At the heart of the matter is Twitter — a service where users post short, public messages of up to140 characters each. While larger organizations use Twitter to monitor consumer engagement with their brands and as an outlet for public relations, smaller businesses can use Twitter effectively to build their network locally. Real estate professionals in particular, are proving themselves to be savvy Twitter users, working to expand their networks and create an online presence that reflects their personality, interests and their expertise in conducting real estate transactions.

Phil Soper, president and chief executive at Royal LePage Canada encourages agents to use Twitter with a less hard-edge marketing approach and more of a flavour of interpersonal sharing. “Yes, ensure people understand what you do for a living but avoid constant patter about that home you have for sale,” Soper advises. “People will be interested in your insights and information. Be yourself. We’re salespeople, and all good salespeople like to share what’s on their mind.”

Sebastian Albrecht, a sales representative at Royal LePage Westside in Vancouver and avid blogger and Twitter user, offers this insight: “I view Twitter as a tool to reinforce relationships, to give people an insight into who I am, and to demonstrate the skill and knowledge with which I conduct my business.” Albrecht also received unprecedented local media attention for his climb of Vancouver’s Grouse Mountain, called the “Grouse Grind,” in which he ascended the mountain 14 times in one day to raise funds for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. “Everyone in Vancouver can relate to the Grouse Grind. Either we have all done it, or know someone who has. As a result, people have a concept of just how difficult it [climbing 14 times] is to accomplish,” he said.

In Albrecht’s case, the local aspect, doing something out of the ordinary for a good cause, and using social media to leverage it appears to be a recipe for success.

www.newscanada.com

Let’s Talk: A guide to resolving workplace conflicts (pdf 3807 KB)

I’m a fan of Tom Peters’ writings. I probably aggravate people by the number of times I start a statement with the words, “Tom Peters says.”

One of the things I appreciate is the number of resources he provides via his website. In addition to the free stuff at the link above, you can:

• Download PowerPoint decks, going back to 2001
• Download PowerPoint decks from his seminars, going back to 1999
• Read his blog, Dispatches from the New World of Work
• and more

It’s worth checking out his site.

Tom Peter’s: Free Stuff!.

1. Interview Questions to Determine Behavioural Competencies – Looking at past experience is a strong predictor of future performance. this is a list of questions to help dig into a candidate’s past experience.
2. Strange Tales From the Employment World – Robert Smithson’s semi-annual list of some of the weird things that occur in the employment context.
3. Top CEO Pay in Canada – On average, the best-paid 100 CEOs make more than 218 times as much as a Canadian working full-time for a full year at the average of weekly employment earnings.
4. A Checklist for Internal Investigations – A checklist of issues that you should consider before undertaking an internal investigation
5. 16 Keys to Interviewing Success – It’s not just about the questions you ask a candidate.

Viadeo, one of the world’s largest business social networks with over one million members across Europe and 750,000 members across China, has today launched free private social networks for business and alumni associations within its worldwide business community. The private co-branded areas or ‘Community Groups’ will allow business and alumni associations to network with their members with the option to forge contacts with other like-minded people using Viadeo’s extensive business social network.

While the private Community Groups will be developed and hosted by Viadeo, the business associations will own, run and co-brand their own private area, as well as setting the rules for membership and participation within the portal. The private Community Group will also have its own exclusive URL for the association.

Business benefits

Association members will be now able to communicate, debate, find information and organise events with other members, old colleagues or friends within their private hubs for the first time. A range of networking tools, such as blogs, forums, mailshots, and RSS will be available to facilitate fast and easy communication within the Community Group. The Community Groups will also benefit from chat and VoIP services due to the imminent integration of Jabber in the Viadeo network.

Additionally, business and alumni associations will now have a direct and efficient communication tool with their members, by issuing newsletters, personalised or group emails, information about events, job adverts and offers for members through the Community Groups. Moreover, business and alumni associations will be able to attract new members by promoting their activities through Viadeo’s extensive social network.

“Business associations and alumni groups may struggle to keep in touch with their members, as people change their jobs and re-locate around the world,” says Peter Cunningham, UK Country Manager, Viadeo. “However, now business and alumni associations can run their own dynamic and interactive communities using Viadeo’s Community Groups. By creating their own private areas on Viadeo, it is now possible for business and alumni associations to promote their brand to members and other like-minded business people all over the world.”

Viadeo

This session is offered Thursday, September 20, 2007
9am Pacific / 10am Mountain / 11am Central / 12pm Eastern / 1pm Atlantic

• Presented online
• 90 minutes
• No charge
• HRCI approved

Register Here

For assistance with registration, please dial: 1-866-538-1909.

Many in the H.R. community have recognized the benefits of blogging. Frank Roche, at KnowHR Blog, has written a couple of posts explaining how to start mining the wealth of H.R. information available in blogs.

• What Everybody in HR Ought to Know About Blogs and How to Read them Fast
• What Everybody in HR Ought to Know About RSS

To give you some idea of blog growth: in the first of those posts, dated April 13th, Frank links to a search at Technorati (blog tracking service) for blogs about Human Resources. The search returned 709 blogs. That same search today, three weeks later, returns 1,065 blogs about Human Resources.

Time to interview job candidates? Learn the secret techniques smart companies use to identify tomorrow’s most promising talent.

The feature package contains the following articles to help you select the next brilliant member of your team: 

• How to Conduct a Job Interview
• Recruit Like the Pros
• The 7 Interview Questions You Must Ask
• 10 Mistakes Managers Make During Job Interviews

In his session he covered:

• The goals for employment branding;
• What is included in a brand image;
• How to craft a successful employment brand; and
• Thoughts on the importance of a career’s website.

Keynote sessions don’t generally offer opportunity for in-depth coverage of a topic, but Matthew was able to convey a considerable amount of practical information within his session. One could take the material he presented and immediately begin to create an employment brand.

The NAS website has a host of recruitment communications articles and white papers available: as on-line documents, PDF files, and video presentations.