Career Journal: The 'Web' Factor

Blogs. Just the name alone conjures up images of something that is seemingly out of control, like a beast out of a 1950s sci-fi thriller. Giant ants, Astro Zombies, or The Blob attack indiscriminately. Indeed, Weblogs are now everywhere and growing in number. In fact, blogs have moved from the fringe of the business world into the mainstream of Business 2.0. Their utility is powerful. Any individual with access to the Internet can usurp mainstream media and offer his or her point of view on anything they feel like ' opining to anyone who cares to listen. Blogs have now evolved into a more broadly accepted genre of digital media along with social networking sites, podcasts, and related Internet forums. And yes, they could exact their revenge on you. Consider treading lightly when entering the World Wide Web.

Blog audiences can be as wide and varied as the Web itself. Mostly, though, viewers and contributors to certain sites have a vested interest in their subject matter, content, and message. In the legal industry, Abovethelaw.com, greedyassociates.com, and The Wall Street Journal's law blog site are closely followed. Within the legal marketing sphere, industry consultant Larry Bodine's site remains one of the most popular and professionally managed sites for legal marketing best practices and knowledge sharing. The pervasiveness and ease of accessibility of blogs are reasons alone to make note of their presence.

What should legal marketing executives do to address their potency? Is the audience they reach an audience law firms really need to pay attention to? Is your firm losing ground to others who have already jumped on the bandwagon? These are legitimate business questions and ones firms grapple with regularly. While the discussion is important, it is outside the scope of this column. The decisions you make on how to deal with your firm's Internet presence, however is not. What steps you take ' both in terms of your Web site and beyond ' will be examined by me and my peers in the executive search industry. As such, it has become an important part of managing your career.

What You Say Versus Others

Most resumes are written with a bit of hyperbole. By design, they accent the positive, highlighting individual accomplishments that have impacted business success. Knowing that, I look to any source I can find to substantiate or invalidate a claim on a resume. My due diligence now includes looking in the blogosphere.

As I now “Google” individual names as a matter of routine to make sure I don't find any sultry and sordid events from a candidate's past, I go to blogs to see what people are saying about a particular firm or function. Just as resumes accent the positive, I realize blogs tend to focus on the negative. They are often public gripe sessions. While I heavily discount many of the comments, recognizing that many are from individuals with some sort of ax to grind, collectively their comments do represent an important point of view ' one I must heed. However taken out of context or twisted the messages are, I still read them. Their unfiltered content may help me develop a particular line of questions to pose to a candidate about his or her firm or about accomplishments they note on their resume. That in turn prepares me to answer any concerns raised from my clients ' who are also reading the same sites. If your resume portrays a firm that does not match its “online” reputation, I am going to ask you about it and so will employers. Prepare to discuss topics that are often fodder on these sites; RIFs, restructurings, mergers, or cultural tensions. Obviously, if your resume extols the virtues of a program that is critiqued online, I will look to reconcile that disconnect.

The Insignificant Internet Bullet-Point

Too often, executives rush to put the newest “new thing” on their resume. The goal is simple; to demonstrate their up-to-date prowess on the latest and greatest movement in their industry. Take for example this bullet point lifted from a resume I recently received from a law firm marketing executive.

“Established Firm's presence on several social and professional networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn.”

Curious, I asked what seemed to me to be a fairly logical question: What impact did this “presence” have on the firm? The answer left something to be desired. The candidate responded; “It's tough to measure the impact, but we know these sites are today's meeting places for many young attorneys.” Yeah, well so are bars, but I don't see many firms rushing to sponsor “dollar draft nights” at the local watering hole. Mere presence is not enough. In fact, it can be downright wasteful. Every recommendation and action you make for your firm should demonstrate value and some sort of return on investment of resources. Moreover, if done poorly, releasing information into the Webspere can make you an unwitting target for would-be critiques.

Case in point: A couple of years ago, a client of mine rushed to get a recruiting video onto the Web. Ill-conceived and poorly produced, it looked more like the Chicago Bears “Super Bowl Shuffle” video of 20 years ago than a well-designed electronic brochure. The result: a virtual shooting gallery for mockery on a site that posted the video. The firm responded with a “seize and desist” order to the blog operator, only serving to fuel the fire online. That only created more criticism as the firm unwittingly invited a barrage of further attacks.

The 'Anecdotal Grapevine'

As an executive recruiter, I live on the anecdotal grapevine of information everyday. I intently listen to what people have to say about themselves, their respective firms, and the industry as a whole. Often, the information ' because it is provided to me in confidence ' is more candid and forthcoming than information people may be willing to provide in response to surveys, media inquiries, or an audience question while on a panel discussion. While I keep the information executives share with me confidential, their comments help me frame my impressions of many firms. Blogs are part of that “grapevine” of information I seek out everyday. They are just a few key strokes away and are now part of the recruitment process; a bane of existence that is here to stay. Preparing to address their content is better than avoiding them for as we know, perception can become reality.

Michael DeCosta, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is a Senior Client Partner with Korn/Ferry International, resident in its Stamford, CT, office. Michael is a member of the firm's professional services and legal specialty practices. He focuses on search assignments for management and IT consulting, accounting and law firms. He can be reached at 203-406-8770 or [email protected].

Blogs. Just the name alone conjures up images of something that is seemingly out of control, like a beast out of a 1950s sci-fi thriller. Giant ants, Astro Zombies, or The Blob attack indiscriminately. Indeed, Weblogs are now everywhere and growing in number. In fact, blogs have moved from the fringe of the business world into the mainstream of Business 2.0. Their utility is powerful. Any individual with access to the Internet can usurp mainstream media and offer his or her point of view on anything they feel like ' opining to anyone who cares to listen. Blogs have now evolved into a more broadly accepted genre of digital media along with social networking sites, podcasts, and related Internet forums. And yes, they could exact their revenge on you. Consider treading lightly when entering the World Wide Web.

Blog audiences can be as wide and varied as the Web itself. Mostly, though, viewers and contributors to certain sites have a vested interest in their subject matter, content, and message. In the legal industry, Abovethelaw.com, greedyassociates.com, and The Wall Street Journal's law blog site are closely followed. Within the legal marketing sphere, industry consultant Larry Bodine's site remains one of the most popular and professionally managed sites for legal marketing best practices and knowledge sharing. The pervasiveness and ease of accessibility of blogs are reasons alone to make note of their presence.

What should legal marketing executives do to address their potency? Is the audience they reach an audience law firms really need to pay attention to? Is your firm losing ground to others who have already jumped on the bandwagon? These are legitimate business questions and ones firms grapple with regularly. While the discussion is important, it is outside the scope of this column. The decisions you make on how to deal with your firm's Internet presence, however is not. What steps you take ' both in terms of your Web site and beyond ' will be examined by me and my peers in the executive search industry. As such, it has become an important part of managing your career.

What You Say Versus Others

Most resumes are written with a bit of hyperbole. By design, they accent the positive, highlighting individual accomplishments that have impacted business success. Knowing that, I look to any source I can find to substantiate or invalidate a claim on a resume. My due diligence now includes looking in the blogosphere.

As I now “Google” individual names as a matter of routine to make sure I don't find any sultry and sordid events from a candidate's past, I go to blogs to see what people are saying about a particular firm or function. Just as resumes accent the positive, I realize blogs tend to focus on the negative. They are often public gripe sessions. While I heavily discount many of the comments, recognizing that many are from individuals with some sort of ax to grind, collectively their comments do represent an important point of view ' one I must heed. However taken out of context or twisted the messages are, I still read them. Their unfiltered content may help me develop a particular line of questions to pose to a candidate about his or her firm or about accomplishments they note on their resume. That in turn prepares me to answer any concerns raised from my clients ' who are also reading the same sites. If your resume portrays a firm that does not match its “online” reputation, I am going to ask you about it and so will employers. Prepare to discuss topics that are often fodder on these sites; RIFs, restructurings, mergers, or cultural tensions. Obviously, if your resume extols the virtues of a program that is critiqued online, I will look to reconcile that disconnect.

The Insignificant Internet Bullet-Point

Too often, executives rush to put the newest “new thing” on their resume. The goal is simple; to demonstrate their up-to-date prowess on the latest and greatest movement in their industry. Take for example this bullet point lifted from a resume I recently received from a law firm marketing executive.

“Established Firm's presence on several social and professional networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn.”

Curious, I asked what seemed to me to be a fairly logical question: What impact did this “presence” have on the firm? The answer left something to be desired. The candidate responded; “It's tough to measure the impact, but we know these sites are today's meeting places for many young attorneys.” Yeah, well so are bars, but I don't see many firms rushing to sponsor “dollar draft nights” at the local watering hole. Mere presence is not enough. In fact, it can be downright wasteful. Every recommendation and action you make for your firm should demonstrate value and some sort of return on investment of resources. Moreover, if done poorly, releasing information into the Webspere can make you an unwitting target for would-be critiques.

Case in point: A couple of years ago, a client of mine rushed to get a recruiting video onto the Web. Ill-conceived and poorly produced, it looked more like the Chicago Bears “Super Bowl Shuffle” video of 20 years ago than a well-designed electronic brochure. The result: a virtual shooting gallery for mockery on a site that posted the video. The firm responded with a “seize and desist” order to the blog operator, only serving to fuel the fire online. That only created more criticism as the firm unwittingly invited a barrage of further attacks.

The 'Anecdotal Grapevine'

As an executive recruiter, I live on the anecdotal grapevine of information everyday. I intently listen to what people have to say about themselves, their respective firms, and the industry as a whole. Often, the information ' because it is provided to me in confidence ' is more candid and forthcoming than information people may be willing to provide in response to surveys, media inquiries, or an audience question while on a panel discussion. While I keep the information executives share with me confidential, their comments help me frame my impressions of many firms. Blogs are part of that “grapevine” of information I seek out everyday. They are just a few key strokes away and are now part of the recruitment process; a bane of existence that is here to stay. Preparing to address their content is better than avoiding them for as we know, perception can become reality.

Michael DeCosta, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is a Senior Client Partner with Korn/Ferry International, resident in its Stamford, CT, office. Michael is a member of the firm's professional services and legal specialty practices. He focuses on search assignments for management and IT consulting, accounting and law firms. He can be reached at 203-406-8770 or [email protected].