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#JobSearch : How Companies Mislead And Take Advantage Of Job Seekers And Employees. Welcome your Comments/Suggestions!

September 10, 2022/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Recruiters have an inside look into how companies take advantage of job seekers and employees. With all the arguments over remote work or being forced to return to the office, one key issue is often forgotten: large publicly traded companies primarily care about making profits, lining the pockets of the top executives and keeping the shareholders happy.

They pretend to be concerned about the well-being of the workers when it’s a hot job market and top talent is in high demand. When the need to hire subsides, businesses immediately lay off employees, enact hiring freezes and dump all the extra work on the remaining people.

What To Watch Out For When You Are Interviewing Or Just Started At A Company

The Job Description: A Work Of Fiction

It starts with the job description. Noticeably, the compensation isn’t listed. Think of every transaction you do in life. The costs are clearly shown if you go to the supermarket, attend a sporting event or book a plane trip. While there are pushes to enact salary transparency laws, if you go on any major job board, you won’t see the salary, bonus or benefits clearly indicated.

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Did you know? First Sun Consulting, LLc (FSC) is celebrating over 30 years in the delivery of corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 of our corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, UK, & Mexico!

We here at FSC want to thank each of corporate partners in the opportunity in serving & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment !

Article continued …

Long, Involved, Glitchy Job Applications

You are then forced to fill out a lengthy application that calls for sharing personal information and submit it into a clunky, glitchy applicant tracking system. There is no real need for this extra step, as the company also asks you to upload your résumé. Once you’ve taken an hour or so to review the job ad, answer all the questions and complete the applications, you’d like to believe that the firm would be gracious enough to contact you and let you know if you’re a fit or not. Instead, more often than not, you’re ghosted. Despite the time you have invested, there’s not even the courtesy of a reply.

You Are At A Disadvantage

The interview process is one-sided. The company tells you when and where you’ll interview, the amount of time you’ll need to interview, the number of internal people you will be meeting with and how long the hiring process will take is a mystery.

There will be long gaps between communications. There will be an absence of any meaningful feedback or constructive criticism offered about your performance—making it nearly impossible to improve your chances of shining.

How Much Does The Job Pay?

Usually, it’s good for the company to inquire about your salary expectations before commencing the interview process. Nonetheless, it’s all too common that at the end of a six-month interviewing ordeal, you are given a verbal offer significantly less than what you said you desired. The lowball offer is a test to see how desperate you are.

If you are in between roles, burning through your savings and eager to get back to work, the company believes you’ll suck it up and accept the offensive offer. The hiring personnel will be happy over how they saved the company money on the lower offer.

It gets worse when the company is cagey about bonuses, raises, promotions and benefits. Promises will be made and not kept. The hiring personnel will say, “The bonus structure is great! You can expect to earn a bonus of 20% to 30% of your base salary.’ They’ll add, “We aggressively promote people, provide stock and options, and our benefits program is top notch.”

When you ask for specifics, they dance around the topic. It’s awkward to push too hard, as you don’t want to come across as distrusting, so you let it go. Sure enough, the money isn’t there when bonus time comes around at the end of the year.

Human Resources Is Not Too Helpful

You’ll go to human resources and ask what happened. They’ll say, “Did you get it in writing,” to which you sheepishly reply that you did not. Cheerily, the HR person will tell you to make sure you get everything in writing within the offer letter contract in the future.

Sometimes an exploding offer is given. This means the company is putting pressure on you to make a quick decision within one or two days—to accept the offer or not.

This tactic preys on people’s insecurity. If you need a new job, but have a few other leads brewing, the applicant would prefer to have the time to pursue all options before deciding upon the best fit. The exploding offer forces you to forsake all the other possibilities and take the offer out of fear of not getting another one soon enough.

‘Sorry, We Went With An Internal Candidate’

You can spend weeks or months interviewing for a company and then be told, “Thank you. We really liked you and your skills are right on target. However, we are going in a different direction and promoting an internal candidate. Good luck with your job search!”

It would be sort of okay if they had told you at the beginning that there was a likely chance the job will go to an internal employee. Most people would understand and respect the fact that current employees get the first crack at internal job openings. You’ve wasted all of the outside interviewees’ time by withholding this crucial fact.

Rescinding An Offer

Imagine you’ve gone through the entire interview process and the hiring company extends an offer to you. You then execute the offer letter, complete your background check and tender your resignation at your current firm. You’re on track to start your new job and then suddenly, you receive an email from your new employer—or so you thought. It states, “We regret to inform you that we have made the very difficult decision to rescind your offer of employment. You will no longer be starting with us on your previously agreed start date.” You feel like you have just taken a sucker punch to the face, as the rug has just been pulled out from under you.

The situation now puts you in a precarious and very unfortunate position. Your world has been turned upside down, as now you find yourself without a job. Sure, you can go back to your former employer and beg for your job back, but you might have burned that bridge.

Regretting The Job Switch

With trepidation, you write a letter of resignation and tell your boss you’re moving on. Excitement is building, as you can’t wait to start your great new job.

At first, everyone seemed pleased. Then, over time, you notice that your tasks, assignments and responsibilities do not correlate with the original job description and what the recruiters and hiring managers told you.

It hits you that you’ve been the victim of a bait-and-switch. You were told one thing, but the reality is completely different. In fact, the role is lesser than the one you previously held.

Now, you’re stuck. Do you quit and cut your losses or stick it out for a year so that it doesn’t look like you are a job hopper? Either decision isn’t too great, leaving you feeling cheated and misled.

‘We Want To Know Everything About You, But Won’t Share What The Boss Is Like’

You realize that the company never provided any disclosures about your direct manager. Although they made you take a Myers–Briggs assessment test to find out if you are normal or not, the process isn’t reciprocal. It turns out that your boss is a monster.

The people involved with the hiring process conveniently left out that this job is like a turnstile, as people keep coming and going because the manager is so toxic. He’s a micromanaging bully that takes all the credit and hangs you out to dry when there’s a problem. This omission ruins your work and home life, as you bring back your anger, frustration and rage to the family.

Forbes.com | September 8, 2022 | Jack Kelly

#YourCareer : How To Ask HR To Better Plan Your Future At The Company. Interesting Read!

August 6, 2020/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Growth is an important component of planning for your future at a company. Luckily, HR departments are there to help you navigate your professional development.

Since there are many different factors that will play into how you can reach your full potential, be sure to remember a few of these worthwhile conversations to have with your HR team.

Discuss opportunities for growth

A meaningful conversation you can have at work is to discuss the opportunities available for personal growth within the company. While your colleagues, managers, and upper-level management are great to talk to in terms of your potential at an organization, you can also take advantage of using your HR team as a tool as you begin to plan your future at the company.

Whether you are looking to advance within your current position, switch departments, are considering changing locations, or hoping for a raise, HR can help facilitate whatever growth you are seeking. Because there are many factors that go into HR’s decisions about promotions, having a conversation with this team can help you gain a clearer vision of what they look for in a candidate as well as their decision-making process.

On the other hand, your company’s HR team can also help you navigate areas that you feel are unfair or restricting you from reaching your goals as well. Remember that HR can act as an advocate for ensuring that your management is conducting fair assessments of work—so they can be a useful resource in your potential growth at the company.

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Article continued …

Explore your employee benefits

A major retention effort used by companies is offering extensive employee benefits packages as an incentive to attract (and keep) top talent. As your needs will change as you continue to work throughout the years, reviewing your benefits with an HR member will ensure you are being adequately compensated and also getting the most out of what your company offers.

Similarly, working for a company that cares about you and your loved one’s long-term financial well-being will help you feel more confident in moving forward. A good example is to talk to HR about the life insurance offerings available. While many companies offer some sort of coverage, life insurance costs are dependent on many different factors—so securing a private policy might actually save you money instead of going through your employer. Additional coverage can help to cover the deficit if your company’s policy isn’t enough.

Remember that at the end of the day, you are working to bring home an income and provide for yourself and your loved ones. Your HR team can contribute to your financial planning as it relates to your benefits, and in return, this can encourage you to stay and move up within a company that values you as a person.

Address company culture

It’s no secret that when you are passionate about your job, can be a lot easier to get up and perform your daily tasks. But what about the people and the environment that surrounds you?

According to a study by Deloitte, 88% of employees believe that it is important to a business’ success to have a distinct workplace culture. If your current company is somewhere that you plan on growing with and looking for long-term stability, it can be beneficial to speak up about their workplace culture.

Company culture encompasses many different factors, and won’t look the same at every organization. Determining what issues or principles are important to you as an employee and having conversations with your HR team can foster a more positive working environment for all parties involved. Because the motivation you have to work efficiently with those around you plays a key role in determining your long term happiness, be sure to speak up about matters and policies that are significant to you. This is the main part of HR’s role, so connecting with the correct people is critical to see an actual change in your work environment.

Your HR department is a great asset to use when planning your growth within an organization. Utilizing them as a tool along with your continued efforts of being a hard-working employee creates a meaningful partnership where you can flourish in your career in the long run.

FSC Career Blog – August 6, 2020

Great Read & Share: 8 HR Predictions For 2020.

December 23, 2019/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Entering a new decade, in the midst of a global technology revolution, business leaders recognize that the driving force behind every innovation has been human(s): employees who believed in the organization’s vision and were empowered to do the best work of their lives.

In 2020, organizations will need to create positive employee experiences that make employees feel valued, appreciated, and energized to invest their entire selves in the workplace. When employees experience higher levels of humanity at work, they perform better, are more likely to exert extra effort at their jobs, and are less likely to quit.

These eight HR predictions – validated by some of the world’s sharpest thought leaders – offer insights to help companies position their employees and themselves for success in 2020 and beyond.

Employers will ensure workplace rights for all employees.

In the 2019 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report, CEOs cited “impact on society, including income equality, diversity, and the environment” as the most important measure of an organization’s success.

Additionally, 181 CEOs signed the Business Roundtable’s statement, redefining a public corporation’s primary purpose, from existing to benefit shareholders to existing to serve all their stakeholders – employees, customers, suppliers, and the community as well as shareholders. These statements represent a step in the right direction for workplace rights.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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Corporate social responsibility will be a business imperative.

Whether inspired by social pressure or self-interest, leading companies are adopting a moral case for their role in the betterment of society. They have listened to the arguments, often made by employees and customers, that their responsibilities go beyond the bottom line.

Modern employees have deep concern and passion for making the world a better place for themselves, their children, and future generations. Activism is incredibly important to them, and they care deeply about doing meaningful work for a responsible organization whose values align with theirs. Because of this, companies are shifting away from the traditional approach to people’s strategies and focusing more on employee recognition and creating a culture that helps unite their employees in working toward shared goals.

“Employee experience” will expand and elevate to “human experience.”

More than ever, the strength of a company’s financial performance will depend on its ability to win the hearts and minds of every employee.

Shawn Achor, founder and CEO, GoodThink, sees an opportunity for companies to adapt to the stress of change by deepening social bonds, practicing gratitude, and identifying meaning in the stress. “Together, we can actually create more happiness and connection even amid change. Think how strongly people bond in boot camp or in combat, or how friendships deepen when people overcome hard times together. In good times, happiness is a luxury item, but in challenging times it becomes a necessity if we want to see our full potential.”

Christine Porath, Ph.D., associate professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, agrees. “It’s in leaders’ and organizations’ best interest to create workplaces where people can thrive. Organizations are starting to separate themselves by being known for their culture.”

Susan Cain, co-founder, and CEO of Quiet Revolution and best-selling author, says, “I predict that the movement toward a more humanistic work culture will only accelerate. Based on my conversations with various companies in different sectors during my travels, I see a near-universal acknowledgment of the importance of psychology and psychological safety.”

Nataly Kogan, founder, Happier Inc. and Happier @ Work, concurs. “More and more leaders and companies will make creating a culture of gratitude, kindness, and psychological safety a strategic priority in 2020.”

Kat Cole, COO, and president, FOCUS Brands, says, “In 2020, companies that win are the ones that connect the real-life needs of humans who are customers to the humans at work. The customer-employee connection is more important than ever. Customers care more about how employees are treated and the employee/employer brand than ever before.”

Employers and employees will share accountability for engagement and productivity.

Cy Wakeman, international keynote speaker and New York Times best-selling author, says, “Shared accountability will be the name of the game in 2020. Employers will need to work to create empowering and engaging workplaces and employees will need to bring their most evolved selves to work – willing, able, and ready to work to meet the challenges at hand full-on.”

Josh Bersin, global industry analyst and dean, says, “As companies become more service-driven and networked, organizations are going through one of the biggest changes in structure and management in decades. The biggest challenge for 2020 is going to be ‘driving productivity at work’ – not just focusing on employee engagement, growth, and culture, but helping people and leaders learn how to ‘get things done.’”

Flexibility will help retain and attract great employees.

Adam Grant, Ph.D., Wharton professor and best-selling author, also predicts more flexibility in when and how employees will be able to work. “I’m anticipating three trends that make work more human – the rise of the four-day work week and the six-hour workday, more companies offering returnships for parents transitioning back into the workforce, and the growth of job-sharing, where two people can work part time in one role.”

Ozan Varol, best-selling author, says the 9-to-5 workday and the five-day work week are both arbitrary benchmarks. “Most businesses continue to operate under this structure, not because it leads to more productive employees (it doesn’t), but because it happens to be the status quo. In 2020, I expect that more businesses will experiment with flexible schedules and shorter workdays and weeks, which boost the productivity, happiness, and well-being of employees.”

Data and analytics will become even more important strategic tools.

Gabrielle Thompson, Cisco’s SVP of Acquisitions and Total Rewards, says “the consolidation and predictive analytics using data throughout the organization, crossing functional boundaries, will drive more thought-provoking conversations about current and future talent.”

Jason Averbook , Leapgen CEO and cofounder, says, “Data will be crucial for all in HR to ensure they are delivering experiences to the workforce that matter as well as finally crossing the chasm, delivering insights that show the impact that talent tools are making on the business.”

The widespread use of misinformation in politics could spread to the workplace.

Daniel Pink, author of WHEN and DRIVE, fears that “the assault on truth we’re seeing in politics — from peddling demonstrably false conspiracy theories to labeling a free press the ‘enemy of the people’ — could begin to infiltrate the workplace. If people feel free to call anything they disagree with ‘fake news,’ what happens to the integrity of financial statements, performance reviews, resumes, and so on?”

More companies will encourage employees to invest in colleagues’ success.

Michelle Gielan, best-selling author, says, “In an era of increasing stress and hyper-competition at work, professionals focused on their own high performance and supporting colleagues will win out in 2020 and beyond. Our research shows those investing in the success of others versus merely their own are 40% more likely to receive a promotion over the next year. Additionally, strengthening relationships at work fuels engagement and well-being. Social connection is the biggest predictor of happiness in life. Understanding how to meaningfully invest in others will be an important competitive advantage during this next decade.”

Forbes.com | December 23, 2019 | Eric Mosley Contributor

#CareerAdvice : #JobSearch -Why And How To Send A #ThankYouLetter After A #JobInterview …A Must REad!

June 17, 2019/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Let me start with this, a thank you letter won’t necessarily compensate if in your job interview an employer isn’t convinced that you’re the best person for the role, but it does leave a good impression that speaks to your work ethic and courtesy.

Research shows that the most important quality in a new hire is a solid work ethic, followed by being a good culture fit and then integrity and resourcefulness.

According to a study done by Accounttemps, 80% of HR Managers found a thank-you note helpful, yet only 24% of applicants send them.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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Here is how you send yours, but before I show you how, let’s start with what you don’t want to do or leave out.

A few thank-you note tips that tend to get missed

1. Respect their time by keeping the thank-you letter concise (around 200 words is fine).

2. Talk about something specific from the interview, so it’s personalized and meaningful. For example, something about the corporate culture – this will re-emphasize why you’re a good fit or a response to a question you asked about the interviewer.

3. Mention the job position.

4. Proofread your thank-you letter – Grammarly is a free resource that corrects errors.

5. Send your thank-you letter on the first business day after your interview.

6. Use a simple, short subject-line, such as “Thank you for your time, (insert the name of the person you met with,)” “It was great speaking with you, (insert the name of the person you met with.)”

7. Make sure your use of words convey enthusiasm.

What some of these tips look like in action?

Hello (Interviewer’s Name),

Meeting with you (yesterday/the day you met them) was definitely a career highlight, and it was exciting to see how you are (insert something from your conversation that showcases them as a market/industry leader) in our industry.

I wanted to take a second to thank you for your time. I enjoyed our conversation about (a specific challenge you discussed that is also one of your strongest selling points) and how you would benefit from my background in the role of (insert job title.)

It sounds like an incredible opportunity to have a positive impact on (their greatest challenge). Please, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need anything else from me.

Thanks again, (insert the interviewer’s name), and I hope to hear from you soon.

Best Regards,

(Your Name) – your branding statement

A few other points about this letter

The person’s name is mentioned twice. In the classic book, “How To Win Friends and Influence People,” Dale Carnegie shares “a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Remembering and using one’s name in your communication is a good social skill to practice.
The letter has a good balance of what they are doing well and what they need to improve on as a company.
A branding statement is included. You’ll want your branding statement to include two components:

1. Your key job function in the role or the title of the role you’re applying to.

2. Your most impressive quantifiable accomplishment from the past 12-months.

Here’s what that looks like:

Sarah Jane – Top 0.01% facilitator transforming 1000 + learning experiences

Bill Smith – Project manager, pioneering company-wide efficiency gains by 27%

Other great thank you letter phrases

It was a pleasure meeting you, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the opportunity as well as (insert a response to a question you asked about them).
During our conversation, you mentioned that (name of company) has been struggling with (describe a problem the company is having). Please find the plan on how I’d address (insert their biggest challenge) in the first 30-days attached.

This is a good phrase to use if you feel there may be some concerns around the relevancy of your experience and your ability to hit the ground running.

According to research by MRINetwork, 77% of job openings are created because of new positions. Employers won’t hire you if you don’t understand their need. Don’t forget to reiterate that you understand why the role exists (what the challenges are), briefly remind the interviewer why you’d be the best candidate and further illustrate your commitment to the role. You’ve worked hard to get to this point, and I wish you all the best.

Author: Rachel Montanez is a career coach and career development speaker. Her new interview manual to increase your chances of interview success is available here.

Rachel Montanez

Contributor

I fell in love with the training and coaching industry at age 23 after working in Japan and South Korea. I help individuals achieve career goals by drawing on my award-w…

Forbes.com | June 9, 2019

#CareerAdvice : The Future of Work- Four #JobSkills the #HRLeaders of the Future will Need…It’s Time For the Oft-Maligned #HumanResources Function to Kick Old Habits & Drive Businesses Forward. That will Take HR Leaders with Broader Skill Sets.

July 24, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

How would you characterize your past employers’ HR departments? Chances are terms like “administrative,” “reactive,” “transactional,” or less-flattering terms come to mind.

Human resources originally evolved out of a personnel-based function rooted in administrative and compliance-driven tasks that historically haven’t been perceived as adding value to organizations in the same way that sales, marketing, or engineering do. And if you dissect old-school HR teams, you’ll find many practitioners who’ve spent most of their careers in the field; career paths have tended to be linear, rising from coordinator to manager, ultimately all the way up to the top chief human resources officer (CHRO). This career path meant the function was rarely infused with perspectives and practices from outside the field, and often led to insular ideas on what it means for an HR professional to support the business.

Times are changing. According to a recent reportissued by HR Open Source (HROS), the community platform for HR professionals that I cofounded, 68% of current HR professionals have worked in fields outside of human resources. Inevitably, they’re steadily cross-pollinating the HR function with new skills and ideas that organizations should be all too eager to embrace. Still, modern HR requires more than a semantic shift from “human resources” to “people operations.” It requires broader capabilities and job skills than have typically been demanded of HR professionals in the past–allowing them to tackle critical issues ranging from sexual harassment to emerging recruiting technologies, not to mention a business and industry acumen to rival their executive peers.

With those needs in mind, here are a few big-ticket skills that HR leaders will need in order to adapt to the future of work.

1. LEARNING AGILITY

According to HR tech analyst William Tincup, there are over 24,000 HR software tools on the market today, with recent estimates valuing the market at some $400 billion. Artificial intelligence, bots, blockchain, automation, and technologies are rapidly transforming the HR technology ecosystem. But that’s no guarantee they’ll all be adopted, let alone implemented properly. Indeed, separating hype from substance and finding effective ways to harness emerging technologies in order to execute an effective people strategy is now a vital skill. This is particularly true in small to mid-size organizations where HR leaders often run lean teams without dedicated HR analysts to advise them.

So if you’re planning a career in HR or looking to hire human resources professionals who can lead your organization into the future, fluency with technology and the ability to learn about new tools and practices should be a top priority.

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Question: Want the ‘the best/current articles/blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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2. CREATIVITY

Something transformative seems to have happened over the last decade or so. As the field of “employer branding” matured, HR added a rarely used term to describe itself: “creative.” HR is now on the front lines of most company’s branding efforts, telling stories and shaping prospective hires’ perceptions of what it’s like to work in your organization. That’s pushing HR professionals to coordinate with marketing teams, making sure the organization’s people narratives support and align with its consumer branding. As a result, modern HR leaders need to think much more creatively than their predecessors. They should understand social media and digital engagement as well as the types of compelling and authentic messages to attract the right talent.

3. BUSINESS AND DATA ACUMEN

While hardly a new skill set for HR executives, the complexity of modern business and the expectation that HR leaders will be trusted advisers to the CEO make deeper business and operational knowledge all the more critical. Effective HR leaders now need a strong grasp of their organizations’ business model and market strategy, industry dynamics and competitive landscape, and how all those components impact human capital–from hiring and performance to diversity and inclusion. What’s more, HR leaders will need to develop adaptable people strategies that can evolve with the business.

So it’s no surprise that one of the most significant shifts in the field over recent years is the focus on data. In the recent HROS report, “people analytics” was the field with the highest increase in expected impact (22%) among HR professionals, 48% of whom said their organizations planned to invest in people-analytics software over the next three years. This means that modern HR leaders have growing access to enormous amounts of data on recruitment, retention, performance, productivity, employee satisfaction, and more. How they gather, evaluate, and ultimately interpret that data to drive their strategy is what’s really important.

4. STORYTELLING

Any effective leader who represents and manages employees needs great communication skills, and HR leaders are no exception. But skill with narratives that can influence and engage people–both inside and outside the organization–will be even more vital in the future. As human resources becomes an ever more public-facing function, HR leaders will need to be able to articulate an organization’s value propositions as an employer, not just as a company that sells a product or service. And being able to connect with a broad range of audiences through compelling stories is key. It’s what inspires people to rally behind a company’s mission and purpose–and, ultimately, decide to apply to jobs there and stick around once hired.

This list of emerging job skills for HR leaders is far from comprehensive. Empathy, compassion, emotional intelligence, knowledge of diversity and inclusion issues, coaching, and more are all vital elements of HR’s expanding role. Which traits might be more critical than others may depend on the leader, the company, and its culture. Still, a broad skill set is vital–not just to bring HR out of the back-of-house position where it’s long languished, but to bring entire companies forward into the future, too.

FastCompany.com | July 24, 2018

#Leadership : #WorkPlace Evolution – 4 #EmotionallyIntelligent #HRPolicies #Employees May Suffer Without…When #TeamMembers Face Crises in their Personal Lives, they Need to Know their #Employers have their Backs–in Word and in Deed.

June 26, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Depression, suicide, addiction, domestic abuse, mental health: These issues impact workforces in countless ways, many of them hidden from public view and employers’ eyes alike. But responsible organizations can’t assume that bad things aren’t happening in their employees’ lives just because they don’t hear about them.

A great work culture is one that goes out of its way to proactively support employees who are struggling with grief, mental health, abuse, and addiction issues–and does so with compassion and emotional intelligence. These are a few ways to adjust existing human resources policies in order to do that.

1. FLEXIBLE BEREAVEMENT LEAVE

Many organizations need to be more flexible in the ways they support employees who are experiencing loss. The standard policy of three days of bereavement leave may be enough time to attend a funeral out of state, but it hardly sends the message that employers care deeply about their team members during their periods of greatest need.

According to Susan Bartel, a researcher at Maryville University of St. Louis who studies grieving and loss in the workplace, “Many people need or use distraction to help manage their grief at work, and their jobs can be a healthy distraction. Allowing longer bereavement leave gives employees an opportunity to adjust slightly to a new way of life before having to reengage in the world at large,” she explains. “If they feel their grief is recognized and understood they are more likely to contribute to the organization even earlier than they could otherwise.”

After the death of her husband, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg revamped the company’s HR policies to include up to 20 days of paid leave days to grieve an immediate family member and 10 for extended relatives. The change was an acknowledgement that organizations have a duty to think more compassionately about how employees cope with loss.

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2. AN EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

Few organizations have formalized employee assistance programs, or “EAPs” on the books, and they may be underutilized at the employers that do. These programs can be set up internally within HR departments or operated through third parties, but the core goal is the same: to offer employees confidential support for coping with crises in their personal lives.

To promote an EAP and encourage employees to use it, HR leaders can ask team members who’ve already done so to share letters of endorsement (including anonymously, of course) regarding the help they received. Employees who participate in EAPs often become their biggest advocates. Offer those who express interest opportunities to take ongoing training in areas of grief, addiction and abuse counseling, and suicide prevention. These knowledgable allies inside the company can be crucial in vouching for and connecting their colleagues with the EAP resources they need when HR managers can’t.

3. OPEN COMMUNICATION CHANNELS (FROM THE TOP DOWN)

In addition to being more generous, employers need to market their policies more widely and continuously, making sure team members are aware of what they’re entitled to; scrambling to sort out an unfamiliar policy during a time of intense emotional pain usually only makes things worse. Many employees only learn what’s available to them in the midst of crisis, while leafing through a benefits package or union booklet or by speaking with an HR manager they’ve barely interacted with before. It’s pretty easy for organizations to do better. Regularly sharing information on social media and internal chat platforms is a great start; tying messages about company policies into events happening in the news can be even better.

Managers should also remind team members during meetings and other events not just what the organization’s policies consist of, but that there are multiple ways to gain support and information. Links to external resources like National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or Crisis Text Line should be prominently displayed within the company’s intranet, for example, and leaders should remind staff that they’re there.

Perhaps more important still, leaders should personally raise awareness and launch initiatives to support their workforces. Employees need to see this in action in order to overcome the stigma of asking for help with their personal lives at work. Some may even worry that doing so could prevent them from being considered for promotion. If possible, managers should share their own experiences coping with mental health issues or supporting relatives with addiction problems. Transparency and authenticity goes a long way toward giving employees permission to do so themselves.

4. INTERNAL SUPPORT GROUPS (FROM THE BOTTOM UP)

Every workforce contains countless people who have deep experience coping with a wide range of difficult issues. Many of these staffers are willing to lend a hand or a kind ear to their colleagues if only there were an appropriate setting to offer that. Some organizations hold on-site support meetings, including Alcoholics Anonymous, but for many, the last people an employee may want to know about her struggles with substance abuse are her coworkers (another argument in favor of a robust EAP).

But other team members find internal support groups helpful. Similar to employee affinity groups (or “EAGs”), these informal collectives can help colleagues come together to discuss shared experiences, including difficult ones. In providing safe spaces for those conversations, these groups can also help disseminate resources available in the organization’s EAPs and curb employees’ hesitation around taking advantage of them.

It’s easy for employers to look at these HR offerings in terms of financial cost and effort, but there’s potentially huge benefit to implementing them. Not only do such programs create goodwill within the workforce, helping retain employees for longer, but they also reinforce the empathy and emotional intelligence that are the lifeblood of every strong work culture–especially during those difficult times when it really counts.

FastCompany.com | June 26, 2018

#Leadership : What’s on Your Mind? #Bosses Are Using #ArtificialIntelligence to Find Out…. AI Tools Give Companies Instant Insights from Employee Surveys that Once Took Months to Process.

March 28, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Human-resource departments are becoming a bit less human as companies turn to artificial intelligence for help with hiring and firing—and to learn how employees really feel about their bosses.

Every year at SPS Companies Inc., most of the steel processor’s 600 employees, from warehouse staffers to top executives, fill out a 30-minute confidential survey that asks, among other things, whether they feel micromanaged and whether they feel their managers support their professional growth. One question challenges survey-takers to gauge how respected and valued they feel within the organization.

This year, for the first time, the Manhattan, Kan.-based company tapped an artificial-intelligence tool called Xander to analyze responses. Xander can determine whether an employee feels optimistic, confused or angry, and provide insights to help manage teams, the tool’s developers at Ultimate Software GroupInc.ULTI -0.82% said.

From a block of text, the software analyzes answers to open-ended questions based on language and other data, assigning attitudes or opinions to employees.

One top executive at SPS learned from recent survey analysis that he needed to work on his temper. “One of my lowest scoring items was maintaining my composure under stress,” he said of the feedback from his direct reports. On the bright side, Xander reported that the manager’s staff felt he was fair and honest.

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Research shows that emotions are key to understanding what motivates employees. How people feel often determines if they go above and beyond in the workplace or underperform, says Jason Hite, chief people strategist at HR consultancy Daoine CentricLLC. It can also explain why people leave.

Companies have used technology to track employee actions and help boost productivity for years, but now some are turning to software to sniff out differences between what employees say and how they feel.

At First Horizon NationalCorp. , a regional bank based in Memphis, it once took a team of six human resource personnel three months to pore over 3,500 surveys. Managers would take another five months to submit action plans based on the data.

“By the time they got started we were getting ready to do another survey,” says Mario Brown, manager of leadership assessment and development at First Horizon.

Using Xander, First Horizon could slice and dice the feedback as soon as the survey closed. One insight the company gained from the survey was that it needed to work on its training program.

Steel company SPS streamlined its health-care plan offerings after survey results showed the options confused and overwhelmed employees. HR staffers have used some of the time saved processing survey results to start new mental and physical health initiatives for employees, including a wellness blog.

More than 40% of employers world-wide have implemented artificial intelligence processes of some kind, according to a recent study from Deloitte.

But as AI tools infiltrate HR departments, regulators are struggling to keep up.

A number of software companies including HireVue Inc. and Syndio offer artificial-intelligence tools to help make decisions about hiring, firing and compensation. That worries employees who are wary of being psychoanalyzed by software, and some employment lawyers fret that AI programs might contain biases that could lead to workplace discrimination.

“I’m fully aware of a handful of people who didn’t want to take the survey because they had a fear of being tracked,” says Corey Kephart, vice president of human resources at SPS.

Since most emotions are communicated nonverbally, programs that solely rely on text can miss the bigger picture, said Julie Albright, a digital sociologist at University of Southern California. Artificial intelligence might one day be trained to recognize signs of depression and other emotions in facial expressions and voice tones, she said, but the technology isn’t there yet.

Any algorithmic bias is likely to have an outsize impact on minorities and other protected classes of employees, said Garry Mathiason, an attorney at Littler Mendelson P.C. who specializes in artificial intelligence and employment law. A hiring algorithm might notice a higher rate of absences for people with disabilities and recommend against employing them, for example.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. regulator that enforces laws preventing workplace discrimination, hasn’t issued official rules determining how artificial intelligence can be used in human-resource decisions, but a panel convened by the agency in 2016 concluded that the technology can potentially create new barriers for opportunities.

Mr. Mathiason said he expects official guidelines from the EEOC in the near future. In the meantime, companies can avoid legal gray areas by keeping human review as part of any AI-enabled decision-making process and by disclosing how the AI is being used, he said.

Though confidential, the surveys aren’t anonymous. Xander can take into account an employee’s demographic data, previous surveys, and other background information when analyzing responses. Ultimate Software said the tool has safeguards in place to protect confidentiality. For example, a manager may need a certain number of direct reports to respond to a survey before gaining access to verbatim responses to make it harder to identify who said what.

The company said Xander can’t always get it right—but neither do people.

It still requires humans to pick up body language cues, and “even humans only catch sarcasm half the time,” says Suhail Halai, Ultimate Software’s head of customer experience.

Write to Imani Moise at imani.moise@wsj.com

WSJ.com | March 28, 2018 | By Imani Moise

#Leadership : Do These Things To #ReduceTurnover Among Your #BestHires …It takes Work to #Retain #StarEmployees . Here are the Steps you Can take to Stop Losing them to “Better Offers.”

February 26, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

If there’s anyone more hopeful than a new employee showing up to her first day on the job, it’s the hiring manager who offered it to her.

Call us hopeless romantics, but we think there’s something really special about a candidate and a company coming to an agreement and choosing to embark on a relationship together–albeit a business one.

But what happens when the relationship goes south and the employee decides to move on? There may not be actual tears, but it can still feel like heartbreak to the recruiter, hiring manager, and leadership team that had high hopes for the future.

So, what can you do when you’re tired of losing employees to “better offers”? Here’s what five recruiting and hiring pros would do to reduce churn and improve employee engagement and retention:

1. BE HONEST ABOUT THE DOWNSIDES OF A POSITION

It makes sense to try to put your best foot forward in the first stages of the interview process. After all, that’s what job candidates are doing, too. But Chuck Solomon, cofounder and COO of LineHire, says that it’s in the best interest of long-term employee retention to be upfront about what a job is really like without candy coating the truth or trying to ignore potential challenges within a job.

“It may sound quaint, but I believe authenticity is key to reducing churn and increasing employee retention,” says Solomon. “Recruiters should be honest and accurate in describing both the pros and cons of the job–after all, once on board, the candidate is going to learn firsthand themselves. I’m not suggesting you should ‘air the company’s dirty laundry,’ but there are ways to tell a candidate that this is a challenging position. That way you’re only bringing in staff members that are up for the challenges.”

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2. CLOSE THE LOOP ON NEW HIRE DATA

Find the best person, hire them, and move on. Sound familiar? If that’s your approach to most of the positions you fill and you want to reduce churn, Mikaela Kiner, CEO and Founder of uniquelyHR, wants you to think about following up and tracking how your candidates work out in the role.

“Recruiters always believe we’ve found the absolute best candidate for the job, says Kiner. “After all, that’s why we hired them! But too often, we don’t know what happens once that person joins the company. Did that person become a superstar, did they plateau, or were they eventually let go for poor performance? If recruiters can work with HR and hiring managers to get data on the quality of the people they’ve hired, they can spot trends and then use that data to improve the screening and recruiting process.”

“For example, what skills and qualities are common to the most successful hires?” continues Kiner. “Failures are also a good source of learning, because if you make a note of red flags during interviews of people who don’t succeed, you can be on the lookout for similar candidate qualities in the future.”

3. LISTEN TO AND REWARD EMPLOYEES BEFORE THERE’S A PROBLEM

Brianna Rooney, founder of software engineer recruiting company Techees, works in a high turnover industry placing software engineers at tech-focused companies in the Bay Area. In her line of work, it’s common for people to leave every year, and if someone has been with their company for three years, it’s a downright miracle. Why? Because most companies say they don’t have time to deal with employee retention or simply don’t want to know the bad things about their company.

“I can’t tell you how many times a company will try to give a raise or actually listen to an employee when it’s way too late,” says Rooney. “Everyone wants to save money. It’s hard to keep giving raises. Yet, think about how hard it is to find good people. People you trust to work hard, honestly, and efficiently.”

“If you don’t have the budget for a salary increase, make sure they understand that,” Rooney continues. “Talk to employees, make them know how important they are. Don’t just wait for quarterly or yearly meetings. You need to care before you ‘have to,’ and it has to come naturally.”

4. RECRUIT QUALITIES THAT MAKE FOR GOOD OFFICE POLITICS

Are office politics always a bad thing? No, says CEO and The Compass Alliance author Tim Cole. They can be good or bad for an organization depending on how they are directed. But if you’re in a position where you need to reduce churn, your politics are likely unproductive. It’s critical that you start screening candidates for qualities that are conducive to healthy office politics.

“Bad office politics implies backstabbing and conspiring for personal gain,” says Cole. “An organization that tolerates that type of behavior faces the long-term effects that always follow, like low engagement, loss of productivity, and attrition.”

Cole adds: “Companies that recruit for collaboration skills and capacity for problem solving can often direct office politics in a more positive direction and use them to streamline workflow with behind-the-scenes discussions and gain consensus on critical job decisions away from the boardroom.”

5. RALLY YOUR TEAM AROUND A COMMON “WHY”

Low employee retention and low engagement go hand in hand, so if you’re struggling with a need to reduce churn, you are likely struggling with employee engagement, too. Zach Hendrix, cofounder of the lawn service app GreenPal, grew one business from 1 to 100 using a simple but profound engagement strategy: rally employees around the central “why” of their jobs and the business as a whole.

In his first business, much of Hendrix’s operating core was comprised of Guatemalan immigrants who would come to the United States for several consecutive lawn mowing seasons and save as much money as they could to improve the lives of their families back home by building homes, ranches, and setting up farms stocked with cattle.

To fuel his team through the tough times, including the economic recession of 2009, he rallied them around their “why.” At weekly meetings, they would give progress reports on how projects back home were coming along and display picture collages of homes, farms, and businesses in Guatemala in the office and shop.

There’s nothing more frustrating than waving farewell to an employee you had hoped would stick around long-term. And while there are many reasons you’ll need to say goodbye to employees over the years–relocations, promotions, and career changes among them–there’s a lot you can do to make sure that your company isn’t the reason employees leave. Consider how you can apply these tips to your recruiting and hiring process to reduce churn to help your candidates stick around.

FastCompany.com | February 26, 2018 | BY SARAH GREESONBACH—GLASSDOOR 5 MINUTE READ

Your #Career : I Used A “Career Map” To Get My #DreamJob –Here’s How…Sometimes All it Takes is some Good Planning & Patience to Pull yourself Out of a Serious Job Slump.

January 23, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Due to an unfortunate coffee mishap, I spent the holidays setting up a new computer and frantically trying to extract documents from my old, caffeine-soaked laptop. While in the middle of my rescue mission, I stumbled upon a career map that I’d created four years ago.

Making a career map wasn’t my brilliant idea, but it helped me get out of a serious job slump. At that time, I was working as an account executive at an ad agency and hated it. I’d only taken the job for two reasons: I was turning 26 and couldn’t stay on my dad’s health insurance, and I wanted to be a copywriter, so being in close proximity to some would magically transform me into one–right?

Not so much.

My brother recommended working in the industry I wanted firstand worry about getting a writer position once I had more experience–hence, the advertising job. But things were moving a little too slowly for my liking. I’d been at the agency for nine months and wasn’t any closer to becoming a writer. Deflated, I shared my woes with a coworker. She suggested making a “career map,” an outline of steps to take me to the next level.

She explained further: You write down where you want to be in your career three to six months from now, one year from now and five or more years from now. Then, for each timeframe, you identify the steps to achieving the next milestone. So, for example, If your career goal is to take the Iron Throne and rule the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, you might write “Acquire fleet of ships” as an action step. Here’s what mine looked like:

THREE TO SIX MONTHS

1. Ask HR to consider me for a copywriting position.

Action steps:

Create portfolio of three to five pieces
Schedule meeting with HR

2. Network and research.

Action steps:

Talk to at least three professional writers to get insight into the profession
- Name 1
- Name 2
- Name 3

List of questions to ask:
- How did they get their start?
- How would they recommend getting started today?
- Are they happy with their career, compensation, work/life balance?
- What’s a reasonable starting salary to ask for?
- Do they know any other writers who would be willing to connect?

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ONE YEAR

3. Take at least one course in copywriting/writing/building a portfolio.

Action steps:

Research what class to take, estimated tuition
Start setting money aside for tuition

4. Get copywriting job at another agency or company if I don’t get offered a position at current company.

THREE TO FIVE YEARS

5. Work at a major agency or company in New York City.

6. Gain freelance experience.

Writing all this down provided me with much-needed clarity and actionable steps to follow. Best of all, it worked! When I stumbled across my old career map, I realized that I had accomplished every goal, even those as far out as five years. So I set out to write one for the next five years–and this time around, my goals don’t feel as daunting.

If you want to create your own career map, here are a few things I learned along the way that could help make the process easier.

Get as granular as you want. Back when I was complaining to my coworker, her first piece of advice to me was: Ask for the job you want. Groundbreaking, I know. But it had never occurred to me to simply ask HR to consider me for a different role. That became my first milestone.

Prioritize what’s important to you. For example, I value a good work/life balance, so I included that on my career map as something to inquire about while doing research. I love writing, but I love a lot of other stuff, too. What gets you excited about a job can differ from person to person, so tailor your map to fit what matters most.

Don’t let fear of rejection stop you. I got turned down for the account executive role the first time I interviewed. I was devastated–I really wanted to get my foot in the door. So I emailed my contact at the agency to ask why I didn’t get the job, and for advice on how to kill it in future interviews. Turns out, the main reason they didn’t offer me the position was because they thought I wasn’t interested! But my contact was impressed that I asked for feedback–he called me back in, and I was hired shortly afterward.

That story just serves as a reminder not to assume that what you want is too lofty. Sure, you may need to account for a detour or two on your map, and you often learn more from the things you did wrong than right. But your dreams are your own to pursue–you just need to break down the steps it’ll take to achieve them.

FastCompany.com | January 23, 2018 | BY RITA BRODFUEHRER—LEARNVEST 4 MINUTE READ

Your #Career : I’ve Worked in HR for 15 Years — Here Are the 4 Things Hiring Managers Don’t Want You to Know…Think Hiring Managers aren’t Trolling your Social Media Accounts? Or that Having Children Won’t Impact your Odds of Landing a Great Gig? Think Again.

October 1, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

An HR veteran with over 15 years of experience shares her insider’s take on what really goes down during the hiring process. Before launching my own consulting business, I earned my HR stripes working for everyone from big-name financial service companies to an equally big electronics and entertainment company.

Think you know what HR reps are looking for? Think again.

So I know firsthand the techniques that are used to vet potential employees — and it’s not all as compliant as you’d expect.

If there’s one thing my time in the trenches has taught me it’s that HR reps are willing to do a lot to pinpoint the right employee.

Think hiring managers aren’t trolling your social media accounts? Or that having children won’t impact your odds of landing a great gig?

Think again.

Take it from me: These are some lesser-known, semi-sly tricks that hiring managers resort to—regularly.

1. We dig (and I mean really dig) into your background

It goes without saying that hiring managers are going to contact your references to check whether those accolades on your résumé are legit.

But prehiring reconnaissance goes a lot further than that.

The HR community is small, and while it isn’t exactly kosher, many of us will call someone we know at a company where a candidate has worked previously.

The goal is to get “off-the-record” insights about the person’s work habits, personality, aptitude and more. We’re getting the inside scoop — from someone who isn’t on the candidate’s referral list.

Don’t believe me?

In the last month alone, I’ve received two calls from HR reps asking whether I’d vouch for former colleagues.

Another way managers dig around is through social media — especially LinkedIn.

After scanning a person’s LinkedIn network, I’ve become skeptical about candidates who don’t have enough industry connections. It makes me question if they’re overmarketing themselves.

Of course, being mindful of what you post on all of your social media channels is a no-brainer. I’ve even heard of managers who snoop on their own employees’ accounts to see if they’ve been talking poorly about the company.

Children are a factor. Getty Images/Fiona Goodall

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2. Have kids? Why you might not have the job …

Although it’s illegal for an employer to take someone’s family into account when considering them for a position, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

Personally, I don’t believe this is usually malicious or deliberate. But a candidate can’t control what might be lurking in a hiring manager’s subconscious. (“Will this person really get the job done if they’ve got little kids waiting at home?”)

And it’s not just HR managers who fall prey to this kind of second-guessing.

I once worked at a financial organization where the internal sales team was mostly comprised of guys fresh out of college. When they interviewed new employees, I found out many of them used the opportunity to suss out if a candidate had kids by posing questions like, “What do you like to do on the weekends?” It was a tactic to see if the person would bring up little league or other kid-centric activities.

Knowing that new employees would be required to work long hours, these guys assumed that children would make these candidates less committed—and less likely to party after work and wholeheartedly embrace the company culture.

Certain hiring managers (especially those who don’t have a legal background) really want to make sure that the person they hire is a good culture fit — someone who’ll make a good employee and buddy.

But this impulse can end up alienating qualified candidates simply because they don’t gel on a personal level. In the case of that financial company, it created a bias against women — and we, in HR, brought the practice to a screeching halt.

And while we’re on the topic of bias, I hate to say it, but if a woman is interviewing while pregnant, she’s probably better off keeping that to herself until she knows she’s got the job.

It’s especially relevant at the executive level, when the stakes are typically higher. While a manager would never come out and say it, my experience leads me to believe that mothers, in general, do get passed over more than childless applicants.

3. The offer you get often has plenty of wiggle room

During the hiring process, salary negotiations are par for the course. But most managers can offer you way more than they let on.

That said, they probably can’t budge too much when it comes to base salary—there’s typically a range in mind before the interview ever takes place. But they can throw in different types of financial extras.

Sign-on bonuses, for starters, are attractive to HR managers because they don’t reoccur or show up in the employee’s salary line. And many hiring managers are willing and able to throw in a onetime cash-out if that’s what it takes to seal the deal.

The same goes for relocation packages. While some companies have rigid policies in place when it comes to relocating new hires, it’s still very much a gray area that many HR managers have no problem negotiating.

The catch, not surprisingly, is that interviewers aren’t exactly eager to offer up such perks. It’s up to you to ask.

Bringing up a sign-on bonus or relocation package will likely get you more traction than if you focus on the salary alone. Even so, that doesn’t mean negotiating the base salary isn’t still worth it—but you’ll need to convince the HR manager why you should be at the higher end of their preestablished range.

I’ve even seen people successfully negotiate to have a new company match the last job’s total compensation package.

WPA Pool/Getty Images

4. Mutual exits are more common than you think

If an employee quits — as opposed to getting laid off — severance and unemployment benefits likely go out the window. So from a financial standpoint, it appears to be in a company’s best interest to have a less-than-stellar employee quit on their own.

Would a manager ever deliberately try to get a disliked employee to voluntarily hit the road? I’ve heard it happens — but it’s more likely to come from a direct manager, and the HR person may find out about it after the fact, when the manager shares that they “rode a guy hard” until he quit.

I think sometimes these managers struggle with giving feedback and coaching employees, or run into situations where they feel backed up against a wall. The end result is that they run out of patience—and make crummy management decisions.

A few of my current clients have experienced this kind of passive-aggressive approach, and I encouraged them to negotiate a happier ending by way of a desirable exit package.

Essentially, the company allows the employee to leave on certain mutually-agreed-upon terms. In some cases, it may require the employee to stay until a certain end date, finish a particular project, or agree not to take talent from the company for a set amount of time. In return, the employee receives a specific amount of money, known as a retention payment.

The deal, known as a mutual separation, isn’t considered severance. It’s also something that happens all of the time behind closed doors.

It’s yet another example of how established employees and new hires alike can even the playing field — so long as they’re informed.

Businessinsider.com | September 27, 2016 | Christine DiDonato, as told to Marianne Hayes, LearnVest