From the monthly archives:

May 2010

How do you protect your privacy online?

by Stephanie A. Lloyd on May 12, 2010

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

With all the talk about Facebook and privacy issues recently I started thinking about how I manage my personal privacy online, and I’m curious how others handle this as well. I would imagine that a lot of us are doing it differently.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a woman, but I do think a lot about my personal physical security in addition to online privacy issues. With geolocation rising so quickly in popularity, I have more concerns about this now than ever.

Yesterday I had lunch with Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers and it came up in conversation that she once tried to find my home address through Google and could not. I can’t lie…this made me very happy!

I’m very careful about giving out my home address, and while I work from home I pay to have a virtual office address which is the legal address of my company and where all my mail goes.

Google Alerts

I have Google Alerts set up to notify me about anything containing my name or company name online. I also have alerts set up for my home address as well as my phone number. This allows me to monitor “what Google knows about me” without much effort, and if something arises that I’m not comfortable with I can take action accordingly.

Twitter

You may have noticed that I sometimes tweet about my large, very overprotective dog. This is not by accident.

I’m not as good about doing this as I used to be – usually for promotional reasons – but I do try to somewhat limit announcing my current or future whereabouts. So, if I’m going to Houston’s in Buckhead for lunch with a friend, I may state that I’m having lunch with that friend, but won’t say where until after we’ve left.

When I say “promotional reasons” I host and co-host tweetups from time to time, and naturally if you want people to show up you have to promote them in advance. So in those cases, or if I will be speaking somewhere or attending a conference, it’s a little more difficult to keep my future whereabouts a secret.

Facebook

I’m kind of a privacy control freak on Facebook…constantly checking my privacy settings; and about a year ago I took down most of my photos. For example, I had some on there from college and from my high school reunion. Even when I did have these photos on Facebook, only a few people had access to them. But, with Facebook constantly messing with our privacy settings and not telling us they’ve done it, I decided better safe than sorry. Now the only photos I have on there at all are pictures of my dog, my family, and from business and networking events like ERE and #punkATL.

Additionally, I do not allow anyone to write on my wall, and as soon as someone tags me in a photo or video I look at it and untag it immediately if I’m not comfortable with it. You just don’t always know what people are going to do…what they may find perfectly acceptable to post, you may be horrified by.

I have my birth date listed, but not the year, and no one can see my profile unless they are friends directly with me. None of this “friends of friends” and “networks” stuff.

People who are not my friends on Facebook can’t even see what city or state I live in. Search results are set so that I only show up in Facebook searches for friends, and my profile information won’t show up in public search results.

If you haven’t yet read this warning about Facebook Connections, you need to. And I mean, stop and read it very thoroughly, and then go look at your “Friends” on Facebook and you’ll see that the list now includes many sites you’ve “shared” or “liked.” Next, look at the privacy settings for each of these “connections.” (I use two lists to manage how much someone can see of my Facebook profile. People I don’t know well are on a list that is more restrictive than people I know very well. This second list includes all of 10 people. Seriously. And I have known those 10 people a long, long time.)

Anyway, I did this, and these new “connections” Facebook had assigned to me without my knowledge or permission were not assigned to either of my lists so they could see anything and everything on my Facebook profile! Because I barely have anything on there of interest to anyone anymore it didn’t freak me out that much – but the IDEA they they have done this to all of us without our knowledge or permission certainly did.

Finally, I do not allow any third party applications to access any of my information.

There’s more, but I think you get the picture…click here to read more on the latest with Facebook’s privacy policies and issues.

Foursquare + Gowalla

My biggest concern with these is obviously announcing to the world where you are. So, I’m very careful about who I’m connected with on these applications, and I don’t always share my check-ins on Twitter or Facebook.

I also try to remember to check in when I’m leaving rather than when I arrive.

Who has time to deal with all of this??

It’s a fast-changing world and we have to keep up.

All of this may seem like a lot of work and you may wonder whether it’s worth it. That is something you have to decide for yourself.

For me the benefits of connecting with others online far outweighs the hassle of managing privacy settings. Plus, you know, it’s what I do for a living so unless I want to get a new career (I don’t), this is something I just need to deal with.

If you want to read another perspective on this subject, Craig Fisher recently wrote a great blog post, “Social Media Privacy? Get Over It.”

I’m curious: What do you do to protect yourself online?

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Tagged as: No stalking please, Social Media, Stephanie A. Lloyd

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Building talent communities, Part I | What is a talent community?

by Stephanie A. Lloyd on May 11, 2010 · 2 comments

in Talent Communities

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

According to the Seeking Cost Advantages in HR Technology and Service Delivery – 2009 HR Technology Trends Survey conducted by Towers Watson:

Talent management has become a higher priority for one-third of companies due to the economic crisis.
More than half of companies are planning more talent management technology in the next 24 months, with an emphasis on integration.
Social networking, while extremely new, is already being used more than most other Web 2.0 tools.

The advent of social media has allowed employers to move from simply collecting resumes in a database to developing somewhat personal and meaningful relationships in and around the pool(s) of talent they want to attract.

What is the difference between an applicant database and a talent community?

Kevin Wheeler writes, “Databases suffer from two major problems when it comes to being effective recruiting tools:

Problem one. They tend to get old very quickly and the data about the people is not current and often not even useable. While no one I know of has done actual research on the quality of the data in corporate resume databases, I know from anecdotal conversation that it is poor. I would guess that over half the people in the typical database are either no longer interested in a position or cannot be contacted. (I, too, know this from experience!)

Problem two. The recruiter has a one-dimensional view of the candidates, generally only from the resume itself. There is no additional information, no personal observations, and no reference data. Because resumes have been added mostly through electronic and impersonal methods, the candidates are completely unknown to the recruiters. This means that the qualification and assessment of a candidate begins after the resume is retrieved and may take quite a bit of time, assuming the candidate can even be contacted. Candidate quality is often poor, and the time to find candidates can become very long, especially for hard-to-fill positions. Ask yourself how many positions are filled with people you find solely by searching in your ATS database.”

A talent community is so much more than a database (applicant tracking system) which, in many cases, quickly becomes a one-way, stagnant dumping ground.

A talent community is an opt-in, interactive forum where individuals with particular skill sets and interests can interact in a personal and meaningful way with corporate HR and company management in order to better understand – and be a part of – the firm and all that it has to offer from an employment perspective.

Joshua Kahn wrote a job description for a Talent Community Manager. You can read it here.

I think it’s an excellent start, though I would add to it elements of driving interest and traffic to the talent community itself via social media and face-to-face networking opportunities such as conferences, unconferences, etc.

In this series we will explore why and how companies should build talent communities.

We will also discuss the benefits of joining such communities for individuals — whether or not they are actively seeking employment at the time.

I’d love to hear from those of you who have built/are building talent communities for your own companies or firms. What’s working well for you and where do you aspire to go with this endeavor?

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Tagged as: I work in HR, Recruiters, Social Media, Stephanie A. Lloyd

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The more things change, the more they change | Step 2 of 12

by Stephanie A. Lloyd on May 3, 2010 · 12 comments

in About the author,Management,The changing face of employment,Workplace Issues

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

As I sit here I am contemplating some recent changes I’ve made in my life.

Some I chose willingly and even happily, and some I just chose because the alternatives available to me were no longer working for me.

I’m much, much happier about the first set of changes, although those did not transpire entirely without pain or consequence, either.

And the latter set of changes…well, while I wasn’t happy about the way things were, I’m not at all happy about the way things are now either.

Those are the choices that REALLY suck.

You want A but you have B and that’s not working for you. A is still not an option, so you choose C…and then you realize that C is even further away from A than B was.

UGH.

A long time ago, a good — and very wise — friend said to me:

“People only make a change when it’s easier to make the change than it is to stay the same.”

Remember the book “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson, M.D.?

That book was a real eye-opener for me at a time when I really needed it.

I was working for a major U.S. life insurance company that was demutualizing in order to go public. The company was more than 150 years old and many, MANY of the corporate executives as well as agency managers, regional directors, and RVPs that I worked with had been with the company for 25 or 30 years or more.

Their entire careers.

They had started their careers there and they would end them there.

You want to talk about resistant to change??

As a twenty-something who made VP at a very early age and had a LOT riding on my shoulders during that time, it was a fabulous – though amazingly difficult – learning experience.

I mean, painful.

So much anxiety I had to see a therapist on a weekly basis just to DEAL.

The book helped me look around and see how people were either accepting change and moving forward successfully — or not.

It was a huge life lesson for me and something that is helping me process some things that I’m dealing with right now on a personal level.

Change happens.

And then more change happens.

And then more change happens after that.

Some of it we choose; some of it we like — and much of it we do not choose or like.

But we do choose how we react to it.

Lots of people have had lots of struggles over the past couple of years. Myself included.

I’ve seen so many people reach out and band together — to lend a hand to help others in whatever way they can…be it time, expertise, or money.

Some excellent examples in the recruiting and HR community are Mark Stelzner of JobAngels, and Robin Eads of JobShouts.

I’m a firm believer in the concept that a rising tide lifts all boats.

(Uh, I just realized. Kind of ironic to mention that on this day, Round 17 or whatever it is of #ATLflood…)

Anyway.

By now I am sure you are wondering what my point is and what all of this has to do with blogging.

When I first started this blog I was a prolific writer.

I was committed and I could not crank the blog posts out fast enough.

I averaged at least five a week and many times more than one in a day.

Over the past few months that deluge has dwindled to a mere trickle, and right now I would say that this blog is on life support.

I promised to bring it back and I am going to.

I promised all three of my readers – and more importantly (no offense), I promised myself.

In order to do that I’m going to have to make some changes in my life.

Some will be comfortable and others will not.

It will require re-dedication and a lot of time and thought – which will mean taking time and energy away from things I may otherwise do instead.

However, I know firsthand the benefits and rewards from being a dedicated blogger (we’ll cover that list another time!)

I know it’s only Step 2 of 12 and I have a long way to go…but I’m back, my friends.

I’m back.

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Tagged as: Blogging, Cartoon by Hugh, change, Get a life, Stephanie A. Lloyd

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The Country Music Half-Marathon 2010 | Nashville, TN

by Stephanie A. Lloyd on May 1, 2010 · 1 comment

in About the author

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

I ran the Country Music Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) last Saturday in Nashville, TN. I hadn’t run a half in several years so it was pretty exciting to be back in the game after training for about five months.

Several of you asked for a race re-cap, so here it is.

The race started at 6:45 a.m.

Yes.

That’s 6:45 IN THE MORNING.

I don’t do mornings.

But.

That day I was up and out of bed and even consuming liquids and solids such as water, coffee, yogurt, strawberries and bananas and such by 5:00 a.m.

I was at the start line at Nashville’s Centennial Park by 6:30 a.m. Now that is some way to start your day — if you are a Panamanian Night Monkey or a Wombat or a Lemur.

I — on the other hand — am not nocturnal and was actually born to sleep during the night and slowly rise some time after dawn.

And let’s just skip right over the conversation about the whole Port-a-Potty starting-line experience, OK?

#GROSS

Anyway.

So basically I got up and out of bed really reluctantly to the obnoxious sound of my iPhone alarm, dressed, ate, pinned my race number (“bib” as they call it in the race community these days) on my shirt, laced up my shoes, and made it to the start line where some (really great) music was blaring and the crowd of 33,000+ people anxiously awaited the sound of the gun.

And we were off.

Miles one and two were pretty much downhill through downtown Nashville.

Miles three through 13 were basically uphill with the exception of two 100 foot barely noticeable downhill trods.

Ok. That may be a slight exaggeration but that is how it felt.

And we all know that perception is reality, right??

Right.

I thought the race was very, very well-organized with the exception of part of the course. Miles four or five through eight or nine were on such narrow roads that we (all 33,000 of us) had no more than a lane and a half at any given time to squeeze in to. And, because practically the entire race was uphill, most people were walking, not running.

And we were so squeezed together that when you wanted to run…you couldn’t. There was no room to get past anyone. That part was really, really frustrating.

I will never understand why race organizers do not stress and stress and stress that when you’re walking you should stay to the right!

That is just common courtesy…yet I never hear it at any race.

Those of you who are distance runners know how much energy it takes just to complete a race let alone add an extra two miles to your course because you’re constantly weaving in, out, and between slower runners and walkers. Asking walkers to stay to the right would help A LOT IMO.

The weather also presented a challenge.

We started receiving alerts a few days before the race that very severe weather, including thunderstorms and tornadoes, was scheduled to move in on the morning of the race. The Rock-N-Roll staff worked with emergency officials on contingency plans and kept us updated through the website and emails on the days preceding the race. There was never an announcement that they might cancel the race, but they made it clear that it could be delayed due to weather. They also announced that those running the full-marathon may be cut short if they did not finish in 4.5 hours or less.

We lucked out for the first couple of hours and had pretty sunny weather. It wasn’t hot, but it was incredibly muggy, and my clothes were drenched by the end of mile two. I don’t think I had sweated that much during all of my training runs combined!

Around mile 10 ominous clouds appeared and we knew our luck had run out.

During mile 11 I started feeling light raindrops and it got progressively heavier. As we were wrapping up mile 12 and nearing the finish line at the stadium, lightening was everywhere.

We finished in a downpour. My shoes and socks were absolutely soaked and squishy. (That’s a really gross feeling btw.)

Needless to say, things were really chaotic at that point. It was a major bummer not to be able to enjoy the experience of the finish line after running 13.1 miles. That really was my only disappointment of the whole experience.

I was fortunate to find a taxi pretty quickly after a half-mile walk across a bridge over the river back in to downtown (that was loads of fun…in pouring rain and lightening!)

All in all it was a phenomenal experience and I plan to run it again next year.

Only maybe next year I will be running the full marathon! (26.2 miles) I plan to run a full-marathon in 2011; I’m just not sure which one yet.

Next up as far as races go this year are the Rock-N-Roll Half in Virginia Beach in September, the Rock-N-Roll Half in San Antonio, TX, in November, and then of course my favorite…the Thanksgiving Day Half-Marathon here in Atlanta, GA. I can think of no better way to start Thanksgiving Day!

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Tagged as: Blogging, Cartoon by Hugh, distance running, Do you want to have fun or not, It's personal, Stephanie A. Lloyd

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