Link Love

"A hugely powerful way to be creepy on Facebook"

That is my favorite quote about Facebook Search so far. Although, with the amount of attention the topic has been getting, I'm sure it will be replaced shortly by something even wittier. Despite not even being available to the general public, Facebook Search has got the blogosphere atwitter (social media puntastic!) If you want a good laugh, as well as a succinct explanation of Facebook's upcoming new feature, you really should check out Kyle Wagner's article on Gizmodo. Kyle also shares some tips about how Facebook Search will eventually be able to help you find a cat-loving lady in your area! (For recruiting, not dating, obviously). I was going to do a post about leadership, but the leaders I respect were all posting about Facebook Search. Some leader I am. Okay, a few of them are posting about this adorable stock market predicting kitty genius, but I'm totally above posting links like that. We also had to tackle Facebook Graph Search, because of how much it  will influence Facebook recruiting. Mark Zuckerberg even brought up Facebook Graph Search and its recruiting power. When explaining how it worked to Wired reporter Steven Levy, he said:

“Let’s say we’re trying to find engineers at Google who are friends of engineers at Facebook.” He typed in the query and found, not surprisingly, that there were lots of people who met those criteria.

Next, let's look to Jim Stroud, as his article is the best I've read so far about how Facebook Search will apply to recruiting. Jim points to its long tail (yeah, I didn't know either !) and intuitive search format as useful features for sourcing candidates. Jim's article is not all rainbows and kittens — he also emphasizes that it probably won't be useful right away, since many users don't fill out their "About" page, nor do they "Like" and "Comment" as much as would be optimal for a recruitment-based search. Hopefully he'll get a chance to try out Social Graph for himself soon and give us a more detailed review. Now, just in case you were wondering where the whole Graph part of Facebook Search is coming from, here's a pretty great description of what Facebook's Social Graph is all about. (With diagrams, yay!!) It differs from a Google search, because Facebook knows all your juicy social data. This makes it far more powerful, and yes, more creepy. Brittany Darwell explains, in an article for Inside Facebook, just how useful this aspect of Graph Search will be for marketers. She includes some great examples. My favorite being "what are the musical preferences of women living in Chicago who like Obama?" Answer : "Monica". Obviously. And I miss the 90s. Graph Search has already taught me so much, and I can't wait to try it out for myself, or at least read about what other people's experiences with it are, whilst I writhe with jealousy!

We are well into the new year, but the best-of lists just keep rolling out! In the last week I've read dozens of articles predicting the future of "Social". Personally I think it's potlucks in the short-term, but picnics are going to own the market starting sometime in May. Unless you live in a climate that allows for perennial picnicking, in which case, I am so jealous it hurts. As far as social media goes, I'm kind of shocked to read that Google+ is making a comeback! The blogosphere is once again abuzz with posts about it. Most notably, Social Media Examiner posted an article claiming that Google+ Can Now Engage Anyone, Tech Crunch recently featured multiple articles about Google+'s end-of-year features blow out, and both Lifehacker and Mashable wrote about their impressive new Pan & Zoom feature for large photos. But the most interesting and persuasive article on the matter has to be Dave Llorens', in which he writes:

"I'm willing to stake my reputation on the following statement: If Google Plus doesn’t have a staggering number of active users by the end of 2013, you can all come over to my office and pie me in the face."

I have to (very shamefully) admit I'd kind of written it off. Not because Google+ isn't a great tool — it's just that I'm super-busy trying to determine which filter does the best job of evoking the intense emotion I feel when Instagraming my breakfast (Walden)! But that's why I have four different e-reader apps on my iPad: To shame me into keeping up with the social media Joneses! I also try to stay up on trends in recruitment, especially trends in social recruiting. Lately I've noticed a growing number of pieces reporting on the problems recruiters encounter when incorporating social media into their strategy. An interesting example of this is Steve Ward's recent article on Undercover Recruiter.

It compares LinkedIn recruiting to fast-food and warns of its potential to overload recruiters with quantity candidates instead of quality talent. Controversial and informative — what more could you ask for? Speaking of controversy, Forbes went so far as to suggest we abandon social medial all together. Thank goodness for Jim Dougherty's thoughtful rebuttal. He reminds us that social media is often heavy on the media, light on the social, but it doesn't have to be. Controversy aside, I've saved the best link for last! The Starr Conspiracy recently published a list of the top 40 HR Bloggers under 40 and it's awesome! Check them out, your e-readers will thank you. Promise!

Hopefully everyone is well recovered from their New Year's Eve shenanigans. Mine were quite easy to recover from, as they involved mostly fireworks, running and pancakes (running from fireworks towards pancakes). I thought I knew what fireworks were all about until experiencing them Dutch-style. There were blasts of light exploding in the sky in every direction I looked. The Dutch spend 70 million on fireworks for New Year's Eve, and set them off from canal boats, parks and rooftops. The results are pretty darn magical. Speaking of starting 2013 off with a bang (and, of course, a cheesy pun!) I thought I'd dedicate this Link Love to articles and apps that provide inspiration. The hardest part of any project is getting started (except maybe with projects involving jiu-jitsu, where the hardest part is having your limbs torn asunder...). So, what better way to begin the year than by finding new ways to get psyched-up about getting things done? I've written already about my love of Google Currents as a tool for keeping up on new blog posts and articles. It lets you keep an eye on all your favorite blogs and has a snazzy magazine type layout. Feedly is a new tool that's made my morning coffee and research sessions much more productive and enjoyable. Like Currents, it pulls content from Google reader as well as other feeds you've selected, and also presents them in magazine form. Feedly is much slicker than Currents, since it has more sharing of options and a  “tagged for later” section (super useful!), which Currents lacks. I still use Currents, as I find it to be slightly more reliable (Feedly is still rather new and has some bugs to be worked out), but I highly recommend adding Feedly to your social media arsenal — it won't disappoint. So, now that I've gotten that off my chest, (really, I've been dying to write about that app for way to long) here's the rest of the links we're loving. Hopefully they'll get you as excited about your 2013 projects as they did us :) What's more motivational than shiny new plans? Nothing! Bill Connerly explains why businesses should ring in the New Year with a new plan. He also lays out some super easy-to-follow tips for how to choose and implement new strategies. Awesome! Here's some motivations for the job seekers out there — Jessica Miller-Marrell shares 7 Steps to a Kick-ass Job. This article has tons of great tips for anyone looking to improve their networking skills. Note to self: Update business cards! Okay, I take it back, the promise of rock-star level awesomeness is even more motivational than shiny newness. Kristi Hines details the path to becoming a "Social Media Rockstar" and blows my fragile little mind. Leave it to Lifehacker to make the simplest stick-to-your-goals post of the New Year. Follow through on your resolutions this year with these tips. I especially like the one about rewards, although I guess I probably shouldn't reward 20 minutes of running with a whole plate of nachos... But, what's Wednesday night without nachos?!? Happy Link Loving.

The Dutch celebrate Christmas on both the 25th and the 26th. So, in keeping with tradition, instead of a whole bunch of informative links, I’m just going to post some cool stuff and this kitten picture!

Links!

This amazing Infographic shows how employee volunteering brings happiness into the workplace.

Need a new podcast to blow your socks off? Check out the New Yorker Fiction Podcast, it’s lovely, promise!

If you didn’t already do enough shopping, Apartment Therapy’s amazing best of 2012 store profiles should put you over the edge.

Think all Santa-related art has to be cheesy? Think again! Artist Creates 500 Santa Sand Sculptures — from DesignTAXI.com.

Apparently “No” is the most powerful word you can use in 2013, and here I thought it was cake — I stand corrected 🙂

She blinded me with science! 12 Obvious Science Findings of 2012. These are hilarious. HILARIOUS.

Happy holidays 😀

The year is ending. Time to go back over everything that you've accomplished and either pat yourself on the back, or do as I do, and freak out over all of the things you said you'd do that you didn't get around to. My Twitter account is still 90% rap lyrics, I still do not own a pair of high-heel shoes (nor could I walk in them if I did), and I still haven't made my own Infographic. I did, however, do a lot more writing than last year, complete a 12-mile mud-run in pretty decent time and move to Europe — so not all that bad! How about you? Did you accomplish all of your goals this year? Today's Link Love is a best-of-the-best list with links thrown in. All of the links are worth checking out. Some are silly, some are super useful, some are both, but all of them are awesome!

List/Links!

Most interesting social recruiting controversy:

Job Boards! Who doesn't love a good old fashioned throw-down? Forbes got a ton of backlash for publishing an article declaring Job Boards to be a thing of the past. In response, we wrote an article about how Job Boards are here to stay... Whadda you know — Forbes did too! For more info, check out what The Job Board Doctor has to say on the matter.

Most important social recruiting platform:

Facebook! Okay, obviously, we'd say Facebook is the most important social recruiting network — we are a Facebook app after all! But come on, Facebook is where the talent is, because, well, Facebook is where everyone is. Even my mom. And her entire bridge group. They are all very talented ladies! PROOF!

Best HR related Twitter account:

@UndercoverRec

I should have said @Jobcastnet, but I'd have been lying. Not that we don't tweet some good stuff, but we don't tweet anywhere near as often as The Undercover Recruiter does. Not only are their tweets frequent, well-timed and pertinent, they are also always high quality. If you don't follow them, get on it! Oh, and they are also one of my favorite recruiting/HR related blogs. Runner-up: Jim Dougherty @leaderswest. He posts great Social Media / HR related content and adorable photos. He also has my favorite profile pic — men of Twitter take note!

Best Twitter account not related to HR: @ArenaFlowers Actually, if you like terrible jokes, rap music and fitness, then my personal twitter account is really the one for you! Actually no. Unless you are my husband, you so don't want to follow me on Twitter. Honestly. I have a sneaking suspicion that even he doesn't want to follow me on Twitter. You do, however, want to follow @ArenaFlowers. Their new Twitter campaign is hugely successful, innovative and entertaining.

Best HR Infographic:

ALL OF THEM!!!

Evolution of the Recruitment Consultant FTW!

It's gorgeous and funny... It also has some great info, but that's just gravy!

Best social media Infographic:

The Social Media Zombie Apocalypse!

Nuff said.

Best web-site for staying up on the (social recruiting) trends:

I love Alltop.com. I use it to find new HR and social media related blogs to follow, see what kinds of posts are trending, and to research articles. It's awesome and super easy to use. Honorable mentions: LinkedIn Answers and Quora.

Best app for staying up on the (social recruiting) trends:

Google Currents. I love it. I open it up every morning to see all of my favorite blogs organized in a slick magazine-like format. Google Currents + coffee = perfect morning.

My personal favorite app discovery of 2012 (because it's all about me!)

Fitocracy!

It ticks all the boxes: gorgeous, funny, robot-graphics, fitness-related, gamification, tells me how awesome I am — what's not to like? It's also perfect for a team-building competition at your company.

That's it for me. Sam out!

Owning up to weaknesses is not fun. But we all have them. In order to become better we have to face them.

One of my heroes, and all around super successful dudes Dan John says:

“Mastery demands falling in love with the plateaus”

Plateaus point out where your weak points are, so instead of running from them, embrace them. Easier said than done! This is why writing about personal branding (yes, I know it’s a silly buzzword!) has been terrible awesome for me. Self-promotion is one of my sticky points, which is also true for so many people in HR and recruiting. This could possibly be because of the higher percentage of women in HR. Women, in general, kind of suck at bragging. We’re not even all that great at the humble brag, and it’s the easiest form of self promotion!

A great example of this is with female athletes. Elsbeth Vaino noticed, while coaching a co-ed ultimate team, that after tryouts even the very best female athletes were shocked that they had made the team, whereas the very worst of the male athletes could not understand why they hadn’t made the cut.

So, in order to help my sistahs out a bit, here are a few tips on self-promotion and personal branding for, and by, women.

Links!

Some theories about why self-promotion is so hard for women and four awesome ways to improve! This article is very informative and references the movie Election, so it’s pretty much the best thing ever.

According to Fistful of Talent, HR people have low self-esteem and it’s bad for business. This article made me feel kind of weepy – shhh don’t tell!

Advice on how to do business with men (if you’re a woman). Robin’s article is blunt, hilarious and informative.

5 Personal Branding Tips for Women by Dorothy Dalton. These tips are so obvious that they’re not – number four is one I really need to work on!

Stacy Zapar, the most connected woman on LinkedIn (the opposite of me, though my mom thinks I’m cool). This is a break with format – it’s not a link to a particular article, but to her entire website! She’s the Yoda. I’m Luke Skywalker… except she has a fantastic command of the English language and no idea who I am.

Okay ladies, enjoy these links and guys, remember, girls of the world ain’t nothin’ but trouble! And by ‘trouble’, I mean equally good at stuff.

Happiness.

It’s the goal in relationships, the workplace, and, well …  in life.

Science says that happiness leads to successful businesses and boosts employee engagement and productivity. Employers, recruiters and job seekers alike can benefit from improving their own, and each other’s, smile-to-frown ratio.

So what makes people happy?

For me it’s chocolate, weight-lifting and hilarious podcasts … Oh yeah, and my friends and family (hey mom!).

Okay okay — this post is actually just a Christmas wish list. So, make like Santa and send me chocolate and Dan John’s latest book so I can get my pump on! (Podcasts are free on iTunes)

Now, just so I don’t lose my job, here are some links about candidate, employee and recruiter happiness:

Want to make those potential hires happy? Check out this article for easy ways to entice talent by improving candidate experience.

We all know how important it is to keep recruiters happy! Here are three things to avoid doing if you want recruiters to like you.

For happy employees, use Jessica Miller-Merrels advice to create an employee benefits and rewards system that your employees will actually like!

But, why bother? Well — employee disengagement is a serious drain on productivity and effectiveness.

Don’t worry, Brad Herbert offers three straightforward tips on how to improve employee engagement.

December has arrived and holiday bonuses are a great way to spread a little cheer. Suzanne Lucas reports on what employees actually want for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Sinter Klaas.

Last, but not least, here are 34 tips to make anyone happier. I’m especially fond of this article, as I can use it as an excuse to dance around like a maniac, and eat lots of chocolate. Awesome.

I recently took a walking tour of the Tate Modern. On the tour, our hilarious guide gave us the history of Henri Matisse’s famous work : The Snail.

This painting, actually a collage, is a perfect example of Matisse’s personal brand. It is one of his most famous works — so huge, bright, and effortless, you would never guess it was created by a sickly, bedridden 85-year-old man. No longer able to paint large canvasses, Matisse had directed his intern to paint large sheets of paper in primary and secondary colors, and he lay in bed cutting the paper down to size. He spent days explaining to his poor intern where precisely to pin each cut-out onto a massive white canvas. The final piece was outlined in pencil and sent off to Paris where the cut-outs were pasted down to the canvas, finishing the piece.

All this from a man whose health was so poor, that his doctor had ordered him to give up working with bright colors all-together. He compromised by wearing sunglasses while he worked! Matisse was The Color Man. His art and his livelihood was built on that reputation. Color was essential to his personal brand, and he was not about to let anything get in the way of that, even if it meant pulling a Corey Hart!

With the ever growing prominence of Social Media, personal branding has become more and more complicated, but no less important. Where Matisse branded himself with scissors, paint and paper, today we brand ourselves with Tweets, Gravatars, and logos. In the same way that I’ve advocated finding a unique voice for blogging, I advocate finding a unique personal brand. This is something I struggle with myself. Working in social media means I often neglect it in my personal life, a serious no-no as far as personal branding is concerned.

.. but, inspired by Matisse, I’ve decided to make a serious effort to turn this around. So, this week, our links are all about personal branding. From the importance of reputation, to a definitive guide for branding with Facebook, the articles linked today will help you refine, reevaluate or even recreate your personal brand.

In one of these articles, John Sumser states:

“The only brands that matter are the ones that people care about”

And when it comes to a personal brand, if you don’t care, why should anyone else?

Links!

Blogging4Jobs thinks “You Should Know” your reputation is on the line! Rayanne reminds us that in today’s world it is almost impossible to escape having everything we do being permanently documented. She also proves that it’s possible to look amazing in green face-paint!

The (Almost) Definitive Guide for Brands on Facebook. I don’t know about you, but I was very comforted by Kevin Allen’s writing : “Rest assure, there’s no such thing as a social media expert”. Phew!

Employment Branding. This article, from where that no-nonsense quote above was taken, deals with “Employment Branding” specifically, but the advice is easily applicable to personal branding.

How to Prevent Personal Brand Injury in Just Four Steps. Just four! Now that’s doable, even for the busiest of social media artists.

Words are for Suckers. A great assemblage of words on how actions shape reputation and the importance of authenticity. Warning, there are some “Almost swear-words”.

The Greatest Ted Talk Ever Sold. An oldie but a goodie! Morgan Spurlock on personal branding.

Just in case you haven't read all of my previous blog posts (And why not?!?) I will preface this article by announcing my unabashed love of comic books. Nope, I'm not going to try and make my hobby sound hip and cool by calling them graphic novels. Mostly because the comics I read are about men in tights, not wistful days in Portland. The comic story-lines I'm drawn to are the same ones I read growing up. My dad's Fantastic 4, Iron Man, Spiderman and Silver Surfer comics. I'm pretty sure the bright red hair I had as a teen was inspired by a deep-seated desire to be the Scarlet Witch — she was so cool! But sometimes being a superhero is not all it's cracked up to be. This Link Love is inspired by an article by Holland Dombeck. It's about what happens to super heroes when the day no longer needs saving (very Watchmen). How "Hero Culture" is often incompatible with the everyday. How the worship of office heroes can leave their colleagues feeling under-appreciated and just plain annoyed. It's an awesome post. You should definitely check it out, along with these other (super) cool articles. Links

Heroes are all about inspiring people to be great. Holland Dombeck's great post was inspired by an article by Seth Godin of Seth's Blog fame. How would a super hero handle Facebook? The same way recruiters should, by taking control! The recent U.S. elections elevated social media to hero statistic.

In this article, president Obama's digital super team shares tips for social media domination! Is there any better accompaniment to comic books than Video games? Nope. Gameification is all the rage these days (wanna be friends on Fitocracy anyone?).

John Sumser explains how it can relate to HR. Movember's not over, there's still time to support these mustachioed HR heros in there epic battle against clean-shavednes and prostate cancer. If you need a little boost, check out this real life Bruce Wayne and his unconventional campaign to brighten sick children's days. Oh, and I should probably admit that today's super hero theme may also have something to do with the fact that I'm reaaaally excited about Iron Man 3... I've watched the trailer more times than I'd like to admit :)

When exactly did “viral” become a positive word? It still makes me think of the flu! But in the world of social media, everyone wants their creations to go viral. That’s why how-tos for creating viral videos, memes, blog posts and Tweets are so very popular. That’s why I am blogging about viral job postings! It’s to please the masses… otherwise I would be blogging about tea-cup kittens and the latest James Bond flic (it was pretty awesome, by the way).

How do you make a job posting viral? HOW?!?!

Well, first things first, you need to use the internet. No, not just streaming Dexter and reading drunk Nate Silver Tweets — not that those things aren’t important. You need to be on the internet, creating an presence, promoting your company, and generally making yourself known. We have tons of posts on how to do that already, so, if you don’t have a blog, Twitter, branded Facebook Career Page, and/or Pinterest account, that’s step number one. If you have no community to share with, you’ll have no one to contaminate!

Assuming that you have your social networking ducks in a row, we can move on to step number two: Content!

No one wants to share boring content. No one. People do all the time, but usually it is about themselves. They are under the false impression that what they are sharing is extremely interesting (see my teenage self’s live-journal for a perfect example!).

Most job descriptions are a total snore. Position Title, Summary, Essential Functions, Qualificationzzzzzzzzz… Unless these details are accompanied by a ridiculously generous salary, the chance a post like this is going to be shared once, let alone go viral, is pretty darn slim. To make your job post interesting you need a hook. Why not brag about your location, vacation plan, amazing staff parties, or your world-class foosball table? What does this position offer your desired candidate that no other position does?

This company used its generous vacation policy to make their job posting go viral. Using images to describe a job post like this campaign does is another great way to stand out from the crowd. It’s especially effective for sites like Facebook and Pinterest.

My personal favorite tool in the social recruiting tool belt is video! Companies, like this one, are using recruiting videos that show off their awesome company culture to attract talent.

Once you have a stellar post, Pinboard, or recruiting video ready to go, it’s time to get social. Post on all of your social networks, promote on popular search engines and job boards and don’t forget to leverage your connections. If you know people in the field you are currently hiring for, ask them to share your post. Get in touch with “influencers” and ask for their advice and help. Ask other employees to share the post on their social networks. Be social!

Being social means starting conversations. So once you post your job and chat up your connections, don’t hole-up in quarantine — connect. Be present on Facebook and Twitter to respond to questions applicants may have. Banter. Post more photos and comment on the status of your talent hunt! Be the best virus-spreader you can be, by continuing to sneeze (digitally, of course) on everyone through every available channel.

Happy aachhhhooo!

I’m going to sign off with this recipe for delicious chicken stew, yummers.