HR Blog

Phone Screens, and Voice Mail, and Laundry! Oh My!

10/01/2020 | Dee Yingst

I’m not a fan of phone interviews. I know sometimes they’re necessary, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them. They are definitely important if the job includes communication mostly via telephone. In these instances, I will first hold a phone screen so I can assess how you would sound to our customers – are you able to explain concepts in a clear manner, how’s your phone etiquette, do you interrupt the caller – things like that. Having done a fair number of these screenings lately, I thought I’d share some important lessons I wish everyone knew.

07/01/2020 | Dee Yingst

You know, I really hate wearing a mask. I don’t like how close it gets to my eyes, I don’t like the steam that makes my face feel like it’s melting, it smooshes my hair, it makes my nose itch, and my ears stick out like taxicab doors.

04/01/2020 | Dee Yingst

So….here we are….working from home. Or maybe you’re at home but not able to work... or you’re continuing to have to report to work armed with a gallon of hand sanitizer, a homemade mask, and hope.

03/01/2020 | Dee Yingst

Keeping your plan compliant isn’t a matter of luck; it’s about finding out what you don’t know and making it happen.

02/01/2020 | Dee Yingst

We’ve all heard the saying: winners never quit, and quitters never win. The problem with that advice is that it’s not true. Not only do quitters win, sometimes it’s necessary to quit to win. The trick is knowing what to quit and when. Here’s where we can find some great advice in an unlikely place – a country music song from 1978.

01/01/2020 | Dee Yingst

It’s time for your annual New Year’s reminder: You’re Not Broken.

12/01/2019 | Dee Yingst

Don’t you just love the colors of the holiday season? The green trees… the white lights…the red bows…the blue liquid capsules of headache medicine….wait..what?

11/01/2019 | Dee Yingst

Happy November! With the Thanksgiving season upon us, it’s a great time to ask ourselves if we have an ‘attitude of gratitude’ or if we are just moving through life oblivious to the world around us.

09/01/2019 | Dee Yingst

Imagine meeting someone that you want to impress and you call them the wrong name; you would be mortified, right? The same principles apply to electronic communication.

08/01/2019 | Dee Yingst

I don’t understand why telling the truth is such a hard concept for some people. I “get” that people want to save face, help someone else save face, or just not hurt someone else’s feelings, and might choose to not fully disclose something. There are limits, however, and if we’re not cognizant of them we risk making a difficult situation even worse and potentially destroying a relationship.

07/01/2019 | Dee Yingst

If you can’t be a decent human being, then management probably isn’t for you.

06/01/2019 | Dee Yingst

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the universe sets out to prove that you haven’t.

05/01/2019 | Dee Yingst

Ah, summer. The time of increases in temperature and decreases in fabric that can lead a person to wonder whether some people have mirrors at home. Goodness.

04/01/2019 | Dee Yingst

I have a pretty good sense of humor and I like a good laugh. (This month’s blog title is actually a line from one of my favorite movies – “The Court Jester” with Danny Kaye. Very silly movie.) I have a big laugh – no sweet little giggles here - it’s not at all unusual to hear my great big belly laugh emanating from my office on any given day.

03/01/2019 | Dee Yingst

Many years ago, a gentleman applied for a lead sales/consulting position in the agency in which I worked. Because I was familiar with this individual, my manager asked me for my thoughts on his suitability for the role. I commented that his technical skills were quite good but I was concerned about his interpersonal skills. When asked for more detail, the only way I could articulate my comment was to say he’s the type that would be nice to you, but rude to the waiter. He didn’t get the job.

02/01/2019 | Dee Yingst

Have you ever had an entire conversation with someone and you suspect they didn’t really hear a word you said? Oh, they nodded in all the right places and you maybe even got an affirmative grunt or two, but you know they weren’t really listening. Or maybe you were the grunter because your mind was someplace else.

01/01/2019 | Dee Yingst

Last week was just not my week. I was really sick, my heat pump at home went out, my office looks like a tornado went through it, I was not at the top of my game and I just felt like I was letting everyone down. It sucked in ways I cannot even explain. Add to that, all around me are the New Year’s Resolutions lists. Whether it’s a personal resolution list or a career-focused list, so many of those lists focus on ‘fixing’ what’s ‘wrong’ with us. You know the ones; they start with New Year! New You! and implore you to start the newest diet, exercise every day, change the way you work, blah blah blah and essentially remind you of just how ‘broken’ you are. I didn’t need the reminder.

12/01/2018 | Dee Yingst

Isn’t that a great quote? For the life of me I can’t remember where I heard it or who said it – but it’s still a great quote and very appropriate at this time of year.

11/01/2018 | Dee Yingst

So I was shopping at my local Costco a few weeks ago and happened to bump into one of my first supervisors from my days with Capital BlueCross. Roseanne was a task master for sure. Although at the time I never doubted that she cared, I’m certain I didn’t fully appreciate the wisdom in her words. These 30(!) or so years later, I see her at Costco and practically burst telling her how much I learned from her and that I still go back to those lessons and still quote her to this very day. We must have been quite a site hugging and crying in the snack food aisle.

10/01/2018 | Dee Yingst

I’m a big proponent of cross-training and contingency planning.

08/01/2018 | Dee Yingst

Last month we talked about resumes so it seems fitting to talk about the next step: interviews. I’ve had occasion to do a fairly substantial number of interviews lately and it’s been…..interesting. As I look back over interviews I’ve done over the years, I’d like to give you my top five do’s and don’ts for folks going on interviews.

07/01/2018 | Dee Yingst

I've been reading a lot of resumes lately; some are really good, others are ok, and still others are…well…they could use a little re-tooling. If you've been following my blog for a while, you know I like to cook and I like to eat (not necessarily in that order). I also really like sharing recipes. In that spirit, I'd like to share my recipe for a well-written resume; I use this for my own resume as well as those I compose for others.

06/01/2018 | Dee Yingst

If you see your HR person sweating more than usual right now, it’s not because temperatures are going up but because they’re starting to see arms, shoulders, and even toes in their workplaces. Yikes!

05/01/2018 | Dee Yingst

Do we measure our success in HR by the number of times we're able to say "no" or the number of times we're able to make the workplace a better place to be?

04/01/2018 | Dee Yingst

True Confession: I am a nerd. A policy wonk. An insurance geek. An HR dork.

03/01/2018 | Dee Yingst

Children's stories aren't just for children: they have great wisdom for business as well.

02/01/2018 | Dee Yingst

You'd have to be living under a rock not to have heard about #metoo and #timesup and the revelations of sexual harassment and misconduct being leveled at many public figures. Something that I've found troubling is some of the stories where sexual harassment and workplace romance are discussed together as though one has some sort of connection to the other. So before we talk about sexual harassment, let's be clear that it's not the same as a workplace romance and why.

12/01/2017 | Dee Yingst

Practical Advice for Enjoying this Holiday Season

11/01/2017 | Dee Yingst

When you look back on your career, who are you thankful to have met?

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