Lies, Statistics, and Resumes

May 16, 2012 in Business, HR Advice, hr fundamentals, HR principles, SHRM by newresource | 2 comments

“A lie doesn’t care who tells it.” That makes me laugh and think. We all have been told cute little memorable lines about lies. And the thing about a lie is that they always come to light sooner or later. Another thing about a lie, we all tell them!

Recently in the news the CEO of Yahoo had to step down because he committed resume fraud. He padded his resume, embellished…Oh hell, who are we kidding? He lied on his resume and cover letter. You can read about it here. He then said that he didn’t knowingly lie, but the recruitment firm he hired to find him a job lied and he never corrected the situation, really? I’ve heard of recruiters asking candidates to dumb down their resumes to secure a position, so it’s possible but don’t play the victim role now buddy.

They say that most of us lie a little or “bend the truth” a smidge on our resumes, and by most of us I mean over 50% one article claims.  All for a job.  What bothers me is the lack of due diligence in performing back ground checks and those poor over looked candidates that lose out on opportunities they have earned because someone fails to perform the background check.

Now when many people read this story they were shocked and disgusted, but not me. It still makes you wonder who missed it? And what effects does the lie have on Yahoo’s employee relations? I’m willing to bet some employees are pretty upset that this man was able to make all that money based on a web of resume lies.

In 2012, I launched a Resume Makeover Crusade to offer resume writing services at reseasonable prices because quite frankly what’s out there is not very good or affordable.  This may surprise many of you reading this (especially my HR brothers and sisters) but there are millions of “JOBSEEKERS” who do not have a basic resumes, let alone Linkedin profiles, QR codes and websites.

Sorry I got off topic for a second, I brought the Resume Crusade up to illustrate that I see lies all the time, and honestly I advised my clients that we (HR) can sniff out most lies right away. (Comes with the job)

So over 50% lie on their resumes but those same people are less likely to lie on their LinkedIn profile! Interesting huh? Maybe because LinkedIn is a social network and your co-workers can look you up and bust you out if you tell a whopper regarding your accomplishments.

Following your best practices may help to identify lies but really I have no advice for you other than to perform the background checks and ask questions. And the higher the position, the more checking you should perform. You don’t want the embarrassment or your workers to think, it’s okay to lie because you can’t catch them. Come on you’re better than that!

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Complacency Kills

May 14, 2012 in HR Advice, hr fundamentals, SHRM, unemployment by newresource | No comments

Complacency can be a killer. Often times when we think of complacency we associate it with laziness. It’s taken on a new definition today, in our elevated sensitivity to the economy. There is a sentiment of unemployment discrimination in this country; many people feel that joblessness is a form of complacency.  I want to examine the question of complacency especially as it relates to those that are in the workforce.

My granny was a caterer; she used to tell me “Son, you work harder for yourself than for someone else.”

I’ll be honest here and admit that in the past I had allowed myself to become complacent. But guess what? I was working at the time. That’s right kids; I was at my most complacent in life when I was working in corporate America. Working was easy. It was like a pair of sweat pants; comfortable and forgiving.

I decided to stop making excuses, honestly examine myself and address my failures and make changes immediately. I was not engaged, involved, active or productive which was not fair to the company or myself.

I understand that you may not like HR and only work in the field to make ends meet. You may go to work every day but privately, you absolutely hate it and wish you were doing something more rewarding. You hate your job, and from time to time you take it for granted. You think that there is no way this company can operate without you and you feel that they are never going to replace your position, so you get comfortable with the status quo.

Never again.

If you really explore it, complacency is quite diabolical. It can cause you to be hateful, resentful and even violent. It’s a dream killer and if you allow it to consume your life without taking responsibility for your actions, you’ll never know what you are capable of.

I’ve seen people come to work in tears because they hate their jobs so much but they can’t leave, because they were trapped by bad decisions and life’s unexpected pitfalls.

Ultimately I don’t see at it as an employed versus unemployed trait; complacency occurs when you are mailing it in, lacking passion and direction in whatever you do or don’t do. No Excuses folks, stop being complacent.  To quote a line from the movie Shawshank Redemption “Get busy living or get busy dying.”

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The Biggest Workplace Bully of All

May 9, 2012 in Business, HR Advice, hr fundamentals, SHRM, Talent Management by newresource | No comments

When I was kid, getting teased was just a norm. Not saying it was right or wrong but sometimes you got teased and sometimes you did the teasing. Now-a-days we label that bullying. People are more cruel and sensitive at the same time. Things that we used to brush off and ignore now become front page news. Bullying in its true form is terrible and the reaction to that bullying is often times tragic. I don’t want to focus only on the kids because this is not a parenting blog it’s an HR blog. Do you know what I see, all the time? I see workplace bullying.

Employee A. is an exempt supervisor.  They get to work at 8:01am. They are called into the office and reprimanded for 60seconds tardiness. That could have been a brief greeting in the hallway; fumbling to find the security badge. They are told too many of these 1 minute occurrences could result in disciplinary action up to termination.

I feel like Allen Iverson with his rant on practice…”A minute, a minute, a minute. We are talking 1 minute. Not an hour, not an hour, a minute.”

Employee B. decides to return to college and get some certifications. All they need is one hour off early 2 days a week and they would be willing to make up the time. Employer says no way; if you decide to return to college you will be fired.

What kind of hell whole won’t allow an employee a chance at higher education?

Employee C. and their co-workers are told time and time again that they should be happy to have a job, and they can be fired at any moment without cause since it’s an at-will state.

Just because you can do something, does not mean you should. If an employee claims discrimination, you’d have no defense.

The constant beating downing of employees and trying to break their spirit instead of building them up is nothing more the workplace bullying. Many times HR enables this behavior, turns a blind eye to it or is bullied into compliance. Look at that poor HR lady at the University of Arkansas; when Petrino hired his mistress, the HR manager questioned it in one email, but then in her next email she was promoting the decision. Don’t you think, scratch that, you know that in between the 1st and 2nd email, someone went over to her and said something like “Just push this through.”

Bullying is not only happening to our children in school, it’s happening to our employees in the workplace, by the biggest, most powerful bully of them all; the organization!

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Sexxxual Relations

May 2, 2012 in Business, HR Advice, hr fundamentals, HR principles, SHRM by newresource | 4 comments

I love ShowTime’s “Hou$e of Lie$” starring Don Cheadle and Kristin Bell as a team of management consultants that basically go into corporations and convince them that they need to hire them as consultants to help save their company from total and interment demise. Twisted in the middle of all this is a bunch of back stabbing, strategy, drugs and lewd sexual behavior.

Without going on too much, the season finale centered on a pending merger and class action, sexual harassment quid pro quo lawsuit. I love when the HR play comes into it. What inspired me was when Cheadle’s character said “Are you kidding me? Every company in America has sexual harassment.” And he’s right. Millions of dollars to train people how to avoid and report it but often times it ends teaching people how to do it better. And it never ends. Wars have been waged, fought, won and lost for the all mighty love of a woman.

There is no denying it, sex sells and it’s powerful. You really can’t stop it; not with your kids or your employees.

If you have ever investigated a sexual harassment claim you know how difficult it can be. Getting to the truth is like finding a needle in a hay stack. I’ve seen consensual sexual relationships turn ugly. It was all good when they were stealing moments on company time, making goo-goo eyes in the boardroom but what happens when one of the folks has a change of heart? They want to go back to their spouse, or they see new piece of tail that they want to try out. Guess who’s left to clean up the mess? You and the maid!

What’s HR to do? You can write a policy but how many times has that stopped someone from getting it on?

I’ve seen men throw it all way on an office romance. (Case in point “Corporate Hoes & Tricks” and “Unethical Behavior is a Team Effort”) I can recall this dude was so bold, he was married and having an affair with a co-worker, and he’d go to her cubicle and handle his business right there, bang! bang! bang!

You have to be prepared to deal with some office smushing. It will happen. I’ve talked about the reality of the rumor mill at work. Unfortunately workplace rumors are often times true. I don’t have official stats on this but the rumor mill is spot on, from layoffs to terminations, and of course affairs.

So don’t be caught with your pants down, ahem…get with the legal department, draft some affidavits so when and if this these relationships fall apart and they probably will fall apart, you’re covered. Because you can’t stop sex, you can only hope to contain it!

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