CareerCurve™

As I was perusing discussions on LinkedIn I came across a conversation about whether or not HR should allow hospitalized employees to work from their sick beds.  Once I started thinking about this and reading opinions, I realized that there are many angles to consider when determining what to do.

Simple Logistics:

Can the job be done effectively away from the office?  Does the company have to provide the equipment to make this possible?  Do you allow others in your organization to work remotely?  How much of a burden will be added to the person managing the sick employee?  How long is the anticipated recovery?

Legal Issues:

Are you obligated by the Americans with Disability Act to offer working from the hospital as an option?  This act states that not making reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of disabled employees is discrimination.  Is it discriminatory if you don’t provide the option if their doctors have approved this plan?

Financial Considerations:

Does your organization offer short or long term disability and sick pay?  If the employee is only able to work (and get paid for) a few hours a day, would he/she become ineligible for these benefits and ultimately suffer financial hardships at a time where he/she is probably racking up additional expenses?  From the company’s point of view, what about the differences between exempt and non-exempt employees?  If the employee is non-exempt you only pay for hours he/she tracks and submits.  Exempt employees will be paid for a full week even he/she is only able to work a few hours.

Physical and Mental Ramifications:

Will this situation prove stressful for the employee and will that end up affecting recovery?  Is working like this something the employee wants or is it something he/she feels is necessary?  On the flip side, could providing the opportunity to work from the hospital assist in the recovery process?  It could give keep him/her a purpose and inspire the employee to stay hopeful thereby taking his/her mind off of being ill.

Answering this question is a challenge and obviously each situation is unique, but if it makes sense there is a definite upside to working toward a solution that accommodates the sick employee.  You are sending an emphatic message that the people in your organization matter and this should improve employee engagement.

I’ve been reading an interesting conversation on LinkedIn regarding the differences between talent and competency.  What are the differences and what is more important when building a team? 

In my opinion, talent is something innate – a particular strength or instinct that can’t be learned, at least not easily.  It is almost a certain mindset or way of looking at things.  A competency is more task-related – an ability one possesses that has been learned, studied, or practiced, and ultimately mastered.  How easily this was accomplished probably has a lot to do with the level of talent.  Do you agree? 

When searching for great employees, which matters more?  Does it depend on the type of job?  When interviewing, what tools do you use to evaluate the difference?  Does is matter whether or not there is potential growth opportunity, and if so, do you seek candidates with competencies if there is not much growth potential and those with talent if you’re hoping to expand their role?  Would you hire someone who can get the job done but may not have other talents your company could use to grow?  Or do you specifically seek employees who can not only get the job done, but bring more to the table?

In my mind, a competency can be taught (and learned) but a talent is a little something extra that should be encouraged and cultivated.  I would think this is where you get your “star” employees.  Is it a coincidence too, that people tend to be good at the things they love?  Is talent then related to passion and how does this fit in with recruiting great employees?  If an employee has a passion and talent for something, wouldn’t you imagine that they would be more motivated, engaged and generally happier doing their job?  And doesn’t this minimize some of the concerns HR has to address with the employees thereby making your job easier?  Couldn’t you also assume competency?

What do you think?  Please share your thoughts in the comments.

I was reading a fascinating and hot-tempered discussion on LinkedIn that prompted a bunch of questions, as well as some of my own.  The question was about an applicant who received a job offer, but the company was trying to determine whether or not to rescind the offer. 

It turned out that she lied about being currently employed and three references from her previous employer verified the lie.  The truth came out when a past supervisor was asked to confirm her end date and it showed up in a standard background check.  The applicant’s explanation was that she was the sole breadwinner with three children who had been unemployed due to a layoff 7 months earlier.  She was desperate for work and knew (thanks to articles like this one from CNN) that many companies were taking the stance that they would not consider applicants who are currently unemployed, even if it was through no fault of their own.  In addition, her references were “glowing”, her skill set was strong and everything else checked out.   

Many participants in this discussion are HR professionals and the opinions were flying.  Here are some intriguing questions that were generated:

Is there room for compassion and empathy in HR? 

Should HR put the human back in human resources or is it all about policy?

Just because you have the legal verbiage in place to rescind the offer, is that the right thing to do?

Does any kind of lie mean someone is a liar or can there be exceptions due to circumstances?

Has HR created the need for applicants to lie by discriminating against the unemployed?

Are HR personnel more risk-averse than business managers?  Shouldn’t the big picture be assessed before deciding and shouldn’t that decision be a risk/benefit assessment?

What about the times HR lies to applicants?  (Everyone is happy here. We give reviews on time. We always give an annual raise of 3-5%.)  Should an applicant be judged so harshly if HR routinely does the same?

Isn’t the fact that her previous employer was willing to lie actually showing how valuable she was?

Would not rescinding mean HR has to change their hiring criteria or can these things be handled on a case by case basis?

This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the many debates that took place in this discussion.  What do you think?  Have you ever hired someone who told a lie to gain employment? Do different types of lies mean different things?  Or is a lie a lie and does it mean the person is not trustworthy?  Do you automatically fall back on policy in a case like this?  Do you think companies have created this problem by refusing to consider the unemployed?  Is it black and white when making hiring decisions or is it HR’s responsibility to consider circumstances and motivation for lies?  As the economy has changed does HR need to make new accommodations?  Share your opinions and experiences in the comments.

One subject that I see over and over on Twitter, in LinkedIn conversations, and on blogs is workplace bullying.  It is sad to me that this is an issue at all, let alone one that has become more prevalent than discriminatory harassment.  Although similar to harassment, bullying is typically unable to be placed into one category such as race or gender related harassment.  The economy and unemployment rate seems to have turned the workplace into more of a competitive environment where it is every man for himself and if an employee must push others around to come out on top, so be it.

Seeing this topic over and over has led me to wonder at how much this must cost a company.  I can’t imagine being able to actually calculate with any accuracy the amount of money wasted when bullying is present in a company – I don’t mean to try.  But I am in awe of what that number must be when you sit down and think about the effects.  Talk about a downward spiral.

Consider these factors when thinking about the cost to your organization:

1. Distraction from tasks by the bully, the victim, and by witnesses.
2. Poor performance by victims given inaccurate or incomplete information to do their job by the bully. This results in decreased motivation and low energy.
3. Increased stress, which leads to poor health, which leads to absenteeism, which leads to insurance claims which can also lead to Worker’s Comp claims. 
4. Increased insurance costs due to claims listed above.
5. Turnover – both by the victim and by the witnesses.  (Witnesses quit two-thirds as often as victims.)
6.  Inability to reach corporate goals due to lack of communication by the staff.  When bullying is taking place your team will not collaborate and problem solve so goals cannot be met.
7. Legal costs
8. Settlement fees for successful litigation by victims or wrongful termination litigation by bullies.
9. Loss of revenue due to low engagement, a toxic corporate culture, and an inability to attract top talent.
10. Waste of time.  Look for a future post on the ways bullying wastes time.

Do you have a policy in place to handle bullies in your organization?  Have you considered the dollars and cents that are lost when bullies are present?  Can you imagine what that total cost must be?

Outplacement is tricky business. Solid organizations recognize the need but may not be sure how valuable it really is. Candidates (our term for those who are laid off) may be hesitant to engage and may not understand the impact having a personal coach will have on their job search.

I have a story I just had to share to help those that may not be using their coach and those in HR who may not understand the genuine value that offering these services can bring. I’m also hoping this advice can help those who may not be fortunate enough to have access to outplacement services. This is an example of how a coach’s expertise really helps the job search.

I received a call from one of our coaches who wanted to tell me about an experience she had with a somewhat resistant candidate. Initially, he wasn’t convinced that she could do anything to help him. (This is very common and why it is important to work with a company that has good coaches.)

Photo credit www.freedigitalphotos.com

As they got to know one another he realized that she provided sound advice and could be useful. One area where he remained unconvinced was in using LinkedIn. This particular candidate has a pretty technical background and his profile was solid, based on his experience. Our coach kept trying to encourage him to modify his profile in a few ways so that he could be “found” more easily. As he remained unemployed and was not getting any calls, interviews, or opportunities he became more and more frustrated and discouraged. He decided he had nothing to lose, so he implemented her suggestions. Here is the advice she gave him about what to do and how he modified his profile:

• Re-wrote his summary and added several specialties (keywords)
• Wrote his experience and achievements in conversational tone (rather than simply copying and pasting from his resume)
• Requested recommendations
• Added a current reading list
• Pumped up his education and research area (explained his research in a way that is more understandable and less technical)
• Began adding contacts (he started with 11 – is up to 100 now) and sharing his knowledge and expertise with his contacts
• Added his professional groups and joined various LinkedIn groups

The results were amazing! After weeks of basically no activity, he received 3 calls within 2 hours of making these changes! He could not believe it and called her with a whole new mindset.

This coach, by using her skills, changed everything about his job search.

Photo credit www.freedigitalphotos.net

• Rather than being depressed and frustrated he is excited, positive, and motivated. Anyone who has ever lost a job knows how hard it is to achieve this while unemployed and how important it is to portray that attitude to potential managers. Attitude is probably the biggest driver in how successful the search is.
• He is now interacting with professionals in his field on a regular basis, which will help him keep his skills sharp while he continues his search. It also provides an opportunity to learn and discuss trends in his industry, as well as helping him feel less like he is searching in a vacuum.
• He is now embracing his coach’s advice and looking for more.
• He is well on his way to his new role.

I LOVE stories like this and hope that this is inspirational for others.

Do any of you have a success story to share?

There are a lot of challenges and different points of view around a previous post I wrote regarding regulating the use of social media in your company.   Since then I have also read a lot of articles about using social media internally as a way to increase engagement. 

I see a number of ways an internal network could make work more productive, such as instantaneous communication (like Twitter), problem solving, (like Groups on LinkedIn), and a consistent documentation of all conversations, which would help keep things on track because you can always refer back to it.  (This is different than meetings where communication is verbal and each person documents their own interpretation in notes.)  Forums would also be helpful, particularly to improve communication for multi-location organizations.  But does any of this truly help engage your employees? 

This article says yes because it inverts the pyramid of communication from top-down to bottom-up. 

What do you think?  Is that giving employees too much control?  Can using social media internally help engage your employee?  How?  Is there too much risk and what are those risk factors?  Could it help you support the company brand, as I discussed here?

LinkedIn is a definite must when breaking into the world of Social Media in a professional sense.   It has become my most used resource for finding information about companies, information about trends in certain industries, and information about people. There have been some changes to LinkedIn recently and I want to offer some resources for learning how to use it more effectively. 

Initially you want to create a profile.  It is very easy and LinkedIn is very good about pointing out the different ways you can provide a more comprehensive and complete profile.  Once you have that created I recommend you visit http://learn.linkedin.com to scroll through all the different areas, ideas, and technical information to get a feel for how to use this tool to your advantage, whatever your purpose.

One of the best ways to build a presence is to use groups.  This is a tremendous tool that can really help you stand out as an expert in your field.  You can share information, gather information, and create all kinds of opportunities for yourself.  This can help you find a new job or perform more effectively at your current position.  It also gives you an opportunity to follow, connect and interact with the top influencers in your field.  Here is a great resource for learning to use groups. Remember the culture of social media is to give.  Give information, share experiences and give advice.  By doing this you will build a network and provide yourself with improved career opportunities.

With the advent of social media a new truth has emerged.  Companies no longer own their brand.  Back in the good old days (the 90’s, ha ha), a company was responsible for the message and image it displayed for the public.  This came in many forms such as attending conferences, controlling mentions in news and editorial pieces, creating press releases, and by working to earn awards.  These attempts at controlling employer brand are not obsolete but they now hold a lot less weight than they used to.  The people who now control your brand are people out there that you cannot control. 

The most common groups that have control over your brand include past and present employees, vendors, and current clients.  The world of social media has ensured that any experience, positive or negative, can be shared instantaneously and widely. 

Think about your options if you have something you want people to know:  You can send out a Tweet (from your phone, no less), post a status update on Facebook or LinkedIn, comment on an article (including articles on credible sources like newspapers or TV stations), post a picture – the options are practically limitless.  And accessibility to these platforms via handheld devices means the person posting doesn’t mull it over until they get in front of a computer and potentially edit what he or she was going to say.  We’ve always had gut reactions but these are instincts that many times we didn’t act on.  Now the odds are higher that this will become THE reaction.

In addition, a sad fact is that these types of comments are considered more reliable than any good PR your company puts out.  So what if you’ve won an award as one of the greatest places to work?  A few disgruntled employees who are verbal on social media platforms can make this award almost meaningless.  There is skepticism that messages sent by a corporation are true and a desire to embrace the messages of people who have actually “been there”.

This is where Human Resources is so important.  It has long been known that productivity is directly related to happy employees and HR’s job is to make sure their people are happy.  But have you considered the effect of a strong HR department when it comes to company brand?  What if everyone who worked for you, with you, sold to you, or bought from you only had good things to say about you? 

This starts with HR and moves outward.  If the employees are happy and well-treated, they will support you to other employees, both past and present, spread the good word to your vendors and prospects, and reiterate it to current clients.  Now you are taking all the worrisome effects of social media and using them to your advantage. 

Realize that how you treat your employees will be shared instantaneously and often and encourage this.  Spend time on these platforms and learn what people say about you.  Humbly view this material and use it to make improvements when the comments are valid.  Get technologically savvy enough to follow alerts, bring the positive to the forefront, and bury the bad.  But know what is being said.

HR is about supporting people and people are controlling employer brands now.  Start a movement in your organization where you commit to treating your employees right, watch it grow and then show the company owners the effect this will have on your brand.  Soon HR may be the most valuable department in your company.

I am very intrigued by the role (and havoc) that Social Media is playing in the workplace.  It would be very interesting to be able to compare the number of businesses that have been hurt by it versus the number that have been helped.  My gut tells me that if your organization is an ethical and fair place to work, there should be no fear.  If you have something to hide, watch out.  (Check out Drowned Rabbits)

That being said, you can’t please everyone all the time and there will always be a disgruntled employee out there ready to speak negatively about their company to anyone who will listen.  This has always been true, but social media sure broadens the reach and power these people have.

Unfortunately, it seems like the answer is to regulate, regulate, regulate.  I will go back to my previous post regarding trusting your employees.  How much money and effort should a company invest in trying to control that which is pretty uncontrollable?  There is no doubt that social media can cause a lot of problems for businesses.  But people are people and you cannot control what they will do. 

Don’t most people in the world understand that there will always be others who want to get a rise out of people?  It seems to me that this is not a new issue.  Only the vehicle with which to abuse company time and spread negative messages is new.  Most individuals will take corporate bashing with a grain of salt.  One well-known aspect of social media is a lack of reliability – you can’t believe everything you read.  What is the main issue from a manager’s point of view?  What employees are saying, or the time they are spending on the company dime to say it? 

I think another important consideration is the ability to do all this social media stuff on cell phones.  If it is on the computer at the office at least you can monitor it but if you try to prevent that, won’t people just use mobile devices? And then who knows what they’re doing or how often?

Do you work hard to control this or do you have faith that the company’s reputation will prevail?

I would think that one of the best solutions would be to have some guidelines that ask an employee to respect what they are being paid to do just like with email, surfing the net, and making personal calls.  Guidelines make you think, but a list of punishable offenses complete with threats of firing just creates ill will.  I have a friend who worked at an organization where the employees couldn’t even use Yahoo or LinkedIn.  Want to guess what the morale was like at that office?  I like the idea of “Give and You Shall Receive.  Trust and respect your employees and they will give you trust and respect in return.  (Here comes my idealism again.)  What if you allow them the freedom to participate in social media and they say all good things?  Now you’ve just done your organization a huge favor.  What does it say about a company whose employees like what they do and how they do it?

Another risk of restricting use is a passive aggressive revolt.  What if your employees join forces and form groups in social media where they go specifically to bash their company?  What if they let anyone join who wants to know what goes on there?  Negativity will just feed on itself and will hurt the company’s reputation and brand in the long run.

I’d love some comments from HR people who have to enforce strict rules as well as those who don’t have any at all.  I’d also love to hear any stories of successful management of social media.

Lately it seems like everywhere you turn, there are articles and blog posts discussing using social media to find a job.  This can be very overwhelming, particularly for job seekers who have never used social media before.  I have summarized some helpful tips on using SM.  It can be a lot of fun but like anything else online, if there is not a plan, you can get lost for hours and not really accomplish anything.  I hope this will help someone  to be less intimidated by social media and use if effectively in the  job search.

1.  Just get started and don’t worry if it starts slowly.

First, set up profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, and maybe Facebook.  Then think about who you would like to reach.  Realize that this is not about asking for jobs but getting to know the right people.  Read blogs that pertain to your area of expertise and just make comments.  Search for both people and subjects on Twitter and respond.  Search for subjects in discussion groups on LinkedIn and join those groups. Use these comments and discussions and tweets as a way to reach out on other forms of SM.  

2.  Remember the culture of SM is to give.

Give information, give product or industry knowledge, give suggestions.  You search Twitter for relevant subjects and follow the people who are discussing these subjects.  Most of the time they will follow you back.  Read blogs on your industry and comment on them.  Then search for the bloggers on Twitter, etc and use your comment as a way to connect with them.  If you can come up with valuable information for people it provides a springboard for many ways to build up your network.   Answer questions and provide solutions using your own network if possible.  All of these things are important but the most important thing to remember is to try to be connected to people at the organizations where you would like to work or who are hiring managers in your industry.

3.  Use SM to demonstrate your knowledge.

If you know a lot about something in your industry, follow the people in your industry and respond to tweets, comment on blogs, participate in group discussions relevant to the type of job you are looking for.  Anything to make yourself more visible and demonstrate your knowledge to the crowd that will be hiring you.

4.  Define your target audience.

It doesn’t matter if you have 10,000 followers on Twitter if the people who need to be impressed by your knowledge are not in that list of followers.  Also, remember that everything you do on SM is visible so be careful of political posts and pictures or status updates that you wouldn’t want a potential boss to see or read.

5.  When builiding your network, personalize your invitations to connect. 

Write something like, “I read your blog and commented about your most recent post.  This topic is very interesting and I thought you brought up some great points.  Can we connect?” in a LinkedIn invitation.  

6.   Set a strategy to leverage your network.

 An example of lack of strategy and incorrect use of SM would be for a job seeker to ask their networks if they have job openings.  That is not really the best way to utilize networking of any kind.  The best way to take advantage of your network using social media is to target companies who have the type of job you are looking for, and then use your connections to figure out how to get in the door of that organization.  Or target specific people (hiring managers) and try to connect to them through a SM platform like LinkedIn or Facebook.  Your networks can help you figure out who is connected to whom to help you with personal introductions. Think of it as a people or company search, rather than a job search. 

7.  Use a number of sites together. 

I consider LinkedIn and Twitter a must.  LinkedIn is the professional platform and Twitter is a great tool to search for organizations and people.  This allows you to follow them, read the things they are reading and find other ways to connect.  There are also a lot of niche SM sites out there that can be found by reading blogs and learning about the people who comment on those.   Subscribe to these blogs and comment regularly.   Once you are doing it, you will see how different names pop up repeatedly and different sites will be referred to consistently.  All of these things will tell you what you need to be reading and where you need to participate to build a following in your industry.

 8.  Be creative and aware that you can touch TONS of people.

I think the best thing about using SM for a job search is that you are able to demonstrate your knowledge and interact with many, many more people than you can using traditional job search methods.  Also, it demonstrates that you are progressive in that you have taken the time to learn how to use it.  It  allows you to include links on your signatures in any format – traditional cover letters, emails, your resume, etc.  For example, you can create a minute and a half video resume and post it on You Tube and then post that link all over the place.  Or include the link to your video resume on a cover letter, or in your email signature.  Use your profile links on all your correspondence.  Using SM for a job search allows you to be very creative.

9.  Do not disregard traditional job search methods.  Instead use SM to augment your search.

 The best job search strategy is a combination of the old and the new.  If you can engage in SM with employees of a company you’d like to work for or hiring managers in your industry, you can then take it to a personal stage with a little bit of trust and credibility already in the bank.  You can use whatever means possible to connect and engage with your target audience to turn a cold call or cover letter type of situation into a quick conversation between two people who already know each other.  For example, you may follow someone you need to know on Twitter.  They follow you back.  You comment back and forth and start a relationship.  You then use that to connect on LinkedIn.  There you see in the profile this person likes golf and so do you, so you now create conversation about golf.  The natural progression is the ability to call this person on the phone and have a conversation.   What would have been a cold call to try to meet someone is now a warm call because some conversation has already taken place. 

10. Have fun and use SM to keep your spirits up. 

You will also find that there are a lot of other people in the same boat – searching for a job.  Connect with other job seekers to share experiences, learn from others’ mistakes, and stay motivated by reading success stories.  Provide assistance everywhere you can and you will get the same in return.