Your HR Guy

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Do Anniversaries Still Matter?

So we were talking about Generation Y and how they don't really care about anniversary gifts in the workplace. It seems like the right thing to say given the fact that the workplace is much more mobile now. Obviously people don't care about being at a place for very long or they would choose to stay longer. Anniversary gifts and the like are relics of the past.

Or are they?

In a new, engaged workforce, wouldn't an anniversary gift be more special than before. Instead of just being a hold out of longevity, it meant that you stayed engaged and progressed over the five, ten or twenty year period you are recognizing.

I don't think anybody has a problem celebrating an anniversary when it is a meaningful relationship. Look at our wedding anniversaries. Assuming we are in a great relationship, we enjoy looking back on the last year and looking forward to the next. It can be a productive time to think about what we want to accomplish next.

Does Your Resume Look "Old"?

Many people are starting to ask me questions about re-entering the workforce after a prolonged absence. I can't tell you the exact cause of why I am seeing more (a couple are stay at home mom's whose kids have graduated, a couple are because of the economy) but it is becoming more frequent.

One of the questions I got from a person is how they prevent their resume from looking "old." I was interested in the description of the resume in this way and when I looked at it, it did look old. So I started to go through some of the defining characteristics of an old looking resume and thought I would flesh them out here:

1. Way too much personal information - Whether it be a picture, height/weight, health condition, age, social security number, citizenship... leave it off. Your future employer cares about your work, not your height or social security number.

2. Too much work info - Leave off the addresses, subdivisions, supervisors, and pay rates. Focus on your accomplishments and your duties.

3. Paragraph job descriptions - You wrote a paragraph instead of bullet points? Not only will no one read that, the resume looks dated. Nobody writes resumes in long hand.

4. Funky formatting - Extra large font sizes? Paragraph breaks in the middle of a statement? Bold, italics and underlines scattered everywhere? Nothing says I don't know anything about computers quite like having a strangely formatted resume.

What other resume formatting blunders have you seen?

Is Too Much Career Advice Targeted At Non-Hourly Seekers?

I saw a comment on a blog today saying that while some job seeking advice does a good job of translating to job seekers of the hourly variety, much of it doesn't. For example, some advice out there says to apply for entry level positions if you aren't having luck in the corporate arena.

First of all, this ignores the needs of entry level employers: they still want people with some interest and experience in the specific task at hand. That means a person hiring for a job at Target is going to prefer a person with experience at another retailer.

Second of all, it just doesn't work for employers. If I am looking at a person who has been in a corporate environment for 10+ years, know that they've been unemployed for months and that they want to suddenly get their desire for retail? No thanks. Why make a bad problem (rampant turnover in retail) worse by hiring a ton of people that will have bad fit.

Here's some universal advice: unless you have an offer on the table or recently completed education, you should focus on what you know best in your job search. That means if you've been working in retail, you start with retail. If you are a corporate type, you start there. And if you are in one of those rapidly declining industries, figure out what does translate over to what's left and start there. Or you go to school. That's what you may need to adjust anyway.

What do you think?

Does Your Manager Have A Duty To Be Honest?

I am asking this question more as a question of morality rather than legality (because certainly there are situations where a manager must be honest to comply with a law).

What do you think though? Does a manager have a duty to honestly answer a direct question related to employment? Does a manager have to be honest about a situation that may impact his or her employees that they would have no way of knowing about?

First off, I am going to take a stab at it. You probably thought immediately negative (like news a company is shutting down or laying off employees). The problem is that you could be withholding good information (like a promotion or raise) while your employee is left languishing in their current environment wanting some sort of recognition of move.

As employees start demanding more transparency from the companies they work for, this may become a legitimate question to think about and act on. And it may be one that shifts and sorts itself out as you move along in your career.

Technology Isn't The Answer

I am at the HR Technology conference and it is going great. One of the things I have been thinking about is the intersection of HR and technology. And you know what? I think it is overblown.

Now hold on, right? Technology is needed, especially for larger company.

Yes, but it isn't "the answer."

Technology isn't a substitute for leadership. Technology isn't a substitute for communication. Technology isn't a substitute for knowledge.

That means it isn't the answer.

That doesn't mean technology is bad. It just means you have to actually work and be smart about your technology decisions. And it means that new technologies have to be in rythym with everything else in your organization.

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