Bernaisesource

All these concerns have legitimacy, but consider what reporter Anjali Athavaley wrote last week in the Wall Street Journal: "Job References You Can't Control."

Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn Corp. and Jobster Inc. are making it easier for employers to get in touch with people who have worked with job candidates in the past or know them personally. Recruiters say they use such sites -- where people create online profiles and then link to professional colleagues who are also members -- to find mutual connections they can hit up for information. Many hiring managers say they even check to see if they have mutual connections with a candidate onFacebook and MySpace, the popular social-networking sites.

It is only another reason to check out Shel Holtz’s “Stop Blocking” campaign. My belief is that accessing social networks is a cost of doing business. But it is not carte blanche to do anything one pleases.  Employees need to understand the threats from malware and should be reprimanded or dismissed for abusing their privileges. I am confident most will not be downloading videos and viewing content that HR has deemed off limits (e.g. content that offends or is pornographic). Employees have jobs to do. Social networking without guidelines is as bad as outright bans.  Prohibiting social networks won't guarantee higher productivity, but it may limit opportunities and access to valuable information.

Let me get back to you.

Technorati Tags: Stop Blocking; Recruiting; ScanSafe;

Save to del.icio.us

Yesterday, USA Today featured a story about job seekers who are submitting online video as part of their interview process.  The story caught my eye in part because the article highlighted a candidate seeking a job at EarthLink where I work.

Without going into specifics about that applicant, the article made me think about hiring as I am now looking for a new corporate communications manager in my department. 

Using video is just another indication of how technology is the raising the stakes in the workplace.  As I have previously pondered, computers and web 2.0 are forcing all of us to acquire an increasingly larger number of technical skills.  For students, typing is not enough;  PowerPoint skills are now expected.  For bloggers, text is not enough.  We must be multimedia experts incorporating pictures, sound, and video into our postings.

For a generation now growing up with camera phones and the ability to inexpensively access and post online content, using video as part of the screening process seems only natural.  It demonstrates their comfort level with web 2.0 technology.  In the short run, it may even help separate them from the field.

But not so fast.  It is only a matter of time before the rest of the field catches up.   The first bank to have Saturday hours or the first gas station to be open 24/7 may have had an initial competitive advantage.  But what is the long term result?  Longer hours for everyone.

We should also be careful what we ask for.  For one, are we now going to be judged on our background and qualifications or on our production skills?  Will everyone be expected to provide video (thus eliminating the competitive advantage) and will those who don't be regarded with suspicion?  What if we don't do well on video which in most cases has no bearing on the job itself?   Will video hurt our chances, even though our "performance" has nothing to do with our job?

I think in the end, we shouldn't use technology just because we can.  But perhaps it is generational.  I asked a seasoned recruiter about video resumes.  She was not impressed.  She thought it was a distraction and could raise legal issues if people were contacted or not contacted for an interview based on their looks. 

Are You Ready for Your Screen Test?

I am personally not wild about video resumes, but I know it is only a matter of time before it is standard practice.  Soon actors may not be the only ones who will need a screen test for a job.  This is coming from someone who started his career in video and television news.  I will still rely on resumes and in-person interviews.  But then again I am not inclined to post highly personal  material on a MySpace page -- which in fact has cost some young applicants a job offer.  Of course, standards are changing.  Those who can't adapt may very well be left behind.

Let me get back to you.

Technorati Tags: Workplace; Employment; Recruiting; Resume;

Add to NewPR Save to del.icio.us

USA Today’s columnist Kevin Maney’s entry on blogging sparked some thinking this weekend.  He was riffing on a recent Wall Street Journal article about the growing number of bloggers who are posting very private moments in real time.

The mySpace Effect

Maybe we should call it the mySpace effect – after teenagers who are posting most everything about themselves online with little regard to the adult consequences.  Now it seems adults are getting into the act.  With all this sharing going on, it makes me wonder how this social interaction will impact both our personal and professional lives.

From my perspective, it is amazing to discover how many bloggers feel comfortable throwing discretion and caution to the wind.  Nothing – births, marriages, medical procedures, divorces, cancer, and death – seems to be out of bounds.  I suppose that’s the power and the addiction of new media.  And the more we reveal, the more the outside world is drawn in. 

Of course, the urge to record and share is not new.  Cave paintings of communal hunts were all the rage some 40,000 years ago.  And find me a proud parent reluctant to “share” baby photos with anyone within eyeshot. 

Life the Movie

What is new is the ability to so easily share intimate details in real time with complete strangers on a global scale.  Apparently, a close network of friends and family is not enough.  Increasingly, more of us want the world to know -- and the world seems to make the time to read -- about our most intimate details.  In a celebrity obsessed culture, where everyone can be famous on YouTube, we are our celebrities in our lives – call it, as author Neal Gabler did -- Life the Movie.

Perhaps sharing the intensely personal is just a capitulation to a world where safeguards on privacy continue to erode – where online commerce sites require personal information, where identity theft is a real threat, where security cameras are everywhere and where private moments can be captured on cell phones and posted on YouTube without your knowledge or permission. 

Or maybe it just feels safer sitting in front of a keyboard removed from the gaze of one’s audience.  In any event, it is changing how we communicate and how we want the outside world to view us. 

Impact on Business Communications

But what does this mean for business communications?   Are employers ready to embrace this move toward greater openness, informality and community?  It is already happening.

From business casual dress codes to Instant Messaging, what we wear and how we speak reflects this new way of thinking.  Companies are permitting employees to blog and are even (as is the case of my company) showcasing employees’ personal blogs in an effort to share their collective voice with the outside world.

Beyond employees, companies are creating their own social networks where customers can share their personal experiences with each other and the company.  I believe the most successful ones will encourage open, honest discussions that may be critical of the company hosting the site.

The rules of engagement are far from clear, but formality and marketing speak are not the end game.  As personal blogs are demonstrating, the public wants candor.  Increasingly, companies will comply. 

To be truthful, I welcome the changes that new media brings even though discretion continues to be the highest form of valor for me. 

I just hope that we don’t substitute personal blogging for direct human interaction.    I also hope we base our editorial decisions on what is best for us, not our audience.   Sure the attention is nice, but the pursuit of page views and links on Technorati seems a little empty.  And as most celebrities can attest, fame can be fleeting – even in the blogosphere.

Let me get back to you.

Technorati Tags: Social Networks; Corporate Communications; Blogs; Kevin Maney; Neal Gabler;

Add to NewPR  Save to del.icio.us

I spent the weekend thinking about a posting that John Wagner wrote on Friday.

It discussed former Miami Heat Tim Hardaway’s comments on a radio show last week.  His comments about gay people were hateful, insensitive and plain wrong. 

In the case of Mr. Hardaway, the NBA stripped him of his duties for the weekend’s All Star Game in Las Vegas as a result of his comments. 

Putting aside the particulars, the controversy raises for me a larger and thornier issue that all of us as communications professionals and web 2.0 advocates must address:  Can or should employees be fired or disciplined for discussing non-company related topics on personal blogs -- topics that would result in a dismissal if they were made in the workplace, at a company event or on behalf of the company?

I am an advocate of free speech and greater openness and candor in the age of Web 2.0.  I don’t want to be member of the thought police, but where do we draw the line?  How open or closed minded should we be? 

Clearly, there are cases where employees whose contract or terms of employment may restrict what is said.  There are others who by the nature of their job are in the public eye, and any negative publicity -- no matter how personal -- makes certain topics too controversial and therefore inappropriate and unacceptable.  But what about employees who traditionally fall outside these categories?

My reluctant answer is that employees have the right to exercise free speech on a blog as long as the comments don't relate to the company he or she works for.  Employees forfeit that right if they do and violate established policies for employment or codes of conduct.

But there are exceptions.  Certain comments are too egregious to be ignored.  Disciplinary action can’t be taken simply because we disagree with the comments.  I think punishment and dismissal may be appropriate if the comments prove to have a materially negative effect on the company or its reputation.   Of course, demonstrating a material impact may prove difficult, which is why companies need policies that govern acceptable and non-acceptable behavior.  

Ultimately, blogging gives us a tremendous opportunity to create whole new channels of communications.  We can connect inexpensively and easily -- building bridges, exchanging ideas, and fostering business and personal relationships. Ironically, the same platform that can help spread ideas can get us into deep trouble.

It is a powerful medium, and we must be prepared for comments that we don’t like or agree with.  Certainly what we say in our homes or even at a bar is very different than what we say on the Internet.  The Internet, by its nature, has the ability to amplify and magnify.  We can’t pretend that these forums operate by the same principles.  Once more, comments we make can also be recorded by others and posted online without our permission or approval – making it even more important to be careful what we say and where we say it.

Like anything else, this very powerful medium can be abused.  We have the freedom to say what we want, but we also must recognize that there are consequences for how we use that freedom.  As I have long maintained, having the ability to say anything you want doesn’t make it acceptable to actually say it.

Let me get back to you.

Technorati Tags: Social Media; Tim Hardaway; NBA; John Wagner; Employees; Blogging; Blogging Policy;

Add to NewPR  Save to del.icio.us

Add to NewPR  Save to del.icio.us

A former colleague recently sent me a notice about a communications job.  It looked interesting with intriguing pay, benefits and a completion bonus.  Then I saw where:  Green Zone: Baghdad: Iraq.  Term of service: 12 months with deployment in late September or October.

I considered the position for a nanosecond.  Even passed it around to a friend or two.  Whatever your feelings about the war in Iraq, the prospect of a year in Baghdad was terrifying.  The closest I had been to the conflict was watching the horror of 9/11on TV while visiting my mom who lives in uptown Manhattan.  I had been scheduled to fly to LA that day. 

The closest I have come to military personnel are the brave men and women in uniform that I see traveling through Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta. (When I can, I thank them.  It does not seem like enough.)

For them, the volunteers, they have no choice.  Duty called.  Some have been sent back 2 to 3 times to probably the deadliest place on earth right now.  

All the while, I sit in my office and go about my life trying not to ignore what is happening around the world and trying not to feel overwhelmed by the daily reports of more dead, more injured and more destruction. 

Puts everything in perspective as we discuss new media, blogs and Second Life. 

Let me get back to you. 

I feel that this policy represents a recognition of social media’s growing presence and an important step in extending its reach.

We are taking a gradualist approach as we experiment with blogs, vlogs and podcasts and launch web 2.0 products like WebLife, a service that lets you store, organize, edit and share your digital photos, media and data files online, and myEarthLink Reader, an RSS aggregator. 

Along the way, we have made a few adjustments – relaunching our blog with a broader mission and single author and adjusting our advertising on podcasts to take into account listener feedback.

For me, a blogging policy should reiterate the existing guidelines governing the disclosure of confidential and sensitive information by employees; provide clear guidelines for those employees who choose, without specific company permission, to reference their company when commenting on a personal blog or podcast or any other online forum; and protect the company from any legal, financial or HR issues that may arise when employees discuss their company in an online forums.

In formulating a blogging policy it is important to consider how specific the policy should be, whether it should encourage blogging or remain neutral and what the definition of harm is, as in directing employees to do no harm.

Neutrality vs. Encouragement: A policy is a translation of a company’s tolerance for unpredictability and honesty.  Some companies actively encourage blogging and online commentary and others merely tolerate it.  The issue is both a legal and communication concern.  If you encourage blogging, then you limit the ability to minimize liability for those that abuse their blogging privileges.  But remain too neutral or worse, ambivalent, and you discourage blogging and undermine its efficacy. 

General vs. Specific:  Closely related to the issue of neutrality is how general or specific a policy should be.  I suspect financial and security companies have heavy restrictions if they allow blogging at all, while others have precious few.  Make the policy too restrictive and you limit potential liability but you stifle creativity and participation. 

Do No harm:  Are you prepared for an employee at your company to write on a blog that your company “sucks.”  Are you prepared for a more thoughful but candid assessment by an employee?  A policy should give your employees the freedom to express themselves, but parameters of what they can say and how they can say it.  It should also give employers guidelines for employees who cross the line. Employees are after all employees.  Everything does not go.  Blogging is not permission for an employee to say anything he or she wants – even if that employee thinks it’s in the company’s best interest. 

Our policy is a recognition that blogging is an important communications tool.   Our goal is to give employees the guidelines for engaging without being blogging’s advocate – just like we don’t “encourage” press releases, annual reports and direct mail. 

Our guidelines cover all the legal and disclosure requirements as well rules of engagement that are consistent with our employee code of conduct.

In the end, blogging policies are starting points.  Actual mileage may vary. (I went car shopping this past weekend.)  Blogging, like social media itself, is evolving and no policy can cover all contingencies.  As such, it is up to corporate communications and management to regularly educate the rest of company to show how a policy and actual blogging can coexist. 

Rather than a set of restrictions, a blogging policy should be seen as a tool to give employees an outline for engagement and a guide for initiating conversations.

Let me get back to you.