All of the tools and tactics can seem overwhelming.  How do you get tapped into things like Twitter and which sites are worth it and how do you know when your efforts are paying off?  Unleash the Monster, the MGS social media community that discusses all sorts of Federal employment issues like teleworking, recently held a Social Media 101 event to answer those questions one step at a time.  Speakers advised on how to build a foundation for social media and provided a successful agency case study on NASA’s Twitter use to generate and sustain interest.  Communications experts also made one point very clear: beyond all of the technology that surrounds social media is a very human need: to be heard and to connect with others.

If you haven’t stuck your toe into the social media waters yet, Marc Hausman of the Strategic Communications Group and author of the Strategic Guy blog has several pieces of advice:

• The first step is to understand how people are interacting with a medium–you can tell a lot about people and their interests by how they spend their digital time.  Then you can shift from observing to participating.
• Understand that social networking is human behavior that migrated onto a technology platform–the folks that dish around the water cooler have moved their discussion online so that they can converse whenever they have a free moment.  They’re making their presence known and their conversation accessible.
• Even if you don’t have openings right now, you can use social media to build your agency’s culture online then stay connected with strong candidates until there is an opening.

If you’re worried about spending too much time online, Federal News Radio’s Tom Temin suggests going in with specific objective.  Decide how (and how often) you want to engage with your colleagues and prospective hires and what you want to accomplish.  Temin says the worst reason to use social networking is because everyone else is doing it.  If it’s forced, it won’t seem genuine and you won’t engage other users.

Temin does recognize that the combination of Federal government and the highly sensitive nature of HR can have its issues.  He offers these four tips:

1. Be careful what you say in groups.  Before you post, think about whether your words could come back to haunt you.
2. What you do online is a reflection of your professional etiquette and demeanor.
3. You don’t have to friend everyone—protect your credibility.  You are who you associate with, so carefully think about each invitation you accept.
4. Control your time online: have a set limit for activity.

If you don’t want to hop on a mainstream site where you might run into your kids (or grandkids), there are government social networking sites like GovLoop to share best practices and tips.  There are also plenty of Federal blogs on a range of issues to get you started.  Once you get comfortable using social media yourself, you can think about some of those hard-to-fill positions in your agency and where you’d find ideal candidates online.  The next step: how to engage them in a credible yet compelling way…and keep them engaged.

Agencies are just starting to put policies in place that outline how employees can engage within these new social circles, but many still have not decided if they should even offer their employees the option of participating.

The fact is, social media is here to stay. Younger generations and future employees to your prospective agencies are actively involved now.  Currently employees are likely checking out how social networks can impact them.  Now the question is, how can HR professionals engage to recruit and retain?

Unleash the Monster is hosting an event on February 24^th in Washington D.C. to discuss these topics.  Our speakers are joining us from Federal News Radio, NASA, and Strategic Communications Group to discuss how attendees can get started in social media.

If you are local to the area and interested in attending please visit our events page for registration details.  If you are not in the area, but would still like insight into what was discussed, we’ll be posting video clips to our YouTube page.

For all of you that are already involved in social media and understand the hurdles of getting started, we’d love for you to share your best practices here on Unleash the Monster.  Post a comment below or click on “Share your story” to submit content for our site.

The fact is, education is more than just opening a child’s mind to the world around them, it’s a prerequisite for success. An education does more than just fill the mind with knowledge, it imparts the skills and abilities needed to compete in the global business environment and job market.

Today’s high-growth industries, such as network security and biopharmaceuticals, require employees with a vast knowledge and understanding of what education professionals today are calling STEM subjects. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, which are all subjects that American children seem to be falling behind in.

With other nations fast eroding the edge that America held for years in science and technology, the need to refocus on STEM subjects and make them “cool” and exciting again is greater than ever. It’s in this area that video teleconferencing (VTC) can help.

Hands-on learning and the ability to see the things in action remains the most effective and efficient way to ensure that the message is retained. VTC gives teachers the ability to show students how the lessons they are learning in the classroom relate and apply to real life.

Some phenomenal examples of VTC bringing STEM subjects to life in the classroom are the programs being made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA’s VTC and Webinar programs bring real life experts and scientists into the classroom and help to illustrate the way subjects like algebra are essential in America’s space program.

By witnessing science, technology, engineering and math in action, students see the real world applications of the very subjects they’re studying. What better way to demonstrate just how directly related their coursework is to their career aspirations. This also helps to keep students focused and active in their own educations, and makes some of those boring subjects just a little more exciting.

After all…nothing makes rocket science more exciting than cool explosions. Now that’s a new way of teaching.

Kerry Best is the Senior Marketing Manager: Education & Medical for TANDBERG Public Sector. Kerry and TANDBERG’s thoughts on VTC in education can be found on the TANDBERG Public Sector Blog at http://blog.tandberg.com/publicsector/.

Unfortunately, thanks to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), government employees are now feeling the same upheavals that are being felt in the private sector.

In 2005, Congress established the 2005 BRAC Commission to, as they claim on the website, “ensure the integrity of the base closure and realignment process”.  After a lengthy review process, using “objective, non-partisan, and independent” reviews, it was decided to close Ft. Monmouth (based in Monmouth County, NJ) and move the base to Aberdeen, Maryland. The decision, based on the cost-saving logic of the Commission and government, has been disruptive to say the least.

At work, I hear countless conversations around cubical walls about school systems, housing, colleges, and forced retirements. I also hear conversations about the BRAC process itself, and whether or not all the facts were given to the Commission before the final decision was made. It is not my place to judge the integrity of the process. However, I am keenly aware of the results, and how the decision has affected the lives of thousands of employees at Ft Monmouth.

BRAC is forcing many decisions to be made by both newer employees and those close to retirement. Some are going to move to Maryland and make the best of the situation. Others want to stay in New Jersey regardless of the circumstances and are trying to get jobs either at other government installations (McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, a new super base), or in the private sector.

It’s especially difficult and raises many questions for employees with families and children in school. When do they move? Should they move in the middle of the year, or move in the summer time so their kids can start the year at a new school?

Other conflicts have come up for employees with older parents that may have health issues. If they have an ailing parent or grandparent that needs care, does this person move with them?  Do they move in with together? These are issues that employees all over Fort Monmouth are struggling with.

For myself, the questions are fewer and less severe, and the options seem to be greater. I have no children in school and have no house to worry about selling. Nor am I close to retirement. In addition, I am young enough (28) to not see moving as a traumatic experience but rather an opportunity.

Given these factors, I should feel more comfortable with the move than many others. However, I have my reservations having lived in New Jersey my whole life and appreciating the abundance that the state offers, including its beaches and proximity to New York City and Philadelphia. There’s no question that Aberdeen, being relatively close to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, is a great place to live, but it’s hard to replicate all that New Jersey has to offer.

At the end of the day, it’s reassuring that I have a job in this economy, even if means moving out of state. Unfortunately, not everyone has the flexibility I do, and their futures are much less certain. I’m proud to be a public servant and glad to be gainfully employed…but I’ll miss my home.

Andrew Stevens is a Data Specialist for the Army, based out of Fort Monmouth

With thanks to my friends at Armed Forces Services Corp, I was able to attend the launch of Mission Serve by Service Nation. Mission Serve activates dedicated civilian and military public servants across America to more closely bond service with military veterans and families.

The event was supported by appearances from Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden. You can watch video of the First Lady at the event here. Both dignitaries expressed the importance of Mission Service’s success in helping out veterans and their families.

One of the highlights of the event was the announcement of www.milserve.org . Military.com and the Veterans Innovation Center partnered together to create a site that brings together volunteers and non-profit programs that support veterans and their families.

Milserve will be the central location for volunteers and Veteran service organizations to collaborate and accelerate service to our vets.

As the nation’s economy plummeted to depths not seen since the Great Depression, much of the focus deservedly centered on factory shutdowns and massive job losses. Somewhat lost in the shuffle of countless media stories about layoffs and unemployment rates was the fact that those employers who were hiring — whether it be for one position or 1,000 — were faced with an unprecedented number of job-seekers, many of whom were well-trained, motivated and ready to return to the workforce.

There are few places where this fact was more evident than in the Janesville/Beloit, Wisconsin area, where the loss of major employers such as General Motors, Lear Corp., LSI Inc., Freedom Plastics, Bourns Automotive and Alcoa Wheels left thousands of skilled tradesmen without the jobs many had held for decades. Knowing these people needed a connection to other area employers, Monster.com and the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board (SWWDB) entered into a unique agreement.

The Hire a Neighbor program, Monster’s first partnership with a workforce investment board, allows employers within a 100-mile radius of Janesville the ability to connect with those who have registered with and submitted resumes to Monster.com. Offered as a free service, an employer contacts and provides a job description to SWWDB’s Business and Employer Services Manager who, in turn, searches Monster’s database and forwards matching resumes to the employer. It’s that simple, and the program has proven popular and effective.

More than a dozen local employers have used the program since it was launched this past summer, ranging from manufacturers to nonprofits organizations to higher-education institutions. While the program has not yielded a hire in every case, it has provided employers with a sample of who is out there. Many employers are reluctant to place ads in local newspapers or online, for fears of being deluged with applications that overwhelm their human resources departments.

I would like to share one local employer’s recent experience with the Hire a Neighbor program. Tures and Associates, a small accounting firm with two locations in the Rockford, Illinois area, contacted me after having problems finding a part-time accountant. According to Patricia Boyles, Tures and Associates’ office manager (click here to view entire letter):

“For many months, we had diligently tried to hire quality staff to no avail. Being a small business, we could never afford the high fees charged by the major online employment services. This program offered us a chance to search locally and specifically for the type of staff we needed to take our company to the next level.

“We hired Lindsey approximately two weeks after (an SWWDB staff member) was kind enough to come on-site and assist in the screening process. She has been a valuable addition to our staff, and we are so grateful to … the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board.

“The Hire a Neighbor program was a booming success for us, and words cannot express the heartfelt appreciation of both me and our owner, Jim Tures.”

As the economy recovers and employers begin to hire on a larger scale, we expect to help them find the qualified workforce they need to succeed. The Hire a Neighbor program is a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Aren’t we in a recession? The news that I’ve been reading lately has highlighted one of the highest unemployment rates seen in years.  So it leaves me wondering why so many government jobs are still unfilled.

At TANDBERG, we’ve noticed a shift in employment and have seen that flexibility and the ability to telework have become increasingly important in the today’s job market. In the past, the focus may have been on benefits and salary exclusively, but today’s employees are looking for the better work-life balance and improved standard of living that telework brings.

This is especially true as the government workforce “grays”. Experienced leaders in government agencies and organizations are getting older and preparing for retirement. Many of these individuals would be willing to continue working until experienced employees are prepared to replace them in the workforce if more flexibility and the ability to telework were available.

Unfortunately, the government has been slow to embrace telework. In fact, a recent article in ComputerWorld reports figures from the US Government showing that only 5.24% of the federal workforce teleworks.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has taken notice of this and is currently working to not only encourage telework among its staff, but also get other agencies to play along. OPM sees telework as not only a way to lure top talent away from the public sector, but also as a way to increase productivity and expedite processes, such as granting security clearances.

But why have government agencies outside of OPM been so hesitant to embrace telework? The problem most likely lies in its perception. Many government agencies fear allowing their employees to work out of sight and “unsupervised.” They also fear that the lack of face-to-face communication will significantly hamper cooperation and communication.

Luckily, new technologies have become available to government employees and agencies that can assuage these fears and allow them to embrace telework with little to no reservations. One of these technologies is video teleconferencing (VTC). VTC allows employees to communicate as if they’re in the same room, regardless of how far apart they are. Teleworkers utilizing VTC solutions can be supervised and still collaborate with their coworkers in much the same way people in the same office could.

By embracing VTC and teleworking, the government can offer the flexibility and improved work-life balance that potential employees are looking for and gain an important leg up on the private sector when it comes to hiring top talent, all while making its workforce more flexible, more efficient and more productive.

David Moss is the Senior Director, Eastern Region for TANDBERG Public Sector. David and TANDBERG’s thoughts on government adoption of VTC can be found on the TANDBERG Public Sector Blog at http://blog.tandberg.com/publicsector/.