Twitter - Do You Tweet?

This is reprinted from our newsletter so you can respond more easily - Do you Tweet?

Visions of Tweetybird seeing a puddy tat aside, do you Tweet?

Social networking has become the "in" thing. MySpace (or Facebook for us older types) is rapidly becoming the way to keep up with family and friends. Business social networks like LinkedIn are impacting the way recruiters find people, people find jobs, and groups with a common cause unite.

Recognizing the power of social networking, the Obama campaign was heavily invested in social networking sites, including Twitter. In fact, their grassroots campaign was effective in raising money, organizing local support, and getting out the vote using new technology in an unprecedented way.

It's been noted that he now has a database of literally millions of users with whome he can instantly communicate, mobilize on issues, and keep active and engaged. The best part? It's all mostly free.

I've been looking at Twitter as a means for us to brand Improvizations and our Kronos services. I'm curious - do any of you use Twitter for business contacts? How do you use it? Has it been helpful or is it a timewaster? I'd really love to hear your thoughts/input. Email: news@improvizations.com or reply to my post to the kronos-fans blog. Thanks everyone!

Amy "The Improv Marketing Chick"

"Aker Philadelphia Shipyard Achieves 110% ROI with Kronos HR and Payroll Software"

I just read this article. As you might know, I'm one who goes in and does pre and post implementation audits for HR/Payroll and related software. My company focuses on Kronos Workforce products implementation, best practices and support.

So as you might imagine, I'm often interested in numbers such as are in this article. Part of my job is creating or validating them. Still, one must ask when presented like this, "Who says there is a 110% ROI and how were those figures calculated?" In my experience ROI is such a soft number that it's really only useful for internal slapping on the back. Not that I doubt the ROI numbers. They're just not useful without detail. Same thing for reducing payroll error by 90%. My first question isn't about the validity of the number it's more, "Why not 100%?". Yea, call me crazy, but I think Payroll should be right, all the time. So scream at me cause you've got 30k employees and how can it be!

It can.

It should be.

It's math, processes, training and math. Put in the proper effort and it will be.

Kronos Layoffs, Unemployment, and Networking

Kronos is laying off 8% of its workforce. Nationally, the unemployment rate is running a little above 7%. Scary? Yep, it can be terrifying – especially if you don’t have practices in place already that can help secure your current job – or help you find a new one.

What type of best practices do you follow today to make yourself memorable? How many recruiters know and remember you personally? How many hiring managers think of your name when they have a question or better yet – an open position? Do you have to start from scratch every time your contract ends? Or if you are laid off?

I remember an IT Project Manager that I interviewed once. Why do I remember him in particular? Because he is the best networker I have ever met, bar none. Once we met personally, I became part of his network. He periodically sends out emails to his network with updates about his current job, job openings that he knows, or – when he was laid off – about his job search. He asks for help when he needs it and offers help when he can. He's the first guy I call when I'm looking for a certain skillset or if I come across a position he might want to know about. Now THAT’S the kind of network you want to have.

Those of you who read this blog and are part of Kronos-fans already have a built-in network. Are you using it? Here are a few quick networking tips that I hope you find helpful. As always on our blog, comments and questions are welcome!

• It takes a long time to build effective professional relationships. Start now.
• Find the people who know lots of other people. I don’t need to know 50 Kronos programmers – I need to know 2 or 3 excellent Kronos programmers. They know (and can refer) everyone else to me.
• Stay in touch with people you like and respect even if they can't help you immediately. Don’t let the next time they hear from you again be when you desperately need something.
• Have business cards and give them out. If you have a specialty or a niche, make sure it’s on your card. And yes, it IS worth the extra few dollars to make sure your card stands out. For example, if I’m at a networking event, I may come home with 20 or 30 new business cards. The card that says “John Doe, specializing in Kronos Time and Attendance installations” is the one I’ll remember.
• Be consistent. Sending out one email won’t get the same results as sending out a monthly or quarterly status email. Attending an industry networking meeting once won’t get you the same recognition factor as showing up for several meetings.
• Join networking clubs and/or associations related to your job and volunteer so you can establish yourself as a subject matter expert. Can you write a column, prepare a presentation?
• Join linked in . It’s an easy way to stay in touch as well as a great place to find groups related to your career. I have one good friend who now recruits exclusively using his linked in network.
• Set aside dedicated time each week to maintaining your network. It might only take an hour every Friday afternoon but the long-term results are worth it.
• And remember, if it were easy EVERYONE would do it. I won’t lie. It’s not always easy. It will take time, persistence and dedication. Nevertheless, in this uncertain economy the strength of your network might make the difference between being employed or being between contracts/jobs for a very long time.

Welcome to our Kronos blog!

Welcome to our new blog. The Improvizations team of Kronos Implementation experts is going to use this medium to post random thoughts, ideas, questions and answers that just don't seem to fit in either our Yahoogroups (Kronos-Fans & PeopleSoft-Fans) or our monthly eZine "Kronos-Fans TNT (Tips and Techniques newsletter.)

Saying that makes me realize this would be a good time to define the various medium that Improvizations uses to communicate to the Kronos and PeopleSoft world.

1) Kronos-Fans : This is a Yahoogroup setup originally to assist our team and our clients with overall communication and support. Over time it grew too much and we opened it up to anyone. Topics include support of Workforce Timekeeper, Kronos HR-Payroll, all the Scheduling products and more. The group is moderated by Improv staff and group members and currently has almost 1000 members.

2) PeopleSoft-Fans: This is our original Yahoogroup setup for the same reasons as Kronos-Fans. With almost 10,000 members and hundreds of messages per month this is the premier location on the web for PeopleSoft support.

3) Kronos-Fans TNT: This is our brand new Tips and Techniques newsletter/eZine. This product has been created to provide tips and techniques for both Kronos and PeopleSoft products. In addition it will have articles on various topics of interest to everyone, including non technical, non product related goodies. One can subscribe via RSS and post comments on the site in response to articles. We hope to have many guest authors just like in the old days with the eZine.

4) Improv-Fans Weekend Update: This Blog. I want to open this up to the random musings of my trusted group of Kronos experts. I'm not limiting or controlling their posts in any way so you'll probably find some cool Windows tools here along side code to do the unbelievable in Kronos.

Please feel free to add comments to specific posts or even generic ones to help direct our future communication strategy. This stuff is all here for you.

Bryan deSilva
Founder, Improvizations & the Improv-Fans groups