Archive Page 2

Inevitable, but when?

Published December 19, 2009 Business , Entrepreneurship , Outplacement 4 Comments

I am currently on holiday and this is one of the few occasions each year when I get extended, uninterrupted time to read and think.  One of the books I brought with me is Behind the Cloud, by Marc Benioff.  Marc is the founder and CEO of Salesforce.com.  My company uses their product and I recently met Marc after their London conference.

Salesforce.com has developed into an exceptionally successful and very large company.  My business is at the other end of the spectrum.  However what we have in common is that both of us have founded enterprises at the forefront of a market about to change.  Marc’s book explains what led him to form his company and in describing how he overcame obstacles and went from startup to market leader provides a wealth of useful guidance for others in a similar position.  It is both helpful and inspirational.

The relevance to my company is with our MyNewJob.me offering. We operate in a sector where fundamental change is inevitable.  The current ‘business model’ is broken.  Outplacement provision is dominated by a handful of organisations and whilst they do their best, they rarely provide a good service to their customers.  Their challenge is that they employ consultants to help people through their job search process and with budgets now typically in the low hundreds of pounds per person they plain cannot afford to offer a decent service.  The employer that is paying the bill feels less guilty about making redundancies however both the service provider and the job-seeker know that the offering is of limited value.

The only viable model is self-service using online technology.  All the help that the job-seeker requires can be provided online (from job search training to activity management to task automation to reporting, etc.) and since technology is cheap the customer can consume as much as s/he wants whenever s/he wants.  It is totally logical.  The only challenge is that many of the employers who purchase this type of service don’t yet know about MyNewJob.me or recognise the deficiencies of what they currently purchase for their staff and why change is both necessary and inevitable.

Just as Salesforce.com built what they knew the market would need and helped educate others to recognise why their model was superior so must we do the same.  Fortunately our business is now profitable which means we don’t have the pressures of a cash-burning startup, however the role of a pioneering evangelist is a challenging one.  It is great to read about others who have successfully made this journey.

Jobcentre Plus

Published November 21, 2009 Jobcentre Plus , Recession , recruitment 15 Comments
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Every week my colleagues and I visit Jobcentre Plus offices and spend time with many advisors.  It is clear that most advisors are rushed off their feet and this means that there is a production line feel to the process.  As a job seeker this can be both demoralising and frustrating.  At a time when individuals face much uncertainty this can be a further demonstration of how control is being taken from them.

The vast majority of Jobcentre Plus advisors do the job because they care about the impact they have and the good that they can do.  They are just snowed under and as a consequence unable to proactively assist their clients.  Their role has become one of getting through the day and just ensuring that people are registered, basic facts checked and the necessary administrative processes completed.

My advice to the job-seeker is to do your own home-work prior to meeting your advisor at Jobcentre Plus.  Spend some time on the Jobcentre Plus website (www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/) and read about the various programmes that are available to assist you.  We regularly hear that those who ask their advisors what programmes they are eligible for and can be put on are offered more than those who do not ask.  For example the services of my company, MyWorkSearch (www.myworksearch.co.uk), can be obtained free of charge from your Jobcentre Plus advisor.  You just need to ask.

It is a very tough environment for job-seekers right now.  But there are opportunities.  Whether it be getting State assistance or securing a job, the key is to go for it yourself.  Don’t rely on others to do the legwork or make it happen for you.  Make it your responsibility to find out what is out there and available and then pursue it.  Do this and you are far more likely to be successful.

The job search conundrum

Published October 23, 2009 Motivation , Outplacement , career management 2 Comments
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Looking at how people use MyWorkSearch and MyNewjob.me has thrown up an interesting challenge. Since our process is managed by sophisticated software we know what our users are doing and equally what they are not. What has become clear is that a noticeable proportion of new users are not particularly active. There is a disconnect between stated job search activity and actual job search activity. Unfortunately by the time they find out just how difficult it can be to get a job in this market many of them are thoroughly demoralised and their job-search effectiveness reduces.

Our ability to track what people are really doing as opposed to what they state they are doing is opening up tremendous possibilities for the career transition profession.  We can research ways of encouraging job-seekers and see what processes really do result in higher activity levels and which ones do not. I know that the answers will be fascinating and this is a subject I will return to in future posts.

On a personal level I find this interesting and frustrating. Unlike losing weight, getting fit, or giving up smoking, a successful job-search process is not a lifelong change. It is something that for many may not be a lot of fun, however do it assiduously for several months and a new job should be secured. The pressure is then off and normal life can resume. However logical this may be the realities of human behaviour are different. This is a very important challenge for our team and one we are committed to.

Hypocrisy

Published October 3, 2009 Uncategorized 4 Comments

I am regularly asked to give advice on a range of topics and am even regarded by some as an expert in my fields.  Prior to writing this I watched a video at Career Site Advisor where I was asked to speak about job interviews and how to do well in them.  I was rather pleased by what I said and the guidance I gave.

I then reflected upon a meeting I attended yesterday that was rather important to me.  As I drove away afterwards I knew that I had missed some rather important points, had failed to effectively communicate ideas that I felt were key and had made some incorrect assumptions about what would be covered.  And today, as I watched the video, already angry with myself for my poor handling of the meeting, I realised that I had failed to follow good advice that I was very happily dispensing to others on how to prepare for and conduct a meeting.  Not just incompetent – but also a hypocrite!

As I mull over the meeting and the likelihood that the outcome will not be what I want, it makes me realise how big the gap can be between knowing and doing.  And worse still, how one can deliver good advice and yet not follow it oneself.

I know that many people who read my blog are job-seekers.  It is easy to regard one’s activity as preparing yet another application, yet another conversation or yet another interview.  A piece of advice that I will endeavour to follow is: if it is not important, don’t bother doing it; if it is important, make the maximum effort to do it properly.

And if you spot me not following my own advice please feel free to remind me and call me a hypocrite!

All the best

Richard

Hiring

Published September 21, 2009 recruitment , unemployment 3 Comments

I am currently hiring for a few positions and it reinforces my conviction that MyWorkSearch and MyNewJob.me are essential offerings as many candidates just don’t understand what they are doing wrong and why their applications fail.

When I was last hiring, just over a year ago, we had to use recruitment agencies as we could not get many candidates from our advertisements.  Now, from relatively little online advertising, we have been inundated with applications.  Many of the candidates were until recently earning more than we are offering and they are clearly very keen to quickly secure a new job.

I have had to sift the CVs and in doing this some could quickly be rejected.  They did not sell themselves well, they had spelling mistakes in their CV, or they had not attempted to explain why they would be a great hire.  A couple of years ago this would not have mattered so much.  Now, however, I was comparing them to a far stronger pool of candidates and eliminating these weaker applications was a fast and easy decision.

Another characteristic that stood out was the industry sector that the applicant had previously worked in.  High on the list were publishing, building services/property and financial services.  Some very capable individuals are now unemployed simply because their sector has been hammered and despite their talents they are finding it very hard to secure a new role.

In this market there really is no point applying for a job unless one makes the effort to present well and clearly demonstrate suitability for the specific role.  Fail to do this and rejection is inevitable.  Get it right and one has merely progressed to the lottery stage where luck will determine which of the amply qualified candidates secures the position.

I do hope for all our sakes that more jobs will be created.  Meanwhile I advise all job-seekers to:

  • Consider extremely carefully what you send out and ensure that there are no silly mistakes;
  • Treat each application seriously and put effort into demonstrating your suitability;
  • Remember it is a numbers game and maintain a high application rate.

All the best

Richard

Losing a bet

Published September 14, 2009 Recession 8 Comments

It is not often that I hope to lose a bet.  But this is an exception.

In July I had dinner with a friend and the inevitable discussion on the economy led to a £100 bet on the FTSE on 21st July 2010.  I bet that it would be below 5,000 and my friend wagered the opposite.  As matters stand I am losing the bet and I hope, for all our sakes, that this continues.

Read most newspapers and there are stories of recovery and optimism as we leave recession behind.  My fear is that wishful thinking is resulting in us ignoring a rather large elephant in the corner.  Trillions of pounds were lent by banks to consumers and businesses and much of this was secured on assets, such as homes, land and acquired companies.  The value of these assets has dropped by somewhere between 20% and 50%.  This means that at the very least there are hundreds of billions of pounds of wealth that have disappeared.  The government has borrowed tens of billions and printed money to swish cash through the economy and ensure that banks have the funds to continue operating.  Their survival has also been guaranteed by the government and this enables day to day business to continue without having to worry about whether the bank could go bust.  These actions prevented the global economy grinding to a halt.  However they have not replaced the lost hundreds of billions and the government now has borrowings that mean taxes have to rise and spending needs to be cut.

So the fire has been put out.  But none of us want to look too closely at the foundations and check that they are sound.

I do hope I’m wrong.  But I fear that there is still considerable pain to come.

An end of holiday rant!

Published August 28, 2009 Uncategorized 1 Comment

I have had a very pleasant holiday in France and Italy – albeit feeling the pain of the weak pound. And to think I moaned at UK petrol prices!

Since I am not yet fully back in work mode and whilst I am on the subject of money I hope you’ll forgive a personal rant. I used to travel a fair bit and it always struck me as odd how much hotels marked up phone charges. It simply encouraged guests to use phonecards or mobile phones. Once wireless and 3g cards became cheap and commonplace, services such as Skype became easy alternatives. Surely the hotels would have made more money through having a modest mark-up and this way encouraging far greater usage? Overall a small profit from each of very many many customers would add up to more than a large profit from a handful.

Last year was my first holiday since losing the benefit of a corporate mobile phone tariff and I learnt the hard way just how expensive a couple of weeks of calls and push email could be. It appears that the same ill-considered model seems to apply to mobile phones and international travel. In most countries one can now buy pay as you go sim cards for mobile phones and 3g data for not very much. Yet with the honourable exception of Vodafone, UK operators charge massively more for roaming calls and data. Knowing this one feels ripped off when contrasting the local cost versus the one levied by the UK suppler. Not only does this do damage to the customer relationship, one has to wonder whether it really does generate that much extra profit. Surely the vast majority of customers will either limit their usage or purchase a local pay as you go solution; in either case avoiding spending large sums with their UK telecoms supplier. Don’t the companies know that stinging their customers in this way just creates resentment and erodes brand loyalty?

When it comes to reputation and trust people have long memories. Over the years I have always tried to conduct my business affairs in an honourable and fair manner. I have made far more money through long term relationships and repeat business than would have been the case ripping people off and churning through customers. This applies just as much to Mynewjob.me and MyWorkSearch.co.uk as it does to my previous company. O2 are you listening?

Rant over!

Have a great Bank Holiday. Back to business next week.

All the best

Richard

ESU – Employed, Suddenly Unemployed

Published August 11, 2009 Uncategorized 1 Comment

Full employment in an economy does not mean everyone having a job. There is always a percentage of the population who despite job availability don’t wish to work, cannot work or are mid-job move. But the buoyant economy of the last decade has meant that the vast majority of workers who have wanted to find a job have been able to work and earn money.

Life may not have been perfect however people had dignity and could make plans reliant upon their income. The recession has changed this for approximately 1 million people. A huge number of people who have seen employment as their normal situation are now suddenly unemployed and facing considerable uncertainty in finding a new job.

Despite the recession there are still jobs to be had. There are just far fewer than there used to be and far more competition. Where once a new job application would pit a candidate against perhaps half a dozen other job-seekers, now one hundred or more is commonplace. With these odds it is hardly surprising that the future looks bleak. Even with economic recovery it will still be at least a couple of years before employers are hiring again to the level required to create sufficient opportunities. And meanwhile the ESU’s face all of the hardship that comes with unemployment as well as the risk of a lengthy period out of work making them unemployable in the eyes of many employers.

My team and I cannot change the number of available jobs. However we can help users of Myworksearch and Mynewjob.me become far more effective job-seekers. At least in this way some people are able to get back to work far sooner than would otherwise be the case.

All the best

Richard

ESU – a new tribe

Published August 6, 2009 Uncategorized 1 Comment

We are really motoring and I have already broken my resolution to write more frequently! The good news is that Myworksearch is ready and user feedback has been superb. Quite a few people have now used http://www.myworksearch.co.uk and they have all been extremely positive about how it is helping them in their search. One of the challenges we face is that they tell us that the site and its features are better than they had expected. We obviously are not properly communicating our offering in our marketing website. Whilst this is a good problem to have it is nevertheless something that we need to address. We are working on changes to our site and hope to have them in place by the end of the month.

In talking to job seekers it is apparent that there is a new and growing category of unemployed people that we are calling ESUs. These are people who have been comfortably ‘Employed for years, now Suddenly Unemployed’. They are facing the double whammy of an expensive lifestyle and poorly developed job-seeking skills. In the current very difficult labour market they are not finding new jobs and are getting into an increasingly difficult position. We are developing new modules for our http://www.myworksearch to specifically address their circumstances. The ESUs are a group that fall between the stools of Jobcentre Plus provision and the services of high-end outplacement companies. Hopefully Myworksearch can make the difference.

All the best

Richard

Not quite like going to the gym

Published July 18, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

I started this blog full of enthusiasm but aware of the risk that the frequency would tail off. It was with a similar mindset that I joined a new gym some months ago. It has been a couple of weeks since I wrote my last post – but this is considerably less than the time since I last went to the gym! I really must do better on both fronts.

The past fortnight has been exceptionally busy but at the same time extremely rewarding. Many, many months ago my colleagues and I embarked on a vision to create a highly practical and useful resource for the job-seeker. From this emerged a plan and the creation of a business. We went through numerous phases from the initial idea and blank sheet of paper through to crystallising our ideas into system specifications to where we are now: a complete, comprehensive and well-received system. Myworksearch now has real life job-seekers using it and we are getting superb feedback. I struggle to convey how thrilled this makes me.

The philosopher Lao-tzu said that “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” and in many ways creating a business is this way. There is so much that needs to be done that it can appear overwhelming. Sometimes it is better to just take the first step and, Forest Gump like, just keep going. With a technology business it is tempting to see the launch date as our thousandth mile. But what becomes apparent is that there is no destination stopping point.

We are already full of ideas on ways in which we can enhance our offering, adding new features and content and entering new markets. I cannot think of a recent day when I have managed to tick off every item on my to do list. But the buzz and sense of purpose makes this all worthwhile.

All the best

Richard

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Richard Alberg

Early in my career I stumbled into running my own business and have spent the subsequent twenty years running various small companies.

The business I ran for the most years was called Psychometric Services Ltd, or PSL. In November 2006, Kenexa, a NASDAQ quoted company, purchased PSL. I worked for them as a Senior Vice President as part of what is commonly called an earn-out arrangement. I completed this in 2008 and left Kenexa.

In February 2009 I founded Myworksearch Ltd. We have created an online technology platform to hand hold job-seekers through their job search process and maximise their chances of securing a great role. Our UK website is at http://www.myworksearch.co.uk.

I live in North West London with my wife and two children, who are exceptionally accommodating of my consistent failure to manage my work / life balance!

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