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Getting Personal:
A New Generation Brings a New Take on Privacy
July 2008
As an HR professional, you've no doubt seen it. The careless web link, the open-for-all-to-see Facebook page, the candidate blog that adds up to much more than you ever wanted to know about the person.
There was a time when résumés included such personal details as age, height and weight, marital status, children and other particulars of people's lives. Thankfully, we now deem such information too personal—and simply not the business of any would-be employer—to put on a résumé.
But many job seekers are still giving up intimate details of their private lives to potential employers, and they are going far beyond revealing their height. One recent job seeker laid out for an employer a year-long chronicle of her recent divorce, detailing her pain, her explosive battles with her ex, and her evolving relationships with her family members. How? A tiny link at the end of her e-mail signature that said: "Visit my blog." By not remembering to remove this link (or perhaps by deliberately leaving it?), she turned her "Thank you for the interview" e-mail into an invitation to the insides of her private life.
While some forget to remove links to blogs or personal web pages from e-mail signatures, others proudly include them on résumés and other business communications, perhaps wanting to show off their writing skills but forgetting what else they may be showing in the process.
And growing legions of people—and not just young people—have Facebook pages, MySpace pages and various and assorted profiles (and personalities?) all over the web.
What strikes me as fascinating is not so much the debate around whether or not potential employers and recruiters should be using that information to make hiring decisions (and really, most of time, how could you help but look at it?), but on how the boundaries of privacy have stretched. A new generation of young people (and a whole bunch of web-savvy Boomers and Xers alongside them) just don't have that same sense of privacy that once ruled our professional lives.
It can be an uncomfortable shift for many of us, these blurring lines between work life and life life (an old Seinfeld article about "worlds colliding" comes to mind). But I think many people are walking into their careers with an attitude of "this is who I am—whole and complete, a little messy and complex, but all me—now let's get to work".
Maybe not such a bad thing.
The Business Case for Workforce Diversity
June 2008
Creating dynamic, diverse workforces is a priority for businesses in BC and across Canada. But gone are the days when companies embraced employment equity or workplace diversity purely because of a sense of social responsibility or a desire to be perceived a certain way in the marketplace. Today, workplace diversity is— first and foremost—just good business practice. A diverse workforce gives a company a competitive edge.
The business case for workplace diversity is strong. For most BC companies, adequately serving this province's diverse population means creating a workforce that mirrors that diversity. It's about creating a company that is in the best possible position to meet the demands of the market, to be responsive to customers and to draw in a broader client base. When there is diversity among your customers, your clients, your suppliers and your partners it is only natural that it be reflected in your workforce. An employee base with not only cultural diversity but also diversity of life experience, gender, physical abilities, age, sexual orientation and other factors can translate their life experience and understanding into service techniques and policies that bring new levels of service, understanding and respect to customers.
Perhaps, more than anything, it is the diversity of thought that will benefit business. Through diverse hiring practices Canadian employers gain employees with great diversity in their education, training, on-the-job experience and life experience. This diversity of education and experience brings fresh perspectives, unique perceptions and diverse points of view to old business issues.
With mounting skills shortages and a shrinking workforce, Canada will rely increasingly on foreign-trained professionals to fill the gap, increasing immigration and making our workplaces even more diverse. This opportunity to hire both domestic and foreign-trained professionals is dramatically increasing the talent pool Canadian employers have to choose from. It comes down to finding the most highly skilled people, even at times when that means meeting the generally temporary challenges of language barriers or limited Canadian experience.
A recent study, A Business Case for Diversity, from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, found that “there is a compelling generic business case for achieving and managing diversity in the workplace." Researchers found that "diversity can help organizations identify and capitalize on opportunities to improve products and services; attract, retain, motivate and utilize human resources effectively; improve the quality of decision-making at all organizational levels; and reap the many benefits from being...a socially conscious and progressive organization."
From battling skills and labour shortages to better serving a diverse marketplace, from building cultural understanding into marketing and customer service initiatives to bridging the knowledge gap in a transitioning workforce, hiring diversity is helping BC employers to be more creative, successful and ultimately, profitable.
Best Practices in Corporate Career Webpages
May 14, 2008
Once a bit of an afterthought on corporate web pages, company career pages are now seen as the priority they should be. As employers of all sizes and in almost every industry feel the pinch of a tight labour market, they’re realizing that a few out-of-date job postings and an email link just won’t do the trick.
Reaching out to the savviest, most talented and skilled job seekers means providing more detailed information on the employment experience the company is offering. It means striking a balance in which current job postings are quickly and easily accessible but more qualitative information about company culture, employment policies, application processes and career paths within the organization are also available.
There’s also a balance that has to take place between making a sales pitch for the benefits of working for this organization and still keeping the information straight-forward and credible.
Best practices in new career web pages—which generally receive the second-highest number of visits on corporate web pages after the home page—include a clear, easy link to the careers section from the home page, a strong and credible case for choosing the organization as an employer, information on corporate culture and details on employee benefits and other perqs.
Many also have special sections for targeted key applicant groups such as students and new grads, company alumni (you worked here as a teen—come back as a manager!), foreign-trained professionals or certain occupational groups.
Others also make the effort to keep the career pages fresh, encouraging people to keep coming back and viewing the latest postings. Both corporate and industry news are great tools for frequently updated, newsworthy content.
And sites are also becoming increasingly interactive as employers see an opportunity not only to present information but to build a relationship with potential applicants. Inviting them to take part in online surveys and contests, sign-up for posting alerts or a company newsletter or post their résumés to a general résumé pool all open the door to ongoing communication and a sense of connection between top applicants and the employer.
In the best cases, corporate career pages tell a story. Through employee profiles, video clips and success stories, anecdotes revealing corporate culture, a sense of an employer value proposition and information on innovative policies and team milestones, site visitors gain a vision of what they might be entering into. The pages allow applicants to decide if the corporate culture is right for them and, ultimately, such pages draw not just higher numbers of candidates but higher-quality candidates who already feel connected to and informed about the organization.
Career Baggage
April 8, 2008
Years ago, I worked with a wonderful woman who was great at her job but seemed to bristle at any interaction with a supervisor or company manager. She was suspicious of everything – every policy, every memo, every passing conversation – and her negativity was making it hard for her to focus on the work at hand.
After she was on the job for just over a month, I took her out to lunch and addressed the situation head-on. It took a bit of discussion, but then the story unfolded. At a previous non-profit agency she had worked for, she had been treated very badly by the board of directors. They had acted unethically and irresponsibly and then attempted to blame her for their misdeeds. She had escaped with her professional ethics and reputation intact, but the betrayal by people with whom she had worked so hard and so closely left her feeling used and broken – and not feeling very trusting.
It’s not the sort of story you might normally tell a new supervisor, but by getting it out on the table she and I were able to really address her negative career baggage. It allowed me to find ways to show her that our organization was different and it gave her room to acknowledge that it wasn’t fair to punish her new employer for the actions of her past employer.
We parked the career baggage at the door and she became an excellent – trusted and trusting – member of the team.
If your employment past or present includes run-ins with the ridiculous, the frustrating and the downright humiliating, you are among the working wounded, people scarred by negative workplace experiences. For most, it’s hard not to let horrors of the past colour your perception of your present and future work settings.
But the real problem with carrying all that baggage from workplace to workplace is that YOU are the one really being punished. That suspicion and cynicism will hold you back in your career. It prevents you from really connecting with your co-workers, from engaging in a new workplace and from getting excited about new opportunities and people. If you recognize yourself in this scenario, it is time to move on. Time to put the past away by escaping the self-perception of working wounded and moving on to feeling more like a survivor.
March 10, 2008
Rules for the New World of Work
When it comes to our careers, the rules of the road (or career path more precisely) seem to be changing constantly. We remember talking to a couple of young entrepreneurs a few years ago about their rules for business. Conservative to be sure, this pair’s rules included: if you don’t make a business call before 10:00 am, don’t bother making it all until the next morning, it makes you look lazy; never have flowers, candy or personal photos on your desk, it makes you look weak; never admit to not knowing something, fake it until you can figure it out; and whoever you are, whatever you do, wear navy. You can never go wrong with a navy suit.
We know at least one of them has loosened his red tie a lot since those days. A humbling dot-com crash and the perspective simply brought by general life experience shed light on those limiting rules. A little more general, a lot more forgiving, rules that are relevant today are less about the minutia of business conduct and more about the actions and attitudes that will help you take control of your career and make your work, and life, fulfilling. And so, we offer our own “rules”, although the word is used loosely here, for navigating today’s world of work.
Change. Expect it. Learn strategies to survive it, manage it and ultimately thrive in its wake.
Variety. Count on it. You are not likely to have one job for thirty years, but your work life will be varied and interesting.
Passion. Find it. Whether they become your vocation or avocation, identify the activities and subjects that make your eyes light up and make sure they are part of your life.
Diversity. Embrace it. Cultural and social diversity brings with it diversity of thought and perspective. It will be the competitive advantage many businesses and careers.
Technology. Get comfortable with it. The tools to do almost every job—checking out groceries, building a bridge, digging a ditch, researching a strategic plan . . . —are increasingly high-tech. Advancements are making those tools more user-friendly than ever.
Creativity. Value it. Problem solving, change management, strategic planning . . . these are all creative skills. Creativity needs to be developed and nurtured in the same way as other business skills.
Personal growth. Make room for it. As you navigate your career path, speeding toward your professional goals, do not lose sight of yourself as a whole and complete person, in and outside of work.
Relationships. Nurture them. The most important business and career skill is relationship building. Don’t focus on networking just to get ahead. Instead, make real connections with people, look for ways to collaborate, focus on assisting and supporting others and you’ll see that magic of good career kharma.
Skills. Build them. Keep your work skills up-to-date and find ways to develop new skills. Focus not only on job-specific skills but also on things that you just simply enjoy. Your HR job may never require you to snowboard, make sushi or tile your own bathroom, but if it lights up your eyes and lifts your spirits then go for it.
Values. Honour them. Let your core values guide your career choices and changes. In the same way, be aware of how cultural values affect the marketplace, providing insight on new trends and directions.
January 29, 2008
Talk May be Cheap—But it’s Powerful
A little Monday morning watercooler chat about last night’s episode of The Office or the most recent Canucks game may seem like a non-event, but those interpersonal connections and spontaneous conversations say a lot about the health—and future—of a company. While co-workers by no means need to all be best friends, finding personnel points of contact in addition to work-related discussions helps them become more engaged and happier in their workplace.
A recent study out of the UK found that in the healthiest workplaces a range of conversations from the personal to the professional are welcomed and encouraged. Working in an atmosphere in which employees felt free to talk about their interests and about the challenges they faced both at home and at work consistently led to increased levels of job satisfaction and engagement.
But the study, by international HR consulting and research firm Career Innovation, did uncover a common and damaging disconnect. In many companies, while employees are trying to open up and discuss issues, managers are often just not holding up their end of the conversation. Perhaps uncomfortable with the situation, many respond with a very “backward-looking” point-of-view, bringing up problems and challenges of the past rather than fully engaging in the conversation with a positive, collaborative and forward-thinking approach. The result is what the researchers call a “conversation gap”—a gap that will quickly turn off and eventually drive away the most engaged and talented in your ranks.
Researchers also noted that 40 percent of respondents in their study report having an issue they would like to discuss with their manager but don’t trust their manager enough to do so. Reasons for that lack of trust include previous failed attempts to talk, a perceived lack of interest on the part of the manager, a belief that nothing will be done anyway and an overall weak relationship with the manager. Top issues employees want to discuss include future career development, workload, work/life balance and building and developing skills for their current jobs.
October 22, 2007
10 ways to enjoy your job more
A lucky few of us have managed to create dream careers. They’ve found that magic place where their vocation and their avocation have melded together and they are able to enjoy each day with a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, a sense of fun.
Most of us are on a longer path to total career satisfaction, experiencing those highs and lows of work that are sometimes challenging, sometimes exciting, other times stressful or even lackluster. But as we navigate the path ahead, there are definitely ways to approach work with a bright outlook and a sense of adventure that will help us enjoy work more of the time, and give us a glimpse of the career joy that those lucky ones have come to know.
10 ways to enjoy your job more
1. Be yourself – It’s nothing short of exhausting to operate each day as though you are playing a role. While there are no doubt codes of behaviour and certain expectations in every job, the truth of the matter is that if you have to twist yourself inside out to meet those expectations, you are likely in the wrong job. Work in which you can be your true and authentic self needs to be at the top of your to-do list.
2. Make it work with your life – Create a vision of your life in the big picture and pay attention to how your personal life and your professional life intersect. If it is more of a collision than a gentle merging of the two, it’s time for strategies to cast a better life/work balance.
3. Be good to everyone – Not just because they might be the boss someday, but because it just feels better to treat people well . . . and a few deposits in the kharma bank can’t hurt either.
4. Cut yourself some slack – So many of us are carrying around old career baggage, still cringing at the memory of errors past. Let it go. Set it aside. Learn, forgive yourself and move on.
5. Take breaks – Yes, even you, the super-performer without whom the world will fall apart, even you need to eat lunch, take a breather, rest for a moment.
6. Ask for help – You don’t know everything. There, I said it. Acknowledge the brilliance of those around you by asking for assistance when you need it.
7. Be the go-to person on just one thing – If your job isn’t using your talents to their fullest, you can still find ways to bring them into your work life. Your people skills may make you the person colleagues turn to for problem solving or your creative bent may make you the must-have person at brainstorming sessions.
8. Challenge yourself – Set measurable, achievable goals. You already knew that one – but are you doing it?
9. Celebrate achievements – Don’t let milestones pass by without acknowledging them. And never underestimate the power of a good slice of cake at work!
10. Make a plan for your next steps – Whether you see yourself changing roles within your company or setting off on working adventures elsewhere, create a vision for those next steps and set a plan in place. It may be a long way down the road, but having a path in mind for your future will help you appreciate the present and see how it will lead you to where you want to be.
October 1, 2007
“We value our employees” – Stories from the trenches
It’s one of those phrases that’s been so overused (often by companies who have no right to use it!) that it’s really ceased to have much meaning in the minds of job seekers. Splashed across recruiting ads, proclaimed on websites and touted by senior management in a wide range of industries, this perfectly fine collection of words has been used and abused to no end.
The original sentiment is of course a wonderful one. If companies are going to compete in the face of rising skills shortages and other business challenges, they need to focus on creating supportive work environments and ultimately happier employees.
But too many organizations have the language of employee focus down but haven’t truly embraced the concept in a real and meaningful way.
A friend told me about the day his company, a major local manufacturing facility, moved into brand new premises. Employees watched as trucks from Ethan Allen pulled up and unloaded beautiful new furniture for the offices upstairs. Later that same day, used lockers (yes used, repainted but clearly battered and old, scavaged from a highschool that had the good sense to get rid of the smelly old things) arrived for the men and women “on the floor”.
As you might expect, they did not feel valued.
I imagine whoever purchased those lockers felt terribly proud of the money he or she saved the company. But I wonder, what was the real cost of those lockers? I am sure the effect of plummeting morale and a frosty corporate climate far outweighed any savings.
Companies that want to attract and retain dedicated, talented people need to realize that saying they value employees is not enough. The way they treat workers, the kinds of workplaces they create and the atmosphere they nurture is the only real way to communicate a commitment to employees at all levels. And employees are watching.
“I worked at a company that was laying off almost 8 percent of the staff,” says another friend, an account executive in a large US-based advertising firm. “That same week, new disposable coffee cups showed up in the break room. Instead of the plain Jane cups, these had the company's name and logo and a fancy new drink top. I could not believe they laid people off but had the audacity to spend money on coffee cups.”
She understands the cost of the cups wouldn’t have equaled even one salary of a laid-off staffer, but says it is the message the company was sending that bothered her and others. “Granted, the money spent months before on that order versus the money saved by layoffs was totally unbalanced, but come on!”
And the problem isn’t limited to big corporate players. I have friends and former colleagues at a local non-profit agency who received an e-mail from their board of directors praising their executive director for her excellent work. What’s so bad about that? The e-mail arrived the same day 12 employees received pink slips. There was no mention of the layoffs and two weeks later the 12 packed up and left without hearing another word from the board. It was not only disheartening for them; it sent a clear message to those who survived the layoff . . . you don’t matter.
What can good companies do to attract and retain good people? Focus on creating a healthy, respectful workplace first, and worry about the language of it later. Be aware of the real messages you are sending to your people – the every day decisions that tell people how you really feel about them.