Is Hiring an Art or Science?

 

 

ARTICLE | THU, 06/12/2014 - 00:00

Navin Nagiah

Do you hire based more on information or on gut feel?

The easy answer should be “both.”

Hiring is both an art and a science. Irrespective of how many hires you’ve made, and how much you’ve honed your expertise, hiring is tough. It’s one of those management functions where you can do certain things to improve the odds, but you can never be perfect.

5 Tips for Success 
Hire for hunger. The person must be insatiably hungry for something – that something could be commissions or career progression, learning or growth or something else. Ultimately, it’s essential that they’re hungry for something that will benefit the business.

Hire for intellect and an intense desire to learn0. This is a requirement in most companies today, and especially for start-ups. People talk about “drinking from the fire hose.” In most start-ups, given the amount of continuous change, an ability to drink from the fire hose is table-stakes. It is required, but may not be sufficient.

Hire for competence. The key question here is, all things being equal, can they do the job? What accomplishments do they have that make you believe that they can do the job? What specifically was their role in it, and what impact did they have? Determining this could be considered more science than art.

If they don’t have demonstrable past accomplishments relevant to this job, ask yourself if they have the knowledge, skills and temperament to do this job, even though they haven’t done it before. Understanding this – and extrapolating it to your current job opening is much more art than science. While understanding the information is science, extrapolating it and making an assessment becomes more of a gut-feel because of the unknowns involved.

Hire for fit. The vast majority of people are suited for some job in some company. The challenge is to get the match right. This is definitely an art. The key question here is whether you like working with the person. The other question is – who is this person going to be working with the most? What are their personalities? What is the philosophy and culture of the team and company? Will this person fit into that mix? Dr. Philip LeNoble of Executive Decision Systems says, "Don't let the candidate sell you on the job just to get a paycheck...challenge them with open-ended questions."

Interviewing is a two-way street. Provide a meeting ambience that encourages the candidate to interview you, as much as you interview the candidate. This helps you present your company and yourself and helps them assess whether they want to work there. In addition, how a candidate asks questions and what questions they ask reveals a lot.

How Do You Interview?
It’s best if the interview is structured as an informal or semi-formal conversation rather than an interrogation session. It is essential to have a two-way, honest discussion so that both parties ultimately benefit.

Be sure to ask open-ended questions that spark thought and discussion:

Why are you a insurance  rep? 

What do you like about media sales and why?

As a teacher, how are you different today than three years ago?

In hiring, more than most other things, perfection is not the goal – the pursuit of perfection is. Continue to refine your approach; it must be fluid or you’ll end up no closer to perfection...  or the right hire.

Navin Nagiah is the President and CEO of DNN, producers of a commercial suite of content management and community engagement applications.

SenatorsSeekToHaveJSAsGrandfathered

ToHaveJSAsGrandfathered

Citing possible danger to local broadcasters and their viewers, five Democrats ask FCC’s Wheeler “to adopt a waiver policy that does not penalize JSAs that were structured and executed prior to the issuance of the new rules.” New waivers should be given, they urge, to JSAs "that promote more or better local news, public affairs and emergency information, diverse programming such as foreign language and expanded ownership opportunities for minorities and women in broadcasting.”

TVNewsCheck, June 12, 2014 2:32 PM EDT

Five U.S. Senators today sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler voicing their concern over the commission’s recent crackdown on joint sales agreements between local TV broadcasters and urging the FCC to “to adopt a waiver policy that does not penalize JSAs that were structured and executed prior to the issuance of the new rules."
In addition, they say, "the commission' s waiver policy going forward should favorably regard, for example, JSAs that promote more or better local news, public affairs and emergency information, diverse programming such as foreign language and expanded ownership opportunities for minorities and women in broadcasting.”

The letter, from Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), Robert Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) and Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), said: “Market pressures in the broadcasting industry are making it harder for smaller stations to survive. If regional stations go dark, our constituents will be the ultimate losers.

“We are concerned , therefore, that the Federal Communications Commission's recently promulgated rules with respect to Joint Sales Agreements will further undermine the ability of local broadcasters to serve their communities. While we appreciate your desire to promote competition in the marketplace, the new rules are interrupting established business practice and creating substantial uncertainty in the broadcasting market. Ultimately, we fear the result will be less competition since certain broadcasters may be forced to cease operations, which would harm not only the broadcasters themselves but also the viewers they serve.
“Specifically, as a result of the FCC's decision to count JSAs between television stations as ownership interests, many existing agreements wi ll have to be unwound unless specific waivers are granted. These existing agreements were consistent with the law and rules at the time they were executed, and business plans have been built around them. Forcing the broadcasters to rely on the speculative possibility of a waiver creates substantial business challenges.
“In addition to the business uncertainty the new rules create with respect to existing agreements, we are concerned that the new JSA rules going forward will unnecessarily foreclose many agreements that have resulted in improved local service and a more robust broadcast industry. This is especially true in smaller markets where stations may, absent a JSA, struggle to generate sufficient advertisi ng revenue to support the production of locally oriented programming.

“Finally, we are disturbed by reports that new processing guidelines looking at JSAs and other sharing arrangements have caused applications for broadcast station transfers to be stalled at the FCC. These delays create further market uncertainty and challenges.

The senators concluded by adding that they “hope the commission will take swift action on pending television station transactions in the very near future.”

15 Great No-Cost Ways to Supercharge Your Employees

 

BY PETER ECONOMY  @BIZZWRITER

You don't need to spend a bunch of cash to motivate employees to do great things. Just apply some simple but effective leadership practices.

The Following is an excerpt from Inc. Magazine

Many bosses think that the best and perhaps the only way to get their employees motivated to do a better job is to pay them more, in the form of higher salaries, bonuses, or other cash rewards. This is a mistake. In reality, there are a lot of things you can do to supercharge employee performance that won't cost you a single dime.

Consider the example of Factory 360, an experiential marketing firm based in New York City. Company founder Michael Fernandez decided to convert an unused office into a yoga studio for employees. Together they practice their yoga moves in the repurposed space. Not only has team morale improved but Fernandez reports that the amenity has helped employees build stronger bonds with one another--and with him.

Try the following no-cost ways for supercharging your employees' morale and performance. You (and your customers) may be surprised at what a difference they make.

1. Don't just tell your employees what to do, explain why they should do it. (And while you're at it, make sure the reasons are good ones!)

2. Provide employees with prompt and candid feedback on their performance.(If improvements are needed, help them understand what they need to do to do better.)

3. Catch your employees doing something right. (And praise them when you do.)

4. Ask your employees what you can do to improve your business. (And implement their suggestions whenever it makes sense to do so.)

 

5. Really listen to what your employees have to say. (Show your sincere interest by focusing your full attention on your people when they are talking to you.)

6. Ask your employees, "What's one thing I can do better for you this month?"(And then tell them one thing they can do better for you that month.)

7. Assign small projects to your employees that require them to learn new tasks and grow in their jobs. (Serving on a task force to deal with a pressing business problem or presenting a proposal to top management are just two possible options.)

8. Rotate team leadership positions among all members of the team. (Provide all employees with leadership training so they are prepared to lead.)

9. Don't punish employees when they try something and fail. (Instead, help them learn lessons that will help them succeed the next time.)

10. Open your books to employees. (When employees know how what they do at work contributes to the bottom line, they will do more of it.)

11. Communicate a long-range vision for your company. (Make sure it's inspiring and clearly stated.)

12. Share customer letters and email messages of complaint and praise with all employees. (And do it promptly and regularly.)

13.  Expect perfection. (But accept excellence.)

14. Always treat your employees with dignity and respect. (Just as you yourself want and expect to be treated.)

15. Allow your people to be great. (You have the power to let your employees be great, or to shut them down.)

TV Ad Market Expected To Hit $68B, Digital Video $6B In 2014

MediaDailyNews

by Wayne Friedman, 6 hours ago

Although the growth rate of digital video advertising has risen faster than the traditional TV ad market, TV will continue to outpace digital video in terms of growth of actual advertising revenue.

This year, the TV ad market -- broadcast and cable networks, syndication, and local spot -- will climb to $68.54 billion, adding on $2.19 billion, or 3.3%, from last year’s $66.35 billion, according to new research from eMarketer.

At the same time, digital video will rise to $5.96 billion -- up from $1.76 billion, or 41.9%, from its $4.20 billion total in 2013.

The study says TV will continue to outpace digital video in terms of actual advertising dollars in the coming years -- $2.06 billion to digital’s $1.81 billion in 2015; $3.18 billion to $1.68 billion in 2016; $2.21  billion to $1.67 billion in 2017; and $2.66 billion to $1.59 billion in 2018.

"The digital video audience is spread more thinly than a mass television audience, and that segmentation makes digital video ad buys more complex and less reliable than TV advertising," states David Hallerman, principal analyst, eMarketer.

He adds: "Time spent with digital video is growing significantly, and it's taking away some TV time, but given the diversity of placements and platforms, digital video viewers are more difficult for advertisers to target."

Digital video will continue to grow at a faster rate than TV. But that growth rate will ebb in the coming years -- a 30.4% gain in 2015; 21.7% in 2016; 17.6% in 2017; and 14.3% in 2018.

Traditional TV growth will continue at a steady pace — up 3.0% in 2015; 4.5% in 2016; 3.0% in 2017; and 3.5% in 2018.

By 2018, traditional TV advertising revenue will get to $78.64 billion with digital video to $12.71 billion.

Wireless Becoming TV's Newest Nemesis

TVNewsCheck

 

Historically, broadcast TV's biggest foes have been cable and newspapers, but now there seems to one more major adversary: wireless operators.Wireless has been lusting after broadcast spectrum, supporting the FCC's incentive auction. That's even more threatening since the auction push is headed by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the former wireless trade association chief. Now, with Verizon's nascent LTE Multicast service, it's also planning on making a direct play for TV stations' audiences as well.

 

By Harry A. Jessell 

May 30, 2014

 

Harry A. Jessell is editor of TVNewsCheck. He can be contacted at 973-701-1067 orhajessell@newscheckmedia.com.

 

A friend passed along a photocopy of an article that appeared in the Aug. 21, 1995, number ofElectronic Media (now the online TV Week). "Shell group backs fees on spectrum," blared the headline on what I suppose was the front page of the tabloid.

The story, written by Doug Halonen, who now covers Washington for us, says that the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, had set up a bogus consumer group — as astroturf group, in Washington parlance — to derail the efforts to give TV stations free use of second channels so they could make a smooth transition to digital.

 

Left unsaid is that CTIA wanted the TV spectrum for the burgeoning cell phone business. In 1995, cell phones were just beginning to take over America.

The then-president of the CTIA acknowledges in the article that the trade group is funding the Campaign for Broadcast Competition and makes no apology for it. "It's a cause that makes a lot of sense," he says.
That president, of course, was Tom Wheeler, who is now shaping the future of telecommunications and determining the fate of broadcasting as chairman of the FCC.

The article is disconcerting for anyone who cares about the future of broadcasting as a vital, independent medium.

 

We all know that Wheeler once headed the wireless trade group (and the big cable trade group prior to that), but, still, the article is an in-your-face reminder of how deeply engaged he once was in trying to hobble broadcasting.

If Wheeler's CTIA had its way and broadcasters had been denied use of second channels, I'm not sure that broadcasting would have made the move to digital and HDTV, certainly not in the orderly fashion that it did. The transition scheme is an exemplar of public-private policymaking. It benefitted just about everybody, except maybe the wireless carriers whose appetite for spectrum knows no bounds.

People change and positions evolve, but I'm betting that deep down Wheeler still believes that broadcasters have been getting away with too much "free" spectrum for too long.

As President Obama's first appointment to head the FCC, Julius Genachowski got the ball rolling on reallocating 120 MHz of TV spectrum to wireless through the incentive auction. From the wireless perspective, Wheeler, Obama's second appointment, was the perfect choice to complete the task. He really believes that wireless carriers, his old clients, are better stewards of the natural resource.
For me, the EM article also serves as a forceful reminder that the wireless industry has been working against broadcasters for a long time.

In the great media battle royal for the hearts and minds and wallets of the American public, I have seen broadcasters' principal nemeses as newspaper publishers and cable operators; not so much the wireless carriers.

For 60 years, newspapers have battled TV stations for local advertising dollars, particularly from car dealers. Cable (and later cable-like satellite TV) has been nibbling away at the broadcasting audience for 40 years now and has managed to eat away about two-thirds of it. As the audience has shifted to cable so has a large chunk of the advertising.

To date, the threat to broadcasting from wireless has been indirect. Instead of advertising or audience, wireless has been lusting after broadcast spectrum. The latest evidence is its full-throated support for the FCC incentive auction.

But the nature of the wireless threat may be expanding into the head-to-head variety. Wireless carriers have been experimenting with a wireless "broadcasting" service — that is, a spectrum-efficient TV service that uses the cell network, but mimics the one-way, one-to-many format of broadcasting.
On Memorial Day, Verizon conducted a trial of its LTE Multicast service, broadcasting the Indy 500 to people in and around the track outfitted with specially equipped Samsung smartphones.

"Large audiences in specific locations who want to watch high-definition video can present a challenge; but with LTE Multicast, a specific channel of spectrum is assigned to this purpose, making the video experience — and ultimately the overall wireless experience of others in the same location — high quality," Verizon explains in a press release ballyhooing the test.

Verizon conducted a similar trial during the Super Bowl in February.
LTE Multicast is a long way from the market. I'm told Verizon will have to spend a lot of money to upgrade its networks before it can roll it out to a mass audience.

But Verizon, AT&T and others have a lot of money, they have the incentive and they may soon have access to great gobs of additional spectrum thanks to the Wheeler FCC and the incentive auction.
Should the technology prove out, broadcasters may soon find themselves battling wireless carriers for programming rights and ultimately mobile audience as well as for spectrum.

I've assigned out tech editor Phil Kurz to investigate LTE Multicast and see what its real prospects are.

All in all, the threat from wireless is looming large enough that I'm not sure who broadcasters should fear the most — Wheeler the ex-cable lobbyist or Wheeler, the ex-wireless lobbyist.

 

And On The 45th Day, They Tweeted

Tuesday, June 3, 2014  By Jamie Tedford When people ask me about my professional background, I often quip that I’m a “recovering ad guy.” After reading Business Insider’s “The 45-Day Planning Process That Goes Into Creating A Single Corporate Tweet,” I’m reminded this is exactly what I’m still recovering from. What a Huge (sorry, too easy) waste of time and money.   Too many hours of my stint at a “traditional agency” were spent obsessing over a single piece of content. We debated passionately about brand essence and the voice of the customer. We fixated on the perfect combinations of words, headlines and copy. We glamorized the most mundane product imagery -- a process our art directors called “romancing the beef” -- for fast food photo shoots. And we spent months to produce a movie-quality piece of 30-second footage.   All those billable hours, creative energy, and expense for a piece of content that was increasingly being ignored and skipped via the traditional medium that delivered them. Yup, it was this special breed of insanity that had me running from traditional marketing to the more authentic, fluid and human canvas that is social media.   Cue my anxiety-filled realization that social media is now at risk of being crushed by the same weight that makes traditional advertising content creation so slow, expensive and often ineffective: 45 days, one tweet, two “favorites,” hundreds of thousands of dollars. C’mon social-media marketers, we can do better. We need to do better.     To start, let’s consider the following: Plan with more efficiency: Sophisticated marketers and agencies are beginning to implement “content engines” that generate, categorize and store content at scale for omni-channel use.  All the “romancing of the beef” might make sense if that same image was leveraged across print, TV, in-store, and social.     Done is better than perfect: Unlike traditional ads that carry the weight of media spend from their inception, not all social content is created equally (or permanently). Test and learn what content is working, not just for you, but for your competitors as well. Technology enables this competitive advantage and takes the guesswork out of content creation.   Recognize great content by making it an ad: The only functional difference between a piece of organic content like a tweet or a post is the little text that indicates it is “promoted” or “sponsored.”  This is the beauty of “native advertising.”  Let analytics tell you when a piece of content has earned the right to become an ad. Then amplify it. Moneyball, people. It works in advertising as it does in baseball.   Automate when possible: In the age of big data, social data, and fast data, we cannot dedicate large teams and months of time to a task that could be done quicker, by fewer people, and with greater results. Imagine using streams of data to publish dozens of different promoted tweets at once, with little to no human interference. Suddenly, you have one tweet for President Camembert, another for President Brie, and a third for President Feta -- all geo-targeted to the markets in which their supply is highest during that given week.   Finally, let’s appreciate the need for a balanced approach to the art and science of marketing.  We are human; images, words and music move us. Despite this example, Huge. and many other firms, have created beautiful content, delivered efficiently, to drive measurable results. This is the legacy from traditional media that can inform the healthy growth of social-media marketing. The alternative is too painful for me to consider at this critical step in my recovery.

Attention Holiday Shoppers: Five Mobile@Retail Tactics You'll See This Season

by Scott Holmes, Tuesday, June 3, 2014

While it may seem early, it's almost becoming too late if you're not prepared for this holiday season's onslaught of mobile@retail tactics. We'll be able to glimpse the future of the customer journey, with brick-and-mortar stores and mobile commerce intersecting in new ways during the crucial fourth quarter when the majority of annual brand revenue is on the line …and everyone puts their best foot forward. Last season, eMarketer reported that 20-25% of sales were executed on mobile devices, and comScore estimated online sales grew 10%... lower than expected. And according to the Associated Press, while retail sales rose 2.7% to $266 billion, store visits declined 14.6%, as many consumers now research merchandise online before going into (fewer) stores to consummate the purchase. What's going on here is that consumer shopping behavior can no longer be viewed as either in-store or online. The smartest brands and retailers are looking at how mobile and retail can work together, seamlessly, to create a better customer experience to get shoppers back into stores with services they can't get online. Here are five descriptions of the top mobile@retail tactics you’ll encounter this year. Download the App! As customers often originate their shopping searches online, it's important to consider how to best transition these interactions into in-store transactions. A requirement for most of the exciting new mobile@retail apps is for the consumer to opt-in to a customized mobile app, so you'll be seeing a lot more aggressive on-site communications to both promote and offer on-the-spot downloads. Touchscreens allow for immediate participation as well as for visual presentation of how the new media technologies work. Mobile apps are even now being promoted on the signature screens of many credit card readers. Once downloaded, these apps open up automatically when a consumer enters the store. Think and act in accordance with how you would like to be catered to when shopping during the holidays. How about integrating your plan-a-gram for store layout, so your patrons can be guided to the appropriate isle and then be presented with relevant and timely coupons based on proximity? Be Responsive Look for much improved and more consistent presentation of text and graphics with all handheld devices using the newest “Responsive Design” protocols. As content is presented across a growing array of channels, providing an optimized viewing experience means simplifying navigation and presenting text for easy readability by minimizing resizing, scrolling, and panning. Adapting a layout to a specific viewing environment involves "media queries" to determine device specs so flexible images and fluid grids size correctly to fit the screen. Not only do responsively designed online sites and mobile apps create a better customer experience, they also provide optimized search results and build consumer confidence in the brand. Touch Me Touchscreen kiosks are becoming the norm rather than exception. However, creating kiosk-like experiences that can be transferred or emulated on a mobile device are more optimal for consumer retention. This allows for immediate in-store participation, along with the opportunity for the consumer to simultaneously connect with the outside/online world to continue the conversation with your brand and share socially with friends. Shoppers are already holding in their hands the easiest to use and most familiar touchscreens we’ve ever seen, and with mobile display screens becoming larger and larger, marketers will have more physical (creative) space to use. Location Loyalty Geofencing outside, with Proximity Wifi and low-energy Bluetooth (BLE) inside, will create “promo zones” capable of a wide variety of personalized services including cross-selling and limited-time discount couponing redeemable via onscreen barcode. The customer benefits with rewards and incentives and the retailer benefits by increased analysis of consumer usage and real-time shopper behavior. New proximity products being tested in the marketplace include PowaTag (from Powa technologies), akin to an EZPass for shopping; Presence Zones (from IBM), which allow for salespeople to monitor shopper behavior and intercede at the optimal moment; and Blix, providing real-time retail space metrics. Once the consumer is in the zone, offers can be delivered throughout the store via beacons, such as Apple iBeacon technology. Socially Relevant We now live in a world of radical transparency where consumers are either your best marketers or your worst nightmare. Providing a seamless experience from the virtual world onto the retail floor is paramount and we’re finding new ways to engage. Many shoppers don’t even look for a sales clerk anymore and when they find one, the associate is often less informed about a product than what one can find within seconds on a smartphone. In the same way Yelp has revolutionized opinion-making about local products and services, various forms of social media are creating a new universe of mobile marketing and shopping experiences. Also, retailers have long-recognized the impact of cause-related buying, such as Walgreens commitment to support a child’s life through a donation to Vitamin Angels or a gift of virtual currency and achievement from Kiip? Brand marketers still need to ensure positive reviews are out there, and seed the social ecosystem with relevant offers, but making a real, emotional connection with your consumer fan base is what really matters. These mobile@retail tactics not only provide support at the brick-and-mortar store level, but are also designed to develop long-term relationships with a shopper over time by integrating other mobile behavioral data for future use and through ongoing loyalty programs. Warning: this may be the first year where the incredible power of this new set of technologies causes an outcry among some consumers over privacy invasion. Let’s face it -- downloading an app that will now follow you around with intrusive messaging that brings this to your attention represents a whole new level of behavioral tracking. Benefits will clearly have to outweigh privacy tradeoffs for these to be successful, which is why pro developers -- with a proven consumer marketing perspective ---are key to shortening the learning curve. And that’s what it’s about this year: learning how mobile@retail tactics operate before, during and after an omnichannel holiday. So get started on something…now.

The Power Of Words

OnlineSPIN

Wednesday, June 4, 2014 
By Cory Treffiletti

The Internet is a powerful medium, but not as powerful as the spoken word.  For proof, simply look at the news and read the headlines.  Words can hurt.  Words can heal.  Words can solve problems  -- and words can create more problems than you could ever imagine.

The Internet creates an information super-highway where words have no speed limit and there are no boundaries for where they can travel.  When you say something at home with friends, or in the office with co-workers, those words can easily travel from your mouth to someone’s ears, through their fingertips and into the pixelated ether for anyone and everyone to pick up, read and hear.  In some cases those words can be inspirational, such as Kevin Durant’s 2013-2014 MVP speech, or the Stanford commencement speech from Steve Jobs back in 2005.   In other cases they can be repulsive, such as the remarks of Donald Sterling (formerly of the Los Angeles Clippers) or the YouTube video posted by Elliot Rodger just before the Santa Barbara shootings.  Either way, words are simply the most powerful manifestation of humanity -- both right and wrong.

Words are protected by the Constitution of the United States, but they go far beyond the boundaries of a single country, extending throughout the rest of the world.  What you say in Iowa can have an impact on a child in Thailand, and vice versa.  Words do not have an age requirement, or an age limit.  Words uttered by a two-year-old can have just as much impact as the words written and spoken by an 86-year-old woman with more knowledge and experience than her peers.  The works of Maya Angelou have helped more people throughout the world than she possibly ever would have imagined, but she didn’t set out to change the world.  She simply set out to express herself.

When words are set to music, they can do even more, but that is probably a column for another day.
The last month has proven one thing to me: regardless of how far down the path of technology and innovation we go, we will never surpass the power of words.  Advertisers spend billions each year to improve targeting, but at the end of the day, words are what really matter. I love data and I love targeting, but no level of high technology can overcome poor writing.  When I see an ad on TV and when I read an ad in a magazine, the words are what resonate.  Targeting may have put the right ad in front of me, but the words are what make me remember it.

I saw a column recently that stated, “No Internet ad has ever made you cry.” If that’s the case, then I blame the words in those ads, because the words are what tap into emotion, delivering the sentiments that make you laugh, cry or feel content.

The world is filled with brilliant people who can put words into actions, but there are far fewer people who can simply put out brilliant words and let them sink in for the rest of us to read.  Maya Angelou will be praised for years to come, while people like Donald Sterling will be forced to rethink how they speak, what they think and where they choose to go with their lives.  Hopefully, as a result of the speed of dissemination of words such as these, other people will be forced to take a look at themselves and find the right words for the future.
One can only hope.  One can only dream.