No, You Can"t Do That Job

It’s time to bring back the Peter Principle. Not the BBC TV series, but the idea that meritocracies work to promote people beyond the level of their actual abilities. This time around, the Peter Principle should serve as a warning to everyone under 30 who isn’t grateful for the jobs they have and who want more – often, too much more, too soon. If there ever were a time to be really careful about what you wish for, it would be right now.

The simplest phrasing of the Peter Principle is that “employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence.” It was initially a humorous formulation, until people started to see how accurate it was.

And, if you’re young and not careful, it’s a quick way to lose your job. I recently had to sit through a very painful and embarrassing meeting where a perfectly decent and talented young man unsuccessfully asked for his old job back. But his old job had been filled. He had only left it because he had vocally and aggressively sought a new job that he really wasn’t right for.

Young people today seem to understand only half of the phrase “up or out.” I encourage everyone to aspire to greater things and to take their best shot–when they are prepared, when they understand what they’re asking for, and when they’re ready to live with the consequences of things not working out.

Before you jump for that new job, try to answer these questions honestly.

Do you understand what the whole new job entails?

If you just focus on the perks and the rewards of a job, you often miss the whole package, and especially the baggage that comes with the benefits.

Especially in sales, there’s often a whole lot of ugly lifting that goes with getting the job done. I had a client once who won some hugely profitable government contracts. It seemed like a piece of cake. Then I spent a week on the road with him, going from one Army base to another entertaining procurement people in cheap, smoky bars for hours on end and dealing with a stream of insufferables. I decided that life was way too short for that and you couldn’t pay me enough to put up with it. My client knew it too, but it was a choice he had made and it came with the job.

Can you do the job?

Hope and wishful thinking aren’t good tools for advancement. This is where honest assessment (and maybe even asking some other people whose judgment you respect) comes into play. The very last thing you want to do is to test the depth of the pool with both feet. It’s a great way to end up all wet, even assuming that you don’t drown.

Do you really want the job?

The grass is almost always greener. Travel and time out of the office sound great until you miss the first few family occasions, a few school recitals, and spend a few too many nights in the Red Roof Inn. Other jobs are so stressful and so 24/7 that the sacrifices they entail simply aren’t worth it. There’s always more work, but you’ve only got one family.

Here’s the hard part. Real happiness doesn’t come from doing easy work or phoning it in. It comes from doing hard work really well. If you don’t put the effort into something, you never really know and appreciate what it’s worth. Your work and how you feel about it has a lot to do with your sense of self. If you’d rather be doing anything but your work, find something else to do.

Is it a real job that matters?

You don’t want to end up with a make-work job that your boss created just to stop you from bugging him or her. It’s great to throw yourself into things and work hard at something, but you want to work hard at something that’s worth doing.

Look at each job through two distinct lenses: Does it have meaning, and does it have value? If no one values or cares about the results of your efforts, it may be meaningful to you, but if it doesn’t hold value to the business and your bosses, it won’t be around for long. In the book and newspaper business, and a world of user-generated crap, I think that real editors must ask themselves these kinds of questions every day. I bet they don’t like the answers.

Who are you working with and for?

Some colleagues can turn even the best job into a miserable experience. I’d rather work with tree stumps than some of the people I’ve had to deal with over the years. While you’re at it, try not to work for someone who has more problems than you do.

Is management committed?

You need to make sure, before you sign up, that management and the company will provide what you need to succeed: funding and other resources; authority to get things done; enough time and runway; and, most importantly, some agreed-upon metrics for measuring success.

Are you getting just enough rope to hang yourself?

It’s a lot harder to have to flat out fire someone (especially someone you’d like to keep, but can’t afford) than it is to let them work themselves out of a “new” job that just doesn’t end up working out. It happens more than you’d imagine.

The bottom line: Do your homework before you open your mouth and ask for that new position. It will save you a lot of heartache and maybe your current job as well.  Sometimes not getting what you think you desperately want is the best break of all.

via No, You Can’t Do That Job | Inc.com.

No, You Can"t Do That Job

When to Let Employees Say "No"

There are plenty of ways to gain employee compliance–direct orders, insistent nagging, guilt trips–but one technique has been proven to work better than any other: the option to say “no.”

Offering the freedom to decline was a theory originally put forward by two French researchers, Alexandre Pascual and Nicolas Gueguen. They included a simple sentence in a request for money: “but you are free to accept or refuse.” Those requests received twice as much as those who directly asked for a donation without a chance to decline.

The technique affirms the ability to say no, weakening “reactance,” or the anger and frustration at being told what to do. It’s not a surprising outcome: experiences are more enjoyable when there’s a level of autonomy involved. It’s the difference between “having to” and “wanting to.” Psychologists have theorized that having this choice is key for motivation.

Yet the new tool hadn’t been fully tested–until this year. C. J. Carpenter analyzed 42 studies of the technique to better understand its efficacy. The results were published in journal Communication Studies.

Carpenter found that the technique gets results faster and is just as (if not more) effective than other compliance-gaining schemes. And, perhaps more importantly, it can be used in a multitude of contexts, including charitable, prosocial, and selfish requests. You can use it to ask for a donation to feed starving children or to ask for a cup of coffee.

The only flaw is the requirement of a physical presence; it won’t work as well through email or letters. One reason may be that the worker would feel less social pressure for the technique to work.

If you’ve been having trouble getting employees to comply, it may be time to try offering them the freedom to decline … but only if you want to.

via When to Let Employees Say ‘No’ | Inc.com.

When to Let Employees Say "No"

Is Your Resume 6-Second Worthy?

In a time when recruiters and hiring managers are getting inundated with applicants for job postings, one technique they quickly learn to master is the art of “skimming” resumes. They just don’t have time to read each resume word-for-word. Instead, they glance at it quickly and look for key info. If they don’t see what they need, you’re tossed.

You’ve Got Six Seconds

I was recently told the average recruiter spends about six seconds on a resume and then decides whether to keep reading, or toss it in the ‘no’ pile. Additionally, their eye works in a Z pattern, meaning left-to-right across the top of the resume, and then back down the left-hand side.

Top-Fold = Prime Real Estate

This means the top part of your resume is where all the action is. If you don’t, “Get them at Hello,” you won’t be moving on. So, here are a few tips:

1) Don’t waste the top-fold with a long-winded, self-serving promotional paragraph. It won’t get read. Objective statements and overly salesy intros don’t work either.

2) Create an “Experience Summary” that lists quantifiable skills and the key information required to even get a shot at the job.

3) Don’t use a font smaller than 11 point or in a fancy style. Too hard on the eyes.

For a total breakdown of how to create a resume that will pass the six-second test, you can watch a video I did as part of our CAREEREALISM TV weekly Q&A show. It’s the very first episode on this page, just scroll to the bottom and you can watch it here: http://www.careerealism.com/careerealism-tv-archives/

Remember, Resumes Don’t Get You Hired!

Even if you create an effective resume, please don’t assume it will greatly improve your chances of getting a call from an online application. These days, 8 out 10 resumes aren’t even seen by human eyes. Most online applicants never get a shot at the job they apply to. Why? 80%+ of all jobs filled today can be attributed to referrals. Someone inside the organization refers the candidate that gets hired. Hiring a referral is a lot easier than going blurry-eyed reviewing hundreds of online applicants. Plus, the referral makes them more credible, as compared to an online applicant nobody has worked with.

The takeaway: You need to get your optimized resume in the hands of hiring managers. That usually happens when you know them, or know someone who knows them. It’s far less likely to happen when you blindly apply online and hope for the best.

A good resume needs to be used with a proactive job search strategy. All the formatting in the world won’t change the odds of it getting reviewed. The only thing that does is a referral!

via Is Your Resume 6-Second Worthy? | LinkedIn.

Is Your Resume 6-Second Worthy?

The Future of HR

What is the best way to ensure a sustainable, highly productive and engaged workforce?

Imagine you are the incoming CEO of a struggling company. The board of directors has hired you to turn the company around as soon as possible. What are you going to do?

Obviously, you have to start with big questions regarding strategy, structure, product development, sales, cash management and culture. You will probably shuffle the top management team and provide a clear vision of what and how the enterprise has to change. You need to improve cash flow pronto.

You might get control of IT’s massive investment by moving toward cloud computing. Eventually, you reach the human resources function. You are smart enough to know the issue is not the 1.5 percent of operating expense that goes into running HR. For the company to be successful, turnover must slow and productivity must grow.

You’re not an HR professional, so you aren’t burdened by traditional thinking or a warm spot in your heart for those nice people who labor there. You start with an objective view of human capital management just as you did with management of cash, products, sales and information.

It’s probably a good idea to find out what kind of data you have on workforce productivity. Has there been any analysis at either the strategic or tactical level in the past? You could form a small analytics function to help study questions of capability, performance and past human capital investments. Nothing beats having accurate and relevant objective data on which to base the tough decisions ahead.

So, what is the best way to ensure a sustainable, highly productive and engaged workforce? A large part of the question is where should the various HR functions reside? Form should follow function.

Should they all be in a central unit or spread throughout the company where they can be agile and responsive, not to mention accountable for value generation?

You decide that, as CEO, you are ultimately responsible for the workforce, so you make strategic workforce planning, including succession planning, your responsibility. You give a senior HR executive that job and have him or her report directly to you.

A recruiting strategy is next, and where should that reside? How about putting it under the COO — the person responsible for company operations?

Next comes compensation and benefits.

Should that go to the CFO, who is accountable for cash management, or do you put that in operations as well? Maybe you carve out health and welfare benefits to finance and leave pay and incentive compensation with the COO.

Now, how are the people best developed? Should development be part of your central workforce function? Pieces such as leadership and engagement likely should go together, but where to put them?

You have short-term problems such as engagement and long-term questions of succession. It’s complicated. You can’t just toss them all together like in the past. That didn’t work.

Who is going to keep employee records and deal with governance requirements? This is sensitive stuff and getting more so every day. What about general employee relations problems? Should they be pushed back to line management where they started 150 years ago? Isn’t that what fostered the birth and growth of labor unions?

Maybe you should leave the old structure in place and just give it new marching orders. But if you take a car that isn’t running well and repaint it, does that make it run better? If HR was not a value-adding function when you arrived, can you afford to leave it as is while you redesign the enterprise? Just how important is workforce management in your new scheme?

I’m sure you will figure it out, but one thing is certain. You have to change the fundamental concept that has driven human resources and human capital management in the past. It did not serve the company well during periods of rapid change and may have been a major reason the enterprise was foundering.

After all, nothing happens unless a human being acts — all other assets of the enterprise just lay there waiting to be leveraged. It seems as though you have to give HR new consideration, because it is so important.

via The Future of HR – Talent Management magazine.

The Future of HR

Where Do You See Yourself?

Why do we inevitably support the underdogs in a sporting event, those that are perceived as really having no chance at all of getting the prize but somehow made it to the finals?

Because we can see ourselves.

The big stars of the game are far removed from our reality and we can’t compete at their level, but bring in the underdog, and we instantly see something there that could be us, the weekend warrior, Joe Public, the lucky few to be in the spot competing where they are now. And because we see ourselves it makes it real and achievable to us with our “if they can do it, so can I” attitude.

It doesn’t stop there though; there are more instances we look for ourselves subconsciously.

Take the true story about a CEO whose company had some pretty tough staffing issues. He took himself and the majority of his team through a behavioral profiling process and found that each one of the team was an identical profile type to his own, he had employed 20 people that were all like him! Can you imagine how their business was running internally, the frustrations involved with no mix of behavioral styles? Have you ever said during an interview “You remind me a little of myself when I was younger”? I know I have, and because we see ourselves we go ahead and employ.

Take a group photograph with you included in it. Who do you look for first? You. Try it if you don’t believe me, its really hard not to seek yourself out first.

James Blunt sang “You’re Beautiful” which sent many women swooning. He made you feel like he was singing directly to you, and you only, you wanted to be the person he was singing to and so you saw yourself. Am I right?

Dale Carnegie encourages us to talk about the other persons interests, to get them talking about themselves rather than us talking about ourselves. If we spent 10 minutes talking to a stranger having answered only questions about ourselves, we think the person we have been talking to is interesting, even though we know nothing about them simply because they encouraged us to talk about ourselves.

We are not being selfish when we do this, but somewhere in our subconscious, it registers. There is something inside us, the way we are wired maybe, that makes us think about ourselves but not selfishly so. Call it an interest, call it human nature, call it hog wash, I don’t know I can’t explain it, but its there.

via Where Do You See Yourself? | LinkedIn.

Where Do You See Yourself?

Five Rules for the Perfectly Worded Resume

Five rules that will help you create a strong, accurate and powerful resume—something that can really get you the job!

When writing resumes, it’s easy to talk about the words you want to avoid—empty, meaningless terms that have nothing to do with you getting you the job.

A bigger problem for job seekers is creating the perfectly worded resume.

It is true the wrong words can destroy your chances of getting the job, but the right words will surely improve your chances.

Creating a perfectly worded resume is not easy. There is no handy “list” of just the right words. A perfectly worded resume will vary depending on the job you are looking for.

However, there are five rules to get you started on the perfectly worded resume:

Rule #1: The most effective words on a resume are usually nouns.

Employers are looking for tangible nouns—services, products, company names and so on. Nouns provide solid links to your skills and abilities. Verbs like “helped” or “supported” doesn’t give the employer—or resume-parsing software—an image of your true skills.

To find out which nouns will be the best for your resume, start by examining the job description. If the description actually represents your skills (no cheating), use those exact words on your resume.

Another source of nouns for a perfectly worded resume is the company website. A particular expression, when used on both the job description and the company website is probably a word or phrase that will resonate with them. Try to make it one of the “keywords” for your resume, appearing a few times.

Rule #2: Always use the active, not passive voice.

The active voice is when you are doing something. Passive writing says something “was done” to you, and is less impressive to the reader.

Accomplishments should always create a solid impression. Words like “increased,” “expanded” and “completed” are much more powerful than “supported,” “encouraged” and “backed.”

Rule #3: Make your resume universally understandable.

A perfectly worded resume is impressive, not indecipherable. Your intended audience—whether it is a human or computer—should be able to pick up on your intentions immediately. Reword things like a non-standard job title into something more descriptive of your responsibilities.

Make sure that it accurately describes your responsibilities and achievements, not just a bewildering list of words that only a small percentage of people would know. Try to use industry-specific titles that would be accepted for your area of expertise.

This is not to say you have to ditch industry-specific jargon, but if a hiring manager doesn’t understand the term, it will do more harm than good. Replace terminology with keyword nouns.

Rule #4: Avoid adjectives whenever possible, especially when talking about qualifications and skills.

Adjectives are additional words that quantify and modify nouns. They are ideal for fiction but are a real problem in a resume. “Passionate,” “determined” or “energetic” are hollow words that do not explain anything.

First, adjectives are often subjective. They are rarely the hard descriptives you want to provide a hiring manager an idea of who you genuinely are.

Second, and most importantly, adjectives are usually self-serving. You might be accomplished, but you probably are not the “ultimate,” “most passionate,” or the “greatest” thing to hit the job market.

Saying such things might give you a warm, fuzzy feeling when reading them, but they often leave a hiring manager cold.

Rule #5: Show, don’t tell.

More than anything else, every word on a resume should do one thing—demonstrate that you have the requirements, skills and talents to do the job. Accomplishments are the way you describe what you can give to a company. They are the things you “bring to the table.”

A dry recitation of job duties only “tells” the person you are; it doesn’t “show” who you can be. Anyone who reads your resume should come away thinking you are a professional, after reading an  accurate account of what you have to offer.

A real resume killer is when a hiring manager, after reading it, comes away thinking you have an inflated opinion of yourself.

A perfectly worded resume is filled with facts, not fluff!

via Five Rules for the Perfectly Worded Resume | HRNewsDaily.

Five Rules for the Perfectly Worded Resume

With Underperformers, Know When to Hold and When to Fold

Employees with lagging performance can sometimes be turned around. But talent leaders have to evaluate whether it’s worth the time and resource investment to do so.

If an employee is not working out, how much time, energy and effort should talent managers spend trying to turn the situation around? The short answer is: not much. A more thoughtful answer is: as much as it takes to give the individual every opportunity to change.

At the end of the day, it is not a manager’s responsibility to fix an employee. The manager can set the stage for success and guide the employee’s performance. But it is the employee’s responsibility to step up or step out.

To turn a failing employee’s performance around takes a lot of work. There has to be clarity about the underlying issues, a no-holds-barred understanding of expectations and a thorough commitment on both parts.

Most of this has to do with performance. But much of it has to do with feelings — most managers don’t like to let someone go. There are always those nagging questions: Have I done everything possible to turn the situation around? Was there something I could have recognized earlier?

So what happens when an employee starts dropping the ball consistently? Can a manager turn the situation around when someone’s performance — and attitude — starts to wane?

“My initial reaction is, ‘Why would you spend a lot of time on your worst employees?’” said Barbara Kogen, vice president of organizational development and performance at rental car company Avis Budget Group. “But then, it really depends on what you’re trying to fix.”

If a manager is trying to address a skill and the person is capable, there are straightforward actions to take. Kogen said it may be the individual did not receive the appropriate training to develop a particular skill. Or, he or she was not on-boarded as well as possible. In those instances, talent managers can set clear, measurable expectations with time frames and benchmarks to measure success.

If a manager is trying to address an attitude, however, turning the problem around is up to the individual.

“I’ve spoken to sales managers who admitted to spending most of their time trying to turn around poor performers,” said Edward Siciliano, chief sales officer for financial firm Marlin Business Services. “That begs several questions: Is that really what we should be doing? Is that where our time is best spent? Are we focusing on what we need to do to make the organization succeed?”

When it comes to poor performers who have a negative attitude, Siciliano said managers need to have the courage and fortitude to let them go. “If you’re interested in upgrading, you need to be fine letting your worst-performing employees with the worst attitudes go, so that you can upgrade the entire organization.”

For those who have the right attitude but miss the mark because they can’t do something or don’t know how to do something, Siciliano said managers should put in the effort to work with them to try to save the situation.

“After all, when we hired them, we saw the potential, and it is detrimental to our organization to have high attrition,” he said. “I want our managers to save those situations if they can. And the majority of those underperformers who have the right attitude, but are just missing something in their skill set, end up making it.”

For the people who are put on performance improvement plans, the situation often can be saved by outlining steps for corrective action, then coaching and measuring progress. But Siciliano said talent managers have to weigh the impact on the entire team if they spend too much time with a poor performer. “Are you lowering the bar for the entire organization? Is that the best use of your time? Ultimately, if someone just doesn’t want to step up to the plate or really doesn’t have what it takes, it is best for them and the organization that you act swiftly and take them out of the organization.”

Managers who want to give an underperforming employee a chance to turn the situation around must let the person know the gravity of the situation. Expectations have to be clear, timelines set and progress measured. Then the results will set the stage for the outcome.

Understanding the Issue

Before corrective action can be taken, a manager has to determine the issue and understand what is causing it.

“What is the real issue?” Avis’ Kogen said. “Is it someone who is in the wrong job to begin with? Or is this something that has developed over time?”

If it is a hiring mistake, the manager needs to reflect on what happened. Did the applicant look good in the interview? Was the company able to determine whether the individual possessed the core competencies required to succeed in the job? Was the appropriate training provided? Was the manager available to serve as a coach when needed? If it was a hiring mistake, the manager owns that responsibility, to learn the lesson so the mistake does not occur again. Otherwise, the manager will cause harm to the next person hired and to the organization.

On the other hand, if the individual was brought on board, doing well and then performance fell, there is more involved. A straightforward, honest conversation with the individual is the starting place to uncover what might be going on. The results of that conversation will depend on many factors, including the individual’s level of self-awareness. Can the individual talk openly, without defensiveness, about a personal or team issue that is affecting him or her at work? Is it personal or because of an inability to perform a particular task? Either way, uncovering the core issue can inform much of how the manager proceeds.

Finding a Solution

If the mistake was in hiring the wrong person, then management has its work cut out. The entire hiring process may need to be reviewed and possibly revamped to help minimize the cost of a bad hire, for the individual and for the organization, so such a mistake does not happen again. Has the job description been updated? Are the competencies clearly understood? Is the interview process thorough, targeted and consistent? Was a personality assessment incorporated to uncover the applicant’s inherent motivations and personality characteristics as they relate to the workplace?

On the other hand, if the employee’s performance has fallen off inexplicably, the focus shifts to the individual. The manager will need to have a conversation with the individual to discuss his or her performance. Managers need to be clear about their expectations, how the individual has not met those expectations, and how the situation can be turned around with definite deadlines and clear consequences.

“That’s why my examples of areas that need improvement are very concrete,” Kogen said. “It is important to be clear and understood. I will often ask someone who is on a get-well program to repeat what they’ve heard and tell me how they plan to go about accomplishing what needs to be done. It is very easy for one person to say something and another person to hear something completely different.”

This is an opportunity for growth. Perhaps the employee didn’t realize how his or her performance was affecting the team, and this conversation could be a wake-up call. But other times, it may just be delaying the inevitable. It’s up to the manager to provide that opportunity and encourage, coach and be there, but the employee makes the ultimate decision to either step up or out. Managers have to realize that by the time an individual is put on a performance improvement plan, the odds might not be in the employee’s favor, and the final employment decision is theirs.

Managers working with an employee on a performance improvement plan need to:

• Clearly discuss performance and why it needs to improve.

• Outline expectations.

• Clarify the resources that will be available to help turn performance around.

• Give opportunities for check-ins to measure improvement.

• Be honest about consequences if expectations are not met by the deadline.

“The individual is driving it,” Kogen said. “I let them know that I’ll be with them, but in the passenger seat. I am happy to help in any way I can, but at the end of the day, you have to drive it yourself.

“It is important that the individual completely understands they are accountable for the outcome. You must be clear about what is expected and what you will do to help. If we agree upon a weekly meeting to assess progress, it is up to them to come back to me every week. If I have to go looking for them, they are sending a strong message. And if they don’t show up, that’s all I need to know.”

That approach creates a sense of shared responsibility.

The Takeaway

In any situation where an employee doesn’t succeed to his or her fullest potential, it is up to the manager to take a step back, assess the situation and use it as a developmental exercise for the future. What did this experience say about the manager? Are there lessons from this experience?

These questions can help managers uncover things about themselves that they might need to improve. It is a time to evaluate process and management style to identify areas of potential growth. Such an experience can give managers, and their companies, the opportunity to:

• Evaluate their hiring process and put more rigor into effective job matching.

• Assess their on-boarding and training processes to determine if there are any gaps.

• Provide more resources to managers for coaching.

• Help managers collaborate more closely with their teams.

• Grow management bench strength.

Authentic managers find learning opportunities in everything they do. What is most important is for managers to seize these opportunities and make the most of them, so that employees and potential employees — and ultimately the entire company — are empowered for the future.

via With Underperformers, Know When to Hold and When to Fold – Talent Management magazine.

With Underperformers, Know When to Hold and When to Fold