Face The Facts

Whether we like it or not, the workplace is going to evolve into an almost entirely electronic arena.  What I mean by that is individuals will communicate with each other via the web, not face-to-face in an office.  Businesses probably will not even have offices in times to come. All of the consultants from Online Recruitment, for instance, pretty much work from home. We have an office in Melbourne, which we use from time to time to conduct meetings and to meet with candidates, but we aim to be entirely online when the rest of the world catches up with our way of thinking.I don’t want to have a discussion about the pros and cons of this.  Whenever I start to evaluate the costs and benefits of this way of operating, I feel as though I’ve stepped back in time and I’m having a chat to one of my printing colleagues about the evils of the printing press.  I don’t dwell on stuff like this, I like to anticipate future directions and run with them.  So don’t try to engage me on this point, it’ll bore the heck out of me.What does interest me, though, is the consequences of this new type of workspace.  It is on this point that some really fascinating questions concerning the role of social networking arise.  Humans are a social species.  Even the most introverted of us gets a buzz out of having a good chat every now and again.  But with no office; and therefore no water cooler, where are these chats going to take place.  How is that special intimacy that develops between colleagues while they’re sipping their water from inadequately small plastic cups going to arise?The answer, my friends, is blowing in the ether.  Social networking sites, such as Facebook, are going to become the means via which business provide employees with a forum for the all important team-building, for encouraging folks to get to know one another “outside work”; really all this amounts to is developing community.  And whether they know it or not, that’s why companies like Seek have created a Seek Group within the Facebook space with about 6,700 members, even including younger family member Joel Bassat. (Shouldn’t you be doing your homework??) A CareerOne employee has started a  CareerOne Facebook Group without any support. Probably because Myspace, owned by their parent company News Limited, is their focus for now with Myspace Jobs. And companies that have banned the use of Myspace and Facebook during working hours are gonna have to think long and hard about how the heck their people are going to communicate personally with each other when there are no longer four physical walls fencing them in.  Onward and forward, folks.  

Get a Job, Gen Y!

Way back in 1999, Business Week proffered some sage advice. It told its readers this:

“The marketers that capture Generation Y’s attention do so by bringing their messages to the places these kids congregate, whether it’s the internet, a snowboarding tournament or cable TV.”

It seems that finally, after all this time, some folks in recruitment are taking on board the advice.Speaking of Gen Y’s, remember when News Corporation purchased the in social networking site MySpace and made some Gen Y’s very rich? CareerOne, also part of News, has now officially integrated its job search into MySpace.I’m sure you’ll agree that the page looks great. And I’m a bigger supporter than anyone of the growing need for businesses of all descriptions to use the internet as their primary marketing tool. However, there is a glaring problem with the way the team at CareerOne has executed this innovative marketing plan.Consider for the moment that you’re a 20-something gen-yer, ipod eared and determined not to take a 9 to 5 job, but aware that your parents are getting narky about your not paying board…food…your own toiletries…I’ll stop now, before I sound like a moaning Babyboomer.Anyway, you’re on MySpace, checking out your own profile, and think that you might start your job search. You type in “jobs”and search myspace. I’m pretty certain that the crew at CareerOne would like it if that particular search produced their page. Instead, this is what our Gen-yer would get:Sure, there’s a link to MySpaceJobs on the homepage, but guys, let’s face it, the only people who enter MySpace through the homepage are the Boomers and Gen-xers who go in posing as 25-year-olds!Point is and this one extends across the board in internet marketing, when you’re sitting in your board rooms, guys, when you’re huddled over your copies of the latest McKinsey propaganda, have a think about how users approach their search and make yourself available within the spaces where you want to advertise. Marketing 101.