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Social Media and Your Ecommerce Job Interview

NEW YORK, NY - Let's face it: Even after three years of exposure to the medium, there's still a lot more heat than light surrounding the use of social media in ecommerce marketing. I know I'm going to get this statistic wrong, but it's directionally correct: Kevin Hillstrom of MineThatData.com reported earlier this year that social media seems to account for half of the trade show chatter in the multichannel ecommerce space but only 4% of the revenues. That number sure feels right.

Here's why I bring this up: Almost all of my ecommerce candidates these days are being asked to address social media in their job interviews. Like, across the board: Email marketing managers, affiliate marketing managers, paid search candidates, merchandising and usability folks, Directors of Online Marketing, VPs of Ecommerce.

Everyone, it seems, is expected to have a teachable point of view [page 2] on social media and know how this channel will influence their own functional area.  Now more than ever: In lean, flat, knowledge-intensive, team-based organizations -- to teach is to lead.  You can't just hit home runs while being a lone wolf in the clubhouse.  You gotta raise the batting average of everyone in your dugout.

Which is why I think you ought to take three minutes and watch Andrew Davis, Chief Strategy Officer at Tippingpoint Labs, as he explains the social media influence pyramid.  This is a simple, back of the envelop concept that will make any ecommerce job candidate look smart in an ecommerce job interview. Check it out for Andrew's content -- but notice also how he presents this material.  Food for thought.

UPDATE: Check out this FREE special report from Bain & Co. on social media and ecommerce.  Very nice.

What We Do ...

We specialize in contingency-based Manager, Director, and VP-level executive searches for online marketing and ecommerce.  We are in constant contact with the Internet industry's best players, and we speak their language and offer them the best career opportunities.  Period.

Call us at (678) 749-7075 and let us tell your story to the candidates who can take your business to the next level.  Or click here for more information.
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Marketing Recruitment News

ATLANTA, GA - Happy Election Day!  Vote early and often!  Here are some choice tidbits from the worlds of marketing and recruitment:

1. Big news for Apple in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal: The company is losing one of its stars, Tony Fadell.  Mr. Fadell does not say where he's going, but given the recent non-compete flap between his replacement, Mark Papermaster, and IBM (Mr. Papermaster's former employer) ... Is it possible that Mr. Fadell is defecting to a competitor and staying mum about his plans until he's ready to address the non-compete issues?  One wonders.  Regardless ...

A-Players take note:  Consider what happened between Bratz and Mattel and understand that companies are getting pretty damn grabby about their intellectual property -- further underscoring the importance of talent in today's business world.  Even if your non-compete agreement is riddled with holes, your employer can still drag you into court.  Click here for more info.

2. Yahoo has disclosed that Scott Moore, who oversaw media properties such as its sports and finance sites, has become the latest executive to leave the struggling company.  From where I sit, the Yahoo brain drain looks painful.  It takes years to build a great company, and this year's defections at Yahoo underscore just how quickly things can unravel if management doesn't have its act together.  We used to have a saying in the trading business: "Your FIRST loss is your BEST loss."  Yahoo should have aligned with Microsoft months ago ...


3. Auto sales worst in 25 years.  Funny, but this fits right in with Faith Popcorn's recent observation that, under the new "vigilante consumerism," people are going to be keeping their old cars longer.

"People are finding shame in consuming. Consume is an evil word," says Popcorn. "This change in attitude applies to "anyone who is financially well off, but not optimistic anymore, mainly people with discretionary income that won't have it any more," she says. "These folks are behaving differently. They're acting like they need to cut out stuff."

Ms. Popcorn sees a major change in the way all U.S. consumers will behave in the future. In fact, she says the appropriate word for Americans is no longer "consumer," but "citizen."

My take:  For decades, the greatest marketing minds have known that "People don't buy features, they buy feelings."  But shame is a pretty dark word.  It's one of the darkest emotions in the human experience.  Are things really that bleak?

Marketing candidates:  If we are truly headed for an era of vigilante consumerism and citizen consumption, then you had better closely study the customers of the companies to which you are applying.  If you wouldn't hang out with them socially, then it seems unlikely that you will be successful marketing to them in an age of social media and total transparency.  Click here for more info.
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Web Marketing for Jobseekers

Great post this week on Lifehacker ...

Keep a real web site with a custom domain for $10/year. In the way-early days of the web, having your "own web site" meant you were all kinds of experienced with servers, protocols, and rack mounting. These days, you don't even need your own hosted space to maintain a web presence—blogging platforms, page creators, and Google apps (out the wazoo) are practically begging to do all the heavy-code-lifting for you.

With a $10-per-year domain name purchase (and some can be found cheaper), anyone who hasn't dipped their toes into reclaiming or parking their name online can do so without spending a penny more. Reference Gina's guide to hosting your domain with free apps.  If you want to get really DIY on it, you can still host your web content yourself by assigning a domain name to your home server.

Candidates, you need a website.  Yes, a hard-hitting resume should be your first priority -- and managing a more comprehensive web presence is more difficult than doing nothing (though it's by no means hard).  But it's high time you had a website of your own.  Seriously.  Get on it.  Your personal brand demands it, and soon, the best ecommerce hiring managers might too.

EXTRA CREDIT:  Check out tip # 8, called "Get your real free credit report" from AnnualCreditReport.com
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Premature Departures Haunt Google Results

ECOMMERCE NEWS:  This just in from RetailWeek.com:

Garden center chain Wyevale's director of e-commerce and marketing Deborah Poll has left the company having only joined in June of this year.

This is the first time I have ever seen a Director-level ecommerce executive receive trade press coverage primarily for leaving a job after only four months.  The article doesn't even say why she left.  That's a shame because this web page is going to haunt this executive's Google results for some time to come.

Director-level ecommerce candidates, here's some career advice:  Be careful in how you manage your tenure in your current role -- and your transition into the next.
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EARLY EDITION: Kyle Chandler!! Plus: Peter Ueberroth on Young Leaders and Resumes

SEATTLE - It was a bad week for Old Man Resume, which experts are decrying more loudly than ever.  Pass the salt: I may end up eating my hat after all.

In the October 2 print edition of Human Resources Executive, Ron Selewach has written a very lucid special report called "No Resumes, Please."  According to Mr. Selewach, "80% of the nation's workforce does not have an updated resume, ..." (news to me) and that the vast majority of passive candidates is not likely to create one simply to respond to a recruiter, which effectively kills the application process.

In other words, the typical corporate hiring process focuses on knocking "OUT" rather than knocking "IN."  If the 80% figure is right, then his argument is quite powerful.

Writes Mr. Selewach, "While resumes serve as a passport, they also serve as a roadblock.  Imagine going to a conference and being introduced to someone who asks for a business card.  You don't have one, and the conversation abruptly ends with the other person simply walking away.  Resumes are considered calling cards, and most hiring manager won't initiate the hiring process without one."

This is what historian Barbara Tuchman would call folly:  A deliberate and willful action taken by someone which is known in advance to oppose to their own self-interest.  IE, cutting off one's nose to spite their face.  Happens all the time.

Ron Selewach's print article won't appear online for at least thirty days -- so keep checking back right here.  It's worth a read.

Next item on the agenda:

Regardless, (or "irregardless" as my old boss used to say) ... Lets say you love resumes.  Are resumes of much use for spotting future leaders?  Not always.  Among the naysayers, Peter Ueberroth discusses this very thing in next week's Newsweek.

What do you look for in a young leader?  When you get past integrity, you go to curiosity. [When I observe young leaders] what I'm so surprised by is, everybody wants to talk—to make a presentation, to do something rather than ask questions. The smartest people are the ones who continue to drive for information.

What are common mistakes young leaders make?  Not recognizing talent, and that talent comes in all kinds of packages. I don't look at resumes very long. I don't want to know very much about where people graduated from college. Whether it's a state college or whether it's Harvard, the quality of people can be good out of both institutions. I think it's important to be able to recognize the talent in somebody that's, say, a working mom who didn't even go to college, but she's got great drive. You promote that person, give [her] more authority, and all of a sudden you step back and allow that talent to emerge.

If you just can't wait until next week to see the print version, you can download the full article right here.  Just like Early Edition!

PS -- Would you believe that Kyle Chandler of Early Edition was my college room mate at UGA for two years?  It's true.

Kyle Chandler and Harry Joiner: UGA college roommates, or separated at birth?

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The Doctor is IN.

ATLANTA - Based on the amount of informal career coaching I do, one of my coworkers created this cartoon mash-up.  I wonder if I can get sued if I run this as an ad ...

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Unforgivable.

NEW YORK - Recently I sent a candidate out on an interview, and he was embarrassingly unprepared.  While the sins of low energy and low enthusiasm can (under certain circumstances) be forgiven, ill-preparedness cannot ... especially when I bury my candidates in high-priced company and industry research several days before the interview.

This three minute podcast explains explains why I view the placement process as getting my client pregnant -- and how candidates can get deleted from my database.

CLICK HERE IF YOU DARE.
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Steve Jurvetson: Scary smart.

SAN FRANCISCO - Steve Jurvetson is really smart.  No wait.  Scary smart.  And rich.  Don't forget rich.  But mostly smart.  Even considering all that money.  Take a look:

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JOB POSTING: Director of Web Analytics & Decision Support

PHILADELPHIA - In September 2006, I was very blessed to place Carol Steinberg with DavidsBridal.com as their new VP of Ecommerce.  For those of you who don't know Carol, she's an extraordinarily talented ecommerce executive who led DavidsBridal.com onto Internet Retailer's Hot 100 List of the Best Retail Websites for 2007.

Currently Carol seeks a Director of Web Analytics & Decision Support to help her grow the company by "helping management ask meaningful questions about how to improve our relevance and intimacy with our customers -- and collecting and using the right data to support that effort."

If you are a talented multichannel analytics executive who wants to make a difference with your work, you should seriously consider this role.  Strong six-figure base + 15% bonus + relo assistance, and a super nice boss who will take a real interest in your professional growth.  This one's a no brainer.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
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