For all of you that have multiple accounts on different social networking sites, and worry about why you do all of them, or why you have stopped using MySpace so much lately, then here is a video that will make you smile. It is a very clever take on making the choice of using one social network over another.
If you are not into social networking, don't bother watching it as it will mean absolutely nothing to you!!
If you think we have got talent issues in the UK, then think again! China, now one of the new superpowers of the world, is needing to feed it's exponential growth with talent. Therein lies the problem. One, there isn't enough skilled people to meet the huge demand and two, one of their biggest problems is retaining employees, particularly Management.
Competition is stiff for Managers in China and high turnover just compounds the issue. Management-level attrition rates in China are more than 25 percent greater than the global average, and replacing a high-performing manager can cost 300% to 2,000% of that individual’s salary.
Jonas Prising, President of Manpower North America, says,“The United States is the biggest investor country in China, yet many of its companies are struggling to generate the growth they want because of people issues. Recruiting the right people, retaining the best staff and developing leaders of the future are difficult tasks in any market. For foreign companies operating in China, there is the added difficulty of understanding how to adapt talent management strategies to the country’s unique business culture and values.”
The rapid economic and social change that has already impacted China in a big way in the past few years has spurred a skills shortage that is expected to be massive in the next few years. The labour shortage in China is even more problematic than in other nations because it is most severe among managers. 40% of companies find it difficult to fill senior management positions. Mid-level managers are also in short supply, particularly those who are Chinese nationals and can interact with local people.
So is it any wonder that search for talent in China has gone online, in this extreme example of a candidate driven market. The job board stats would be a dream for online companies in the UK, with the Chinese employments sites such as Zhaopin.com and 51job.com having daily hits in excess 4 million. But when you realise that China’s population is well be over 1.3 billion people you realise that it is just a drop in the ocean.
So if you are advising your children which GSCE's to study, or you really do want to give you little generation Z'ers a leg up into the global workplace, then start them studying mandarin or cantonese!!
On the way to a meeting today, I had the displeasure of having a tyre blowout on the M4 motorway. While changing the front drivers side tyre on the hard shoulder, it did occur to me on many occasions (mainly when those big trucks went past at 700 miles an hour), that it was a bad place to be!! So it is maybe poetic timing that I came across this funny video of the Grim Reaper job hunting.
What I like is how the real companies he visits, seem to be taking it very seriously........
With all the bad bress around in the job market, maybe this is a very apt video!!
Gen Y'ers beware, Microsoft are going straight for you. They know that they have an 'issue' over coolness with the gen Y'ers (particularly the younger end of that generation), so their designers have been a little busy. They have created a new career site, specifically aimed at appealing to the gen Y'ers, and when you see the screen shots below, I think you will agree - only the gen Y'ers will even be vaguely interested in this approach!! Kris Dunn over on Fistful of Talent thinks the site is aimed at Apple converts.
The main menu page does look like a grungy strange hand drawn graphic, but
will it appeal to a gen Y'er thinking of looking at Microsoft as an employer?
And then you get lucky, as you can get your self into the Genius Lounge...Wow!! But that music.....................ouch!
The only shame about this innovative site (and others like it) is that at some stage it takes you back into the main Microsoft careers site, and normality....
So for all the ingenuity and clever design they end up here.
I applaud Microsoft, as one of their other career sites, is the one of the best out there. But will this really have the desired effect and help them recruit gen Y'ers - I hope for their sake it does, but I don't think it will!!
Something I read over the weekend really, does highlight how completely stupid some of the employment guidelines are in the equal opportunity rules.
Firstly take one airport - St Mary's on the Scilly Isles. Not a major one, but it still has 120 flights a day flying to and from the airport. So a busy provincial airport.
Then the job vacancy - Air Traffic Controller. Simple enough you would think - must have experience of air traffic control, reading all the inbound and outbound flights and controlling the airspace.
Enter equal opportunities.......
This latest job application has to be sent out in Braille as well as paper form!!! So, an airport which revolves around computer screens, and up to the minute online readings, has to be prepared to consider blind people for the role of an Air Traffic Controller!!! You couldn't make that up if you tried!!
While I applaud companies for integrating blind individuals into the workplace with some creativeness, I am sorry, but has anyone in the equal opportunities even thought of the possible implications here??
When will these idiots who write these equal opportunity guidelines actually get a life and get out into the real world? Then, and only then, will they realise that the tosh they write has no sense of reality in the workplace!
If you know any other stupid examples, then of course please do share them.
I thought I would share with you some of the latest news about me, that is just about to break (and it just may surprise you)..............
It is always good to see video used in an innovative way. Kirk Abraham, the Manager of the Engineering & Automation Solutions Team at MRI , is obviously happy to be creative with some of his videos. Here are two - both for engineering roles.
I am just not sure what age group these engineers work in though??
So did Stick Man appeal then? What about a shark?
Would they make you apply for one of their jobs?
In seminars that I have attended recently the subject of Second Life seems to have attracted interest again. Whether it is because there is a genuine recruiter interest I am not sure, but people still seem a little transfixed with Second Life as a concept.
So it should come as no surprise that Google have created their own version of the world of avatars - Lively. As you can see from their video below, they are going at Second Life directly. What's the betting that they start to do some of their recruiting through Lively sometime soon.
Over the past six weeks I have been watching as a very well known $billion brand name, has put one of my recruiter colleagues through the ringer!! And his crime? - just being a truly professional recruitment consultant!!
After reading Stephen's post - Recruitment agents are scum - , I thought I would share this story as a view to show that honesty, trust and respect needs to go both ways in this business.
Continue reading "Client abuse of recruiters - It goes both ways!" »
If you read The Sunday Times, then you will (hopefully) have seen an article that I was asked to participate in - Generation Y's Unique Challenge. The article by Chloe Rhodes, covers the gen Y issues well, and raises some very interesting points. From my perspective, it is always good when journalists actually use your interview material in the right context!! So for those of you who didn't see it, here is part of the article:
Andy Headworth, managing director of Sirona Consulting, which specialises in giving businesses advice on how to deal with Generation Y staff, believes such changes are crucial for retaining this workforce. He said it might be necessary to re-educate Generation X and Baby Boomer staff on how best to manage the new age group.
“Generation Y have been brought up to expect a lot from life,” he said. “They’ve been mollycoddled from birth and expect to be treated with respect. Managers have to coach them through problems rather than simply telling them what to do. Organisations have to adapt to these expectations, otherwise their best staff will walk.”
The paper version did include an extra section, which I have scanned in and included below (just click on it to expand).
As you will know from previous articles I have written on generation Y, it is a subject that is of great interest to me - primarily because I have two gen Y daughters!!!!
