Sirona Says

Don't sack 6000 HR staff, Mr Brown - send them where they are needed most

Today I have penned an open letter to the leader of our country, with a solution to one of his upcoming problems - 6000 potential HR job losses from within the Government.

Gordon Brown
Prime Minister
The Prime Ministers Office
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA

Dear Mr Brown,

For some time now, you are your Government seem to be having a problem countering the exponentially rising tide of unemployment in the UK. Unfortunately due to the 'creative way' the economy has been managed over the last few years, this problem doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.

As a man who has declared himself as the next Messiah and 'Saver of The Modern World', you seem to have spared little thought to the millions of people that are now unemployed and looking for work in an economy where so few jobs exist. Both yourself are Mr Darling seem very capable of creating theories and strategies to get hundreds of thousands of unemployed people - particularly the younger members of the working population - back to work. But you seem to have forgotten that you need to actually do something with all this hot air, and not just inflate another hot air balloon with it! The unemployed people want to know 'how' and 'when', and not more self publicising scriptures of fantasy.

As someone who does care passionately about the lack of advice and guidance the unemployed people are given, I believe that there is a solution that you could implement that would help make a real difference.

Last year you appointed former Logica chairman Martin Read is to head the Government's effort to streamline its information technology. This Operational Efficiency Programme is targeted to improve efficiency in back-office operations across all the Government departments and Quangos. in it he proposed introducing central-wide shared services to try and replicate the typical cost savings you would expect in the private sector of between 30-70%. The implication of this would mean the displacement of nearly 6000 HR jobs across the UK.

The great news, Mr Brown, is that you don't have to spend hundreds of £1000's in redundancy payments because you could use their skills in the Government body where they are most needed - the Job Centre Network!
Currently you have a complete lack of skills and competency within the Job Centre Network, with completely unqualified individuals dispensing advice and support to the unemployed. Why not transfer all the 'surplus' HR resources out into the Job Centre Network, to help train and develop the skill level of your employees at the sharp end of the unemployment crisis?
The cost cutting will be country wide, and the need for support is also country wide, as is the need to not spend any more public money on inflated redundancy payments. It makes absolute sense to allow these HR professionals to help the Government where they need it most, in developing it's own talent for the future, and investing in its own staff training programme.

Now I know, this course of action may prove a little uncomfortable for you, as you will actually have to make some difficult decisions. So what you can do is the decision to another scapegoat -  Mr Darling or Mr Balls spring to mind, call it a 'new initiative' and there you have a potentially £multi-million saving to announce.

Then once again you can put on your sandals and white robes and 'believe' that you have again helped and saved millions of people!

Yours begrudgingly

A representative of the people

PS. The Bristol Balloon Festival is on the 9th August, and the organisers want to know if you will be free this year as they have a gas shortage?

Should you put your photo on your CV?

This is a topic that does cause heated discussions between job seekers, recruiters and hiring companies, because they all believe they know the answer! Well,  the truth is that there is no definitive answer, it is just opinion!
It is interesting though where the opinion sits.

 - Job seekers often (and more frequently now) put their pictures on CV's thinking it will give them the edge.

 - Recruiters often remove photos from CV's that candidates send them before they send them to their clients.

 - Hiring companies don't necessarily expect CV's to have a photo on them, so they are not fussed either way.

Let me explain why I think that you should not put your photo on your CV, but also offer a compromise to the situation.
There is are two words why I don't advocate putting photos on CV's and they are PREJUDICE and DISCRIMINATION. Now you may be shocked or surprised, but let me assure you that in the recruiting process of many, many companies discrimination happens at many levels.
You may say that there are laws prohibiting this, and of course you are right. But does it stop it happening? ...........absolutely not!!

Let me explain why.

Does your body language give you away? - Do you Steeple, Head Cock or Preen when you meet people?

A post I wrote last year on the top 10 handshakes, created a huge amount of interest (and still does via Google), so  when I came across these video's on the Times Online website, I thought it would be worth mentioning, because for recruiters this subject should be second nature - body language.

Do you know what Steepling, Posture Superiority, Feet pointing, Preening, Deception, Posture Congruence and Powerplay have to do with recruitment?
Well they are all forms of body language that we all use every single day in our jobs -some rightly and some very wrongly!

So, if you want to know when someone is lying to you, then I suggest you watch the first video - it is essential for any recruiter (am I saying that candidates lie?????).

The second video is on body language while giving a presentation - again something that recruiters should be adept at, that is if they are client facing.

The third video deals with the most famous recruiter trait (well it is for some of the more arrogant idiots in our industry anyway) - exerting power and control over a subordinate (colleague or interviewee). So if you want to avoid coming across as a complete nobhead in the future, then take note.

Interview body language is next - and is an absolute definite must to view. As recruiters it is something we are doing all the time, but are you giving the wrong signals? Watch and check if you are in this fourth video.

The final video is very interesting, and deals with the body language when trying to negotiate a promotion - we have all been in that meeting at some time!!

Overall, this makes a nice set of video's to watch - not too long, but useful in its content. Just ignore the blatant advertising for Canada (what's wrong with the UK??) at the beginning (sorry you Canadian readers, nothing personal!).

If you try to do it through HR it will be a disaster!

Following on from my last post on Talent Management  it seems that there is further confusion regarding this human capital subject. Does the responsibility for talent management sit with HR or line managers?

The CIPD VP Tim Miller has his opinion, and that it is that the responsibility lies with line managers. His reasoning? - "If you try to do it through HR it will be a disaster!" Do you think he has had some bad experiences by any chance? 

He does qualify this further though by adding, "One thing we find is that if you have not got great managers, you are not going to develop talent properly. If you get your management sorted out everything else will follow. If managers are not doing what they are paid to do - get rid of them"  But how many companies will be that brave when they are finding good people hard to come by?

He really hits the nail on the head with his summation, which I think is a very astute comment, "Talented people don't want to work for donkeys. They want to work for people who want to develop them."  Too true!

Can you define Talent Management? - these HR specialists had trouble!

Talent Management - also now being called Human Capital Management -  is now a well used phrase within both HR and business, but can you define what it is? The actions of talent management are easy to define - sourcing, attracting, selecting, training, developing, retaining, promoting. But trying to get a defined statement can be difficult when it means many different things to many people.

To highlight how difficult this can be, Personnel Today put this question to six HR specialists, who you would expect to know how to define talent management........maybe the lack of defined answers won't surprise you!

Seth Godin speaks.......listen HR

The fantastic author and 'thought guru', Seth Godin, is as usual being thought provoking, but this time with regards to the world of HR. His message is simple, forget calling it the Human Resources Department all together and just call it the Talent Department! 

Sell it, market it or promote it, but make sure you do something to change people's perceptions of what human resources has become. This post on marketing your HR better is well worth reading, as is his excellent blog.