It must seem pointless or comical to ask, “Why do we need recruiters?” Ask any recruiter and, after the laughing stops, you’ll hear all the reasons you—or at least that recruiter—could possibly imagine.
Yet, even though the list of reasons will be compelling, anyone who is the stubbornly curious type will still want to know the reason, the main reason and the real “prime mover”.
That’s the nature of human curiosity: What was the real (or main) reason for the Civil War, the 2008 economic meltdown, the tangling of my phone cord and, of course, (the Biggest Question of All) why does the physical universe or anything at all exist rather than nothing?
As for needs: What is the real or main reason we need vitamin C, why does the Fed rather than the Treasury control the money supply, why do we need recruiters? Do we?
The Need for Gods and Recruiters
Somehow, we can’t help believing that there has to be one reason that is more important or that is the “real reason” for whatever we want explained.
That’s what has made many religions so attractive and durable (with exceptions like the now defunct ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian polytheistic religions. Like modern science, they insisted that, whatever happens, there is no single explanation or factor accounting for it—in their instances, because of the maneuverings of squabbling, multiple gods as the multiple causes of everything, including why one’s well or goat has gone dry).
We are tempted to look for one reason or cause even when we know that what is to be explained is
1. “over-determined”—there are multiple independent causes, each of which is sufficient as an explanation, e.g., the sad fate of a chicken that tried to cross the road but that was simultaneously hit by both lightning and a truck;
2. “multiply-determined”—there are factors, like the quarreling Greek gods, individually insufficient as explanations, that together are the reasons, e.g., the presence of gasoline plus the presence of a match plus the presence of someone dumb enough to have lit that match jointly explain the predictable explosion.
Viewed this way, looking for the reason recruiters are necessary may seem fruitless, in the same way as looking for the reason someone else has been hired to do a job. But notice how persistently tempting it is to ask for the reason when somebody else got the job or the client company you were hoping to get.
Then there is the even more probing pair of questions, suggested above: After dropping the question “What is the real reason we have recruiters?”, it is just a matter of time before the most inquisitive among us will drop the other shoe and ask, “Do we really need them?”
Reasons Why We Need Recruiters
So, let’s take a look at some of the (un)usual reasons why we need recruiters, if we indeed do need them, and see whether there really is what deserves to be called “the reason”—a number #1 reason why recruiters are necessary.
Division of labor in obtaining labor: Perhaps the most obvious reason why we seem to need recruiters is that their specialized skills and resources (including networks) make finding, vetting and placing talent a much more efficient process. We can thank Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations for this explanation: Basically, specialization creates efficiencies that create wealth. Being a recruiter is merely just another form of facilitator specialization.
Moreover, the employers that recruiters serve are subject to the same laws of efficiency: A project manager or CEO also has to specialize in his job to compete and succeed. Hence, because there aren’t enough minutes in an hour and no hours in a minute, the delegation of hiring to an HR specialist is advisable and generally unavoidable. It’s that simple.
Swelling ranks of the employable and of employers: In a tribal village of 200 people, recruiters are completely unnecessary. The small labor pool means that extensive and elaborate sorting and sifting of job applications is not required at all. Not only are the labor pool and applicant numbers small, but also the applicants will certainly be well known to the C.E.C.—the Chief Executive Chief. This reduces the sourcing and screening time to virtually zero. On top of that, compensation package negotiations will be streamlined in a tribal village, since there will be few, if any, opportunity costs for either the C.E.C. or the applicant, inasmuch as there will be very few applicants or jobs to choose from.
The modern world of work on a crowded planet is completely different. First, the huge numbers of employable people, applicants and companies create innumerable mathematically possible combinations of employers and applicants as matches to be checked out.
Second, the kind of tribal firsthand knowledge of both the employer and the prospective employee is, apart from cases of nepotism, pre-existing acquaintanceship and in-house hiring, virtually non-existent.
Third, the existence of countless competitors for both those hiring and those to be hired makes shopping around, vetting and negotiating in the world’s huge modern economies more protracted, costly and complex processes.
The need for human buffers in a vast, impersonal bottom-line-oriented marketplace: We’ve all heard, “This isn’t personal; it’s business.” That sums up the massive transformation of the close-knit tribal village into the modern urban faceless-bee beehive, of simple, friendly bartering with neighbors and friends into complex, remote, money-denominated, automated and highly impersonal marketplace transactions. That’s the transformation of “Gemeinschaft” (personal, community-based) interactions into “Gesellschaft” (formal, impersonal, commerce-based) interactions that is one of the most important transformations in all of human history.
Yet, despite the fact that recruiters are part of this modern gargantuan system of formalized business relations, they somehow are expected to and do manage to maintain a human face and to provide a “human touch”—especially because they are the helping hand that makes the employer-new employee deal-sealing handshake possible.
Because the recruiter’s defining function is to help employer and job-seeker achieve their goals, his or her role is special in the domain of hardcore business: Recruiters, like caregivers, exist to help and only to help, including helping those who may be motivated to help themselves (to what they desire).
In contrast, employers and prospective employees will always, or at least initially, be tempted to play a “zero-sum” game, e.g., with respect to salary, in which gains for the candidate mean losses for the prospective employer and vice versa, and where maximizing satisfaction on one side means reducing it on the other.
Recruiters, however, are readily perceived as trying to maximize satisfaction for both the employer and the candidate (even though this is in practice, if not logically, impossible). More reasonably, what the recruiter actually does is to maximize such respective satisfactions subject to unavoidable constraints (that manifest themselves in the negotiations the recruiter helpfully facilitates).
To put this point in terms that Adam Smith might approve, recruiters supplement the cold, impersonal, often merciless “invisible hand” of the Gesellschaft marketplace with their own Gemeinschaft warm “helping hand”. In this way, a recruiter serves as not only a catalyst of employment, but also as a personalizing buffer between conflicting expectations of the hiring and the hired, and between the impersonal forces of job supply and job-seeker demand.
The Main Reason We Need Recruiters
Being only examples of the reasons we need recruiters, these cited explanations are, nonetheless, at least sufficient to answer the second question, “Do we need recruiters?” In terms of the framework outlined here, we can say that the need for recruiters is “over-determined”: There is, in our modern world, more than one reason why recruiters are necessary.
Still, the temptation to ask for the reason stubbornly tugs on the mind. Habits die hard and slowly; such an intellectual instinct as this one dies even harder and more slowly. So, as a concession to this reductionist urge to know the reason, the single most important reason we (still) need recruiters, and on deep reflection, I will try to offer one.
We all need to eat.
Michael Moffa | May 22, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
Happy Memorial Day!
Happy Memorial Day!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
The 5 Habits of a Highly Effective Networker
Key points taken from the orginial article.
The old business card hoarder wouldn’t recognize me or my incredible network. What changed? For one, my post-event habits. But as with all good habits, I had to stick to them until they became automatic.
Here’s how I treat all those newly acquired business cards:
■Scribble the first chance I get. I’m not afraid to make a follow-up note to myself on someone’s business card that I have just received at an event or luncheon. (Note: This must be done out sight of the card owner: many people would find marking of their cards a cultural gaffe.) I find it incredibly effective if I can make the little note right there at the event. These are tidbits of information that I think may be of use in the future; points I might otherwise quickly forget. A little note like “worked with Bob at ABC,” or “wants to talk about hiring CGA students” can be very valuable to aid recall when following up and making an effective connection.
■Sort and prioritize. As soon as I get home, to the office, or to the hotel, I gather all the day’s business cards. Instead of tossing them into a vast pile, I get to work on a quick sorting process, pen in hand. This preliminary sort sets effective network building into action. Often one or two cards can be discarded immediately. A few may require immediate email attention that night or first thing in the morning. The ones that require a LinkedIn response within 24 hours; I arrange them just after the important ones that require emails. It only takes a couple of minutes, and I have a tidy and incredibly valuable little stack of 10 cards or so.
■Initiate while the irons are hot. The first thing I do when I start work the next day or turn on the iPad at the coffee shop is take out this little stack. The critical email follow-ups are dealt with immediately. Often these are crucial because I’ve made a promise in a conversation to get in touch the following day. The LinkedIn follow-ups stay in the shirt pocket to be dealt with then or later that same day.
■Keeping LinkedIn. I keep LinkedIn as the default homepage on my web browser. This reminds me of that little LinkedIn stack in my pocket. It also reflects just how important networking maintenance is to me.
■LinkedIn: This time it’s personal. Lastly, I never ever use the default invitation greeting on LinkedIn. You know the one that reads, “Hello. I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” Always personalize your invitations. It helps the person remember who you are and that they’ve actually met you. This is where the little notes written on the business cards come in handy.
The old business card hoarder wouldn’t recognize me or my incredible network. What changed? For one, my post-event habits. But as with all good habits, I had to stick to them until they became automatic.
Here’s how I treat all those newly acquired business cards:
■Scribble the first chance I get. I’m not afraid to make a follow-up note to myself on someone’s business card that I have just received at an event or luncheon. (Note: This must be done out sight of the card owner: many people would find marking of their cards a cultural gaffe.) I find it incredibly effective if I can make the little note right there at the event. These are tidbits of information that I think may be of use in the future; points I might otherwise quickly forget. A little note like “worked with Bob at ABC,” or “wants to talk about hiring CGA students” can be very valuable to aid recall when following up and making an effective connection.
■Sort and prioritize. As soon as I get home, to the office, or to the hotel, I gather all the day’s business cards. Instead of tossing them into a vast pile, I get to work on a quick sorting process, pen in hand. This preliminary sort sets effective network building into action. Often one or two cards can be discarded immediately. A few may require immediate email attention that night or first thing in the morning. The ones that require a LinkedIn response within 24 hours; I arrange them just after the important ones that require emails. It only takes a couple of minutes, and I have a tidy and incredibly valuable little stack of 10 cards or so.
■Initiate while the irons are hot. The first thing I do when I start work the next day or turn on the iPad at the coffee shop is take out this little stack. The critical email follow-ups are dealt with immediately. Often these are crucial because I’ve made a promise in a conversation to get in touch the following day. The LinkedIn follow-ups stay in the shirt pocket to be dealt with then or later that same day.
■Keeping LinkedIn. I keep LinkedIn as the default homepage on my web browser. This reminds me of that little LinkedIn stack in my pocket. It also reflects just how important networking maintenance is to me.
■LinkedIn: This time it’s personal. Lastly, I never ever use the default invitation greeting on LinkedIn. You know the one that reads, “Hello. I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” Always personalize your invitations. It helps the person remember who you are and that they’ve actually met you. This is where the little notes written on the business cards come in handy.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
1 Thing Every New Hire Should Get On Their First Day
The first day at a new job. Excited but nervous. Shoot, why didn’t I wear a tie? They said business casual but my boss is wearing a tie. Oh geez, that woman again, I just met her and I forgot her name already. Should I go to the cafeteria to eat lunch by myself—should I wait for someone to ask me? It’s 5:00 and I have nothing to do…should I leave? Everyone else is still here. Let me check the news on Internet again…
It is being reported on several techie websites that when employees arrive for their first day at Apple, they are given the inspirational note shown below.
I love the concept of giving every new hire a letter on their first day for the following reasons:
1) First days are tough. You haven’t made “work friends” yet so you feel alone, you don’t know the company culture or jargon yet so you feel confused, and you are quite literally lost (“Where’s the coffee and bathroom?”). A warm letter can make you feel welcome.
2) First impressions count. A good orientation program helps, but a warm note shows that the company cares enough about you to think ahead to your arrival.
3) Cultural immersion should start early. First days—first weeks—often are periods of lighter workloads. It’s the perfect time for new hires to “work” on understanding the company culture and values.
Having said that, there are two things wrong with Apple’s approach (note: so far, Apple has neither confirmed nor denied whether this letter is authentic) . First, it’s paternalistic. Slipping in, “The kind of work…you’d sacrifice a weekend for” sounds like they are setting the weekend hours expectation up front. If you’ve hired the right person, she’ll know that sometimes extra hours are required to get the job done. She’ll already have a work-life blend mindset. She won’t need to be reminded of that, and bringing it up on day one sets a bad, paternalistic tone.
Second, it’s impersonal. The signature line has a pre-printed logo and “Welcome to Apple” statement. Not very warm. It would mean much more if the letter was actually signed by the CEO, or by the person’s manager, or even better, by every person in the department (talk about peer pressure!).
Welcoming each newbie on their first day with a note is a great idea. To make it effective, make it personal and focused on organizational values.
Kevin Kruse, Contributor
Serial Entrepreneur, Author Employee Engagement 2.0
Forbes.com
It is being reported on several techie websites that when employees arrive for their first day at Apple, they are given the inspirational note shown below.
I love the concept of giving every new hire a letter on their first day for the following reasons:
1) First days are tough. You haven’t made “work friends” yet so you feel alone, you don’t know the company culture or jargon yet so you feel confused, and you are quite literally lost (“Where’s the coffee and bathroom?”). A warm letter can make you feel welcome.
2) First impressions count. A good orientation program helps, but a warm note shows that the company cares enough about you to think ahead to your arrival.
3) Cultural immersion should start early. First days—first weeks—often are periods of lighter workloads. It’s the perfect time for new hires to “work” on understanding the company culture and values.
Having said that, there are two things wrong with Apple’s approach (note: so far, Apple has neither confirmed nor denied whether this letter is authentic) . First, it’s paternalistic. Slipping in, “The kind of work…you’d sacrifice a weekend for” sounds like they are setting the weekend hours expectation up front. If you’ve hired the right person, she’ll know that sometimes extra hours are required to get the job done. She’ll already have a work-life blend mindset. She won’t need to be reminded of that, and bringing it up on day one sets a bad, paternalistic tone.
Second, it’s impersonal. The signature line has a pre-printed logo and “Welcome to Apple” statement. Not very warm. It would mean much more if the letter was actually signed by the CEO, or by the person’s manager, or even better, by every person in the department (talk about peer pressure!).
Welcoming each newbie on their first day with a note is a great idea. To make it effective, make it personal and focused on organizational values.
Kevin Kruse, Contributor
Serial Entrepreneur, Author Employee Engagement 2.0
Forbes.com
Monday, May 21, 2012
Navigating the Recruiting Maze
For a lot of hiring managers and small business leaders, hiring remains the most crucial pain point. If you magically get the right people, stuff just gets executed. However, we never make the perfect hiring decisions all the time. Sometimes we are in a hurry to fill the role, and the options available seem more attractive than the list of skills and qualities we carefully created.
Of course, every manager has a different outlook – some of us “hire fast, learn fast and fail fast,” whereas some of us passively look at many resumes and only make an addition to the team when it feels right. I’ve made my fair share of errors and would like to share an example that might help when you are at the next crossroads and in a hurry.
I was looking for an online marketing person and started furiously going through LinkedIn for profiles that had keywords of certain skills that were required. After I found a few profiles, I cold wrote to a particular prospect and heard back from her. She shared her detailed resume with me and it looked like a dream. After I explained the role to her, she seemed positive that it was her domain and she joined the next day.
Over the next few weeks, she worked very hard and made a difference to our efforts. Her skills were matching with many peripheral tasks, except for the core role she was hired for. And the mistake was entirely mine. I made a few notes to myself:
Never Absorb The Resume Or The LinkedIn Profile On Face Value
Get evidence of past work or go through some testing or sample review. For engineers, this can be writing a piece of code during the interview. For content writers it would be writing a sample piece.
Understand The Cost Of Hurrying
You can fill a role quickly but if the person is not taking your load off instantly, then chances are they are increasing the load. The relevant experience can contribute to your workload, but if a person needs to be taught everything from scratch – you will be taking time out of your job to show them the way. Depending on how fast your small business is growing, this can be challenging.
References Are Not Always Helpful
When you ask someone for a reference, of course they are going to give you a positive one. Skip this step. Especially if you are a small business without corporate guidelines. Go with your gut and use logic.
Lots Of Trial Projects
If you can, take people on short-term projects to help you with different parts of your business. As a small business, you have to depend on freelancers and consultants for certain roles anyway. Make sure you have a good pipeline of folks helping you as freelancers. As your business grows, you will have the opportunity to offer full-time roles to these folks, and you will know them extremely well by then.
There is no perfect hire and there are no perfect hiring tips or guidelines. We can simply learn from our own mistakes and hopefully from mistakes of others.
By Raj Sheth
May 16, 2012
In Employment Trends
Maze Photo via Shutterstock
Of course, every manager has a different outlook – some of us “hire fast, learn fast and fail fast,” whereas some of us passively look at many resumes and only make an addition to the team when it feels right. I’ve made my fair share of errors and would like to share an example that might help when you are at the next crossroads and in a hurry.
I was looking for an online marketing person and started furiously going through LinkedIn for profiles that had keywords of certain skills that were required. After I found a few profiles, I cold wrote to a particular prospect and heard back from her. She shared her detailed resume with me and it looked like a dream. After I explained the role to her, she seemed positive that it was her domain and she joined the next day.
Over the next few weeks, she worked very hard and made a difference to our efforts. Her skills were matching with many peripheral tasks, except for the core role she was hired for. And the mistake was entirely mine. I made a few notes to myself:
Never Absorb The Resume Or The LinkedIn Profile On Face Value
Get evidence of past work or go through some testing or sample review. For engineers, this can be writing a piece of code during the interview. For content writers it would be writing a sample piece.
Understand The Cost Of Hurrying
You can fill a role quickly but if the person is not taking your load off instantly, then chances are they are increasing the load. The relevant experience can contribute to your workload, but if a person needs to be taught everything from scratch – you will be taking time out of your job to show them the way. Depending on how fast your small business is growing, this can be challenging.
References Are Not Always Helpful
When you ask someone for a reference, of course they are going to give you a positive one. Skip this step. Especially if you are a small business without corporate guidelines. Go with your gut and use logic.
Lots Of Trial Projects
If you can, take people on short-term projects to help you with different parts of your business. As a small business, you have to depend on freelancers and consultants for certain roles anyway. Make sure you have a good pipeline of folks helping you as freelancers. As your business grows, you will have the opportunity to offer full-time roles to these folks, and you will know them extremely well by then.
There is no perfect hire and there are no perfect hiring tips or guidelines. We can simply learn from our own mistakes and hopefully from mistakes of others.
By Raj Sheth
May 16, 2012
In Employment Trends
Maze Photo via Shutterstock
Thursday, May 17, 2012
The Best Path to Success is Your Own
by Gianpiero Petriglieri
If you're wondering what to do next in your career, you're hardly alone. The debate about where and how we may best feed our hunger for mastery, service, prestige, approval, safety, achievement — whatever we're after — is fiercer than ever.
Do you go after, or hold on to, a corporate job or strike out on your own? Daniel Gulati and Lucy Kellaway recently offered contrasting views. There is less need to join prominent institutions today to demonstrate our worth, argued Gulati, an entrepreneur, here on HBR. Social networks offer more accurate ways to signal our ability and potential to add value.
That is a crazy thought, rebutted Kellaway from her column in the Financial Times, where she has worked for a quarter of a century. How can a Twitter stream trump a business card with the logo of a venerable institution emblazoned above your name, especially when such institutions are so hard to get into and stay at?
The two perspectives make for an informative debate on the changing sources of prestige, and on the best strategy for the ambitious to gain recognition in this day and age — be it from employers, local and virtual communities, or inner critics. They are also the latest installment of an ongoing generational controversy.
Take these two New York Times essays, arguing that young Americans are too complacent to hit the road to find work, and have the passionless and eager-to-please attitude of salespeople. Then read these responses, on HBR and Techcrunch, articulating the widespread disillusionment with all establishments and the sense of unfairness and betrayal that are fueling a groundswell of entrepreneurship.
Such things have long sparked heated discussion. Each time a new generation stakes claim to culture and power, previous ones respond with disconcert and skepticism of the new group's motives, aspirations, and habits.
But something feels different this time around.
Members of generations whose defining experiences were of commitment and rebellion struggle to make sense of a generation whose members' defining experiences are of uncertainty and flux. In the past, talented new people were keen to wrestle institutional conductors for the wheel of the bus. These days, many cannot wait to get off the bus. They are not just looking for a change of direction. They are aiming to invent new institutions and new ways of working to bring us all forward. This generational transition could be less of a handover or a takeover, and more of a walkout. But this is not, ultimately, about generations.
It is a clash of workplace civilizations.
This clash is between collectively prescribed and individually crafted paths to success and fulfillment. Advocates of both sides exist among all age groups. It is a clash happening between us, and let's face it, within us — as we ponder the best way to craft our work lives in uncertain times, as we look for ways to assuage our concerns, pursue our aspirations and keep our hopes alive.
When I started teaching MBAs, for example, my students used to queue at consulting firms, investment banks and elite corporations' doors for internships and jobs. They still do. Equally cool these days, however, is working on a start-up.
I asked two fledging entrepreneurs how their MBA classmates viewed their choice of spending the summer on their venture — and giving up the potential experience, connections (and salary) of a posh corporate internship. "We hardly hear that's foolish. Most people tell us, 'I wish I was doing that.'"
They harbored no illusion that their choice was safe. But corporate life seemed to offer neither more safety nor more status among their peers. Therefore, the choice was easier.
This what makes the clash more intense than ever and brings it out in the open. Established institutions are still powerful but have proven less reliable. Entrepreneurial ventures are still risky but they are increasingly seen as the best way to tackle economic and social problems. Neither option is safe. Both involve uncertainty and signal prestige.
Hence many are taking either route, for different reasons — to follow their passion, to prove themselves, to serve others, to gain recognition. Not everyone is a conformist who joins a big firm. Not all Zuckerberg wannabes are following their bliss. It's not the choice of workplace that matters most. It's why we make it, and what we do with it.
Here is my view. Let us welcome the clash of workplace civilizations. It has potential to be good for us. We need talented stewards to reinvent our ailing institutions as much as we need gifted entrepreneurs to build new ones. Let each of us take both sides.
Whether you're betting on the staying power of established institutions or in the promise of start-ups, you must keep the clash alive within yourself. Being successful and fulfilled in a large organization, in the long run, will require carving your space, innovating, making your mark. In a new venture, it will require staying connected to, influencing, and maybe one day becoming, the mainstream.
Individuals and societies are full of tensions. We are living contradictions. What will we need to do for this one to fuel creative breakthroughs rather than bitter conflicts? I'd love to hear your views.
If you're wondering what to do next in your career, you're hardly alone. The debate about where and how we may best feed our hunger for mastery, service, prestige, approval, safety, achievement — whatever we're after — is fiercer than ever.
Do you go after, or hold on to, a corporate job or strike out on your own? Daniel Gulati and Lucy Kellaway recently offered contrasting views. There is less need to join prominent institutions today to demonstrate our worth, argued Gulati, an entrepreneur, here on HBR. Social networks offer more accurate ways to signal our ability and potential to add value.
That is a crazy thought, rebutted Kellaway from her column in the Financial Times, where she has worked for a quarter of a century. How can a Twitter stream trump a business card with the logo of a venerable institution emblazoned above your name, especially when such institutions are so hard to get into and stay at?
The two perspectives make for an informative debate on the changing sources of prestige, and on the best strategy for the ambitious to gain recognition in this day and age — be it from employers, local and virtual communities, or inner critics. They are also the latest installment of an ongoing generational controversy.
Take these two New York Times essays, arguing that young Americans are too complacent to hit the road to find work, and have the passionless and eager-to-please attitude of salespeople. Then read these responses, on HBR and Techcrunch, articulating the widespread disillusionment with all establishments and the sense of unfairness and betrayal that are fueling a groundswell of entrepreneurship.
Such things have long sparked heated discussion. Each time a new generation stakes claim to culture and power, previous ones respond with disconcert and skepticism of the new group's motives, aspirations, and habits.
But something feels different this time around.
Members of generations whose defining experiences were of commitment and rebellion struggle to make sense of a generation whose members' defining experiences are of uncertainty and flux. In the past, talented new people were keen to wrestle institutional conductors for the wheel of the bus. These days, many cannot wait to get off the bus. They are not just looking for a change of direction. They are aiming to invent new institutions and new ways of working to bring us all forward. This generational transition could be less of a handover or a takeover, and more of a walkout. But this is not, ultimately, about generations.
It is a clash of workplace civilizations.
This clash is between collectively prescribed and individually crafted paths to success and fulfillment. Advocates of both sides exist among all age groups. It is a clash happening between us, and let's face it, within us — as we ponder the best way to craft our work lives in uncertain times, as we look for ways to assuage our concerns, pursue our aspirations and keep our hopes alive.
When I started teaching MBAs, for example, my students used to queue at consulting firms, investment banks and elite corporations' doors for internships and jobs. They still do. Equally cool these days, however, is working on a start-up.
I asked two fledging entrepreneurs how their MBA classmates viewed their choice of spending the summer on their venture — and giving up the potential experience, connections (and salary) of a posh corporate internship. "We hardly hear that's foolish. Most people tell us, 'I wish I was doing that.'"
They harbored no illusion that their choice was safe. But corporate life seemed to offer neither more safety nor more status among their peers. Therefore, the choice was easier.
This what makes the clash more intense than ever and brings it out in the open. Established institutions are still powerful but have proven less reliable. Entrepreneurial ventures are still risky but they are increasingly seen as the best way to tackle economic and social problems. Neither option is safe. Both involve uncertainty and signal prestige.
Hence many are taking either route, for different reasons — to follow their passion, to prove themselves, to serve others, to gain recognition. Not everyone is a conformist who joins a big firm. Not all Zuckerberg wannabes are following their bliss. It's not the choice of workplace that matters most. It's why we make it, and what we do with it.
Here is my view. Let us welcome the clash of workplace civilizations. It has potential to be good for us. We need talented stewards to reinvent our ailing institutions as much as we need gifted entrepreneurs to build new ones. Let each of us take both sides.
Whether you're betting on the staying power of established institutions or in the promise of start-ups, you must keep the clash alive within yourself. Being successful and fulfilled in a large organization, in the long run, will require carving your space, innovating, making your mark. In a new venture, it will require staying connected to, influencing, and maybe one day becoming, the mainstream.
Individuals and societies are full of tensions. We are living contradictions. What will we need to do for this one to fuel creative breakthroughs rather than bitter conflicts? I'd love to hear your views.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
5 Reasons Why Traditional Employment Is in Trouble
According to the U.S. Labor Department, 2.1 million people resigned their jobs in February, the most in any month since the start of the Great Recession.
This is startling given that the economy is not strong and that millions are out of work. The natural inclination would seem to me to be to hunker down and hang on to the job you have, no matter how bad it is. That is what happened in previous recessions. Yet these were disgruntled, unsatisfied, and unfulfilled people who voluntarily, many without other positions or jobs lined up, chose to leave.
In discussions with some of them, I heard talk about feeling they having been used to bolster executive salaries and inflate shareholder expectations unrealistically. Many felt unappreciated and disrespected — a word I hear a lot now and never used to hear at all.
And with eroding benefits and the potential of better access to health care, the hold that corporations used to have is loosening.
I think we are seeing the early signs that the attitudes and expectations of the emerging and experienced workforce are changing faster than many thought likely and that traditional firms may find it harder and harder to employ the best people.
I among others have been predicting that the age of the entrepreneur is dawning — a time when more and more people are confident and optimistic about working for themselves, offering their services for a fee to someone who needs their skills. Many of the ones I speak with are convinced that this is a better way to feel fulfilled and be prosperous than the daily grind of going to work for an employer.
The success of crowdsourcing sites like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and other sites where anyone can offer their services for bid such as elancer or freelancer say a lot about what is happening. It has become relatively easy to offer products for sale on sites such as eBay or Craig’s List or to find a match between your skills and the needs of someone else.
But many corporations and recruiters are in denial. They will not agree that a significant number of people feel this way but at the same time they will not deny that it is hard to find, attract, close, and retain the skilled talent they need. And as Baby Boomers start to retire and move out of the active job market the gap will grow.
It does not take a crystal ball to see the signs of change.
Expectations Have Changed
People expect work to be engaging, interesting, and fulfilling. Younger people even feel it should be fun. The organizations that offer project-type work, work that poses a challenge, or work that fulfills humanitarian needs, are not having much trouble finding good people. Gen Y, those in their 20s, have been the pioneers in changing attitudes and in showing that individuals can find work that is fulfilling and earns money — often by working independently or by joining a very small firm or startup.
Choice, Not Control
People want to be empowered to make decisions, to be free from bureaucracy and administrivia. They know they have a lot to contribute and are frustrated when seemingly meaningless rules and procedures are put into place with no consultation or discussion.
Firms like Brazil’s Semco are run as democracies, and employees have the power to decide almost everything. For the past few decades this, along with Gore-Tex in the U.S., have been storybook examples of how organizations may look as we move into this century. The hallmarks for success include participation in decision-making, freedom over schedules and work assignments, and fair, transparent, and equitable pay based on contribution.
A Focus on Employment Branding
But, in lieu of making these painful changes to structure and existing practice, firms are instead focused on using the power of advertising and image-shaping to enhance or create an employment brand in the hope of attracting people.
Most employment branding efforts use Madison Avenue-style tactics to raise interest in a company. The campaigns are expensive and require immense effort, but there may be a period of time when more good people are attracted to a firm. The downside is that once hired they may quickly move on if the hype is not reflected in practice.
Semco, on the other hand, has no trouble attracting great people primarily through referral, word-of-mouth, and by the quality of the products and services they offer. Historically, very few firms have had to resort to expensive branding campaigns to attract the people they needed. Talented people with the right skills sought out the firms. This is why the employment market has always been skewed toward the employer who has been able to set salaries, offer the benefits it wanted to offer, and carve out jobs with minimal regard to the candidate’s or employee’s needs or desires.
Firms such as Lincoln Electric, Gore-Tex, IBM, and recently Facebook have little need to do overt employment branding because their employees do the recruiting for them.
More Interest in the Candidate Experience
Also, almost in acknowledgement that they have not done a good job in providing a candidate with a positive experience — with good customer service — when they apply for a job, there is now more emphasis and interest in improving that experience.
Gerry Crispin of CareerXroads has long been an advocate for improving the candidate experience and has tirelessly worked to get firms to make substantial changes in how they deal with a candidate. Recently he has created the the Candidate Experience Awards to further enhance this effort.
But it is unfortunate that he has to do this. It is simply another sign that the tide has turned away from traditional employers to the smaller firms that do care about the candidates and do listen to them and offer decent service.
More Effort and Money Being Placed on Becoming Listed as “The Best Place to Work”
Many firms spend thousands of dollars in fees and salaries to compete for a Best Place to Work award. Many have full-time employees dedicated to this effort for a significant time period while also ramping up employment branding activities.
Again, this is only viable because there is not enough natural interest in these firms to attract good people.
As traditional organizations try to fit round pegs into square holes, the smaller startups and enlightened larger firms are finding it easier to hire good people.
Good people are attracted to places that are in alignment with their needs, attitudes, and intellect, and those places are increasingly organizations that are flexible, fun, empowering, respectful, transparent, and flat. But the dinosaurs didn’t evolve successfully and I doubt that larger firms will either.
by Kevin Wheeler
This is startling given that the economy is not strong and that millions are out of work. The natural inclination would seem to me to be to hunker down and hang on to the job you have, no matter how bad it is. That is what happened in previous recessions. Yet these were disgruntled, unsatisfied, and unfulfilled people who voluntarily, many without other positions or jobs lined up, chose to leave.
In discussions with some of them, I heard talk about feeling they having been used to bolster executive salaries and inflate shareholder expectations unrealistically. Many felt unappreciated and disrespected — a word I hear a lot now and never used to hear at all.
And with eroding benefits and the potential of better access to health care, the hold that corporations used to have is loosening.
I think we are seeing the early signs that the attitudes and expectations of the emerging and experienced workforce are changing faster than many thought likely and that traditional firms may find it harder and harder to employ the best people.
I among others have been predicting that the age of the entrepreneur is dawning — a time when more and more people are confident and optimistic about working for themselves, offering their services for a fee to someone who needs their skills. Many of the ones I speak with are convinced that this is a better way to feel fulfilled and be prosperous than the daily grind of going to work for an employer.
The success of crowdsourcing sites like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and other sites where anyone can offer their services for bid such as elancer or freelancer say a lot about what is happening. It has become relatively easy to offer products for sale on sites such as eBay or Craig’s List or to find a match between your skills and the needs of someone else.
But many corporations and recruiters are in denial. They will not agree that a significant number of people feel this way but at the same time they will not deny that it is hard to find, attract, close, and retain the skilled talent they need. And as Baby Boomers start to retire and move out of the active job market the gap will grow.
It does not take a crystal ball to see the signs of change.
Expectations Have Changed
People expect work to be engaging, interesting, and fulfilling. Younger people even feel it should be fun. The organizations that offer project-type work, work that poses a challenge, or work that fulfills humanitarian needs, are not having much trouble finding good people. Gen Y, those in their 20s, have been the pioneers in changing attitudes and in showing that individuals can find work that is fulfilling and earns money — often by working independently or by joining a very small firm or startup.
Choice, Not Control
People want to be empowered to make decisions, to be free from bureaucracy and administrivia. They know they have a lot to contribute and are frustrated when seemingly meaningless rules and procedures are put into place with no consultation or discussion.
Firms like Brazil’s Semco are run as democracies, and employees have the power to decide almost everything. For the past few decades this, along with Gore-Tex in the U.S., have been storybook examples of how organizations may look as we move into this century. The hallmarks for success include participation in decision-making, freedom over schedules and work assignments, and fair, transparent, and equitable pay based on contribution.
A Focus on Employment Branding
But, in lieu of making these painful changes to structure and existing practice, firms are instead focused on using the power of advertising and image-shaping to enhance or create an employment brand in the hope of attracting people.
Most employment branding efforts use Madison Avenue-style tactics to raise interest in a company. The campaigns are expensive and require immense effort, but there may be a period of time when more good people are attracted to a firm. The downside is that once hired they may quickly move on if the hype is not reflected in practice.
Semco, on the other hand, has no trouble attracting great people primarily through referral, word-of-mouth, and by the quality of the products and services they offer. Historically, very few firms have had to resort to expensive branding campaigns to attract the people they needed. Talented people with the right skills sought out the firms. This is why the employment market has always been skewed toward the employer who has been able to set salaries, offer the benefits it wanted to offer, and carve out jobs with minimal regard to the candidate’s or employee’s needs or desires.
Firms such as Lincoln Electric, Gore-Tex, IBM, and recently Facebook have little need to do overt employment branding because their employees do the recruiting for them.
More Interest in the Candidate Experience
Also, almost in acknowledgement that they have not done a good job in providing a candidate with a positive experience — with good customer service — when they apply for a job, there is now more emphasis and interest in improving that experience.
Gerry Crispin of CareerXroads has long been an advocate for improving the candidate experience and has tirelessly worked to get firms to make substantial changes in how they deal with a candidate. Recently he has created the the Candidate Experience Awards to further enhance this effort.
But it is unfortunate that he has to do this. It is simply another sign that the tide has turned away from traditional employers to the smaller firms that do care about the candidates and do listen to them and offer decent service.
More Effort and Money Being Placed on Becoming Listed as “The Best Place to Work”
Many firms spend thousands of dollars in fees and salaries to compete for a Best Place to Work award. Many have full-time employees dedicated to this effort for a significant time period while also ramping up employment branding activities.
Again, this is only viable because there is not enough natural interest in these firms to attract good people.
As traditional organizations try to fit round pegs into square holes, the smaller startups and enlightened larger firms are finding it easier to hire good people.
Good people are attracted to places that are in alignment with their needs, attitudes, and intellect, and those places are increasingly organizations that are flexible, fun, empowering, respectful, transparent, and flat. But the dinosaurs didn’t evolve successfully and I doubt that larger firms will either.
by Kevin Wheeler
Monday, May 14, 2012
Projects Are the New Job Interviews
Resumes are dead. Interviews are largely ineffectual. Linked-In is good. Portfolios are useful. But projects are the real future of hiring, especially knowledge working hiring. No matter how wonderful your references or how well you do on those too-clever-by-half Microsoft/Google brainteasers, serious firms will increasingly ask serious candidates to do serious work in order to get a serious job offer.
Call them "projeclications" or "applijects." World-class talent will engage in bespoke real-world projects testing their abilities to deliver real value on their own and with others. Forget the "What's Your Greatest Weakness?" interrogatory genre; the real question will be how well candidates can rise to the "appliject" challenge and help redesign a social media campaign, document a tricky bit of software, edit a Keynote presentation, produce a webinar or peer review a CAD layout for a contract Chinese manufacturer.
Exploitive? Perhaps. But most organizations have learned the hard way that no amount of interviewing, reference checking and/or psychological testing is a substitute for actually working with a candidate on a real project. I know advertising agencies that have an iron-clad, inviolable rule that they will only hire creatives who have successfully done freelance work with an account team. Similarly, a fast-growing Web 2.0 "software as a service" company doesn't waste its time asking coding candidates trick "Python" questions during job interviews; they have potential hires participate in at least two "code reviews" to see what kinds of contributors, collaborators and critics they might be.
Yes, candidates must sign NDAs. Yes, sometimes these sessions effectively pit a couple or three candidates against each other. But there's nothing fake or artificial about the value they're expected to offer. These organizations treat hiring as part of their on-boarding process. Hiring becomes more holistic rather than "over the wall." More importantly, everyone in the enterprise now "gets" that people only get hired if and only if they deliver something above and beyond a decent track record and social graph.
Ethically, the most interesting behavior I've observed is that firms exploring "projeclication" hires aren't asking for free labor. They're paying below-market rates for their candidate's insights and efforts. If I were a 20-something coder or a forty-something marketer, I'd undeniably have mixed feelings about giving my best efforts for discount compensation. That said, it's worth something to know what it's like to really work with one's colleagues on a real project as opposed to the all-too-misleading charade of iterative interviews. To my mind, this approach is an order of magnitude more ethical than the "free" and unpaid internship infrastructure that has gotten so out of control in so many industries.
But just as many organizations have grown more skillful conducting Skyped interviews and using web-based quizzes and questionnaires as qualifying screens for candidates, my bet is we'll soon see new genres of project-based hiring shape enterprise human capital portfolios. Facebook and Linked-In are obvious venues for "app-sourced" — that's "app" as in applicant, not application— business project design. Increasingly, project leaders will design milestones and metrics that make incorporating job candidates into the process more seamless and natural. College graduates, MBAs and older job candidates will learn how to sniff out which "applijects" are genuine invitations to success and which ones are sleazy bids for cheap labor. In the same way job candidates learn how to interview well, they'll get the skills to "appliject" well because they understand how to optimize their influence and impact within the constraints of the project design.
Ultimately, the reason why I'm confident that "projects are the new job interviews" is not simply because I'm observing a nascent trend but because this appears to be a more efficient and effective mechanism for companies and candidates to gain the true measure of each other. Designing great applijects and projeclications will be a craft and art. The most successful utilizers will quickly be copied. Why? Because the brightest and most talented people typically like having real-world opportunities to shine and succeed.
Blog post by Michael Schrage
Call them "projeclications" or "applijects." World-class talent will engage in bespoke real-world projects testing their abilities to deliver real value on their own and with others. Forget the "What's Your Greatest Weakness?" interrogatory genre; the real question will be how well candidates can rise to the "appliject" challenge and help redesign a social media campaign, document a tricky bit of software, edit a Keynote presentation, produce a webinar or peer review a CAD layout for a contract Chinese manufacturer.
Exploitive? Perhaps. But most organizations have learned the hard way that no amount of interviewing, reference checking and/or psychological testing is a substitute for actually working with a candidate on a real project. I know advertising agencies that have an iron-clad, inviolable rule that they will only hire creatives who have successfully done freelance work with an account team. Similarly, a fast-growing Web 2.0 "software as a service" company doesn't waste its time asking coding candidates trick "Python" questions during job interviews; they have potential hires participate in at least two "code reviews" to see what kinds of contributors, collaborators and critics they might be.
Yes, candidates must sign NDAs. Yes, sometimes these sessions effectively pit a couple or three candidates against each other. But there's nothing fake or artificial about the value they're expected to offer. These organizations treat hiring as part of their on-boarding process. Hiring becomes more holistic rather than "over the wall." More importantly, everyone in the enterprise now "gets" that people only get hired if and only if they deliver something above and beyond a decent track record and social graph.
Ethically, the most interesting behavior I've observed is that firms exploring "projeclication" hires aren't asking for free labor. They're paying below-market rates for their candidate's insights and efforts. If I were a 20-something coder or a forty-something marketer, I'd undeniably have mixed feelings about giving my best efforts for discount compensation. That said, it's worth something to know what it's like to really work with one's colleagues on a real project as opposed to the all-too-misleading charade of iterative interviews. To my mind, this approach is an order of magnitude more ethical than the "free" and unpaid internship infrastructure that has gotten so out of control in so many industries.
But just as many organizations have grown more skillful conducting Skyped interviews and using web-based quizzes and questionnaires as qualifying screens for candidates, my bet is we'll soon see new genres of project-based hiring shape enterprise human capital portfolios. Facebook and Linked-In are obvious venues for "app-sourced" — that's "app" as in applicant, not application— business project design. Increasingly, project leaders will design milestones and metrics that make incorporating job candidates into the process more seamless and natural. College graduates, MBAs and older job candidates will learn how to sniff out which "applijects" are genuine invitations to success and which ones are sleazy bids for cheap labor. In the same way job candidates learn how to interview well, they'll get the skills to "appliject" well because they understand how to optimize their influence and impact within the constraints of the project design.
Ultimately, the reason why I'm confident that "projects are the new job interviews" is not simply because I'm observing a nascent trend but because this appears to be a more efficient and effective mechanism for companies and candidates to gain the true measure of each other. Designing great applijects and projeclications will be a craft and art. The most successful utilizers will quickly be copied. Why? Because the brightest and most talented people typically like having real-world opportunities to shine and succeed.
Blog post by Michael Schrage
Friday, May 11, 2012
Staffing Solutions of Hawaii: Client Review
"I do not hesitate contacting SSOH to help us identify qualified temp assistance when we have a need. SSOH is very prompt in responding and referring associates they think best meet our needs. We appreciate their continued support extended beyond locating an appropriate associate which includes regularly checking in to confirm their associate has reported to work on time and is meeting our needs. We appreciate and look forward to a continued partnership with SSOH in getting our needs timely met."
Lynn Koga
Director of Human Resources
Catholic Charities Hawaii
Lynn Koga
Director of Human Resources
Catholic Charities Hawaii
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
SSOH Employee Review
"I'm at one of the company's remote sites and SSOH has not forgotten me. I really appreciate and enjoy regular communication with the company HQ and periodic visits. I don't see them every day but they know who I am and they show they truly care. The staff is genuine, personable and truly engaged and concerned. It's a pleasure to be a part of a organization like SSOH."
Semper Fidelis
Sheldon "Donnie" Comer
USMC (Ret.) SSOH CPRW-2
SSOH Employee Since September 2011
Semper Fidelis
Sheldon "Donnie" Comer
USMC (Ret.) SSOH CPRW-2
SSOH Employee Since September 2011
Monday, May 7, 2012
April Staffing Up 6.9% From a Year Ago
ASA Staffing Index Monthly Report
April Staffing Up 6.9% From a Year Ago
Staffing employment in April is up 6.9% from April 2011, according to the ASA Staffing Index.
The index value for April is 91, up two points from the 89 reported for March. Since the beginning of 2012, temporary and contract employment has grown 22.0%, according to the index.
To view weekly index data, visit americanstaffing.net.
The ASA Staffing Index is reported nine days after each workweek, making it a virtual real-time measure of staffing employment trends. ASA research shows that staffing employment is a coincident economic indicator and leading employment indicator. Data for the index are gathered by ASA research partner Inavero, a market research firm based in Portland, OR.
For more information, visit the ASA newsroom. You can also follow ASA on Twitter.
Interviews with ASA executives are available.
The American Staffing Association is the voice of the U.S. staffing industry. ASA and its affiliated chapters advance the interests of staffing and recruiting firms of all sizes and across all sectors through legal and legislative advocacy, public relations, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices. ASA members provide the full range of employment and work force services and solutions, including temporary and contract staffing, recruiting and permanent placement, outplacement and outsourcing, training, and human resource consulting.
American Staffing Association
April Staffing Up 6.9% From a Year Ago
Staffing employment in April is up 6.9% from April 2011, according to the ASA Staffing Index.
The index value for April is 91, up two points from the 89 reported for March. Since the beginning of 2012, temporary and contract employment has grown 22.0%, according to the index.
To view weekly index data, visit americanstaffing.net.
The ASA Staffing Index is reported nine days after each workweek, making it a virtual real-time measure of staffing employment trends. ASA research shows that staffing employment is a coincident economic indicator and leading employment indicator. Data for the index are gathered by ASA research partner Inavero, a market research firm based in Portland, OR.
For more information, visit the ASA newsroom. You can also follow ASA on Twitter.
Interviews with ASA executives are available.
The American Staffing Association is the voice of the U.S. staffing industry. ASA and its affiliated chapters advance the interests of staffing and recruiting firms of all sizes and across all sectors through legal and legislative advocacy, public relations, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices. ASA members provide the full range of employment and work force services and solutions, including temporary and contract staffing, recruiting and permanent placement, outplacement and outsourcing, training, and human resource consulting.
American Staffing Association
Friday, May 4, 2012
Nine Things Successful People Do Differently
Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.
1. Get specific. When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds" is a better goal than "lose some weight," because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you'll "eat less" or "sleep more" is too vague — be clear and precise. "I'll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights" leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you've actually done it.
2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it's not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.
To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., "If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I'll work out for 30 minutes before work.") Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.
3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don't know how well you are doing, you can't adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.
4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.
5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good. Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won't improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.
Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.
6. Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher college GPAs. Grit predicts which cadets will stick out their first grueling year at West Point. In fact, grit even predicts which round contestants will make it to at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The good news is, if you aren't particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don't have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking .... well, there's no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.
7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn't get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.
To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you'd honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don't. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur ("If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.") It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that's the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.
8. Don't tempt fate. No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it's important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don't try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don't put yourself in harm's way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.
9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do. Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., "Don't think about white bears!") has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.
If you want to change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like "If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down." By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.
It is my hope that, after reading about the nine things successful people do differently, you have gained some insight into all the things you have been doing right all along. Even more important, I hope are able to identify the mistakes that have derailed you, and use that knowledge to your advantage from now on. Remember, you don't need to become a different person to become a more successful one. It's never what you are, but what you do.
Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D. is a motivational psychologist, and author of the new book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals (Hudson Street Press, 2011). She is also an expert blogger on motivation and leadership for Fast Company and Psychology Today. Her personal blog, The Science of Success, can be found at www.heidigranthalvorson.com. Follow her on Twitter @hghalvorson
http://blogs.hbr.org/
1. Get specific. When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds" is a better goal than "lose some weight," because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you'll "eat less" or "sleep more" is too vague — be clear and precise. "I'll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights" leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you've actually done it.
2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it's not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.
To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., "If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I'll work out for 30 minutes before work.") Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.
3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don't know how well you are doing, you can't adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.
4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.
5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good. Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won't improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.
Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.
6. Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher college GPAs. Grit predicts which cadets will stick out their first grueling year at West Point. In fact, grit even predicts which round contestants will make it to at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The good news is, if you aren't particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don't have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking .... well, there's no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.
7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn't get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.
To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you'd honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don't. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur ("If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.") It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that's the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.
8. Don't tempt fate. No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it's important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don't try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don't put yourself in harm's way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.
9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do. Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., "Don't think about white bears!") has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.
If you want to change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like "If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down." By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.
It is my hope that, after reading about the nine things successful people do differently, you have gained some insight into all the things you have been doing right all along. Even more important, I hope are able to identify the mistakes that have derailed you, and use that knowledge to your advantage from now on. Remember, you don't need to become a different person to become a more successful one. It's never what you are, but what you do.
Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D. is a motivational psychologist, and author of the new book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals (Hudson Street Press, 2011). She is also an expert blogger on motivation and leadership for Fast Company and Psychology Today. Her personal blog, The Science of Success, can be found at www.heidigranthalvorson.com. Follow her on Twitter @hghalvorson
http://blogs.hbr.org/
Thursday, May 3, 2012
It's Not a Job Search, It's a Permanent Campaign
Political campaigns used to be short, frenzied run-ups to an election — after which the winning candidate would turn to the stately task of governing. But over the past few decades, politics and policy began to mingle. Political advisors took White House roles, and polling began to drive decision-making — "The Permanent Campaign," as journalist (and later Clinton staffer) Sidney Blumenthal presciently dubbed it in his 1980 book.
The advent of 24-hour cable news (and later, the Internet) opened a gaping maw, ravenous for content. Politicians knew they'd be dissected constantly, not just during campaign season, with querulous Crossfire hosts debating who has "The Big Mo" and who's on the downswing. Most people — even former political operatives, like me — can agree this is bad for democracy. But candidates have accepted it as the new normal and, with savvy teams PR experts on call, they're making do.
The real problem, though, isn't the impact on politicians.
It's the fact that everyone else — including regular professionals — is also now expected to perform round-the-clock personal brand maintenance, and most people don't even realize it.
Sure, they probably have a Facebook account, and they may even be on Twitter. But they don't recognize that these are no longer personal communication tools, or a means of strengthening weak ties across their networks. Instead, they are the criteria by which you will be evaluated in the future. Just as Michael Deaver ensured that Ronald Reagan always stood in front of a perfect, picturesque backdrop — and set the standard for all subsequent leaders — you're now responsible for curating your image.
And unfortunately, it's not enough just to worry about it at "election time" — i.e., when you're seeking a promotion or looking for a new job. The permanent campaign truly is ongoing, and all successful candidates (of the job or political variety) need to recognize a few new truths:
Your reputation precedes you. Any employer with a modicum of common sense is going to vet you on the Internet before even bothering to talk to you. In a world where too many job seekers fabricate parts of their resumes, the Internet can provide valuable third-party verification that you are who you say you are. It's also your opportunity to set yourself apart. If your only online presence is eBay sales or race times from your running club, you're going to look like an amateur.
If you're invisible, you're probably a fraud. Resumes and even clever cover letters will become increasingly meaningless when employers are looking not for words, but for demonstrated knowledge and results. If you've got a strong online personal brand, you're in. And if you don't? One firm I consulted for almost didn't hire a a qualified senior executive because — lacking almost any online presence — they strongly suspected he had fabricated his background. He hadn't, but the elaborate process of verifying his story nearly cost him the job.
You progress or you stagnate. It's a fact: the rest of the world isn't paying nearly as much attention to you as you'd like. You've spent the past few years developing new skills and capabilities — yet your employer and colleagues are oblivious. The only way you can demonstrate your new expertise to a broad audience — one that might want to hire you, in fact — is to brand yourself as a public expert, just like a candidate for office would. Online, create a stream of valuable content by tweeting, blogging, and being quoted by media outlets. Offline, cultivate your reputation through involvement in professional associations, public speaking, and networking.
Many people don't want to deal with the hassle of a "permanent career campaign." They think it's too much work to contemplate their personal brand, maintain their social media footprint, or cultivate relationships when they're not on the make for a new job. Those are the people who will lose. Whether or not you want to play the game, it's happening around you. Here are three ways — cribbed from the candidates who know best — you can win your personal campaign:
1. Monitor. Keeping track of media mentions formerly meant a fleet of bleary-eyed interns coming in at 6 a.m. and clipping, gluing, and photocopying a packet of articles. Thankfully, Google has eliminated this cruelty, which I myself once endured. Set up a Google Alert on yourself, your current company, and any prospective firms on your watch list today.
2. Control the dialogue. Politicians have learned that if they don't put out material to fill the airways (press releases, pitches, and miscellaneous storylines), the newsmedia — or their rivals — will do it for them, and that's not going to be pretty. Someone is going to control the dialogue and it might as well be you. Start writing your blog posts or recording your podcasts now.
3. Create your fan base. When a candidate is attacked, they have defenders — armed with talking points — ready to rebut the negative charges. And they also have a proactive battalion of "letter to the editor" writers, peppering their local papers with laudatory missives. Who's in your fan club? Start reaching out now to trusted colleagues, friends, and allies. If you have a professional goal, they can help by talking you up, searching for leads and more.
Putting forward your personal brand requires ongoing vigilance. What are your campaign strategies?
This post is part of the special series The New Rules for Getting a Job.
by Dorie Clark
http://blogs.hbr.org/
The advent of 24-hour cable news (and later, the Internet) opened a gaping maw, ravenous for content. Politicians knew they'd be dissected constantly, not just during campaign season, with querulous Crossfire hosts debating who has "The Big Mo" and who's on the downswing. Most people — even former political operatives, like me — can agree this is bad for democracy. But candidates have accepted it as the new normal and, with savvy teams PR experts on call, they're making do.
The real problem, though, isn't the impact on politicians.
It's the fact that everyone else — including regular professionals — is also now expected to perform round-the-clock personal brand maintenance, and most people don't even realize it.
Sure, they probably have a Facebook account, and they may even be on Twitter. But they don't recognize that these are no longer personal communication tools, or a means of strengthening weak ties across their networks. Instead, they are the criteria by which you will be evaluated in the future. Just as Michael Deaver ensured that Ronald Reagan always stood in front of a perfect, picturesque backdrop — and set the standard for all subsequent leaders — you're now responsible for curating your image.
And unfortunately, it's not enough just to worry about it at "election time" — i.e., when you're seeking a promotion or looking for a new job. The permanent campaign truly is ongoing, and all successful candidates (of the job or political variety) need to recognize a few new truths:
Your reputation precedes you. Any employer with a modicum of common sense is going to vet you on the Internet before even bothering to talk to you. In a world where too many job seekers fabricate parts of their resumes, the Internet can provide valuable third-party verification that you are who you say you are. It's also your opportunity to set yourself apart. If your only online presence is eBay sales or race times from your running club, you're going to look like an amateur.
If you're invisible, you're probably a fraud. Resumes and even clever cover letters will become increasingly meaningless when employers are looking not for words, but for demonstrated knowledge and results. If you've got a strong online personal brand, you're in. And if you don't? One firm I consulted for almost didn't hire a a qualified senior executive because — lacking almost any online presence — they strongly suspected he had fabricated his background. He hadn't, but the elaborate process of verifying his story nearly cost him the job.
You progress or you stagnate. It's a fact: the rest of the world isn't paying nearly as much attention to you as you'd like. You've spent the past few years developing new skills and capabilities — yet your employer and colleagues are oblivious. The only way you can demonstrate your new expertise to a broad audience — one that might want to hire you, in fact — is to brand yourself as a public expert, just like a candidate for office would. Online, create a stream of valuable content by tweeting, blogging, and being quoted by media outlets. Offline, cultivate your reputation through involvement in professional associations, public speaking, and networking.
Many people don't want to deal with the hassle of a "permanent career campaign." They think it's too much work to contemplate their personal brand, maintain their social media footprint, or cultivate relationships when they're not on the make for a new job. Those are the people who will lose. Whether or not you want to play the game, it's happening around you. Here are three ways — cribbed from the candidates who know best — you can win your personal campaign:
1. Monitor. Keeping track of media mentions formerly meant a fleet of bleary-eyed interns coming in at 6 a.m. and clipping, gluing, and photocopying a packet of articles. Thankfully, Google has eliminated this cruelty, which I myself once endured. Set up a Google Alert on yourself, your current company, and any prospective firms on your watch list today.
2. Control the dialogue. Politicians have learned that if they don't put out material to fill the airways (press releases, pitches, and miscellaneous storylines), the newsmedia — or their rivals — will do it for them, and that's not going to be pretty. Someone is going to control the dialogue and it might as well be you. Start writing your blog posts or recording your podcasts now.
3. Create your fan base. When a candidate is attacked, they have defenders — armed with talking points — ready to rebut the negative charges. And they also have a proactive battalion of "letter to the editor" writers, peppering their local papers with laudatory missives. Who's in your fan club? Start reaching out now to trusted colleagues, friends, and allies. If you have a professional goal, they can help by talking you up, searching for leads and more.
Putting forward your personal brand requires ongoing vigilance. What are your campaign strategies?
This post is part of the special series The New Rules for Getting a Job.
by Dorie Clark
http://blogs.hbr.org/
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Senseless Interviewing: An Addict’s 7 Steps to Recovery
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of interviewing a candidate and discovering within the first five minutes that they weren’t a match for the job, you probably found yourself spending the next 25 minutes thinking about how much time you’re now wasting that you can never recover.When you find yourself addicted to the standard way of doing things, when you realize you are afraid to make a change out of fear for the unknown, and when you find your efficiency is going down the tubes — it’s time to consider a recovery program. Your solution? Video interviewing.
1. Admit fault
The first step in recovering from any addiction is to recognize you have a problem. You must first recognize that you are powerless over in-person interview inefficiency and the process has become unmanageable. You are stuck in the same old modes of interviewing candidates, which decreases you efficiency year over year. You have spent countless hours scheduling candidates, interviewing them, and developing questions as you go. Video interviewing allows you to interview a candidate on your own time, when you are available eliminating the need to be physically present at the same time or in the same location.
2. Find something new
Video interviewing has enabled companies everywhere to virtually interview candidates, thereby reducing travel expenses for long-distance potentials. Countless professionals have regained hours of their lives by turning off a pre-recorded interview as soon as the candidate raises a red flag and you realize they won’t be a match for your company. No longer do you have to spend the full 30 to 60 minutes meeting with someone you have no interest in talking with further. Video interviewing can restore your sanity in the hiring process.
3. Opt for new tech-savvy interview processes
Welcome to the 21st Century! You found your way here and you have allowed your organization to get a leg up on your competition. You have always found your company to be progressive, innovative, and technology forward. Now you can attract candidates who have the same qualities. Many candidates desire flexibility in the interviewing process, and video interviewing also give back time and efficiency to the candidate.
4. Make an inventory of your past interviewing tactics
Many times, companies try new processes only to revert back to old ways. Be sure to document and keep a list of the pros and cons of why you chose to give video interviewing a try in the first place. This will help you compare the processes to one another.
Chances are your cons list of old tactics will include a few of the following:
◦Limited access to large pool of candidates due to time constraints
◦Interviewing expenses
◦Lack of standardization in questions
◦Limited number of interviewers with initial access to review candidates
◦Asking multiple candidates the same questions over and over
5. Show others the benefits of video interviewing
When determining any new process, it is important to talk with others in your organization to ensure they are on board with a change. Talk with your colleagues, HR, and other professionals who can help you map out the path to video interviewing and obtain their buy-in for the switch.
6. Begin implementing video interviews
Creating the interview process can be perhaps one of the greatest eye openers in reinforcing their use. You now have the ability to ask more detail-specific questions that allow you to get straight to the heart of each position.
◦Scenarios: Ask your candidates how they would explain various situations. Create consistency in the type of questions you ask the candidates.
◦Skills: Ask your candidates how they complete different tasks, when they have done various types of work in the past and what skills they used to compete the projects or assignments.
◦Thought process: Ask your candidates problem-solving or cause and effect questions to determine what thought processes they use.
7. Help candidates find you and buy into a video interview process
Video interviewing is a great tool to efficiently analyze top candidates in an budget-friendly way; however, you still have to find them. Continuing to promote open positions on job boards, social media sites, and your corporate website will help to ensure you have a vast pool of potentials to select from. Consider creating a video interview FAQ page on your careers site to direct candidates to when they are going through the video interview process. Many are still unfamiliar with the method, and you want to give them the best opportunity to show their true self rather than simply being intimidated by the mode. Video interviews benefit your candidates in many ways — helping them understand these benefits will give them more confidence in the medium. Here are just a few benefits for job seekers:
◦No scheduling conflicts or need to sneak out of work
◦Helps demonstrate professionalism and energy more effectively than with telephone interviews alone
◦Increased likelihood of being screened as larger volume of candidates may be screened by employer
◦Minimizes inconsistencies between interviews, such as if the interviewer is “having a bad day,” running late for another meeting, getting interrupted by colleagues.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
The Top 4 Signs You’re a Career Recruiter
Have you ever found yourself at a party sizing up your candidates? Er, I mean friends. As a Recruiter we spend our day not just hunting talent, but setting expectations, balancing schedules and frankly, stalling our butts off when clients or candidates throw curveballs our way. So how do you know your one of the lucky few Career Recruiters out there?
Here are a few tell tale signs that you are, in fact, a career recruiter!
1.Expecting the Worst…You Pessimist, You: As a Recruiter we like making placements. I don’t care if you’re a Corporate Recruiter or an Agency Recruiter; you like closing a job successfully. But far too often a curveball gets thrown our way. Maybe a Hiring Manager changes a job description. Or maybe a budget has evaporated. Maybe the candidate is a no-show. Bottom line, once you’ve done this for awhile, you come to expect those curveballs. Case and point: I received a cryptic email from a candidate earlier this evening. “Call me.” Now, I had just made an offer to the candidate and it was the salary he wanted, the job he was psyched about and the company that he loved. So why did I automatically assume it was bad news? Because I’ve been doing this for awhile now. It turns out that he just wanted to say thank you, from him and his wife. Yeah…I felt kind of guilty for thinking he was going to ruin my night.
2.Everyone is a Candidate: Seriously, have you ever stood at a party or with a group of friends thinking about how ‘placeable’ someone is? If you’re spending time on Recruiter.com, I bet you have. We get paid to be judgmental (astute) and that’s not always a bad thing. If you’ve honed your skills over the years and you can just tell when someone is a home-run, you’re a Career Recruiter. If you unconsciously judge, characterize and sort your friends’ ability to kill an interview, you’re a Lifer. One of my best clients was broken wide open when I went to a party and met my friend’s new fiancee. I placed him within a week and with all of his referrals I had a fantastic year. Hey, sometimes being judgmental (I mean perceptive) is a real bonus.
3.Obsessively Interested in Where People Work: America is a funny place. If you travel abroad you’ll find that people don’t automatically meet and start discussing where they work and what they do. It’s fairly unique to Americans….and Recruiters; it’s part of our self-training over the years. Our ears perk up and professional mode kicks in anytime someone starts talking about where they work, what they do or who their boss is. We can’t help it. I mean, it’s just good business. Have you ever noticed over time that you’re the creepy guy or gal who always brings the subject back to someone’s Company or work? More than likely you haven’t noticed, but you’re likely doing it. Instead, you probably walk out of social situations completely oblivious to anything other than sorting the details you’ve just learned about a particular company and how you might engage with them.
4. You Avoid Family and Friends: Friends Facebook, Gmail, Tweet and G+ me constantly with resume and job questions. I always try to help but it just gets more and more difficult. But it gets worse when friends of friend or friends of family start reaching out to you for help and advice. There’s a big misconception about what it is Recruiters do. Most people outside the profession think that we work to help people get jobs. Laudable, but not quite right. We work to fill positions for our Companies or Clients, not the other way around. So when the numbers of friends, family and acquaintances reaching out to you gets to be too much, you probably find yourself avoiding those people. Have you ever politely tried to avoid your brother’s buddy? Or maybe your Mother’s best friend’s son? I know I have.
When you get right down to it, Recruiters are busy people. We’re juggling a lot of people, a lot of expectations and a lot of outcomes. And while a tendency to avoid some family functions or constantly qualify friends might seem like a negative at first, it’s really a positive. It means you’re good at what you do and it’s starting to become second nature. Everyone who’s good at their career wears just a bit of it on their sleeve. Happy Hunting!
http://www.recruiter.com/
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