The Asia Pacific Headhunter

2006 Blogging Review

First and foremost, to everyone we know and to our friend's and family who are grieving for loved ones who have passed this year our thoughts go out to you all. We wish you peace in 2007.

I have had an interesting year blogging, it's been fun and it has continued to be a valuable addition to both my business and personal life. Here are a few statistics from the year on Asia Pacific Headhunter:

1. 105 posts this year. I have had to slow down a lot over the last three months so I am pretty happy with that.
2. 22,136 visits with 34,864 pageviews over the last year. Woah! IMHO that is great!
3. Technorati Ranking of 32,505. This is on our old url of searchniche.blogs.com, our new url of asiapacificheadhunter.com is ranked  265,834.

All the above statistics and rankings make me happy for some strange reason, but I really don't know why. The Technorati ranking is particular fun since I have no idea how it works, actually I think there are only a couple of people who really do (probably Guy Kawasaki and definitely Joel Cheesman). I am most happy that my ranking is 28,000 spots ahead of kiwi entrepreneur Rod Drury. Now that really shows that I have no idea how it works.

What are the problems I have found this year. Mostly it's the "bling" problem. There are SO MANY things that you could add to your blog now that it is incredibly hard to keep up, so much so that it has turned me off from even trying. I have a list as long as my arm of things that people have emailed me about, or I have read about to add to my blog. Tools to create content, tools to allow people to call you for consulting, tools to automate all sorts of things. It is endless. I guess this is what web 2.0 is about but it seems to me that it's the same old problem, not enough time in the day to try them all, test them and then keep them going.

So what are the benefits? Definitely the relationships and the education. Blogging provides a platform but most importantly it provides a pathway to communication with new and diverse people. While this may not seem like a huge benefit to some I have to say that there is no doubt that in my mind that has been the biggest benefit for me. Those people have provided both knowledge and educational opportunities for me that have made life more enjoyable.

My main aim for 2007 is to continue blogging with the idea in mind that what I do might be helping someone in the same way as so many other bloggers and readers have helped me in 2006.

Best wishes,
Steven Kempton   

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Careers for Java Developers

Last night I was really lucky to be invited to the inaugural meeting of the Auckland Java User Group - Javacom to talk to them about career development. It was a nice, cosy meeting with some people who are very passionate about their profession. I had a chance to talk about: working on being the best, growing your network, and also ways to work with Headhunters and Recruiters. There were some great questions and also some good stories that came out in the Networking session afterwards. If you are a Java Developer in Auckland I really recommend the group to you. The Chairman of the group, James Beamish-White, who is also CEO of web services company TEIQ, is keen to really grow the community. Key to growing your career is growing your network. It doesn't get easier than getting together with people who are interested in the same things you are!

A few points that came out of the meeting!

- Join LinkedIn now. This is only getting better as a resource.
- Hiring Managers are Googling your name, are you?
- Don't fall behind in IT, or your might never catch up again....
- Are you open-minded about new opportunities? You should be.
- Make sure you are great, but also make sure you can PROVE it!

I also defer here to a GREAT post by the Marketing Headhunter, Harry Joiner on careers. Five minutes of beautiful advice, and 10 questions to get you on your way to knowing what you love to do.

Getting Real From 37 Signals

Yesterday I downloaded the PDF book Getting Real from 37 Signals. I have been using their web application Backpack for a year and while it hasn't been the most useful tool for me, I do love the idea and philosophy behind the software and the company. The idea of less is more is one that hasn't occurred to most software companies. But 37 Signals has made it their mantra with some great success.

So I was expecting their first book to be interesting but not necessarily groundbreaking. However, there are some fantastic ideas in this book and it is such a quick and exciting read that it was well worth the investment. I highly recommend it for anyone, although it would probably help to have an interest in the software industry. Without that some parts will be a little bland.

BTW, I can tell you the exact part in their pitch of the book that sold me on buying it:

"37signals used the Getting Real process to launch five successful web-based applications (Basecamp,  Campfire, Backpack, Writeboard, Ta-da List), and Ruby on Rails, an open-source web application framework, in just two years with no outside funding, no debt, and only 7 people (distributed across 7 time zones). Over 400,000 people around the world use these applications to get things done."

I love the idea that a small company can work across time zones and achieve so much with their major resource being creativity. And that is really the theme throughout the book itself. Using size restraints to actually achieve more. Staying small and using that to your advantage rather than considering it a negative. I do a lot of recruiting for the software industry. Often software companies will say that their only barrier to growth is the number of good developers they can hire. Getting Real throws that claim right into the trash with some really interesting arguments.

Key to Interviewing Candidates - Character over Presentation

I was rereading an old issue of the Harvard Business Review (June 2005) and came across an interesting article on Herb Greenberg, CEO of Caliper, a human resource consulting firm. Blind since childhood, Greenberg gave some great advice on “Knowing What to Listen For” when interviewing candidates. All too often, managers tend to place a lot of importance on appearances and presentation or misread visual cues. The interview that ensues then becomes skewed according to those first visual impressions.

In a nutshell, Greenberg states that character is more important than presentation, thus the need to rely less on appearance and visual cues. For him, the key to hiring people is “to find out what drives them <and to> try to get at what is genuine.” Not surprisingly, he pays close attention to a person’s voice. From that, along with good questions about their accomplishments and failures, you can derive a sense of that person's inner character.

In fact, not only has he consulted to corporations, but also for professional sports teams, revealing that evaluating professional athletes is very similar to evaluating corporate professionals. Athletes clearly need talent, but if they don’t have the drive, or “inner fire” to push themselves, they won’t win or succeed. It’s the same in the corporate world. Listening for and getting at that inner drive and motivation is key.

It's interesting to note here about the belief held by some hiring managers and recruiters that meeting people face to face is essential in finding a good candidate. I think every siutation, positions and company is different - so it all depends. But this goes to show that meeting face to face is not a prerequisite for finding out whether a candidate is good or not.

I'd like to quickly add here a story from Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink:The Power of Thinking without Thinking. As the classical music world began to implement “blind” auditions in the past thirty years, the make-up of the orchestra changed drastically. Historically dominated by white male musicians who were often thought to be superior musicians than women, the number of women winning orchestra auditions increased five-fold since screens were placed between the musician and the judges. How’s that for relying less on sight and getting genuine results?

Narnia Rap

I can't resist posting this especially since I am posting from the Waitakere's where Narnia was filmed. It is just ridiculously funny. Didn't even realize I could post with YouTube until I saw it on Dave McClure's blog. Thanks Dave.

Conflict by Email

I recently read a manifesto at Change This (if you haven't heard of Change This by the way you are totally missing out) on the Tyranny of Email. It had special interest for me as I have been involved numerous times in situations where communication between people has been exasperated by the use of email. The manifesto by Ole Eichborn is not focused completely on how email can be an imperfect medium for conflict. But does have a half page on Eichborn's opinions on what is good procedure in terms of using email to make criticism - don't.

As he says, and as I have also experienced firsthand, making any kind of criticism by email seems to get magnified. Furthermore, copying others in on that seems to create an even larger problem. Causing normally rational people to flame like a South Australian bushfire. Being involved in international recruiting and across cultures I personally think email has become a huge plus in moving things quickly and efficiently. But there is no doubt in my mind that once you get to the heavy negotiation, strategy and technical give and take of a relationship you need to either pick up the phone or get in front of someone.

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