Four Great Resources for HR and Recruiting Professionals
While you are enjoying your patriotism fueled short week (at least in the US and Canada), here are a few networking resources to make your life easier. I am just a *tiny* bit biased about these but you’re just going to have to deal with it!
- RecruitingBlogs.com - With almost 10,000 members, it has been great to see people use this resource so well. Jason Davis has done an outstanding job developing a community of cooperative, friendly people in an industry that is often seen as hypercompetitive and cut-throat.
- HR Bloggers - A growing group of current and aspiring HR bloggers. Laurie Ruettimann of PunkRockHR put this group together and it is quickly expanding. HR is tough enough, we shouldn’t have to blog alone too, right?
- HR Professionals - Put together by Gautam Ghosh, I just found this group of over 200 HR professionals. Not surprisingly, this group has a nice international flair but I’d love to see it grow a la RecruitingBlogs as well.
- HRM Today - I am not hawking this because it is my website! Okay, I lie. Still, we’ve had a great response to our initial request for bloggers to participate. We are consistently getting two to three really great posts a day (and growing) from some really great bloggers including Alexandra Levit, Samrah Jamil, HR Minion, HR Wench, Mark Stelzner, James Morrissey, Laurie Ruettimann, Breanne Potter, Susanna Cesar Morton and (coming soon) Dan McCarthy. Great and aspiring to be great bloggers are always welcome (e-mail for more info: lance (at) hrmtoday (dot) com)
So if you are going to slack this week, slack on something that actually helps you and your career!
Generation Envy
How petulant Generation Y haters can be worse than the “Gen Y is Better” crowd.
It is a sunny day and I am inside. While I long for the outdoors, I am reminded that the flexibility to let me go outside and play is embedded in my GDNA (that’s short for Generational DNA). Ah, the life of Generation “Why can’t I go out and play? I’ll work on my homework later.” My ultimate plea doesn’t work and I sit here, occasionally looking out my window ready to go.
Scenes like these flash through my head every nice day here in the Pacific Northwest. While it is easy to come in and work when the days are five hours long and the rain never ends, it becomes impossibly difficult to convince me I should be wearing something other than my shorts and sandals. While generations before me may have been used to waiting for the work day to come to an end, my generational based desire to be out there now and work at night is undeniable.
I have been writing on this blog for over two years and in that time I have discussed Gen Y in both positive and negative ways. I feel like my negativity about Gen Y overshadows the fact that I don’t like absolutely loath knee jerk Gen Y haters.
Yes, I do think generational issues are overstated. I think there is a lot of hype about them and I am lucky enough to have become self-aware before the hype took hold of us all. Sometimes I feel surrounded by zombies and question my own membership to the very group that I belong to (by birth, not by virtue). That being said, it is unfair to castigate the entire generation based on the (often times overstated) actions of the entitled whiners with helicopter parents that have come to represent Gen Y.
They Are Jealous, But Not For Those Reasons
There is this common perception that other generations are jealous of Gen Y. While that may be true, it isn’t because “we are so ambitious”, “we do better at our jobs”, or “we ask for things in the workplace that they had to work for”. That may make some members of Gen Y feel better about the jealousy but it doesn’t make sense. The boomers started and led employee friendly companies like Southwest and Starbucks, Gen X had huge entrepreneurial surges and workplace improvements typically benefit everyone.
In talking with other generations, it seems like the greatest amount of envy comes from the amount of opportunity many generation y’ers give up to act like complete babies about workplace issues. Looking at the numbers, it is hard to argue that our generation is the best educated and the most politically, socially and economically prosperous of any of our previous generations. We have technology at our finger tips that just blow everything from the past 20 years out of the water. I went from playing Oregon Trail on Apple IIe’s to creating web pages on the internet in the span of seven years of education. The environment for innovation has never been stronger. The small business environment is as good as it has been. With all of this going for us, we can’t even figure out how to get along while working or when interacting with other generations without coming off as complete pricks. Demanding that workplace rules secede to our needs is just a cherry on top.
The problem with that view is that many in Generation Y aren’t like that, never will be like that or don’t do it in the disgustingly offensive way many outside of our generation portray it. I think it is amazing the opportunities I have and because of that genuine appreciation, I make the best of it every day. I know many in Gen Y who do the same. And while it is understandable that Generation Y has this rose tinted view of the world (we are young and dumb), what isn’t understandable or excusable is the blanket that Gen Y haters have often thrown over our fire. Honestly, you’re older and should know better. These actions only help to further alienate people in my generation who also seek to bring generation y back to reality. Using grandfather colloquialisms like “When I was your age…” doesn’t help you either. These sorts of actions make people feel like you’re the one entitled to make people go through the same steps in life you have gone through. That isn’t any more right thansaying that Gen Y is entitled to skip past you and go straight to CEO.
The Individual, Not The Generation
When it comes down to it, we are all generations of different people. While it is easy to look at statistics about generations and say “This generation believes this, this generation believes that,” but that doesn’t mean anything when considering a person individually. I work in a place that is 5% Gen Y (I’ve run the age analysis) and I do really like (many of) my co-workers. We have a lot of shared values and a shared course for success. Knee jerk Gen Y haters are as unwelcome here as knee jerk haters of any other group. We all need each other to be successful.
That whole part about me wanting to go outside and finding a flexible work arrangement has nothing to do with my generation. It has to do with me and my utter inability to stay focused when I see sunshine (reasons why I can’t move to places with nicer weather until I can be a bigger slacker). I love being outdoors. That’s me. That’s my Dad. That’s my uncle and my Gen X cousin. And I just bought my first iPod. That flies in the face of the generational stereotype.
The message for me is clear: in almost all instances, the individual is more important than the generation. The labels are meant to elicit a certain response (that I understand, as I’ve just abused the hell out of them). But that’s all it is, a label. It is a statement of fact based on when you were born not onwho you are or what you can accomplish or where you can get hired or how you get things done.
Supervisors Need All of the Help They Can Get
I know you may be tired of me hawking this supervisor handbook software from Gradience but you have to understand: this software seriously saved me about a weeks worth of time (40 hours) working on something that I absolutely loath. The problem is, I can put it off more and more but that only creates more work for me as the supervisors don’t know what’s going on.
So this is my review of the software as I plunked out the manual. Here a screenshot from the final product in Microsoft Word:
So here it is, the moment you’ve all been waiting for.
Pros:
- Great interface. It is very intuitive and needs little instruction.
- Includes almost everything you can think of (and more). The only thing it doesn’t include are those specific company policies
- Industry and state customizable. It is preloaded with all 50 states, a couple handfuls of industries and a wizard interface to determine whether you qualify for FMLA coverage or Affirmative Action.
- Exports into Word or PDF format. Exporting into Word is especially helpful.
- Lots of little things you don’t think of. Like inserting the HR manager’s name, phone number and e-mail address in every instance if you want it.
- Save a ton of time trying to get information from a bunch of places into one tidy manual
- Written in an easy to read format. Less legalese for our supervisors to interpret.
Cons:
- Difficulty adding company specific policies outside of the pre-selected areas. The software is robust in its coverage but I did have some company specific sections I wanted to add. I know the software is capable but it was easier to just add it to the exported product
- Formatting of the final product is basic and plain
- For multi-state companies, you have to make complete handbooks specific for each state
The cons were pretty much fixed by the fact that you can export it to Word and add and format to your heart’s content. For the multi-state issue, I made a non-state specific supervisor’s handbook and took the necessary elements from each state and added it to a state supplement that would go along side of the supervisor manual.
Overall, the software is a great time saver. The content is generic (though customizable based on industry/state) and the formating basic but this is obviously to appeal to their wider audience. In my case, I was just happy to save myself 40+ hours of content creation in favor of a half to full day of editing and adding bits and formatting it to my heart’s content. In the HR software world, there are a lot of applications for employee handbook creation but one for supervisors is hard to find.
So now that I have saved myself from the nights and weekends of working to complete this, I can blog at you more often. Lucky you!
What do you call a buncha HR nerds in one place?
If you are interested in following the SHRM conference, check out PunkRockHR (on Twitter as well) and Cheezhead. It is almost as good as being there.
Strike that, nothing is better than being there but it is going to be as close as you will be if you are in the office like me.
Going to the Portland Recruiting Roadshow?
If you are going to the Portland Recruiting Roadshow tomorrow, I will be there. I would describe what I will look like but I haven’t arranged my outfit for the day. If any HR/Recruiter people are going to be there who regularly (or irregularly) read this blog, I’d love to hang out and make fun of the presentations. Or you could sit over in the corner and just stare at me and wonder “Hey, is that the guy from that blog?”
Announcing the Launch of HRM Today
Today marks a new beginning. A revolution. A change in everything you’ve ever though. A brand new…
Sorry, I was channeling Steve Jobs there.
HRMToday.com, a new blog specifically aimed at Human Resources professionals, launches today. And since I really suck at doing press type releases, I’ll just go ahead and do this on the fly.
“But hey Lance, don’t you already have an HR blog?”
Yes I do but HRM Today is different and not just “different as in the same thing but instead of being painted red, it is painted crimson.”
- In case you haven’t noticed, YourHRGuy.com was really designed as a resource for job seekers and employees to understand HR. The underlying assumption is that people are interested in knowing a perspective from the HR side. Generally that is the case for a majority of readers.
- In that time though, I’ve been very lucky to pick up loyal readership from HR professionals all over the world. I throw these people a bone once in a while talking about issues that are near and dear to our collective hearts.
- I wanted a place that speaks to those professionals exclusively and also allows other HR professionals to either cross-promote their HR focused content or use it as a blog for themselves (even anonymously if they like).
So yes, different in that content will be HR focused and that it will be open to anyone who wants to promote their own HR focused content (either through cross-posting or using it as a blog). The only restrictions I want is that the content actually be HR focused, no spam at all and minimal jargon. That last one is only a preference though.
Head over to HRMToday.com and check it out. If you are interested in contributing, sign up and if you are interested in watching the community grow, you can subscribe to the RSS feed or get once daily e-mail updates.
VP Making Less Than Subordinate?
It happens. Or so says the mailbag:
I have a situation discovered inadvertently through my boss. I am a VP within the company. An individual was offered to move from another city out to our location to help replace and lend expertise due to several exiting reps. This individual was assigned to my area and reported to me as part of the team. Unbeknownst to me, the individual was offered over 15% more in annual salary as well as incentive increases to offset the income lapse from what was earned at the original office. When I found out, I brought up the disparity to the exec only to be told I would need to pick up the team success to see a possible adjustment to my income. There is much more responsibility and accountability in my role compared to the other individual. HR has been approached and the response was to speak with the persons who put this in place. Been there and done that. What to do?
I have already talked about making less than your subordinate so I won’t try to hit too many of those points again.
As an HR guy, I’d love for people to bury their head in the sand about pay. After all, if we could live in a vacuum and figure out what we’d like to make for the work we’re doing and we are happy about this, what does it matter? The problem with that is it is unrealistic to expect people to act this way. If you’re the boss, you want to be paid more (even if your salary if perfectly sufficient). If you were unhappy with your pay, it would have been better to address it without making the comparisons. After all, there are a few legitimate reasons why a subordinate may make more that I addressed in my last post about subordinate compensation. One of those reasons is one you brought up: market conditions. If you have an employee you want to attract from another market, oftentimes you are going to apply that pay to attract them. That may include making them more highly paid than the boss.
If you are getting brick walled by HR and your boss, you’re not getting anywhere. You have a couple options: start looking for better paid positions or earn your money through making improvements in your department.
To me at least, the most fascinating aspect about this whole question is that it doesn’t mention the performance of the person hired or if the company makes a great ROI on the employee. If you are the VP of Sales and this person makes a ton of money for the company and happens to get paid more than you: great! You have a great person on your team making your numbers look good. Your prosperity rises and falls with your employees and not the other way around.
Your Blog Sucks
I hate to break it to you but your blog sucks. In other words, the reason you aren’t getting readers is because I know the answers and you do not. Even the most popular blogs on the internet aren’t getting it done because they suck too. I don’t know what the people who are reading those popular blogs are thinking. Perhaps they are insane.
I am going to give steps so easy to follow, even my readers will pick up on them. Here is how to write a kick ass blog:
- A Title That Will Tick Everyone Off - In the blogosphere, everyone judges your book by its cover so it better be one that gets your attention. The best way to get attention is to take something that many people believe and say they are incredibly stupid for believing it. Another way is telling people why they aren’t as smart as you.
- Content Isn’t Important - Having strong opinions and letting everyone know how smart you are for having them is the only thing that is important. Instead of focusing on content, focus on highlighting words with bolds, italics and underlines to prove your point: you believe something and it is 100% correct.
- Assume Your Audience is Dumb - Repeat things several times if necessary. Remember, these people are reading your blog for the enlightenment that you provide and using too big of words will scare them off. Use simple words that they can understand and explain core concepts that everyone should already know just in case. You never know with some of these people.
- Use Lists to Beat Your Point Out of Thin Air - There is no limit to your list but you should never have less than three points. In fact, longer is better. Try to argue against a hundred point list. You may find holes in 20 of the arguments but that still leaves 80 arguments unrefuted. “Nice try you door knob! Let me know when you refute all 100!”
- Don’t Use Sources to Back Your Point Up - You’re better than the sources you would cite anyway. For bonus points, use the ultimate sources to back up your points if you must: yourself and the blogs that agree with you. Make sure to make the links as hard as possible to follow so that nobody will check them out (see, I just cheated those last few links).
- Make Sure to Vilify People That Dare Disagree With You - Who has the blog? That’s right, you do. So now act like it! Make sure to mention the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald also disagreed with you in your original post. Anytime somebody tries to bring up a point against your post, make sure to mention the fact that they are siding with the person that shot Kennedy. Who do you believe: the guy who sides with a known assassin or the guy who is thoroughly against presidential assassination? Bulletproof I tell you!
- Encourage People to Comment That Agree With You - Make sure to recognize every comment in support of your point with a strong “THANK YOU! Finally someone gets it!!11″ You only need a couple of these per post to convince you that at least some of your readers aren’t complete morons. Thankfully, because it is the internet, chances are someone will find a way to agree with you no matter what you actually say.
- Never Admit Defeat - It is unlikely that you’ll be bested but should it ever happen, you could do a couple of things. You could continue to admit that you are right in face of whatever evidence the person besting you is presenting. It may not win the argument but it will drive that person crazy enough to make it feel like you’ve won. Another one is deleting the post. After all, it is your blog.
- A Conclusion That Bails You Out - A way to avoid defeat is to simply have a squishy conclusion that you can point to that says the opposite of what your entire post implied (or even stated outright if you’re doing it right). For instance, if you have spent the entire time arguing that nobody knows how to write a blog that doesn’t suck, you can bail yourself out by ending with “While a majority of blogs out there do suck, there are some really great one’s out there that follow all of these principles routinely. It is nice to know that some people know what they are doing.”
So while a majority of blogs out there do suck, there are some really great one’s out there that follow all of these principles routinely. It is nice to know that some people know what they are doing.
Two Weeks Notice Gone Wrong
From the mailbag:
In Jan my wife decided that she would take a position in another part of the country and I would be leaving my employer or seeking a transfer to a different location. I sought out advice from the director of sales (exec mgmt) on how to proceed on the local mgmt level. He advised me to notify local mgmt of my situation and continue working without any change. The information was well received from local mgmt and they had no issue at that time.
About 1 month ago the local mgr took me into his office (with a witness) and said that for “budget reasons” he needed to know when I was leaving so he could plan his next fiscal year. I replied that I should be gone by July first, whether it was a transfer or going to another employer (not competition).
Last week he took me into his office (with a witness) and said that effective today we are going to take your 2 week notice and pay you for the next two weeks. Could you please gather your personal belongings and give me your office key? End of conversation!
I have spoke to HR and they have advised me that they would now like to pay me through June 30 and have me sign a release. HR said that by telling them that I was leaving on July 1, I was giving a resignation.
Any ideas on how to proceed?
This is a fun scenario. I am going to throw down the disclaimer that I am not a lawyer so blah blah blah… I am going to take it from two standpoint’s: what they should have done and what they have to do.
What they have to do under law is absolutely nothing assuming a couple of conditions are satisfied:
- You don’t have a policy or contract
- You aren’t in a union with protections
- You aren’t in some state with a unique law about notice
Now I am just going to assume that 2 and 3 aren’t on the table and address number 1. Now you may say you don’t have a contract or a policy doesn’t protect you but if local management accepts your resignation for July 1st without objection and your performance or conduct is not at issue (which is what it sounds like), they could have entered into a verbal contract with you.
From an HR standpoint, I would say that’s where management made the boo boo. By accepting your resignation date and then reneging on what they said they would do, they broke a verbal contract with you.
Now what they should have done whenever they said they were letting you go is give you your entire compensation through July 1. I would not advise people pay notice period unless they feel like it will be a distraction. Otherwise, the employee should be allowed to work through the end of the period.
Here is the kicker: HR wants you to give away your rights for correcting something that was their bad to begin with. Not that requiring a signed release is a bad thing (and I would likely do the same), it is just that in this scenario, the employee is the one with the upper hand. If I were in that scenario, I would say that I would sign a waiver that covers this specific issue. I’d rather not take it up to claims court (but I would if it came down to it) but I’d rather not give up any rights to get what I deserve. If it came out later that there was a pay discrepancy or maybe a discrimination issue that you were involved in, I’d want to keep those rights fully available.
Again, that’s what I would do. I would never sign something that gave away my rights but you may be happy enough with that outcome to just take it. That being said, there are options for recovering including claims and even hiring an attorney if you felt like it. And I would say that before anything, you at least pay for a consultation with an employment law specialist and see if you have any legal rights past the one I mentioned.
Guest Post: Reaching Effortless Accomplishment
Editors note: This is a guest post featuring Raphael Natale B.S. M.H. C.H.
For over a decade in consulting with various corporations and small businesses, I have seen a similar theme in all of the people I have counseled. The theme is the desire to keep accomplishing and finally succeed. As normal as that may seem there is an inherent problem in placing success and accomplishment as a place or destination to be reached. By doing so, your well being or OK-ness and fulfillment have been placed outside of you and then you are not OK or fulfilled unless you reach all of your goals.
I am sure you have heard that success is a journey and not a destination, this I consider a truism although just knowing a truism is not enough. Here is a process that has helped many businesses and individuals reach effortless accomplishment while already being OK. The process is four fold:
Step One: Creating you vision for your business.
A vision simply defined is seeing the possibilities for accomplishments as real. An empowering vision for a professional organization answers the questions; what do we want to contribute and to whom. The answers to those questions provide focus direction and points to what your organization stands for. Visions are built upon organizational values and individual values and values refer to those qualities and attributes one holds as important.
Step Two: The ability to learn from mistakes in a way that furthers us.
You can ask yourself what am I learning about my incomplete goals that will contribute to the success of my future goals.
Step Three: A strategy for dealing with limiting beliefs.
Tell the truth about what you have and have not accomplished. What does that tell you about the belief you hold then ask yourself or co-workers what are five new perspectives relative to this belief and which new perspective empowers me to reach my vision.
Step Four: Maintaining a spirit of gratitude.
Ending each day with a spirit of gratitude reinforces our connection to the power we have to shape a productive and meaningful professional and personal life.
My final point is; we can not fail at life and business when we are in it for the experience. Given you are already on your journey and having your experience, you’re already a success. Take regular and consistent action steps towards your goals and remember, you are already OK.
Raphael Natale is founder of Authentic Technologies, a business consulting and training firm dedicated to supporting the acceleration of productivity and beneficial change for individuals and their organizations. They are available online or by phone at 949-582-2043.
-
Advertising
-
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...
![View Lance Haun [lancehaun@gmail.com]'s profile on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_160x33.gif)
Featured on:
HRM Today- Why Your HR Department Needs a BlogThe rules have changed and blogging is not just for geeks with a knack for writing anymore. Employees who want to smear you, recruiters who don’t want to hire you, PR Departments who want to snow you - are all blogging; is HR missing the train? As an HR Professional and a blogger [...]Totally Consumed
- Is Luck a Reality That Should Be Acknowledged?On his blog, Seth Godin responded to a reader who believes luck and randomness is just as critical to success as hard work and effort. Seth says: “Without a doubt, luck is involved. I don’t think anyone would tell you otherwise. The choice one needs to make, though is this: either you believe that luck is [...]Alexandra Levit
- What Happens if Brian Leaves? The Key Employee Problem.Brian is great at what he does. Brian is your controller—he manages all of the accounting for your small business. He keeps all of the company’s expenses properly documented, finds all of the tax deductions, manages payroll, pays all the bills, negotiates for better rates on the company’s health plans, and keeps a sharp eye [...]Working Smarter
- The Big Challenge of Small TalkIt’s an inevitable and sometimes uncomfortable situation. You’re in a meeting or on a conference call and not everyone has arrived, requiring you to banter with the client/boss/partner mano y mano. How do you engage in small talk and build rapport? If you get nervous and start to stammer, what do you do? Do people [...]Inflexion Point
- HR’s Easy ButtonYou’ve seen the commercials - lady in the store trying to use her Staples Easy Button to pay for her groceries. In HR, I was always looking for the Easy Button since dealing with humans is probably the most complex thing on earth. I’ve seen engineers design unbelievably complex electronic circuits, but they don’t come close to [...]rulrici
- Book: Johnny Bunko (The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need)Daniel Pink could have written a classic business book about choosing a career, but he took a risk, tried something new and wrote a manga! The ad for The Adventures Of Johnny Bunko (The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need) says that it’s “Americas first business book as manga”. It contains very nice and expressive art [...]Happy Employee
- Accountability vs. authority: the biggest non-issue in business“Help! I have all this responsibility and no authority to get it done!” OK, I’ll help: authority is designed to formalize and strengthen your ability to influence others, not to replace it. If there is something you need done and you can’t figure out how to do it by influence, then having authority won’t help. In [...]JasonSeiden
- Recruitment Spotlight: How to Check ReferencesMost people have to check references in some shape or form, whether it’s for a candidate or a babysitter. I don’t know about you, but until I wrote Success for Hire I never really knew how to do it. Here’s what I learned: While you can e-mail a reference initially, connect either in person or by [...]Alexandra Levit
- Woman’s Leadership Programs – No Boyz AllowedCompanies will often use external, university-based programs as a way to develop their high potential senior leaders. These programs typically are 1-2 weeks in duration and offer an intense (and expensive) learning experience. According to Iris Marchaj, Director of Smith Executive Education, “99% of leadership development programs offered by elite business schools are male-oriented…which is precisely [...]Dan McCarthy
- Sink or swim? Do you trust your employees/co-workers?If you are like me, you have a hard time delegating. You like having control over a process and have a hard time letting go. Luckily, I have learned to combat this initial reaction of mine and trust the people around me. At least initially. If you screw up it takes quite a bit to [...]HR Minion
- Why Your HR Department Needs a Blog
