Work Babble

Did You Get My Resume?

By Tony Deblauwe

A job seeker can often wonder how to ensure his or her resume was received. If no auto-response email comes through, or an acknowledgement email from a recruiter, or a phone call, it’s assumed that the resume made it to the right person. Of course we know that’s not always the case. For example:

• Your resume was received but behind 100 others.
• Your resume was forwarded but the hiring manager has not seen it and is on vacation.
• Your resume sat in the pile because they already had internal candidates in mind.

When you send your resume or complete the online application impacts acknowledgement as well. You should usually:

• Send your resume within the first 7 days of the job posting – you can send later of course, but most recruiters and hiring managers are eager to review resumes so be in the first wave.
• Send either Tuesday or Wednesday just before working hours or at noon – Friday and Monday are too hectic and the weekend assures your information will be buried behind other emails.
• When asked for a resume by someone at a party, networking event, or other in-person chance meeting, get it to the person within 24 hours.

Back to knowing about your resume submission. If you don’t hear anything and sent your resume when people were sure to see it, what can you do?

• In most cases, an unsolicited phone call “fishing” exercise doesn’t work. If the person(s) involved in recruiting are busy and are trying to get to applicants, your phone reach out can be interpreted as a turn off.
• If you have someone’s email related to the hiring process, sending a check-in note after 1-2 weeks probably can’t hurt. Its possible internal processes are not perfect and that’s causing the delay.
• If it’s been longer than 4 weeks, try reapplying.
• Check your network – if someone helped you via referral, see if he or she can check the hiring status for you.

Barring a “soft” way of checking you can find ways to be more direct about knowing your status but you risk getting de-selected right from the start.

Nobody wants to see a resume hit a black hole. The point is, however, the landscape for job seekers today is very unpredictable and that’s why it’s so important to stay networked and keep your resume and interview skills polished rather than rely on resume submission and status alone. Ultimately, if you maintain your career goals and a positive attitude, the right company will respond immediately and be very happy you applied.

Rating Your Horrible Boss

 

Complaining about and showcasing bad boss behavior has turned into a pastime for bewildered employees. When communicating with a difficult and demanding boss, the frustration, stress, and anxiety can be overwhelming. These days, employees have options regarding how they express their emotions. Online resources ranging from fan pages to forums bring together scores of embattled souls looking for some kind of release and understanding of the detrimental effects of dealing with a bad boss.

As Warner Brothers unveil their comedy Horrible Bosses this week, many sites will probably see a spike in traffic as the realities of horrible bosses ignite fevered dialogue on what do when it feels like all hope is lost. Here are few boss rating websites:

www.horribleboss.com
www.ebosswatch.com
www.bossrater.com
www.rateyourjob-rateyourboss.com

What’s the impact of these sites? Do they help or reinforce the problem? It’s difficult to say –everyone is different. Bottom line – getting a bad boss experience off your chest is one thing, but a long term solution to being successful with an abrasive manager requires a plan and a measured communication approach.

Horrible Bosses Movie Highlights Stereotypes

Opening in a theatre near you on July 8 is the much anticipated new movie, Horrible Bosses, by Director Seth Gordon and stars Jason Bateman , Jason Sudeikis , Colin Farrell , Charlie Day , and Jamie Foxx. The premise is that three employees who all report to some type of bad boss (a psycho, a tool and maneater) decide to band together and “eliminate” each other’s boss problem. Of course it’s a comedy and it’s bound to have a fair share of “Hangover” moments where things go wrong and some thinly veiled lesson is learned. 

After reading through the Hollywood gossip, interviews, and plot outline, we will definitely see the bad boss archetype being played out in full. The emphasis is on the bully boss profile where each boss seems to enjoy micro-managing, controlling, and manipulating their employees. And they will no doubt play these roles to their extremes. We are left to believe that no matter how sinister, devious and outright wrong the behavior is the employees have no option but to accept it (and apparently the company condones it).  The idea is that these bad bosses are all powerful, can get away with anything they want and the only thing that can stop them is to “eliminate” them. Not the best solution to addressing this problem, but it is just a movie after all.

So back in the real work we wonder how bad these boss characters really are. Could there be such horrible bosses or is this exaggerated? There are those out there in the workforce who can attest to absolute psychopaths for bosses. But let’s be clear, the percentage of psychopath bosses is low (about 5% or less) and in most cases, dealing with a bad boss can be managed with the right approach.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to seeing the movie and seeing how everything turns out. If you have a bad boss story, share it in the comments below.

“Process-less” Human Resources?

By Tony Deblauwe (previously published on www.examiner.com)

For many people, the typical Human Resources function is considered bureaucratic and steeped in process. And while you do need to be sensitive to legal compliance requirements there are ways to reduce an overload of HR processes.  

For instance, in Silicon Valley operating a startup requires little to no HR processes. In startups, HR is a minimalist entity that offers employees basic amenities and only asks for a few government forms to be filled out. This mode of operation usually changes and eventually, like most large companies, HR processes creep in as the employee population grows. Soon the inevitable dilemma occurs between rigidly following policies in the employee handbook while simultaneously not stifling business operations. When grappling with this problem – can companies meet the needs of an expanding enterprise while keeping HR requirements to a minimum?

Tom Armor, co-founder of recruiting firm www.highreturnselection.com believes you can. Armor proved it when his firm reviewed their HR redundancies. “As we analyzed the various HR processes and data, we realized that HR was too involved in too many processes and often times interfered with the manager/employee relationship,” Armor said.  Armor’s team did some rework and found success through better hiring, paper thin policy manuals, and placing the right people management tools in the hands of managers.

Erika Walker, HR Manager with www.bestessayhelp.com had a similar experience. Walker reviewed ways to reduce the burgeoning HR processes that created extra workload for her small firm. Looking at efficiencies of scale, her team significantly reduced the amount of decision making and approvals required for written requests for proposals. According to Walker, “We managed to get away from the written decision making process and focus on the final outcome by means of group discussions and personal communication.”

At the end of the day reducing the amount of processes in HR can be challenging.  You certainly don’t want your organization to be caught off guard or at risk by lack of process, and you don’t want HR to be viewed as the police either. The trick is to find balance between baseline, essential policies HR must adhere to, and value driven policies that keep people productive and engaged.

 

Historically Relevant Business Lessons

Guest post by Terry Crenshaw

We generally remember people like General George S. Patton solely for their identities as military heroes - and rightly so. I think we would benefit, however, from reminding ourselves that the traits that made a man like Patton successful as a general surely served him well in other areas of his life - and that means they can benefit us, too, regardless of whether or not we're in the Service.

Here's one Patton nugget that I think we'd all do well to remember, those of us in the business world in particular. Said the General, "There's a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and is much less prevalent. One of the most frequently noted characteristics of great men who have remained great is loyalty to their subordinates."

The point is well taken, I think, in its broad applicability to business: Companies that treat their employees well tend to have employees that perform well and further the company's goals. Happy and healthy employees are more efficient, more productive; an investment in morale, then, is a significant investment in the company's future. This much is fairly evident both anecdotally and through real cases from the modern business world. Consider, if you will, that companies placing on the annual Best Companies to Work For list tend to do pretty well, financially speaking. The correlation is there. It's real.

But the broader point to be made here, I think, is that military history has much to teach us about business. Warfare, after all, is a story of triumphs and of failures, of leaders and of cowards - and of how difficult circumstances illuminate who we really are as people. I'm inclined to make an analogy to the current economic hardships that we all face. These are times that test us, and provoke us to either shortcomings or greatness. So it stands to reason that we might find wisdom in the examples of the past - in military history in particular, even. In that spirit, here are five examples of companies looking to the past for guidance:

1. Netflix. It's not difficult to understand how strategy and foresight are crucial in any business scenario; the job of the effective general is, on one level, to anticipate what the future will bring and plan accordingly. Netflix is a business that saw early on where the future was headed - that is, toward all-digital home entertainment - and jumped on the opportunity before older chains like Blockbuster knew what hit them.
2. Southwest Airlines. Chalk this one up as an example of the all-important virtue of adaptability - a crucial military principle, as any combat scenario is bound to be different from anything that has come before. In a world where travel preferences are constantly in flux, give this company credit for looking beyond the hub-and-spoke approach of traditional airlines.
3. Amazon.com. The military strategist knows that it's crucial to use all the tools in the toolbox - and Amazon knows it, too. Their implementation of their Cloud Player, for instance, has led to a spike in MP3 sales.
4. McDonald's. One of the most commonly known military adages of all is this one: Know your enemy. McDonald's is clearly a company that knows the virtues - and the weaknesses - of its competitors, and masterfully exploits them. Case in point: McDonald's capitalized on the premium smoothie and coffee trend by offering both products for rock-bottom prices - and taking a big bite out of Starbucks and Panera in the process.
5. Barnes and Noble. There's a reason why this retail chain is still standing and Borders continues to struggle, and it's all a matter of timing. A successful military enterprise is a well-timed one, and the timing of B&N's implementation of the E-reader could not have been better.

Of course, we could go on. The real message to be found here, though, is simply that looking to the past can inspire us - and not in a vague or sentimental way, either. There are true lessons to be found in our collective history, and the principles that wrought success in one time and place often ring true even today.

About Terry
Terry Crenshaw is a writer for www.peterorszagsite.net who has focused her attention on what political professionals and their advisors, such as Peter Orszag, have to say about current economic policy. Through her work, Terry hopes to develop the public's understanding of how politics can influence the economy.Contact Terry at terry.crenshaw@peterorszag.info