Origin of the job interview

I have long maintained that we are cavemen/women distinguishable from our forebears only by the fact that we wear a better class of animal skins. It would appear I am not alone in this belief.

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Now repeat after me ... #4

"And you're definitely definite about that?"

D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y

Not definately.
Not definatly.
Not definently.
Not definantly.
Not definetly.

And you could try defiantly, but I wouldn't recommend it.

There's only one way to spell that word and it is is d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.

Up with this I will not put!

Vizzini: "He didn't fall? In-con-ceiv-able!"
Inigo: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Be careful with your career choice

Photo by James Marvin Phelps

A physicist, engineer and a statistician are out hunting. They spot a deer, in the long grass, maybe 300 yards away.

The physicist conducts some fundamental ballistic calculations in his head, assuming a vacuum, lifts his rifle to the angle he has worked out, and shoots. The bullet lands 5 yards short.

The engineer adds a fudge factor for air resistance, lifts his rifle slightly higher, and shoots. The bullet lands 5 yards long.

The statistician yells "We got him!"

Walkin' in a winter wonderland ... It's the HR Carnival

Come near, come far, the HR Carnival has rolled back into lil ol' Dublin here in the Emerald Isle. And what a show we have for you this time around!

As ever, I am delighted by the breadth and depth of thinking that the HR Carny contributors come up with every fortnight. Pour yourself a large caffeinated beverage, indulge yourself with some good chocolate and prepare for a whirligig of the best of HR thinking from across the globe.

Susan at About.com HR on the perils of the free bar at a holiday work function. In vino veritas = career gaffe? Only if you have too much vino!

Dan's hilarious manifesto for cowardly managers when faced with underperforming employees.

We all have our thoughts, notions and pontifications on the subject of leadership. Wally Bock puts his finger on the one thing that matters in any leader.

In a similar vein, Lisa Rosendahl has a short list of uncomfortable questions for leaders.

Jon Ingham gets his Human Capital ducks in a row for 2010 with this comprehensive post.

Launching a workforce analytics programme? Are you clear about what success looks like for that programme? Mick Collins over at InfoHRm has some thoughts on tightly defining the mission.

What you think of yourself, what they think of you - the fundamentals of asking for feedback from Mary Jo Asmus.

Business is about community - because you never know the day. A working girl's perspective.

"The real world is a special case" - I remember hearing often that line in Psychology lectures in college. And boyohboy, does Naomi have some killer scenarios to stress-test HRM software. Wincingly good stuff.

We all talk about engagement a lot of the time. But what would you do if you actually ended up in a leadership role in a company where engagement was the norm? Cathy Martin with some very clear-eyed thoughts.

Margaret O'Hanlon reminds us that if you were to whisper one thing in your CEO's ear coming up to his/her year end speechifying, you could do a lot worse that remind that CEO to "Find the story of the company."  So often, arcs and threads of that story become the focus - to reignite the passion of the whole team requires a bigger picture.

Lindsay Richardson is realistic as always: "When the economy is tight, there is a temptation to recycle old training, reuse old information.  But if your training content isn't current, you could be missing important changes in labor laws, safety regs or policies - and that could cost your company money.  BIG money."

"Paul Smith, average HR guy." It doesn't quite have the ring of "Bond, James Bond" now does it? But he sure does the business ...

Should wellness programmes be voluntary? Thought-provoking stuff, with an audience participation poll, over at Precept Employee Benefits. [This reminds me of the time I asked the Principal in my school if participation in rugby was mandatory. "No," he said. "But you have to go."]

i4cp takes us from Platonic ideals to structured reality with these pragmatic thoughts on the characteristics of an ideal employee.

The Devon Group blog - "In any organisation and at every level, mentoring is an important component of personal learning and development" Amen to that.

Benjamin over at Rethink HR with his thoughts on learning styles, ably assisted by Scott Adams and Gary Larson. [It's hard to believe that it's 14 years since Larson stopped writing The Far Side. It's as useful and relevant today as it ever was.]

For some people, heaven is a holiday break, closely surrounded by loved ones. For other people that image is the perfect definition of hell. Either way, Jason Seiden has some thoughts on using cognitive dissonance to ensure that the happy memories prevail from this holiday season.

A job-seeker is worried about how his recent lay-off might look to a potential employer - The HR Store has some thoughts. What do you think?

Rich guy, poor guy. Rich country, poor country. Rich company, poor company. What are the common threads and what does Steve Boese think macroeconomics have to teach us in the corporate world?

Meg Bear does her best impersonation of Jiminy Cricket in reminding us of the power of writing down and tracking progress against our goals.

HR Truisms from the Inflexion Point. Mark is hoping he's not right with his predictions for 2010 - see what you think.

Jennifer V Miller on the Ambiguity Factor - "But I explained that really well!" "But did they hear you, understand you, or believe you?"

How to become indispensable to your organisation with the Young HR Manager.

And last, but very much not least, the lady who started it all with her thoughts on how to deal with a terrible employee.

Even though it's not Friday ...

I got an email from a nice man called Randy in Perrigo's PR firm (remember Perrigo? They're the guys with the dancing scientists):

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Anyhoo, apparently they're still at it at Perrigo. I usually bin these emails after the first generic, badly-written paragraph ["Dear space space Rowan. I have readed your blog and think ..."], but Randy's writing style held my eye and I was glad I clicked through:

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Not your typical corporate video. I do hope that Perrigo's CEO is in there somewhere (maybe doing the card trick?) Also, they need a new strapline as the usual corporate-speak at the end detracted from the whole effort. Other than that – happy not Friday. Serious harumphing will resume as soon as possible.

PowerPoint turns 25

[click to enlarge]

Robert Gaskins wrote a proposal for PowerPoint (then called 'Presenter') and the product was released into the wild in 1984. Three years later, his company was acquired, kit and caboodle, by Microsoft because they reckoned that the market for "desktop presentation" had the same potential as the "desktop publishing" sector.

In the meantime, we have all been subjected to a gazillion bullet points and most audiences reflexively wince and brace themselves for the onslaught when they see a person fiddling with a laptop, a USB stick and a data projector.

Last week, I had the surreal experience of delivering a PowerPoint presentation to an audience at a business breakfast while simultaneously trying to make any sense at all to a national radio audience. Let me know if you thought it worked - you can click over to the piece on my presentation blog here.

Finding a job is a full-time job - Part 2

A good chat with Mr Tubridy on RTE Radio, talking about where to find a job to apply for – because recruitment advertisements seem to be elusive little beasts these days. You can find the entire programme here or just listen to the job-hunt piece (about 9 minutes) below:

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Low-key, passive, private job-hunting is not going to cut it any more folks. As Mr T. says, "Where hope once came seeking you out, you must now seek out hope." Waiting with bated breath for the perfect job to appear in your favourite newspaper, or on your favourite jobsite, is unlikely to bear fruit right now. You can't ignore these routes, but you really, really cannot rely upon them either. Remember the old Steven Wright quote?

"There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot."

He was so right. This is no way to job-hunt folks - because your CV is unlikely to stand out from the crowd in the same way as a lure/spinner/feather is unlikely to stand out for the one little fishie that's swimming past this rather scary crowd.  

Skip the queue! Get upstream of the crowd and drop a very shiny lure in front of a relaxed, unstressed fishie, because if someone else does and you don't, guess who's getting hired?

Related Posts:

Finding a job is a full-time job - Part 1

From 2008 - Research, Networking & Route of entry

Wisdom

Really liked this

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Education - 3Rs + ...

Fabulous

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Finding a job is a full-time job

I don't know who coined that old saw but nowadays, it is truer than ever. Two consistent worries that clients present us with:

• "It's a tight market and there are now jobs to apply to." 
• "How should I divide my time on the job-hunt to keep all the plates spinning?"

Here are some thoughts based on lectures and seminars we have been conducting in the past while. I hope you find them applicable for your situation.

Job-hunting in a tight market

View more presentations from Rowan Manahan.

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Related posts:

Routes into a tight market

Finding a job in the 'hidden jobs market'
Job-hunting in a recession

Downsizing – dealing with survivor guilt

Interesting to see two very cruel thoughts on this both from the same source. The first is a comment on "the most inappropriate thing you ever said out loud" post on Scott Adams' blog:

We recently had a company meeting where it was announced that an employee had been let go. He had a really nice, new dual core machine, so I when the leader of the meeting asked, "Are there any questions?" I said, "Can I have his computer?" Apparently, this was in poor taste.

And then management's perspective on this, from the inimitable Mr Adams himself:

Childcare in the workplace - a follow-up

I suspect that provision of childcare facilities within workplaces is going to be a growth area for the next few years. Whether both partners want to have fulfilling careers or not, dual income families are going to be an economic necessity for the majority of families in perpetuity, so any employer who can offer the additional piece of mind of an onsite crèche is going to be more attractive in the market.

In recessionary times, the pendulum has swung firmly back to the employer’s side and they can call the shots during the selection process, but abusing that power is a fool’s game because job-hunters will smile insincerely, bow their heads and take whatever is on offer and start looking for a new job the second they arrive onsite with what they perceive to be an unreasonable or unaccommodating employer. You want the best people to come and work for you and, more to the point, to stay with you in these difficult times?

Look. After. Them!

I don't hear the, "We're really more like a big family here at Widgets Inc." line so often these days; but it never fails to make me barf. The gulf between word and deed on that topic would be laughable were it not so unfunny. This doesn't have to cost employers money. I’ve seen large companies ‘leasing out’ their HR expertise to smaller firms in the vicinity, so that Human Resources Department isn’t just an expense line any more, it’s a revenue-generator. Surely the same could be accomplished with an intelligently-run, onsite crèche facility?

From the employer perspective, this is fundamentally a productivity issue. Neuroscience has now demonstrated that multitasking or distraction has a significantly adverse effect on productivity. If a parent is worried about their child, worried about leaving in time to beat the traffic or whatever, they cannot be focused on the task at hand. They just can't. As our economic reality now demands dual incomes for the majority of households, it behoves large corporates to conduct some research on this. Canteens are provided in large businesses because it is the most efficient solution to the productivity-draining issue of feeding large numbers of staff quickly and efficiently. Those employers are satisfying their staff’s biological needs in a way that has the most benefit for that employer’s productivity needs.

Now, I hope this doesn't come as a shock to you, but reproduction is one of those biological imperatives. Large numbers of your employees are going to reproduce. It’s a simple reality in the workplace and if you don’t help your employees out in some way, they are going to get more distracted than they need to be and you are going to feel that pain. Alternatively, you may never gain the benefit of these bright young things, as they will seek to work with an employer who is more cognisant of their needs and who provides peace of mind to staff with young children.

The millhouse and workers' cottages at Rathfarnham, Dublin

Mines, mills, factories and breweries built houses for their workers because it made economic sense. Large companies provide canteen facilities because it makes economic sense. I’d like to see some creativity in this area – perhaps something tied in with the local Chamber of Commerce? Childcare for the younger age group is massively expensive, but there have to be economies of scale that can be brought to bear on this with a bit of original thinking and some collective procurement. What do you think?