Is recruiting in a down economy challenging?  I think so.  I have a number of requisitions I am recruiting for and you would think there would be thousands of people applying for each requisition.  Well, it just isn’t so.  The positions I am recruiting for are quite vast, from customer service, to research and development, engineering and sales managers. Even in this economy candidates are finding opportunities, regardless of where they live.  Plus, candidates are taking jobs based upon their needs, and it they have been out of work for a long time; they will take the first reasonable offer.  Your hiring managers may be busy with upgrades in their office or facility and traveling; they may not have the time for the interviews.  It is our responsibility to help keep them informed on the ever changing workforce challenges and how they will be affected.

Here are a few things you can do to make the process run a little bit more smoothly.

• First, ask your hiring managers about their travel schedule, after all it is summer and people are traveling for both business and vacations.  You should inform the hiring managers what you are ...

On twitter today a brief conversation ensued about best practices versus best principles.  I’ve gone off on this before ( I think Dilbert sums it up nicely), and my tweet today captures my belief:

“please, *not* best practices; abstract best principles and recontextualize!”

However, I want to go further.

Several times recently I’ve had people ask for research that justifies a particular position. And at a micro-level, that makes sense.  But there’s little ‘micro’ about the types of problems we solve.  So I hear it at a larger level: “why should we make learning more scenario-based”, or “what is the empirical evidence about social learning in the organization”.  And the problem is, you can’t really answer the question the way they think you should be able to. On principle (heh).

The problem is, most empirical research tends to be done around very small situations: these 3 classrooms were trialed in this state or province.  In many cases, there just hasn’t been the specific studies that are close enough to make a reasonable inference. And it’s hard to coordinate large studies that are really generalizable for pragmatic reasons that include logistics ...

Kevin C. Tofel explains how simple branding transcends category names used by industry insiders, and captures a place in the public consciousness:

Such simple branding and product awareness goes a long way toward helping Apple sell products. Look at the iPad, 3 million units of which the company has sold in just 80 days. Instead of floundering around by trying to define the device as a keyboard-less smartbook or a tablet PC without native handwriting capabilities, Apple gave it a definitive name with specific, usable functions and in the process — as I noted when the name was first unveiled in January – cornered the nascent smartbook market before that market even got started.

...

I’ve been writing a lot about high potential, high performing employees lately. Although some hate the use of labels, I’ve referred to these employees as “hipos”, “A players”, and even “self-licking lollipops” (ugh!).

A lot of managers make the mistake of thinking that during times of change, their top performers would be the least likely to need reassurance. That’s a major mistake, and could lead to turnover of your most valuable people when you need them the most.

What are some of the major changes that can make your top performers jittery? Certainly layoffs would be the obvious choice, but they could also include mergers, acquisitions, a change in CEO or manager, a new job or responsibility, a change in process, or any change that could have someone wonder where they stand.

Why in the world would a high performer have anything to worry about? Let’s say a 10% reduction in force is announced. That means 9 out of 10 employees will not be affected. Not a problem, right? Very wrong.

First of all, we can’t assume employees know where they stand when it comes to how their performance is perceived. In study after study, high performers rate themselves lower than others ...

The actor Christopher Reeve was a leader. Not in the traditional sense that those of us who work in the corporate world may think, but nonetheless he is an example for us. It was in his journey from Superman to being trapped in a body following a tragic accident that we can begin to understand how we, as leaders, might choose to respond to the adverse and trying times that happen in our leadership and our lives.

A handsome actor who starred in the Superman movies, Christopher Reeve fell off a horse and broke his neck, severing his spinal cord and losing in his ability to breathe or move on his own. There was very little chance that Mr. Reeve would get his life of privilege back. Yet only a few short months after his accident, he was appearing on television and telling the world what a lucky many he was.

Reeve chose to dedicate the rest of his life to being a positive force, raising funds and awareness for spinal cord injuries. Even after his death, I’m not sure that we can fully grasp yet the impact he has had in the medical world on these complex injuries or the inspiration he provided to thousands.

In his words:

“When a catastrophe happens, it’s easy to feel so sorry for ...

Do you have an iPad?  Do you use Twitter and/or Facebook?  If you answered yes to these questions you have to download the new Flipboard application.  This is the Twitter and Facebook application that you have always wanted,you just did not know it until now.

Flipboard bills themselves as the world’s first social magazine.  While not perfect, I love the first version of this app more than any other iPad app I amusing (except for Evernote which is in its own class).

Flipboard enables you to view, in a magazine-style format, your Twitter and Facebook feeds.  Here is why this is different, worth paying attention to:

• You can put Twitter lists, search terms, or individuals into their own sections and view these streams.  While Tweetdeck, and others, achieve the same results via columns the Flipboard experience is better.
• As you dive into the sections you have defined you see a mix of individual tweets and, the real win, you see the articles that people were tweeting.  You no longer need to click upon random URLs to decide if you want to view the content.  Instead, the ...