The Ford motor company has a lot to teach other businesses in America.

Ford is the only of the three major US auto manufacturers that didn’t need a bailout, and if that wasn’t impressive enough, Ford just reported a $1B 3rd Quarter profit. (That’s $1,000,000,000 - it looks so much sexier when you write it out.) This is a company run by very savvy business minds.

So if you can’t beat ‘em, learn from ‘em.

Business Week recently wrote about Ford’s social media campaign for the Ford Fiesta, and anyone thinking about social media applications in his business should consider the story required reading. If you haven’t heard of the Fiesta, don’t worry - it’s a model that hasn’t been released in the States yet and won’t be until early 2010. Nonetheless, Ford’s social media marketing for it has been underway for some time. The campaign, dubbed the Fiesta Movement, involved Ford giving 100 Ford Fiestas to social media users who would then create content about the vehicle.

(Complete non sequiter: Am I the only one mystified by the way car model years work? The model that will reach the US in early 2010 is the 2011 Ford Fiesta. How is it not a 2010 Ford Fiesta?)

Like Ford, most people now recognize that anyone who tells you social media are a panacea that generates millions of dollars for free is trying to fleece you. (And those who don’t realize it aren’t bothered by such pedestrian concerns - they’re expecting a large check from a Nigerian prince to arrive any minute.) At the bare minimum, serious investments of time and energy must be put into social media strategies to generate any ROI.

And Ford illustrates this brilliantly. A full 25% of Ford’s marketing budget for 2009 is going to digital and social media. They offered up 100 vehicles as a part of the Fiesta campaign. They don’t just believe in social technology - they’re putting their money where their mouth is.

But believing is only sufficient for saving Tinkerbell - execution is required to run a successful business. One of the toughest questions we here at Generation Why regularly field from employers is “We know social media is supposed to be the way of the future, but how are we supposed to use these new technologies to find and keep great young employees?”

As much as I’d like to offer up magical keys to the kingdom, the simple truth is that there’s no easy, one-size-fits-all solution. As you read through the Business Week story, notice how nuanced the Ford campaign was, just how much of it was specific to Ford and even to the Fiesta itself. Don’t expect any recruiting or retention efforts you make with the new technologies to require any less nuance or skill.

With that caution, there are a number of lessons I pulled out of the Fiesta Movement that are as relevant to marketing your employment brand to Gen Y as they are to marketing a new vehicle.

1. It’s user-driven. (Pun intended. Sue me.)

Ford has taken the great leap of faith and is allowing the end users of the product to be the generators of the content at the heart of its campaign. Odds are good there is some oversight, but for the most part this isn’t a top-down hierarchical approach to spreading the word about the Fiesta - it’s a word-of-mouth and peer-to-peer campaign. That translates into credibility.

Note also that Ford was looking for certain users. They weren’t trying to please everyone. They didn’t want the entire world to love the Fiesta. Instead, they sought out 100 people who were excited about the vehicle and would serve as ambassadors for it.

2. It’s measured.

Measurement is great because it allows you to prove the value you’ve created for a client or employer. More importantly, though, you can measure a campaign and see if it’s working. One of the great things about social media is that they’re agile. If Plan A isn’t working, it’s much easier to change your blog campaign to Plan B, C, or even D than it is to pull the plug on a national television campaign.

3. It’s patient.

Ford started this campaign 18 months before the Fiesta hits US highways. Why? Because they’re patient. They recognize that while the internet is a world in which everything can change in a matter of minutes, a really solid campaign will take time to plan, execute, and get to work. Real credibility and trust take time to build. Ford recognized this long before they needed that trust and started to build it.

4. Your turn

I may be sharp (if immodest), but I guarantee there are lessons and applications I missed. Share them in the comments section, if only to wipe the smug grin off of my face.

I recall being at the bar with friends once, and we saw the bartender - a guy maybe a couple years older than me - making repeated trips to the jukebox with his tips. For most of the night, he was calling the shots on what we were listening to, on his own dime.

Now, if you’re this employee’s manager, how easy is it to think of something that will keep him around at this point? How many different ways are there to leverage this employee’s love for music so that you can get him to give you his best?

• If he comes in to cover a shift, or he’s having a bad night, why not load the jukebox up with a five spot to let him know you appreciate his work?

• Maybe can give him some credits in the jukebox for every shift he works. (This is a double perk because it leaves extra money in his pocket, too.)

• If you can, turn off the jukebox and let him choose a radio station. He’ll have trouble quitting because he can’t find another job where he can choose the music.

Just because your Generation Y employees value work/life balance doesn’t mean that you can’t bring a bit of their life into work to make things happen.

Difficult selection processes can include:

• Applying in person. If someone won’t get out of his chair to come apply for the position you’re offering, this is not passionate person.
• Writing a resume. So, you employ people who are applying for their first job? Request a resume instead of giving them an application form - you’ll see very quickly who is willing to take a little time for their job and who isn’t.
• Taking a test. One public relations position I applied for required a writing test after the first round of interviews. I really enjoyed the test, and it got me fired up about the rest of the application process. If it hadn’t, I would’ve removed myself from the applicant pool with great haste.
• An interview on steroids. It’s one thing to sit down and speak with applicants to see what they say they’re like, and entirely another to force them to act to see what they’re really like. Some managers use a walk test during an interview, where they simply have an applicant follow them for a tour of the facility and gauge applicants’ interest and passion by observing how the applicant keeps up with their brisk pace.

Difficult to use selection processes can include:

• Not knowing where to apply. It doesn’t matter how motivated I am, if I don’t know when and where to apply, you’re going to have a hard time getting me in the door.
• Tons of meaningless or unrelated paperwork. It’s one thing to take a test related to what I’m doing, and entirely another to fill out forms that don’t seem to relate to what I want to do. If you have forms that seem obliquely related but you know they’re intimately related to the job, explain to applicants how they fit into the big picture.
• Lame people. Whether it’s boring, rude, or disinterested people, the easiest way to knock passionate potential employees out of a hiring process is to have them interact with people they know they won’t want to work with. No matter how well crafted the rest of the process is or how passionate the applicant is, staffing your selection process with grouches and bores will cost you talent.

In my last post, I said that you should make your selection process difficult. I want to explain that a little bit further, as there is a world of difference between “difficult” and “difficult to use.”

A difficult selection process begins with some barrier to entry that forces those with a real interest in the position to devote some valuable resource (time, energy, etc.) to be considered. The cost in time or energy is clear up-front.

A difficult to use selection process begins with a barrier to entry that makes it hard for even the most motivated applicant to understand how to apply. Nothing about the process is clear up-front.

A difficult selection process will include tests of relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities. Those who aren’t truly passionate and able won’t be able to complete them.

A difficult to use selection process will include irrelevant tests of patience and tolerance for B.S. Those who are truly motivated will be capable of completing them but completely unwilling to do so because they’d rather be pursuing their passions.

A difficult selection process will see the less motivated and qualified applicants slowly drop off as their ability and interest are exceeded by the tasks required of them.

A difficult to use selection process will see large swaths of people, both qualified and unqualified, drop out as they grow frustrated and confused by the process.

A difficult selection process will net you a motivated, passionate, skilled employee.

A difficult to use selection process will get you someone who can put up with a lot of crap, but wasn’t passionate enough about the actual work to seek out somewhere they knew they’d be doing something they love.

This weekend, my younger brother and I climbed Mt. Elbert, which is the highest mountain in Colorado. We dragged ourselves out of bed at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday and we hit the trail before sunrise. It’s not a technical climb, but it is a steep trail, and with the whole hike at an elevation over 10,000 feet, even slight exertion left us huffing and puffing.

So, aside from an excuse to write about mountaineering exploits and post a scenic picture, why am I telling you this?

It’s to illustrate a point - with the right motivation, young people can be convinced to do damn near anything.

Think about all the young employees you’ve had who struggle with getting into work at 8 a.m. What passions motivate them to the extent that they would climb out of bed at 4:30? I’ll bet you if you asked them, they’d tell you they have some. Maybe it’s biking or music or poetry or service or Shakespeare or any of the billion different human interests that exist.

We know that young people will get out of bed and hike miles and miles in thin air for the things we’re passionate about. But the real question is how to find the young people who will do the same thing for your business.

You have two options:

A. You can get them to start caring by relating their work to their passion. This is kind of like bringing the mountain to Muhammad. It’s not impossible, but it’s often more trouble than it’s worth.

B. You can hire people who are already passionate about your business. Don’t make your selection process easy - make it hard. When something is difficult, you know that only the passionate will complete it. If this weren’t the case, the top of the mountain would be a lot more crowded than this:

I’ve been quite a bitter bear lately, so I want to take this opportunity to reverse that trend, and focus on something cool.

It’s graduation time! My little sister graduated from high school this year, and she managed to make my brother and me look bad while she did it. She was awarded a full-ride NROTC scholarship and graduated as the class salutitorian with a 4.22 GPA. She has been involved in sports, and she works a part-time job at a shoe store. Very impressive!

And while she’s out enjoying graduation party after graduation party, I wonder if her bosses are taking steps to be ready to replace her when she takes off for the East Coast at the end of the summer. Because if they aren’t, they’re going to be in a spot at the beginning of the fall. And this isn’t just fraternal pride speaking - this is an issue everyone who employs young people should be thinking about right now. (OK, there is definitely some pride involved.)

As your employees who finished their senior year begin to enter the real world, college, or whatever it is they plan to do, one thing is certain: their major life changes will also be translating into changes for you. The end of the summer will bring with it the loss of some talent, the advancement of other talent, and the need to find new talent.

I suggest asking yourself these questions long before the end of the summer. In fact, you should probably have started thinking about these issues already.

1. Who is staying and who is going?

Some of your recent graduates will be going to school out-of-state. Some will be seeking other employment. Some will be staying with you. You need to start asking your young staff what their plans are right now so you can set yourself up for success accordingly.

2. What will I do with the people who stay?

You might learn that some of your great part-time employees are thinking of coming on full-time. Hooray! Start thinking about the steps you want to take to develop them, and then get them engaged immediately!  This is important because a job that seemed fun for 15 hours per week can get dreary when move up to 40 hours per week. Especially when your school social life is no longer providing stimulation and excitement. Believe me - I’ve been there.

You may also find out that one of your less-than-stellar employees is interested in staying and is even considering trying to work more often. You should look very carefully at whether or not you want to provide more work, more responsibilities, or even keep someone who isn’t impressing you. Don’t allow yourself to think that someone you can barely stand will magically improve with more hours and a freshly printed diploma.

3. How will I replace the people who are leaving?

Odds are pretty good that some of your performers are leaving for school or other jobs. You’re going to be in the position to replace them, and now is the time to start work on that process. You should already have some sort of recruiting practices in line so that you can keep finding fresh talent, and right now the only difference is that you’ve got more than two weeks of notice that some of your best will be departing. If you finish your recruiting before school starts, you’ll have the opportunity to have your new people bought-in, trained, and producing before fall arrives with its craziness.

By dealing with these issues now, you’ll be able to create a much less stressful fall for yourself.

I was watching the local news the other night, when I recognized a girl I went to high school with. She was talking about her difficulty in finding a job after graduating.

One thing that caught my eye in the story was a Craigslist posting from another young person that said, “Experienced, Intelligent and Punctual College Grad Needs work ANYWHERE…Please, for the love of God, give me a job!”

I recognize that when times are tough, one is fortunate to hold down steady employment. And I’m quite pleased that I do. But begging on Craigslist? Really? How about writing a resume, hitting the streets, and getting a job? That might show some initiative, much less the experience and intelligence you’re claiming to show.

I hated to see this story for a number of reasons:

First, I hate human interest stories. They bore me. I want to know about politics and world events (you know, news!) when I watch the news.

Second, it reflects poorly upon me. When recent graduates are portrayed as a bunch of sniveling, whiny losers who beg for jobs instead of getting off our asses and earning employment, it makes me look bad by association.

Third, it’s so incredibly, pathetically “woe is me.” It’s tough out there right now. I see that. So, stop crying and do something about it. Do something to illustrate your value to a potential employer. (Here’s a hint: Complaining that things are hard is not a valuable job skill.)

Please know, whatever else you know, that my generation, as a whole, is not cut from this mold. Some of us are too busy working to have the time to beg on Craigslist or film our sob stories for the news. So, don’t settle for someone who is begging for a job. Don’t settle for that. Look for someone who is working hard and making the best of their situation instead of whining about it. They’re out there.

In my Vegas post, I mentioned that sometimes the small things matter, and that those can increase your applicant pool, which (while it can increase the time required to filter through it) should increase the quality of your final selection.

As if to prove my point, I read the following on TO Polk’s blog (he’s a 25-year-old from South Carolina):

It’s been fairly quiet on the job search front. As a result, I’ve deviated from my original plan of working for a gaming publisher. The way this economy is, I’m fairly open to anything right now. At the moment, my only qualification for a accepting job is that it’s not somewhere crummy. Basically I don’t want to live in the Great Plains. Unfortunately, I haven’t even gotten far enough to where I can be picky regarding where I want to live. Most of my job searches have resulted in me just not hearing back from anyone. On the bright side, I know it’s not just me. I’ve heard from other people, recent graduates, recent “downsizees,” and those just looking for a new job, that they’re not hearing back from companies either. Talk about picking a good time to re-enter the workforce. Had I known this, I would have hung out in school for an extra semester — original plans be damned.

Two things I think employers should notice about this:

1. “Most of my job searches have resulted in me just not hearing back from anyone.” That’s a terrible feeling. And a quick call back or e-mail to tell applicants that they should keep looking can make that difference. TO says, “I know it’s not just me. I’ve heard from other people… that they’re not hearing back from companies either.” In other words: every single one of those contacts he made was an opportunity for a company to build its image as an employer, even if it’s from someone who wasn’t hired there. From the sounds of it, every single one was missed.

2. “The way the economy is, I’m fairly open to anything right now.” This could be a mixed blessing. You can get them in the door now, but once the economy is bullish again, will they stay? TO said he planned to work for a gaming publisher. If, for instance, you aren’t a gaming publisher, you hire TO, and you don’t want to deal with higher turnover costs once we hit the end of this cycle, you’ve got to be thinking about how to keep your him now. Doubtless the current downturn will change Generation Y, but does anyone think it will affect a complete change in our attitudes? Don’t count on it.

Social networking is very much in vogue today. For a guy like me who was born in 1986, I tend to think of social networking as something that is done strictly with a computer. Occasionally, I meet someone who reminds me that the “social” aspect of this might actually involve physical interaction with another human being.

As it so happened, I had one of those moments this morning, and even managed to learn a great recruiting practice in the process.

I was speaking to a supervisor at a cable installation company, and she told me that they had been having trouble finding a young person to fetch cables. She said the wage was good for the work offered, but that the young people they had spoken to seemed to believe that the work was beneath them.

So, after hitting a point of frustration, she spoke to her mother. Her mother then put the word out through her network of friends by speaking to them. That’s right. Talking. No internet, which means no facebook, no MySpace, no Ning, no Twitter. You know, actual conversations. (I’m told that these occurred regularly in the dark ages before computers.)

The day after speaking with her mother, the supervisor had two people working for her who had called after their grandparents had told them to inquire about the position. One still works there today.

This is a perfect example of using connectors. Connectors are the people who can put you in touch with young talent. They know who works hard and they know who doesn’t. They know people who need work. They know young people. If you can build a network (online or off) of connectors to put you in touch with young prospects, you will soon be wondering what to do with your surplus of talent, instead of scratching the bottom of the barrel.

In this case, finding a couple young people who would help out was even easier because grandparents have a different influence on their children than their parents do.

To illustrate, the supervisor asked me, “If your grandmother called up and asked you to look into this for her, would you say no?”

She leaned back smiled because she knew my answer:

“Hell no, I wouldn’t say no to my grandmother.”

I found this October column in The Harvard Crimson, Harvard’s school paper. In short, it says that well-qualified, soon-to-be-Ivy-League-grads are worried about finding jobs in the financial sector.

As a recent graduate, this kind of gloom and doom column (even despite the columnist’s later attempt at levity) is like reality running up the Jolly Roger and taunting me with all the bounty I will never get. It’s like staring at a nautical chart that tells me only that I am lost. Quite possibly hopelessly lost.

Notice, however, the small, gray print that I’ve pointed out on the left side of this screen shot:

It says “Advertisement” (My apologies - I know it’s a little tough to make out.)

When I checked the column just before publishing this post, there was nothing in the space reserved for an advertisement. Now, if you think of this article as a reminder that I am lost at sea, what would you call a posting for a job appearing right next to it?

A treasure map.

And not only is it a treasure map, it’s a treasure map that is targeted at Harvard students, who I understand are highly sought after by managers who did not attend Yale.