Bearing Fruit Consulting

Don't Call It A Comeback

Yes, I have completely let this blog become dormant but it's time to come back.  I am so very sorry to all of you who read this blog regularly for going off the radar for so long.  I am not going to offer up a bunch of excuses or reasons for the blackout but suffice to say business, family and other matters have been all consuming and I just wasn't managing my time well enough to write and contribute anything meaningful. 

I found it can be healthy to disappear for a while.  I know, for me at least, it was important to get away from writing and being so public.  I felt I had overdosed on being public for so long.  Don't get me wrong, being recognized and talked about can be cool at times and it certainly helps generate business but it can just be overwhelming and cause one to lose perspective.  That happened to me.  I lost some perspective on the things that are most important to me.  I am somewhat ashamed to admit that publicly but I have always been very transparent here and elsewhere so why should I hold back now.  Trying to get information out on blogs, tweets, facebook etc can sort of become who you are.  Being the person people look to for information and expertise, while I enjoy that, can start to become all you are about and nothing else.

More after the jump.

Best Example Yet of Web 2.0

Gautam Ghosh brings our attention to, in my  humble opinion, the best example yet of web 2.0.  For those of you who think blogging and social media are either flash in the pan or not adding any meaningful value to business and recruiting this story should change your mind.  While Ryan Kuder was laid off and was able to turn his twittering into attention to help him find a new or better opportunity, the ramifications of this are significant for talent acquisition and talent management. 

For those company leaders who think that how you coach, lead and treat people is confined to the four walls of your company or business this ought to make you think twice.  Truth is, these sort of stories are going to become much more commonplace and the leadership, recruiting and talent management mistakes companies make will soon be available for all to read.  Transparency will happen whether you want it to or not.  Creating great candidate and employee experiences will no longer get lip service because those that fail to deliver will be outed in a web 2.0 kind of way.   

Ben Gotkin Gives Career Value Proposition For RSM McGladrey

Ben Gotkin is a good friend and great recruiting mind.  Though Ben and I don't speak with one another as often we should, I really respect him and trust what he has to say.  About a week ago, Ben clearly defined the value proposition of choosing RSM McGladrey over the "Big 4" accounting firms in an interview with Todd Raphael of ERE.   

So why choose RSM McGladrey for your next career move?  First, Ben made it personal by sharing that the reasons he was about to list were some of the many reasons he joined the company.  Personalization and sharing the story about "how you got there" helps talent to identify with you and and begin to picture themselves at your company.  Here is a quick list of some other key differentiators that Ben brought out:

• RSM is the number one accounting tax and business consulting firm for middle market companies.  This allows their team members to get more engaged with their clients and see the impact occur within the organization.  Not to mention they get to interact more frequently with the leadership rather than get jammed in a closet of cube at a larger organization.
• Their niche allows their professionals more variety in their work.
• Because RSM serves a middle market clientele their team members very often do not have the travel requirements of the Big 4 firms.
• RSM has a strong focus on work life balance.  Now, so many companies pay lip service to work life balance.  RSM is backing it up and getting recognized for their work life balance.  They were on Working Mothers Best 100 Companies To Work For list in 2007.  You really need to click on that link to read some awesome details of why they are so strong in this area.  Financial Week highlighted RSM's work in offering flex work and flex work spaces in an article back in October of 2007.  Work life balance is a reality at RSM.

I have no connection to RSM other than Ben.  They are not a client, I am not trying to get a job there (though with these differentiators and value proposition perhaps I should consider it) and I am not trying to become a consultant to RSM.  I wanted to share this because I like Ben and I think that what RSM is doing deserves some more attention.

If you are interested in learning about career opportunities with RSM McGladrey then go here now!

Jim Durbin on Talent Scouting and Social Networking at HCI

Jim Durbin of Durbin Media and author of the StlRecruiting blog is doing a free webinar for the Human Capital Institute next Tuesday February 19th from 1:00 until 2:00 EST. 

The title of the webinar is Talent Scouting and Social Networking: The New Employee Referral Program.  Jim is uniquely positioned to talk on this important aspect of recruiting and brings extensive experience and expertise to this presentation.  Here is what you will learn from Jim during this webinar:

• How to Use LinkedIn the right way (it's not what you're seeing now)
• How to Use Facebook to recruit top talent with employee referrals
• How to Use MySpace to improve your sourcing
• The care and feeding of blogs as referral sources
• The use of cell phones to improve your candidate pool.

If you are serious about becoming more productive and getting better results in recruiting using social media then you need to be a part of this free webinar.  You can sign up right here!

Michael Homula To Talk Shop With The Recruiting Animal

If you haven't listened to The Recruiting Animal Show you have not lived.  Well, that is probably an exaggeration but the show is really fun, a bit rowdy and usually chock full of great recruiting insight. 

Michael Homula will appear on the Animal Show tomorrow, February 13, 2008, at 12 noon eastern standard time.  After chatting with Michael (The Animal) yesterday to prepare a bit for the show I can tell you I think it is going to be very interesting and entertaining.  Hope you tune in!

Bearing Fruit Consulting's Michael Homula Mentioned In John Sullivan Article

John Sullivan, called the Michael Jordan of recruiting by FastCompany magazine, writes an article over on ERE today about NotchUp; the pay for interview site that is all the buzz in the recruiting community right now.  In the piece John makes the point that great recruiting organizations have been utilizing this tactic for years and he specifically mentions Michael Homula.  From John's article:

There is a new service that you need to be aware of that pays top candidates up to $500 for participating in a corporate job interview. Paying candidates to interview might seem like a new or radical idea, but it has actually been going on for years at some of the smartest companies and organizations.

Hospitals, for example, have found that offering nurses $50 for going to a job interview can dramatically increase both the number and the quality of nurses that show up. Anderson Consulting has paid MBA students $50 to come to practice interviews. Recruiting genius Michael Homula routinely offered $25 Starbucks cards as a thank-you for participating in interviews. Cisco once even paid attendees $5 at a professional meeting for just handing over a copy of their resumes.

The jury remains out on NotchUp and it's effectiveness.  In theory the idea works and makes perfect sense from a tactical level.  Given that the nature of the "pay for interview" or reward for interview concept is wired towards establishing and building long term relationships, something a website or technology has yet to master, one has to wonder if NotchUp will be all the rage for a bit and then end up in the same place as most transactionally geared recruiting technology.

Homula and Bearing Fruit Consulting On Helicopter Parents in NY Post Article

Recently we were quoted in an article written by Virginia Backaitis in the New York Post @ Work column.  The article is entitled Parent Trap - Today's Hands On Mom's and Dad's Don't Stop Meddling When Junior Goes Off To Work and focuses on a growing trend in employing the next generation of talent where parents are heavily involved in the recruitment, selection and employment of their kids