by Janine Nicole Dennis | Oct 17, 2013 | Life
Unless you have been in hibernation, you have likely been tuned into the government shutdown showdown happening in Washington over our debt crisis. I won’t address the politics of this situation, but rather the leadership lessons.
This shutdown despite the reasons purported for its existence is something that has crippled many and nearly crippled others. It has crippled people- if not with the mere fear of the repercussions of our congressmen and women’s decision-making then most certainly by having one’s livelihood and means of supporting themselves temporarily stripped with furloughs.
Through it all, the handsomely compensated leaders in government wooed us with jargon like “we’re in this together or we understand how difficult this is.” Wooed may not be the right word maybe angered is better. Nevertheless, the reality couldn’t be any further from the truth for those affected by furloughs and the like. Still these leaders march on valiantly in ignorance making no progress until nearly the 11thhour.
When we speak about leadership it is important to note that the concept of leadership begs that we lead by example. It isn’t a moniker of entitlement whereby you get to hand down a different set of rules and values to those who follow you while you do the exact opposite.
In addition, you aren’t likely to engage people as every leader hopes to- when your sympathy is worn on your sleeve and you don’t have a clue or truly care about your employee’s realities. When you are paid a healthy salary along with perks and your employees are hardly compensated well for their efforts-face it- “we aren’t in this together.” There are very different vantage points at play.
Many of my colleagues and even I have spoken in the past about engagement and leading people from a place of compassion. It is not fluff or some warm and fuzzy HR concept. It’s a wake-up call and a call to action urging you to get your head out of the clouds and back on earth where humans (your employees) need you to recognize that their realities and your own are not one in the same.
That isn’t to say you should start throwing money and gas cards from your office chalet, but it is to say that these are difficult times in business and society and your success as a leader is heavily dependent on being able to mobilize and inspire people to work towards your mission, goals, and vision.
To get them there, you first have to see each of them as individuals and regard them highly as a fellow human being. Every decision or indecision you make affects your employees. The effects of your decisions or choices will not always be a crowd-pleaser. However, you do need to have the foresight and ability to see the different realities from where your employees sit-to gain and sustain credibility and respect with your staff. If you can lead in a way that makes the partnership meaningful for you and the employee, you will be on your way to a laying a crucial foundation for a great leadership and an engaged workforce.
Janine
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Oct 10, 2013 | 1, Recruiting
When all attempts have been made to influence a marketable and enticing job posting- what more can a recruiter do? When all efforts have been put forth to amplify the reach of said posting to garner the best and brightest candidates- what is left? If recruiters have sourced and prescreened their hearts out to find the diamonds in the rough, what more could you want?
I ask some basic but nevertheless important questions that most recruiters have asked themselves every day. It tells a story that not many people understand but recruiters do. How much more can one human being do to ensure a hire comes of a vacancy when all follow-up with the hiring manager has been attempted, all viable candidates have been evaluated, screened and sent for further consideration?
What more can a recruiter do when in return for their diligence there is silence or worse yet a plan “b” that doesn’t involve giving a chance to any of those candidates you fought so hard to woo in an effort to fill a position?
Herein lies the gap between a good recruiter’s intentions and efforts and the importance the company places on candidate experience. There are more shenanigans, politics and red-tape than any jobseeker can comprehend when it comes to hiring in some companies. It isn’t as cut and dry as you post a job, you receive candidates, all qualified candidates receive an interview, and the best candidate is chosen. This is an ideal situation that is rarely reality and also substantiated by the bevy of candidate stories and complaints about the consistently misguided hiring processes experienced in trying to become gainfully employed in our current economy.
I think people more or less understand how embarrassing and stressful it can be for a recruiter when you want to do right by your candidates, but you have no updates so you dodge a phone call. Even worse, is when the update isn’t one that is easy to convey like the company already knows who they want but the recruiter has been directed to keep their otherwise viable applicant pool on life support until the company figures out what they want to do.
The moral of the story is- through navigating politics, doing your job and perhaps leaving your candidates with an inkling that you took their candidacy seriously- recruiters have many moving targets to contend with. In my experience, recruitment has never been merely about placing someone in a job. However, more than ever you need to be able to understand the needs of the business, as well as business motivations; all while keeping in the balance your candidate relationships and if applicable compliance obligations.
Circumstances in business are always subject to change, but it is nonetheless difficult for those who are charged with being the face and/or ambassador of the company brand- when your hiring process is marred by disingenuous practices.
If all of what I just described is a clean succession of processes in your organization, congratulations! You probably work for the minority of companies that genuinely takes all of this seriously and have found ways to mitigate these circumstances. As for the rest of you that are nodding your heads as you read this, keep up the good fight. I salute you!
What are some of those sticky situations you have had to deal with as a recruiter?
Janine Truitt
The Aristocracy of HR
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Oct 1, 2013 | 1, Recruiting
If you have ever handled contracts- particularly HRIS contracts you are familiar with what a service level agreement entails. This is where the vendor lets you know what level of service you can expect from them for the duration of your contract.
It will outline things like how they will maintain your system, when they will be available for customer assistance- in essence, it is an agreement that lets you know how and when they will assist you, the customer.
Sometimes you like what is in the fine print and other times you feel like you neglected to properly read the fine print. There is so much variation in the way you will be treated as a customer- it can be daunting to set a threshold or standard as to what constitutes an adequate “service level”.
So what about candidates?
What about candidates? They are only the people that could be your next hire and in the long-term become an asset to your organization.
What if you decided to create a service level agreement for candidates? What would be your value proposition? How could candidates hold you accountable when you fall short of the agreement?
I personally think it is both fair and equitable for candidates to understand what they can expect from you during the application process. If they know what to expect, they can act accordingly. When there is no semblance of responsibility or obligation on the end of the employer- it just seems like a raw deal.
The candidate experience is a real thing. Employers need to assess what they have that is of value to the candidate and then you need to deliver. It’s not just about a message of grandeur- you actually have to practice what you preach.
That means if you say you value your candidates- you don’t post positions that don’t exist to hoard candidates and then throw them aside.
You make your website intuitve, mobile-optimized, searchable and easy to navigate. Your application process shouldn’t take people fifteen minutes to fill out. If you’re not the FBI or some government entity- it isn’t that serious. Know that you are losing candidates.
Value your candidates time. Don’t call them in for interviews only to have different people ask them about their resume. Make it worth their while- what sets your company apart from the competition? Discuss some issues you have that need to be resolved. In effect, stop wasting people’s time.
It’s being reported that record numbers of workers are either underemployed or leaving the workforce altogether. The reason why this is happening is because businesses aren’t upholding their end of the bargain. The jobs are fake, the intentions to employ you are misguided and rarely will you find someone on the other end of that job posting that wants to ensure you have the best candidate experience ever.
There is no standard and since it doesn’t exist many employers are a long way from delivering what progressive minds regard as a respectful and reasonable candidate experience.
I leave this post open to you the public to answer two questions:
1) Who is delivering stellar candidate experience?
2) What are your candidate horror stories?
Janine Truitt
The Aristocracy of HR
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Sep 18, 2013 | HR Technology Trends and Tips
We live in a world where every day we rely on sound, pictures, and videos to display data, give us instructions, deliver the news, and even stay in touch with our friends and family. According to Gartner, Inc., the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, more than 25 percent of the content that workers view each day is dominated by pictures, video or audio. Already, video has even gained importance in recruiting, with graphics and videos displayed on employer’s career sites to provide a more engaging experience to jobseekers. Now, employers can offer the same type of engaging experience during the actual application and interviewing processes with video cover letters.
Recruiters should take advantage of this trend to reach candidates, who are already using and consuming video daily, to shorten the hiring process and find top talent. Video can give recruiters an advantage by providing a more holistic perspective on a candidate, in less time with fewer costs. By adding cutting-edge yet extremely simple-to-use technology in their recruitment process, employers can enhance their employment brand and stand out as an innovative and tech-savvy place to work.
Furthermore, video allows recruiters to evaluate qualities like the candidate’s verbal communication skills, energy level, and potential benefit to the company earlier in the hiring process. This is helpful particularly for entry-level positions, where the candidates may lack experience but have transferable skills and traits that may not translate on paper alone. Another example of a situation where video is particularly helpful is when an employer is hiring for positions that will utilize video technology on a regular basis. In today’s business world, customer service is a virtual experience, and tools like phone and video conferencing and utilized daily. Video cover letters will help companies hire employees who are comfortable with the medium for these customer service type positions. Rather than wasting time, money, and effort to schedule a phone screen or conduct an onsite interview, video can be used to quickly identify good-fit talent based on their displayed creativity, professional presentation, communication skills, and passion your company needs to succeed.
From the candidate perspective, recruiters are far more likely to watch a short video of you explaining why they’re the best candidate for the job than reading another cover letter. It is often easier for candidates to be expressive about past achievements when telling a story to a camera. Video is a quick way to allow candidates to stand out against their peers and be remembered by recruiters and hiring managers.
Given these advantages, video is quickly becoming essential to effective recruiting success. Organizations that do not start embracing the powerful tool risk being at a competitive disadvantage. Aberdeen’s talent acquisition research indicates that organizations were two or three times more likely to improve recruiting metrics (time to fill, cost per hire, hiring manager satisfaction) and business metrics (customer retention and customer satisfaction) after implementing video. Fifty-two percent of organizations improved the length of search, and 47 percent improved cost per hire, compared to 17 percent of organizations not using video. Clearly, it makes an impact, and organizations that implement this type of interviewing achieve ROI.
However, video can also understandably raise legal and practical considerations. Video in recruitment is compliant according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. As long as your organization has a policy about how they’re used, video cover letters are no more discriminatory than a face-to-face interview.
Overall, video cover letter can improve the efficiency of screening, recruiting and hiring potential candidates. Technology has certainly become an integral part of today’s hiring process. Are you ready for the next big thing in talent acquisition?
Meaghan Kacsmar is a Product Marketing Associate at iCIMS, a leading provider of innovative Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) talent acquisition solutions. iCIMS is an Inc. 500 and Software Satisfaction honoree focused on solving corporate business issues through the implementation of easy-to-use, scalable solutions that are backed by award-winning customer service. iCIMS’ Talent Platform, the industry’s premier candidate management solution, enables organizations to manage their entire talent acquisition lifecycle from sourcing, to recruiting, to onboarding all within a single web-based application. With more than 1,700 clients worldwide, iCIMS is one of the largest and fastest-growing talent acquisition system providers with offices in North America, UK, and China. To learn more about how iCIMS can help your organization, visit www.icims.com or view a free online demo of the iCIMS Talent Platform.
Janine Truitt
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Sep 16, 2013 | HR Technology Trends and Tips
I realize that this blog series is about HR technology trends and tips, but since my HR technology interests have to do with employee communication and education efforts, I’m going to dial things back a bit. Frankly, I think the future of HR communication tech is old-school.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m no Luddite, and I’ll be the first to tell you that all the new technology we have at our disposal makes our lives easier. Email, social media, asynchronous online educational platforms—every single bit of it is a modern miracle.
But here’s the “but.”
Advances in technology—especially those that affect how we communicate with employees—don’t mean a thing if they don’t help get your message across.
Technology is always changing and creating new opportunities, for sure, but the magic of good employee communication isn’t in the technology. The magic is when the words and images that do the communicating are simultaneously simple to understand and a delight to experience.
Shorter Is Always Best
No matter what you have to say or how you plan to say it, there’s always a way to do it with fewer words. Keeping your messages concise helps with comprehension, and makes whatever you have to say more approachable.
But short doesn’t necessarily refer to length. Sometimes, like with summary plan descriptions, for example, you must distribute a very large document. If that’s the case, break things down into digestible chunks. Make the lengthy content “shorter” by providing a simple, one-page overview of key highlights, and explain that the “fine print” goes into deeper details.
Keep It Conversational
Conversational doesn’t mean breezy. It doesn’t mean unprofessional. It means relaxed and easy to understand. Need to know if you’re communicating on a conversational level? Here’s a simple test—take a look at what you’re about to send out and compare it with the kind of language used in a traditional wedding invitation.
If your message sounds anything like this—“The honor of your presence is requested at the union of Ms. Mary Smith to Mr. Robert Jones on Saturday, the tenth of May, Two Thousand and Eight, at four o’clock in the afternoon”—then you’ve gone way, way too formal.
Things like passive voice (“is requested”), exotic/jargony language (“union” when “wedding” will do), and wonky sentence lengths (jamming two or three short ideas into one space), make things harder to understand. Besides, nobody talks that way.
It’s Not Always “Hammer Time”
Ever hear of Abraham Kaplan’s Law of the Instrument? The concept comes from The Conduct of Inquiry, Kaplan’s 1964 examination of behavior science, and can be formulated as follows: “Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.”
Don’t be the kid with the new hammer. Sure, your department may have recently embraced a particular tool or mode of communication, but don’t forget about everything else in your toolbox. Always be thinking about the best ways to go about reaching your workforce (hint: there’s going to be more than one). Yes, some employees will respond best to the fancy stuff, but other others may be more enthusiastic about a photocopy taped to the lunch room fridge.
Push your messages through every available channel, because a single approach is unlikely to reach everyone. === Justyn Harkin writes about employee benefits and other HR topics for ALEX®, the Jellyvision Benefits Counselor. Available to over 1 million people across more than 90 organizations, ALEX takes the mystery out of complicated benefits details and gives employees personally relevant information they can use to select their best-fit plans.
Janine’s career spans eight years in HR and Recruitment. She has worked in pharmaceuticals, healthcare, staffing and now science R&D. Hundreds of candidates later and after several stints working in the trenches of HR; she founded “The Aristocracy of HR” blog in 2011. “The Aristocracy of HR” (TAOHR) is an HR blog that she created to discuss Talent Management triumphs, blunders, and best practices. A contributor for ERE.net, Smart Recruiters, and TIRA News, she is a globally recognized thought leader that isn’t afraid to tackle the obstacles and issues facing employers and employees alike. She has been quoted by Maternity.com and SHRM. Janine is well-known in the social HR community for her expertise and engagement in all things social. From guest hosting Twitter chats to webinars, she is proof that social media and HR can live happily ever after. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Google+. Check out the “The Aristocracy of HR” Facebook Page. Follow her tweets on Twitter @CzarinaofHR.
Janine Truitt
Unless you have been in hibernation, you have likely been tuned into the government shutdown showdown happening in Washington over our debt crisis. I won’t address the politics of this situation, but rather the leadership lessons.