Author Archives: Dorothy Dalton

Employee social media usage restricted by contract

If one summer poolside conversation is anything to go by, there seems to be growing evidence of companies trying to ring-fence their organisations against the social media activity of their employees. It’s no longer simply just the odd high-profile, headline cases or instances of individuals being disciplined for posting sensitive content about their bosses, jobs or inferior cafeteria food. Nor is it about the use of company time for social networking. This is a wider spread, behind the scenes movement to restrict or clarify employee social media activity (depending on your view-point) via changes to employment contracts and the issuing of new conditions of service.

Mainstream

Sophie, an associate in a London-based consulting firm told me that she had recently been asked not to tweet on issues in the organisation’s geographic reach. As an international market leader, the activities of this company span many countries, so this was a significant restriction on what she considered to be her freedom of speech. An Account Manager who has been using LinkedIn for identifying prospects for business development purposes, has received a request from his manager to disconnect from these members. He was informed that the only information on the prospect should be on the company data base. An employee has also been asked to uncheck the options contact for career opportunities and job inquiries on his LinkedIn profile and to post a restricted career history.

Do you need help creating a strong online professional presence?

Catch up

The corporate world has always lagged behind the wider culture with regard to social media usage and as I predicted some time ago, some sort of ” catch-up” attempt was therefore inevitable. Employees can realistically expect to have the following conditions imposed on them in the forseeable future:

Prohibition of the use of employer-related information in any kind of employee postings
Restrictions on usage of social media sites during office hours using company hardware and systems
Prohibition on the disclosure/use of any sensitive, proprietary, confidential or financial information about the business or its clients
Prohibition of employee endorsement, direct or implicitly of the organisation’s business in any statement or posting
Prevention of engagement in conduct that would violate the employer’s other workplace policies, such as anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies
Information relating to any disciplinary policies up to and including termination of employment for infractions or violations of company policy

Employees should:

Never release the passwords of their social media accounts to third parties
Always use a private email address rather than a business one for all social media contact if in any doubt about how their social media activities will be perceived by their organisations
Never block a connection on LinkedIn on the instructions of a superior. This action is irreversible and the connection may be needed later
Discuss openly with any manager who requests a restriction on contact possibilities on a LinkedIn profile. Career opportunities, job inquiries, new ventures and business deals can also afford opportunities for the organisation, not just the individual. It is also a personal profile so individuals should be able to present their career history in any way that doesn’t damage the business interests of their employer.

The rub of course lies in this final point and where the overlap of personal and corporate interests become hazy. Overall, the social media revolution represents a fundamental shift in the way we communicate and the value of the opportunities is significant to all. What should be in place are measures that protect organisations and employees alike.

Have you been formally asked to restrict your social media activities via new conditions of service and employment? Please share your experience.

Children: A corporate inconvenience?

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I first wrote a post in 2012 asking are children a corporate inconvenience? I have updated it at intervals ever since. In 2023, I am still asking the same question.

Men and women are reporting negative fallout when they wish to assume ongoing responsibility for parenting and childcare. My thoughts were further compounded after reading that women of child-bearing age are considered to be employment risks. In many geographies lack of adequate childcare facilities or the cost of childcare, is driving mainly women out of the labour market.

The phrase “maternal wall” has entered our lexicons. We read about the Motherhood Tax which is the cost women incur for career success. But even in doing this we are assigning childcare responsibility and the cost of that care to women. That in itself is part of the problem. The couple surely bear the cost of parenting unless the woman is a single parent. Why don’t we call it the “Parenting Tax”

Change of mindset

Given the global problem of declining populations, ageing work forces and skill shortages it’s clear that a mind set shift is required. But for the future of global economies, it does strike me, that governments and businesses need to examine possibilities to create effective workforces with greater urgency. They need to factor in that children should also be raised in healthy environments, physically and emotionally.

Historically, this role has been assigned to women, but it is only necessary for a very short period of time, for self-evident, biological reasons. As such a high percentage of educated and qualified personnel are now women and it seems crazy to sit back and allow their skills to be under utilised. They either leave the workforce or choose to work below their capabilities so that they can raise and nurture their families.

But today in changing times, what happens when men and women alike want (or need) both professional and child-care responsibilities? Instead many couples are delaying starting families or women are deciding not to have children at all. It is too hard and expensive, especially if women are well educated and have too much to sacrifice.

To me it seems nothing short of a confused mess.

Changing times

In 1977 only 50% of married men were part of dual-income households, which has increased today to roughly 75%. To achieve work life balance/integration, whatever you want to call it, women in the 21st century are being constantly urged to re-negotiate the responsibility for household tasks within their own relationships as they are still doing most of the work at home. This situation was worsened by the pandemic and possobly accounts for the reason that Italy is ranked 63 in 2022 in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report. Italian women are doing most of the housework.

But for balance at home to become a reality, men have to then negotiate their own roles with their employers. An increasing number of men are now citing work/life balance as a major factor in career choice, an element which is strongly endorsed by Gen Y and now Gen Z starting out on their careers. Children have two parents even if they don’t live together.

Fatherhood has been perceived by potential employers as a guarantee of corporate drive and career commitment. On a longer term basis, a wish for workplace flexibility for family reasons is considered to be the “mummy track” to career suicide. Men are frequently advised not to pursue those options, even becoming “supernumerary” following such requests. Single parent fathers with custody obligations and sole responsibility for their children at specific times, are also on the increase, adding to the numbers for whom flexibility is a need, not a desire.

Skewed odds

So if men want to achieve parity in the home and be active parents, like their women colleagues they risk falling behind in the workplace. It is not always about a case of stereotypical macho slothfulness and a desire to watch the World Cup with a beer. It may not even be the maternal gatekeeping of their partners who are unwilling to relinquish domestic supremacy, although both can play a part.

This is about outdated business models and both social corporate cultures which mitigate against all.

Michael Ray, Aussie Top Voice for Gender Equity is vocal about what he calls the Parental Value Gap and is seeing the “constant mischaracterisation of fathers as uninterested, unable, or the tired, outdated offensive media gender stereotype of the “buffoon”, “man child” or “lazy dad” tropes removed any imperative for workplace, organisational or societal initiatives to call out and address the problems?”

Women were told that they could have it all, and that was a lie. Men were told that there was only one role for them, and that was a travesty.

New approach to parenting

Sweden became the first country to replace maternity leave with parental leave. A study published by the Swedish Institute of Labor Market Policy Evaluation in March 2010 showed, , that a mother’s future earnings increases on average 7% for every month the father takes leave. It also indicates penalties and loss of benefits imposed for men who don’t take this leave. Parents may use their 390 days of paid leave however they want up to the child’s eighth birthday — monthly, weekly, daily and even hourly. There has apparently been a commensurate reduction in the divorce rate.

The fact is that despite all the economic and social factors which would suggest we urgently need flexibility of mindset, today companies still make children a corporte inconvenience.

What do you think?

Get in touch now to strengthen your talent pipeline

Note: updated in 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2023

Message to self: why we need business dress codes

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At the risk of coming over as a Jurassic fossil, I’m not a fan of business dressing down, even on Fridays, let alone Monday to Thursday. And before the hoodie brigade and Facebook/Google/Insta/TikTok crew come at me with Smart phones blazing, I’ll tell you why! There are good reasons for business dress codes.

Appearance bias

Yes of course the words judging, books and covers come to mind. I know that what we’re wearing should have no impact on the quality of output, performance or decisions taken. I equally know it’s important to feel comfortable in an office or business situation. Clearly coal miners and steel workers cannot work in a jacket and tie and pole dancers, nurses and aerobics teachers can’t wear straight skirts and business suits. Some clothing is not occupation appropriate that is obvious. Nor am I in favour of fashion policing and suppressing freedom of expression. And especially as we are coming out of a pandemic and two years of #WFH.

Organisations

It isn’t either totally about general business impressions. At a pre-pandemic meeting in London I walked to the conference room through an office which seemed to be populated by pizza delivery personnel who had misplaced both their mopeds and their pizzas. Even if the client meeting is in a side office, many have glass walls and visitors generally have to pass through common areas. People do note the state of the offices, as well as the people working in them. This office did not inspire confidence and part of that message came from the way the personnel were dressed. It looked sloppy. Was that a bias? For sure, but it wasn’t a tech start up. I did factor that bias into consideration.

The fact is that grooming does make a difference. It sends out an important message to all around about us as individuals, as well as the organisations we work with and for. More importantly it’s also a signal about how we feel about ourselves and our jobs.

Message to self

Last week I had an early evening coaching session with a client. I thought she had come from the gym. In fact she had come from the office. She was struggling to assert herself in her business environment and her late nights in the office and early morning starts had morphed into one sleep deprived 80 hour week blur. Her personal life had all but vanished. She had also stopped wearing make-up and it seemed that she had possibly lost her hair brush. Her garments of choice were more appropriate for a rock festival than the offices of a multi-national. She claimed that everyone in her company adopts this casual approach and she is not one bit out-of-place. Not unsurprisingly there seems to be morale and motivation issues in that organisation as it fights uncertain economic times.

But effectively she has no life outside this 15/24 work day and as her job is a daily assault course, that is how she dresses. At some level that is how she perceives her daily routine and her role in it.

Professional identity

Her goal was to revert to re-creating a lost professional identity, one that she could separate from her personal life, so that in some small way she has one. By simply getting up in the morning and putting on her professional face and uniform and taking it off every night and putting it in the laundry basket when she gets home, she has created a critical psychological and physical distinction and barrier. This was not about power suit dressing and slapping on layers of make-up. Just looking put together.

We are all our greatest assets. It’s important to care, believe and invest in ourselves. Taking pride in our appearance reflects on us professionally. Not only is it a form of self-care, it’s also a cut off point and a visual and physical boundary between our work personas and the rest of our lives. We all need that vital separation in a world where our professional and personal selves can potentially slide into one undifferentiated continuum. This is what happened for many during the pandemic.

A business dress code is one way of doing that.

What do you think?

Updated 2021

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Early retirement: Dreams can go sour

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The flotation of a private international company on the stock exchange made Martin, a long serving board member a multi-millionaire. Within a relatively short period he had access to wealth that wouldn’t put him on any global rich lists, but provided that he didn’t do anything crazy, would guarantee him the very comfortable life style that most people only dream about – for the rest of his life. He had no need to work again. Ever. He was 47 and jumped at early retirement.

Meet Jean who inherited his grandmother’s property portfolio, selling at the top of the market in 2007 to make a small fortune. He retired from his role as Engineering Director aged 49.

5 years later their dream situations are far from idyllic. Both feel lonely, isolated, possibly even mildly depressed. Their relationships are under strain. The children are now either in university or working abroad. Friends are at work. Non executive directorships have not materialised. Perfection has morphed into problematic.

When considering early retirement at what is in reality a relatively young age to stop being professionally active, it’s a good idea to take these factors into consideration:

Do you really want to stop work altogether or simply change career? Sometimes the wish to retire early and not wanting to work at all, becomes confused with an inner signal of a need to do something different. Many people believe that switching direction in late 40s is not an option, but that is no longer true even in the corporate world. It is always good to discuss the personal aspects of early retirement with a transition professional, not just financial advisors. There are many options including becoming an entrepreneur.
Do you have a retirement strategy and goals? To give up what has been the structure and fabric of your life requires a strategy, particularly in the medium term. Make sure you have one. What will you do when the thrill of having breakfast at 1000 at home and wearing pjs all day wears off?
Do you have hobbies and pastimes that will occupy your time and stimulate you intellectually? Senior execs who have taken early retirement mention frequently the lack of intellectual stimulation as well as the ” buzz” and social engagement they gained from the positive aspects of their senior professional roles. Do you have substitutes? Can you take personal development or other courses, do voluntary work or acquire new skills?
What are your friends doing? Many men particularly complain of a buddy shortage. Generally their energy has hitherto been channelled into their careers and their friendship networks tend to be smaller than their female counterparts. Although the retiree can now go sailing at the drop of a hat or play golf during the week, their friendship groups tend to be reduced and in any case their pals are not available. Many are now also deferring their retirement dates, so the time when friends become available for week day outings is also likely to become deferred .
How is your network? Networking is a life long activity and particularly for those seeking non executive directorships, a vital component of any early retirement strategy. Steps should be taken to position yourself in the pre-retirement run-up. Unless you are strongly visible and high profile, these positions will not come to you. You will have to go after them. Think carefully before disconnecting from business associations and professional networks and cancelling subscriptions to journals and newsletters. Do you have an online presence? Even if retired, I would recommend a professional online profile to maintain visibility.
How is your relationship? Many men taking early retirement very often do not factor in the role and input of their partners, leading to unforseen relationship difficulties. Professional women may expect their men to assume a greater domestic role, a foreign assignment for many executives, especially if there are children living at home. Non working partners may feel as though their space and routines have been invaded and resent the impact on their day time previously autonomous schedules. Many transition experts will also bring partners into any pre-retirement coaching sessions and it’s always useful to prepare your relationship for this next phase of your life.

It’s indeed strange to think that what would be a fantasy for most of us in today’s economic climate, can actually have a downside. Early retirement even with a sizeable bank balance is not without challenges. Like any major transition professional support and preparation is advisable, especially when the dream starts to go sour.

The phrase “having it all” rears its ugly head again

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Having it all – a blast from the past

The phrase ‘having it all’, the famous tagline coined by the original Superwoman Shirley Conran, has plagued us since 1975 which truthfully started all this nonsense. I had hoped it had disappeared for ever. It conned women into believing that we could ‘have it all’ when it actually means ‘doing it all’ or ‘managing it all’. It has now reared its ugly head to probably do the same level of disservice to women everywhere, as it did first time round.

Another high-profile writer has caused a storm. Anne-Marie Slaughter was the first woman director of policy planning at the State Department and in “a foreign-policy dream job that traces its origins back to George Kennan.” She has stepped down for family reasons which has precipitated a flow of unprecedented angst on behalf of ” women”. In the Atlantic July/August “Women still can’t have it all” Ms Slaughter basically reiterates the many truisms that most talent management specialists, as well as both women and men everywhere, have been saying for years when dealing with the challenges of the 21st century workplace.

Important issues

There is no doubt that a highly visible woman publically targeting the key issues both men and women face in their careers today is beneficial. But sweeping, emotive, headline- grabbing generalisations from women of privilege, do other women everywhere a disservice, not just in the upper echelons of U.S. government administration. This headline is being picked up and syndicated globally to become a stand- alone #trending news item.

What is “having it all” anyway? Should Ms Slaughter’s headline become a defining slogan for all women? I don’t think so. But sadly, it probably will be applied to all women, all over the world, just as Conran’s did before her.

Out dated business models

Corporate business models are currently generally based on two factors: a fully functional nuclear family which in many societies today, is significantly reduced. This brings a distinct divide between domestic (usually childcare) and revenue generating responsibilities, with one partner today tending to assume point roles on each side of that divide, women focusing on childcare and men on revenue generating. This model which exists to various degrees in different parts of the world, is outmoded and impacts both men and women equally:

Global economies are dealing with skill set shortages, declining birth rates and aging populations. We have essentially created a cultural conundrum. Economically we need women to have children. We cannot support an aging population with an insufficient economically productive base. 60% of graduates are now female, those skills are under utilised with developed economies filling key gaps with migrant men.
A presence rather than result focused business culture in today’s hi-tech, super- communication age is also out dated. Organisations can be effectively managed without all personnel being in the same place, 24/7/52
A macho work culture where “pulling all-nighters“, working 15 hour days and not taking time off at weekends and vacations is glorified and seen as a “badge of honour”, rather than acknowledged as increasing the incidence of risk for error and being potentially damaging to both physical and mental health.
Men and women are both refusing to relocate for family reasons and have been for some time, as any search specialist will tell you: spousal professions, housing costs, education, single parent status and child and elder care are the 5 reasons most often quoted to me.

Extreme commuting

The extreme weekly commute from Trenton to Washington Ms Slaughter was undertaking, seemed to be at the root of the issues and anxiety she was facing. She makes no mention of why her husband and family didn’t move with her. Many families relocate with children aged 12 and 14. I would imagine the job of her husband Andrew Moravcsik, who “supports ” her career as a Princeton Professor, was a criterion. Perhaps it wasn’t feasible that he move to Washington. Perhaps he didn’t want to. But an increasing number of men are re-locating to support their wives career progression.

Nor do we know what emergencies caused her to rush home mid-week and why her husband was unable to handle them. As Conran famously quipped “you don’t need a pair of breasts to take a child to the dentist”

Children – a corporate inconvenience

Fathers in the workplace tend to be viewed more highly, not just above women, but also above men without children. So although we hear about the “Daddy Factor” where men are perceived positively for family involvement, most say that if this manifests itself in a substantial time commitment, then that perception would rapidly shift to become career suicide. For our businesses to survive and to maximise the potential of both men and women in the work place, we cannot continue to relegate child care to the level of corporate inconvenience.

Any re-location specialist would have suggested that this arrangement whether for a man or woman, was potentially fraught with difficulties for all involved, without significant workplace concessions. Astonishingly, this seemed not to be part of any sign-on package. Although men who work away from their homes and families putting in punishing hours, might appear to do so more willingly, they are not unscathed. They report significant damage to their relationships and health and many are afterwards filled with regret.

Wanting too much

Ms Slaughter’s regular job is as University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University where she says “I teach a full course load; write regular print and online columns on foreign policy; give 40 to 50 speeches a year; appear regularly on TV and radio; and am working on a new academic book”

By most people’s standards male or female, she already had it all. The suggestion that she didn’t, creates a benchmark for inadequacy. Did she simply want too much and have unrealistic expectations?

But above all, letting the mantras and experience of famous, well placed, individual women, whether Conran or Slaughter, become global catch phrases for all women is high risk. This is damaging to the men and women who would, and do, make entirely different choices. They will inevitably be tarred as flight risks by that same stereotyping brush when applying for senior positions.

What does ” having it all ” mean for you?

The CV black hole. A hiring manager says “give me a break!”

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One of the consistent comments and causes of distress and frustration for all job seekers, is falling into the candidate CV black hole of no communication. This might be with executive search and recruitment consultants or corporate hiring managers.

Automated responses generated by an impersonal CRM system come a close second for most, but in some cases despite their impersonality they can play a role.

Exclusion clauses

Paul told me how it’s becoming increasingly common for job postings to include exclusion text. ” Only short listed candidates will be contacted ” or “If you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of submitting your CV, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.”

He had applied for a number of positions, one being at a well-known consumer goods company which was his preferred opportunity. When he failed to hear after 4 weeks and attempts to contact the hiring manager were unsuccessful, he assumed he was not a viable candidate and accepted another offer. Two weeks later he was called for interview. That job match might have been made in heaven but neither party will now know. Paul is left with a rather poor impression of a company he had previously held in high regard. An automated holding response could quite easily have been set up to cover this contingency.

Explanation

I asked one Talent Manager in a major industrial organisation, Rebeka, how this situation could arise. She explained with some frustration the nature of her working day which show cases the way her company and most others operate. HR staff cuts were made in 2009 and outsourcing to executive search companies has been reduced to only the most senior positions.

Why the CV black hole exists

Their system, which would be relatively commonplace, runs along these lines:

Candidates upload their CV online line or send them in via email.
The recruitment manager responsible for the opening receives that mail or a notification from the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) system. This will be one of 100′s of similar mails received each day.
If the application is viewed by a person it is then filed in an assignment folder, usually on an in-house data base. Many resumes will not even get reviewed due to the volume and are cut by ATS software, the recruiters software gatekeeper. Applications with no specific reference will be shunted into another type of non- specific folder, a sub black hole if you will.
Only candidates moving forward are contacted.

Not enough hours in a day!

In terms of time management, hiring managers have multiple open positions. If they receive only 10 applications per day and have 5 open positions (a very conservative estimate) even during a hiring freeze her week typically looks something like this:

250 CVs received per week
2 minutes taken per CV (including retrieval, reading CV, only about 10 seconds, then possibly some online research, perhaps forwarding to hiring manager = 500 minutes = more than 1 day per week reading CVs.
If 20% of candidates are telephone screened per week that probably accounts for another 17.3 hours = 2 days per week
Face to face interviewing and testing, including travel arrangements, coordinating interviewers and venue confirmation – minimum 1-2 days per week.
The rest of the time is taken up with status updates and funnel stats for the management committee, reviewing incoming assignments from line managers plus any unsolicited calls which make it past the company or departmental gate keepers.

At a time of high unemployment, when even individuals in secure employment are looking for change after 3 years of stagnation, what we are seeing is that most open positions are heavily oversubscribed.

Perhaps exclusion alerts on job postings are better than nothing.

What do you think?

If your organisation needs hiring support get in touch.

7 reasons to stop candidate bargain hunting

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As we recover from the brink of a global collapse during the pandemic, businesses are observing nervously on the side-lines and moving into hiring mode. There are millions of open vacancies and positions are reportedly undersubscribed and many employers have little choice of top talent. Yet reports of organisations trying to bring in excellent talent at budget, low ball salaries still seem to be around. But how wise is this decision to go candidate bargain hunting?

Candidate bargain hunting

The trend where HR Managers are issuing “plenty more fish in the sea” type statements. They hope to play on candidates’ market insecurities, without offering anything in return to buy in longer term commitment. Strategic carrots which might be offered could include:

a later salary review based on results or performance
training or development possibilities or longer term career benefits,
a mentor
luncheon vouchers
extra-days holiday,
telecommuting and flexi-time.

Anything! Where is the imagination?

Low ball offer

A recent MBA graduate, who has just invested €50K in his professional development told me that an HR Manager had given him a “take it ir leave it” option over a €1000 per annum salary differential (€2.7 per day.) The offer which was already 10% below the market rate was 10% below his stated minimum requirement. The company wants to see how he might “settle in“.

Message: they’re not that bothered if he joins or not!

This development is a short-sighted, ill-advised HR practise. Win/lose negotiations damage relationships in any arena and will almost always be doomed from the outset. The hiring process is no exception to this general rule.

7 ways to be better

Suggestions that an organisation needs to see a candidate “settle in” sends signals about the lack of trust in their own hiring process and lack of belief in the recruitment decision. Probationary periods are normal, but if the recruitment procedure is top-notch, they are generally a formality. Organisations need to convey excitement about their prospective hires, not doubt. Doubt does not inspire or motivate!
HR practitioners should think long-term and with business vision leaving room for negotiation, despite seemingly pressing budget needs. With the value of onboarding estimated at around 3 times annual salary, this attitude is short-sighted and ultimately expensive. Salary benchmarking differentials can also be found in the public domain so an increasing number of candidates know their market value (especially MBA candidates)
Candidates may indeed accept this discounted offer and then shop around for a better one, only to withdraw at the last moment. benching is frequent in today’s climate. The company is then left high and dry. I have seen this happen far too often when organisations under-pitch their offers. The cost of an open position has to be factored in.
Word gets round and damages the company brand. Playing hard ball for €2.7 per day sends out a bad message about all involved in the process.
Companies which are cheap at the beginning with low-cost salary policies may not change. Candidates understand that well.
The new cheap hire will leave as soon as they get another opportunity.
The new cheap hire will not go the extra distance nor be totally committed unless there happens to be a visionary manager in the process or the HR Manager who took this obdurate position has moved on. Either way, from a company perspective that leaves too much to chance.

Times are challenging and complex, but companies have many options to foster a positive attitude with a creative and flexible talent management strategy.

If €2.7 per day is a deal breaker then there is something wrong somewhere.

If your organisation needs help repurposing your recruitment process get in touch NOW!

Why reference seeking is a key skill

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Resume / CV fraud has always been around, but the case of Scott Thompson, named Yahoo’s chief executive in January 2012, illustrates how easy it is for even senior appointments to slip through the net without thorough due diligence and reference seeking. By May of the same year he was history.

Everyone assumes that the previous company has done the necessary work especially when the candidate has a strong market reputation. The former president of PayPal graduated from Stonehill College in Massachusetts with a degree in accounting, but his claim to a degree in computer science turned out to be factually inaccurate.

Critical skill

Reference seeking is a valuable tool in the executive search box and a real skill, one that is under rated and sadly too frequently inadequately utilised. It is more critical than ever to the hiring process, not simply to weed out blatant lies. Today, job seekers are becoming more sophisticated, especially at a senior level. Top level candidates are now encouraged to orientate their CVs towards each specific opening, sometimes employing skilled resume writers to perfect them to showcase their talents and career histories. A polished, perhaps even coached interview performance will seal the deal.

What it is not!

Reference seeking is not a chat or quick call with a nominated person or business associate from the candidate’s previous career, or a substitute for other forms of rigorous assessment. Nor should it be based on idle network gossip. If there is smoke then the fire should be systematically tracked down! Very often market whispering can provide valuable feedback if processed correctly.

Preparation

Many companies will no longer give written references for fear of litigation and will only state any facts such as the candidate’s dates of employment and job title. Obviously the candidate should be informed that contact will be made which is now generally by telephone. Preparation for the call should be as strategic as the job interview itself. It is important that the reference seeker understands the key requirements and qualities needed for the position.

Referees are usually proposed by the candidate so he/she obviously expects to be spoken about in glowing terms. Quite often they will also have been specifically briefed. It’s therefore necessary to get behind the story with prepared questions relating to the open position and the skills and qualities required that are as penetrating as the candidate job interview. Each interview usually takes about an hour. It is probably a good idea to seek referees in possibly 3 previous companies, dependent on the experience level of the candidate. One excellent reference from the last employer could simply mean they want to get rid of a troublesome employee!

Part of onboarding

References can also be helpful in the onboarding process. If a candidate comes with outstanding references from a number of sources and suddenly under performs in the new role, then that might suggest that some internal questions need to be asked about cultural fit, onboarding programmes etc. facilitating early intervention.

And finally, before the start date, copies of any academic or professional certificates should be supplied. That one simple step would have helped Yahoo save face, not to mention a lot of money.

If you need to train your recruitment team on reference seeking – get in touch NOW!

What is the most marketable skill needed by future candidates?

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Times they are certainly changing and as an increasing number of our populations in developed economies are completing further education, only to become unemployed, the cries from, and about, ” over/under-qualified ” candidates come loudly from both sides of the hiring process. It’s hard to know what are our most marketable skill is.

This can cover:

too many/few years of experience,
education levels above/below demanded level
too highly paid in current or previous job, or simply unemployed

Both candidates and hiring managers are frequently guilty of wasting each other’s time. Candidates often apply for jobs sometimes in desperation, often times without any insightful or strategic thought, when their qualifications far exceed or fail to meet the demands made on the profile.

On the other hand organisations over- egg their job profile omelette assigning ludicrous qualifications and experience requirements to even low-level jobs.

Madeleine a research scientist told me “ I recently passed through a hiring process down to the final short list. I was eventually rejected on the grounds that I had a Masters and an MBA and would get bored with the job. My qualifications are clear on my resume. Although no process is ever a complete waste of time I actually took 3 afternoons off work to attend the interviews with the executive search company and then twice with the employer. If every company did this job seekers would be trouble with their current employers”

Alternatively, the concerns hiring managers have about placing candidates that are too highly qualified are in many instances valid. There could be repercussions for the team, the person could be onboarded and then leave because they lose interest or become disruptive or demotivated for the same reason

Do you struggle to identify the right candidates? Check out the executive search and research options?

So with workplaces and technology changing at such a rapid pace and job functions disappearing or being re-engineered faster than we realise, it is going to make the identification of the right calibre candidate hard to assess as transferable skills, training potential and cultural fit becoming increasingly important. By the same token it will also become increasingly challenging for candidates to know when they could the right fit for a particular job and if they should submit an application.

Ideal marketable skill

In that case it will therefore be more helpful for both parties to focus on requirements and qualities needed in the future:

Getting beyond job titles and focus on skills and achievements
Examine team playing abilities and leadership experience
Look at personality, enthusiasm, learning styles and flexibility

If we are currently preparing for jobs that don’t exist yet then provided that basic skills are in place, the most valuable and marketable skill candidates can have and need, will surely be the pace at which they can learn and adapt.

Add on other valuable soft skills which cement any career the lovely phrase “hire the will, train the skill” will come into play.

What do you think?

Ladies! Will an interest in men’s sports advance your career?

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Last year at exactly this time, while I was working I must confess, being a sucker for a good ceremony, I was maintaining a watchful half eye on the biggest pageant the world has seen for a very long time – THE Royal Wedding. Keeping me company was an old friend and business associate – male.

I was somewhat surprised at his willingness to spend any time at all observing the frankly semi – hysterical, international orgy of girly gushing about frocks and fascinators, although a view of Pippa Middleton’s fine derrière seemed to make it all worthwhile. When I asked him why, he told me that as the CEO of a company which employs over 90% women, he feels he needs to at least be able to comment intelligently and engage on issues that interest the people who work for and with him. Women. He knew they would all have watched the ceremony, as well as the pre and post analysis ad nauseam and he wanted to be able to make a contribution. I passed an admiring comment on his open-mindedness and resilience – it was rather a protracted affair as you may recall.

Women don’t engage in men’s interests especially sports

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Leadership obligation

His reaction took me by surprise. His perception was that it was a leadership obligation to understand the culture of his organization. It was just coincidence that in this case his employees happened to be all women. He went one step further and maintained that IHHO there was a general failing in women to do the same, suggesting that we women are remiss in taking no, or very little time, to engage or understand male culture and topics which are of interest men, simply bitching up a small storm about being excluded especially an interest in men’s sports.

Fast forward a year to the Brussels JUMP conference. One of the keynote speakers Jean-Charles Van den Branden gave an eloquent presentation on the barriers that women encounter in the workplace. One passing comment struck a memory chord. Hiring managers recruit and promote people they like and trust, which as a recruiter I know to be true. Jean-Charles cited that men for example like football (soccer in the US) and would feel more comfortable with candidates who have similar interests, because this forges a bond between them more easily.

Common interests forge bonds

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Would it make a difference?

This is indeed bias by another name – gravitating towards people who are like you and think the same. Now I can’t help but wonder would it really make a difference if female candidates become conversant in the minutiae of the international transfer arrangements of the Premier League, tapped into the latest Spurs, Juventus or Barca gossip or took a position on the EUEFA cup final (May 19th Bayern Munich v Chelsea) rather than simply what’s going on with the WAGs? The world is full of women who are not only passionate about activities that are perhaps wrongly traditionally and stereotypically considered to be male areas of interest, as spectators, but as participants as well.

In the UK 1 in 4 of those who pass through the turnstiles is a woman. 33% of London marathon runners are women, whereas in New York the figure rises to 38%. According to Scarborough Marketing , 42 percent of the NFL’s total fan base is made up of women.

But does an interest in men’s sports result in professional leverage for women?

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I didn’t know – so I asked around.

A key differentiator

Carys Osborne, Commercial Consultant at Optimal Media and Man U fan says “a definite yes.” Being able to explain the off side rule has made a real difference. “Working in the advertising industry, it is all about networking, building relationships with clients and having that personal touch. A knowledge of football instantly creates common ground with prospective clients. It adds something other than a sales pitch discussion to build a rapport. Company directors might not have much time to speak to sales callers, but they are happy to take 10 minutes out of their day to talk about last night’s game. As a woman able to have these discussions, you become memorable to people, which is key to success”.

Not really

I got a different perspective from Amy a Corporate Lawyer who is both a runner and a footie fan, with the London marathon and the 3 Peaks Challenge under her belt. Raised with three brothers learning about football wasn’t an option for her. She was however less sure that it advanced her career in what is the conservative, male dominated environment of the law. But she told me “ I think it all gives me additional respect. The 3 Peaks is particularly challenging and a lot of men don’t make it. It was irrefutable proof of my resilience, commitment and focus. Being interested in football means that I can genuinely participate in post work chat which undoubtedly helps office relationships”

A question of marketing

Anne Vandorpe, Consumer Sales and Marketing Manager at Sanoma Media, a soccer Mum and fan, plans to run the NYC marathon later this year. She suggested as a marketeer that “it’s all about knowing your market whether it’s consumer product users or male hiring managers “ and has always found her interest in sport extremely helpful professionally. She has a word of caution that it can be useful as a differentiator, but will exhaust itself if all women had the same level of enthusiasm in traditional areas of male interest. The natural scheme of things will result in men and women finding other ways of standing out.

Where is this headed?

So ladies, as someone who sadly wouldn’t know a penalty from a corner, is the message that we need to get out our football scarves or running shoes and show an interest in men’s sports, Should we make a better effort at taking an interest in stereotypical male activities and improve our all-round engagements in these areas of interest? Is this what we need to enhance our careers?

But where does this leave the concept of diversity? Isn’t it about accepting and benefiting from our differences? Don’t men and women alike need their own spaces or are we headed for a totally “metro-sexual” world? Shouldn’t we all be allowed to be who we are without it impacting our acceptance or credibility? And where does it leave the question of unconscious bias in the workplace? We should surely be looking for cultural value rather than cultural fit.

Or is all this requirement to show an interest in men’s yet another smoke screen? Should any of it matter at all?

What do you think?

Men and women please complete my LinkedIn poll ” Has an interest in any particular sport helped advance your career?”