I just received this article from BLR’s:  “HR Strange but True Newsletter” and wondered if you wanted to share your “Biggest Turkey” ever hire story in honor of Turkey Day next week…

A recent survey asked hiring managers to describe the “biggest turkey” they ever hired. The responses should leave no doubt as to why they considered the employee a dud.

While hiring is a rarer bird these days due to downsizing, employers still seeking talent find hiring new people to be more daunting than ever.  “Turkeys” are still lurking in the applicant pool, according to a recent survey by Caliper, an international management consulting firm.

The October 2008 survey of 190 hiring managers found that 69 percent of respondents find it easier to work with “the devil they know” in poorly performing employees rather than taking a chance on an “unknown” new hire. Just 31 percent of those queried find it harder to manage the people they have than to select new employees.

For some employers, these hiring concerns have proven to be well founded. With Thanksgiving fast approaching, Caliper asked managers to describe the “biggest turkey you ever hired.” Among the responses:

• “A fellow who, after 1 week on the job, asked to go to Florida. We said no, so he called in sick for a week and then came back with a tan!”
• “We hired someone who could barely do a single task.”
• “We hired a woman and the second day on the job, we found her taking a nap in the office of the CEO.”
• “One gentleman came in late, left early, then told me, ‘I’m going to be sick tomorrow, so I won’t be in’.”

“In difficult economic environments, people are a company’s most powerful competitive advantage,” said Herb Greenberg, Caliper’s founder, president, and CEO. “Every new hire provides a precious opportunity that employers don’t want to squander. This adds to the pressure to ‘work smarter’ in the hiring process and to avoid the costs of a poor decision.”

It seems that to be competitive in this tough economy, we must be able to creatively acknowledge head on the difficulties that our marketing, creative and communications clients are experiencing. By doing so, we are able to come up with non-traditional solutions that can positively impact their continued success.

In a recent survey…here incentive plans are taking a hit and here are some valuable solutions…Read the full article here.

I watched the election returns last Tuesday in Chicago (in my living room instead of Grant Park darn it! … but that is another story).  While the gray states turned blue, my thoughts turned from the historic political moment to communications. It then turned to engagement and thoughts of the effective use of social media in Obama’s campaign.

What a powerful way to harness and heighten the energy and enthusiasm of Obama’s supporters. Much has been written on the subject throughout the campaign. But now what?

What can be done with this incredible living, breathing momentum? What a shame it would be to have it dissipate after the election. How can it be used to help govern as well as elect? Literally as I said those words, President elect Obama released an email stating he was on the way to the Grant Park rally:

Jadey –

I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don’t want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it’s time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing…

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

“I’ll be in touch soon”. . . . there it was. The promise that the mediums will be utilized to further the national agenda. And there is more. . . http://change.gov/ the President Elect’s website. The site provides information but also solicits ideas, stories, applications for positions. It is a give-and-take with the engaged public - transparent and two sided. Can this level of social media management be maintained? Will it become a part of governing? Will there be a staff role for this media alone? If so, will it report to the press secretary? Will other governmental agencies begin to adopt its use? In Obama’s words- his team is “Midwifing a new new kind of politics”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD099nxF3L0

It is exciting time for communications in America.

Here are a few recent references that comment on this subject for further reading:

Obama won the election – not social media – Jennifer Leggio on ZDNet

Social media Obama McCain Comparison – readwriteweb.com

How Will President Obama Use his Massive Social Media Influence

Ad Lab Tech Review on Obama’s Social Media

Having begun my career in several of the country’s largest PR firms, I know what it takes to be successful in an agency: the ability to juggle a seemingly impossible list of deliverables in one day; developing a finely tuned attention to detail; becoming an expert in multiple industries in order to speak intelligently to clients; maintaining a voracious appetite for the news; and the commitment to burn the midnight oil day after day – the list goes on. And despite the rigors of working for an agency, the demand to break into a communications firm world remains high – and it remains elusive for the majority of corporate-side communicators.

Having made the transition from public relations to recruiting, I meet candidates every week who work in corporate side communications departments and would love to make that jump – and they’re frustrated about the agency doors that have been closed to them again and again. Why the resistance from top management at these firms to hire from outside the agency world?

The fact is that agencies tend to “raise their own”. They have developed vigorous internship programs that often span four-to-six months and provide their emerging talent with the chance to make major presentations to clients, participate in strategy and braining meetings and the opportunity to author their first media relations documents.  Junior staff has been put through their paces, and they prove they can handle the lifestyle and the high caliber of work that clients demand – if not, they don’t survive long.

The majority of successful upper agency management have spent their entire careers in that world – albeit moving from firm to firm. They develop a unique mix of skills: the ability to deliver outstanding service to clients as well as develop new business. They’re networkers who are always strengthening relationships within the business community because they’re held accountable for generating revenue within their firm or practice.  The fact is that many corporate-side communicators simply are interested or passionate about this aspect of the business.

With all this said, there are the few who break into the agency world at the senior level. How do they do it? They offer a firm and their top clients something agencies haven’t been able to cultivate on their own – a truly deep expertise within an industry. Former journalists who come from top national media outlets are a perfect example. The former corporate communications manager from a global pharmaceutical corporation is another. The bottom line is that to successfully make the transition to the agency world from corporate, you need to find a unique value proposition that can make you invaluable.

What is yours?