Filed under: Executive, General, Legal, Professional, Recent Graduates | Tags: apply directly, headhunter, job, The Jobs Guy
There’s a great discussion going on over at The Jobs Guy about recruiters – with some recruiters participating to add spice. Hat tip to Ken Horst for getting the ball rolling on this.
The topic? Using a Headhunter vs. Applying Direct to a Company.
This is important to people at all levels, in all types of jobs. Here’s my take – do both.
In my experience, you get recruiter love when you’re a match for what they’re currently trying to fill. If they can see you in the spot, you’ve got their attention. That’s great when it works for you. And keep in mind that companies may be pitting 2-3 headhunters against one another in the mistaken notion that they’ll get the opening filled faster. Unfortunately, all that does is provide an opportunity for lots of confusion.
When you apply directly to a company, you control your own destiny. You’re not dependent on the recruiter, but you can be screened out just as quickly if you don’t present yourself as the right fit. Other difficulties? Apply too early in the cycle and it’s tough to get in. If you’re the first or second candidate, they’ll always want to see more and by the time they make the decision, they’ve forgotten a lot of the reasons why they were so impressed with you.
Between the two, I think a candidate’s time is better spent going direct.
Reserve about 10% of your total effort for recruiters and keep expanding your circle of relationships.
Filed under: Executive, General, Legal, Professional, Recent Graduates | Tags: adaptability, adaptable, DARPA, DoD, finance, Godin, HR, PR
Seth Godin talked about market change and having the right tool the other day. His take? It’s particularly important to know what the right tool is and use it when the market changes.
I’ll go a step further and say that organizational need – and customer need – help dictate the tool you select.
In HR, things get done with people. In PR, it’s a news releases, social media, special events. In finance, the spreadsheet is often the tool of choice.
The key point? It really comes down to adaptability.
In ‘Unpacking Personal Adaptability at Work,’ David J. O’Connell, Eileen McNeely and Douglas T. Hall make a case for the importance of the highly adaptable worker:
If indeed personal adaptability is so central to career success, perhaps both individual workers and workplace managers have a role to play. Based on this study, the value of personal learning is clear. This should offer further encouragement to pursue both formal and informal educational opportunities on an ongoing basis. The finding that managerial support is related to personal adaptability raises the stakes for managers. By offering appropriate support to workers, it seems that managers may bolster individuals’ motivation and sense of competence in dealing with change.
The role of HR becomes leading managers to help the workers increase their adaptability.
While adaptability is seldom taught expressly, we learn it wherever we are. It’s called survival. If you’re a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan, survival is a result of hypervigilent awareness caused by adrenaline and your knowledge of danger. And if you’re deeply traumatized and develop PTSD, here’s how you are helped to adapt:
This vid from The New Yorker accurately depicts how the DoD uses video to train and help people adapt to war based on my experience writing a technical user manual for simulation software used by DARPA and the U.S. Army.
Adaptability isn’t a ‘nice to have’ in any situation – it’s the first tool in everyone’s kit.
Filed under: Executive, General, Legal, Professional, Recent Graduates | Tags: coconut, dangerous, India, jobs, labor shortage
Coconut plucking is one of the toughest, most dangerous jobs in the world.
Cultural and educational changes have caused a serious labor shortage in India.
An NYT article states that free education has changed the way people perceive themselves in the Dalit, or ‘untouchable,’ caste. Having gained an education, there are other choices for employment. And they certainly don’t want their children doing such work.
With 15 billion coconuts to be plucked annually, who will do the work? This is technical labor that requires exceptional skill in climbing, the ability to wield a sharp machete, and choose which coconuts are at the correct stage of ripeness for multiple purposes.
Kerala, bordered by the Arabian Sea in the south of India, is an artistically rich region and the home of a centuries-old famous classical dance called Kathakali. The wife of a former boss of mine spent quite a bit of time there and was writing her Ph.D. thesis on it. Here’s a sample:
Read the piece by Lydia Polgreen and Hari Kumar here.
Filed under: Executive, General, Legal, Professional, Recent Graduates | Tags: job search, Godin, inertia, stuck, Wikipedia
As Seth Godin wrote:
A big car on a wet frozen lake goes nowhere. No traction, no motion.
A small bug working its way across a gravel driveway takes forever. Too much friction, too little motion.
Whatever the reason for being stuck, you can unstick yourself. Alain Robert did, and nothing any of us will face today is likely to compare with being 59 stories up without a safety net or a rope.
Wikipedia states that “inertia means that an object will always continue moving at its current speed and in its current direction until some force causes its speed or direction to change.”
So what’s the force that will move us to change? It’s different for everyone. Here are several to test out:
1. Rewrite your resume. Things have changed, you’ve changed. Incorporate those differences.
2. Look for work in an entirely different industry in which your core knowledge is still an asset.
3. Meet three new people and find out what interests them and what they plan to do next year.
4. Assess your talent and skills. What do you know that other people will pay to learn?
5. Just for this week, take a different path. Drive a new route, talk with people you don’t know.
6. Fill the well. Read a book you wouldn’t normally read. Visit websites at random. Listen to new music.
7. Think about a person, place or thing that makes you feel safe. Recreate that feeling inside yourself.
8. Look for opportunity in two places you’ve never considered before.
9. Find an anonymous way to help a neighbor who is in need.
Filed under: Executive, Legal, Professional, Recent Graduates | Tags: 13 years, ethics, job, Nilofer Merchant, The New How, The Office, William J. Jefferson
The sentencing today of former Louisiana Representative William J. Jefferson to 13 years in prison reminded me that ethics is really at the core of life.
Whether you’re in an office (or The Office), working at home, in academia or government, none of us want to make errors that might put us in a cell.
The lesson is both unique and universal. On the job, be a stand-up person. Off the job, let’s not kid ourselves. We know when it’s an ostrich and when it’s not.
Call out mistakes and take responsibility for them. Too often, peer pressure encourages silence. Nilofer Merchant has a distinctive viewpoint on this in her manifesto No More Corporate Dodgeball. There’s something beyond ethics. ‘Being ethical’ is actually the practice and living of ethics. Merchant explains how. And catch her new book – The New How. You can grab a free sample chapter here.
The $90K in a freezer? That’s how much cold cash the FBI found wrapped neatly in foil to avoid freezer burn in Mr. Jefferson’s freezer back in May, 2006. Personally, I’ve always stashed my cash in the ice box – keeps it crisper, no bank fees, and Franklin never looks like he needs a face lift.
Filed under: Executive, General, Legal, Professional, Recent Graduates | Tags: HR, prevention, violence, workplace
Whether a violent incident occurs in the workplace, at a nonprofit organization or in a school, it’s important for HR people to know that depression is a key cause.
Pay attention on a general basis when people are undergoing extraordinary stressors such as the death of a family member, credit difficulties, the loss of their home in foreclosure, a serious illness (or the illness of a spouse, child or other relative).
If you have to do layoffs, plan them carefully. Make sure all eventualities are covered.
Review organizational security. Are you enforcing the wearing of badges? Is security or reception making sure that everyone who enters the facility is signed in – with an escort and specific destination – and badged? Do you have an appropriate tracking system? If your firm does government work, is your security appropriate for the work being done? Do all employees and contractors have the needed clearance? Are they current?
Do you have a process for reviewing employees and spotting people who are at risk for depression? Does management spend sufficient time ‘wandering around’ talking with people?
Keep in mind that many mass shooting situations involve men who are depressed. Depression is a burden. You may want to alert managers and have them ask team members what’s stressing them now in both group and individual meetings.
Filed under: Executive, General, Legal, Professional, Recent Graduates | Tags: anger management, APA, Fort Hood, HBR, HR, Mayo Clinic, workplace violence
At one time or another, all of us feel anger.
It’s easy to let it get out of control – especially when it’s coupled with loss and fear.
With the loss of a loved one, a marriage, a job, our home, or even a credit rating, the frustration mounts. We feel unable to control things going on around us and fear sets in.
The key thing to remember is to learn about anger management. Determine what sets you off. This may require looking at some pretty dark stuff inside yourself. Do it. You’re worth it. And working with these issues is what will enable you to stop letting anger control your life.
For the HR mavens – you are the leaders of your organizations. It’s your job to prevent horrific situations like the one that occurred last week at Ft. Hood. Engage senior management – make them listen to you. This may be the most important work you ever do.
Here are three articles that may help:
1. Controlling Anger — Before It Controls You
The American Psychological Association has posted a very good article that includes the nature of anger and how we express it. While anger is natural, generally people deal with it by either expressing, suppressing or calming it. As Dr. Charles Spielberger puts it, ” When none of these three techniques work, that’s when someone – or something – is going to get hurt.”
2. How to Keep Your Temper at Work (And Everywhere Else)
In this blog post at Harvard Business Publishing, Dr. Marshall Goldsmith talks with Mark Maraia about anger. Mark provides a method tested for 20+ years that works to release anger, reject negative emotions and help you move toward positive thoughts.
3. Anger Management Tips: 10 Ways to Tame Your Temper
Any of the tips in this Mayo Clinic article will work – it’s all about practicing them and working to turn the situation around. The information is practical and action-oriented.
Filed under: Executive, General, Legal, Professional, Recent Graduates, Uncategorized | Tags: Ft. Hood, Katrina, crisis management HR, workplace violence
The tragedy at Ft. Hood yesterday reminded me of a situation a psychologist friend worked on – it was a shooting in an office building in San Francisco and it was the first time I’d heard the term ‘workplace violence.’
How do we handle such situations?
There is care and compassion for those who have been injured, for their families, friends, neighbors and for our communities – because when this kind of violence occurs, it happens to all of us.
At some point, it will be time to think about a crisis HR plan for your organization.
A crisis plan, or critical incident management plan, is important so that the HR team is aware of the issue and works actively to prevent workplace violence. It’s also critical to have a plan for response – so that everyone in an organization knows what to do if the worst happens.
There is a huge difference between the Enron or Madoff economic crises, a natural catastrophe such as Hurricane Katrina and the mass shootings at Ft. Hood. Articles on crisis management and HR often focus on proactive planning and preventative preparation. The best HR crisis managment encourages the team to ‘think about the unthinkable’ and build alternatives based on worst-case scenarios.
We can do several things about workplace violence, even though it presents a unique set of challenges. A USDA handbook stipulates five ways to prevent workplace violence:
1. Pre-employment screening
2. Security
3. Alternative Dispute Resolution
4. A Threat Assessment Team
5. Employee Assistance Programs
Additional resources are listed at the end of this post.
Perhaps most important in prevention is keeping in touch and maintaining relationships with people.
Know when a group is under more than the usual amount of stress. Be aware of potential reactions to a merger, performance reviews or the closing of a business location. Initiate ad hoc discussions and ask how things are going – then listen carefully.
Establish training for supervisors and managers. Add it to their annual review. Make it measurable.
Don’t let employees ‘go solo.’ Try to find ways to connect people to their work community.
RESOURCES
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health – Videos and transcript on workplace violence
OSHA - Workplace Violence Awareness and Prevention
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health – Occupational Violence
University of Iowa - Report on Workplace Violence
U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Dealing With Workplace Violence
Filed under: Executive, General, Legal, Professional, Recent Graduates | Tags: background, HR, reference
Sometimes we get confused about the difference between reference checks and background checks.
For employers and candidates alike, it’s important to be clear about each.
REFERENCE CHECKS
References given to a potential employer by a candidate are expected by both groups to provide positive feedback. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way, though.
Candidates: don’t assume that your references will say nice things. Always ask what your reference will say about their experience with you. Unless you hear it, you won’t know what they’ll say. Also, be certain that your reference ‘hits the target’ for the potential employer by telling brief stories that relate to the job they need to fill. Help your former supervisor, VP or peer by bringing them into the process and sharing how you’ve related prior experience to the requirements the company needs.
If you’re a candidate and you worked at ACME, Inc., be aware the employer will often try to connect with people they know at ACME to get an unvarnished version of your contributions there. This cross-checking is solid HR practice and, if favorable, adds to a decision in your favor. It’s also another reason to stick to the truth.
Employers: during reference checks listen intently for red flags. If you hear one, note it and probe further or find a way to get clarification from one of the interviewers or from another reference. Review the constraints ahead of time and ask only what your legal department approves.
Understand the kinds of responses that eliminate a candidate, abide by those boundaries and move on to the next candidate or go fish to build the pool. It’s a waste of time and money to perform background checks on candidates that don’t even pass the internal vetting process or whose references are lukewarm.
BACKGROUND CHECKS
Candidates: if you tell people who are interviewing you that you’re detail oriented and their background check reveals that you forgot to pay your taxes for the past five years, you’re wasting your time and theirs. Make it easy on yourself and on them. Not many will agree with me, but I say self-disclose up front anything that could become an issue. Did you make a youthful indiscretion? Many of us have – some got caught, others didn’t.
If you know that you’ve got outstanding issues, begin to clean them up today. In this kind of market there are too many people job hunting that don’t carry baggage. Clear away the wreckage of the past so you don’t trip yourself.
Employers: do the background check, do the background check, do the background check. Let me say it once more: Do the background check!
Follow your protocol. If you don’t have a process, create one. Check diplomas. Yes, I know it’s irritating when the registrar’s office at UCLA puts you on hold. Get over it. Check all diplomas. Do a criminal background check. Do a DMV check if it’s appropriate. Do a credit check if needed. If you need to get a private investigator involved, do it. If you’re a governmental or military agency, you’ll already have specific procedures depending on the position classification. The higher up the ladder the position, the more important the background check can be.
Am I being too strict? Recently at a nationally-known brand coffee shop, I ran into someone who has been working for the probation department. He commented to me, “Employers have no idea how many people leave the fact that they’ve done time and are on parole off of their job application – in fact, there’s one behind the counter right over there.”
Beyond making sure that your organization is protected, HR people who make sure that background checks are complete and accurate are protecting the company’s most valuable asset – people.
