I don’t know about you, my dear readers, but the end of the year means my yearly performance review. In a meeting with my boss today he asked me to start thinking about my accomplishments this past year and some goals I want to strive for in 2009.
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You don’t want to be a red shirt. Red shirts don’t have names. Red shirts don’t get the cool minion tasks. Red shirts don’t save the day or get the girl (or guy). Red shirts die within the first five minutes of any mission. I repeat: You do not want to be a red shirt.
But you’re a minion you cry, how can you avoid such a lowly fate? You may be a minion but that does not mean that you are interchangeable with every other minion, or at least you don’t have to be.
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I’m going to keep this simple: Please. Don’t. Crack. Jokes. During. The. Interview.
I know you are nervous. I know you are trying to appear nice, interesting, engaging, whatever. But your goal in this interview should not be to make me laugh; it should be to impress me with your ability to do the job.
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The newest Carnival of HR is up now at Ask a Manager. Be sure to check it out here as I actually remembered a submission this time.
This is also my 100th post! Yay! I hope you all have liked what I have done so far and I will strive to improve in the future!
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Today is an important day to me and not just because it is my sister’s birthday. My family has a solid history of serving in the armed forces and I am very proud of that. I’m an Army brat and I’m very proud of that too. It’s not just a job or even as simple as fulfilling your duty to your country. Serving your country is a privilege and an honor. In a way, this day brings out a hidden desire of my own to serve my country, in some capacity or the other. Who knows, I’m still young, in age and career, I may still pursue that one day.
I’m super excited for tomorrow. No, it’s not because it’s Friday. Tomorrow we have a candidate coming in for a second interview and I can’t wait. He is a candidate all recruiters look for. There’s just something about who they are and what they can bring to the position that makes you excited for the future.
I know The HR Capitalist has discussed candidate crushes before, but that’s not exactly it. Sometimes as a recruiter you come across a candidate that makes you excited about the position you are staffing for simply because you want them to be in it. It’s not just the Halo Effect and it’s not simply that they can do the job. You are happy you have an opportunity available because you can see the value they can bring to the company.
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I know, I know. No minion ever wants to think about it, but it is an undeniable truth of your existence; Eventually, you will be killed in some kind of dramatic fashion. Either you will fall before the hero, you will be sacrificed to prove how dangerous a situation is, or your boss will make an example out of you in a random fit of anger. Hazard of the job you could say.
For a lot of you, November is the start of benefit enrollment session. That means it is a good time to start thinking of the arrangements you need to make for your family. It’s not enough to just sign up for standard medical and dental plans (assuming you are even offered a benefit package). You need to think of your family’s future before you “accidentally” fall into that pit of lava. Life Insurance, disability, wills, financial matters, it can be overwhelming. That is why it’s best to start now, when you are already assessing your family’s needs.
Sure, you’re telling yourself that you’ll be fine, after all, your secret organization is going to take over the world. It’s great to be optimistic but not to the detriment of your family’s well-being. Here are some tips on how to get started:
1. Read through your organizations benefit offerings. Ask questions if confused and educate yourself on everything that is available.
2. Create a realistic picture of your family’s needs and liabilities so that you can develop a complete understanding of what you need to do. Ignoring your true financial picture won’t make it go away.
3. Seek professional assistance if necessary. Financial planners, insurance providers, and legal assistance all fall under this category. Better yet, many companies with Employee Assistance Programs can provide you with this help for little or no cost to you.
4. Communicate with your family openly about your goals and wishes. Everyone in your family can play a part in this planning so be sure to discuss it honestly. Additionally, inform any friends and extended family of any parts you wish them to play as well.
There are many other resources out there that can help with this process and describe the steps you need to take better than I could. I just hope that this post encourages all you minions to recognize the importance of it. After all, the last thing you want to be thinking about while breaking into the hero’s secret hideout is what if…
I hope everyone has a fun day/night!
No costumes at my work though potlucks abound! Any reason for food, I guess.
I could do without the bugs though. Apparently, the recent cold wasn’t enough to kill them but was enough to cause them all to come indoors. I’m a little creeped out right now.
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Yet another Carnival of HR is up right now at Great Leadership: Halloween version.
Once again, I forgot. I blame it this time on my lack of sleep. There’s always something to blame if you look hard enough. That’s right children, even you can find fun new ways of avoiding accountability!
Anyway, There’s always next time. For now, check it out here!
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It’s back, and only two weeks late! Yay! Last time you were given the opportunity to determine if you were a minion. This time we will be taking a look at how minions can avoid being the scapegoats of the organization.
You’ve all been there, your evil and ego maniacal boss just had her plans thwarted by her arch nemesis once again. She gathers you all in a big group, looking for someone to blame. Before you know it, there is a poison dart sticking out of your neck and you’re in for a really bad day. Just a hazard of the job? It doesn’t have to be. Just because you are a minion, it doesn’t mean you have to take the blame for mistakes you didn’t make.
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You’ve seen my Twitters and you’ve read my summaries, so I’m sure it won’t come as a big surprise that I wasn’t happy. I had a fun time in Vegas, but mostly due to non-convention related stuff.
I guess the reason I am disappointed was that I was expecting something more. Something better, something unique, something organized. I was not impressed with most of what I saw and I did not find many things of value (I’ve already mentioned which presentations I enjoyed).
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Sorry this summary is late! My day today consisted of: arriving home in Minnesota after a rough red eye flight, home to sleep for a few hours, work, home to sleep for a couple of hours, pick up the puppy, and eat. But now I’m somewhat alert and capable of forming coherent sentences so here we go with a summary of day two!
- Limping to the convention center in the quiet Vegas morning made me feel like a wounded animal being stalked by a predator. Not the most comfortable feeling. Later on I told the Husband he had to look all gruff and be protective.
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It’s morning now, early, before the 2nd day of the Talent Management Summit starts. I’m getting up extra early just for you, my dear readers, so enjoy! After my first full day in Vegas, here are my thoughts:
- I brought the wrong shoes, which was only exacerbated by my poor memory regarding distances in Vegas. It took me 25 minutes to get to the Conference. I’m only 4 or 5 Hotels away!
-Can Caesar’s get any bigger? Seriously, I was walking past it for most of that 25 minutes.
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It’s morning now in Las Vegas and I am ready to go. I’ll be heading out soon to the Talent Management Summit so if you’ll be there, look for the Gir proxy and you’ll know it’s me.
I’ll be twittering all day, thank you phone with internet access, and I’ll post a detailed Day One summary tonight. I’m going to be running around like a crazy monkey to get all the information I can for all of you so please look forward to it!
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… or to put it differently: When my job tries to interfere with my blog.
I’m getting this post out early before I start work because I have busy morning ahead of me before I fly out to Vegas this afternoon. I’ve mentioned before about how much I like my job and how the busy times get evened out by the slow, but I really just want to smack my forehead into a wall at the timing of this stuff.
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The newest Carnival of HR is up at the Totally Consumed Blog. The special focus this time around is an early celebration of National Bosses Day (October 16th).
Be sure to check it out here, especially seeing as I remembered to submit an entry again!
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My mom didn’t graduate from high school but she did get her GED. She didn’t continue her education because she got married and had a child instead. She was divorced a few years later before her second child, me, was even born. This left my mom stuck in city far from any family, working as a waitress and trying to support two young children. Add to that an abusive and philandering ex-husband who fought her for custody but refused to pay child support. And this was before deadbeat dad laws.
It hate it when it happens. There I am, conducting an exit interview, and the associate says the job wasn’t what they thought it would be. It never fails to irritate me. Does that mean we didn’t provide them with an accurate impression of the position or did they come in with unreasonable expectations? Even logical follow-ups to that statement (Were you clear on your duties and expectations, etc.) don’t provide much insight. What do you do with that statement? Note: “Nothing” is not a valid answer.
Let’s break this down:
1. It’s you. Let’s assume that your exiting associate is a reasonable and generally well-informed individual. I see you snickering over there, humor me for a second. If it’s not your associate then it’s you. How did you present the position to the candidate in the interview? Were you focusing too much on the positives in order to sell them and skimming over the negatives? Did you really make it clear that they were expected to be on the phone 7 hours out of every day? Did you accurately communicate the challenges they might face interacting with programmers several states away? Be honest with yourself now. It’s important to sell candidates but you have to be realistic at the same time.
2. It’s you. Let’s assume that it is the candidate who misunderstood. They came in thinking the job was something else entirely. Either they weren’t paying attention or they thought they would be able to handle a job that they really weren’t well suited for. It’s their fault, right? Wrong. It’s still you. You hired them after all. If you brought on candidates who flame out a couple of months in what does that say about your hiring process? Sure, some jobs have higher turnover than others simply due to the nature of the work. However, you still need to find the right people for the position. You need to hire people who you know will succeed, even if they don’t know it themselves.
3. It’s nobody’s fault. Change happens. People change, companies change, economies change. You can’t control everything. Just because you hired someone to perform a specific job it doesn’t mean that is what they will be doing even 6 months later. Life happens and sometimes you are dealt a bad hand. All you can do is look for someone who is more flexible.
I know this post seems like I am placing them blame squarely on the shoulders of managers and HR. I think that is where it belongs. Yes, you can get your share of idiot employees. But you are the gatekeepers into the company. The buck has to stop somewhere and it stops with you.
In less than two weeks I will be in Vegas hanging out at the 11th Annual Talent Management Summit. I’m super excited!! And as a last minute deal for my readers, IQPC is happy to extend a $400 off the main conference (total of $1999) or an All Access Pass for $2,599. Be sure to use the code TMSHRM04.
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So you’re clocking in every morning at the secret underground lair, cleaning the salt water tank while the technician checks the laser beams attached to the sharks’ heads, all before getting knocked out from behind while on patrol. Just a normal day as a minion, right?
Wait, you mean that’s not what you do everyday? Who do you hench for? Oh, you have a real job. So how do you know you’re really a minion without the convenient job description and title?
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