Cincy Recruiter's World

Wanted: A Positive Onboarding Experience

Earlier this week, Michael VanDervort shared a post on his blog The Human RaceHorses about his first day on the job in HR. It’s a great read and made me think about my own “first day” experiences. Unfortunately, I’m long overdue for a good one.  

Job 1

My first job post graduation was at Margaret’s Employment Service. I responded to a “Help Wanted” sign in Margaret's front yard and when I met her - a recruiter for 30+ years - she put down her phone only long enough to say “You’re hired”. I was provided a desk, chair, phone and the Yellow Pages and my training consisted of “Make calls”. So I smiled and dialed. Within a couple of weeks, someone actually talked to me at a bank that was hiring and I scheduled an interview. For me. I don’t think Margaret noticed when I left.

Job 2

My new job was an Internal Auditor position – a job typically filled by Finance grads and MBA’s. Clearly, someone wasn’t paying attention in the interview process. (Me.) My first day involved showing up in the wee hours of the morning to drive to a branch office where, like Ninja, our secret arrival was timed with the opening of the doors. Once inside, the auditors scurried off immediately to capitalize on the element of surprise. I was instructed to count and balance the cash drawers of the Tellers. And I had no idea how to do that. Left alone to count more money than I’d ever seen in my life, it wasn't pretty. One. Two. Three…

Job 3

After 18 months of terrorizing bank employees, I networked my way into an HR Manager position in a small company. On my first day, I entered the Plant Manager’s office full of youthful hope and exuberance. He looked at me and said: “I don’t know anything about HR. Don’t expect me to help you. There’s some books in your office.” And he went back to smoking his cigarette. So I found my office and started looking at books. I was a little less hopeful, but thrilled to finally be working in HR. Even if no one else cared.

Job 4

A few years and a relocation later, I took an HR role with a new start up that was part of a bigger company. On my first day, I showed up at the main office as instructed, but since I’d been hired for the new company (still being built) and I wouldn’t be located there, there was no place for me. My boss suggested I find an empty desk and make plans for recruiting and training the new employees that would be needed. I worked on that project (making plans) for the next 5 months at random locations before the new building was finished. During that time, I worked in a crowded office, but wasn’t really part of a team - because there wasn’t one for me yet. As a result, I attended lots of meetings with myself. They were very efficient.

Job 5

Eventually, I was recruited to a position at a company with a new CEO who’d been brought in for a turnaround and wasn’t seeing eye to eye with the VP of HR. It was a confidential search, so once the current VP was notified of his unplanned departure, the CEO and I were supposed to meet with him the following weekend while the offices were closed so he could pass the torch and provide me with the keys to the kingdom. Except the CEO forgot to show up that Sunday so it was just the two of us. Awkward. The next day I met with the HR team that had just been informed of my arrival the Friday before. They told me that because of the changes that had taken place and the way things were handled, they felt like outcasts. And I knew how they felt because I'd been there before. Thankfully, we were able to fix that. 

So Why The Big FAIL When It Comes to Onboarding?

All of the companies that I worked for were great places to work (except maybe Margaret's) and they were filled with smart and capable people. A couple of my bosses were even amazing and inspiring Leaders to work for who really challenged me and helped me to grow. But all of the companies I've worked for - both the small ones and those in the Fortune 500 - failed me as a new hire on my first day because they didn't plan effectively for my arrival or take the time to make me feel welcomed. 

Research shows that 90% of companies believe that employees make their decision to stay at a company within the first six months, but many of us have experienced an onboarding process that started our career with the company off on the wrong foot. Things that make you go hmmm...

Do you have an awful new hire experience similar to or worse than mine? What was your worst (or best) first day/week on the job like?

I showed you mine. Now you show me yours. Tell me about it.

Social Networking - What HR Needs to Know

Recently, Paula Santonocito, a business journalist specializing in employment issues, contacted me to discuss some of the challenges and opportunities for HR professionals and Employers with using social networks. The article she wrote following our conversation appears this month on HRWire - an online subscription resource that provides news and information for Human Resources professionals - and she kindly allowed me to share it in its entirety with my readers here.

After you've read the article, I'd love for you to take just a few moments to share your thoughts and opinions in the Comments section on what needs to happen for HR pros and Employers to address their concerns with social networking and begin to use the tools to meet their professional and business needs. Inquiring minds want to hear from you - because you already know that I think it's past time for everyone to get on board!

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Online Social Networking: What You Need to Know Now

Paula Santonocito

LinkedIn. Facebook. Twitter. You no doubt know the sites, and you are likely a member of at least one. But are you leveraging these social networks to improve your work performance and enhance your career?

Beyond an online presence

If you're like a lot of HR professionals, you have a LinkedIn profile, which provides details about your current employment, work experience, and education. You probably also have a number of associates as connections.

However, the business network is more than a site where you can park your resume and contact list.

Similarly, social networking site Facebook is not merely a place to show your face.

These social networks, along with Twitter, offer HR professionals tremendous opportunities.

What can you do using social media?

Learn, develop yourself, and grow your career, says Jennifer McClure, vice president of Centennial, Inc., a company providing business advisory and recruitment services.

You can also build relationships and seek advice, she says.

Meanwhile, from a day-to-day work standpoint, social media can facilitate employee recruitment and retention, and further efforts at employment branding.

HR's position

Yet, while opportunities to take advantage of social media are readily available, HR professionals as a group are reluctant to fully embrace what the technology offers.

McClure, who was an HR professional for nearly 20 years before transitioning to consulting, understands the hesitation.

She tells HRWire she knows the tendency toward isolation, to put your head down and do the work at hand. Be that as it may, McClure says she also knows that HR professionals should think more about how they can develop themselves and interact with others.

Used effectively, social media tools allow for interaction and relationship building, she says.

But first an HR professional has to overcome another obstacle, one that, ironically, makes him or her good at the job: the risk management factor.

McClure finds an HR person's initial perception with regard to social media is how to control and how to manage the risk, from both personal and company perspectives.

"How much of myself do I put out there?" is the personal conundrum. From the company vantage point, it's about risk and possible repercussion.

Risk averse

Unfortunately, when an HR person gets bogged down in this kind of thought process or analysis, it only contributes to lack of participation.

The reason?

Looking at social media through a risk-management lens doesn't work. "Social media is the exact opposite of that," McClure says, adding that the lack of guidelines in not how HR is wired.

To further explain the situation, McClure likens HR's role, or its perceived role, to that of a church pastor. You're put on a level where you represent the company and its policies and as a result tend think of yourself as one step above the everyday, McClure says.

Social media, by its very nature, allows for exposure. In effect it allows people to wander into a social setting where they see the pastor having a beer.

Given this scenario, even those HR professionals who use social media generally take a vanilla approach so they don't risk offending people. McClure believes this is a mistake, and recommends HR professionals put themselves out there more.

Setting the tone

One reason is rather basic. "Being vanilla kind of makes you boring," McClure says.

At the same time, social media wallflowers need to understand sharing isn't about becoming the life of the online party. There's a business reason to put yourself out there: It allows for more connection opportunities. And, according to McClure, the benefits far outweigh any potential risks.

This isn't to say a no-holds-barred approach to interaction is advisable. McClure doesn't recommend venturing into controversial areas like politics and religion, at least not without some restraint.

But sharing information of a personal nature can help forge personal relationships. McClure gives the example of how disclosing her interest in horses has helped her get to know other professionals.

With so many people working virtually today, interacting via social media makes sense. The tools allow for business relationships with a social component, just like in the face-to-face world.

"For me, it's how I do business now," McClure says.

Professional resources

And doing business via social media allows for a wide range of opportunities.

For McClure, social media is a valuable source of information. If she doesn't know the answers to particular questions, she can easily connect to people who do. By participating in LinkedIn Groups, for example, she can tap into a huge network of knowledgeable associates.

Following people on Twitter offers opportunity as well. By reading the tweets (Twitter postings) of various professionals you quickly learn who the experts are. When a question arises, you have a resource.

HR professionals can also use Twitter to establish themselves as experts in the field, which can help further their careers.

Social media provides a connection to community, and although the community has a social component it furthers business objectives.

McClure tells HRWire she gets an average of five business inquiries per day that are the direct result of social media activity.

Company presence

HR professionals can acquire professional knowledge, make new contacts, and brand themselves as experts using social media.

They can also use social media for employment branding.

McClure gives the example of online shoe retailer Zappos.com, which has branded its culture using Facebook. The company's CEO is also on Twitter, where he shares news.

The concept behind using social media for employment branding is to show that a company has a human face, that the organization is comprised of people. The way to do this, according to McClure, is simply to show the person or people who work at a company.

In addition to Zappos, McClure cites high-speed Internet and cable provider Comcast and Southwest Airlines as examples of employers that use social media effectively.

From an HR perspective, involvement with social media for the purpose of corporate recognition takes time. But according to McClure there is a return on the investment. "When they do need to recruit, the brand is out there," she says.

Social online, social offline

In an age where social media continues to gain ground, it may be advisable for HR to shift resources.

Instead of newspaper ads, marketing campaigns, and websites few people use, McClure advocates joining communities where people are already interacting.

In fact, she says social media isn't that different from good old-fashioned networking, the kind where you meet in person and exchange business cards. What's more, it can facilitate live interaction.

McClure tells HRWire she attended this year's Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) annual conference as a blogger and found she had a core group of people she already knew at the event. Even though she had never met any of her colleagues in person before, it was a reunion of sorts and they were able to socialize with ease.

Contact: Jennifer McClure, vice president, Centennial, Inc., cincyrecruiter@gmail.com.

Online: Cincy Recruiter's World, Jennifer McClure's blog, which includes social media tips and other information for HR professionals, http://www.cincyrecruiter.com. 

© 2009 Thomson/West

This article originally appeared in the Thomson Reuters publication HRWire and is reprinted here with permission.

Look Mom! I'm Going to the 2009 SHRM Annual Conference!

Next week I'll be in New Orleans attending the SHRM Annual Conference June 28 through July 1st - and you'll be glad to know that I've already stocked up on anti-frizz products in an effort to control my hair's natural tendency to poof to unflattering proportions in the more tropical climes...

If you've read my Bio or LinkedIn Profile, you know that I spent most of my career as an HR Pro before making a change in 2006 to become an Executive Recruiter/Coach & Consultant. When I worked in HR, every year I would receive the Conference brochures and devour them wishing that I could attend to learn about what was new and happening in HR, as well as to meet some of my peers. But every year, the money either wasn't in the budget, or the few times that it was budgeted, something always came up that prevented me from attending. So I'm super excited about this opportunity to finally make the pilgrimage to the land of 10,000+ HR Pros and also to participate as a Press Blogger!

I'll be tweeting, blogging and vlogging while at the Conference and sharing my learnings and experiences in several places. Kris Dunn, Jessica Lee and myself will be covering the Conference for Fistful of Talent and I'll also be playing the role of "Roving Reporter" for RecruitingBlogs.com and a new website RecruitingConferences.com. I'll link to any shenanigans I post on those sites here on Cincy Recruiter's World, but if you're not already subscribing to these resources - you should be!

At the Conference, there will be a ton of opportunities to learn about all of the areas of "People Strategy" that I'm consistently curious about, including Recruiting, Executive Coaching, Human Resources, Company Culture and Employment Branding and I've tried to select sessions to get my fill in as many of those areas as possible. Here's my tentative schedule so far:

Sunday, June 28th
2:30 pm     Opening General Session with Jack Welch (we're like BFF now that I follow Jack on Twitter)
5:00 pm     Press Briefing

Monday, June 29th
7:00 am     Retention Before Hiring, After Hiring and Long-Term Retention Strategies
10:45 am   Creating a Great Place to Work: Lessons from the 2009 '50 Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America'
12:00 pm   Lunch with Kris Dunn & Jessica Lee
2:00 pm     How Your Web Site Can Be Your #1 Recruiting Tool
4:00 pm     Creating Executive Presence: Thinking on Your Feet
6:00 pm     Yahoo! HotJobs VIP Party

Tuesday, June 30th
7:00 am     Strategic Interviewing Practices
10:45 am   How to Give a Butt-Kicking Presentation
2:15 pm     Employment Branding: Branding Your Organization To Attract & Retain A-Level Talent
6:00 pm     Tweetup at Ruth Chris Steak House

Wednesday, July 1st
10:00 am   Become a Talent Magnet: How to Entice, Endear & Engage Top Talent
11:30 am   HR Blogger Panel: Kris Dunn, Jessica Lee, Laurie Ruettimann & Lance Haun

You should also check out some of the other bloggers who will be attending the Conference. I've linked to their Twitter profiles below, as well as their most recent posts about their Conference plans:

Lance Haun - Your HR Guy: Updated SHRM 2009 Schedule

Sharlyn Lauby - HR Bartender: The Big Easy

Jessica Lee - Jessica Lee Writes: New Orleans...Here I Come!

Michael Long - The Red Recruiter: SHRMing Out With Twitter

Laurie Ruettimann - Punk Rock HR: Social Media, Human Resources & SHRM

Mary Ellen Slayter - SmartBlog on Workforce: My SHRM Schedule

Mark Stelzner - Inflexion Advisors: HR Gone Wild - SHRM 2009

UPDATE: Thanks to Brett Farmiloe of Jobing.com for making me aware of his post 5 Ways To Participate in SHRM 2009 From the Office on ERE.net. Good tips for those who must stay home!

You can catch me tweeting as @CincyRecruiter and follow all "real time" Conference tweets via Twitter Search here with the hashtag #SHRM09. (You don't even have to sign up for Twitter to do so!)

If you'll be attending the Conference, I'd love to meet you there! You can get my contact information by texting JENNIFERM to 50500 (via Contxt).

     

ERE Social Recruiting Summit 2009 - Recap, Resources & Tweets

Despite the challenges created by modern-day air travel (really, how many times in one trip can you be delayed by planes missing a part, having malfunctioning parts or a baggage crew who "forgets" to load the plane?), I've returned safely and inspired from the ERE Social Recruiting Summit held on June 16, 2009 at the Google Campus in beautiful Mountain View, California! Alas, no Google Goats were sighted during my brief stay. Apparently after an organizing attempt by PETA and demands for perks and free benefits, they've been unceremoniously relocated...

Click on the link below to view a brief video recap of my experience:

Cincy Recruiter's ERE Social Recruiting Summary Recap 6 17 09 on Vimeo

I must say that the crew from ERE did a fantastic job of assembling a full day of content with great speakers! They should also be highly praised for live streaming the Conference to allow those who were not able to attend to participate "live" and for many to be able to view the content in the future.

I'm sharing links below to the presentations, as well as some selected Tweets shared by Conference attendees and others in the Twitterverse who were either watching the live feeds or "listening in" via the Twitter "hashtag" #socialrecruiting. Lots of great stuff here. Take some time to check out the slide decks and videos - as well as the links to all of the blogs and Twitter profiles!

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Conference opening video (Evolution of Recruiting) shared by Susan Burns of Talent Synchronicity.

Keynote presentation by Reid Hoffman - Chairman & CEO of LinkedIn - Slide Deck & Video.

@lifeatmcgladrey: http://newin.linkedinlabs.com/ - Shows new LinkedIn users as they sign up. Very, very cool!

@CincyRecruiter: April 2004 LinkedIn had 500k members. Now over 42 million.

@mspecht: Every individual is a small business therefore every individual is an entrepreneur. Everyone will have an online profile

@joshuakahn: LI profiles are more authentic cuz people tend not to lie in public as much. True?

Punk Rock HR's Laurie Ruettimann - Ubiquity & Authenticity in Social Media - Slide Deck & Audio.

@CincyRecruiter: For inquiring minds - @lruettimann is adorable & TINY! Started her HR career as HR Asst at a "cream of the crap" candy co.

@ewmonster: Respect professional boundaries. "Don't tell someone else's story for them- tell your own story." Nice.

Mobile Marketing for Recruitment by Chris Hoyt and Michael Marlatt - Slide Deck

@masterburnett: Worldwide adults 25-34 send more text messages that they make phone calls. Not just youth

@GerryCrispin: mobile benefits: ubiquitous, immediate, private, convenient, actionable. need relevance to community to reach further

IBM Emerging Technologies Evangelist Sacha Chua - The Awesomest Job Search Ever - Video. (also check out Sacha's many awesome presentations on Slideshare)

@CincyRecruiter: Job search of the future ~ when u go to an interview & u already "know" each other. Social media can do that

@MattAlder: This girl is so enthusiastic it's actually scaring me, then maybe that's me just being British

@TheDavidGroup: Sacha Chua: [Employees] are going to be incredible recruiters if they LOVE the company. Boss's take note

No Sacred Cows: Making Sense of Social Recruiting by Joshua Kahn

@Frannyo: BEST Quote of the day "Advertising is the price we pay for being unremarkable." (Robert Stephens)

@lruettimann: @joshuakahn advocates bacon, social media, and having back-channel conversations

@TheRecruiterGuy: @joshuakahn used Facebook page (that was created by FANS of BestBuy) to connect with job seekers AND customers.

@JohnSumser: You don't build communities, you discover them. Most important point of the day.

@CincyRecruiter: It's a post-brand perfect world. So don't pretend that u are & that this stuff isn't happening

LinkedIn Networking - Shally Steckerl - Video.

@shally: Here are the top ten reasons recruiters should create LinkedIn groups: http://tr.im/oAjO

@shally: Answering questions and getting “best answer” helps establish you & your team’s credibility in your area of expertise

@shally: Idea 4 using LinkedIn Events: Create “virtual career day” and invite your target prospects, + u get 2 keep attendee list!

Welcome (Back) to the Community with William Uranga - Slide Deck

@JobVite: getting back to community...the biggest rewards in recruiting will come from building communities

Online Employer Reputation & Social Recruiting - Shannon Seery Gude - Video.

@masterburnett: Never let an agency draft blog content if your goal is authenticity, it shouldn't be marketing perfect

@CincyRecruiter: Have social media guidelines vs social media policies. Tell employees what they can & should do vs shouldn't

@jrl2002: Great point made about looking at your goals & then determine the best tools vs. picking the current "hot" tool of the day

Additional Summaries from Social Recruiting Summit Attendees:

- Australian HR Technology Consultant Michael Specht - Social Recruiting Summit

- Pay-It-Forward Executive Recruiter Jenny DeVaughn - Notes from the Social Recruiting Summit

- Recruiting & Social Media Consultant Paul Jacobs from New Zealand - The Social Recruiting Summit (I'm Wagging My Tail)

- Human Resources Blogger/Writer Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR - Today @ Le Googles

- Jobing.com Social Media Manager Brett Farmiloe's Notes from the 2009 Social Recruiting Summit at Google HQ

- Chris Hoyt - Associate Director of Talent Attraction at AT&T - What I Leaned (and Taught) at Camp

- IBM Emerging Technologies Evangelist - Sacha Chua - Notes from the Social Recruiting Summit

Spanning the World - Links You Can Use or Peruse - April 17th Edition

Each day, there's an enormous amount of great content produced by people all over the world and put out on the world wide web. Sometimes it's from a high-profile journalist or weblebrity, and sometimes it's from a little known blogger who took the time to share their thoughts with the few souls who follow them that have taken the time to subscribe to their blog. (Ahem... you can subscribe to this little known blogger's blog via email here or RSS here.)

As a consistently curious consumer of vast quantities of information in the areas of Recruiting, Coaching, HR, Leadership, Career Development, Employment Branding & Social Media, I'd like to share a few links to stuff I found interesting on the Interwebs within the last couple of weeks.

Recruiting

It's almost counter-intuitive to think that recruiting top candidates would be harder in the current economic times, but Auren Hoffman does a really nice job of explaining why that's indeed the case in Why Hiring is Paradoxically Harder in a Downturn. And he uses lots of charts, graphs and data to do it. We have ourselves a smarty up in here folks...

My friend Kelly Dingee - a Sourcing Ninja - published the April 2009 AIRS Sourcing Report. If your job involves sourcing candidates using the Internet, then this free monthly resource is for you!

Speaking of Sourcing Ninjas - the Boolean Black Belt (Glen Cathey) makes me dizzy with all of the ways that he can find potential candidates. Strap on your seat belt... Searching Social Media Requires Outside-The-Box-Thinking.

Times - they certainly are a-changin'...Good perspective for both Recruiters and Job Seekers on The Changing Face of Recruiting from Netshare, Inc.

I'm a serious fan of Chris Hoyt - Associate Director of Talent Attraction at AT&T' - who is probably more widely known (on the web) as the RecruiterGuy. Chris is way out in front in terms of trying and implementing innovative ideas in the recruiting/sourcing space. In 360-Crazy-Sexy-Cool (Recruiting/Sourcing) Part I, he begins a series of posts on a completely mobile and cloud based boxed set of recruiting tools. 

Coaching

Jason Seiden always has a way of getting in your face and daring you to take the actions necessary to grow as a leader or in your career - What "Color" Is My Parachute? Sh*t Brown - Thanks for Asking. I like Jason's coaching style - a lot.

Human Resources

(From RecruitingBlogs.com) Anyone who can quote my favorite movie Jerry Macguire and use the phrase "up at dawn, pride swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about" to describe the (sometimes) life of an HR Director has me at "Hello".

This week, I spoke at a local SHRM Group on the topic of How HR Can Use Social Media Beyond LinkedIn. Of the 100 or so in attendance, only about 5 were currently using Twitter. Workforce.com shares some of the drawbacks - and opportunities for HR in HR World Not Immune From Twitter Craze.

Leadership

Great leadership advice and summary of Tips from Tom Peters for Leading in Freaked-Out Times on The Practice of Leadership blog.

Career Development

From my perspective, the single biggest issue for many who are searching for a job is not being able to clearly articulate what they are targeting to best utilize their talents and experience. Couldn't have said this better myself - To Get the Job, Get Specific.

Another famous Jerry Macguire quote is put to good use by Kathy Rapp on Fistful of Talent in Help Me... Help You. How Not to Play the Salary Negotiation Game.

Employment Branding

The writers and contributors at ERE.net produce significantly high quality stuff on a daily basis. This week, one of my favorites was Ryan Estis - Employment Branding 2.0 - The 8 C's of My Web My Way.

Social Media/Social Networking

From what appears to be a relatively new blog with some very good content - The Social Executive - check out 9 Tips to Get Executives Started on Twitter.

Here's an awesome post from the LinkedIn Blog about What Recruiters Look For in a LinkedIn Profile: 8 Tips. A similar post appeared on Mashable - with more good tips - Do You Pass the Social Media Recruitment Test? Of course every recruiter is different and these methods may not be applied by all, but it's a good place to start.

Facebook isn't just for poking "friends" and throwing sheep anymore... Check out these 20 Facebook Applications to Assist You In Your Job Search.

If you're looking for some data to convince your CEO why it's ok to allow employees to use social media at work - here's your ticket - Facebook, YouTube at Work Make Better Employees: Study. But make sure he or she doesn't see this - Does Facebook Make You Dumber? Study shows users of social networking site get lower grades. Just a minor detail in the pursuit of happier employees.

Bringing It Home

And finally, a CincyRecruiter shout-out to the social network for HR professionals - HRMToday.com! I was already a fan, but recently winning an iPod Touch for sharing one of my (too many) hiring horror stories has made me love them that much more. If you're in HR - or work with people - join HRMToday and check out my winning submission on how a male stripper once tried to recruit ME during his interview. And you thought you had all of the fun in Accounting...

Until next time, take it away Len Berman