Just yesterday I had the need to contract for some development services so I reached-out to groups I know.  Later I had the opportunity to pass along several hot leads on contracts to folks who I know are competent and need the work.  Each case was met with either no interest in taking on the project (not because of pay) or they were so ill-prepared to respond in a timely manner that the opportunity went away.  I felt like I woke up in a world that didn't have 8 million Americans unemployed, a zillion dollars of national debt, and a slow-to-thaw recession going on.

Hey everybody...its Wednesday, is EVERYBODY working today?  Can't be.

Lesson 1: If you're an independent contractor (web services let's say) you need to jump on leads.  Especially when they come from known contacts.  Email and/or phone back when you get a lead and get busy working.  Regardless of the size of the job, it is an introdcution to a paying client who may need more of your services.

Lesson 2:  If you are in sales (or selling your resume) you have to cater to the middleman as much as the end consumer.  If you have a product and you sell through distributors, agencies, purchasing groups, whatever, there has to be some thought to how you let those people experience your product.  For the job seeker this is an examination on how you display your experience to the recruitment team as much as to the hiring manager.  Is it in print, a blog site, your LinkedIn page, what.  Use examples of situations, problems you've solved...not just company names, your title and employment dates.

Lesson 3: If you can't answer your phone return the message quickly, even if to confirm that you got it and you'll have to call them back.  And listen to your voice mail every so often.  Most make us sound like we work at the DMV...keep it simple, upbeat, and not made from your cell phone on one bar.

Sorry for the rant but I just had to get that out of my system. 

We are adding a dynamic element to our job postings that we are collectively dubbing Showbizjobs Radio.  Go ahead...click the play button.  Interviews with recruiters and hiring managers will focus on a particular job opening, and be assembled into an audio widget, which is placed within a specific listing.

There are many nuances to position descriptions that often don't do justice to either the specificity of the need, cool stories behind the company or even something as subtle as what the parking situation there might be.  Our chats are loose exchanges, not scripted, and touch on wide ranges of topics.

We provide clients with the ability to embed each widget across a multitude of platforms, including their own web sites, social networks, and blogs so that the viral nature of job networking can be in full play.

So look for this widget on Showbizjobs and enjoy learning more about your potential next job.

Sometimes we forget that many folks…older than we…have a different perspective on today’s events because they have seen it before.   For some its too much and they retreat into the bah humbug, here we go again, ingrown eyeball world.  Forget those guys...its the ones who tend to take advantage of their wisdom, and see the 'sunlight above the clouds' that I really enjoy spending time with.

Last night I had the privilege of chatting with a friend’s father who is a retired executive from a fairly well-known foods company.  He definately falls into the latter category.  Our discussions quickly landed on the hot topic of the cold business climate, namely the lack of jobs creation.

The battle-tested executive opined the difference between company ‘growth’ and ‘profitability’ and how one overshadows the other as companies sail among today’s economic whitecaps.   Profitability is what organizations seek now above all other strategies.  But shortly boards will decree ‘Yes, profits are holding because of cuts and reorganization…but how are you going to GROW our business?’ 

That one comment made me sleep easier.  Regardless of single or double-dip recession trends, I was reminded that the over-reaching Wall Street temperament will drive growth and in-turn create jobs.  And as always, it will be the companies with genuine confidence, innovation, and guts who lead us out of this.  Not ones that are laying-off risks, hunkering down, and refusing to buy coal to warm Bob Cratchit’s feet. 

I just completed my first month of mornings without the daily newspaper.  No sobriety coin reward waiting, but it does make me think about our print brethren more.  For me, it started with the guilt of loading piles of parchment into the recycle bin each week, then an examination of the expense of it, the duplicity of the content, the clutter, and the sheer volume of ads.  I had zero alternative use for the discarded paper…I don’t have a parakeet or new puppy in the house and we don’t have a wood-burning fireplace.

Reverting to reading the news on my iPhone at the morning table was inevitable.  Plus I rarely read more than two articles in their entirety in the print version and for some reason I feel like a faster reader when the screen is only 2 inches wide.

Having made the leap away from paper, I feel more for the folks who work diligently to keep those institutions running.  They have a tough situation.  And many are still finding their way in the mobile news world…lots of room for improvement there.

But I do now look forward to picking-up a REAL paper when I’m at the coffee shop or at the airport.  A tactile treat when I’m away from home.  How strange.

BTW, does anyone have a killer iPhone news app?

As odd as it seems, economists are finding the exact opposite to be the case. 

University of North Carolina economist Christopher Ruhm has found that every one-percent rise in unemployment drives down the death rate by .5%.  This holds true for the US and some 25 other countries studied in the midst of this protracted recession.  Arguments are that with more time on their hands, underemployed Americans are hitting the gym more, smoking less, walking more, going out to eat less, and getting more sleep.

So you see, there is a silver lining.  Just not for those who are working at a frenetic pace, keeping things going in the absence of those who have been downsized.  Maybe that’s what the economists are working on next.  They too, have job security to think about.   

More reading on this can be found here.

Having an early dose of front-line customer service indoctrination Disney style, one of the key nuggets I took away was that quick (if not instant) communication dissolves 75% of authentic stress or hostility in any situation.  Even if the message you carry is the fact that you have no message.

Left in a vacuum, people invent worry compounded upon worry.  Be mindful of the distress undercurrent as you wade through applicants in your recruitment process.  Imagine your ‘A’ grade candidate out there in the void.  The guy who could ultimately get your hiring manager out of hot water.  That guy’s out there wondering if you even check your email of voice mails, much less thinking about being a rainmaker for your organization.  All because of the silence (cue chirping crickets).

Have a system and use it.  Confirm resume submissions via email responders, follow with a note after an interview, provide a ten-second update to the candidate who calls two weeks after an interview.  We have clients who are getting 600+ responses for a single job ad.  If they don’t have a system in place for simple messaging, imagine the aggregate stress that floods the streets from the feedback void.

If you read many of my messages you might say they all seem to sound the same…and you are right.  It always comes back to basic professional practices.  The same business and social practices that our culture places diminishing value on, but somehow come to the forefront for the talented-yet-unemployed guy sitting by the phone.

Greater word-of-mouth within networks.  This is evidenced by a high percentage of ‘natural’ traffic (55% in the case of Showbizjobs) meaning people are aware of the site brand enough to enter and visit ‘www.showbizjobs.com’ directly over half of the time.

Saying to a friend “You should go over to Showbizjobs” has an underground, grass-roots feel to it over saying “Check out this job I and one million others saw on Monster”.  People know there is competition for jobs, and niche boards present a smaller, deeper pond to candidates who hate swimming in the ocean.

This lends to spontaneous discussions about a particular job posting within social media and networks.  The viral nature of social sites springboards the existing word-of-mouth attributes of how Showbizjobs is found.

We are a true job board, not a bulletin board or job posting distribution machine.  Our goal is to attract ‘A’ talent to client companies who have current and future staff needs.  This means our content is genuine, from the source, posted by recruiters who know what they need.  There is a large difference between this model and peer-postings found on social sites, free sites, Craigslist, and integration sites.

Search tools don’t have to be extravagant.  Regardless of the size of a job site (boards or company listings) candidates want to narrow their path.  There is a false belief out there that a one-field ‘keyword’ search is the silver bullet to direct talent to job listings.  This is the antithesis of what should be happening.  As job boards go, the larger the list of industries, locations, and job titles represented, the more homogenous a keyword search becomes, not the opposite.

While we have keyword searches it is always as a filter against target region and job category.  This has not changed on our site in over 14 years because it is simple and it works.  Job sites and applicant response systems seem to forget there is a human on the other end of the experience, and one who is becoming more impatient with non-intuitive systems.  They want an iPhone experience, not rotary-dial methods of inviting you to learn more about them.

Two more things then I’m done.

Showbizjobs is 40% less expensive than alternative candidate sources.  This number becomes even lower for clients who can make package commitments.  You should ask a few…you’d be surprised.

Lastly…we answer our phone.  Our clients don’t interface with business development reps or call centers, they talk (or email if they prefer) with the proprietor.  This is a massive comfort for busy recruiters, HR executives, and hiring managers who just need talent, not red tape.

If you are considering how to allocate what certainly may be narrowed budget resources for next year, consider loading-up on niche boards.  Consider what Showbizjobs can do for generating talented candidates at efficient prices.

Call us.  626 798-4533

People routinely ping me about my view of the economy and business climate for our market.  From the many discussions with several market leaders who help their companies survive and grow, my take is that folks are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Two months ago I’m not sure people had an idea how far out it was, but there are things happening.  Granted, things are slow but pieces of the Hollywood machinery are starting to move and as we all know, one move causes three others.  

My modest optimism is based on not only slightly increased staffing volume but in which market segments they are hiring in and what titles.  What I term the 'middle' of our industry which includes agencies, mid-size home entertainment, recording labels, moderate-size studios and services groups are picking up.  Folks have cut so deep that now that business is increasing on some fronts, plates are overloaded and quality is suffering...so they're hiring (some) to alleviate the pressure.   

The Confab format seems to work as a venue for recruiters and industry operators to get a pulse of what's happening.  So we do plan to continue them as the year progresses so stay tuned.   Plus we’re open to suggestions on format, location, partnerships, invite lists, etc.

Thanks again for everyone who helped make the evening happen.

Time Lapse Test: Station Fire from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

Just when you think people can be rational about having a job, greed raises its ugly head and ruins the dance. The latest sighting was this week when pilots from Frontier Airlines, in bankruptcy with the court selling-off assets, declined 40% raises and the opportunity to work for profitable, culture-rich, Southwest Airlines.

Frontier was handed to Republic Air for $70 million less than the Southwest bid. You know Republic, who recently picked-up Midwest Air and terminated all of Midwest’s pilots. Let’s see, stable company, loss of seniority plus a 40% raise versus rickety airline and probable layoff…with the backdrop of a sluggish economy. It deserves the NCIS Special Agent Gibbs smack to the back of the head I believe.

This is a bad deal not only for the pilots, but for all the other workers at Frontier and the Denver economy. Then there’s the lack of competition that could have placed pressure on the big carriers who want to charge folks $600 to fly to Colorado to ski on the slopes. So for all you fans of the Rocky Mountains, start saving the pennies, planning Friday meetings in Denver, get your reward miles ready and fasten your seat belts. On the bright side, maybe Republic won’t get rid of the critter photos on the airplane tails.  [news story]