The Recruiting Animal

Experience Changes People

Ex-hostage no longer wants to negotiate with armed opposition.

"I was in chains all the time, 24 hours a day, for three years," she said. "I tried to wear those chains with dignity, even if I felt that it was unbearable."

Asked if she had been tortured, she said, "Yes, yes," and said her captors had fallen into "diabolical behaviour," adding: "It was so monstrous I think they themselves were disgusted."

Some Colombians who recalled the centre-left politician's openness to negotiating with those same rebels during her campaign against Uribe were stunned to hear her praise his 2006 re-election as "very good for Colombia."
-- Associated Press, Toronto Star

Animal Show Wed July 02 NOON EDT

GUEST: MAREN HOGAN, TWITTER QUEEN
LinkedIn. Blog. Twitter.

TOPIC: Marketing and Sourcing through Networking

ALL CALL IN & LISTEN INFO HERE

lisarokusek @heathergardner: animal is a TOUGH Interviewer, but it was fun.

marenhogan @heathergardner @lisarokusek
                             @cincyrecruiter: YIKES. Please pray for me

CLIPS: Introduction, Gen Y Quiz, Snippets from the Show (12 min)

Maren video taped her own debriefing And this video takes a whack at me that calls for a rebuttal. But I'll wait till next week.

---

HR Wench: @Animal I love the show - just not the yelling (Twitter, July 02, 2008)

Jessica Lee: decided to listen to recruiting animal show to hear @marenhogan - but not sure if i can listen to the animal for very long. is it just me? (Twitter, July 02, 2008)

Recruiting Animal: @jessica_lee Listen, Honey. Just like fine wine, the Recruiting Animal is not for everybody.

jessica_lee: @Animal - go figure. i don't like wine! eh. i go straight for the hard stuff. ha!

Recruiting Animal: @jessica_lee Yeah, I don't like wine either. And I am the hard stuff. But you don't like me.

Recruiters Should Be Like Tim Russert

Says out of the box recruiter, Vin Dieselevey

Don't interrupt. Make sure you understand the job before you claim to have the perfect person.

Start a conversation with light banter. Don't get straight down to business. Don't forget the social amenities.

Don't be so results-oriented. Be a mensch. Do your job in a nice, friendly way and make the world a better place.

See also: Tim Russert, Thin-Skinned and
We Have To Stick Together said Tim

A Showman's Cold Call

Harry Joiner, the Marketing Headhunter, used to be in a rock band and he's still a showman. He starts every cold call like this:

HARRY: Hi Mary. Do you know who I am?

MARY: No

HARRY: So, you have NO idea who I am?

MARY: No

HARRY: Huh. You know nothing about me …

MARY: No [but now she's racking her brain to figure out who he is because it sounds like she should know].

HARRY: Okay. It happens. I’m Harry Joiner, and I’m a marketing headhunter specializing in ecommerce and new media. In fact, … are you online right now? … Okay, Google “marketing headhunter” … Last year I closed VP-level deals for some of America’s best loved brands, like X, Y, and Z …”

Comment: Harry claims that his boast makes people feel like they are doing their friends a favor by introducing them to him. And I'm sure that this works -- for Harry. But, again, he's a showman with a special talent for communicating . Most people could not pull this off.

An Ace in the Hole

I had begun to stop worrying about spies and terrorists, but in the shadows of the courtyard the merchant drew me close and told me something else about his life: "We have Canadian passports. If it gets bad with Iraq, Iran, I can make a living anywhere."
-- Herbert Hadad

Full of garbage words and phrases

XYZ Consulting delivers training initiatives that empower both individuals and organizations to effectively eliminate the problems of frustration, conflict, low morale, low productivity and high turnover in today's workplace.

ALT VERSION: XYZ Consulting teaches people how to avoid the frustrations and conflicts that lead to low morale, low productivity and a high rate of turnover in the workplace.

Every program XYZ Consulting offers is designed to produce results...
[What else could it be designed do?]

Praise For Sarkozy

If anyone had suggested two years ago that France would elect a pro-Israel, Pro-American president, he would have been passed off as wildly out of touch with French sentiment.
-- The Augean Stables

I guess we were wrong about what lots of French people were thinking.
We were wrong. Get it?

Minnie Driver Sings

Who knew? Invisible Girl. Hat Tip: Ghost of a Flea On Ellen. (She seems to get better looking as she gets older. BS cover (listenable but not great)

How To Be A Successful Blogger

Read it below or listen here.

I got a letter this week from a fairly junior blogger. And he said.

"Dear Recruiting Animal, I listen to your show because you're the Mighty Quinn and I'm hoping I can learn some secrets from you. I've been blogging for six months now and I cover the same territory as everyone else but I just don't seem able to get the hits. Nobody's visiting me. What can I do?"

Well, little buddy. I checked out your blog and the problem is very simple. It's as plain as day to me. You don't know how to be an expert. That's your problem. So I'm going to give you some clues.

Here's Number one. Don't think too much. If you see a study that says short men get better jobs don't ask if it's really true. You're not a scientist! You grab that topic and talk about it as much as you can. Think of all the short guys that's going to please.

People who know better are going to grumble but who cares? Most people don't know anything. That's why they come to you. They want simple ideas and absolute certainty. So they can sleep at night. So you want to make them feel good but you also want them to have fun.

Here's something to think about. How many magazines put out lists? The best movies of 2007. The best hundred rock songs of all time.

How do they know what they're saying is true? Of course they don't! But that doesn't mean the list isn't fun. Or that it doesn't make you think. Or that it doesn't give you something to talk about with your friends. And your blog should be written the exact same way

And it doesn't hurt to be a bit sexy sometimes and break the rules a little. Let's say someone writes to you and says: "Should I sleep with my recruiter? I think she likes me." Well that's a no brainer. The answer is: Of course you should! That will give her a reason to help you.

Of course, there's a lot more that I could say but let me wrap it up with this:You can always jazz things up a bit. Tell some stories from your personal life that never really happened. Who's going to know that you weren't a jockey. Who's going to know that you didn't go skydiving? Or that you didn't tell your boss where he can get off?

You don't have to feel guilty about fibbing. What are you doing? You're just helping people. And as long as the basic idea is true who cares what examples you use?

Are you starting to get the picture? Good. I hope I've helped. Good luck and regards.

It doesn't take a village to raise a child

It takes one or two responsible adults -- Rosie DeManno

Here's a radical concept: Maybe parents should check their kids' knapsacks for guns, knives, baseball bats and brass knuckles before the little darlings leave for school in the morning.

Lisa Rokusek on The Recruiting Animal Show

DATE: Wed June 25, 2008. NOON New York Time
TOPIC: "I am not your average recruiter"

GUEST: Lisa Rokusek's profile. Lisa's blog. Lisa on Twitter

LISTEN HERE

Also on board: Art Pitcher, Rayanne Trumbo, Maureen Sharib, JD Jason Davis, Dave Manaster and The Minnesota Headhunter.

Marketing on Social Media

1. The Personal is Professional
You create an online presence in microblogging (eg Twitter) by sharing mundane personal information with your "followers". Inotherwords, you promote yourself in the guise of chatting with "friends".

2. Overshare
Tell your audience what you are doing all day long. This means endless messages about where you are, what you're eating, who you're meeting, plus photos and videos (if you have them).

3. Enhance Your Image
It's easy to make yourself seem like someone special by publishing bits and pieces of made up life. The aura of success you create can be used to attract business.

Take a look at these Twitter postings:

Animal: Had dinner with the Assistant Deputy Minister last week. He said some very interesting things

Animal: Invited to my friend's island this weekend. Couldn't be bothered.

Both of them are true. I know a guy who's been with the government a long time and is now a senior manager. Once a month, I eat at a Chinese buffet with the same bunch of guys and he's part of the dinner crew.

Another friend comes from a wealthy family. They own a small island with a fancy cottage. He wanted me to drive some of his daughter's friends up to the lake because he's busy racing his car.

You might think that this kind of crap isn't worth posting but if you want to be a somebody online, think again.

Diversity, Character and Career

This surprised me:

Ms. SHRIVER: Well, and I'm going to say when I speak today at the memorial that when I first came to NBC, I had just been fired by CBS.

So I came not knowing really anybody, and Tim came up, put his arm around me and said, `Look, we're both Irish Catholics. We're both educated by the nuns and the Jesuits. There aren't that many of us in this business. So if we stick together, we'll be fine.'

Daily Howler gets downright nasty about it:

After the memorial service, honorary Irishman Howard Fineman rolled his eyes at the silly tale—and... blurted something out that normally never gets tattled:

FINEMAN (6/18/08): I had to laugh when Maria Shriver told the story about when she came to NBC and Tim went up to her and said we’re both Irish-Catholic and there are not many of us here so we got to stick together. At that time, NBC was run by Jack Welch at General Electric and Bob Wright. And so it’s basically a Holy Cross conspiracy, from what I can tell.

Under Welch, for whatever reason, NBC News increasingly became an East Coast Irish Catholic boys club.... Joe Klein alluded to something many people have noted; it was the Irish Catholic branch of the insider press corps which most completely lost its mind about Bill Clinton’s disturbing ten bl** j*b*.

HRMToday.com

Lance Haun, started HRMToday.com. TOPIC: Common HR issues NOT career issues. PARTICIPATION OPEN to HR pros.

Lance impressed me last week with the freewheeling power of his comments on JibberJobber.com. He has the angry passion necessary to make a blog interesting.

Quotations

Once, these fifth-columnists screamed "Power to the people." Now they have the power and realize they've always hated the people

I feel your pain - and I enjoy your pain

The marriage brought together two ruthless, egotistical, controlling people, each capable of desperately unreasonable behaviour.

True words are not always pleasant,
And pleasant words are not always true.
The wise are not always learned.
And the learned are not always wise.
The good are not many.
The many are not good.

How you think is everything. Think Animal.

Tim Russert Vindictive says Friend

While Mr. Russert was well-known as a good and constant friend to many, he also was sometimes moved never to forgive or forget.

“He could see from a hundred yards away a small critical comment made about him in some newspaper or some magazine, and he had that strong Irish gene. Never forgive, never forget,” Mr. Brokaw said.

“He wasn’t thin-skinned,” Mr. Barnicle said.

“Then how would you describe it?” Mr. Brokaw asked.

“He was observant. He was very aware of everything,” Mr. Barnicle said. “Tim had a pen and a piece of paper and he took names, and numbers, and eventually … that number would come up in the Rolodex or in the gun sight and then ‘boom.’ ”

-- TV Week

The Fad That Paled

Gen Y Gets Old, Fast

Pepe Le Pew recants. Betrays Cause.

"Here are a few things that have matured with me during the past year... I’m not as idealistic.

"I tricked myself into believing that we’re already just as stellar as my grandfather’s generation who kicked butt for all of us during World War II. But let’s face it, we haven’t proven anything yet."

Comment: Your grandfather's generation wasn't that stellar. In the 60s and 70s, young generationalists like you identified them with Archie Bunker (or worse). They only became the greatest generation when they were old and powerless and Tom Brokaw wrote that book.

"A year ago I would’ve said that Generation Y is going to change the world and social media is going to be the vessel. Today, while I still believe that social media is a powerful ally, I’m not as naïve."

Comment: I think he means save the world.

"When I first heard Barack Obama speak, I said to myself, “Wow, there’s the guy who’s going to save this country.”... I no longer believe in the hype....

"The problem I’ve seen in myself and in my generation thus far is that we’re a lot of talk. And sometimes we believe in things without asking for proof."

Comment: How come they don't teach the need for evidence in university?

"I wonder if I’m staying aligned with the values of my generation."

Comment: What is it, a religion? There is a similarity: you've got apocalyptic faith and group solidarity.

Don't feel too bad, Pepe. Naive, egotistic enthusiasm is normal. And what about the middle-aged people who were egging you on?

Also worth noting: the Gen Y revolution didn't hold a candle to the other youth movements of the last hundred years. It really wasn't even a movement, just a few magazine articles -- and it's provided Pepe with a fun way to earn a living as an expert.

Note: After writing this confession, Pepe had the nerve to call a certain person a whiner without cause. I guess he hasn't totally sobered up. After all, The Gen Y Princess recanted a bit last year but it wasn't very convincing.

Hat Tip: JibberJobber.com

Venus de Micro Gets Superstition

"I am starting to believe what Eckhart Tolle says about coincidences not happening; it's all for a reason."

I'm not really sure what this means. Usually it means that fairies are pulling the strings toward some good end. But then you watch a nature show and see some cute little animal end up as another's prey and you have to wonder if those fairies are really inclined to do the right thing.

I don't think Ma'am really believes. But she'd like to.

Gen X Joins Generational Warfare Bandwagon

More on the topic that won't go away.

We've just lived through two years of incessant boasting from Gen Y and now the hustlers in Gen X are waking up to the fact that there's gold in them thar hills. They're saying to themselves, "Hey, why can't be I be a generational expert too? It's easy. You don't need any credentials and you can make everything up and people believe you."

So now these guys rolling out their own campaign of moaning and self-congratulation. I just saw a video by a guy named Jeff Gordinier. It looks like he's talking to his therapist and he's saying that he feels really bad because he was crushed between the Boomers and Gen Y.

No one ever paid any attention to us, he weeps, because we're not a big market but, really, we're much better than those other guys and you know why? Because we're so modest. We work hard and get things done and we're the people who are saving American values today but unlike some people we don't go around bragging all the time.

Toronto Targets Post Gen Y Students

Urban Diversity Strategy

Animal Show Wed NOON EDT

DATE: Wed June 18, 2008. NOON New York Time
TOPIC: Old Style Recruiting
GUEST: Art Pitcher

CALL & LISTEN INFO HERE

Note: This guy is a good friend of the Shannon Underhill so if you don't like him you know who to blame.

Gen Y Attacked

JibberJobber.com posted "Gen Y Sounds Like A Bunch Of Entitled Whiners" and Your HR Guy went wild.

Gen Y aren’t equals! To say a Gen Y accountant coming in is an equal to a senior accountant with seven years of experience is the ultimate argument in favor of entitlement. No, you won’t be treated or paid equally as that person. You don’t deserve it.

I don’t think they understand that it takes “superfluous tasks” to get forward in life. You can’t get to work without changing the oil in your car. Superfluous tasks are part of working hard and Gen Y doesn’t get it.

And I am really frustrated (as a Gen Y’er myself) at the backhanded implication that the reason Gen Y gets this rap is because other generations are jealous of us.

I am not jealous at a bunch of snot nosed wannabe know it alls of my current generation and I doubt anybody else is.

David Sandusky piles on:

I don’t want to oversimplify, but go find Gen Y who want to learn and do. Yes, they are in the minority…

Heather Gardner says that all Americans are slackers:

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve heard from Gen Y and other generations “I think I’ll pass. The job description you sent mentions ’some’ overtime. I don’t do overtime.”

And Harry McIntosh fights back:

gen-y demands nothing. they are simply asking - this is something no generation has dared do before.... to make the working environment a better place. whats wrong with looking for change?

work is now a 24/7 operation... gen-y believes employers should be more flexible to the hours. 9-5 does not exist any more... they just want to be efficient... and people are wasting their time on superfluous tasks.

what gen-y wants is to be treated as equals in the work and be given a fair chance.

Comment: Is it arrogance, ignorance or both that leads Harry to claim so boldly that no other generation has ever dared to ask for change in the workplace?

Whitey No Big Deal

Not really offensive says Chicago Tribune Staff Report.

It's hard to come up with an ethnic slur that has less of a sting than "whitey.".... Are there really white people... so threatened by minority grievances that they take genuine umbrage at the term "whitey"?

More a taunt than a threat, the word has no ugly history and hints at no particular stereotypes... it's never been used to keep a people down, to put them in their place, to rank them as subhuman.

To be truly offensive, a derogatory term needs to have an ominous context that "whitey" lacks.

Those who take offense are confusing prejudice.... with racism, which is prejudice in action. It requires them to imagine that "whitey" marginalizes, diminishes and therefore harms white people. And if they're really that dumb, then I guess they deserve to be insulted.

It was okay on Beaver.

Whitey is one of Beaver's safer friends. He's a good student and more conscientious than Beaver's other pals. Whitey is a bit nervous by nature, but that doesn't keep him from talking Beaver into crazy situations, like climbing into a giant soup bowl on a neighborhood billboard to see what's inside. -- Leave It To Beaver

Hat Tip: Neoneocon

How To Be Liked

Source: Think Simple Now by Tina Su

You are more likely to be hired if the interviewer likes you.
And you can make yourself likeable.

1. Tina claims that people like you when you mimic their posture and facial expressions.

Comment: They like it more when you adjust to their style of talking. (But how can you carry on an intelligent conversation when you are busy trying to copy someone else's behaviour?)

2. Tina says: People are impressed when you remember their names.

3. They like you when you when you give them a chance to talk

Comment: They also like you when you have something interesting to say.

4. They like you when you pretend you are interested in what they have to say.

5. Tina says: tell yourself that you would like your desire to get to know a particular person manifest itself in some way. You don't have to specify exactly how it will make itself visible. But like a "tell" in a game of cards, other people will pick up your subtle signals.

6. Offer help first and give more than you take.

Comment: Offer help when people need it. The routine offers of help from business people whom you barely know are transparently insincere.

7. Smile

8. Be authentic

Comment: Feel free to be lively but you can't tell everybody everything -- if only because they don't want to hear it. This is certainly true in an interview. You have to sell what they want to buy and that doesn't mean let it all hang out.

Hitchens on Generationalism

Gen Y, take a lesson.

The lowest form of solidarity, I remember reading somewhere, is generational. What do you have to do, after all, to qualify as a “baby boomer”?

Membership in that vast sodality means that you were in your late teens or early twenties during the sixties: an underwhelming achievement that required no more than being able to say “present.”

-- Christopher Hitchens: May 1968

Dave Staats on Gen Y
Summary: Sure, there’s a group of people who had many things in common while growing up. And, yes, they are using new tools (that they didn't invent). But, in the end, the Millenial label doesn't really mean that much.

My Comment: Re tools. TV makes us different because you can sit at home and not be so ignorant. Likewise, the internet gives you easy access to tons of information. Does Twitter, IM and text messaging compare?

Well, I learned this morning that Shannon Seery spilled salsa sauce on her white shirt. That might keep me from taking Prozac because the chit chat keeps me from being lonely. But, actually, Prozac is the thing that will make Gen Y different. Really different -- in a good way.

Eight Secrets of Success

Nicole's dad taught her these rules of success

Set goals that challenge you.
Get started on your goals.
Stay focused on your goals.
To get it right the first time, take your time doing it.
Aim to lead by influence not brute power but don't be a follower.
Never burn bridges; you might need that guy
Always keep your word.
Admit your errors.

How To Be Happy

Jill Taylor, a brain scientist (neuroanatomist) had a stroke. "I could not walk, talk, read, write or recall any of my life.'’

Living with only right-brain functions, she found herself quite happy. No sense of self and no brain chatter meant no stress. It took her eight years to recover. Now she promotes right brain livin'. The key to it seems to be thinking nice thoughts, deliberately. Unhappy thinking is the product of the competitive, survival-oriented, analytic left side of the brain.

Isn't it ironic then that Barack Obama, the somewhat left wing flower child candidate is the exponent of right brain (happy) thinking. "What the world needs now, is love sweet love." "All we saying, is give peace a chance." Those are right brain songs. Here's a left brain song.

Source: NYT. (Hat Tip: Serena Erlich)

Canadians Are Nice People

1 dead, 8 hurt in weekend violence

A night of violence on Toronto’s streets has left one man dead, four others shot and four more stabbed in separate incidents.

Gwyneth Paltrow Sings

Cruisin' with Huey Lewis. I was amazed by this when I saw the movie. Thought she was suprisingly good.

I've never seen this before. I must have come in late: Bette Davis Eyes.

Just My Imagination

See also: Metacafe

Money Guide For Young People

At their first jobs: New York Times

Funny (and almost right on)

If 'Dream' wasn't your girlfriend's favorite song in 1987, it was probably your mom's.

From Spinner.com, Two-Hit Wonders

Unpopular Bloggers Should Stick Together

Says the Branding Guru for The Little Guy.

Kids, you want to be one of the popular bloggers, don't you? But, face it, you can't. You're just not interesting. And you know it. But, you haven't read your Neitzche lately, have you? The losers can succeed by banding together and, essentially, boycotting the people who are interesting.

I'll write about you and your 10-hit-per-day blog and you write about mine and before you know it we'll have a self-sustaining community. And community is everything, isn't it, when you're down and out?

This really works. At its last convention, the Liberal Party of Canada (our equivalent of the Democratic Party) had two front runners, Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae. But candidates number four and five, Gerard Kennedy and Stephane Dion, made a deal to support eachother and by combining their delegates Dion was able to triumph over the the leaders who, individually, were much more popular than him.

Slave morality does not aim at exerting one's will by strength but by careful subversion. The essence of slave morality is utility: the good is what is most useful for the whole community against the particular interests of the strong.

But how could there be a common good? The term itself is a self-contradiction for what is common has always been of little value.

Rayanne Trumbo, "Fem Fetale"

"Come into my interview, dahling".

Bull Doza says:
I finally met Rayanne in person, and the word ‘groovy’ came to mind.... Rayanne was leading the flow of conversation.... Rayanne became a fixture among the RBC faithful present.

She barely breaks a sweat with all the lime light aura she pervades.... Rayanne can be observed as one of the growing fem fetales of smart, industrious female staffing professionals....

The RBC girls – social butterflies with their fluttering quips of bright insight have broadened the circling wagons to become ‘community’ in the most real sense of the word.

Rayanne consistently shows us - “Groove is In The Heart”!
[Is that like circumcize your heart?]

Animal Show Wed June 11, Noon EDT

DATE: Wed June 11, 2008. NOON New York Time
TOPIC: Recruiting Scientists
GUEST: Clifford Mintz

ALL CALL & LISTEN INFO HERE

Note: My scheduled guest cancelled on me again -- this is getting sickening -- so I corralled a real scientist, Cliffy Mintz, to be the guest. He was a recruiter for five years and now he advises scientists (who appear to be total losers) in their careers.

But, listen, I'm getting mad. Real mad. So here's a message for anyone who schedules a guest appearance and then decides to cancel without warning: I promise to make you famous. You're going to be real well known -- but it might not be the way you want.

Behavioural Interviewing

Israel has the best airport security in the world. Its approach was developed after an attack by three Japanese students in 1972. They arrived at the Lod Airport on Air France from Paris. Dressed in business suits, they carried musical instrument cases with semi-automatic machine guns inside of them. They killed 26 people and wounded 80.

In 2001, before shoe-bomber Richard Reid tried to blow up a passenger plane over the Atlantic, he was sent to Israel by Al Qaeda to test its security. His answers to the screener's questions before his return flight got him tagged as suspicious. He was searched and an armed, plain-clothes air marshal was assigned to the seat next to him.

People complain that the screening questions are intrusive but they work in a situation where something has to work.

Every passenger going through Ben-Gurion Airport undergoes questioning. Screeners ask a multitude of questions fitted to each individual. The questions allow screeners to assess behaviour patterns. The screeners learn exactly what to look for and how to rate a passenger as a possible threat. The more suspicious a passenger, the more intensively screened that person will be
- Fifth Estate, CBC

Hat Tip, The Contentious Centrist

Steve, Steve, what were you drinking?

When you wrote this?.

10 Ways Gen Y Will Change the Workplace
Millennials promise to:

- Hold only productive meetings. (laughable)

- Shorten the workday by focusing on productivity.
(keep on dreaming)

- Find mentors by teaching older workers about technology (baloney)

- Put human back into human resources. (baloney)

Steve, if you want to sober up here's a good remedy. Always remember this line: "I have seen the future and it works." Lincoln Steffens on the Soviet Union, 1921

Oy vey! I should have known. He copied it from these guys. And they're not drunk, just naive.

Happy Employees, Successful Company

Herb Kelleher, the CEO says:

‘You have to treat your employees like customers. … When you treat them right, then they will treat your outside customers right. That has been a powerful competitive weapon for us.’

‘We’ve never had layoffs. …We could have made more money if we furloughed people. But we don’t do that. And we honor them constantly. Our people know that if they are sick, we will take care of them. If there are occasions or grief or joy, we will be there with them. They know that we value them as people, not just cogs in a machine.'

Source: John Hollon, Workforce