Four Ideas to re-engineer your Human Resource Practices

How much do you have in your budget? You’re not alone. Corporate belts are cinching all across America. While a few unfortunate companies are struggling for survival itself, nearly all organizations are looking for ways to become leaner. The solution however, isn’t as simple as cutting HR budgets. The challenges the HR professional faces today are more complex: maintaining productivity while reducing staff, for one. A company can be facing contraction and experiencing growing pains, at the same time. These challenges force most leadership to look beyond simple budget and staff reductions to re-engineer its human resource practices. So in short you are not alone. Across the HR field, companies are finding creative ways to “do more with less”. Following are four simple ideas you can use to help you re-engineer your Human Resource department:

1) Analyze Your HR Practices
2)Develop a Strategic HR Plan
3)Embrace Technology
4)Leverage Your Resources

Analyze Your HR Practices - Everyone gets stuck in a rut. You are so busy putting out fires that you have little time to think about the big picture or the smaller details. Reach out for another pair of eyes to give you a fresh perspective. One valuable tool to help you gain insight is an HR audit. Find an HR expert to review and evaluate your company’s HR operations, top to bottom. An audit is an extensive examination of a company’s systems and practices.

What’s on the list for an HR audit? These areas are likely suspects:

Recordkeeping
Compliance
Salary and Compensation
Benefits
Professional Development and Training
Performance and Recognition
Recruiting and Retention
Safety and Health
Culture
With a successful audit, you’ll uncover those compliance risks that can derail an organization, learn how your company’s practices compare to industry leaders and get a host of new ideas to improve your results.

Develop a Strategic HR Plan - You want senior leadership to understand that HR brings value beyond the basic hiring and firing functions. A strategic HR plan aligns the department’s goals with those of the organization. Any major corporate actions are sure to have an impact on HR. When a regional service firm created a 5-year strategic plan to expand its single-state presence to the entire Midwest through a series of acquisitions, the firm’s HR executive created a plan to support those goals. She focused on learning the employment laws in the new states, securing regional benefit brokers and creating step-by-step processes to integrate the acquired staff members.

Embrace Technology - Technology can streamline HR workflow, provide communication and accessibility to a non-centralized workforce and allow your staff greater flexibility. Some great technological time-savers: web-based payroll and HR Management System applications, employee intranets and electronic applicant tracking systems. The HR manager at an 160-person, five office company, partnered with the IT department to create a simple intranet-based tool for employees to make annual benefit selections.

Leverage Your Resources - This concept is about accomplishing HR objectives, especially those strategic goals, more efficiently. Break free of traditional practices. Rather than hiring a new staff member to fill a long-term but ultimately temporary need, consider alternate forms of employment, such as payrolling. Payrolling is the practice of referring a contingent worker to a staffing vendor or payrolling provider. The vendor acts as the employer of record, responsible for employer taxes, payroll, and all legal matters pertaining to employing workers, thereby reducing contingent workforce costs.

Your company’s employees can be an invaluable resource, too. When Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston challenged the hospital’s staff to volunteer creative cost-saving ideas, he received hundreds of suggestions. Putting some of those ideas into practice, BIDMC was able to save enough expenses to reduce necessary layoffs from 600 to 150.

Don’t overlook the importance of employee morale during an uncertain economy. Enterprising HR departments can give employees valuable benefits, without blowing the budget. For example, companies may offers its staffers bimonthly brown bag lunch-time enrichment events, led by local vendors, experts and service providers. These vendors deliver their programs at no or nominal charge to the company. Topics can be work-related subjects such as time management and presentation skills, or take a personal bent, such as choosing a workout program or creating a will.

Submission by www.kjgrouphrconsulting.com

The Interview - The Positive Approach to Tough Questions

The following are some of the most commonly-asked interview questions, along with suggested approaches for answers. It is important that job candidates practice these responses until they are able to handle all the questions effectively.

Why do you want to work here? How can you help our company? Why should we be interested in you?
Answer is always based on information you’ve researched in advance about the company and their needs.

If you were choosing someone for this job, what kind of person would you select?
Answer is to generally state your own general qualifications, without being too “obvious.” Leave out the details.

If you could have any job, which one would you want at this company?
Answer has to do with the most general description of the job – NOT A SPECIFIC TITLE.

What weaknesses do you have for this job?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Answer is to ponder for a while and then state that you can’t think of any weaknesses that would compromise your performance at this job; or negatively impact your performance of the job’s responsibilities.

What do you expect to get in this job that you haven’t gotten in you current/previous job?
TRAP QUESTION. Do not say anything negative. State that your current/previous jobs have met or exceeded your expectations. With the new position you would hope to have broader responsibilities and make greater contributions.

What do you see as your future here?
I would expect to be contributing at higher levels and have increased responsibility over time.

Are you considering other positions at this time?
TRAP QUESTION. Simply say “yes.”

How does this opportunity compare?
From what I’ve heard so far, very favorably … and I would like to learn more.

What other companies/opportunities are you looking at now?
As I’m sure you can appreciate, I’m not at liberty to say as I am still in discussions with these companies. I need to protect their privacy, as I would for your company under similar circumstances.

What are your short and long term goals?
Short range: To secure an appropriate new position where I can apply my skills and experience to increase the company’s productivity and profitability.
Long range: Assume more responsibility and make greater contributions over time for my employer.

What motivates you?
Focus the answer on your core values, and also on the values and priorities of the company you are interviewing with (which you should have identified through your preliminary research).

What have you done to improve yourself during the last year?
Talk about professional development, training programs, educational curricula, study in your field, on-the-job training, skill-building, relevant books you’ve read, etc.

How do you spend your spare time?
Say something inoffensive, apolitical and innocuous. (reading, exercise, travel, home projects, gardening, family activities, home projects, etc.)

Tell me about your health.
My health is excellent.

If you could re-live your last 15 years, what changes would you make?
Nothing is perfect, but overall I would say that I’m quite satisfied with the way my life and career have developed – so I wouldn’t make any significant changes.

Tell me about your greatest achievement/disappointment in your life.
Give one personal example (like meeting your spouse and getting married; putting yourself through college and graduate school; or saving-up to buy your first house, etc.). Then give your best professional accomplishment story. As for the disappointment, give an answer similar to the one above, implying that “overall, I would say that I’m quite satisfied with the way my life and career have been developing, so I really can’t think of any major disappointments.”

What did you like best/least about your last job?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Explain what you liked best. Then say that while every job has its challenges, you have been fortunate enough to learn and grow professionally in each of the positions you have held.

In your last position, how much of the work did you do on your own, and how much as part of a team? Which did you enjoy more?
Talk in terms of your flexibility and adaptability – your ability to work in whatever mode seems appropriate to the situation. Make it clear that you have been equally effective in teams or working independently, as each case demanded. You enjoy both; it’s more about what will work best for the project and the company at that time.

What are some of the more difficult problems you have encountered in your past jobs? How did you solve them?
Tell two or more pre-prepared accomplishment stories. Keep it POSITIVE!

Did you ever make suggestions to senior management? What happened?
Say “yes.” Tell some accomplishment stories and results, in which you positively influenced senior management.

At your previous job(s), what did you think management could have done to make you function more effectively as an employee?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Say that the employer was very good in providing resources and support to your position, and that you have no complaints about this.

What has kept you from progressing faster and farther in your career?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! State: “I don’t know what could have given you the impression that I am dissatisfied with the progress and pace of my career. I am quite satisfied with where my career is at this point in my life. However, I am ready to take on greater challenges.”

What else should we know about you?
Tell one or two more of your best accomplishment stories. You can also repeat how well-suited you think you are for the opportunity, and how interested you are in the job.

Tell me about the best/worst boss you’ve ever had.
TRAP QUESTION: Never state anything negative! Say that while every boss has been different, you have worked productively with, and learned something from, each one. (Be prepared to give some examples of what you have learned.)

Everybody likes to criticize. What do people criticize about you?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Say that you can’t think of any criticisms you have received from colleagues on the job. Of course, there have been areas for development – such as when your supervisors would have given you your “employee review,” and they might have made a suggestion for improvement. State that you have always taken these kinds of suggestions seriously and have taken steps to make the improvements that were requested, and that this has made you stronger as a professional. (State at least one example).

Everyone has pet peeves. What are yours?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Turn this question around, by talking about your high professional standards. Your only “pet peeves” are with yourself – pushing yourself hard and not accepting mediocrity, for example – or how you are always striving to reach your full potential on the job, etc.

What is your leadership style?
Talk in terms of your flexibility and adaptability – your ability to lead in whatever mode seems appropriate to the situation. Explain that it’s more about what approach will work best for the project and the company at that time. Give an example or two, demonstrating different leadership styles, using your accomplishment stories.

Are you geographically mobile? (or) Are you willing to put in a lot of extra time?
Ask for clarification – what exactly does the interviewer mean? Then, according to their answer, either say, “that would be no problem at all,” or tell them “you’d like to give it some thought and get back to them within 24 hours.”

You don’t have the experience/background for this position. How could you handle it?
Say you’re confused by their comment, that you’re quite confident that you DO have the experience and background for this position, and that you’re a very strong match for the responsibilities. Ask what specifically concerns them about your background; what’s missing in your experience? (Sometimes the interviewer is just testing you.) Re-state your qualifications as needed, tying your accomplishment stories to the employer’s requirements.

You’re overqualified for this position, aren’t you? (even if you are slightly overqualified)
State: No – I see a lot of challenges in this opportunity, and I’m sure that I would find the work extremely interesting. Give some examples of what you mean, and talk about the new dimensions of experience and skill that you would bring to the position, almost as though you would expand the level of contribution in this job, thus making it more than it is at present.

We have all the information we need. We’ll be in touch.
Take the initiative. Ask such questions as: “Where do I stand? Am I being considered as a strong candidate? When should I expect to hear from you, or would you prefer that I contact you in a day or two? What is your time-frame for making a final decision? Is there anything else I can provide to facilitate the process?” etc. Then re-state your strong interest in the position and your confidence that your background is an ideal match to the job.

In conclusion, I strongly recommend that you prepare for your interviews by studying and practicing these answers. Get someone to help you, by doing a “role play,” in which your friend can be the interviewer and you can play the part of the job candidate. You will reduce your anxiety, boost your confidence and perform much better if you “know your lines” in advance! And remember – never say anything negative in a job interview!

Submitted by:
Ford R. Myers
Career Potential, LLC

The importance of Mentors

(excerps from “TheLadders”

A mentor teaches you faster than you can teach yourself. The stories, the wisdom, the guidance that they provide gives you the benefit of understanding the world or a new adventure before you've actually lived through it. And the emotional support and reassurance that somebody who has "been there, done that" can offer to a wet-behind-the-ears greenhorn is comforting as you navigate your way through new experiences.

The young hero (whatever your age) needs to learn from a master, to grow in wisdom and learning while being guided by somebody with greater experience, to have a sounding board and sympathetic ear in times of turmoil.

But what a mentor provides most is wisdom and insight into whether you should go to that big company or the hot little start-up, whether you ought to stay in your area of functional expertise or move towards more general management, whether you'll be better off working for the tough and demanding boss, or you'll thrive in a more collegial atmosphere.

I'd urge you to cultivate your mentors. Whether he/she's an old boss, or a more senior colleague, or somebody in the industry that you admire, developing those relationships can make your career growth much richer and better-informed.

And you can also get something back by giving back, "The brighter the student, the more the teacher learns." There's no better way to learn, or re-learn, something than by teaching it. And by taking that bright young woman or man under your wing, you'll not only be helping out the next generation, but you'll be surprised at how much you've learned over the years!

Get personal, get job

Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Chris Hughes Courier Contributor

Read more: Get personal, get job - Boston Business Journal

Relying too much on Internet job boards, and relying too little on networking, can result in prolonged unemployment.
That’s because this is a job market where employers are routinely bombarded with hundreds of inquiries for advertised positions, according to human resources professionals and recruiters.

“A person spending most of their time online looking for a job is going to have a long and painful search,” said Julie Bauke, president of Congruity Career Consulting. “In a tough economy it is hard to stand out by throwing your résumé in that big, black hole because the number of people doing that naturally increases.” And with so many candidates for companies to choose from, Bauke estimates less than 10 percent of people obtain a job advertised online at popular sites such as Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com or TheLadders.com.

Jobs boards are convenient and easy to navigate, but have become a crutch too many job hunters lean on exclusively, said Derek Jackson, managing partner at Summit Solutions Group. “The Internet has become the first place people look, and unfortunately some rely solely on what they find on job postings online or on corporate websites,” Jackson said.
Donna Trainor, human resources manager at Procter & Gamble Co., experiences firsthand the intense competition for positions advertised on the company’s website. “The high volume of applicants and applications we get every year are primarily online, which sometimes make it hard for people to get jobs,” she said.

Internet searches on jobs boards are not necessarily fruitless, but job seekers should spend less time online and invest more in building a network, Jackson said. It is crucial to build a network comprised of colleagues and friends, create profiles on social networking sites such as LinkedIn to connect with other professionals and be purposeful in attempts to reach out to those already in a position to be helpful. “The best and most effective place to find a solid job lead is going to be your network,” Jackson said. “For most people in that professional rank, the majority of them will find their next opportunity through someone in their own network.”

Since a greater emphasis is being placed on the importance of networking, it is critical job seekers project a professional image at all times within their network. “Everyone is basically their own brand right now,” said Cheryl Besl, public relations director at

Topic Design. “You need to be sure that you are conveying an image you want to convey through LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or MySpace because an employer is going to Google applicants on those social networking sites.” Besl said an excellent way for professionals to improve their personal brand and network is to volunteer for a worthy cause. “It is expected today that professionals are going to be philanthropic or be on a nonprofit committee,” she said. “And it’s a great chance to network, to expose yourself to new people and maybe even broaden your skill set.”

College job fairs provide an opportunity for soon-to-be or recent graduates to build connections.
“We do a lot of our recruiting on campuses since most of our hiring is done with people fresh out of college, so it would be a great help to network with people from P&G that come to campus to recruit,” Trainor said. Candidates able to establish a relationship inside the organization gain a distinct advantage over the rest of the applicant pool. An overlooked method to initiate contact with a recruiter is a simple telephone call, said Paul Wehner, senior search and leadership consultant at The Human Capital Group and The Taplow Group. “There’s a tendency to over utilize e-mail to communicate with recruiters that are overwhelmed with more e-mails than they can manage,” said Wehner, who is also the staffing and recruiting chair at the

Greater Cincinnati Human Resources Association. “If they’ve contacted me about a position, I’m glad to get their phone call as opposed to getting three e-mails. I think the world has become over focused on e-mail as a way of communicating and under focused on use of their phone.” Jackson suggests that after job seekers learn the identity of the recruiter filling a position, they leverage a network contact at that firm who can place a phone call, send a message via e-mail or personally visit human resources to make a recommendation on behalf of the candidate.
“It comes as a great comfort to a hiring manager when someone you know and trust recommends a candidate,” Jackson said. “Internal recruiters are more open to looking closer at that candidate based on the fact that top talent doesn’t recommend anything other than that, so there’s a lot of credibility in that network.”
“The people who already know you, and at least think somewhat highly of you, are the people invested in helping and will speak positively on your behalf,” Bauke said.


Read more: Get personal, get job - Boston Business Journal

How to Cope with being Unemployed

When you lose your job, not only is your usual source of income gone, but also your personal work relationships, daily structures, and an important sense of self-purpose. Unemployment can be, and often is, a shock to your whole system. You can experience some of the same feelings and stresses that you would if you were seriously injured, going through a divorce, or mourning the loss of a loved one. You can go through some or all of the stages of grieving just as you would with any other major loss.

You will probably feel as if you are on an emotional roller-coaster. You may be shocked, angry, or deny that anything bad has happened to you. You will probably worry or feel anxious about how you are going to pay the bills. This can also make you feel frustrated and depressed. Feelings of frustration, anger, hope and excitement will all come and go while you are looking for a new job.

The roller-coaster ride can often keep going until you find a new job. If you have recently lost your job, we hope this pamphlet will help you to understand that you are not alone in your feelings and to help you cope with the difficulties of unemployment.

Why you?

Your job is a very important part of your self-esteem. When you lose your job, your self-esteem may be diminished. You may even begin to feel worthless; it is a common response.

Try to be realistic about why you lost your job. Was it something beyond your control, such as financial problems or political decisions within the company? Or were you somehow responsible?

If you decide you really were responsible for losing your job, do something to improve your job skills. There may be programs available through your local Canada Employment Centre or other community organizations. You can also check out the local library and bookstores for books on improving job skills.

What about money?

You have a right to claim unemployment or welfare benefits that you are entitled to, and you should do it as soon as you possibly can. There is nothing wrong about doing so.

At the same time, start thinking about how to reduce your regular living expenses. Find out about sources of low-cost entertainment, recreation, food and clothing in your community. If you have a family, everyone will need to be involved in making plans to cope with a reduced income.

Create a new daily routine

A job forms a large part of your daily schedule. When you lose your job, it is important for you to build and maintain a new routine. Your search for a new job will, no doubt, take a large part of your new schedule, but it will likely not take up all your time. Remember to maintain recreation and leisure time for yourself. Try to live as normally as you can while you are unemployed.

Reach out for support

We all need to share our burdens. When we do, problems can be put into a better perspective and can seem less difficult.

Talk to your family and friends about the problems you are facing while you are unemployed. Their caring and support can help you cope during this period. You will, no doubt, find they care about you and that you are important to them whether or not you have a job.

Remember, family and friends can also be a valuable source for suggestions and may even help you find a new job. In addition to family and friends, check out local organizations for programs designed to assist unemployed people with building their self-confidence and improving job search skills. Self-help groups may also be available in your area to help you cope with the changes in your life.

Coping strategies

To help you keep your stress level down, your confidence up, and your health and relationships strong, you should develop some special strategies while you are unemployed, such as:

Establish a daily schedule including a regular time for job search activities.

Set daily goals that you know you can accomplish. Go for a walk, go to the library, call a friend.

Contact the local Canada Employment Centre or other employment counselling service for information on programs in your community.

Use your networks. Tell everyone you know what kind of work you are looking for, and ask if they know of any jobs or any companies that employ people with your skills. Your friends, relatives and acquaintances may not think of mentioning contacts to you because they don't have a clear idea of what kind of work you are looking for. Remember, many people get their jobs through "word of mouth."

Volunteer to help someone else. Both of you will feel better.

Keep busy and stay active outside your home. Isolating yourself at home will not get you a new job and can lead to additional mental and emotional stress.

Reward yourself on a regular basis for your efforts.

Before you go to bed, prepare a written plan for the next day. It will give you a reason to get up in the morning.

Pursue the hobby you always wanted but never seemed to have time for.

Check into new career opportunities or the possibility of continuing your education.

Keep regular hours, and get regular exercise. Limit your intake of caffeine, cigarettes and alcohol. When you do get a job, you want to be in good shape for it.

Job search rules have changed considerably

For those who may be reentering the job market after decades of employment, you should know that the rules have changed considerably. Fifteen years ago, online job sites were in their infancy; now thousands of sites post millions of jobs every year and they're the most widely used and practical job-hunting tool available. If online job searching is new to you, here are few hints for navigating the process.

Most employers post job opportunities on their own websites. Typically, you either submit your resume or fill out an online job application and the company will reach out if you meet their qualifications. Many sites ask you to create an account so you can be contacted when appropriate jobs become available. To broaden your search beyond individual companies, there are many job search sites from which to choose. Some target particular career specialties, while others post listings from broader categories.

Some sites list jobs for which employers have paid a posting fee. Other sites are job search engines that aggregate job postings from company employment websites, other job sites, recruiters and other career sources. These sites are useful when searching for a new job. Job search engines save you time so you don't have to visit a bunch of sites to scour through online job ads. One final note: Be cautious when posting personal contact information online. Consider setting up a dedicated email account for all your job search efforts.

Abridged: Huffington Post

Greening a Most Promising Entrepreneurs List

by Nathaniel Whittemore
At this point, it's hard to deny that "green" is a beast of an industry that has left the social entrepreneurship nest. Bloomberg Businessweek's annual "America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs" feature, however, displays the connection between the spaces as prominently as I've seen in major media coverage for some time. This is a trend I think we should encourage.

When I set out to write my "Top Moments of the Decade" in social entrepreneurship post last December, I faced an interesting question. What moment(s) in clean or green technology should I highlight as part of that list? As I started to think about it, I got less and less sure that it fit.

For one, the environmental movement predated at least the consolidated social entrepreneurship movement by years, so it felt a little weird to subsume its banner. Second, the intersection of the environmental movement and big business that has born the cleantech industry over the last decade is operating in such an independent space when it relates to social entrepreneurship that it hardly felt like part of the same thing. Ultimately, I opted to list Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" as an honorable mention, and shared some of these questions I had been having.

I've been thinking about that more and more lately, and wondering not only whether that was the right decision on my part, but moreover whether we as a field need to be even more proactive about linking the movements.

There is a language question that worries me. Right now, a lot of the movement around cleantech is that it's "good business." That's great, in the sense that it's no longer relegated to the margins of economic activity as charity. And it's good because ultimately, we need these technologies now, almost regardless of the motivation.

That said, saying something is "good business" is different than saying "we're going to shift our paradigm of what 'good business' has to mean." The shift in business language that I think we're going for is to say that good business means good for people beyond shareholders and good for the earth as well. From a branding standpoint, I think that triple-bottom-line thinking is what social entrepreneurship is good at provoking.

It's great to see, then, Businessweek's list of the most promising social entrepreneurs just bursting with people who are starting new green businesses. There are energy projects, sustainable food companies, material science companies using the earth's bounty (and mushrooms) in new ways, and more.

With any list like this, the specific sort of ranking tends to be less important to me than what the overall tone suggests about the space. It may not be a radical shift, but I'm still excited to the link between social entrepreneurship and green made clearer than ever.

Check out the full list here.
http://socialentrepreneurship.change.org/blog/view/greening_a_most_promising_entrepreneurs_list