Re-Connecting and 'The Middle Problem'

So it's been a while since we last blogged (actually, it's longer than we thought!). We've been working on some stuff... and we've worked it out. WorkTouch has direction and we're out to make IF happen for everyone.

To kick off our re-entry into communication and contact, one of our Founders has blogged on something that inspires us. We call it 'The Middle Problem' and it drives us forward every day...

Creating Opportunity: The Middle Problem

This morning I listened to a piece on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme speaking to a young lady who, despite registering with multiple recruitment agencies and applying for 500+ jobs in 8 months, remains unemployed. While the headline discussion focussed on the need for jobs and skills, there’s an equally pertinent issue that sits alongside, but gains far less (if any) focus – an important problem I’ve been working to try and solve.

Without wishing to sound disparaging, to apply for 500 jobs in such a short time suggests a lack of clarity, of focus, of interest, understanding and of actually taking the time to demonstrate you really want the position you’re applying for and knowing which companies you really want to work for.

A quick chat with a recruiter would tell you that for all the accusations of non-response and falsely advertised jobs, they can quickly sift through the applications that are ‘going through the motions’. If you don’t have the interest to put together a carefully crafted application for a position you really want, why should you assume that anyone would take the time to respond?

The advice?

Go for jobs you want, that you’re qualified to do and capable of, at companies you’d love to work for and do all you can to get them. Visit the company, engage them on social media, make them know you before thy see your application. Be selective and confident, not desperate.

Think about your ambitions – where does the job you’re applying for fit into the context of where you want to get to in 1, 5 or even 10 years. And how does it fit into the context of what will make you happy now. Being miserable or passive at work is equally as attractive as having no work at all. You can do something you love, you just need to take control and make it happen.

Remember you need to start somewhere. If you’re considering your ambitions, you’ll know the path you need to create. Starting somewhere and working up is a great thing, just start in the right place.

There is an apathy when it comes to job seeking that stops people leaving their houses. Yes, you can engage your dream employers on social media (and it’s this apathy that stops you from doing so), but you can also contact them directly. Call, visit, ask for a tour, show an interest – get on their radar. Somehow we’ve ended up in a post-millennium malaise that had led us to an assumed right to our dream job. That’s not the case. If you want it – you need to go out and get it, don’t wait for something to fall in your lap.

Expecting opportunity to come to you is so wrong it hurts. By completing a degree, qualification, course or internship, you’re not automatically entitling yourself to employment!

From what I heard, the Radio 4 case study embodied all of these issues and was typical of many of the young unemployed. The misdirection and apathy is an affliction that we inherit through our education and many take through their entire careers, getting stuck in ruts, moving away from their ambitions by virtue of not keeping in touch with themselves.

With WorkTouch, my Co-Founders Rich, Dan and I are addressing this issue. LinkedIn has >277m users and has become the key global online professional network. That leaves a huge space untapped – especially as it doesn’t address the issues I’ve highlighted here.

The majority of the workforce aren’t necessarily professionals and therefore don’t have the need for networks and connections in the same way professionals do. They have aspirations and careers to manage, but no need for a glorified address book. They need tools that empower them to take control and go out there and make their futures happen.

When LinkedIn first launched in 2003, it was the professionals who were more likely to be connected, but in 2014 connectivity is near universal and from childhood to retirement, workers of all sectors use social networks and smartphones. These people have a career management need beyond a professional network and a vacancy listing – a need which is also shared by the ‘professional’ section of the workforce.

So why is no one tapping into this?

Influencers tend to be professionals and what we’re discussing here is not an obvious problem until it’s raised. How many people do we all know who drift into work every day, never considering where they are in relation to their ambitions, how happy/ content/ rewarded they are, how good their employer is, whether they’re paid what they’re worth… and so on?

If the information was in front of us, we’d all engage with it… and enjoy doing it. If someone asks you how your day was – you’ll always respond.

In fact, at WorkTouch we’re trying to do exactly that - gamifying and socialising career management to empower everyone to take control of their own future. I suppose to give it a definition, we’re creating Four Square for the LinkedIn space and beyond.

In doing this, we’ll create an exciting new chapter in productive social media that in turn will be a powerful personal and corporate analytics tool, as well as driving amazing organisational cultures and employee engagement. But first, someone needs to realise that this is a problem that needs fixing. Preferably someone with the power to vocalise the issue and/ or invest in the solution!

The lady on the Today programme was proof of the problem and it’s a problem that can’t be solved by providing skills and creating jobs alone. These aims are opposite ends of a chain, where our ideas sit in the middle and connect them. In fact, by increasing empowerment and creating informed individuals who are entrepreneurial about their job searches, we can as a society increase skills uptake and get the right people into the right places – into opportunities that people like the Million Jobs Campaign are working hard to create.

I’ve sat in meetings explaining what WorkTouch is doing and been faced with comments like:

I see what you’re doing, but I just can’t understand why people need a CV to get a job
You have something, I just don’t quite understand what

And that’s the issue.

What we’re looking at here is the ‘middle problem’ in the employment space. It’s massive and felt by many – but equally society is too sanitised and apathetic to realise we need to solve it. Imagine if everyone loved their job, or at least were nudged to do something about it if they didn’t…

If it’s not recognised as a problem, it’s going to be hard to have the solution accepted as a valuable one, but there is something we can all do, individually and collectively.

I know I’m about to deliver a shameless plug, but that’s because this is something I believe passionately in. I want to see everyone not only have the opportunity to achieve what they want or ought to, but understand how and where to do it, be empowered, inspired and (if necessary) pushed to go out and get it, while enjoying themselves. 

So here goes:

Recognise this is something we all need. Recognise that mapping your career, reviewing your aspirations, rating your workplace, recognising great work and being recognised ourselves are all valuable and that our time spent with social media could be a fun and productive way to make this happen.

Just go to WorkTouch.com, enter your email address to join our list and then get everyone you know to do the same.

We’ll do the rest.

@AndySwann

Friday Outpost #2

A crazy week this week, leading into a Great British Bank Holiday weekend...

Firstly, some really great comments from FLARE test users, particularly around the CVs they can produce from their account and the reaction they get when shown to people. Getting feedback from our users drives FLARE forward as we aim for a full live launch and although we love getting positive words, every piece of feedback is helpful!

Here's our favourite Tweet of the week:

@liveFLARE @AndySwann Kate took her LiveFLARE CV to the job centre & they were shocked as to how good it was. Good work LiveFLARE!
— Edward Gemmell (@MonsterEdward) August 23, 2013

Rich has continued to refine the CV Builder tool, which is making FLARE so much more flexible, while Dan is starting to work out how he's going to integrate it into the back end...

Andy has been out talking and the last few days have seen movements in some really key partnership areas for us. Plus getting out and meeting people is great to keep our thoughts fresh.

We're preparing to launch properly on AngelList and developing our profiles in various places. Please feel free to support us and spread the word in any way you can!

Another thing we're doing, is seriously thinking about digging deep and finding a way for our mascot Bjorn to come to life, most probably as an inflatable. We'd also like to feature him in a sticker set, but with pennies tight right now, these things might wait a while - unless you can convince us otherwise.

We'd love to know how you're spending your late summer weekend and if you're planning to get out there and take on the world by finding a new opportunity. you can always reach out through Twitter @FLARECV or our Facebook page.

Have a great weekend, whatever you do. And whatever it is you do, make the most of it... there's opportunity in everything!

Monday Motivator 1.1

Monday has to feel like an opportunity...

If it doesn't, two things you should bear in mind:

1. The weekend is a long way away when you're doing something you don't enjoy.
2. Why the heck aren't you doing something about it?!

Here are some things we like, that will get you through the week, whether you need a boost, or a complete re-think.

Firstly, kick off your week with Daft Punk. When we started WorkTouch, before FLARE and Bjorn Stardust were even twinkles in our respective eyes, we realised that Daft Punk had something we wanted to inject into the personality of our company. They remain our benchmark and, as far as we're concerned, this is the track that inspires a Monday (or any other day!).

 

When you get five minutes, spend some time understanding the world we live in with this amazing population analysis. It's full of graphs and no one will bat an eyelid if you're checking it out at work... http://populationpyramid.net/

 

Make sure you get involved in some activity during your working week. It helps concentration, relaxation and, of course, your physical health. Our current lunchtime distraction of choice is Instant Ping Pong. It's amazing! Check out their video here:

Hopefully this is enough to get you ready to kick off a fantastic week. See you Friday for our weekly update, or come back same time next week for more Monday Motivation...

Oh, and if something isn't right this week, remember to join us at http://www.liveflare.com to become part of the FLARE test team and start taking control of your future.

 

 

Friday Outpost #1

This seems like a good day to start our Friday blog/ update. It’s the end of a week that has seen us take the decision to put ourselves out there and get to know our peers, predecessors and predators in the wide world. So perhaps it’s time to share what we’re up to. Look on this as the start of a tradition…

FLARE, our first product is still in heavily restricted beta at http://www.liveflare.com. Call it semi-stealth or (whatever you like), but we’ve deliberately held back as there’s so much we want to do with FLARE before it goes ‘officially’ live and takes over the world.

We’ve got some really exciting things up our sleeves that will change the way we all manage our careers, apply for jobs and promote ourselves in the world, but right now FLARE exists in an early version that lets you create a great CV/ resume document. It’s only a foundation, but our test users have been very positive about what FLARE has done for them.

Check out the quick animation we launched this week (and meet our mascot Bjorn Stardust):

 

 

In other news, Rich has been working on a cool new CV creator/ editor with some great drag-and-drop functions that will start to move the user interface and experience in the way we want it to go. It’s coming together really nicely, but as a perfectionist Rich is improving it literally every 15 minutes!  

Having put together the extremely powerful WorkTouch platform, which is the future-proof bit of tech we’re building FLARE and all our future products on, Dan has taken a side step this week to develop his knowledge of .Net 4 MVC, which is giving him a whole new angle to increase the efficiency of our back end. We’ll put these new skills to work in unique ways…

Andy has been out developing contacts with everyone from partners to peers, to potential investors. We’ve got some really exciting things happening behind the scenes that will all be integrated in the FLARE live launch, but it’s been great to see people (especially major industry players) getting what we’re doing with FLARE and wanting to be part of it.

All in all, it’s a crazy time – things happening all the time and plenty more to come. We’ll keep you posted!