Does anyone want to be Equifax right now? Home Depot? The Office of Personnel Management? Or anyone else involved in identity theft news stories? No? Then fix your applicant tracking system. I wasn’t as successful as FOT Alumna Meredith Soleau at running my own business, so I’ve been applying to jobs again recently. Lots of jobs. And holy cow, the process …
What would retirement look like if Americans could take early “hardship withdrawals” from Social Security? This was the topic of conversation in our office the other day — yes, we have in depth water cooler discussions about retirement policy. Heck, we have in depth water cooler discussions about payroll sometimes. We’re a fun group! Chaos, was our consensus. That, and …
It’s on your website, and it’s in your handbook. You’ve heard an executive say it to a crowded room. It’s just vague enough that it’s hard to disprove, but doesn’t really commit the company to anything. Want to get the attention of everyone at the table? Ask this: What’s the last major program we launched to optimize this asset? Because, …
Today marks 237 years since representatives from each of the thirteen colonies met in Philadelphia to declare independence from the British Empire. A 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson wrote a message to formalize the war that had started a year before at Lexington and Concord. It included the words, That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just …
You probably aren’t working in the last job you’ll ever have. Heck, there’s a good chance you’re not even in the single digits of employers before you retire. So, why do we pretend that we are? That’s the interesting issue that is posed in this month’s Harvard Business Review, entitled Tours of Duty: The New Employer-Employee Contract. The authors lay …
Our system for hiring employees is broken. What’s more, I’m not sure that anyone knows how to fix it. Take a look at a very scary chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve. So, of everyone who is currently unemployed, almost 40% of them have been out of work for more than six months. This has never happened in any …
Your organization moves at a certain pace. Your high potential employees, though, move at a faster pace — that’s probably why you identified them as high potential in the first place! Unfortunately, without the rest of the organization following along, the effort may fall flat. I’ve been thinking about this recently because this month marks the ten-year anniversary of the …
Sequestration, filibuster, campaign finance… Congressional dysfunction isn’t just them, it’s how *we* manage them! Consider the recruiting pool a member of Congress. Technically, you only need to be a citizen and over 35, so the talent pool is pretty large. Realistically, though, it’s hard to run for Congress if it’s your first time in elected office. You’re probably a local …
Good news, Gen Yers — that moment we’ve been waiting for is coming! At my last job, I replaced a retiring 42-year employee. In the last two weeks, I’ve interviewed for two additional jobs opened up by employee retirements — one of them had been with that agency 33 years. Thirty-three years. That’s right, on her first day of work, …
Not HR, sweetie. They don’t come from HR. Today’s posting is of the “food for thought” variety, rather than a checklist of ways to up your talent game. I have no clear answers. What I do know from observing outside and inside is that there are certain career paths in our companies that can lead to the corner office. Ours …
