Hat tip to MN Headhunter for this one…

Wordle is a cute little tool for creating “word clouds” from your writing. I hopped on the site, told it to map my blog, and got this funky little picture:

Apparently, I talk a lot about Enterprise and 2.0. I like the tool, though, because it can really show you where a person’s interests are. My friend Paul, the MN Headhunter, for example, is a little too into sports, according to his Wordle. My Twitter Wordle looks like I like myself:

With apologies to Capital One…
“What’s in your Wordle?” Post your links as comments!

I try. I really do. I want to help the nGenera software engineering team so much that I’ve been trying to write Ruby on Rails code. The only problem is, I don’t have what it takes. I’m just not a good programmer. Oh, sure, I USED to be an awesome programmer, but that was before I moved into the frou-frou world of “Talent Acquisition.” Today, my programming skills are creaky, and I’m not even capable of putting together the simplest of “Hello World” programs in Ruby on Rails. I’m so disappointed in myself - I am ready to run upon my sword.

But, then I took a step back and thought… People read this blog (well, a couple, at least). Maybe some good programmers will read it. In fact, maybe YOU’RE a good programmer. And if you ARE, I am betting that you can take this code and fix it with one click of the keyboard.

puts ‘nGenera is the absolute coolest company in the world. It’s the greatest, even!’

If you can spot the bug, we would really like to hear from you, because we have some cutting-edge Ruby on Rails code we want you to write for us.

If you can fix it and you want a job, just comment below or send me an email at ktierney@ngenera.com. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Please save the software engineering team from their well-meaning recruiter. Please??

…for the Enterprise 2.0 Conference! And you can use this handy promo code to save $100 on your registration or get a free pass to the Demo Pavilion!

Today’s successful recruiters (or, as I like to say… Talent Acquisition Innovators) are already aware of how Enterprise 2.0 technologies are changing the face of the talent landscape. In order to effectively manage the recruiting process, talent professionals have to understand the new world order. And the Enterprise 2.0 Conference, being held in Boston, MA on June 9-12 is just the kind of place savvy talent professionals will find the tools and information they need to build the Next Generation Workforce. Speaking of which, check out one of the E2.0 Conference offerings that deals specifically with the nGen Workforce:

Developing a Next Generation Workforce

The velocity and variability of today’s business environment has become more dynamic and unpredictable than ever before. The pace of change is so fast, that executives find it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to keep their organizations performing and innovating at levels necessary to deliver optimal business results and competitive differentiation. What capabilities does an enterprise require to develop an agile workforce? How do organizations address the leadership gap? How do strategists address strategic talent initiatives? What analytics are necessary to link organizational capabilities with business strategy execution? What is the role of technology in developing a next generation workforce?

Over the past several weeks, there have been two exciting changes for me.

First and foremost, my company re-branded as nGenera. BSG Alliance was a great name with a lot of history, but we realized that our name didn’t reflect who we were as a company. nGenera is a much better reflection of who we are and what we do.

Let’s break it down…

nGen = Net Generation

nGen = Next Generation (as in Next Generation Enterprise)

nGen = The future.

I’ll spare any more rehashing of the details, but you can check out our updated web community for, as Paul Harvey says, the rest of the story.

Next, I agreed to move out of my Corporate Communications role (which I loved), and accept the challenge of managing the Recruiting function for nGenera (which I love more).  So, I am now working with our team to map out the future of talent acquisition within nGenera.  As part of that change, I am re-branding the site.  I’ve been in Recruiting for a year now, which makes me far less seasoned than people like The Minnesota Headhunter, but it also means that I can’t really consider myself a “Newbie” anymore. So, in true nGen fashion, I am changing this blog to focus on nGen Talent Acquisition, rather than on the trials and tribulations of being a “new” recruiter.  Expect to see a lot more content focused on tools and technologies that make recruiting more nGen.

One of the greatest things about the new role is that I actually have some time set aside to blog, so this site should start rocking over the next couple of weeks.  And, like they say…

If this blog’s a rockin’, please come a knockin!

You knew it was bound to happen. You just knew it. As cool as Google Street View is, it had to cross the line somewhere. Somewhere appears to be Pittsburgh.

Short story shorter: Couple’s house appears on Street View. Couple lives on a private road. Couple is angry. Couple claims invasion of privacy. Couple sues Google for a sum greater than $25,000.

Guess what? This ain’t your mama’s privacy anymore.

Since the late 90s, the information available on the internet has exploded beyond what Al Gore and the ARPANET creators could have even imagined. You can look up pretty much anyone or anything, and get your answer. The availability of data is expanding as we move to mobile and wireless connectivity to digital information. Pew Research reported last month that 62% of all American adults have taken advantage of mobile internet connectivity. Information is everywhere, and it’s accessible from anywhere.

When I do a search for my name on Google, I come up with 768,000 results. Some of those are about me, and some aren’t. If I wanted to dig a little deeper, I would be able to find where I live, what I do for fun, and how often I’ve irritated people in my town with calls for Homeowners’ Association Fiscal Responsibility. Luckily, there’s no Street view of my house, yet, but I know it’s coming. And, being the “digital native” that my boss calls me, I’ll just have to accept it. The worms are out of the can, my friends. We can’t put them back, but we can learn to live with them.

That brings me to my main point. In a connected culture, we have to redefine our own expectations of privacy. Let’s call it Privacy 2.0, just for fun.

It’s no longer reasonable to assume that people won’t be able to easily find out where you live or what your house is worth. It’s not reasonable to assume that if you get loaded at an underage drinking party, pictures of you won’t show up on Facebook. It’s not reasonable to assume that anything you do outside the 4 walls of your own home won’t be captured, recorded, and added to the ever-growing base of human knowledge. Don’t expect that your private life is anything near what you used to think of as private. It simply isn’t.

So, where does that leave you? You’ve got to understand that now, more than ever, you have to accept responsibility for your actions, and make sure that you’re acting in a manner that portrays the image you want to portray. You’ve also got to be more diligent about your own security and safety. If that means installing a security system or more locks, do it. You must realize that people are going to know more about you than you might want. People will form impressions of you based on what they find on-line, and first impressions always matter.

Back to our friends from Pittsburgh… My (personal, non-BSG-Alliance) opinion is that they’re just looking for a quick buck. Their home is pictured, along with drawings of the rooms, on the Allegheny County website. Until they sue the county, I can’t really believe it’s about anything more than money.

Man! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. A lot has happened in the last 2 months. First, we bought a little company called Iconixx, and added them to the BSG Alliance platform. Second, I became an aunt again. Third, we launched an internal communications vehicle (known as The Buzz), which is published Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Fourth, I got elected to the Board of Directors of my homeowner’s association. I also continue to manage the four kids and cute husband. So, without coming right out and using those as excuses… Aw, heck. I’m using them as excuses.

Onward and upward, then!

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article in The Buzz based upon an email sent by one of my colleagues. He was explaining that a potential customer used Google to research him before a meeting, and how what the customer found provided instant credibility.

I followed up to his comments with this:

In today’s connected world, people use Google. When there are candidates to interview – we Google them. When there are prospects to approach – we Google them. When there are potential business partners to meet – we Google them. And the results of those searches often help us develop initial impressions about the people with whom we’ll be interacting. Good or bad, those impressions are lasting.

Smart companies – NGE companies – encourage their team members to build on-line identities. On-line identities are helpful for team members in a personal sense, since they can increase visibility in the ever-tightening labor market, and make someone more desirable to potential employers. They’re also helpful to companies, though. The more “Buzz” a company can build through the on-line identities of their team members, the stronger the company brand. On-line identities are a 1-2 punch – the personal credibility of the team member is coupled with the brand credibility of the company, thereby making the customer experience that much better.

At BSG Alliance, we encourage our team members to build on-line identities. Collaboration, especially on-line collaboration, is absolutely essential to our NGEness. In fact, in our Policies and Procedures document, we’ve dedicated a whole section to our external electronic communication. Here’s a key point:

We expect BSG Alliance employees to be active, vigorous and opinionated in their engagement with the public. This may mean asserting and defending strong points of view, taking provocative positions that are not the norm, and overall participating in the challenge we have of educating the industry about the changes to business that we are leading.

If you’re interested in how you can build your on-line identity and help build the BSG Alliance brand, start by determining where you’re starting. Career Distinction has a tool for determining your Google Quotient (GQ), which is a great place to start. If you’re curious, my GQ is 6.5 out of 10. I have some identity building to do…

One of the worst parts of being a virtual employee is that I rarely get the opportunity to physically interact with my coworkers. I sit in my office at home, and use the phone, Skype, Twitter, and Instant Messenger to communicate with the other BSG Alliance folks. So, when I have the opportunity to fly to Texas and have some face time, I always jump at the chance.

This week, my chance was the People Team meeting in Austin, TX. We’re sitting around, drinking copious amounts of diet Coke and discussing plans for making sure that we can effectively innovate solutions for our human resource challenges.

As part of the meeting, we had a working lunch from Jason’s Deli. They brought in a big platter of sandwiches, cookies, brownies, and a big old bag of ruffly potato chips. As we were eating, my boss held up a chip and said:

Wow! This looks like Texas!

And it did. So Katie “Rockstar” Meenan, our new recruiter for the New York office, decided that it might be fun to put the potato chip up on eBay. As she was adding the eBay entry, our brainstorming took hold, and we had her add a link to the BSG Alliance careers site. After all, BSG Alliance paid for the potato chip, so we should get some benefit from Katie’s eBay sale!

Katie started the bidding at 50 cents. Within minutes, the bidding was up to $2.00. This morning, it’s at $3.25. Bidding ends next Monday. I fully expect that Katie’s winning bid will be well over $5. And I hope that the word-of-mouth we generate helps establish BSG Alliance as the kind of fun, innovative company that people really want to join.

UPDATE - 1/29/08 - 2:02 PM CST

Katie is donating the proceeds to the Austin Parks Foundation. Get those bids up there!

I am trying to find ways to be more creative. I like having ideas. I like having creative ideas even more. In my quest to become more creative, I find myself constantly hunting for tools to help me achieve “creativity nirvana.” One tool I’ve uncovered is a funky web site called GetFreshMinds.com. You know it must be cool since the author’s name is Katie, and, as we all know, Katie is the greatest name in the world. But, once again, I digress.

When I was reading one of Katie’s recent posts about innovation lessons she learned in 2007 I was led to IdeaList, a site where anyone can post an idea and get feedback from the community at large. There are a lot of really interesting ideas on IdeaList (not, however, this one), but one caught my eye because it is very much in line with what BSG Alliance calls Agile Talent.

The “idea” is actually a design contest sponsored by Samsonite. Samsonite wants to bring a new product to market, and they are looking outside their own design team for the right idea. They’re going worldwide, seeking a solution in the global marketplace, on-demand. The top prize is 5,000 Euros, and the total of all the prize money is 11,500 Euros (I had to look up the conversion on Google - it’s just under $17,000). $17,000 is a paltry sum for a company whose quarterly revenue is almost $300MM. I don’t have access to their budgets, but I think it’s safe to say that Samsonite’s product development group has a yearly budget well in excess of $17,000. For a fraction of what they could spend on a handful of internal ideas, Samsonite is getting potentially hundreds of ideas from an external talent pool - all for a total of $17,000 in prize money (and, yes, the overhead of coming up with the contest, marketing it, yaddayaddayadda).

By looking outside its walls for creative ideas, Samsonite is implementing Agile Talent. They are coming up with innovative ways to engage new thought leaders, without the burden of bringing them on as employees. They are getting the very best ideas that people have to offer, and they are not required to invest any capital up front. It’s like getting an employee to work for you for months, and only paying her if she actually produces something you like and can sell. It’s a very effective way to remain flexible, efficient, and profitable in the 21st Century.

In their book Wikinomics, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams discussed another company that uses this type of Agile Talent to decrease time-to-market and increase innovation - Procter & Gamble. From the Wikinomics web page, they have this to say:

Smart, multibillion dollar companies like Procter & Gamble that cultivate nimble, trust-based relationships with external collaborators to form vibrant business ecosystems that create value more effectively than hierarchically organized businesses.

Through this design competition, Samsonite is exploring a new landscape in human resources. They are building a community of “workers” to provide talent in an on-demand capacity - when Samsonite needs new ideas, they can call upon the community (the network, if you will), and can expect to get the right answers, right away. This is Agile Talent.

Agile Talent is a key factor in successful Next Generation Enterprises. Once you combine an innovative resource pool with a distinctive customer experience, agile & collaborative technologies, education, and research, you have the makings of an organization that will thrive in today’s hypercompetitive global marketplace.

Thanks to Twitter, I ran across a post by Jevon MacDonald about an Enterprise 2.0 market. More specifically, the post was Jevon arguing that there is no Enterprise 2.0 market. His valid points include:

1. There are very few companies with Enterprise 2.0 budget line items.
2. Enterprise 2.0 is too loosely defined at this point to make it valuable as a solution (or set of solutions) for organization problems.
3. There aren’t enough companies providing Enterprise 2.0 solutions (and providing them successfully) to roll up into a larger market.

What I gathered from Jevon’s article was something that we strongly believe at BSG Alliance: if what you’re selling doesn’t provide some bottom-line benefit (read: increase in profitability, productivity, and market share), then you’re not selling something that’s got a valid market value.

Here’s my take: A good Enterprise 2.0 startup doesn’t need an Enterprise 2.0 market. A good Enterprise 2.0 startup needs to address a real business problem, and do it well enough to make some money. It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.

Enterprise 2.0 startups need a market for what they’re selling – and they’d better be selling something that creates efficiencies, cost savings, and competitive advantages.

Take a look at Jeff Nolan’s “Dude, Where’s My Market?” post from last month to see a great example of a startup, Echosign, with a product that solves a real business problem, and does it well enough (using Enterprise 2.0 tools, technologies, and philosophies) to make money for themselves and their customers. Here is how Jeff explains Echosign’s success:

This company is growing not because they have a trendy set of buzzwords they use consistently, but because they solve a real problem that spans a significant number of prospect buyers, understand how to target and sell it at the price points they do, and manage their costs by taking advantage of efficiencies that technology enables and eliminating potential expenses by having discipline about the product management and development cycles.

At BSG Alliance, we’re focusing on our customers’ needs to increase efficiency and profits. Next Generation Enterprises are all about the bottom line: cost savings that come from increased collaboration, better systems that come from using agile methodologies, increased sales that come from a focus on the customer (rather than the competitor), and increased productivity that comes from engaging talent in unique, efficient ways. BSG Alliance is one of those Enterprise 2.0 startups that didn’t look for an Enterprise 2.0 market – instead, we saw that companies were struggling because of their inability to effectively manage talent, technology, and customer expectations in an wired world. Their lack of flexibility is their pain point, and becoming a Next Generation Enterprise is what solves it. Just like Echosign, we’re building our solutions to solve real business issues, and we’re continuing to be successful because of it.

First, I ran across a cool twitter tool that would be very helpful to people in recruiting or sales (not that recruiting ISN’T sales, mind you - it is).  It’s called tweetscan, and it allows you to search twitter’s public timeline for tweets that match your search string.  It doesn’t support Boolean searches (David Sterry, are you listening? - that would be a really, really useful feature!), but it does allow automatic search agents, which is wicked cool.  You can also add it as a search bar on your favorite (decent) web browser.  I’ve got it set to do daily searches for RoR, Java, and Recruiter.  I’m excited to see what tweetscan can do for me.

Second, my good recruiting buddy Paul DeBettignies wrote a post today about me!  All about ME!  To quote Sally Field: “You like me!  You really LIKE me!”   Okay - I know that’s a bit much, but Tom Steinthal mentioned me, too, so my head is bigger than a freaking watermelon!

Have a very happy New Year.  Stay safe!