The title of this article is taken from a conversation with a client organization responsible for training men and women to protect us -- the citizens of the United States -- here and abroad. We thought it was a great metaphor for the chaos that erupted in many companies following the Crash of '08.

Although the lessons outlined here are focused on organizations, they are all sourced from a piece which focused on personal finances that appeared in the September 2009 issue of Money Magazine "5 Lessons from the Crash" by Penelope Wang, (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/).

The hopes of Ms. Wang's article and this one are that the "5 Lessons" will help strengthen finances going forward as well as help limit the damage of the next crisis.

FIVE LESSONS FROM THE CRASH OF '08

Lesson 1: Asset Allocation/Diversification still works -- just don't expect a guarantee.

From a personal perspective, many people may have concluded that asset allocation as a way of managing risk is a bust. However the Money Magazine article suggests that "the real problem with asset allocation isn't that it no longer works, but that people expect that it will always work." Meaning that even the most sophisticated diversification plan can't guarantee you won't lose money in a tanking market.

From an organizational perspective, many leaders are having similar doubts about the effectiveness of diversification as a way of minimizing risk. Here the problem is not with diversification but how diversification is handled.

Diversification works well if the organization is clear about the impact it will have on the organization's finite resources, and ensures there is more than a tangential connection to their current business.

Diversification Don'ts

• 1. A home furnishings company diversified into the office furniture business -- a venture that had some small signs of life a few years ago. But even in a better economic climate than today's, it was clear the shift was causing significant stretch and stress to the competencies of their current employees - who were very experienced with selling furniture to residential customers, not businesspeople. Plus, their systems - procurement, logistics, storage and delivery - were tuned to very different set of customer expectations.
• 2. Similarly, we had a government client primarily focused on law enforcement, have counter-intelligence added to their long-standing mission. This change caused considerable budgetary problems - and has created significant challenges to the men and women who are now expected to split their skills and competencies between two very different domains. Some skills are easily transferred, others ... not so much.

Sometimes You Should Stick with the Knitting

Taking on new roles and tasks adds a personal burden to the people expected to perform, regardless of their dedication and commitment. It also causes shifts in the practices and processes of the enterprise. Sometimes there are not enough people - or enough knowledgeable or skilled people - to get the job done.

In a time of tension about the strength and future health of an enterprise, an organization's decision to stay with the core business it knows might be a wise choice.

Lesson 2: The world is riskier -- and will stay that way.

We all know that risk is here to stay and that the market may remain jittery for several years. This may mean more corporate earning disappointments - for a variety of reasons too numerous to outline here - but certainly some coming from weary investors who are quite likely to react very quickly to any bad news. More reasons for organizations to stick to what they are good at.

"Slow and steady wins the race" is an old dictum that it may be time to revisit. We are not suggesting to halt all expansion, or for an enterprise to retreat into its shell.

We are suggesting a good strong assessment methodology when considering any move into a new market or product.

This may, in fact, be an ideal time to make a move. It is definitely the time to brush up on some tried-and-true planning techniques: Scenario Planning, Systemic Modeling, and Competitive Destruction.

Shell Oil has been using the technique of Scenario Planning for over a decade (Shell.com). Their most recent business result from using this planning technique takes them into the year 2050. (Remember when 1999 seemed far off in the future?)

It is important to acknowledge that a detailed planning process can feel laborious and tedious. As a result of rigorous planning, sometimes organizations wind up undoing previously established long-term plans. Some organizations may even experience losses while taking the time to become fully engaged in planning. However, if sustaining smaller losses keep you from an unsustainable loss it is well worth the cost.

Here's a quote from market guru Warren Buffett to keep in mind: "The stock market has a very efficient way of transferring wealth from the impatient to the patient."

Lesson 3: Real diversification is harder to achieve than it looks.

This lesson has to do with the inter-connectedness of markets, mission and money! Many individuals attempted to diversify, only to find that their portfolios held stakes in risky and/or unwanted assets. A suggestion in the "Money" article regarding how to avoid too much exposure to one industry or asset is to, "...drill down in your portfolio to see what you actually own."

The corollary in the corporate world was that many organizations didn't recognize the inter-connectedness of seemingly unrelated businesses. Why did the auto industry crisis nearly derail a durable goods company? Because one of their major suppliers of parts and products was heavily tied to the auto industry. As the auto industry melted down, quality and availability of products caused serious problems -- delivery and cash flow problems -- in the all-too-unpleasantly-surprised company!

Dodging the Domino Effect

A US-based global manufacturing company used our "Competitive Destruction" exercise in a strategic planning session and discovered that their reliance on one major supplier in a critical metals market left them with high vulnerability in both pricing and supply.

With good cash reserves, one obvious option was an acquisition. As a result of a "stick to your knitting" assessment, the decision was made to acknowledge the high degree of dependence and suggest a partnership arrangement - including favorable pricing, payment and delivery.

Despite much skepticism amongst a few key executives, a series of conversations was initiated with the supplier. The result was a supplier who was very willing and interested in securing a viable, reliable business relationship, and even offered very favorable and unexpected payment terms that brought some predictability to the cash flow of both organizations.

The real lesson here may be a reminder to get to know your customers and suppliers - to know their business like you would any partner. Your futures are intertwined. And you never know what is possible until you do it.

Lesson 4: Recognizing a bubble is hard. Hedging against one is harder.

"To spot a bubble in advance requires a judgment that hundreds of thousands of informed investors have it all wrong," said then-Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan in 1999. He certainly knows first-hand how hard that is -- given he failed to detect two of history's frothiest markets -- in tech stocks and in housing.

The point in Lesson 4 for individuals is also a truism for any enterprise: the one sure hedge is a healthy dose of cash. We couldn't have said it better. But we did take it one step further in our article, Top 10 Ways to Create a Big Bold Fast Response, where we suggested, "Cash is still King. Liquidity: it is the lifeblood of every organization in a severe downturn. Collect it. Hoard it. Sell unnecessary or unusable assets at fire sale prices. Offer more discounts to customers who pay early. Be creative. Don't wait for a bank or Washington to bail you out."

Lesson 5: You can't time the market, but you can time yourself.

"While you can always find a few savvy folks who have managed to outguess the market the vast majority of us fail miserably at market timing." Warren Buffett.

The lesson here is that the circumstances and focus of each individual and each business are unique and sometimes vastly different. Circumstances tend to dictate action.

This does not mean individuals should abandon asset allocation or that organizations should abandon planning. It simply recognizes that the best antidote to volatility and uncertainty is defining your path and staying true to your goals.

One of the primary values of Scenario Planning is the process for thinking through in great detail, specific scenarios and identifying the "cues and clues" that precede the unfolding of those scenarios. Knowing and attending to the development of the "cues and clues" can help an organization successfully navigate through good times and bad.

Conclusion

While the recession as been declared "over" in some circles, most of our clients are cautiously optimistic at best. No one doubts that there will be many bumps along the way to a full recovery. Our hope is that through the process of "lessons learned," we can minimize the chaos in the event of more economic gunfire.

Article by, Paul Plotczyk and courtesy of Work Systems Affiliates

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 23, 2009 at 1:46 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Organizations spend quite a few man-hours every year on strategic planning and implementation. Then, halfway through the year, some key metrics and targets get knocked off track. Panic ensues and there is a big push to spend more time on the "strategic" issues, which are in fact by now much more tactical than strategic.

Why do corporate strategies so often devolve to tactical fire fighting? How can organizations keep inevitable short-term upsets from derailing the successful implementation of enterprise strategies? To answer these questions let's first look at how most organizations "do" strategy.

Strategy as We Know It

In most organizations, the strategic planning process is quite linear.

You gather in a remote holiday paradise (or, more likely, the local Dew Drop Inn conference room) to brainstorm and plan around things like "Strengths - Weaknesses - Opportunities - Threats" or some variation of such exercises plastered on two-by-two grids.

You look at markets, customers, partners and competition. Sometimes companies redefine who they are or who they want to be to their customers. Raise your hand if you have been a part of such an exercise. Good.

Next, or as an alternate beginning, you set goals for the year based on the new direction - vision - strategy - market. Each department usually has its own goals that generate the top level outcomes everyone has planned for. Again, a show of hands for those who have created such goals or been asked to create goals to link to such goals. Perfect.

Now, we sit back and connect the goals and watch this whole strategy thing kick butt. Still waiting?

Why Strategy Implementation Tanks

While the traditional, linear strategic planning approach described above is a comfort to our monolithic brains, it completely ignores the systemic interactions and inter-dependencies needed to accomplish top-level goals.

Most strategic results are touched by multiple functions, with one function (or sometimes no one) held accountable for the outcome. When mid-year metrics are below expectations, those accountable are called on the carpet for their performance.

Quite often, issues along the cross-functional path have contributed to the poor performance. This is when the blame game begins and more energy is spent covering and defending than making progress toward anything other than CYA. Goal? What goal? But take heart, there is a better way.

6 Ways to Optimize Strategy Implementation

We have found that 6 key areas are often overlooked when organizations are creating and implementing enterprise-wide strategies. If you start paying attention to even half of them you will likely see a significant improvement in your ability to successfully deliver on strategic goals and objectives.

1. Document the Cross-Functional Path of Enterprise Goals

2. Close the Leadership Skills Gap

3. Limit Assumptions - Be Explicit

4. Promote Effective Information Sharing

5. Create Meaningful --Not Multiple -- Metrics

6. Understand the Relationship between Process and Function

1. Document the Cross-Functional Path of Enterprise Goals

One of the most common reasons strategy implementation gets derailed is the failure to recognize the cross-functional nature of most strategic goals. If sales puts together a plan to sell 1000 widgets but manufacturing can only produce 500, clearly the sales goal will be stymied no matter how brilliant their implementation plan is.

Looking at outcomes and goals in the context of the functions that contribute to them can identify and eliminate misalignments, misunderstandings, and performance issues facing the strategy implementation.

2. Close the Leadership Skills Gap

Leaders of functional areas usually earn those positions because:

• They have been an individual star in the department, or
• They have delivered results through successful projects and initiatives.

In either case they may lack two skills that are critical in accomplishing most strategic goals:

• Leading Without Authority - Department heads may not have the knowledge or experience of leading individuals that do not directly or indirectly report to them. Some may not even recognize that the network of individuals that are contributing to a group's success (or demise) extends beyond their functional area. Until leaders become skilled at recognizing the broader scope of contributors and how to lead those individuals through influence rather than direct authority they will have difficulty accomplishing top level goals.
• Taking a Systemic View of the Enterprise - The ability to see the interconnectedness and interdependencies of enterprise goals and objectives is another key skill in effectively achieving enterprise-wide goals. Applying linear solutions to systemic issues just doesn't work. And many leaders lack the skill to understand, model and address complex, systemic challenges.

3. Limit Assumptions - Be Explicit

Staff are often unclear or unsure how they are expected to contribute to organizational success. Given no information, they make assumptions about what needs to be done and who is supposed to do it, usually focused on optimizing their department's overall performance rather than enterprise goals. It's the "it's not my job" syndrome run amok.

Combine that with the assumptions department leaders make about what they can count on from other parts of the organization and you are on track for a mid-year crisis.

4. Promote Effective Information Sharing

Information technology was designed to help promote sharing data effectively. But it's often implemented to make data so secure and protected that progress within the company can slow dramatically due to lack of sharing across functions.

Without key pieces of information, departments can't take timely action which often jeopardizes strategic initiatives. Additionally, having good information shared across functions helps devise a better implementation plan to start with, thereby eliminating potential obstacles before they occur.

5. Meaningful, Not Multiple, Metrics

You can't manage what you can't measure. True, but manage at the key points and levels within the value chain. Some companies have metrics at every conceivable level. And they try to pay equal attention to each one.

Having multiple metrics in place isn't necessarily a problem, as they can be helpful in quick diagnosis of larger issues. On the other hand, focusing and reacting to each of them drives behavior counter to the larger system of the business.

Another common problem is companies collect piles of data and then don't do anything with it. In this case, metrics are seen as a waste of time and effort, and thus are ignored.

The key is to create clear metrics -the right metrics -- that drive company performance toward its goals. They must be at levels high enough to drive cross-functional optimization but low enough to be actionable quickly.

6. Understand the Relationship Between Process and Function

Functional leaders often see themselves as leaders of a group of people who have a focused expertise (e.g. marketing, sales, accounting) within the company. In reality, they are leading processes, many of which cut across multiple departments within the enterprise.

When a department head fails to recognize this they often focus on optimizing the functional skills of their department rather than on optimizing skills that would benefit the larger process.

Sometimes, these skills are one in the same and there is no downside. Other times this diving into the weeds of the functional domain creates significant obstacles to successful strategy implementation. Departments get dug in about "the way we do things" and are unwilling to change, even if would increase the chance of meeting enterprise goals.

Conclusion

Strategy has the best chance of succeeding when the organization is aligned with it. These 6 keys will improve that alignment by identifying and quantifying critical organizational issues before they negatively impact enterprise goals and targets. Choose one to begin with and watch how things begin to improve.

Article by, Michael Dattilio and courtesy of Work Systems Affiliates

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 23, 2009 at 1:38 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Hey, job seekers: Raise your hand if you love networking.

I thought so.

And why don't you get a thrill out of talking to friends and family about your job search?

For many folks, it's a problem of how to start. There's really no way to ask, "Know anyone who's hiring?" without feeling awkward.

To fix that, here are two ways to open your next networking conversation that are proven to produce job leads -- and won't make you feel self-conscious ...

Use Me as an Excuse to Call

Over the past year, I've quietly been perfecting a short networking script at my Guerrilla Job Search seminars.

In every case, at least one person in the room gets a job lead -- in less than 5 minutes.

Here's the four-part script that people are using to start networking conversations by phone, with explanatory notes in parentheses:

1. "Hi, this is YOUR NAME! I'm at a training session and they told me to call the most-connected person I know. That's you!"

(This gets you over the hump right away, by giving you an excuse to call. Here, that excuse is me -- just say that somebody else told you to call.)

2. "I'm looking for a position as a JOB TITLE at a company like COMPANY #1, COMPANY #2, or COMPANY #3."

(You have to think first, about what JOB you want and 3 COMPANIES you most want to work for.)

3. "Who would you call if you were in my shoes?"

(You're asking someone to take ownership of your problem, by putting their ego aside and thinking as if they were you. Simple psychology that's very powerful.)

4. "Could I have their name and number?"

(Write it down. Hang up. Call that new person and drop the name of the person you called first.)

For best results, use this script to call the most-connected person you know -- the one person who seems to know almost everybody.

Here are three examples of how this has worked in my seminars:

1. Ellen in Minneapolis, MN, got a networking lead at the chamber of commerce after calling a friend.

2. Greg in Fargo, ND, got a lead on a pharmaceutical sales job by calling a friend.

3. Pete in Chanhassen, MN, got the name of an HR rep by calling a colleague he had fallen out of touch with.

Use an Object as a Conversation Starter

Chris Russell, founder of JobRadio.fm, warns that a false sense of pride can hurt your job search, recalling a friend who struggled mightily to get hired. "He would never tell people that he was out of work, even his former co-workers. I guess he was embarrassed."

Russell points out that, when it comes to your job search, you should look for any excuse to start a conversation.

One such excuse may be the "Laid Off, Need a Job" wristband.

Described as an "attention getting conversation starter" by its makers, the wristband retails for $3 and comes in bright yellow, with the message, "I Need A Job."

The idea is, you put wear the wristband each day, people see it, ask about your job search, and -- shazam! Instant networking conversation. More information is at www.LaidOffNeedAJob.com.

Two other tactics I've seen are renting a billboard (pricey) and wearing a T-shirt with your resume on it (no verifiable successes).

Now. How else could you get attention and start networking conversations?

Here's an idea: Stick a magnetic sign on the side of your car.

For less than $95, Kinko's can create one for you. Your sign's message could be on two lines, like this:

Need Accounting Help?
HireShellyNow.com

Nobody wants to hire, but almost every business needs help, so don't use "Hire me!" or "U-M Grad Will Work Cheap" as your headline.

The format I would follow is: "Need YOUR SKILL Help? CONTACT INFO."

Test several ideas on cardboard mockup signs and drive them past people, to see if they can read your contact info at 25 or 40 miles an hour.

(Note: I practice what I preach -- look for my black SUV around the Twin Cities with a magnetic sign on the side that says, "Got Work? My New Job Hunt .com")

Do these conversation-starting ideas make you feel uncomfortable? Good!

Because, if you've been comfortable thus far in your job search, and you're still unemployed, it may be time to leave your comfort zone and try something new.

Kevin Donlin is co-author of Guerrilla Resumes. Since 1996, he has provided job-search help to more than 20,000 people. Author of 3 books, Kevin has been interviewed by The New York Times, USA Today, Fox News, CBS Radio and others.

Courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates seeking entry-level jobs and other career opportunities, and posted on The Daily Recruiter.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 23, 2009 at 1:17 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

On the heels of reports that women may soon outnumber men in the workplace, it seems that just about every media outlet has run a story on the changing landscape of the American workplace. Business Week, The New York Times and now TIME magazine have all devoted considerable space to this issue.

So, what are the latest facts? Here are the highlights:

• When Will Women Be #1? Women now constitute 49.83% of the U.S. workforce. Experts predict that women will top the 50% mark by the end of 2009.
• Who Brings Home the Bread? 40% of women say they're the #1 breadwinner in the household. In 1970, the wife was the sole breadwinner in less than a million households. That number has now more than tripled to 3.3 million.
• Equal Pay? In 1972, women made 58¢ for every $1 earned by men. Now, it's 77¢.
• Equal Education? The percentage of college students who are female has grown from 43% in 1972 to 57% today.
• Equal Jobs? Since 1970, the percentage of female doctors has grown from 8% to 28% and the percentage of female lawyers has grown from 3% to 32%.
• Do Women Have to Act Like Men To Succeed? No, say 71% of women and 74% of men.
• Is the Glass Ceiling Gone? 60% of men say there are no longer any barriers to women succeeding in the workplace. Only 50% of women agree.
• More Working Moms. In 1975, only 47% of women with children worked. That number is now 71%.
• Resentment? 69% of women believe that men resent women who have more power than them. Only 49% of men agree.
• Are Men Getting More Tolerant? 71% of today's men say they're more OK with the concept of working women than their fathers were.
• Are Women Getting Less Dependent? 70% of today's women say they're less financially dependent on their husbands than their mothers were.
• Are Employers Doing Enough? 84% say that companies aren't doing enough to address the needs of working families. The #1 identified area of improvement? Allowing more flexible work schedules.

What does all this add up to? Here's what the authors of the TIME report concluded: "It's no longer a man's world. Nor is it a woman's nation. It's a cooperative, with bylaws under constant negotiation and expectations that profits be equally shared."

Click here to see the TIME report. Click here for my previous ramblings on the "Mancession" and other related topics.

Sources: Business Week, The New York Times, TIME, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, American Bar Association, American Medical Association.

Article by Mark Toth, Chief Legal Officer of Manpower's North American operations, and courtesy of Manpower Employment Blawg. Mark also serve as Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President of Franchise Relations and serve on our Global Leadership Team, North American Lead Team, Executive Diversity Steering Committee and Sarbanes-Oxley Steering Committee.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 22, 2009 at 1:56 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

As tough as it is to find a job these days, it's just as difficult to keep one. An employee with a bad attitude isn't doing anything to help matters.

The Evil HR Lady answered a question in her blog last month about an employee who comes across as having a bad attitude because she doesn't want to participate in some voluntary office tasks unless she's compensated in a way that she deems appropriate. The writer - who is also this employee's boss - told her that her attitude was not only bad for her, but toxic to the office, too.

The Evil HR Lady agreed and recommended taking this employee aside and letting her know that her refusal to join in simply because she wouldn't receive her ideal compensation reflected badly on her made her boss reluctant to consider her for future promotion.

Some commenters agreed with the Evil HR Lady, but some others felt that the employee's refusal to participate in voluntary activities is her prerogative, regardless of her reasons.

When I presented a similar scenario to our Ask the Experts panel, I received a response that mirrored those commenters who disagreed with the Evil HR Lady.

"In my opinion, the employee is neither right or wrong ..." said career coach, Linda Pophal. "In my experience, these types of contests or activities are voluntary. If that's the case here, I would simply be pragmatic about the response."

Sadly, there were some people who told the Evil HR Lady that they thought the employee should be fired. Given the fact the employee is an otherwise good worker who completes her assigned duties as required, many saw this response as harsh and over-the-top.

The consensus among the commenters on the Evil HR Lady's post is that it's okay to not want to participate in voluntary office activities, but it would behoove the employee mentioned to keep her reasons for not participating to herself.

Finding a job these days is tough, but keeping one is just as tricky. Employees who share similar sentiments to the employee in the Evil HR Lady's post could learn a lot from the advice given by the Evil HR Lady and by some of her constructive commenters.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 21, 2009 at 4:00 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

How Facebook Recruiting works for 1 Sm. Business #hr #recruiting
A guest post by Sarah White

While waiting for my pizza last night I was chatting with the owner and her son about nothing when a lady came in to drop of a resume.

"It's sad, you know. We get so many people looking but we just won't hire someone like that." Said pizza place owner

"Like what?" I responded - likely a bit too quickly.

"Off the street." She said quickly - realizing how what she said could have been taken considering the woman was a minority.

"How do you hire then?" I asked.

"Facebook" she said.

We then started to talk about social media and why they chose to do it via Facebook exclusively.

Here are her reasons:

1. How they hear about the opening matters to me - She has each of her employees post a status update of the new opening and sends out a message via the Fan page.

• If they hear about it via facebook they know someone who works here directly or indirectly and I can typically get a read on them from other people.


• If they hear about it through our "fan" page on Facebook - I know they are already a fan of our pizza and understand what type of service we give. They aren't walking in blind

Does it all seem pretty basic? Yes.

Why? Because it is.

Do people tell me a lot of random stuff freely? Obviously.

Does this mean if you do this you will get 100% of your hires this way? No.

Social Network recruiting isn't rocket science - ESPECIALLY if you have something that is a B2C type of establishment or organization. This small business is doing it right.

Article courtesy of I'mSoCorporate.com, the always unfiltered, frequently random, often interesting, sometimes goofy, occasionally genius, and never apologetic, random thoughts of my brain today on HR Technology, Recruitment and Social Media topics.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 21, 2009 at 9:51 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

There are a great number of resources for interview techniques designed for candidates but who teaches the interviewer how to conduct an interview? This is an overlooked aspect of the interview process. Think about it for a moment, how many times by poor interview technique fail to properly gauge the skills of candidates? Worse yet, if the interview is conducted poorly by the interviewer, top candidates will have second thoughts about joining your organization.

Learn here some pointers about the different types of interviews and some suggestions on how to make your interviews more meaningful and how to screen employees.

Typical Company... AKA What Not To Do

Here's an example of a typical interview scenario at many companies. There are 3 candidates coming in to interview. The day of the interview, the resumes are sent to 2-3 people who are assigned to interview the candidates. When the candidates get there, the interviewer scans the resume and asks a couple of questions about the different jobs they have had and then asks the candidate if they have any questions for them. The end and the candidate moves on to the next interview where the exact same process is repeated.

At the end of the interviews, the team gets together and gives their opinion on who is the better candidate. Then the person who is the hiring authority makes a decision on who to hire...based on a 'gut' instinct.

If this is your process, please do two things, look at your hire rate of 'A/B+' candidates and the 'B-/C' candidates. If you are not 90+% you may want to reconsider your process.

The Preparation

The first bit of information every interviewer needs is training on how to prepare for an interview. The company should have a hiring strategy that lays out what type of interview technique, what format, and what types of interview questions should and should not be asked (illegal interview questions) .

Each position that is open should have a complete job description with success criteria. The people who are selected to conduct the interviews should be intimately familiar with the success criteria and trained in how to conduct an interview. Beyond that they should understand not only what questions to ask but how to ask questions in an interview setting. Poor questioning and follow up may leave a bad impression on that future employee.

Next, depending on the type of interview, whether it is a behavioral interview or a panel interview or another type of interview, each person needs to be briefed on their expected contribution.

After 20+ years as an engineer in the R&D world, Tom Tassinari found himself in the recruiting world. By adapting the problem solving and process discipline skills of engineering to the recruiting world, he now works with companies on locating and hiring top talent...with his own techie twist.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 20, 2009 at 3:09 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

There are a number of phone interview tips published for candidates but employers should have a plan for what they are going to do with a telephone interview. Here are some phone interview tips for employers on how get the information you need during a phone interview.

Purpose of a Phone Screen

As with anything you do in the recruiting process, you should have some idea of what you want to accomplish when you talk to a candidate on the phone. As mentioned in the page on phone interviews there are 2 purposes for a phone interview, to sort the possibles from the probables. You don't want to bring someone into your building who is only a possible. The second reason is to make a good first impression. This is especially important for hiring top candidates. You need to be professional and show that you are prepared for dealing with high caliber people.

The subtext to this is that as an employer you are looking for 3 things,

• Fill in any missing information
• Assess communication
• Gauge interest and fit for the position

Phone Screen Vs. Phone Interview

Before going on with the phone interview tips, there is a great deal of confusion about a phone interview vs. a phone screen so lets clarify.

For the sake of this discussion, a phone interview should be scheduled with a candidate. A phone screen is merely the call to set up that interview and ask a couple of basic qualifying questions. Too many companies confuse a phone screen with a phone interview.

To be fair to a candidate, you should give them an opportunity to schedule the interview whereas a screen is just to verify a piece or two of information like phone number, best time to call and if they are still interested.

Set up the interview, if the screen goes well but don't assume you can do a phone interview with a candidate just because they answer. Always ask and be ready to schedule for another time.

Now onto the phone interview tips...

Missing Information

The "missing info" part of the interview is to make sure the candidate has the right skills and abilities to do the job.

To do this you need a copy of the resume to review and the job description handy. You should jot down questions on the resume, referring back to items in the job description, that need clarification. For example, you may look at a resume and not see where the candidate has the requisite 10 years experience but you think that is because it is wrapped up in parts of 2 different jobs.

It is also appropriate to ask questions about salary and other requirements of the job. For instance you can make sure the candidate understands the salary range and that the job requires travel 2 weeks a month or that relocation is not included.

Anything that is not clear should be addressed at a preliminary level before the candidate is brought in for a face to face interview.

Communications

The phone interview also gives you a chance to assess verbal communications skills. If you have a perfectly written resume and the person has difficulty speaking English then you have a discrepancy to sort out.

One of the best phone interview tips I ever heard was regarding communications. Experts suggest that body language says more about what a person is saying than the actual words in face to face interviews. Similarly during a phone interview, you can tell more about how things are said rather than what is said.

As mentioned above, often companies use the phone screen merely use it to verify the phone number is working and schedule a time to come in. If instead you schedule the phone interview and ask a couple of prepared questions, you will gain valuable information before bringing that person in for a face to face. Here are a couple of examples,

In response to a direct question the candidate is vague and tries to divert the conversation. Long pauses when asked clarifying questions. Lot's of uh's and uhm's or stumbling over answers. Not prepared even though it was a scheduled phone interview. Similarly, not in a quiet place for the interview at the agreed time. These are all indicators that there might be something amiss. Don't ignore these warning signs.

Gauge Interest and Fit

Gauging interest can be done over the phone but gauging fit is the most difficult to do over the phone. First we'll take the easy question, gauging interest.

Simply put, ask questions to the candidate about what he or she is looking for in their next position and ask them to explain why they applied or expressed interest.

Gauging fit is a bit more difficult. Each company has a style and a way they liked to work. Some are fast paced and others are methodical. Ask the candidate about their style. Some companies thrive on high risk high reward others prefer slow steady growth. You need to ask some questions of the candidate to understand what they are looking for and what they are accustomed to in their job.

Final Thoughts

Most telephone interview tips are common sense. Probably the biggest one I would focus on is to make the phone interview count as a meaningful part of your screening and hiring process. Make sure it is not just a cursory phone call and invest the time to do it right. It will save time and money from bringing in candidates who do not fit.

After 20+ years as an engineer in the R&D world, Tom Tassinari found himself in the recruiting world. By adapting the problem solving and process discipline skills of engineering to the recruiting world, he now works with companies on locating and hiring top talent...with his own techie twist.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 19, 2009 at 3:01 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Believe it or not, there was actually a time when companies felt bad about cutting their employees loose. I know you might find this unimaginable now, but there really was a time when draconian, across-the-board layoffs were truly difficult decisions for some companies.

While scary, my first experience with being "displaced" was, in the end, a highly-positive one and opened dozens of doors for me. You see, this job loss resulted in my first and only exposure to outplacement counseling, and it changed the way that I would search for - and get - just about any job I applied for.

How did I do that? I'm going to give you little background on this, so please bear with me as I lay the groundwork for why outplacement counseling is so important.

In the mid-1980s, I worked for Mercantile Stores, a national retailer headquartered in New York City. I had my first professional job there as a technical writer, and was a loyal and happy employee for nearly seven years. One of the neat things about this company was that it literally started as a small dry goods store in the 1800s and evolved into a national department store chain (similar to a Macy's type of department store). As they grew, they retained (and insisted upon) a "mom and pop" culture and treated their employees with dignity and respect.

During my time at Mercantile, I saw my beloved IT group grow from a handful to nearly 100 people, mostly located in New York and Ohio; eventually, the company decided to move the entire company to Ohio. While it made sense to them from an economic standpoint, the decision was made all the more wrenching because people who had been with them for a dozen years or more, those who elected not to make the move out of New York, would soon be looking for work.

While the job market back then was fairly healthy, many of these folks had never written a resume and had no clue as to how to look for a job. If you can believe it, some had never even interviewed, as they were referred by friends or family and were hired without much vetting. Needless to say, they were nervous about their ability to find new jobs.

Staying true to their core values was important to Mercantile, so they offered those of us "left behind" a separation package that included a very generous stay bonus PLUS company-paid outplacement counseling with what is now the de facto leader in this service: Challenger Gray Christmas. Today, unless you are a high-level executive with a golden parachute, you can forget about ever stepping foot in one of their offices. In fact, they make that very clear on their website, where they say: In order to enter one of our outplacement programs, we require sponsorship by an employee's company.

Ouch!

For those of you unfamiliar with outplacement counseling, it is a masterful collection of insightful training on resume writing, interviewing, networking, and job search techniques, which make all the difference in a career transition. Outplacement counseling gave me the tools that most job seekers today simply do not have, such as how to interview, how to prepare and respond to interview questions, how to write a resume, where to find jobs, etc.

Since going through outplacement counseling, I have NEVER walked away from an interview without a job offer. Literally. This 2-week, hands-on training was THE BEST parting gift that Mercantile could have given to its employees.
By now I'm sure you're wondering why I'm telling you all this. Here's why:

Until now, outplacement counseling was something not attainable by individuals and, as noted on CGC's website, you're not welcome if your employer doesn't pay for their services. So unless your company is willing to shell out roughly 10-15% of your salary to an outplacement firm, you'll never have the opportunity to learn what I did. To my surprise, I stumbled upon The Navigator Institute, an organization that offers these same valuable services to individuals--and it's surprisingly affordable.

When I spoke Joan Ziegler, The Navigator Institute's Director of Business Development, about their services, she told me how they have developed a comprehensive outplacement package for individuals. This service mirrors the same training and coaching I received from Challenger Gray Christmas. My first thought was "How can you expect unemployed people to shell out thousands of dollars for this? I know it's great training but, c'mon, no one has this kind of money!"

Imagine my surprise when she suggested I log into their site, walk through the demo, and see what they have to offer. Here's what I found out: The program is comprehensive with nine career modules, ranging from dealing with change, to resume writing, to networking and onboarding. Every user gets four weeks access AND:

• Nine interactive online modules that show you how to effectively navigate your job search.
• A (very cool) online custom resume builder, which will help get you an interview and prep you for interviews.
• Practice interview questions, networking and negotiation scripts, job board links, and many more resources to help you land a job.
• A proprietary 320-question survey to help identify the career path that is right for you.
• Four one-on-one career coaching sessions of up to 30 minutes (these are with former HR execs who know how to get a job).

Do you have to be unemployed to use this training?

No.

Available 24/7, the Navigator Institute helps any job seeker be better prepared to compete for jobs in a super tight labor market--regardless of employment status. (In fact, the company's President, Matt Durfee, is a former corporate HR executive whose own jobs have gone away nine times--so he knows what he's talking about! He's worked for Pepsi-Cola, Nestle, Frito-Lay International, Hard Rock Cafe, Bank One, Cendant, and Centex Homes.)

Ok, so now you're wondering what all this will cost. Normally, The Navigator Instutue charges $479, but Joan has agreed to lower it to $399 for readers here. What's really great about all this is if you consider that The Ladders charges nearly $800 (!) just to help you write a resume (and a poor one at that), it's a pretty good deal.

So if you're interested in learning how the big dogs get help when they're looking for work, click here to find out if you think this will benefit you. You need to use the promo code UNDERGROUND to get this price.

One thing I can tell you is that the way you look for jobs and how you approach interviewing will never be the same.

Outplacement counseling is a life-long gift that keeps on giving.

Article by Lorraine Russo of The Underground Job Network

Courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates seeking entry-level jobs and other career opportunities, and posted on The Daily Recruiter.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 19, 2009 at 2:36 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Maybe we should adjust the White Paper we just released on Diploma Mills to include High Schools! This of course doesn't surprise me at all but the article highlights an even more important need for quality background screening. Now these are not the traditional types of scams that we have written about in the past but very serious nonetheless.

Government Investigates High School Diploma Mills

An undercover investigation found students were given answers to the tests needed to enroll in college

Government investigators are pursuing high school diploma mills, which, for a fee, give high school dropouts diplomas or answers to the tests that enable them to enroll in college and qualify for federal financial aid.

In testimony before a congressional panel on Wednesday, George Scott, a director of the Education, Workforce, and Income Security division of the Government Accountability Office, played secretly made audiotapes of a test proctor apparently giving students the answers to college-qualifying tests.

The tapes were made by investigators looking into for-profit colleges. Scott said the investigators walked into Washington, D.C.-area offices of a publicly traded for-profit college and told the admissions officers that they did not have high school diplomas but wanted to enroll. Scott did not identify the colleges or testing companies his agency investigated.

Normally, colleges don't admit students who haven't graduated from high school. To qualify for federal financial aid, students without diplomas or GED certifications must pass tests to show they have enough language and math skills to ensure their "ability to benefit" (often abbreviated as "ATB") from a college education. ATB tests are supposed to be given by companies or proctors who have no connections to colleges, so that there is no incentive to improperly pass students.

But the college under investigation, apparently eager to get more paying students, directed the agents to a test center at which a proctor gave answers to three of 10 questions.

More

Article by, Jason Morris and courtesy of EmployeescreenIQ

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 19, 2009 at 1:00 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

The Great TCBY Store Giveaway Has Officially Begun

Beginning October 5, 2009, TCBY, The Country's Best Yogurt, officially started collecting entries for This Could Be Yours, The Great TCBY Store Giveaway. Found on TCBY.com, the contest will reward one lucky person with his or her very own TCBY store and is open to all U.S. residents over the age of 21.

To enter, contestants must submit a video, no longer than two minutes, explaining why they should be the recipient of their very own TCBY, why their town is the perfect location, and what they have to offer the brand. Submissions will be judged on creativity, a sense of business acumen, and originality. Video submissions will be accepted between October 5, 2009 and November 30, 2009.

"We're looking for the country's best business owners, and are eagerly awaiting the video submissions; we know they are going to be great," said Steve Willes, Director of Marketing TCBY. "This contest gives us the opportunity to help someone make their professional and personal dreams come true, and we anticipate that he or she will continue the tradition, started in 1981, of serving the country's best frozen yogurt."

Following the initial entry round, TCBY will narrow all video submissions down to 25 semi-finalists. The public will then be given the opportunity to help narrow the list down to 10 finalists, who will go through an informal interview process before the winner is chosen.

"Especially now, it's important for us to champion the entrepreneurial spirit of this country, and invite anyone who's ever wanted to own a TCBY to submit their video" said Michael Ward, President of TCBY. "With the support of an iconic brand and nearly 30 years of history behind the winner, we're certain this will be a great success for all involved."

For more information on This Could Be Yours, The Great TCBY Store Giveaway, and a full list of rules and regulations, please visit www.tcby.com.

Based in Salt Lake City, TCBY, The Country's Best Yogurt has been a frozen yogurt innovator from the day its first shop opened in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1981. Ever since, the great-tasting, low-fat frozen yogurt concept has received an enthusiastic response from an increasingly health-conscious public. With more than 800 locations both in the United States and internationally, TCBY - Best Tasting, Best For You(tm) has long been a healthier alternative for consumers looking for a treat or snack. To learn more check out www.TCBY.com.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 16, 2009 at 11:43 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." ~Theodore Roosevelt

How many of us who can identify with what Roosevelt said?

Unfavorable circumstances can easily derail us from our goals; we never try for fear of failure. It is easier for us somehow to blame the global financial pandemonium or other life's tragedy, or make an excuse out of them to justify our inactivity.

I have seen many stifled by these kinds of fears and excuses. "No one will hire me, I am too old." "I don't have the right skills, the right education, the right experience or the right connections..." I can fill this entire post with a 10,000-word enumeration of these excuses for what? Nothing! Or perhaps just sow cynicism to those who read. I do not want that.

Excuses and fear of failures work like gangrene that eat out your motivation slowly until you realize later that you have none left.

Reality Check

Finding job during a recession may be difficult because of the scarcity of jobs, and the increasing number of unemployed. In fact, the stats released by the Labor Bureau two weeks ago have caused the stock market to dip. While I agree with most economists that the economy is showing signs of bottoming-out, nevertheless the growing number of unemployed will continue to rise, as companies are not likely to hire in the coming months.

I know.

When the Asian economic flu hit us towards the end of the 90's, many organizations, including mine, started streamlining. Employees who were retained were asked to multi-task. In fact, there was a time that I had to oversee 3 departments. When the economy rebounded, most companies who survived (or even did well during the downturn) were satisfied with their lean and mean workforce, thus they never bothered to hire additional people or rehire former (displaced) employees.

Alright, I have laid down some facts or scenarios from an HR perspective. And yeah, you can include them in your list of excuses. Nevertheless, the fact remains, you are still jobless. Unless you get out of your comfort zone and free yourself from the grips of unending excuses, you will never get a job.

Focus and Determination are Essential to Job Search Success

The key is focus, and a dash of determination on your job search. Do not take a rejection from a potential employer as something personal. It simply means that there is another organization waiting out there who is more than willing to take you in. Take heart. For more often, finding job is a numbers game. "The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese." Spencer Johnson, wittingly puts it in his bestselling book, "Who moved my cheese?"

Note: I have posted a similar entry, although more on an action-oriented different perspective: Finding Great Job Opportunities in Recession; while here I just want to encourage you - I hope I did! Good hunting!

Article by HRM Business Practices and Notes

Courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates seeking entry-level jobs and other career opportunities, and posted on MN Headhunter.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 15, 2009 at 11:59 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Employers today aren't just facing the daunting task of hiring the best people for the entry level jobs - and higher- that they have to offer; they're also challenged to retain their employees and get the most out of them. To get the most out of their teams, employers must come up with ways to keep them happy and engaged. That doesn't mean spending money, say Cathy L. Greenberg and Barrett S. Avigdor in their article, 3 Ways to Maximize Your Workers' Happiness - and Performance.

Happy employees, say Greenberg and Avigdor, are "highly engaged, flourishing and have achieved an acceptable work-life balance." They cite a study that showed a significant decrease in unplanned attrition and significant increases in employee productivity and customer satisfaction in companies with highly engaged workforces.

Beyond engagement, say Greenberg and Avigdor, employers need to also create workplaces where employees can flourish. Their three steps to creating such a workplace are:

1. Create a positive environment. A positive work environment is created

• by giving employees lots of positive feedback,
• by having zero tolerance for ridicule and gossip
• by letting employees know that they won't be punished for making "well-intentioned" mistakes.

2. Manage based on expanding strengths. "A strengths-based approach to management can unleash tremendous productivity, creativity and enthusiasm in a workforce," say Greenberg and Avigdor. It's a form of management that encourages an employee to evaluate his strengths and weaknesses, discuss them with his coworkers and his manager, then work together with them to create a workload that contains more tasks that "energize" him (meaning they're related to his strengths) and fewer tasks that "drain" him (meaning they're related to his weaknesses).

3. Be flexible wherever you can. Employees who work for employers who are willing to be flexible about the time they spend in the office tend to be more loyal than those who work for more strict, task-master employers. Flex time is particularly important to employees with very young or school-age children.

The job market is tough and employers have the luxury to be highly selective about who they hire for entry level jobs in their companies. But it's also important for them to remember that in order to retain their best employees, requires finding ways to make them feel comfortable in the workplace and engaged by the workload.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 15, 2009 at 7:34 AM | Leave a Comment (1)

This morning the Wall Street Journal reported that a Chicago business man has opened up a hot dog stand in a crime-riddled neighborhood on the West-side of Chicago called Felony Franks. The menu includes items such as the Felony Frank, the Misdemeanor Weiner, the Pardon Polish and Probation Burgers. Signs hang on wall advising customers that "You have a right to remain hungry. Anything you order can and will be used to feed you here at Felony Franks". Customers are asked, "Are you ready to plead your case?", instead of, "can I take your order".

Is this distasteful? Well, the food probably isn't. But local politicians and community leaders are not amused. Before you pass judgment though, consider that owner, Jim Andrews only employs ex-convicts. According to the Journal, "He (Andrews) says he things people deserve a second chance and felons need stable jobs so the don't add to homelessness". Mr. Andrews plans to franchise shortly, so Felony Franks could be coming to a town near you!

Can't decide whether this is funny or exploitative, but I'm betting Mr. Andrews doesn't perform employment background checks.

Article by, Nick Fishman and courtesy of EmployeescreenIQ

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 14, 2009 at 7:12 AM | Leave a Comment (1)

Whether you believe the recession is over or not, now is the time for companies to get ready to find talent for the increase in business that is coming. For the past 12 to 18 months, companies have had the luxury to be picky about when and who they will hire. Most hiring managers have increased the job requirements and the interview process to ensure they got the best talent as they perceived it.

Companies now have to start preparing themselves for the hiring process to speed up. We will not see the ridiculous hiring frenzy from the dot.com era, but hiring managers can no longer take months to hire a person and expect them to wait patiently to get hired. Highly qualified candidates are getting more recruiting calls and are beginning to have multiple job offers. They are quickly entering the job market and just as quickly they are accepting good offers and are no longer available.

A case in point, we had a large technology client take over 3 months to determine a short list of finalists for a VP job. They lost their number one candidate who was recruited by another technology firm, interviewed and offered a VP role, [which he accepted], in three weeks. We are now seeing multiple clients lose candidates due to the length of the hiring process. In addition, candidates no longer have just one opportunity to pick from, they are getting multiple offers.

Five Tips to Help You Win the War for Talent:

1. Make sure you know the profile of the type of person you want. Make sure all stakeholders agree to this profile.

2. Partner with your recruiter to develop a qualified slate of candidates.

3. Speed up the interview process. This does not mean eliminate decision makers from the process, but it does mean consolidate interviews and do phone interviews whenever possible to shorten the interview cycle.

4. Be prepared to hire someone from a slate of 2-3 qualified candidates.

5. Be prepared to sell the candidate on why the company and the position [are exactly what he wants]. I can guarantee you your competition is selling the pros of their companies.

Article by John Butler, vice-president of SearchLogixGroup

Courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates seeking entry-level jobs and other career opportunities, and posted on MN Headhunter.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 13, 2009 at 11:28 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Hi All!

This article is entitled: How to Start Working Before You're Hired and gives Millennials, and even older generations, currently seeking jobs words of encouragement AND some solid tips. Keep reading!

If you're looking for the toughest place in America to find a job, try Michigan. The state, hammered by the collapsing auto industry, has suffered the highest unemployment rate in the U.S. for 14 straight months.

Make no mistake: Most job searches in Michigan are nasty, brutish, and long. Yet, one suburban Detroit man was recently hired for a six-figure position in only 8 days. Bill McCausland, from Novi, Mich., beat all odds by landing a job that was not advertised and paid a higher salary than his previous position.

"Since being laid off at the end of June 2009, I had been aggressively looking for a professional opportunity. But all of the tactics that I used before, with a lot of success, weren't working for me," says McCausland.

But something changed. McCausland was hired for a management position that was created for him, a success he credits to the following "guerrilla" job search method: He started working before he was hired.

Pay attention. Because if this can work in Michigan -- in only eight days -- it can work anywhere. It has three parts. Here they are:

1) Research the employer.

Learn all you can about the needs, problems, and opportunities of companies you want to work for. This will help you create a compelling message that appeals to an employer's self-interest ... while ordinary job seekers are simply asking for a job. McCausland reached out for this information to customers and competitors of his target employer. "I spoke with a competitor and asked them, 'What is it about Company ABC that keeps you awake at night?' That competitor told me a ton."

2) Research the job.

Learn all you can about the work you would do if hired. Here are four ways to do it: Ask people in your network of contacts on Linkedin and Facebook for information. Human intelligence is best. Search online for resumes and profiles of people who work at your target employer. If the job is advertised, analyze the required skills to cull out what you'll be doing if hired. Search Google and the employer's web site for press releases announcing new employees. You'll often find reasons why those people were hired -- precious information.

3) Prove you can do the job, in the interview.

The most effective way is to audition and perform the required skills. Examples: a software developer could program an application showcasing their skills; a sales professional could bring 25 customer leads or make cold calls; an editor could proofread a document in the interview.

Another way to prove your skills is to offer testimonials from others. This is what McCausland did in his job-winning interview. He created a two-page addendum to his resume, which he handed to the hiring manager in the interview. Both pages matched the look and feel of his business card and web site. Page one, titled "Accolades," was made up of quotes from recommendations posted on his Linkedin profile. The quotes were divided into three parts: customers, managers, and business partners. Page two was titled "Skills Required For Success."

In researching the employer, McCausland found they needed help with project management, problem solving, and execution. So he let former managers prove his expertise. "I took quotes from past performance reviews that tied into the skills they were looking for in the position," he said. Putting this all together, here's the time-line of what McCausland did:

- Learned to "start work before you're hired" on September 16, 2009; landed the interview on September 21; interviewed on September 22; and offered the job on September 23.

He sums up his success this way: "I got a position where none was advertised and did not have to compete with others because I nailed the interview, thanks to researching and demonstrating that I was already on the job."

If this can work in Michigan, for a six-figure executive, in 8 days, why not give this three-step method a try in your job search?

Kevin Donlin is co-author of Guerrilla Resumes. Since 1996, he has provided job-search help to more than 20,000 people. Author of 3 books, Kevin has been interviewed by The New York Times, USA Today, Fox News, CBS Radio and others.

Courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates seeking entry-level jobs and other career opportunities, and posted on Lisa's Generation Relations Blog.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 12, 2009 at 11:49 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

What is a ride-along? Why is it important?

A ride-along is just what it sounds like: You spend a day with a medical sales rep who's in the field you're thinking you'd like to sell into, and see how a typical day goes. A ride-along can be one of your greatest opportunities to differentiate yourself from another candidate. It sets you apart as a go-getter. It gives you critical on-the-job information that helps you in your job search. Among other things, it helps you answer the question, "How do you see yourself in this job?"

How do you get one?

Step 1: Ask for contacts.

If you want a pharmaceutical sales job, for instance, call your family doctor and ask for a favor-ask for the contact information of a couple of the sales reps who call on him.

If you want a medical device job, ask the doctor for those types of representatives.

If you want a laboratory sales job, go see a small laboratory and ask for a couple of contacts (folks who sell to them).

Get the idea?

Step 2: Call the sales rep and ask them for a favor: Will they let you tag along for a day or half a day to see what their life is like?

That's all there is to it. When you do the ride along, ask a lot of questions: What do they like about the job, what do they hate, what skills are absolutely necessary, how did they get the job, etc. Then once you've done this, add the experience to your resume as a preceptorship.

Completing a ride-along communicates that

(1) you are willing to go the extra step,
(2) you know how to make contacts and
(3) you know what you are getting into....

It helps the hiring manager see you in the job and that is what gets you a job.

Article, Ride-Alongs and Ride-Withs, AKA Job Shadowing, by Peggy McKee, Medical Sales Recruiter

Courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates seeking entry-level jobs and other career opportunities, and posted on MN Headhunter.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 12, 2009 at 11:20 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Survey: More Than One-Quarter of Employees Have Had Ideas Stolen at Work

According to a recent survey, there's a common type of workplace theft -- and it has nothing to do with missing office supplies. More than one in four (29 percent) employees interviewed said that a coworker has taken credit for their idea. Those who steal the limelight from their more deserving colleagues may get away with it, too: More than half (51 percent) of those who have had their ideas nabbed by coworkers revealed they did nothing in response.

The survey was developed by OfficeTeam and conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with 444 workers 18 years of age or older and employed in an office environment.

Workers were asked, "Has a coworker ever taken credit for your idea?" Their responses:

- Report up. Use status updates to remind your manager of your ideas and the progress being made to implement them.
- Look for patterns. If a minor contribution is occasionally overlooked, you may decide to let it go. However, if other people routinely get credit for your ideas, it's a sign that you need to be more assertive.
- Don't act in haste. When someone receives credit for your idea, try to get to the bottom of the situation. It could be a misunderstanding. Be sure to give your colleague the opportunity to present his or her side of the story to you.
- Set the record straight. If you are credited with a coworker's idea, be sure to swiftly correct the situation. Your colleague will appreciate it.

OfficeTeam provides businesses with the temporary administrative professionals they need to maximize productivity, achieve cost efficiency and support existing staff. The company has more than 325 locations worldwide and offers online job search services at www.officeteam.com.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 9, 2009 at 9:13 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

They're lurking in your mailbox - as many as 17 a day, or 70 a week. They are diploma mills, insidious companies that offer academic degrees and diplomas with little or no academic study and without recognition by legitimate educational bodies.

They feed on job applicants who will do anything to enhance their resume. Cheap, easy, and fast is their mantra, and their popularity is exploding in today's marketplace. Employers that don't act quickly face financial loss, litigation, and loss of reputation.

Read EmployeeScreenIQ's new article, The Growing Threat of Diploma Mills, to learn about:

• The cost of diploma mill fraud
• Where the diploma mills are located
• How to determine a phony diploma
• Stacking the odds in your favor

The Growing Threat of Diploma Mills is required reading for employers who need to know whether a candidate is the answer to their prayers... or a product of smoke and mirrors.

Also, check out the video below which highlights just how easy it was for EmployeeScreenIQ president and COO Jason B. Morris to get a fake degree.

Article by, Nick Fishman and courtesy of EmployeescreenIQ

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 8, 2009 at 1:53 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

As practically everyone in the world now knows, last week talk show host David Letterman publicly admitted that he has had sex with "women who work for [him] on the show."

Background

Click here to see Letterman's on-air remarks, courtesy of CBS.

One comment Letterman made that has grabbed the attention of employment lawyers and HR gurus is that he hopes to "protect [his] job." He has a right to be concerned.

Most companies have policies that restrict boss/subordinate relationships. According to sources, CBS -- like many employers -- has a policy requiring disclosure of such relationships in an effort to avoid conflicts of interest. It reportedly states:

If a consenting romantic or sexual relationship between a supervisor and a direct or indirect subordinate should develop, CBS requires the supervisor to disclose this information to his or her Company's Human Resources Department to ensure that there are no issues of actual or apparent favoritism, conflict of interest, sexual harassment, or any other negative impact on others in the work environment.

It's unknown whether Letterman disclosed the relationships to CBS' HR Department. CBS issued a statement saying only that: Mr. Letterman addressed the issue during the show's broadcast, and we believe his comments speak for themselves."

The Bottom Line: Letterman could face potential disciplinary action from his employer if he failed to disclose the relationships. Letterman, CBS and/or Letterman's rather ill-named production company Worldwide Pants could face several harassment claims with very limited defenses given Letterman's position of authority. The company could also face discrimination/conflict-of-interest claims from employees who didn't sleep with Letterman, alleging that they were treated less advantageously.

Letterman's Not Alone

Several other high-profile personalities have faced big-$$$ lawsuits related to alleged workplace romances in recent years. Bob Barker of The Price is Right fame faced an $8 million sex harassment suit that was dropped after he admitted having a relationship with a female employee. Bill O'Reilly of Fox News settled a harassment suit brought by a female employee who claimed they had phone-sex conversations. Dov Charney, the high-flying CEO of American Apparel, has faced at least four sex harassment claims brought by female employees.

What Should Employers Do?

How can you avoid something similar happening to your company? Here are some simple tips:

• have a policy that (1) clearly prohibits all forms of unlawful harassment and (2) contains a clear mechanism for reporting potential violations, including alternate paths when the alleged harasser is the complaining party's boss;
• fully investigate all complaints of harassment, even if (1) the alleged harasser asks you not to and (2) the allegations are against the head of the company or a "superstar"-type employee;
• if the investigation warrants disciplinary action, take it (even if it means firing the CEO or superstar); and
• carefully consider any and all communications related to the investigation, particularly if they concern a high-profile employee (and discuss them with experienced legal and PR counsel).

To help ensure that you cover all the investigation bases, click here for our handy Investigation Toolkit. Click here for our handy "cheat sheet" on harassment law.

What Should Employees Do?

Unless you want to end up facing a grand jury, avoid the extortion route. Instead, report the conduct promptly using the procedure outlined in your company's anti-harassment policy. If your company has no such policy, go see your HR representative. Provide all the facts of which you are aware and cooperate fully with the investigation.

Click here for another employment lawyer's take on this issue and here for a rather creative "top ten" approach one writer suggests for Mr. Letterman.

Article by Mark Toth, Chief Legal Officer of Manpower's North American operations, and courtesy of Manpower Employment Blawg. Mark also serve as Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President of Franchise Relations and serve on our Global Leadership Team, North American Lead Team, Executive Diversity Steering Committee and Sarbanes-Oxley Steering Committee.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 6, 2009 at 2:52 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Losing your job is one of the most stressful life events (see the post "I lost my job, now what?"). With unemployment at the highest level in over 25 years, we all know someone (or several someones) who have lost their jobs. Whether it be downsizing, bankruptcy or mergers is unimportant, the result is the same. Some of my friends have been out of work almost a year. For some people who have been lucky enough to keep their jobs, the stress of worrying about losing you job can be devastating as well.

The good news is that you are not alone and there is a vast amount of advice to help overcome the stress as well as find a job. The better news is that there are thousands of jobs out there if you know where to look, are persistent in your search and have a plan of attack. Today's post covers a number of topics related to job loss, the threat of job loss and where to start in your search.

How to lose your fear of being fired - This excellent article, provided by Positivesharing.com, is a must read for anyone who has either lost their job or is worried about losing their job. It covers both sides of the coin and provides some commentary on how to deal with being fired (the reasons), dealing with the problems of being fired (economic, explaining on a job interview) and moving on. There are a few links at the bottom of the post to additional articles which might be worth a read.
Dealing With Job Loss - Howstuffworks.com posted this article, which deals with a number of topics related to job loss. Specifically, using your support networks (friends, family, former co-workers, etc.), keeping an active routine and starting your job search immediately. There are several helpful links throughout the article on how to reduce your stress. Additionally, there are a number of very helpful links at the top of the article which leads to additional posts on unemployment, wrongful termination and more.
Jump Start Your Job Search - What better place to start your job search research than a site named jumpstartyourjobsearch.com! This site is a "job search information index" which provides an alphabetical listing of job search boards, headhunters and other job search resources. You can also use the Popular Links (to such topics as How to Guides, Resumes and more) as well as the Targeted Resources (Over 50 Job Search, Resources for Students and more). Click Newsletter at the top of the page for links to a number of relevant articles as well as featured articles on the right hand side of the page. The site is well organized and you can actually jump start your search by leveraging this site.
Help - I Lost My Job! - One more on this topic before I move on. This article from wisebread.com provides four steps with links. Shock, getting a new job, extra income and avoid getting laid off. Each of the steps have useful advice with additional embedded links on the topic. This is a very comprehensive article with quite a few links that will provide most of the information you need to get back in the game and leverage your search. The right hand side of this page has additional links to job search engines and job boards.
How to Make Money Right Now Even If You Are Unemployed - This article, posted on ezinearticles.com and written by Max Lauplin provides a number of ideas on how to make money until you land a job including making money online. In addition to the information in this article, you may want to consider consulting (see my posts "Targeted Company Search - Consulting Firms" and "Have you thought about consulting").

Good luck in your search.

Article by Career Alley

Courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates seeking entry-level jobs and other career opportunities, and posted on MN Headhunter.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 6, 2009 at 11:33 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

I was watching CNN on Saturday morning and was disturbed this story about inaccurate background checks. Reporter Gerry Willis interviewed a woman whose husband failed to get a job because the employer relied upon a background check that revealed he had multiple criminal convictions. In fact, someone with the same name was convicted of the felonies identified in the background check. It just wasn't the person being considered for this job. The story, of course portrayed the background screening industry in a negative light. This was made worse by a follow up interview CNN did with a privacy expert that suggested that the entire industry was flawed.

It's hard to argue with the story or the privacy advocate. However, he painted with too broad a brush. The company that provided the background check followed a practice called Contemporaneous Notice which allows them to report all findings without confirming verifying the information. They then have to send a letter to the subject of the report showing what they found and letting them know that the can dispute the findings. By that time, the cat is out of the bag and the employer has probably decided on another candidate. EmployeeScreenIQ strongly opposes this practice, as do a number of our colleagues in this industry. Practically, every time you see a story about job candidates getting deterred from jobs because their background check was inaccurate, it revolves around Contemporaneous Notice.

There is a better way to protect consumers and ensure that employers are relying on accurate information. We have been doing it for years. Rather than just reported the information that is fed to us, we confirm all convictions BEFORE they are reported to the client. We confirm the identifiers that allows us to ensure that the information we provide belongs to the subject of our report. Those identifiers include a match of the name, date of birth, social security number (when available) and address. If we can't confirm this information, we don't report it.

Companies engage in Contemporaneous Notice because it saves them time and money. Rather than taking the time to confirm the information, they simply report it and worry about it later. Unfortunately, when things don't go as planned, it casts a negative light on all of us.

Article by, Nick Fishman and courtesy of EmployeescreenIQ

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 6, 2009 at 9:52 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

By Mark Walsh

A new report makes the case for SMS text marketing on mobile phones: Texting has become pervasive, and generates response rates two to ten times higher than Internet display ads, it says. That's partly because messages are directed only at "hand-raisers," since SMS marketing requires consumer opt-in.

The study from the Local Mobile Search unit of Opus Research portrays the mobile texting population as a vast, mostly untapped market. It estimates the number of people who use text messaging on a regular basis at 154 million, or 57% of U.S. cell phone subscribers. (A Pew Research Center study on wireless broadband released this month put the proportion of U.S. cell users who send or receive text messages on a typical day lower, at 43%.

The Opus study also cites data showing that text-messaging volume has grown to 3.5 billion a day, with messages now outstripping calls in a given month among U.S. mobile users. The reach of text messaging is also twice that of the mobile Internet, estimated at roughly 70%. Although the mobile Web holds much promise for advertisers, the report casts SMS marketing as an established, ready-to-go option that also doesn't require a smartphone to work well.

"While much of the ad industry is focused on the iPhone and other smartphones because of the buzz and excitement surrounding these devices, they currently represent only 15% or 16% of total handsets in the U.S.," states the report authored by Opus Senior Analyst Greg Sterling.

The study also emphasizes that the opt-in process for SMS marketing offers translates into more targeted ads or promotions, and ultimately better results. It points to broader research from Insight Express and Dynamic Logic this year showing that mobile advertising performed better than traditional online advertising across brand metrics including unaided awareness, ad awareness, brand favorability and purchase intent.

Still, neither marketers or mobile users seem to care for SMS marketing, despite reports of double-digit response rates. For marketers, the reluctance arises at least partly from the prospect of government regulation. This spring, U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced legislation to curb unsolicited text messages by providing additional consumer protections via the m-SPAM Act of 2009.

Marketers also don't want to risk alienating mobile users with unwanted messages. To avoid that problem, Forrester Research recently advised advertisers in a separate report not to send an SMS message if it can't be well-targeted.

"After all, when your marketing is targeted well, users stop thinking of it as marketing and start thinking of it as content, or a service," wrote Forrester analyst Nate Elliott on the firm's interactive marketing blog. He recommends that companies build a list of qualified SMS leads through contests, Web site forms, or by using a short code in traditional marketing efforts.

Article courtesy of Mark Walsh and MediaPost.com

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 2, 2009 at 5:11 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

The economy notwithstanding, there are people who go to their jobs every day and find themsleves feeling unmotivated. In his article, 5 Ways to Motivate the Unmotivated, Phil Gerbyshak has some advice for employers looking for ways to reignite their employees' interest.

Below are Gerbyshak's five tips:

1. Understand What You Need - Decide whether youneed goal-oriented or task-oriented people.

2. Ask Probing Questions to Better Understand What MIGHT Motivate an [Employee] - Gerbyshak suggests asking questions to learn how an employee likes to be compensated for a job well done or what activities gave him the greatest sense of satisfaction or accomplishment. Doing this can help develop trust, something that truly matters, according to Gerbyshak.

3. Realize Much of This is Out of Your Control - It's important for employers to remember that people can't be changed or controlled, they can only be motivated or inspired to change or control themselves. He makes a point to say that employers should refrain from taking responsibility for either motivated or unmotivated employees.

4. Thing About the Example You're Setting - It's possible that the supervisor's or manager's own mood is infecting one or more members of his team.

5. Peer Pressure or Competition Works (sometimes) - Using peer reviews could motivate an unmotivated employee who thrives on competition to be more like the office super stars.

It may seem hard to believe that anyone could feel unmotivated in such tough economic times and with such a tough job market, yet, it does happen. Lack of motivation can have many causes and solutions beyond simply showing the door to someone who seems uninterested in his or her job. Although Gerbyshak acknowledges that firing an unmotivated employee, he seems to advocate using it as a last resort.

Posted by Candice Arnold on October 2, 2009 at 11:40 AM | Leave a Comment (0)