It is getting tougher
In spite of an obvious selling proposition, hiring revolution is absolutely correct. It is getting harder, not easier, to fill job orders. And this isn’t going to become easier before it becomes more difficult.
There are some industries that aren’t in that position. There are some industries that are in South America, Asia, Europe and Africa looking for talent. Are recruiters prepared to step up to the next level? Are companies ready to pony up the resources to get the best people or is being average (or below average) okay? Are companies going to start focusing on retention because soon, very soon, not every live body in your organization is going to be interchangable with someone out there looking for a new position. Only the most adaptive companies will strive through the upcoming storm. Only the best recruiters will make a killing. How prepared are you?
When the Conference Makes Sense
In a previous post, I addressed the problem with big centralized conferences when networking can now be much more easily done using incredibly new technology such as a telephone or e-mail. This led to a discussion with Amitai over at Recruitomatic which led to a follow-up post by him which leads me to this follow-up post. When does going to a big centralized conference make sense. Here is my list and feel free to add in the comments:
1.) Educational opportunities that you have to be there for. I am very much a hands on person so if there is something that I need to learn about my craft that I absolutely must know and I know that learning it in person is going to get me there quickest, I am there.
2.) A speaker you can’t miss. This isn’t something I would go solely for but it is something that can seal the deal. I fully admit that with some speakers, you have to be there. Even a video of it doesn’t work the same.
3.) It is incredibly focused. Jobster talked about the fact that they were in between LL Bean and background checks at the last SHRM conference. While I might be interested in Jobster’s offerings, how am I going to find them in that mass? If it is laser focused on a subject matter I want to hear, let’s do it.
4.) Networking opportunities that are too good to pass up. Sometimes you’re in a position where it is simply most convenient to rub elbows with a lot of big wigs at once in one place.
5.) It is convenient. I am on the West Coast. When you get past Denver, Dallas and Minneapolis (all one flight hop and not three time zones away), it makes me really start to really question how necessary the conference is.
6.) You get an ROI. There has to be some kind of return on your trip to justify the expense. And if the cost is too big (some conferences are just ridiculously priced), it is going to be hard to get that return in real results.
7.) You have to be there. You can watch a DVD of a rock concert but you’ll never really be there. Some conferences are so good, you just have to be there. And the reason you have to be there is probably due to the fact that a bunch of the above six have come together in one place.
SHRM didn’t have these for me this year.
Your HR Guy Thinks You’re Nice
Most people that I interview are nice people. Some of them are incredibly nice. More than likely, you are a nice person and your HR guy is an optimist: he thinks most people are pretty nice people. Granted that I’ve had an interview with a jerk or two and while it can be fun to make those guys sweat, it is pretty useless otherwise. But here is the problem with “being nice”:
Nice doesn’t get you the job.
How mean of your HR guy! Being nice isn’t a job skill though. It isn’t portable equity nor is it remarkable. Being nice in an interview is like wearing nice clothes and not smelling bad. It is expected of you and it is really a matter of respect and being polite (which isn’t the same as being nice by the way).
While I wish I could hire every nice person I interviewed, I can’t. And while I don’t particularly like the part of the job where I tell nice people that they aren’t going to be employed with us, it is necessary so I deal with it. Even if I say no, I probably still think you’re nice. So when a candidate (or hiring manager or the co-worker that referred him or her) uses this as a reason why I should hire them, I laugh a little to myself. While being nice is…well, nice…it isn’t a job skill and nobody will hire you for it.
Your HR guy has rules
When I write an ad, I am pretty specific about contact methods and processes to go through. Those rules don’t apply to those who are networking but if you are in a hiring process, you will go through the hiring process as I dictate. That may seem inflexible but here is the differences between the two and why you should utilize both.
Hiring
Hiring is one mega pain in the ass. Don’t get me wrong: I love me some hiring. Nothing gets me excited like having virtual stacks of resumes at my disposal and being on the phone with candidates all day. The hiring process is full of liability though. From the moment you submit interest in a position and you become qualified for the position, I can be put under a microscope. That means if I say you must submit an application through our online site, you have to do that. You can submit a resume to me by e-mail if I say that is okay. If I don’t want a hard resume, don’t bring me one. And don’t be pissy when instead of taking your paper resume, I direct you to a nearby computer, a library, or home to put your information into our evil ATS. Everything that I use to evaluate myself and put myself under the microscope is there. It limits my liability.
All correspondence is done via writing with only three notable exceptions. The first is the phone interview (highly scripted, polished and sanitized). The second is an in-person interview (sanitized, standardized and behavior based questions). The third is a verbal offer of employment (generic, scripted, to be followed up with writing). This is why I say I will contact you after our interview. If you contact me after I have told you this, I will refuse to return your call only to tell you “No decision has been made yet.” That’s how it works and there is no real incentive to change it. We have one of the least complicated hiring processes I have seen. You should only be so lucky.
Networking
Networking on the other hand is tons of fun. I love having lunch with contacts, with people that have a particular interest in an area that we might need in the future, in making in-roads with candidates who already have jobs and for the high percentage of placements through this arena that end up turning out spectacular. If I could specialize in an area, this would be incredibly tempting.
The beautiful thing about networking is that there is no job process. There are very few rules dictating what I can and cannot do in a networking meeting. But it has to be true networking. Not just trying to get the job networking. Nope, you have to go back to the hiring section and I’ll help you through that. Networking is what you do before you get a job. And while I love networking with HR folks, that’s not where a majority of my hires will be. So I am talking to division level and above sales managers, executive level, marketers, programmers and IT people. I might not need any of these people at any given moment but when I do have an availability, they (or someone they may know) might be ready. And while that person may have to go through the hiring process, their name is familiar and I already know a lot more about them and their fit for a position. Is it a guarantee for the job? Nope. Does it improve your chances many times over? You bet your ass. Every time.
That’s why your HR guy has rules and that’s why he makes that distinction.
When it rains, it pours
The Society for Human Resource Management is having its annual conference in Washington D.C. and is apparently having one hell of weather event going on. Maybe it is fitting that it is happening during the largest gathering of Human Resources professionals and vendors nationwide. The weather is changing in the business world, HR isn’t coping the way it should and it is causing problems for everyone else.
Take for instance the supposed necessity of meeting in person at a centralized conference to essentially do three days of networking (which most HR guys would say is the most beneficial). I don’t need to meet people in person to network. Give me a phone number or an e-mail address and we’re good to go. Coming to a central location for a conference is cumbersome to a global network of HR professionals. If we have embraced telecommuting, internationalized employees and communicating creatively in a digital age, why are we still meeting in person?
Now meeting people in person may be “nice” and “useful” but sometimes it isn’t practical. It isn’t practical for me. It doesn’t seem practical for people to be in Washington D.C. right now (even if it is closeby). It isn’t practical for the HR guy in India. The in-person interview has started to fall by the wayside in some companies (especially ones where working by telephone and e-mail are more important). I’ve hired people without meeting them in person. What’s the big deal? If I ever do meet them, it won’t be out of necessity.
While HR may be trying to position themselves as “change agents” or at least “not-that-opposed-to-change-at-least-compared-to-a-couple-decades-ago,” these old school meetings with these (mostly) old school vendors who offer old school solutions (sometimes wrapped in pretty new packaging) are going to become outdated. Attendance at conferences in almost all industries has gone down. With podcasts, video-conferencing, e-mail, instant messaging, blogs and more and more experts communicating on a regular basis rather than limiting their comments to an expensive, cumbersome conference, there isn’t a compelling reason to go. It isn’t surprising that other professionals have found better things to do with their time.
Be Memorable
If you’ve ever seen Stonehenge (either in person or in photographs), an image comes to mind that is unavoidable. So what HR guy? There are lots of works of man that are inspiring, what is so special about Stonehenge? Well, here’s my logic. Can you draw a picture of the layout of Stonehenge that would be any closer to 10-20% accurate? Do you know the history of the people that put it together? Not likely. It is a lesson about what makes anything memorable. Your resume full of job duties, history, education and skills doesn’t make you memorable (well, sometimes it does but it isn’t usually positive). Here are four things that job seekers can learn from Stonehenge to make them memorable.
1.) Have vision beyond what you can do by yourself. Your strongest asset is what you can accomplish with the right people and is usually not what you can accomplish on your own. Your ability to work and lead other people to make great things happen is memorable.
2.) Do things that are great. Stonehenge could have been smaller. In fact, there are replicas around the world that demonstrate that principle. The people who built Stonehenge wanted to make it memorable. They wanted to do something great. They did it.
3.) Be unavoidable. This doesn’t mean be a pest (I don’t want to get in trouble with stalker candidates). This means be so good that you are unavoidable in being considered. It means building your reputation and portable equity so that you become the Stonehenge in your recruiter’s mind. If you are anywhere near Stonehenge, you can’t ignore it. In a good way.
4.) Be passionate. Historians estimate that it took 20 million man hours to construct Stonehenge. These people had to be passionate abot what they were doing. There was quite a bit of work to be done and it must have been hard to see the final picture but they had the vision and the passion to make it happen.
Have a great weekend.
Your HR Guy Wants You to Perform
I had an employee at an old job of mine who thought I was out to get him. I’ve had many “come to Jesus” talks over the course of my career but the one I gave him was simply brutal…brutally honest. Performance wise, he was the worst employee consistently. He might never be at the very bottom of the list but he was constantly in the bottom 10%. Finally, during one of my meetings with him, he asks me a question:
Why do you pick on me?
I paused. I took a breath and realized my initial response wouldn’t work. I was going to answer “What makes you think that?” but it came off as defensive. Plus, I already knew the answer. I was picking on him. What he didn’t understand is my motive. That was the question he was wanting to be answered. So I answered him:
I want you to perform. I don’t want to see you fail nor do I want to hire a new person and go through training and the added expense. The thing I want you to understand that despite me not wanting to do these things, I will go through with them and that all hinges on how you perform. So if you feel that I am picking on you, that is why.
Maybe not the most fantastic answer but the understanding it brought between the employee and myself cemented for me that posturing doesn’t work when dealing with your employees. The defensive answer I was going to give (that I am sure would tempt anyone in the heat of the moment) was the wrong one for the situation. It is a good lesson to learn by practicing conversations with pauses.
Building portable equity
I reviewed Radical Careering here several weeks ago and while I thought the book was average, one point that stuck with me and has continued to do so is the building of portable equity. Portable equity is defined as skills, experience and education that you can take with you from job to job. These days, nobody would be attracted to a retirement plan that you lose if you get laid off. Employees want portability because they don’t see themselves as employees for life (and most employers, if they are honest, don’t either). The same is true with job skills that translate to the field you have chosen to work in. Building portable equity in your career takes work. As a recent graduate, you may be stuck with not-so-sexy job assignments and duties. Here are five ways you can beat the rap on those duties and become a superstar:
1.) You must do the job. The key to beating it straight out of the gate is to enthusiastically hit a home run with those not-so-sexy duties and every time you do, inform your boss that you are ready for your next challenge. No need to be annoying about it but no need to take it sitting down. It should be apparent from your actions that you can easily and competently take care of these minor job duties and you can start fitting in some projects with sex appeal.
2.) Be patient but don’t be a pushover. If you are on your second day, now is probably not the time to ask for more responsibilities and a raise. If a year has passed and you are doing the same thing you did your first month, you probably need to take control of your career. Don’t be a clock-puncher (a.k.a. the type of person that sits around years after his last promotion wondering why his promotion hasn’t come), go to work excited to do your job and present it as evidence to your boss that it is time to move up.
3.) Be prepared to take risks and experience failure. That doesn’t mean you falsify financial results until you get what you want. It is that you are prepared to risk falling flat on your face for both the possibility you might hit a home run or that you will learn something valuable once you dust yourself off. The best possible opportunities are the one’s that your boss thinks can’t be done. Taking on a project like this with enthusiasm is as near to “no risk” in business as you get. Figure out a way to make it work and knock your boss over.
4.) Build your resume now. Think about what you would want on your resume if you were forced to leave your job the next day. If you haven’t done it yet, do it. Stop putting it off and make it happen. The key to building portable equity is making sure you can use your experience and education to move (either within your company or to a different one). Try finding more projects that make your superstar status apparent.
5.) Be prepared to use that portable equity. While job hopping is not something I would ever promote, sometimes it is the only option in a dead end job. Before you go though, make sure you aren’t job hopping from a bad situation with no room for portable equity growth to another one with a nicer boss. You won’t be happy there either and then you’ll look like a job hopper. While you seek that next opportunity, spend time in your current job building whatever limited equity you can.
Maybe some other HR folks think I am throwing them under the bus here. I wish I had a room full of superstars but I won’t. The problem is that thinking in the above way is extraordinary. It is easy to find people who want to come in, punch a clock and get paid to do the basic requirements of the job. Finding people who are truly hungry for challenges is the difficult part.
Announcement: Resume Workshop
I was discouraged when I saw this article posted on CNN in which I echoed frightened chills from Tiffany and GetCareer. More importantly, I asked myself what I could do to stem the tide of poor resumes coming to my colleagues desks (and hopefully my own as well). With the resume being a critical component of the job hunt (especially now with computerized resume databases), maybe I could help some job seekers out. That’s what I originally came online to do anyway.
So here is my grand idea: job seekers can submit their resumes to me and I can take a look at it as an HR guy and offer some uncensored advice to improve it. No charge of course and your privacy and confidentiality are guaranteed (I won’t use it for my business, for personal use, or put you into some brilliant resume database that I could sell to third party recruiters). It is purely for sharpening up your resume and getting a second opinion (or third or fourth). If you are nervous about submitting your information, feel free to censor the identifiable information and let me help you with formatting and wording to sell yourself.
Just to sweeten the pot, I am going to offer the prize of a fantastic book (Get Out of Your Own Way by Robert Cooper) to one lucky resume submission chosen at random.
More details on this can be found on my resume page along with submission instructions.
Please feel free to pass the word to any and all who you think might benefit.
Sexual harassment is still a hot button issue
Recruiting Animal responded to a series of posts I made regarding the termination of an employee for offering “copious BJ’s” to other employees for taking a shift of his. The discussion that unfolds is very interesting. There seems to be two schools of thought unfolding. One is that the language he used was obviously crude but also obviously joking. While inappropriate, what he said was not firing worthy. The second thinks this guy is an idiot and deserved to be treated to a lesson before he started his real career.
I understand the first school of thought very well. HR is often the business end of the political correctness fostered by a company’s legal department, lawmakers at state and US capitals and judges and it irritates me as well. That being said though, the point is moot. That is the business environment we operate in and as I commented, our legal system rewards employers that over-enforce sexual harassment law. End of story. Do any of your legal departments want to take a principled stand and fight for the right for this guy to say “copious BJ’s” as he pleases? Perhaps if he is the CEO but not if he is an easily replaced, entry level employee.
The fact of the matter is that employers are fairly risk adverse on any potential sexual harassment behavior. Could this guy have sued us for firing him inappropriately? Perhaps. The chance of it going to court and getting heard is pretty slim, the chance of him winning it is slimmer. Could someone plop a sexual harassment suit on us based on this e-mail? Perhaps. The chance of it going to court and getting heard is much better than the employee who got fired. Furthermore, if this guy had made previous advances towards other employees that the supervisor was unaware of, this could further the case of harassing behavior and not an innocent joke. Not to mention, there is very little tone in e-mail to go off of. If this were a conversation with witnesses, perhaps it could be more easily defended as a joke. Black and white text gives little indication of the jist of his statement. His intentions of a joke is unclear enough to raise a valid point.
So I guess that’s the long way of stating my view on it. Did I agree with it in principle? No, I thought it was an over-enforcement. Does it matter whether I agree in principle? Not really. Why? Because in practice, over-enforcement is encouraged and makes much more sense than rolling the dice with sexual harassment. Were it my business, legal department and money on the line, the choice is obvious. If some other HR guy wants to play with fire on that one, please go ahead and let me know your results and ROI on it. This was an easy decision to support. There are much more compelling cases out there where there is an obviously wronged person on the business end of political correctness but I am confident in saying this isn’t one of them.
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About
Your HR Guy is a Human Resources Generalist practicing in the field. But don't let that fool you, this isn't a boring blog. I seek relevance and humor in a place we will spend much of our lives. Everything from workplace issues, job seeking and terrible bosses. Read more...
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