Buses, Trains and the Media

This bus is really hard to miss

Want to attract some attention? Buy a retired school bus, paint it bright green and add a set of longhorns above the windshield.

That's what an Austin, Texas-based company called UShip Inc. did a couple of years ago. The company, an auction-style online portal for shipping services, uses the bus for company outings, University of Texas football games and trade shows.

The converted school bus (a 1983 Thomas/International conventional), purchased from Cypress-Fairbank Independent School District in Cypress, Texas, draws some strange looks from people. "Everyone seems to think it is pretty cool, though," says UShip spokesman Adam Greenspan, who assisted in the bus conversion by gutting the interior and laying down some Astroturf.

UShip has been in business for about four years. It's an online marketplace where service providers compete so that users get the best price on shipping. It was recently tagged the "eBay of shipping" in an article that appeared in the Austin American-Statesman. Greenspan says you can even ship giant green buses through UShip's vehicle shipping service.

You might want to start with something smaller, though.

Until next time.

Steve

Using your website to find great job candidates

I don't know how many of you have looked for a new job lately, but if you have, you've probably visited websites of potential employers. Almost all organizations now have a job openings page, which can make the process a bit smoother for job seekers.

Different companies call this page different things. On some sites, the link is simply called "Jobs." On others, it's "Employment," "Careers" or "Work for us." I honestly don't think it matters to a job seeker what you call this page as long as they can find it. The link should be prominent on the home page, not buried, for example, in the "About Us" drop-down menu. If you're really serious about trying to find talented people to work for your organization, don't make them hunt for your job page. A top candidate may give up and go to your competitor's website if he or she can't find the page in 20 seconds.

Also, I like the idea of having an FAQ for job seekers. I found this FAQ at the Alaska Railroad Corp. website. It's straightforward and answers key questions that job seekers might have. And it's not filled with a lot of self-promotional blather (!). Most job seekers don't even bother to read the marketing hype about the employer's "outstanding company culture," "visionary leadership," and, well, you know the rest.

When people are looking for a job, they want facts. Keep it simple. Let them know that you value your employees, yes, but don't try to bowl them over. They'll draw their own conclusions if they should happen to come in for an interview.

Until next time.

Steve

How much is a 10% salary increase really worth?

My company, TransitTalent.com, is doing a salary survey of the U.S. and Canadian transit industry. I've received more than 600 responses so far, from a wide array of departments and job titles. I'm not done collecting, however, so I can't share final results.

But I wanted to talk about some preliminary results that were, to my mind, fascinating. The question is: If you were offered a job by a local employer, public or private, that had the same basic duties and responsibilities as your current job -- but paid 10% more -- would you take it?

For example, if you're now making $60,000 per year, would you switch employers for an immediate raise to $66,000?

Here's what the respondents said:
No: 23.3%
Yes: 33.0%
Not sure: 43.7%

There are different ways to interpret these results (and remember that they could change as more responses come in).

The glass-half-empty interpretation would be: Less than one quarter (23.3%) of transit employees would definitely stay with their current employer in the face of a job offer that paid 10% more.

The glass-half-full interpretation: Only one third (33.0%) of transit employees would definitely leave their employer for a job that paid 10% more.

The middle-of-the-road interpretation: A job offer that would include a 10% pay increase would cause many transit employees to take stock of their current situation and look at their future prospects with their current employer.

Bottom line, transit employers who can't afford to pay their employees an additional 10% (and that's most all of them in this economy) need to provide other reasons for them to stay: engaging leadership, training and development, opportunities to advance and, especially, encouragement and positive feedback for a job well done.

I've heard too many managers rationalize their unwillingness to praise their staff with the following: "Well, they're only doing their jobs. That's what they get paid for." Too often, these talented, hard-working employees eventually end up getting paid by another employer.

By the way, if you work for a transit system and would like to fill out the survey, send a note to me at steve.hirano@TransitTalent.com and I'll send you a survey link.

Until next time.

Steve

My sales rep at Google doesn't have a pulse

I'm going to take a break from talking about public transportation to delve into the fascinating world of online advertising. Actually, there's a connection: I've just taken my first baby step into online advertising by creating an AdWords campaign with Google that ties into TransitTalent.com, my online job board for public transportation.

What I did was set up a Google ad campaign that will insert a TransitTalent.com text ad (left) into Google's search results page when someone types in "transit jobs." I don't know if it shows up every time, but it did the first time I tried it. Now, when someone clicks on my ad, I pay Google 15 or 20 cents (I've already forgotten). That ad will continue to show up until the total pay-per-click sum reaches my predetermined daily limit.

I also set up another Google campaign that will place my text ad on a transit industry website, again with a predetermined amount per click and a predetermined daily total.

Of course, I also have Google ads running on my blog (look to your left there) in what they call an AdSense campaign. I get a very small sum of money every time someone clicks on one of these ads. It's the reverse of what I'm doing with the AdWords campaign.

If I'm to believe what I read, this type of advertising will be supplanted eventually by something more targeted and less impersonal. What's interesting is that you can set up AdWords and AdSense campaigns without ever talking to anyone at Google. It's all done on your computer. That makes it incredibly convenient, but, yes, also incredibly impersonal.

If it works, however, I don't care whether my ad rep is a computer chip or a charismatic chimp (that's supposed to be funny). I'll keep you posted on my Google campaign. In the meantime, don't forget to visit TransitTalent.com. If you're looking for a job in public transportation or trying to keep up with the latest industry news and commentary, it's not a bad place to start.

Until next time.

Steve

Putting the kibosh on the bobblehead pope

The folks at Metro in Washington, D.C., recently committed a faux pas with a faux pope. How do you do that? You shoot a video using a bobblehead Pope Benedict XVI (purchased on eBay for $16.99) and post it on YouTube, where the Archdiocese of Washington sees it, registers horror and puts in a quick call to Metro's marketing department. The video was voluntarily pulled down.

Now, having set the stage, you can view the video yourself and decide whether it was funny, unfunny, sacrilegious, non-sacrilegious, instructive, non-instructive or, well, you get the picture. It's obviously meant to inform the public about the pope's visit to D.C. next Thursday and how they might take advantage of Metro to get to and from the papal mass at Nationals Stadium.

Nothing wrong with the intent. But when the bobblehead is wearing a red skullcap and red cape, neither of which the real pope wears, the folks at the Archdiocese are not amused. However, the improper dress was only part of the reason for the phone call.

According to the Washington Post article, the use of a bobblehead pope, properly or improperly dressed, was enough to set the pot boiling. "We think there's a better way to encourage people to take Metro," said Susan Gibbs, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese. "This is the Holy Father, and I think a lot of people would not be comfortable with a bobblehead ad."

As a skit on "Saturday Night Live," a bobblehead pope would probably not be offensive, but a public service announcement is different. Sounds like a double standard, but it's not. People who watch SNL know that the humor often relies on parody, satire and even ridicule; people who might want to travel to a papal mass aren't expecting the same.

Now, so you know, I thought the video was amusing and clever. I particularly liked the narration, especially the closing comment: "Avoid the unholy traffic, take Metro. The pope has his ride planned; you should too." Great idea, questionable execution.

Until next time.

Steve

Do looks really matter that much?

As a career consideration, how important is it to be attractive? I'd like to think not too important, but the reality is that a person's physical attractiveness is really critical -- for some types of jobs. Career-advice blogger Penelope Trunk takes this issue to a new level in a recent post, going as far as recommending plastic surgery for those who want to climb the career ladder.

Trunk believes that salespeople and managers, in particular, will be more successful if they're tall and good-looking. Of course, exceptions abound. Personality needs to be factored in, as does determination, skill levels, intelligence, empathy, intuition and so on. On the whole, however, if you're a hiring manager and need to choose between two candidates, you're probably going to select the attractive person over the less-attractive person, everything else being equal.

It would be nice to say that employers in public transportation are unswayed by the looks of candidates when it comes time to make a job offer. But we all know that would be generally untrue. This industry is no different than others in that respect.

Bringing top-notch people into public transportation is becoming increasingly important, however, and argues for hiring the most promising candidates rather than the most attractive. Yes, I know, you would never hire someone based on looks alone (although we've all had our lapses), but we need to resist the temptation to bring aboard people whose strongest attribute is a good plastic surgeon.

Until next time.

Steve

Yes, bloody assaults tend to scare people

Every time I read a news story about someone getting attacked on a bus or train or at a bus stop or rail station, I wonder what prospective bus and train riders must be thinking. Actually, I know what they're thinking: Why should I ride a bus or train and risk the chance of being assaulted when I can drive my car?

That's a valid question. At least on the face of it. It's about as valid as saying, "I'm not going to fly on an airplane because they occasionally crash." The reality is that it's much safer to fly from Los Angeles to Chicago than it is to drive there.

Although I've never seen any statistics to this point, I'm sure the odds of being attacked on a bus or at a station are exceedingly slim, much slimmer than what would be suggested by media accounts of knifings by swarming assailants. I would guess that your chances of incurring a life-threatening injury are much higher in your car than on a bus.

But that doesn't give much comfort to those people who read articles about violent attacks against transit users, does it? The media are always going to report those incidents, just as they report people dying in car accidents on the freeway. It's just that you tend to remember one and not the other.

I think bus and rail operators should emphasize the relative safety of their vehicles. They tend to play up the cost savings of using public transportation or the environmental benefits, but hardly ever the safety. You're safer in a bus or train than in your car! Let's get the word out there so these news story don't continue to scare people away.

Until next time.

Steve