Please ask me questions that I’ve already answered
There is a reason an e-mail address is included in job advertisements that is actually answered. Connecting with job seekers is incredibly important to me and answering legitimate questions is a side benefit. The great thing about the world wide web is that there is a ton of information about our company, our location and benefits on our website. If you have a specific request for information but asking me for “more information about your company” is really unnecessary. We aren’t incredibly old but telling you about our company could be a 30 second commercial or a couple hour conversation. What do you want to know?
When you e-mail questions like that and you don’t get a response, now you’ll likely know why. I will respond but I will ask you to clarify exactly what you want to know about us that isn’t available. Whenever you are talking to people that get hundreds of e-mails a day on a wide variety of subjects, a question with a very big answer isn’t going to be prudent.
And no, I don’t consider answering questions like this to be connecting with job seekers. If someone wants to have a conversation about the future of the company, our company culture and what positions may be open in the next year, I will happily comply. These are conversations that mean something. As far as I know, someone who e-mails me broad questions like this isn’t interested enough to look at all of the information we have there. And that is a shame.
101 Dumb Moments in Business in 2006
It is pretty bad when you can get a collection of 101 dumb things in one year but it has somehow happened.
Going through this list, I can’t find a lot to disagree with. Wal-Mart has been a mess, some stunts at these corporations have been a PR nightmare and this is in an up year as far as corporations are concerned.
Some of the worst ones from my perspective were:
2. Northwest Airlines and their tips for laid off workers
17. Team building exercises that involve spanking
24. Swanson’s copy job (and subsequent punishment)
27. Radio Shack employees fired over email
28. Trying to take back an iPod you gave employees to boost morale after they are laid off
41. Home Depot CEO sucking the life out of shareholder value after departing
65. CIA advertising for jobs during The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Some entertaining stuff.
American Idol Interviewing
Like many of you I am sure, I watched the first episode of American Idol. Of course, being the HR nerd I am, I began to think about if I could do this sort of interviewing style for jobs that I have open. I think the reason this is so attractive to people in my profession is that sometimes we die to give honest feedback to a candidate who needed just another step or two or someone who was way underqualified. I’d love to be able to say “that was awful” at the end of a bad interview. Of course, there are several reasons why judging singing is different than evaluating a candidate:
- Candidates typically have a skill set that you can’t spot within 10-15 seconds of them opening their mouths and then confirm over the next minute and dismiss them abruptly
- There are a few more consequences to choosing the wrong person or missing out on someone that was good because of your trigger fingered decisions
- As you’ve seen on the show, people are in denial about their deficiencies. Even under the most honest conditions, the people who are often the worst will never be convinced of this or improve
That being said, there are some things we can learn from American Idol that does apply to the interview process:
- Interviewers often have a hidden bias where they make snap decisions about a person before they even open their mouth. We aren’t interviewing pretty faces to be put on stage though so we must be aware of this bias.
- Cut the interview short if it isn’t going well. You’ve seen people being cutoff before and some legal guys will probably shake their head in disagreement. If you have the awareness to make the following judgment during the interview, pull the plug and both of you get on with your lives with less time wasted: If the interview went perfectly from this point forward, I would still not hire this person based on past questions. If the answer is yes, you can probably find something to fill the extra 15-45 minutes.
- Be honest with the candidate. As indicated above, many will not take your suggestions to heart but the few that you do connect with will often come back better equipped or refer people that they know because of your candor.
On second thought though, if you are going to be as honest as Simon Cowell, you may want to consult your legal department first. On the other hand, you probably shouldn’t tell your legal department about this post at all. If they hear I have suggested you subject your interviewees to a round of American Idol auditions, you may be “voted off” as they say in the biz.
Video Resumes are Awful
I am going to go with slightly stronger language than Secrets of the Job Hunt and Magic Pot of Jobs and say that video resumes are probably one of the worst things ever devised as part of a job hunt in the history of mankind*.
I was trying to think of worse things in this world then going to this site and having to shuffle through hundreds of video resumes. I had a very hard time but I think I came up with a couple things:
- Dropping a hammer on my toes
- Having to wear one of those big chicken suits on a really hot day
- Shaking the hands of hundreds of thousands people without any hand cleanser
I am just awfully disgusted with the idea that people would actually work on a video resume before they have come close to perfecting their paper resume. Not to mention the point that Tiffany made regarding introducing bias or the point that C.M. about actually charging for a service that is already free.
I guess the issue I have with it all is the absolute faddish things that come out because of people’s desperation during the job search. Using a video resume when you can’t find a job using your regular resume is like trying to master the double reverse jam before you can make a free throw in basketball.
But ultimately, what will prevent people from using video resumes will be the fact that they will not work. And if something doesn’t help them get a job, it likely won’t stick around that long.
Math can help you get the job…at Google
And I don’t mean the 2+2’s and all those good, elementary type of equations. I am talking about a long, complicated mathematical computation called an algorithm that can help you get a job. Now what company is most associated with algorithms? Google of course!
Now ranked the best place to work in America, Google is using a formula to determine if you are worthy of being talked to by one of their continuously busy recruiters. Slashdot has a bunch of comments on the issue but I figured I would add my own perspective.
If you are hiring as many people as Google is planning on (they plan on doubling their current workforce), and you don’t want a large expenditure in something that isn’t a core competency (namely: recruiting), do something that is in your core competency (create a formula that matches people with job openings and is intelligent about it) to fix it.
There is a lot of “cool” potential from this if anybody outside of Google gets to see a piece of it but I think this definitely could have some implications for corporate recruiters that isn’t positive for anyone.
No company is like Google so running an algorithm-based formula will probably not work for 99.999% of companies out there. Most places do not have that expertise. None the less, this development will spark interest in “smart” systems that are actually dumb at ranking resumes. Which of course leads to…
Panic! From job seekers specifically. If corporate recruiters get this bug, only those resumes who cooperate with all kinds of “smart” systems will work. It also increases barriers to application that are not needed. Most companies aren’t pulling a couple hundred thousand resumes a month with little out of network advertising.
With everything that could possibly go wrong, there is some opportunity for three groups of people:
- Employment lawyers: Who will get to represent job seeker and employer when an algorithm shows a questionable bias against a certain group. And the will be paid well.
- HR vendors: Those who continue to be on the cutting edge and make smart technological decisions and advancements win. And they will be paid well.
- Third-party recruiters: When the system breaks or sends away too many or too few people, third-party recruiters will be called in to clean up the mess. And they will be paid well.
I think the idea is interesting but probably not going to be useful outside of Mountain View.
Tip of that hat to Fritz for sending this my way!
Plan Your Sick Days Accordingly
I’ve been gone for two weeks. So what did I miss? I see some things about jobster but I haven’t decided if I should freak out yet.
James writes in to show me this gem: The Official 2007 Sick Day Calendar
I love it! I am notorious for not taking sick days though so what do I do to combat that?
Change everything to paid time off. I hate unplanned time off, it hurts the company big time and it usually hurts managers (as you have to replace with overtime or stay to keep the joint open). It also forces people to be untruthful in situations where they would likely be truthful. So, I plan far ahead. I just scheduled my time off for 2007 and if I get sick, I’ll have some leftovers to use.
Be wary though: if you do have sick days to use in this way, often times employers have rules regarding unexcused absences before or after a paid holiday. If your employer requires a note to get a sickness excused, you might be out of luck.
The jobacle.com blog is an interesting (if not entertaining) read.
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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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