5 Reasons to Use Job Boards in Your Job Search

The world of job search is a little like the current Republican race for the presidential nomination: the lead contender is constantly shifting. In job search, although networking has always been king, the ways to do it are constantly evolving along with technology.

While searching for a job and applying online through big boards was judged to be a worthwhile activity some years ago, now there are new big kids on the block: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, in that order.

What do we know about how effective job boards actually are at yielding new hires? Richard Bolles in What Color is Your Parachute 2011, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, estimates your job board success rate at 4-10%. CareerXroads found in a 1/2011 study that 25% of hires from external sources come from job boards. Why the difference? One reason is that a lot of hires come from within a company or from employee referrals, so a correspondingly higher percentage of hires come from job boards.

Still, whether the number is the 1% (est. # of hires from Monster.com), the 4-10% or the 25%, spending your time on job boards is not the best use of your time.

However...you will still find many (most) of job seekers spending a lot of time on job boards. So what is the seductiveness of using job boards? 

▪    It's easy. You can roll out of bed and open your favorite job boards and see some that look good to you. You don't have to pick up the phone and cold call or even call a networking contact. 

▪    It's simple. The jobs give you title, often name of company, job description, requirements, and instructions for applying. You can form a picture in your mind of the job and of you doing it. You don't have to network your way into an organization seeking one of the hidden jobs whose names or requirements you may not know. 

▪    It feels proactive. You can submit your resume to any number of positions and feel a sense of accomplishment (whether warranted or not).

▪    You can do it when you feel tired or discouraged. Job search is so hard. Let's face it. Networking, whether traditional or enabled by social media, requires enough moxie to actually do it. You may not always have the energy or the courage at that particular moment.

▪    Betting is fun. Yes, you say to yourself, the percentages don't look great, but I just might be one of those who gets hired this way.

I actually think these are all acceptable reasons to give job boards a shot, particularly the niche job boards or company job portals. Even though the percentages are dwarfed by the other, more effective methods, THERE ARE TIMES WHEN YOU NEED A BREAK. No one can be on their best game 100% of the time. It's simply not possible. Why not use the slack time to surf the boards and apply to a few jobs? It's a better bet than playing Angry Birds.

Just as the food police say that eating healthy fats should be a modest part of one's daily diet, so keeping an eye on job boards specializing in your function or industry can be a small part of a highly effective job search campaign. So keep networking and leveraging social media, but, when you need to, relax and do what's easy. Happy New Year!

from Careerhubblog.com 

How To Kill A Presentation

I am sure each of you have made presentations that you wish you could do over. I know there are a couple I sure wish I could turn back the clock and redo. Over the years, even though we have all mastered the presentation process we have to be reminded of things not to do. So I have compiled 10 of them for you as a reminder when you do your next executive, group, or company presentation:

1. don't "wing" it
2. being fake (not being real in your delivery)
3. Forget the name of the person who introduces you, taking a stab at him/her or get it wrong in the pronunciation
4. lean on the podium
5. contradict the previous speaker
6. apologize for not being prepared
7. read every word, slide and not making eye contact with the audience
8. tell a long story that has no relevance to your presentation
9. forget your opening sentence, and
10. show slides that were a repeat from a previous presentation.

I thought I would give you some helpful hints since January is usually a kickoff to the new year. Good luck. If you think I have missed a key point please email me at wgstevene2@gmail.com 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year  from Innovativehrstrategy

An Essential Characteristic of Winning Cultures: Allowing for Failure

by Ron Alvesteffer, December 19, 2011

There is a fatal mistake that too many organizations make when they grow. It happens quietly when leaders are unintentional about creating the right culture. The mistake is the formation of bureaucracy and a cultural aversion of risk.

One of the fatal flaws of bureaucracy is the creation of rules that limit talent, including those that discourage talent to experiment for fear of failure. I once heard someone describe the fear of failure as a wet blanket that extinguishes the fire of innovation and I agree.

Great ideas are created by individuals- innovators- and organizations must not only attract innovators, they must keep them. Talent begets innovation, and innovation will only grow in cultures that embrace risk and have a tolerance for failure. If a culture is risk-averse, talent leaves and an organization is left with individuals who simply want to coast in a safe environment.

When I look back on many of the successes we’ve experienced at SEI, I see a clear and intentional process that gave our team license to fail forward.

Sometimes the process meant taking two steps forward and then one step back. But if we were to penalize individuals for having taken that one step back, as all too many bureaucratic organizations do, they would have been less inclined to take the next two steps forward.

Ideas and solutions are very rarely successful in their first iteration. Success is an evolutionary process of failing then refining; failure is an incubator of success.

Thomas Edison said, “I never failed once. It just happened to be a 2000-step process.” Failure is only failure when you don’t allow it to propel you forward.

At the SEI Technology Center, our team who tests complex computer servers rewards “extreme technical bravery” with an actual brick. “The intention is not to reward success or failure, but to encourage individuals to take risks in order to further their understanding of the technology they work with,” that according to Jake Blough, our Manager at the Technology Center. “The award is given to those individuals who take risks and “brick” machines, and is also given to those who miraculously bring the machines back to life. For us, success is having a better understanding of the machines and that can only happen when our teams feel like they have the freedom to test them to the breaking point.”

I encourage risk-takers who have a plan and who can articulate strategy to go after it. The key for leaders is understanding healthy failure from the unhealthy kind. The loss of a customer because an individuals doesn’t return phone calls is failure to be sure, but not the kind that should be embraced.

This person echoes my sentiments on how to manage and run businesses. Kill the bureaucracy so people can grow and add value to the business. 

Board Relationships

Every CHRO must have a good solid relationship with the board of their company. The CHRO must also be aware not to get caught in the middle between the Board and the CEO when it comes to strategy and performance issues with his boss. As you know, this happens more than is written about. 


HR leaders need to tread carefully when dealing with issues of their CEO such as compensation, executive perks, performance, abusive behavior, and management of talent just to name a few. If the CHRO does get into the middle it could be a career ending situation wither with his/her CEO or with the Board itself. I have a friend in Missouri who was in this exact situation and had to relay to the Board that his CEO was wrong for the job and had issues with the CFO what was hurting the company. He turned out ok, the Board trusted him and the CEO left the company. 


Word to the wise, when you are sitting at the table and I mean the Board table, be careful on how you interface with them when your CEO is there. Also word to the wise, never try to cover up anything. 


Have you been in between the Board and your CEO and how was your outcome? 

Is E-Mail Passe'

I a recent article in HR Executive magazine, Michael O'Brien writes that more and more companies are communicating internally through their own IM(instant messaging) or external IM providers. Although e-mail remains an important communication tool, the increased use of real-time technology is drowning out delayed communication methods. In a survey of over 1,400 CIOs say that extinction may soon be calling for the once revolutionary mode of communication. Part of the change in communication is being influenced by the growing human capital shift from "boomers" to Millenials and the Gen Ys. As they continue to populate the workplace this could have an escalation effect on emails' demise.

If this is true, as O'Brien says, HR must take the lead on training and communication to employees how to use the right mode of communication for a message.

How has your company adopted IM technology and is it a prime or secondary means of communication?

Does Telecommuting Hinder Your Career Growth?

a reprint form Computerworld's Eric Bloom on 11.28.11

I work within a large IT organization and the people in my department have been given the opportunity to work from home. If I do, does it reduce my opportunities for promotion and/or increase my chances of getting laid off?

First, thanks for asking. It’s great to get questions from my IT world readers. In short, the answer to your question regarding the effect of telecommuting on promotions and layoffs is that it depends on the following:

• Your company’s culture and norms regarding telecommuting
• The percentage of people at your company that work remotely
• How visible you can be on a day-to-day basis to your boss and others
• How effectively you can perform your job remotely

Now let’s discuss these items one at a time.

Your company’s culture

Companies, like people, have specific values, strengths, weaknesses, prejudices, and, dare I say, personalities. That said, consider the following questions when deciding if you want to telecommute:

• Is the company technically equipped with conference room speakers, remote computer access, and tools needed to facilitate efficient work from outside the office?
• Does your company conceptually support telecommuting or does it simply tolerate it?
• Can you remotely participate in important department discussions?
• Is there an out-of-site-out-of-mind mentality for those working out of the office?
• Is your boss supportive of telecommuting or is he/she begrudgingly providing the option because it’s company policy?
• Are virtual teams at your company managed well or managed poorly?

Percent of people working remotely

The reason I ask this question is that if a high percentage of people work from home and/or business groups are generally spread over multiple physical locations, then needed work-related processes are (or should be) in place to accommodate remote workers. If, however, you will be the only team member working remotely, you will most likely often be forgotten, not with any animosity, just due to people forgetting to call you. As previously said, you will be out-of-sight-out-of-mind.

How visible can you be from home?

The reason for this question is that some jobs, by their nature, are more connected to the people you work with than others. For example, if you are a software tester and are continually communicating with programmers, users, and other testers by email, via formal bug reports, and by phone to discuss issues, you can be very internally visible. If, however, you write documentation or provide phone-based customer support, by the nature of your job, you will be less interactive with your boss and teammates. With this second scenario, it will be much harder for you to have high office visibility from home.

How effective can you be remotely?

Certain job types are better than others regarding working remotely. For example, generally speaking, it is easier for a programmer to work from home than for a business analyst if the business analyst needs to interview users as part of the writing a functional specification for a new software application.

There is one additional potential option for you. Instead of working from home all the time, consider splitting your time between telecommuting and working at the office. That is to say, work from home two or three days a week and the remainder of the time at the office. This could potentially give you the best of both worlds, some time working at home and some visibility at the office.

In closing, telecommuting can work out wonderfully for both you and your company if, and only if, the company and your job are structured in a way that facilitates its success.

If you have any questions about your career in IT, please email me at
eric@ManagerMechanics.com or find me on Twitter at @EricPBloom.

Until next time, work hard, work smart, and continue to grow.