Dear Recruiter,

QUESTION?
"As a newer Manager over the last couple years and giving Employee Reviews I don't feel I've done a good job at.  The employees don't seem to be engaged or energized by them.  We discuss the year in review and what they need to improve on but the conversations are definitely one-sided.  Is there a better format for a Employee Review and what should it consist of?"

ANSWER
Great question, Employee Reviews are a fantastic opportunity for an organization to gain valuable insight into their employees' psyche.  This is an opportunity to gauge your employees' happiness not only with their job, but your company on a macro level.  Another important thing you can find out is what their career passions are so you can properly groom them.  I know Managers don't like to hear that their employees want to do something else other then the job they are in especially if they are good at it.  But is it not better to learn that so you can find a way to keep them in the organization rather then lose them to to another company, even a competitor and find out why they left the hardway?

So here are my recommendations of what a Employee Review should look like:

1. First from the start you want to make them feel comfortable, assure them that this talk is a "safe zone" and is also two-sided.  Meaning you want to give them an opportunity to  review your leadership as a manager, your department and the organization as part of the conversation.
2. Instead of just telling them where they need to improve in the role, give them an opportunity first to let them give you their self-assessment of what they think was good and also what they think they struggled with and what they think they need to do to improve.  Then you can integrate your findings into the conversation and keep it conversational.  This will help you avoid the one-sided conversation syndrome and keep them engaged because you have set the tone that you are listening and want to know their feelings before you even engage.
3. Ask them what they like about the department, the organization etc.. also establishing you want them to provide areas where you and the organization can improve to make them happy working here and why they should stay.  Again keeping to the theme of keeping this a two-sided conversation.
4. Last ask them what they think you should brand as an organization to engage future hires.  What do they think is the selling point of the organization.  This is critical intel as you try to hire and attract talent in a highly competitive market.

Again great question and hope this helps.  Don't fear the Employee Review, instead embrace the incredible opportunities for insights it brings!

Dear Recruiter,

When I interview candidates I understand there are questions I am not allowed to ask?  What are some of those and how do I find out the information I need in order to make a hiring decision on a candidate?

​That is a great question!  HR Laws are constantly changing to prevent discrimination for job applicants. However the key is to have the questions that can be equally asked to every person applying that won't show bias. Here are some of the common ones that are absolute "NO NO" to ask and can be deemed discrimination:

1. Are you a U.S. Citizen OR do you need a work Visa?
2. How much money do you make now or what is your current salary?
3. Do you have a disability or have you ever filed a worker's compensation case?
4. Are you pregnant or trying to have a family?
5. Do you have Children?

The key to any question asked by an employer for a job interview is making sure it doesn't single out anyone and is asked equally without judgement to any person applying.  Now lets look at the legal and fair way to ask the questions above without discrimination.

1. Can you provide documented proof for the I9 Form that you are legally authorized to work in the U.S.?  Whether you are a U.S. Citizen or not every person working in the U.S. must show proof laid out by the Government in the I9 Form that they are eligible to work in the U.S..
2. What is your desired salary to take this job?  This way a person can't be discriminated by a company from getting an offer just because they earn a certain salary.  The company can share their budget and if you choose to answer yes I want to earn this much but this role has circumstances where I can compromise for a better situation.  The employer now doesn't have prior salary information to discriminate against.
3. Describe the job duties and then ask is there anything that would keep you from performing all of these duties?  As long as the duties are not illegal or considered immoral the company has a right to not offer the job to someone who won't or can't do the job for whatever reason.
4. Do you have any extended leave planned?  Again this question shows no biased against anyone as there are many reasons a person has extended leave planned.
5. Is there anything preventing you from working the required core business hours of the position?  Again the question shows no bias towards any person in particular, the employers has a right to expect everyone equally to work the required hours.

Of course there are many more illegal questions that can't be asked but these are the most common that come up and Hiring Managers struggle with.

Dear Recruiter,
​
​My name is Sandy and I work as a Market Coordinator for a small law firm just outside of St. Louis.  Doing marketing for a Law Firm, my job lacks the flexibility for me to be creative so I'm on the hunt for a new one.  That has been a struggle as I apply and apply for jobs online with no luck at all.  I barely get any interviews.

Dear Recruiter Help!  What am I doing wrong?

Sandy first of all thank you for writing in and sharing your question.  I'm sure there are a lot of marketing people that are in your situation so they will appreciate you asking the question.  So I get similar questions to these a lot and the common theme to the frustration people have is applying to jobs online.  Look I get it, companies require applicants to apply online to get hired.  But let me let you and the rest of the reading audience in on a secret Sandy, you don't have to apply to the job right away you can apply anytime.  What does that mean exactly?

Well once a company has interest in you as a candidate and they want to set you up for an interview, at that point you can officially apply to the job which they will direct you to do.  The misnomer is that in order to be considered initially for a job you have to apply for it online, not true.  There are other ways to be considered for a job other than directly applying to it online which is what I will cover.

Still the most effective way to get your "foot in the door" to be interviewed and considered for a job is network with someone working there to advocate for you or connecting directly with the hiring manager.  The other way to find not only marketing jobs but any jobs is to have them notice you and approach you.  This way jobs you are not aware of will have a way of finding and reaching out to you.

As a Marketing person Sandy you have the advantage of having the skills to market yourself in Social Media as a way to get Hiring Manager to notice you that other people may not have.  Here is a quick list of things I would recommend you do and this can all be done on Linkedin which is still the top Professional Social Media Platform.

1. First thing first make sure your Linkedin Profile is complete and up to date.  Include all of your accomplishments in the top under your summary as well as in each job.​
2. List any Content/Blogs/Websites you have created in your Linkedin Profile.
3. Reach out to Company Hiring Managers for organizations you want to work for as well as other people in the marketing department and invite them to connect.  If and when they accept your invitation, write them a note to say hello and introduce yourself to them.
4. Follow Marketing Groups and Marketing organizations that interest you.  If they share content that interest you feel free to comment on it or better add your insight to it.
5. If your job doesn't allow you to create creative content then take the initiative to do something on your own personally.  Create your own website that houses your own marketing content such as blogs, videos, podcast etc.. and share it with your network.
6. Last, let those Marketing People in your network know that you are looking.  You don't have to advertise it to the world that you are looking but you certainly can in private conversations.

Sandy I hope that helps.  Thank you for writing in and good luck on your search!

Best Wishes,

​Dear Recruiter

I know if you are a company of any size right now especially smaller in nature its natural to panic during an unprecedented crisis like the one we are going through with Covid-19.  Therefore the first defense mechanism to set in is "button down the hatches" and stop all hiring.  Then the next move an organization contemplates is work force reductions and who is expendable.  I'm here to tell all the Business Owners and Leadership before you do anything, take a deep breath, pause and reset your mental thoughts.  Reacting out of panic is the worse thing you can do!

Now if you are a small business that is barely surviving "living paycheck to paycheck" that is a different story.  However the focus of my message is to smaller Emerging Technology Firms who were doing well before this crisis "blindsided" all of us.  My message specifically to these firms who have a great technology product or service is step up your recruiting efforts to find the talent you need going forward, and PLEASE PLEASE consider NOT laying off any personnel.  How companies react or DO NOT React is being judged by candidates that may consider working for your organization in the future.

I urge you to explore other alternatives to get by for a few months if at all possible.  People are your best assets in a crisis, your Employees are your best assets!  Your organization invested a lot of time to find and train these people, to panic and let them go will harm your ROI in the long-term.  Especially when this crisis passes and business gets back to thriving, you will realize how much you needed them and not having them is impacting business.

RECRUITING vs. HIRING
Now when I speak about step up your Recruiting Efforts that doesn't mean necessarily hiring.  Recruiting and hiring are very different functions, let me explain difference.   Hiring is actually adding people to your staff where you are paying them salary and taking on the cost of benefits and training.  Not much more needs to be said beyond that.  Now recruiting, that is a completely different story!

Recruiting can be as little or as intense as you want it to be.  The main goal is to engage your audience which is a company's Hiring Profile Avatar on some level.  Again this doesn't have to be a full fledged recruiting effort that you would normally conduct when you are actively hiring.  It can be as little as reaching out to a handful of candidates on a weekly basis in your niche space that your business normally hires for to say hello and introduce yourself.  Let them know what your business does and that you would love to have an open dialogue to get to know them and network.  Mention that your company is always on the search for talent with their skill set and even though you are not hiring now, you hope to be in the near future and want to make the connection. You can be even more passive then that if you like.  Maybe you send out videos or blogs on some interesting projects your firm has done in groups on Social Media where your candidates hangout.

RECRUITING IS A GREAT WAY TO BRAND YOUR ORGANIZATION DURING A CRISIS
By not "letting up on the gas pedal" with your recruiting efforts during a crisis says a lot about your company to the outside world from a branding perspective.  When you are staying active talking to candidates and letting them know about the passion behind the work you are doing, and you plan to continue doing this work past the crisis this will create positive energy and a sense of good will for people about your brand.  It shows that your company is strong and refuses to be defined and handicapped by the crisis.  More important, your company creates a positive brand image to the outside world that your organization is forward thinking and a place that has big plans for its future.

The Power of a Positive Workplace Culture — for Full-Timers and Contingent Workers
"Devoting time to your total workforce helps you grow and scale by attracting, developing, and retaining top talent, who are in turn more productive and loyal. When your people — whether internal and full-time or external and project-based — feel valued and supported, they will ardently share your vision and work hard to help your business succeed. More and more, employees and contingent workers alike are looking for positive workplace cultures. People today want to make a positive impact on their companies and their communities. An emphasis on corporate social responsibility, volunteering, and health and well-being is key.
So, where do you start in creating a positive work culture? Well, start by listening to your people. What do they need to succeed in their roles? What do they look for in leadership? how do they want to grow and engage with your company in the future?"
James Lee, COO of SAP

EMPLOYEE REVIEWS ARE AN OPPORTUNITY NOT A OBLIGATION
I know a lot of managers dread the labor and time intensive activity of the Employee Review process but this really is a great opportunity for the organization on many levels!

• Its an opportunity to learn what your employees ambitions are to grow them into different areas of the company which will excite them and entice them to stay.
• Its an opportunity to help them grow and get better in their roles which directly helps the company.
• Its an opportunity to get honest feedback on what they think the company needs to do to get better.  If they are thinking it, most likely this is the perception of the outside world.  This gives you an opportunity to fix your Employer Brand when trying to hire.
• Its an opportunity to find out what other opportunities are enticing them and what are things needed to be done by the company to keep them.

Questions That Are a NO NO To Ask Candidates During a Interview

Here is a list of questions that a Company can get in trouble for asking a candidate on a interview and some of these are not so obvious.

• No longer can you legally ask a candidate how much money they are making as of 2017 law update
• You can't ask a candidate anything about their personal life, if they volunteer personal information that is different.  You can only ask would something restrict them from fulfilling the duties of the job.
• You can't ask if a candidate needs Citizenship to work or needs a visa.  You can only ask them if they are authorized to work in the United States.

Bottom line keep the questions professionals and pertaining to the job and their experiences that make them applicable to do the job and you will avoid trouble!

Are you a Mid-to-Senior Level Professional working in the "Tech Sector" trying to find a new job, but need to "fly under the radar" so your employer doesn't find out? Are you trying to avoid publicizing your resume for fear of being over-whelmed by the countless amount of emails and calls from recruiters trying to talk you into a opening that doesn't fit? If you answered yes to one or both of those questions then I may have a solution for you!

The strategies I'm proposing are proven effective for individuals wanting to conduct a highly confidential job search to try and move in-between or upward into a technical or managerial position where discretion is important. The strategies I'm specifically referring to is Social Media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc...). I understand most people know how to use these tools already, but I can assure you there is an incredible amount of things these tools can do for your job search that you can't even begin to imagine! Take it from someone who over the last couple years has dedicated themselves to really understanding how to use Social Media for my job. The only boundary Social Media has is the limits of your creativity!
Why is a Job Search Different for Technology Professionals Then Other Professions?

So there are a couple of reasons I really wanted to focuse this blog on professionals working in the Tech Industry. For one, I have spent the majority of my professional work life recruiting, evaluating and hiring Information Technology skill sets so I have a very good understanding of the importance that their abilities and talents directly have on an organization. Therefore I have some specific job search strategies that someone working in technology can leverage to best market themselves. The second and most important reason I wanted to reach out specifically to technology people and folks in management is that their search is very specific and focused, thus making it different and in most cases more difficult.

Believe it or not conducting a search when you are employed is far more difficult than when you are a "free agent" or in between jobs. The reason is when you are employed in most instances, you don't want your current employer to know you are looking. This means you don't have the ability to advertise out to the "free world" that you are looking for a new job for fear of consequences you could face if your employer finds out. The second problem with looking for a job when you are working is the lack of flexibility to interview. In fact having initial conversations with potential employers to do initial inquires are even difficult during business hours when you are working.

Due to the nature of work and the level of difficulties that technical professionals possess make them attractive to many potential employers out there. The training IT people have to endure is intense and very expensive, so if an employer can hire someone who already owns those skills without having to pay for it makes that person attractive to a company. With that said technical people have many opportunities which on the surface sounds great, but if you dig deeper this could be a negative because a lot of these opportunities may not be a good fit at all. For any of us who have taken the wrong job, that could prove to be a disaster. Hence this is a great transition to the main focus of my article, how to leverage Social Media to conduct a confidential job search.

CREATE YOUR PERSONAL BRAND USING SOCIAL MEDIA
Earlier in this article I teased you mentioning the amazing things Social Media can do for your job search, especially when you are trying to "fly under the radar". Social Media really is an incredible gift technology has given us, you can be anywhere in the world and at the touch of your fingertips communicate anything you want and access any information you want. Best of all its free!!!

One thing to keep in mind is that freedom comes with a price. Just as you have the ability to communicate anything you want and research anything you want at the the touch of your finger tips, everyone else also has that power. That is why the first thing you need to do which is what I consider to be the most critical when getting onto Social Media, establish credibility!! You not only want people to take you serious from a professional perspective, but you want them to believe that you have some level of expertise in at least one if not many subject areas. If you can't do this, then there is no amount of technology that will help your job search. The best way to accomplish this is to develop a strong professional brand for yourself that will create "buzz".

When I talk about "buzz" I'm referring to things about your professional background that will make people "stand up and take notice" wanting to know more about you. The way to do that is through your special milestones you have accomplished on the job. As a recruiter one of my "pet peeves" is to see someone take the time to put a profile on Linkedin or Twitter, especially Linkedin and just list your jobs you worked at with maybe a short bullet list of your daily task; "BORING". Being someone in the profession hiring for my job openings, I use social media a lot to find people. If someone doesn't excite me with how they made a difference at their organizations and what they accomplished, I will not give them a 2nd look let alone reach out to them to learn more.

First step, take a note book or type somewhere on your computer where you can make a list of neat things you accomplished job by job. Speak about special projects you were involved with, the role you took on those projects and how they made your department or company better for this accomplishment. Another key thing to cover for technology people is talk about the technology you used and relate it to how it served the business purposes. Some examples might be (task you did to reduce cost/increase revenue/processes you implemented to drive better efficiency). These functions "scream" you are a potentially valuable employee to a future employer.

Target your Search Through Research
Now that your professional branding is created and you have some credibility behind you which will drive people to your profile through key word searches, this is where your search on social media begins. That beginning starts with you identifying organizations that you want to work for. You are working and you have skills that are attractive to many employers, so I beg of you please be selective of where you choose to work for your next place of employment. Take it from someone who has made this mistake in the past, you are better to be mildly miserable at your current employer then to take a risk going to a new company and taking on a role you are not 100% sure is the right move.

What I mean by that is you have built up credibility and tenure at your current company, if you give that up for a new job you are unsure about and it turns out bad that could be a very nasty situation. At least with your current job you should have some flexibility since you have proven your credibility. At a new job you have to prove yourself all over again meaning lack of flexibility to look for a new job if things turn "sour". Now that I have your attention, this is where you want to take your time and figure out the best company to make your next move to. You want to take into account factors that are important to you such as industry preference, company size, initiatives they are involved with that might match up with things you want to do in your career and most important, their reputation with their customers and how they treat employees. Luckily with Social Media which again I stress is free, this information is very easy to obtain and the accuracy of the information is very easy to confirm.

The two tools I think you get the most "bang for your buck" meaning allocation of your time is LinkedIn and Glass Door. First LinkedIn, you can search company profiles and employee profiles to see all company history and the backgrounds of key personnel who run that organization. This is where you can get a first glance to see if the projects they are working on match your skills and things you want to do. Also you look to see if the backgrounds of the people working their share common backgrounds and interest to you. This is the first and most important indicator if this is a possible organization that is right for you. I also mentioned a tool called Glass Door, this is basically Yelp for Companies. Employees can go to Glass Door on strictly a confidential basis and post their true experiences and feelings about working at a company without fear of having their identity discovered. This is where you can learn about specific examples of how a company treats their employees and sure you have to take this information with a "grain of salt", but I have found it to be very accurate especially if comments are in a majority fashion sway one way or the other. If you have 10 people within a year or so time frame saying negative or positive comments about a company and they have worked in various areas of the organization, its safe to say that is probably a trend you will find to be true.

"Let the Networking Begin"
Ok, you have completed your thorough preparation of short listing some organizations you want to work at that match your values. You have also created a very attractive profile so those companies can gain an awareness of you and see if you match what they look for in an employee. Now you are ready to take the plunge and let those companies know you are interested, "let the networking begin".

Networking, this is where a lot of job seekers make their biggest mistakes. Most people think networking is connecting with others to ask for a job directly. True networking is more passive and less aggressive and is one of those situations where "less is more". Yes you do want to reach out and connect with people who share your same skills or work for a company you are looking to possibly work at, but it is for information purposes only with advertising yourself through intelligent questions is a "byproduct". Reaching out to others should be for the purpose of learning what they like about the company, initiatives they are working on that they enjoy, things they feel the company could improve on and last advice seeking.

People are more likely to answer your invitation and be open to speaking with you if you let them know you are seeking their advice or want to do information sharing. It is ok to say once you have established some credibility with the people you are reaching out to "look I'm looking to potentially make a move from my organization but I want to seek your advice on some places that you feel would be best for me to perform certain types of work". "I notice you are doing some similar things to what I have done, what do you like about your organization". This tactic will get you much further with people because all you are asking them for is information as opposed to a job. Also they gain respect for you because you are coming off as someone who is thought provoking and very serious about a job change as vs. someone just desperate to find a job.

Another way to get yourself known as an expert in your field is joining professional groups in LinkedIn and Meetup in your areas of expertise and post useful information and questions. This is a great way to get yourself known in the industry and advertise your knowledge.
​
Steve Rosen