To promote the upcoming season of Mad Men, AMC launched this fun interactive piece that allows you to interview with the firm and answer specific questions. Give it a try. What position do you end up qualifying for? Is it what you expected? 

Last week I attended the 2010 Uplinq Mobile conference in San Diego, and I found myself sitting in a very large auditorium packed to standing room only with app developers, mobile marketers and wireless providers. You felt the energy and ubiquity of wireless communication, and how far and fast people are adapting to new behaviors. The room was buzzing with mobile devices as oppose to clacking keyboards on laptops. People tweeting, posting, FourSquaring, and emailing content. Content such as news, sound bites, check-ins, images and video. Within the conference there seemed to be several key themes that you could hear throughout the event. Themes that were driven from user needs and behaviors of today and in the future.  

Relevancy, Immediacy and Location

Relevancy is an understatement when it comes to content on mobile. Mobile content is laser focussed, immediate, and in proximity to the audience surroundings.  Mobile forces us to think beyond the application and more around the environment that the content will integrate into. The environment in and of itself is content when it comes to mobile because it alters and influences the user's needs at the moment of the opt-in. As an example, the environment at a bus stop will influence the way you interact/or not with mobile than in a mall or retail store. The same can be said for on a college campus and a fast food restaurant. In fact college campuses alone have many different environments that will play a role in influencing the audience to opt-in.

Your phone knows you and where you are

In fact, your phone may know more about you than your mom does. As smart devices become mainstream, they become an extension of our lives. And marketers are leveraging this to be able to deliver content and services to you to help make your life easier.

Location-based marketing is becoming a priority in mobile marketing due to:

- People need and want immediate relevance

- Marketing to people's needs based on who they are and where they are at the moment delivers a high opt-in return

Location based marketing is becoming more and more ubiquitous. Direct access to immediate, relevant content that is in context to user surroundings is a strong tactic in mobile marketing strategies. 

Candidates should be able to opt-in to a mobile campaign that in return delivers:

- Opportunities based on user's interests and skills

- Information about opportunities within proximity of their current location

- Integrates relevant content from the environment into the mobile experience

Here are some highlights from the conference:

• Mobile use on Facebook went up 600% from last year

• Over 50% of Twitter users use Twitter over the mobile

• Magic link is a new way to deliver multimedia, video seamlessly across all platforms, transcoded to work on any device, handsets, and computer operating systems through one simple url

• Pew Internet reported that 40 percent of U.S. adults use the Internet, e-mail or instant messaging on their cell phone, up from the 32 percent of adults who did so last year.

• Networks are becoming taxed with so much data traffic. The more advanced the smart phones become, the more data will be transferred over the networks. This places high demand for network developers to work on future bandwidth issues.

• The mobile app space is so over crowded. Developers, brands must spend the majority of their investment on promotions, and strategies to market. The superstore approach vs. boutique store to app market makes it extremely difficult for consumers to get relevant, quality apps. In result, app developer's products are buried. 

• Recommendation models such as Xiam customizes the recommendations of apps to the consumers based on their profiles and behaviors. Application portal analyzes you. Also allows your friends to recommend products to you. 

• Peer to peer technology is here.  What is that you say? P to P is a cross platform communication and integration of services, games, information that allows you to communicate in real time (like multiple user) to multiple types of devices. From multiple operating systems including phone platforms and computers, you can collaborate in real time. (Think about playing a multiplayer game on your iPhone against people on Blackberry, Nokia, Droids and laptops all at the same time in real time.)

• Quallcomm is introducing Vision-Based Augmented Reality. It enables you to navigate and manipulate around 3d objects in real world on the mobile device. Matel is developing with AR on their toys. Think Augmented Reality virtual Rock'em Sock'em robots!

Want to see the mobile web in action in real time? Check out Bango Live!

A couple of months ago, I wrote an article for Statline that shared the new Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) information which indicated that nursing will need to grow 22.2% by 2018 in order to meet the patient needs. As we all march forward with various changes in our country, it is definitely time to stop and think about what these changes will mean to nursing. The economy, aging workers, health care reform and technology are all strong drivers of a new and different “look” that will encompass the profession.

For the past 2-3 years, many organizations have been running on a status quo basis when it comes to recruitment. Vacancy rates are low, turnover is down, census varies, acuity remains high and potential retirees continue to work. We are beginning to see a glimmer of change in some areas of the country as we begin to pull out of the recession and see brighter times ahead. For nursing, this will have a dramatic affect and we will experience it from many angles.

1.    Retirements-There has been a very tight labor market in the past few years due to the economy. The aging population that is still working is now cautiously planning on exiting the workforce and organizations and patients will feel the exodus of these experienced workers.
2.    Health care reform-With over 32 million Americans receiving insurance in the years ahead there will be an increase in the need for health care workers. Covering preexisting medical conditions will also add more coverage, although this occurs in 2014 for adults.
3.    Pediatrics-The need for RNs in pediatrics will be quite noticeable for a couple of reasons. One is the preexisting medical condition coverage which begins this year for children and the other is the fact that millions more children will now have coverage due to health care reform. This will drive the increase in staffing needs at facilities around the country, especially those specializing in neonatal and pediatric care.
4.    Education-Clinical instructor shortages have remained throughout the last few years and are expected to continue. Educational positions pay one-half to two-thirds of the salary that an RN makes in a clinical setting so instructors are very difficult to recruit and retain. Both pay and clinical site issues will need to be addressed in the very near future in order for training to continue at the pace we need.
5.    Surgery-OR nurses tend to be some of the most experienced nurses in any organization and often have the most retirement eligible staff of any department. As you do your workforce planning, take a close look at OR because this group will begin exiting the workforce as the economy recovers and OR training programs will need to be run on an ongoing basis.
6.    Wellness-With the healthy focus on wellness in today’s world, more and more programs and staff are needed in clinics, smoking cessation and other areas targeted at keeping patients well.
7.    Advanced Practice Nurses-The increased need for nurse practitioners, midwives and nurse anesthetists will also be driven by retirements, health care reform and wellness programs. In addition, these advanced practice RNs offer a cost effective professional that adds tremendous value to patient care.
8.    Geriatrics/long term care-The over 65 age group will grow by 13 million people between 2008 and 2018 and this increase will add to the need for RNs in geriatrics and LTC.
9.    Oncology and hospice-An increase in oncology and hospice is another area where we will see an increased need for RNs. The drivers include the aging population and their needs coupled with the increased technology and pharmacology that has helped add years to many patients’ lives.
10.    Home care-RNs in home care will also increase as this specialty is the fastest growing sector within health care and, according to the BLS, is due to increase at a rate of 3.9% per year.

Although all of the above points may not be relevant to your organization, some of them will be. These changes will need to drive a different strategy in human resources on how an organization recruits and retains employees. It is our job to be pro-active, knowledgeable of these changes and strategic enough to meet the needs of the next decade.


Today the White House Office of Management and the Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum (pdf) that changes regulations on the use of persistent cookies on Federal websites. The action removes a decade-old ban, intended to protect privacy, but which has kept agencies from providing the industry-standard customer service web users expect. In reviewing this issue, over the past year, the White House has carefully balanced the trade-off between privacy and open, efficient government. Not surprisingly, the memo is very carefully worded. Users will have full opportunity to opt out of giving any identifying information. The assumption, however, is that many visitors to Federal sites will appreciate closer and easier ties to their government.

Though it's late on a hot Friday afternoon in DC, when many are heading out of the city, the social networks, blogs and trades have been buzzing. Aliya Sternstein at nextgov offers a thorough run-down  of the conference call with OMB's Michael Fitzpatrick, Associate Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). The next step is finding out what it really means for agency communications.

World Cup fans can take part in a massive social display with Nike's Write The Future campaign. Fans can text a 57-character inspirational message through Facebook, Mxitt, or Twitter and choose a picture of the favorite soccer player that would be projected onto the Life Center, one of Johannesburg's largest skyscrapers. The interactive LED screen measures 44 meters high by 42 meters wide. To prevent the obvious profanity and/or comments from frustrated soccer fans, submitted messages are selected before projected.

Yes very innovative and cool. A little bit "Blade Runner meets Johannesburg" but very engaging. And sometimes, voicing your opinion through brand engagement is a very successful ROI.

Digital media is evolving as fast, if not faster, than the talent marketing industry. New revolutions in the way people communicate and network don’t happen when we adopt new tools – they happen when we adopt new behaviors. New behaviors are inspired by new ideas, and great ideas are often the result of unique mashups of next-gen thinking.

The content of our blog has been expanding to cover new behaviors of communicating and innovative talent acquisition strategies. Our tags are a good indicator of this expansive subject matter.

What's with the name?

Meshworking speaks to the activity of new idea generation in talent marketing. That is what our content is about – from government trends to mobile social innovations, and from augmented reality to mobile enabled career booths. We hope that you will continue to find inspiration and insight by participating with us here in the Meshworking community. 

It doesn't seem that long, yet so much has progressed with the way we express ourselves. Enjoy this tour of how this thing called YouTube has changed the world. Happy 5th anniversary YouTube.

So what happens when job seekers use search strategies in reverse. Since the economy has created such an over crowded market of job seekers, more creative strategies to stand out on the part of the job seekers are being produced. Welcome to the "Brand You" economy.

As HR professionals, how often are you targeted as the “cause” of turnover? Most organizations monitor turnover metrics but a much smaller number know what to do to change it. The Studer Group shares data that for every 1% in turnover that a company can reduce, it can save $250,000 in direct costs and $500,000 in indirect costs.

No one in health care has an abundance of funds so dealing with turnover has become an important issue in most organizations. ASHHRA data from February 2010 reports that turnover of all employees, by head count, is 13.5% with specific job titles such as RNs at 11.2% and imaging professional/technicians at 8.9%. Although rates have been down in the 12-18 months due to the economic situation, it is time to make sure that issues have been addressed as we move forward to the changes that are coming.

Although it is Human Resources that often gets tagged as the keeper of retention, we must be realistic and accept the fact that each employee plays a part in this. First let’s begin with HR and their accountability. All of the attraction components clearly lie in the HR domain and might include clear job descriptions, competitive benefits and compensation, targeted recruitment, swift hiring process, pre-employment testing and successful interviewing techniques by skilled recruiters. Those are the items that HR can control and has accountability for. Their skill in knowing the overall brand and employee value proposition (EVP) must be on target as they are the ones doing the recruitment marketing for the organization.

But what happens once the employee signs on the dotted line and accepts the position? Remember, retention has already started even though the employee may be finishing another job first before coming on board. This period of time and the accountability for continued communication varies from one organization to the next. Often times this task remains in HR while other companies hand this communication over to the hiring department. Either one can work—as long as it happens!

The next step for accountability is the initial onboarding and orientation. This too should be a period of time that is welcoming, clear, concise and continues with the overall brand message. From the general hospital or facility orientation to the department orientation, retention now encompasses the department employees.

The manager has tremendous accountability for the retention efforts in any organization and, recently, more and more companies are monitoring this in performance reviews. Leadership skills, communication, fairness, consistency and other skills are often the reasons that employees list in exit interviews and most of those go right back to the manager accountabilities. Departing employees tend to leave managers-not companies.

Taking the responsibility even further certainly includes other departments and the relationships between them. Working within a culture of common goals and solutions rather than separate silos will ensure that a healthy work environment is available.  

An additional function of HR and leadership is continuing to evaluate competencies and satisfaction of each employee. The entire life cycle of an employee is valuable and it is important to have touch points periodically, especially during the first year. It is important to know how the overall brand is being influenced from the employee attraction period, during general and department orientation to the actual performance of the job.

In a recent article in Health Leaders (http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/MAG-247657/CEOs-Employee-Retention-Is-Your-Job.html) entitled CEOs: Employee Retention Is Your Job, a very clear statement was made. “If costs, patient mortality, and patient satisfaction are important, then turnover should be at the top of your list.”  Yes, it is the CEO’s job too—it is everyone’s job.  Retention does start at the top of any company and is evidenced by the skills of the “C” level employees. Communication, culture, work environment, financial stability and staff consistency are all important to the success of any company. Healthcare is about patient satisfaction and positive outcomes but it takes a committed staff. And it takes everyone in an organization to make that happen.

As I hope you have noted from my last post, my TMP colleagues and I have lately been thinking hard about how diversity recruiting in the federal government might be improved. Don’t misread my meaning here: fed human capital strategists have chalked up many exemplary achievements in recruiting and retention, most notably their outstanding record with African-American candidates over several decades.

But what we’ve really been puzzling about is why we haven’t seen similar large-scale advances among the Hispanic-American community, the country’s fastest growing minority. While our company has enjoyed solid success in helping a number of standout individual agencies with their recruiting of Latino-Americans, our agency-specific success has contributed only modest advances in the government’s efforts to increase Hispanic numbers in the fed workforce as a whole.

As OPM’s recent report reminded us, the overall numbers are disappointing, to say the least: Hispanic-Americans comprise about 13% of the population, but only 8% of the fed workforce. And as I reported in my last post, in 2009 the feds hired even fewer Latinos, by percentage of new hires, than they did in 2008. 

So maybe it’s time to adjust the standard approach before the government loses seen more ground. My TMP colleague John Bersentes and I have attempted a logical analysis of the challenge in “How can the federal government improve its programs for recruiting and retaining Hispanic-Americans?” In this newly-released TMP Government white paper, we suggest a few reasons why Hispanic participation in the government workforce is lagging. Among our key points: it’s essentially a new kind of problem, different in many ways from the government’s earlier challenge in recruiting African-Americans.

In the second part of “How can the federal government improve its programs for recruiting and retaining Hispanic-Americans?” we advance a few bold suggestions for making progress on this front. Among the most far-reaching: Deputize OPM to create and administer a government-wide program for recruiting Hispanic-Americans. Individual agencies would participate as partners in a common-cause initiative, rather than contending with each other as rivals for Latino talent. We need to break this negative cycle. We suggest that only OPM has the charter, the reach, and the reputation to get this important initiative back on the rails.

Give our piece a read and let me know what you think.