• The Sky is Falling!

  The talent shortage is real and getting worse. Luckily, Steve Jobs has the solution.

  Over the last few months, I've spoken with recruiting leaders at dozens of Fortune 500 companies, getting their reaction to some of the hiring challenges we all face. It seems that everyone agrees the talent shortage is for real and getting worse, but most recruiting leaders are reluctant to implement the bold actions needed to address the problem.

  In this article, I want to make the case that we have a problem, get your viewpoint, and then offer the vision of Steve Jobs, Darwin, the underpinnings of the American Industrial Revolution, and obviously Geoffrey Moore, Jimmy Buffett, and Thomas Friedman. These are our guides on how to implement the appropriate corrective actions. (Lou Adler)

   
• The Rise of the Enterprise Mashups

  I have been spending a lot of time over the past month thinking about the potential impact of mashups, gadgets, widgets, add-ons, or whatever you want to call them, on the enterprise.  Just this past week, Yahoo announced Yahoo Pipes, Microsoft launched Connected Services Sandbox, and just yesterday I saw the first preview of Teqlo's approach (Mark Crofton has a good write-up here). The pace of mashups and the varying approaches to creating mashups continues to accelerate.

  So what is a mashup or widget and what is the difference between the two?  The best description was recently provided by Phil Wainewright (who, by the way, rights one of the best SaaS blogs out there).  Essentially, mashups combine public domain web information with SOA-based components utilizing open APIs in most cases. ProgrammableWeb suggests there are currently over 1,500 mashups today (although nearly half of those are map-based mashups). (Jason Corsello)
   

• "HR Transformation": A Well-Worn and Oversold Buzzword or Actually Starting To Become a Reality?

  We've had that phrase "transformation" done to death for years now, and suppliers have repeatedly been accused of packaging HR services under a "transformation" wrapper that was really....well... a lot of that lift-n'-shift stuff that didn't really come up to snuff.

  However, recent HRO deals are beginning to show signs of proving this stereotype wrong.  Many of the recent deals have major HR transformation components built in that actually negate any really significant cost-savings, and the driver behind HRO is clearly one of driving shock into a company, effecting quick change, and offering companies the chance to actually do things differently. (Phil Ferscht)
   

• Job Search Affiliate Programs

  You can generate RSS job searches through a single TagJag OPML pull: http://tagjag.com/jobs/keyword/opml (obviously, you'd want to replace the word 'keyword' with your own search term. I think I've uncovered just about every job search site that outputs RSS for search queries (if I'm missing any, please let me know). I only bring this up after being approached by at least four companies in the past month to start doing co-branded job search portals. While I'm sure this works well for some, it's never really worked well for me in the past.

  Even though I've just set job listings at $5 for 60 days through Simply Hired's Jobamatic, I'm really not expecting a single bite. Why? Oh, maybe because I've set up job affiliate sites before and (despite sending good traffic) have wound up making far less than it costs me to buy a cup of Peet's coffee.  (Chris Pirillo) (Tip of the hat..Specht)
   

• 10 Free Ideas to Develop Your People
    Free of charge but incredible value!Feel free to add to the list or post on your site so that we can create a master document.
  1. Listening - Really listening. People love to be listened to, the upside is you understand their issues and motivation 100% better.
  2. Google Reader - Set up a list of development blogs or brain fitness for your team to read.
  3. Google News - Set up a news alert about your industry, your company, your local area to keep them abreast of development.

  (Engaging Brand)  
   

• Myths of Employee Engagement: Part 1

  I found on the Watson Wyatt site a WorkUSA research paper that WW looks to have sponsored.  In the "WorkUSAź 2006/2007: Debunking the Myths of Employee Engagement, Executive Summary," WorkUSA attempts to identify some myths and ascertain what actions might be most important in driving engagement.  (I should note that I didn't purchase the full article)

  WorkUSAź 2006/2007 research suggests that employee engagement has a strong impact on an organization's bottom line. Unfortunately, a number of myths, misconceptions and false assumptions are leading employers down the wrong path when it comes to building employee engagement. As a result, many are investing time and money in ways that will do little to increase engagement levels.  ¹

  (Dub Dubs)
   

• FilmLoop Betrayed By Investors?

  When I added FilmLoop to the TechCrunch DeadPool last month based on rumors of mass layoffs, it was clear there was more to the story. The thirty person company had raised $11.5 million in capital and by any calculation should have still had at least $3 - $5 million left in the bank. They were trailing Slide, RockYou and Photobucket in their market, but had just launched a completely new platform that was getting good reviews. FilmLoop wasn't dominating the market, but they were not on the ropes, either.

  More of the story has leaked, from multiple sources close to the company. Here's a rough timeline of what appears to have happened: (TechCrunch)
   

• Microsoft Hires Michael Gartenberg as New Evangelist

  The Vista marketing challenge saw an interesting new development today with the announcement that Microsoft has hired Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg as Enthusiast Evangelist.  Gartenberg says in a blog post on his move that he will "find, engage and work with enthusiasts and other influencers and show them all the cool stuff that Microsoft is doing. In short, it's our [department's] job to act as the bridge between Microsoft and end users."

  The experiment with Robert Scoble as Microsoft's blogging point man must have worked well, as the company has now hired two very high profile commentators to carry out functions similar to what Scoble did.  Bringing Jon Udell over from InfoWorld in December was the first of two notable coups. (TechCrunch)
   

John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.
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