be assertive) in order to get a point across that was important to you.
Have you ever had to "sell" an idea to your co-workers or group? How did you do it? Did they "buy" it?

5: Interpersonal Skills

What have you done in the past to contribute toward a teamwork environment?
Describe a recent unpopular decision you made and what the result was.

6: Planning and Organization

Tell me about a time you had conflicting priorities. How did you manage them?
What do you do when your schedule is suddenly interrupted? Give an example.

7: Other Behavioral Questions

Give a specific example of a policy you conformed to with which you did not agree.
Give me an example of an important goal which you had set in the past and tell me about your success in reaching it.
Describe an instance when you had to think on your feet to extricate yourself from a difficult situation.

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Using Social Media Webinar - Success

2009-04-21T19:56:00.003-04:00

I was thrilled to partner with VisualCV to conduct a webinar on Using Social Media in Job Search, and April’s webinar was exceptionally well-received. Here are some comments and a link to the presentation:

"...wanted to tell you how EXCELLENT I thought the webinar was yesterday. It was my first one and SO valuable. I was and am thrilled over the amount of valuable information. I wrote pages full of notes."

"After viewing the CV all I can say is WOW! What a difference a VisualCV can make.

This technology makes a paper resume obsolete. I have seenmany resumes in my past when I had to do recruiting and this type of resume would clearly give a candidate who uses this a serious advantage. Again, Thank You for your help and VisualCV has a new fan."

"I took your webinar last Tuesday and thoroughly enjoyed it. I cannot begin to tell you how much I learned, especially about Visual CV and Twitter. I am going through a career transition and so these tools are very important to me in my job search. Thank you for the presentation last Tuesday."

"Just had a chance to listen to VisualCV webinar. Outstanding info thanks for sharing!"

"You were absolutely wonderful! I really enjoyed it and I'm working on my VisualCV right now! "

"I just wanted to take another minute and thank you for the help you gave me. Not many people in your position would reach out to a college student the way you did. This may be something you do regularly, but I'm not used to it so it's refreshing to see the professionals of today doing what they can to groom the professionals of tomorrow....Once again, thank you for everything, I promise to pay it forward."

"Thanks to Pierce (from VisualCV) for hosting and Karen Masullo for delivering an insightful webinar with VisualCV earlier today "

"I just finished listening to an awesome presentation by Karen Masullo and I'm working on my SEO, VisualCV and Twitter."

"The session was best hour I've spend in a long, long time. Pure 100% value."

VIEW WEBINAR HERE

Another Reason to love VisualCV

2009-04-06T17:11:00.001-04:00

I'm tellin' ya folks, this is the right tool at the right time:

Jabil Makes a Bold Apology to Transitioning Employees

2009-04-01T18:59:00.005-04:00

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Form I-9 and E-Verify Services from The Facet Group, a First Sun Partner

2009-03-24T18:04:00.005-04:00

Effective 5/21/2009, employers are required by law to verify employment eligibility of all federal contractor and sub-contractor employees. Some states also require participation in certain situations. All other public & private employers are encouraged to use E-Verify voluntarily

Electronic Form I-9 and E-Verify Services

First Sun Partner, The Facet Group, is pleased to announce the offering of Electronic Form I-9 and E-Verify Services through alliance partner, Form I-9 Compliance.

What is E-Verify?

E-Verify is a Web-based system that electronically verifies the employment eligibility of newly hired employees through Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security databases. Effective May 21, 2009, federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to begin using the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ E-Verify system to verify their employees’ eligibility to legally work in the United States.

Who may use E-Verify?
Federal contractors and sub-contractors are required to use E-verify. In addition, more than a dozen states also require or strongly encourage E-Verify on certain employees. All other public and private sector employers may use the system voluntarily. The Facet Group recommends that you use E-verify on ALL newly hired employees to keep your hiring process consistent and compliant.

Employers who currently employ federal contractors or sub-contractors are required to verify all of those existing contract employees, as well as all newly hired contract employees going forward. All other employers may verify newly hired employees only; you cannot use E-Verify on existing employees unless they are federal contractors or sub-contractors.

What is included in your E-Verify service?
Our check uses the federal E-Verify program to electronically query DHS and SSA databases and verify new employees’ U.S. work eligibility. The query result confirms whether the social security number submitted belongs to an individual who is legally permitted to work in the U.S. Enhanced capabilities include email alerts and reports that help track and monitor tentative non-confirmations.
What are the benefits of the E-verify service?

Significantly reduce your potential risks of non-compliance which would result in exposure to financial penalties and consequent negative publicity.

For employers who knowingly hire or knowingly continue to employ unauthorized workers, civil penalties range from $250 to $11,000 per violation

For employers engaging in a pattern or practice of knowingly hiring or continuing to employ unauthorized workers, criminal penalties can be a much as $3,000 per unauthorized employee and/or 6 months imprisonment

Help ensure workforce stability and assist in eliminating the potential for disruptive and costly turnover created by the mandatory removal of legally unauthorized employees.
Minimize the potential for attracting legally unauthorized candidates by acknowledging your participation in E-Verify.

Seamlessly integrates with our existing ordering system; process background checks, Electronic I-9 forms and e-Verify through one portal

Employee information will be carried over to the E-Verify screen to reduce data entry.

How do I begin using these services?
Contact Phil Brattin, at the Facet Group, or simply fill out the required Registration Form & User Agreement as well as the Memorandum of Understanding with our Alliance Partner. You must also display the required E-Verify and Right to Work notices where employment applicants can see them. (The Facet Group will provide you with these notices.) Please see: http://facetgroup.com/background.html

How do I order these services on a newly hired employee?
Upon the posting of a completed report to our online ordering system, you will be provided with an option to utilize the E-Verify service directly from the ‘Results’ screen. Simply click the ‘EVP’ button and it will take you directly to the E-Verify site. The employee’s information (name, SSN, etc) will be pre-populated into the E-Verify screen to save time and reduce data entry. (You must receive completed background verification reports through our online system in order to use this service.)

What is the cost for these services?
-- For newly hired employees, the cost to use E-Verify is $5.00 per person.
-- For existing employees (federal contractors and sub-contractors), please contact our office for information & pricing.
-- To set up additional client locations: 0-5 locations: no charge; 6+ locations: $50 per location.

What is Electronic Form I-9?
This service provides a comprehensive error-detecting electronic Form I-9 solution that virtually eliminates processing errors and simplifies the document completion process.

What is included in your Electronic Form I-9 service?

Secure, paperless Form I-9 storage, with 24/7 access for updating, re-verification and governmental inspection.
The ability to e-sign the I-9 form, utilizing a high-security, DHS-compliant click-to-sign solution.
“Add eDocuments” feature, which allows you to electronically attach related I-9 documents to employees’ I-9 Forms.
90, 60, and 30-day e-mail alerts to be forwarded to you prior to the expiration of work authorization documents.
The ability to run reports by client location.

What are the benefits of the Electronic Form I-9 service?

Simplify and improve the efficiency of your Form I-9 process.
Substantially decrease human errors in completing I-9 Forms through the use of our error-detecting functionality and built in user guidance.
Save time and increase security by utilizing our proprietary 2048-bit encrypted, electronic signature solution to electronically sign the eForm I-9. (Compliant with the E-SIGN Act and Department of Homeland Security regulations).
Reduce storage, retrieval and labor costs associated with maintaining hard copies of I-9 Forms. Scan and index your current paper I-9 Forms into our database, thereby creating a totally paperless process.
Avoid federal civil penalties: For employers who fail to properly complete, retain, or make I-9 Forms available for inspection, fines range from $100 to $1,100 per individual I-9
Automated Email Alerts enable your employees to renew work authorizations and continue to work without interruption.
Cost effectively reduces your exposure to government audits, financial penalties and negative publicity resulting from non-compliance.
Seamlessly integrates with our existing ordering system; process background checks, Electronic I-9 forms and e-Verify through one portal
Employee information will be carried over to the E-Verify screen to reduce data entry.

How do I begin using these services?
Simply fill out the required Registration Form & User Agreement.

How do I order these services on a newly hired employee?
Contact Phil Brattin, at the Facet Group.

Upon the posting of a completed report to the online ordering system, you will be provided with an option to utilize the Electronic Form I-9 service directly from the ‘Results’ screen. Simply click the ‘I-9’ button and it will take you directly to the Electronic Form I-9 site. The employee’s information (name, SSN, etc) will be pre-populated into the I-9 to save time and reduce data entry. (You must receive completed background verification reports through our online system in order to use this service.)

What is the cost for these services?
-- The cost to use Electronic Form I-9 is $5.00 per person.
-- To have your existing I-9 forms and supporting documents scanned and stored in our system, please contact our office for pricing information.
-- To set up additional client locations: 0-5 locations: no charge; 6+ locations: $50 per location

PLEASE NOTE: The above is presented as general educational information. It is not legal advice, either express or implied. Consultation with legal counsel is recommended for all employment law matters. This information is subject to change without notice.

Upcoming Webinar - Co-Hosting with VisualCV: Incorporating Social Media in Your Job Search

2009-03-19T11:33:00.002-04:00

Upcoming Webinar: Incorporating Social Media in Your Job Search

Please join us for a webinar April 14th at 12pm EST to learn how to leverage social media in your job search.

Mark your calendar and register now for the April 14th webinar today!

April’s webinar will teach you how to get more out of online social media in your job search. You will learn how to make good use of your time when using LinkedIn, VisualCV, Twitter and more.

The webinar will cover:

Web 2.0 and the job search
Presenting your strengths in a VisualCV
Social media resources for the job search
An efficient use of social media in the job search
Social media job search success stories

Karen Masullo, career transition and corporate outplacement expert, and VisualCV's Nathen Harvey will lead the webinar.

Please register here today! We look forward to you joining us for the second webinar in our series on building a VisualCV.

Your First Day of Work

2009-03-18T07:39:00.003-04:00

Your first day of work for your next employer is your last day of work for your former employer.

Everything you do from the point of separation forward becomes an example of your work product to your next employer. You HAVE to get this.

I was recently contacted by someone I did not know via LinkedIn.com. I visited the gentleman’s profile, and found four typos in the first 10 lines. There were other challenges with his profile, so I did what I generally do in this situation; I wrote back asking if he was open to a couple of suggestions. He was.

I first verified that English was his first language, and took time with my response, pointed out the typos, explained the theory behind my primary suggestions, and kept it short and to the point. I also spell-checked my response.

The gentleman wrote me back and sounded enthusiastic regarding the changes he made based upon my suggestions, so I re-visited. The four typos were corrected; however, there were now 3 new ones. That’s where I stopped.

And that’s a shame.

How can anyone possibly recommend you to their network if the first example of a work product you present is half-hearted?

This applies to everything you do – from telephone conversations to your web presence to your demeanor on the golf course or at the supermarket; you are your Brand! Preserve it, build it, and make it better.

And for goodness sake, copy any text into Word or whatever program you use and spell-check it, and then have someone objective review it.

Please.

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The Evolution of Dance Part 2

2009-03-10T19:42:00.001-04:00

Just for laughs;)

Part Two: The Layoff will be Twittered

2009-03-09T12:36:00.007-04:00

Following the previous post, important points to cover during a Reduction-in-Force project:

Keep Layoff Plans Offline: avoid emailing, creating, and communicating Reduction in Force (RIF) plans through company systems. I consulted after-the-fact to a company that found that a key and trusted email administrator was both reading, saving, and re-distributing – both internally and externally – all communication regarding layoff plans. Many employees fled the company prior to the formal WARN announcement due to this leak – employees that otherwise would not have been effected by the RIF. The loss of intellectual capital and the damage to the entire project was significant.

Never use Instant or Text Messaging to Discuss ANY aspect of a Restructuring Project: Transcripts of messages are saved, archived and may be reviewed. Just don’t do it, no matter how innocent you feel the message may be.

Allow Key Reorganization Team Members to Meet and Work Offsite as needed: Given the challenges associated with using internal technology to plan a restructuring project, teams need a “safe” environment to discuss and plan. Allocate resources accordingly.

Involve your CIO/CTO from the start: Prevent enterprise data leaks at the source. Oftentimes, technology teams are the last to be alerted of a project they already know is in progress, especially if you’ve been using internal technology systems to communicate planning. Your IT groups are the ones who cancel intranet portal access, email access, etc. for those departing employees. “Dumping” a time-critical task on them last minute creates resentment, and further exacerbates leaks – the longer you wait to formally communicate to key IT team members, the greater the resentment. Bring a trusted, key technology leader in to the process early.

Outplacement Consultants: When you work with us as your Outplacement Team, make sure you are providing your departing workforce with transition programs commensurate to their experience and length of tenure, are treating them with dignity and respect, and make sure you are alerted to trends regarding the mention of your company’s name and Brand – both positive and negative – quickly. The manner in which you deliver the message to transitioning workers is critically important; we will participate in all departing employee notification meetings to quickly give your transitioning workforce positive, next step guidelines that are in their best interest.

Need more information? Call us at 866-214-5445

Read Part I

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Let's NOT Give 'Em Somethin' to Talk About

2009-03-03T20:13:00.035-05:00

"In the age of transparency, the layoff will be blogged." Quote from: NY Times, November 4, 2008

Recently while reviewing company name mentions on Twitter, I came across a website, Telonu, specifically for employees to voice their reactions regarding how their layoff was handled.

This on the tail of a tale related by Pulitzer Prize winning Photo Journalist Jim MacMillan (formerly of the Philadelphia Daily News and Associated Press among others). Jim was describing a group of messages he was reading on Twitter, happening as the senders were in a newsroom meeting regarding re-organization plans at the Philadelphia Daily News. Read Jim's story here: (uncensored tweets).

To modify the opening quote then: "The layoff will be Twittered."

There's nothing new in protecting a Company's image during restructuring - we've always cautioned and assisted our corporate clients to monitor emails, messages, subsequent "hate" domains and their brand carefully during a restructuring - but Telonu, driven by the power of Twitter, was quickly gaining legs.

The site, Telonu's tag line? "Rave, Rant, Rate™ your Workplace, the People there and lots of other stuff... Anonymously. Tell-on-you, get it?"

There are positive comments, there are some resources, but the below is not unusual (I have hidden the company name):

This also from their site, and while they list a variety of "uses" for the site, #1 is troubling to me:

"On Telonu you can:
Praise or bury your company or school
Add and prop up companies, schools and people for other Telonu members' comments and opinions
Follow anything or anyone in real time
Mingle with old friends and make new ones
Use the Ask section to quiz the Telonu community about anything"

In the past, these types of sites generally died out as the great community that is the web SEO'd them to the back-burner of over-cooked, under-updated sites. Twitter however, keeps the rant fresh. Twitter has become an important SEO and marketing message tool, and these types of sites don't fade away as quickly as before.

So, when you work with an Outplacement provider (you ARE using us, right?), make sure you are providing your departing workforce with transition programs commensurate to their experience and length of tenure, are treating them with dignity and respect, and are kept alerted to trends regarding the mention of your company's name and Brand - both positive and negative - quickly.

What's that you say? Your Outplacement provider doesn't do that? We do.

Call us and we'll tell you how.
Toll-Free: 866-214-5445

Read Part II

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MARCH HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW ON LAYOFFS with Lincolnshire Partner Dr. Larry Stybel

2009-02-26T22:23:00.011-05:00

HBR COMMENTARY CASE STUDY
The Layoff
by Bronwyn Fryer

What’s the best strategy for Astrigo? Four commentators offer expert advice.

The entire article may be found here, and we are pleased to present it for our Colleague and Lincolnshire Partner, Dr. Larry Stybel from Boston's Stybel Peabody.

Dr. Laurence J. Stybel (lstybel@suffolk.edu) and Maryanne Peabody (peabody@stybelpeabody.com) are cofounders of Stybel Peabody Lincolnshire, an executive career management and board advisory firm based in Boston.

Dr. Stybel is also an executive in residence at the Sawyer Business School at Suffolk University in Boston.

Case Commentary by Laurence J. Stybel and Maryanne Peabody - What’s the best strategy for Astrigo?

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From TED: Elizabeth Gilbert: A different way to think about creative genius

2009-02-18T05:43:00.012-05:00

About this talk

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

About Elizabeth Gilbert

The author of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert has thought long and hard about some large topics. Her next fascination: genius, and how we ruin it.

The talk runs 20 minutes, but of course you can always bookmark and comeback. Enjoy! We did.

For more information on TED: http://www.ted.com

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Avoiding Star Trek Walk-on Guest Syndrome (aka The "Petersen" Syndrome), when Working with Recruiters

2009-02-16T12:07:00.013-05:00

Avoiding Star Trek Walk-on Guest Syndrome (aka The "Petersen" Syndrome), when Working with Recruiters

You remember it: whenever Captain Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard took an unknown crew member on the Away Team, that person died pretty soon after stepping foot out of the transporter. I don’t recall anyone ever saying “Gee, it’s too bad Petersen just got eaten by that Rock Monster” either.

He served his purpose to heighten suspense, got his SAG card, and he was outta’ there.

Sometimes, not all but sometimes, working with a contingent recruiter may be much the same, with you sadly, playing the all too short-lived role of Petersen.

Before every recruiter on the web writes me mad-mail, let me preface by saying I have been a recruiter in the Permanent Placement Industry (also in the Temporary Placement industry, but that’s a story for another day). I am now in the Outplacement business. Different thing but there are similarities.

Let’s go to Wikipedia for the definitions:

Executive search (informally headhunting) is the process of recruiting individuals to fill executive positions in organizations. Executive search may be performed by an organization's board of directors, by executives in the organization, or by an outside executive search organization.

The executive search profession has two distinct fields, retained executive search and contingency search. Retained search firms are paid a retainer fee regardless of whether a successful placement is made. Contingency firms are paid only if a candidate is found, and generally, the candidate must stay in the position for X weeks or months for payment to be made and the contract fulfilled.

OUTplacement is a term used to describe the efforts made by a Company Fee-paid downsizing firm to help the redundant employees through the career transition process, and help them re-orientate to the job market. An Outplacement firm may refer a candidate to retained executive search or contingency search firm to assist in the transition process.

In the current employment market, there is a glut of talent in the available pool – a buyer’s market as it were, at a time when there’s not a lot of buying going on. If you’re searching for a new position, there’s a huge, talented competition pool out there with you.

For a Contingency Executive Search professional, it is critical that they respond quickly to an organization’s request for a specific talent-set in a potential employee. The Executive Search Professional may have 3 or 4 candidates basically suited to fill the open position; however, one of those is the favorite, the perfect fit. The search professional must send a handful of people to the interviewing company to give them options, but they may be selling one specific candidate a bit more aggressively than the others.

In other words, one of those candidates is Spock. The others are Petersen 1, Petersen 2, and so on.

It’s up to you, the Job Seeker, to figure out which you are, and to effectively manage the process in partnership with the search professional, not at the bidding of.

A great search professional is your partner in this process. They can be an invaluable asset. A really great one will work with you throughout your career if you have demonstrated in-turn that you are a prepared, articulate, employable professional.

An Executive client of ours recently mentioned to me, that a third-party recruiter he was working with kept sending him to interviews that didn’t seem to fit for him. I asked him why he kept accepting interviews from this particular Placement representative. He said “Well, I don’t want to make them angry, so I figure I’d better go.”

You can’t have that folks. This is not a time to be wasting time.

Shop around, network, talk to others in your field that have a relationship with a Search Professional or firm and request an introduction. Be very prepared for the subsequent telephone or face-to-face interview.

Find a search professional that thinks you’re Spock. Anything else would be illogical.

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Great Resource Article "10 Tips for Pinging the Recruiter" by Tony Reynes of Tesar-Reynes

An Executive, a Contact, and a Cover Letter, How NOT to get a job interview, from The Blog of David Harkleroad

2009-02-10T22:00:00.007-05:00

David Harkleroad, CMO - Managing Director, Global Marketing at Hay Group has a wonderful Blog, and recently posted this gem, How NOT to get a job interview, related to a recent experience he had regarding an Executive, a Contact, and a Cover Letter.

I let David know I'd be pointing to it, and I've also added David's Blog to our Blog Roll. You must read it.

Hay Group is a global management consulting firm that works with leaders to transform strategy into reality. They develop talent, organize people to be more effective and motivate them to perform at their best. Their focus is on making change happen and helping people and organizations realize their potential.

Hay Group has over 2,600 employees working in 86 offices in 47 countries. Hay Group clients come from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, across every major industry and represent diverse business challenges. For over 60 years, they have been renowned for the quality of their research and the intellectual rigor of their work.

Visit The Hay Group

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How Pixar Hires

2009-02-07T00:03:00.004-05:00

Learning and Working in the Collaborative Age: A New Model for the Workplace

Pixar University's Randy Nelson explains what schools must do to prepare students for jobs in new media.

From Edutopia, A George Lucas Foundation

What Hasn’t Changed about Career Transition

2009-02-04T12:26:00.027-05:00

We all know we’re in an interesting economic climate. With hundreds of thousands of jobs being eliminated (and not being back-filled), I’m in a unique position to do what I do best – assist people through involuntary career transition.

I’ve been doing this for more than twenty years, and of course, a lot has changed.

(Note to all of you really smart people – please stop changing things until I catch up. Thank you.)

What has not changed however is the need for a person to clearly articulate work accomplishments that give them a sense of pride and satisfaction, and why the work contributes to the overall goals of their employer.

This you must still do.

People struggle with this. I struggle with them struggling.

We struggle our little hearts out, because most people can come up with one or two instances of times when they felt they achieved a superior result, and can quantify that result. It is when I ask for fifteen to twenty examples that the struggle begins.

I worked with a terrific group of folks today, who are being transitioned from a good company under new ownership. They are some of the aforementioned smart people – Molecular Biologists. (I’ll link this blog to their Resumes as they complete them).

As we introduced ourselves, one member of the group reminded another that said other also served as Site Safety Lead for the facility.

As we really started to work, I asked the person who had been Site Safety Lead to talk about her accomplishments in that area. She said what so very many people say at this point: “I don’t know, I just did my job.”

As it turns out, she did her job very well. Through asking her questions and probing a bit deeper, she was able to articulate that she attended and completed OSHA Certification, implemented a Site Safety plan, assured understanding of policies, procedures and processes, and maintained not only 100% OSHA compliance, but an accident-free work site as well. Next, we’ll figure out the average cost for an accident and other costs related to safety violations, and she’ll be able to clearly state how much she saved her employer by “just doing her job.”

That’s important, and she feels good about it. She will not refer to it as an “oh by the way.”

When discussing in an interview she’ll sit forward in her chair; her body language will show engagement; she will enjoy discussing the subject. That makes for a much more powerful interview.
So think about what you’ve done, what you’re proud of, what gave you a deep sense of satisfaction, and write the story of it.

Start by identifying:

The Challenge you faced
The Action you took
The Result

Think of the above as a CAR - moving forward (you’ll also see this expressed as STARS, PARS, etc.). Then, flip the CAR upside-down and add an “S” for Statement and edit your story down to 14 to 25 words, beginning with the Result expressed by a strong Action Verb.

Here’s an example:

Achieved more than $5 million in annual savings through complete implementation of SAP software system and communications infrastructure for all Asia-Pacific Facilities.

And another:

Saved more than $250,000 in re-keying labor hours by identifying an inconsistency in CRM application, alerting IT department to issue, assisting in troubleshooting error, and collaborating on fix testing and resolution implementation.

Once you’ve written your accomplishment statements, you'll use these:

In Cover letters
In Your “Elevator Speech”
In Telephone Interviews
In the Main Body of the Resume
In Networking
In Interviewing
In your Blog/FriendFeed/Plurk/Twitter conversations/VisualCVs and every other social media tool you use

Review the statements to spot patterns of your Traits, Skills, Knowledge and Abilities. This will assist you in writing the Summary Statement which heads the resume, and also will assist you in developing your “Elevator Speech” response to the question, “Tell me a little about yourself.”

This is the foundation exercise for any career transition.

The real bottom-line here is don't wait until you are unemployed to go through this exercise.

This is something you should do once a quarter, every quarter for the rest of your work life. Come up with 3 or 4 quarterly accomplisment statements, and by the end of the year, you'll have a solid history of your work year.

Doing so creates greater engagement conversations no matter your employment status.

If you bump into the CEO in the hall, and he or she asks you “So what have you been doing?” wouldn’t it be great to say “well, I just collaborated on a team that revised our benefits processes and saved the company more than $250,000 a year,” instead of, “Oh you know, same old same old?”

Make this a habit. Go on, do it now.

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No Buts About It

2009-01-25T10:46:00.004-05:00

Eliminate the word "but" from your vocabulary for 24 hours. Stop back here and let me know what you observe.

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HRGuru.com and Karen Masullo

2009-01-20T16:08:00.008-05:00

I'm thrilled to be on the Featured Writers page at HRGuru.com, and if you're not familiar with the wonderful HR community they're building, you should be.

HRGuru, is an independently run hub for the HR community.

Theye’re not simply an anonymous job board, not an index of HR agencies and contact information, but something new and different: a place where your lifelong career needs come home to roost.

Whether you’re considering a career in HR for the first time, or a veteran employee, the aim of HRGuru is to serve you. Uniquely. There’s no other place that brings together the tools, information, and community you need to take action on your career aspirations.

ODesk Releases Top Growth Trends from 2008 Analysis

2009-01-20T15:52:00.006-05:00

oDesk Fastest Growing Skills Of 2008 - Wordpress, SEO, Linux, Drupal, Joomla ...Visit the oDesk website for more information on their services

Since oDesk is a job board for freelance and contract technical jobs, the numbers here may vary from permanent placement job data. There are definitely other skills that are in more demand as noted here and here but these skills represent the greatest increase by percentage in 2008.

Richard Branson Does it Again

2009-01-19T11:33:00.006-05:00

Wouldn't you like to work for this guy? I would. Have your sound on.

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TMobile advert Liverpool Street Station

2009-01-17T23:47:00.004-05:00

Now this is Fun...from JonJon Baker

Support

2009-01-17T14:07:00.015-05:00

We see a lot of Support in our lives: child support, back support, athletic support, remote support, technical support, Microsoft Support, Military Combat Support, finite support (you know who you are), the ever-famous Customer Support, emotional support or the lack thereof, and my subject, employee support.

I think that support is all real employees, the ones who think well and work hard, want. And I think that great companies understand that.

I think that they understand that real support is in allowing an employee to personally define wealth and the wealth of others, allowing them to work at what they do best to grow that wealth, and mentor them to balance along the way.

I do not think saying that you have an employee support program is supportive.

I think you really have an employee support program if you encourage success, address challenge, and teach intellectual virtue along the way.

That’s what I think. What do you think?

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Just a Pause for you to Enjoy

2009-01-15T21:14:00.001-05:00

If you haven't seen Matt Dance across the world, you've missed a great chance to smile :)

Have your sound on, the music is perfect

You Must Watch This

2009-01-14T14:01:00.000-05:00

Saw this on Tim Ferriss' Blog - (see Folks we Like Links) - A bit more than Inspirational - His name is Nic Vujicic.

From Anonymous to Adscititious - How Social Networking has Changed Job Search

2009-01-13T22:18:00.005-05:00

(Alternate title: How I used the Word Adscititious in a Title and Won Fifty Dollars from My Husband)

I am a Geek Girl Groupie from way back. I dreamed of putting resumes on the web in 1994, and heard about this "WWW" thing much earlier; I'd been doing some contract work with Digital in the late 80's, and with Chemical Abstracts in the early 90's, and the Scientists were all abuzz and giddy (which means there were low murmurs and intensely attractive - to me at least - geeky discussions all about the land).

As I watched the Web evolve, it seemed to me that there were (and still are), two distinct groups of users: the Private and the Public.

The Private went off and made millions creating Private type content: "Adult Entertainment" sites, game sites, private chat rooms, casinos, and if you can make it up and want to do it privately they have a site for it stuff, and the Public group did what they do best - they published - publicly. They proudly put their names and reputations out there - sadly in the early days, in funky, animated, florescent font, but you'll have that.

The challenge became and becomes, when those two group types exist in a single user - which I believe goes against the Pauli Exclusion Principle, but hey, I'm no physicist.

At some point, your Private persona may collide with your Public persona and poof! there goes the ‘hood.

I understand if you want to spend half your life on Second Life. I completely understand World of Warcraft, MMORPGs, or Pogo for that matter, which is exactly why I stay away - I understand the time investment and potential traps that exist in maintaining a second persona, or a pseudo-public persona that doesn't complement the professional me.

(At this point you may be asking yourself, "Why is she using so many "Ps?". The answer is that they are surprisingly affordable considering how important they are.)

Here's the issue: let's say you spend hours and hours on a game site, and eventually, the real you starts to creep through your Avatar's skin; people know your "real name", your "real" email.

You use the same Nick or email on a lot of sites, and the web starts to "know" you.

You post and comment on YouTube and some of your content/comments are less than wholesome.

Your Second Life persona uses your real name but is a bit more risqué than the You sitting on your couch in your bathrobe with your laptop and a bowl of popcorn.

Your Blog picture is a photo of you sitting on your couch in your bathrobe with your laptop and a bowl of popcorn.

You Twitter/Tweet/Twinkle/Plurk inanely and are at times abusive and rude.

Your Facebook/Blog/whatever site is an embarrassment to your mother and Puritans everywhere.

Your FriendFeed is one big flame against religion, politics, your ex-, Crocs, etcetera.

Then you get laid-off.

Yup: transitioned, downsized, right-sized, riffed, re-orged, restructured, and made redundant.

So, you update your LinkedIn profile using your personal email "hotchick3479@email.com".

You take a stab at your resume and link to it from your less than professional Blog. When you email the resume, you name the saved, attached file with the generic, forgettable “RESUME.doc” label, and do not check the document properties, so it carries the credentials of the person you copied it from.

You spam your contacts with "Yo, just got laid-off. Anybody hiring?"

And surprisingly, no one contacts you, so you get frustrated and join an "I Hate My Former Company" website, and use your hotchick email to post angry messages, and you point to your aforementioned offensive Blog/Facebook/whatever page.

I tell you from my heart friend, these are not good strategies for impressing a potential employer.

You need to make a choice - either everything you do on the web is the Public You and you're proud of it, or you must be very, very conscious of the radioactive half-life web footprint you leave, IP and otherwise.

Intelligent, public, thoughtful activity on the web can and will lead to intelligent, public, thoughtful interactions off the web if that is your goal.

If you're on the web, to borrow loosely from the Buddha, "all things are with the web".

Everything you have done in the past on the web becomes the first example of your work product and ethic to a potential employer. Remember that.

So, what to do now?

1: Search yourself thoroughly through a variety of engines; not just your name, but your email(s), your Nicks, your YouTube comments and vids, variations on your name (in case one of your buddies posted a nekked Spring Break photo of you on their Facebook page and you had no idea), newsgroups, usergroups, domain registrations, whois, EVERYTHING.

And don't think this advice is just for the Text Generation or the Baby Boomerangers - the longer you've been on the web, the more "stuff" there is about you. That means lawsuit filings, how much you contributed in the last election. Lots.

2: Commit to creating value for other people on the web - in your name. Professional friendships are reciprocal - you can’t just take so you must provide value - I'd like to think this article will be valuable to someone.

3: Use sound, organic SEO strategies to allow this new content to replace (or at least push back) the old. (Lots of references on the web for this, go to the Scobleizer link below for this general subject and he posted a great one in 2008 here).

4: Don't be afraid to be yourself (I know, I know, how cliché is that?) but it's true. If you are a funny person, be humorous, be REAL, be balanced. If you are a real jerk, understand that you will probably end up working with people just like you. Make your choice.

My friend Kelly Love Johnson does a great job of this - she's smart and funny, so when she wrote her book, she successfully handled a professional subject with humor and candor. ‘Gotta love that.

5: Keep people who support you in your effort updated and aware of your status in a respectful manner. I saw a great message on Twitter today from a student to an influential technologist; she was letting him know she got an internship she was seeking, and he was supportive and encouraging in reply.

It was a good moment, and speaks volumes about both of them, in a very public way.

p.s.: Adscititious: to receive with knowledge, approve; ad-, to + sciscere, to seek to know

Next Entry on this subject will be: "Did You Just Text Someone in the Middle of Our Interview?"

p.s.s: If you want to read a very good example of what NOT to do on the web that happened today - see Peter Shankman's Blog article "Be Careful What You Post"

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Hiring in a Recession

2009-01-13T10:26:00.000-05:00

Great Survey compiling data on how folks find employment - bet it's through Networking ;)

Please take a moment and vist: "Survey - Hiring in a Recession"

and read more from Jeremiah Owyang at Web Strategy by Jeremiah

If you are laid off, here’s how to socially network - From Fast Company's Robert Scoble

2009-01-12T21:29:00.000-05:00

Great short read: http://scobleizer.com/

Great way to get introduced to VisualCV

2009-01-12T17:16:00.000-05:00

Register now for tomorrow's VisualCV Webinar "Career Advice for 2009" Tues. Jan. 13, 2009 at 12 noon EST - http://tinyurl.com/5oaag6

http://www.visualcv.com/webinar/

An example - My VisualCV - http://visualcv.com/karenmasullo

WARN ACT COMPLIANCE

2009-01-12T12:19:00.000-05:00

WARN ACT COMPLIANCE and "Baby" WARN ACTS by State

Remembering the news regarding the abrupt closing of Republic Windows and Doors in Illinois, and the media nightmare that ensued drives this important reminder regarding the WARN ACT.

In Illinois, workers had been occupying the Republic Windows and Doors building since its abrupt closing Friday, December 5. They were protesting the loss of what they said is vacation and severance pay they've earned and the lack of notice about the closing. The federal WARN Act requires 60-day notice of a plant's closing.

The law does allow businesses to close without giving the required notice under certain circumstances, such as if another company that is the sole source of income suddenly goes out of business.

Do you really understand the WARN ACT and your responsibilities?

While the following is an overview of the Federal WARN ACT, many States including South Carolina have enacted Baby Warn ACT provisions. Recently, New Jersey joined the ranks of states that have adopted their own form of plant closing and mass layoff statutes to supplement the federal WARN Act provisions. These states include California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

WARN ACT Overview

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) protects workers, their families, and communities by requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide notification 60 calendar days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs.

Employee entitled to notice under WARN include managers and supervisors, as well as hourly and salaried workers. WARN requires that notice also be given to employees' representatives, the local chief elected official, and the state dislocated worker unit.

Advance notice gives workers and their families some transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and obtain other jobs, and, if necessary, to enter skill training or retraining that will allow these workers to compete successfully in the job market.
Generally, WARN covers employers with 100 or more employees, not counting those who have worked less than six months in the last 12 months and those who work an average of less than 20 hours a week.

Employees entitled to advance notice under WARN include managers and supervisors as well as hourly and salaried workers.

Regular federal, state, and local government entities that provide public services are not covered by WARN.

Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) - Who is Covered?

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) generally covers employers with 100 or more employees, not counting those who have worked less than six months in the last 12 months and those who work an average of less than 20 hours a week. Regular federal, state, and local government entities that provide public services are not covered. Employees entitled to notice under WARN include managers and supervisors as well as hourly and salaried workers.

Basic Provisions/Requirements

WARN protects workers, their families, and communities by requiring employers to provide notification 60 calendar days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs. Advance notice gives workers and their families some transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and obtain other jobs and, if necessary, to enter skill training or retraining that will allow these workers to compete successfully in the job market. WARN also provides for notice to state dislocated worker units so that they can promptly offer dislocated worker assistance.

A covered plant closing occurs when a facility or operating unit is shut down for more than six months, or when 50 or more employees lose their jobs during any 30 day period at a single site of employment. A covered mass layoff occurs when a layoff of six months or longer affects either 500 or more workers or at least 33 percent of the employer's workforce when the layoff affects between 50 and 499 workers. The number of affected workers is the total number laid off during a 30 day (or in some cases 90 day) period.

WARN does not apply to closure of temporary facilities, or the completion of an activity when the workers were hired only for the duration of that activity. WARN also provides for less than 60 days notice when the layoffs resulted from closure of a faltering company, unforeseeable business circumstances, or a natural disaster.

Employee Rights

Workers or their representatives, and units of local government may bring individual or class action suits. U.S. district courts enforce WARN requirements. The Court may allow reasonable attorney's fees as part of any final judgment.

Compliance Assistance Available

For general information about WARN, a fact sheet and employer's guide (PDF) are available from the Employment and Training Administration's Web site.

Penalties and Sanctions

An employer who violates the WARN provisions is liable to each employee for an amount equal to back pay and benefits for the period of the violation, up to 60 days. This may be reduced by the period of any notice that was given, and any voluntary payments that the employer made to the employee.

An employer who fails to provide the required notice to the unit of local government is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $500 for each day of violation. The employer may avoid this penalty by satisfying the liability to each employee within three weeks after the closing or layoff.
Relation to State, Local, and Other Federal Laws

WARN does not preempt any other federal, state, or local law, or any employer/employee agreement that requires other notification or benefit. Rather, the rights provided by WARN supplement those provided by other federal, state, or local laws.

We sponsor free webinars or off-site workshops to review the WARN ACT and assist your company in the event of a reduction-in-force activity.To receive more information or schedule a WARN ACT Workshop, contact Karen Masullo toll-free at 866-214-5445 or write to km@willowsmarsh.com

Is Your IT Team Prepared to "Deprovision" Users during a Reduction-in-Force action?

2009-01-12T12:13:00.000-05:00

Critical Information for Reduction-in-Force and Layoff Actions

For any organization experiencing a downsizing, a key step on the RIF project checklist is that of "deprovisioning" employees from internal technology systems. This includes revoking username and password access to sensitive, internal company databases including CRMs, employee portals, and intranets.

Moreover, in addition to the employee's personal access data, companies regularly create testing, administrative, and "dummy" accounts for a variety of purposes, and these are available to a wide group of employees.

From a recent article citing industry leader Courian on this subject, a Courian expert explained:

"Employees can accumulate an average of 15 to 20 user accounts over the course of employment and it typically takes an enterprise three to five minutes to manually turn off each account upon termination. Organizations faced with having to terminate hundreds of thousands, or even millions of accounts, may think that simply terminating an employee's network access is sufficient protection."

If significant downsizing effects the IT team as well as the general employee population, an even greater risk is exposed as there is less labor to accomplish the task, and the IT Team is the very group with greatest access to sensitive information.

Laid-off employees can easily exploit the lag time between being laid off and having all of their accounts shut off to access sensitive company information. Even worse, usernames and passwords pertaining to zombie accounts could be shared or even sold to the highest bidder, giving cyber-criminals access to sensitive information without the need for sophisticated hacking techniques.

Additionally, When confronted with the prospect of layoffs, 71 percent of the employees surveyed declared they would definitely take company data with them to their next employer. Top of the list of desirable information is the customer and contact databases, with plans and proposals, product information, and access/password codes all proving popular choices, the study says.

For enterprise-level organizations, to manually deprovision thousands of accounts - assuming an average of three minutes per account - would require tens of thousands of labor hours. During the lag time in turning off accounts, the organization would be an easy target for data theft.

In a recent Cisco-sponsored survey of 2,000 employees and IT professionals, the responses showed that one in 10 end-users had either stolen technology, accessed someone else's computer, stolen information and sold it, or knew of co-workers who did.

To receive more information or schedule an off-site RIF Planning Workshop, contact Karen Masullo toll-free at 866-214-5445 or write to km@willowsmarsh.com

In Times of Uncertain Employment – Don’t Panic

2009-01-12T11:22:00.000-05:00

In Times of Uncertain Employment - Don't Panic

As a Career Transition professional with more than twenty years of enterprise-level experience, I know that many individuals will seek career advice during what is certainly a troubling time in our economy.

While the below points are true at any time in an employee's career life, they are particularly important to remember given the current unemployment market and uncertainty in Banking and ancillary financial sectors.

1: Don't Panic. Jumping ship without knowing the depth of the water is never wise. Career Transition takes assessment and planning; use this time for self-review and preparation.

2: Your Company may be in flux, but may also be planning to provide you services should a release of workforce be required. These services may include professional career transition and individual outplacement coaching services, severance and/or early retirement packages, job search workshops, career center services, job fairs, and other programs to assist you should a career transition be required. Take advantage of all services offered.

3: Your State Government will work in concert with your company and an Outplacement Services provider to assure you understand the separation process, and all benefits and services available to you.

4: Do not pull out your old resume and simply add your latest position and title. Resumes must be thoughtful and accomplishment oriented; the thought you put into this document is the foundation for your clear articulation of your value to a future employer in telephone interviews, networking conversations, and the interview itself. More important, it is the first work product example you present to your next employer - give it the effort it deserves.

5: Never underestimate the value of interview practice. Outplacement program providers may include video-taping of your interview practice, and you may be surprised what you see upon playback. It is an invaluable exercise. Never wait until an actual interview to think of your answers to important questions.

6: While at work, do not foster the rumor-mill, do not spend time online posting on job boards, or add negativity to an already highly charged, stressful environment. Continue to contribute in a meaningful way, and document your accomplishments during this time. Should a workforce transition occur, you will transition more easily if you can demonstrate to your future employer, your continued contribution to your present employer's challenges.

7: If you need help, ask for it. Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers are there to help you. Additionally, Managers can help ease employee concerns by offering seminars covering the support services their companies provide.

8: Do not be defined by your current job title or locked in to your current industry. Look at new ways to use your skill-set within your current company, or should career transition be imminent, in alternate industries and businesses. While legacy positions leave the marketplace, new ones are created.

9: Build and maintain long-term, professional friendships. Do not "use" your network - rather, look for ways you can help others in your network; provide value. You are not alone in your fears, and this is no time to live in a bubble.

10: Learn about Social Media and Networking. NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK. Explore new tools like visualcv.com to enhance your Network's ability to access your information.

Our team has successfully worked with hundreds of employees and employers through challenging economic times, and we know that Career Transition requires a well-followed plan, not panic. Use your time well, and should a workforce transition occur, you will be ready to move forward successfully.

Have a question? Ask me - km@willowsmarsh.com
Follow me on Twitter: Ask me on Twitter
My Visual CV: My VisualCV

Thank You for Serving - for Military to Civilian Resume

2008-02-23T17:21:00.000-05:00

One of the more challenging Job Search tasks for returning Military service personnel involves the conversion of Military documentation to a civilian resume.

The challenge is to translate lengthy military documents and experience to relevant business terms for the civilian marketplace.

Remember, your finished resume is the first work example you are presenting to the employer. View the document and the effort you put in to it from that perspective.

One Willows-Marsh Career Transition expert relates:

"I love working with former Service personnel. They have tremendous experience, skills, and accomplishments. Plus, when I give them "homework", they actually do it!

There is however, a good deal of self reflection required. The biggest challenge is getting a former Service person to talk about accomplishments in terms of their individual contribution, not the unit's, and to turn it into civilian-speak."

Where do you start?

In our workshops and private consultations, there is a significant amount of Assessment work that precedes the resume writing, but for our purposes here, let's assume you have participated in a Skills Inventory exercise.

First, gather all of your relevant service documentation together in one place. (You may have done this exercise already if you have been through a TAP workshop). This list may include:

MILITARY SERVICE
• Separation Papers – DD Form 214 (certified copy or copy 4)
• Training Record
• Honors and Awards
• DD FORM 2586 - Verification of Military Experience and Training
• Service Record
• Medical Record
• Benefits
• Work History (job titles, employers, duties, accomplishments)
• Work Samples
• Honors and Citations
• Community Activities
• Salary History
• Licenses
• Certifications
PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION
• Birth Certificate (copy)
• Proof of Citizenship
• Social Security Card
• Passport (current)
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
• Transcripts
• Diplomas/Certificates
• Honors
• Activities List

Once you have that done, put it all aside for the moment, but do get everything organized and ready at-hand.

Next, we'll start with a draft SUMMARY statement. The Summary statement is the short, opening statement of your resume, and paints the picture of who you are to your prospective employer.

We start with this draft and hone and edit until the Summary is about 2-3 sentences, with each sentence at 14-25 words. Your Word program won't like the fragmentary style and long sentence structure, but you get to break some rules with resumes.

So, Who Are You?

The best way to start the Summary statement is to write a very short story. We're going to edit this, so put as much as you need to for now. In this short story, talk about yourself as a character, and describe your traits.

Give one or two honest words of description (your traits), to start out, Title yourself toward your career focus, and add the word "with" to the end:

Articulate, highly-motivated Critical Technology Systems Analyst with

Results-oriented, multi-lingual former Military Captain with...

Then answer the question "With What?" This is the area to add either years of experience, key abilities in a specific area that you bring to the table, or both.

Example: Articulate, highly-motivated Critical Technology Systems Analyst with more than eight years experience in global Data Privacy and Security

Now add the words "complemented by." It's important to describe your complementary skills, abilities, and/or traits because no person is one thing only.

Example: Articulate, highly-motivated Critical Technology Systems Analyst with significant experience in global Data Privacy and Security policies, complemented by more than 2200 hours of highly-rated, Train the Trainer workshop leadership.

Once you have one Statement written, write one or two more, and in the next post, we'll look at editing and fitting them together.

NOTE: This work is more than a Summary statement and your resume. It's about self-reflection, and becoming comfortable with who you know you are, and what you know you do.

More important, once you work through this exercise, the exercise of your Elevator Speech will be that much easier!

Call Toll-Free: 866-214-5445

Vice President Human Resources - Confidential Search - Boston

2008-02-23T06:58:00.000-05:00

(Closed - archived)
February 21, 2009

VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES FOR A DIVISION OF A GLOBAL CONSUMER PRODUCTS COMPANY LOCATED WEST OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

DIRECT REPORT TO: Executive Vice President, North America.

DOTTED LINE REPORT: Group Director, Human Resources

Global Parent Company, United Kingdom

REPORTING TO THE POSITION: Director (in Massachusetts operation) and Manager (in
Canadian operation). Total HR staff of
five.

PEERS: Vice President, Operations; Vice President, Finance & Administration; Vice President, Sales.

2008 SALES: $200 MILLION.

CORE OBJECTIVES: manage the integration of three operating units; this is a "Greenfield" opportunity to create HR systems to support the Division's growth.

NATURE OF THE MARKET: Growing consumer product market that continues to do well even in this Global Recession.

MUST HAVES

A. Consumer Products experience.
B. Experience negotiating union contracts and working within a unionized environment.
C. Ability to start an HR function from ground zero.
D. Experience working in a matrix environment.
E. Success in Post-M&A talent integration.

OUR CLIENT:

Our client is an important global player in the $10 Billion consumer products segment. In general, the market is mature and stable. It remains stable even during economic downturns. Within this market, however, our client operates in a niche that is growing at 14% per year.

This is a private company established in 1932. It has operations around the world.

The North American Division is one of the key operating centers. North American headquarters are located less than an hour West of Boston, Massachusetts. There are marketing, R&D, and manufacturing units located near San Francisco and Toronto. Global headquarters are located in the UK.

The North American Division represents 23% of total global sales.

THE EMPLOYEE POPULATION

The North American Division has approximately 550 employees and some of these employees are unionized. 50% of the employee population is female and there is a strong Puerto Rican employee segment within the Massachusetts manufacturing group.

This is the first time that a VP of Human Resources has been hired. The initial task of the successful incumbent will be to learn the culture and the HR systems in place and to make recommendations for what HR policies/practices ought to be changed or kept in place.

The three Operating units have distinctive cultures and histories. One of the challenges will be to knit these operating units into a cohesive whole while respecting unique national, regional, legal, and cultural differences, And this will be accomplished while respecting the unique traditions of the parent company in the UK.

Other areas include HR strategy, and day- to-day HR operations.

COMPENSATION:
Competitive salary and bonus; benefits; 401K plan; relocation.

NEXT STEPS:
Forward resumes in confidence to:
Larry Stybel
STYBEL PEABODY ASSOCIATES, INC.,
a Lincolnshire International Company.
lstybel@stybelpeabody.com
www.stybelpeabody.com

Please let Mr. Stybel know you were referred by Karen Masullo from Willows-Marsh in SC, via this Blog and/or Twitter for immediate consideration. km@willowsmarsh.com

Please review the position requirements and level to assure you meet before replying. Good luck and let us know if you are successful!

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