Social Media "Reference Check"

There is a growing trend to use online social media - facebook, myspace, etc - to gather information or a "reference" of sorts, on prospective candidates. Putting aside the discussion of an individual's privacy for the moment, liability is top of mind for Human Resource Managers in regard to social media and the prospect of lawsuits against their companies.

Human Resource Managers have had it hammered home to, above and beyond all else, be concerned with liability. There are so many areas a company can be open to liability after all; hiring, firing, promotions, credit checks, performance plans … tell me when to stop.

Liability is so prominent that there’s a whole industry dedicated to telling us what can get their companies sued and how to avoid it. Much of that advice is well-intentioned and valuable, but occasionally over the top in the interest of protection.

Go to any HR conference these days and you’ll hear speakers waxing poetic about the risks of viewing the social media accounts of candidates in the selection process. It’s the obvious stance when you think about it. You viewed a social media account, saw something you didn’t like and made a hiring decision that had nothing to do with someone’s ability to do the job.

Are HR Managers damned for judging a candidate's profile on facebook or damned if we don't? Some things to consider from HR's point of view:

1. Can we afford NOT to Google a candidate and see where the digital trail takes us? Most any CEO if asked: “Do you expect me to do everything legally at my disposal to ensure the hires we make can do the job and are great fits for our company?” will likely give a positive response. Your CEO expects you to deploy all legal measures you can reasonably afford to make sure you’re making great hires.

2. Hiring managers are becoming much more tolerant, hopefully, about what they see in a candidate’s social media footprint. The transparency of social media created a bit of a blowback effect in the early days. We never had access to pictures of candidates drinking before, so there was some shortsighted judging going on as a result. Now? We’ve seen enough to remember that people drink socially and pictures can be dated. As a result, we’re much more tolerant when we find out that a candidate’s not spending weeknights at church. Our threshold for what constitutes a red flag is much higher and more related to whether someone can do the job. That’s a good thing.

3. Candidates don't always get the real reason they were rejected, and that doesn’t change simply because social media is at play. Unless the candidate in question has a skills gap, most organizations don’t share the real reason for rejection. As a candidate, you had a personality issue and seemed a little angry at the world during the interview process. Did the company provide you with candid feedback? Of course they didn’t. We’re already trained on what not to say that might present liability in the feedback process. Why should questionable pictures or content mined through social media be held to a higher standard?

Stop me when you’ve heard this risk reducer: “We’ve elected to make an offer to a candidate who was a better fit for the role in question.” The statement is true when you don’t think someone can get along with the hiring manager and it’s true when they’ve blasted opinions via social media that most at your company would find objectionable.

4. Privacy settings have eliminated much of the liability related to social media. By far, the biggest risk to a company is digging into a social media account that is intended for nothing but personal use by a candidate. Facebook is the choice of most candidates when it comes to communicating events in their personal lives, and privacy settings now allow a candidate to wall off what they don’t want the world at large to see. As a result, liability has been greatly reduced during the past two years.

5. Evolution means some species don’t advance. You pay your employees to exercise good judgment related to what, with whom and how they communicate. This requirement is on display daily in your company, and when someone shows they can’t do it, you separate them from the mother ship (that’s called termination, folks).

Even though we’ve grown up dramatically related to our reaction to personal details shared via social media, occasionally someone will share something so egregious you know there’s a judgment issue at play in their DNA. That means they don’t get to play in your company at which time you share the talking points detailed in item No. 3 above.

For HR Managers, it's all about risk vs engagement. So too for candidates. Social media may have started as a convenient way to share your private life with family and friends, but it has always had a risk of what you display, and now that includes prospective bosses.


[Source: article by Kris Dunn, Workforce Management Online, January 2011]

Brand You!

Brand You: What Makes You Special?

Companies spend millions of dollars a year trying to develop compelling employment brands by interviewing current employees, surveying external job-seekers, and validating the conclusions they draw from the data.

But even after all that, there's no guarantee that the brand statement will perfectly reflect what an organization offers potential employees.

If branding is that difficult for a company with money and resources, how in the world can you and I figure out what our own brand is, how we can present ourselves for a career move, to land that first management role, to move up the ladder?

Fortunately, it's easier than you might think. Let me use the perspective of a recruiter as an analogy.

This morning I went to my "Rolodex" of business contacts (really a stack of business cards held together with a rubber band!) and randomly chose two. As I pulled them out of the stack, I wrote down the first word that came to mind:

Incredible. This is a woman who supervised another department at a company where I used to work. She was so smart and innovative I volunteered to take on any project of her choosing just for the privilege of working with her. I still marvel at how much I learned from her.

Innovative. This is an IT consultant I worked with for several years who is always able to think of a clever solution to any problem, and consistently delivers it ahead of schedule.

Let's face it: no one probably deserves to be reduced to a single word, and each of these people undoubtedly exhibits behaviours contrary to the labels I've given them. Nonetheless, over time, this is the label they've earned in my mind. What label have you earned in the minds of those you meet, work with, strive to impress?

A popular phrase among the self-help profession is "We teach others how to treat us." Do you find your coworkers/boss claiming credit for your best work, yet find yourself saddled with blame for messes you were not even involved with?

Perhaps the problem is your brand. Just like a company, everyone has a brand, whether they like it or not. It's that one word that comes to mind for people when they think of you. The challenge is to learn what your brand is and then position yourself such that you emphasize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.

Gather Data and Assess Your Current Situation
People, like companies, have both positive and negative qualities. As a first step in the branding process, most corporate initiatives start with an assessment of some sort. This is accomplished through the use of focus groups, surveys, or individual interviews.

Similarly, when you're attempting to learn about your personal brand, it's also a good idea to find out how your "customers" perceive you. You can certainly ask a trusted colleague to share their thoughts, but I recommend one of the widely available 360° assessment tools. In a pinch you can also use a free Web-based survey tool.

Regardless of how you do it, it's important to learn what you do well, what you don't do well, and what overall impression you leave.

Determine What Makes You Unique
I remember being assigned to a business group as its new recruiter. Every person I talked with had the same thing to say: "I'm sure you're a good recruiter, but, alas, no one will ever be as good as jane was."

Jane was this group's recruiter several years before, and despite having worked with several competent recruiters since, the entire team was unable to get beyond the fact that their beloved Jane was now gone.

It would have been easy to start acting like Jane to try and get that client group to like me, and that's in fact what they really wanted. However, as I probed a bit, I learned that her style was very different from mine.

Also, she always asked the hiring managers what they thought about a particular candidate first, and would respond the same way each time: "Isn't that amazing, that's just what I thought!" No wonder everyone liked her! I realized quickly that such a style just wasn't me.

My style is more analytical: "You have expertise and I have expertise. You define success this way, and I define it that way. You want this outcome, and I want that outcome. Let's design a process up front that will get us both what we want, and allow us to measure how we're doing along the way."

Did they like me as much as Jane? I don't know, but we did hire some very successful people into the company.

Advertise and Embrace Your Idiosyncratic Differences
The best recruiters I know tend to unabashedly let people know what makes them unique in the way they approach their job. Adopting a professional style that's not "on brand" for you can make you look insincere, unconfident, and unprofessional.

To hiring managers looking for an opportunity to challenge the "current recruiting model" for their own political gains, such a flicker of weakness is like blood in the water. I've seen it result in phone calls to supervisors, power plays by HR generalists, and frustration on the part of recruiters who begin to question their own abilities.

There are many different recruiter styles, and they all can be effective. For example, we all know the recruiters who are loud, brash, and direct a never-ending stream of resumes at their customers. Some of the resumes are worthless, but they just laugh that off and send over even more. Their customers adore them, and over time they start to focus that barrage of resumes and zero in on the correct skill set.

We also know the more cerebral type of recruiter, the one who thoughtfully goes back to their workspace for several days, triumphantly emerging with a single, perfect resume in hand. Can you articulate your own recruiting style?

Communicate and Reinforce Your Brand
Once you understand how your customers perceive you, and develop a style that plays to your strengths, let people know what to expect when they work with you:

•"You'll be hearing from me by phone several times a day. I like to keep you informed as we work together."
•"Let's set up a face-to-face conversation each week to review the resumes I've sent you, and agree on next steps."
•"I'm only going to send you the resumes that meet your exact specifications; otherwise, we'll just waste time. I need you to be very specific about what a candidate must have and must not have."

Take time to point out the things that make your style unique as you develop working relationships in the industry. You'll be able to feel more confident and instill this in your teams. A win-win situation!

Money Talk in an Interview

The Money Question – it always comes up in interviews …

The money question always comes up in job interviews. If you are a candidate looking at a new position, you can safely assume the person on the other side of the desk will ask some form of the money question. Your answer may be the difference between moving forward and being eliminated.

In an interview, the employer has four basic questions in mind. However they dress them up, whatever creative spin they put on them, employers really want to know four things:

Who are you?
Why are you here?
What can you do for me?
How much will it cost?

That final question can make or break the situation. If you answer it wrong, you're done. The correct answer is non - numerical. A number, whether too high or too low, is ALWAYS wrong.

The employer will invariably ask something like, "How much money do you need to consider for this position?" Or else, "What will it take for you to come to work for our company?"

If you want to be considered for the position do NOT, under any circumstances, give a numerical answer. The correct answer is something on the order of, "I'm here to discuss the position and assess my fit with your organization. I want to make sure my talents are a good match for the duties you're outlining. You're probably thinking along the same lines. I am sure, if we get to that place, we can reach an accommodation."

Why answer that way? Because it's the truth.

The demand - interest barometer tells us that, for a candidate, as demands go up, interest goes down. And as interest goes up, demands go down. If you as a candidate articulate a number too early in the process, you're drawing a line in the sand and creating an impression that you're more about reward than effort, more about price than value.

A number which is either too high or too low is wrong for several reasons.

The interviewer will eliminate you from consideration if you articulate a number that's too high. Whether they can afford the amount you say or whether you're worth that amount is immaterial. If you as the candidate create the impression that you overvalue your skills (in other words say any number above the range they've calculated), they are concerned you will never "settle" for the amount they're offering. So they will remove you from the process.

Conversely, if you say a number that's too low, you might inadvertently wind up accepting compensation less than the amount the company budgeted because that's what you said. You reduced your ability to negotiate because you have too little information.

Over the years, in coaching people on successful interviewing techniques, the money question is the one where people stumble most often. Many times people will tell me, "I just wasn't prepared for the question ... the number just popped out of my mouth." Or else they will say, "I told her $X because I think I'm worth it."

Bottom line, it doesn't matter what YOU think you're worth. The magic number is always somewhere in the range between what they want to pay and what you think you should get. This has been my experience.

When the employer asks, "How much ... ? " the right answer is, "We'll know when we get there." If they ask again, insisting on an answer, defer diplomatically a second time. Something on the order of, "I appreciate you want a number. I'm a little uncomfortable making anything which could be perceived as a demand at this early stage. I'm interested in the position and would like to learn more."

And if they ask a third time, the correct answer is, "My year to date compensation is $Z."

But why give a number that way? Simple. It's a statement of fact, not an estimate of self-esteem. You compensation is verifiable. An employer can ask for and receive verification of income. You pay taxes. Your income is a public record. In the real world, your current or most recent employer valued you at an identified level. That's the number to share.

So ... don't get caught by the money question. Role play with a friend or practice in the mirror. Be prepared for this inevitable question. Your ability to answer the money question with an non-answer can get you the job or get you more money for the job you really want.

Recognition in a Dowturn

Rewarding and recognizing performance is especially important in a downturn.

The economic downturn has impacted on companies and their approach to reward and recognition in a variety of ways. Some companies have actually increased their spend and efforts to reward and recognize staff in a bid to boost performance, some have kept their investment in such programs steady, while others have rationalized their spend as part of cost-cutting programs across the entire organization.

Most companies have maintained their commitment to rewards and recognition, despite others cutting back. Still, companies realize that recognition, maybe less so reward, is an integral part of business. Despite economic conditions, companies still realize that they need to invest in their teams.

Recognition plays an important role in an economic down turn. There are people who have missed out on bonuses or who are missing out on pay rises as a result of a pay freezes, but one thing companies can do is to continue to recognize their people. The authenticity of how an acknowledgement is made is really, really important – much more so than an award that someone gets just because they’ve spent so many years with a company.

Improving discretionary performance is important in an economic downturn – a particularly good time to make a strategic investment in performance improvement. When employees perform better, the company performs better and while there has been some affect on non-sales generating areas, companies are still recognizing that the people generating income need to be motivated. Those sorts of programs haven’t been affected either on the incentive or rewards side.

Return on investment

Return on investment in reward and recognition programs is being scrutinized more closely in the downturn. Companies are looking more closely at the level of return, which also needs to be more tangible than it has been in the past. Most companies, now more than ever, have a clear understanding the reward and recognition program they have in place and what they want out of it. Companies don’t run them just because it’s good to look after employees.

The ROI on an incentive program is obvious: low fixed cost element and a high variable cost element, so that when people generate revenue, such programs pay for themselves because people are hitting their targets. It doesn’t really matter what the budget is, however, with a smaller budget you have to be more clever about how you put the elements of the program together.

Boosting discretionary effort is vital in tough times, and companies need to think about the “loyalty mirror. The more the workforce is engaged, the higher the customer loyalty, and this absolutely goes to profit and the bottom line. Gallup has given us the figures. Engaged employees deliver 27 per cent higher profit, 50 per cent higher sales and 50 per cent higher customer loyalty. So it’s just a commercial decision,” she says.


Human Resources’ role in reward and recognition

HR is in a prime position to help make the most of any reward and recognition programs. Now, more than ever, leadership teams want increased discretionary effort. And the only way to get that is if people feel engaged with the organization.

To get engagement you've got to go through the three basic steps. Firstly, do people have all the performance development tools hat people need - that's the HR role. Secondly, are people emotionally connected to the organization? And, thirdly, are they connected to the brand?

Te key role for HR is in championing an initiative to the executive team to help them understand how reward and recognition can contribute to a broader strategy. HR has to put it in the context of the business. Obviously there is a cost to such programs, and, if these come into question, HR's role is in helping the business understand the non-financial benefits.


Elements of successful reward and recognition

Reward behaviour as well as performance, because behaviours such as exhibiting company values or excelling in customer service contribute to outcomes.
Everyone should have access to the reward and recognition program - not just high achievers or sales professionals.
Increase frequency of rewards and recognition to reinforce positive performance and behaviour.

Secure strong executive support, so a company's leaders own and drive the program.

[Source: Human Resource Leader, 8 July 2009]

Avoiding the "Overqualified" Label

Most hospitality candidates preparing for a job interview worry about whether they'll be able to come off as experienced, educated, and a personality "fit" enough to make a positive impression on hotel and restaurant corporate managers. But job seekers with substantial schooling or a lengthy work history often face the opposite problem.

Highly qualified candidates in the industry are sometimes forced to grapple with the stigma of being labeled “overqualified.” Often, hiring managers who encounter an applicant with a bounty of education or experience fear that they will be unable to meet the candidate’s salary requirements or other job expectations.

Having recruited in the industry for many years, I've come to understand people have various life/work factors where an "overqualified" candidate will apply for a less senior role with full awareness of a change in salary, work hours, work expectations, and work environment. These various factors, such as a new child in the home, relocation to a smaller community, downsizing to have more free time, are motivating factors that come to outweigh the step down.

According to human resources and staffing consultant Ken Gaffey, the phrase “overqualified” is often a code word that hiring managers use to express concern about a candidate’s fitness for the position. In order to get past the “overqualified” stigma and land your dream job, you have to be able to discern the true source of the hiring manager’s hesitation -- and then move in to neutralize it. These tips can help you move past the overqualified label and sail to success in your next interview:

1. Address the situation directly.
If there’s a special reason why you’re in the market for a lower-level position, it might help to discuss it upfront. For example, if you’re looking to establish yourself in a new field, or if you want to reduce your work schedule, let the hiring manager know.

2. Put your skill set front and center.
A great way to dodge the overqualified label is to take the focus off of your career path as a whole, and instead emphasize the skills and abilities you’ve picked up along the way. The functional résumé format – which job search gurus often recommend to recent grads and inexperienced jobseekers – may be the best option for highly qualified candidates, as well.

3. Signal your flexibility on salary.
One of the major reasons hiring managers shy away from highly experienced candidates is the perception that their salary expectations will be out of line with the position. If you recognize the difference in salary for the position you're applying, let the hiring manager know from the get-go how your expectations fit their range. Emphasize your unique value to the organization.

4. Make it clear that personality won’t be a problem.
The hiring manager may be worried that you won’t be able to work effectively alongside less-experienced peers. To allay these concerns, choose answers that will help you cast yourself as a humble team player who can get along well with people from all walks of life.

5. Let them know you’re in it for the long haul.
It’s often assumed that highly qualified candidates are just looking for a temporary job to tide them over until something better comes along. Leave no doubt that you intend to dedicate yourself long-term in your new role and that the company values speak to your professional goals and how you can help them achieve sucess.

Like many obstacles you’ll face in your job search, being “overqualified” is only a problem if you don’t take the opportunity to turn it around to your advantage! By carefully highlighting your skills and thinking strategically about ways to minimize the potential for problems, you’ll be able to turn this perceived liability into a strength.

For those "overqualified" candidates that have been on a long-term career path and now searching for a new position, you might want to hone your interview skills with our free Online Interview Prep Course. Email us to set up access at info@targetprofessionals.com.

Pride and Job Hunting

PRIDE AND JOB HUNTING

I thought I'd share something that happened today in the life of an hospitaity recruiter; me. It has to do with pride and looking for your next career move.

I spoke with a man today who's been actively looking for work and currently unemployed. He works in the hospitaity industry in Western Canada at the management level. The connundrum of pride came up in reference to looking for work, but first, let me tell what came before this issue.

We did a screening interview with him and I was following up on his search. He comes across as energetic, people-oriented, an experienced manager who has a history of stability, focusses on upgrading his skills with courses/training and he loves the industsry. All good so far, right?

In terms of career searching, he seems to doing everything right to get himself out there with networking, resume posting, and sending out applications. So why hasn't he landed a position?

I'll tell you why, in my recruiter opinion. This candidate told me he "has pride and wasn't going to call them if they didn't contact me". Ahh, one of the 7 deadly sins wreaking havoc in his ability to land a good job.

Although he's been looking for a significant period of time, he laughed after he told me this. He then went on to say that he's been starting to wonder if there's something wrong with his experience and work history that people are not making offers. Isn't it a shame that good people can sometimes get in their own way and not quite realize that's happening?

So,in the end I gave him the good news, then the bad so to speak.

We talked about where his efforts have been directed and I assured him he was doing a great job getting himself out there and that his experience is solid, his training was the best in the industry currently. I also told him about what the market is like for hospitality career seekers Western Canada now and gave him some new search ideas. A general attitude boost,and isn't that something we can all use when we're looking for work. It's so stressful and rejection can be so personal that we get depressed and look at what's wrong with us.

Then I dropped the bad news. I told him straight up that not receiving follow-up from an hiring organization is not personal and pride shouldn't be an issue at all. I gave him a few scenarios as to why orgnaizations sometimes don't respond to you resume, not the least of which is because they are pulling overtime covering the position that they posted! I emphasized to him that it's always a good idea to follow up with a phone call when you submit your resume. Pride has nothing to do with this, it's about making their job easier and demonstrating your ability to professionally following up.

And what happened to him? I'm not sure, but I think he did understand he could make those calls and not damage his sense of pride. Once he understood the circumstances that could interfere with a company calling him, he was relieved he could do more to be effective in his career search.

Historically, any one of the deadly sins is said to lead to damnation, but I hope now he'll be led to a great career move in hospitality!