Corporate Eye

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Cynthia Giles

Cynthia Giles

Summer Reading


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Suppose you wanted to take some books to the beach and catch up on the latest ideas and the best practices in corporate website design, employer branding, and online recruiting . . .

Okay, use your imagination!  You might want to do that, and if so, here are some candidates for your bookbag:

The latest edition of a great annual showcase, American Corporate Identity 2008, presents examples from companies that are noteworthy in a variety of categories, from logos to websites to print to packaging.  You can also see examples and browse other volumes online at American Graphic Design & Advertising.

Though I haven’t read Brand for Talent:  Eight Essentials to Make Your Talent as Famous as Your Brand, I respect the authors (brand experts Mark Schumann and Libby Sartain), and I like their rationale for using the much-abused term “talent”:

While the employer brand must resonate with people on the inside of a business, the talent brand must attract segments of workers to join, stay, and engage.

FYI:  There’s a Kindle edition for those lucky folk who can take a thousand books to the beach in one bag.

A book I have read (and love) talks about branding in a much more general sense.  The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes, by Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson, takes a story-based approach to the topic of brand creation and offers fascinating advice that can be applied to any aspect of the enterprise.   At the very least, it will make you think about the topic in a new way.

On the cutting edge, I like the looks of Get Connected:  The Social Networking Toolkit for Business, by Starr Hall and Chadd Rosenberg.  It’s not even published yet (forthcoming September 1, according to Amazon) and I’ve never heard of the authors.  But the table of contents covers all the right material and the approach looks both organized and interesting.

Barely off the press is The Green Workplace: Sustainable Strategies that Benefit Employees, the Environment, and the Bottom Line, by Leigh Stringer. Chris Hood, Program Manager for the HP Workplace, says “This is one of the most useful books I have ever read,” and Alicia R. Martin, Sustainability Manager for Sprint, calls it “A must-read for any company, regardless of its place on the green spectrum.”  So I’m cautiously optimistic.

And–you can download a free excerpt at The Green Workplace blog.

If you’d rather close your eyes and tune into the MP3 player, download an interview with Talent Synchronicity’s mastermind, Susan Burns.  Or you could watch this video interview with Susan on your netbook.

Let me know if you love/hate any of these items, and/or if you have other suggestions for summer reading!


(Thanks to Giulio Nepi for capturing the great feel of reading at the beach.)


Twitterama

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My Spidey-sense tells me it’s time for another post on Twitter, so I’ve gathered up some of the best articles, ideas, and resources that flitted across my browser during the past few months, and here they are, with brief notes:

1.   I recently sent a Twitter “survival kit” to some small business friends who are struggling a bit with their tweeting efforts.  Here’s what I included:

2.  The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter starts at a basic level, but goes much further–and offers great graphic examples.

3.  For those further along (or just curious), here’s an assortment of good Twitter discussions:

4.  See what happened at TWTRConSF, and find out what’s coming up at TWTRConDC (in October).

5.  To get the most out of Twitter, it’s a big help to have the right tools.  Here’s an overview of general purpose tools, plus a link to one tool designed especially for businesses that use Twitter:

6.  About Twitter for recruiting:

Of course, the burning question continues to burn.  Will Twitter become a permanent feature of online life, dwindle away as the novelty wears off, be replaced by something completely new/different, change dramatically, or . . . ?  Remains to be seen, but in the meantime, it makes sense to engage with Twitter–but do it smartly.


A Virtuality Update


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In 2007, there was a lot of publicity around recruiting in virtual environments, especially Second Life.  Since then “real life” employment events have been held in Second Life, but the concept hasn’t exactly taken off.  So the recent announcement of an Amazon Job Fair in Second Life was newsworthy.

The Amazon fair was held on July 14, but I haven’t found any updates on how it went.  However–you can see some pictures of what it would/did look like.  And check out some advice for virtual attendees.

Working Worlds will be having a Second Life Career Fair in the autumn, mainly for European companies.  And according to SecondLife Update, there are some other recruiting events scheduled.

But all in all, there seem to be some significant barriers to the development of recruiting in a complex virtual space like Second Life.  For one thing, the number of Second Lifers is shrinking, and they are the folks more likely to attend an event or connect with a recruiter on SL.  For those not already into Second Life, there’s a significant learning curve involved with attending an event, especially with the less tech-savvy.  And the general idea/ambiance of Second Life is not appealing to everyone.

On the other hand, Sgt. STAR–the “virtual recruiter” at GoArmy–is user friendly and might have real appeal, especially for the Army’s younger target audience.  Also, it’s a good fit for their “new Army” message.  The whole idea of a virtual recruiter works well in a situation like this, where visitors may not want to interact with a real person, but will appreciate the illusion of a personalized connection.

There’s a very nice example of a businesslike virtual guide (a “real” person, not an animation) on the website at Shaker Communications, a company that offers an array of virtual options for recruiting advertising.  Meet her on the “Who We Are” page.

Shaker also creates virtual job fairs, and with some success apparently.  A recent event they produced with CTJobs “drew over 1,800 job seekers from across the state, with 14 local companies exhibiting and recruiting for hiring opportunities.”  And their exclusive event for Allstate attracted a similar number of attendees.  According to Allstate, “the virtual environment made it easy for candidates to submit their resumes for opportunities that matched their qualifications, have a live chat with our Allstate recruiters, or set up a phone interview.”

None of these instances seems to indicate a virtual recruiting boom on the horizon–but it’s still true that the possibilities seem interesting, especially for certain types of employers and certain target audiences.  So the space is at least worth watching.


(Thanks to Pathfinder Linden for the snapshot of a panel discussion hosted on June 23, 2006 in Second Life by the Berkman Center at Harvard University.)


The Rational Tortoise and the Relational Hare


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I’m a Solver!

That is–I belong to “the first global web community for open innovation, enabling scientists, engineers, professionals and entrepreneurs to collaborate to deliver breakthrough solutions for innovative R&D-driven organizations,” aka Innocentive.

Innocentive connects “Seekers” (companies that need solutions) with a pool of 175,000+ registered “Solvers.”  Solvers who come up with potential solutions compete for cash awards offered by the Seeker.  Although anyone can register as a Solver, most of the problems are highly technical, so I rarely get to compete.  But I’m fascinated by the amazing array of problems posted.  For example . . . once company needs a “Fast Hydrating Reference Electrode with Constant Potential in Thick Film Technology” while another seeks something that will make men want to shave more often.

It’s also interesting to read the Innocentive blog–and here’s where we get to the point.  In a recent post, Chief Innovation Evangelist Steve Shapiro observes: “From my research on innovation personality styles, I have observed that there are two broad ways of solving challenges: relational/creative and rational/analytical.”  And that observation is linked to some recent studies about brain function, explained in this excellent overview in the Wall Street Journal.

Short version:  Some solutions appear in a flash of insight, others are arrived at by methodical reasoning, and these processes use different parts of the brain.  Also, insight doesn’t really happen in a moment–it’s the product of brainwork that may have been going on in the background for quite a while.

(I’ve nicknamed these styles Hare and Tortoise, mostly because that’s more fun.)

So now for the relevance . . .

Consider who comes to a company’s Career site.  Not just Tortoises (who probably analyze the Benefits page and look for detailed descriptions of career paths and job responsibilities).  And not just Hares (who are likely to watch the videos and zoom around the site looking for interesting features).  There will be both kinds of visitors, no matter what the business line is or who the target audience might be.

There are Hares among the engineers and Tortoises in the marketing department. And many people are a mix of both.  So a great website will have plenty to offer relational thinkers as well as rationalists.

Ultimately, you want the best candidates to apply.  Some will “decide” to apply because they have weighed advantages and identified a suitable fit.  Some will “choose” to apply because they have a good feeling about the company or think they might like the job.  Offering content and tools for both groups will ensure that all good prospects make it into the applicant pool.


(Our Tortoise and Hare are from The Æsop for Children, illustrated by Milo Winter.  Thanks to Project Gutenberg.)


A Tale of Two Booksellers

It’s no secret that Borders has been struggling.  Top competitor Barnes & Noble has been a bit savvier (for example, selling off its mall-based stores sooner rather than too late), so it’s in relatively better shape.

But the reality is–traditional bookselling has been hit hard by a variety of economic and cultural factors, and the whole business model is in the midst of a huge, painful, and irreversible shift.  The market for CDs and DVDs, formerly a staple at both chains, is declining rapidly; downloadable books a la Kindle are on the ascendency; and the old, centralized publishing industry is rapidly being overtaken by a diffuse, diverse assortment of alternative publishing strategies.

So what’s the good news?  Not much yet.  But necessity is indeed mothering up some invention in the book world, and that’s a good reason to take a look at the Career sites of the two largest booksellers in America.

It’s fair to say there is no comparison.  B&N is bookish and buttoned up, while Borders is salsa-dancing hot.  Seriously.

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Unfortunately, I  couldn’t find out when this design was implemented at Borders, so there’s no way of relating it to their overall business situation or marketing approach.  However, last year Borders took back its online operations from Amazon (after 17 years), and the Careers area may have been updated when the retail site was built.

Also unfortunately–there’s no way of knowing whether Borders gets better/more applicants through its site than B&N.  But for what it’s worth, they’ve done the right things at a fundamental level:  highlighting special opportunities (front-page AARP feature) and culture (front-page diversity feature); offering substantive information on benefits, as well as detailed position descriptions; and providing a seamless search-and-apply process.  (Barnes & Nobles does not have online search and application–listings are outsourced to HotJobs.)

No bells and whistles–videos, Flash, etc., at the Borders site.  A nice look and feel, though, suitable for a book business trying to reinvent itself in the digital age.  I had the impression that job-seekers are being invited along for an interesting adventure.

On the other hand, I definitely prefer the design of the customer-facing pages at Barnes & Noble over Borders.  So one wonders:  Is B&N behind the Careers curve because of complacency?  Do they have something new in the works?  Or . . . ?

To end on a high note, here’s a book-related reward for reading all the way to the end of the post!  A link to Librarians Gone Wild.  Yes, it’s highlights of the Golden Book Cart Drill Championships–and if you need further enticement, I’ll just mention that there are swords involved.


The Scary Thing about Social Media

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CIOZone just published a smart article by Michael Neubarth called Social Media:  How We Got Here, Where We’re Going.  It’s fairly long, and worth reading, so I won’t try to summarize all the content-which includes a backward look at a decade of predictions about the fate of mass marketing.

I just want to focus on this statement:  “Like the fall of the Berlin Wall, many observers say we are witnessing the collapse of the command-and-control power of corporate mass marketing.”

That’s a much bigger message than “you can’t afford to ignore Twitter.”  That’s the end of the world as we know it.

And fall of the wall requires a huge adjustment in strategy, not just some revision of tactics.  The story goes on to quote Tim Walker’s piece Social media: Control without command (on Hoover’s Business Insight Zone):

What’s required on the part of companies is to let go of the fantasy of command: You will not “command” the airwaves. You will not “command” the conversations around your offerings in the marketplace. Also, you will not “command” your employees, who can access all sorts of scary hiring-market information via LinkedIn and Jobster and Monster and Craigslist and the rest.

I added the italics, to focus attention on the effects this shift will have-and is having-on HR.  Just take it one step further, adding the caution that “you will not ‘command’ your candidates.”  The best prospects are already looking for something much more than one-way messaging and a one-size-fits-all application process.

Neubarth’s article is blunt about the stiff mental challenge this evolution presents for many corporations and executives.  Walker’s suggestion:

The antidote for this loss of command: just get over it. Historical and technological forces are against you, and those corporations and executives who insist on retaining command are destined to failure.

But you can exert a modicum of control. You can shape a conversation. You can rebut erroneous information about your company or your product. You can harness transparency so that it works for you. You can grow into the language of the social media so that you fall naturally into the mode of persuasion-and-recruitment rather than command-and-control.

Elsewhere in Neubarth’s article, there’s a discussion of Seth Godin’s concept of the “meatball sundae” (check out this podcast introduction), in which companies try to dress up old attitudes and ideas (the meatball) with some whipped cream and sprinkles.  Not an appetizing thought–even if the meatball might be tasty in itself!

Relevant question:   Has your company’s online recruiting strategy really shifted away from old models?  Or is it just dressed up with some creamy videos and a sprinkle of tweets?


(Thanks to Chris Breeze for the Very Scary Faces.)