In an era of fake news and general misinformation is it time to challenge the faux professional? What is a faux professional? One day last week I sat with a career transition client reviewing his activity since our last session. Let’s call him Bob. It seemed that Bob had gone off plan. When looking into…

When cultural fit is important, diversity of thought is side-lined The toughest and most re-occurring challenge for any organisation when trying to implement a diversity and inclusion policy is diversity of thought.  Why? Because diversity of thought can question the fabric of an organisation’s culture. It is a change management exercise that asks everyone involved…

Diversity and Inclusion recruitment processes and workforces are the buzz words right now. If the level of white noise was a benchmark, we should be there and all sorted. But we’re not. So  what’s going on behind the hype? Why aren’t diversity and inclusion recruitment initiatives working? I see regular, but superficial posts about the…

Affinity bias and cultural fit plays safe and stifles diversity Affinity bias is defined as: preference for certain types of people for whom they have an affinity, such as respondents who are similar to them or that they find attractive, and including them in the sample at higher rates than others. “The right fit” is…

As someone who is notoriously mind-less (I am the person who opens the refrigerator door and has forgotten why,) it has taken a lot of work for me to become attuned to my own biases. In that process I have become especially aware of the value of the process of mindfulness in recruitment. It was…

I have been involved in many bullying cases from the point of view of the target. Interestingly I have been approached twice in the past week by individuals who have been on the other end of the accusation spectrum. They told me in horrified tones  “I have just been accused of being a bully.” Both were delivering feedback related to poor performance  to a…

I was born with light red hair. Back in the day it was called strawberry blonde which I never really understood, because strawberries are actually really red!  Sometimes and more ostentatiously I was a Titian blonde. Apart from the odd building site worker yelling “Hey ginge”  from time to time, I was never subjected to any sort of name calling, teasing or harassment that many redheads are now…

I recently watched “Made in Dagenham” , a movie made about the women machinists at Ford’s Dagenham factory who downed tools in 1968, in protest that they were classed as unskilled workers, while male colleagues doing the same job were thought to be skilled and therefore paid much more for their efforts. The three-week strike brought production…

How makeup is impacting the workplace I was facilitating a meeting in Paris some years ago and one delegate asked about women, makeup and career advancement. Is makeup a career issue? In a professional world driven by gender stereotypes  – of course it’s an issue for both men and women. There wasn’t time to go…

Should employers expect internships to be unpaid?