Precision Staffing

The worst assumption that managers can make about their area of responsibility is that they know everything that is going on in the department. In reality, they only know what their people want them to know or think they need to know.
Managers who are approachable will find out about problems and issues before they become full blown crises. The people who work for an approachable manager will challenge the manager if they feel that he or she is going to make a big mistake. They will do their best to keep the manager out of trouble.
Here is an example that I use in my work with managers to illustrate the point. I’m walking down the street not paying attention to where I’m walking and am just about to step in a pile of dog poop. My employees observe me and have three choices of how they respond. One choice is to stop me before I step into it. The second is to watch me step in it and then say how sorry they were that it happened. And the third choice is to watch me step in it and then cheer. My next question is “how would your employees respond?”
Managers who are not approachable will have more and bigger problems than those who are approachable. If the manager is not approachable, the employees tend to cover up problems, either consciously or unconsciously.
Some of the reasons that managers may be perceived as unapproachable include:
- Always being in a hurry and not taking the time to acknowledge people. And in those situations where they do attempt to interact with subordinates they give the impression that their mind is on something else.
- “Shooting the messenger.” If employees are made to feel embarrassed or criticized for bringing bad news, then they will be less likely to do it in the future.
- Most of the feedback that the manager gives to employees is negative. Visits to the workplace are usually to deal with a problem and to find out who is to blame. The manager rarely gives positive, face-to-face recognition.
- The manager spends most of his or her time trying to make a good impression on those above him or her in the organization. The “face” they put on for higher level people is totally different from the one that their employees see on a daily basis.
- Most of the interaction with the manager happens on the manager’s “turf”. This not only includes the manager’s office, but also includes conference rooms as well.
Becoming approachable involves changing behavior and habits. Here are a few ideas on ways that a manager can change his or her behavior to become more approachable:
- Make interacting with employees on their turf a priority. I have been responsible for managing organizations of several hundred people. A goal that I always had was to have a face-to-face interaction with each person in my organization at least once per month. If I had a smaller organization, I would expect a more frequent interaction. For those managers with larger organizations, less frequent is probably needed. The key is to have a goal and stick to it.
- In the 1970’s, Bill Hewitt and Dave Packard created a management style that was known as “management by walking around (MBWA).” It consisted of personal involvement with employees, exhibiting good listening skills, and recognizing people for doing the right thing. Under Hewlett and Packard, MBWA has a purpose. When I coach managers on this subject, I emphasize that their visits through the workplace need to be done with a purpose. Otherwise, it is just management by meandering around.
- When engaging employees, avoid the standard “how it is going” question. Instead, ask open ended questions that cannot be answered with one word—”yes”, “no”, “alright” , “bad” and so forth. Engage people in a conversation to find out what is really on their minds.
- Be sensitive to non-verbal clues that you may be sending to your people about your interest in them. Stopping a conversation to answer a cell phone call or constantly looking at your watch tells people subconsciously that you are not really interested in what they are saying.
- Greet people was if you are genuinely glad to see them.
- Find ways to give some form of positive feedback each day. Make the feedback specific and use it to reinforce the positive behaviors and outcomes that you want to see from people in your organization.
- All of us are just people, regardless of the position or title that we have. Managers who are approachable have the self confidence and self esteem to show their human side. They don’t have the need to wear a mask in the work place.
Are you approachable? Are you getting ready to step in it? What would your employees do?
Written by Ryan Scholz
Isnare.com

Weekly initial jobless claims rose by 11,000 to 428,000, versus last week’s figure which was upwardly revised by 3,000 to 417,000, and compared to the 411,000 level that economists had expected. Also, the four-week moving average, considered a smoother look at the trend in claims, rose by 4,000 to 419,500, while continuing claims fell by 12,000 to 3,726,000, above the forecast of economists, which called for continuing claims to come in at 3,710,000.

In a market of high competition for each and every job we are all looking for that competitive edge. Directly below is a link to an article on AOL-jobs on cover letters tailored to specific jobs. We each need to take advantage of every tool available.

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/category/cover-letter-examples

Here we stand in 2011. The internet age is at full speed and technological advancements are made at a startling rate. However, devices are not the only advancements that are being made. How we communicate is also rapidly changing. The world of social media is growing and engulfing our daily lives. Sites such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter consume hours of our day and the postings that can be found are quite remarkable. The big question is can and more importantly how these postings impact the work place?

Can prospective and current employers check up on employees? Yes, but with limitations. It may be used to verify previous work history and accuracy. Social Media may also be monitored for postings that may be viewed as harassment by other employees. It can also be checked to see if an employee who calls in sick was not out partying the night before. A very large issue is an individual’s right to privacy. Does someone have the right to make postings in confidence that no repercussions may occur? No, once you post an item to the internet it is considered public information.

• Privacy: Has a person’s constitutional right to privacy been violated? It first depends on the individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy and whether that was infringed.
o There remains no established method for determining if a reasonable expectation of privacy was established. Therefore proving their right to privacy has been violated is very difficult.

Many employers are using social media as pre-employment screening. This practice is becoming increasingly popular. In a June 2009 survey of 2,600 companies performed by CareerBuilder.com, 45% of employers stated that they used social media to pre-screen job applicants. Of the employers that said they pre-screened applicants through social media, 35% admitted that they reviewed content on social media sites which caused them to disregard a job applicant for employment. The thing that employers must remember is that you cannot “unsee” what you have discovered in social media. Often times, the information you garner about a job applicant does not create any legal issues. However, knowledge that an individual is within a protected class (be it based on race, religion, or disability) could increase the risk of a discrimination claim if that individual is not hired. It will basically place an employer in a situation where it must provide a non-discriminatory reason as to why a certain individual was not hired. It is very easy to discover such information from a quick review of a Facebook or MySpace page. The applicant’s profile picture can often give away race, ethnicity, and disabilities. In addition, the applicant’s profile may also give religious information and the applicant’s date of birth (bringing age discrimination into the mix as well).

When utilizing social media for pre-employment screening best practices should be considered and policies should be written and implemented. While very few legal guidelines exist in regards to legislation there are still legal implications that can arise if best practices are not followed. Below are nine steps that are recommended to assist in your development of best practices.

• Screen in a consistent and uniform manor – make sure you follow the same process for everyone you are screening. Don’t follow a random process of only checking up on people you think may be hiding something or may have some secret life you think you should know about.
• Screen the same sites for everyone and maintain the list of sites you screen – determine which sites you think are the most relevant to look at (Linked In, Quora, Spoke, Twitter, etc) and don’t alter the list just because of the candidate. In other words – if you feel like Facebook is really a social environment without much relevant job information – don’t suddenly search it for the candidate that has a funny tattoo.
• Pre define the types of information you are screening for and the criteria used for screening – This is a KEY point: You are looking for relevant, work related information only. You probably don’t need to know about someone’s partying habits, but you probably do need to know about threats of violence, hate messages against minorities or ethnic groups, a pattern of disparaging comments about previous employers, or misleading information about their college degree.
• If you don’t plan to screen everyone, be clear and consistent about what groups you are not screening – like all background checking, social media is not that different in a case like this. You don’t have to screen all job categories, but be clear (and document) why you screen some and not others.
• Have a neutral party do the screening to avoid hiring manager seeing protected data (age, race, religion, health conditions, etc.) – The fundamental point here is – if you are going to look at data on a social media site – you will see more than you need to. To avoid that risk – use a third party that will filter out that data.
• DO NOT friend an applicant – this is fraught with all kinds of problems. Not only does it provide you access to information you do not need to know, it opens up all kinds of issues with privacy, harassment, etc.
• View only publicly available information – most of what you need to know can be found in the public data. No need to ask for an applicant’s access or password, or to friend or “connect” with them to see additional data.
• If you use social media data to reject an applicant, point to clear, legitimate hiring requirements for reason to not hire (e.g. poor judgment) – your reason for not hiring someone should be sound. Enough said. Social media data is no exception.
• Gain applicant’s consent – it really is a good idea to follow the same notice and disclosure policies you would with any pre employment screen. Let the applicant know you will be checking their social media footprint and gain their consent.

Sources:

Thuber, J (2011, April 9). 9 Steps if Considering Social Media in Pre-Employment Screening. http://hrtoolbox.com. Retrieved August,4, 2011, http://hr.toolbox.com/blogs/musing-on-preemployment-screening/9-steps-if-considering-social-media-in-pre-employment-screening-45441

Sherwood, M (2011, March 21). Social Media in the Workplace: Pre-Employment Screening. www.unlaw.com. Retrieved August 4, 2011, http://www.uwlaw.com/articles/SOCIALMEDIAINTHEWORKPLACEPREEMPLOYMENTSCREEN.htm

Saper, D (2009, April 6). An Introduction to Legal Issues Surrounding Social Media. www.saperlaw.com. Retrieved August 4, 2011, http://www.slideshare.net/DaliahSaper/legal-implications-of-social-media

BY SHARIF KAHN

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Plato

Whether leading yourself toward a higher path, leading a family, community, congregation, or an entire organization, this is a good time to reexamine your leadership effectiveness. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how would you rate yourself as a leader? Leadership effectiveness, what I like to call LQ or Leadership Quotient, is primarily determined by a combination of Physical Intelligence, Mental Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, and Spiritual Intelligence. These four areas (Body, Mind, Heart, and Spirit) are essential toward the making of a whole leader. Let’s explore the key leadership factors that bring wholeness:
1. Inspire with Integrity (Spirit or Conscience)
2. Initiative and Innovation (Body and Mind)
3. Impactful Influence (Heart)

An easy way to remember this is LQ = 6I (Inspiration, Integrity, Initiative, Innovation, Impact, and Influence). This exercise will only take about fifteen minutes in which you answer some questions and honestly rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 for each factor.

1. Inspire with Integrity (Spirit or Conscience)
Are you energized with a larger than life vision or transcendent goal that serves the greater good and inspires others, or is your focus limited to only your own immediate needs? Are you aware of your highest purpose?
Great leaders subordinate their ego to their spirit or conscience by putting the needs of others before their own and finding a cause or purpose that’s greater than themselves. This gives a leader the moral authority to lead others.
On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for * Inspiration _________
(*In my book, The Hero Soul, http://www.herosoul.com, pg. 117, I provide deeper reflections on ‘inspiration’).
Do your actions reflect your vision, beliefs, and values? Do you do as you say and honor your word? Andrew Carnegie once said, “As I grow older, I pay less attention to what [people] say. I just watch what they do.”
On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for Integrity ___________

2. Initiative and Innovation (Body and Mind)
Once you know what your highest purpose and core genius is, how well do you execute on your vision and key priorities? Are you focused on doing the right things, what’s important, or are you spending too much time on urgent but not important activities and doing things right?
Leadership is about doing, taking initiative, and getting things done. Do you usually wait for things to happen and wait for others to initiate, or do you make things happen and initiate things on your own?
Additionally, the body is the temple of the spirit. Are you taking care of your body by exercising regularly and eating healthy so you have enough energy to take lots of action, or are you often succumbing to whims of the day?

On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for Initiative ___________

Are you continually growing and innovating as a leader in the never ending pursuit of excellence, or are you settling for mediocrity by being comfortable with the status quo?
Are you using your creative problem-solving skills and imagination to become a change-agent by experimenting with new ideas, solutions, and technology, or are you continually in fire-fighting mode by being frequently blindsided with change?

On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for Innovation ___________

3. Impactful Influence (Heart)
Are you reaching out to people and making an emotional impact in their lives? Are you getting to intimately know people in your circle of influence and taking the time to find out their fears, desires, challenges, and goals? Are you touching people’s lives by serving? The old adage, “people don’t care about what you know, until they know you care,” applies here.
The hero’s journey is about following your bliss and doing what you love doing in service to others. Interestingly, through the heart, by making an emotional impact in people’s lives and serving, the spiritual dimension is tapped. Rabrindranath Tagore once said, “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” In other words, service is spirit.

On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for Impact ___________

Finally, influence is a measure of your character that comes with time and experience. How wide and impactful is your influence? Are people seeking you out for your leadership, mentorship, and guidance? What is the quality of people you have attracted in your work and life?
We are in many ways the sum total reflection of the people in our circle of influence. Look around you. What type of people have you attracted in your sphere of influence? The majority of people you attract in your life, whether negative or positive, bright or ignorant, are mostly a reflection of your own character. If you’re not happy with the quality of people in your circle of influence, it’s time to work on yourself.

On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself for Influence ___________

After you’ve rated yourself for all six factors (Inspiration, Integrity, Initiative, Innovation, Impact, and Influence), add all the scores and divide by six. This indicator will give you a rough idea of your total LQ and where you need to make improvements. Make it a goal in this year to raise the bar in every category.
We have now come full circle in the leadership cycle starting with spirit (call it whatever you want) and ending with spirit; for everything rises and falls on leadership, everything comes from the spirit and returns to the spirit like the dust in the wind. Our highest purpose comes from spirit and returns to it in the form of service.

By subordinating our vision to the spirit, our conscience, our highest purpose is revealed. If you are not sure about your purpose, ask your higher self for guidance. A great way to do this is to ask a question before you go to sleep fully expecting an answer to be revealed in a dream or when you wake up. It might take several tries, but that’s okay, keep at it — and the answer will be revealed to you. A question you could ask might be, “What is my highest purpose?” or “How can I use my core genius to serve the greatest good?”

May jobs growth slows to 54,000, a nine-month low
10:15 am ET 06/03/2011 – MarketWatch Databased News
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — In disappointing news for the White House, Wall Street and Main Street, U.S. job gains slowed to a crawl in May and the unemployment rate moved higher, the Labor Department estimated Friday.

Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 54,000 in May. This is the smallest gain since September and a fraction of the 125,000 jobs expected by economists polled by MarketWatch.

That forecast had been cut in recent days as economists grew pessimistic after a string of disappointing data this week. Just a few days ago, economists were expecting jobs growth of 175,000 jobs in the month.

The official unemployment rate increased to 9.1% in May from 9.0% in April. This is the highest unemployment rate since December. Economists were expected a slight drop in the jobless rate to 8.9%.

“While one month does not make a trend and we are coming off three solid report payroll reports, today’s employment report not only confirms the recent softening in the economic data, but suggests that momentum is slowing sharper relative to market expectations,” said Neil Dutta, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The unemployment report adds to fears that the U.S. economy may have hit more than a soft patch and that a more protracted and dangerous downturn could be in the offing.

U.S. stocks traded lower on Friday, two sessions after the Dow Jones Industrial Average had the biggest one-month drop since July. Oil and silver futures also dropped.Read Market Snapshot.

Economists blamed the slowdown on higher gasoline prices and a slowdown in manufacturing caused by lack of parts from earthquake-wracked Japan.

“The deceleration in employment growth, together with a string of disappointing results on other indicators, calls into question the sustainability of the recovery,” said David Greenlaw of Morgan Stanley.

“However, we are still inclined to believe that this is a temporary soft patch reflecting supply chain disruptions, a spike in gasoline prices (which has been partially unwound), and weather-related influences.”

The government rejected the notion that deadly storms in the Midwest and the South played a role.

“We found no clear impact of the disasters on the national employment and unemployment data for May,” said Keith Hall, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in a statement.

Total payrolls were revised down by 39,000 for March and April. March’s gain was revised to 194,000 from 221,000, while April’s gain of 244,000 was revised to a gain of 232,000.

There was no sign that hiring at McDonald’s boosted payrolls. Food and drinking employment rose by 13,600 jobs in May after adding 28,000 workers in April.

“The breakdown of the leisure category suggest that the so-called McDonald’s effect was probably even smaller than the +25,000 or so that we had anticipated,” said Greenlaw.

A more detailed estimate for May fast food hiring will be available with a one-month lag, officials said.

The big picture

Stepping back, the economy has only recovered a small portion of the more than 8 million jobs lost during the recession.

Even before today’s disappointing number, the pace of job growth had not been sufficient to make a meaningful dent in the unemployment rate.

The problem of long-term unemployment continues to fester.

The number of unemployed workers out of work for 27 weeks or more rose to 6.2 million in May, or 4% of the labor force.

The labor force participation rate has held steady at 64.2% since January.

The underemployment rate, which includes part-time workers seeking full-time work, slipped to 15.8% in May from 15.9% in April.

Details

Details of the May report just added to evidence of a sharp deterioration in labor conditions.

Employment in the private sector was up by 83,000 in May, down from an average 244,000 gain in the prior three months.

The government sector shed 29,000 jobs in May, the seventh straight month of losses.

Services sector employment slowed to a gain of 51,000 in May from 194,000 in April.

Average hourly earnings increased 6 cents, or 0.3% to $22.98. Economists had been expecting a 0.2% gain. Earnings are up a slim 1.8% in the past year.

This shows that workers do not have a lot of spare cash as they grapple with higher prices at the pump.

The average workweek was steady at 34.4 hours. The factory workweek rose 12 minutes to 40.6 hours while factory overtime was unchanged at 3.2 hours.

“The only good news in the report was some upside in hours worked which points to a decent rise in wage income and a sharp jump in manufacturing output,” said Greenlaw of Morgan Stanley.

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