Going a bit off piste today but prompted by a great supplier and friend of the business not getting a job she quite clearly merited. Also this comes from a perspective as a father of 3 girls (and 1 boy) who i want to have dazzling careers as prime minister, rock star and curer of cancer (that's just the eldest one).
Here are the subtle reasons why business/career progression is sexist and in this diatribe i will ignore sexist twats or organisations (these will always exist so just avoid if at all possible) -
1. Women actually have the babies - I told you it was subtle. In my mildly successful corporate career, i bumped along with a couple of promotions and reached Deputy/Assistant to Head of Regional Sales (or similar middle mgmt plateau) I worked in a business that was pretty much 50/50 women and men. and my competition for progression and bosses were a lot of bright talented women. Guess what - my competition/bosses started disappearing to have babies, spending a year out, coming back part time. Suddenly within a year i got 2 step ups and my dream job (a bad dream i soon learnt). So when you are around 30ish in media - an averagely talented man can progress at a faster rate than a super talented mother.
Solution to this....i have no idea. I do know that life for a career oriented woman who wants to be a great parent is infinitely more conflicted and imperfect than for most dads.
2. Attitude to hands on Dads and hands on Mums. I have the great fortune to run my own business and this gives me a certain freedom so i have always picked up my eldest from school at least 1 day a week, and try to attend as many guitar concerts/nativity/cheerleading shows etc as possible. (ooh... aren't i great!). So i have left plenty of meetings early and stated i have to pick up my girls. The reaction to that tends to be overwhelmingly positive and unstated thoughts that its good to see a father being so hands on, how very modern (yes much of this may be just in my head). But my female friends tell me when they have to do similar exits, blow outs of meetings due to child sickness etc that there is a similar unstated thought process from bosses/clients. That thought process is "she does not take her career seriously enough" "she is not disappearing off again, is she..." "can't have someone who is not 100% committed for the big job".
Solution to this....i have no idea. Maybe another 1000 years of evolution
3. Seeing into the future. Probably the biggest handicap is the interviewer or boss or organisation looking ahead and anticipating all the factors above and not even giving people the chance. Now we know that is immoral/illegal but you can bet your arse it happens. Looking at 30 year newly married woman and thinking "well this is bound to happen..." instead "i will give the job to the 30 year old bloke who reminds me a bit of me"
Solution - another 1000 years
So - all problems - no solutions...reminds me of the meeting i had last week.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Friday, 1 March 2013
Service, Platforms and Enemies
Updates Updates
- Spring is in the air or is it "Winter is Coming". Without wishing to rehash various twitter debates i have had recently, i take the view that things are moving and getter better economically. A business like ours is not a bad bellwether for business - we deal with huge corps across multi sectors (Tesco, Cisco, Pizza Express, Anglian Home Improvements, Odgers/Berwick Partners etc) and they all are more active (with us anyway). So business will be booming from here....probably.....maybe.
- Expanding head count and recruiting someone for account manager. Its quite tough as at this level i know what good feels like but i dont what good looks like on a CV. The good news is the team have now removed me from process (but it's still my decision, right?)
- I headed this blog up service and platforms. As my view is that OME used to be a digital rec ad agency now we are a recruitment ad agency and that work can be social, mobile, telepathy or whatever's next. It will always be about understanding the market, media, clients and industry and how to practically apply to maximum effect. And then retain a fantastic service ethic. So if i were being a bit of an arse i would say we were platform neutral, media neutral and client centric (i feel a bit sick). More plain speaking way of saying this is that we guide our clients through the complex fast changing world of candidate attraction and engagement (no, still feel a bit sick)
- By popular demand - we re-introduced the OME Enemies book this year. Within its pages lurk our sworn enemies who we will exact blood curdling vengeance on. As i leaf through it - it appears to have only 4 names in it - the major crimes being rudeness on phone, and never coming back on time (maybe the vengeance should not be quite so blood curdling)
And finally 4 weeks to go - to get OME site live by end of Q1........
its not going to happen is it.
- Spring is in the air or is it "Winter is Coming". Without wishing to rehash various twitter debates i have had recently, i take the view that things are moving and getter better economically. A business like ours is not a bad bellwether for business - we deal with huge corps across multi sectors (Tesco, Cisco, Pizza Express, Anglian Home Improvements, Odgers/Berwick Partners etc) and they all are more active (with us anyway). So business will be booming from here....probably.....maybe.
- Expanding head count and recruiting someone for account manager. Its quite tough as at this level i know what good feels like but i dont what good looks like on a CV. The good news is the team have now removed me from process (but it's still my decision, right?)
- I headed this blog up service and platforms. As my view is that OME used to be a digital rec ad agency now we are a recruitment ad agency and that work can be social, mobile, telepathy or whatever's next. It will always be about understanding the market, media, clients and industry and how to practically apply to maximum effect. And then retain a fantastic service ethic. So if i were being a bit of an arse i would say we were platform neutral, media neutral and client centric (i feel a bit sick). More plain speaking way of saying this is that we guide our clients through the complex fast changing world of candidate attraction and engagement (no, still feel a bit sick)
- By popular demand - we re-introduced the OME Enemies book this year. Within its pages lurk our sworn enemies who we will exact blood curdling vengeance on. As i leaf through it - it appears to have only 4 names in it - the major crimes being rudeness on phone, and never coming back on time (maybe the vengeance should not be quite so blood curdling)
And finally 4 weeks to go - to get OME site live by end of Q1........
its not going to happen is it.
Monday, 28 January 2013
Woo hoo....OME getting a new website
like the cobbler's children's shoes - an ad agency website can be a poor version of the work done for clients and though our site did a perfectly serviceable job for last 2/3 years - it definitely needs destroying a refresh.
So thought i would take this opportunity to outline my thoughts as we are just in the first stages of developing it. My main issue is the following
What is the point of the brochure type website (which this is)? It can only be for potential new customers or bored suppliers/partners. Traffic figures are really low compared to social media - I will quote personal figures below but i can assure you that the truth applies across the board.
I posted something on here in December, i tweeted it, it was shared etc. This resulted in 200 visits that day. This is more than the corporate site that month.
Our LinkedIn networking group has over 200 members and is pretty darn social (for LinkedIn) and meets up every quarter. This works harder and more effectively for us than any site out there.
So what role does a corporate site serve?
Q. What do i visit these types of sites for?
A. to get the phone number or maybe read a bio.
So already we have part of our brief sorted - make contact details easy to get. And give some personal info out that won't maybe sit on LinkedIn/Twitter etc.
Testimonials - like endorsements on LinkedIn these are not really taken seriously are they? At same time - i think it is of interest the companies who you do work for. So lets think about how we can attractively present this info.
What it must contain.
It has to reflect OME's approach. Concise, no bullshit advice, guiding clients through digital minefield but not pushing the latest fad. As well as the ubiquitous - great service, motivated happy staff etc. So another challenge - how to get this across without boring the ass off everyone.
So this is going to be quite difficult - but the only limits we have imposed are
1. Max 6 pages
2. Call to actions aplenty
3. Provide links to social media presence
3. Minimal text
4. Clever use of video (testimonials/case studies here?)
5. OME personality/history/ambition to come across in above.
Piece of cake - yes?
So thought i would take this opportunity to outline my thoughts as we are just in the first stages of developing it. My main issue is the following
What is the point of the brochure type website (which this is)? It can only be for potential new customers or bored suppliers/partners. Traffic figures are really low compared to social media - I will quote personal figures below but i can assure you that the truth applies across the board.
I posted something on here in December, i tweeted it, it was shared etc. This resulted in 200 visits that day. This is more than the corporate site that month.
Our LinkedIn networking group has over 200 members and is pretty darn social (for LinkedIn) and meets up every quarter. This works harder and more effectively for us than any site out there.
So what role does a corporate site serve?
Q. What do i visit these types of sites for?
A. to get the phone number or maybe read a bio.
So already we have part of our brief sorted - make contact details easy to get. And give some personal info out that won't maybe sit on LinkedIn/Twitter etc.
Testimonials - like endorsements on LinkedIn these are not really taken seriously are they? At same time - i think it is of interest the companies who you do work for. So lets think about how we can attractively present this info.
What it must contain.
It has to reflect OME's approach. Concise, no bullshit advice, guiding clients through digital minefield but not pushing the latest fad. As well as the ubiquitous - great service, motivated happy staff etc. So another challenge - how to get this across without boring the ass off everyone.
So this is going to be quite difficult - but the only limits we have imposed are
1. Max 6 pages
2. Call to actions aplenty
3. Provide links to social media presence
3. Minimal text
4. Clever use of video (testimonials/case studies here?)
5. OME personality/history/ambition to come across in above.
Piece of cake - yes?
Friday, 21 December 2012
What I learnt in 2012 - Part 2
1. There is brilliant work going on out there...but it's not the sort of work that gets recognised by awards. To
transform your recruitment to a direct sourcing model saving millions
get technology to support your activities in a seamless user friendly way,
up the quality of the people you attract with the same budget
So I will take this opportunity raise my hat to what i shall call STUFF THAT WORKS.
2. a lesson we learnt very, very, very slowly was that concentrate on what you do well as a biz and outsource the rest (which is pretty much what we advise our clients). Finance, technical and some IT have gone into hands of excellent suppliers and the business strips leaner, fitter and more profitable because of it. and Sean (OME co-founder has regained his sanity and enjoyment of life)
3. OME is not a business that needs to obsess about things are clients will maybe use in 2 years (Pinterest, Instagram or similar) we are a business that cuts through the crap and advises on what can be effective for clients over next 12 months. we must NOT disappear up our own backsides with what people CAN do - its what they SHOULD do.
and finally
4. my expenses from last 6 months will not get done again this month....January maybe?????
transform your recruitment to a direct sourcing model saving millions
get technology to support your activities in a seamless user friendly way,
up the quality of the people you attract with the same budget
So I will take this opportunity raise my hat to what i shall call STUFF THAT WORKS.
2. a lesson we learnt very, very, very slowly was that concentrate on what you do well as a biz and outsource the rest (which is pretty much what we advise our clients). Finance, technical and some IT have gone into hands of excellent suppliers and the business strips leaner, fitter and more profitable because of it. and Sean (OME co-founder has regained his sanity and enjoyment of life)
3. OME is not a business that needs to obsess about things are clients will maybe use in 2 years (Pinterest, Instagram or similar) we are a business that cuts through the crap and advises on what can be effective for clients over next 12 months. we must NOT disappear up our own backsides with what people CAN do - its what they SHOULD do.
and finally
4. my expenses from last 6 months will not get done again this month....January maybe?????
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
What I Learnt in 2012 - Part 1
OK - no end of year predictions (2013 - year of the mobile anyone....) but these are things i learnt this year...
1. OnlineMediaExperts is a very old, clunky name for our business - its OME now. Now if i did not fear that i may disappear up my own backside - we would probably re-brand ourselves to much better cover the full service nature of our business but i fear that most (all?) clients don't care - they just want great service from people they trust. (but the new website is on its way in Q1!)
2. Good things do come from adversity. In 2011 - we lost our first major client, It caused us (after i sulked) to re-assess what we did, concentrate more on structured biz dev and maybe...maybe...just maybe try a tiny bit harder. This has meant a great year for client acquisition and existing client growth which was made even better when the old client asked if they could come back in May.
3. There is a lag between stuff that we talk about and stuff clients want to invest in. We have known it since day 1 - but we will talk about PPC, SEO, social, mobile for ages before it becomes a profit centre for this business and an effective ROI channel for our customers. PPC became properly profitable for us in about 2009-10 and this year social became a non loss-making part of our business (i still hesitate to call it profitable given man hours that go in at this end).
And this "lag" will always be the case i think.
4. This industry is and will be for foreseeable constantly in flux and that's why we love it. It must have been so dull when attraction channels were so fixed for 20 years. We all know that job boards are under pressure from aggregators, LinkedIn etc (see previous post for why i think they will be fine), we all know that FB in some way shape or form will grow stronger as a recruitment channel, we all know that mobile comms are vital for recruiters to engage with users. But, and i think this is brilliant, none of us can say with any real certainty what it will look like in 2014 let alone beyond. We can have our expert opinions but you know what they say about opinions
Part 2 to follow next week
1. OnlineMediaExperts is a very old, clunky name for our business - its OME now. Now if i did not fear that i may disappear up my own backside - we would probably re-brand ourselves to much better cover the full service nature of our business but i fear that most (all?) clients don't care - they just want great service from people they trust. (but the new website is on its way in Q1!)
2. Good things do come from adversity. In 2011 - we lost our first major client, It caused us (after i sulked) to re-assess what we did, concentrate more on structured biz dev and maybe...maybe...just maybe try a tiny bit harder. This has meant a great year for client acquisition and existing client growth which was made even better when the old client asked if they could come back in May.
3. There is a lag between stuff that we talk about and stuff clients want to invest in. We have known it since day 1 - but we will talk about PPC, SEO, social, mobile for ages before it becomes a profit centre for this business and an effective ROI channel for our customers. PPC became properly profitable for us in about 2009-10 and this year social became a non loss-making part of our business (i still hesitate to call it profitable given man hours that go in at this end).
And this "lag" will always be the case i think.
4. This industry is and will be for foreseeable constantly in flux and that's why we love it. It must have been so dull when attraction channels were so fixed for 20 years. We all know that job boards are under pressure from aggregators, LinkedIn etc (see previous post for why i think they will be fine), we all know that FB in some way shape or form will grow stronger as a recruitment channel, we all know that mobile comms are vital for recruiters to engage with users. But, and i think this is brilliant, none of us can say with any real certainty what it will look like in 2014 let alone beyond. We can have our expert opinions but you know what they say about opinions
Part 2 to follow next week
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
The Times They Are A Changin'
Been reading some really interesting posts such as Reconverse and others on social vs job boards and launch of Facebook job board (clue its not really a job board)etc and it seems as ever in this industry we are at another big turning point..
Let's declare our credentials first - OME are about (or one of) the biggest buyers of digital recruitment media in UK so i think though we will always be ahead of most of the industry - our stats will be a good indicator as to what's going on "out there".
1. We have been advising/consulting on LinkedIn strategy for 4-5 years but we used to spend a negligible (i am talking under £10K) amount of our clients' cash with them. In 2012 - LinkedIn became our biggest single supplier. Why? well firstly they charge (or charge more) for everything now and secondly it works as a recruitment tool and is increasingly important as a branding / engagement / platform / communication (delete as appropriate).
2. At same time - our spend with the major job board media has grown but this is more about our client acquisition i think than any increased demand from the recruiters. The growth here is less than social, less than PPC as would seem logical given job boards are a pretty mature market now.
3. This spend is under pressure - due to the economy being "delicate" - if we are doing more PPC or want to pilot some small activity in mobile - it has to come from existing budgets.
4. Facebook PPC almost scares me - it is so cheap and has worked really well - largely with our retail and catering/hospitality clients.
So all the chatter - all the cool conversations are about everything else other than boards/postings/CV DBs/HTML emails - does this mean a meltdown or the same thing happening as happened to press. I will reiterate my view which is absolutely not - why?
Press was destroyed as it was so inefficient - it took the recruiter and candidate days/weeks to run an ad and apply respectively. A great job posting (well written, attractively displayed) on the right board (relevant, right audience, good search functionality) works brilliantly. And the candidate can search and apply in 30 seconds from desk, bus, sofa. So there is not a problem that needs to be fixed.
So i think these channels will co-exist (but not happily in terms of commercial pressure and client spend)
* i have been wrong as many times as right - so its just an opinion rather than a prediction!
Let's declare our credentials first - OME are about (or one of) the biggest buyers of digital recruitment media in UK so i think though we will always be ahead of most of the industry - our stats will be a good indicator as to what's going on "out there".
1. We have been advising/consulting on LinkedIn strategy for 4-5 years but we used to spend a negligible (i am talking under £10K) amount of our clients' cash with them. In 2012 - LinkedIn became our biggest single supplier. Why? well firstly they charge (or charge more) for everything now and secondly it works as a recruitment tool and is increasingly important as a branding / engagement / platform / communication (delete as appropriate).
2. At same time - our spend with the major job board media has grown but this is more about our client acquisition i think than any increased demand from the recruiters. The growth here is less than social, less than PPC as would seem logical given job boards are a pretty mature market now.
3. This spend is under pressure - due to the economy being "delicate" - if we are doing more PPC or want to pilot some small activity in mobile - it has to come from existing budgets.
4. Facebook PPC almost scares me - it is so cheap and has worked really well - largely with our retail and catering/hospitality clients.
So all the chatter - all the cool conversations are about everything else other than boards/postings/CV DBs/HTML emails - does this mean a meltdown or the same thing happening as happened to press. I will reiterate my view which is absolutely not - why?
Press was destroyed as it was so inefficient - it took the recruiter and candidate days/weeks to run an ad and apply respectively. A great job posting (well written, attractively displayed) on the right board (relevant, right audience, good search functionality) works brilliantly. And the candidate can search and apply in 30 seconds from desk, bus, sofa. So there is not a problem that needs to be fixed.
So i think these channels will co-exist (but not happily in terms of commercial pressure and client spend)
* i have been wrong as many times as right - so its just an opinion rather than a prediction!
Friday, 19 October 2012
Happy Thoughts
OK - so here goes and with the stuff below this - i could easily be making a fool of myself. But ultimately - i think just possibly - just maybe - that things economically are getting better.
I have two thought patterns as to why this could be the case
1. Stuff We Know
2. Stuff I Feel
* for those followers of my financial advice (currently a group consisting of zero members) it is important to note that investments can go down as well as up and that in fact overall on balance they are much more likely to go down.
I have two thought patterns as to why this could be the case
1. Stuff We Know
- House prices up
- Unemployment down
- Euro crisis possibly worst could be over
- Tad more confidence out there
- New Client and Campaign requests significantly up at OME towers
2. Stuff I Feel
- It just seems more positive out there - can i define that? nope
- We have bumped along at this level for ages - markets always bounce back - don't they?
- Recruitment is an early indicator - and again there are bumps and nods that the beast is beginning to re-awaken
- I just want the above to be true - so wishful thinking maybe playing a part
* for those followers of my financial advice (currently a group consisting of zero members) it is important to note that investments can go down as well as up and that in fact overall on balance they are much more likely to go down.
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