Virtual Corporate Office

Since 2001, I have run my company Mahogane Management with a virtual corporate office. It is interesting as in 2001, not too many company's were using this platform to run their day to day. It was a new concept then and even now a majority of the businesses today are still brick and mortar and that probably makes sense for what they are doing. However, I have always been about efficiency, streamlining and cost effectiveness. The big 3 foundation builders of my company.

Now, you may be wondering how one runs a successful company virtually. Well, it all starts with the systems. Now, I have to say that over the years, I have become tech savvy. I started to look at all of the systems I used in Corporate America and really saw that everything was so one sided. I looked for alternatives systems, cutting edge technology, active communities and platforms that would grow with my company infrastructure and was cost efficient.

Through my research, I started to discover the wonderful world of the 'Open Source'. As I began to investigate the various technology and platforms available, I realized that I could not only save money by operating virtually, but have cutting edge systems to connect my workforce which allowed me to not have limitation on on my staff talent as borders were non-existent.

I know for many it is a stretch or may seem overwhelming in setting a virtual corporate office, but I can tell you one thing. Over the years, I have been able to perfect our operations and how we work. I have been able to show over 85% cost savings in operations costs, as I am not limited by traditional business infrastructure.

Today, I continue to explore various open-source technology to stay cutting-edge not only for my company, but with our Recruitment Process Outsourcing and Human Resource consulting services and how our solutions can best be deployed in non-traditional (virtual) and traditional (on-site) settings to our customers. I believe Virtual HR is going to increase and having functional HR leaders who can deploy these infrastructure models can add insight to their business leaders, but also make a positive impact on how to deploy virtual/remote systems cost-effectively and with growing technology.

Candidate Presentation...Is the resume becoming obsolete?

Today candidates have many opportunities to present themselves to employers. The resume is the calling card that still presents the basic information on candidates. However, with the emergence of social networking, many recruiters can find opportunities to learn more about potential candidates whether they are active or passive candidates. Today, recruiters can generate list of passive candidates and then do searches for them via various social networking sites to get a better insight on these prospects.

On the flip side, candidates can use their social networks to present information about themselves that would never be able to be conveyed via the resume. Now, I am not saying that social networks alone will replace the resume, but company's today can do themselves a great service to incorporate additional search strategies to get insight on who they are hiring.

Resume dissatisfaction has increased with employers and candidates alike even in this economy. Recruiters are having to wade through more unqualified resumes to get to some possible qualified or highly qualified candidates. Candidates are having to present their resume in multiple formats based on the job requirements instead of being able to have a good recruiter infer about competence or ksa's instead of looking for "exact phrases" or key words matches in a resume.

How can we address some of this dissatisfaction? Start by standardizing training for recruiters to assist them in becoming better researchers that are skilled in the art of competency and identifying transferable skills will do employers a greater service. It is not enough to sit behind a desk and post a job, recruiters should hold their hiring managers accountable to be clear about the realistic job requirements, what type of situational judgment, behavioral questions, verifications and technical requirements are in play to assist the recruiter in identifying the right candidates.

Now you have the baseline to start, the resume comes in and you leverage additional resources such as social networks to gain better insight and just maybe you will find that best match. Candidates should prepare a resume that is focused on results and use their social networks to better convey not just their personal side but professional achievements and motivation.