New Feature: Kathleen’s Reading Summary

Reading is fundamental and we are all bombarded with email newsletters, RSS feeds and the ever present forwarded email from a colleague or, worse, a supervisor. Yet, if we don’t look at new sources of information from time to time, I believe we will not learn anything new and may get stuck within our same mindset. With this in mind, I launch today: Kathleen’s Reading Summary – ta da! Well I was hoping for something catchier and you would expect something more from a marketing guru than this, but I didn’t want to delay the list while waiting for a spark of inspiration.

What is the Reading Summary? It is not a reading assignment, but just the opposite. I pour through about 50 articles a day on just workforce management, recruiting, job search, leadership and human resources, in addition to the other topics that I read on cybersecurity, security clearances, intelligence, defense, government contracting and a few food articles just to spice things up. Each week, I will bring you a list of some of the top articles I believe are worth reading, or at least a good skim.

My perspective on life in general is that you have to look at both sides of the coin: how do you market a product without knowing what the customer is like? How do you be a human resource manager if you don’t know what it is like to be the employee on the other side of a policy? Or better yet, how do you be a better job seeker by knowing what it is like to be a recruiter? With this in mind, the articles will range from both sides of the aisle, so to speak; recruiter, job seeker, employee, HR Manager and leadership.

The big news in the recruiting world this past week was the release from Bullhorn Reach on which social networks recruiters use to find candidates. Bullhorn Reach is an application software and Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) company. Their customers use their software to post jobs on social media sites. Their research showed that LinkedIn is used by most often by recruiters followed by Twitter. TechCrunch did a nice drill down on the research.

The title of this article of course caught my eye being a foodie, “How to Lead Like A Top Chef” and the article does deliver some good insight from Jose Andres, who is a very genuine and passionate leader.

Before the candidate can get in the door, there has to be good team work between the recruiters and the hiring managers, but too many times it is a rather combative relationship. Donna Vespe provides some good tips on streamlining the process on The Seamless Workforce blog.

There have been many articles written about email addresses for job search, but here it is again from a recruiters viewpoint. What Does Your Email Address Say About You

And, who better than the co-founder of LinkedIn to tell you how to network and find a job. Job Search Tips from Reid Hoffman.

Finally, with all the hubbub about Pinterest it is now being looked for job search. I can see it being used for a creative job, but I am not sure about the government community. Can you see USAJOBS.gov as a Pinterest Board?
Happy reading!