#BeTheBird: Bird Watching, Red Nikes, and Culture.

Recently I had the opportunity of attending a Talent Net Live event hosted by JCPenney in Dallas, Texas.  For those who don’t know, Talent Net is a social recruiting forum featuring big names in recruiting and social media covering the hottest tips and topics of the day for job seekers, social media enthusiasts and talent professionals.  While I attended the event to learn more about up and coming social media tools and their application in the recruiting industry, my biggest take away came from the Keynote address delivered by Michael Long and part of his Culture and Communication Team.

Michael Long is the Head of Culture Branding at Rackspace Hosting, and yes, his department is really called the Culture and Communication Team.  Michael and his team were on hand to give us an inside look at how Rackspace is building their culture brand from the ground level. 

Michael, also known to many as @theredrecruiter, shared an interesting analogy that really hit home with me: bird watching. Michael has a serious disdain for the overused buzzwords “employment branding” and considers what he and his team are charged with as “culture branding.”  Sounds like a simple play on words and not much difference, right?  So what’s the big deal, and where’s the connection to bird watching?

Bird watching, as Michael put it, is simply going out into the woods and faking like you are a bird in order to see, chirp, and/or interact with a bird.  Employment Branding is similar: fake and dis-ingenuous. The Culture and Communication team isn’t in charge of developing and imposing a culture at Rackspace, they are PART of it.  They are Rackers.  They are the bird.  Culture Branding is being the bird, documenting  the life of the bird, and sharing it as appropriate.  This my friends just might be the next great hash tag if you are looking to get one kicking #BeTheBird!! 

The crazy thing about Being the Bird is that is seemed like a lot of people didn’t get it.  I got the feeling they were looking at this idea in a very shortsighted nature, as in, “be the bird like they do at Rackspace.” Michael wasn’t suggesting we make the same kinds of videos or share same stories, he was suggesting that every company has their story, culture, and reality to document and share.  In essence, birds of a feather flock together.  An accountant might HATE the culture at Rackspace, and that’s OK.   A Racker might, and probably would, HATE the culture at Deloitte, and that’s OK too.  The point was that each company should embrace what makes it special, document it, and share it.  What better way to build the culture of an organization than to embrace the culture that is already there, and let it grow organically. 

The bottom line; there are over 10,000 species of birds in world.  All of them look, act and sound different. Don’t try to make your company look like something it isn’t, and don’t try to make your brand like some other company. Embrace who you are, document it and share it with the world.  Just Be The Bird.

Here are some of my cryptic notes from the Keynote:

·      Transparency and Authenticity are the key to attracting the right people

·      Document and share everything

·      Culture and strategy love each other

·      Look for the right talent, as opposed to the best talent

·      Culture is the behavior you reinforce, sited from Rework

·      Celebrate values, and constantly revisit

·      Employment Branding is bird watching

·      Culture Branding is real, be you

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What Do These Candidates Want From Me?

What Do These Candidates Want From Me?

One of the trends that I see being talked, typed, and tweeted about is the candidate experience and bill of rights.  I get it.  Recruiters should follow up if they say they are going to, recruiters should honor their commitments for interview time, and recruiters should tell candidates when they don’t get the job.  I believe recruiters should be as honest as possible throughout the process in order to let candidates know where they stand.  We have all been on the other side of the equation as candidates.  We have all been promised follow up that didn’t take place.  We have all had a phone interview scheduled that didn’t happen.  And we have all been left to our own internet sleuthing to find out about the job we didn’t hear back on and who actually got it.  It sucks, bottom line.  We are in the time of need to know, and sooner than later. 

With candidate experience in mind I have been working diligently to send thank you emails to all candidates that we are rejecting throughout the process.  The last group I sent out I received a variety of responses.  Many of the email responses support the need for information and were very positive.  Some said thanks for the information, one said she couldn’t believe she heard anything and thanks, and one said thanks AND referred another person.  Then there were the not so positive responses.  One candidate told me how crappy my company was, that he had expected this result, and that the “word on the street” was negative.  Seriously?  Then why did you apply?  Another candidate argued with my decision to move forward in the process, saying he felt he had met all the requirements with the exception of one.  The problem was the one requirement he felt he didn’t meet was the basis of the job; project management experience.  Seriously?  He pointed out that he didn’t have 3-5 years of project management experience, for a project management position. 

So what do these candidates really want?  It seems like many are thankful to get the information about their status for their own peace of mind, but it seems like just as many others are looking to start an email argument because they don’t like the response.  And what does a candidate hope to gain by being argumentative, negative, or down right rude?  Do you want to know that you are out; regardless of if the company has had any other contact with you?  Do you want to know why?  How much do candidate’s realized/expect us to share?  I just hope the number of classy folks that say thank you consider to out weigh the Negative Nancy’s of the world or people are going to get tired of sharing the information candidates seem to be desperate for. 

I will always argue candidates are people first and deserve to be treated with decency, honesty, and integrity.  I just hope candidates remember the recruiters and hiring managers are people too, and deserve the same humane treatment. 

Do We Really Want to Hire “Rock Stars”??

One of the interesting things I have taken special interest in recently is the usage, or often time’s mis-usage, of words in work place.  Have you ever googled the words talent and acquisition separately and then put the two definitions together?

“The act of acquiring or gaining possession of a persons special natural ability or aptitude.”  Kind of weird, right?  Doesn’t sound like a noble occupation, sounds like slavery.

I have being seeing the term “Rock Star” everywhere.  And I have to admit; I bought into it at first.  Go look at my LinkedIn profile; I think I may still be recruiting for Rock Stars.  But, with my new found obsession for words, their meanings, and the images and emotions they represent, I started to think about what a Rock Star really is.  Here are a couple definitions/images that I found with a quick trip to google:

1.      Someone who is in a popular rock band. Some of these guys live the craziest life that exists.

They tour around the world to play their music while getting worshipped by their fans. After the concert they f#$% a bunch of groupies and leave for the next gig while taking some drugs.

2.      Someone who doesn't follow rules, they make their own. The go out of their way to be extraordinary,  different from everyone else.

3.     Keith Richards.

No offense to Keith Richards; but this is not a list of characteristics and traits I think I want to be recruiting for.  Can you imagine building a job description with this in mind?  I’ll give it a crack on a few requirements that might need to be included in hiring rock stars, regardless if it a rock star recruiter, developer, or whatever.

            Requirements:

1.     3-5 years living the craziest life that exists, please submit pics, stories, and eye witness accounts to substantiate all claims

2.     Abilty to repeatedly fail a drug test

3.     Specific experience defying authority, refusing to follow the rules, and insubordination.  References required for proof.

4.     Inability to work within the defined cultural norms of the company

5.     Criminal record, nice to have (only misdemeanors’, drug/alcohol related charges, or missed child support payments will earn extra credit)

I get there are two sides to the definition and the image.  Do you want to risk confusing the two?  I think I am going to be editing some job descriptions, and my LinkedIn page ASAP.

How Recruiters are Using Social Meida

Does a One Legged Duck Swim in A Circle?

I find it funny the number of people who ask if social media recruiting is real.  Doubt me, check this video out.

Promote Your Company from the Inside Out

Promote Your Company from the Inside Out

How can your company be an employer of choice?  Here are 7 ways that you promote your company from the inside out:

• Go for “best of lists” best company to work for, fastest growing, etc.  Make sure that you use these accreditations on your Intranet, company Facebook page, company LinkedIn page, and as an email signature.  This messaging should be well known to your employees so they can easily throw that little factoid out when they are explaining to their friends what they do and who they work for.
• At the end of each fiscal year put a short summary together that shows the number of people promoted and what % of your staff that is.  Track that year over year and announce the results and any goals associated with that.   Post this information on your Intranet and your career pages.  People like to know that employee development is important in your company and that they won’t just get stuck in a dead end job.
• Highlight your employees who have reached milestone anniversaries, post their story on the Intranet for employees to see and have something to look forward to. Consider more public options as well, so long as they are permission based.
• Have you had employees get recognized for awards in their field, published articles, or patents?  Make a big deal about that with your employees on the Intranet as well as on your career portal; that tells people that they will be recognized for their personal achievements and contributions.  If you can influence HR to offer a bonus for these types of achievements that would be even better.
• If your company offers salary or other benefits that are better than other companies in your industry, announce that.  Make it known that you research this information every year and that your goal is to stay xx above the average in order to attract and retain the best talent.  If it’s working, say so.  Your employees will remember that when a recruiter comes calling on them or when their friends ask them if your company pays well.
• Work with your sustainability or energy management department to get some stats on what your company is doing above and beyond to reduce your facilities and overall carbon footprint.  If it’s better than other employers in your industry and area, make sure to announce that to your employees.  A greater number of employees are concerned about sustainability and would prefer to work for a company who promotes sustainable practices.
• Get quotes from your employees on why they like working for you and use those quotes to form your branding messages. Make your employer-pitch as human and emotive as possible. The best messages from a marketing standpoint are ideally stories, not just quotes.

The bottom line is, if your employees are fed the branding messages consistently, your marketing can stick in their heads like that 5 dollar footlong commercial. If every employee in your company both understands the value of employment branding and knows “the pitch” by heart, your recruiting efforts will be easier. If your overall goal is to land the top talent in your market, it can’t just be you doing all the heavy lifting.  The whole company from the inside out needs to be on point and on message, but of course most importantly, be inspired to help follow your company vision and advance its image.

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today" Abraham Lincoln