If there is one good thing that comes out of this recession and the horrendous impact of unemployment on so many families, I hope that many more people will think about their career and the value they bring to an employer.  In a world that is increasingly harsh and pragmatic the person who has something an employer absolutely needs will find life a lot more secure.  I think far too many of us for far too long have done what we enjoyed or stumbled into and have not focused on directing and managing our careers.  We may be good at planning and strategy when undertaking our jobs, but do we apply these skills to our own working lives?

I started this blog by complaining about my bad day.  If all goes to plan I will soon have a good day when someone else I know who is also brilliant will, I hope, accept my employment offer.  And if this person reads my blog at least their day will improve when they either accept a great offer from us or discover just how much they really are worth to their current employer!

Then I got an iPhone and I was blown over.  Every element of the user interface worked well.  It was thought through, logical and had great design.  It was a joy to use.  What was truly impressive was how Apple had created an environment whereby other developers could create applications to work on the iPhone that were doing vastly different things but despite this still functioned in a similar fashion and were intuitive to use.  No other device on the market managed to combine this flexibility with ease of use.  Rival capable devices were typically hard to use and each application had its own learning curve.  How was it that all those rival companies that had big R&D budgets, numerous talented engineers and the same customer research data had either failed to recognise the requirement or failed to deliver it?  What had no doubt been regarded as impossible had been achieved by Apple.

For a decade I have been running businesses that have invested heavily in creating software delivered business solutions.  I have observed that it is relatively easy to get developers who can write code that is reliable and indeed can engineer complex algorithms.  What is really difficult is creating a user interface that is a joy to use.  The wider the range of functionality the harder this is.  The more need there is to add an extra menu option or button or to create inconsistent operating rules that simply confuse users.  If a person’s hobby or career require mastery of complex software there is a chance that the individual will invest the required time to learn how to properly use it.  However most people are not this committed and they simply give up and either stop using the product or stick to a fraction of its real capabilities.

In February 2009 my company started building an online solution for outplacement.  MyWorkSearch was designed to provide the information a job seeker requires to manage their job search and the tools to assist the person in achieving this.  We spent over six months creating it and it incorporates considerable expertise and tremendous functionality.  Those who spent time using MyWorkSearch were extremely complimentary, however many also said that it was daunting.  Too many options, menus and features.  Unless one spent time getting to know the product one could find it overwhelming.  Over the next several months we made numerous improvements and this certainly helped matters, however it was clear we had no iPhone.  Our competition did not either, however this was not the point.  My colleagues and I felt that just because most people accepted that big software applications had to be complex, we should not.

So in December 2009 we started work on version 2 of MyWorkSearch.  We met with designers, usability experts and e-learning professionals.  We put together a team and have spent over six months intensively re-thinking MyWorkSearch and then implementing these new ideas.

On Sunday 11th July we will be upgrading to this new version.  I am so very, very pleased with what our team have produced.  We have been uncompromising in our efforts to push beyond functionality and achieve usability.  Whenever we have been stuck the iPhone has been a clear signal that the intractable does have solutions.  In a previous post I wrote about our observation that some users did not take full advantage of the resources we were making available and appeared to be giving up.  I hope that improving usability will make a difference to this.  We will be monitoring the outcomes and this is a topic I will be returning to.  Meanwhile I want to thank Steve Jobs and his team at Apple.  Sometimes it takes someone else to show that the bar was set too low.  As well as making a great phone Apple have also contributed to what is fast becoming the most powerful and effective tool available to those in career transition.

MyWorkSearch operates as a virtual organisation and in one of those weird coincidences as I was driving my car this morning I was thinking about the challenges that this presents and I decided to write a blog about it.  I arrived at my (home) office to be greeted by the news that those challenges had just ratcheted up by several notches as an important supplier has badly let us down.

When a small team of us started MyWorkSearch in February 2009 we wanted to keep overheads down and also have maximum flexibility.  There seemed little point in taking on the high fixed costs of an office at a time when we had no income and no certainty that our business would be successful.  Equally we knew that if the business prospered we might need to grow quickly and once again the fixed infrastructure of a conventional office could be an impediment.  So we decided to embrace technology managed for us by third parties.  Using a combination of cloud computing and outsourcing, all of our key services, such as customer database, email, telephony and file storage, could be provided by specialists and made available to our team irrespective of location.  Our costs would mostly be proportional to our usage and thus added expense would only be necessary as the company grew.

MyWorkSearch has done rather well.  Within six month of issuing our first invoice we had achieved over £1m in sales and monthly turnover, if maintained, would result in multi-million annual sales.  We have ten full time software developers and another ten people in assorted other roles.  All the while we have avoided taking office premises and operated as what is often described as a virtual organisation.

There have been a number of positive aspects from this approach.  I think the biggest one is that we have been able to hire excellent people irrespective of their location as our talent pool has not been limited by commuting distance.  Some benefits have been the flip side of a challenge.  In a central office one can often spot issues simply through management by walking around.  That does not happen in virtual organisations so it has forced us to think through our operations and document them.  We have been far more disciplined than many other small businesses would be and we believe we are well placed to embark upon ISO accreditation.  Another area often taken for granted is team communications.  In many businesses there are those ‘water cooler’ conversations where colleagues bump into each other and find themselves discussing an issue.  These unplanned meetings can be very effective.  We don’t have them in our company and we need to make the effort to speak and meet regularly.  A combination of regular conference calls, team meetings and away-days are our necessary alternative.

There are two disadvantages to our setup that we have not yet solved and both are about people.  One is that some people do not have domestic circumstances or a temperamental disposition that permits them to work from home.  The latter may be a preference or simply a recognition that without the disciplines of an office environment it is easy to get distracted and find that hours have passed with little actually done.  The other disadvantage is our inability to take on trainees.  We are of a size that we could take on an inexperienced person or two and through on the job training develop their talents.  So far we have not found a way of doing this when people work at a distance from each other.

The news I received this morning was that a supplier we outsource a proportion of our call handling and support to has let us down badly and we need to replace them unexpectedly and quickly.  This would not happen had the team been employed directly by us, albeit in a previous business we did experience the equivalent when some builders cut through the cabling to our office resulting in two days without internet or phones.  The good news is that we have documented processes that will significantly reduce the learning curve for a new supplier and our technology is set up so we can redirect calls and data to this new organisation.  However the lesson for us is to dig deeper into the business operations of our suppliers as I think that more diligence on our part would have avoided the problem.

Nowadays many businesses with a handful of staff operate virtually.  What we are doing is relatively unusual as most organisations centralise around a location once they have grown beyond this.  However I think that technology developments will make virtual operations far more commonplace for startups and I would welcome hearing from others who have experienced this and seen how other organisations manage the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities.

The Prime Minister would be a perfect Community Diversity Officer, having successfully placated Gillian Duffy, the pensioner he branded a ‘bigot’ earlier in the week, whilst David Cameron, with his liking for (public sector) cuts and love of the outdoors would make an ideal butcher. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who likes putting a spanner in the works, is recommended to try his hand at plumbing should things not work out for him next Thursday. We also felt that the original ‘Blair Babe’, Jacqui Smith, would make an ideal Ann Summer’s party organiser, George Osborne an estate agent and Vince Cable, used to playing second fiddle, would be an ideal second-hand car salesman. Perhaps unsurprisingly, BNP leader Nick Griffin, who is used to being abused in public, would make a perfect traffic warden should he not be elected to parliament.

Having searched though 12 politicians’ profiles, our full list of recommendations is as follows:

Just because you’re out of a job doesn’t mean you don’t have skills that can be employed usefully elsewhere. Our list of alternative jobs for MP’s demonstrates this and we hope that come May 7^th, if any of these MP’s do need further career advice then MyWorkSearch can help them in this search.

Have a great bank holiday and normal serious service resumes on Tuesday!

Richard

This makes it harder for MyWorkSearch which has clearly benefited from high levels of unemployment; with recovery there will inevitably be fewer potential users of our service.  However the reason for my optimism is that I am quite certain that even in a more buoyant environment there will still be employment change.  Some organisations will prosper and recruit, others will do less well and shrink.  Companies will merge and operations will move.  All of this will mean a reasonable level of ongoing demand for outplacement and career transition assistance.

The reason for my optimism is I am convinced that our hypothesis just over a year ago, that online outplacement would be useful, has proven correct.  As overall demand for outplacement shrinks the requirements that remain will gravitate to MyWorkSearch‘s online model.  So many thousands of people have now experienced the benefit of 24/7 unlimited assistance that it is hard to see many preferring the alternative of a handful of consultant delivered hours that the same budget offers.  As with so many other sectors, technology is changing the way this one operates.  Whilst my colleagues and I may need to work harder to secure new business, at least we will be doing so in the satisfaction that our country is suffering less hardship and meanwhile our business model is aligned to what the customer wants.

Over the next few weeks we will be upping our game in order to ensure we remain at the forefront of our sector.  We will be launching our new website and embarking on a major marketing campaign.  Hours of additional e-learning content will be added to MyWorkSearch and we will be rolling out a new design combined with usability improvements.  The benefits of feedback from thousands of users combined with six figure investment will see us capitalise upon our existing lead and ensure we are the obvious choice for outplacement purchasers.

None of this helps with my bet.  But if there is one gamble I have to lose, I guess that this is the one it should be!

So I am extremely pleased that our efforts have been recognised by LinkedIn.  This afternoon we were selected by them as Best Startup of the year in the European LinkedIn Business Awards.

Thank you to everyone who works at MyWorkSearch, thank you to our customers and, of course, thank you LinkedIn!

I will write about my observations on a future post.  If you think it will be useful to meet whilst I am in these cities please do get in touch.  My email address is richarda (at) myworksearch.co.uk.

My company is expanding and we are hiring new people.  This means we need new computers.  For many years I have bought Dell PCs.  They may not have been the very best computers or value however one could rely upon them being towards the top end of quality and value and combined with ease of purchase and good support this made them an excellent supplier.

My last three orders have all suffered from two week plus delivery dates.  The latest computer has a quoted one month delivery date.  To add insult to injury one has to complete the online purchase process, including payment, prior to discovering the delivery date.

I have now discovered the extent of my brand loyalty and having reached the end of it, my next order will be from someone else.  This is a real shame.  I do hope that Dell get their act together.  However if my recent experiences are typical we may be reading of business problems at the company.  Indeed if I was a Dell shareholder I would be selling!

I will make sure my next blog is on a more positive subject.  Rant over!

However our success has been based upon the very large number of people who are unemployed.  Yes, we console ourselves, we are helping our customers be the ones who swiftly secure new jobs.  However to be a customer in the first place the individual has first lost his or her job.  As a business, rising sales are a good thing yet each additional subscription is an unemployed person who is inevitably experiencing a very challenging time.  This goes with the space we operate in and I feel great that we are providing a sufficiently good service that people choose us.  But it is a sobering thought that must temper our celebrations of commercial success.

And this brings me to the future of MyWorkSearch.  I don’t believe the economy is out of trouble and high unemployment will remain a problem for some while.  However a recovery will, I hope, come and with it greater employment prospects.  The future of MyWorkSearch will be in helping people far more actively manage their careers.  Instead of relying upon a buoyant economy providing opportunities I hope that the majority of those who wish to work will actively manage their careers.  They will think about the working life they want and what they need to do to achieve this.  Our service will be the resource that helps them define their aspirations and then manage the activities that will realise these goals.  If we get this right our service will be usefully available 24*7 for as long as it is required whilst also being affordable to all.  Working on this plan is inspirational for the team.  If we get it right it will make life better for huge numbers of people.  Meanwhile we will build a great and sustainable business.  And if we don’t get it right we hope that at least we inspire someone else to do it properly and effect this necessary transformation.

Outplacement is changing. What was once predominantly a service designed for a relatively small number of senior executives is now a mass market offering. The problem is that although the name has remained the same the available budget has considerably changed. No longer are several thousand pounds per person available. It is now, at best, several hundred pounds and as budget is trimmed, so too is the service provided.

What used to be fairly comprehensive job search support and guidance has been replaced by a brief one-to-one, attendance at several lectures, a few handouts and a pat on the back. A couple of years ago this would have been disappointing but not a major issue as job opportunities abounded. Now the world has changed. Each job seeker is competing with 50 to 150 others per role and with these odds, the enthusiastic but unprepared candidate is in for a rude shock. Numerous unacknowledged applications later, despondency sets in and it does not take that many months before a previously gainfully employed person becomes a member of the long term unemployed.

I don’t think it is realistic to call for larger outplacement budgets. A few years ago job losses were often the consequence of M&A activity and the overlaps created by a merger. Cash was abundant and outplacement was just one of the many deal costs that were accepted as one-off exceptional items. Now employers are shedding staff to cope with threatening financial pressures and the need to slash costs includes the overall severance budget.

Some years ago I was involved in the transition of recruitment from a largely paper based process to an automated and online one. It was fascinating to see an established methodology overturned by a set of technologies that transformed the speed, quality, consistency, efficiency and costs of a process. I believe that outplacement is now undergoing the same change and soon the process will be very different from what we have been used to.

The advice and guidance that has typically been provided by an outplacement consultant can now be received through on-demand e-learning. Many of the laborious tasks that a job-seeker has to undertake can now be automated.  Examples include searching for and aggregation of vacancies, or identification of relevant employment sources.  Wizards with attractive templates make CV creation considerably easier than used to be the case. Process automation means that job search activities can be tracked, reminders provided and reports generated. Triggers can monitor activity and provide encouragement and advice based on what a person has done, or indeed not done.

Effective outplacement can now be provided through technology. Clearly there are huge cost advantages. Also, unlike traditional outplacement online programmes can be swiftly scaled and there are no logistical challenges in commencing the service. There are also no practical limits on resource provision. With traditional outplacement service availability is rationed according to the budget, however a technology solution can be accessed 24/7 and provision is not constrained.

We have also uncovered some unexpected benefits. Most job seekers want to immediately ‘get stuck in’ and energetically commence their job search. An on-demand online process lends itself to this as individuals can use the service for as many hours as they want and do not need to wait for the next scheduled workshop. We are seeing considerable usage in the evenings as people at home do their research and create job applications.

Another characteristic that we had not predicted is control. Being made redundant can be a major emotional blow.  In addition to the worry about the future, someone else has decided that your job is coming to an end and you have to leave the organisation. This is a major loss of control. Traditional consultant delivered outplacement can reinforce this as the job seeker is once again thrown into a process and told what to do and when to do it. Having the assistance on demand as a web delivered service returns control to the job seeker. The individual can choose what to do, when to do it and how much to do. This is very important to a significant proportion of online outplacement users.

Of course it is not all plain sailing with online delivery. People made redundant typically want some human contact. This will often be a cathartic discussion of their plight rather than a practical job search process discussion. Another area is that a proportion of people are far less active in their job search than common sense and market knowledge suggest they should be. I am not sure that this is unique to an online solution. It may just be that with a technology platform there is the data on individual activity that does not exist with a conventional process.

I believe that the next couple of years will be very interesting for the sector. A slowly recovering economy will result in relatively high unemployment, job market volatility and competition for jobs. Large numbers of people will require assistance with their job search and technology will be the only way of cost-effectively meeting this demand. New and improved services will emerge and we will see innovation in a market that for many years has changed little.