Sirona Says

Use this career site with warning - you could end up buying a wedding dress at the same time!!

There is much debate and complaint regarding companies using (or not using) their own websites to recruit staff. Of course there are some very good sites out there, that really do give a great candidate experience such as Mothercare and The Body Shop. But there are times when even experienced recruiters (such as my good self) are dumbstruck with some of the corporate sites out there, and the complete lack of care they show when putting together their career pages.
One such site is for the department store group - Debenhams. Just take a visit to their homepage, and go to the Jobs link at the bottom of the page and click on it.

No it doesn't take you to the Debenhams jobs as you might expect but to a page with a wedding URL!! Even more bizarly, there is a career section there!! And then when you want to return to the career home page (in pink at the top of the page), it takes you then to the weddings home page itself!!  Maybe they think that all new recruits should first buy their wedding attire before they apply for a job at Debenhams!!

Is it any wonder that retailers struggle to attract and recruit high calibre recruits when they are making the most stupid mistakes like this - what impression does that leave with a jobseeker?? It actually gets funnier (in a sad way!), because there is actually a http://www.debenhams-jobs.com/ domain at the same time!!

What those job descriptions really mean!!

In recruitment, we have the 'pleasure' of reading many job specs / role profiles / job descriptions. Of course they come in many different forms, but one thing they have in common (well most of the time anyway!) is their ability to actually not say what they mean! How many times do our candidates actually ask us what they mean? Well, I thought it would be amusing to list some alternatives for some of the standard lines on a spec, profile or description. Surely they can't be true.....can they?

COMPETITIVE SALARY:
We remain competitive by paying less than our competitors.

FLEXIBLE HOURS:
Work 55 hours; get paid for 38

Is Diversity ruining Christmas?

My message to companies who are abstaining or cancelling Christmas parties for non-financial reasons is as follows: stop sitting on your 'company fence', forget all the political correctness crap and give your employees what they want - Christmas cheer in the form of a party (or similar)!

Diversity is slowly ruining Christmas, and many companies are sitting behind this excuse, rather than making a positive 'statement' to their staff. As an example, NCP (National Car Parks) have cancelled their Christmas party and Christmas bonus this year because "their workforce is now so diverse with so many different religions, they don't feel it appropriate to just recognise Christmas"
So is tradition being swept aside in favour of political correctness? .............Totally!!
Personally I think it a complete load of baubles!! Every country has its own ways of celebrating history, tradition or religious festivals. When you live or work in that country, wherever that may be, you should respect the ways of that country, such as Thanksgiving in the US in November, the Chinese New Year in February in China and Eid-ul-Fitr - sometimes described as a 'Muslim Christmas' (and of course there are many more).
So why don't companies stop this nonsense and treat their employees with intelligence and integrity. If individuals want to avoid going to the Christmas party, then that is totally their choice, but don't penalise the majority of your employees who want to celebrate, what is to them, the main holiday of the year.

Moofing - The future of the workplace....seriously!

No, Moofing in not something to do with cows, it is the new way of working that is set to be the future of the workplace - it is next generation working!!

So what is it then? Moofer (from the acronym; Mobile Out of Office) is a term used to describe the new breed of worker that sees the office as just one location that’s key to their job rather than the only location. Moofers understand that work is something you do - not somewhere you go. They work smarter not harder and have a better work-life balance. The JV website between Microsoft and The Work Foundation provides a good starting point!

We need to redefine the term ‘office work’. The workplace should be enjoyable and productive, but first we need to change our attitude towards office work. Whilst in the office, workers need to interact with their colleagues. “Use office time for face-to-face meetings and other interpersonal activities saving the reports, presentations and other more cerebral stuff for a location better suited to total concentration”. This new approach is at the forefront of moofing; a new way of working that is set to be the future of the workplace.

If HR can't manage it, then what hope for the others?

It appears that HR professionals are suffering like the rest of us from working too hard and for too long. At the CIPD Conference at Harrogate earlier this year, People Management conducted a survey amongst many HR people around hours of work and work life balance etc. I know the results won't be too much of a surprise, but my point is that if this is the situation within the department that is supposed to be focused on protecting and helping employees working life then what chance have companies in the UK got to get it right?

Recruiting the Web 3.0 way!

Many companies are still getting their heads around Web 2.0 and how they can use the real interaction it brings, to engage more effectively with job seekers and potential employees. There are some great sites, notably the new Microsoft site but in reality the vast majority of companies have struggled to grasp the Web 2.0 concept. Well all the geeks in geek land have come up with the next level if interaction - Web 3.0 aka The Semantic Web. In simple terms it means information that is understandable by computers without human intervention - enabling computers to perform more of the boring work involved in finding and sharing information on the Web.

So what will that mean to anyone who uses the web to recruit (nearly everyone!!)?

How many public sector HR staff does it take to change a lightbulb?

If you have worked in the public sector you will already know the answer - it is of course eight!!

One to change the lightbulb.
The second to assess the risk of the light bulb changing process.
A third to ensure the light bulb changing process adheres to the internal compliance regime for health and safety during light bulb changes.
A fourth to ensure that the internal purchase order procedures have been adhered with for light bulb change orders.
A fifth to audit the supply of the light bulb following the internal purchase order procedure.
A sixth to report back to the compliance and risk functions that the supply and audit divisions had complied with the light bulb change risk and compliance procedures.
A seventh to monitor that the light bulb was changed by a member of staff who was cleared by the CIPD to be authorised with light bulb changing management.
And an eighth being the most important.........they are responsible for costing the light bulb changing process and being creative enough to incorporate the pricing of the eight people into their customers' monthly billing statement without their customer noticing.

Who says you have to be process driven in the public sector!!

How would you describe yourself - as a fox or a hedgehog?

Strange as this may sound, this is a very old subject and one that has created much debate over many years. It is important to first understand these two creatures and how they interact, to then understand why the renowned Jim Collins believes that the great companies are built by Hedgehogs, while their less successful competitors are led by Foxes.

This is not as mad as it sounds!

Had a bad day? Feel like you want to have a good rant? Here you go then...

Today I discovered a great site for all you employees that have a real problem with either your company, your colleagues, your boss or all of them!!  The site is called Workrant and it allows you to do exactly that!! It allows you to rant away all your work related stress - anonymously - and ease the frustration accordingly. And if words are just not enough then they allow you to upload videos of your work rants as well......awesome!

Truly a great (and funny) site, but beware.....it isn't for the faint hearted and those managers of a nervous disposition, stay away from this site!!

There is an example of a recent rant below from someone only known as ERL:

Spreading interview advice even further!

  I have always been one to offer advice to anyone looking for a new job or career, but thanks to Guardian Jobs, I am now able to share my advice even further. The Guardian have a very good Jobs section, with an excellent careers advice section offering advice on all aspects of finding a new job. They kindly asked to include a recent article I wrote on handshakes, within their Interview guide section, which of course I was happy to oblige with.