By Gerry Crispin, SPHR and Mark Mehler
mmc@careerxroads.com
Since 1996 our CareerXroads Update has been a monthly public commentary on the staffing industry. As we kick off our 12th year, we’ve added a second members-only publication: “CareerXroads Colloquium Bellwether” to highlight short news items that we find of interest. If you’d like to learn more about the Bellwether and our Colloquium click here. We welcome hearing from you at 732-821-6652 or mmc@careerXroads.com with ideas and queries.
Bellwethers: Would we recognize one if we saw it?
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The image we always thought of when hearing the term “Bellwether” was of a buoy clanging in the distance and warning of changes in the weather. That image was changed recently (for the worse) when we ready the wiki etymology for “Bellwether” claiming the term is derived from the older English bellewether and “refers to the practice of placing a bell around the neck of a castrated ram (a wether) in order that this animal might lead its flock of sheep”. Ok, we no longer aspire to be a Bellwether...at least on a personal level.
A Bellwether presages the future and, in hindsight, we can always find that major change was subtly foreshadowed in the writings of the day. On 16 December 1947 for example, William Shockley and others succeeded in building the first practical transistor at Bell Labs. The next weekend, buried in the Sunday New York Times, was a single 5 paragraph article describing the device and speculating on its possible uses but quoting an official from one of the largest vacuum tube manufacturers who doubted it would ever become practical. In less than a decade, the vacuum tube corporations (which at the time were as dominant in the manufacture of electrical products as the oil companies are in the energy industry) ALL virtually disappeared. They went down kicking and screaming and actually spent hundreds of millions of dollars attacking transistors as too expensive and unreliable...a truth that lasted less than 3 years. Clearly they saw the signs...just didn’t recognize the inevitable.
There are lots of examples of missed indicators with respect to the Internet or changing demographics, or global warming or the imbalance of resources globally. More to the point...what are the implications for staffing of emerging technology, candidate availability and changing attitudes, political and environmental instability, etc. etc.
We enjoy monitoring a wide range of sources and speculating with friends and colleagues about the potential for future change. The “game” changes however when investment in one possible future versus another means the difference between winning competitively or losing.
Our CareerXroads Update continues to be a free monthly public commentary on the staffing industry since 1996. In it we try to lightly analyze a few thoughts and trends and will continue to do so as time and energy allow. We are often surprised at the reaction of our readers and cognizant that this goes out to tens of thousands of people (who have opted in) we do filter our commentary to eliminate any “mean spirited” comments...at least as best we can.
This year we added a second monthly newsletter, CareerXroads Colloquium Bellwether, for the 70+ Colloquium members whose competitive spirit and willingness to share we enjoy and are commited to supporting. The style is different than the Update and Bellwether focuses on “short takes” that Gerry and Mark feel are bubbling up in the media. Below are a couple of the “Bellwether Bits” from the last four months that we hope you’ll enjoy. If you’d like to learn more about the Bellwether and our Colloquium - drop us a note or give us a call.
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Summer 2007: CXR Bellwether Bits
editor’s note: due to the timely nature of these items, some links may not be valid.
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- (Sept) The Glass Ceiling has a Double Pane in Japan
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/world/asia/06equal.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Japan has had a law forbidding Gender discrimination in the workplace since 1985. Violators can be punished by having their company’s names published, None ever have. Women in Japanrepresent 50% of the population but only 6% of supervisors and above versus 42% in the US.
Japan is not alone in having oppressive discrimination practices built into their traditional hiring and promotion systems of practice. Staffing leaders will need to address these “local” customs when integrating globally or certain failure is sure to follow.
- (Sept) Decline of Foreign Students Reversed
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20393318
Foreign Student enrollments have
rebounded since their precipitous decline after 9/11 according to an MSNBC
article reviewing a report from the Institute of International Education.
There were 564,000 foreign students enrolled in US schools in 2006. Most surveys suggest that in Engineering and Science graduate programs foreign students represent 40% and more of the total student population.
Opportunities to hire talent- that fewer and fewer corporations find the time and energy to tap, in part, because of rapidly deteriorating immigrant policies. We will of course send these students back home whether they wanted to go or not...and then invest in hiring them for our operations in those countries. Hmmmm soon recruiters from other countries will be coming here in droves to hire for home. The geographic center of staffing is shifting. Where might the next generation of staffing leaders be located?
- (August) Do unqualified candidates keep you up at night? Just ask P Diddy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvUCG2OBj5k and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhR4PMnXlG4&mode=user&search=
Apparently PDiddy has been seeking an Assistant and
turned to YouTube to create his classifieds job ad. Check out both his Video
Job Description AND his “update”
While we laughed at both videos they reflect the continuing need to upgrade the quality of the description and reinforce the importance of musts versus “nice to haves”.
- (August) Police force needs 400 qualified...and honest applicants.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-01-vegascops_N.htm?csp=34
An August 1st USA article about the difficulties that one police force faces in hiring included a
candidate who listed two fraudulent degrees he had bought online. Apparently
60-70% of applicants for the position of our public protector fail their
background checks!
Whether trend or simply chutzpah, if police candidates are lying on their formal applications, what interesting stories lie in private corporation databases? Raises GI=GO questions about the cost of acquiring and maintaining documents.
- (August) SS# Doesn’t Match? You are Fired!
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QPIE4G0&show_article=1&catnum=1
The Department of Homeland Security expects to soon publish new rules for when a
worker’s name or Social Security number is flagged by the Social Security
Administration. As drafted, the rule requires
employers to fire people who can’t be verified as a legal worker because their
name or Social Security number on their W-2 doesn’t match the US government’s database. Employers
who don’t comply could face fines up to $10,000 per illegal worker and
incident.
Don’t know about you but the data integrity of the government’s database wasn’t meeting 6-sigma standards last time we checked.
- (July) And Newcomers Are Turning Job Ads Into a Commodity Business
http://www.kijiji.com/
http://www.tvweek.com/news/2007/06/tv_stations_take_aim_at_classi.php
While the major boards are Ebay, which incidentally owns 25% of Craigs list, has quietly launched its simple,
free international classifieds site in the US (including jobs). This
announcement was followed by a CBS story about plans to offer low cost job ads
through their stations.
There is only a small amount of content at kijiji but there is now ample evidence that posting and aggregating job leads is going to be a low cost commodity business sooner rather than later. This is good news for employers who simply want their openings out there.
- (July) YouTube Video of Sleazy Lawyer Seminar Fuels Anti-Immigration Fires
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU
“The purpose is to NOT hire qualified Americans”.
Statements like the one above from lawyers whose only scruples are helping clients workaround the law (granted – the laws are in desperate need of revision) are helping to fuel an anti-immigration sentiment in the US according to a July 2 article in the Christian Science Monitor, The Vanishing American Computer Programmer (http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0702/p15s01-wmgn.html).
If we don’t get immigration right we won’t be competitive as a nation. Immigration reform died in the Senate last month and speculation is that it won’t be revived before 2009. A critical window of opportunity has closed. Firms should be asking their own immigration lawyers about the implications of the failure of immigration reform on hiring.
- (July) Climate Change Watch: Southeast Drought
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/us/04drought.html?th&emc=th
In the midst of the Texas downpours,
according to a July 2 NY Times article, a severe drought is sapping the
Southeast, the crops are already lost in a five state area. Food is one
indicator for potentially serious disruptions in the workplace. The eventual
failure of the food supply due to climate change is one distinct possibility.
The entire Southeast is liable to view 2007 as a complete wipeout. The problem
will become apparent later in the Fall as out pocketbook gets picked. Or,
perhaps we’ll just buy more food from China. Seriously.
Significant increases in the cost of food will put enormous pressure on minimum wage.
- (July) Apple iPhone- a Mobile Recruiting Tool?
http://www.learning2007.com/iphone1
Elliott Masie, an eLearning guru, produced a 5 minute video of his take on the learning
applications of the iPhone.
We think he raises interesting questions about whether the mashing of technologies will speed up recruitment communications in the near term requiring employers staffing web-pages to be designed for smaller screens.
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Fall Season: Starts Early
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The Fall staffing conference season has already begun and, between conference company vendors, industry trade organizations, professional association meeting, vendor client meetings, local chapter networks and the like, there may be an upper limit to how many any one corporate team can attend. We certainly encourage sending members of a team to the ones below – if only because these are the ones we’ve chosen to attend and we would love to connect to you there. But, whoever you send should be evaluating its worth for your firm and sharing with colleagues what the critical "learnings" are.
Our take
9/6/7 - The RNG Recruiter Conference at the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre. This is the first for Richard Matthews and included very solid speakers from AON, Starbucks and Telus to name just three. All offered great case study insights. A presentation by Dr. Weiss on branding was one of the best we’ve seen. We would love to see a regular series of recruiting conferences with a Canadian if not international focus.
9/12/13 – Sourcecon at the Buckhead Hyatt in Atlanta. This is also a first and it is exciting because of its niche focus on Sourcing. After a gig early in the week, Gerry is taking (perhaps has already taken) a side trip to check out this new conference attracting highly prized talent and lots of attention. We are fans of programs that build around a specialized staffing focus and love the fact that the program will immerse participants in two days of focused sessions on sourcing .
9/20/21 – Onrec’s Expo at the Holiday Inn Golden Gate in San Francisco looks to be an even better follow up to David Hurst’s first foray into the US market last year. The conference is again supported by a meeting of Weddle’s job board association and we hope to hang out with some interesting folks like Craig Silverman, John Younger and Don Ramos that we’ve enjoyed in the past as well as a few new young speakers like Joe Shaker Jr..
9/27/28 – The HR-XML Conference at the Mirage in Las Vegas. Speaking of a niche focus, this one is near and dear to our geek-side love of standards...if you really want to understand what is under the hood and debate the issues of data integrity. If session titles like “How I learned to stop worrying and Love the Data Model” get your juices running, this one to consider.
10/10/12 – The HR Technology Conference at Navy Pier in Chicago is always one of the most interesting venues and this year, with a panel of three Sourcing pros, Gerry will be looking at hot technology tools. Bill Kutick, the conference’s erstwhile curmudgeon is sure to have many excellent surprises for participants. His shootouts for one have become legend. This conference is an increasingly important venue notable by the number of product announcements by suppliers and vendors.
10/17/8 – ERExpo in Washington DC is always a favorite and one of the very best attended conferences for staffing professionals. Held twice a year at different ends of the continent, ERE always has one of the best lineups of speakers and keynoters that tend to offer useful and unusual insights.
11/7/8 – Kennedy Expo at the Florida Hotel Conference Center in Orlando is also likely to be a hoot and not just because the panel we’ve put together will speak to and twisted topic of negative branding but, because Anna Brekka and others are making over a conference that has long been a staple in the industry.
All the above (with the exception of Sourcecon), Mark and/or I will be either speaking, moderating or conducting specialized workshops. See links below to most of the Fall programs.
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Where you’ll find us next:
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Full details of CareerXroads’ schedule can be found here.
Good Hunting! Gerry and Mark
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Links to CareerXroads are much appreciated but we provide no reciprocal agreements with any site. We want to maintain a level of objectivity free from even perceived conflict of interest regarding our opinions. We have no direct relationship with any job board or career site.
Gerry and Mark work full time consulting, educating and discovering how talent and opportunity connect through emerging technology. If we can be of help, you know how to reach us.
CareerXroads
The Staffing Strategy Connection
By Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler
mmc@careerxroads.com - 732-821-6652