Establishing Connections in a Spider Web of Social Networks

Besides serving as an effective way of connecting people globally, social networking has become a powerful tool for job hunting and recruiting. For job seekers, these online networks provide a perfect opportunity for marketing their capabilities. For recruiters, social networking tools allow them to locate candidates with specific experience and skills quickly and inexpensively. To make the best use of social media tools, the job hunters and the recruiters may consider the following:

For the job hunters,

• Establish a presence on websites where recruiters or potential employers are likely to visit
• Establish profiles on social network sites, such as LinkedIn, Ryze, Facebook, Twitter, Coworkers.com, alumni networks, and other professional associations, to build new contacts and meet people for sharing knowledge and experience.
• Keep separate profiles for personal and professional use, but maintain consistency in the way you present yourself across different sites
• Showcase your skills, experience, interest; Emphasize your strengths that attract potential employers
• Maintain a track record to allow recruiters to solicit feedback on you from co-workers, both past and present (i.e. joining Coworkers.com)
• Raise your value and broaden your visibility by engaging in regular "tweets", maintain a 75%-25% professional-to-personal tweet ratio, and identify yourself in a professional way
• Set up a blog that represents you; use it for both information capturing as well as telling others about who you are and what you do regularly

For the recruiters,

• Use social media tools to complement traditional recruiting methods and generate a large number of results
• Identify potential candidates online and explore "passive hires", communicate and evaluating these candidates online
• Extend company's networks to become a part of a larger network (a "talent pool") by leveraging its relationships with employees and other businesses
• Set up online job boards to advertise jobs and provide accurate job description
• Employ different social network tools for different types of job openings (ie. use Craiglist for senior positions and Creativecircle for entry to mid-level positions)
• Make company attractive to candidates rather than simply specify the job requirements
  
• Establish a company blog to encourage communication, spot top talents, and project a desirable image to outsiders

Social networking embraces the concepts of "six degree of separation" - two random people can be connected to each other through six other people (Menon). Social network sites weave the weak ties among people into a powerful web of talents and skills by allowing people to tab into other people outside their direct association. It is this powerful web that everyone dabs into for resources. A common complaint from HR professionals is that the large volume of resumes received makes it difficult to identify the qualified candidates. On the other hand, a common complaint from the job seekers is that the recruiters do not always get back to them regarding feedback or decision.

I find social networking beneficial to recruiting because the online process is far more efficient, less costly, and definitely eco-friendly. In addition, both the recruiters and the job applicants get to check one another out, and become better acquainted prior to engaging in further time and cost commitment.

Sources:
Chalian, Henry. "Working with Financial Recruiters." WSJ Blogs - WSJ. 4 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2010.

"How to Not Hire Someone Via Craigslist." How to Change the World. 27 Aug. 2007. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.

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Menon, Nikhil. "6 Degrees of Recruitment." The Economic Times: Business News, Personal Finance, Financial News, India Stock Market Investing, Economy News, SENSEX, NIFTY, NSE, BSE Live, IPO News. 27 Mar. 2007. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.

Miller, Lee E. "Social Networking Has Its Perks." New Jersey Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NJ.com. 21 Mar. 2010. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.

Porter, Joshua. "The Blog Is the New Resume." Bokardo Social Design by Joshua Porter. 19 Apr. 2007. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.

Schweyer, Allan. "The Power of Weak Ties (in Recruiting)." Small Business and Small Business Information for the Entrepreneur. 1 Aug. 2005. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.

Unlimited Collaboration - Anything. Anywhere. Anytime.

It all began when the Internet came, when can access large amount of information at our fingertips. Then we learned more, transformed more, and expected more. Today, our lives are changed forever and many of us find it painful to live without the Internet even for just one day!

Online collaboration has become popular not only in business organizations, but also government and education institutions. There is a whole spectrum of services to choose from, including browser-based team dashboards, online conferences with video capabilities, resource and document sharing, calendars, and scheduling of events, etc. Companies including Microsoft, IBM, and Google are competing intensely on their offerings of collaboration products to gain market dominance.

The Obama administration has place heavy emphasis on transparency and open government, and appointed the first CIO and CTO for its country. Propelled by the open source software movement, the administration promotes the concept of open government and uses collaborative technologies to solve collective problems at various levels of government.

Today, education institutions throughout the country are focusing more in technology education. More and more students are learning to use web 2.0 technologies to communicate, collaborate, and work together in and out of classrooms. Tools such as the wiki, blogs, videoconferencing, and online chat are adopted to induce creativity, and encourage communication and collaboration among students worldwide. This transformation is also aimed at better preparing the students when they join the workforce.

Like many organizational changes, online collaboration can be successful only if it is embraced by a supportive corporate culture. Such a culture must possess elements that foster trust, such as

• Offering flexible work schedules to employees (and allows telecommuting and off-site workers)
• Willing to share corporate information and project artifacts with others
• Willing to be available for discussing work matters beyond office hours
• Building a team of technically savvy employees
• Providing management support to this new mode of co-working

In the school environment, educators have reported problems associated with the use of online collaboration as follows:

• Not every student has a computer at home to collaborate after school
• Students tend to waste time and become distracted easily when online
• Students use non-authoritative sources and inappropriate materials
• Loss of efficiency caused by technical glitches with computer tools and limited bandwidth
• Restriction placed on web access

As pointed out in the assigned articles, the real benefit of online collaboration does not come from the nifty technologies themselves, but rather from the creative ways in which organizations make the best use of these technologies to meet their business objectives.

Sources:
Alloway, Kristen. "Students Discovering Online Collaboration." New Jersey Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NJ.com. 07 Nov. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.

Clancy, Heather. "Collaborate Using Online Tools - PCWorld Business Center." Reviews and News on Tech Products, Software and Downloads - PCWorld. 20 Apr. 2008. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.

Kelly, Will. "Corporate Culture, Not Technology, Drives Online Collaboration." WebWorkerDaily. 23 Oct. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.

Lathrop, Daniel, and Laurel Ruma. "Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice." News for Greater Kansas City - Kansas City InfoZine News. 15 Mar. 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.

Orenstein, Gary. "The Cloud Collaboration Wars Ramp Up." GigaOM. 12 Feb. 2010. Web. 19 Mar. 2010.

Virtual Teams - the Good, the Bad, and the Real Beauty

Brainstorming has proven to be an effective means of collaborating and generating ideas for different types of organization. Multiple research findings has also revealed that virtual teams (long distance teams) consistently outperform real teams (face-to-face teams) in brainstorming. While some believe innovative virtual collaboration delivers magical wonders, others still prefer the warm-fuzzy in-person interactions. This week's assigned articles pose some benefits and challenges associated with virtual teams as follows:

Benefits (the "Good")

• Embrace technological advancement by using collaboration tools to stimulate face-to-face interactions


• Complete project work under-budget and ahead of schedule, if managed properly


• Offer flexible work arrangements to employees


• Avoid air travel, lodging, and lengthy non-productive meetings


• Reduce commuting time and cost


• Promote environment-friendly work options


• Have information readily available from one's desktop


• Afford team members equal opportunity to contribute regardless of their physical location


• Empower innovative thinking through diversity in team members

Challenges (the "Bad")

• Require team leaders to put in extra effort in keeping their teams together


• Build and maintain trust among team members, given little face time and a diverse team membership


• Require team leaders to be creative in generating ideas, and effective in making decisions and resolving conflicts


• Ensure that availability, competency, consistency, fairness, openness, and commitment are not compromised


• Orchestrates conference calls, set expectations and accountability for team members


• Overcome organizational resistance to change regarding the new way of collaboration


• Win over individuals who prefer inventing themselves and developing their own work processes rather than collaborating with others


• Large meetings tend to be more informational and political in nature rather than collaborative

The real beauty in these "far flung" virtual teams lies in the ability of smart organizations in integrating new innovative technologies into their businesses. Collaboration tools such as video conferencing via Skype, web conferencing with screen-sharing, sharing online workspaces and applications via WebEx, have facilitated collaboration and fueled productivity. Recently, the improved security features have extended the applicability of virtual collaboration to military use. Like other work teams, successful virtual teams require an effective team composition. Core players include the Leader, the Brain, the Anchor, the Soldier, and occasionally the Freelancer. The Leader comes up with new ideas, sets up a plan, and holds the team together. Based on the ideas, the Brain creates strategy and develops action plans. The Anchor identifies potential problems at the onset. The Soldier executes the action plan with determination. The Freelancer who possesses specific skills is often brought in to fill an assigned role.

If organizations are willing and able to transition their workers to virtual offices, and that we can order groceries online and have them delivered to our door steps, and that we can purchase food tablets (such as pizza, chicken, etc.) and turn them into real food in our high-tech ovens (just like the movie Back to the Future), then we may not have to leave our house at all!

Sources:
Beizer, Doug. "Collaboration Tools Are Ready For the Battlefield." Government Computer News -- Government Computer News. 1 Mar. 2005. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.

"How to Pick Your Million Dollar Crew Mind of a Hustler." Welcome to the Mind of a Hustler. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.

Kostner, Jaclyn. "6 Ways to Build Trust with Your Virtual Team." Web Meeting Conferencing Web Meeting: Web Conferencing. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.

Lipnack, Jessica, and Jeffrey Stamps. "The Strange Beauty of Virtual Teams - Jessica Lipnack & Jeffrey Stamps." Business Development Strategy Milestone Group. Oct. 2007. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.

"Michael Sampson: The Implementation of Collaboration Tools Does Not Require a Change in Culture." Michael Sampson: Independent Advisory Services on Collaboration Strategy. 16 Oct. 2007. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.

Sebastio, Nuno. "Brainstorming? Try doing it virtually." Endless Knots. 03 Dec. 2007. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.

Visser, Gerrit. "Coworking Is (also) : Working Together Online." Smart Mobs. 19 Mar. 2010. Web. 10 Mar. 2010