Susan has not had a full-time job in the past two years.

Yesterday’s meaning: Susan is unqualified for work or possibly is not motivated to work. She may be a corporate prima donna and not understand her limitations.

Today’s meaning: Susan may have found the job market especially tight, given her skill set or work situation. For example, if Susan has qualifications within a very narrow range or has industry-specific skills, she may have found it difficult to find the right job given the market conditions.

Joe, a former vice president, is now applying for a mid-management position.

Yesterday’s meaning: Joe is overqualified and won’t stay in the job for very long. He may be looking for a job that will bring some income while he’s looking for the “real” job. He probably wouldn’t be happy with the pay or the job responsibility of this job.

Today’s meaning: Joe may be looking for other work options to stay in the job market with fewer responsibilities and headaches. He may be burned out on management-level roles or just might want more time for the grandchildren and golf.

Maria has had many jobs over a short time.

Yesterday’s meaning: Maria is a job hopper and has no job loyalty. She’s always looking for the quick buck and will leave for a minimal increase. She will definitely drive up turnover rates.

Today’s meaning: Maria has been offered opportunities to move ahead in a competitive marketplace. She has unique skills that make her highly marketable, and she has taken advantage of these opportunities to increase her responsibility level as well as her pay and benefits.

Steve has more than 10 years with one company.

Yesterday’s meaning: Steve is probably inflexible in his thinking and unable to adapt to new situations. He will be one to say, “I’ve always done it this way,” and won’t be open to new ideas, technologies and methodologies.

Today’s meaning: Steve has incredible loyalty and staying power and could be a powerful contributor to an organization.

So, what should employers do to capitalize on a changing labor market? Consider these options.

• Don’t automatically reject candidates because of a lack of recent job history. Ask questions to determine the skill sets of these individuals, and assess whether these skill sets are in demand. Also, ask about the candidate’s search for other work options. If the candidate has worked in part-time or temporary jobs, this may demonstrate a strong work ethic and determination.
• Ask good questions to determine the candidate’s motivation for seeking a job at a lower level or for less money. Why does the candidate want to take a step down? Some workers have had it with management roles and want less stressful work. Some employees want to return to a saner work schedule and would welcome a step down to achieve that goal. Others want to contribute in part-time or in different positions. Determine the motivator in order to assess candidates’ potential future job satisfaction.
• Ask questions to determine the motivation for a candidate’s frequent moves from job to job. Did he earn more money, have more responsibility, or have better working conditions? What caused her to seek other employment? If candidates have moved into progressively more responsible roles with more money, they may be savvy business people who are wanting to further their careers—a trait desired by many entrepreneurial companies.
• Ask behavioral questions to determine flexibility and adaptability. Behavioral questions are questions that ask about how someone has demonstrated a behavior in his or her past such as flexibility or adaptability. Behavioral questions are the best way to determine if someone will exhibit this behavior in the future role. Ask behavioral questions such as: “Tell me about a time when you had to change the course of your business plans.” or “Tell me about a time when you had to adapt to a new business environment.” These kinds of inquiries will yield better information about flexibility and adaptability than length of service.

Don’t dismiss candidates because they don’t fit the mold of yesterday’s typical candidates. Many of today’s top candidates may not be “your average job seeker.”

• Target labor market segments, including older workers, people with disabilities, women, and minorities.
• Creatively use non-traditional recruitment activities such as telemarketing, direct mail, and radio and television.
• Develop effective newspaper advertising Improve staffing effectiveness by tracking recruitment data.

Praise for Get the Best...

If you want to survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace, this book will provide you with the recruiting strategies that your organization-- no matter its size or scope--will need to succeed. You may think you’ve tried everything, but Get The Best will breathe new life into your organization’s recruiting efforts.

--Michael Losey, SPHR, Past President and CEO, SHRM

Order Today!

You can now order Get The Best directly from Cathy’s web site at http://cathyfyock.com

It appears they hired a new CEO from K-mart who decided that the best way to lay-off 400 employees was by sending them an email!

Although employees were aware that lay-offs were coming, imagine getting your "pink-slip" via email? To add insult to injury, the employees were given plastic bags to pack their belongings, then asked to leave. I wonder if they were labeled: "I just got bagged by Radio Shack."

I guess technology has its advantages. Now we can actually avoid telling our employees the truth about one of the most difficult things people face -- losing their jobs.

In one report, I heard Arthur Anderson previously sent voice mails to employees being laid off or asked employees to check the status of their jobs on-line. At least the voice mail had a voice. But even so, it certainly takes the pain out of the process for employers if we don't even have to tell our employees face-to-face they're out of work.

Actually, this is sounding like a great new strategy! Let's say you have an employee who isn't really doing his job well. Just send him an email and put him on performance warning. Or, let's say you feel like someone doesn't deserve a raise. Send her a voice mail and tell her that her performance is substandard, so no quality work, no salary increase. Why meet in person, when you can hide behind technology to do your "dirty" work?

Okay, I'll admit to being a little sarcastic. Times clearly have changed when employers think all these tough decisions don't affect the lives of real people who have committed their time to work for an organization.

So, what does this mean to us? I'm sure that none of you are communicating this ineffectively. But we certainly could be relying on email and voice-mail communication a little too much for delivering information that we're uncomfortable communicating in person.

What about when you have to make tough decisions regarding downsizing your staff, realigning duties, cutting wages, decreasing benefits or increasing employee benefit rates? These are not uncommon events in 2006. Have you thought about how effectively you're sharing these deflating messages? With benefit costs skyrocketing once again, even if you're giving your employees wage increases, they could be losing income. They've done the math.

It's important to consider not only how decisions are made, but how they are communicated to your human resources -- and what the impact of that communication is on their personal lives, work morale, productivity and employee retention. We spend so much time making the tough decisions; do we spend sufficient time communicating them effectively to all affected parties?

Look back at the past six months in your organization. What important messages did you send to your employees, how was the information sent and how was the news received? Did your communication get the results you expected? If not, was it the message or the delivery?

Ask around and get others' opinions on the matter. Then take these results into consideration with your next "big" communication. If your method of communication was blasted across the media, as was Radio Shack's, how would you feel? Radio Shack officials said they informed their employees "as respectfully as we could." Well, we all know that's ridiculous, but somehow they missed the obvious. Could you?

Arlene Vernon, PHR, partners with small businesses as their Human Resource Xpert to create their HR systems and solve their HR problems. Check out her web site at www.HRxcellence.com.

Oct 4 – 5 “How Dare You Presume I’d Rather Be Young,” and “Business Responses to an Aging Workforce: Are You Ready?” KY SHRM Conference, Louisville, KY

Oct 9 – 11 HR Generalist Certificate Program, New York City, NY

Oct 17 Job Transition Ministry, Louisville, KY

Oct 19 Gerontology class presentation, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

Oct 26 HR Book Club, “Never Eat Alone,” WorkShop, Louisville, KY

Oct 30 – Nov 1 HR Generalist Certificate Program, SHRM, Chicago, IL

Nov 13 – 15 HR Generalist Certificate Program, SHRM, Washington, DC

Nov 29 – Dec 1 HR Generalist Certificate Program, SHRM, Orlando, FL

Cathy Fyock, CSP, SPHR, is an employment strategist—helping organizations develop strategies to recruit and retain top talent in an aging and changing marketplace. For nearly 20 years she has combined her knowledge of work-force issues and her talents as a speaker to provide innovative and inspirational learning events. She has helped organizations attract top talent, reduce turnover, and improve productivity in a volatile labor market.

Praise for Cathy’s programs

"Cathy Fyock developed a three-day selection course for us at Bridgestone/Firestone, and has been instrumental in delivering the pilot course and subsequent train-the-trainer courses for our zone management. Cathy has impressed us by combining our own ideas about what was needed in the training, and her own experience in this field. As a result, she has created an exciting course that specifically addresses our needs and is helping us to select better candidates, which we believe will ultimately result in more productive and loyal employees. We highly recommend Cathy as an instructional designer, as an employment strategist, and as an effective trainer."