Guest Posts | Jennifer McClure`

Social Recruiting – The Level Playing Field

Today’s post is a guest post from my friend, Mike Larsen. Mike is a former Director of Monster.com and the Founder & CEO of job search and reviews website InsideTrak based in Sydney, Australia. Mike helped me with a project I was working on a couple of years ago related to what’s new/what’s next in the world of recruiting, so when he offered to share some of his insights related to social recruiting, I gladly accepted!

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Last year, there was a lot of hysteria in the press about companies and recruiters using social media to ‘snoop’ on candidates, with more than 90% admitting to having researched potential hires using social media, according to social media monitoring service Reppler.

Surprised? Me neither.

As the human backbone of the Internet, social media has for quite some time provided recruiters with access to an incredible amount of free and publicly available information (check your Facebook privacy settings folks) that should assist in making a great employment match.

I’m all for it.

What might surprise some companies and some recruiters is that candidates are using these same tools (and more) to accessing detailed information about YOU. While Glassdoor certainly pioneered this space, they have been quickly followed by others in the US such as CareerBliss, and in Australia my site InsideTrak.

While some employers might find this a little confronting I believe the majority are seeing this trend as an opportunity to receive real time feedback from current staff, while increasing their number of new hire success stories with eyes-wide-open recruits.

Just as social media has transformed the consumer branding space, so now follow employment brands. As recruitment professionals, it’s quite simply our new reality.

Consider the playing field leveled.

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Unbridled Talent LLC is a consulting and advisory firm providing services to clients in the areas of recruiting & human resources strategy, employment branding and leadership/career development. We offer keynotes, workshops and training that inspire and teach business leaders to be more effective in their careers and as leaders of their organization’s most valuable resource – people. Contact us to schedule an event or to discuss our strategic consulting and advisory services.

Written by Jennifer McClure

5 HR Tips For Creating Effective Performance Reviews

Today’s post is a guest post from Erin Palmer – a writer and educator for Bisk Education. Erin works with University Alliance and the online education programs at Villanova University.

So give it up for Erin as she she shares some tips for creating effective employee performance reviews…

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As HR professionals know, an employee review is an essential part of building an effective organization. Just like smart recruiting helps you get the best possible talent, a well-developed employee review process allows you to develop that talent. Conducting reviews takes experience to finesse, but is worth the time as a strong team building tool. Following these five key points when reviewing your organization’s review process can turn an HR challenge into an HR success.

1. The best reviews involve the employee in a self-assessment process that motivates, celebrates strengths and identifies clear areas for improvements.

Begin with having the employee fill out a self-assessment for you ahead of time. This self- assessment will provide you with a starting point for the review. Seeing from the employee’s perspective will teach you things that you otherwise might not see.

2. Use the self-assessment as a way to keep the conversation focused and as a tool for you to accentuate strengths and address areas for growth.

The in-person employee review meeting can be stressful. Beginning with reviewing the self-assessment can ease the tension and get a conversation started. Many employees will admit the areas in which they aren’t as strong. When an employee brings up their own weaknesses, it is easier to have a proactive conversation about them without the employee feeling defensive. This will help you create an honest discussion and set goals for improvement. Make sure that the conversation is two sided; listen as much as you speak. Always alternate between addressing the employee’s positive and negative performances. Use the conversation to empower the employee to identify new goals.

3. Create an employee review form that reflects the values and goals of your organization.

If you are building a review process from scratch, there are tools available to build review forms. Whether you use your own or adapt an existing form, the process needs to be consistent. Be sure all employees are aware of the process and any changes you make well before individual reviews begin. The review process should be an organic part of the organization and help build a strong team who knows what to expect in the process. All levels of the organization should engage in a similar review process. If the review includes scoring or grading an employee’s performance, the scoring system needs to be clearly defined. Adhering to a standard review procedure builds trust in your leadership and builds camaraderie across the organization. As your company evolves, adjust the review process when necessary to support your mission statement.

4. Review the employee review form in a conversational manner.

Do not just read the form out loud to the employee. A two-sided conversation is more beneficial to both of you. Be sure to take the jargon out of the process and communicate clearly the specific areas you will focus on so that the employee feels comfortable with the process. If a monitoring process needs to be established for an employee experiencing challenges, be sure to work that out formally in the written review. When the review is over, discuss pay raises and the employee’s goals. If an employee is going to receive a raise, or an adjustment in duties, give a specific start date. Always give the employee a copy of the review.

5. Set up a regular schedule for reviews and clearly communicate changes ahead of time.

Most organizations review employees on an annual basis, although there are some exceptions. New employees often find it beneficial to have a review after 90 days on board. A current employee who is transitioning into a new position may need a review in four to six months. A current employee who was underachieving may benefit from another review in six to ten weeks to encourage the changes or modify the process.

Even the most skilled HR professional can find seasonal employee reviews a daunting task and a cumbersome process. Your employee review process should be accurate, efficient and goal-oriented. Thoroughly reviewing your company’s review process can help build a strong, focused team.

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University Alliance submitted this article on behalf of Villanova University. If you’re interested in an online HR certification program, Villanova offers these courses in addition to a Master’s Degree in Human Resources Development. For more information please visit http://www.VillanovaU.com.

Written by Jennifer McClure

Hiring for “Cultural Fit” – How Do You Make It Tangible?

Today’s post is a guest post from the folks at Halogen Software.

Why would I turn over this “valuable” real-estate to a vendor in the HR space when I don’t accept advertising on my blog? Because they actually read some posts from my blog and sent me a personal email suggesting several topics that they could contribute a post on within the areas I typically write about – without directly promoting their products. As someone who gets several non-personalized and non-related pitches per day, I found the interaction refreshing – and I’m always interested in reading/learning from other’s perspectives.

So give it up for Sean Conrad and Halogen Software sharing some tips on Hiring for Cultural Fit…

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When it comes to hiring, it’s easy for recruiters, HR and hiring managers to focus on a candidate’s technical qualifications and skip right over the things that are harder to quantify – like cultural fit.

While corporate culture is somewhat intangible, it’s also a critical asset to your organization, one that needs to be carefully considered as part of the hiring process.

Why? Well, when you consider the costs of a poor hire – with estimates running as high as $300,000 to $500,000 (Dr. John Sullivan) – hiring for cultural fit has a huge impact. Of course every HR professional is looking to find and hire candidates who will excel at what you’ve hired them to do and who will mesh well with their organization’s way of doing things.

Whether it is a culture of innovation, collaboration, world class customer service, etc. hiring for cultural fit means your new hire is likely to be more motivated, interact more easily with other employees, and be happier on the job. All of which translates into a higher performing employee. For these reasons, how well you sustain your organization’s culture by hiring for fit directly impacts competitive advantage, innovation and other key business imperatives.

Last September, in Help Me With My Homework: What Are the Top Issues for Human Resources Today?, Jennifer discussed some of the priorities and focus areas for Human Resources and Human Capital professionals. Specifically: engagement, leadership development and retention. Companies that live their culture are high performing and better places to work, which of course directly impacts the three priorities just mentioned. So how do you attract and retain the right employees to reinforce and sustain your culture?

Make Corporate Culture Tangible

When an organization’s cultural values are clearly defined, they act as a beacon for attracting and retaining the right type of individual – and for building a high performance workforce. Values drive the behavior that is desired or expected of employees at each stage of the employee life cycle: hiring, compensation, orientation, promotion, discipline, training and succession planning and an effective Talent Management process explicitly supports these behaviors by translating values into specific competencies that can be assessed and rewarded at each stage. The key is to make these cultural values tangible and ensure they are considered during the hiring process. Sure, gut feel on a candidate’s fit is important, but anyone making hiring decisions in your organization needs something a little more concrete to go on.

For example, it’s important to consider behavioral competencies that describe how a job or task is to be performed, such as how the person takes initiative, how they communicate and work with others, and how they deal with conflicts or challenges. These behavioral competencies are necessary complements to technical competencies, such as knowledge of specific software programs, the ability to operate a type of machine or presentations skills. When behavioral and technical competencies are aligned, they work together to reinforce corporate culture and values.

How effective competency management helps

Building both behavioral and technical types of competencies into job descriptions and the complete talent management process enables those involved in the hiring process to assess the true measures of cultural fit. The end result is improved quality of hire scores because the competencies that make up the job description reinforce the values of the organization.

To take it one step further, those same competencies used in the creation of the job description should also be consistently reflected in ongoing processes – performance appraisals, multi-rater feedback reviews, development planning and talent assessments – to name a few.

By translating corporate values into specific competencies, corporate culture becomes something tangible by which to measure the effectiveness of all your talent management processes. It increases your organization’s ability to invest in your employees, directly impacts effective leadership development planning and increases employee engagement and retention.

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Sean Conrad is a Certified Human Capital Strategist and Senior Product Analyst at Halogen Software, one of the leading providers of talent management software. For more of his insights on talent management, read his posts on the Halogen blog.

Written by Jennifer McClure

Developing a Social Recruiting Strategy: From Bigot To Believer

In an effort to highlight HR, Recruiting and Talent Management professionals who are developing and implementing Innovative People Strategies every day in their workplaces, I’m starting a regular guest post series here on the Unbridled Talent blog to share some of their work and best practices. Today’s guest post is from R.J. Morris, the corporate Director of Staffing at McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. I first became aware of R.J. through reading his guest posts on Fistful of Talent and soon began following him on Twitter. My impression was that R.J. is a recruiting professional who “gets it” and I had the opportunity to confirm my suspicions when I met him in person at the recent Social Recruiting Summit at Best Buy in Minneapolis, MN.

Nine months ago, I would tease my wife when she logged into her Facebook account after the kids went to bed. In a horribly superior tone, I would ask her if she was 15 and IM’ing her BFF. I was neither classy nor witty. Like my mom ten years ago when she talked about “that internet thing,” I sounded like a complete idiot—a social media bigot, if you will. Thankfully, my wife is a very cool lady and recognized that I made fun of Facebook because I did not understand it. These days, I write guest blog posts, tweet and am helping to implement social recruiting in my organization.

Now? My wife makes fun of me daily.

How do you go from bigot to believer? I was, of course, initially afraid I had missed the boat. I kept hearing that companies were using social media to drive recruiting and business results—my limited exposure to Facebook made it seem like it was a tool that told me “Sally’s excited about shopping today” or “Heather has completed the Bugs Collection” on Farmville. Twitter? That was for folks who wanted to follow Ashton and Britney. I was hopeless and overwhelmed.

Thankfully, the social media community is very welcoming, and I began to learn. Progressive HR professionals were soon interacting with me, offering outstanding knowledge and resources. The challenge was how to translate that knowledge to the business that I support. “Look how much professional development I get from colleagues on Twitter,” is quite different than, “Here’s why we think we need to develop and implement a social media strategy across multiple communication channels supporting distinct organizational goals.”

We still don’t have it all figured out. We are trying to be deliberate, not splashy. Our team is responsible for recruiting activities nationwide, so we looked through that prism. LinkedIn was a safe first play. Executives at the company understood the tool, and many were active on the site. For our recruiting efforts, LinkedIn has tools that aligned well with our sourcing strategy, so we went there first. It is, of course, the least social/most controlled network, but it allowed us to establish a presence outside of the corporate website and show some results.

Facebook was next. Yep, my wife enjoyed mercilessly making fun of me each night as I logged on to check out competitors and review top page designs. Mashable became a good friend as we matched user demographics to our national recruiting strategy. I was scared that selling Facebook as a recruiting tool to a conservative organization in a down economy would be tough. Nope. I work with smart people, and they quickly saw the potential power. They realized we were going to have a social media presence regardless—either we would be heavily involved in crafting that presence, or someone else would.

Next up is integrating Twitter and an employee blog to make our people more accessible as we tell our story and show off who we are. We are also reviewing communication material we developed for internal use over the past 12 months—much of that can be leveraged to ensure we can share ongoing and engaging content.

Like most companies, we are still figuring social recruiting out. When we did not know anything about social media, I was upset and felt we were behind. Now, we realize we are working with emerging communication platforms with dynamic rules and usage—getting social recruiting integrated is a process. When I talk with companies that want to start, I tell them to engage with people in the community and learn.

And, no matter what, don’t make fun of people for using the tools.

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R. J. Morris is the corporate Director of Staffing at McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. – an ENR Top 10 building company based in St. Louis, Missouri. McCarthy has offices and projects nationally and they recruit really smart people who want to join a company where everyone is an owner. R. J. is responsible for leading and directing all national recruiting activities using both tried and true old school tactics and the implementing the latest methods (including social recruiting) to support the growth needs of the organization.

Written by Jennifer McClure

HRevolution Impact On Those Unable to Attend

Today’s guest post is from Steve Browne – Executive Director of Human Resources at LaRosa’s, Inc. – a regional Pizzeria restaurant chain employing over 1,400 Team Members. Unable to attend the HRevolution 2010 UnConference held this past weekend in Chicago, IL due to family obligations, Steve kept up with the discussion via the #HRevolution hashtag on Twitter. His post conference thoughts as an HR practitioner and passionate member of his profession are below.

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I am so geeked after following #HRevolution this week on Twitter and also reading many of the “Post Revolution” blogs. Really, that’s not just shameless flattery.

You see, I’m an HR practitioner!!

And, may I add, I am unabashedly proud and passionate about that, and Human Resources in general!!

All of the pieces I’ve read have made me even more insanely jealous that I wasn’t able to attend this wildly successful UnConference. I wanted to meet the folks I’m connected with on Twitter and be part of an HR Think Tank. It is brilliant and I hope it truly is only the start of a continued effort to gather thought leaders who are changing the face of a profession. It’s a healthy forum and I’m so encouraged that it hasn’t fallen into the traps that a traditional environment can offer.

The one thread I keep reading through the summaries is “What do we do next?” or “What do I do next?”.

That’s an obvious response to the great energy that was created and it is another encouraging sign that this isn’t going to be some short-lived fad or electronic supernova.

As someone who didn’t go, let me offer this as a possible “next step”:

We need to bridge the gap between the HR practitioner and the Social Media folks who are constantly putting out more and more phenomenal material and resources.

I can hear the “Duh!” from you as the reader already!

However, your “Duh!” isn’t being heard or read. You see, I’m one of those odd HR practitioners who is connected and loves it. The VAST majority of my peers aren’t connected, don’t “know how” to be and many are frankly (and mistakenly) afraid to be connected.

This isn’t a social media thing. It’s just exponentially more visible now how entrenched and hidden HR has become. People are more afraid of what to do to the point that they are paralyzed by this both within their organizations and in their profession.

Countless blogs, articles and sessions take HR and bemoan its shortcomings, faults and predicted demise. Makes you want to go into the field – doesn’t it?

I think the contrary. This is the MOST exciting time to be in HR and #HRevolution proves that. The question is:

“Are the most connected HR voices going to continue to communicate with each other – or are they willing to step forward to be evangelists to the masses who aren’t connected?”

It’s so cool talking with folks around the globe through Social Media, but I’m already noticing that I’m talking to the same people (and so are you). How can we be evangelists? Is someone (or a group of people) willing to do this?

I think that it’s not only needed for HR, but for the people who are the thought leaders as well. I would love to see a list of Connectors who are HR practitioners go where the other practitioners are (chapter meetings, state conferences, SHRM National) and preach the “message” of where the future of HR is going and how to get connected. We can’t keep trying to reach them on Twitter if they don’t have an account!

#HRevolution brought together a great gathering of people who already share some forum of common space in Social Media. It’s time to build the bridge to the “New World” and show the profession the value of what’s being done. I’m excited and putting on my evangelist sandals even now . . .

What’s your next step?

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Steve Browne, SPHR is an HR pro who is passionate about connecting people. He runs an internet message board – (the HR Net) – with over 5,500 global subscribers and facilitates monthly HR Roundtable meetings in Cincinnati. Steve actively serves on the Ohio HR Conference Committee and is also a popular speaker at HR Conferences, HR Associations and business/community groups. His HR street cred includes serving as a past President of the Greater Cincinnati Human Resources Association and being named HR Professional of the Year in Greater Cincinnati.

Want to be a part of the HR Net? Let Steve know! Follow him on Twitter at @sbrownehr.

5 HR Tips For Creating Effective Performance Reviews

Hiring for “Cultural Fit” – How Do You Make It Tangible?

HRevolution Impact On Those Unable to Attend

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