Abcnews.com references the latest Technorati summary of the blogosphere in A Billion Bloggers? As you may have guessed from the title, there are many blogs out there. A taste of some statistics from the lengthy article:

Put simply, the growth of the blogosphere since March 2001 is the upward trajectory of a sine wave, from zero “weblogs” then to 57 million blogs today. And the number continues to grow by 3 million blogs per month, or 100,000 per day.

A total of 1.3 million posts per day.

At times, I believe I have my RSS reader set up to read every one of those posts.

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You have seen multiple posts from us here at The Hire Sense on background verification and it’s importance in the hiring process. This morning as I was scanning through some online content, I came across some statistics from Verified Credentials on verification discrepancies.

• 10% of criminal background searches contain discrepancies
• 18.42% of academic verifications contain discrepancies
• 41.07% of employment verifications contain discrepancies
• 4.17% of professional license verifications contain discrepancies
• 1% of personal reference checks contain discrepancies
• 46.65% of driving records contain discrepancies

A discrepancy is defined as “information provided by the applicant which does not agree with the information verified.” This does not always mean that the discrepancy would disqualify the applicant.

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Last week, we defined Project and Goal Focus which is important for successful selling in any market. Salespeople must stay on target over extended periods of time while overcoming many obstacles.

The companion aptitude to Goal Focus is Results Orientation. It is one thing to stay on target, it is another thing to actually accomplish the tasks needed to reach that target. A salesperson with little aptitude for achieving results will be the proverbial “cloud of dust” salesperson. You will see a cloud of dust kicked up by all of their activity, but at the end of the day, the wagon hasn’t moved.

Results Orientation
The ability to identify actions necessary to achieve task completion and to obtain results. This ability will be manifested in a persons ability to meet schedules, deadlines, quotas and performance goals.

A salesperson with strength in this aptitude will view results as being important. They will lean towards tasks where the outcome or product occurs within a fairly short period of time. They need more direct rewards. Abstract values and rewards are usually not as attractive to this person.

A salesperson with a weakness in this area does not tend to be motivated by external results. They may view the importance in a situation on one specific area which may not equal results on its own (e.g., being fast, enjoying the work, being perfect, etc.). This lack of focus on all the variables involved in achieving results could lead to the result being incomplete.

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Interesting, quick story – ‘Big Four’ Accounting Firms: Nix Quarterly Results Reporting. Surely the speed of the Internet has to be the main force behind this suggestion.

The heads of the “Big Four” accounting firms . . . said the standard financial reporting model used in the last century is growing less relevant and meaningful.

Instead, the firms proposed static quarterly financial statements be replaced by real-time, Internet-based reporting, including a wider range of performance measures.

I’m not a financial advisor, but, at first blush, this change would be dramatic. I suspect much of the corruption schemes would be difficult to perpetrate with this almost real-time approach.

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CareerBuilder offers this article discussing the use of the Internet to research candidates. Most candidates are aware of the pervasiveness of information available on the web. But according to this statistics from this article, not all candidates are concerned about it:

When asked to divulge the types of information discovered on the Web that caused them to dismiss potential employees, hiring managers pointed to the following:

31% – candidate lied about qualifications

25% – candidate had poor communication skills

24% – candidate was linked to criminal behavior

19% – candidate bad-mouthed their previous company or fellow employee

19% – candidate posted information about them drinking or using drugs

15% – candidate shared confidential information from previous employers

12% – candidate lied about an absence

11% – candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs

8% – candidates screen name was unprofessional

Drinking, drugs, bad-mouthed previous employers, provocative photographs? Amazing that candidates are no more aware of these faux pas. Or perhaps they are and they are not concerned?

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I’m sure you can guess the top 2 job boards, no surprises there, but who is number one. Careerbuilder nudges out Monster by 400,000 more ads in a quarter. But what boards round out the top 10, that might suprise you. Check out the list at Workforce.com.

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In a recent a recent Workforce Management newsletter it had quick article that caught my eye. It was titled: Who’s Tough and Who’s Not (sorry no link available) and looks to see what is the toughest group in corporate America.

PsyMax Solutions, a human capital assessment company in Cleveland conducted a survey and reached its conclusions after studying the responses of more than 2,000 employees. It found that middle managers are the most resilient, are better able to accept criticism, manage stress and bounce back from frustration and disappointments.

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Through some of my sourcing efforts this past week I came across several lists for the top cities for relocating. The Employee Relocation Council (ERC) and Primacy Relocation have been conducting these survey’s for a few years. From what I found, they publish a yearly list of the top 50 cities for Families by market size and the top 100 cities for singles.

Our home state of Minnesota did not place any cities in the top 50 for families, but Minneapolis/St. Paul came in at 77 on the list of top 100 cities for singles. Here is the criteria used for each of the lists:

Families
Tax Rates
Average House Prices & Appreciation
Cost of Living
Ability to Qualify for In-State Tuition
Service Quality of Local Utilities
Auto Taxes
Per-Capita Volunteerism
Quantity of Fun
Family-Friendly Events and Venues
Fee and Occupancy Rates for Temporary Housing and Mini-Storage
Quality and Availability of Elder-Care
Commute Times

Singles
Local Percentage and Growth Trends of Unmarried Residents Aged 25-34
Male-Female Ratios
The Number of Newcomers to the Area
Diversity and Density of Population
Job Growth vs. Unemployment Rates
Apartment Rental Costs
Fee and Occupancy Rates for Temporary Housing and Mini-Storage
Higher Education Costs
Service Quality of Local Utilities
Auto Taxes
Per-Capita Volunteerism
Quality and Quantity of Collegiate and Professional Sports with Fun, Fan-Friendly Venues
Number of Starbucks and Other Coffee Shops
Quality or Popularity of Restaurants, Nightspots, Health Clubs, and Online Dating
Moderate Climates

It suprised me that the list of criteria for singles was larger than that of families. For anyone that has kids (especially teenagers), you know that there are many items missing off this list. In observing my twin teenage boys, malls and movie theaters come to mind. Perhaps for the purpose of the survey those two were lumped into the category of “family-friendly events and venues.” (try hanging out with your teenager at the mall – they would rather die)

In all seriousness, the Twin Cities are extremely family friendly. Our burdensome tax rate must be dragging us down in the rankings.

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We are fans of Jeff Thull’s approach to selling as we commented in a post from this past summer. Now Thull has a new article in the latest SMT enewsletter – The Science and Art of Go For The No Selling. I recommend you read the entire article, but here are some excerpts:

Probably the most debilitating myth ever perpetuated on the world of selling is: A good salesperson can sell anything to anybody. But those of us pursuing a complex sale should be taking the opposite approach.

Provocative you say? The reasoning:

Selling has become such a complex process that if you don’t consider “no sale” as a valid outcome and go for the no right away, you could end up wasting valuable time, company resources and delaying access to more lucrative opportunities. Real professionals recognize that a no – after a quality diagnosis, wins the potential customers respect, leaves the door open for future business and frees you up to pursue a better match. You should always ask yourself, Is there someplace better I could be?

And finally, the tease of the article:

Today’s environment – characterized by long sales cycles, multiple layers of decision and influence, and numerous perspectives – has become so complex that the very nature of selling has changed.

You will have to read the article to discover his solution. It is worth your time.

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I know you will hear it often today, but please take the time today to get to the polls and cast your vote. All of us at The Hire Sense will be taking time today to perform this civic responsibility that much of the world does not have the freedom to enjoy.

See you at the polls.

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