View from the Hill

Successful networking: A case study

We are delighted to introduce this post by Lena Roland, another of our guest bloggers, who shows us how to make the most of a networking opportunity:

I recently attended a Sue Hill Breakfast Briefing at Roast. Over a breakfast of egg and Marmite soldiers a group of 12 Information Professionals discussed some of the pertinent issues facing our profession such as data security and that old chestnut: adding value.

Above and beyond this lively and relevant discussion I surreptitiously took my seat next to a Research Specialist in the legal sector.

Having swapped business cards I later made contact with Lisa via LinkedIn. I explained that I was keen to apply my information and research expertise in other sectors, particularly the legal sector. I went on to explain that although armed with a recently acquired MSc qualification thus far I have been unable to secure an interview as a legal researcher. A lack of knowledge of the specialist legal databases such as Westlaw was my barrier to entry. Although frustrating, it is also an understandable situation.

Quite simply I asked Lisa for her advice and guidance. Perhaps she might know of any contacts who may be looking for a temp? Much to my surprise (and delight) Lisa kindly suggested I do unpaid work experience in their department for a few days. This was more than I expected and of course I did not hesitate to seize the opportunity that was presented to me. Not only did this experience enable me to gain experience of the key databases, I also developed an understanding of the legal terminology as well as the types of information required by the fee earners. It was also helpful to get a feel for the law firm culture.

In return I was able to advise the team on some major, yet often obscure sources of free business intelligence. In my experience it is often this type of data that can make the difference to winning a new business pitch or not. Delivering unique insight can make a company stand out from its competitors by looking beyond the obvious.

I now feel more confident to apply for work in a law firm. I'm by no means an expert, but I certainly have a good understanding of the databases, and I hope by doing voluntary work I have shown good enthusiasm for the sector.

All in all, it was a mutually beneficial experience. I was genuinely touched by my fellow information professionals' willingness to help me advance my knowledge of another sector, and everyone in the team made me feel very welcome. It just goes to show what can happen from attending these events, by seizing an opportunity, and of course by being fortunate enough to meet generous and open people. I hope one day I will do the same for someone else!

- Lena Roland can be found on Twitter @rolandreckons

Breakfast cures industry hangover

Decisions and development (or lack thereof) were the order of the day at today's SHR breakfast at Roast. Having collectively decided not to allow the "Murdoch Pause" for fear of running out of time, we discussed how the workforce will adopt differing ways of completing work.

Senior management came up several times - from keeping them engaged and ensuring their buy-in to the difficulty of knowing that their focus is always financial so you have very little chance of getting anything on the agenda. Is it true that finances are driving information/records/knowledge programmes rather than strategy? There's a sense that people are meeting the immediate need rather than addressing the long-term strategy meaning the the level of effectiveness is never improved.

Cuts, change and, subsequently, some resistance have fuelled a sense of frustration and low morale and one term that reflected the whole situation is that they have a 'hangover' - in many cases self inflicted, painful but with the knowledge that it will, ultimately, get better. The realisation that this has happened before means that there is awareness of the cyclical nature of events. Cutbacks also mean different ways of working, for example using social media. This, in turn, has massive reputational risk - can we see this as a challenge to our profession to raise its game? We discussed examples of other departments who make the most of their confidence by promoting their services internally and externally. Conversely, we talked about examples of people who don't want to be seen to make a decision, even though approval has been given, as they are afraid any deviation from the original plan will be looked upon negatively. We should use our expertise and be decisive whether others aren't. Sue Edgar quoted a former colleague who said "it is easier to seek forgiveness than to ask permission".

I'll conclude on the subject of responsibility. It was quite apparent at yesterday's Select Committee hearing that no-one, specifically the Murdochs, wants to take responsibility for something that has clearly gone wrong. We discussed at length how we must understand personally and professionally what it means to take responsibility and to act upon it rather than sit back, deflect blame and give one word answers.

- Suzanne

Economy and change - I'll say it again "Economy and Change - and did I hear outsourcing?"

Breakfast at Roast Restaurant this week ended with a vox pop of the eleven replete breakfasters.  The question asked was: "In one word, what has had the biggest effect on your daily work in the last five years?"   We all thought, wrote down our word and then said it out loud:  economy, change, economy, enterprise2, change, outsourcing, change, outsourcing, transparency, market research, change!  So four for change, two each for outsourcing and economy (surely related in some bizarre spider web way) and one for the rest.  There was consensus that the speed of change was the highlight.  It will be interesting to see who has what to say on that topic next week.

 

Earlier, while delectable kippers, old-fashioned boiled eggs with marmite soldiers, lush eggs Benedict and copious quantities of coffee were consumed the conversation focussed on the many things that occupy our working (and sometimes waking) hours.  Change of course had featured then as well.  A recruitment freeze was seen as both positive and negative in that it encouraged managers to think smarter as teams got smaller.  That tied in with showing demonstrable ROI when new systems or ways of working were introduced.  Decision making surfaced both as a positive (where prompt and effective decisions were made) and as a negative where failure to make decisions is like a weight around our necks impacts on progress.  Decisions lead to change - keep change positive - give colleagues credit to understand why change is needed, keep communication lines open and include them.  There was more of course - at times intense and at times we roared with laughter.   

 

Want to know more?  Come to a Sue Hill Recruitment Networking Breakfast.  You won’t be scrambled or boiled - just the eggs will be. 

 

- Sue (Hill)

 

 

Making the right investment

Yesterday evening Sue Edgar & Suzanne Wheatley presented a workshop on Making the Right Investment - Recruitment & Selection for BIALL in a great venue, the London Canal Museum.   

 

The group had mixed experiences of recruitment, however one theme was that the group were looking to pick up tips, best practices and prepare for when they will be in a position to hire. To start off the workshop we all threw two words affecting us in the work place which revealed an underlying current of worry.  Whilst no one feels they are directly threatened by redundancy there was some unease in the room with an expectation that most professionals are doing more with less.  However the positive aspects of integrating new members in a team, managing new resources and great customer service were great to hear.   

 

In talking about how to prepare, as managers, for the recruitment process the group discussed best practices in terms of how to work effectively with their HR team, how to develop relevant job descriptions- was it the hiring manager's responsibility or is it HR that have a prescriptive formula for job descriptions which do not allow tailoring. Understanding who is controlling the recruitment process is key to success.  Developing strong relationships with key protagonists in the organisation helps pave the way for recruitment business case development, better HR collaboration and strengthens cross functional understanding. Take control of the process, actively participate rather that be a spectator.  

 

In talking about selection criteria we discussed various scenarios from technical skills or softer skills emphasis.  The group also confirmed that poor CV layout, poor spelling and 'stretching' of actual experiences were key deciding factors on who to meet. It is imperative that if you say you are 'an excellent communicator' as a candidate that you have to be able to give examples and talk with authority. If you are the interviewer be prepared to ask those questions until you get a good answer. Also knowing what you can and cannot ask is essential to ensure that you do not discriminate in any way, this is also true when reviewing CVs for selection.  We talked of some interesting 'horror' stories on selection and I will not elaborate on those here! Interviewing for a new colleague to join your team can be daunting, exciting, time consuming and successful. You must prepare and not just see it as a chat. You represent your team and organisation and as an ambassador the candidate will judge you as the representative of the company. Brand image be it personal or corporate must maintain its integrity to attract and retain staff.  

 

Lastly we discussed managing expectations - but whose? HR, your team, line manager, agency, successful and unsuccessful candidates. Get engaged in the full process end to end and make that offer. If you are the hiring manager then offering to your 'new' team member will mean a lot. The relationship started at interview and needs to be managed and maintained through to that first day.  

 

It was a good group and the breakout sessions harvested some great cases. It was really encouraging to hear that increased recruitment activity is in the pipeline.  And today's good news is that a law firm is now looking to bring on board some graduate trainee roles!

Karmic Strategy

The Deputy Prime Minster was under fire yesterday from a barrage of enquiries on public sector funding cuts.  You don’t have to look far to find bad news emblazoned across article headlines:

Severe public sector cuts looming
Library cuts are cultural vandalism
Many staff feel unable to offer the standard of service that the public deserves
Cuts in library funding continue

However if we look a little further there are silver linings within some of these storm clouds, with communities in Suffolk taking the opportunity to run their local library as part of a pilot scheme, Leeds County Council launching a new mobile service, as well as an article in the Seattle Times titled 'Libraries provide no-cost learning tools'.

There is a wealth of knowledge within the information community and an infinite number of ideas, stratagems and opinions on good practice and working smarter.  To ensure library services weather – no, that's enough meteorological metaphors – endure current economic uncertainty, surely we must share our views and experiences.

Whichever sector you hail from, for none have been immune in recent years, whether you are leading a service or running the front desk, what ideas have you had, what have you seen, discussed and pondered that may help another library work more effectively?

If everyone who reads this could share one or two ideas who knows how this may help someone else and perhaps they you.

Post to this blog and let's share the knowledge.

- Jeremy Clarke

What don't you know, that you don't know?

What you don’t know that you should was brought home to me quite clearly this morning at our regular Roast Breakfast. We operate Chatham House rules so can only make broad statements about the discussions that evolve from having eight or nine senior people with different approaches to and backgrounds in information management talking about what currently concerns them. Today everyone was asked to say in just three words what their three biggest issues of concern were.  The list was interesting:-

• Too much admin

• No budget yet again

• Cloud computing, scary

• What to keep?

• Slow decision making

• Business acumen

• Outsourcing, headcount, law-suits

• Local, national elections

• Lack of mid-range jobs

Thinking of law suits. Three people at the table were quite frank and related stories illustrating the dangers of non 'information ethical' staff abusing copyright and the interesting causes and effects.

One firm's non info team happily shared passwords and the information person present spent an inordinate amount of time trying to educate them about copyright and getting them to desist. Time has a cost which people often forget.

Another was cheerfully using and re-using data that a client had legitimately paid for and illegally passed on. A naïve individual rang the source to ask for some updated input and the cat was suddenly out of the bag. As it was too politically difficult to ask the client to pay up, the firm took a hefty slap in the pocket that could have been avoided, had the information specialist been alerted to what was happening. The partner concerned was forced to take the hit on his budget as a 'subscription' or fine!

And finally at another firm as well as illegal sharing of passwords research reports, that had been bought and paid for, were stored centrally and reused (which was outside the terms of the licensing agreement), resulting in an expensive lawsuit from the vendor. This led to the closure of the central resource and certainly raised the profile of information management and copyright issues within the company!

In each case the information person who worked in the organisation worked hard (pushing water uphill) to try to explain the intricacies of copyright to senior individuals who either didn’t get it or didn’t see it affected them. Having found out that such things went on, their concerns now are what else is going on that they don’t know. Lawsuits have a way of focussing the mind.

Taking responsibility and accountability for not only service strategy, but also staffing decisions and resource purchasing decisions helps move along a strategy. The road block in decision making that can scupper many a new project is management by committee, playing to the inability of managers to take ownership and some would say leadership. 'Common sense is the most underrated attribute' as is presenting and talking in plain English. Being explicit in educating staff and colleagues on the ethics of using and sharing information is vital and necessitates plain language that cannot be open to misinterpretation.

Do you know what you don’t know? If not - what is your plan to find out? - Sue Hill with input from Nicola Franklin and sue Edgar

Always read your contract

Whether it is your contract of employment or a contract of service, the document can seem like a lengthy and extremely dry piece.  But it is an important document which should be read, absorbed and questions asked if need be. 

What reminded me of this was reading a recent article about the infamous Van Halen World Tour rider list.  In 1982 Eddie and the band made a request for, amongst other items, "M&M's (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES).     The reason why this was included was to make sure that contracts were read and requests adhered to.  When going into their dressing rooms, if the brown sweeties were there, then this brought doubt as to whether those involved in putting the tour together had actually paid attention to other things such as lighting, staging etc etc.  It was there to catch people out.

The moral of the story is that you should always read your legally binding documents, they are documents you sign after all, as you may be caught out.

 - Katharine Liu

Packed your umbrella?

Jeremy bagged the sunshine in Brighton. Looks like I'm getting rain in Manchester... I'm off this afternoon to the BIALL Conference, which starts bright and early tomorrow morning. If you're going to be there, please stop by the stand to say hello and sample one of our fantastic SHR jelly beans!

It looks like it'll be another successful conference and I'm looking forward to catching up with friends made at the last two conferences.

Now, where did I put my wellies...

- Suzanne Wheatley

Why are law firms reluctant to adopt web 2.0 technologies?

Interesting post from the Running Librarian James Mullan on Web 2.0 Resistance in Law Firms. The Am Law Tech 2008 survey shows that relatively few law firms have deployed Web 2.0 tools and James's post considers the reasons why this might be. The comments particularly suggest that this is due to cultural barriers within law firms rather than problems with the technologies themselves...

Keeping up with new immigration laws affecting our workers

I went to a most informative seminar this morning at law firm Mishcon de Reya on the new points-based immigration system that is being phased in at the moment. As a recruitment agency employing temporary workers it's essential for us to be clued up on immigration law to ensure that we are not accidentally falling foul of any immigration rules or employing  workers illegally. Not only is this a legal obligation but part of our duty of care to clients and candidates alike.

I have been surprised in the year that I've been working here to see what an onerous burden that is and how much of my time as information manager has been spent tracking changes to immigration laws or clarifying points with the Home Office.

Part of the problem seems to me that the Home Office itself is unable to give clear and consistent guidance, nor is information being published on their website in a timely fashion for the new points-based system. For example, Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme opens for applications on 27 November, yet the list of sponsor countries is not yet available. The Australian and NZ press have run articles saying that  workers in the YMS scheme may work for the full 24 months of their visa (instead of 12/24 for current working holidaymakers) yet the Home Office is currently unable to confirm or deny that.

Clearly it's the responsibility of all employers to ensure they are compliant with the immigration rules but surely the government has an equal responsibility to us all to ensure that relevant information is provided in a clear and simple to understand format?