featured in a list of Recruitment Thought Leaders

I really am not a recruiter, but feel incredibly honored to be featured in this list of Recruitment Thought Leaders along with these amazing list of people I have followed via the internet for a long time!

Community Managers - What do they do?

In my previous post, I stated that soon Recruiters and Hiring Manager would evolve from users of search engines and headhunters - to also adding their skill sets by becoming Talent Community Managers.

A valid question is - what does an Online Community Manager do? What are the skill sets, and what is the nature of this new emerging role? Do they really tweet and facebook all day long? A dream job for social networking addicts, perhaps?

Here's an interesting post on the Responsibilities of Community Managers by Itamar Kestenbaum (@tweetamar) on the Techipedia blog.

Here's what the key roles are according to him:

1. Make friends in the Industry
2. Look at boring stats and make them interesting
3. Have a little knowledge of SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
4. Develop Relationships with Clients
5. Get Co-Workers Involved Online
6. Organize Logistics of Social Media generated Operations
7. Connect Good-Will for brand
8. Work with web developers to update your site to web2.0
9. Strategize with your webmaster to create a better conversion
10. Create and Execute Email Blasts

As more and more organizations move into managing online communities of customers, partners and employees - be prepared to see more and more roles being added to this list.

Until then - go ahead and read the full post.

If you are a Community Manager I would love to hear from you! Drop me an email :)

cross posted at the 2020 Social Blog

Use Cases for Talent and Employee Communities

Over at the 2020 Social Blog we've been thinking hard about the various ways in which organizations can leverage different kinds of social tools and technologies to connect and build conversations.

One of the ways we've started to articulate it over the last few weeks is focusing on use cases.

So thinking about what organizations could do to build talent communities and employee communities we came up with this presentation

2020 Social Decoding Employee Communities Mar 2010

View more presentations from 2020 Social.

Today, I try and extend this framework to look at the various ways organizations and people communicate.


So if you look at the diagram above , communication can be from few to many, few to few, many to few and between many to many.

So the implications for Talent and Employee Communities are quite different

Take a look at the use cases given below

These can also be represented in the Employee Life Cycle - where an Alumni community also comes to the fore

What examples do you have to share on how your organization has utilized social technologies for cultivating Talent and Employee Communities?

4% increase in Hiring in India in Jan, says Naukri

Interesting data shared by Naukri about increase in hiring level in India.

• Hiring in Mumbai at an all time high: The index for Mumbai at 748 in Jan '10 is noted as the highest index for the city in the last one year
• Uptrend witnessed in all sectors: Hiring activity increased across most sectors in Jan '10 after the holiday season lull in Dec '09
• Good news for IT and Sales professionals: Professionals in IT, BPO, Sales and Accounts saw increased demand, while the demand for professionals in production and maintenance retracted

 You can download the pdf report here

It's raining jobs?

So says this rather extra positive report in the Economic Times:

Global consultancy firms Accenture, Deloitte, banks StanChart and Barclays and Indian IT giant Infosys all have announced hiring plans that would see the creation of at least 13,000 jobs in India by the end of next year.

Personally, I think a news item about 13000 jobs being added is not in any sense of the term flooded. Specially since the unemployment rate in India is still around 7%.

Jobs situation improving in India

I guess we all knew it, but now the numbers prove it. However I'd have to say that 2009-10 is looking much better!

New job creation dropped by over 40 per cent in 2008-09, with 469 companies studied having recruited 1,35,987 employees during the year under review, compared to 2,28,968 in the 2007-08.

The banking sector, State Bank of India in particular, has come to the rescue, while software service companies are employing less numbers compared to the previous year. The latter sector was a major job creator in the past five years and is now facing a slowdown in business from BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sectors on account of the financial crisis abroad. Of 36 software services’ companies studied, hiring increased by 69,430 in 2008-09, compared to 103,118 in 2007-08.

The crash in stock prices after the liquidation of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 had hurt new employment in securities and commodities trading service firms, while the liquidity crunch saw construction companies pruning staff strength due to the slowing in demand for housing and commercial offices. Sectors such as automobiles, steel, textiles, hotels and media also pruned hiring due to the slowdown.

The HT tells us the good news :-)

Automobile firms, some of which clocked record sales in September mirroring strong consumer demand, appear to have recruited the most. A labour ministry survey showed the sector recruited 18,000 additional employees in April-June.

Information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO), sectors heavily dependent on overseas contracts, appear to be doing well. The survey showed that the “non-exporting” (companies that do not earn significant revenues from overseas clients) IT and BPO companies hired an additional 15,000 employees during the April-June quarter, the survey showed.

Recruitment agencies and headhunting firms confirmed that enquiries by prospective employers have started trickling in and many expect hiring to grow sharply after January.

“Leadership positions are opening up but jobs across the board will open up only by January to March as employers are cautious of over hiring,” Rajesh AR, vice president at Bangalore-based staffing firm TeamLease Services.

Jobs at Gautamghosh.net

This is a small announcement - if you're looking for talent - or are a job seeker, I'll be posting openings (for free) on behalf of companies that are hiring at

http://gautamghosh.net/category/jobs

If you'd like to stay updated on the latest jobs there you can sign up via email here.

Jobs and Employment creation in India

While a lot of ink is used on focus on jobs in the - what people usually forget is that a majority of Indians work in what is referred to as the "unorganized sector". This sector has to be the focus of attention if the country has to emerge faster from the economic slowdown. Take a look at this old post by Dr. Madhukar Shukla on the future of work and employment in India.

Now a ILO report has stressed the need again. From an article in Mint:

“Employment creation by itself will be a stimulus for growth as purchasing power will increase and, therefore, local demand can be created, provided remuneration is adequate and monitored,” said the report sponsored by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The report also called for the implementation of a statutory national minimum wage and easier credit for micro, small and medium enterprises, and emphasized that benefits from financial incentives be monitored to ensure employment is protected.

An estimated 131,000 people have lost their jobs across 3,003 labour-intensive, export-oriented sectors such as leather, gems and jewellery and textiles, according to the Labour Bureau’s latest survey conducted between April and June.

Half-a-million people had lost jobs between October and December, followed by a mild recovery—280,000 new jobs were created in the January-March period.

The report has identified urban youth, women, migrants and workers in the informal sector, particularly in construction, among the worst hit. The informal sector includes economic activities that are not officially regulated and which operate outside the scope of the incentive system offered by the government.

Jobs: Officer shortage in the Military

Interesting article from the Strategy Page on the officer shortage faced by the Indian armed forces. Will the global recession change this reality? Will we see more talented people joining the Indian military?

Until the last few decades, it was considered prestigious, and career enhancing, to serve at least a few years as a military officer. These days, no more. Shortages are often filled by lowering standards, which can have disastrous results in combat.

The Indian Army is short 24 percent of its officer strength, while China has the numbers, it is seriously concerned with the quality. Meanwhile, the Indian army has had a shortage of officers for decades. The air force and navy are also short, but only by 12-15 percent. In China, the problem is growing as the economy continues to boom (despite the global recession.)

But it's not just officers that are hard for the Indians to recruit and keep. Technical specialists are in short supply, which is a growing problem as the army adds more high tech gear. The basic problem is that the army must compete with the civilian economy for highly trained or educated personnel.

The Indian army maintains high standards for officers, and has tried to eliminate the shortages by more aggressively recruiting young NCOs for officer candidate school. But that doesn't always work, because too many of the NCOs cannot pass the entrance exam.

Executives like working in the slowdown?

Ok, I admit, this study's conclusion is a sign that people are not inherently looking at extraneous reward factors, but that Herzberg's motivation factors more meaningful work, higher responsibility etc are much better to excite people than the combination of higher salary and boring work

Excerpts from the article:

Challenging economic times seem to be extracting the best from executives worldwide, as many of them are putting in longer hours and are having more responsibility at work.

Interestingly, most of the executives also find their work more exciting and meaningful now, despite the rising stress levels, according to a survey conducted by global consultancy firm McKinsey.

As I have stated earlier, making work interesting is the real way to achieving employee engagement, and not external factors.

Glad to see that current research even in not so good times supports this thought.

Looking for a Job in Social Media?

Social Media maven Jeremiah Owyang posts that usage and experience does not equate to expertise:

1. Usage of social media doesn’t equate expertise. Many who want to pursue a career in the white hot social space equate the number of fans, followers, or blog readers as a badge of honor –at times, I do that too. It’s an effective indicator of someone’s ability to use the tools, however it’s not an indicator they were able to use them in a corporate setting to meet customer and business objectives.
2. Long Term Experience of Social Media doesn’t equate expertise. Many speakers and about pages on blogs like to indicate they were using social technologies for years, to demonstrate they were an early adopter. This can backfire to a hiring manager as the duration doesn’t indicate ability to use these tools in a strategic way. In fact, many of the early, early adopters really aren’t the type that may work well in a corporate environment.
3. How candidates behave online can make or break the deal. Candidates should recognize that recruiters and hiring managers are looking at how individuals behave online –it factors into the decision on why they may –or may not be contacted. So before you post that blog lambasting another blogger, or somewhat questionable photos in Facebook, or talking about recovering from your hangover on Twitter, remember that hiring managers are analyzing how a candidate will represent their brand. 

On point 2 I think Jeremiah has raised an important issue - innovative and risk taking people who are early adopters are not likely to work well in a corporate (I mean large traditional corporate) that well. In fact, they'll probably be the ones using Mac systems in a Wintel organization, and you can see which direction we are headed!

Social Media and Job Losses

Image via Wikipedia

Michael has a good post on how the media is going overboard on reporting how people are losing jobs due to social media goof-ups like putting up Facebook status messages that communicate a bad impression about your employer.

Yes the lines between work and life - and offline and online world are getting blurred to a large extent.

As an employee who is also active on social networks here are some pointers how not to give your employer an excuse to fire you:

1. Don't Facebook/Orkut/Twitter on company time, unless digital communication on behalf of your company is part of your overall job description.
2. Don't post organizational documents/photos on to websites if you're not authorised to do so.
3. Don't use Facebook/Orkut status messages to show your disdain for your employer/ fellow employees
4. Don't use Flickr/ Youtube to showcase how you waste time in your firm - or treat customers/ co-workers badly.
5. Don't blog about how your workplace sucks - or at least don't do it with your name and picture splashed all over it. 

What else would you add to being social media savvy in the times of job losses?

Advice for the laid off and advice for those in the job

There's a lot of advice these days on careers and how to manage either being laid off, or if you're laid off, how to get a job back.

Here are two very different people with excellent advice on both issues.

Melanie Holmes, VP at Manpower advises the ones with a job to do the following :

• Pitch in wherever you see a need — whether it’s your job or not.  One of my favorite sayings about work is, “If you’re too big for a small job, then you’re too small for a big job.”  Don’t worry about your job description — do what needs to be done.
  
• And don’t be shy about what you’re doing.  Make sure the decision makers are aware of the contribution you’re making.
  

And tech geek uber-blogger Robert Scoble has some advice for the laid off folks, particularly how to manage their online presence to network and job hunt. Here are some of my favorite points from there:

• Your blog is your resume. You need one and it needs to have 100 posts on it about what you want to be known for.
  
• Invite influentials out to lunch. Getting a job is now your profession. If you were a salesperson, how would you get sales? You would take people out to lunch who can either buy what you’re selling, or influence others who can buy. That means take other bloggers (but only if they cover what you want to do) out to lunch. That means taking lots of industry executives out to lunch.
  
• Go to industry events. If you want to be a plumber, go to where contractors go. Etc. Etc. Make sure you have clear business cards. Include your photo. Include your Twitter and LinkedIn addresses. Your cell phone. Your blog address.
  
• Demonstrate you have kids and hobbies, but they should be 1% of your public persona, not 99%.
  
• When you meet someone who can hire and who you want to work for. Follow them on Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. Their blog. Stalk them without being “creepy.” Learn everything you can about them. Build a friendfeed room with all their stuff. That way when they say on Twitter “I have a job opening” you can be the first one to Tweet back.
  
• Do some work on SEO. Make it possible for people to find you. THINK about how people would search for someone with your expertise and skills.
  
• Remove all friends from your facebook and twitter accounts that will embarrass you. We do look. If we see photos of people getting drunk with you that is a bad sign. Get rid of them. They will NOT help you get a job.
  

Related posts:
Guard your job during a downturn
Six tips for networking

Overweight? Air India does not need you

Air India fires "overweight" air hostesses and specifies it's due to safety reasons, reports BBC:

A spokesman for Air India told the BBC that the hostesses were sacked after they were declared "medically unfit" to fly.
"They haven't been flying for two to three years for being exceptionally overweight," spokesman Jitendra Bhargava said.
He said that the women were between 11kg and 32kg overweight and that "all efforts to get them to reduce weight had failed".
Air India said safety was a "prime function" and that "being grossly overweight does have a bearing on reflexes and can impair agility required to perform the emergency functions".
A hostess with Air India, Sheela Joshi, who is not one of the nine dismissed, said those colleagues had received termination letters in the past three to four days.
"They were told there are no vacancies in ground jobs and since you are unable to lose weight, you have been terminated from service," Mrs Joshi told the BBC.
Arvind Sharma, a lawyer for the air hostesses, said he would try to get the dismissals revoked as part of the ongoing appeal in the Supreme Court.

I can't believe that a government carrier is doing this - bet this won't last and the government will have to reinstate them.

Indian firms back in favour

At B-School campuses:

For students in the final year of management, pre-placement offers
begin next week. Those in the first year will start picking companies
to train during summer holidays. The upheavals in global finance have
hurt their optimism, but no one is worried about not getting a job.

There will be plenty of jobs on offer, and they are unlikely to come
with salaries lower than last year, students and faculty at several
IIMs and other management institutes told HT.

“There used to be a 10-15 per cent annual increase in salary offers.
This year, we expect 2-3 per cent growth, but companies will not reduce
salaries offered,” said Abbasali Gabbula, final year student at S.P.
Jain Management Institute in Mumbai, where pay offers averaged Rs 14
lakhs last year.

What could possibly be missing are the six-figure dollar salaries
from global financial firms. For instance, the highest offer made
during last year’s campus hiring at IIM, Calcutta was Rs. 1.36 crore
per annum, from a global investment bank that was not named. Lehman
Brothers topped the chart at XLRI, Jamshedpur, where overseas offers
averaged $90,000 and the highest domestic offer was for Rs. 32 lakh.

Such fancy salaries often prevented many homegrown companies from pitching for talent at these institutes.

While the financial turmoil has somewhat dented pay prospects for
management students,  “many companies that earlier went back empty
handed would have an opportunity to hire our students,” said Piyush
Sinha, who chairs the placement committee at IIM, Ahmedabad. Students,
who are keen on working overseas, might explore options in Asia, rather
than looking at Europe or the US, he said.

What the article does not state is that there is likely to be a shakeout in the placements of the B Schools outside the top 25. Let's hope the majority of the students get a good future.

Jobs and the India slowdown story

Business Today publishes an interesting survey. Take a look:

According to the latest BT-TeamLease Employment Outlook Survey (October-December 2008 quarter), the caution visible in the last quarter has turned into a decisive downturn—both in hiring and business sentiment. The Employment Outlook is down 10 index points. Employers are in the wait’n’watch mode. The result: hiring activity is likely to be sluggish in most sectors—IT, infrastructure, retail, FMCG & media, financial services, telecom and manufacturing & engineering. ITES is the only sector that is buoyant, according to the survey. However, this buoyancy has turned into caution after the Wall Street crash because many companies depend on the now sick US financial services companies for major portions of their revenues. The survey, incidentally, was conducted before the crash.

he hiring outlook for cities across the spectrum has taken a beating. The survey puts Job Outlook for Mumbai at 60 index points, down 15 points compared to the previous quarter. Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Delhi see a dip in the fortunes with the cities posting declines of 40, 16 and 10 index points, respectively. Chennai’s bad run also continues with a drop of 10 index points. The only city that has a positive Job Outlook is Hyderabad, which, incidentally, witnessed a drop of 31 index points in business sentiment. 

On the other hand, blogger and exec search consultant AK Menon posts :

Rama Bijapurkar's prognosis on consumer spending is a revelation!! Her take: Consumer India is a hydra -headed monster-and consists many demand segments or "mini Indias"and each of them is not as badly hit by the US recession!! The news on the overall consumer demand is better than we think it is!

-there are some 85 million farmers and their families -who have had a good monsoon and crop and recent loan write-offs.

-there are 5-7 million government -and quasi government employee families who are laughing all the way to the bank!

( Both these segments by far out number the 20 million affected by stock market or the 2 million in IT/ITES sectors with shaky jobs and low confidence!!)

-This is probably the first time that the rich are getting hurt more than the poor-but they have the resilience to ride through-especially since most of them are hurting on account of being the most over leveraged!

-And finally- as the top 20% of India accounts for about 43% of consumer spending-the bottom 60% for about 36% -the mass may be safer than the class.