Guest Article: How much time could you save with FAQs and information sheets? by Ross Clennett

This week I went to my dentist, Harmeet, because I had a very sensitive tooth. Drinking liquid was not pleasant. After a quick inspection and asking me to grip an object with my teeth and release, Harmeet concluded it was most likely a cracked tooth and that he would refer me to
Article source:Ross Clennett - How much time could you save with FAQs and information sheets?»

Check out more of Ross Clennett's work at hisblog

Guest Article: No Shame this Season by Jay Kuhns, SPHR

"When I look back upon my life,
it's always with a sense of shame.
I've always been the one to blame."

Happy Holidays?
One of the most exciting times of the year is kicking off right now...the hectic, joyous, family-oriented and festive stretch from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. I love it...even though I know I can't see everyone that is important to me, it is still a great time of year. Plus, I will make sure I connect with those that are too far away for me to see in person.

But not everyone in our personal and professional networks will experience the holidays in this way. The burden of life's struggles, the challenge of broken relationships, the disappointment of a stalled career...can all build up to a very different view of "the best time of year."

We have an opportunity to make a difference in their lives.

Happier Holidays!
There is no simple solution to "help" our friends and colleagues. One thing is clear to me though, doing nothing adds no value. 

Here's a short, and admittedly woefully inadequate list of options available to us this year that might...if nothing else...bring a moment of caring front and center for those in need.

- call them
- connect via social media
- send a note (yes, an old school hand-written note)
- give a public shout out to let others know how special they are to you
- invite them to spend time with you
- encourage others to reach out to them
- purchase a small gift to show them you care

How About You
"So I look back upon my life,
forever with a sense of shame.
I've always been the one to blame."

Lets not have this be the mantra for those in our world this holidays season.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.

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Article source:Jay Kuhns, SPHR - No Shame this Season»

Check out more of Jay Kuhns' work at No Excuses HR

It’s not about what you know, but who you know

Given the approaching end-of-year and the easing job market, it is essential that you are doing all you can to ensure you have access to 100% of the job market. It is estimated that only approximately 20% of jobs are advertised, this means that 80% of jobs come from the hidden job market. A great way to access the hidden job market is through gaining and maintaining relationships with your network. An employee at a company is always looking for ways in which they may be able to save the company money and if that means hiring a new employee without advertising, then it is in their best interest to inform all their job-seeking connections about an up-coming vacancy.

Networking is simply about forming associations and building relationships with people involved in the profession you are working in/would like to work in. But for some people the term ‘networking’ is enough to send shivers of dread and sweaty palms. Done well, it can set you apart from other candidates and leave a good impression with those who may be involved in recruitment. Done poorly, people may come across as fake or self-serving. The other extreme is not networking at all and sticking with a group of familiar people. This doesn’t help you in the long run.

This article aims to give some tricks to make networking more manageable and natural for the budding networker.

Don’t think of it as networking!

Some people get turned off at the word ‘networking’ because this makes connections seem false and only meant for personal gain. Think of your meeting as making new friendships with people and genuine connections.

Be genuine

Ask friendly questions to build rapport and to show that you’re genuinely interested in what the other person has to say. Such questions may include: “what do you do at XX company? How is the work like at XX company?”

Don’t feel like you need to stand out

You don’t have to be the funniest person or the smartest in the room. Having those expectations on yourself will just reinforce the ‘networking’ fears and again you can end up feeling fake.

Don’t feel like you need to ‘agree’ with everything 

Having an individual opinion and stating so shows that you are an independent thinker. But challenge within reason and be open to other’s opinions – this shows your team work abilities too.

Find like-minded individuals

Begin by find someone who engages at your level (that you feel comfortable with) and spend a bit of time ‘practicing’ your networking questions and behaviour - that can also build your confidence

Don’t aim too high (at first)

If networking is hard in general don’t go to the CEO of your dream company at your first go. Get to know the staff and managers below the CEO – know a bit about that CEO indirectly and gain that initial confidence before you meet them face-to-face and try your networking skills. Getting to know the CEO and the company beforehand would also show that you did your research.

Keep in contact 

This is one tip people generally tend to forget. Just because you meet and had a good conversation with someone once doesn’t mean they’d remember you forever. Share business cards and keep in contact with the person. For example, if you had an interesting discussion about Australia’s financial instability send a follow-up email with a relevant article/paper you’ve read. This not only shows YOU’VE remembered that person but that you are up to date with the latest happenings in your field. Maintaining a genuine connection with the person means validating the conversation you’ve had.

Networking is about getting to know people in your profession. Building these good connections may help you get a job in the company, build new friendships and people who could help you further your career.  The first unmentioned step is to get in and start! A handy place to start would be the Career Exchange website itself, find employers who have advertised in the past or employers who you see frequently advertise and give them a call. You never know, they may have the perfect role for you around the corner in 2016.

Guest Article: The Morning After by Jay Kuhns, SPHR

I spend a lot of time focusing on action in my work. Building plans, developing complicated and sensitive relationships, and making decisions quickly to keep a long list of priorities moving forward.

Lots of time, energy and words invested in my daily life.

Action
One of the greatest leadership failures in my opinion is when a decision is not made. The never ending quest to ensure success; or rather, lack of mistakes, is a clear signal that the leader is anything but one. 

The ability to make timely decisions is a mandatory competency for leaders today. (It has always been this way!) But sadly, we see many who show their fear of leading with phrases like "review" or "take a closer look at" or "we'll follow up on that" instead of deciding.

Why invest so much time and energy into a plan and not execute it?
Why set expectations with your colleagues and not meet them?

Words
The ultimate test of any leader is their ability to deliver. If you have a terrific plan and never execute it what is your worth as a leader?

Nothing.

If you talk up how great things will be once you set your plans in motion but never actually build those plans let alone launch them, what is your worth as a leader?

Nothing.

If you are the classic all talk no action member of the team what is your worth to the organization?

Absolutely nothing.

How About You
The words we say are powerful. They represent who we are and what we do for our organizations every day. Don't be the one who wakes up the morning after it's all slipped away and wonder what happened.

Don't just talk about the work, get started. It doesn't matter if the plan is perfect. Get started now before a different decision is made about who the organization believes in to lead the way.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.

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Article source:Jay Kuhns, SPHR - The Morning After»

Check out more of Jay Kuhns' work at No Excuses HR

Guest Article: Why Candidate Experience is Least Important for Many by Ben

One of the most common terms around recruiting these days is candidate experience. If you’re late to the game, it’s basically a look at how candidates are treated as they enter your recruiting funnel all the way to getting an offer, if they move that far. It’s comparable to the customer experience: how they are treated, how they feel about the organization, etc. I’ve long held that candidate experience is seen as unimportant not because it doesn’t matter, but because companies just don’t know how to make it stick.

Think about it. If I told you starting today that you had to treat every candidate with the same reverence you offered your customers, you would have a hard time making it work among your other job duties. In addition, you’d probably be unsure just how to make that a reality. I recently wrote about how to revolutionize candidate experience (here). The gist:

1. Measure it continuously
2. Make it automatic
3. Make it part of recruiting performance
4. Make it more important than something else
5. Make it a business priority, not an HR one

Those are good, helpful pieces of information, but I’ll do you one better. My friend Jane, the HR leader for a startup technology company in Boston, left me a comment that was worth sharing. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because she has authored a few previous guest posts here (How to Select a Third Party Recruiter, The Struggle Between a Caring Work Environment and Talent Density. and Applying Marketing Principles to HR). Here’s Jane’s take on practical ways to impact candidate experience:

It didn’t seem to push through, but figured I’d share on your candidate experience article:

Ben, great article. My experience is that the candidate (and employee) experience becomes acutely important when in a highly-competitive market where you want to hire people better than the job criteria … but so does everyone else.

I’ll give you an example – in one of my positions, we posted on craigslist, got a bunch of applicants, handled them the average HR way, and hired people who met our criteria – most of whom were fine. In retrospect, many (but not all – I worked with some really great people) were looking for a less-bad job than their last.

In another position, we wanted the cream of the crop (without being able to pay Google money). To win those candidates, it became much more important to give them access to our CEO, mission and strategy. To woo them by meeting members of the team. And to actively court them. Unless we were in love with a candidate, we weren’t extending an offer. And if we extended that offer, we really wanted a yes.

Ultimately, you need buy in from the top-down because hiring (and the way candidates are treated) needs to become more important than everything else on people’s plates. The pay-off? Spectacular talent. A competitive advantage in the market. Awesome referrals. And people who leave for greener pastures, but want to return.

What I like in particular about their approach is the clear delineation between “what we did” and “what we do now” with regard to how candidates are treated. This is the same approach I took when I was leading the HR function at Pinnacle Solutions. Things like access to the CEO, the opportunity to bring a spouse/SO to the office to meet people before accepting an offer, or even just a private meeting with peers to ask questions they didn’t feel comfortable asking me or the hiring manager are all incredibly powerful tools in these circumstances.

How does your organization make the overall experience for candidates a priority? Has it worked for you? 

Article source:Ben - Why Candidate Experience is Least Important for Many»

Check out more of Ben Uebanks' work at Upstart HR

Guest Article: What You Learn When You Tell People No by Jennifer Miller

How good are you at saying “no?” It’s a fascinating subject to me. This is probably because I’m still a work in process when it comes to being 100% comfortable saying no. One way to look at saying “no” is from the standpoint of you as the individual declining a request or setting boundaries. For example, here are four different ways to say no and still keep your job. And one of my most popular posts is about how saying “no” elevates your integrity.

You can also look at saying “no” from the vantage point of the person on the receiving end of that “no.”  Their reaction provides telling information about your relationship with that person. I heard a fascinating interview with Shonda Rhimes, the exectutive producer and head writer for three popular American TV shows, including “Grey’s Anatomy.” In her Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross, Rhimes admitted to being worried about saying “no” to people. She even went so far as to write a script on a sticky note and affix it to her computer screen. Interestingly, as she got better at saying no, she discovered something powerful:

But I also found it wildly freeing once I started doing it because once you start telling people no—and their reaction always tells you, A, who they are and, B, what situation you’re in. You know, if you say no to somebody—[for example] somebody asks you for a ton of money and you say no to them and they respond with vitriol and hatred, then you know exactly who they are.

Think about this for a minute. Many people invest a lot of time worrying about what might happen if they say “no.” They build up all sorts of worst-case scenarios. Their fear makes them say “yes” when they should really say “no.” Rhimes has found (and I have, too) that often the worry is misplaced. And, if the worst case does happen, well, you know where you stand. It’s not so much about you, it’s about the other person and their willingness to be gracious about your response. Everybody has the right to say no.

I think Shonda Rhimes’ way of dealing with reactions to “no” is healthy. Rather than taking on the other person’s negative energy, she sees it merely as information to help her assess her situation and the person with whom she’s dealing. The next time I worry about saying “no”, I’ll keep this viewpoint in mind.

 

 

Article source:Jennifer Miller - What You Learn When You Tell People No»

Guest Article: You I Need by Jay Kuhns, SPHR

I think it's fascinating how some leaders make their lives so difficult. Those same leaders typically make the lives of those around them equally as difficult, yet they can't see how disruptive they are. SMH.

I Need You (in the mirror)
There is a simple reality to getting work done these days in my opinion. You have to do the heavy lifting. Unless you understand what is happening and invest the time to help build work plans, you are not leading. We can talk about delegating work all day long, but I've personally seen many executives fail because they believed they no longer needed to learn anything, and that delegating was actually leading.

Um, no. 

I've had to learn over and over again throughout my career in order to both grow my career and to understand what it actually takes to lead at a high level. (I'm still learning by the way...that's the fun part!) 

Beware the leader that says  they are an expert or have figured it all out. The world is moving so fast, I'm not sure anyone is an expert any longer. 

You may be damn good...but be careful with the self-appointed labels.

What does need to manifest itself however is the inner drive that the best leaders demonstrate each day. They have vision, they build plans, make decisions, and have stopped running scared of the political noise that can dominate an organization but provides zero value.

I Need You (everyone on the team)
Newsflash: real leaders are not individual contributors. Honing your communication skills, understanding that different members of your team need different levels of attention and guidance, and appreciating that without the team's efforts you will fail are all hallmarks of the best of the best.

Let me say it again...you will fail without them. Now, how do you think you should treat your team?

How About You
Trust yourself first. Trust your team second. "You" need them.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.

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Article source:Jay Kuhns, SPHR - You I Need»

Check out more of Jay Kuhns' work at No Excuses HR