References: Worth the Trouble?

Upstart HR pro Ben Eubanks says: the “return is small for all of the time invested in the process.”

Human Resources writer and speaker Mike VanDervort agrees: “They are marginally useful. That is all!”

Joan Ginsberg, JD, SPHR, cautions not to give ‘em. Too dangerous.

What do you say? What policies govern your reference giving and your reference seeking? How much time do you invest checking references and what credence do you give to the material?  Do you think practices vary by industry and size?

I have my own thoughts about this and a post in the works, but I’d love to hear from other Human Resources professionals and hiring managers first.

photo by etingrita

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Want an easy way to stand out from other job applicants? It may sound ‘old school,’ but send a thank you note  after your interview.

As a human resources person I’d say this is a very easy way to stand out.’ I get very few thank you’s and believe me, I notice each one.

In addition to satisfying any questions of etiquette, you can use a thank you note to reinforce key points from your interview–or to introduce brilliant answers that escaped you in the pressure of the moment.

With a thank you note, you check in and you also communicate continued interest. And it’s one more opportunity to market your gifts and potential contributions.

It doesn’t have to be long; doesn’t have to be fancy. Three or five sentences by e-mail should suffice. It’s quick, much easier than your cover letter, and a lot of bang for the buck.

photo credit: J Star

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For several months, I’ve been taming my office Outlook account. I’ve worked for my employer for almost ten years and during this tenure my in-box has taken on a life of its own, increasingly resembling some kind of mutant swamp monster, the office refrigerator or a man-eating tiger.

Six months ago, I probably averaged 500 daily in-box messages, a garbled mixture of the following in descending order of prevalence:

1. Spam that escaped our corporate spam filters. Yeah, this stuff dominated my in-box.
2. Resumes.
3. Ads from HR, management, training, safety, wellness, benefits and compliance vendors.
4. Newsletters and blogs from HR, management, training, safety, wellness, compliance, benefits professionals.
5. Actual e-mail correspondence.

Notice what was at the bottom. Argh! (author screams!)  It was out of control, no fun, took an inordinate amount of time to wade through. And I was always up against my storage ceiling.

I am not a techie, but because of the frequency of complaints from other (non-techie) kindred souls I know I’m not alone and would like to share what I’ve done to make my in-box less frightening: Keep reading »

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Today, a part-time employee innocently mentioned his plan to put aside the maximum FSA election and use the monies to fund his health insurance premiums. It makes all the sense in the world–except that the IRS doesn’t allow it.  As I explained this to him, I had the distinct displeasure of upsetting his plans and ruining his day. I did offer several suggestions that might mitigate his circumstances, which made the moment slightly less painful, at least for me.

I love working in HR, but I didn’t love my job very much during that conversation. In case you’re an employee and you’re wondering: yes, HR does care about you in these situations. And no, HR doesn’t enjoy being the bearer of bad news.

It is not fun to say: I’m sorry but….

Keep reading »

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In line at the convenience store, another shopper placed a two liter bottle of Sprite on the counter. “I just want regular Sprite,” she informed the young man behind the counter, “not this lemon-lime stuff.”

“This is regular Sprite,” the clerk helpfully assured her. “Sprite is always lemon-lime.”

She wasn’t convinced. “I don’t want lemon-lime,” she insisted, pleasantly but adamantly. “I just want regular Sprite.”

While I tried not to crack up, the clerk once again attempted to educate his customer, but she wasn’t buying it, literally or figuratively. She didn’t want this bogus pseudo-Sprite, she wanted what she saw as the real deal, darn it!

Finally he had a brainwave. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he apologized. “We’re out of regular Sprite. All we have is lemon-lime.” Keep reading »

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Last week, I wrote about ten funny resume mistakes. This week, I wanted to do the same with interviews, but as I look back, I have to admit that hilarious moments in interviews are not as frequent as smiles over resumes. Here are my top five:

1. This candidate was so nervous at her first professional interview that she accidentally barged into the men’s room instead of the ladies’. Okay, I admit it: that person was me!

(Lol!)

2. An immigrant interviewee showed up with her infant. Rather than send her on her way, I  decided to do some quick Information &  Referral around immigration, child care and careers. In my office, you guessed it: she pulled up her shirt and started feeding her baby, with no attempt at any kind of cover.

(Despite being Africa-born and raised, I have to say,  this was a bit much for me in a business setting.)

3. A yound woman arrived wearing a tiny, short skirt that couldn’t have encompassed more than two ounces of fabric. Seeing her, I tried to compose my features into a suitably neutral expression and probably failed miserably. Oblivious to my discomfort,  the girl shimmied as she tugged her skirt a fraction of a centimeter lower, giggling, “I’m so glad I dressed up today!”

(Okay…! Moving on.)

4. When we asked a candidate why he hadn’t secured a certain professional certification, the interviewee candidly replied,  “Laziness.” He went on to qualify: “Well, that and women!”

(Blatant honesty is the best policy?? I’m not so sure…)

5. As we passed the water cooler and I made my standard offer, “Would you like something to drink?”,  this candidate said, “No thanks, I just had a six pack.”

(I like humor as much as the next guy. But this reply is really going out on a limb!)

Since I could only come up with five, I am relying on you to supply a few more! Look forward to reading your responses.

photo by esteban

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My son is having his wisdom teeth removed tomorrow.

At least I think he is having surgery. Yesterday the oral surgeon’s office manager called to alert me that my dental insurance was terminated February 12. When I vehemently protested that it absolutely wasn’t possible, she said, “Well, you need to call HR.”

I said, “I am HR.”

For all the good it did me.  The HR Coordinator and I spent the rest of the day calling our dental carrier, our TPA and broker. By the end of the day, we learned that coverage was terminated for random employees, but we didn’t know why, or when the correction would take place.  Will my son go under the knife tomorrow? I don’t know.

Because the surgery was carefully planned to occur in the tiny window between wrestling and lacrosse seasons, having to postpone will probably cause disruption and inconvenience.  Be that as it may,  I have this annoying habit of always looking for a lesson or a silver lining. So I asked myself what I could learn from the situation.

First of all, with my twisted sense of humor, I had to admit the situation was actually kind of funny. The HR person’s benefits are cut off! How ironic!  Priceless, actually.

But beyond that, I decided the lesson is this:  For a couple of days, I have the opportunity to put the shoe on my other foot and experience being a ‘regular’ employee. I was able to live and feel–firsthand–the frustration and inconvenience when benefits don’t perform as expected.

No doubt about it, having to deal with the fluke cancellation of my own coverage will help deepen my empathy and compassion for employees in difficult situations.

photo by gadl

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Here are some of the more humorous resume moments I’ve experienced recently. Any identifying information has been changed not just to protect the innocent but also to prevent other HR professionals from poaching my talent pool!

This post is intended as light-hearted humor and not what I’ve heard described as “HR Tone“.  Sometimes we all just need to laugh at the silly mistakes we all make.  Here’s a story to show I can laugh at myself. Years ago I applied for an human resources position at the Nature Conservancy. Later as I reviewed my materials I saw  I’d mistyped the organization name as Conservatory. D’oh! No wonder I never heard back. You can be sure I was more careful the next time.

My top Ten This Year

1. Stretch. I was looking for a HR Coordinator. One resume didn’t include any human resources experience or the requested degree. But he was a certified lifeguard!  You never know when that might come in handy, e.g. for all those company picnics people seem convinced HR should plan!

2. Say what? One cover letter said, “Please check my profile (encl herewith) for more details, although I’ve presented a crux herewith in this introductory note.”

Plain English is fine.

3. TMI. One young lady included “pole dancing” in her interests.

Not appropriate unless you’re applying to work at a ‘gentleman’s club.’  Double oops: My organization is church-affiliated.

4. Brevity is king.

“Short Resume for Joan Cannon

I am a mature person, very responsible, and very reliable. I completed many courses such as [lists eleven].  Please e-mail me using jcannon@whatever.com or call me at [number].”

This approach, while free-thinking, really doesn’t tell me anything I need to know except that Joan is a woman of few words and is known to cut corners.

5. Wanted. “As shown in the attached resume.I have,extensive (3years) experence working with people.I am very hard working,conviction and drug free.”

He won’t stay conviction-free for long; he’s obviously wanted by the Punctuation and Spelling Police!

6. Love, love love. “I love art, music, theatre and working with people. I am industrious and a very good cook! Alos, I love everyone!”

Love the youthful enthusiasm, just wish it extended to use of the spell checker.  (Typically we would not suggest including hobby information on a resume. In this case, it was not inappropriate since she was applying for a position that included both cooking and recreation.)

7. No she didn’t! “I am a very determined and hardworking individual whom pays extraordinary attention to detial as well as multi-tasks well.”

Suggestion:  Don’t claim to be detail-oriented because it only makes any mistakes all the more glaring. Let your attention to detail speak for itself.

8. Gmail is free mail.

“From: Michelle [mailto: hotsexyluv@whatever.com]

My background, experience and knowledge would be a benefit to your orgainzation.”

Michelle, thanks, but I’m actually not so sure your experience and knowledge is a good fit for this job. First, log into Gmail and set up a plain old boring account for MichelleSmith.  Then spell check. Good luck!

9. Oh yeah? “Extra-circular Activities: throwing parties in clubs.”

My first thought was, now here’s a well-rounded person. Spell check wouldn’t catch this kind of error, so it’s always useful to have someone else proof your resume. Also, if you coordinate and plan amazing parties and it’s a lucrative business, by all means expand on these accomplishments. But if you just like to party, you might want to omit this little tidbit.

10. And number ten?

“Experience includes: Night Stalker, Whole Foods Market.”

I don’t think this is what he really meant. At least, I sure hope not!

What funny resume “oops” do you have, either your own or others’?

Photo by duncan

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Every day I run into several blogs advising how to court and keep the Generation Y worker. I hear they are the ‘entitlement generation‘ requiring the latest and greatest IT solutions, constant excitement, instant gratification and a laundry list that honestly starts to feel a little high maintenance.

I observe this and I think: doesn’t anyone else notice? The emperor has no clothes!

The emperor is nekkid. I don’t wish to be unkind, but I don’t believe that Generation Y is any more special than anyone else who came before. (Okay, I’ve come out and said it; send your hate e-email! Akismet will catch it!)

At the same time, I’ve encountered several situations in which a Boomer excused the misconduct or poor performance of a Generation Y’er with an apologetic “He/she’s young.” Since when is age an excuse for failure in the workplace? We all make mistakes, and when anyone errs, they need to be held accountable, they need to fix it, and they need to learn from it and move on, not be excused with an apology about their category.

I’m wondering why I don’t see more “How to Manage Women” posts? More “How to Manage Your LGBT Workforce”? Or “How to Attract and Retain your Asian Employees?” Why not? Well, for starters, many of us in those categories would find such articles insulting and offensive. But for some reason, talking about generational differences feels safe and benign, while forays into gender, culture, and ethnic differences feels like shaky ground. Why is that? And does it make any sense?

But if you think about it, there’s not much difference; both approaches involve generalizations, lumping people together in large categories which may not fit the individual. So: I’m female, generation X, bi, foreign-born: do you have a category for all that? I imagine not, because I’m me, an individual, not a box or a category or a label.

Let’s all stop looking for a simplistic solution and start treating people as people rather than as categories, whatever those categories might be.

Image credits:  ilgigrad and AlHikesAZ

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