Email Isn’t Dying. It’s Not Doing So Hot, Either

Email is the bane of many existences. Overflowing inboxes, spam and just plain more information than we can possibly process comes at us at the speed of light.  It’s all too much to process for many of us, so we’re clinging to reports that email is going the way of the dinosaur.

Concepts like “email bankruptcy” and “inbox zero”, along with reports that people under 25 increasingly use Facebook instead of email for most of their message give many people the idea that the entire conept is dying a slow, painful death. Don’t believe the hype.

According to Ed Brill, IBM’s Director of Social Collaboration, email isn’t dying,  exactly. It’s just undergoing a metamorhosis. Given that the medium has only been around for 20 years or so, I asked him what it’s morphing into:

Why do so many people think email is dying?
For many people, it’s actually just wishful thinking. Inboxes can overflow with unread messages without proper email etiquette or use of mail management functions. With the emergence of social business tools, the thought “email is dying!” has certainly been hyped up in the media. But, while email is no longer the center of the collaborative universe, we still need email to perform the “activity management” function, and less of a “cc the world, the next world over, and the entire universe” communication function.

Why will it be around and how will it have to adapt/change?
At IBM, we see it as reinventing the inbox. Making the inbox more social. Email is evolving in two ways because we now have many other social business tools. One is that it is a notification service that brings together all of our relevant information and activities. Two is that emails sent to us now are truly actionable — every message in that inbox is relevant to the individual. That’s what email was originally conceived for, and what it is becoming again.

How will our work email and personal communication blend and how will we keep it separate (or will we?)
We’re seeing an explosion in the number of mobile devices, including tablets and phones, causing work and personal communication to blend. The burgeoning mobile workforce is expected to reach more than 1.19 billion by 2013, nearly 1 trillion Internet-connected devices will be in the market by 2012. For sure, in the future, the line between work and personal will dissolve, as it has already in several forms of social media, and our approach to email will evolve to ensure focus and attention on the right content.


Why won’t we abuse whatever new uses we find for it and screw it up like we have so far?
Well, the nice thing is that the inbox is being reinvented to encompass more social capabilities — so it’s keeping up with the times. Another thing about email is that it is a resilient store-and-forward tool. A decade ago, the biggest concerns in email were privacy and policy; before that, disk space; before that, whether it was a time-waster. The fundamental one-to-one/many asynchronous nature of email has not changed in a generation, and the fact that we continue to find new uses for it demonstrates the resilience of email system architecture and design.

So don’t go thinking you can just empty out that inbox quite yet. Still, leaders should work with their team to establish rules, norms and a process for communicating that helps you tame the email beast while it undergoes its latest change.

Required - Unix/Linux Engineer

This is with our direct client

Contract to Hire

Location:        NJ - Clinton, GA - Alpharetta

Duration:        6-12 months

Hours:             8:00am to 5:00pm

Job Summary:

The System Architecture and Engineering Unix/Linux Engineer provides technical and engineering support to the A&E organization and SD operations partners in a timely, collaborative and effective manner. The Unix/Linux Engineer role is for an experienced Engineer with highly technical competence and proven customer handling skills. Candidate will be working closely with NYL CI enterprise technology Unix/Linux Hardware and operating systems Platform standards; related Unix Platform technology product vendors and CI Service Delivery operations group for problem resolution, project planning, 3rd level engineering support and collaborative solution recommendations. Engineer will be working in a team environment contributing technical expertise to the design, build, testing delivery, installation and commission of larger complex systems. Candidate will also review hardware and workload capacity recommendations, establish operating system security standards, roadmaps as well as Unix virtualization best practices and patterns.

The candidate should have proven experience in excellent technical troubleshooting skills, customer communications skills, setting customer expectations, handling internal stakeholder in the service chain and situations pertaining to Unix platform related products and technologies. An enterprise level systems engineer position with a focus on Solaris, Linux, AIX, UNIX and virtualization technologies from an installation, configuration, administration, and security perspective. The individual in this position is knowledgeable in all aspects of designing and supporting a UNIX infrastructure. A solid understanding of clustered environments; understands principles of application resource management within clustered environments. A solid understanding of Solaris Zones and contains, LDOMs/LPARs, ZEN/XEN and hyper-visor would be preferred. Additionally the candidate should have a solid foundation on performance benchmarking best practices as well.

Education:

Bachelor Degree in Systems Engineering

Skill/Role                                            Level              Years  Preference

Security Standards/Procedures          Intermediate   5.0       Required

HP Proliant Servers                            Expert             5.0       Required

UNIX                                                  Expert             7.0       Required

Financial Analysis                              Intermediate   5.0       Required

System Design                                    Expert             7.0       Required

Technology Delivery                          Intermediate   5.0       Required

Engineer                                             Expert             7.0       Required

Sun Hardware                                     Expert             5.0       Required

AIX (UNIX)                                        Intermediate   4.0       Required

UNIX Shell Scripting                         Expert             5.0       Required

Linux                                                  Expert             3.0       Required

Surya
HCR Group, Inc.
38 West 32nd Street, Suite #1208
New York, NY 10001
302-766-7564
surya@hcrgroup.net
www.hcrgroup.net 

Req: Database administrator / VBA programmer

This is with our direct client. Already we closed one position. Client is looking for to fill one more. So sure we can expect an immediate action. 

Duration:         12 month(s)+

Location:         Tarrytown, NY or New York City

Hours:             9:00am to 6:00pm

Description/Comment: Database administrator / VBA programmer – Maintain and develop SQL server database used for application testing. Maintain and develop MS Access front end. Will be involved in test process automation feeding data from SQL Server to spreadsheets, and reading results back into the database in batch. Fast-paced environment.

Requirements: Experience developing/maintaining a SQL server database, strong VBA programming skills, detail-oriented, analytical, result-oriented; experience in the financial industry a plus.

Skill/Role                                            Level                           Years

Analytical                                            Intermediate                2.0

Detail Oriented                                   Intermediate                2.0

Database                                             Intermediate                2.0

VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) Intermediate               2.0

SQL Server                                         Intermediate                2.0

Programmer                                         Intermediate                2.0

Surya 
HCR Group, Inc.
38 West 32nd Street, Suite #1208
New York, NY 10001
302-766-7564
surya@hcrgroup.net 

www.hcrgroup.net  

How to Translate Business Speak (Hint: “Maybe” Means “No Way”)

I’ve been struck recently by just how nuanced our business language has become. In grim times - like the ones we’re living through - nobody really wants to face up to the actual horrors, never mind potential horrors, of events around us. So we find ways of talking about our woes without actually, well, talking about them.

So for those who still fondly imagine that what they hear is what they get, here is a translation guide:

“I have an issue with him”
Translation: Issues means problems. “I have an issue with him”‘ means “I really can’t stand this employee and think termination is the only solution, but I don’t have the authority required.”

“We have a problem”
Translation: Problems are disasters, as in “Houston, we have a problem.”  Understatement is supposed to convey cool in a crisis, but it doesn’t really work any more because everyone’s trying so hard to understate everything that no one believes any of it.

“Status Update”
Translation: Uh, oh. This meeting is normally held for senior managers, behind closed doors. It is the first meeting at which you will learn that the company has been bought/is merging with a rival/is moving to North Dakota/is being down sized or shut down. No, you can’t do this one from home on the speakerphone.

“Yes”
Translation: This really means “maybe.” Why? Because management today is so profoundly risk averse that no one person has the power to approve anything. So if someone says yes, don’t break out the champagne yet. At the very least, you need the yes-person to stay in their job long enough to come through for you.

“Maybe”
Translation: This really means “no way.” Since anyone you deal with is, or feels, on the brink of termination or resignation, they know better than to annoy anyone. They want to keep as many people on their Facebook pages and LinkedIn networks as they can. That means that they never want to be caught absolutely turning anything down.

“No”
Translation: This really means “get out of town!” If anybody feels confident enough to say ‘no’ to your face, it is because your idea is such a stinker that even imminent downsizing can’t disguise the fact.

“Let’s Be Honest”
Translation: This means let’s not be honest; instead, let’s forget the gloom and imagine everything in the garden is rosy. After all - if we can’t cheer each other up, we’ll never hang in long enough to change the future.

There is a lot to be said for euphemisms.

Why You Aren’t Happy, and How to Make Things Better

Perhaps it’s no surprise to you that survey after survey finds many people are dissatisfied with their jobs. A Conference Board survey last year reported that only 49% were satisfied with their jobs, the lowest level in 22 years since they began their survey.

But let’s think about that 49%: what made this group satisfied? How do people attain contentment at work?

As we noted in a previous post, we’ve undertaken a survey to find the answer to this question. The way we’ve tackled it is by asking people what gives them short-term gratification (happiness) and long-term benefits (meaning)–at work, and at home. Our respondents–some 3000 of them– are highly educated professionals, with 60% having graduate degrees. (You can look at our survey here.)

We are still analyzing the data, but among our preliminary findings:

Compartmentalizing doesn’t work. People who are dissatisfied with their work also tend to be unhappy at home, and vice versa. There is a very high correlation between people’s happiness and meaning at work and at home.

The company you keep matters. Spending time with people we love, both at work and at home, is highly correlated with overall satisfaction.

What gives people fun and meaning is highly variable. There is nothing inherently satisfying in an activity. Some people see gardening as a sacrifice that brings them some long-term benefit; others think it is light fun–but essentially meaningless.  So if you’re dissatisfied with your job, the reasons have as much to do with you as they do with the actual responsibilities.

You can’t achieve overall life satisfaction by being a sacrificing workhorse, or by being “fun loving.” Just being engaged in stimulating activities doesn’t make people satisfied.  Likewise, sacrificing to achieve meaning also doesn’t make people content. Those who were satisfied felt both short-term gratification and deep meaning from their work and home lives.

Nobody can define happiness for you. Every company has a plaque on a wall, which eloquently expresses the corporate values. This finding is based on the ground-breaking research by Jim Kouzes. It simply doesn’t matter if individual employees believe in the company’s corporate values. What matters is if their work in the company reflects their own values. You must feel you are living your own values.

But what about all those people who toil long hours? Doesn’t overwork lead to unhappiness? No, we didn’t find the hours spent working correlated to happiness or meaning, or lack thereof. Nor did we find more hours spent outside of work in “fun” activities produced higher levels of satisfaction.

In other words, if you want to discover how to be more satisfied with work and home life, look nowhere else than within. You are the key to your own happiness and meaning, no one else.

Are you happy at work? What do you think is the reason for your happiness–or unhappiness?

Leave us your comments and send your suggestions at recruiterbook@yahoo.com

The Cold-Call Hater’s Guide to Better Business Leads

I hate cold-call prospecting almost as much as I hate networking.

Seriously, I have always thought that there has to be a better way to get business leads than ambushing people. And I have found a few. The most valuable strategy is to be in the right community with the right expertise to attract decision-makers. So, the big insight here is “Be a widely recognized expert and people will seek you out.” Duh! That’s like Steve Martin’s old joke on how to become a millionaire — “First, start with a million dollars!”

So, what do you do to get connected to people and put yourself in the position of an expert? Remember my advice on networking for schmooze-haters last week? Maybe you’re not the best networker or sales person, but you are a great problem-solver. Lean on that strength as a way to grow your prospect base.

Try these 3 simple steps:

STEP #1: Find people with problems and help solve them. The beauty of the Internet is that it’s where more and more people turn when they need to find a solution. They have a dilemma, and so they blog about it, they fire off a tweet, or they pose questions about it to their online communities. One of the easiest — and perhaps most underrated — ways to plug into communities specific to your industry is LinkedIn. LinkedIn Groups connect people who want to solve problems and share resources. Join the ones that are relevant to your business.

The key is to become a frequent and useful contributor to a group’s discussions. A few guidelines:

• Remember, it’s not about you. Focus on being valuable, authentic, and focused on helping — not selling.
• Don’t argue. If someone has posted a response with which you disagree, frame your response as a “different way to look at this.” Internet fights are entertaining, but do not advance your cause.
• Be a resource as well as a solver. It’s great when your answer includes links to other resources besides just you and your company. It provides credibility and expands the value to other people who are following the posts beyond just the initial author.

STEP #2: Don’t just respond to discussions; initiate them. Posting up your own questions, alternatives, and market observations gives you the opportunity to interact and create great connections. Let the community discuss, and then provide your own perspective/solution. Again, follow the guidelines above. One thing you do not want is to develop a reputation as a prospecting pig. At best, you’ll get a lot of incendiary emails and responses, and at worst you’ll get thrown out of the group.

STEP #3: Be a resource clearinghouse. If you become known as the person in the group who has a resource for everything — links, articles, white-papers, vendors and so on — you will generate a lot of inquires and prospecting opportunities. I have seen this work for a number of people and it is great for those people who do not necessarily feel that they are either great writers or credentialed experts. That’s OK — if you are a person who can connect people and resources. You are a different kind of expert and still highly valued.

Last week’s networking post got a tremendous response, with all kinds of people posting their own resources and recommendations. That’s how it works. Some of the people posting were making a case for different approaches. Some have their own books and groups that they want to attract people to. Some responders were just grateful. That’s how a community group is supposed to work. I don’t have all of the answers, and last week some great authors and readers filled in extra details for which I am grateful.

So, readers, I am looking forward to the same kinds of responses this week. There are lots of us who want to know better ways to prospect besides just cold calling and email blasting. Post up your favorites here — who knows, one of the readers may just be a great prospect for you.

Leave us your comments and send your suggestions at recruiterbook@yahoo.com

OMG!!! Txt Speak Is the Future of Biz Email :)

Have multiple exclamation points, smiley faces and text-speak abbreviations like “gr8″ and “2mro” been increasingly creeping into your email inbox at work? Are you annoyed by this influx of excessive punctuation and silly abbreviations? If so, at least one HR pro thinks you should stop being stodgy and get over it, arguing text speak is an elegant solution to our modern, fast-paced communication style and the way of the future.

Speaking to Entry-Level Rebel, Kathy Kane, SVP of talent management at HR firm Adecco, weighed in on the increased prevalence of “text language” in professional emails. And surprisingly, she’s not too bothered by young people’s increasing unwillingness to write in standard English or the way their writing style is seeping into the emails of older business people. She says:

This is a generation that grew up texting and IMing, so they created their own language to make that more efficient and that facilitated them communicating more significant messages in fewer characters. I think it’s taken hold even in the corporate world because it is a quicker way to get a message across. The language has a brilliance to it because we’re all trying to do things so fast today.

Because email has replaced so much verbal communication, there needs to be a way to communicate the meaning and emotion behind a message. Sometimes in a short email, the wrong kind of feeling behind the message is conveyed, so I like the use of emoticons as a way of letting someone know how you feel, for example, when you’re giving direction to someone but also want to allay their fears.

But watch out veteran texters, Kane isn’t giving text speak enthusiasts free rein to skip learning basic grammar or go wild with their punctuation — at least not at first. She warns that too many emoticons or exclamation points too early in a business relationship can have negative consequences:

It can tend to seem more juvenile or peg someone as less experienced. If a younger person is communicating with someone who is at a much higher level in the organization or someone that they don’t know very well, they probably have to be pretty careful about their use of text language or emoticons.

I advise younger people to take the opportunity now and then to show that they actually do have good communication skills, so if you’re sending an email to your boss, put together good, complete, well thought out sentences that show you have these skills. When you’ve established that, you’re much more free to send shorter messages containing shorthand language.

For those of you hoping for a backlash against abbreviated email language, Kane points to the increasing number of CEOs, celebrities and high-profile journalists on Twitter, straining to get their message out in only 140 characters. With this sort of training in concision and grammatical corner cutting, Kane sees a bright future for text speak in the corporate world.

What’s your opinion of text language — brilliant and creative or completely aggravating?


Leave us your comments and send your suggestions at recruiterbook@yahoo.com