Lying on your resume is bad. Embellishing your bio could be more expensive.

Posted May 12th, 2012 in blog_news, For Employers, For Job Seekers

Yahoo’s new CEO was forced to step down.
He may also have to repay $7 million.

This week, Yahoo’s CEO of just 4 months was asked to leave the company, after an apparently disgruntled shareholder discovered that his official corporate bio wasn’t accurate: Thompson’s bio said that he’d graduated with a degree in accounting and computer science, but in fact his degree was only in accounting.

The ‘degree in accounting and computer science’ line has been following Thompson around for years, at least since his time as President of PayPal.  Did the line get added by a headhunting firm – or by Thompson himself – in order to make him seem more appealing to a high-tech company?  It seems odd that someone who is apparently so successful – think what you will about Yahoo as a going concern, becoming the head of these two high-profile organizations means you’ve done something right – would deliberately lie and continue to lie through any number of vetting meetings and SEC filings that are required for the head of a public company.  Surely he could have cleared up the computer science ‘inaccuracy’ at any point during the vetting process without everyone suddenly deciding he was the wrong guy for the job.

Thompson has tried to pin the blame on a headhunting firm, who he says ‘embellished’ his bio with the computer science information years ago and it simply went undetected for 7 years, but I think this misses the point:  No one is saying that Thompson was incompetent or incapable of doing the job; none of the coverage of the fiasco so far has indicated whether or not he ever took any computer science courses during his time at university.

The problem here for Thompson – other than the disgruntled shareholder, who seems to have made it his mission to get rid of Thompson, for reasons unclear to me – is that Yahoo has a strict code of ethics, which Thompson has breached.  He may be a fantastic CEO, a smart guy, and otherwise completely ethical, but to leave him in place when he’s been so publicly exposed as a ‘liar’ not only leaves Yahoo exposed to shareholders, but also to morale problems with employees who feel it’s unfair to be held to higher standards than the CEO.

The consequences for Thompson may also prove to be financial: Depending on how he and Yahoo decide to handle the departure, he may have to repay the $7 million in upfront compensation he received for leaving PayPal to take on Yahoo.

I just heard a commentator on BBC radio taking a very hard line about Thompson and his lies; I find myself less convinced of his implied inherent lack of morals.  (I have enough credits for a political science degree, for example – even though I ultimately got a degree in English – and if I’d ever been up for a job where those credits would have given me an advantage, I might have highlighted them on a resume or bio, and never worried that I was really doing anything wrong.)  However, the story is a good lesson for everyone:  In these days where biographical information is easy to double-check, we should all err on the side of caution.

 

Managed Solutions: Putting the people piece first

Posted May 2nd, 2012 in blog_news, For Employers

People can be the most complicated part of an insourced managed solution.
But they’re also the most critical.

When companies talk about implementing managed or insourced solutions, they’re often excited because they’re transitioning to a new model, process or technology, and they think that this new technology or process will be the ‘magic bullet’ they’ve been looking for to improve the bottom line, customer service ratings, or performance. I understand this feeling: After all, it can be tempting to think that if we just install a new enterprise technology system, or establish a new set of process directives, all our problems will be solved.

Except that the data shows that more than 75% of the budget and resources of a managed solution is spent on the ‘people’ portion of the equation. And that begs the question: Shouldn’t we be spending more time on people than on the process or technology?

People have the most potential to affect success of a managed solution

We do a lot of work in the IT insourcing/managed solutions space, where the emphasis is often on specific metrics: Speed to Answer, First Call Resolution, Ticket Resolution Time, CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) scores, number of tickets opened/closed per day/week/month, etc.   It’s easy to get caught up in the data.

But the biggest influencers of that data – and whether a particular model, process or technology actually works – are the people who are involved in the process.  Ensuring that  you have the right people in the right roles, and that their performance is effectively managed will ultimately have the most effect on the success of a managed solution.

Here’s how to make sure that the people component of your managed solution is set up for success:

1.  Choose a model that fits existing resources

When it comes to managed and insourced solutions, one size does not fit all.  Most organizations have existing staff who will be retained regardless of the solution model (because they have unique skills or knowledge, or to provide a seamless bridge from the existing function to the new one), and it’s important to take this into account.

2.  Choose a model that will blend well with existing corporate culture

Not so long ago, ‘outsourcing’ the helpdesk function was considered a hallmark of smart business decisions.  But many organizations found that a pure outsourcing model caused internal backlash, declines in service standards, and decreased morale – all of which contributed to lowered productivity and meant the solutions failed to achieve the desired efficiencies. Managed solutions can bypass these issues – but only if you work with existing corporate culture and expectations.

3.  Recruiting should be as important as it is for the rest of the organization

Attracting, screening and recruiting the right people for a managed solution is just as important for a managed solution as it is for the rest of the organization.  So when you’re choosing a managed solutions partner, ask about their strengths in recruiting, employment brand building, and assessment.

4.  Performance management is more than just data

As we mentioned above, when it comes to IT-related managed solutions, it’s all too easy to get caught up in key metrics and scorecarding. Yes, these are important measures of success – but people perform better when they’re recognized as more than a list of monthly metrics.  Your managed solution will deliver better results over time when performance management also includes ‘soft’ metrics like leadership, innovation, initiative and career growth for top performers.

5.  Make sure the transition process addresses the impact of change on employees

Humans are hardwired for homeostasis: A big organizational change – like moving to a managed solutions model – can cause anxiety even in your best employees. By taking the time to acknowledge the impact of the change on employees affected, and addressing it with communications, training and support, your managed solution initiative will happen more seamlessly and deliver better results, faster.

 

Luck vs Hard Work: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Posted April 13th, 2012 in blog_news, For Job Seekers

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
- Samuel Goldwyn

“Make your own luck” may look good scrawled on a graphic t-shirt and paired with a snap-back and some Vans, but it makes less sense as a (non-fashion) statement.  Given that luck is, by definition, beyond your control, how can you make it?

Apparently, the respondents to a recent LinkedIn survey have the answer:  Over 70% felt that things like work ethic and communication skills contribute to the amount of luck we receive.  But if that’s true – if tireless effort, networking and taking advantage of opportunities are the things that lead to big breaks – what’s the difference between ‘luck’ and ‘hard work’?

I don’t mean to wilt the leaves on your clover, but I think there’s a danger in linking effort and luck, as it disassociates success from control, undercutting the hopeful spirit of the article.

Let’s say it’s your dream to become a management consultant specializing in corporate social responsibility.  One day, your boss decides to launch a ‘Green Workplace’ initiative and needs someone to lead the committee.  Though your boss may be completely unaware that you’re the Jeremy Lin of corporate social responsibility (hopefully with stronger knee ligaments), you happen to run into each other one afternoon at the coffee shop next to the office.  Your boss, who can’t be bothered to go through an interview process, arbitrarily offers you the position of committee leader.

Was it by luck that you were given this potentially career-making opportunity?  Not necessarily.  There’s obviously an element of timing involved – but let’s say you’d strategically chosen to choke down coffee shop sewage every day to match your boss’s break schedule, increasing the likelihood of getting some one-on-one time.  Can we really call your good fortune ‘luck’?

Those who apply the concepts identified in the survey – a strong work ethic, good communication skills, acting on opportunities – are likely to be the kinds of people who would come up with these types of strategies.  In doing so, the line between ‘luck’ and ‘reward for effort’ is suddenly blurred.  In our example, you clearly took action to put yourself in a situation to succeed, so, in a way, your new undertaking should be credited as an accomplishment, not just dumb luck.

Let’s just admit that we have more control over our careers than we’d sometimes like to believe

The survey results are meant to give the apparently unlucky reason to believe there are ways to turn their fortunes around, to restore faith in our ability to control our careers.  To me, if you want to empower someone, you should be making them feel that they control the breaks they get.  To keep calling it ‘luck’ even though you’re making calculated decisions to bring about certain results seems to snatch power from the individual, instead attributing it to random cosmic forces.

I don’t mean to get all Freudian, but if luck is driving our careers, what personal responsibility do we really have?

In spirit, the article is trying to debunk the notion that we are powerless unless we fill our briefcases with horseshoes and rabbit feet.  My issue is not with the message, but how it’s framed.  I’ll be the first to admit that luck plays a role in career success, but strong work ethic, communication skills and opportunism should also increase your career trajectory, and give you a better chance of catching breaks.  What they’re really saying is that we can’t increase our luck, but we can increase our odds.  Putting ourselves in more potentially luck-bearing situations increases the likelihood that, at some point, we’ll catch a break.

By thinking of it this way, we can disconnect luck from success and re-establish the notions of control and responsibility.  So maybe it isn’t the number of bowls of Lucky Charms you scarf down at the breakfast table – maybe it’s where you’re going, or who you’re eating with, that’s actually going to help your career.

 

Guest post by Geoffrey “Don’t Call Me Lucky” Gilbert, Recruiter at Poly Placements

If you could only choose one, which would it be: Success or happiness?

Posted March 23rd, 2012 in blog_news, For Job Seekers

They don’t go together as automatically as you think.

Whether you’re a virtue ethics professor or a shoe-gazing hipster trying to impress a girl with your emotional depth, many of us have pondered this question.  You may feel the answer is simple: success and happiness are one and the same.  If you have a great career, it seems natural to assume that it would make you happy.  It’s a nice idea, but I, for one, am not ready to join hands and go skipping off into the sunset.  The truth is, success and happiness are often unrelated.  The fine folks at the University of Notre Dame agree with me… sort of.

Their longitudinal study, the subject of a recent article on Fortune.com, found that high-achievers – educated, ambitious individuals that gain status and prosperity through career accomplishments – are not significantly happier than the rest of us (and to top it off, they tend not to live as long!).  It seems disheartening, at first.  Imagine you attended a prestigious business school, landed a great job at a venture capital firm, discovered the next Velcro and became wealthier than Croesus.  The thought that these accomplishments may have no effect to your ability to find contentment seems like a karmic punch in the gut, but aspiring entrepreneurs need not throw out their Steve Jobs turtlenecks just yet.

Don’t panic: Happiness is subjective

It becomes much less unsettling if we stop considering happiness an objective concept.  It doesn’t take much to show that there are more definitions of delight than there are Drake songs on the radio, which changes how we should interpret the results of the study.  If you were to ask a random assortment of people what happiness is, you’d hear a lot about beer and beaches, but you’d also get references to more substantive achievements, like advances in cancer research or the pursuit of universal morality.  I’m not judging, but it is safe to say that some people need more to be concerned about than a flip cup winning streak.

To some, happiness is simply the maximization of pleasure: do what makes you feel good.  Others see it as the by-product of meaningful pursuits: your mission is to dedicate your life to discovering XYZ, and true happiness is only gained when we make strides in that pursuit.  The pleasure-seeker has a distinct practical advantage – for them, happiness is well-defined.  The physiological and emotional responses you experience when you laugh at a joke, score a big goal for your rec league team or have a great date provide instant, unmistakable feedback, letting us know our score on the happiness high striker.

Those with deeper, more abstract definitions, on the other hand, may have a tough time understanding what happiness even feels like.  Sure, lessons learned from life experiences can help make us better people, but in terms of how happy they make us feel, it is isn’t exactly a wild night in Tijuana.  With constructs as fuzzy as “virtue” or “truth” as our guideposts instead of clear-cut physical indicators, searching for a deeper happiness can be like running a race without knowing where the finish line is.  This lack of clarity makes the journey much more rigorous, but the ultimate payoff is arguably much greater than that of the simple pleasure-seeker.

So what does this mean for you?

I am not trying to imply that the high-achiever is working on a more advanced philosophical level than the average person.  My point is that it is clear that with all the possible concepts of happiness, it is easy to see how it can be disconnected from career success.  Without any insight into how the participants of this study define happiness, we can’t draw any real conclusions.  I will be interested to read the full report when it is published later this month, because right now, it is a bit like anything by Michael Moore: sure, it brings an important issue to light, but it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Whether you work to live or live to work, simply understanding what success and happiness mean to you will go a long way in determining how to achieve them.  To borrow from two wise men – Socrates and G.I Joe – knowing yourself is half the battle.

Guest post by Poly Placements recruiter Geoffrey Gilbert.

The Remarkable Employee: Nature or Nurture?

Posted March 6th, 2012 in blog_news, For Employers, For Job Seekers

As the world prepared for life under Google’s post-apocalyptic privacy policy, I chose not to spend my last free moments writing to loved ones or reconciling my thoughts on the afterlife.  Waiting for our new Orwellian overlords to inform me that, based on my recent search history, my cholesterol was too high and my first child would be a girl named Prudence, an article on Inc.com caught my eye:  8 Qualities of Remarkable Employees.

The general sentiment of the article seemed to be that truly remarkable employees – those that breathe the rarefied air reserved for captains of industry and thought leaders – are driven by something deeper and more personal than anything that could be put in a job description.  Remarkable employees embrace the spirit of the job rather than the letter of the job, defining success in terms of how well they advance the discipline, not how well their performance compares to what’s listed on their job description.

At the risk of oversimplifying, the 8 qualities lend support to the old adage that fortune favours the bold, in that an inquiring mind and healthy irreverence can not only help an employee achieve greatness in a given role, but also have a positive impact on their co-workers and organizational culture.

The idea that a little eccentricity can add flavour to an otherwise vanilla organization has gained popularity in the past few years, but when we appreciate how delicately these 8 factors must be arranged in order to achieve the desired result, one wonders just how often the dish tastes a little…funky.  There’s a gestalt element that needs to be recognized.  Without a balance, you may find a misguided employee squirting ketchup on the company ice cream.

But let us return to the article.  Are the 8 specified qualities meant to help us identify potentially remarkable employees, or are they the sort of things one can cultivate in order to become remarkable?

Depending on where you fall on the nature/nurture scale, it could be that the unique makeup of The Six Million Dollar Employee cannot be learned – it’s a set of innate traits that’s coded into our DNA.  On the other hand, surely it’s possible to teach employees numbers 4, 5 and 6 (“They publicly praise”, “They privately complain” and “They speak when others won’t”).

The challenge, again, is balance:  It’s funny how ‘eccentrically’ blue hair becomes more palatable when it’s sprouting from the head that just invented your killer app; ‘speaking when others won’t’ isn’t so attractive when the speech is always “It sucks”.

Without all 8 qualities acting in harmony, it’s a short trip from ‘healthy irreverence’ to ‘preening windbag’.  The line between Future CEO and Impatient Malcontent can be easy to cross.

For the record, I’m pretty sure the piece was meant as a field guide, not a how-to guide.  But I’ve always been more interested in minutiae than in general conclusions.  Whether or not it actually delivered sufficient protein, ’8 Qualities of Remarkable Employees’ certainly provided some food for thought.

Guest post by Geoffrey Gilbert, Poly Placements recruiter and aspiring eccentric.

How to get a raise (hint: it’s all about your ROI)

Posted February 20th, 2011 in For Job Seekers

One of the questions I get most often from junior and intermediate workers is this:

“How do I get a raise?  I’ve been working at this company for a year now, and they seem to like me.  Shouldn’t they give me more money?”

Well…no, not necessarily.  A raise isn’t a prize you get for showing up to a job every day for a year.  With a few exceptions (like cost-of-living increases built into your contract, for example), raises are supposed to be a reflection of the increased value you deliver to a company.

In other words, if you want a raise, you have to demonstrate that while a year ago you were worth $X to your employer, now you’re worth $Y.

How to demonstrate your increased value

A lot of people find this part difficult, mostly because it can somehow seem awkward or uncomfortable to assign a dollar value to ourselves.  But put yourself in your employer’s position:  They’ve got a budget to balance, P&L statements to defend, and possibly shareholders to appease.  So while they may love you as a person, when it comes to your salary, you’re really a line item like anything else, and they’re looking to get maximum value for minimum expenditure.

But don’t panic – there are lots of ways to demonstrate that you are delivering a better ROI (return on investment) than you were a year ago!

Here are some strategies to try:

  • Demonstrate how you’ve increased revenue. Have you brought in a new client?  Increased the spending of an existing client?  Contributed to a new business pitch that generated new business (and new revenue)?  Did you create a website or Facebook group that generated some new business?  New business means new revenue – and there’s nothing wrong with asking to share some of that revenue.
  • Demonstrate how you’ve reduced costs. Not every role is in a position to generate new business or revenue, but most roles can contribute to reduced costs.  Did you come up with a new process that resulted in cost efficiencies?  Did you find a new supplier that cut the office supply costs in half?  Did you spearhead an energy-saving initiative that reduced utility costs across the organization?  Quantify the savings you helped achieve – it’s easier to ask for a raise when your manager can see you’re focused on the bottom line.
  • Demonstrate how you’ve increased productivity. Have you implemented a system that allowed the company to reduce the need for freelancers or contract workers?  Are you now processing significantly more orders than you were a year ago?  Raises are supposed to reward increased efficiencies, so make up a chart showing how productivity has increased during the past 12 months as a result of your efforts, and your ‘raise conversation’ will go a lot more smoothly.
  • Demonstrate your indispensibility. This is a tricky one, because ultimately, no one is irreplaceable.  But if you’ve taken on tasks that languished for ages because no one else wanted to do them – like, say, spending a month of late nights cleaning up and reformatting a huge database, and of which you are now the undisputed expert – it can be helpful to gently point out that were you to leave (for a better-paying position), your employer might be up a creek without a paddle.

Your best approach is to write it down

The best way to ensure that salary negotiations don’t get weird and emotional is to approach it like any business meeting:  Prepare a list of the points you want to cover (your accomplishments, revenue generation, productivity increases, etc.), and then make your case calmly, clearly and succinctly.

The more you can demonstrate that you see the big picture (“I know the company only had 5% revenue growth last year, so I know none of us are coming in for huge raises this year…”) and that you’re making a rational business case (“I’m more valuable now than I was a year ago, and here’s why…”), the more likely you are to get what you want.

BONUS TIP: Sometimes managers can’t offer you more money because they’re constrained by salary caps imposed upon them by their managers.  That’s okay – there are other things you can ask for:  increased vacation, car allowances, professional development/education credits (which may come out of different budgets than salaries), getting included on the trip to ComDex, performance benefits…you’d be surprised.

The Happiness Project: Great ideas for work-related happiness, too

Posted January 25th, 2011 in For Job Seekers

Because ‘happiness’ isn’t just for your personal life

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already know our philosophy:  The ROI of Happiness.  For us that means that ‘happiness’ and ‘the bottom line’ aren’t mutually exclusive.

One of our inspirations for the ROI of Happiness was The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  A couple of years ago, Gretchen – a writer and journalist by trade – decided she wanted to be happier, and spent a year trying out all the self-help books, workshops, scientific theories and pop-culture remedies to see which one(s) actually worked.

When most of us think about ‘happiness’ and how to be happier in our day-to-day lives, we tend to think about our personal lives, not our work lives.  We all know that our jobs and careers are a huge factor in overall happiness, but when self-help books or life coaches address the subject, they tend to focus on the big picture (i.e. “Don’t be afraid to quit your job, go back to school, and reinvent yourself in a whole new career!”) rather than smaller, day-to-day changes they recommend  for your personal life.

12 happiness tips for your whole life – including work!

After her year of experimenting, Gretchen came up with ‘12 Personal Commandments’.  Like most guidelines to happiness and fulfillment, at first glance they don’t seem to have much to do with work/jobs/career.  But take another look:  these are great tips for being happy at work and in your personal life.
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Wedding planning in the workplace: Avoiding backlash

Posted September 28th, 2010 in For Job Seekers

Yeah, getting married is a big deal and supposedly only happens once.  But it’s important to remember your co-workers aren’t as invested in your life plans as you and your mother are.

We may roll our eyes at bridezillas who spend $20,000 (or more) on wedding planners, but consider this:  When your company held a 1-day retreat for 100 employees last year, they probably assigned an experienced project manager and two coordinators who spent upwards of 500 hours pulling together the venue, catering, decor, speakers, materials, and all the other moving parts.

So it’s not surprising that as the big day approaches, you (as the imminent bride) are finding that 99% of your available brain space has been annexed by wedding details, and that it’s taking two hours a day just to appease various relatives, who have apparently forgotten that it’s your wedding and you’ve decided not to go with that seafoam-green colour scheme they’re so passionate about.

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How to hire great Online Media Salespeople

Posted September 22nd, 2010 in blog_news

by Melanie Benwell, Senior Recruiting Specialist here at Poly Placements.

When it comes to Online Media Salespeople, the difference between ‘pretty good’ and ‘really great’ comes down to asking 6 questions

In the past 10-15 years, we’ve seen the birth – and rapid growth – of a whole new sales specialization:  Online Media Sales.

Online Media Sales is one of the most challenging sales specialties:  The technology is always changing, the market fluctuates dramatically and swiftly in response to changing economic conditions, results-tracking is rigorous and real-time, and a large part of the role involves educating and ‘evangelizing’ (car salesmen, for example, don’t have to explain to potential customers what a car is or why cars in general are a good idea).

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Positive feedback: The first step to happiness

Posted July 21st, 2010 in blog_news

The most effective $0 you’ve spent all week

Ever noticed that when you screw up, the ‘feedback’ comes fast and furious, but when you do something fantastic, the ‘feedback’ is usually muted or just plain non-existent?

Except here’s the thing:  Study after study demonstrates that a culture of positive feedback delivers immediate and long-term benefits for productivity and employee retention.

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