The slides from Aquent's recent webcast featuring Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus were "featured" on slideshare.net last week and have already been viewed over 8000 times. Indeed, we had over 2000 people sign up for the webcast in the first place.
Why is this topic so hot?
Could it be that, fourteen or so years into a business world increasingly dominated by the web, people are still trying to figure out how to make the web work for them?
Are marketers getting more pressure to demonstrate the value of web properties and tactics due to the economic situation?
Is it just that the web has required a lot of "I" without providing a lot of "RO"?
Aquent is, first and foremost, a staffing company. If you are unfamiliar with that phrase, allow me to explain that a staffing company is what the lay-person might call a "temp agency." A temp agency will tend to call itself a "staffing company" when the people it employs object to thinking of themselves as "temps." This objection arises when the folks in question possess some sort of professional credential or when their skills are difficult to develop and in high demand.
Staffing companies are different from recruitment firms, in the main, as the former generally provide their clients with employees for a set period of time, whether they are working on the loading dock or re-designing a website, while the latter help companies find and hire permanent employees. As it turns out, many staffing companies offer recruitment services, though recruitment firms do not generally have staffing arms.
Staffing firms exist because hiring workers on a temporary basis can be challenging, especially when the workers in question are highly or uniquely skilled. First of all, these people may be difficult to find in the first place. Secondly, even when you do find them, they may be more interested in permanent work than contract work. Finally, if contract work is cool with them, they may already have gigs lined up and thus be unavailable when the manager needs them most (when you need temporary workers, usually it's not just for a set period of time, but for a specific period of time).
Staffing companies, at their best, provide a valuable service by maintaining a pool of talented professionals who are not only interested in working on a temporary, contract, or project basis, but are available to do so right now. The time that the staffing company invests in developing this pool is time that hiring managers save when they engage the staffing agency.
As a follow-up to our webcast with Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus, I thought I would proffer my two cents on ways that the evolution of the web is and will affect careers in web design. It's the first time that I have recorded a podcast fueled solely by my own fevered thoughts and distorted personal reflections. I hope you find it edifying, or at least enjoyable.
If you don't have twenty-five minutes to absorb this podcast, my main thesis is fairly simple: As people and organizations expand and diffuse their web presence, and websites get boiled down to a convenient collection of links to points within this decentralized presence, site design as we know it will become less and less important.
I could be totally wrong, or, more likely, partially wrong, but I think I'm at least partially right. What do you think?
To hear the podcast, please click on the Flash device below. You are also welcome to download an mp3 of this interview by "right-clicking" ("control-clicking," Mac-wise) on this link. Finally, this and other Talent Blog Podcasts are always available on iTunes. (Note: At the time of posting, I was having a hard time pinging iTunes. If you can't find the podcast there now, it should appear within the next 24 hours.)
Sally Hogshead is the author of Radical Careering, a book that "helps you visualize your no-compromises future, so you can start to build it, piece by piece." I came across Sally's work via Ad Age where she writes a career-oriented column entitled, "Hogshead On."
I have not read Sally's book, though judging by the reviews on Amazon, people either love it a lot or hate it a lot. I have, however, read her blog and there were two posts that I thought may be of interest to readers of this blog.
First, there's a lengthy post on "translating your skills from traditional to digital media." Her main point is: if you haven't embraced "digital" in your advertising/marketing career, then you should get ready to embrace obsolescence.
The second post I'll point you to concerns the tyranny of THE idea. It's a plea for openness, plurality, and flexibility when it comes to generating and pitching ideas. It struck a nerve with me because, a few weeks ago, a friend asked me for help naming his play. I came up with one name I liked but, when sending it to him, couldn't help adding an alternate in case he didn't like my first choice.
Initially, I thought it a sign of weakness or uncertainty to muddy the water with options. Then, Ms. Hogshead provided me a moment of clarity by pointing out that the true water-muddy-maker was a dogmatic attachment to the notion of a single, best idea.
Presenting several ideas doesn't bespeak a lack of confidence in one's particular vision; instead, it demonstrates respect for the unpredictable and unavoidably social consensus that determines aesthetic value and creative efficacy.
A conversation with Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus
Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus are the authors of Web Design for ROI, and will be featured in a webcast hosted by Aquent on May 22. Their approach to web design, while theoretically informed, is relentlessly pragmatic. As they put it, "Our work is about more than just getting people to think about web design. We want them to act."
If you want to improve the performance of your site, read their book. If you want a glimpse into their approach, read the rest of this post!
1. Web Design Isn't What You Think It Is
"Everyone thinks of design in terms of 'graphic design' - colors, fonts, logos, etc.," says Sandra. "We're working with a more strategic and multi-disciplinary concept of design, one that takes business goals as its starting point. Designing from this perspective allows you to determine whether or not all the elements truly support those goals."
"Our notion of design is really about problem-solving," adds Lance, "and goes beyond interface design or even experience design, because it doesn't just involve the creative folks. It involves all the different people on the team, from the business owner on down, and making sure everyone rallies around the objectives of the site."
"We decided to write this book," he continues, "because we were frustrated at the money being left on the table by under-utilized sites with a lot of potential. Design needs to be about helping a company succeed as a business, and that means thinking about costs, customers, and results. Ultimately, we want to take the discipline up a notch."
2. Small Changes Can Bring Big Results
"People are always surprised when we tell them they can improve site performance with relatively small, inexpensive changes. Well, it's true," Sandra explains. "Consider buttons. We've seen people increase check-out throughput by 40 percent just by increasing the size of the check-out button.
"Now, stop reading this and look at your buttons. Are they large enough? Are they legible? Are they placed appropriately? Do the most important buttons stand out? Adjusting these elements can cost next to nothing and can have a major impact."
"Another quick fix we recommend," Lance says, "is adding a functional tag line to your home page. That can solve one of the web's most common problems: 60 percent home page bounce rates.
"Web users have two questions when they arrive at your site: 'Is this what I expected to find?' and 'Does this site have what I'm looking for?' Your tagline should answer those questions instantly. I'm talking simple text, less than 10 words, that is descriptive, explanatory, and intuitive."
Greg Kuchmek, who is represented by Aquent's DC office, has been working on the web since 1994. That's when he was hired to help produce a webzine, Stim, started by Prodigy. [Editor's Note: For an interesting flashback to 1996, read Ty Burr's review of Stim, which he gives a B+, and Slate, which he gives a C+]. When that gig ended in 1997 he discovered that, "3 years web experience was amazing. I was 'senior' automatically."
Flash forward to the present and Greg now has 14 years web experience. If you want to hire someone like Greg (assuming you can find someone like him), what do you have to offer him? He has a broad range of in-demand skills: in addition to ground-up experience with the full suite of web technologies, Greg is also an able photographer, animator, illustrator, and writer. When he goes on a job interview, the pressure is on the interviewer.
What is Greg looking for and how can you convince him to work for you? Listen to his words:
1. Trust
I'm looking for an employer that respects that I have my skills and trusts me to use them. They hire me because I can do something and they can't. It's great when they let me do it.
It's not always like that. I've done jobs where the client was really looking over my shoulder and micro-managing. I understand that everyone's got their personal style, but when that's happening, I don't feel free to be creative and really do what I'm capable of.
2. Flexibility
I don't wear a tie to interviews anymore. I don't need to dress up at this point. I've also got a full studio at home, so I'm even kind of shocked that I have to leave the house! I guess I've been spoiled by working in places like Boston or New York where it's more flexible.
More than flexibility about where work happens, though, I appreciate it when there is flexibility around how things get done. There have been countless little jobs where they needed a photograph and I've told them, "Look, I can spend the day combing through stock or I can go take one." It's great when people are more open to the "I can do this right now" approach, than they are attached to the "this is the way we have to do it" approach.
Thanks to Google, I was alerted to an Aquent reference on a blog called, "Give, Get, Take, and Have." I don't know much about it, but, astonishingly, "This blog has often been found swimming miles from shore in the Indian Ocean." Go figure!
Anyway, the (possibly Canadian) author of this blog posted a link to an Aquent mini-site called, "The Business of Touch," which provides the world with annotated animations illustrating the proper mode of greeting people in a variety of countries from India to Czechoslovakia.
To that blogger, I say, "Thanks for sharing this with your readership!"
To everyone else I say, "If you or someone close to you is going to be meeting anyone in or from another country, please consult 'The Business of Touch' in order to avoid a potentially unpleasant and/or embarrassing international incident."
You know how I wrote the other day that "people make the difference" at Aquent? Well, a week later, I still think it's true!
But you know, it's not just me. When we ask Aquent employees what they like best about Aquent, they consistently respond, "The people I work with." Guess what? I would say the same thing. I feel peculiarly fortunate to work with a bunch of people who are smart, funny, and friendly.
For example, take our creative director, Mark Saperstein (that's a picture of him in his incarnation as an undead warlock). Mark is a talented and funny guy who actually proposed to his wife via a job posting on our website (she accepted). He's passionate about zombies, cannibals, and Conan the Barbarian. He's also an articulate, detailed, and sometimes harsh, I mean, "frank," critic of creative work.
Aside from frequently asking me to be less boring, blogwise, he's overseen some of our endlessly clever direct mail and marketing pieces like the ever-popular "furry" card, the infamous "valium" card, the mirror card, the cow, the beach ball, and the Kim Jong Il: "I Ate the Big Slab at Aaron's House O' Ribs" card.
Mark's sense of humor has sometimes been too "out" for corporate consumption -- like when he wanted to advertise our interactive staffing capabilities with a pixelated rendering of a hand making an obscene gesture -- but it's never been too "out" for me, and, gosh darn it, I love that MMORPG-playin', kimchee-eatin', plaid-shirt-wearin', anime-watchin', erstwhile-astronomy-lovin', "what art school did you go to?"-askin' guy.
I saw this video on DeanHunt.com. Well, actually, Dean posted a slightly earlier version of it. The one below dates from June 2007:
The main point seems to be that the world is bigger, more connected, and changing faster than we realize. It's interesting in part because it illustrates at least one of the points it is trying to make: originally created for a presentation to 150 people, the various versions have collectively been viewed over 5 million times on YouTube.
There are a lot of thought-provoking tidbits in here and I encourage you to find them for yourself. To save you a fraction of time, I'll share these two with you:
- By 2013, supercomputers will exceed the computational capacity of the human brain;
- By 2049, a $1000 computer's capacity will exceed that of the human race.
As the authors point out, it is very difficult to predict what will happen between the first date and the second. One reason for this unpredictability is something Vernor Vinge dubbed, "The Singularity," way back in 1993. As he wrote then, "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended."
In other words, once an intelligence greater than our own appears on Earth, the possible futures ensuing become as unknowable as the events occurring beyond the event horizon of a black hole.
Action Item: During your next job interview, ask the interviewer what plans the company has for The Singularity and the need to serve super-intelligent customers.
I had a little problem with my iTunes account so I sent a message to their support center. The first response I got concluded with:
"Good luck on downloading the song Matthew! Again, please let me know if I can do anything else for you in the near future. I am so happy I was able to help you today with your item. Have a fantastic day and take care! Cheers! Brittany"
I replied: "Thanks! Much appreciated. Now having a fantastic day, Matt"
To which she (Brittany) responded: "Thank you for your kind words and you are so welcome! Nothing makes me happier than to hear that I have pleased our iTunes family members."
I practically blushed when I read that.
Blowing the Job Search
Having some PR responsibilities here, I often respond to ProfNet queries, particularly when they apply to careers and job hunting. Because my responses are thoughtful, but do not always see the light of day on the other side of the querying reporter's in-box, I thought I would quickly share the helpful hints I provided a writer putting together a piece on how people damage their job search:
1) Not doing enough or any research on the target company or the hiring manager. What do they do? What are their goals? Who are their competitors? etc. You better know!
2) Not leveraging your network to get an introduction, a recommendation, or anything else to differentiate you from the pool of applicants. Related problem: Not having or cultivating a network in the first place.
3) Swearing or almost swearing (ex. "friggin'") in the interview.
4) Forgetting you are being interviewed. In other words, acting more casually if the interviewer takes you to lunch, etc. Remember: Until you get that offer letter, you are being watched!
The slides from Aquent's recent webcast featuring Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus were "featured" on slideshare.net last week and have already been viewed over 8000 times. Indeed, we had over 2000 people sign up for the webcast in the first place.
You know how I wrote the other day that "
