PR, marcomms, recruitment and all the bits in between

Death by blogging

So we’ve heard about internet addiction, now comes blog addiction. The New York Times have linked the fatal heart attacks of two men in America to an obsession with updating websites and blogs. The paper said “There is no official diagnosis of death by blogging…but friends and family of the deceased…say those deaths have them thinking about the dangers of their working style.” Maybe obsessive blogging disorder will become a more common occurrence as the years go by and the internet progresses further, or maybe there will just always be people who take things a bit too far. As they say – everything in moderation!

Recession tips

While scanning the web, we recently came across 10 top tips to help if the market slows down. Here they are, complete with a few Hanson amendments:

1. Clients that made you rich in good times can make you poor in a recession.

2. You may need to switch from a "delivery" business model to a "value-added" model. If your business depends on delivering ‘mass’ products or you do little to add value, you'll find it harder to compete.

3. Some markets and specialties will be spared. Case in point: After 9/11, when cuts were rampant across the board, certain markets, such as defense contracting, construction and legal services, actually thrived. If you can identify the markets left standing, they can be your lifeline.

4. Buyers are more cost conscious. As a result, you can expect more pressure to reduce your fees and deliver more. Aim to do the second but not the first.

5. Marketing yourself will become more common. Most buyers will throw out the rule book if you bring to their attention that you can make an immediate, positive impact. If you have enough sizzle, buyers will find a way to hire you.

6. Your time management becomes more critical. With less work on, you'll need to be highly selective about which projects will give you the greatest return on your investment of time.

7. Weaknesses in your selling skills are more exposed. Recessions leave little margin for error. The better you are at qualifying, closing, handling objections and making presentations, the more efficient you'll be with respect to converting activities into income.

8. A recession is the best time to be in business. I know this sounds counterintuitive. But look at it this way: When times get touch, the weak will wash out with the tide. If you can weather the storm and find ways to gain market share and build your reputation, you’ll be positioned to grow as the market recovers.

9. Cash flow is everything. Learn to control your spending or make cuts in your budget. Otherwise, you might end up working with your back to the wall. (No yachts for now!)

10. No doubt about it: A recession is a buzz kill. But it can also be a great teacher, because it humbles you and makes you more aware of your weaknesses. If you can stick it out and learn from your mistakes, you'll make tons of hay when the sun shines again, and you'll be more immune to future downturns.

I miss school holidays

Here's a blog entry by Jenna from the Hanson team...

It was reassuring knowing that no matter where you were in the term, how well or badly things were going, vacation was just around the corner.  If you could just keep going until the next one, you’d be rewarded with days (weeks even) of lie-ins, no homework, watching TV, driving your siblings crazy . . . doing whatever you wanted to do.

And then you’re finished.  You take your final exam, buy a new suit, and get hired for a job.  You’re chuffed, you throw yourself into work with the same vigour and dedication, knowing that eventually you’ll get to take a break.

Somehow, though, it’s not the same.  Maybe it’s because the office keeps running without you, so you spend the week before stressing over how to cover your absence while trying to get ready at night, even more exhausted than usual.  Maybe it’s because you’re the only one in your office going away, so there isn’t the usual sense of collective joy building as the promised last day of work nears.  Or maybe it’s just because being in charge of your own holiday isn’t finally as fun and fancy-free as it was when your parents or the school board planned things for you.

But there are some things that are the same for me.  Vacation time is a chance to catch up on sleep and attempt to reset my body clock so mornings are easier.  I kept hoping I’d be a morning person once I grew up, but so far no luck on either front.  Like my university vacations, it’s a time to go home and see my family and visit with friends I never get to see.  It’s an opportunity to get away from the hustle and bustle of London, and (fingers crossed) enjoy some real warmth and sunshine. 

It’s also a chance to get organized at work.  I’ve gotten through most of my list of things do before the item prompting me to write this entry, and I have a bit of time to keep going before the hand strikes twelve and freedom is mine.  I’m getting to the sorting that’s been building up since my last good organization drive, items that aren’t usually a priority but still need to get done.  I’m considering a new in-box system so that those things can’t hide away in the bottom of folders anymore and have already started writing my list of things to do when I get back.

I really like being good at my job, and get irritated with myself when I’m not being as efficient as possible.  Probably the most annoying part of not having big school holidays is that I get worn down like I did at school but don’t have the same reward looming before me.  It’s easier to get lazy in the office because there are no exams marking the end of a learning unit or term, no enthusiasm to get everything finished so it’s all done and dusted and then you can go hang out with your friends.  The tasks, responsibilities and deadlines all keep going, even when you’re not there, so it can be harder to set your own ‘end of term’ and feel like you can make a fresh start.

So this is that I’m going to do.  I’m going to make myself another cup of tea, dig into the rest of my to-do list and when I leave the office today, I’m going to do my school’s-out-for-the-summer dance.  I’m going to have a great holiday and forget that London exists for the next two weeks.

When I get back, it’ll be the first day of a new term and I can be excited about my job all over again.

Grasping the nettle

A while back we mentioned Lord Bell - it’s nice to see that he is not resting on his substantial laurels, but is still up for a challenge. According to the Guardian, his lordship (or at least his firm) was invited to take on the former Soviet republic of Belarus as a client with a brief to improve its international image. Given that the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has described the country as an “outpost of tyranny” and human rights groups have accused its president, Lukashenko, of presiding over an imitation Soviet regime with secret police, fraudulent elections, and jailed opponents this could be quite an interesting task. However certain challenges seem to be even beyond the talents of Lord Bell. A recent approach by Zimbabwe was apparently greeted with a definite, “thanks, but no thanks.”

Harassment

Good news for women (and men) – as of 6^th April, workers are protected against sexual harassment from customers, suppliers and others they encounter in the workplace. New rules mean that you can seek damages if your employer fails to take reasonable steps to protect you from harassment by a third party. Good to see that the government is taking more steps towards gender equality. Maybe Spain should take a leaf out of our book though – a health clinic in Cadiz is docking nurses’ monthly wages by 30 euros if they go to work in trousers instead of a skirt!

Addicted to the internet?

A leading psychiatrist from the Oregon Health and Science University, Dr Jerald Block, has recently said that internet addiction needs to be treated as a clinical disorder as it has reached such a high level across the world. He says that easy access to email, gaming, gambling and pornography are causes of this disorder. In South Korea, 10 people have died from blood clots from sitting in internet cafes for extended periods of time and someone was murdered because of an online game. The country now 'considers internet addiction one of its most serious public health issues'. So beware readers, next time you have that urge to check your Facebook, shake it off, you could be the next victim!

Corporate Rockin’

Yes you heard correctly, rock n roll is the latest trend in team building to rock the corporate world (excuse the pun). You and your fellow employees are given around half an hour to turn yourselves into a rock band, learn how to play the instruments and generally work together in order to perform a rendition of a song that vaguely resembles the original. Apparently it’s proving popular, teaching professionals how to think outside the box and bringing them together as a team in a fun way. I wonder how many people would opt for performing the Proclaimers over a team trip to the pub?

Employer dependency?

The Times recently printed a piece on the “monstrous truth about sickness at work”. This truth was that we are apparently too dependent on our employers, we have shifted the responsibility of providing for our families from ourselves to a third party and that employment in large organisations has “sapped our drive and turned us into a bunch of dependent stuffed suits”. It also said that the bigger the organisation, the more days sick an employee will take. The Times’ solution was that Britain needs a shift in favour of entrepreneurship and self employment.

Being recruiters, we can’t help feel it’s actually quite a good thing that the UK has what the author calls a “corporate beehive” as if everyone was self-employed, we’d be out of a job. But that aside, is the situation really this bad? Obviously if you are solely responsible for your business and livelihood you will avoid taking days off. But this isn’t necessarily a good thing. I think most of us would agree that if someone in our office was suffering at their desk, we would rather they went home so they could recuperate and avoid passing it onto everyone else! If you work for a big organisation, enjoy your job and get paid for a few days off sick, is there really so much wrong with that?

Pharma PR

Speaking of PR Week, the august publication has been dealing out a kicking to the PR arms of the pharmaceutical industry in its latest leader column. The criticism comes in wake of negative publicity around Seroxat and the declaration by Procter & Gamble spokesman Mark Chakravarty that, “There is a high suspicion of the pharma industry.” The industry’s long-standing image problems are well known despite its history of containing and, in some cases, eradicating some extremely unpleasant diseases and conditions. And part of the reason for them may be the continuing shortage of high quality specialist communicators that we have covered in past issues. Until the sector can find ways of attracting more of the right calibre people or of feeding them into the career development pipeline, expect image issues to run and run.