I’m not sure any department’s mettle has been tested this past year in quite the same way as HR. It was about a year ago that I asked all of you in HR how you were holding up and now I’m back to ask again. When we started this “adventure” we didn’t know what to expect but we stepped up anyway, and did what we needed to do to hold our organizations together. It’s what we do.
Read MoreHave you ever had one of those days where it feels like everybody wants a piece of you? Your office phone is ringing. Your cell phone is ringing. You’re watching your email inbox furiously scroll as it loads and loads and loads new messages. Aaaaannnnd you have people waiting in and around your office.
Read MoreI’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.
Read MoreYou 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.
Read MoreSo….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.
Read MoreKeeping your plan compliant isn’t a matter of luck; it’s about finding out what you don’t know and making it happen.
Read MoreWe’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.
Read MoreIt’s time for your annual New Year’s reminder: You’re Not Broken.
Read MoreDon’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?
Read MoreHappy 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.
Read MoreImagine 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.
Read MoreI 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.
Read MoreIf you can’t be a decent human being, then management probably isn’t for you.
Read MoreJust when you think you’ve seen it all, the universe sets out to prove that you haven’t.
Read MoreAh, 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.
Read MoreI 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.
Read MoreMany 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.
Read MoreHave 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.
Read MoreLast 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.
Read MoreIsn’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.
Read MoreSo 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.
Read MoreI’m a big proponent of cross-training and contingency planning.
Read MoreLast 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.
Read MoreI'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.
Read MoreIf 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!
Read MoreDo 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?
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