Interview questions

The best hiring questions list I know is available in files
HRinterviewquestions.doc at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NESTJOBS/
I use some of them as an interviewer...

"Un bon post" en français: Comment trouver un emploi de conseiller aux ventes...

What will be the successor of the current user (professional) profile in online networks?

This question has been asked in LinkedIn Q&A forum Ronald Wopereis.

Ronald Wopereis asks: "Currently every major online social and/or business network has this concept called "user profile". The information inside such profile would hardly be considered factual by any news reporter or judge. Clearly, our presentation of ourselves is biased, aimed at offering a certain kind of contact while at the same time making sure that our shadow elements are left out as "not really relevant at this stage of relationship building".

In my theory of attention, and following Spinoza's comments 300 years ago that mind and body are two perspectives on one and the same area, i see a future where software usage is what builds a user profile."

My answer is: I guess LinkedIn is pioneering the "successor of (professional) user profile" with 3 specific features:

1. who you know - your network
2. recommendations from current and past colleagues
3. LinkedIn Q&A feature where you can advertize your skills by asking and answering question. from what I understand this is what you call "software usage".

In addition to what's on LinkedIn, as Ronald wrote it, every name can be "googled". That's why in addition to Linkedin Q&A, it's a good practice to participate to forums and publish some papers.

Read also: GROW YOUR NETWORK WHILE YOU DON'T NEED IT!

Indian walkins / walk-ins

To get a feeling of the software indian job market it is a good idea to wander in offshore related forums to get a better feeling of what's happening in India.

• Get a view of the indian job market and the industrialization degree it reached:
  • http://groups.google.com/group/grkist?hl=en
  • http://groups.google.com/group/chetana_freshers?hl=en
  • http://groups.google.com/group/lookhere?hl=en
• Get a more specific view on how some engineers are recruited:
  • http://www.kyapoocha.com/
  • http://www.mywalkin.com/

You will soon notice the word "walk-in" or "walkin". There are plenty of those industrial recruiting events in every big indian city. Here is an example of a recruiting "walkin" exam:

Walkin Interview @ XXXXX in Chennai on 5th to 12th June 2007

Walkin Interview Details:

Date:5-Jun-07 to 12-Jun-07
Venue:

XXXXX India Pvt Ltd
XX, XXXX Main Road
Chennai - 600058

Contact Person: XXXXX yyyy@zzzz.com
Phone: YY-YYY-YYYYY

IT - Microsoft technologies

Software Engineer

Desired Skills

- 2 years hands on experience VB.net, ASP.net, SQL Server 2000.
- Completing tasks with allocated resources. Research and Development as and when required.
- Reporting on progress.
- Documentation and Record keeping

Experience 2 - 6 years

Location Chennai

Read also my offshoring paper: 9_OFFSHORING_ADVICES

my gmail greasemonkey scripts

I recommend those 2 greasemonkey scripts to all gmail users:

• Gmail color labels
• Gmail Conversation Preview

LinkedIn is back!

LinkedIn just reached 11 millions users!

It took 4 months to LinkedIn to grow from 9M to 10M and it took only 6 weeks to go from 10 to 11M.

The graph below shows the sharp increase in terms of users (blue line).


I write "LinkedIn is back!" compared to what I posted previously: LinkedIn is still growing, but...

LinkedIn, The World, France, Germany, India and China

OK, LinkedIn is the 1st worldwide and in Europe BUT not in Germany and France.

Germany and France are still important markets and still love to speak their respective national language. Actually they not only love to speak it, but a sizeable part of french and german people do not speak any other language and they live and work very happily.

That's why, it is my feeling that whatever the size LinkedIn will reach, both Xing and Viadeo will keep an advantage in France and Germany.

By the way, I think there is definetely a place for a chinese speaking social networking site, and that's why Viadeo made an alliance with one of them... No place though for an indian speaking social networking site as many languages are spoken in India and english is the common language. India is using LinkedIn!

Read also my previous post Are French and German not interested in "social networking"?

By the way, I'm an open networker and welcome all invitations on LinkedIn, Viadeo and Xing.

I use Viadeo for France (4000+ 1st level contacts), LinkedIn for the world (12000+ 1st level contacts) and Xing for german speaking countries (1000+ 1st level contacts). I am not speaking chinese fluently enough to invite you to connect on a chinese social networking site :-(

LinkedIn is growing its user base in India

I am one of the 50 most connected users in LinkedIn. Lately I have seen a trend where my network in India is one of those that grow the fastest .

What is unusual here is that usually the fastest growers are also the the biggest as UK, NY or the bay. But this is not the case for India which is below 4% but may soon appear in the top 5 areas in terms of LinkedIn users.

In Basic LinkedIn Users Radioscopy I explain why my network may be similar to the entire LinkedIn user base.

PS: I heavily "invested" in terms of connection effort towards India because I'm in love with this country/continent and I think it is an area of growth in many areas.

Technorati tag this: mariacher, linkedin

Social Networking for Jobs

Should Monster be scared?

Read this article about employers and job seekers using LinkedIn. Viadeo is missing in this comparisons between different websites.

LinkedIn is still growing, but...

So LinkedIn just enlisted it's 10 millionth user. Here is LinkedIn progression since early 2006:













A 1st fact is that since early 2006 LinkedIn is growing linearly, while one could expect it to grow exponentially as more and more users would invite more and more people.

A 2nd other interessant fact is that the ratio between people I can reach and the total LinkedIn users is increasing these last weeks, while my number of 1st level connections does not grow as fast as this ratio. Ratio was 55.5% jnuary 2007 and is 60% today.

It means that inside LinkedIn, people are connecting between themselves faster than new users are entering LinkedIn. I have more and more connections, but in a closed world.

How to use Linkedin and Viadeo to find a new position in 4 steps

Step 1 connect with as many people as possible

The main goal is to maximize the chances to see and be seen on LinkedIn and Viadeo. An additional goal is to minimize the path for reaching people you want to contact.

Connect with 3 different kinds of profile in addition to your near colleagues:

• Connect to people who share your professional goals.

• Connect with recruiters. There is a huge number of these people on LinkedIn and Viadeo.

• Connect with people having a lot of contacts (several thousands) on Viadeo and LinkedIn like eric.mariacher@gmail.com.

To add me as your LinkedIn connection:

0. register on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com

1. copy/paste eric.mariacher@gmail.com

2. click on http://www.linkedin.com/addContacts?displayAddByHand=

3. paste eric.mariacher@gmail.com in the email field

4. click on "search"

5. click on "send invitation"

To add me as your Viadeo connection: Invite Eric Mariacher on Viadeo

As a general rule do not use standard boiler plate invitation (3rd advice). People with more than 1000 1st level connections usually accept every invitation provided it is not too standard.

To find the most connected people on LinkedIn: click on http://www.linkedin.com/search and sort results by number of connections.

To find the most connected people on Viadeo: ask me

Step 2 get recommendations

One of the real plus of tools such as LinkedIn and Viadeo is the recommendation feature. You get feedback from former colleagues in real time. people looking for those recommendations can contact those former people to get additional information.

Step 3 use Q & A feature on LinkedIn

Another plus of LinkedIn (and to a lesser extent of Viadeo and Xing) is the Q & A feature where you can show your expertise concretely.

Step 4 read my "My 2 cents about Online Business Networking"

http://eric-mariacher.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-2-cents-about-online-business.html

“Grow your network while you don’t need it”

Technorati tag this: mariacher, linkedin

Good links for good powerpoint presentations

Keep it simple! Read these articles before building your next powerpoint presentation.

• Use Powerpoint to enhance your presentation, not cripple it
• Write complete sentence headlines
• PowerPoint Is Evil
• The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint
• 5 Ways to Reduce PPT Overload
• Management Communication for Undergraduates from MIT OpenCourseWare

Some graphics and ways to represent data:

• http://rapidbi.com/management/leadership-models/
• periodic table of visualization methods
• http://www.slideshare.net/rfitzgerald/visualization-methods
• Gallery of Data Visualization

| View | Upload your own

Viadeo: Connecteurs d'élite

Bonne année 2007 aux Connecteurs d'élite sur Viadeo!

Ce graphique est basé sur les informations, peut-être partielles que j'ai à ma disposition.

Profil d'Eric Mariacher sur Viadeo

Technorati tag this: mariacher, linkedin

Are French and German not interested in “social networking”?

I have several thousands of 1^st level LinkedIn connections who gave me access to about 55% of the total LinkedIn users. Like you, I can see the top 5 locations where my network is the most developed.

In my network, the top 5 locations are: UK 8%, Bay area 7%, NY 6%, France 4% and Netherland 4%. Germany does not even appear.

UK, Germany and France have roughly the same population around 60 millions. Netherland have less than 20 millions inhabitants a third of the population of the above countries.

So are are french and german not interested in “social networking”?

The truth is that germans and frenchs are as much interested in social networking as other western countries, but they are using other networking social sites than LinkedIn.

Germans use Xing (ex-OpenBC) and frenchs use Viadeo (ex-Viaduc).

750 000 french people are on Viadeo whether 300 000 are on LinkedIn.

If you want to reach french and german people today, you also have to be present on Xing and Viadeo.

To have a good start-up on Viadeo, I invite you as an open networker with thousands of Viadeo 1^st level connections to connect with me by clicking http://www.viadeo.com/contacts/invitationsimple/?from=adressbook&lastname=Mariacher&firstname=Eric&email=eric.mariacher@gmail.com&isMember=true

Read also: LinkedIn, The World, France, Germany and China

Technorati tag this: mariacher, linkedin

My last IBM meeting: a new concept

Years ago, I was a proud IBMer in Corbeil (FR), RTP (USA) and La Gaude (FR).

A few weeks ago, I was invited to “The Greater IBM Connection” here , here or even better here.

“The Greater IBM Connection” is a bunch of IBMers and ex-IBMers who wish to connect, communicate and collaborate.

As you may be aware, IBM was and is still present in a lot of countries around the world. As IBM alumnis, as we call ourselves, wanted to meet and not just communicate through emails and blogs, some face to face meetings were set up in various cities. I always refused the invitations as these meetings were taking place too far from where I now live and work (France and Switzerland).

Then came another invitation taking place at first sight in New-York. I told myself, “yet another one, I’ll have to decline”. Then on second sight, I read that it took place here on a website named Second Life…

I want to share here my experience at this meeting (Oct 12^th, 2006) with you and invite you to “The Greater IBM Connection” if you are or were a proud IBMer. This was for me the first concrete result from participating to the “The Greater IBM Connection”: discovering and living a new concept.

First of all I had to register on SL (2ndlife) create an Avatar (an image of myself in SL), learn to move and interact with the world and other avatars through SL IM (instant messaging). Then you modify your appearance (clothing, hairs, etc…). After half an hour you’re set, ready to second live.

The Meeting

A few days later I went to the meeting, a specific place on SL, by teleporting. By the way, you can also fly in SL which is a great experience. I was welcomed by the organizers, and the meeting took place there.

In addition to being there in the SL meeting room, we had to be also on a conference call on the regular phone.

We first had some powerpoint presentations commented on the phone by various people as seen on the snapshot I took during the meeting. In SL I’m “Kebra Sakai” with the turquoise zebra shirt, listening carefully and staring at the greaterIBM slide…

Questions could be asked through the phone.

Then we gathered in small focus groups around tables discussing some specific topics. To communicate around the tables we used IM shared by table rather than the phone, to discriminate between discussion groups.

The last phase of the meeting was spent doing direct IM communication two by two to know specific peoples.

After two hours I left the meeting and teleported elsewhere after a flight around the meeting building.

Conclusion

We’re still at dawn of such practices:

• We still need a regular phone for conference calls to be able to listen to people.
• We have sometimes difficulties to master the interface to interact with SL.
• We are just not used to attend meetings this way.

But it makes these kind of meetings more lively than conf calls with a netmeeting presentation. From my point of view this is especially important when you meet people for the 1^st time.

I guess it is going to be more and more common to have such meetings who bring some second life to today’s meeting.

By joining “The Greater IBM Connection”, I hope to participate to such other meetings and discover some revolutionary concepts such as this one.

please find other blogposts on this specific subject here.

Technorati tag this: mariacher, linkedin

OpenBC is gaining ground on LinkedIn.

Try this link: http://www.google.com/trends?q=LinkedIn%2C+OpenBC&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

By the way don't try to compare with Viaduc because it won't tell you anything except that Viaduc is often associated with Millau (Viaduc de Millau) as google trend done with "LinkedIn, OpenBC, Viaduc" gives same result as "LinkedIn, OpenBC, Millau".

Technorati tag this: mariacher, linkedin

Chief Networking Officer: a new corporate executive

I'm trying to do a bit of market education for my next job :-)

Here are some interessant CNO links:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Networking_Officer
• http://bbotpng.blogspot.com/2006/07/new-executive-chief-networking-officer.html
• http://blog.openbc.com/2006/01/new_chief_netwo_1.html
• http://stoweboyd.com/message/2006/01/now_thats_a_tit.html
  

En Français DRR - Directeur des réseaux de relations:

• http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directeur_des_r%C3%A9seaux_de_relations
  

Technorati tag this: mariacher, linkedin

HOW DOES QUANTITY BRING QUALITY?

At least for me…

Quantity brings quality part I: How does quantity bring quality to MY network?

Here is my experience where I discovered that quantity does bring quality to my network.

I started like a regular networker, having a LinkedIn profile and a bunch of contacts. Once, a year ago, users I did not know, invited me. And I accepted their invitations.

Then I began to connect with people I did not really know but with whom we had common interests. While I gradually increased the number of my connections I got more and more users contacting me for interessant new opportunities proposals. Regularly these people tell me that they contact me because of my number of connections, that enable them to have more visibility through my network and by extension more visibility through their network.

This is why I write that in my case quantity does bring quality.

Let’s now make some theory.

Quantity brings quality part II: Who are the LinkedIn users I invited?

Every LinkedIn user looks more for quality rather than quantity. Quantity is a clear concept for all LinkedIn users. It means a quantity of 1^st level connections. Quality is another matter, quality can mean different things for many people. It can be asked in two ways, quality or/and networking goals.

Some questions

What is quality for me?

Is quality, really knowing my connections so that I can discover new opportunities through a “trusted” chain of LinkedIn users?

–OR-

Is quality the ability to discover new opportunities even if I do not personnally know the people involved?

What are my networking goals?

Are they just to manage my network of people I personnally know?

-OR-

Are they to maximizing chances to find new opportunities by meeting people I have not personnally met?

From answers to these questions we can outline several user’s profile (see sacred cow dung web site from Chris Mayaud at http://www.sacredcowdung.com/archives/2006/01/highperformance.html for more details).

Let’s simplify this classification by writing that we have 2 kinds of LinkedIn users: “regular” networkers and “open” networkers.

Regular networkers only connect with people they personnally know while open networkers may accept connections with users they don’t personnally know.

We will now try to know what is the ratio between regular and open networkers in the LinkedIn network.

Some numbers

I have invited several thousands of people who were working in domains similar to mine but whom I did not personnally know. Inviting people you do not personnally know is strictly forbidden by LinkedIn and I stopped doing so 9 months ago. But I got some results to be analyzed from this random/blind invitations experience.

I can see from the ratio between users who accepted my invitation and those who did not accept that roughly 40% of LinkedIn users are open networkers.

If you are a “regular” networker stop reading this post here, but if you are on the 40% open networker side please go on!

I think we may find some common ground...

Quantity brings quality part III: Back to something concrete for open networkers

As you can imagine I am open to ALL connections from LinkedIn users who have the common goal of increasing our number of connections so YOU and I can bring quality to our networks.

Connect with me using the “Invite Eric to connect” link in the top right green window at the top of my LinkedIn profile that you can find at http://www.linkedin.com/in/mariacher click "I know Eric" and put my email eric.mariacher@gmail.com

Technorati tag this: mariacher, linkedin

Dinosaurs demise Part IV: epitaph

We talked about dying dinosaurs and mummies in the previous chapter.

Where do you find dinosaurs remnants and mummies today?

You usually find them in museum.

I invite you to visit the mega-networker museum where you will find these dinosaurs or mummies.

We’re talking about web stuff, so it’s an online museum.

Let’s surf at http://linkedin.pbwiki.com/500. This is a brother museum from the one I wrote about in part I.

Here comes the curator: Marc Freedman already expelled from LinkedIn top50.

Have a look at the 1^st display: http://linkedin.pbwiki.com/MyLink10000

Here, Marc Freedman curator, reintegrated the LinkedIn place he lost in this already dusty museum.

If this display was complete (this is a half empty museum) you should see Marjan Bolmeijer. Marjan is an already discouraged mega-networker, refusing to play the networking game, that is to transmit requests. She is an already inactive/mummified mega-networker.

This is the common fate of mega-networker, as they don’t see any interest of being a mega-networker anymore, they let their network die and with themselves some of their direct connections.

Let’s now have a look at the 2^nd display: http://linkedin.pbwiki.com/MyLink5000

Only one pathetic person trying to still have the sacred online networking fire: myself.

Here is the epitaph: “Tell the king the ornately designed temple has collapsed. Phoebus no longer has a home, nor a mantic laurel, nor a talking spring. The babbling water has run dry.”

This epitaph was first uttered in year 362 AD by Delphi Oracle concerning its own demise. This was the end of classical greek culture, a foundation of the modern western world.

Start the story again...

Dinosaurs demise Part III: Konstantin, kill’em all!

Konstantin, please, find here my 2 cents advices to complete LinkedIn evolution towards the ultimate online business networking tool. Now you should specifically implement steps 3 and 4 detailed below.

3^rd step : enforce the no email policy (summer 2008).

goal is to earn money.

Having it’s email visible is kind of having a free “personal plus” account. You can be contacted by everyone but freely.

Make people pay for visibility!

4^th step: take off the “sort by number” search option (december 2008).

Goal is to just kill the mega-networkers and definitely get rid of those pests.

if you take off the “sort by number” search option, mega-networkers are now undistinguishable from any regular user. They can’t compare their connection numbers between each other and thus they lose one of their motivation that set thenm apart from the regular user.

It will probably be like the unthinkable catastrophe that destroyed dinosaurs millions years ago. Mega-networkers will slowly wither and return to ashes or at least be mummified.

Now that LinkedIn is enforcing its rules and that there is no user annoyance problem let’s see in part IV the destiny of the mummified mega-networkers.

Dinosaurs demise Part II: mega-networker twilight

Once LinkedIn has been established as a serious and widely adopted online business tool, there came the problem of becoming profitable and fix complaints by spammed users. Here are 2 steps that have been implemented addressing these concerns.

1^st step: cutting visibility from 4 to 3 levels (summer 2005).

Goal was to improve profitability by being able to sell new features such as the openlink.

Openlink makes the problem of being separated irrelevant: you’re accessible by almost anyone. But if you have 4 levels of visibility, provided that you havea few dizains of connections, you are also accessible by everyone.

2^nd step: limit mega-networkers activity (winter 2006).

Goal was, and still is, to avoid some annoying side effects due to mega-networkers activity.

These mega-networking side effects are listed below:

• high: sometimes do some borderline spamming to collect new connections and thus being an annoyance to other regular users.
• high: spoil the network by removing all signification to the chain of trust between users.
• low: non paying privilege access due to number of connections

Concretely limiting mega-networking activity is done by:

• number of connections are not displayed above 500.
• users are not allowed to send more than 3000 invitations.

Having more than 5000 connections become almost impossible with the 3000 invitations cap.

There are still other steps to be taken to get people stop cheating and to get rid of the mega-networkers in order to be a spam free online business networking tool.

I will expose these other steps in part III.