by Angela Copeland | Jun 5, 2018 | Diversity, HR, Human Resources, Indeed.com, Negotiating, Negotiation, Podcast, Salary, Salary Negotiation, Vacation
Episode 171 is live! This week, we talk with Paul Wolfe in Austin, TX.
Paul is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at the world’s largest job website, Indeed.com.
I interviewed Paul last year about hiring trends and am so excited to be back together to talk about 2018 trends.
On today’s episode, Paul shares:
- The pros and cons of an unlimited vacation policy
- The latest update on the interview question “how much do you make?”
- Why “radical transparency” is important in your job search and what you can find on Indeed, such as salary data and company reviews
- Why equality in the workplace is such an important issue and what we can all do to contribute
- New benefit trends for 2018
- How to identify a great company that treats their employees well
- What you should do if you’re interested to work at Indeed
Listen and learn more! You can play the podcast here, or download it on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
To learn more about Paul’s work, visit Indeed at www.indeed.com. You can also follow Paul on Twitter at @PWolfe67.
Thanks to everyone for listening! Don’t forget to help me out. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave me a review!
by Angela Copeland | Feb 28, 2018 | Career Corner Column, Fired, Human Resources, Layoff, Stress
Part of my job is to work with professionals who have recently become unemployed. It’s incredible how many people are impacted by layoffs each day. Often, the person was let go due to something outside of their control. Their company reorganized and laid off an entire department. The employee had a great track record of loyal service.
Ultimately, the company had to look out for their own best interests. Perhaps they needed to eliminate a department that uses out of date technology. Or maybe, they need to scale back operations in order to survive. Even though an employee is sad to lose their job, typically they understand that this sort of thing happens.
This is the part that I don’t understand, and I’m not sure if I ever will. Approximately eighty percent of those I speak with have had the same experience. They went to work one morning, and started to do their job. Then, their boss called them and asked them to come to their office for an unplanned meeting. The boss informed them of the reorganization and told them their job would be ending – effective immediately. The person was then walked out of the building.
Company reorganizations are a part of life. The situation I just described doesn’t have to be. Without fail, when I speak to someone who has gone through this experience, they’re broken – often for months or years. They have gone from a loyal, productive employee one day to a hopeless, crying person the next.
It seems that the company feels that if they give the individual some kind of financial payout, this procedure is acceptable. In reality, the sadness and depression the employee is facing is only partially about money. What it’s really about is losing their identity. It’s about being walked out of their workplace as if they’re a criminal. It’s about being suddenly separated from those they have considered their second family for years. It’s like going through a death.
It seems there’s an assumption that a jilted employee may strike back. They may doing something to get retribution while they’re still in the office. I have never seen a single job seeker who was given advanced notice do anything other than be appreciative that their company gave them a heads up.
Companies are slow to implement new strategies. This means that very often, big layoffs were planned months in advance. Months when the impacted employees could have been planning their next move, if they had more notice. This time would not only help them plan, but it would help them to avoid the giant emotional loss that comes along with being walked out of a building you have worked in for so long.
Try to be empathetic with the employee. Put yourself in their shoes. They aren’t just a number. Employees are people who have given years of their time and their heart for their companies.
Angela Copeland, a career coach and founder of Copeland Coaching, can be reached at copelandcoaching.com.
by Angela Copeland | Feb 13, 2018 | Benefits, Financial, HR, Human Resources, Podcast, Relocation, Student Loan Reimbursement, SXSW
Episode 157 is live! This week, we talk with Alex Smith in Memphis, TN. Alex is the Chief HR Officer for the City of Memphis. She also served on the HR teams at Brightstar Device Protection, Target Corporation, and Microsoft. Alex will be speaking this year at SXSW on a panel called, “Dear HR: Ditch the pool table and pay student loans.”
On today’s episode, Alex shares:
- The details on the student loan reimbursement plan the City of Memphis has implemented
- What types of creative benefits companies are offering
- The differences in interviewing at a corporation versus a government
- Tips on deciding if you should work at a corporate job, or a government job
- Tips for transitioning between different cities
Listen and learn more! You can play the podcast here, or download it on iTunes or Stitcher.
To learn more about Alex, you can find her on LinkedIn. Learn more about the City of Memphis on the City of Memphis website. And, learn more about Alex’s SXSW panel on the SXSW website.
Thanks to everyone for listening! And, thank you to those who sent me questions. You can send your questions to Angela@CopelandCoaching.com. You can also send me questions via Twitter. I’m @CopelandCoach. And, on Facebook, I am Copeland Coaching.
Don’t forget to help me out. Subscribe on iTunes and leave me a review!
by Angela Copeland | Feb 7, 2018 | Career Corner Column, Diversity, HR, Human Resources, Recruiter, Women in Business, Women in Tech
LinkedIn released its report on 2018 Global Recruiting Trends. They surveyed 9,000 recruiters and hiring managers from around the world on the state of hiring. Their research found that the biggest game changer in the hiring space is diversity.
LinkedIn broke down diversity into multiple pieces: diversity, inclusion, and belonging. “Diversity is being invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance, and belonging is dancing like no one is watching.” Belonging is a level of psychological safety that someone feels when they’re truly able to perform at their best. LinkedIn found that 51 percent of companies are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ focused on diversity, 52 percent are focused on inclusion, and 57 percent are focused on belonging.
Interestingly, companies are focused on different aspects of diversity. Employers are the most focused on gender diversity, followed by racial and ethnic diversity. Then, they are focused on diversity based on age, education, disability, and religion.
Beyond attracting diverse talent, companies are beginning to look at how their culture embraces diversity. After all, what’s the point of attracting diverse talent if you can’t retain them? 67 percent of companies said they are working to foster an environment that respects different opinions. 51 percent want to encourage people to be themselves at work. 45 percent are embedding diversity in their company mission and values. And, 44 percent are emphasizing diversity in the leadership team.
One company that’s doing especially well is a Silicon Valley startup called Lever. Of their 150 employees, 50 percent are women. 53 percent of its managers are women, 43 percent of its engineers, and 40 percent of its board of directors.
To achieve this level of gender diversity, Lever employs unusual hiring tactics. First, they have removed the requirements section on the job description. Studies show that women are much less likely to apply for a job if they don’t meet all of the requirements. Lever avoids hiring decisions based on “culture fit,” a technique that often results in more sameness on a team. They have also developed a compensation philosophy that benchmarks the value of each role. It doesn’t rely on a candidate’s past salary to predict their future earnings.
An increased focus on diversity can be seen around the globe, with an average of 78 percent of companies focusing on diversity. In the United States, 78 percent of companies are focusing on diversity, compared with 77 percent in Brazil, 82 percent in the U.K., 73 percent in France, and 85 percent in Australia.
It’s clear that diversity in hiring is here to stay. Companies identified three top reasons to focus on diversity. 78 percent want to improve their corporate culture. 62 percent want to improve company performance. And, 49 percent want to better represent their customers. Companies are beginning to think beyond checking a box. They’re focused now on indicators that impact financial performance, showing that diversity adds value on multiple levels.
Angela Copeland, a career coach and founder of Copeland Coaching, can be reached at copelandcoaching.com.
by Angela Copeland | Feb 6, 2018 | Headhunter, HR, Human Resources, Podcast, Recruiter
Episode 156 is live! This week, we talk with Christine Laird in Oklahoma City, OK. Christine is the Manager of Talent and Business Growth at the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. Previously, she was a Senior Recruiter for Kelly Services where she was consistently recognized as a top performer both regionally and nationally.
On today’s episode, Christine shares:
- The pros and cons of working with an external placement agency
- How to effectively work with an external recruiter
- How to handle salary challenges during the negotiation process
- How to follow up with the recruiter, even if we don’t get a job
Listen and learn more! You can play the podcast here, or download it on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
To learn more about Christine, find her on LinkedIn. To learn more about the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, visit their website here.
Thanks to everyone for listening! And, thank you to those who sent me questions. You can send me your questions to Angela@CopelandCoaching.com. You can also send me questions via Twitter. I’m @CopelandCoach. And, on Facebook, I am Copeland Coaching.
Don’t forget to help me out. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave me a review!
by Angela Copeland | Jan 10, 2018 | Career Corner Column, HR, Human Resources, Indeed.com, Job Search, Job Search Fear
In the age of oversharing online, it seems that searching for a job is one of the last topics that anyone wants to share. The world’s largest job site, Indeed.com, recently commissioned a study by Censuswide, surveying 10,000 job seekers around the world – in the U.S., Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
As you would expect, 65% of job seekers worry that others may find out they’re looking for a new job. 24% of job seekers ranked their job search as the topic they’re least likely to share on social media. This is right up there with personal finances.
And, this makes sense. In much of the U.S., workers have limited employment protections. Simply put, an employer can fire you for a reason. Or, they can fire you for no reason at all. If they know you’re looking for a new job, they may perceive you to be disloyal. And, disloyal employees are at risk for being let go.
They don’t have to give you advanced warning. We’ve all had a friend who has been walked out of the building of their workplace with a small box of their personal things. That horrific thought is enough to cause you to never speak about your own search, ever again.
Professor Paul Dolan, Behavioral Economist at London School of Economics also pointed out the need to be seen as successful. “Admitting that we are looking for a job means exposing others to our potential success or failure. To avoid embarrassing ourselves, we choose to hide our searches.”
This also holds true in romantic relationships. Researchers found that half of job seekers don’t tell their partners when they’re applying for a new job. Those over age 55 are even more likely to keep searches hidden.
Although surprising, this finding makes sense. If you’re searching online, you may apply to a large number of jobs before landing a first round interview. If it takes thirty applications to land one phone interview, who wants to have that conversation with a spouse thirty times? Rather than feel like one successful phone interview, it may very well feel like twenty nine failed applications. Often, a new job requires a lifestyle change of some kind. Waiting until things are more firm allows the job seeker to avoid some level of judgement and conflict.
That said, keeping career changes from your partner isn’t recommended. Your career greatly impacts your personal life, and if you’re sharing that life with someone else, your decisions will impact them too.
But, when it comes to colleagues, there really is good reason to be cautious. Even if you’re doing a great job in your current role, your boss may have second thoughts about you if they know you’re looking. When you tell others about your search, you risk losing control of your search. As it’s clear, job searching really is the last taboo.
Angela Copeland, a career coach and founder of Copeland Coaching, can be reached at copelandcoaching.com.
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