I Already Failed my Post-Pandemic Promise to Myself!

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I know the Pandemic is not over. I’m traveling again, almost like it’s back to normal. 3 cities last week, 6 airports, 4 different hotels. Felt like Fall 2019! Well, almost.

You see, going through the Pandemic, I found myself very fortunate. Personally and professionally, I’ve come out on the backside of the Pandemic feeling extremely fortunate and grateful of where I find myself. So, I promised myself I wouldn’t get frustrated or have travel stress. Prior to the Pandemic when I traveled, you would run into mean people, bad employees, weather issues, poor service, long lines, etc.

All of it caused stress and frustration, and quite frankly made travel kind of pain in the ass.

But, I’ve got a new outlook on life. Traffic jam? No problem, I’ve got so many podcasts I want to catch up on, plus, it gives me extra time to catch up with people on a live call! Delayed flight? Oh, I really needed to get some writing done, this is perfect! Long line at the rental car desk? No big deal, look at the one employee working her butt off, I need to make sure to tell her how grateful I am at her showing up today and making sure I got on my way!

Sounds very life coachy of me, right!?

It all lasted about one flight!

Turns out, I can tell myself that none of this will stress me, but then I ran into people! You know just normal people who are trying to also get out on long awaited vacations and meetups with family they haven’t seen in so long. I mean really stupid, dumb people who have forgotten completely how to travel. Like, OMG, look, that’s an aeroplane! Let me stand right in the middle of this walk way with a suitcase that’s two big blocking everyone from moving on to their flight!

My scientific assessment of the situation is Covid-19 made people dumber when traveling. Like we took 12-18 months off of traveling and I completely forgot what to do. Wait, I can’t have a can of gasoline in my carryon luggage!? Why not!? This is America! And my rental car in Jacksonville might not have gasoline!

It’s not just air travel. Have you noticed how people drive right now? I mean pre-pandemic is what bad, but now almost everyone seems to be a complete imbecile when it comes to operating a vehicle. It’s almost like states just gave out driver’s licenses during the pandemic by mail! Like just send us a check and a picture and we’ll send you back a valid driver’s license! I’m sure you know how to drive, we believe you, it’s a Pandemic, why would you lie!

What was my tipping point?

I’m a Delta guy. I’ve almost already hit Diamond status this year and it’s the end of June. The one thing I hate about every airline is how they jam you on the plane knowing it’s not going to take off, but they want their on-time departure. I’ve learned to live with this, again, more time for me to catch up on stuff. But this week, Delta did this to me for an hour and half. Why? Because they knew they couldn’t get someone to fuel the plane, but let’s just all sit here and wait. One fueler for the entire Detroit airport on a Saturday morning. I get it, no staff, we’re doing the best we can. I truly appreciate that dude, but this was the end of a long week of travel and little issues like this one.

I failed myself, but I vow to keep trying. The premise stays the same, I live a blessed life, I’m the one making these choices to travel knowing the world is far from back to normal. I promise I’ll keep trying.

In the mean time, people please stop trying to be stupid! Get your sh*t together. Understand there are other people around you again. You’re not stuck in your house by yourself. Pick up your pace a bit. Did I mention stop being stupid?

Yeah, this won’t last long…

Naomi Osaka and Mental Health in the Workplace #HRFamous

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On episode 67 of The HR Famous Podcast, longtime HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, and Jessica Lee come together to discuss Zoom backgrounds, Naomi Osaka and mental health, and LinkedIn’s acquisition of the platform Hopin.

Show Highlights

3:15 – Tim has read that it is healthier not to make your bed. What do we think? It sounds pretty gross.

4:00 – Are we sick of virtual Zoom backgrounds? Tim was bamboozled by someone’s background recently.

7:40 – First topic: Tennis star Naomi Osaka recently refused to partake in press at the French Open due to mental health reasons and later withdrew from the competition. Tim asks the crew whether high-profile people like athletes and celebrities should be forced to do press.

10:30 – JLee thinks that people like Osaka and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have extenuating circumstances because they are so famous and have such immense pressures that most people cannot understand.

13:00 – KD thinks that a lot of people in the “toughen up” camp have really grown and learned from the normalizing of mental health concerns. However, Naomi is different from the run-of-the-mill employee.

17:30 – JLee thinks it’s important to try to have empathy and grace for what people are going through without always knowing what is going on.

18:30 – KD shares his life during the pandemic where he got too into working and has had to set some boundaries in his personal life for when he can and should be working.

21:00 – Tim is concerned that there is a “mental health trap” where people that are underperforming may use mental health concerns as a faux crutch to explain their poor performance on the job.

23:20 – Naomi Osaka is dating rapper Cordae. Tim quizzes KD and JLee on his music and whether they know any of his songs.

24:30 – LinkedIn recently bought the virtual events platform Hopin. Tim thinks it’s a little clunky and isn’t great from a user experience. JLee is a fan of attending their virtual events, but wants in-person events back!

Using Video to Attract More Talent! @Prezi

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We do not use enough video when trying to attract talent! So, I made a video about how you can increase your use of video and attract more talent! Check it out!

HR and TA Peeps! I got a chance to test out Prezi’s new video presentation technology and you can see the results below. It’s pretty cool, and definitely a great way to do remote and virtual content for others!

You can go test Prezi Video for free! I really like the outcome as compared to a static slide deck and a window of me next to it!

What was your biggest dream as a child?

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When I was a kid, like eight to ten years old, I wanted to play in the MLB. The Detroit Tigers were my team and I thought one day, I’ll be playing at Tiger Stadium! But I kind of sucked. So, that wasn’t going to happen!

I got a little bit older and my dream was to be a teacher. Now, for a teenage boy that seems like a weird dream. But, I grew up in a blue-collar city, and every day I actually walked past a GM factory on my way to school. In baseball when we hit a foul ball it would go into the GM factory parking lot. I was from a divorced family, so teachers played a big part in my life, and one in particular really got me to want to teach.

As a child, your dreams should be giant. You can do anything! And, if you’re fortunate enough to be raised by emotionally healthy people you are most likely told you can do anything.

Those giant dreams die fast.

Kids aren’t judged by their giant dreams. You can be a superhero or a princess or anything. We think it’s cute when kids are naive to the real world. At some point, usually in adolescence, we begin to understand that naive dreams get us laughed at. They become hard to hold onto. If you actually make it out of high school and still have your dreams, well you become a dreamer! You get labeled as artistic and your parents probably believe you’ll never “make it”.

Dreams go from being awesome to being you’re basically an idiot. Maybe we should get you tested. Are you on drugs? “Dear, I think he’s on drugs!” He says he wants to be a pop star!

The only way you can actually hold onto your dream is if you were actually super talented in something. He can hit the ball a mile! Okay, hold onto that dream of playing professional baseball, even when you’re 28 and making $18K a year playing in the minor leagues. Oh, she’s got a great voice, she won the talent competition at the Corn Fair 2016! Keep signing in those bars for $200 a night.

It seems like the dream equation is you have to be better than almost every single person around you at something = you can hold onto that dream. If you don’t have superior talent over the people in your immediate vicinity, go get a job at the Amazon warehouse. Having a dream is hard work!

I wanted to be a professional baseball player.

I then wanted to be a teacher.

I ended up being a recruiter.

What was your dream?

HR Influencer Lists! Good or Bad? #HRFamous

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On episode 66 of The HR Famous Podcast, longtime HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, and Jessica Lee come together to discuss the Top 100 HR Tech Influencers of 2021 and whether geriatric millennials are coming to save the world or not!

Listen (click this link if you don’t see the player) and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review (Apple Podcasts) and follow (Spotify)!

Show Highlights

1:00 – JLee is in the D.C. metro area and is currently being overrun by cicadas!

3:00 – JLee, Tim, and KD were all named part of the top 100 HR Tech influencers of 2021! Our podcast has influence!

6:30 – Tim is getting reached out to by not-so-reputable HR tech companies to be on their “top 10 lists,” but he only wants to be on the robust, well-researched lists.

9:45 – JLee doesn’t know if any of the other hundreds of other HR employees at her company know about her being on this list. She asks the crew the question, “Does this event matter?” Tim thinks it’s great for the speaker bio.

15:00 – JLee hasn’t been on lists for awhile but she’s back since starting HR Famous and starting back on the conference circuit. She says that getting back out there has helped her open her eyes and see what else is going on in the world.

18:00 – KD says that he may not get more business from being on this list, but he’s at the company he’s at now because of being out there in the HR space. His last two career opportunities have come from being more active than normal in the HR space. He also considers the HR tech/HR Executive Magazine list to be the gold standard.

19:45 – An article has been going around JLee’s office about “geriatric millennials” and their eagerness to go into a world of hybrid work.

21:00 – What’s a geriatric millennial? They were not digital natives and remember a time before cell phones and other technological advancements. JLee is the resident geriatric millennial of the pod.

23:45 – Geriatric millennials have the ability to go between the online and offline world where older and younger generations may struggle at being online/offline. Also, they have had to learn how to adapt to different digital technologies quickly.

30:00 – KD calls BS on the concept that everyone in a generational slice is going to have impact in the world, noting that high performers throughout time in the 35-to-40 range are always “next up” in the world of work. But not everyone within a certain age group is going to save the world. There will always be high-potential earners in every group, and they’ll rise to create change.

Want to Recruit Better? Hire more Recruiters and less Recruiting Managers!

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Take a look at what’s happened in healthcare over the past 40 years:

 

In the healthcare industry over the past forty years, there has been a 2000% growth rate in the number of “Administrators” in healthcare, which the number of Physicians has remained relatively flat. Now, some of this growth in administration could be that for decades prior there might have been a lack of proper administration and some of this growth is just catching up, but 2000%!?

And we wonder why the cost of healthcare in our country is out of control!

Healthcare isn’t the only place where this happens! The more successful an organization is, the more mid-level management hires increase. So, in times of prosperity, we tend to want to surround the worker bees with tons of management “help”. Our organizations get bloated with none productive hires all hired believing we’ll make those who actually produce more efficient and effective.

We do this in talent acquisition, a ton!

I get asked by HR and TA executives frequently about hiring recruiting leadership. Recently, I spoke with a CHRO who was struggling to attract talent and fill positions and I asked her to give me their TA structure. “Oh, we have a Director of TA, a Manager of TA, and a Recruiter.” So, you can’t hire, but you’ve got two TA leaders and one person actually doing the hiring!?

I told her to fire the director and the manager and hire 4 more recruiters and let the team of 5 recruiters work the openings. I was exaggerating a little, but she got my point. Positions don’t get filled by managing them to death. Positions get filled by recruiters generating activity that leads to filling positions.

Of course, great leadership can help any function be more effective, but having leaders for the simple fact that we believe someone or something needs to be “managed” is short-sighted at best, and destructive at it’s worst. I’ll always choose a flatter structure over empire-building any day of the week. Give me some soldiers and let me fight!

The problem with hiring non-productive employees is what we’ve seen in healthcare. Once you get one administrator/manager every other employee wants to do the same thing. “Wait, I can get paid more and not have to actually produce!? Yes, please!” And soon you have a 2000% increase in hiring folks who don’t actually see patients, who don’t fill positions, who don’t make the donuts.

 

Celebrating #PrideMonth at Work!

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I want to celebrate Pride month. I run a small SMB recruiting shop. I’m not even sure I have an LGBTQIA+ person working for me. I mean, I wouldn’t ask, I would hope they were comfortable enough to share if they wanted, but I can’t tell you 100% either way. They would have my support, is what I’m saying.

You see, it’s clumsy for me, and I like to consider myself an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community. Imagine what it’s like for other SMB leaders who don’t have the experience and support easily available.

If I worked for a large/enterprise company I think it’s easy to celebrate Pride month. You know if you have hundreds and thousands of employees, you definitely have some LGBIIQA+ working for you and applying to your jobs, and you want to show them support.

If you’re an SMB it’s a bit harder to determine how to celebrate.

I’ve already seen at least a dozen blog posts from large employers saying how you should or how they will be celebrating Pride Month. It’s awesome stuff like:

  1. Attend a Pride event.
  2. Volunteer or Donate to Pride causes.
  3. Be an advocate.
  4. Educate yourself (I love this one!).

Consider your company’s LGBQIA+ inclusivity.

  1. Become an Ally.

Most companies in the U.S. are SMB. I’m going to NYC this week and Pride month is alive and well in NYC! As it is in most large cities around the country.

If you come to small to midsized cities in most parts of the U.S. you would have no idea it’s Pride month. It’s just June.

So, what can SMB organizations do to celebrate Pride month? (please share your ideas in the comments!)

  • You could raise the flag. Does your company have a flag pole? In June, fly the rainbow flag with pride.
  • Hold an inclusivity event. Pride month is as much about celebrating as it’s about educating. We still have so much education to do.
  • Establish Inclusivity Policies. The majority of SMB employers do not have inclusivity policies.
  • Encourage your employees to show support. Have a day where you all wear signs of support – pins, LGBT-themed clothing, etc.
  • Collect donations for a local LGBTQIA+ charity.

All of this does something in your community. It shows them what and who you value. You are taking a stance that you are inclusive for everyone in your community and welcoming.

But, what if an employee asks why are we celebrating Pride Month when we don’t have any LGBTQIA+ in our company? 

  1. Tell them don’t assume this to be true.
  2. Tell them, just because we might not have any LGBTQIA+’s doesn’t mean we don’t want to attract some to work for us, and celebrating shows that community we are welcoming to them.
  3. Ask them why they think it’s not important, often they are just showing a prejudice they have, and it might lead to some great training opportunities.
  4. Ask them how they think you should support the LGBTQIA+ community?
  5. This is really the same thing as #BLM and Black History Month. You might be a small business and not have any black employees, it doesn’t mean to don’t celebrate. Your employees have black relatives, friends, community members, etc. This is about showing you value all of your community.

I’m no expert. I’m just a dude running a small company who wants to support Pride month. I won’t get it 100% right, not even close, but I’m going to start and try.

Why Aren’t You Celebrating When You Make a Hire in Recruiting?

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When I was a brand spanking new recruiter right out of college something amazing would happen every single time we made a placement. Now, granted, this one in an agency environment, and we were kind of a small business, startup, but if we (not I, but anyone on the team) made a placement we celebrated!

Now, I’ve heard of TA shops where they ring a bell or play a song, or something like that. NO, I’m talking about closing down the office and popping a bottle of champagne that usually turned into other drinks, and coming to work the next morning with a slight headache, celebration! Doesn’t that seem crazy now, in the world we live in!? I know high-volume recruiters who are making 15 hires a week or more! That’s a lot of champagne!

It might not be popping bottles, but we should still be celebrating!

Let’s be honest. Currently, for almost all recruiters, we are on a treadmill and it doesn’t look like that treadmill is going to stop anytime soon! If there was ever a time to celebrate a hire, filling a position, it’s now! I had a TA leader tell me last week that she has never been more stressed in her career than she has been right now, and over the past 6-12 months. The job is non-stop, and not trying to sound too life-coachy but we have to stop and enjoy our successes!

So, what can we do to celebrate filling a position(s) on a daily, weekly, and/or monthly basis?

  1. Acknowledge those fills as a true success. Period. Because here is what happens. We start off a meeting by saying, “Hey, I just want to recognize Mary because she made four fills last week and that’s just awesome! Now, let’s talk about the 660 openings we still have open!” That is defeating. Try and separate the success conversation from the rest of the work conversation.
  2. Have a senior-level executive, above the hiring manager, send notes of thanks and encouragement. We many times feel like second-class citizens in recruiting. We hear the hiring managers and their bosses talk sh*t about us in meetings. It’s our fault that these positions aren’t getting filled and because of that, they are failing. Actually, it’s all of our fault, but they love using that excuse. If senior executives recognize and celebrate the successes of the recruiting team, it goes a long way. It goes even longer if they actually understand their role in this failure!
  3. Have a Hiring Manager who just had some great fills happen, come buy lunch for the recruiters. Yes, it’s the job of TA to fill jobs, but if you’re a hiring manager and you want great recruiting, recognize and thank your recruiters, often. It’s a super hard gig right now. They will appreciate you.
  4. Have the CEO send a company-wide note or video recognizing an individual recruiter who has gone above and beyond to get positions filled. Share the stories. Yes, this makes this one recruiter feel special, but it also signals to the company how important recruiting is right now for our entire success.
  5. Don’t allow you and your recruiting team to be victims or use victim phrases or behaviors. Yes, we are in a difficult spot, but we are here together, and the only way we’ll get out of this, will be together, as one. We support each other, always. We only talk about our team and the teammates on our team in positive ways. We help each other, unconditionally. In times of crisis, victim mentality kills recruiting teams faster than anything. I’m not asking you to be “Polly-Ann-ish”. I asking you to understand where you are and do not allow outside forces to pull you apart.

Also, ring the bell, buy cupcakes, take the team down to Dairy Queen for an hour, do crazy stuff that shows the organization that a hire was made, and goddammit, that is important to recognize and validate!

Recruiting is hard. Life is hard. What makes it all worth it, it to feel valued. Valued for who you are, and the work you do. To have some enjoyment amongst the chaos. To feel supported by peers, and support them back. It doesn’t take much, but it does take something.

Keep grinding out there people. I see you! And once is while, Pop a Bottle of Champagne and Celebrate!

The #1 Thing Recruiting Leaders Can Do in 2021 to Improve Recruiting!

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There is a saying amongst many in the Private Equity world. The #1 thing you do after an acquisition of a company is to double its sales training!

Why?

Private Equity makes acquisitions to make money. The fastest way to make money is to increase revenue. That means more sales. Some will say it’s to decrease costs, but decreasing costs can have both short and long-term effects on revenue. So, get sales up, and then work to make the organization more efficient, etc.

Recruiting is sales! 

Want to make your recruiting better? Make your recruiters better! Great recruiting technology does not make average recruiters better. It makes them more average faster. Help make them a better recruiter, then give them great tools so they can be greater faster.

The number one thing a talent acquisition leader can do is increase the training of their recruiting team. The problem is, most talent acquisition leaders aren’t in the weeds enough to know how to do this on their own. So, we go out and find “experts” to come to train our teams.

The problem with so many recruiting experts is they are failed recruiters. They couldn’t recruit well, so they decided to go teach others how to not do it very well. For every great recruiting trainer, or recruiter training technology platform, there are a hundred awful recruiter trainers!

So, we get frustrated, “Well, Tim, we tried that a couple of years ago, it didn’t work, it was a waste of money.” Okay, I hear you, but you don’t stop trying! Just don’t go back to that person who wasn’t good. Great TA leaders, running great TA teams, have ongoing development and training of their teams. Not a “we tried it three years ago and it didn’t work’ development and training program!

Great recruiter training should pay off exponentially to your investment! 

I like to talk about recruiting dollars and sense. A mid to large talent acquisition shop can easily train their entire recruiting team for about the cost of one big agency fee. For that investment, you’ll probably save 5-10 agency fees, if the training is good and sustained!

It’s not a one-to-one investment to the outcome. It should be five to ten times the investment.

The mistake we make is we instead get sold on the premise that all we need to do is just have better technology. (BTW – it’s not an and/or proposition! It’s both! You need better recruiters and better technology!) Better technology does not make a bad recruiter better. Say that to yourself five times in a row!

What are you doing in 2021 to Improve Your Recruiters? 

In the past couple of months, we continue to hear about hiring increasing at an alarming rate. Organizations are going from zero to one hundred! On top of the rate of increase, so many TA shops cut their staffs during the pandemic, so now we have this problem. A problem that won’t have quick fixes.

You will have to build back up your team. Build back up your technology. AND, build back up the development of your team. Otherwise, you’ll make a short-term problem, a long-term problem, and probably one you’ll eventually get fired over.

You need to ask yourself, right now, what am I going to do to develop my team over the next six to twelve months? How can we do this so we get sustained improvement? What is the best bang for our buck, right now?

Are Your Executives Addicted to Leadership Porn?

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On episode 65 of The HR Famous Podcast, longtime HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, and Jessica Lee come together to discuss electric vehicles, leadership porn, and ride-sharing companies ramping up signing bonuses for drivers due to wait times and fares being up significantly.

Listen (click this link if you don’t see the player) and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review (Apple Podcasts) and follow (Spotify)!

Show Highlights

3:00 – KD asks JLee what the first electronic vehicle (EV) she’ll own will be. JLee’s husband wants the Tesla Model Y. Tim wants the Hummer EV Edition 1, but he might have to get it used.

8:00 – First topic: CEO and leadership clickbait! All HR people have seen a leader who will create a big email thread about an article they’ve become obsessed with.

10:00 – This is the CNBC article by Compass CEO Robert Reffkin about five quick tests for hiring. Some of these include the “good person,”, “energy,” and “another offer” test.  KD thinks it’s a hoot and representative of everything that’s wrong with leadership content.

12:30 – Tim thinks that Reffkin sounds like he’s trying to hire a grandmother with some of his rules. Do we really want everyone to live by the golden rule? And how do you freaking figure that out in an interview process?

14:30 – Reffkin discusses in the article how the term “culture fit” can be a disguise for discrimination, then proceeds to add ways he can hire whom he wants with his own, made-up principles.

18:00 – KD says the problem with “leadership porn” is when it gets passed down to the masses who maybe don’t have the experience or expertise to critically look at the lessons getting passed down.

20:30 – Don’t try to match your navy’s folks!

21:30 – Time for the CHRO move of the week! Snap (formally known as Snapchat) hired Darcy Henry as their new CHRO. She was poached from Amazon.

24:00 – If you want an entry-level HR job, try recruiting!

27:00 – Driver shortages are really crushing the ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft as reported by The Verge. KD reports that rid-sharing companies are adding their own stimulus program by way of signing bonuses for drivers.

29:00 – JLee reports that Peter Cappelli says that companies need to stop complaining about the labor shortages because they “broke trust” with workers in his new article. KD acknowledges that JLee is simply reporting what he said, then mocks Cappelli for blaming companies for eroding trust because they had to cut payroll or go out of business because of a global pandemic.

31:30 – Tim says that once the stimulus ends in September, hiring is not going to get magically easier and it’ll still be hard to hire hourly workers.