HR's time for reflection

Lately I've been very cerebral. Stuck in my thoughts for hours. In fact, as a recruiter you move so fast and speak with so many people - that you very rarely get those moments of deep reflection. It's also that time of year when HR gets a tad hairy. We have open enrollment, budgeting, workforce planning and it's also Q4! The business is trying to finish off strong, but it is HR's time for measuring and planning. Naturally I am knee deep!

I don't know about you, but all this planning requires some deep reflection. Thinking about what worked, what didn't... what improvements are needed? What does next year look like and how will we drive those results? What resources are needed and what resources have had a low ROI? Then there is: data, data, data. Hopefully you have the data to substantiate your opinions and decisions - right? Well, for front line recruiters... maybe not as much. They just know what they know... because they experience it first hand.  However, if you are going to make a business case... data sure would be the icing on the cake now wouldn't it!?

Frankly, my head is spinning with all of these thoughts and ideas!


The thing that I've been pondering most is Branding.... it's a hot topic and has been for years. It affects the recruiter and hr practitioners world in so many ways. If I were to take a holistic look at my day-to-day; the employment brand impacts my ability to recruit, retain and engage the workforce. Sure I could be pondering big data... I could be pondering better engagement strategies (which I think is next on the list), but I keep coming back to branding. I think because to me.... it's foundational. It's grass roots. I've also realized how easily social media gets confused as branding; instead of the vehicle for branding. So, I set out to get a refresher on employment branding and found myself with a plethora of content out there. Sweet!

Some shout outs:

Great post this week in Talent Management Magazine

LinkedIn's - State of Employer Branding

Wise Branding Advice: Your Employment Brand must be genuine!!!
If you brand the company and then can't get your organization to live up to the brand.... essentially it is false advertising. Let me tell you... people do not take kindly to that sort of thing!

Have you come across any good content or stats on employment branding?
Please respond and share..

The Art of Rejection: Vital to Candidate Experience

Rejection... unfortunately something we all face at one point or another. It stinks being on the receiving end of it, but in life rejection is a necessary evil.

The reason I picked this topic today, is because of a conversation I had with a job seeker late last week. She said, "I am tired of applying and interviewing for jobs and never getting a call or an email back". I understood where she was coming from....if you took the time to apply, phone interview, take time off to go into their office; the least they could do is communicate their decision. However, being the one who delivers bad news more than good news gives me some ...er....perspective.

I understand that recruiters carry heavy work loads and don't always have the time to get back to everyone. I am not excusing it, because that is not my M.O. I have met recruiters that just don't like sending rejection letters or making that dreaded call. It's not fun. I get that, because I don't enjoy it either. One of the reasons that I love recruiting is giving someone who deserves the job - the job! The thing is, it IS a necessary evil... because it is vital to candidate experience.

So what about other forms of rejection? In Sales? In Sports? In getting picked last? In not getting the promotion? In not getting the guy/girl? We all have to experience this (unfortunately), but what I will leave you with is this... What did you learn from getting rejected? Have you taken the time to ponder that?

I am a firm believer in learning from negative experiences. Maybe you will practice more to make the team? Maybe you will learn to coach instead of play? So, you didn't get the promotion... what did the person have that you didn't? Was it a political decision? Should you develop your skills more in one area or another? Is it time to move on and get the recognition you deserve? You didn't catch that awesome fish in the sea... was it a blessing in disguise? Do you need to spend some time working on yourself?

There are a lot of questions you can be asking yourself when you experience rejection. I am not saying that you should blame yourself or be hard on yourself - that is NOT what you should do. What I am saying is that reflection is important. Understanding your weaknesses is a step forward in self improvement and I am a big advocate for self improvement (I have the braces at 34 to prove it!).

Now as for the Art of Rejection....

You have probably been subjected to the "sandwich methodology" - you know where you get two compliments sandwiched between the negative feedback (or in this case rejection). In HR, we tread lightly when giving feedback (if at all), because it mitigates risk. People misinterpret what you say sometimes, twisting kind feedback and turning it into a discriminatory remark. As such, a recruiter will never tell you exactly why you didn't get the job (or at least they shouldn't). Where the "art" comes in is... crafting a rejection that is not ego destroying.

For example: "Thank you for all the time you invested in our interview process. While your background was most impressive, we have decided to hire someone who better fit the requirements of the positions. We hope that we will cross paths again in the future. Best of luck in your search." Yes, there is a compliment in there, but it's not just a simple sandwich. It is more of a positive let down. This approach will leave a favorable impression of your company and is what the candidate experience friendly rejection should feel like. Positive, open for the future, encouraging respect for their time investment and still promoting the employment brand.

Thoughts?

Culture or Context?

Culture is one of those buzz words that candidates ask about and employers try to articulate, but in my opinion - you really don't fully know the culture until you are breathing it, living it and judging it for yourself.

Sure employers want to identify culture and use or spin it in a positive light for purposes of branding, attraction and retention. Why not use every arsenal possible?? However, the reality is that often times the way an employer describes their culture is not actually how being in the culture is. If you had an opportunity while investigating whether the company was right for you, wouldn't you like to ask several people of different levels how they would describe the culture of the company? Objective people that have no care for whether you get the job or not? The answers vary sometimes and don't always line up....but when they do, that is also something to pay attention to. I've experienced many cultures in my staffing days and then also as an employee for several.

I have defined a few below (but I am sure there are many other definitions my blogger friends have too):

Brainwashed: This is where the employee brand, mission, vision and values are drilled into the minds of all employees (over and over again) in an attempt to have a uniform voice. Makes sense strategically, but what happens when you start the job and you are subjected to said brainwashing only to find yourself in the job 3 months later going...this is well....Bologna!

Severed Voices: This is where there is no real message and no actual work done on defining the culture. When you ask multiple people, you get varying of answers. One says something cliche' like "we work hard, play hard", while another spouts off some canned response like "our culture is one of collaboration and innovation". These are meaningless to a job seeker because they do not actually represent the culture.

Real Transparent: Very rare, but sometimes employers are open enough to allow a candidate to shadow for the day or attend a company event with the hopes of allowing the candidate to define the culture for themselves. This is unique and it takes a level of confidence on the part of the organization to say, "Who am I to define it? Define it for yourself!"

Foundational: This is usually found in organizations that have the money to actually pull off the whole culture branding thing. There is a person in a desk that owns accountability for this and probably a team of deployment peeps as well. From the website, to the office and through on boarding - you see consistency and the culture is representative even when the honeymoon phase  is over. This is a hard fete and some big companies can't get there because their vision and corporate politics clash.

My advise to a candidate is this: Ask the culture question, hear the answers but know that you will never really know the culture until you experience it for yourself. Each person's experience and definition will vary inevitably. Even the company with the best plan for cultural immersion and employment branding still has the office gossip, the negative nancy, the company champion, the canned responder and the blank stare person.

When on the interview - take in your surroundings. Are people smiling? Are people working together? Or are they whispering by the water cooler? When deciding on the offer - visit the companies facebook and social media pages and look at their pictures and posts! Scope out the LinkedIn profiles of their employees and past employees too. If you see a ton of people who came and went - maybe that is a red flag, but maybe it's not. Be careful with sites like Glassdoor.com, because people typically review a company when they are pissed off. Very rarely do people go.... I love my company culture so much I think I will post a review on Glassdoor! What I think is the most telling is when a company has a high percentage of employee referrals!

So maybe the right questions are:

What percentage of your hires come through employee referrals?
What is the average tenure of your employees?
What do your people like most about the culture?
How can I get a better feel for what it will be like to work for your company?