Stephen Kennedy
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Stephen Kennedy is the Managing Director and founder of Talent Partners. Read more here
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The following article appeared in the New York Times on the 25th of August and featured Nancy Halverson who is Senior Vice President for Learning and Development for MRINetwork. Talent Partners are the one over 1000 MRINetwork ofices worldwide and we partner with clients to deliver HR & recruitment solutions on a local and international basis,
Social Networking Your Way to a New Job
By FARHAD MANJOO
August 25, 2010
UNTIL just a few years ago, looking for a job was a relatively straightforward process. Write a résumé. Scour job sites or the classifieds. Submit an application for listings that seem appropriate. Reach out to recruiters. Then, wait.
“It doesn’t work that way at all anymore,” said Nancy Halverson, senior vice president for learning and talent development at the recruiting firm MRINetwork.
Like everything else in business, the job-search process has undergone a revolution since the advent of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Job hunters today must learn to navigate the sometimes slippery social mores of online discourse — for instance, learning to promote themselves without coming off as self-involved.
At the same time, they must be constantly vigilant about managing their online reputation; the slightest slip may discourage potential employers. “It’s almost like social media has replaced the white pages,” Ms. Halverson said. “Recruiters don’t even know how to find you if you don’t have a presence online. It’s nonnegotiable — you have to have a profile on a social networking site.” For many people looking for work, however, the technological requirements of the modern job hunt present a profound hurdle. Increasingly, these people are turning up for help at the career offices and continuing education departments of their local universities and community colleges.
“Teaching people how to use these new tools is really becoming one of the main things that we do in career counseling offices,” said Nancy Richmond, assistant director of career counseling and exploration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We’re showing them that using social media is a great way to show employers that they’re on the forefront of cutting-edge trends. It can be extremely helpful for their careers.” Twice a semester, Ms. Richmond’s office holds workshops teaching students and alumnihow to use LinkedIn and other social networks. She also offers one-on-one tutoring to help people brush up their online profiles and counseling on how to approach potential employers or networking contacts online.
To use corporate job titles, is Enda Kenny a COO or a CEO? While there is no doubt that Kenny has done a super job in regrouping and energising the party since he took over as leader the burning question is can he take them any further? Is he the Operations Officer, who fixed the party when it was broke and repositioned it as an viable alternative to Fianna Fail again, but can’t drive home the huge advantage they should be seeking from the electorate. Fianna Fail are on the floor and hanging on for dear life and yet Fine Gael can’t seem to knock them out. One of the lingering questions from the 2007 Election was what if it was Richard Bruton would went head to head with Ahern in the televised debate prior to the election. Huge numbers watched that debate and there is no doubt Ahern had a decisive victory here. Would this have been different if Bruton had been Ahern’s opponent?
In the business world we see people who are superb number 2’s but cannot make the step to being a decisive number 1. Kenny assumed the mantle of leadership and has worked tirelessly to bring Fine Gael back to power but does he lack the credibility, the vision and the charisma/personality to take control of Dail and country and lead our recovery. The opinion polls don’t seem to think so and it is the opnion of this author that the Chief Operations Officer title defines Enda Kenny as opposed to the Chief Executive Officer. We will have to wait and see what the party think?
It’s June, the sun is shining but as temperatures rise so too are the numbers on the live register. We know that there is always a lag between economic recovery and the hiring of workers back into the marketplace but these figures continue to be a source of grave concern. On the ground Talent Partners are seeing more opportunities for recruitment in the market compared to 12 months ago and we expect this momentum to continue in the weeks and months ahead. Key stats from the CSO today include;
(i) The number of people signing on to the Live Register rose by 6,600 in May
(ii) The unemployment rate now stands at 13.7%.
(iii) May saw an increase in the number of individuals signing on the live register (1,650 people per week) compared to a weekly fall on 100 people per week in April.