Attracting quality in a recession

Adage posted an article about attracting quality talent to agencies during a recession (http://adage.com/talentworks/article?article_id=134109) and I felt that many of the same principles were true for any business or organization.

• First, job security is going to be the number one priority -- not how much fun a place is to work.
  
• Skill-building and experience will be more important than additional social activities.
• Careers will be cool again, instead of job hopping every few years

"Millennials, who have never experienced an economic downturn of any magnitude, also are saddled with more debt than any previous generation. With most employers waiting until at least the second or third quarter of this year to evaluate the economy and subsequent hiring, those under 30 are in a tenuous position but not without leverage. They bring the technology and social-networking skills critical to agencies and their clients. They also represent a demographic that still has tremendous buying power and significant brand influence."

The Junior Chamber began just before the Great Depression, in the 1920s, and continued to grow steadily through the 1930s, during the last major US recession. Perhaps the best course of action to marketing to new members is returning to the basics.

Inauguration Madness

If you ever wonder if the internet is reaching older demographics, I only have to look at my aged secretary, who can barely manage to print a Word document without incident, but was able get streaming video of the Obama inauguration (and was shouting out updates on what people were wearing).

As Obama pledges to make the White House go tech and is fighting for his Blackberry, the University Hospital where I work is providing links to all employees to watch from their desks and projecting streaming video in cafeterias for those who don't have a computer-based job. Forget the racial part of making history -- the new regime is also making pr, marketing, and tech history.

From Adage today (http://adage.com/bigtent/post?article_id=133905):

Unlike most news that breaks with no advance notice, Inauguration Day has had more lead-ins, promos, custom graphics, web alerts, analysis and star power than any other event in U.S. History. And if actual viewership of the event even touches the amount of anticipation, then the number will far exceed last years 2008 Super Bowl record of 94.5 million people. With an estimated 1-2 million people in attendance, hundreds of thousands of party celebrations at venues, churches, and schools across America, everyone is getting involved in Obama-mania (even criminals!).

Because the inauguration will be broadcast simultaneously on all of the broadcast networks, as well as on the cable news networks, in addition to online streaming, I am not sure if Nielsen will ever be able to estimate the total viewership tally, so maybe it will ever really be known. But I can tell you this: It will dwarf this year's Super Bowl on Feb. 1. Take in the international audience and I wouldn't even know where to begin to tally up the viewership for today's events.

What is the message?

I'm currently reading Paul Gillin's "Secrets of Social Media Marketing," and he mentions an old marketing principle that I think a lot of us have forgotten.

People don't buy drill bits; they buy the holes.

It made me think about our JCI marketing and how it is all about the call to action. Granted, call to action is very important and should be included in marketing messaging, but we aren't so good at telling you what you do with our membership.

Are you investing in

• a resume entry?
• training?
• networking?
  
• relationship building?
• personal recognition?
• personal development?
• political involvement?

What do these things look like?

A nice, clean, hole of the proper dimensions for a work project is easy to visualize.

Now, our job is to make it THAT clear for other young professionals.