Instigator Blog

For those of you interested in business and entrepreneurship I’ve recently launched a contest at Startup Spark.

It’s simple:

1. Find a blog post (on someone else’s blog) about entrepreneurship that you really like.
2. Write about it on your blog, adding your own thoughts to the mix. Make sure you link the original post.
3. Link back to http://www.startupspark.com (in your blog post) and email me as well.

That’s really all there is to it. There are more contest details in the announcement on Startup Spark.

There are 2 book prizes to be won. One of the books - The Entrepreneurial Imperative - will go to someone who submits a blog post to the contest.

The other book - Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough - will go to the person you’re writing your blog post about. So, by submitting a blog post to the contest you give yourself and someone else a chance to win a couple great books about business and entrepreneurship.

I’ll be collecting all the blog posts at Startup Spark, so we create a big network of great entrepreneurial content and share some wonderful links with everyone.

The deadline is Monday, March 5th. Good luck and have fun!

100 years ago companies started putting job ads in newspapers. They still do, although much less.

That’s because they’re putting those same job ads online. The Internet took hold offering hundreds of places employers could post their job ads.

So what?

Compare a job ad from 100 years ago to a job ad today and they’ll look almost identical. The buzzwords have changed, but the format, style and general dullness have not.

Here are 9 signs the online job market is broken:

1. Companies can’t differentiate themselves. Almost every online job ad looks the same. There’s a few reasons for that. Online job sites don’t offer any way for companies to stand out. And employers look at what everyone else is doing and do the same thing. Job ads are written by HR departments, which means they’re buzzword-laden and generic. “Unique offerings. World-class team. Fast paced. A leader in…” Oops, sorry about that. Did you fall asleep on me?

Wait, I’m not finished. “We need 5 years experience in Java. 2 years experience in HTML. A university degree in something relevant.”

I love this: “The people that we continually seek are highly motivated, bright, and growth oriented.” As opposed to unmotivated, stupid and stunted?

2. Job sites like Monster.com are loaded with too much spam. When looking for work, the two best opportunities are through recruiters or anonymous companies on Monster.com. Right? Too much junk, too much spam and no way for a candidate to get through it all easily.
3. Jobster.com now offers free job postings. They couldn’t figure out how to get people to pay for them, so they offered job postings for free. My take: They should be free. They’re largely worthless.
4. Niche job boards don’t offer enough. Niche job boards are a response to the massive job sites out there. That’s a sign people realize the job market is broken. The problem is that niche job boards aren’t the answer. We’ve seen plenty of niche job boards spring up. At least they’re targeted, but the job ads are still the same, boring stuff.

   And now, anyone can put up a job board on their site or blog. Companies like JobCoin and JobThread make it insanely easy. But so what? What’s the difference? Where’s the advantage?

5. The best candidates aren’t surfing job sites looking for work. The top talent doesn’t spend time surfing job websites for fun. They’ve already got jobs. They’re busy. And even if they find themselves unemployed, you can be sure they don’t spend much time surfing for work. They know how to stand out, and they’re busy making that clear through referrals and their network of contacts.
6. It’s too easy for candidates to apply. Technology is a wonderful thing. There are millions of examples of technology making our lives easier. When it comes to applying for a job, it’s now too easy. Someone can apply for hundreds of jobs with a few mouse clicks. Boilerplate cover letter, standard resume…click, click, click, click. And don’t forget, “references made available upon request.”
7. It’s too hard for employers to assess talent. The result of everyone on the planet applying for every single job is that employers spend insane amounts of time filtering resumes. And in a global marketplace where you know nearly nothing about the educational institutions or companies in foreign countries, it’s almost impossible to pick out the best candidates. Employers do what they can to filter out the crap. And they’ll catch most of it, but not all of it. And they’ll lose some good ones in the process.
8. Companies use the services because they’re there, not because they work. Job websites continue to make money because they’re there. Not because they work. Employers are at a loss for what to do. They’ll try anything. And they’ll keep trying it by default. It’s almost automatic. You’ve got a job opening, you go through the routine: post on the job websites, ask your friends, hit up a job fair or two, etc. You can just picture the HR people asking themselves, “We know the job sites don’t work, but what if, just this one time, we miss a killer candidate by not posting?”
9. Lots of money and time is going into the online job market space. The job market is hot. SimplyHired. Jobster. itzBig. Indeed. CareerBuilder. In July 2006 it was announced that Jobster took $18 million more in financing (hitting around $50 million.) Lots of money, lots of energy.

   And let’s not forget - people are talking about the problems in the online job market. Steve Poland wrote: Online Job Hunt 10 Years Later - Still Sucks.

My good friend, Austin Hill, is looking to hire people for his new startup company, dubbed “Project Ojibwe.” He’s looking for a Python Wrangler. Instead of just telling you what he wants (and boring you with the same job ad everyone else is writing), Austin filmed a video job ad. He’s trying to show you want he’s looking for.

The best blog posts contain only one idea.

It doesn’t matter whether the posts are short or long, five words or five thousand words, people appreciate the singularity and focus of blog posts that are only about one thing.

Just one.

Not two.

One.

This is one of our biggest challenges. Many bloggers are ramblers, and we write like we talk. After all, it’s rare to have a meeting or conversation about one thing. But the problem with the multi-idea blog post is that most people who read blogs are scanners.

Ramblers and scanners don’t mix.

Scanners don’t read in-depth and don’t want to see a post that bounces between ideas. They want one idea. Clear. Obvious.

And ideally, you need to get to the point as quickly as possible. So not only are you limited to one idea per blog post, but you better get that idea out there in the very first sentence.

The best blog posts are about one thing. The more laser-focused the blog post, the better. If you look at your blog post and it’s got two or more ideas in it, you know what you’ve got? Two or more blog posts. Break it up, focus on one thing at a time and you’ll be writing better blog posts.

Following up on my first podcast at Instigator Blog, here’s Show #2 of Your Passion Podcast.

Today I’m talking about change and the passion I have for embracing change versus simply accepting it. Accepting change is a good first step but it leaves you vulnerable to negative change or passivity. No one wants to miss opportunities; but simply accepting change and not embracing it can result in exactly that - missed chances to succeed.

By embracing change you give yourself the chance to go outside of your comfort zone, take risks, explore and invent. You also give yourself the chance to turn something negative into a positive, and ride positive change even further than expected.

Change is inevitable. Embrace It. Find a Way To Benefit From it.

Don’t forget - I am looking for submissions to Your Passion Podcast. Take 2 minutes - tell me what you’re passionate about and why. I’ll put it online for everyone to benefit from… Email submissions to byosko@gmail.com.

Business success is like a puzzle.

You have a bunch of pieces that have to go together. The trick is the order.

If you don’t have a strategy for putting a puzzle together you might still get it finished, but it’s going to take you a lot longer.

People often talk about execution being the key to a successful business. That’s true. Execution is critical. But don’t confuse execution with simply “doing.”

Doing stuff isn’t a strategy.

Working isn’t even a strategy — unless you’ve taken the time, energy and brain power to figure out the right order of steps you need to succeed.

Knowing all the steps is great, knowing what order to put them in is even better.