Talent Tips: Organizational Success

Talent Tip #50: Your Advice on Pre-Employment Assessments

October 15, 2013

Last month I asked you, my gentle readers, for your thoughts and advice about pre-employment assessments. Well, y’all responded like apple addicts to an iphone release! And by that, I mean you responded in droves – not that you lost your cool for a little piece of plastic (see image above).

First, here are some nuggets of advice you offered about assessments in general:

Talent Tip #48: Hiring Advice – Three Hours in a Canoe and the Most Interesting Man in the World

August 15, 2013

Three hours in a canoe. Sounds like a bad first date, a sub-par reality show, or a game risqué teenagers play, right?  In fact, it’s none of the above. It is actually a bit of hiring advice a client recently shared with me.

Here’s the very simple counsel: don’t hire anyone you wouldn’t want to spend three hours alone with in a canoe.

It’s pretty solid advice if you think about it. Work is full of difficulties: deadlines, miscommunications, competing…

Talent Tip #47: Avoid Alka Seltzer with Writing Samples, Tests

July 15, 2013

A while back, a client of mine developed a raging case of heartburn after learning a new hire didn’t have the writing skills the client thought he did.  The employee excelled in other areas, but no Billy Shakespeare was he.

Despite having requested writing samples during the interview process, the organization realized it misjudged the person’s ability to write – a core function of the position. For a while my client downed Alka Seltzer like Pez – until he…

Talent Tip #44: Liar Liar, Pantalones en Fuego!

April 18, 2013

I love a good story — especially if there is a good lesson we can draw from it. That’s why I wanted to share this tale I just heard from a friend.

A gentleman recently applied for a job with my friend’s organization. During the application process, the candidate was asked to provide his current and desired salaries.

He provided the following figures:

Current: 85k*

Desired: 97k*

Fair enough, right? Of course, we can debate the 14% desired increase, but…

Talent Tip #42: Recommendation Investigations, Your Reputation, Kiss Cams, and My Dream World

February 19, 2013

I know what you’re thinking. How in the Sam Hill is she going to tie all these things together? Well, stay with me.

In the last few weeks, I’ve seen some interesting things transpire related to recommendations, referrals, and references.  It occurs to me that there are three issues we should discuss. Here goes.

1. Recommendation Investigation: Is a Referral Necessarily a Recommendation?  Hiring managers often receive applications that start with lines like this, “My friend John Doe suggested I apply for this role.”…

Talent Tip #41: Work-Life Balance Policies, Part II: A Key to Attracting and Retaining Talent

January 22, 2013

As the fog of Auld Lang Syne and bubbly lifts, you may remember that last month in this space we offered up valuable advice about work-life balance from the good folks at Illinois Policy Institute. The underlying idea was that work-life balance policies help organizations attract and retain their most valuable asset – people.

This month we’re sharing eight more policies an organization should consider if it wants to maximize staff happiness and performance.

Once again, special thanks to Kristina Rasmussen, Executive Vice President of Illinois Policy…

Talent Tip #40: Work-Life Balance Policies: A Key to Attracting and Retaining Talent

December 18, 2012

Great news – turns out you’re on Santa’s “Nice” list this year! That means instead of coal, you’re getting something very special: valuable advice about work-life balance from my good friends at Illinois Policy Institute.

At the Institute, they value work-life balance and are always experimenting with new approaches and policies to attract and retain their most important asset – people. Kristina Rasmussen, the organization’s Executive Vice President, recently polled staff about what matters to them when it comes to work-life balance. She distilled the…

Talent Tip #34: “I’ll Call You”: Rejecting Candidates After the Interview

June 19, 2012

Picture this sad scenario: a sweet, impressionable girl waits by the phone for a boy to call. They went on a date the week before, and he ended their date with these prophetic words: I’ll call you.

Of course, the boy never intended to call. It’s just that saying “I’ll call you” is a cleaner finale than “You’re a nice girl, but I’m not looking to get serious. I’d rather the fleas of a thousand camels infest my armpits than…

Talent Tip #33: Lessons From My Parents’ Marriage: It Pays to Court Candidates

May 15, 2012

After 43 years of marriage, my father still opens the door for my mother and my mother still packs my father’s lunch before he heads to work. With all this time behind them, you’d think they might be tempted to knock off the niceties. After all, at 70+, is either really going to walk out? I mean, if I think dating’s bad at my age, can you imagine the dating market they would face?

Yeah, yeah, Claire. That’s nice about…

Talent Tip #30: Dear Valentine, Your Reputation Stinks

February 14, 2012

So here you are on Valentine’s Day, sitting alone in tears watching The Notebook. Why? Because you’re a nonprofit manager who has had difficulty filling key positions in your organization.

Nonprofits regularly ask me why they are having problems hiring for a role. Often, it’s because the opening is a challenging one to fill (i.e. fundraising!); but sometimes it’s due to reputational issues. In this market, candidates are skittish about joining an organization with anything less than a solid character.

Candidates…