Dealing with career change

From a reader:

Why is it so difficult to change the sectors and profiles one is working in? I have worked in an industry for 3 years, beyond which I would like to try out something new, a different industry. But somehow one doesn't get calls for these kinds of roles or opportunity. For example, someone who has worked as a fresher in the IT industry, as a Business Analyst, does not get calls for sales in FMCG or marketing in a non IT company despite the appropriate educational background. What can one do to pursue such kind of a change?

Thanks.

Good question! Yes, I agree it’s difficult to change careers after spending three years in an industry, but it not impossible. Yes, your competition changes significantly when you want to carve out your career in a different field. Yet, there are ways to get calls from the desired industry. That’s not going to happen if you’re trying to squeeze in time while holding the current job. You’ll have to go the extra mile.

Here are some tips to get you into a career in the industry of your choice:

Understand the industry landscape: While there’s an intention to change your career, you may want to take that step forward with enough information at hand. There’s a ton of information available online, on blogs, networking sites, white papers, webinars, etc. Try and get yourself educated with enough info from the industry. You’ll know whether you have the required info when you are able to answer the question: What does it take to get into the new role?

Map overlapping skills: After you’ve gathered enough info to understand the required skills for the new role, map them to the skills that you possess. It will help you analyze the gaps in certain skills required for the role and work on it.

Start networking: It’s obvious, isn’t it? Your best source for info/jobs in the industry, must and will, come from people working in that field. Get on to those networking sites (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) Just a word of caution, networking is a 2-way street. You’ll have to invest time and effort in discussions and interactions. People will show interest only if you show potential and are aware of the know-how of the industry.

Be flexible: Three years work experience needn’t necessarily mean anything to a recruiter or hiring manager from a completely different industry. They’ll be ready to give you an opportunity, only if you show some flexibility. And flexibility could be around: role, work status (full time v/s contract), salary, benefits, perks, etc. Show them you’re willing to put in extra to learn the ropes. Chances of getting hired on potential are very high!

Get yourself a mentor: This could be the single most important thing for anyone looking for a career change. Invest time in locating the key people in the desired industry and identify a mentor for yourself. Go get yourself a mentor who will guide, train, prepare, provide expertise and share contacts with you, from the field. It will help you improve your learning curve. The mentor wouldn’t do your job for you, but will help you get on the right track to achieve your goals.

Informational Interviews: Well, you done your part of understanding the landscape, networked like never before, identified a mentor. What next? Ask for informational interviews from experts in the field. If need be, go out of your way to accommodate yourself to their schedule. Remember, you want this more than them. Informational interviews are an excellent opportunity to get you aligned with the needs of the industry. They also act as an opportunity for you to showcase your potential. For all you know, the person taking the interview might actually end up hiring up! You can never rule out possibilities. No?

Shadow-work with professionals: Another area where networking will pay off big time. Try and locate experts/professionals from the desired industry and check if you can shadow-work with them. It’s a great opportunity to learn on the job. If possible, share your views with them. It helps refine your approach to the task at hand. Yes, you don’t get paid. Maybe, you don’t want to get paid, since you have a contract with the current employer.

Patience: Your career change isn’t going to happen overnight. You’ll have to spend loads of time and do the right things to get to where you want to be. Patience plays a big role in your decision. The more you have it, the better it get for you. It might even include lifestyle adjustments (including financial decisions) that need to be made.

Resume that captures your preparation: This is the crucial point in any career change. Do you have a resume that speaks of your effort that has gone into preparing and learning for the role?

Career changes are possible. Really. I’ve seen people make it happen. But there really isn’t any shortcut to reach your goal. Atleast, not one that I know of.

Good luck!

Can I record my job interview?

I’m looking for a job change and have been interviewing with select employers. I’ve noticed that most interview processes start with a phone-interview. The interviewer is either the hiring manager or a person from the technical panel. I want to know if I can record phone interviews. I’m interested in working on the questions asked in the interviews, since it will help me prepare for future interviews.

Thanks.

Well, must say, this is an interesting question. While you’ve got a valid reason to record phone interviews, to start with, you will need the consent of the interviewer.

Getting consent is very tricky since there are dependencies attached to it. First, the Company/interviewer will need to address the legalities involved in giving consent. Read: Potential lawsuits. Second, far too many interviewers aren’t trained at taking interviews and might end up saying or committing to things that aren’t in their control. They might fear you’ll hold them responsible for it at a later stage.

Let’s assume you do get consent, I suspect there’s a high possibility that the interviewer might show restraint in sharing information around confidential data, career growth, details around compensation, etc. On the other hand, nothing stops you from pressing the record button on the phone, as long as you are using it ONLY for your own purpose and you don’t hold the Company/interviewer responsible for anything committed in the discussion. I would suggest you don’t do that and instead take notes.

That prompts me to ask: What is stopping you from taking notes during an interview?

If you do take notes, you can write back to the interviewer, sharing your understanding of the role and responsibilities required for the job. If there really is a technical question that you need help with getting answers, here’s an approach that might work in your favor. Write down the question during the interview. Once you’re done with the interview, search for answers (online, books, peers, friends, etc.). Mail the interviewer with answers to the question that you weren’t to answer in the interview. In my experience, good interviewers for mighty impressed with candidates that follow this approach. It tells them three things. One, you are keen about the role. Two, you've demostrated your keenness by getting back to them with solutions. Three, you are receptive to feedback. It's a combination that interviewers look for and will help you stand out among many applicants.

Good luck!

Guest Post: Three Mistakes - Innovation as a Culture

Author: Prateek

When ‘The HR Store’ asked me to write a guest post for his blog, I was not only surprised but overwhelmed with gratitude. The gratitude because, one of the best compliments you can get from a blogger is that he thinks your views are worthy enough to be displayed on his blog. And surprised because his being a blog of a niche focus in the area of HR, and my credentials in the field are limited to reading a couple of books and interacting with working HR professionals in couple of organizations. So for this blog post I have picked up a topic which has always been something which I look up to in an organization. My level of respect and adoration grows leaps and bounds for any organization who can display the elusive traits of Innovation.

Innovation as an organization culture has always been a nightmare for organizations. The perfect blend of processes that might nurture innovation in the organization has eluded professionals across the globe. There have been companies that have invested millions of dollars to get the better of the competition year after year.

Steven Jobs is one professional who I have always looked up to, for his clarity of thought and vision for an organization. If anyone has been able to inculcate a culture of innovation successfully in an organization, that person would be Jobs. I present here my learning from reading about Jobs & Apple, on Innovation.

Dollars vs. People
"Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it."-- Steve Jobs, Fortune, Nov. 9, 1998

One common mistake a lot of organizations do to be innovative, is choosing a wrong starting point. You have got it wrong in the first place if your idea of innovation starts with an R&D budget. The idea of innovation is not having a fixed amount to money to spend, but to identify a set of people who are willing to bring about change in an organization, who have the ability and vision to produce next level of products or services. There should be a budget for financial responsibility and accountability for sure, but the idea that a budget is allocated based on current mindset and vision of an organization to innovate is flawed. R&D organizations need to be restructured independently, with a set of goals that's in-line with that of the organizations.

Age vs. Experience
"It's rare that you see an artist in his 30s or 40s able to really contribute something amazing."-- Steve Jobs, At age 29, in Playboy, February 1985

If we actually look at innovation, it's more of an art than science; it's less of process and more of out-of-box abilities of a person or even an organization. As Steve Jobs points out, age is often an ignored criterion but somewhere in configuring an overall organization mix to establish innovation as culture this needs to be considered. There are two ages of people where the innovation peaks, one in early age mainly triggered of the youth & enthusiasm to keep trying that which is not tried. One that involves taking risks traversing unchartered or untried territories. The second time is late into one's professional career where experience teaches people of ways that things could work; the fall-outs and possible areas of improvement. Though an organization cannot ensure this non traditional distribution of age for innovation, it can be work towards providing a borderless culture to allow the voice of youth and experience to communicate and ideate. This probably is the best shot at innovation, because talent which can be innovative is present within most organizations, but often the channel or medium to communicate those ideas to a level where something sufficient can be achieved is missing.

Process vs. Individuals
"It is hard to think that a $2 billion company with 4,300-plus people couldn't compete with six people in blue jeans."-- Steve Jobs on Apple's lawsuit following his resignation to form NeXT (Newsweek, Sept. 30, 1985)

This is a million dollar observation! Mighty giants with thousands of brains working in tandem with each other are still beaten hands down when it comes to innovation by smaller start-ups. This is an illogical and at times even a paradoxical situation, that an organization with huge amount of talent is not innovative enough and few of its employees can simply quit, making it big by innovating. Case in Point: Patni Computers, Infosys, Wipro and Mindtree among many more companies that one can follow. I believe that the primary reason for this kind of occurrence lies in the fact that the cumulative energies of people is being diverted to a completely different area of work. It may be so because they are restricted by communications channels, processes and systems or even plain office politics. So when an organization is structured such that it allows for free flow of ideas, there's an opportunity that it is considered seriously and brainstormed. This is a key point which should be kept in mind while designing an innovation core for the organization.

I believe these are the three mistakes organizations have been doing time and again while eyeing for innovation to be at their core. The idea should be to strive towards a perfect balance which would maintain status quo of the day to day business while at the same time increasing the overall entropy of innovation in the system. Thus, setting it for a better and more stable state.

About the Author

Prateek is a Business Process Consultant working in Supply Chain Management and Planning Space. He is a passionate blogger, a technology enthusiast and a social media junkie. He blogs about topics like Organization Processes, General Management, Personal Management, and Business Issues. You can read more about him here.

Obvious or Curious?

Well, before I start with this post, I want to ask you to read through the dictionary meaning of a couple of words, at least the one explanation that makes sense in this context.

Read up here on obvious and curious.

Now that we have, let’s get down to the post. This one’s really got me thinking.

• Does good talent take jobs that state the obvious? Or ones that leave them a bit curious?


• Do employees like reading a user manual (obvious) before using the intranet/HRIS? Or will they use it better if you create curiosity about the application?


• Can managers retain the best folks by opting for a natural career progression for everyone? Or will a few of them opt for a more risky career path if they find something curious?


• Is that sales person pitching your product in the way that’s sounds obvious? Or is he willing to create some curiosity in the customer & let him try it out first?

If you still haven’t answered truthfully, then maybe this post won’t have an impact on you. Cause the answer is screaming at us. Most of us (at least starting with me and many that I know personally) including talent, managers, sales folks, marketing honchos, customers & even the front desk receptionist, among so many others, love stuff that tickles brain-cells. We are constantly looking for something that conveys curiosity, stuff that’s compelling enough to take on the risk. It’s a battle of the obvious versus curious choice. Before you jump at a conclusion, it’s OK to take a side. Go ahead and pick your choice. It’s perfectly alright.

It only starts getting murky when the leader picks obvious and implements it without considering the curious set of people. Towing the line is then, the only option. However, repercussions of this will be experienced when the market picks up and the curious lot will be find jobs that suit them better.

So what’s this choice got to do with HR, staffing or employee relations? It does mean a lot. In fact it means creating a work environment with a difference.

The obvious choice is to play it safe. Create enough policies so that HR doesn’t need to answer any questions. Make the hiring process predictable enough to hire mediocre candidates. Rate every employee as a high-performer and not worry about the side-effects until it happens (like a lay off). Follow industry benchmarking even when you know you can do much better. Implement processes that doesn’t give room for people to question or improvise.

On the other hand, you have curious. It has people who like to question status quo. They take the time & effort to find alternate solutions. They’re inquisitive by nature and are constantly looking at raising the bar. Setting new standards in benchmarking is a norm. Willing to take risks and they are fully aware of the repercussions and have solutions for that too. Curious is always ready to engage employees in an open manner and strive towards creating an inclusive work culture.

If you are in HR and are telling me that allowing curious is a culture thing or is a numbers driven issue at a very big organization, I’ll strongly disagree. If it were that, the curious lot would have left you in their very first month on the job! Really. I suppose it’s then an individual trait. Some managers are allowing for it to grow, while many others are curbing it at the very start. As a HR person, are you having discussions with the business to allow for that curious mind to grow? That’s the HR power that you will bring to the table. Start with one and you’ll be surprised that there are more people than you can think of in your company who’ll endorse that view.

So when will you start?

What if your HR Dept is like an open kitchen? Really.

Maybe I was really hungry when I posted this question on Twitter:

Does having an open kitchen at a restaurant enhance customer experience?

You can see some of the replies here, here & here with an emphatic YES!

The bottom line is that people love restaurants that have open kitchens. It’s such a big hit. It’s gives customers a great chance to see the way food’s cooked and that could in turn enhance customer experience. Off course, it demands a certain set of standards to be maintained, like hygiene, cleanliness, quality of food & surroundings, behavior, safety precautions for having an open kitchen, deciding just how much transparency is good, etc, If going the open-kitchen way enhances customer experience to an extent where they are willing to go around and spread the good word, then wouldn’t it in turn grow the business? Obvious, isn’t it?

Now, I asked that question because I felt that the open-kitchen model would work wonders for a HR department too! By choosing to open the doors to our HR cabins or department we would help build trust, confidence, effective communication channels and not to mention a very motivated workforce. By the way, this is not just HR speak. It’s a way of improving HR life at work. This approach would also help HR connect better with employees. No? Think about it this way, the more you choose to stay closed about policies, rewards & recognition, performance reviews, etc, it’s only going to put that much more distance between HR & employees.

We believe HR department is responsible for understanding the pulse of the organization, providing information and educating the senior management on best practices. Then shouldn’t HR be initiators and become ‘Change Managers’ before campaigning for change among the managers/VP’s/CEO? I really wouldn’t buy “It’s been the Company’s culture” stand. It’s been there because no one’s questioned it. It’s been there because no one’s willing to take the initiative and invest time to build an open door HR department, since it requires you to give people in your teams the authority to take decisions (which is tied to hiring the right person). It’s possible to implement this model when HR stops being a compliance-only dept that use phrases like follow this process or check that policy. It’s possible only when you actively participate in running the business.

Understandable that change is strange. But the HR-needs-a-seat-at-the-table jig isn’t really necessary for this change to happen or be implemented. All you need to take is three small steps. Start small. Let the effect be experienced by employees. Your brand ambassadors (employees) will sell the idea for you, by spreading the good word. It’s not going to happen if you sit around and wait for everyone to come onboard your idea-ship in one day. They’ll be the usual naysayers, pessimists and a whole lot of pushback from different departments. Take a stand. It’s time we did.

So should we then not drive towards having an open door HR department? Off course, it’s an emphatic YES from my side too. It’s obvious. It’s the right-thing to do.

Any thoughts?

Guest Post: Be Creative About Staff Development

Guest post by Karen Wise

Recently I have been thinking about how we develop our staff and ourselves. This subject seems to weave it's way into almost every aspect of my work at the moment: I've been delivering appraisal training to several different organisations: a staff's Personal Development Plan is discussed as part of the course; I recently delivered a break-out session at a Coaching conference on Continued Professional Development; and I'm going to be delivering a practical developmental seminar for coaches next month.

In the course of this work, through discussions and feedback from participants, I've begun to realise that there's a real need to change the way that managers approach the development of their staff.

Traditionally, when a manager writes a Personal Development Plan (PDP) as part of their staff's performance appraisal, external training is identified: some kind of taught course, a conference, further education resulting in a recognised qualification.

But at the moment, with the recession still biting at our heels, the organisational development budgets are not as large as they were a few years ago. Managers now need to start considering how to develop their staff in a cost-efficient way. So I'll give you an example:

A junior manager pulled me aside on a training session. He wanted a piece of advice on what course he could send a member of staff on who needed training in how to manage difficult conversations - there were no more places left on the in-house conflict resolution training, and all external courses cost more than his departmental training budget would allow.

So I asked a question: "Who do you know, more senior to you in this organisation, who is able to manage difficult conversations?" The junior manager was quickly able to identify someone.

So I said: "How about you approach this person to ask them if they could support you in developing your member of staff? Let's develop a plan."

1. Your member of staff and the manager will need an initial meeting - to make sure they can work together for this specific development need.
2. Your member of staff will then attend a couple of meetings to observe the manager managing a difficult conversation.
3. The member of staff will meet with the manager again and talk through his observations. The manager will in turn talk through some of the techniques they use to manage difficult conversations.
4. The member of staff will return to the workplace & apply their learning.
5. The member of staff and manager will meet again, perhaps one or two times to consolidate learning: identify any challenges, reflect on application to date, and measure the progress made.

It's quite simple really - and all it will take is the resource of time and commitment from the manager and the member of staff. Some might say that this is a form of mentorship - and I suppose that they would be right. However, this mentor relationship is defined for a specific need, and is time limited. The key benefit is that this form of development opportunity has high impact and is sustainable. The added benefit is the networking opportunities that it creates for the member of staff, and the exposure to a wider range of issues beyond their current sphere of work.

In essence, this idea is based on one of my key principles that development and growth is natural, given the right conditions. Choosing the right role model and having the opportunity to observe, then reflect and discuss with them their approach can happen in any organisation, anywhere. The example I give is just one way that a manager can demonstrate creative thinking when identifying the appropriate learning method to meet a development need.

When you're next completing a Personal Development Plan for a member of your staff - try and think creatively.

About the Author

Karen Wise, MCIPD is an Organisational Development Consultant and Business Coach, with over 12 years’ experience of working in Human Resources roles up to and including Director level. Karen now runs her own consultancy and coaching business, with a particular interest in maternity and wellbeing coaching.

Karen is a co-founder of Minerva’s Mind: an organisation that supports women to become leaders in their own lives, by exploring what leadership means today in every area of life. (www.facebook.com/minervasmind)

Karen is based in St Albans, 25 miles north of London, England, where she lives with her husband and two small children. She is also currently undertaking a Masters Degree in Coaching / Coaching Psychology at the University of East London.

Is this a bold move?

You decide that after reading this post.

There’s enough written about managers. I’ve written about it myself here, here & here. But this post is completely devoted to a much avoided/evaded part of a manager’s role: Giving Feedback

So here’s a suggestion I have: Why don’t we make giving feedback a part of a manager’s performance review? Make it objective and quantifiable.

Why should we go with this approach to management? Here’s why:

- It will make managers give feedback. Simple. Right? Yes, sometimes a basic request for feedback isn’t met. At times it’s completely avoided too.

- Feedback can be tracked and reviewed along with other parameters as part of the manager’s performance review. It would help identify areas in which the manager might need help, when it comes to giving feedback.

- Takes away the opportunity to just give hints and get away with it. The recipient knows exactly what’s been said.

- Avoids arguments. When the feedback is clear and precise it doesn’t give room for arguments, debates or worse, assumptions!

- When you make it quantifiable, the manager’s focus will be on giving feedback with enough data.

- Makes it a direct interaction between the manager and his direct report. Often, feedback is passed through other leads/employees. An approach that always backfires.

- It helps set-up a clear communication channel between managers and direct reports. Performance parameters can be set openly and discussed without any discomfort.

- Expectations can be set, managed and communicated effectively.

- It takes away the assumption that giving feedback is a one-time effort.

- Once the feedback is in place, it would help with formulating measures for improving the direct report’s performance. Follow-up can be well planned, tracked and executed easily.

- PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) will make more sense than before. Since feedback is captured on a regular basis and hence helps avoid surprising the recipient.

Thinks to watch out for:

- Managers need to be trained before implementing this move.

- Feedback is to be given only about work. Shouldn’t be a personal judgment of the manager.

There could be many more instances to look out for. That’s exactly why a training session would be helpful. Is this a bold move? Maybe not. It’s a matter of companies implementing and manager’s accepting it. Yes, Change is Strange!

Do you think your organization is ready for this? Are you ready for this? Do you manage people? Are you a leader? Do you report to a manager who gives feedback? Do you report to a manager who hates giving feedback? Would love to hear your thoughts. I’m open to receive feedback!

Learning on the job (flipside)

Scene from a recent shopping experience at a sports shop:

(Backdrop: There’s a sale at a particular sports shop. My wife went there in the morning and picked a t-shirt for me, which ended not being the right fit. During the purchase the sales guy at that time/shift had assured my wife that she could exchange it later if I didn’t like the fit/color. And off course only on terms that there was no damage caused to the goods purchased. Understandable. Later in the afternoon we tread our way back to the store to exchange the Tee and we end up meeting the sales guy from the next shift. Here’s what happens next…)

My wife: Hi Joe (sales rep), I picked this t-shirt this morning, for my husband. The fit isn’t right for him and so I would like to exchange it for another one.

Joe (thinks for a minute): Was this bought from the sale?

Wife: Off course, that’s what I told you. Here’s the bill for reference.

Joe: Ok, let me check.

(Runs to his pal in the store to check and then returns)

Joe: Sorry, that was the last one and we don’t have another one to exchange it against. You’ll have to keep it (offers no other solution, lost his chance to ‘WOW’).

Me: (!!!! Momentarily dumbfounded): Ok. Since it doesn’t fit me well, I cannot wear it. So could I buy another t-shirt not from the sale but at retail price and I’ll pay you the difference?

Joe (thinks again): Sorry. No. You can’t do that! Since your wife bought this at the sale, not from the retail section. You’ll have to keep it (Second chance, to give an alternate solution. Lost.)

Me (slightly agitated): Why can’t I exchange it for another one that costs more? You’ll stand to gain more money. (Makes sense, right?)

Joe: Sorry. I was informed (by his colleague) that the system doesn’t allow us to do that.

Me: So you telling me you can’t exchange it because a system that you are in control, doesn’t let you do it! Ridiculous. Can you please check with your manager?

Joe: (Again runs off to check with his manager & returns. Smiling.): Yes, he says you can exchange it. Sorry for the trouble, I’m new here and learning on the job.

Result: T-shirt exchanged for another one from a retail section and difference amount is paid. The store stood to make more money and we got a better Tee.

I’m a big fan of learning on the job. Don’t get me wrong when I tell you that learning on the job is dangerous. There’s a powerful downside to learning on-the-job.

- You really learn to approach things in a way your job-mentor would. No? That’s at least until you start thinking about the process or procedure to do certain things.
- Most often there’s no written document to refer too. So you are called upon to use your judgment/discretion in handling queries.
- There’s no budget allotted for employee training and development. So your sources of learning are colleagues, books (self-funded), networking sites or blogs. Sources that are FREE. The challenge is in identifying who is authentic and worth your time.

So if you are an employee asked to learn on the job: Here's a few things that you might want to watch out for:

- Ask questions. Listen. Ask questions. Listen…continue the learning process.

- Understand the escalation hierarchy. If your colleague (peer) is your max ceiling. It’s trouble. Get access to leads/managers.

- USE your discretion. The Company either tested you for it or knows you are good with using discretion. Don’t stop that.

- Are you allowed to make mistakes? Or do you get pulled up for each one you make? Helps you understand the Company’s stand.

- Go ahead and network furiously. It's the best way to help you learn on the job. Are you on FaceBook, Orkut, Twitter, LinkedIn? No? Start now.

- If you are uncomfortable/don’t like roles that require you to learn on the job. DO NOT accept the job offer. You'll end up doing a big disservice to yourself.

- Last, don’t forget to use Common Sense. It’s a powerful tool. (Sorry, that was sarcastic) But far too many of us tend to ignore it.

If you are an Employer promoting learning on the job: A few pointers that you could take into consideration.

- First, hire right. Many people like documentation at work that they could follow during their initial days. And if you don't have any, then maybe such people will have difficulty with the learn-on-the-job working style. You are better off hiring people who have had prior learning-on-the-job experience.

- There will be mistakes. Don’t get too critical. Better off giving constructive feedback. It’s part of an employee’s learning curve.

- Allow them to question. It will help tweak/build your processes and also understand their thinking methodology.

- While hiring, tell candidates that the role requires them to learn on the job. And dig deep during interviews to know their comfort with such an approach at work. Interviews that are situation-based would help immensely.

- If you have hired right, you’ll have employees who know to use discretion. A powerful skill-set. Especially when it’s learning on the job. Allow them to use it.

I’ve been a one-man HR team for long enough and have mostly learnt on the job. I’ve noticed that people are either comfortable or they are not, when it comes to learning on the job. It’s best to decide whether you want to take up a role that requires it.

I would love to hear thoughts from readers who have built their careers in similar fashion. Do share them.

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Reneges: Just who is your candidate listening to?

A recruiter asks: (maybe applicable to hiring managers too)

“What can we do to increase our chances of converting candidates who accept our offer to join us?”
(Note: He was referring to candidates who renege on their commitment to join, post offer acceptance.)

I’ve been in recruitment for a long time now. Personally, I don’t like candidates who renege on their offer acceptance (another dislike I’d written about here). Sorry for the rant!

First, I’ll digress a little before giving him the actual answer. Noticed something? When it comes to getting information about any product or service, we are just spoiled for options. Really. It’s also called information overdose. It’s so easy to get information from the numerous search engines, networking sites, blogs or even reviews. But what we must understand is that every source has its own analysis of the product or service. You agree? Hidden among so many different sources, is the one official source that belongs to the person/Company rendering the service or selling the product. But how much do they matter when we get to read end-user reviews? Isn’t that the most helpful or even useful source (to an extent)?

So, if the above situation does exist. It leads me to asking folks involved in the hiring process, “Who is your candidate listening to?”

Think about it, you’ve spent considerable amount of time, cost and efforts to identify a good candidate. It’s a role that a lot of other candidates interviewed for but didn’t make the cut. Good job. But you work’s only half done. Really. While you are sitting pretty satisfied with your hiring efforts and even start making project plans for the new hire, he is talking to others about the role he has just bagged in your Company. That’s when the discussions take a different turn. He realizes that his close friend’s brother works at your Company and contacts him to find out more about the Company. That’s just one of his sources. There may be a hundred others. He is suddenly open to so many opinions and suggestions (off course, we can argue about his choices, but they are his sources) and he is making a decision based on things that he might hear or get to know from one of them. These sources will give out information on a ton of things including culture, managers, peers, compensation structure, benefits, etc., It’s their point of view. And your candidate might buy it.

So that’s where you can play a critical role. The immediate few days after a candidate accepts an offer is a crucial period. Those days will determine whether your hiring efforts will pay off or not. You could help the candidate take a better informed decision. One that is factual and hopefully unbiased.

Second, the reneges could happen for completely valid reasons. Some that just cannot be avoided. Yes, there are enough of them. But if you keep your post-offer interactions active, you’ll atleast get some heads-up on time. It'll help you come up with Plan B a lot faster. That’s better than getting to know of the offer decline closer to the candidate’s joining date.

Third, you might want to reconsider your interview techniques. Agreed that interviews aren’t 100% fool-proof, but then tweaking/changing your interview structure might help you come up with some questions that will help you understand the candidates needs better.

Some earlier posts that might be of help:
Do you keep interactions active after a job offer is made?
X-Factor: "Recruiter Sales"

Hope things better for you. Good luck!

Lessons from a leader

Got to see this when I read Tony Hsieh's (CEO Zappos.com) tweet about a letter he had shared with his employees, regarding Zappos' deal with Amazon.com

Although I was following the deal closely, this particular video of Jeff Bezos caught my rapt attention! A message so simple, yet so strong. I assure you, it's worth the eight minutes spent listening to him. Go ahead, click the 'Play' button....and let me know your thoughts.




By the way, I don't get a single dime or discount at Amazon.com for playing this video. Just in case, you thought that I'll make a killing!

Co-worker takes credit for team's ideas!

“Recently at work, the team had discussions on topics related to a current project. As part of the discussions, each team member was supposed to present their ideas on ways to resolve certain project related issues. Since it wasn’t a formal meeting, the manager wasn’t involved. Neither was the meeting documented. One of the team member’s however had written down notes and then put together a presentation. The team didn’t know of the presentation and she didn’t share with us either. However, she went on to share it with both our manager and senior manager, claiming that the ideas presented were her own!! She had blatantly plagiarized/stolen ideas from us. So you can imagine how shocked we must have been when the manager sent the presentation to the entire team praising the team member. My question is: How do we go about telling the manager that the team member has taken credit for our ideas? Or should we stay off it and guard our discussions in future”

I agree it’s a terrible situation to be in. At the face of it, your team member’s acted like a jerk. Taking credit for someone else’s work is a strict workplace no-no. But there’s too much involved in this situation to give you a quick reply. So let me try to answer it in parts.

First, you say it was an informal meeting and hence the manager wasn’t there. So I presume it was a general discussion within the team and more of a collaborative discussion. One where ideas flow freely and people end up forgetting who gave which idea! Really. Unless the idea had an earth shattering impact and one that could change the course of our planet, stick to it, otherwise it’s ok to let go. It shouldn’t look like you are obstructing free flow of ideas/thoughts towards improving business or work. Next time you may want to show some restraint while talking about your ideas and yes, please document it in a formal meeting. If it has to stay an informal one, watch what you have to say. You could talk to your team member directly and resolve it without the manager’s involvement. Tell her that you found her tactic to be grossly wrong and the team’s not taken it well. Hopefully she’ll realize her mistake and apologize. Else, read on.

Second, your team member pulled a fast one and thinks she can get away with it. She thinks that way because she knows that most of the team will stay quiet and not blow the whistle. Remember there’s no documentation to prove that the idea originated from you. Right? The moment to blow the whistle has passed and anything you say now will look like doing damage control. She’s fully aware of that. Now you have to decide if you want to stand up or back-off. If you choose to stand up for your ideas, then your manager’s involvement looks imminent.

So how to get your message across to the manager? Since the manager wasn’t involved in your team discussion, she could be totally unaware of the origins of the ideas. She’s seen it for the first time and naturally she is thrilled with the effort of her team member. So you’ll need to build your discussion carefully. You don’t want to make it sound like a complaining session. Set-up a discussion with the manager and outline the details of the team’s informal discussion. Give some context to the origin of the ideas. Don’t make it a meeting to accuse the team member. But you would do well to speak of the impact this negative approach has had on yourself and the team too. Trust is a vital part of teamwork and quite sure that’s taken the maximum impact. You may want to highlight that. Also such negative tactics will build mistrust between team members and eventually will discourage them from talking more freely about their ideas. The manager needs to know that too. Hopefully your manager is a fair person and will see clearly through this issue.

Direct confrontation is uncomfortable for a lot of people. It requires courage to stand up and talk. But I urge you have that discussion with the manager, because if it goes unreported then the team member could repeat it again and again. That will only increase the team’s frustration, leading to low team morale and productivity too. Also, a lot of companies have innovation as a key trait in performance reviews and if it’s the same with your review, then you don’t want your efforts to go wasted. Would you? Or even get it stolen by another team member.

This is not a unique situation, it’s happens quite frequently. You can’t rule out chances of it not happening again. Maybe someone should just put their hand up and speak.

Any thoughts from the reader’s?

Guest Post: Striving for Continuous Improvement & Innovation

Author: Narayanan Viswanathan

Management guru, Tom Peters, stated: 'Get innovative or get dead'. One couldn’t be just as candid & relevant, all the same. ‘Find out what works & do more of it’ & ‘don’t fix it if it isn’t broken’, have been the most standardized management techniques used by some of the business entities, who either no longer exist today or are on their way out of business. It used to be thought that Innovation was what took place within R&D centres, propelled by the geeks hired specifically for the purpose, but this isn't the case today. The need to break the collusion of mediocrity, enable constant revitalisation & consequently maximise stakeholder value have forced organizations to recognize that innovation is paramount to all within the organization. It is evident that innovation is the way forward & innovators need both motivators & enablers. Hence, business entities encourage innovation across functions in the organization, rather than just within the specialist R&D units.

Innovation however, cannot be entirely engineered towards a desired outcome. It is a perpetual journey towards excellence, which could involve a process of trial & error. Take for example, the drug discovery process which has an average success rate of 17.54%; which means, statistically 21 out of every 25 processes are scraped. Out of the remaining 4, 2 fail to meet consistency & undesired effect tests, & out of the remaining 2, only 1 takes the shape of a medicine that is commercially marketed.

Innovation need not essentially refer to creation of something unique or grandiose. Take for example, NASA spending millions of dollars in sub-contracting costs to invent a Pen, that can write on any surface & in zero-gravity, that can be used by its Astronauts in outer-space; the Soviet’s instead, used a 9H grade Pencil which left residue less enough to be considered safe for use in space-station.

Innovation is also about identifying & leveraging on existing techniques; being applied on hitherto untapped area. For example, McDonalds’ adopted assembly line production technique, a process that revolutionized auto industry, for preparing fast-food – they called it the Speedee System. It improved their efficiency, wiped out carhops that were ubiquitous in the industry at the time, & set new standard for success in fast-food industry.

Innovation can be in every sphere of work across the functions in an organization. Take for example, Dell Direct model that stipulated a unique way of buying & selling. It starts & ends with the customers; provides them with customized systems, services & support; & also, enables Dell to manage the entire supply-chain with limited idle inventory. It not only set Dell apart, it also revolutionised the focus on customer experience, as an important differentiator, while also reducing direct costs.

More products & services have been created in the last century alone than the entirety of time before! All signs & trends only signal the possibility that the rate of innovation will only head northwards. The problem for many organizations is that they are not culturally equipped to deal with such rates of change. The fall of Ashton Tate Corp. (of DBase fame), the decline of International Harvester Co., the death of Walkman & Kodak films, are trite examples for lack of sustained development & innovation resulting in down-fall, while the advent of Internet, ATM, e-commerce & wireless communication are prominent examples of path-breaking inventions that revolutionized our times.

It’s important for organizations to constantly improve performances against key business processes through a deliberate Plan-Do-Learn-Repeat mechanism. It has been said before, but it is true nonetheless that innovative solutions help save millions of dollars that can be invested back into the customer relationships & employee development initiatives, that will have a direct bearing on both sustenance & growth of the business entity.

About the Author:
Narayanan Viswanathan, is a certified Global Professional in Human Resource Management (GPHR) with over 10 years of progressively responsible hands-on experience in the entire gamut of HR functions; with functional specialization in Talent Management & Talent Engagement. Currently, he is part of a 6-member HR Centre of Excellence (COE) team, at Cognizant, which is the strategic wing of corporate human resources, that manages the cross-geographical implementation of Balance Score Card, Performance Management, Career Development and Career Progression initiatives. He is also a Six Sigma Green Belt certified professional.

Promoting Company's Culture: Just how cool is this idea!?!?!?

Recently started to follow Zappos CEO - Tony Hsieh on Twitter. His latest tweet was this amaziing video that the Zappos Pipeline/Training team put together for their internal all hands meeting!! The video is so cool & it definitely rocks! An absolutely amazing idea to promote your company's culture!

Culture is the start-point or key for employees to form a cohesive and successful team. It becomes viral when your employees know exactly what the company stands for!

Check out the video here.

Do I mention my blog on my resume?

That’s a question that I was asked recently.

It’s a great idea. But the answer is 'No'. Unless you have a great or spectacular blog that just cannot be passed without a second glance. It’s a no-brainer that your blog has to be in your field of work. Else, the recruiter/company doesn’t need to know nor or will they be inclined to read it. A great blog (if you have one) gives you a chance to stand-out among the rest of the applicants.

Why shouldn’t you put your blog on your resume? Here’s why:

1. A blog is like a personal opinion. Even if someone is paying for it, they are still asking for your point of view. Companies don’t run on a thousand different views, they have their own. Maybe even a official blog to tell you what they believe in! Your blog could hamper your chances, if found contradicting their views or vision. You could still go ahead with it, if you want to work for a company that endorses your views.

2. If you think your blog acts like a resume. That’s a tough stand. Your blog IS NOT your resume. As much as you want to believe it. Just imagine if a job opening two thousand hits and half of them end up sending their blogs instead of a one-pager! You can bet that the people who sent their blogs just made things easier for the rest of the applicants. Again, don’t try unless you have a great blog.

3. I know it’s bad, but recruiters are so crunched for time sifting through so many resumes. That they will not take time-off to check your blog. The hiring manager might, but in most cases, the first line of resume validations is done by the recruiters.

Let’s hear what the readers have to say. Would you place your blog on your resume? If you have already done so, do share your experience with the rest of us.

Dream Job!

This stuff beats reality TV hands down!!

Australia's Tourism Queensland has pulled off one of the biggest marketing strategies in recent times. In the process they have generated so much buzz that the applicants for the job crashed the website with tens of thousands of applications. It was termed ‘The Best Job in the World’. It’s for a post of a caretaker on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef. Just how cool is that! Meanwhile, their efforts paid off big dividends in excess of $125 million dollars in free publicity!

If you want to know more about the job, you can read about it here. The winner was declared today to be Ben Southall from UK.

I know they spent a million dollars to get the message out. But there’s a lesson to learn on what ‘buzz’ can do for a job opening! In your case it could be just an email, a blog, flyers or an advertisement on TV or radio!

Go ahead and make some noise.

Sixth Sense! Game Changing Technology...

Watched this over at http://www.ted.com/

Pranav Mistry at MIT has created a wearable device called "Sixth Sense" that can interact with our environment.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

Just awesome!

What are Ideas worth?

Well, its worth at least a ‘Million’ bucks – no, hold on! It could be more than a million or even lesser…Let’s try another time…but WAIT!

Don’t you think all your attempts to find out the ‘Ideal’ price/worth would lead to the same end? Since, it’s hard to put a value for something that doesn’t exist!

GET REAL…your ideas are only as worthy as its EXECUTION! Your idea is only the start! It’s like leading for the first 50M in a 100M race and expecting to win the medal! Are you kidding? The winner is the one who makes it first across the line…if its not you, then it will be someone else!

'Ideas' give a great adrenaline rush - a feeling of euphoria. We often get caught up in lengthy discussions about the idea – we call it brain-storming! However, the idea is only worthy, if it makes its way out of that room and gets executed.

Get started!

- The HR Store

25 Years of Tech Blunder!

CNBC has listed 25 Tech Blunders that the customers could have lived without!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/28542368/?slide=1


The Nokia N-Gage was my biggest disappointment! Which product had you placed the bet on?


- The HR Store

Here's an Out-Of-The-Box Idea!

When it comes to 'Out-Of-The-Box' ideas, we've so often thought, heard, seen, managed - but, here is one that caught my attention!

My disclaimer holds good: 'Circumstances reveal personality traits'. The 'Thinking Trait' is definitely right on top.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-1131289/Solve-Sudoku-puzzle--win-house-How-finance-broker-hopes-beat-recession.html

- The HR Store