Is there a place for a ‘web 2.0′ approach to recruitment?

A huge number of the blogs that I read are trying to tell me that YouTube is a great recruitment tool. I want to believe it, because I love YouTube, but I was sceptical of how well it was being used, particularly within the public sector. A quick search revealed some very dodgy videos of Chief Execs sitting in front of rubber plants spouting irrelevant nonsense that the average YouTuber (and the average job seeker) isn’t going to be the slightest bit interested in. I won’t name names, but go and have a look for yourself. It’s like the worst customer service training video you’ve ever been subjected to. Cringe!

Plenty of private sector organisations out there are doing it brilliantly (Google for one) – so why should there be a difference? Well, lack of money, obviously, and apparently creativity if the evidence is anything to go by. But they’re all avoidable pitfalls, I believe you could create a decent online presence for your public sector organisation with a bit of imagination and not much cash.

But even if you do get it right, what are you opening yourself up to? After much searching, I found what I thought was a great video. Engaging, interesting, modern, clearly not done totally on the cheap but they haven’t fallen into any of the other dangerous pitfalls, like using voiceover artists who don’t have the same regional accent as your employees (Leicester City Council, take heed). Have a look:

Brilliant! Not too cheesy, informative, professional, great video. Just the sort of thing I’d enjoy watching if I was looking for that sort of work. I was feeling really positive that it was possible for public sector organisations to use technology in a modern way. Then I looked down, and read what the great British (and international) public had seen fit to write about this video.

Not quite so positive. Downright offensive in fact.

So here’s what I want to know.

• In looking for a job, would you ever use independent social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to learn more about your prospective employer?
• Would you think more of an employer who had a presence in these areas?
• Do you think the kind of comments attached to the video above negatively impact on the organisation’s ‘employer brand’?
• What should the organisation concerned do in response to these negative comments – enter the debate, delete them, or just ignore them?

I’m looking for opinions folks – whatever you think is all welcome. And if you’d like to be really helpful, do me a favour and get your friends or colleagues to comment on this too.

Loving your work!

Oh, and just to be on the safe side, I’ll restate that the above represents my personal opinion, and in no way reflects the views of my employer. Who I haven’t named, but just in case.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been having network problems with my iMac, and, horror of horrors, have even reverted to my XP running laptop instead. No, I’m going to stop myself right here. It’s not that painful for me to switch back to Windows as I use it all day at work, and my reliable Dell Inspiron kicks in and connects more or less every time I switch it on. I’ve only had the blue screen of death once, and that was because Norton had decided to kill it, not Mr Gates’ wonder emporium. I had offended the omni-present satan of anti-virus software by daring to install a Nod32 product and merely ‘uninstalling’ Norton’s evil equivalent first. Silly me. Nod32 is a far superior product by the way – I think it’s technically called ESET Smart Security – and I urge anyone who’s still using Norton, McAfee and whatever other rubbish is out there to investigate more on their website. If you’re looking for a way to rid yourself of all things Norton – check out the Norton Removal Tool.

So, back to my Mac… I’ve been experiencing very crap reception to my wireless network (provided by a Netgear DG834GT wireless router), and just before the weekend, I started getting the dreaded message ‘There was an error connecting to the Airport network…’. It could see the network, and others, but it just wouldn’t connect. I’m a Mac beginner, and had no idea how to solve it. My laptop, my iPhone, and the other PC in the house were all connecting fine, a good job, because I used them to trawl the forums for answers.

Nothing.

Today, having bunked off work early to go and pick up my foreign currency for my rather exciting holiday next week, I had a couple of hours to spare and decided to solve it. I lugged the whole thing downstairs to right next to the router. It could see it, but it couldn’t connect. I figured it wasn’t a problem with the Airport card.

I restrict access to my wireless network by MAC address, so Just for a quick try I deleted the iMac’s MAC address from the approved list on the router, and then re-entered it. I don’t know why, but it worked. Full reception, no problems. Obviously now I’ve moved the whole set up back upstairs, the reception’s gone rubbish again, but at least I can check Facebook now.

I’ll worry about the rest of it later…

Let me back track…

In 2004 I had the pleasure of spending an extended time in Australia (have I mentioned that yet?!) during which time, because I was occasionally working, I had an Australian bank account (with ANZ), which came with a switch-like debit card facility. Very quickly I discovered that when making purchases I would be asked for my PIN, rather than asked to sign anything. This was initially confusing but I got over it. I managed not to get obsessive about who could see my PIN when I was typing it and also managed not to get my account hacked.

Fast forward a year or so, I’m back in the UK and my bank has just introduced chip and pin. This is on a bank account I’ve had since I was 12. That’s a long time. I’ve had the same PIN since then as well, and my bank has always (by way of annoying inserts in my bank statements) preached that this information is sacred. Previously, I’ve only shared this information between me and the hole in the wall I’m huddling against. Suddenly, this is a problem.

Now, I have slightly obsessive tendencies anyway. I don’t mind admitting that. I shred EVERYTHING that has my card number on it, even if several digits are blanked. I no longer use my debit card in one particular bookshop and stationery chain beause they once charged five payments of £7.95 to my card on the same day for no good reason. I got the money back, but it’s the principle. I still shop there, so on reflection I’m only inconveniencing myself with this not very dramatic stance, but that’s what principles are all about. So you get the picture.

Suddeny, I need to find ways of protecting my PIN from prying eyes without putting my hand over it like a seven year old who doesn’t want anyone to copy their spelling test (and yes, I did that too). That would clearly be very uncool and indicate to the person processing the transaction that I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them (they wouldn’t know of course that my year 7 discus record still stands, so potentially that could be quite a long way). It has long been my opinion that supermarket staff etc should avert their eyes elsewhere while the special bit is being done, and for the most part, people do that. But you can have too much of a good thing.

Mr Morrisons (that’s quite clearly not his name but it’ll do) takes this concept to extremes. I place my goods on the belt, he scans and I pack. He presses buttons and announces the total. Warily, I remove the card from my pocket, and hand it to him. He takes it (not forgetting his manners) and slots it into the machine, pressing one further button on the till. Then, while announcing ‘if you’d just like to enter your pin’ he rotates his whole body through a full 180 degrees, as if to demonstrate the extent to which he is not trying to see my PIN. Trying not to wet myself laughing at his theatrical tendencies, I enter it, press enter, cough slightly and say ‘OK’. Before he completes his pirouette and turns to face me.

What is that all about?! Obviously it’s preferable to him standing there gawping at me, but could he not just look out of the window? Or back into the store? After a few hours on the till he must be quite nauseous.

It’s no wonder you never see him on the cigarette counter any more, he’d never stand still…