How to adjust communication for a new generation

Whether we like it our not the world communicates in a much different manner than even ten years ago.  My daughter still stares at me in disbelief when I tell her that I didn't own a cell phone until I was 23 years old.  My very first phone came with a package that allowed for fifteen minutes per month of usage.  Can you imagine only have fifteen minutes of usage now with your cell phone?

My first cell phone wasn't too far off from this picture of Saved By The Bell.  It had terrible reception, was large and clunky, and was incredibly expensive for what little it provided with features.  Now I feel like I am behind the times if I own a smartphone for more than eighteen months.  Has it changed the way I communicate with clients and candidates alike?  Absolutely.  But not everyone feels that way.  Clients especially have a certain manner in which they communicate, and it is usually their way or the highway.  But I am here to tell you that if you don't adjust how you communicate, you will lose out on good talent.  Here are a few things to consider:

1)  Texting is an acceptable way to set interviews.  Many employers are gun shy to provide any of their personal information to a candidate.  I can certainly appreciate that, especially in the early stages of an interview as you get to know someone.  But if you have already met with someone or phone screened them and feel comfortable about their background, this is an incredibly effective way to communicate.  It is discreet as most candidates cannot speak freely at work.  It is also quick as studies have shown that people check their phones as often as once a minute during the day.

2)  Encourage candidates to like your company Facebook page.  In order to do this you obviously need to have a company Facebook page.  If you don't, step back and consider doing that first.  For those that do have a page, it should have enough valuable content to encourage absolutely everyone to take a peek.  Unlike Linked In this allows you to show more of a personal side to your working culture.  Maybe it will show where your employees volunteered recently.  Perhaps it shows where you had your company holiday party.  It may even help someone make a personal connection with someone they know at the company.  What a great advertisement for working at your company!

3)  Connect with candidates on Facebook.  I know it may seem daunting to make "friends" with potential colleagues, but we do it all the time and it is amazing what we learn about candidates.  Some good, some bad, but all valuable.  At the very least be viewing their profiles.  You would be shocked at how much most people allow to be viewed by the public on social media outlets like Facebook.

4)  Drive candidates to your website.  Whether it be in your email signature, your social media, your SEO, your job postings, or anything else, drive people to view your website.  Of course you will need to have an updated and interactive website, but it is something more and more savvy candidates are doing.  I can't tell you how many people reach out to me and say they were just on our website.  I always ask what drove them there, and the majority of the time they don't even remember.  They just know they liked the site, they found my contact info, and now we're talking.

There are many more ideas that are changing as time goes on, and you can either choose to stay ahead of the curve or remain entrenched in antiquated ideas that might even turn some people off.  What do you think - is the world changing around us on a daily basis?  What else might we employ to change our communication style in a new generation of candidates?

How to be the #Masters of your career choices

Have you ever felt like you were not in control of your career progression?  Perhaps like the ball does not bounce your way or someone else gets all of the breaks?  I bet there are a few players from yesterday afternoon at the Masters that can relate.  Although many of them find a way to persevere and move on from the bad rolls.  I thought I would share a few observations related to that idea.

Most of you will be able to recognize the individual with the white hat in this picture.  Especially if you watch any professional golf.  I am guessing the number of people that know the caddie beside Jordan Spieth will be much smaller.  Fortunately I am someone that knows him personally as he was on my college golf team.  The story of how he became Jordan's caddie is quite remarkable and much too long for a brief blog entry.  But what I can tell you is that he created his own luck and made sure to be in the right place at the right time.  And look at where he is today.  He was a school teacher a few years back, and now he is rubbing shoulders with the world's best professional golfers.  You too can control your own destiny.

First of all, pay attention to how the world might be changing around you.  A few years ago very few people could have predicted the meteoric rise of Jordan's golfing career.  He still has some critics that say he has not yet learned how to control his adrenaline on Sundays.  But finishing runner-up at the Masters before the age of 21 shows me he has the right stuff to be around for a long time.  Embrace the changes that occur around you, especially with the younger generations.  They may have a lot to learn, but they could also teach you a thing or two about being hungry and motivated.

Without speaking out of both sides of my mouth, also look to those with experience for sage advice.  Although Fred Couples had a tough back nine yesterday, he was within a few strokes of the lead for quite a while early in his round.  At 54 years of age, not many people would peg him as a possible winner of this prestigious tournament.  But those that know him well know that he absolutely loves this tournament and knows Augusta well.  He has experience with the twists and turns of each green, fairway, bunker, and tee box.  Listen and watch those around you that have been successful and ask them what has gotten them through the ups and downs of a long professional career.

Don't be bogged down by the critics.  Many reported yesterday was just not the same without Phil and Tiger playing on Sunday.  While that is true from a ratings perspective, it doesn't take away from the accomplishments of Bubba, Jordan, and the others that still battled a very tough golf course.  Bubba will take him his second green jacket in three years, and he very likely would be doing so even if Phil and Tiger had been there.  If you watched him on the practice green before his final round he was incredibly poised, calm, and jovial.  It almost appeared as though he was simply out for a Saturday morning round with his buddies at a local municipal course.  Let your accomplishments speak for themselves and control what you can.

Lastly, pay attention to the conditions.  This was one of the warmest and driest weeks in recent memory at the tournament.  Which led to lightning fast conditions on the greens.  If you saw any of yesterday's coverage you saw how that impacted balls as they landed on greens and rolled right back off.  In your career market conditions may be tougher to predict than the weekly weather forecast, but it is something to consider.  If your skill set or professional experience is in high demand it could be time to look at options even if you are not in active search mode.

How have you dealt with tough turns or bad bounces in your career?  Have you taken control and benefited from difficult decisions?

How to knock it out of the park during an interview

Everyone goes into an interview hoping to make a good first impression and most likely even get the job.  Or at least be offered the job.  But quite often people are not willing to put in the work ahead of time to know what it takes to truly hit it out of the park.  

I am helping to coach my son again this year in baseball, and I thought over the weekend about some eerie similarities between hitting a home run in baseball and hitting it "out of the park" during an interview.  Before you read any further please keep in mind that my son is playing on a 9U team, and I am NOT a professional coach by any stretch of the imagination.  So these are observations more than baseball fact (insert smiley face emoticon from your favorite mobile device here).

1)  Know what the pitcher is throwing.  Case in point, my son and I were at the fields on Saturday for some batting practice.  Early on I was throwing slowly down the middle of the plate so that he could simply make some contact.  By the end of practice we went to the outfield to play Home Run Derby to convince him to swing harder.  I also told him I would start throwing harder to increase his chances of getting it over the fence.  Granted that also meant he had to swing differently and more quickly.  In an interview a hiring authority may lob some easy questions for the interview as they're just trying to get to know you.  It is much more difficult to "knock it out of the park" in that instance.  But I'm here to tell you that some singles and doubles are okay.  On the other hand if they are asking some tough and direct questions, they are ready to play ball and you should be ready to swing for the fences with good answers.

2)  Be ready to strike out.  In baseball the notorious home run hitters also tend to strike out a lot.  That is because they are swinging for the fences on every pitch.  Once the pitcher figures that out they will adjust and throw pitches that are tougher to hit at all, let alone out of the park.  Similarly when you are in an interview and really trying to impress the hiring authority, it just may not happen.  You have to be able to shake it off, move forward in your search, and find another employer that will appreciate the hard-charging mentality.

3)  Be patient.  Every home run hitter knows they aren't likely to get a good pitch right down the middle on the first pitch.  The best hitters will battle through 10-12 pitches, fouling most of them off before they get "the one" that they know they can drive over the fence.  You may interview for 2-3 hours with a potential employer before they ask the one or two most important questions to really land the job.  And it could come at any time.  Bottom line is that you have to be ready to swing hard when that important question is thrown at you.

4)  Be sure to make contact.  As much as you need to swing hard to get a ball out of the park in baseball, you will have zero chance if you can't even get the barrel of the bat on the ball.  In an interview you can get nervous and start spitting out an answer before really thinking about it.  Take a deep breath, keep your eye on the ball, and make sure you actually make contact before dreaming about the home run.

5)  Be prepared.  This one seems obvious, but is often overlooked.  A good baseball player is going to not only go to all practices and games, but also take extra batting practice, will scrimmage with neighborhood friends at the park, will play catch with dad at home, and even watch some professional baseball to learn from the pros who are paid millions of dollars to do things well.  A prepared candidate will read some online tips from a major source, perhaps follow an author on social media, and will definitely try to learn a little something about the company before an interview.  There is an incredible amount of information available online, but it takes some effort before an interview to find those valuable tidbits.

More than anything you have to want it to happen.  I have told my son on numerous occasions that he will never hit a home run if he doesn't believe it could happen.  Go in with confidence and with some of these easy tips and you just might knock it out of the park.

Have you ever done this?  Any stories to share of how you knocked it out of the park during an interview that might help someone else about to "step to the plate" for an upcoming interview?

Perception is everything

We have all had that moment in a conversation where you are thinking one thing, about to say something about it, and then the other person in the conversation says something completely opposite that causes you to pause about what to say next to either validate or contradict that comment.  Before I get too philosophical about this idea, let me share a few stories from just this past weekend that made me reflect upon this blog topic.

The first occurred at my son's first baseball tournament of the season.  With the bad weather in Iowa we have not had a chance to be on the fields much.  So my expectations were pretty low going into the first game.  Of course the first opposing pitcher looks to be about four years older than my son, is twice as big, and is throwing heat.  I figured my son would step up to the plate terrified and just praying for his at-bat to be over quickly.  Instead he took the second pitch he saw over the second baseman's head for a solid hit.  When he got into the dugout I was tempted to say, "Man, that pitcher was throwing heat.  How did you manage to get a hit??"  Instead I asked how he felt after the hit.  He nonchalantly replied that it wasn't a big deal.  The pitcher was throwing strikes and all he felt he had to do was throw the bat out there and let it do all the work.  I let him roll with that thought instead of having him think anything more about it.

The second occurred when I was catching up with a neighbor as he put a "For Sale" sign in his front yard.  They have a pool in their backyard, which I figured would be a tough sell considering we live in Iowa and pool season is only about 3-4 months tops.  I was tempted to ask him if he thought the pool would prevent buyers from stopping by.  Instead I decided to ask him how he felt the market would respond to his listing.  He immediately said, "This could be the perfect time to sell considering a pool could be hugely appealing to someone wanting to enjoy summers in the backyard relaxing by the pool with a cold beverage."  Touche!

So how does this relate to a job search?  In a lot of ways!  Here are just a few to consider:

1)  Recently a candidate of ours was asked about work/life balance.  This individual happens to have a young family.  The employer said that life would never be the same in this job.  Family will have to take a back seat to career.  How well do you think that was received by the candidate?  I'm sure the employer didn't intend to break up a family, but you can imagine it did not instill a lot of confidence in the candidate that this is a place to work for long term.

2)  More often than not candidates feel like interviews went well when de-briefing afterward.  While employers are much more 50/50 and can even say that things went horribly wrong while a candidate felt it was a good conversation.  Red flags include all the usual - candidates complaining about current bosses, saying bad things about people in the industry, and one time we even had a candidate admit to wanting to not work very hard any longer.  That went over like a ton of bricks.

3)  Employers can get a bad rap when people leave.  If a candidate hears about something that can be perceived as a bad trait, it must be met head on.  Too often we have employers just shrug that off as a bitter former employee talking trash.  But if not talked about with some degree of acknowledgement can be even worse than trying to dig into the topic to see if the rumor can be dispelled.

I could go on and on with stories, but many of them are so bad that it is tough to consider repeating them.  The bottom line is that we have the luxury of seeing both sides of the story as the third party intermediary.  That can also be the hardest job in the world as the employer sees the kitten while the employee sees the lion in the mirror and vice versa.

Can you relate?  Have you ever had an interview experience that was perceived vastly different than your impression?

Why your story matters (as an employer)

Last week I blogged about the importance of your story from the candidate's perspective.  Today I thought I would tackle the same subject, but from the employer's point of view.  Does it matter as much?  If so, how do you tell the story?

For any of you watching the March Madness unfold you may have seen some of the snubs from the selection committee.  The one getting the most press this morning is SMU not getting in despite winning their conference tournament and being ranked in the AP Top 25 to end the season.  Why would this happen?  It is their story that mattered.  Their early season non-conference schedule was very weak compared to other teams, and that mattered at the end of the day to the committee.

While this selection process received much more national attention that a candidate choosing to work for any given employer, there are some similarities we can draw:

1)  It is important to think ahead.  The NCAA selection committee is nothing if not consistent.  They have told teams for a number of years that early season non-conference games are important.  If teams choose not to strengthen their schedule ahead of conference play, they only have themselves to blame.  Similarly employers know there are some things employees look for consistently - good working culture, long term tenure of current employees, employee benefits and vacation schedules, room for improvement, and much more.  What will help attract the next generation of employee?  Figure that out and start implementing little things as soon as possible.

2)  It is okay to change.  As much as SMU can be proud of the season they had, they now know without doubt that if they want a chance at the NCAA tournament next year they better put some marquee names on their schedule for early next year.  It may stretch them a little, and they could even lose a few of those games.  But they might win, and that could propel them to being selected next year.  Perhaps you have seen other employers add a week of vacation to new offer sheets, and you have not wanted to do that.  Or maybe you see other employers having more of a public presence on social media or in the community.  It could be time to do more of that and not be afraid to advertise that fact.

3)  It is good to make a market comparison.  I am confident that the coaches and administration at SMU will look back on this year and see how what they planned stacks up against other schools that got into the tournament.  Not just looking at RPI, strength of schedule, and conference opponents.  But a comprehensive look at recruiting, off-season workouts, film study, and much more that could prepare them for a different type of early season schedule next year.  Too often employers live in a bubble and don't know what their competition may or may not be offering to new employees.  And oftentimes that information is public knowledge on websites, social media, and much more.  Why not take advantage of this information to see how you stack up against your competition.  If your story is better, why not tell everyone you know.  If your story needs some tweaking, put a plan into place to make some changes.

There are many more examples I could give or stories told about some of my clients that do tell their story well.  On the other hand, there are some that could take lessons from the best employers to tell their story even better.  It does matter if you really want to recruit the best long term employees.

What examples do you have about what your employer does to tell their story?

Why your story matters (as a candidate)

After the Olympics came to a close a few weeks ago I had an interesting conversation with a friend.  It started with the question of why the Olympic stories of individual athletes are so compelling, especially when it involves sports you otherwise would never watch.

Some of them are incredibly gripping and motivating.  A meteoric and unexpected rise to the top of an individual sport with odds stacked against them.  Heck, I even heard one story of an athlete who couldn't compete for their country, found citizenship in another country, and won a gold medal for that country.  Talk about perseverance and commitment!

How does this relate to a job search as an active candidate?  I believe it is relevant because in the day and age of social media candidates have grown very fond of over-sharing, but not with important details.  There was once a day where "hobbies" or "interests" were listed prominently on a resume.  Sometimes even right after an executive summary or achievements/accomplishments.  Why was this?  Because candidates were seeking an edge over other candidates.  Hoping that if you listed quilting as an activity of interest that the hiring manager would share that interest and you would have the inside track during an interview.

So what is the appropriate manner to share your story?  I have a few old-fashioned ideas:

1)  Make it personal.  When Bob Costas shared a human interest story during the Olympics, you were drawn to something that you could relate to, have empathy toward, or be inspired.  Not what a fabulous curler or cross country skier the individual was.  Instead of blathering about what an awesome employee you have been, tell a story of what made you such a valuable member of a team.  Perhaps you grew up on a farm and your first job taught you what it really means to work hard.  Maybe you had a parent that worked 80 hours a week to provide a good home, and that inspired you.  You have a college prof who is still a mentor today and taught you "everything you know".  These examples exhibit what motivates you and why you could make a good addition to a team.

2)  Make it relate-able.  I know that is esoteric, so let me unpack the idea.  If you grew up on a farm and have a great work ethic, but the hiring manager interviewing you grew up with a silver spoon in their mouth, your story will not resonate with them.  Or if the hiring manager played basketball for a Division I college and you try to compare that to being in the chess club in high school, you have probably done more damage than good.  Try to ask some leading questions first, and then determine from there how your story can align somehow with the story of the hiring manager.

3)  Make it real.  This one may seem obvious, but can be overlooked.  This time of year is big for March Madness in college basketball.  If the hiring manager starts talking bracketology and you don't know anything about basketball, don't dive into the concept that you love following the action on the hard court.  That is bound to end bad.  If you cannot find something in common in your story with the hiring manager, don't try too hard to make something up.

At the end of the day, your story does matter.  It may not always get you the job, but it could.  I have many examples from 10+ years of recruiting where the littlest things help push the candidate over the top to get the offer or eventually the job.

How not to choke under pressure during an interview

In the world of professional sports you often hear about someone "choking" down the stretch.  A missed shot in regulation in basketball, a missed field goal in football in OT, or a strikeout in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded.  What always drives me crazy in those situations is when the announcers focus only on the "choke" and not everything leading up to that moment at the end where things went terribly wrong.

Case in point is Rory McIlroy's meltdown yesterday afternoon at the Honda Classic.  He was poised to win if he could simply post even par on Sunday.  Which shouldn't be difficult considering his first three rounds were all under par.  He had a bad stretch in the middle of his round and it let to him being down one stroke on the final hole.  He had a great drive and hit a magical fairway wood from 245 yards out to give himself a chance to win the championship if only he could make the eagle putt.  As fate would have it, he missed that putt and it was quickly pointed out that he just lost the opportunity to win.  What they didn't spend a lot of time talking about right away was what went so terribly wrong for the twelve or thirteen previous holes.

Candidates do this oftentimes in the interview process.  They get down to final stages with an employer, maybe even to offer stage, and then something doesn't quite go their way.  Instead of looking at it from a broader perspective and see what might have gone wrong at step two or three, many choose to focus on how things unraveled at the end.  And as you can imagine, usually put the blame on someone else.

Instead of finding yourself in a similar unenviable position, here are some thoughts to better handle the period of time leading up to the possibly "choke":

1) Make a game plan and stick to it.  Rory likely just let nerves get the best of him yesterday at the Honda Classic.  I am certain he and his coach have spoken on multiple occasions how to handle the adrenaline of those situations.  He simply forgot his game plan and didn't execute.  On the same token, if you have been talking about a particular start date or salary range during an extended interview process, don't suddenly change at the 11th hour to see what leverage you can make.  It will fail more often than not.

2) Take a deep breath.  This may seem too simple, but it makes all kinds of sense.  If you see the finish line ahead during an interview and you get too nervous, the employer will sense that from a mile away.  Slow down, remind yourself why you're there in the first place, and finish strong.

3) Don't worry about what anyone else is doing.  I guarantee you that Rory was looking at the leaderboard during the last 3-5 holes, and it affected his play.  Sometimes when nearing the offer stage a candidate will speak with multiple decision makers.  Instead of over-thinking who might have more power or changing your story with each person, just focus on what makes you a good employee and possible match.  The rest will take care of itself.

The most ironic part about yesterday's "meltdown" for Rory was that when it was all said and done he was quoted as saying it wouldn't have been deserving had he won anyway on that final putt.  This loss will hurt for some time, but the best thing Rory could do is forget about it and move on.  Same goes if for some unfortunate reason you do lose in the final stages of an interview.  But with proper planning and execution of a game plan, hopefully you will find yourself hoisting the trophy (or offer) when the sun sets.

Have you ever heard of someone choking during the final phases of an interview to lose the opportunity?  Or have any good ideas to prevent it from happening in the first place?