You can lead a horse to water but can you make it drink?

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by career management, Motivation, Outplacement, Technology •

Mixing metaphors, the elephant in the corner of outplacement is the extent to which job seekers accept and act on the guidance they are offered.  A good many do.  They take advantage of the knowledge and experience offered them and benefit accordingly.  But a meaningful proportion does not.  For reasons such as cynicism, depression, pessimism, disillusionment and lack of confidence they simply don’t engage with the process.  A negative spiral kicks in and the consequences can be long-term unemployment.

This is very frustrating for all concerned.  The people who work at my company, MyWorkSearch, and our competitors get up in the morning with the intention of helping job seekers.  We passionately care about the results we achieve and are saddened by those who don’t take the useful guidance that is made available to them.

This is the leading the horse to water bit.  But what about the drinking?

Last year, in October, I wrote about how we had identified this as an area we wanted to research (http://blog.alberg.co.uk/2009/10/23/the-job-search-conundrum/) and stated that I would return to this as a topic.  Since then we have made considerable progress.  Our research has helped us discover the areas to focus on and our design and development teams have made great strides in implementing improvements.  For example:

Usability is an area we have to work really hard on as if it is difficult or not obvious what to do next a proportion of people will give up.  We have transformed MyWorkSearch with a comprehensive redesign. We have looked at ‘user journeys’ and tried to eliminate the areas where a person can get confused and cease activities.

Allowing flexibility whilst providing the option of a guided route.  Some people want the freedom to self-serve our advice, content and tools.  Others want to be guided through a stepped process.  One size does not fit all and providing this choice removes usage barriers.

Sometimes there is provision for a person to assist individuals as they progress on their path to re-employment.  Knowing who is succeeding and who needs help is key to providing targeted assistance that makes the most of this expensive resource.  We therefore developed a reporting engine that allows a person to see who amongst a group is effectively using MyWorkSearch and the job seekers that would benefit from personal assistance.

The above are all hygiene areas.  They are the basics of a sensibly designed system.  Although they may not be easy to get right we know that they are essential for an effective online re-employment solution.  The area that has most long-term potential and goes above these quality foundations is our Nudge Engine.

Our Nudge Engine is designed to understand each job seeker as an individual and provide personalised guidance and prompts that nudge the person towards the best outcome possible.  Through understanding human psychology and statistics we can populate our Nudge Engine with rules that help each person get the most from MyWorkSearch.

We started work on the Nudge Engine a few months ago and it is about to go live.  We see these personalised small steps as the key to helping individuals succeed.  I will let you know how we progress.

Thrilled!

by Awards, Business, Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Success, Technology •

I have had a simply superb fortnight.  My colleagues and I work very hard to make MyWorkSearch a success.  We have to get very many things right, from product development to customer service to back office efficiency to revenue generation.  Drop the ball and a relatively new business such as ours can founder.

We submit for industry awards from time to time as it is a good external validation that we are getting things right.  A very important aspect of our service is the way we communicate knowledge to MyWorkSearch users.  It was therefore especially pleasing that we have been shortlisted in ‘The most innovative new product or tool in e-learning’ category in the 2010 e-learning awards.  We will discover in November whether we have won.

We are members of Microsoft BizSpark.  This is a superb programme run by Microsoft to assist technology companies in their first few years through providing a wide range of assistance.  Each year the UK BizSpark team organise a Summit and, as part of this, invite members to submit their business to a Dragon’s Den of experts who pick the best company.  This year 77 companies were entered and 6 were selected to present.  MyWorkSearch was not only one of the six.  We won!

The judges used the G/Score methodology to evaluate the businesses.  This provides a comprehensive framework to assess a business and results in a thorough appraisal of an organisation’s strategy, structure, commercial offering and achievements.

Earlier this year we were selected as the Best Business Startup in the European LinkedIn Business Awards.  It is great to see we are still on track.

Don’t take your career for granted

by Business, career management, Entrepreneurship •

I had a bad day today.  We are in troubled economic times, there is high unemployment and I found myself at MyWorkSearch on the wrong side of a bidding war when trying to hire someone.  There is a particular capability I think MyWorkSearch will benefit from and, in a sector I know rather well, very few people who have the required skills and approach.  So I approached someone I rate and offered this person a very attractive financial deal combined with huge flexibility on how they would undertake their role.  Unsurprisingly, their current employer was not best pleased at the prospect of losing this person and they made a successful counter-offer.  Putting the personal disappointment and inconvenience to one side for the moment, this experience has brought home to me just how very useful it is to have a much sought after capability.  Even in a bad market employers will do whatever they can to secure or retain an unique set of skills.  And this was an employer that has been making redundancies and freezing pay.

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!

My iPhone and what it has taught me about business

by Business, career management, Entrepreneurship, Outplacement, Technology •

Many, many years ago, my first ‘mobile’ phone was built into my car.  My next one was a small briefcase that I hauled around if I needed to make calls.  Over the years phones got smaller but essentially they did the same thing: they allowed incoming and outgoing calls.  Then ‘smartphones’ emerged.  As well as making calls one could have a diary or run an application.  Whilst ownership of this type of phone provided some sort of geek bragging rights, the reality was that they did not work particularly well and were impractical to integrate with other computers and servers and thus were often more hassle than value.  The Blackberry was the first device to really make email easy and it integrated superbly well with Microsoft Exchange, meaning that my diary, calendar and email were always up to date on both my computer and my phone.   However, certainly in the early days, the Blackberry was a one-trick pony.  Other than the email suite, the device did not offer much more.  I played around with a number of Windows Mobile and Symbian phones but, despite being comfortable with technology, I always found them hard to use well.

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.

Virtual Operations

by Business, Entrepreneurship, Operations, Organisational Structure, Technology •

My blog entries are typically about the items at the time uppermost in my mind.  The fact that I have not written an entry for some weeks does make me pause for thought!

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.

MP-45

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by career management, Election, Outplacement, Politics, unemployment •

Every day at MyWorkSearch we help thousands of people with their career choices.  Whilst this is a serious business that fundamentally affects people’s lives there are occasions when we look at the light-hearted side of our profession.  So on a quiet Friday afternoon and with the media dominated by the election, the MyWorkSearch team started thinking about what careers politicians could try should they not be an MP on May 7th.

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:

POLITICIAN & CONSTITUENCY SKILLS,EXPERIENCE, PERSONALITY IDEAL JOB

Gordon Brown, Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath

 Likes meeting members of the public, not afraid to express his views,  champion of minorities (especially Eastern Europeans) Community Diversity Officer

David Cameron, Witney

 Member of the ‘Bullingdon’ club, likes making cuts, enjoys running outdoors, wants to ‘beef up’ national security Organic butcher
Nick Clegg, Sheffield Hallam ‘Man of the people’, likes putting a spanner in the works Plumber
Jacqui Smith, Redditch Original ‘Blair Babe’, knowledge of education, detention and sex laws, husband enjoys adult films Anne Summers Party Organiser
Vince Cable, Twickenham Experienced orator, good with numbers, used to playing second fiddle Second-hand car salesman
George Osborne, Tatton Used to making predictions on the economy, intricate knowledge of mortgages having been investigated over his repayments by the PSC Estate Agent
John Prescott, Hull East (Standing down in 2010) Likes fast cars, knowledge of self-defence, experience of being a deputy Police Chief
David Miliband, South Shields Expert in foreign etiquette, known for charm, used to waiting (in line to become next Labour leader) Concierge

William Hague, Richmond (Yorks)

Known for comic wit during PMQs, experience of TV presenting, preceded David Cameron, boasts 14 pint minimum

 Warm-up comedian
Ed Balls, Morley and Outwood Reputed for being aggressive & ambitious with a treasury background. Once called the ‘most powerful unelected person in Britain’ as a civil servant Bailiff

Lembit Opik, Montgomeryshire

Rated most liberal MP in parliament, known for liking twosomes

Erotic fiction writer
Nick Griffin, Barking Cambridge graduate with good writing skills, likes uniforms, used to daily abuse from the public Traffic Warden

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 7th, 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

Transition

by Business, Entrepreneurship, Outplacement, Strategy •

I should be depressed; however I am not.  In addition to it looking like I will lose my bet, my company is soon likely to have to contend with a more challenging environment.  All the indicators are that the economy has turned and we are now on the road to recovery.  We may not be on the motorway, indeed it feels more like a windy country lane, however the economy is gradually becoming more benign with fewer bad news stories and reasonably frequent positive ones.

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!

We did it!

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by Business, Entrepreneurship • Tags: , , , ,

My colleagues and I started MyWorkSearch just over a year ago.  We have worked extremely hard to make this a successful business.  Considerable time, money and passion as well as rather a lot of stress!

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!

China, Hong Kong and Singapore

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by Uncategorized • Tags: , , ,

It is a few years since I last visited Hong Kong and Singapore and I am looking forward to tomorrow when I head out on a trip to both cities.  Whilst there I plan to meet with several existing industry contacts as well as get to know others in the sector.  I am looking forward to learning how outplacement and career management differ in two very different environments.  There is China which is huge in terms of both population and geography.  A better job can transform life for a person and his/her family and hundreds of millions of people see now as being their moment.  Competition for the best opportunities is fierce and I look forward to learning what this means for the career management profession.  Singapore is far smaller however the same passion and energy are evident, with talented people ambitiously pursuing the many opportunities that exist.  I hope that we can bring www.myworksearch.co.uk to Asia and this trip should help me decide.

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.

Complacency and failure

by Uncategorized • Tags: ,

Every now and then I have a rant on my blog.  And today is one of those days!

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!