Choose One from Column A, B, or C

I guess I could have labeled this post as "A Public Service Announcement" but decided on the A,B,C theme since I wanted to draw readers attention to three totally unrelated but I thought interesting posts that came across my CRT this past week.

Since I stole GL Hoffman's gruzzle graphic (I know, I don't know what that means either, but that's what he calls them) so I guess I'll start there.

I, along with a cast of thousands, have been following GL for quite a while. He is, as those who read his What Would Day Say blog a very clever and insightful guy. In this particular post, I thought he demonstrated both of those traits very well as he gave us his take on the recent Beer Summit.

Not only is the visual pretty neat, what he had to say about it all was equally powerful I thought, so if you didn't happen to catch it, you can check it out here.

Next on the list was a post on ERE by Matthew Charney entitled Bullet Point to the Head which I am still laughing at. Given the well-known and often not displaced frustration that candidates have with the lack of communication with the recruiting world, Charney provides some "insights" that are not only very funny but since most humor comes from truth exaggerated some "learnings" that might help relieve some of that frustration.

You can read it here, but for sure you need to be sitting down otherwise you may fall down laughing.

Finally, if you have not been following John Sumser's latest venture for RecruitingBlogs.com in which he is attempting to ID those who he and/or others feel are the top 100 influencers in HR and Recruiting it's a fun pass time to watch the list grow.

It is sort of like those lists that ESPN or SI put together every once in the while of the top 100 pros of all time in whatever sport you want to name. The lists, of course, are subjective but so far as we know not influenced by direct bribes, and when folks like Peter Clayton are on the list, it helps to provide comfort that it's hard to argue with the choices made especially if you happen to agree with them.

As far as I can tell, at this writing, the list is up to 20 or so and who knows who the other 80 will be, but it is the sort of thing when you are old enough to probably recognize most of the names that appear you feel "qualified" to say to yourself, "Yeah, I buy that!" or "How the hell do you suppose he/she made the list?" That's what makes them fun, but be that as it may, I was happy to see Peter's name.

In my book, he certainly deserved the recognition along with many of the other names of folks that I have come to know at some level over the years and whose work I respect as well, including of course John himself.

On the other hand, I don't know where they got Peter's picture from, but I am guessing from his high school yearbook. [Just kidding Peter.]

A Light or an Oncoming Train?

Ever since we published this year's Executive Job Market Intelligence Report I have been getting lots of cards and letters (okay not cards and letters, really emails and "tweets") but in any case, lots of feedback on how much our members and others who have seen the report appreciate the work that went into it.

As we all know all too well, the world is very quick to let you know when you screw up and not quite so fast to let you know when they think you have done something right. The positive vibes we have received become even more satisfying, and this forum gives me the chance to say thanks to those who have taken the time to let us know the value they feel is contained in the nearly 20 pages of facts, figures, and analysis.

If you have not yet seen the report, while I can't offer up a full copy since it is a part of membership in ExecuNet, we have put together an executive summary which is available here.

If you would rather listen than read, Total Picture Radio's Peter Clayton stopped by galactic headquarters this week and taped an interview on this year's report with Mark Anderson and myself. It runs roughly 30 minutes.

If you do take the time to listen, I would be interested in your comments in terms of how you are interpreting the data you follow be it gathered formally or in water cooler conversations. Is what you are seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel or an oncoming train?

Storytelling

After more than 45 years of being attached to the world of career managment in one way or another, it is pretty easy to think that you've heard it all and in some respects maybe you have. On the other hand, that doesn't change the fact that more often than you might imagine when you hear someone talk on a subject about which you feel you not only have "heard it all before" but think you know a lot about it yourself you realize yet once again that neither is true.

What I mean is that while the subject matter is not new to you, the way in which the presenter conveys a point all of a sudden resonates in a way that sharpens your focus on some critical concepts and helps you to internalize those concepts in a more impactful way.

Such was the case for me when I tuned into Peter Clayton's Total Picture Radio podcast that featured Judy Rosemarin talking about The Magic of Storytelling in a Job Search.

In the interest of full disclosure, I initally wanted to tune into this because I know Judy so well. We have been lucky enough to have her as our point person and facilitator for our networking meetings in NYC for 15+ years as well as a frequent presenter for both our FastTrack and Coffee Break webinars. Point being, as a "fan" I wanted to hear what she had to say.

What blew me away and prompted this post was the "learnings" I got from listening to her talk about "value and values" and "storytelling" in the interview process.

Peter's interview with Judy runs just over 20 minutes, but it is 20 minutes well spent whether you think you have heard it all before or not.

As the Brits would say, at least from my perspective, she was, as usual, "spot on."