I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of hearing about how bad the economy is doing these days. But, until it improves a great deal, we all will have to continue to deal with it. Having read several articles about this, it made me think (scary, I know!).
All of the experts advise us to do some key things related to talent management with this economy. Incorporate Lean HR practices wherever possible, focus on talent acquisition to upgrade your staff, etc. Great ideas, but in a practical sense, how do you do those things? Especially if you are a small or mid-sized organization?
I'm seeing more companies turn to technology to accomplish these tasks. Using applicant tracking software and automated onboarding solutions can really help to incorporate those Lean HR principles into most any mid-sized organization. Likewise, using employee assessments or career personality tests that can be administered online can really augment any talent acquisition process by helping to ensure JobFit is present for both the new hire and the organization.
These human capital management systems are becoming more affordable and can really improve the overall talent management function within most organizations. More to come, but if you haven't investigated these solutions, I would encourage you to begin.
There is a higher chance that your competition can replicate your product easier than they can replicate your human capital.So why not invest in the best human resource tools?This does not mean large dollar amounts.What it does mean is investing in highly effective applicant tracking software and career personality tests that can make you the best in human resource planning and management.
The key to staying ahead of the competition is managing your human resource tools to create better employees. If you use effective applicant tracking software that asks applicants for key, job related, information you will increase your ability to create a world class team that can build, market and sell your product far better than your competition.
You spend money and time to protect your product or service secrets, why not find out what little it takes to create the best human resource tools? Even if you have the same product, you’ll win every time with an applicant tracking system that increases the quality of your talent acquisition.
Don’t risk losing your best human capital to your competition.ExactHire can help you.Go to www.exacthire.com.
If there was ever a time to underscore the importance of Human Resources, it has arrived. In these days of economic woes--phrases that ring loud and clear are; Lean HR, Human Resource Planning, Job Fit, Talent Management & Talent Acquisition. The importance of using hiring assessments and human resource planning when adding colleagues to the team is more critial than ever. Maybe you don't know where to start nor do you have the tools? Visit our site for more info www.exacthire.com
When you are looking for an employee getting a resume is usually the first step in the process. Most of you still do it this way.
When we ask hiring managers why they continue to accept resumes, even though it makes the process very inefficient, they tell us they want to see:
If they use proper grammar and sentence structure If they make any spelling errors How they express thoughts
For some time now a person could get their resume written professionally for under $100; BUT now some of these sites are free.
So why are you stuck with doing it the old way. Hard to tell.
Wouldn't it make more sense if you had them apply on line. You would get the basic information included in all resumes but you could also ask questions specific to your company and job that you know they had to construct. Now you really have some insight into the skills listed above that companies say they look for.
Change your process today; you will be amazed at how it will improve the quality and job fit of your prospective candidates.
For sites where candidates can get resumes written for free or a small fee, check out these sites:
Companies need to take a rigorous and progressive approach to the hiring process by determining what it is they're really looking for and how to assess it. Who are the "right" people to hire? Members of successful teams differ in complementary ways. If you've ever worked for someone who only hires people like themselves, you know why this is true. Diversity needs to be a part of an office's unique environment. Differing perspectives will keep your company from seeming similar, regardless of the client or the services you deliver. It also helps you round out your team. A team made up of just quarterbacks would not be very successful.
A progressive approach to successful hiring is needed to achieve diversity and success. Do you have a human resource management system securely in place? Have you looked to an outside specialist who can assist your human resources team by using an applicant management & tracking software to help you build a model for successful job fit? The time to invesigate an applicant tracking software systesm is now when you have the time. When the markekt recovers and we return to "green flag racing" we will all be to busy.
In the work I do with Applicant Tracking and Assessments, I am in the front lines of Human Resources.
Sometimes it takes a surprise to cut through the fog. Rather than words, a plant can speak volumes. A dead plant can be better.
I am in a borrowed office. Rummaging for copier paper, I found a mummified office plant that had died of thirst years ago. It was big. It was brown. It was very dead.
Just as I found it, one of our clients was on the phone talking about how her employees were griping about the reduction in benefits that was happening because of the economy. She loves our assessments and our applicant system, but has to cut back on some of the "perks" that people have grown accustomed to.
Rather than giving logical answers to the employees, I reccomend that she replace all of the greenery and cheerful flowers in her office with dessicated, dusty relics of plants that have met an untimely end.
That way, when someone comes to complain, they can be met with a shrug and a gesture to a very tangible reminder that things are different, and could be far worse...
I am not a very cynical person. I really have a green thumb. Just let me know if you would like my plant. I'd be happy to deliver....
or, buy an applicant management system or some assessment tools, and I'll throw the plant in for free!
Though many of us are energy conscious when home, we are less likely to take measures to cut down on wasteful practices as the office unless we are small business owners.
One way to "go green" at the office is to incorporate the services of a company offering applicant management, personnel management, on-boarding, talent management and HR services on-line. This also cuts cost when an employee is able to multi-task and engage in employee assessments on-line which reduces paper, time and lessens the human footprint we are leaving behind.
The results of an NFI Research survery shows that Senior Executives and Managers select increased salaries, more vacation time and performance based bonuses as their compensation package preferences.
If the same question would have been posed two years ago, the compensation preferences would have produced the same results.
Before interviewing, you researched the company, donned your best clothes and practical shoes the day of the appointment, planned your route to be early, tucked your updated resume in your portfolio and left for your interview with Human Resources.
In the next hour, you do everything in your power to acquaint them with your skills, explain why you fit the job and why they should hire YOU!
But then, the regret letter arrives saying although they were impressed with your credentials, they have decided to go with another candidate.
You think, what could have I done better in the interview and why wasn't I hired?!!
Well if the company did its job right, it used applicant tracking software system to better refine candidiates and subjected you to taking some employee assessments so they knew more about you before the interview. So if they didn't pick you, maybe they did you a favor? If there was no job fit, how long would you have lasted. Companies need to spend more time focusing on talent acquisition.
On your next job interview if a company using applicant management and pre-employment testing make sure you ask them how they define job fit. It will give you better insight into whether this is a good decision for both of you.
I'm personally sick and tired of headlines bemoaning the general gloomy economic outlook. What to do? Simple. Get back to basics.
We need to adhere to the fundamentals of life/business/etc. Fundamentals begin with values (i.e. what is important to us?). Values are the core of our being. They are what drives our behavior. If we don't know what is important to us and/or our business, then how are we going to survive?
The challenge is to identify our values (i.e. integrity, service, passion, harmony) and live by them. Look for new employees that are in alignment with them. Build an applicant tracking system that asks about values and attitudes. Have pre-hire assessments measure values, not just skills and behaviors. Have a Lean HR focus, so that high performers see a performance management system that works, and is fair and consistent.
Doing so will allow us to thrive in good times and bad. And that will make all the difference.
I met with some Lean consultants this morning over coffee and eggs. I opened my half of the conversation with the thought that, if a Lean initiative fails, the blame generally falls on the Human Resources. They both blinked, thought, and agreed. Conversely, HR can make a significant contribution to lean success. Lean works if the people are aligned with the processes.
So, which HR practices are helpers of lean success?
First is how performance is calculated, communicated and tied to incentives. Too often, staff go home not knowing (or caring) whether or not they accomplished their goals.
Next is team development. An organization that is based on individual performance will struggle to get the team behaviors needed for lean success.
Then, clarify roles and responsibilities. The job description for a supervisor are different than those of an engineer.
Then, communicate. A lean communication plan must go beyond posters and newsletters into walking the talk and reminding everyone of their success. When you feel you are over communicating, you have it about right.
Finally, celebrate success. A lot of repetitive hard work follows. Before enlightenment, there is chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, there is still chopping wood and carrying water. It's an old saying, but it applies.
Over communicate, celebrate, and clarify roles. Get Human Resources on board, using assessment tools, good HR Management, Human Resources software and a focus on job fit.
Then, and only then, will your Lean initiative survive over time.
I presented this morning on Employee Engagement to a great group of HR professionals. The coffee was fresh, the coffee cake was tasty, and the issues were predictable.
"What metrics really work in today's business environment?"
We worked through what metrics they were using, and got into what metrics they SHOULD be using, and ended on how to measure and project the impact of good employee engagement. We talked about Lean HR, about applicant tracking, and HR services that are aligned with the organization's vision. All good.
As I drove away, I reflected on the wish of everyone in the room for a "silver bullet" that would fix tough employee relations issues and solve the talent management problems of the future.
There is a great first step. Train all of your managers in the skill of active listening. If the managers start to listen better to their staff (or at least appear to) and if they can know more about their staff through the use of valid assessment tools, then the staff will feel well-managed and deliver the goods. Whatever the goods are.
So, there you have it. As an extrovert who does not like to listen, this is tough advice. Just listen to it...the answer is out there.
Just saw some scary data from a global Engagement consultant. There were several data points that predict either pain or opportunity, depending on your actions during the slowdown.
Scary things -
The percentage of highly disengaged employees has increased by more than 25% since 2007. These are "hostile passengers" that are actively hurting you in productivity levels and quality, all of which translate to numbers that matter.
The decline in overall productivity is huge - 3 to 5 percent.
There is a second "time bomb" with this. The disengaged are itching to leave - and will leave when the economy starts picking up...which is exactly when you will want them as high performing employees.
The moral is simple. Get your talent acquisition in place before the green flag is waved. Use employee assessments to better manage the staff, and use fair and consistent methods, as a part of a Lean HR system, to keep the good ones engaged.
Then, engagement will work for you...and be a competitive advantage.
I was reading a resume for a client last week, and hit a phrase I had not seen before - "top to top selling". Since I work in sales, I "got it", but others might not. I realize that there have been several new words cropping up that were not there before...
Joining the Twitterverse A "torch and pitchfork" group Nanoblogging WILB - Workforce Internet Leisure Blogging
...and so on.
Those of us that need to keep up (and we all do...) need a simple resource to look these words up. That way, our performance management systems and Applicant Tracking Software can be capturing meaningful words, and we can guide better talent management decisions. If we keep up with the words that are used, we can keep up with the people.
Here is a secret weapon - WordSpy.com. I love it - you can quickly find out what it REALLY means. The last one I came across on a tech resume was Ubicomp. Huh?
I looked it up. It is short for ubiquitous computing. And, now I'm current. Word.
People who are thinking of installing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)need to step back and think for a second.
An ATS is a system that is built to manage resume flow and gives the recruiters the ability to sort, sift and prioritise candidates on the basis of keyword searches. Great technology, perhaps… but built to speed up a flawed process. The same hiring answer is arrived at, just faster.
What people should want is anApplicant Relationship Management system. An ATS, if you will, that has ties to social networks and a database of interested people. It would give the candidates a chance to interact in an uncommitted way with the company – register to get cool stuff and targeted communication – then give them a chance to get interviewed online when they are ready to do so. Meanwhile, the company learns a huge amount about their various demographic target groups and gets a chance to grow relationships over time. Then, good human capital management can start happening, with job fit and Lean HR principles in place.
That is when the front part of hiring gets really interesting, and high quality candidates start emerging from the sourcing process. None of this has ties to the expensive world of the online job boards...which is why it is even more interesting.
Does anyone know of someone already doing this? Let me know...
There seems to be a lot of fear in the workplace lately. From the adult perspective, we know that crises happen, markets go up and down, people get laid off. But that used to happen to someone else, not us. That is no longer the case.
What do we do? Paul H. Sutherland of Zenvesting teaches: establish a habit of doing more than you're paid for. Do everything you can to keep your employer profitable.
Help keep your employer's core values in the vision. Don't let panic overtake reasonability. Keep connection to ethics, virtue and common sense.
As an employer, when hiring new employees what steps are you taking when hiring new employees to find the people who embody your culture through pre-employment testing & assessments? Do you assess what you need for job performance, think lean HR, or make use of applicant tracking and use human resource management systems available on the market to access for job fit? These steps will help set your employees up for success, not failure. After all, it is all about the people.
What are you doing as an employer or employee to insure your success?
"The future is already here. It's just applied unevenly"
Want a competitive advantage in HR? Categorize your current recruiting efforts into one of these three groups to see your strategic progress versus your competition:
1. Doing what everyone else is doing. Safe, incremental changes. These types of changes are not significant enough to allow an organization to keep up with the rapid changes taking place in the global employment marketplace. If you’re doing what everyone else is doing, you’re falling behind.
2. Big steps. Significant changes that take months to implement, such as a major ATS upgrade, rebuilding your career website, adding assessments or systemic training for managers. These are essential if you want to maintain your current position in the marketplace.
3. Bigger steps. These are changes and opportunities designed to increase an organization’s market share of top talent. This requires a rethinking of everything currently being done, including an employer re-branding effort and a reorganization of recruiting.
My advice? While you need to be implementing lots of level 1 changes, you’re not going to see significant improvements unless you move to level 2 and 3, the major steps. This is where you get real traction. Staying busy in level 1 might seem satisfying, but it won’t get you the competitive edge needed for 2010 and beyond.
Kick it up a notch and get ready for the future. What are you doing to get ready?
There we are planning to move our company with three days notice which I discussed in my last blog.
I'm asking myself, where can I find a mover with 6 hours notice?!! Well one of our employees came to the rescue with a referral to a mover who he knew delivered great customer service. One phone call and the move was on the schedule!
Lets face it, we all have moved at some point. Don't you wonder what kind of moving crew is going to show up, especially with such short notice? Well, the reputation of this mover came through. The team that came was great. What made them great you may ask? They delivered shining service beyond our expectations.
They were professional, accomodating, and kept their cool when the job grew to be twice what was antipicated. They evaluated the situation, called in back-up and finished the job with a smile.
There is no question that when the owner hires employees he ensures they have good Job Fit. However he does employee assessments at hiring, it is working. These employees had been with him for a while. It is clear the owner understands talent acquisition and talent management; remember this is a moving company.
Whatever they do, it was great service. And you know, if anyone asks us about a mover to use, their name will be passed on. If you want their name, feel free to ask!
We occupy space, or used to, in a building that we own. Last week, we found ourselves with the realization that to provide exceptional customer service to our building tenant, we have three days to move our operations so they could take over the floor of the building we occupy!! No easy task!
Thoughts run rampant in our minds: moving phones, furniture, artwork, paperwork, file contents and where do we find a mover on such short notice. Where do we locate space to store our "stuff", where do we move our staff??
Now, talk about personnel management, job performance, HR management and Human Resource Planning!! This was the maximum test of our patience, resourcefulness and skills. Definitely a team effort in every sense of the word. And this team reached the finish line with flying colors!
When you are building a team; before you hire, consider the use of Career Personality Tests or other Employee Assessments so that you know the candidate has Job Fit. It will be worth all the time and energy. We do and it continues to pay dividends.
There he was. A nicely dressed man in a necktie on the main corner in town. I couldn't tell the color of his suit because he was wearing a sandwich board that was almost as tall as he was, saying "Hire ME!" He had his profession and his phone number on the sign, and he was waving at me with a hopeful sign as I drove by.
Wow. I realized that these are strange times. Even stranger, less than a day later, I got a call from a local journalist, doing a story about hiring in general, and about the guy in the sandwich board in particular. "Had I seen him? " Yes. "What did I think?" Hmm.
I said that I had two opinions. First, he would probably be successful for a variety of reasons - that nobody else was doing it so he would stand out, that he was showing determination and a willingness to try new ideas, even if the concept of holding a sign in public is certainly 100 years older than the Internet.
Then, I said he was a shining example of how flawed and overloaded the current job search process is. Organizations are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of applicants, and job seekers are willing to do WHATEVER it takes to get past the screening and get a job. Any job. He was certainly giving up on the Internet.
Savvy organizations are using this time to redo their core processes, putting in assessments and applicant tracking, using human resources software and talent management concepts to predict good job fit.
If not, when the economy turns (and it will) the organizations that did not focus on job fit will have their high performers leave and their mediocre people stay. What you want is to have the high performers stay. That requires good talent management.
I hope your filters and systems are in place, and that you will be rewarded by a sustainable culture of high performance. And, if the guy in the sandwich board is reading this, call me. I would be happy to help with your search.
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