The Hiring Insider

Work - Life Balance?

I try to read 2-3 books per month - 2 for "work" and 1 for fun.  I've been reading books written by women this summer and while doing so have noticed that the word balance has been replaced with integration.  I ran across the term again on Saturday after reading the latest issue of "Pink Magazine".

Inside was a feature article on a female CEO and a bit on female millionaires. [Interesting piece - did you know they average 39 work hours a week and gross a little over $400k?]

So, 3 writers I've come across in just the last 8 weeks are discussing balance - what it means - is it possible and well does it matter? 

Personally I like the word integration. Balance to me seems like another to do..something else I have to add to my daily list of things to get done. I'm usually behind before I wake up every day. Integration feels like I'm fitting it all in and not stressing out if I get there 50% or 90% that day. It's much more zen to me...Cut yourself some slack and get some integration in your life!

I want that job filled yesterday!

It's not just where you work. Everyone wants everything done yesterday. Agendas change, change some more and then well, they change again. It's hard to get folks to think about building out, over time. But as a talent acquistion manager, recruiter, agent etc...you know this is what works best.  We need to create audiences to market to. Your audiences may be in different buckets and the messages you market should be customized to that group. You might have an alumni newsletter or portal to stay in touch with a very different message than that you send to a new - cold lead. You might have a group of professionals you invite to a quarterly webcast to stay in touch and share goings on to continue to build a bridge and allow them to opt in to the culture when that time is right for them.

Job posts and cold calls once you've hit disaster just won't do it. Be brave and stand firm...creating pipelines will help you fill more, faster.

Strategy drives structure

I participated in a global HR call today, likely one of my last as I depart the corporate world of work and re-enter independent consulting (glad to be back!). Our CHRO stated something simple yet profound, strategy drives structure. So what does it really mean to you where you work?

Do you have a strategy or plan in place to drive results to support and assist your lines of business?  Do you have the technology in place to execute the strategy to begin with?

HR services directly support their lines of business, allowing them to perform, meet and exceed revenue, spend more time with their clients...well you see where I'm going.

If I am a line manager and it takes me 3 phone calls to find a person to onboard a new hire rather than clicking on a link on my own desktop - how much time does it take away from other activities that are core to my role? What if I hire 4 people a month on average and my revenue goal was increased by 6% for the year? The gap gets wider and as you can see that's only one activity - multiply that times 8-10 other activities I am responsible for as a manager. If you are thinking what I'm thinking you play catch up on Saturdays and 1 or 2 times out of the month an occasional Sunday afternoon as well.  For those hard core HR folks out there, I am not absovling hiring managers of their "hiring" responsibilities, I'm just saying we need to make it easier and more efficient.

Technology is one piece of the puzzle - but the largest and most critical to drive strategy whether it be recruiting new talent, onboarding them or doing performance management once they are on staff.