"What is magic?"

There’s another one of those volatile strings running over on ERE in a group and I watch its gathering-storm running commentary regarding that age-old-guaranteed-to-draw-fire-around-here-and-drive-up-your-group-ratings word “rusing”. One prosecutor stated:

“...by the way, what is magic? I thought that magic was an illusion.? According to wikipedia, “a ruse is an action or plan which is intended to deceive someone” . . . which is, in a way, a roundabout definition of magic, right? It’s just that I know the magician is deceiving me...since magicians ruse, I imagine that a sourcing magician, illusionist, or rusician (I coin the term – you heard it first here!) would perform a deceptive trick by something like the following...”

“a ruse...is a roundabout definition of magic, right?”

If you want to talk “roundabout” and push the envelope (and buttons over there) go ahead but I suggest you do some study on the subject. The real study of “magic” reveals that at its heart it is a study of the Self. Its’ charm lies in the fact that it rings metaphysically to our senses; the theoretical knowledge about it we seek takes us to new understandings about the world and the universe as well as the mysteries of life.

What we wouldn’t give to understand the “mysteries of life”! What we wouldn’t trade for comprehension!
Great literature has been written because of Man’s seeking to understand himself. “To be or not to be” remains the age-old question that fuels our quest; higher truth and awareness remain the goals.

Eliot and Shakespeare, Tennyson and Chaucer, Browning, Emerson, Pope, Aristotle, Churchill, Shaw Twain and Confucius – what do they have in common? They all reach out to us from the ages. Their words speak timeless arguments leaving it to us to discover the many meanings of their neologisms and apply the logic to our everyday lives.

It ain’t brain surgery, folks, and the only “illusion” we’re applying is the fog most of us see ourselves through. Bring that into focus and you will discover the real mystery behind the magic in the method.

Maureen is coming to San Jose to speak on telephone names sourcing at the April 24 meeting of the Human Resources Consultants Association (www.hrca.com) at the Adobe Park Conference Room in San Jose!
Contact Merrill Martin at merrillm at yahoo-inc.com

Maureen is also presenting a ONE DAY Magic in the Method LIVE telephone names sourcing training seminar on April 25 at Adobe Systems FUJI Room in San Jose – for more info contact Bob Sharib at bob at techtrak.com or visit http://www.techtrak.com/magicmethod/purchase.htm to register online at Magic in the Method seminar/Silicon Valley.

It took 3.6 million years to make a Project Manager. You have until Wednesday to find him. Call us.

Our goal is to save you time and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names sourcing firm TechTrak.com and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course "The Magic In The Method". She can be reached by email at Maureen at techtrak.com or by phone at (513) 899-9628. Maureen will come on-site to your company to teach telephone names sourcing to your sourcers.
www.techtrak.com/magicmethod/magicmethod

Kingmaker

I had a call yesterday from one of the list brokers who wanted to tell me he was getting into names sourcing, “because you people are makin’ all the money!” This young man then went on to tell me that one of the search firms had purchased 500 names of “Sr Managers” out of one of his Big 4 lists and then had the audacity to resell them, (along with six resumes, by the way!) for $30,000.

“So?” I asked him. “What’s wrong with that? You’ve got your eye on the bat, Kevin, and not on the ball...”

“Whatdya’ mean?” he almost screamed at me, “I wanna make somea’ that too! I’m tired of making pennies while they make millions! They think I’m a schmuck!” He was really agitated.

“They’re not making millions, Kevin, they’re making livings, just like you. Do you have any idea what they had to do with those 500 names just to get six resumes?” I asked.

“I don’t care - they made $30,000 and I made $500 – that’s NOT FAIR!”

“Kevin, I would guess that they had to vet those entire 500 names – do you know HOW HARD it is to get someone to move, at that Sr Manager level, out of a Big 4? They got six resumes for God’s sakes – that’s a lot!” I pushed back.

“Huh?” he responded, like I caught him off-guard. I could tell he didn’t understand what I was talking about.

He was actually calling me because he had heard I had “a good marketing arm” and he wanted to know how I “drummed up my business”. His idea, he told me, was to call into the HR departments of the big companies and present his directory service “for a whole lot more money than I charge now” with the logic that HR Directors and VPs would be willing to pay for “any directory” he could get (he said he had a guy who was “the best on the planet” who could get “any directory out there” within minutes). He further went on to claim that these same people would be “happy to pay” increased rates for his “custom-procured” directories with the logic that these would save tens of thousands, “easy”, on each placement made within the company.

“Uh huh,” I answered.

He then wanted to know, and he asked me to tell him “the truth”, how I got started.

I told him I’d be glad to tell him “the truth” and that I did it every day of my life writing on the subject of telephone names sourcing. I further told him that I had never done business development in the way he was proposing – by calling into companies and speaking with the decision makers regarding my service but that I thought it very well could be an extremely effective way of marketing. I told him I never had the time to do it that way but instead had begun by emailing to a list of recruiters’ email addresses I had assembled these many years ago and had started from there. One led to two that led to four and so on. My business has been mostly word-of-mouth/ear referral and at most I had used email campaigns twice, maybe three times in my decade long span and that they had been enough to get me started.

“Uh huh,” he said. I could tell he was skeptical that it was that simple.

“But you’re so good at marketing,” he exclaimed. “I see you everywhere.”

“Exactly,” I confessed. “I market myself by being “out there” in the community and I try to offer helpful information – sometimes it appears self-serving to some and to answer that charge I always admit it is!” I laughed. “But it gets the job done and that’s what interests me!” I further admitted.

“Doesn’t that take a lot of time?” he asked. “Don’t you get paid to do the stuff you do, like on ERE?” he wondered. I could hear confusion in his voice.

“No!” I exclaimed.

“Then you’re a fool!” he asserted. “I wouldn’t do what you do unless it was for money!”

“Kevin, I would rather be a Kingmaker than a King. My advice to you is to strive to be a kingmaker – the power behind the throne.”

“You mean like a puppeteer?” he asked, beginning to think.

“No, I mean as one who has the ability to influence.”

“Huh?” he was really lost now. “If they’re makin’ a million dollars I wanna make half!” he warmed to the subject, the tone of his voice escalating excitedly.

“Okay, then, Kevin, if one of your customers is making a million dollars and you have twenty of them and you’re making just ten percent of what they’re making, you’ll make two million dollars, TWICE what one of them makes!”

Dead silence except for a sharp intake of breath.

“If they’re each making a million dollars and you’re a big part or even a part of their success, you don’t think they will come to rely, and depend, upon you? You don’t think they will come to respect you and hold you in high regard? You don’t think that others will flock to your service because of your affiliation with a ‘King’? Think again,” I challenged.

“Uh, yeah, I gotta go,” he wriggled free of the contest. I could tell he thought I was nuts and that he knew the one true way so I let him go. But before I did, I asked, “Do you hear me?”

“Yeah,” came the bolting response.

I wonder.


Maureen is coming to San Jose to speak on telephone names sourcing at the April 24 meeting of the Human Resources Consultants Association (www.hrca.com) at the Adobe Park Conference Room in San Jose! Contact Merrill Martin at merrillm at yahoo-inc.com

Maureen is also presenting a ONE DAY Magic in the Method LIVE telephone names sourcing training seminar on April 25 at Adobe Systems FUJI Room in San Jose – for more info contact Bob Sharib at bob at techtrak.com or visit http://www.techtrak.com/magicmethod/purchase.htm to register online at Magic in the Method seminar/Silicon Valley.

It took 3.6 million years to make a Project Manager. You have until Wednesday to find him. Call us.

Our goal is to save you time and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer and Trainer
513 899 9628

Konstantin Guericke from LinkedIn TODAY

Konstantin Guericke from LinkedIn TODAY on The Recruiting Animal Show

Wed March 28, 1:30 EST
Special Guest: Konstantin Guericke
www.recruitinganimalshow.com
Call in and talk: (646) 652-2754

Konnie has a new gig in addition to his LinkedIn success – it’s Jaxtr; an online click-to-call service. You put a link on your site and a visitor clicks it to call you free of charge no matter where you are. Both parties use their own phones.

Pretty cool and he’ll be talkin’ about it (and other things) today on Michael Kelemen’s Recruiting Animal Show – don’t miss it – Edge will be there!



Maureen is coming to San Jose to speak on telephone names sourcing at the April 24 meeting of the Human Resources Consultants Association (www.hrca.com) at the Adobe Park Conference Room in San Jose! Contact Merrill Martin at merrillm at yahoo-inc.com

Maureen is also presenting a ONE DAY Magic in the Method LIVE telephone names sourcing training seminar on April 25 at Adobe Systems FUJI Room in San Jose – for more info contact Bob Sharib at bob at techtrak.com or visit http://www.techtrak.com/magicmethod/purchase.htm to register online at Magic in the Method seminar/Silicon Valley.

It took 3.6 million years to make a Project Manager. You have until Wednesday to find him. Call us.

Our goal is to save you time and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names sourcing firm TechTrak.com and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course "The Magic In The Method". She can be reached by email at Maureen at techtrak.com or by phone at (513) 899-9628. Maureen will come on-site to your company to teach telephone names sourcing to your sourcers.
www.techtrak.com/magicmethod/magicmethod

Names Sourcing has arrived!

Proactive vs. Reactive
There are several definitions for the word “sourcing” commonly bandied about and now we have our own recognition, thanks to the fine work of Rob McIntosh of Deloitte fame.

The usual purchasing definition defines sourcing as it applies to the purchasing activities of a company; one component of supply chain management.
The journalistic definition defines sourcing as it applies to a conduit of information for journalism.
The recruiting definition of sourcing now defines sourcing as the “identification and uncovering of candidates (also known as talent) through proactive recruiting techniques”.

Sourcing’s definition’s arrival in Wikipedia was first reported to us a couple weeks ago by our own ever-on-alert-for-any-news–about –sourcing-gee-I-wish-I-had-a-website-like-his Jim Stroud who remarked, “Somebody had to do it, so I am glad it was Rob McIntosh who made it happen. There are a lot of misconceptions on Sourcing; what it is and what it is not. Rob entered a clear and detailed explanation that I think rings true (and hopefully) blows the cobwebs off the traditional mindset many HR leaders have.”

So what is a “proactive” recruiting technique, anyway?

Getting out of bed and showing up in your recruiting office? Nope.
Pulling resumes that came in over the transom while you were fast asleep at the wheel and reading them with your feet up? Nope.
Attending staffing meetings where everyone complains that they’re overloaded with reqs and sending someone to the commissary for refreshments that ease the pain? No – not that either.

Calling one of the Big Guns in who understand what proactive recruiting techniques are? You’re getting warm.
Forming a focused group in your staffing department that understands the basics of “sourcing” that is tasked exclusively with “the process”? Warmer. Your engines are starting.
Equipping that group with the tools and mission they need to spend their days doing nothing but internet and telephone sourcing? Warmer still.
Bringing on some of the Big Guns who can train and show by example the tools required to effectively internet and telephone source? Engines are starting to rev!
Having a “sourcing group” that functions smoothly and effectively in some quiet, dark corner on one of your floors that includes people who understand and relish the process – this group MUST include telephone sourcers AND internet sourcers! You’re red hot. Go, baby, go.

“But what’s with the word 'proactive'?" you’re still thinking. Three definitions emerge on the Web that give the word meaning:
1 Acting before a situation becomes a source of confrontation or crisis.
2 Descriptive of any event or stimulus or process that has an effect on events or stimuli or processes that occur subsequently
3 Controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens

Notice, it sounds like, “acting before...situation or crisis...effect on events...causal rather reaction”. If it "sounds like", then maybe, just maybe...

“Proactive”, in our industry, means takin’ it to the streets. It means jumpin’ on a situation before it becomes a problem. It means being insightful enough to understand that it’s far better to “act upon” than be “acted upon”. It’s understanding that by being active rather than reactive many crisis can be avoided down the line. It’s telephone sourcing. It’s internet sourcing. It’s talkin’ to the guy standing next to you at the diner and askin’ him what he does. It’s reading the rags and staying current with what’s going on in recruiting. It’s mingling and tingling and keeping yourself plugged in. It’s workin’ out a deal with the manager for that fishbowl after the drawing at that same local diner. It’s...well, you know what it is!

Again, from Wikipedia, proactive is defined as:“...originally coined by the psychiatrist Victor Frankl in his book Man's Search for Meaning to describe a person who took responsibility for his or her life, rather than looking for causes in outside circumstances or other people. Much of this theory was formed in Nazi concentration camps where Frankl lost his wife, mother, father and family, but decided that even under the worst circumstances, people can make and find meaning. The term was popularized in the business press in Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Though he used the word in Frankl's original sense, the word has come to mean "to act before a situation becomes a source of confrontation or crisis" vs. after the fact. It is frequently misused to mean simply "active" the opposite of passive.”

“Passive” is what we do when we choose to be reactive to the world around us. (This is getting complicated, isn’t it?) It implies that we’re inert and not acting; it calls to mind that we are receiving, enduring, or submitting without resistance - not reacting visibly, not participating—readily or actively. It’s the opposite of proactive in every way.

Let’s take the part I most readily attach to the word "proactive": telephone names sourcing. Telephone names sourcing is “the finding of people who hold specific titles (usually) within (usually) specific organizations so that you, as a recruiter, may contact them and offer them your opportunity”. It doesn’t happen by sitting at your desk and staring at the telephone in fear (this being a truly passive activity) – it happens by picking up that telephone, dialing that number, and asking for the information your organization is in such desperate need of! It calls for an aggressive, focused set of activities that “take it to the street” and, to my way of thinking, is an absolute MUST HAVE tool in a company’s toolbox.

What does proactive mean to you?

Recruiting.com. Talkdigger, Slashdot, Digg, Delicious.

Maureen is coming to San Jose to speak on telephone names sourcing at the April 24th meeting of the Human Resources Consultants Association at the Adobe Theatre in San Jose!

It took 3.6 million years to make a Project Manager. You have until Wednesday to find him. Call us.

Our goal is to save you time and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names sourcing firm TechTrak.com and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course "The Magic In The Method." She can be reached by email at Maureen at techtrak.com or by phone at (513) 899-9628. Maureen will come on-site to your company to teach telephone names sourcing to your sourcers.

The FIRST one day Telephone Sourcing Training Seminar presented by Sourcing School is coming to San Jose on April 25 - watch for details!

Citigroup to Axe Recruiters?

Citigroup Plans to Shed Thousands of Jobs - New York Times

Under pressure from shareholders, Citigroup is planning to shed thousands of jobs and sharpen its focus on its operations outside North America. They will announce a broad restructuring plan very soon that could involve the elimination or relocation of as many as 15,000 high-cost jobs from areas including New York, London and Hong Kong.

The net job loss could be 10,000 to 12,000, some through attrition.

Citi’s consumer operations will be hardest hit, with front line and back office operations affected, they say. The corporate and investment banking businesses may be hard hit, with several thousand jobs lost.

Managers in these units have been asked to review highly paid employees and look for places to cut fat, particularly just below managing director level.

The job cuts are part of a company-wide review sparked by the chief operating officer Robert Druskin, who two months ago decided to examine expenses and operations across the entire bank.

Needless to say, many of the Edge's friends recruit at Citigroup - and we feel your pain. So hopefully, the Edge will be one of the first to offer any Citigroup recruiter a chance to blog about themselves as part of a multi-pronged approach to finding a new gig.

And since other large financial multinats will follow in Citigroup's footsteps, expect some tremors across our profession - Edge hopes he's wrong on this one.

Filling Job Orders

51% Hiring managers who feel they must "sell" jobs to candidates.
51% Hiring managers who find fewer qualified candidates available compared with two years ago.
65% Staffing directors who say competition is strong for executives.
32% Workers who have been in their current job less than six months, yet are already job searching.
74% Job seekers who believe it is important to work for an organization they can be proud of.
55% Staffing directors who think that's an important issue for candidates.

Job seekers' top reason for turnover: Insufficient compensation.

Hiring managers' and staffing directors' top reason for turnover: External factors (such as moving).

Source: Development Dimensions International and Monster Intelligence 2006 global study of more than 3,700 job seekers, 1,250 hiring managers and 620 staffing directors in five global regions, including USA/Canada, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia/New Zealand. Margin of error is +/-3.0 percentage points for candidates; +/-4.0 percentage points for hiring managers; and +/-5.0 percentage points for staffing directors.

Interesting Discussion on Rusing

Compassionate Commercialism

Research suggests that we are hard-wired with a strong and intuitive moral impulse — an urge to help others that is every bit as basic as the selfish urges that get all the press. Infants as young as 18 months will spontaneously comfort those who appear distressed and help those who are having difficulty retrieving or balancing objects. Chimpanzees will do the same, though not so reliably, which has led scientists to speculate about the precise point in our evolutionary history at which we became the “hypercooperative” species that out-nices the rest.

We are used to commercial tricks that play on our fears. The official-looking letter marked “Verification Audit” is actually a magazine subscription renewal form; the credit card company’s ominous call to “discuss your account” is actually an attempt to sell new services.

Should we now get used to commercial tricks that play on our humanity? How would we feel about a device planted in trash bins that screams “I’m stuck!” until the lid is opened, at which point it continues, “Stuck in a dead end job, that is — and if you are too, then let us show you how to make millions in real estate with no money down”? Is it O.K. to send a thousand doleful puppies into the streets with tags that say: “Thanks for checking. And speaking of checking, our bank charges no monthly fees”?

What happens to us when greed masquerades as need, when cries for help become casting calls for chumps, when our most noble actions make us patsies? “You put an idea out there and seed it,” said the president of the advertising agency that came up with Nissan’s key ring ploy. “And people carry it for you.” Indeed they do. The idea being seeded and carried in this case is that the world cries wolf, that our moral impulse betrays us and that smart people should keep on walking.

Read the whole thing here.

Multi-tasking can be bad for you.

But who has time for “bad”?

;)

Several research reports, both recently published and not yet published, provide evidence of the limits of multitasking. The findings, according to neuroscientists, psychologists and management professors, suggest that many people would be wise to curb their multitasking behavior when working in an office, studying or driving a car.

In a recent study, a group of Microsoft workers took, on average, 15 minutes to return to serious mental tasks, like writing reports or computer code, after responding to incoming e-mail or instant messages. They strayed off to reply to other messages or browse news, sports or entertainment Web sites. “I was surprised by how easily people were distracted and how long it took them to get back to the task,” said Eric Horvitz, a Microsoft research scientist and co-author, with Shamsi Iqbal of the University of Illinois, of a paper on the study that will be presented next month. “If it’s this bad at Microsoft,” Mr. Horvitz added, “it has to be bad at other companies, too.”

Read the whole thing here.

Telephone Names Sourcing - Why All the Hellabaloo?

Rob McIntosh noted yesterday in a string on ERE that he couldn’t “see the obvious here with the long drawn out responses people seem obligated to make whenever the subject of telephone research/sourcing comes up...why is it that I constantly see Telephone Research/sourcing articles, forums and blog posts riddled with personal jibes, rants and posts making this profession guilty on all counts?”

Why is that? Why is the act of telephone names sourcing striped with all sorts of innuendo, insinuation and ignominy? It’s as if some authors wish to heap dishonor upon the profession, to humiliate those you support or profess its’ effectiveness and disgrace or shame any proponent of the technique.

Enough is enough!

Yes, telephone names sourcing is a highly effective technique that should be the beginning act for most of your searches.

Yes, it’s not easy but the “not easy” part is mostly in your own heads.

No, it is not:
Illegal
Immoral
Unethical

Yes, it can be fattening.

Yes, it will blow the roof off your recruiting results. It will also decrease your need for more expensive recruiting outsourcing.

To answer my own question above, let me repeat what I’ve just said, and offer a theory. “It will also decrease your need for more expensive recruiting outsourcing.” Maybe, just maybe, because telephone names sourcing has the potential to lessen your reliance on more expensive, outside recruiting services it draws the ire of some who see it as a real threat to their own professions. Personally I think this is ridiculous and short-sighted. No industry is stagnant and ours is naturally evolving so all this in-fighting does nothing to lend credit to a professional’s image.

Just a theory, but I think it holds some merit. Whatchu think?

Maureen is coming to San Jose, CA to speak on telephone names sourcing at the April 24 meeting of the Human Resources Consultants Association (www.hrca.com) at the Adobe Systems Park Conference Room in San Jose!
When: Tuesday, April 24, 2007
6:00 - 6:30PM nibbles & networking
6:30 – 8:30PM presentations
Map link: http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pdfs/sjmap.pdf
RSVP: Make your reservation(s) by contacting Merrill Martin at:
merrillm at yahoo-inc.com by April 22.
FREE to HRCA members, $25 to non-members at the door (check or cash).
www.HRCA.com

The first “Magic in the Method” Telephone Sourcing Training Seminar presented by Sourcing School will be held on April 25, 2007 in San Jose. To register visit here.

It took 3.6 million years to make a Project Manager. You have until Wednesday to find him. Call us.

Our goal is to save you time and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names sourcing firm TechTrak.com and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course "The Magic In The Method". She can be reached by email at Maureen at techtrak.com or by phone at (513) 899-9628. Maureen will come on-site to your company to teach telephone names sourcing to your sourcers.

She can also be found here at the new networking site, Naymz. Be sure to check out my "other groups" while you're there!

Court calls Internet law overly restrictive.

Court Rejects Law Limiting Online Pornography

A federal judge in Philadelphia struck down a 1998 law that made it a crime for Web sites to allow children to gain access to material deemed “harmful.”

The ruling is the second major setback in federal efforts to control Internet pornography. The United States Supreme Court struck down a similar law in 1997.

Senior Judge Lowell A. Reed Jr. of Federal District Court ruled that the law was ineffective, overly broad and at odds with free speech rights. Judge Reed added that there were far less restrictive methods like software filters that parents could use to control their children’s Internet use.

“Despite my personal regret at having to set aside yet another attempt to protect our children from harmful material,” Judge Reed wrote, he said he was blocking the law out of concern that “perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection.”

The law, the 1998 Child Online Protection Act, never took effect because of an injunction that was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2004.

Read the whole thing here.

Taboo

A taboo is a strong social prohibition (or ban) against words, objects, actions, discussions, or people that are considered undesirable by a group, culture, or society. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent. Some taboo activities or customs are prohibited under law and transgressions may lead to severe penalties. Other taboos result in embarrassment, shame and rudeness.

Recently I had a saucy little number of a discussion appear on my ASK Maureen group over on ERE that titillatingly titled itself “Illegal Sourcing”. “Interesting”, I thought. “We’ll see where this one goes.”

Alas, it was not to be. After a promising and riotous first post in which the author reported that he had spent four months working for two different recruiting firms that “taught employees how to ruse illegally for candidates” the string took a nosedive. It seems at both of these companies the heads of the firms, the “presidents”, had both taught recruiters how to impersonate U.S. governmental officials in order to get very quick responses/source names from target companies. The author had left both firms because “their behavior was illegal and unethical”.

It all sounded perfectly deliciously gossipy to me.

It wasn’t 45 minutes later and an emphatic response came flying in that said, “It is illegal to impersonate anyone in the United States - it is considered fraud. This is based upon Federal AND State laws... ” and the author went on to describe in detail reasons that included considerations of such things as identity theft, privacy laws and, always the whopper these days, “issues of Security of our Country”. The author went on to mention that a business domain name they owned had been “impersonated” and that “The D.A is currently working on this situation for me...”

Trying to put some damage control into what appeared to be headed towards one of those frightening and off-putting threads, I remarked that the first thing a sourcer should know is that it’s illegal to impersonate a government official, and I further asked the original poster if anyone had pointed “this out to the heads of these firms and what was the response?”

The poor guy answered, telling us that he had informed one but that the rogue didn’t care. He then contacted me a couple hours later asking me to take his response down, that he regretted his answer because after all, “that person’s dealing with a District Attorney – all it takes is one person to make your life hell...”

I did as he asked and took his one response down.

A few other "Tsk, tsk, MY skirts are clean..." chimed in and it was enough to make this guy really uncomfortable. He sent me an email that same evening asking me to take the whole thread down because, in his words, “Few are going to admit they see illegal activities. And I put myself in an unpleasant situation. My kind of comments spark the wrong kind of interest. Thanks.”

I did as he asked and took the whole thread down but as I did it I was reminded of a discussion we had on Animal’s Radio Show last week. I bring it here to the group as an example of a discussion that could have afforded meaningful and helpful information to a group but because of the way some people express themselves, conversations like this, that hold such promise, wither on the vine. Some people are intimidated against becoming a part of what could be a very valuable process.

I see this form of censorship as a virus running through our industry and I would like to see it stopped.

Are there “taboo” subjects in our industry nobody wants to talk about?
What are they?
Is intimidation a form of censorship?
Is it a healthy stance for the industry to tolerate?

"To reject the word is to reject the human search." ~ Max Lerner, 1953, on book purging

Maureen is coming to San Jose to speak on telephone names sourcing at the April 24th meeting of the Human Resources Consultants Association at the Adobe Theatre in San Jose!

It took 3.6 million years to make a Project Manager. You have until Wednesday to find him. Call us.

Our goal is to save you time and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names sourcing firm TechTrak.com and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course, The Magic In The Method. She can be reached by email at Maureen at techtrak.com or by phone at (513) 899-9628. Maureen will come on-site to your company to teach telephone names sourcing to your sourcers.

FYI, I can also be found here at the new networking site, Naymz. Be sure to check out my "other groups" while you're there!

NEW! Coming Soon: Telephone Sourcing Training Seminars presented by Sourcing School at a location near you. If you dare...

Guilt - the Allmighty's Weapon of Choice

It’s spring time for Hitler again. Lately the Edge has been watching some fearful postings in a couple of the groups over on ERE. Their frightened headings ask, “Cold Calling Into Competitors - Is it Illegal?” and the Predatory Tactics string (in the Ethics group) asks, “Do you know of any lawsuits regarding recruiters calling directly into companies and sourcing? We are debating it internally- is an ethics issue or a legal issue?”

If you’re being pressured or waylaid into NOT cold calling into your competitors to find good employees for your own organization, the Edge has 114 words for you:

Guilt! Guilt! It’s a wonderful thing!
It’s the wind in the wings of tyrannical kings!

It’s the stock and the trade of the mercenary force
The insurance of which hides in the code’s morse.

The Aristocrat’s stone upon which he hard steps
Grinding the low down imperceptible depths.

The despot’s measuring stick which he hard lands
Upon the stooped back of those with worn hands.

Revolt! Yes revolt! Question and ask
Revered heads used only to nod and to bask.

Dare to think up and outside the usual course
Step ye beyond the cast of the king’s mighty horse.

Imagine the ways a thing done might be better
Lose, won’t you, the Naysayer’s fetter?

Here's a new one...

This morning, March 14, 2007, I received an automated call at 8:15 am (est) that said, after a few halting moments of silence and clicks:

“We are sorry to disturb you – this message was intended to have been answered only by an answering machine...” before it disconnected.

(I wonder if the halts and clicks meant it was coming from India?)

Well, now, isn’t that special? They have recorded a message (probably for solicitation) that relies on the fact that many, if not most, people rely on an answering machine to answer their phones. It’s one of the facts of life that allow us phone sourcers to thrive – clearly eight out of ten calls we make internally to a company will be answered by an employee’s VoiceMail. It’s one of my favorite information gathering tools and allows me to prevail many times on a sourcing job where others have failed. But I digress in the direction of tooting my own horn once again but the fact I’m trying to make is that now Industry is on to the fact that there’s money to be made in them ‘thar hills – the closeted and cocooned space home bodies have come to hold holy – their answering machines.

Is nothing sacred? Apparently not. Maybe the only way to avoid telephone solicitation in the future will be TO ANSWER YOUR PHONE. Imagine that!

It took 3.6 million years to make a Project Manager. You have until Wednesday to find him. Call us.

Our goal is to save you time and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names sourcing firm TechTrak.com and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course "The Magic In The Method". She can be reached by email at Maureen at techtrak.com or by phone at (513) 899-9628. Maureen will come on-site to your company to teach telephone names sourcing to your sourcers.
www.techtrak.com/magicmethod/magicmethod

I can also be found here at the new networking site, Naymz. Be sure to check out my "other groups" while you're there!

NEW! Coming Soon:
Telephone Sourcing Training Seminars presented by Sourcing School at a location near you!

Improv and Sourcing

improvise, v. (1) To make, invent, or arrange offhand. (2) To make or fabricate out of what is conveniently on hand. – Merriam-Webster

So why can't we do this in sourcing? We can! We do!

There's a great article here

It's about improv and sales, and it tells us we should:

Lighten up
Why not bring more improv into the sales world? Improv’s not just about comedy. It’s about being human, relaxed, and spontaneous. It’s about going with your instincts.

Learning improvisation teaches you to pay attention...the key to improvisation is to accept whatever happens and add, “Yes…And…” to the situation. Not “Yes…But….” Trust your gut, be spontaneous, and accept whatever happens; then go with it.

Again you can read the whole excellent article here.




It took 3.6 million years to make a Project Manager. You have until Wednesday to find him. Call us.

Our goal is to save you time and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names sourcing firm TechTrak.com and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course "The Magic In The Method". She can be reached by email at Maureen at techtrak.com or by phone at (513) 899-9628. Maureen will come on-site to your company to teach telephone names sourcing to your sourcers.
www.techtrak.com/magicmethod/magicmethod

I can also be found here at the new networking site, Naymz. Be sure to check out my "other groups" while you're there!

NEW! Coming Soon:
Telephone Sourcing Training Seminars presented by Sourcing School at a location near you!

The Great Resume Massacre (Dr. Evil laugh)

Jason "Jessica" Alba has a pretty cool idea brewing over on his blog - he's making it possible for a fellow with a crappy resume to receive expert analysis and opinion from experts (what's a resume expert?). Chef Carl has already chimed in with his report and it's time for John Smith to come to the Edge for another dose of reality. So has Sweetie Pie. It ain't pretty.

[Dr. Evil laugh...]

Don’t know why but I always read resumes from back to front. Perhaps I like to see if the person spent as much time and energy on the tail end as they probably did on the beginning. Let’s see what we have here..

Contact info at the end? Do you think any automated ATS has the smarts to check the end of the resume for this or is it assumed that everyone knows to place their contact info at the beginning of the resume/

The phrases strategic business partner and available upon request do the same thing to me – I wonder if the person uttering these really can walk and chew gum at the same time. Of course, references will be made available upon request! What other alternative is there? Company - “John, would you please send me four references?”; John – “No.” Company: “Oh…”

While I’m on the topic of available upon request, if I were John, I’d create an Internet page that highlights my writings - has everyone forgotten Heather Henricks? – and place a link to this within the resume (where is open to discussion).

What is it with the lines embracing each section? My mantra for resumes is to eliminate non-essential ink. Get rid on one of them, will ya?

Why are the skills at the end of the resume? Can someone please answer this for me? Are they also available upon request? Put them up front in a take-no-prisoners Summary section (one horizontal line please, not two).

Another pet peeve – A section entitled “Professional Experience” or “Work Experience.” Whenever I see one of these, I always look for an “Amateur Experience” or “Play Experience” section. “Experience” minimizes non-essential ink; if you volunteer quite a bit, have a section entitled “Volunteerism” or if you have experience from your “dark side” that you’d like to share, call it “After Hours.” It sounds cool and smoky, like playing in a jazz bar and will convince most that you’re not working two jobs at the same time.

If you have a two page resume, include right justified at the top of the page, your name, a title representing who you are professionally, and “Page 2” – just in case someone manages to separate the pages.

What to bold, italicize and underline: Generally speaking, the name of the company and major dates are in bold, the job title is underlined, and nothing is italicized. Don’t bold and underline – one or the other. Why no italics? Because some fonts lose their ability to stand out when italicized. Remember – clean and simple has the additional quality of being more easily “read” by an automated ATS.

Why isn’t there a summary at the top, a place where you highlight your skills and accomplishments in 1-2 short paragraphs? You’re skills go up top in this section not at the end – unless the resume grabs them early, they may not even get to the end (sad but true).

Now we’re on to the meat of the resume – content.

Everything in a resume needs to pass the “So what?” test – if someone in your target audience reads it, will their response be “so what?” If so, it either needs more seasoning or needs to be eliminated.

The resume is entirely depauperate of measures of performance. Working again from the back to the front:

You have room so give the reader the article titles; Did articles generate comment fodder – how much? Did the press releases you wrote generate “interest” or sales?

If you’re a blogger, what’s you’re Alexa rank? How many page views? Trackbacks? How have any of these changed over time?

You interview industry leaders but have they offered you feedback about the great interview that you can use in your resume, on your soon-to-be-created website, in your cover letters, or as part of your responses during an interview?

Senior Project Manager – nothing is written about the success of these projects.

GM and Administrator – “Brought company from very poor state into a successful and profitable enterprise; implemented several new services; managed all day-to-day operations including sales, billing, technical support, and administrative duties; implemented quality assurance surveys; implemented AIM, MSN, and Skype support; greatly improved client/staff relationship; implemented and wrote company newsletter; implemented script installation service for customers; implemented web site management service for customers; redesigned company web site.”

Do you think you’re ee cummings and your goal is to write the longest sentence in resume history? Break it up!

Tell the reader what it means to go “from very poor state into a successful and profitable enterprise.”

Tell the reader what new services were implemented and how successful they were.

What was the size of the group you managed? What was the budget?

How bad were client/staff relationships and how good did they become – did turnover improve, absenteeism decrease?

Most of all, tell the reader what the company does because I’ll bet that they, like me, haven’t the foggiest idea. What are their revenues? Number of employees? Who comprises their customer base? A corner deli is just as much a business as a Starbuck’s but there are subtle differences between the two that need to be defined… ;) Same for Company X and Y.

Heck, I’m not so sure that the titles listed accurately portray what the real job was – this too needs to be assessed.

Most important, you have to explain the dates…

I’m an engineer so I naturally had to draw a Gantt chart of John’s career. I used the order presented in the resume and came to the conclusion that John needs help that even Dr. Phil can’t offer. So there has to be a better way to present John’s experience on a resume – and there is.

Experience section: Company X followed by Company A, Company Z, and Company Y.

Freelance section: Website, Freelance writer, Company B.

Naturally, without any details about the companies, this order is based more upon my feel than for actual facts.

Another item we don’t know is what type of position are you targeting – this too can change the advice given.

John, it’s now you’re move... but wipe yourself up first, ok?

[is that a resume attached to Alba's head?]

And I thought I was busted!

I was calling today looking for Web Analysts in media companies and I called a company in New York and a very nice young woman named Donna answered the phone but as they sometimes do, she did not identify herself. Instead, she stated the name of the company she works for and, “May I help you?”

I took her cue.

“I hope, so, this is Maureen Sharib – I was trying to call Jeremy Black there in your office - I hit his VoiceMail, can you tell me, is there anyone else in Jeremy’s group we might try?”

“What group is he in – do you know?” she queried back.

“Yes, I do, he’s in the Integrated Marketing Solutions group and he’s a Web Analyst,” I answered with the aplomb and confidence of the information I gathered from his VoiceMail (the “Integrated Marketing Solutions group” bit – I already knew his title from LinkedIn!)

“Oh! I call them the SIM group,” she stated. I did not question why there was an S on the beginning of the acronym, rather than the end, recognizing the letters as standing for the words in the group name. She sounded like she was about to talk so I let her go on. “I can try someone else in the group, do you know anyone else?” she curiously asked me.

“You know, I don’t – does he have an Admin?” I casually asked, trying to change the subject.

“No, that group doesn’t have an Admin.” She sounded familiar with the group and I found the info that the group did not have an AA odd. “But tell you what, I can try someone else in the group for you. There’s a James Blow and a Peter Brow and a (incomprehensible foreign sounding name)... let’s try the first one, James Blow. Are you typing these names?” she asked, throwing me off-guard, surprising me and stopping my fingers.

I had been – I’ve been using a normal keyboard lately since my silent one gave up the ghost – they don’t last too long and I haven’t yet ordered my next one. Apparently she could hear the fast clickety-clack of my information gathering through my headset.

“Yes, I am,” I answered truthfully. (“Uh oh,” I thought, starting with the stinkin’ thinkin” I’m always warning you against – “Here we go – she’s going to ask me why...”)

“Do you have James’s last name spelled correctly?” she surprised me again.

“I think I do – is it B-L-O-W?” I answered.

“Most assuredly not!” she exclaimed, through her laughter. Nobody gets that one right – it’s B –L –A –U. I think it’s really important to know how to say, and spell, someone’s name right!”

“This is interesting,” I thought. “Someone after my own heart.”

“I agree, and I’m sorry I didn’t ask and I’m very glad you corrected me!” I chimed back. “It is important to say someone’s name correctly – I know my own name often gets mispronounced – I’m not really fussy about it but I know some people are – are you?” I asked her, deflecting.

“I am,” she answered. People don’t realize this, but I can recognize a lot of things on the phone...I can tell if you’re not smiling, if you’re aggravated, if you’re selling something...”

“What is your name?” I boldly asked.

“Donna. I never give my name out because people use it and say things like, “Donna said, Donna said...”

I laughed, knowing EXACTLY what she was talking about, but I did not let on that I understood her plight
so completely.

“Oh my goodness - imagine that!” is all I offered.

Then she said, startlingly, “I’m glad you’re laughing because at first you sounded very serious...serious but polite, you told me your name right away – I appreciated that,” she remarked, “I know what you’re doing so it’s okay...”

“She knows what I’m doing?” I thought to myself. I hope not. She’s not THIS good, I hoped. I was beginning to see writing on the wall in front of me. I was uneasy and decided the best thing to do in this situation was to remain silent.

She then went on, filling the silence, to tell me, “I’ll go ahead and transfer you to James now, I’ll stay on the line to be sure he answers,” to which, I acknowledged, “Thank you so much, Donna,” wondering how much she really did know.

James’s line of course went to VoiceMail and thinking she was still on I said, “Donna?” She didn’t answer so I knew she had not stayed on the line with me so I zeroed out back to her. She answered.

“Donna, it’s me, Maureen, again – I got James’s Voicemail too!” I told her, with a slight hint of complaint. “Who else did you say was in that department?” I asked, like I didn’t already have the other name I heard when she recited them off in the beginning.

“Sorry! I didn’t stay on with you – my other line rang and I had to answer that,” she offered in way of an apology, like there was one needed.

“That’s okay, Donna,” I soothed. “Can we try someone else?”

“Sure, the next one on the list is Peter Brow – you know how to spell that?” she asked, testing me.

I could tell she took her job seriously.

“I give up! I’m not even going to attempt to try!” I teased back, breaking into a laugh.

“B-R-A-U,” she informed.

“Well, I wouldn’t have gotten THAT one right – that’s for sure!” I exclaimed, affirming her worth in the process. “Can we try him?”

“Sure – hang on,” and off I go to another VoiceMail, to which once again I listen for any clues to the keys to the kingdom. I zero back again.

“No good?” Donna asks, not even skipping a beat.

“No,” trying to sound as forlorn as possible.

“Allrighty then, let me just try Ellen...” The line goes silent as she swifts me to another VoiceMail and when I arrive back, once again, she offers, “I’m just going to go down the line, ok, hold on...let’s try Samantha...” and she sends me to Samantha.

Samantha answered, and Samantha, being one of the group, was able to detail for me what everyone’s title was and also informed me that Jeremy was the ONLY Web Analyst in the group.

My job here was done.

But this experience was different for me because it gave me a view into a real Gatekeeper’s psyche. She had strong beliefs about how communication should work and took pains to see that the process was well-oiled and functional in her organization. She affirmed for me many things I have held dear in my own process and she also demonstrated, once again, that things may not always be what you think they are. It’s best, when you’re thrown off your footing, to go quiet and watch what emerges. Nine times out of ten it’s not what you think!


It took 3.6 million years to make a Project Manager. You have until Wednesday to find him. Call us.

Our goal is to save you time and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names sourcing firm TechTrak.com and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course "The Magic In The Method". She can be reached by email at Maureen at techtrak.com or by phone at (513) 899-9628. Maureen will come on-site to your company to teach telephone names sourcing to your sourcers.
www.techtrak.com/magicmethod/magicmethod

I can also be found here at the new networking site, Naymz. Be sure to check out my "other groups" while you're there!
http://www.naymz.com/search/maureen/sharib/239854?utm_source=profile_visit_notification&utm_medium=email

NEW! Coming Soon:
Telephone Sourcing Training Seminars presented by Sourcing School at a location near you!

Another job fair, another riot - Recruiting in China

China's Talent Wars | workforce.com

"Such is the demand for college graduate jobs in China these days. Pictures
from a recruitment fair in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou showed smashed
doors, broken glass and an escalator with sides bent outward at an extraordinary
angle. Thirty-thousand eager students surged into the exhibition center in mid-November,
overwhelming police, security guards and one hapless escalator as they rushed to
be the first to sign up with potential employers."



Looks to me like Jason "Jessica" Alba might want to JibberJobber over to China...

What Do I Say?

It’s come to my attention lately (and why I didn’t realize this sooner, I don’t know!) that many people don’t know what to say to the names I source for them. When I first heard this question I thought to myself, “What do you mean, ‘What do I say?’ You’re a recruiter – don’t you know?!” before walking them through a couple scripts I might use if I were a recruiter.

Then it hit me.

Because these names I source are many times the truly “passive” candidate (the one hard at work inside a company doing the work you’d like to see them do for you – you know, the one not thinking about looking for another job) some of my recruiters who’ve been reared on resume farming are “reluctant” to call someone who isn’t actually “looking”.

Look, people, everyone’s “looking” at some point – I just saw somewhere that 47million people a month look for new jobs! If they’re not “looking”, they’re dead! We’re all always on the “lookout” for opportunity - why should this be any different? I suggest it’s not and the sooner you lose this stinkin’ thinkin’ mentality the better off you’ll be.

“But what DO I say?” you may still be thinking. Okay, let’s walk through this.

A few of the people I source for you will actually be looking; out of ten I’d say one-two will actually tell you they’re looking and, in fact, might even have a resume out there and will eagerly offer to send it to you. Another two - four will tell you, “Uhhh...yeah...that sounds maybe interesting – I’m not really looking but tell me more!” Another couple will tell you, “Uhhh...not really looking, just started this job, yadda yadda... but ya’ never know what the future holds – tell me more!”

So why wouldn’t you call these people with these kind of return rates?

You would, I know.

“This is Maureen Sharib. You’ve been identified as someone XYZ is really interested in regarding an open position – do you have a few minutes to spend with me to maybe discuss this?”

“Huh? Who, me? How’d you get my name?” they might reply, surprised, but at the same time somewhat flattered.

At this point you may have to go back and repeat yourself. Do it slowly so the potential candidate can absorb what you’re saying. This is the time to elaborate a little on what you’re presenting.

“This is Maureen Sharib. You’ve been identified as someone XYZ is really interested in regarding an open position they have in their marketing research department – might you be interested in this opportunity or maybe you know someone who could be?”

Hmmm...two questions in one, might they be or do they know anyone? Again, I say, and this is important, say this slowly and be in possession of your own wits. Know that when you deliver this complimentary missive, the subject is taking his feet off his desk and sitting up in his chair, leaning forward and listening more intently to what you’re saying.

He may not be in a position to talk. He may have someone sitting next to him; he may be in the middle of something and NOW may not be the best time to talk. Listen to his response. If it sounds kind of on the “down-low” or if he sounds discomforted, offer to call him “at a more convenient time”.

“Might I call you this evening at home regarding this opportunity? Would your cell be better? What is your cell/home number?”

The idea is to stay in control of the process – don’t let him tell you, “I’ll call you.” Yeah, right. Make arrangements for you to call him and set a time.

“Would 7:30 this evening be okay? I’ll call you at 7:30 sharp!”

And do it. Be aware what time zone he’s in and call him at 7:30 in HIS time zone – not yours!

If he sounds like he’s willing to talk right then and there, continue. Expect this:

“How’d you get my name?”

Once again, repeat yourself.

“You’ve been specifically identified by XYZ through research as someone who could help take them to the next level.”

Who could say no to this?

“Oh,” is many times the response.

You: “Do you mind if we spend a few minutes together chatting and sharing a little information? If you do have an interest, a representative from XYZ will contact you to answer any specific questions I may not be able to, but first, I need a little information – you’re a Market Research Analyst there, right?” And on it goes. You segue easily into the other questions you’d like to hear answered – expect that he may or may not answer all of them - salary is a little premature for someone who wasn’t “thinking” about another job...until you called! But many times they’ll share their education, their past job experiences as well as their present responsibilities, their level of skill/knowledge and just about anything you ask about. Keep this first call short – ten minutes maximum but you can usually get quite a lot accomplished in five.

This isn’t brain surgery folks. It’s communicating with people – one on one – and it’s a highly effective transformer for talent acquisition. Why wouldn’t you do this?

I wrote another article earlier on this subject here.

It took 3.6 million years to make a Project Manager. You have until Wednesday to find him. Call us.

Our goal is to save you time and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names sourcing firm TechTrak.com and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course "The Magic In The Method". She can be reached by email at Maureen at techtrak.com or by phone at (513) 899-9628. Maureen will come on-site to your company to teach telephone names sourcing to your sourcers.
www.techtrak.com/magicmethod/magicmethod

I can also be found here at the new networking site, Naymz. Be sure to check out my "other groups" while you're there!
http://www.naymz.com/search/maureen/sharib/239854?utm_source=profile_visit_notification&utm_medium=email

NEW! Coming Soon:
Telephone Sourcing Training Seminars presented by Sourcing School at a location near you!

When I Was a Baby Sourcer

When I was a baby sourcer, and didn’t have the crutch LinkedIn to jumpstart my searches, I’d go to the Internet (this was before ZoomInfo - formerly Eliyon) and the other internet strippers really got started, and I would google (back then I think it was dogpile or altavista I used before I kinda’ understood the magic of algorithms and the brains behind them) the name of the company I was trying to penetrate and the title I was working on. Mind you, if you’re going to do this still-effective technique - if your company name has two or more words make sure you put them into quotes and likewise for your title; however, remember LESS IS MORE in internet search so the better you limit your commands the better your results will be. (Be sure you spell things right!) I still do this exercise when I can’t find any LinkedIn results and I need those precious “few names in” to get inside.

To continue, and the reason for these meanderings, is, as follows: Sooner or later, let’s say I was looking for Java/J2EE folks, I’d begin to bump into conference listings, like the one I am showing below. Conference listings can be great arbiters of information if you’re not too tightly restricted on search parameters like I usually am, but nonetheless, they can be great learning tools. Not only can you pick up some of the lingo, so you can talk the talk when you’re inside a company on the phone, but you also can view, at a glance, who some of the major players are in an industry.

Take a look here.

See how they list out all their presenters over a three-day span? How nice of them. By clicking on their names you can read about their backgrounds and their affiliations, but more importantly, these names can lead you to others! What do I mean? Try googling a few of them skilled in the application you’re seeking and you’ll be amazed at the information some of them will open for you – other conferences, listings of patent holders where the name is only one of several, remarks they may have made that made their ways online along with their recipients names, etc. The list of possibilities is endless.

Take a lookie here for a list of conferences coming up on Open Source.

One of them, the 2007 O'Reilly Open Source Convention will take place July 23-27, 2007 in Portland, Oregon. OSCON 2007 will bring over 2500 open source professionals together to network, learn, and share the latest knowledge around open source software. Find out more about OSCON.
OSCON Features:
More than 400 sessions designed to build inspiration as much as know-how, focusing on Linux, PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, Java, Databases, Desktop Applications, Web Applications, and much more
40 tutorials go deep into the technology behind open source innovations
O'Reilly Radar: The Executive Briefing, an opportunity to meet with the most influential minds guiding the business of open source
Over 2500 open source developers, gurus, experts, and users under one roof
An Expo Hall featuring the newest products and projects to help you work smarter and connect to your community
Fun evening (and late-into-the-night) events, Birds of a Feather sessions, and networking opportunities

Armed with this site, I would spend many “late-into-the-night” research sessions scouting things out – know what I mean?

;)

It took 3.6 million years to make a Project Manager. You have until Wednesday to find him. Call us.

Our goal is to save you time and help you succeed.

Maureen Sharib is a seasoned telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names sourcing firm TechTrak.com and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course "The Magic In The Method". She can be reached by email at Maureen at techtrak.com or by phone at (513) 899-9628. Maureen will come on-site to your company to teach telephone names sourcing to your sourcers.
www.techtrak.com/magicmethod/magicmethod

I can also be found here at the new networking site, Naymz. Be sure to check out my "other groups" while you're there!
http://www.naymz.com/search/maureen/sharib/239854?utm_source=profile_visit_notification&utm_medium=email

NEW! Coming Soon:
Telephone Sourcing Training Seminars presented by Sourcing School at a location near you!