Do you remember your first hire, the one that marked your entry into the glamorous world of HR? It’s a big rush to offer someone a job, and it makes you feel pretty important. How about remembering your first termination? Probably a different feeling. I make fun of bad HR often, but whenever I take myself too seriously as an …
The First Step in Recruitment Marketing
One of the hottest topics in Talent Acquisition is around the concept of Recruitment Marketing. It seems like daily there are new technology solutions being released that can help you with one or more aspects of RM. Seemingly all of these will take you from zero to 100 overnight, or so they say. The biggest problem most TA shops and …
Business Travel Is Like Mexican Food (Everyone’s Got A Favorite)
My wife and I, like many of you, have traditions. One of those traditions was that we ate at the same Mexican restaurant repeatedly. So often, if fact, we assigned a specific night to it. That night was Friday night. The place we frequented was a dive. You had to drive through an alley and park in the back of …
HR Tech is Child’s Play When You Talk to CyberSecurity Candidates
So, we’re pulling up to #BSidesLV (after attending, I’m still not sure what the hell that means), and I’m about to swipe my card through the taxi meter when suddenly, the screen goes black. Suddenly, some Linux instance popped up (I know because it was written on the bottom of the screen), although I have no idea what the hell …
The Customer Boundary Is Where EVERY Employee Should Start
A big part of employee engagement is connecting the “why” of the company to the “why” of the individual. The better a company does that, the better the individual will engage and succeed. And, not coincidentally, the better the company will do as well. When you’re connected to the company and its mission, it’s easier to put up with minor …
The Rules of HR Club
It never fails. At least once a month (usually more often than that) a post will go up on some blog about how bad HR is doing their job. They are not strategic. They are not people-focused. They are not business-focused. They can’t read a deal sheet or a spreadsheet. They can’t do differential calculus after 6 shots and a …
The Best HR Pros Are Self-Directed
You know what kills HR? A lack of self-direction. At Kemper Insurance, I was promoted from a recruiter to a regional HR manager. I had to lay off several hundred people, which was totally sad. I had no idea what I was doing. I asked my CHRO, “Where’s the checklist?” She said, “You are the checklist. I pay you to …
Would You Pay To Get Interview Feedback?
I get my ideas in the shower. I have a busy life, so it seems like my down time is that solid 5 to 10 minutes I get in the shower. I usually shower twice a day—once first thing in the morning, then before I go to bed. That’s 10 to 20 minutes daily to think and clean. I like going …
How To Speak CFO: A Primer For HR
So here’s the thing: CFOs don’t actually hate HR professionals—they just don’t understand them. As a resource to you, the faithful Fistful of Talent reader, I’ve created a guide for the funny terms CFOs use. Take this moment to learn how they speak when you’re not around. Acid Test: A stern measure of a company’s ability to pay its short-term debts, …
I Got Hired On Match.com
During the recent break I got to watch a ton of of TV, and I noticed that dating websites ramp up the commercials during the holidays! I also saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which had a running dating site gag going through the whole thing. It got me thinking, I wonder if I could join a dating website …