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We hope you find that the information presented here is helpful in meeting the challenges you face every day in the ongoing management of talent (recruiting, retention, and market trends). Your suggestions for topics AND your feedback on topics/blog posts are always welcome!

Archive for April, 2010

References Available Upon Request

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

It used to be the final line on all resumes. (Does that mean references would NOT be available if that line wasn’t there?) Most candidates, regardless of their current work situation, have a general idea of the people they would like called as employment references. More and more candidates, if they have a LinkedIn account, are adding references to their LinkedIn page. On February 25,under the Blog topic Social Networking, I talked about never encountering a negative LinkedIn reference. The reasons are obvious.

Get a signed release form

We have all candidates that are going to be interviewed by our firm sign a Consent for Release form. The language is simple but important and includes the following:

  • We may contact those persons whom you have identified to us as potential references. In addition, we may contact other friends, business associates or acquaintances.

The release goes on to assure that the candidate has read AND fully understands the release language. It then requires their signature.

Comprehensive reference checking

One of our Blog readers recommended this topic because of the many ethical nuances that exist in this area. A search firm wants the placement to move along quickly. There is also the guarantee – that if a candidate leaves their new employment (for virtually any reason) within a set period of time, the search has to be completed again.

We want the truth

Make sure your search firm is performing in the following areas – through up-front discussion with them before starting an assignment:

  • Getting a signed release of liability from all presented candidates
  • Verifying educational credentials (we still see a 10% to 15% falsification rate on degrees – even after the release is signed)
  • Checking references – and making sure client-specific questions are addressed
  • Going beyond what is provided (allowed through the release)

One word of caution here – there are only a few degrees of separation between people – especially in the twin cities community. Make sure to draw the line between comprehensive reference checking and potential (current) career damage because of checking.

(A special thank you to Steven Snyder, Ph.D. of Snyder Leadership Group for his question/e-mail on this topic.)

Posted in Ethics

Everyone is talking about it!

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

I recently had the honor of being a panelist at the recent HRP-MN Spring Conference. The conference title was Post Recession Strategies: Regroup – Retain – Recruit. A few days later, I attended the HR Tomorrow Conference and led one of their breakout sessions. The HR Tomorrow Conference theme was The Changing Face of HR: Navigating in the ‘New Normal’.

The Clear Theme

It is obvious that the HR procession, and I dare to say business as a whole, is trying to develop strategies for recovery and sustained positive growth. HR is concerned about keeping their best talent at a time where employees are clearly tired and feeling ‘beat up.’

But social networking?

A topic that was brought up repeatedly at the HRP MN Conference was Social Networking. At the HR Tomorrow Conference, Social Networking was not only brought up but it was also the topic of one of the breakout sessions. There seemed to be two sides to the topic as it was addressed:

  • using social networking in recruiting
  • watching out for the legal issues surrounding social networking

The OTHER side of the social networking equation

The legal concerns were many. One theme, however, was what some employees were saying about their employer and/or supervisors on their Facebook (or other) page. I submit to you this is something employers should be equally concerned about. There are multiple websites that current and past employees can use to anonymously post comments, reviews and, in some cases, ratings about their current or past workplace. (These were listed in our last Blog entry – but need to be repeated again for what I think are obvious reasons.) Here is a partial but expanded list:

  • JobVent.com
  • PingMyCompany.com
  • Criticat.com
  • JobBite.com
  • Getunvarnished.com
  • Glassdoor.com

Candidates (and current employees) are checking these out. You should be too!

Posted in Social Networking

Recovery and its Implications

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

This is the theme of discussions and conferences

Earlier this week, Human Resource Professionals of Minnesota held their spring conference. The focus/title was Post Recession Strategies: Regroup – Retain – Recruit. On April 16th, the University of Minnesota is hosting its 31st Annual HR Tomorrow Conference. The title is The Changing Face of HR: Navigating in the ‘New Normal’.

What are employees REALLY saying about their employers?

The tech-savvy candidate (and you need people to have this ability) is checking out his/her options – and more and more options are coming to the forefront. Check the following websites and see if your employer is listed:

  • JobVent.com
  • PingMyCompany.com
  • Criticat.com
  • JobBite.com

Did 2009 Really Change Anything?

On April 8th, staffing.org came out with an article by this very title. According to the article, there were three insights that came from their research:

  • The critical importance of talent at all job levels for all companies
  • The difficulty of competing for talent in an increasingly fragmented job market
  • The growing efficiency gap between technology ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’

The article stated that 2009 represented a reprieve in the War for Talent as employees hunkered down, but the reprieve is looking to be short-term.

Hewitt on Communications

Hewitt Associates, well known for their global HR consulting, came out with an article called Ten Principles for Leadership Communication. Some of their themes and principles included:

  • Everything communicates – policies, incentives, treatment of people going in or out.
  • One size does not fit all – vary the communications for your diverse audiences.
  • There is a difference between information AND communication.

The conclusion from all of the above – make sure you start working today on getting employees to re-engage in your company.

Posted in Employee Engagement

Transparency

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

The quality of being clear and transparent

The 2010 theme for compensation programs at all levels appears to be Transparency. I decided to look for definitions of this word/concept on the Internet. The first is mentioned in the above headline. The second is a bit more comprehensive and telling:

  • Transparency is a general quality. It is implemented by a set of policies, practices and procedures that allow citizens to have accessibility, usability, informativeness, understandability and auditability of information and process held by centers of authority (society or organizations).

While the news has been full of stories of executives in all industries making huge salaries and large bonuses (yes – this started long before the recent recession), this recession has finally brought out a more concrete response from shareholders and boards of directors.

Recent News Headlines:

  • General Mills shareholders voted to approve a “say on pay” policy. Under this new policy, shareholders will be able to cast an advisory vote every other year on policies and practices used by the company’s Board of Directors Compensation Committee to set compensation for the officers named in the company’s proxy statement.
  • Kennedy Consulting recently reported that Hewitt Associates executed a partial divestiture of its Executive Compensation Consulting business. With the recent SEC ruling on fee disclosure rules and the current political environment, clients want to move toward completely independent advisors when working with executive compensation.

Not just for executives

Employees at all organizational levels want transparency. While I do NOT know anyone that truly feels overpaid, people do want to better understand how and why they are paid what they are paid.

  1. Where did my salary range and actual salary determination come from?
  2. Why did my bonus pay out (or not pay out) at the level it did?
  3. What can I concretely do through job performance to impact my salary/bonus?

It all ties together – toward engagement

One of the key themes in the area of employee engagement is ongoing direct and honest communication. Compensation is no different. People want the truth – and should be able to understand it when they are given information and can engage in a dialogue with their management.

The Shareholders and/or Board of Directors should NOT have to dictate compensation policy to achieve transparency. Enough said!

Posted in Compensation