Linked In... nah.

There is a real good reason that while in school I am not on Linked in, it seems that everyone I worked with thinks its Facebook light. And posts pictures to their personal profile that belong on Instagram, not in a professional profile or environment. Then my special friends want to connect with me, but unfortunately linked in now works you are in a bind to use all the free services without a specific number of connections meaning that to use LinkedIn  I am forced to link up with these individuals.

Yes, they are friends but they do not understand the need for a professional image nor know that organizations frown upon such profiles, when associating with specific candidates I have tried to discuss these issues with a friend who was guilty of the professional futa poa their response was that they did not care what Organizations thought! But they also did not care how that decision impacted others as well. If employers frowned upon their profile then they will definitely assume (falsely) that I was unprofessional as well.

The proof was in the pudding during a job search last year I shut down the linked in account when searching for opportunities and that being the only change I made, I was not surprised when I received more emails and calls from prospective employers. Now, this not a scientific study but the evidence to us was plain to see. Without the linked in account, I was more professional and more of a mystery to organizations that did not want to chance to associate with someone who was in turn with people who were unprofessional themselves.

Although you do not want to hurt your coworkers or friend’s feelings nor do you really want to deal with an organization that looks past your resume and accomplishments but this is the real world and these Things actually occur reaffirming the old saying not to judge a book by its cover, but in reality organizations and people who hire still do that being the case that is why I shut off linked in so I do not give any organization a reason to judge me until that first live interaction and maybe you should too.

Organizational Clarity: “Reason this woman’s job interview was canceled” article part 1

Although I never heard of this; I recently read an article that explained a job candidate had her job interview canceled because she asked about salary and benefits! The company is one that customers can order food and take out online from restaurants in small markets, similar to the services, Peapod and Grubhub mixed. It is understandable to ask this questions before undertaking a job opportunity especially if this information was not covered either in the job listing (description) or the first interview that this candidate had with the interviewer (representative) for this organization. 

Before I take any job or even apply for jobs online through Indeed or Careerbuilder I would look for the salary or benefits linked to the job, most job listings that do not have this information listed usually infer that the applicant should ask about these items during the interview. If the job listing does not have any of this information, I have a golden rule: Do not apply, simple as that. Why go through what this applicant went through?

In fact, in response to this applicant’s question, the organization replied that it is not part of their organizational culture to have applicants ask these type of questions. If this is against the organizational culture, then applicants must ask what else is? Does the organization have a mission statement or handbook in which this is written or is this an “unspoken rule” that is just implied and thereby opens the doors to more adjustments to what can be considered an employable rule? Because of these types of issues is the reason why laws and other protections were made to ensure that these type vague employment statutes do not occur or repeat in the workplace.

The fact that this organization does understand that this loose structure of rules and organizational culture in regards to what determines corrective action or even a breach of employment agreements simply makes it worse for all the organizations that share its market space. With most organizations worrying about more rules and regulations coming down upon them from Federal, state or local governments that the last thing needed is an event like this with such “hoopla” and attention that restricts them even further.

Just click on the link here to learn more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/reason-woman-job-interview-canceled-215408983.html

Organizational Clarity: "How is your Culture Quotient?" article

This article by Marcella Bremer talks about the culture Quotient of an organization discussing the sensitive issue of diversity in the workplace. Emphasizing the need for Cultural competency that allows professionals to navigate the workplace environment with their co-workers without making waves or causing major HR issues. This way everyone involved can increase their awareness of other cultures, build morale and create a creative, collaborative environment.

If you want more information this brief article summarizes the point and need of a Culture Quotient in every organization just click on the link:

https://www.ocai-online.com/blog/How-is-your-Culture-Quotient?awt_l=lzhjiA&awt_m=3bCXosEPbWsRmh3

Organizational Clarity: “New Employees Will Love These 5 Fresh Org Chart Freebies” free download

From the Articulate community is an article from easy, cheap solutions to meet organizational needs. In an email I received was a link to: “New Employees Will Love These 5 Fresh Org Chart Freebies” by their Community team.

It is always stressful when new employees enter the organization for both the new employee and established employees (and management) this article gives links to free downloads which will help relieve some of that anxiety. In order for the new employees to be able to put a name to a face and reduce the time it takes to explain who’s who in the organization these downloads take all the hard work and effort in making sure “everyone knows everyone”.

In the article are links to downloads for organizational charts, where you can add pictures of established employees and their titles. So that the “chain of command” in the organization is clearly established from the beginning, new employees then know who to turn to for possible questions or problems that face the “newbies” in their first 90 days in the organization.

If you want to know more just click the link here:

https://community.articulate.com/articles/new-employees-will-love-these-5-fresh-org-chart-freebies

Interviews: a tedious process

Interviews, of course, we have all went on at least one or two in our lifetimes, but a question I wonder about is: How many interviews do you go on before you change the way you do things?

I remember one time I applied for an Account specialist position with American Express a few years ago, strangely I went on not one, not two, but three interviews with the same interviewee! Now I have been through a phone interview, then face to face interview with an HR representative, then an interview with a hiring manager. But this was one of the most frustrating strings of happenings among many of the times I was looking for employment. 

So near the end of the third interview when the interviewee made it known there would be a fourth interview, and at he looked forward to talking with me again, he wanted to ask one final question. That question was “What is your pet peeve?” I told him that, “…going on too many interviews because they are very stressful...” of course, after that day I did not hear from him about the position again. What I did there was made my intentions known that I could not go to a fourth interview, there were other opportunities that were offered at the same time and I had a lot of difficulty scheduling other interviews around the AMEX interviews.

Making your intentions known during interviews is not something that you should shy away from, that way you can see if it is the right opportunity for you. This was something I learned to do since then because it freed up my schedule for looking into other opportunities including those which lead me to pursuing my education in Organization Development. Changing the way I approached interviews has evolved since then, I have created a set of standardized questions to ask during interviews, I have made sure that if there is a second interview I had another suit ready to go and that was of articles of clothing that was totally different than before. I have been able to “see” now if the positions I have applied for are right for me with more clarity than ever before, just by changing up the way I approached the interview process.

From an Organization Development standpoint, a candidate who comes in asks questions about the organization, the position, and states what they are looking for right off the bat is a godsend. It means that the candidate is serious about the process, serious about their interest in the positions and makes filling that position with the right candidate so much easier. Every Hr representative or hiring manager should be looking for someone like that, why would you hire someone that is counterintuitive to that?

Is experience or a degree a factor in the hiring process?

How much of a factor is experience when filling a position and does a degree outweigh years of spent by a seasoned professional? In Organization Development (OD) we learn the strengths and/or weaknesses of an organization’s employees through testing and training but in the hiring process determining the true nature of a potential employee’s strengths and weaknesses is a challenge.

Of course, you say that is why we have the applicants give resumes to present an overview of what they can do. Resumes are subjective pictures or interpretations of the applicant’s personal view of their professional career. Meaning that wading through, reading and understanding what each individual is trying to state when they are discussing their job descriptions at past positions is akin to the old telephone game with the two cans on a string.

The majority of the time the message does not get through, hence when a candidate applies with a freshly earned degree there is a desire to rush to hire to limit the issues and time period connected to the hiring process. Although as we now know, this is not always a good thing and recent college graduates are not always the best candidates for the positions we are trying to fill.

This is where experience comes in, candidates with extensive experience in similar fields or in the general  workforce may be a better fit, individuals that have had years of experience are more likely to adjust and adapt to difficult situations that occur in an organization. Compared to recent grads that have the impression given to them from academic presentations of how the workplace is supposed to operate. Coming from another job in comparison to coming straight from an academic setting can mean a world of difference in terms of qualitative characteristics required for a position. Levels of maturity and stability that can translate into a lower turnover rate for an organization are hard to measure but are also something that you cannot get from a degree.

Since the early 2000's there has been a new requirement for college graduates by organizations in today’s workforce with the unwritten belief that with a degree, will come new ideas of communication and innovation for an organization. Where the problem lies, is that with an organization there is a needed to conform to a hierarchy structure that is not learned in academia and that structure is favored over collaboration. This understanding comes with experience as many organizations are learning now, and are leaning to candidates with a degree AND experience, however, with this increased requirement the hiring pool becomes slim or shallow.

With increased focus upon experience over degrees, one hopes that this does eliminate individuals applying with no experience only a leveling of the playing field when it comes to the hiring process. Professionals versed in Organization Development can assist organizations when it comes to hiring the right individuals for specific positions that require certain skill sets and personality traits. When it comes to the hiring process having an OD professional on staff can make the difference between a lengthy hiring process and high turnover for an organization in comparison to the ideal situation in which it all flows together.

The New Overtime rules from an Organizational perspective

The new rules for overtime became law on Dec. 1, 2016, this means employees that work over the 40-hour work week will be required to be paid time and a half (Gibbons, 2016). From an Organization Development standpoint, it is a challenge, on the one hand, there are negatives and positives for the employee and then, on the other hand, the organization.

With this type of new rules as the article states, organizations will now need to be mindful of how they allocate their resources when it comes to scheduling their workers. This may as the article stated on the organization side will lead to slashing hours, elimination of management staff and reallocation of task assignments (Gibbons, 2016). These maybe all negatives, however, this means that organizations will be required to write accurate job descriptions instead of promoting general descriptions. Meaning instead of having “administrative duties” listed in a job description during the hiring process the position must be specific in all task assignments (Gibbons, 2016). No longer will project managers have to worry about generalities in what a staff can do or cannot do, this translates to employees across the board being trained in the same tasks. The requirement will streamline training programs to focus

Meaning instead of having “administrative duties” listed in a job description during the hiring process the position must be specific in all task assignments (Gibbons, 2016). No longer will project managers have to worry about generalities in what a staff can do or cannot do, this translates to employees across the board being trained in the same tasks. The requirement will streamline training programs to focus on certain skill sets rather than individualizing the training increasing costs and draining other resources.

For the employees although there is a bump in pay and the unspoken requirement of working off the clock is eliminated by this new rule, as these are all positives, employees actually getting paid for all the work they do for an organization (Gibbons, 2016). The negatives are that some organizations will cut hours for employees to make sure that they do not have to pay the time and a half in overtime hours, this also may mean more automation for certain tasks to streamline, in turn, the workforce. This could also force organizations to translate more employees hourly to salary in order to bypass this law altogether, which sounds great but the amount of time spent working for a salary employee can be more than if they were hourly (Gibbons, 2016). Plus, over time the ratio of dividing in the hours worked into the salary given by the organization may equal or be less than the take-home pay of the hourly employee now making time and a half for over time.

Now in the realm Organization Development we would have to determine which of these negatives would be positives for the organization first and then the employees, and how to deter or overcome any waves of turnovers created by exiting employees who go elsewhere as a result of the organization’s decision. Eliminating employee hours to a fixed, expected rate of 40 hours and under, along with accurate job description allows a project manager to create a more accurate “pitch” for the projects, procedures or products they wish to be approved for implementation. This will assist the project manager to request, plan and adjust a budget in which can have less overhead and also lessen the probability of outliers that can disrupt the project when it comes to the aspects of scheduling and payroll.

So, in either case, the new rules can be a headache for organizations it may be a chance for an Organization Development specialist to prove their worth and show the importance of investing in Organization Development as a science, a way of thinking, and an attitude to approaching an organization’s problems.  The trick for the specialist will be to find the silver lining in such rules and make gold from it.

Are there any other issues you see my become an issue for the Organization Development specialist that is not mentioned in the article or in this blog entry? Do you think as a result of these new rules will increase automation in organizations and higher rate of eliminations of an organization lower management staff? Do you think that these rules harm the employee more or the organization more? Do you think that these rules hurt the employee more or the organization more?

Gibbons, Lauren  (2016) “New federal overtime regulations could have big impact on Michigan businesses, employees” July 04, 2016 MLive http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/07/new_federal_overtime_regulatio.html

Post a Detailed job description.. Please

One of the many problems with employee recruitment presently lies with the description of the position that the organization is in dire need to be filled. Usually, the author has an idea of what the position entails, however, it is usually the case that the what is not listed in the description is conveniently listed as “other duties” or “additional duties may be added”. This is a commonplace practice that occurs the majority of the time, however, that does not make it right, efficient nor does it make it a productive usage of time or effort.

The less details added to a posting on a job site whether it is the organization’s own employment site, external business site or even when the organization uses an employment agency, a specific detailed job description of the position is required. This is because descriptions can be misinterpreted by the either the interviewer, the agency representative and even the person applying for the position.   

In a world where there is an increasing emphasis on getting the job right the first time, being efficient as possible and getting the candidate for the job on the first attempt, incorrectly written job descriptions counteract the aforementioned desires of organizations that are trying to watch their bottom line.

When I look at a job description that has less than a paragraph and has those famous words: “and other duties” I know that the author cares as little about the process, or about getting the right candidate for the job. To the author, this is their job and if it is done incorrectly, or done very well, it does not matter to them at the end of the day, it is just their “job” and possibly the individual that the organization does not want interviewing future candidates nor writing job listings in the near future.

Which then falls upon the organization for not getting the person to do this task/job as well, basically becoming its own vicious circle which wastes the time of everyone involved. Time, a precious commodity if you are in a hurry to fill the position because it is either a very crucial position to an organizational department “time is money” as the old saying goes.

Or it could be that the tasks needed to be completed by the person in this position are now being divided up amongst different members of the department which now is driving down the productivity of the entire department. This extra work that other members in the department has to do to cover for this missing individual is in turn, overtasking and taking its toll upon its members.

Leading to overuse of sick days, higher turnover rates, etc., just because one poorly written job description is holding back the hiring process. I have seen this many times before and have been one of those people in the department overworked because of it, and it is not a pretty situation. And usually members of the overworked department are then on external job search sites looking for a new job, sounds familiar?

Which gets me back to the original point that if a job description is done right, detailed enough an organization can get the right applicants for the jobs so that this ripple effect does not occur. If an organization wants the best, then take the time to write what you are expecting from the best, it does not have to be Hemingway, just something that does not waste the time of everyone involved. Plain and simple.

The use of high end vocabulary in job listings is it really necessary?

Recently a friend of mine was applying for a job and one of the questions was: “Do you consider yourself Mono-chronic or Polychromic?” Now when she emailed me about the question she mentioned that she had to look up both words, differences and their definitions which she found here:

http://thearticulateceo.typepad.com/my-blog/2011/08/cultural-differences-monochronic-versus-polychronic.html

Of course, she laughed off the question with a joke about English being her second language but even I as a primarily English language speaker was stumped when she sent me that question and was secretly glad her email came with a link explaining the two! But it does raise a question, even though the rest of some of these questions were “hip” and basically seemed to the reader “anti-establishment” or were outside the box questions for a job application, how “high end” does the vocabulary used for a job description need to be?

Keep in mind this is for a position similar to a customer service representative, so the terminology used is basically unnecessary unless the client is dealing with some type of Psychology or Organizational Development themed clientele the reasoning behind such use is questionable. Maybe the usage is done to dissuade potential applicants that the organization does not feel is on the same level as them or their clientele they service.

A “roadblock” or a deterrent is usually a means to weed out the casual applicant who may or may not be qualified from may whatever requirement the organization desires but it also may shoo away (highly) qualified applicants that think such wording is pretentious and therefore not the right fit for them. I am not saying that a job posting must be elementary in its wording but an organization should also be wary of the terminology it uses so that it may be inclusive for all types and manners of applicants.