Category: Branding
7 Job Seeker Questions You Didn’t See Coming, Part 1
March 9, 2009
You don’t like to brag, but you do consider yourself an expert interviewer. When mingling with friends at cocktail parties, people tune you out you regale guests with tales from the “Interviewer’s Chair,” as you (and only you) like to call it. Your questions are thought-provoking, revealing, on point, and even witty (two out of five of last night’s dinner companions agree!).
But wait just a minute. What happens when the tables are turned? Are you prepared for the dozens of questions swimming around in job seekers’ heads — many of them questions you are not in fact prepared to answer? Are you ready for the moment a potential future employee asks the question that makes your head spin as you slump dejectedly in your Interviewer’s Chair, searching for the answer?
- Categories: Branding, Employee Attraction, Employer Advice, Interviewing, Leadership Development, Survey Results
What Company Tops Your “Most Admired” List?
March 6, 2009
So I noticed Fortune gave its annual “Most Admired Companies” list a bit of a facelift this year: What was once “America’s 50 Most Admired Companies” is now (drumroll) “The World’s Most Admired Companies”! (You heard right, Leichtenstein-based businesses – this year could just be your year to shine.)
Pretty exciting stuff, eh? Sure, until you realize that the company they picked as the most admired company on the entire planet is none other than Apple. As in, the American company Apple. As in, the American company that was number one last year Apple. Not that I don’t buy it, but…yeesh, talk about an anticlimax. (Maybe next year, Leichtenstein businesses.)
- Categories: Branding, Employee Engagement
Locked in the Car Trunk? CareerBuilder’s Most Outrageous Excuses for Being Late to Work
February 24, 2009
It’s 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning. As you’re drinking your double espresso and fumbling through a slew of new e-mails, your phone rings.
“Hello?”
“Hi, boss. It’s Steve.”
“Steve, your voice sounds really muffled. Everything okay?”
“Um, not really. You see, I’m locked in my car trunk. That’s right – I am calling you from the inside of my car trunk. I’m not going to be able to make it into work until I get out of here.”
Hmm. You’ve never got that phone call from an employee? Well, chances are you’ve heard a similarly outlandish excuse at some point. Workers have a slew of crazy excuses for being late to work, and “I got locked in my car trunk by my son” tops our most recent survey of over 8,000 workers. According to the survey, 20 percent of workers arrive late to work at least once a week, up from 15 percent in last year’s survey. One in ten (12 percent) said they are late at least twice a week.
The most popular “standard” reasons for running late are due to traffic (33 percent); lack of sleep (24 percent); and getting the kids ready for school or day care (10 percent). Public transportation woes, wardrobe issues (not of the Janet Jackson-malfunction kind), and dealing with pets are also also common reasons.
But mixed in with those “common” reasons are those that are, well, a bit more odd.
- Categories: Branding, Generational Hiring, Leadership Development, Survey Results
Investing in Employees When There Isn’t Much to Invest
December 15, 2008
Earlier this month, U.S. News released this article listing 10 cuts employers are expected to make in 2009:
- Layoffs
- Hiring freezes
- Higher health costs
- Travel restrictions
- Training cuts
- Canceled parties
- Salary freezes
- Reduced merit increases
- Pension freezes
- Cut 401(k) matches
- Categories: Branding, Economy, Employee Engagement
When Creating Your 2009 Recruitment Plan, Think Broad
November 19, 2008
Like most business professionals in Q4, I’m in the throes of finalizing my Marketing budget for 2009. The trick in figuring out how to spend the money I do have is creating the right marketing mix. Some things are easy – we should continue and increase programs that make us money. Some things are more challenging – figuring out the right branding vehicles which are notoriously difficult to measure. Each line item is an important part of my marketing mix.
Believe it or not, I have this conversation all the time with corporate recruiters, CPOs, CMOs, CEOs and line managers. But, we don’t talk in terms of how to best market the company and its products. We speak about the recruiting mix – what is the best way to express the company’s brand and what are the best vehicles to capture the most qualified job seekers. The concept of marketing mix and the concept of recruiting mix are basically the same things.
- Categories: Branding, Employee Attraction, Employer Advice
The Smartest Investment You’ll Make in This Economy
October 21, 2008
from OPEN Forum:
The smartest investment you’ll make in this economy is your investment in your employees. Companies that plan to survive, even thrive, in this economy should increase their investments in their employees. That’s right. Companies should invest more in their employees during this challenging economic period.
Forget those CDOs (collateralized debt obligations) or CDSs (collateralized debt swaps) and Wall Street banks hoping for a comeback or those secret Santa Claus-like portfolios of sub-prime home loans you’ve heard are all the rage. Forget about green energy technologies like wind or solar or geothermal. The smartest investment you’ll make in this or any economy is your investments in your employees.
Now’s the time to not only maintain your current investment program of salary and benefits (You do offer benefits, don’t you?), but find ways to increase that investment. Here’s why: Employees are your company’s number one asset. Oh sure, we’ve all heard that cliche bandied about. Peter Drucker, the legendary management expert, coined that phrase decades ago. It stuck. It stuck because it’s true.
Who makes your company’s products and services? Who talks to your customers? Whose efforts make them love your company and tolerate your mistakes to their credit cards and bank accounts that ruin their day and waste their time? And, who comes up with the systemic solutions to those problems?
- Categories: Branding, Economy, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Employer Advice, Events
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