The IKEA Effect in the workplace A research team Michael I. Norton of Harvard Business School, Daniel Mochon of Yale, and Dan Ariely of Duke, first named the IKEA effect in 2011. They described the IKEA effect as “labor alone can be sufficient to induce greater liking for the fruits of one’s labor: even constructing a…

“Facts tell stories sell” is a piece of marketing and personal branding advice I see almost daily on social media, especially targeting job seekers. Like a lot of bumper sticker homilies, it can work some of the time, but it doesn’t work all of the time. Why? Because it lacks nuance, a topic which is…

I regularly observe career coaches and recruiters encouraging candidates to send handwritten thank you letters to their interviewers. I have even seen hiring managers say that receipt of a thank you note is part of their decision making process and they judge candidates negatively for failing to comply. In some cases they even cut candidates…

The hiring process for most organisations is flawed throughout and riddled with unconscious bias. Despite good intentions, there is no doubt that unconscious bias is the barrier to diversity. It’s important you understand how to make your interview process more inclusive as part of your hiring best practices. Inclusive hiring Inclusive hiring is an equitable…

Is it time to dump those interview question clichés which constantly crop up and add little value? I would say so! And for once I am not a lone voice! I was recently involved in an interview process and the hiring manager asked the candidate: “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” Poker face…

Our recruitment systems are riddled with hiring biases They always have been. But we need to manage them more urgently than ever post COVID19. If anyone had said on January 1, 2020, that within four months most of those who could, would be working from home, would you have believed them? If they went on…

We are in the middle of a tumultuous convergence of three crises: health, economic and social justice. In some areas we need to layer on political upheaval. And we are not talking emerging markets here. The “Coronacoaster” as it has been named, is creating upheaval and uncertainty in most markets. Some have been decimated. Many…

A hot topic in the career sector is whether job seekers should declare on LinkedIn via a hashtag system or a green circle offered by LinkedIn, that they are #ONO (Open for New Opportunities) or saying they are “Open to Work.”  A significant number of people suggest this is a “sign of desperation” and are…

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…

More and more organizations use video as an integrated part of their recruitment process. But a new step is the automated interview also called the on-demand interview. This is a structured interview where candidates answer a series of predetermined questions which are recorded to camera. There are a number of platforms that deal with this and…