22 septiembre 2010 – Gabriel Catalano®

Why the Old Recruiting Skills Are Dead, and Four Essential New Ones

There has never been a more challenging time to be a corporate recruiter. Hiring managers are very demanding and expect fast, personalized service by knowledgeable recruiters. Given the current unemployment rate and the perceived availability of talent, they may be unrealistic in what they expect. Nonetheless, they are the primary customer and need to be provided service at a high level. Candidates, too, are not what they used to be. The talented and highly in-demand candidates also want to be given fast, personalized service by an ethical and in-the-know recruiter.

All of this means that the skills that once defined a successful corporate recruiter are not sufficient. Indeed, those skills may even be detrimental to success.

A corporate recruiter has always had a different skill set than a recruiter working in an agency or as an independent. While agency recruiters have focused on building relationships (often in deep, vertical job families), on tapping into new sources of candidates, and on assessing candidates against a variety of criteria, the corporate recruiter has evolved three very different set of competencies over the years.

The first is the ability to facilitate hiring. These recruiters are adept at dealing with the corporate bureaucracy and legal issues. They are formidable navigators of the corporate landscape. They know every hill and valley, every bomb and sinkhole. These skills are unique to a particular company and do not transfer well. Recruiters with these competencies are most likely to have worked for the same firm for many years. Every bureaucracy has created people with these types of skills and could not function without them. The internal knowledge they have, and their ability to get things done in systems resistant to getting things done, makes them valuable, but only in that system. While this may seem as if it is practical and useful, the skills usually fail completely to help the recruiter navigate a talent-constrained marketplace, find the rare candidates, or convince them to work for the organization.

by Kevin Wheeler | //ere.net

There has never been a more challenging time to be a corporate recruiter. Hiring managers are very demanding and expect fast, personalized service by knowledgeable recruiters. Given the current unemployment rate and the perceived availability of talent, they may be unrealistic in what they expect. Nonetheless, they are the primary customer and need to be provided service at a high level. Candidates, too, are not what they used to be. The talented and highly in-demand candidates also want to be given fast, personalized service by an ethical and in-the-know recruiter.

All of this means that the skills that once defined a successful corporate recruiter are not sufficient. Indeed, those skills may even be detrimental to success.

Innovando en comunicación

Frente a los cambios que experimentan los consumidores, los medios de comunicación y los anunciantes, creo que es necesario hacer un replanteamiento de cómo innovamos en comunicación. Para poder hacer este replanteamiento es necesario entender que no solucionaremos los problemas actuales con procesos del pasado. Debemos crear equipos multidisciplinares, romper barreras mentales de nuestros equipos, buscar nuevos partnerships y ayudar al equipo a reinventarse. Innovación es la palabra clave, y debemos buscar la fórmula de introducir esta palabra en nuestros planes y en nuestro día a día.

Así que hoy me gustaría hacer un repaso de los niveles de innovación en comunicación. Para ilustrarlo he planteado el siguiente esquema:

por Fernando de la Rosa | //marketingcomunidad.com

Así que hoy me gustaría hacer un repaso de los niveles de innovación en comunicación. Para ilustrarlo he planteado el siguiente esquema: Continuar leyendo «Innovando en comunicación»

Get smart before your next meeting or presentation

The point wasn’t being a know-it-all, it was about knowing the context so I could tailor my remarks or presentation to the situation. After a while, I started to send the parse to my contact at the prospect company to see if I got it right. You’d be surprised that in many situations, my contact didn’t know half of that I’d dug up! In every case, my confidence was higher because I had the power of knowledge.

Same goes with any presentation. Always research your audience: Their emotions, the context they are working in, their competitive situation and trends in the industry that impact them. Show up the night before and talk to your future audience to verify your understanding. The most important piece of intel to gather is the business model they’re operating under, and where their upside and leakage occurs. This information allows you to point remarks to action items that make a difference. This will dramatically improve the effectiveness of any presentation you make.

//sanderssays.typepad.com
Never have a meeting or make a presentation without doing your homework.

What is your homework? Context. This is a habit I developed at Yahoo!, and recommend to everyone I know. When you are going to make a sales call or take a meeting with a new company/person – do some background research so you know the context of the situation.

For example, at Yahoo!, every time we’d engage with a new prospect, we’d fully research their history (via Hoovers, stock ticker, their website), news coverage of the company, bios of individuals in the meeting and the competitive landscape. I’d budget about three hours for a thirty minute meeting. I’d combine all the research into a ‘parse‘ – short for a parsed up brief of the company and participants in the meeting. Continuar leyendo «Get smart before your next meeting or presentation»

Recession-Beating Success Strategy: Revive Your Brand

Remember Circuit City? Bet you think the electronics chain went out of business in early 2009. But actually, they’re back. Another company bought the brand name just a few months later and relaunched Circuit City as a leaner, meaner, no-doubt-more-profitable ecommerce site.

They’re not the only old-time brand making a comeback, either. If these stone-dead companies can find a way to revive their brand and get customers buying again, small businesses can do it, too.
Besides, Circuit City, brands that are on the comeback trail include:
Chock Full O Nuts — Sing it with me now: «Chock Full O Nuts is that heavenly coffee…better coffee a millionaire’s money can’t buy.» Despite the well-known jingle, this 80-year-old brand had faded to obscurity, and the coffee-shop chain closed in the 1980s. But earlier this month, the company’s first new coffee shop in decades opened in New York City. When the New York Daily News wrote about it, nearly 400 people liked the story on Facebook. Clearly, just the mention of this old brand had many riding a wave of pleasant nostalgia.
Commodore — Wow, what a yesterday brand in computing, huh? For those too young to remember, Commodore’s C64 was a popular early personal computer, but the company failed to keep up with the pace of change in PCs and went bust waaaay back in 1994. But it’s coming back — Florida entrepreneur Barry Altman is relaunching the brand with a $30 million marketing effort.

By: Carol Tice | //blog.entrepreneur.com

Remember Circuit City? Bet you think the electronics chain went out of business in early 2009. But actually, they’re back. Another company bought the brand name just a few months later and relaunched Circuit City as a leaner, meaner, no-doubt-more-profitable ecommerce site.

They’re not the only old-time brand making a comeback, either. If these stone-dead companies can find a way to revive their brand and get customers buying again, small businesses can do it, too.

Besides, Circuit City, brands that are on the comeback trail include:

Chock Full O Nuts — Sing it with me now: «Chock Full O Nuts is that heavenly coffee…better coffee a millionaire’s money can’t buy.» Despite the well-known jingle, this 80-year-old brand had faded to obscurity, and the coffee-shop chain closed in the 1980s. But earlier this month, the company’s first new coffee shop in decades opened in New York City. When the New York Daily News wrote about it, nearly 400 people liked the story on Facebook. Clearly, just the mention of this old brand had many riding a wave of pleasant nostalgia.

Commodore — Wow, what a yesterday brand in computing, huh? For those too young to remember, Commodore’s C64 was a popular early personal computer, but the company failed to keep up with the pace of change in PCs and went bust waaaay back in 1994. But it’s coming back — Florida entrepreneur Barry Altman is relaunching the brand with a $30 million marketing effort.

Continuar leyendo «Recession-Beating Success Strategy: Revive Your Brand»

The Mobile Marketing Dictionary

In today’s mobile application world, the terminology and technology can move faster than the creative thinkers and businesses, and we at Social Times thought we could help by putting together the Mobile Marketing Dictionary. The dictionary has all the terms that you’re going to encounter as you try to buy advertising on mobile applications, publish advertising on your own mobile application or get installations for your mobile app. Read the dictionary below and please let us know if there’s a term you’re curious about or one we missed.

Check out the mobile marketing dictionary…

http://www.socialtimes.com/mobile-marketing-dictionary/

Check out the mobile marketing dictionary… Continuar leyendo «The Mobile Marketing Dictionary»

Se crea un billete digital en el móvil

Madrid y Barcelona serán las primeras ciudades donde poder utilizar este sistema desde hoy mismo. Málaga, Ibiza y Palma de Mallorca serán los siguientes aeropuertos, estrenando este sistema a partir del próximo 28 de septiembre. Este servicio, además, será válido en todas las rutas de British Airways.

«Aprovechar las nuevas tecnologías para mejorar la experiencia del cliente es clave en nuestra estrategia», destacó el director comercial de BA para España, Portugal y Gibraltar, Jordi Porcel. Porcel resaltó también que este nuevo formato digital evita tener que imprimir las tarjetas, lo que ayuda a mejorar el compromiso con el medio ambiente «al reducir en gran medida el gasto de papel».

Este sistema, además, facilitará los viajes de los socios del Executive Club que vuelen al extranjero y no tengan dónde imprimir la tarjeta de embarque de regreso. «En definitiva, se trata de ayudar al cliente y hacer su viaje más cómodo», destacó el director de marketing digital de BA, Chris Davies.

British Airways fue la primera compañía que lanzó una aplicación iPhone para sus clientes en el Reino Unido. Desde entonces, más de medio millón de usuarios se la han descargado de iTunes. A partir de ahora, también los usuarios de Blackberry y Android podrán acceder a toda la información de sus reservas, vuelos, noticias del Executive Club, etc.

British Airways permite utilizar el teléfono como tarjeta de embarque

British Airways (BA), en pleno proceso de fusión con Iberia, ha desarrollado un nuevo sistema de embarque que permite utilizar los teléfonos »smartphones» de los viajeros como una tarjeta de embarque digital que se reproduce en el propio móvil y que puede escanearse antes de subir al avión.

Aviones de British Airways . – Bloomberg

Ep – Madrid – 21/09/2010

Para usar este nuevo sistema es necesario formar parte del Executive Club, el programa de fidelización de BA, para lo que tan sólo hay que darse de alta en la página web de la aerolínea. Una vez ahí, basta con descargar la aplicación adecuada para cada tipo de teléfono (iPhone, Blackberry y teléfonos con Android) y ya podrá consultar la cuenta, los datos de los vuelos y toda la información necesaria para viajar en avión. Continuar leyendo «Se crea un billete digital en el móvil»

Blockbuster Bankruptcy: A Decade of Decline

Months ago, the mere mention of bankruptcy in an article about Blockbuster would provoke seething responses from company reps. On more than one occasion, I received fuming messages from Blockbuster about how bankruptcy was a «worst-case scenario» that was nothing more than «a last resort.»

Now the worst case scenario has arrived. Rumors of Chapter 11 began to bubble in August, and Bloomberg reports that Blockbuster will file for bankruptcy Thursday.

We’ve already presented the best of Blockbuster’s bad metaphors. Here, we present a timeline of how the video rental giant fell.

1985: First Blockbuster store opens in Dallas.

1994: Viacom acquires Blockbuster for $8.4 billion.

BY Austin Carr | //fastcompany.com

Now the worst case scenario has arrived. Rumors of Chapter 11 began to bubble in August, and Bloomberg reports that Blockbuster will file for bankruptcy Thursday.

We’ve already presented the best of Blockbuster’s bad metaphors. Here, we present a timeline of how the video rental giant fell.

1985: First Blockbuster store opens in Dallas.

1994: Viacom acquires Blockbuster for $8.4 billion. Continuar leyendo «Blockbuster Bankruptcy: A Decade of Decline»

Useful Adobe Photoshop Techniques, Tutorials and Tools

As web designers, we always have something new to learn. Over the last decade our workflow has changed dramatically — it’s become more sophisticated and highly diversified. Not only do we have a much larger variety of improved tools to use; there’s also an endless stream of new techniques emerging and spreading within the web design community via social networks.

And this is where the opportunity to learn new useful, practical approaches and techniques comes in. We can learn by exploring the different design approaches other designers have taken, when solving their problems and apply these approaches to our work to become more productive and skilled. Therefore, our editorial team is permanently looking for interesting techniques, tools and tutorials, which we carefully select and present in round-ups on Smashing Magazine. You needn’t love our lists, but they often will give you some useful ideas and advice.

Below you’ll find an overview of new useful Adobe Photoshop techniques and tutorials that we’ve found and collected over the last months. We sincerely hope that at least some of the techniques presented there will help you improve your graphic design skills in Adobe Photoshop. And sincere thanks to all designers and developers whose articles are featured in this review. We respect and appreciate your contributions to the design community, folks!

By Vitaly Friedman | //www.smashingmagazine.com

As web designers, we always have something new to learn. Over the last decade our workflow has changed dramatically — it’s become more sophisticated and highly diversified. Not only do we have a much larger variety of improved tools to use; there’s also an endless stream of new techniques emerging and spreading within the web design community via social networks.

Below you’ll find an overview of new useful Adobe Photoshop techniques and tutorials that we’ve found and collected over the last months. We sincerely hope that at least some of the techniques presented there will help you improve your graphic design skills in Adobe Photoshop. And sincere thanks to all designers and developers whose articles are featured in this review. We respect and appreciate your contributions to the design community, folks!

Continuar leyendo «Useful Adobe Photoshop Techniques, Tutorials and Tools»

SwitchTip: Manage Multiple Facebook Pages with Hootsuite

For some reason, there are many people with multiple facebook pages. Sometimes this is for a business or community group, or a special hobby. For example, perhaps you admin a different fan page for each of the characters for Twilight. In this case, it’s imperative that you make sure that you don’t accidently post something on Edwards’s page that should have gone on Jacob’s page, or else you might risk an epic vampire/werewolf battle royale. And who wants that to happen?

One easy way to do this(manage the facebook page, not the battle royale) is with HootSuite. Not only can you manage your multiple twitter accounts (just in case you’re tweeting as Bella and as Edward), but now you can manage your various Facebook pages.

Jason Finnerty | //freelanceswitch.com

The Perfect Web Designer Should Not Exist

The web design community is both strong and deep. We support each other and quickly find out that everyone is encouraged to both grow with, and contribute to, the community.

Certain individuals within our community will stand out as experts and will be looked upon for words of wisdom and examples of great design. But, still, to say that the perfect web designer does not exist is not a huge stretch of the imagination because we all have our weaknesses, and no one is perfect, right?

Well, I will do you one better: Even great designers don’t exist. And finding good designers is (or should be) pretty tough.

As a member of this wonderful web design community, I know it can be quite easy to get caught up with the creations of our colleagues. But this game of «keeping up with the Joneses» and searching through web design galleries for «inspiration» is a dangerous one to play. It has become all too easy to forget what really matters in web design: the users.

Unless you are designing a website for the web design community, your average user just doesn’t care how pretty your site is or how much blood, sweat, and tears you put into it.

Instead, more often than not, if someone wants to know who made the web page they are browsing, it’s because something went gone wrong and they are looking for someone to blame for its atrocious acts.

So, then, the goal of the designer is to be unremarkable. And the better you are at design, the more unremarkable you become. The perfect designer then, doesn’t exist.

The «perfect» website’s goal isn’t to make sure that site visitors see the pretty pictures, amazing color combinations, and wonderful typography. Instead, it wants to convey a message to the user.

The perfect web design is simply a structure that has been developed so that the consumer can absorb a message or complete a task as quickly and as painlessly as possible. If the consumer is focused on the design or development of a site, then attention is drawn away from that core task or message.

When your target audience is caught up on the content of your website — the design does not exist at all, or is invisible — and, in turn, the web designer and any trace of his work ceases to exist.

Become a Facebook Fan of Six Revisions
http://sixrevisions.com/

The web design community is both strong and deep. We support each other and quickly find out that everyone is encouraged to both grow with, and contribute to, the community.

Certain individuals within our community will stand out as experts and will be looked upon for words of wisdom and examples of great design. But, still, to say that the perfect web designer does not exist is not a huge stretch of the imagination because we all have our weaknesses, and no one is perfect, right?

Well, I will do you one better: Even great designers don’t exist. And finding good designers is (or should be) pretty tough.

Unless you are designing a website for the web design community, your average user just doesn’t care how pretty your site is or how much blood, sweat, and tears you put into it.

So, then, the goal of the designer is to be unremarkable. And the better you are at design, the more unremarkable you become. The perfect designer then, doesn’t exist.

The «perfect» website’s goal isn’t to make sure that site visitors see the pretty pictures, amazing color combinations, and wonderful typography. Instead, it wants to convey a message to the user.

Teens Deliver Word of Mouth

There were also large gaps when it comes to products/services in «telecommunications» (63 percent of the 13-17s, 39 percent of the general public), «retail & apparel» (59 percent vs. 38 percent), «sports, recreation & hobbies» (63 percent vs. 42 percent) and «personal care & beauty» (45 percent vs. 26 percent).

The research tabulated the brands that get the most word of mouth from 13-17-year-olds. The top 10: Coca-Cola, Apple Computer, Verizon, iPod, Ford, Pepsi, McDonald’s, AT&T, Sony and Nike. For comparison, the top 10 among total respondents consisted of Coca-Cola, Verizon, Walmart, AT&T, Pepsi, Ford, Apple Computer, McDonald’s, Sony and Dell.

– Mark Dolliver, Adweek
Anyone who has tried to shut a teenager up will be unsurprised to learn that teens produce a disproportionate amount of «word of mouth» about products and services. A recent report from Keller Fay Group has the numbers to document this phenomenon.

Based on data collected during a one-year period (July 2009 through June 2010), the report says teens «engage in a significantly higher level of word of mouth about all categories than the total public.» For instance, 78 percent of 13-17-year-olds, vs. 57 percent of the general public, engaged in word of mouth about «media & entertainment» brands during that period; 67 percent of 13-17s, vs. 39 percent of the public in general, talked about «technology» products. Continuar leyendo «Teens Deliver Word of Mouth»

4 World-Famous Websites Who Ripped off Their Ideas from Someone Else

Being unique is overrated.

Look into the histories of world-famous websites like Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, and PayPal, and you’ll find they ripped off smaller, less well-funded competitors for their ideas, marketing strategies, and even business models. It’s not subtle, either. They took someone else’s idea and ran with it, making it worth millions or even billions in the process.

Sure, they improved the product. Sure, they had better marketing. Sure, they just plain got it done, when no one else could.

Without a doubt, they deserve credit for everything they’ve done, but they don’t get to claim they were first. Let’s take a look into their histories, and I’ll show you what I mean.

By Sherice Jacob | //blog.kissmetrics.com/idea-rip-off/

Being unique is overrated.

Sure, they improved the product. Sure, they had better marketing. Sure, they just plain got it done, when no one else could.

Without a doubt, they deserve credit for everything they’ve done, but they don’t get to claim they were first. Let’s take a look into their histories, and I’ll show you what I mean. Continuar leyendo «4 World-Famous Websites Who Ripped off Their Ideas from Someone Else»

10 Extremely Useful Time Management Tools

Web designers, especially freelancers, face the challenge of effectively managing their time while juggling a lot of different responsibilities. There are a number of online apps and tools that can help you to take control and make the most of your time. In this post we’ll look at 10 that may be able to help you. This includes calendars, to-do lists, time tracking, and project management tools. If you have a favorite please feel free to share in the comments.

//vandelaydesign.com/blog

Web designers, especially freelancers, face the challenge of effectively managing their time while juggling a lot of different responsibilities. There are a number of online apps and tools that can help you to take control and make the most of your time. In this post we’ll look at 10 that may be able to help you. This includes calendars, to-do lists, time tracking, and project management tools. If you have a favorite please feel free to share in the comments. Continuar leyendo «10 Extremely Useful Time Management Tools»

Showcase of Cartoon Style Web Designs

Do you remember yourself as a kid watching cartoons all the time — even when parents didn’t allow you to? Most of us have watched cartoons and even now, as we get older, cartoons don’t lose popularity. Basically, cartoons are animated illustrations that are mainly designed for kids but which some adults also enjoy watching. Cartoons can be drawn by hand or they can be drawn on digital devices, too.

Web design is a creative art and that’s why cartoon elements can also be used for web design. Actually, a whole website can look like a cartoon. It’s an excellent method to help make your website look more friendly and cheerful. We have pulled together here a few websites which will hopefully be a source of inspiration for your own future cartoon style website!

By Peteris Kelle | http://www.noupe.com

Do you remember yourself as a kid watching cartoons all the time — even when parents didn’t allow you to? Most of us have watched cartoons and even now, as we get older, cartoons don’t lose popularity. Basically, cartoons are animated illustrations that are mainly designed for kids but which some adults also enjoy watching. Cartoons can be drawn by hand or they can be drawn on digital devices, too.

The 25/200 Rule Of Marketing and Sales

Early in my career, I learned a valuable rule that’s changed my life.

«Reduce the time it takes for your prospect to decide on you by 25% and the result will be a 200% increase in sales.» This concept speculates that we lose much of our business in the sales funnel, while the customer is trying to make a decision about your product in the face of competition and objections.

During this time, new competitors enter the mix or circumstances change – making your product less desirable or unnecessary. This is why in sales we stress urgency. This is why in marketing we emphasize branding (as a shortcut to quality). In my Yahoo career, I witnessed this in the field. In my speaking career, I see this every day.

For example, if your book is a smash hit and your name is on everyone’s tongues (Consider @Tony’s success with Delivering Happiness), then the meeting planner can instantly agree on you, because she knows her boss wants you because he’s reading your book and giving it to all his friends. This is what JIm Collins experienced in 2002 when his speaking business picked up more than five fold!

So here’s the takeaway: Focus efforts every day on reducing the time it takes to say yes to your product.

//sanderssays.typepad.com/

Early in my career, I learned a valuable rule that’s changed my life.

So here’s the takeaway: Focus efforts every day on reducing the time it takes to say yes to your product. Continuar leyendo «The 25/200 Rule Of Marketing and Sales»