#6Things: Ecosystem Envy, Janitors and B.O.

Imagine all the (obese) people

Imagine. You’ve worked for your company for a couple of years. You’ve done your best at your job, but your health takes a turn for the worse. Your doctors tell you the medication will make you gain weight, you may have a strong odor, in short, your life will change. But you want to work, you HAVE to work. Instead of applauding your courage, your co-workers insist you cannot be a leader, you should “join a fat farm”…and more. Devastated, but still conscientious about your fellow employees, you apply to HR to work in a separate office due to your (medically induced) weight gain and body odor. HR approves, management denies it. Can you imagine?  You work for Capital One. (SHRM)

Two first names

John Julio is the new SVP of Biz Dev over at Talentegy, led by the incomparable Shawna Berthold. Red Branch is partial to this analytics for HR solution, mostly because Shawna is amazing and we helped with the branding! (Talentegy)

Speaking of former clients…

Yesterday we learned GreenJobInterview (@GrJobInterview) was recently purchased by Montage Talent (@MontageTalent)! WHOA! Oh yeah, they also raised 8 mil. Congratulations to both Greg Rokos (@GregRokos) and Kurt Heikkinen (@kurtheikkinen).

A Tale of Two Janitors

The NYTimes story is an eye-opener for sure. The gig economy is something we all write about, but do we see what it costs our society? It’s not just about annual compensation, but a holistic approach to your employees. I dunno man, this seems like we’ve gone backwards to me.

In interviews, tech industry contractors in Silicon Valley describe a culture of transience. They can end up commuting to a different office park that houses a new company every few months; in many cases 18 months is the maximum a contractor is allowed to spend at one company.

“I would rather have stability,” said Christopher Kohl, 29, who has worked as a contractor at several Silicon Valley companies, including a stint doing quality assurance on Apple Maps. “It’s stressful to find a new job every 12 to 18 months.” (NYTimes)

You better work

Francine (has the best name) wants to work for spotify. Wanna know how I know? Because she did this. None of my Branchers ever did anything this cool to get hired. And this is HELLA cool. I’d hire her but it’s not FrancineForRedBranch.com so…(FFS)

Everybody got an opinion

Recently Kyle Lagunas (@KyleLagunas) asked for something more comprehensive than what CB Insights had on offer (to be fair it’s from January) for HRTech. Being the incredible client advocate I am, I suggested Talent Tech Labs (@TalentTechLabs) v6 of the TA ecosystem as a great place to start. WELL! Everybody from Bill Kutik (@billkutik ‏) to Martin Burns (@RecruiterMoe) and George Larocque (@glarocque) got sumpin to say. I welcome your opinions gentlemen…(TTL)

Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is CEO of Red Branch and general Bad@$$

Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. Maren started Red Branch Media and, before she hired all the smiling faces you see below, she ran it on her own. In marketing for over 15 years, she has deep experience in strategic campaigns and a long-term, results-based operational approach.