All things being equal…doesn’t happen
It is a common argument in HR circles:
“All things being equal…”
You can end that statement with a bunch of different things but what I hear most often is in analyzing the interview process. Something along the lines of “All things being equal, being nice gets you the job.” Or “All things being equal, dressing well will get it done.”
I have a startling revelation: all things aren’t equal. They rarely are. This mindless philosophy of HR people has to stop. The best qualified person wins the job (usually) and there wasn’t an equal to have to choose from. I have been in a situation where people have been very close but never equal. Why? Because communicating well, dressing nice and being a type of person who can work well with others DOES effect equality. It is never this black and white “both candidates have five years of experience doing exactly the same thing they would be doing here, there is no real difference between the two and I don’t know how to decide.” There have been situations where I think both could do a good job but this person will do a better job for X,Y and Z reasons.
It seems pointless to me to spend a lot of time opining about all things being equal because it happens so rarely. You should dress well because it will disqualify you or severely handicap your chances of getting a job. You should work on your communication skills for the same reason. People aren’t evaluated for just their on paper qualifications. That might be the only place where people are “equal.”
And if you search my blog and find the phrase, this tongue lashing is deserved.
You’ll find jobs in Australia at Recruit.net.
eBay’s Mistake and What Management Can Learn
eBay, the internet auction powerhouse, sent out a huge message about changes to their fee schedule for the store inventory format. You wouldn’t know it though because it takes up about a page worth of explanation and rationale before actually getting to the meat of the e-mail (i.e. the pricing changes). So I started scanning the e-mail and kept reading and wondering what it was all about. When the CEO attaches his name to a change with a vague title like “Resetting the balance of the eBay marketplace” and it isn’t clear what he is writing about after reading for 30 seconds, it doesn’t bode well that the message will be understood. To add insult to injury, they sent out another message announcing a sale for the next two days (probably to smooth the waters). I am shaking my head but I’ve seen managers use similar tactics to communicate and smooth over policy changes. Here are four things that eBay could have done to make their message better:
1.) Relevant title to the e-mail. Make it clear what the e-mail is about. This e-mail wasn’t about resetting the balance to the people that were receiving it, it was about fee changes to store inventory listings. The audience are employees, not upper management.
2.) Announce the change and details at the beginning of the of the e-mail. If you are going to intro it, make it brief (three sentences max). Announce the change in a concise and brief manner.
3.) Offer an explanation afterward to those who seek the information. Be brief, don’t be defensive of your decision and offer sound, practical explanations for the necessity for change.
4.) Don’t bribe them to accept it. Not only does it set a bad precedent, it seems non-genuine. The best thing a leader can do is spend time talking to the employees about the decision. Nothing more.
Managers can take note: the tactic used by Bill Cobb was entirely ineffective at meeting its goal unless his goal was to communicate ineffectively.
NVJobSearch provides Las Vegas jobs for workers hoping to relocate to Nevada.
How to prepare for an interview
Employment Digest lays down the big preparation for the big day. This is from this post originally. Which originally came from here.
One thing that I think this guide should really hit home is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing mock interviews or practicing extensively. If you aren’t good at interviews and you know it, don’t put extra pressure on yourself by thinking you can come through in the clutch and make it happen without preparation. That works so rarely, lightening should strike and somebody should win the lottery closeby if it happens. If you are an awful interviewer and you don’t know it, you won’t ever know it unless you practice in front of someone who knows something about interviews.
There is incredible value in simply practicing talking about your background and answering questions. Your future career isn’t a place to skimp on it either. Invest time into preparing for in-person interviews.
Your HR Guy isn’t a scientist: Part II
Part II of my post is posted over at CollegeRecruiter.com as part of the blogswap. Everyone can say hi to Steven while you’re over there. 
Your HR Guy isn’t a scientist
Human Resources isn’t a science. Anybody who tells you so is a liar.
I’ll be the first to admit that Human Resources has some scientific principles in place but they aren’t everything and they aren’t the most important. Knowing what questions to ask may be scientific but knowing how to interpret those answers and apply them to a hiring decision is not about science. It may sound silly and very old school, but it has a lot to do with good decision making. It is about looking at your past decisions and what led you to those and what the results have been. You must hire like it is your job (because it…uh…is).
As testing becomes more a part of the hiring process, I have found that testing usually proves what the rest of my analysis tells me. And that’s through statistical analysis, not through some pompous view of what I think I know. Will I keep testing? Of course! And will I keep in place pre-screening and other techniques? You bet. Because nothing beats having additional information even if it simply confirms it (like a background check will do 99% of the time).
In HR school, the first thing they tell you is that in-person interviews are unreliable. The problem is that they are basing it on the fact that most in-person interviews are CRAP. Most interviews are done by people who have no idea what they are really doing. Often times, the concern is over how great of an interviewee are you which is pretty much a complete waste of time.
Anybody…ehem…excuse me…ANYBODY… can be a great interviewee. And often times, doing a great interview means jack to how well you can perform a job.
So why use them? Here’s a universal truth:
Every HR Guy thinks he can interview well
Every HR guy thinks he has a magical gut that let’s him know every last detail about how this person will perform. But it is usually bullshit. In fact, if HR guys were so confident in their statistics as they were with their gut, they would figure out that it usually isn’t that reliable.
So how do you get past this situation? Check back tomorrow for the exciting conclusion.
You’ll find accounting jobs in the UK online at AccountantCareers.co.uk.
Don’t write an objective
Just don’t write one. They are rarely well done (they are typically variations of “To get a job”) which is exactly not helpful at all.
If you feel the need to explain yourself, now is the time to polish your cover letter and stop making it the generic necessity that it always ends up being. Some recruiters don’t read cover letters anymore. I do. I love a well written one so much, I am willing to sacrifice myself to the cover letter idiots who write.
Dear Sir or Maddam,
Please accept my resume for the position of [enter title here] advertised in the [enter newspaper name here]. As you’ll see in my resume, I have a wide variety of skills that fits perfectly with this position.
I look forward to speaking to you further on this matter.
Joe Applicant
If that’s what you want to do with your cover letter, just leave it off. The people that do care won’t like you and for the people that don’t care, it will just get in the way. My suggestion is to stick your objective in your cover letter though and customize it for each job you apply for.
Speaking of resumes, those people that have submitted their resumes to me but haven’t heard back from me, I am working through them. I’ve seen some real promise shown.
Are you a damned liar too?
This post is part of the blogswap. Amitai Givertz (a.k.a. Recruitomatic) writes about lying in the recruiting process
Last Wednesday afternoon, a recruiter I know was suggesting that it is terribly wrong to be deceitful as part of the process of sourcing names and poaching talent. She wagged her finger at me and said, “You scallywag! Suggesting that recruiting and names sourcing is like sales and prospecting is true, but only up to the point that a recruiter would never lie.” Being a salesman before lying my way into the recruiting profession I thought to myself, “You moron”, but in the interests of polite conversation I said, “Well, I guess you’re right, Mavis.”
This recruiter then proceeded to inform me that the whole business of recruiting has become corrupt. Resumes aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on – full of lies, half-truths and misrepresentations. Hiring managers? They are brazen liars too, especially sales managers and particularly those in advertising and media. To illustrate the point about hiring managers, she cited several instances where she was told that a strong candidate didn’t cut the mustard when clearly, if the manager had taken a moment to read the (heavily censored) resume, an interview – a hire even – would most certainly have been the result. No doubt about it.
Now, I cannot say whether it is right or wrong to lie but I can tell you that The Good Book – as far as I know – makes no mention of lying being a damnable offense. I notice toward the end of the Ten Commandments, almost as an afterthought perhaps, it says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor”, but this is a highly specialized form of lying and is only occasionally encountered during reference checking and exit interviews. So, this rarely applies to me anyway. I’m in the clear.
So let’s see if you and I can have an honest conversation about lying and the role it plays at most every level of recruiting. But before we do – and I confess it here – I am an accomplished liar. I lie pretty much every day, sometimes casually, sometimes deliberately and sometimes through my peroxide-whitened plug-in teeth. I have developed a pretty good knack for looking someone in the eye and telling them real whoppers, even to the point of making the story so outrageous they’re bound to think, “Wow! That’s kind of hard to believe,” but they go ahead and believe it anyway. Ask anyone who’s met me, I’m so plausible in person. I am an accomplished liar, that’s true. And I suspect you are one too, so good perhaps that you fall into the category of the “unconscious competent” maybe? I guess I should explain myself before you start getting all unbalanced and permanently boycott this otherwise honest and modestly monetized blog.
If you will, listen in on this sales interview:
Your HR Guy Hates Shorts
As a quick aside, I have been super busy, stressed, yadda yadda and ignoring the one thing that brings me sweet relief: blogging. It is good to see you all again.
I hate dress codes. Especially because I hate dressing up or looking nice and that sort of thing. In fact, if I were in a position of not interacting with future employees on a face to face basis (or customers, etc…) I would happily not wear the getup.
That being said, dress codes are an absolute necessity. There are exceptions to this rule that I don’t really feel like going into or inserting myself into a debate over but one thing, one universal idea that goes into why I like dress codes.
Some people need to be told what to wear
Some people I do not want to see any more of. Some people want to show skin and it might be distracting to co-workers. I hated our shorts policy. Some people were wearing shorts that were too short and we get to have fun conversations about short length. Then some people wore shorts that weren’t professional (rips, etc…). I just got tired of the combo of having to try and regulate all the different types of shorts there were and trying to disuede some people who shouldn’t wear shorts. And especially this time of year, I get a few complaints about it and I usually make up something about how we are a professional office and yadda yadda yadda, but for the most part, the reasoning above is all I need.
CanaryWharfJobs.com provides London jobs online.
Minding the Commons: HR 3.0
This post is part of the Blogswap. David Kippen writes today about the short history of HR. Enjoy!
Since this is an HR blog, I’m going to throw those shiny coppers at a brief history of HR…wait…don’t go…this will be short!
Okay, thanks for sticking around for a minute.
Let me start with the relevant bit. I know you know that HR is in a period of immense transition.
You’re in the consulting space, it’s a time of immense opportunity; if you’re in HR, it’s a time of immense risk. And, as Fast Company so famously pointed out late last year, there’s not a whole lot of love going ‘round. So let’s take a look at how HR came to be what it is and at least one opportunity to help it become what it can and should: a strategic profession.
Though recruiting has been around since business began, much of what became what we call the modern HR function evolved from personnel departments. These were, in turn, the outgrowth of WW II wage freezes.
Why does that matter? Read more
MPOJ is Right
Magic Pot of Jobs posts some good examples of ways to NOT get hired. Tiffany is right (again!). The three she addresses are:
1.) Keyword spam for applicant tracking systems. If you have a marketing background and you start inserting keywords about administration, operations, finance and human resources, you lose. Keywords should be applicable to your experience.
2.) Ignoring the rules regarding application submission. If you send a fax when I say to e-mail, if you come in when I say to call or if you mail when I say to submit it online, it does make you stick out. Not in a good way though. If you can’t follow instructions, you lose. Note that this does not apply to networking because that has been done well in advance of a position opening up.
3.) Using cheesy attempts to stand out. We’ve seen them all. Yes, all of them. And if you have a new way of surprising me, I doubt it is going to be a good one. Standing out is about putting together a solid resume and networking the hell out of your preferred industry.
And CareerHub emphasizes a point I made in number two: network, network, network. Before you need the job. Before they have the job available. If you don’t do this, you are selling yourself short. It used to be hype or a trend that would die. It isn’t. And it is the key to continuing to move your career in the upward direction.
Search for jobs in London at Canary Wharf Jobs.com.
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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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