Culturally Speaking…

Company culture is a popular topic these days and rightfully so.  As recruiters we focus on how candidates match our client’s culture as much as (or more than) they match the required skill set.   I see the impact it has on my clients every day, at both ends of the spectrum (hiring/retention).   What is it that makes for a ‘good’ company culture?  Does your company have the right culture?   Can it be defined, or is it situational?   I believe it can be, while at the same time being very situational.

 

Let’s look at a few things that make up culture, or what defines a company, and I’ll share some observations from my perch as an executive recruiter.

Vision/Mission Statement.

If you don’t have one, get one.  If you have one, your leadership team must mutually accept, embrace and carry it out.  One weak link and the negativity can spread like a virus.  If you think it’s unimportant, you are probably working for a company where a majority of the employees watch the clock and the ones who do take ownership are frustrated.  Have an identity and core beliefs as to why your company exists.  Embrace it.   The best companies have Directors and Managers that define it and demand it from their teams; hiring decisions are made based on it.  They won’t gamble on new hires who have a specific needed skill but may clash with it.

Diversity.

It’s hard to imagine that there are companies out there that would be anti-diversity.  Instead I think it’s that there are a lot of companies that haven’t made an intentional effort to be ‘diverse’.  This weakness will show up in other culture areas for a company usually in the form of old-school traditions and dated systems that resist change and progress.  A small minority of companies resist diversity out of fear, which also highlights a weaker culture.  A strong culture allows a high mix of people, educations, ages and religious beliefs because the vision demands hiring high-caliber/high character and never settling.

Training.

You’d think this would be fairly straightforward and that every company has some type of training.  However, there is a distinction between skills training and culture on-boarding and several times I’ve been flat-out floored at the mind-set of some organizations out there.  Weak companies have blinders on and will hire for expertise only, while the strongest start with culture fit and trust that they will be rewarded in the long run if they occasionally need to hire someone less skilled who has matching intangibles.   The short run may sometimes be a little bumpier, but if you on board and train properly that culture fit hire will be more loyal, stay longer and bring others with them.   The ‘expert’ who job hops will save you for 6 months, but create the same hole within a year or two and you gain nothing in the long run.

Work / Life Balance.

Challenging to manage, especially in a growing company or high demand industry.   You can’t run at a 15 out of 10 level for a sustained period of time, so finding ways to deal with this are key.  The best cultures are finding creative ways to enforce and embrace this idea of give and take.   Some companies were even born out of the desire to find more balance.   Weaker cultures ignore overworked employees with an arrogance that assumes ‘they should be happy to have the work’ or they are filled with entitled near part-timers who clock watch and take a handful of ‘breaks’ every day.

Compensation.

The great equalizer.  Right?  Great paying companies must have an awesome culture and everyone is probably happy!   Wrong.  There is no hard/fast rule here, but in general ‘he who pays the most…” generally has to for some reason.   Strong cultures are very evident, especially to interviewees and it is a luxury to be partnered with these types of clients, because unless the money difference is astronomical we are going to make the placement.  Don’t be tricked into overpaying and if you do pay a premium, make it for a  leadership role.   When it comes to staff level and manager level roles, the great companies are usually in the 80-ish percentile.  If you are the type of person who wants the biggest paycheck no matter what – these companies probably won’t want you.

Marketing / Website / Social Media.

Everyone knows of a few rebel companies who refuse to submit to marketing, internet presence and Social Media.  It’s worn as a badge of ‘old school’ honor.   The other side of the coin is the all flash/no substance firm.  I think the most successful companies out there are allowing their vision to come through using modern channels as a way to enhance, not define their values.  Outright ignoring it alienates an entire generation of new employees and will impact your ability to succession plan over the next 2-5 years.

What does all of this mean?  There are infinite ways to structure a culture and the first step is diagnosing what you have.  My advice to clients who wonder if they have a solid culture is to challenge your managers/directors and staff level employees to define the company culture and, in that, what are the most important things to them.   For job seekers, ask your interviewers about culture and what makes the company unique.   It’s not the product or the ‘process’ – these can be duplicated.   Ultimately for both the individual and the company, no matter what the answer, you must be asking the question – what is important to me culturally?   Answer this question before you write up that job description or accept that offer – it’s far more critical to making a successful, long term hire (or career move) and keeping them.

 

A day in the life of a NEW RECRUIT: New week…

 

I will make this one short and sweet. It is a new week and I am excited for it. I had a great weekend and had good time at the fundraiser for Trinity Free Clinic that I went to Friday night. It turns out that I am really good at trivia! Went downtown Indy on Sunday and checked out all the “Big Game” stuff; not sure if I am allowed to say the name of the game since my blog is pretty famous now.  However, going down there and checking everything out was really cool. I highly recommend anyone in the Indy area to go down there and check it out.

I am feeling good about the week; I had some good conversations with people at the end of last week and think I found some good candidates for some of the roles I am working on. I also plan on working on ways to prioritize my time better. I still need to learn ways to makes sure I am using my time properly and not spreading myself too thin trying to work on too much at once. We have a good numbers of roles to work on and I need to make sure to give each one I am working on its proper amount of concentration. I plan to talk to some of co-workers about different ways they do it. Heck, I am sure after some read this they will volunteer a few ideas, I am surrounded by some great people! (please volunteer if you do have an ideas!)

I also want to wish Tamsen the best of luck; we here at Aegis lost her to the big city of NYC. While she will be still helping us out for the time being, I want to wish her the best of luck and let her know she will be missed. Any new hire we get will have big shoes to fill!

New week means new opportunities! Now I just hope I am able to still say that come Tuesday…

I hope everyone has a great week and you are able to check out my blogs for the rest of it. Make sure to start following my on twitter at @ronpoe1 and to check out Aegis Worldwide at www.teamaegis.com and @teamaegis.

Ron Poe

A day in the life of a NEW RECRUIT: A long week…

 

It has been a long week; so long in fact that I woke up on Wednesday morning thinking for second that it was Friday. It is one thing to do that on a Thursday but doing it on Wednesday hurts that much more. It has been a pretty long week for a couple of reasons, the first being there has been some big changes at Aegis, all for the good. I don’t want to give away any company secrets but to name a few changes we are in the process of opening a new office in Chicago (get excited Tyson, making big moves!) and we have had two people get promotions (yeah Maddie and Kati, you guys will kill it!!). So with that going on, we had to move some people around, me being one. So with the move, it changes my focus to new companies we work with.

As excited as I am for the new challenge of recruiting for some new companies, it is a bit tough because I just got pretty comfortable with the ones I had been working with. When talking to potential candidates I like able to share as much with them about the company as I can, almost to the point like I felt I worked there. Now I have to learn about these new one, their company culture and what type of candidates they like, etc. Also, with this move also meant concentrating on new roles for those companies. So with the new move there was a lot of new information to take in and process. It definitely felt like a bit of information overload at times.

Another thing I have been struggling with is prioritizing my time properly. We are doing very well and have a lot of to work but my biggest thing I struggle with is making sure I don’t spread myself too thin trying to work on all of them at once.  I am not giving any one opening enough attention so that it gets it proper coverage so that I can find the best candidates for the position. The trouble is, in my head I believe that I can fill them all and want to work on all of them at once. It is a constant battle with what I think I can do what I can actually do.

The next part that has made it a longer than usual week is that, as a team we had one req (job opening) that started off as a higher priority than the rest. A company we work with was looking to have four candidates start by next Monday, so that meant that they were looking to have interviews by Thursday or Friday at the latest. However, after concentrating a good portion of the beginning of the week to make sure that we had some good candidates for the company to choose from, they told us that the four openings were put on hold… indefinitely… It was tough thinking about the time and effort I put into those openings which I could have been putting into the other openings we have. It is hard for me not to think of it as wasted time. But I know that is part of recruiting and situations like that will happen from time to time. I just need to brush the dirt off my shoulders and move on to the next role.

Luckily the weekend is upon us and I plan on enjoying it. Tonight most of the office is going to a fundraiser for the Trinity Free Clinic (www.trinityfreeclinic.org) that one of our co-workers mother works at. It is Super Bowl themed and should be a lot fun. Also, I plan on heading downtown and checking out the free Dierks Bentley concert at the Super Bowl village. I hope all of my millions of readers have a great weekend too!

Time for selfish promotion! Make sure to start following me on twitter @ronpoe1 and to check out the Aegis website to see all the great things we do! www.teamaegis.com

Ron Poe

A day in the life of a NEW RECRUIT: The Importance of Recruiters….

 

I was in Chicago over the weekend and I was having dinner with a group of friends, one of which is a lawyer. She said she gets contacted by recruiters every now and then. Well she actually said “head hunter” but I will save my opinion about that term for another day. Anyway, I got the vibe that she found recruiters annoying and didn’t really see the point of them. I am sure she is not the only one who feels that way, actually, there are many people I have contacted over my four months who I know feel that way and definitely let me know their opinion. While we didn’t really talk too deeply about it at the time, most of the conversation was about how cold it was and what the rest of the night would bring, it got me thinking about the importance of recruiters.

As mentioned before, I had really had no idea what recruiting was about when I joined Aegis. Honestly when I first started I thought they were middlemen for lazy HR people, but I have come to see all that we (yep, I am part of the group now!) do for both the company and the candidate.

In my opinion the biggest thing recruiters do is match the right person with the right position with the right company. We help bring people with jobs that they might not have known were available and vise-versa. As great as the internet is, it can also make things more difficult. A non-internet savvy job seeker might only look on certain sites or not know all the different ways to look for jobs or even know the companies to look at. There have been many times where I contacted a job seeker about a role I am working on in their area and they didn’t even know the company existed. Also, companies might not have their open jobs posted anywhere and they rely on recruiters to get the word out. There are also many companies who have openings for very niche roles, where you probably won’t find the ideal candidate on the job boards and doing a job posting online will get some people applying but most are nowhere near qualified for what the company is looking for. To find the right person, a recruiter will make a lot networking calls and cold calls, reach out to people in the industry, different groups and associations to find people who match what the company is looking for but might not be actively seeking a new job.

For example, I am working on an Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) position with a company that wants someone with a pretty certain kind of background in mind, they are looking for someone from a certain type of industry background and with a certain type of degree (a little too picky if you ask me, but not my call. Just got to do what the client asks!). There was no one on the job boards, (Monster or CareerBuilder for those not in the knowhow! Yep, we have our lingo.)  that was close to matching what the company wanted and when I posted the job, I did not get anyone applying that matched either, but I am pretty sure I got some decent Program Managers! Sorry, inside joke that probably only my coworker Jeff would laugh at. You better laugh at that Jeff. Anyway, it took two weeks of reaching out to different EHS professionals and just networking with them and contacting some Safety Associations to find two individuals who are pretty good matches (still waiting on feedback, so fingers crossed they like them!)

Another thing recruiters do is pass along information that can be easily left out of a resume or job description. In my short time doing this I have come across a wide variety of resumes, some good and some make you wonder if they wrote it after chugging a bottle of NyQuil. What recruiters can do is present a potential candidate in a way that a resume can’t. Recruiters know what the company and the hiring manager are looking for, we have the ability to pass along information about the candidate that directly relates to what they are looking for with more detailed examples then a resume can show. Also, we can help explain any gaps in work history or any short stints. Things that might not be appealing to HR managers and could easily rule out a candidate when they are looking at a bunch of resumes.

On the flip side, recruiters have the ability to pass information about job openings that is missing from some job descriptions. I have seen job descriptions so in-depth and confusing that I am pretty sure the hiring manager who wrote it wouldn’t apply to it and I have seen some that barely scratches the surface of what the job entails. I am working on a Plant Engineer position which has a one sentence position summary:

“Ensure manufacturing processes allow the production departments to achieve daily production schedules while enhancing productivity and product quality.”

While as informative as that is (Feel free to send me your resumes if you are qualified!), I am able give information on what is expected of the person in that role, about how hands on they want the individual and how they are looking for someone with more of an electrical background, plus any other qualifications the company is looking for. I have had the chance to talk to people in the company and I can give examples and scenarios of situations that the Plant Engineer will encounter. This way a candidate can know sooner if they are good fit and if the role matches what they are looking for.

There are a lot of other things that recruiters bring to the table, but I feel these are two of the more important things I have learned recruiters do for both the candidate and the company. The biggest issue I see with people who have a negative idea of recruiters, there are individuals out there that give us a bad name, but you will have that with any occupation. So, for all of you out there reading this, feel free to make any comments about your opinion of recruiters and what they do (recruiters and non-recruiters, the more the merrier!), I would love any and all feedback. Also, make sure to start following me on twitter @ronpoe1 I am getting better at tweeting more often.

Hope you enjoyed this!

Ron Poe

A day in the life of a NEW Recruit… becoming a recruiter… my first four months…

 

Here at the great Aegis Worldwide we had two new recruiters start last week (big shout out to Nate and Nycolle!) and seeing them start made me think back to my first couple of days and how intense they were for me.  Also, I started thinking how I have only been doing this for a little less than four months now. It is a weird feeling, part of me feels like I have been doing this for so much longer but the other part of me feels like I just started. It is kind of crazy to think back to my first week to where I am at now. I have grown leaps and bounds but at the same time I have so much more to learn.

To be honest, I had no idea what I was getting into with recruiting. A majority of my professional career (yep I said career, pretty fancy!) has been in sales (ticket sales to be exact), I was looking for and applying to sales positions. The job posting I applied to, was for a sales role with a recruiting company. It was not until the interview process that they made it clear that everyone starts out as a recruiter with the hopes that they move into a sales role.

I had worked with a sports industry recruiter in the past and even got a job because of him, but to be honest I found him a bit annoying and bothersome.  He always wanted to prep before each interview (I knew what I was doing, I am great with people!). He also always wanted me to call him after to recap everything (Again, I knew what I was doing!). So, besides that little bit of interaction I really had no idea what recruiters did or how they did it. Even during the interview process (which was one of the more intense interview processes I have been in), very little was truly discussed about recruiting and all that it entails. Just to be clear, the big thing they looked for was to see if I could be a good fit to the company’s culture (which I nailed!). They did bring up how a good person in the role is someone with thick skin and someone with a great B.S. detector because there will be people who will tell you whatever they think you want to hear. Also, someone needs to have some tough conversations with people (this was the one area they thought I might struggle with). My thought hearing those things was “I sold tickets to sporting events; I dealt with all of that!” (anyone reading this who has done ticket sales will agree). Therefore, after using my charming smile, quick wit and awesome personality they hired me and there has been no looking back.

So, four months into this, I am still learning everyday. There are days where I really love recruiting, but there are days where I ask myself what have gotten myself into.  I will say overall it has been a great experience and I hope to be involved in this business for a long time to come. So after recently learning about the new cool thing called Mini Series blogs (thanks Corri!) I thought I would spend the next 45 days (workday days of course) sharing stories, thoughts and opinions I have learned since becoming a recruiter. Plus, I thought my roommate would get a big kick out of me writing a blog since he thinks I spend all of my time online reading them (I only spend PART of my time reading them!) So I hope you have a couple of minutes each day to check it out.

Make sure to start following me on twitter @ronpoe1

Ron Poe

Happy Holidays: Our FAVORITE Holiday traditions

Tyson

My Mom’s side of the family is a pretty tight-knit group, and every Christmas Eve all the families get together. It’s a large family – usually 40 to 50 people show up – so Christmas Eve is generally loud, rowdy affair!

Maddie

Driving around to see Christmas lights on Christmas Eve with family

Cooking/eating constantly from Christmas Eve morning until Christmas day is over. I especially look forward to my mom’s special eggs benedict breakfast on Christmas morning!

Kati

Christmas eve we always go downtown to w/ Jess’ family to this family owned hot dog stand/shop called Coney Island. It’s kinda famous in Ft. Wayne!

Emily

My favorite Christmas tradition is actually on Christmas night. Now that my brother, sister  and I are grownup with our own families, we all have a ton of running around to do on Christmas. So, we have dedicated Christmas night to replace our typical “Christmas Morning”. It is such a nice time because no one is on a schedule and we all get there, put on our comfy pjs and unwrap presents and really spend time catching up with each other. We may or may not consume large quantities of wine, too!

I am also very excited about creating new traditions with my 1-year-old. This year, I will start the tradition of letting her unwrap a present on Christmas Eve (which will be new Christmas pjs and a Christmas book to read that night)!

Cole

My family watches National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation….twice

My brother (the oldest) dictates which presents are opened and in what order – he’s been doing this every year since I can remember.

Rick

With Caroline, Lara and I wrapped up 25 christmas – themed kids books (that us and her grandparents got for her) and each night starting Dec 1^st she gets to open one and we read it to her.  We also let the kids have one present on Christmas Eve (from us, not Santa of course )…

Kirby

Reading Twas’ the Night before Christmas to my kids on Christmas Eve right before the go to bed.

Opening the very random gifts from my Mom which the last 5 years have been: Detroit Pistons t-shirt (not a fan of the Pistons), pair of socks, radio/flashlight all in one combo, gift card to Starbucks (never drank a cup of coffee in my life and she knows that), and a framed picture of a self-portrait my Mom and Dad took of themselves!

Dave

Once I got married, I got introduced to some new traditions with my wife’s family that I would not trade for the world.  My favorite is that the entire family gathers at one of her aunt’s house on Christmas Eve for a massive celebration of presents, great food, dancing, games, and lots of drinking!  Having grown up going to church on Christmas Eve and it being a very mild-mannered evening…this type of celebration was a joyous change and is something that I really look forward to every year!!

Corri

My family is very into our traditions during the holiday season.  Starting off with listening to Christmas music on the drive home from Thanksgiving dinner.  One of my favorite holiday traditions is going to my grandparents on Christmas day and getting together with all 20+ family members.  It is crazy and loud but I love seeing everyone together.

Derek

Sitting with the family on Christmas eve, building a fire and watching Christmas Vacation.

Khalie

Putting up decorations the day after Thanksgiving while watching Christmas movies (Elf and How the Grinch Stole Christmas are my favorite!)

Seeing all of my family at several holiday get gatherings!!

Jeff

The Food!

Handmade ravioli and Nanny’s Ragu

“Fat Pills” – chocolate-dipped morsels of peanut buttery goodness

Midnight Mass

The adult version of Lego’s – being the designated assembler of all of the kids’ gifts

Tamsen

Coming home from church on Christmas Eve and watching a Christmas movie with my whole family and our dogs.

Making monkey bread with my Mom on Christmas morning.

Ron

Since I moved out of my parent’s house, every Christmas morning my younger sisters call me at 7:00 AM to wake me up and make sure I am on my way over to open presents.

Ronda

Presents!  I LOVE watching people open their gifts!

Preparing dinner for my parents on Christmas Eve, which has become a recent tradition I have started in the last few years.  I’m so thankful that I live close to home and am able to spend the holiday’s with my family.

My mom’s polka dot cookies (cherry and chocolate chip cookies, with a little cherry juice mixed in the batter)…mmmm!

Driving to Clint’s parents’ on Christmas morning and spending the rest of the holiday with his family.

 

 

 

We at Aegis Worldwide wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Good job market? It’s your call…

Good job market?  It’s your call…

 

You ever wonder why some people seem to have all the luck, while others seemed to be constant victims of bad timing or circumstances?  Certainly timing and good fortune play a key role in any successful endeavor, but our minds decide our level of success more often than many realize. 

As a recruiter, I’m often asked how the market is doing and many times I’ll get the feeling that the person asking is expecting me to say it’s horrible.  This makes me a little uncomfortable because our clients are almost all hiring, several in unprecedented numbers, and we are doing really well as a company.  It makes me feel a little isolated from the outside world because I realize there are markets suffering and some folks are having a difficult time finding a job.  But on the whole, it’s my belief that the market is (at least) slightly above average for finding a job. 

Despite what we see as a good market, we are still occasionally hearing a different story from applicants we are in conversations with.   I’ve personally talked to several candidates who have complained that there are ‘no good jobs out there’ and that ‘no one ever responds to their application”.   I can totally empathize with their frustration with the modern day job search.  There is almost no human interaction on the front end, you are left to wonder if anyone even looked at your resume, there seems to be 4-5 interviewing steps and you are probably interviewing against 3-5 other well qualified candidates…it’s by no means easy.

Overcoming this takes a combination of hard work and the right mindset.  Many put in the work, so the main difference I see between the successful job seeker and the frustrated one is how they perceive the market or how they think they’ll do in their search.  It’s the difference between saying “this market is terrible” versus “it hasn’t’ happened yet, but it’s just a matter of time”.  I think most people acknowledge the power of positive thought, but it goes beyond that.   By making a sweeping decision that the market is this or that, we submit ourselves to the mercy of that market and essentially paralyze ourselves from doing anything about it. 

What’s worse is when we have these thoughts before we even do anything.  We predict what is going to happen before we’ve even tried.   This applies in sports, business, relationships, literally all aspects of life.    When we characterize (predict) how something will go that becomes the predestined outcome.  I’ll save everyone from the Henry Ford quote, but if you think this assumption doesn’t impact the outcome, you are setting yourself up for consistently frustrating results.

This begs the question – why do we think this way?   I think it is clearly something we do to protect our egos/pride.  Often when our outcomes are not what we think they ought to be, we’ll look for ways to excuse ourselves.  I’m sure we’ve all heard (or thought!!):  it was a ‘bad territory” or “the teacher’s fault” or perhaps the tried and true “my parents…”.   While seemingly therapeutic, this prevents us from digging deeper on why these results are happening and in our minds: we’ve already solved it!  

The great thing about correcting mindset issues is that we 100% control it.  We are the architects of our thoughts and we can change them in an instant (regardless of outside influences).  Odds are we’ve done something like this recently.  Next time you feel yourself being frustrated with an outcome or predicting success is impossible, try thinking in the now and about what you can do to impact your situation.  If you are focused on a successful outcome and how you can get there, you’ll be surprised at how quickly things start to happen.  Think toward what you want, not away from what you don’t.

Have a great weekend~

We are thankful for…

• Being able to spend Thanksgiving weekend with my entire family, especially my niece and three nephews
• The Colts’ 0-10 record, perfectly coinciding with an Andrew Luck draft year

• That I get to be in the same city as my sisters while they are in high school
• That I get a break from frozen food and get a home cooked meal for Thanksgiving

• The people that know and love me
• My health

• I’m thankful that my fiance’ and I have decided to wait one more year before we decide which family to spend the holidays with
• Such a cliché answer, but, I’m also thankful for the fact that I have such great friends and family to spend, not just the holidays with, but each and every day throughout the year.

• Family, friends, and a fiancé that love and support me. Knowing that these people are there for me no matter what is something that I appreciate every day.
• That life has afforded me the opportunity to adopt two dogs that make me smile about every time I walk in the door. Although there are probably as many frowns as there are smiles with messes, “presents” they bring me, and chasing them through the neighborhood after jumping the fence, they are still a great form of happiness in my life.

• That my wife gave birth to our first child, a healthy baby boy
• The ability to make bomb white chicken chili (an Aegis #1 favorite in this year’s chili cookoff)

• That my family moved back to Indiana and I joined a great TEAM of professionals here at Aegis
• My first son, born April 7th, Giacomo

• My supportive husband and my happy baby
• Pumpkin pie and a day where calories don’t count…. that is how it works right?

• Family- having my parents in town for the holidays!
• Time with close friends- getting the chance to catch up with old friends who will be back in town visiting for the holiday!

• My new baby kitty – Chuck – and my husband
• That my husband let me put my Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving!

• A weekend of good food and football!
• My friends and family.  Without their support, I would not be where I am today.

• My incredible family and friends
• Colts coming through on their “Suck for Luck” campaign and delivering us Andrew Luck next season

• All of the wonderful people in my life: my family, friends, and co-workers
• My freewill to be who I am and to do as I please

• All of the wonderful people in my life: new and old, and what they continue to teach me
• That I can almost “legally” listen to Christmas music… come the day after Thanksgiving

• I am thankful for having another holiday season with everyone in our family, particularly Lara’s Mom who is battling a major illness right now.  I’m going to really enjoy this one and take it all in.

• Also thankful the Ravens SWEEPING the Steelers – once in “embarrassing for Pittsburgh fashion” (35-7) and the other in “rip-your-heart-out- in-your-own-house” fashion with a last second TD pass to quiet the crowd.

Happy Thanksgiving from us at Aegis Worldwide!  We hope you have just as many things to be thankful for this year!

Work Life Balance?

Meet our first GUEST BLOGGER:

Emily Garrison-

Wife and mother of 1 adorable little girl

Graduated from Ball State University

Has worked for Aegis Worldwide since 2008

Loves her Porkie (Pug/Yorkie mix)

 

 

 

I am the new Mom to a beautiful 12 month old baby and I have a confession to make… I love my job. Now, to some this doesn’t seem like much of a confession, but I challenge you to go to your local “mommy and me” class and see the judgmental stares of some of the moms when you show up on your lunch break wearing a skirt and heels.  You will definitely get the vibe that you are somehow depriving your child by working, or better yet, you get the sad eyes that say “oh, poor thing, she has to work.” Not the case. I work because I want to, as much as I love my baby, (and I am completely obsessed with her!) I know that I need to have an outlet. I need to go to work, hang out with adults and achieve the professional goals that didn’t change or go away when I had a baby. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is wonderful that some people stay at home with their kids, I truly believe that parenting is the most important job in the world and trust me, there are days when I wish nothing more than the opportunity to hang out with my little mini-me all day long! However, I’m not wired that way and I think each person should do what is right for them.

Now, the challenge to those that do work outside of the home is to find some sort of normalcy and balance. As a recruiter, I definitely hear this from my candidates every day. It seems that their main reason for looking for something new is a lack of work life balance in their current role, or no quality of life. It’s true, I hear this way more than looking for more money or even advancement opportunities. As a new mom, I definitely empathize with this and can feel their pain. I feel the daily struggle with worrying if I’m spending enough time with my daughter and worrying if I am doing enough at work. I feel the guilt when I leave my house in the morning and the guilt when I leave unfinished work at night. I have often questioned whether it is possible to do both jobs without going totally and completely insane.

I am certainly not an expert and am still trying to figure this out, but here is my two cents on how to make it work.

• Throw out the term “Work Life Balance”. Let’s get real, there is never going to be a balance. Sometimes I think this term causes me more stress, because I am constantly trying to equally split my time. I think a more appropriate term is “Work Life Juggle”. There will be some days that you have to put more into work and stay late to hit a deadline and then there are those dreaded sick days or the special birthdays where the work gets put on hold and you want to dedicate more of your time to your family. It’s a juggle and sometimes you are going to drop one of your balls- pick it up and get going again!
• Give yourself a break! Quit trying to compare yourself to everyone and meet someone else’s standards. Choose what is important to you and let that be your guide. Especially when you are considering a new career, choose what your “must haves” are and what your “nice to haves” are in a position, whether it is your daily commute or the typical work hours. I read some articles that paint a picture that everyone should be able to work for a company that allows you to work from home or have flex hours- but this isn’t the case for most people. So, it’s a give and take, for example, I realize that it is unrealistic to think that I will be able to meet my daughter at the bus every afternoon, but that when the time comes for ballet recitals, I won’t let myself miss those.
• Make the most of the little time you have! When I get home from work, I have about 2 hours or less before my little kiddo’s bedtime. During this time, I completely unplug and focus 100% of my time on her. I read a post that said, “Hold your children more than you hold your phone” and it completely spoke to me. So, while it is tempting to check my twitter feed and update my FB status, everything is off limits during that time. I do try to take advantage of my drive time home to catch up on my personal phone calls, but all of my friends and family know the second I pull in my driveway its baby time and I’m wrapping up that call!

 

Obviously, learning to juggle everything is difficult. I’m sure that I will never feel like I am doing everything correct all of the time and I will always work to better balance my time. For now, though, I will take each day one at a time and try not to hold myself to completely unrealistic standards and I encourage you to do the same! As long as my sweet, little baby continues to light up when I get home from work every evening, I figure I must be doing something right!

The People Business

I’ve talked about this before, I feel like I was born to be a recruiter.   Love the profession, craft, impact we have on our clients, competitiveness and all it has to offer.  But no job is perfect and something that helps me navigate the ups and downs of the technical recruiting world is the “we can’t make this up” funny (sometimes disturbing) stories we get by dealing with people as our commodity.  Several were so ‘good’ that they didn’t make the ‘Professionalism’ cut for the blog.   Maybe we can Tweet those…

Some of my favorite recruiting stories are those starring candidates who lack self awareness.   Sometimes it’s the overtalker or ‘overconfident guy’ and we’ve all had our run-in with a candidate from ‘negative town’.   Here is one of our favorites in this category:

We had a Director level role with a loyal client and were lucky enough to find the perfect candidate – right industry, money, location were all good.  He nails the phone interview and they bring him in the following week.  First half of the day goes fairly well, but a few hiring managers comment that he’s ‘a little quirky’.  Good lunch meeting and off to HR for the final stop of the day, but before they get started:  “Can I use your restroom real quick to brush my teeth?”   BYOT!!  He did bring it + toothpaste!  Also, after debrief it was discovered he asked all but one manager to wash his hands after meeting with them.

There isn’t really a category for this next story.  Sometimes you are on an interview for a job you really want and the nerves start on you.  I get it, we have all been there and stretched the truth or embellished a little.  Maybe you weren’t Business Club Treasurer or ranked #2 in your territory in 2001.  Or…maybe you get really caught up in the moment:

One of our skilled machinists had an interview for a lead role at our biggest client here in Indianapolis.  He had a friend just get the job and his skills were a mirror image.  He really wanted the job and the interviewees could tell he was a little nervous.    For their process, everyone sits around a table and they review in detail the applicant’s job history/resume.  Everyone gets a copy, including the applicant.  After an hour of getting a feel for his skills and why he left his last three or four jobs, they get to the commute.  Why would you want to drive 50 miles to work each day?   “I am only 20 miles away, this is not my resume.”  HR noted that it was the first time in her 30 years that anything like that had happened.   You would say something, right?

One of the toughest things to go through as a recruiter is when your tough-to-please client wants to make an offer and your candidate bails.   In our version of ‘Seriously??’, our 90K Project Manager candidate was about to get an offer and asked if he could be withdrawn from consideration.  We immediately assumed it was a chemistry issue, location or maybe salary was going to be too low for him to consider.  Nope – not enough family photos on the desks of the people he interviewed with!   Surely there was something else and this was just the icing on the cake, right?  Wrong.  Dealbreaker!

Last but not least, two “HOF” Hall-of-Fame stories in my opinion:

• Female Aegis employee invites male prospect to a lunch appointment.  Prospects arrives at Aegis office, insists on driving, paying for lunch and walks our co-worker to the office door post-lunch.  Oh yeah, and he snapped a picture of her with his phone during the meal as a keepsake.  He was never placed.  Or contacted.   In fact, he may still be out of work and this was 3 years ago.

• Hourly Machinist injuries himself on the job.  A mandatory drug test is issued and our candidate awaits the results.  He steps out of the screening office and places a cell phone call to Aegis representative asking if he can ‘take the drug test tomorrow?   I just don’t have to go right now’.   Two hours had elapsed since the accident and he was finally able to provide a sample.  It did not meet temperature requirements; automatic failure.   He calls Aegis representative to tell them ‘my urine must just be colder than everybody else’s.’

Remember keep things light because recruiting can be a grind if you live and die with every outcome.   If you are doing it right, these are the outlier stories and make up only 1-2% of the candidates you deal with.  We’ve been very lucky to work with and represent very high character and talent professionals, but we thought these would be more entertaining.    Have a great weekend!