Liz Ryan

Pay comes first.

It sits at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy.

If you don’t pay your employees the market rate for their jobs, nothing else matters. You cannot call yourself a strong leader or call your company a good place to work.

It doesn’t matter if you are a startup. If you can’t raise enough money to pay your employees fairly, why should anyone have faith in your ability to grow the business?

It doesn’t matter that you are a not-for-profit.

If the executive director and the Board together cannot generate the funds to pay people fairly, how can they be trusted to fulfill your organization’s mission?

Forget the foosball table
Forget the free beer on Friday nights

PAY PEOPLE WHAT THEY DESERVE

You can’t complain about “talent shortages” when your job ads list ten to fifteen Essential Requirements that aren’t essential at all but merely prop up an insecure manager’s belief he or she is hiring a “rock star.”

A smart person with pluck can perform that job with a little bit of training, a reasonable amount of support and none of the made-up “essential requirements” listed on your ridiculous job spec.

Stop whining about talent shortages, start interviewing the capable and hard-working people who reply to your job ads, and keep rolling ahead. That’s how you lead. That’s how you win.

‪Q. I have a gap in my resume from when I helped my mom after my dad died, until she died. I get interviews, but at the interview they always ask why the two-year gap?‬

‪A. “I was privileged to be with my mother during her decline.” If they don’t understand, they don’t deserve you‬

When the quarantine is over, how can managers justify bringing people back into the office after they’ve proven they can do their jobs from home?

Some jobs can’t be done from home, of course. And some people don’t like working from home. But a lot of people do.

What possible argument is there in support of making people commute to and from work every day, after we know that it isn’t essential to do so?

Not every company or manager deserves you on their team.

When you don’t get a job you apply for or interview for, the universe is re-directing you to something better.

Keep in mind that if someone doesn’t see your talents, that doesn’t mean your talents are any less significant or valuable.

You’re just not in front of the right audience yet

All employers should do this!

A job interview does NOT have to be a Q and A session. It can be a simple, human conversation about the job.

If you want to ask the candidate questions, here are some questions to replace the awful, traditional questions no self-respecting interviewer asks in 2020 (greatest weakness, why should we hire you, what’s your five-year plan, etc.):

1. Now that I’ve described what this job is about and a typical day in the job, what questions spring to mind?

2. Which parts of the job sound like things you’ve done before, and which parts would be new for you?

3. The starting salary for this job is $X. Here are the employee benefits we offer. Does all of that work for you? Do you have any questions about the compensation or benefits I can answer?

4. What else can I tell you about the role, the company or anything else you’re curious about? I want to make sure all your questions get answered.

On a job interview, remember: you need A job. You don’t need THIS job.

Be choosy!

Taking the wrong job can tank your mojo for months, or even years.

Hold out for people who treat you like a human being during the interview process.

Ten Things Every HR Person Knows

1. Many if not most “employee performance issues“ are related to a personality conflict between the employee and their manager

2. Many managers hire the candidate they are most comfortable with (vs. the most qualified candidate)

3. The hardest part of an HR job is telling senior leaders truths they are not ready to hear

4. Creating an open, supportive culture is challenging because managers revert to managing through fear whenever they themselves are in fear. (Turtles all the way down)

5. 90% of the negative feedback HR people receive from employees in exit interviews is unsurprising, because it's the same feedback HR people have known for months or years and have passed on to senior leadership many times

6. HR is a job about people. The particular systems and tools used in an organization don't matter as much as an HR person's ability to listen, give guidance, build a trusting culture, sell ideas upstream, resolve conflicts and be a mentor and role model.

7. Companies invest in new technologies as often as needed to stay competitive except in HR and recruiting, where they fight technological evolution tooth and nail. (While saying employees are their greatest asset and recruiting is among their top priorities)

8. At least half of senior leaders fundamentally misunderstand the role of HR.

9. Ninety percent of the advice CEOs get from expensive consultants is the exact same advice they have gotten from their HR VP countless times. Somehow, they only hear it clearly when the consultant says it.

10. The evil HR person is a well-known archetype but for every evil HR person there are scores of passionate, committed HR advocates for employees working behind the scenes to make their organizations healthier, more open and more human.

Here's to them!

#leadership #hr #job #recruiting #people #culture #leaders #consultants

INTERVIEWER: I see you didn’t work between mid-2022 and last December. What was happening then?

YOU: It was time for a change, and it was also time for me to recharge my batteries after 14 years of working non-stop. I took a break, and it was incredibly helpful.

INTERVIEWER: Did you take any courses or develop yourself professionally during that time?

YOU: Umm, thanks so much for your time today; it’s not a good fit, but I wish you all the best.

———-

An interview is not an audition!

Deciding where to work next is a huge decision for you.

Not every organization or every manager deserves you.

This poor, clueless interviewer cannot imagine someone taking six months off for themselves.

They can’t imagine you valuing your time, your priorities, your health, your family and your mission.

Unless you were taking classes, in their mind you were idle and that is BAD.

In the real world, idle time is incredibly important for your brain and body.

If this is the person the company has assigned to interview candidates, you know everything you need to know about their culture.

You are mighty!

You deserve to work with people who respect you and your desire for a balanced life.

Only the people who get you, deserve you!

‪Q. So, how long should I wait for a company to get back to me after an interview?‬

‪A. Don’t wait one minute. Assume you won’t hear from them, and move on. Keep your job search engine running at full power until you accept an offer (then reduce it to half power)‬

WHY do some people consider salary ranges/bands confidential information?

WHO would be harmed if a salary range were included in every job ad?

HOW, in a hiring environment that’s been described as “the toughest [for employers] in twenty years” can anyone still justify leaving the salary range out of a job ad?

SHARE If you agree that “entry-level” means a job doesn’t require experience!

The old job-search rules don't work anymore -- but that's okay! There's a better way to get a great job in 2017. Liz Ryan explains how to get the job you want and career you deserve in her new book Reinvention Roadmap, available at this link: https://lnkd.in/emazZdH

‪Note to interviewers: don’t ask a job candidate any question you would not be happy for them to ask you.‬

‪You do not sit on a higher plane of existence than they do. You are both just people, having a conversation to see whether your interests and their interests intersect.‬

The number one thing every manager needs to understand is that a paycheck does not buy someone’s loyalty, respect or commitment. You earn these things by creating an environment where people are valued.

Q. Is it a red flag when a company asks about my college GPA, even though I graduated from college 18 years ago?

I told the interviewer I thought it was a strange question.

I can’t remember my GPA. I got hired in an on-campus interview and I’ve had a successful career since then. Why would they care?

A. Yes, it’s a red flag. Some people are obsessed with yardsticks, trophies and medals. Your GPA from 18 years ago has literally no bearing on your abilities now.

That’s the sign of a fear-based culture.

Here are a few more signs:

1) Fixation on employment gaps (you could’ve won the lottery. It is none of their business what you were doing when you weren’t working)

2) Over-reliance on preemployment psychological tests. Don’t they trust their own judgment?

3) The presumption that because you came to the interview, you are already dying to get the job. That’s ridiculous. You came to learn more - the same reason they invited you to speak with them.

Be cautious about letting people work from home! means:

I’m afraid you will spend the day smoking doobies, eating bonbons and watching daytime soaps

If I can do all that and get my work done, what difference does it make? Did you hire me for a role, or a spot in a chain gang?

I loved working in an office, but that was before work from home became a common and accepted practice.

We can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.

It makes zero sense to say you need people back in the office to build trust and camaraderie on the team.

You’re not going to get much trust or camaraderie if people are forced to be where they do not want to be and do not feel they need to be.

Pressure and threats are the opposite of trust.

People do not generally collaborate, innovate or gel as a team when they’re captive.

‪Concerned about talent shortages? Don’t be. Your real problem is Talent Market Denial (TMD). Luckily, the cure is easy:‬

‪1. Pay competitively‬
‪2. Let people work remotely‬
‪3. Drop ridiculous, nonessential hiring requirements‬
‪4. Be open to candidates with nontraditional backgrounds‬

‪If you go to a job interview thinking “I have to get this job” you’ve already set yourself up for disappointment and dimmed your flame. Treat a job interview like a first date. Go to check it out, learn more & have a conversation. If it’s supposed to work, it will. If not, fine‬

Q. I don’t post the salary range in my job ads because I don’t want my competitors to see what I’m paying

A. What utter BS! Your competitors expect you to pay the market rate, the same way you expect them to pay the market rate.

There are no deep dark secrets in your compensation plan, believe me.

The real reason you leave the salary range out of a job ad it is because you want to pay as little as you can. At least be honest with yourself, if not with us

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Q. “I’m a tough manager – I hold my employees accountable.”

A. Be tough enough to soften, listen, ask questions and learn a new way to lead. If an employee is struggling, yelling at them won’t help. Take responsibility for making them successful. Big win for both of you!

If a recruiter says “Unless you give me your current salary details, I can’t work with you,” hang up the phone. People who try to bully you do not deserve to shine your shoes, much less represent you in your job search

I would love to walk into TJ Maxx and find a real pearl necklace on sale for $29.95, but if there isn’t one for sale it’s not a reasonably priced pearl necklace shortage – it’s my own delusion and cluelessness.

The “talent shortage” works the same way. It’s not a talent shortage – it’s just that employers are too cheap to pay what it costs to get great people.

The job you have now is not likely to take you through to retirement.

You have to stay employable!

The best way to stay employable is to grow your skills.

It can be hard to enlarge your skill set at work.

If your boss doesn’t give you bigger projects to complete or newer tools to use, how do you improve your résumé?

The best way to grow your skills is to become a part-time independent consultant.

You will grow your skills faster taking on projects for clients than at a full-time job.

Click on the link in the comments to get on the early bird list for my course, Take Charge Consulting LIVE edition 2023!

Q. Instead of, “What is your greatest weakness?” as an interview question, what about asking, “What skill have you been working on improving, and why?”

A. Why do folks assume that people always have to be working on improving their skills? I don’t work on improving my skills. I just live my life.

The biggest problem with the question, “What’s your greatest weakness?” is that it is none of our business as interviewers what someone’s greatest weakness might be, if they have weaknesses at all.

Someone might be recovering from a divorce or a health crisis. They might be spending all their available energy just getting through the week, especially now that we are in the middle of a global pandemic.

Ask them whether they can do the job you are trying to fill.

I find the emphasis on personal development in interviews presumptuous and intrusive.

Ask questions about the job itself, not their personal self-improvement agenda. We as managers have to get off our high horses and drop the idea that an interview is a time to psychoanalyze the candidate or evaluate them as a person.

Don’t ask a candidate any question you would not like them to ask you back one minute later.

They are applying for a job to perform services for your company.

They are not applying to be your disciple.

It’s time to shake the idea that a candidate who wants to know what a job opportunity pays is “only interested in the money.”

We should all be interested in the money!

‪Q. Sorry Liz, but a lot of your fans are brainwashed. Did you see how many people recommend giving 2 weeks notice even if you get walked out the door & lose 2 weeks pay? They say it’s part of business, suck it up‬.

‪A. There are more and more folks taking control of their careers every day. They aren’t afraid of burning a bridge that desperately needs to be burned.

They aren’t afraid of walking out of an interview that is insulting from the get go, or giving notice on their last day of work rather than giving up two weeks of pay to preserve their reputation with people whose opinion doesn’t matter anyway.

We were trained to be sheep, and some of us will be sheep until we die. Other folks are realizing that it’s up to them how to walk through their lives and careers.

Keep speaking your truth!

When I was a young HR person and my boss told me, “When in doubt, do the right thing,” I had no idea that was not the standard instruction given to HR people everywhere.

Until I met other HR people and heard their stories I did not realize that in some organizations, the role of HR is to protect the company from its own employees.

It’s hard enough to be an HR person in an organization that cares about its team members. It must be brutal to be an HR person in an organization that doesn’t care.

#people #hr #team

Q. I manage a department of six. It’s a great team.

We have a new HR director. He sent out a memo to all managers last week, advising us to check our employees’ LinkedIn profiles for “accuracy and appropriateness.”

I was not pleased about the memo and neither were my peers.

Why would we snoop on our employees’ LinkedIn profiles?

I asked the HR director if there had been a problem and he said no, it’s just a good management practice. Do you agree?

A. It’s a good management practice if you want a fear-based organization. You could also drive by your employees’ homes at night to make sure their grass is mowed.

Get your fellow managers together, arrange a private lunch in the conference room with the new HR director and let him know you have better things to do than treat your employees like children, or criminals.

Leading through trust is superior in every way to managing through fear.