The New Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution happened in large part because of boiling water. We harnessed steam and powered massive machines that changed the way we built things and went places. Its impact on society was so great that centuries later steam is a major player power generation.

Today we stand at the cusp of technology which is going to affect societal change on a scale beyond the steam engine. My kids incredulously asking "you had to get up to change how many channels?" will be replaced with their kids asking "you had to drive yourself?" and "you owned a car?" in the same tone of disbelief.

Today we have a power grid. Tomorrow we'll be generating individual household power. Today most of us buy all the channels. Tomorrow we'll ALL buy what we want. Today it takes three hours to get to St Louis. Tomorrow it will take under thirty minutes. Flying cars? Probably not - too dangerous & there are much more elegant solutions to solve those issues.

The big question is how is this all going to be delivered? Well, let's start with what doesn't work. 

"20th Century Industry" has a reputation for keeping the status quo. Once a company gets to the size of Wal-Mart there's a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality. They lean on their vendors & employees and squeeze every drop of profit out of their business line. Then some internet guy comes along and completely disrupts your business. Now what? 

Contrast that with 21st Century industry leaders, and I have to start with Steve Jobs & Bill Gates. (Yes, I realize they were 20th century guys, but both were ahead of their time.)

Apple & Microsoft have been around for thirty years now, but Steve Jobs used his vision to build great products that have changed the way consumers compute, communicate, and consume media. Gates did the same with a focus on business. Unfortunately both companies have stagnated since their founders have stepped away. 

Rather than continue to really innovate Apple is sitting on fat stacks of cash and releasing product that scores high on my "Meh" scale. Microsoft completely whiffed on mobile & was late to the cloud party to boot. Much like WalMart, Microsoft's bread and butter is a narrow lane (office systems & software) is begging to be disrupted. (G-Suite anyone?)

So how about Jeff Bezos? Now here's a guy who doesn't just want to build a great product or own the office. This is a guy that wants to change the world. 

Amazon isn't just a retailer anymore - Bezos sees Amazon as an economic machine. Maybe in the future we'll all be working for him. He'll pay us in "Bezos Bucks" and everything we buy will be dropped off inside the house by a drone within 30 minutes of our one-click order.

Elon Musk built the first all-electric, fairly autonomous production vehicle. He's like Preston Tucker with billions. Think that rattled anyone manufacturing automobiles?

He also happens to sell roof tiles that generate power. I would speculate that within the decade all new homes will have some kind of solar power generation system, and within the next twenty five years most existing homes will be retrofitted. Green is in baby.

While they're at it, Elon and Jeff both are in a space race. Sure, we put a man on the moon but these guys are looking to colonize the moon and beyond. And they're doing it cheaper and faster than any "capable" government entity.

Those of us in the technology business arget a front row seat to everything above and more, much of which we can't even fathom today. 

In my past life I loved to climb mountains. You'd start at the trailhead with a map and a goal of getting to the top. Today we stand at the trailhead of the New Industrial Revolution. We are still drawing the map, and we can't see the summit. 

We can only dream of the possibilities for generations to come. 

Changes in Quality

After seventeen plus years in the tech business I've learned that if you're not adapting to change you're going to be left behind. I can recall no other time in my time recruiting career where this is true then the shift from manual to automated testing.

The speed at which development leaders have moved quality control strategy was staggering. Demand for manual QA dropped to nearly zero while countless "Software Engineer Development in Test" (SDET) jobs are going unfilled.

The catalyst for this change is clear - manual testing was slowing the process down. As engineers are prone to do, someone in a development shop somewhere wrote a program to perform QA functions. Then someone else made that program better. Before you know it Selenium, Cucumber, JMeter, and a slew of other Quality / DevOps tools were born.

If you like be involved in the entire lifecycle, working with business and technical teams to automate processes that facilitate speed in software delivery there is plenty of opportunity in the marketplace.

If your career has largely revolved around manually testing software, take heart. The skills & passion you have translate to other roles within the development lifecycle such as Business Analysis, Project Management, Product Ownership, and Customer Support & Training.

Technology moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while you're going to miss it. -Ferris Bueller

Liar. Liar.

Pittsburg, KS High School principal Amy Robertson was fired after journalists at the student newspaper discovered her credentials were bogus. Their work was picked up by many major news outlets including Fox, CBS, NBC, LA Time, the Chicago Tribune. The list went on. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands (or possibly millions) of views in social media.

Needless to say, this was a major black eye to the district and a national embarrassment for Ms. Robertson. The district claimed that the competitive nature of hiring school administrators caused them to miss a few check-marks on the background.

No kidding.

As much as I’d love to say this is an isolated incident, it’s much more common than you may think. There’s plenty of other examples of public figures getting caught with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar.

Scott Thompson, then CEO of Yahoo!, claimed to hold a degree in Computer Science when in reality his degree was in Accounting forcing him to resign.

Marilee Jones worked at MIT for nearly twenty years, becoming their Dean of Admissions before resigning after being caught lying about her academic credentials.

George O’Leary was hired to coach Notre Dame football after falsely claiming to have a Masters Degree. He doubled-down by claiming to have played football despite never being on a college football roster. Notre Dame fired him.

Even celebrity chef Robert Irvine was fired from Food Network’s “Dinner Impossible” after it was discovered that his claim to have designed the wedding cake for Princess Diana & Prince Charles was false. He simply picked out the fruit used on the cake.

This tactic isn’t just for the rich & famous. Here’s just a sampling of what I’ve run across:

Bogus Credentials. Any employer worth their salt verifies credentials. I will find out that you were not honest about your degree. I will also verify any relevant certifications you claim to hold. You would be shocked at how many times I’ve caught someone red-handed misrepresenting their credentials. If you attended college but don’t have a degree “coursework toward a Bachelor of Science” is truthful, “Bachelor of Science” is lying.

Diploma Mills. The former High School principal claimed to have degrees from unaccredited schools. Many of these “schools” will issue a “degree” when your check clears the bank. If I have any questions about a college I just plug it into this site.

Mis-matched resumes. Years ago when paper ruled this was tough to catch. Today I have resumes from 15 years ago. Just this week I caught a person who did an assignment for us in another office send me a resume with different employers, different dates, with a degree from different schools. Turns out this person was released for cause after only a few months on the job.

Mis-matched people. There’s a disturbing tactic used by a handful of disreputable staffing & solutions agencies when it’s necessary to hire someone without meeting them first. Send a completely bogus resume, have someone that knows their stuff go through the interview process, and then send someone else to work. It’s becoming common enough that there’s a Twitter feed dedicated to outing people.

If you misrepresent your credentials eventually it’s going to catch up to you.

Marilee Jones initially applied for an entry level position at M.I.T. and rather than come clean, she continued the charade as she moved up the ladder. Her resignation letter read in part “I misrepresented my academic degrees when I first applied to M.I.T. 28 years ago and did not have the courage to correct my résumé when I applied for my current job or at any time since, I am deeply sorry for this and for disappointing so many in the M.I.T. community and beyond who supported me, believed in me, and who have given me extraordinary opportunities.”

I’m sure in hindsight she wishes she would have mustered the courage. She felt painted into a corner with no out. However, there is an out and it starts with courage. You have to muster the courage to come clean. With the right attitude and outlook lying about your background is not the end of the world.

Marilee spent nearly twenty years handling admissions at one of the most prestigious schools in the world. She knows a thing or two about what it takes to get a letter of acceptance and has parlayed that knowledge into a private consulting practice.

Despite not having a Masters Degree or experience as a player, it turns out George O’Leary is a pretty damn good football coach. He continued to coach in both the NFL and at the University of South Florida where he was head coach for over a decade.

Scott Thompson spent four years as the CEO of an online shopping company before leaving last fall to take the CEO chair of a company that provides a student loan management platform that allows employers to help employees pay off their student loans.

Robert Irvine was re-hired by Food Network to host Dinner: Impossible, launched a spin-off called Restaurant: Impossible and is a regular guest on their Iron Chef series. He has used his celebrity to launch the Robert Irvine Foundation which honors the men and women of the US Military. In the Spring of last year he was awarded the U.S. Department of the Army Outstanding Civilian Service Award.

We all make mistakes & do things we regret. Have the courage to come clean, make amends, and use your God-given abilities to do great things.Liar

NINJA'S NEEDED!! (cue eye roll)

Attention Employers! It's a buyers market. Over the course of the last 18-24 months software engineer Supply / Demand reports are showing approximately three open positions for every one qualified job seeker.

If I told you we were hiring JavaScript Ninjas would you think any less of me? Don't answer that. See, I'm not looking for "Rock Stars," "Warlocks" or a "Code Monkey" either.

Attracting top talent takes more than posting an extensive laundry list of required skills or using clever words and phrases to appear "hip."

What if I told you I simply need a solid client-side developer who can come up with elegant front-end solutions? You'll be given autonomy to make decisions, work with some reasonably talented and friendly human beings, and be treated & compensated fairly. Sound reasonable?

The methods recruiters (both corporate and agency) are using to engage with technical professionals need to change. Job descriptions should be descriptive of the job not a generic list of skills that you won't find combined in one person.

Here's what top talent wants to see in a job description:

• A decent picture of the day-to-day roles and responsibilities. They understand they'll be slinging code and running unit tests. They also understand there likely will be some production babysitting. They're looking for the FUN stuff like researching and deploying new technology along with being an integrated member of the solution development & delivery team. Coding existing technical requirements is part of every software engineer's job, but if that's all they're going to do reference "code monkey" and make sure your day-to-day picture looks like that. (Note: this will likely negatively impact the number of applicants.)
• What kind of people will they be working with on a regular basis? What's the team make-up? Who inside and outside the organization will be influencing and impacting their work on a daily basis? Is there a mentor? Is there someone there TO mentor?
• What the company offers in terms of culture, benefits, and opportunities for growth. Ultimately they want to know why it's a great place to work and what might set you apart from the other two employers who are competing for their services.
• How much money the employer expects to pay for the right person. They'd also like to know the non-monetary reasons to consider the job if the money is on the low side of the scale.
• Some core technical expectations without running down the litany of every piece of technology and third party vendor currently residing in your data center.

What top talent doesn't want to see is qualifications listing "a minimum of five years experience in XYZ" or a demand for "excellent organization, communication, and/or people skills."

They also don't want to see jobs that don't pay a fair market wage. A recent senior .NET developer posting in Kansas City touted "TOP PAY $" yet listed pay range is $25,000less than average compensation level and $35,000 less than what empirical data from a number of reliable sources indicates.

The data tells me the senior .NET developer you are so desperately trying to attract to your team is currently making anywhere from $90k - $120k annually. An advertised $65 - $85k range represents a significant cut in pay which will only attract unqualified applicants or no applicants at all.

PS: I didn't run the numbers on a ninja, but I'm certain that will be higher.

Software professionals are smart buyers so talent acquisition professionals need to be savvy marketers.

PPS: I seriously am hiring a couple solid client-side developers to build elegant front-end solutions who will be given autonomy to make decisions, work with some reasonably talented and friendly human beings, and be treated & compensated fairly.

How to Spot a Phony on LinkedIn

Hackers are a busy bunch. I'm sure you've received a Facebook invitation from someone you're already friends with, or from a complete stranger. Usually these are hackers with ill intent. It should come as no surprise hackers have targeted LinkedIn as well.

Here's how to spot a fake.

Start by doing a Google search on the profile picture by right clicking and selecting "Search Google for Image." Hackers often use the same stock photos on multiple phony profiles. Generally you should only get a handful of hits on the image - any more than three or four is a flag to do some further investigation. (This works for Facebook & other social outlets as well.)

Other things to consider:

• How many connections does this person have? Once someone determines a profile is a fake they're not going to want to connect.
• How complete is the profile? There are a LOT of "shell" profiles on LinkedIn and while many are legitimate people who signed up and simply aren't active users others are fakes. Either way, why connect to someone that isn't involved in the community? The whole idea is to build a relationship and collaborate. 
• Quality of content. Many hackers are not native English speakers so when they do take time to build out a more robust profile you're likely to find bad grammar, misspellings, and poorly written copy.
• What does the invitation to connect say? Many legitimate people don't change the default "I'd like you to join my network on LinkedIn" message, and I'm sure there's some hackers who have figured out how to customize their message.

LinkedIn is a wonderful networking tool. I know I've helped people I've never met in person, and they have helped me. Just because you don't know someone now doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get to know them. Don't be afraid to accept invitations, just be a little more aware when a new invitation hits your inbox.

If you'd like more pointers on spotting a fake, check out this article which proved exceptionally helpful in composing this post.

Online Consumer Review Sites

Everyone has an opinion. With so many voices wanting to be heard in today's hyper-connected and information saturated world, it's no mystery why online review sites have become so popular. 

Google's review platform allows you to share your opinion on any product or service in a Google search result. Interested in researching a company? Glassdoor, Yahoo, and others offer options. Traveling or looking for a new place to have a nice meal? Check out Yelp or TripAdvisor. You can even check out reviews for a gallon of milk on Amazon. 

If you clicked on the link to the milk reviews you saw the humor of some online reviewers. However, reviews don't have to be absurd to be viewed with skepticism. There certainly are pro's and con's to using online reviews as a source of information.

The Pro's:

Accessibility to Information. Before Al Gore invented the internet there were a handful of print publication that provided this type of information Today that has all changed. Before we step foot in a business we have an opportunity to form an opinion based on "word-of-mouth" ("word of internet?") information.

Positive Reviews drive business. Yes, I check out Yelp before I try someplace new. The places that"delight their customers" have been rewarded with new customers. However, there's another edge to this sword - if the reviews are consistently 4+ stars I also go in with high expectations. 

The Business can improve and/or make amends. A negative review gives a company a chance to learn from mistakes and provides an opportunity to reach out to an unsatisfied customer to rectify a situation. 

Global Impact. If you're unfamiliar with a city you plan to visit or live in this information can impact many decisions you need to make. Online review sites expose businesses to an audience beyond their immediate neighborhood.

The Cons's:

Michael Scott (Dunder Mifflen Regional Manager) once said "Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information." Review sites are no different than the rest of the intrawebs - everything must be read with a critical eye. Just because it's written doesn't make it real.

Focusing on the Negative. You know the old adage "if you like something you'll tell one person, if you don't like it you'll tell ten." As authors review sites give us a forum to vent our frustrations. As readers we like "the dirt." Expect negative reviews - you can't please everyone.

Dated Reviews. Our world moves at a fast pace so reviews have a fairly short shelf life. The positive or negative experience from two or three years ago very well may be a completely different story today.

Anonymity. If you so choose, you can remain anonymous on every review site. In some cases (such as Glassdoor) nearly every review is anonymous. If you have an ax to grind there are no consequences for providing  misleading or false information.

If you post nothing but negative reviews your credibility as a reviewer is in question. Make sure you're singing the praises of the organizations that get it right as much (if not more) than the ones that get it wrong. 

Conclusion

As a consumer be discerning about available information. Reviews often are born from a strong opinion or experience so the number of reviews should be considered. Look for trends in the reviews. Is the majority singing their praises or complaining? 

Above all, formulate your own opinions and check things out with an open mind. Make decisions based on your experience, not on opinions and experiences of people you'll never meet.

Scrummerfall....

...is now one of my favorite made up words. This interesting mash-up of Scrum and Waterfall was used in a conversation yesterday and it made me smile. It also got me thinking about how many conversations I've had with people about Agile, Scrum and the stories I hear about how these SDLC strategies are being used (and mis-used.)

If an organization is going to 'buy in' to SCRUM there are two fairly critical Agile principles they need to follow:

• "Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done"
• "Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project."

Sounds good, right? Give business a daily voice in development and give the technical team the resources they need to do the job.

So why can we relate to Scrummerfall?

Let's start with Agile. Like it's predecessor Waterfall, Agile is a general label. It's a foundation that has generated different ideas and styles along with new tools and technologies for delivering software.

Scrum, TDD / BDD / FDD, paired programming and other development strategies fall under the Agile "brand."  Tools such as JIRA & TFS, Selenium & Cucumber, Docker, & CruiseControl are just a handful of the hundreds of platforms available to deliver in an iterative and continuous fashion.

By definition, if they serve the underlying purpose of delivering software efficiently, you can mix and match these strategies. When you boil it all down Agile is simply finding a way for business and technology to work together to find a better way to put usable software to production. 

Scrum & Kanban have been mashed up into Scrumban so why not mash up Scrum and Waterfall? Some would argue DSDM could be branded Scrummerfall.

After all, Agile is not without it's foibles. Fifteen years after the manifesto was written organizations still struggle to implement an Agile strategy that works for everyone. This is especially true in large, established organizations where there are many impediments to large scale Agile adaptation.

Who knows, maybe in the next few years we'll see Scrummerfall (or a variant) pop up on the drop down in TFS. And that's the beauty of Agile.

What is a Recruiter?

Not all recruiters are just recruiters. Human Resources generalists are recruiters. Hiring managers are recruiters. CEO's are recruiters. If you've ever suggested someone apply for a job you are a recruiter.

Usually when the word "recruiter" is used the perception falls into one of two camps - the corporate recruiter (HR) and the agency recruiter (headhunter.) These roles can be very similar, but the job seeker "customer experience" can be very different. 

Corporate recruiters are almost universally attached to the Human Resources department. Along with the legal department part of  HR's responsibility is to protect the interests of the company so they follow set procedures. The corporate recruiter role is more all-encompassing, so training and experience is more diverse. 

Unfortunately, talent acquisition tasks are often overshadowed by tasks related to existing employees such as benefits, training, compensation, retention, employment law, and employee issues. If you'd like to read about challenges faced by someone who is not 100% dedicated to recruiting impacting experience with the process I posted "Should Human Resources be Recruiting?"

Even though they may not be dedicated to the recruiting process, they are on the "inside" which can be an advantage. If you're hitting a wall with a corporate recruiter understand their situation and continue to persist, just don't become a pest.

Agency recruiters are usually "compartmentalized" to a specific discipline - technology, medical, light industrial, finance & accounting, or clerical / administration are the major agency categories. Agencies are sales organizations so recruiter training and experience is much different and focused purely on talent acquisition.

Because they usually have a more sales-oriented mindset they can be a great resource tailoring your resume & cover and preparing you for an interview. They are not recruiting for one company which will give you more market coverage. If a job doesn't work out they can help you find another. Just because they're not on the "inside" doesn't mean an agency recruiter isn't your best angle to a corporate job. Sometimes internal hiring processes are "broken" at a company so the agency recruiter will be in a better position to get the decision maker's ear.

Remember that an agency recruiter is looking to fill jobs, and they may feel you are not their best candidate to accomplish that task. A good recruiter will be honest with you about their client relationship and the competition you face within the agency. If they have a candidate they feel is better suited for the job don't be offended - chances are pretty good at some point that will be you.

About Us

RiverPoint is the only IT Staffing Agency in Kansas City that offers a full time consulting employment model that includes a competitive compensation and benefits plan including paid bench time between client engagements.

Our client list includes industry leaders in the digital marketing space, insurance, retail, financial, and many other business verticals.  Several of our clients have been recognized as "Best Place to Work" by a number of different organizations because they view employee engagement and satisfaction as much more than bullet points on a mission statement. 

The technology market is hot right now, so if you'd like to consider options for 2016 give us a call.

Recruiters.....

2016 marks my sixteenth year in recruiting which means I’ve spent approximately 40,000 hours of my life helping thousands of people explore new career opportunities, and have placed hundreds of them in new careers. Malcolm Gladwell writes about the “10,000 Hour Rule” in his book Outliers. The rule states that if you spend 10,000 hours doing something correctly you’re going to build what Gladwell calls “world class expertise” in that field.

While I don’t claim to have “world class expertise,” I think my years in recruiting have taught me a thing or two about the business.

One of the things that I’ve learned is not all recruiters are equal. Some are exceptional professionals who know how to cultivate relationships and leverage connections to the benefit of all. Others care more about hitting metrics than they do about the candidate. Believe it or not, some of them will lie to your face to get what they’re after.

Good recruiters are a valuable asset in a job search & can be worth their weight in gold. Bad recruiters can put you into a bad situation. Be discerning.

Another thing I’ve learned is not all candidates are equal. Many are exceptional professionals who make my job fun and make me look great to my clients. A few don’t appreciate the value a good recruiter brings to the table and can be demanding, unreasonable, and downright nasty. Believe it or not, some of them will lie to my face to get what they’re after.

I’ve interviewed thousands of job seekers – you can bet I’m discerning.

You want relationships with a recruiters in your field. You don’t need to be BFF’s with everyone, but you do need a few who you can consider “trusted advisers.” Someone you can turn to when your company merges with another and your position is eliminated. Someone that can help you get out of a jam when they make the jerk two cubes down your boss.

I would not be shocked if you’ve had a bad experience with a recruiter. If you’ve had enough exposure to recruiters I’d be shocked if you haven’t had a bad experience. Don’t let that bad apple spoil the bunch. There’s lots of great recruiters out there – make sure you have a few to lean on in bad times.

What Language Should I Learn?

As a technical recruiter I often am asked about what language is in demand among employers in the marketplace. The answer to this straight-forward question is complex and worth discussion.

The short answer is "lots of them." The long answer starts with an understanding of trends in technology and how business is "consuming' technical services. To do that, I'll unpack the question beyond "what language" into a handful of categories that hit both core knowledge and trends in today's technology landscape.

Application Development

If you plan on developing applications you need to know an object oriented language. Software is not built in a vacuum so you need to understand design patterns, composition, inheritance, and delegation principles, polymorphism, class and object development and so much more. Some Computer Science programs still teach C++, but at this point C++ has more academic than enterprise value. Java & C# are the most prevalent "low level" OO languages in the marketplace today. I say "today" because Python, Swift, PHP, Objective-C, and even JavaScript support OO design & development principles.

Bottom line? Learn object oriented design & development principles and it will be easier to explore different languages and platforms

Mobile First Development

Earlier this year the number of "mobile only" internet users surpassed the number of "desktop only" users. We are not connecting to the internet via a desktop / laptop anymore. We've had smart phones and tablets for nearly a decade now, but mobile is reaching well beyond our phones. Watches, televisions, and a whole host of other "internet enabled" devices (including our homes, cars, and appliances) are hitting the market at an astounding rate.

Developers MUST learn mobile first development strategies and the core HTML5 / CSS3 /JavaScript tools that make this possible. Today angular.js, node.js, Bootstrap, LESS, SASS, and a host of other technologies are in the marketplace.

If you're familiar with the Gartner Hype Cycle you know there's a never-ending cycle to supplement (if not outright replace) these tools. Keep an eye on what Google, Amazon, Twitter, and other technology leaders are doing in this space.

Bottom Line? You need to know how to develop applications using a mobile first strategy, and you need to stay on top of the technology & tools that enable mobile first development.

Service Oriented Development

Why re-invent the wheel over and over? Service Oriented Architecture allows developers to take advantage of systems and data that is already in place. Developers need to be versed in web services and service oriented architecture within the ecosystem of an individual company.

In addition, developers need to follow IaaS and PaaS trends (ahh, the "cloud.") Amazon has a complete development platform where processing power and storage can be turned on and off with the flip of a switch. Microsoft has Azure, Google has their cloud. More and more enterprises will be moving to these platforms as processing power becomes cheaper and human capital to run the infrastructure and platforms becomes more expensive.

Bottom Line? Traditional means of developing and delivering software are changing dramatically & software developers need to be on top of it.

Data Development

Data is the lifeblood of business. Decisions are based on "the numbers." The technical team is expected to store & retrieve, manipulate & move, scrub & clean, slice & dice, and present data to the user via desktop apps, browser, Excel & Access, phone/tablet, and coming soon to a refrigerator (you know some mucky-muck C level guy is going to look at that screen and wonder how they can get the day's sales forecast delivered to the Viking double door.)

Traditional RDBMS platforms (SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc...) aren't going anywhere - it's especially important for everyone developing software to understand basic relational data structure. However, today's technology has opened a floodgate of tools business has embraced to leverage their data. There's a plethora of EDW / Business Intelligence tools (OBIEE, MSBI, Informatica, SAPBI, etc...) and the currently very hot "BIG DATA" / NoSQL movements (Mongo, Hadoop, Gemstone, HBase, etc...) What language should you learn? SQL. What else do you need to know? Depends on where you want to specialize. It would take a lifetime to become an expert in all areas of data development. Find something you enjoy and specialize.

Two bottom lines here.

One: Software developers need to know how to get at the data they need which means they need to know how to write SQL triggers & packages, complex queries, and maybe even some stored procedures.

Two: If you're going to eat, sleep, and breathe in the data you need to focus your attention on a piece of the puzzle - when your employer has petabytes of data you can't do it all.

Simple question. Complex answer, so complex one post can't cover it all (ERP for example.)

Bottom Line? Languages are important to understand, but understanding trends in technology is how you will move your career forward.

Tolstoy never wrote a resume

I received a 10 page resume today. While not unprecedented, it is unusual. I get 6+ page resumes at least once a week, but pushing into the double-digits is something that happens only once or twice every three months. The worst offender in my 15 year recruiting career was a 26 page resume complete with a Table of Contents.

I have to review dozens of resumes a day. Without getting into the finer points of how to get my attention, I will tell you a 10 page resume gets enough attention to deserve a Top Ten Resume tips post.

One: A resume is designed to spark interest and studies have shown you have six seconds. Get the reader's attention with information relevant to the job at the very top of your resume. Short and impactful statements to earn you more than six seconds.

Two: A resume is not going to get you a job so you don't regurgitate every experience you've had since you were in junior high school. Targeted, relevant information for the reader is all you need.

Three: Hotlink to your LinkedIn Profile which is more powerful than your resume and gives you more "creative license" to tell your story. 

Four: If you're a fresh college grad your resume will have a different "voice" than if you have 20 years of experience.

Five: Most resumes are a recitation of tasks. I'm more interested in what you can do for us.

Six: Ditch the objective. They all sound like "Desire to use (talent / skills / background) to (add value / advance at / benefit) my next employer."

Seven: If you can't say what you need to say in 2 pages or less I'm out.

Eight: Ditch the business speak and use some of your creative writing ability. Read every sentence aloud - if it sounds off in the natural course of speech re-visit how you're expressing your thought on paper.

Nine: Spell check doesn't catch they're / their / there type grammar issues. Proof read it, have someone else proof read it, then proof read it again.

Ten: Challenge yourself to get a job without using a traditional resume. There's no rule that says you must have a Word document at the ready or there is no job for you.

Send a well thought-out and written one to two page resume targeted to the specific job and employer and you'll be amazed at the results.

KCDC, Hack the Midwest, and other event rantings.....

When I say "rantings" I really mean "ravings." I said rantings to get you to click (and it apparently worked.) There's no rant here - quite the opposite - our tech community is booming!

I was encouraged by the response of the development community at last month's KCDC. I don't know the final tally, but it seemed there were at least a thousand people who attended. I'm excited to see so many people engaged in the local dev scene outside their employers.

If you're not already aware, KCITP's "Hack the Midwest" starts a week from this coming Saturday. It's your chance to drink a gallon's worth of soda, coffee, or energy drink and stay up all night to take a great idea and turn it into a great product. Who knows - you might even make a lot of money or change your life.

This year I've been on a mission to bring new faces to the KC Java User Group. We have a fantastic series starting this week on the OGSI / Felix / Jackrabbit CMS stack presented by Bryan Stopp at VML. I suspect the series will run over the next 3-4 months. We'd love to have you join us for one (or all) of these great presentations!

For those of you who aren't into Java, there's plenty of opportunity to plug into the tech community outside of your cube. I keep an up-to-date listing of goings-on around the KC metro at the RiverPoint LinkedIn Group. Ruby, .NET, Mobile, SharePoint, Data, DevOps... you name it there's probably a group for it. Sure, you could go to MeetUp, EventBrite, and other places on the intrawebs to figure out what's happening, but why would you do that when I've put it all in ONE place for you? 

By the way, if you are the organizer of one of these groups and is looking for a partner to help you build a bigger audience let me know. We're always willing to sponsor, but this goes well beyond bringing pizzas and a dog and pony show. With our constant outreach to the developer community I can help you find people to present as well as new people to impact. 

If you don't have a MeetUp we'll pick up the tab. If you do have a MeetUp we'll pick up the tab next year. If you don't want to use MeetUp we'll help with whatever format you'd like to use to promote your group. Need a place to hold your meeting? We'll help find one. Want to start a new group? I want to help. The KC Java mission goes beyond KC Java - I want to help our community connect so we can learn and grow with one another.

Thanks for reading the raves - have a great week!

Move to KC if you want to be happy. I'm Serious.

Kansas City ranked Number Two on Glassdoor's 25 Best Cities for Jobs.

Cities ranking LOWER than KC on the list:

Austin (4th)
Seattle (5th)
San Jose (7th)
San Francisco (12th)
Los Angeles (No where to be found, this shocks no one in KC)

"A key takeaway for job seekers is that a bigger city doesn’t always mean better when it comes to finding a job, being satisfied in that job and affording a mortgage."

We're gunning for you Raleigh!

You Should Move to Kansas City

I grew up in West Des Moines, Iowa, but I've lived all over the place. I've hung my hat in places from Denver to LA and Seattle. Fun fact: the summer between my junior and senior year in high school I spent time out in timber country in central Oregon at an old hippie commune owned by Lenny Lipton. You've never heard of him but he wrote a poem about a Magic Dragon and Land of Honalee which Peter, Paul, and Mary immortalized in song.

I've traveled all over the country visiting nearly every major city from coast to coast - New York, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Phoenix, Memphis, New Orleans, Miami... the list goes on. I've tasted the food, seen the sights, enjoyed the culture and history, and experienced much of what this great land has to offer. 

Living in and visiting all these places has given me a great appreciation as to why so many people are choosing to leave the interstate parking lots, crowded trains, and sky high cost of living to settle here in KC.

If you don't know much about Kansas City let me start by talking tech. We sit on top of several major carrier telecom backbones giving us a long history of being a tech hub. Western Bell (now AT&T) and our hometown telecom Sprint drove much of the early technical innovation. 

When the telecom backbone started carrying data instead of voice, that innovation shifted. Innovative technical hometown firms like Garmin, DST, and Cerner took advantage of what our community had to offer and have thrived. 

By 2011 the Wall Street Journal recognized Kansas City as a tech "hot spot" and that recognition certainly has not cooled down. We were the first city selected for Google Fiber. (You really should try a 1G up/down pipe - its like driving a Ferrari). We're also at the forefront of the "Internet of Everything" and spent $15 million dollars to stay there. 

Cerner just broke ground on a new campus and plans on hiring 16,000 people to fill the space. SIXTEEN THOUSAND jobs are on the horizon - most of them technical in nature.

I'm telling you - Kansas City loves technology. We have one of the largest local IT communities in the country (13,000 members and growing). We even have a group dedicated to convincing you this is the place to be if you're in tech.

We've had our fair share of famous residents. Rob Riggle is from KC. So are Paul Rudd and Jason Sudakis. Harry Truman grew up here. Satchel Paige pitched here. Charlie "Bird" Parker lived, played, and is buried here. 

One famous KC native you may not have heard of is Marian Kauffman, but you may recognize Marian Merrill Dow. Kauffman not only brought Major League Baseball to KC, he left a legacy and spirit of entrepreneurship that develops leaders and launches many new businesses each year, many of them in the tech space. 

We're also the hometown of mutual fund giants American Century & Waddell & Reed, Hallmark, Applebee's, H&R Block, and YRC Freight to name a few. Our history in pharma collided with our history in mutual funds when American Century Founder Jim Stowers opened one of the largest Bio-Med Research Institutes in the country.

Our vibrant marketplace has caused an issue being felt across the country - demand for talented technical people far outweighs supply. 

We want you to know about us and apparently you're listening - many people are coming from California, Florida, New York, Chicago, and from all corners of the globe to live and work our beautiful city. 

The New York Times is taking notice.

The Huff Post thinks you should live here. 

Even the Yelpers like us.

We have a rich cultural heritage with amazing food, music, and museums. 

Our schools are some of the best in the nation. 

You can own a 2500 square foot house for less than an efficiency in Palo Alto. With a yard and everything.

You can root for the American League Champions.

You can be anywhere in Kansas City within 30 minutes. If you live in the core you can take the new streetcar to work. If not call Uber - we have them too.

We may not have Google or Amazon, but that doesn't mean we don't have opportunities at a vibrant career in technology at a world-class shop. Who knows - the next Amazon might be down in Start-Up Village today. 

You should move here. You have no idea what you're missing.

Handling a Loss

Hall of Fame coach Rick Patino and his very good Louisville squad ended another chapter of UNI basketball yesterday. It’s always disappointing to lose, but looking back there’s a lot of positives to the past season and some great things to look forward to in coming seasons.

·         They won 30 games (THIRTY!) gaining them the highest NCAA tournament seed in school history.

·         They split the season with arch-rival (and new KU nemesis) Wichita State and finished just one game behind the Shockers in the regular season.

·         They won the Valley tournament on a 20+ point come from behind victory over a very tough Illinois State team.

·         They won another NCAA tournament game – convincingly.

·         Senior Seth Tuttle earned a spot on the All American team, the first Panther in history to be selected.

·         Matt Bohanan, Jeremy Morgan, and Wes Washpun will anchor a new starting five that will include several strong forwards to replace Seniors Tuttle & Buss.

·         There’s six years left on Coach Jake’s contract.

You just walked out of your interview and nailed it. The job is right up your alley. You answered all their questions effortlessly and had some great questions of your own. They were exhibiting all the “buying signs.” The job is yours – all you’re doing is waiting for the call. Two days later you find out you’re the bridesmaid.

It’s always disappointing to lose, but rather than focus on the loss focus on the positives.

·         You beat out a lot of qualified candidates to get to the final stage – obviously you know how to stand out in the marketplace and demonstrate value to an employer.

·         You have a new contact that knows you well inside a company that will have other jobs. Take advantage of that situation.

·         You have more experience to draw from in your next interview.

·         You have 3 other appointments and a list of 8 people to call this week.

·         There are 4 networking events before the end of the month that sound interesting.

·         There is another interview with feedback still pending.

If those last 3 bullets ring a little hollow be a little more engaged with the community. Look to your right and find a networking event, a workshop, and a job club to visit this week. Join one of the webinars listed.

Unlike the NCAA Tournament, your job search is not a “one and done” situation. Look toward the future and build on the success of getting the interview, regardless of the outcome.

Should Human Resources be Recruiting?

No doubt you've heard about "The War for Talent." The economy is rebounding and organizations are scrambling to find people to help keep up with a growing business. Some of you reading this may be wondering why these organizations aren't fighting to find you. My answer is simple: they are, they just have broken mechanisms to find you.

In most organizations the responsibility for finding people falls on Human Resources. This is the department that is in charge of ensuring that the company is compliant with federal, state, county, and municipal law; researching, negotiating, and administering increasingly complex benefit programs; developing programs to maximize return on employee investment; making sure employees are properly trained, that leaders are following prescribed procedures for managing & promoting people on their teams, that existing employees are happy, and that no one is being sexually harassed or discriminated against. They make sure the workplace is safe and (while they're at it) they're charged with attracting, screening, vetting, and on-boarding new talent (seeing as how they have so much spare time).

Job seekers generally give HR a bad rap. Some of this reputation is earned - when I see job descriptions that include requirements such as "While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear" it makes me question their understanding of how to attract talent. I'm fairly certain silly requirements like that come from legal, but just as bad is "must have excellent communication skills" which I'm pretty sure was included in a description 20 years ago and the HR team has never bothered to take it out.

The big reason they have a bad rap isn't their fault. People educated and/or trained in Human Resources have a LOT on their plate. Take a look at the required courses for a Masters Degree in HR Management at one of the top schools in the area for HR (Ottawa). One class in recruiting. ONE. It's not a priority. They have too many other pieces of the organizational puzzle to manage to be effective at talent acquisition. 

HR professionals are simply too busy to dedicate 100% of their time to recruiting. Frankly, I'd be shocked if they have 20% of their time available to recruit. They aren't effective recruiters because they simply aren't given the time necessary.

Here's the rub - to say recruiting is a full time job is an understatement. 

Recruiting is the only job I've had where I could work 24x7 and not run out of things to accomplish. Organizations that are effective at talent acquisition usually have two strategies. The most effective is a great referral program. Happy employees make great recruiters. They other strategy is having dedicated Talent Acquisition teams. These may or may not be people trained & educated in Human Resources, but their time is 100% dedicated to recruiting. Without one (or both) of those programs I have to question how much priority the company puts on hiring great people.

If it was up to me, recruiting would be a separate department under sales and marketing. They're already out there promoting the company brand, they know how to get the audience's attention and get them to act. Good customers like your company and trust you enough to earn their business. 

I'm sure some of them would like to be on your team.

Resume Missing Something?

People agonize over resumes – writing, editing, re-writing, proofreading, and starting all over again yet it seems like once or twice a month I get a resume that falls short in the critical information department. When I saw critical information I’m not talking about great content, or compelling copy – I mean CRITICAL INFORMATION.

This may or may not come as a surprise, but the most common critical information missing is a way to contact the person.  I’ve had applicants send me a great resume and I have no way of connecting to them. I’ve received resumes with a phone number where the voice mail isn’t set up. I’ve had emails kicked back. Folks, if it’s on your resume make sure you know we’re trying to connect with you!

Another piece of missing information is dates of employment. I’ve seen resumes that don’t include any date information. I can’t work with no date information – if there’s no date information at all I move on to other resumes. However, there is another common piece of date information missing: months of employment. Most of us want to see the start and end month of your employment (for me going back 5 years is fine) because 2013 – 2014 can mean you worked there a month, or two years. I immediately thing “hiding a gap” when I don’t see months listed on recent employment.

Another common piece of critical information is missing names. I get a LOT of resumes with just the first name – very commonly from people who are originally from India. Not sure why this is so common, but I have 1,000 Kumar’s in my database and adding another one doesn’t do anyone any good. I also see resumes with just the initial of the person. I’ve even seen a resume where the person used a pseudonym. Don’t send me a resume without your first and last name because it’s not going to get read.

Finally, I have seen resumes with absolutely no employment information whatsoever. I see the role and responsibilities but they neglected to list WHERE they worked. I can understand if you’re posting the resume to a public board putting “Confidential” if you don’t want your current employer to stumble across your resume, but it’s ALWAYS a red flag when I see that listed on a submitted resume. If a candidate isn’t willing to disclose where they work I can’t help them.

Missing information always makes me ask myself “What else are they hiding?”

I want your full name, a way to contact you, where you’ve worked, and the dates of employment. If my initial six second scan doesn’t hit those points I’ll find someone who does.