Category Archives: Going mobile

What does your Company Culture say about your Future?

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Culture-is-the-wayToday, job seekers not only want to know what jobs are available, or what kind of salary they’ll earn or even what the company culture is like, they also want to know how rosy the outlook is for the company’s future. While most often business outlook is an important topic to investors, shareholders and others focusing on finance, it’s increasingly becoming HR’s employment brand issue too.

Have you asked employees their opinion of your company’s business outlook? If not, you may want to take a look at your company reviews on Glassdoor where you can find candid employee feedback.  As part of Glassdoor’s ongoing online company review survey, employees voluntarily and anonymously share their perspective about the work environment, the culture, their satisfaction with key factors like compensation and benefits, and they share their opinion on the following question: Do you believe your company’s business outlook will get better, stay the same or get worse in the next six months? 

Just think about the signals this sends your candidates that are deciding to come work for you.

To see what employees at your company think, you’ll need a free employer account. This will allow you to read all of your company’s reviews and be able to see their take on the company’s future business outlook. Below is a  recent company review from a Google Sales Executive that shows where, if provided, in each company review you can find sentiment on business outlook.

For susan

Curious to see what companies do stand out in terms of business outlook in the eyes of employees? Glassdoor recently released a new report that looks at Top 10 Companies with the Best Business Outlook based on company reviews shared in April. At the top of the list is Google – 86% of employees believe the company’s business outlook will improve in the next six months. See the complete list and how employee satisfaction stacks up at the top-rated companies:

Top 10 Companies with the Best Business Outlook

This report is a good reminder that employment brand isn’t just a reflection of what a company has done, but it’s also a promise of what the company can do.

Photo Credit: Noozmag

About the Author:

Samantha ZupanToday’s guest post comes from my pal Samantha Zupan who is Glassdoor’s Corporate Communications Director. Glassdoor is a jobs and career community that is changing the way people find jobs and companies recruit top talent. Follow Samantha on Twitter @SamanthaZupan.

Check out this hangout with the @Gozaik team discussing the new Twitter Resume and Job Posting product Gozaik

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gozaikA few weeks ago I came across a new product for both sides of the hiring line – job seekers looking to find jobs and connect with recruiters online and for the recruiter and companies looking for prime candidates! I’m talking about a new kind of Google filtering within Twitter that narrows the job search for the above mentioned folks.

I immediately connected with the founder Joe Budzienski and asked if he would join me in a hangout to discuss it further, which we did. Here is the recording – it’s only around 30 mins!

I love anything that has to do with social and new technology! Check out the cool ways this is going to help you as Employers, Recruiters and Hiring Managers:

Promote Your Job Tweets

  • Gozaik job search displays job tweets to job seekers. Sign up now to validate your Twitter handle and drive more traffic to your Twitter job posts.

Search Candidates (COMING SOON!)

  • Identify active job seekers that meet your criteria. Review rich multimedia resumes. Watch video introductions.

Spot Trending Talent (COMING SOON!)

  • We spotlight ‘trending’ job seekers. Individuals with the most activity trend within your dashboard, highlighting job seekers you may be interested in.

Tweet Job Announcements (COMING SOON!)

  • Increase your job tweet response by delivering your job announcements through our ‘Job Announcement’ service. We structure tweets to optimize candidate response.

If you’re a job seeker or someone wanting to hire the best talent – do yourself a favor and check out Gozaik. Make sure to connect with them online. Get in on the ground floor!

 

Social Media ROI – Perhaps it’s not what we Thought

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yomamaI recently came across a fantastic article titled “The New ROI for Social Media Recruiting” which not only gave great insight into this year’s ERE Recruiting Conference & Expo but shared a little of why folks still are not jumping on the social media bandwagaon, especially executives. Perhaps we are trying to measure the wrong things.

This article talks of discussions that took place at the Conference that even big named brand representatives are still having a hard time getting their senior corporate managers and leaders involved or even understanding the ROI of social media and how it affects their organizations. We’re still looking at it as an end all, cure all as opposed to a valuable tool and channel of influence to our overall efforts. Perhaps that’s because of how it’s been presented to us.

Social is a grand tool for getting your brand out there and as this article surmises you can’t not be there.

You can’t not be on social because candidates, potential candidates, and those whom you hope to attract and someday hire will see your absence from the social media landscape as a negative. Doing it poorly is equally negative.

When a company fails to post regularly, and especially when comments and questions go unanswered for days or never, or when a company indiscriminately dumps all its job postings into Facebook’s news feed, it says, in the words of one recruiter, “This is a lame company that has no idea what social media is all about. Who wants to work for a company people think is lame?

The great thing that social enables us to do, and especially for brands and organizations, is telling the employer story and building its brand. Things such as the culture of the organization and what to expect in the hiring process on through to the day to day “what it’s like to work there” kind of things. These are the very particulars potential candidates are looking for when deciding whether or not to even begin the hiring process.

We may never be able to obtain ROI in how many folks we’ve hired through Facebook or Twitter (social in general). Instead, we should be looking at the value in branding and reputation building.

What does your company brand look like online? Are you a ghost town?

If you’re looking into a few easy ways to start, check out Glassdoor’s free resources.

Review and Demo of @SlideKlowd – a Game-changer app for Events, Conferences and Training

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slideklowd

I’m on vacation in sunny California so I thought I would pull a few of my favorites from the archives. Check these folks out. 

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You never know who you’re going to connect with on the Twitters.

Back a few months I had tweeted a post in regard to me preparing for my SHRM Work/Flex presentation and happened to mention my Powerpoint. I received a follow from @SlideKlowd and checked into who they were – as I often do before simply clicking the ole “follow” button.

Upon my investigation I found out more about their amazing mobile and desktop app that allows greater engagement between presenters and their audiences whether it’s at conferences or events, online hangouts or training. I was so excited about the possibility of doing away with “the way we’ve always done it” and having to fill out those paper surveys after a conference session or keynote, for one. Secondly, I see how this can tremendously affect the way we communicate and present future events and / or training for HR and beyond.

Just think about the possibilities of having real-time engagement with your audience and being able to walk away with REAL data. I guess it could be terrifying to presenters who are boring and those who can’t engage an audience and the like.

My next step was to follow them back online and hear more about their product and services so I did just that. I was hoping to use SlideKlowd at my presentation in October but it was cutting it short.

I sat in with my new-found connection > Justin Foster, one of the founders of SlideKlowd, in a private one-on-one Webinar to share more about what they offered and I fell head over hills with this product. I like it so much, in fact, that I told several of my HR buds about it and scheduled a Google+ hangout for Justin to present the demo to them.

hangout with SlideKlowd

Here is the hangout >

Thanks Justin, for a superb job and for the fantastic job you guys are doing at creating a greater way to drive engagement.

Oh, you’ll want to check them out at SlideKlowd.com and connect with them on Facebook and Twitter. I can’t recommend them enough.

Here is their latest video introduction.

Finally an App to gauge Employee Morale

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morale.meWe’ve heard for several years now that employee morale is at an all-time low due to cut backs, cramming more work on our existing employees and employees are all like “I just want to be heard. This place sucketh.”

Unfortunately, we’ve been thinking that a $5.00 gift card was the answer to all of our problems (How’s that working for ya?). Let’s face it, giving your employees a gift card to Target or KFC isn’t the end all to your dilemma. We are insane to think that if we keep doing the same thing over and over one day it is bound to work. It’s not – it’s just not.

Smart folks are consistently looking for the best ways to solve problems especially in the way of technology. I love keeping these alerts on my radar so I can share them with you when I come across them.

One of my online connections Joel Cheesman, who I met a few years back at the Talentnet Conference in our fine city of Chicago, announced this past March a new tool for helping HR (among other managers) gauge employee morale by his new mobile app morale.me. Joel has been in the Recruiting/HR space for a zillion years and knows the ins and outs. He understands that this has been a real issue with getting crucial feedback and his new app is genius.

hangout with joel cheesman

In fact, I hit Joel up on Facebook and asked  if he would join me in a Google+ hangout to discuss employee engagement,  morale and his new app morale.me.

Here is the recording from the Hangout, in case you missed it (and I’m pretty sure you did).

I can’t wait to hear how this app explodes into our workplaces and changes our levels of engagement. After all, who doesn’t want to be heard and to know that somebody gives a crap about how they are feeling at work?

Now, hop on over to morale.me and check em out.

A look at Mobiles past, present and future

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like father like sonBack in the 80′s before some of you were born I moved to Houston, Texas and worked at one of the first mobile companies GTE Mobilnet. Yes, we had those huge hand held phones that you could kill someone with it you hit them with it and of course those clunky bag phones. We thought we were the shizzle!

We knew that cell phones were just taking off but really had no idea that in the year 2013 everybody and their little sister would have one but it seems to be the case.

Take a look at this cool Infographic I came upon that shows the past, present and future mobile stats and such that I found intriguing.

cell phone

Here’s a little something to read while you’re waiting for the kiddies at soccer this weekend “HR Hits the Road: The Impact of Mobile” that will open your eyes to where we’ve come.

Enjoy your weekend and try to disconnect from mobile and spend some quality time with the fam.

Schooling HR in Social Business

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social businessIn researching HR and Social Media I came across a divine article from our friend China Gorman. Since she is a much better writer than I, I asked her if I could share the post over here on the cafe. She was so kind to allow me to do so - 

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In the land of HR, folks tend to think inside their bubble.

And when it comes to social media, some are early adopters (think using social media for talent acquisition) and many are laggards (think writing policies that keep people from accessing Facebook while at work).

But the truth is that there is so much more to social technology than social media. And HR needs to go to school on this.

Required reading for every HR person

I was pleased to attend IBM’s Connect Conference in Orlando last week. I was there to get insight into IBM’s acquisition of Kenexa and its commitment to building a Smarter Workforce – the brilliant marketing extension of their Smarter Planet campaign. Social business is huge. Social business at IBM is enormous — and growing.

While at the conference, I received a copy of the IBM Institute for Business Value’s report titled,The Business of Social Business: What Works and How it’s Done, that should be required reading for every HR person. It’s a sort of primer explaining what social technology is and how it is transforming the way businesses are competing in the global marketplace.

Based on survey data from 1,161 respondents and interviews with 21 executives responsible for implementing successful social business practices around the world, this report is easily consumed by non-technical business leaders (that’s you, HR Pros) and creates a much larger context for understanding the opportunities that social technology brings to an organization — and that will be coming to your organization soon!

3 key areas of social business

Despite Applebee’s and HMV’s unfortunate handling of recent experiences with social media, note that the IBM survey identified three primary areas of social business in which organizations around the world are currently investing:

  • Creating valued customer experiences;
  • Driving workforce productivity and effectiveness;
  • Accelerating innovation.

I found it fascinating that when drilling down into the second bullet point, driving workforce productivity and effectiveness – HR’s domain – the focus was on learning and developing talent, not acquiring it. There’s a head snap for you.

Take a look at the report and look for more useful information from the IBM Institute for Business Value. And download the free “IBM IBV” app for iPad and Android from your app store so you don’t miss any new research!

ibm-social-business

This originally appeared on China Gorman’s blog at ChinaGorman.com. Used with permission. 

China Gorman has been in and around HR for more than 30 years, including 20 years in the HR consulting world specializing in the career transition, executive coaching, and leadership development specialties. Most recently she was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Global Member Engagement Officer for SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, and you can read her blog at ChinaGorman.com. Contact her at chinagorman@hotmail.com.com.
Photo Credit: Khabar

If your Company sucks offline – your employees will talk about it Online!

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YourCompanysucks_landingpage_03Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit in on several fantastic Google+ Hangouts over in My Community Manager group on Google. One of the sessions was with Yammer and we all (through the hangout and Twitter Chat) discussed issues related to social media at work and incorporating internal collaboration tools.

Here is the actual recording of the hangout in case you’d like to get the exact scoop. I think you’ll find it very engaging and answer a few of your questions on how folks went through the process of adopting social and internal collaboration tools into the workplace – slowly, easily and steadily.

If you still have a problem with unleashing your employees on social you may want to read this new post from the NY Times in regard to trying to regulate social media at work. The title could have been better but it’s a pretty informative post.

If you know me at all, you’ll know that I am all for incorporating social media and technology into our workplaces, that we stop trying to see how we can block it and instead try to make it work toward our advantage – for the greater good of our organizations.

The thing is, if you’re worried that your employees are going to tell everyone about their crappy workplace, that you are making them work 12 hours a day without a break, that you fired someone just last week because they told you they were expecting a baby – you need to really rethink a few things.

If your company sucks offline, folks are going to talk about it online. If your management style sounds a little like Nazi Germany, your people are going to realize you are the worst manager while they are discussing this with other folks – online or off.

The thing to do if you’re lying awake at night worried about blocking Facebook at work because you’re afraid of what your employees will say about you – is to start making better choices. Stop being an ass. Abide by rules (especially the NLRB) and start working on internal (that means inside you) changes.

Bottom line, most folks are worried about what their employees will say online out of fear of being exposed. Those organizations and managers who are doing it up right – aren’t usually worried and actually encourage their folks to share with others how great they are.

Employees are using their phones to get on Facebook and Youtube at work even if you don’t allow them to get online through their office devices. And if you don’t – they’re prepared with excuses in case they get caught READ HERE!

So the next time you or your Executive Management Team sit around the proverbial table – you may want to discuss how to create a better culture. One that will promote trust, team-building, and authenticity and how you can create a better working environment all around.

Photo Credit: MSCO

Kudos to Michael VanDervort for the heads up on the Times article. Love my community!