Fistful of Talent

FOT Mailbag: Lowballing on Job Offers - Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should.

2009-11-20T04:00:00-06:00

We get mail at FOT! And you guys are facing some challenging issues out there. Here's a recent question from our mail bag that I liked and wanted to share -

Does anyone have thoughts about what to do when a candidate asks for a significantly lower salary requirement than you budgeted for? Do you just give them the lower amount out of hand? I have a candidate that I think is a good fit, but she low-balled herself, which makes me think a couple of things... times are tough, so she'll do whatever it takes, or she doesn't value her skill set (which is an undermining behavior)... or, does it mean she's maybe not as bright as I thought?

The quick and dirty answer from this gal's point of view is that there's a balance somewhere between 1) saving a little payola and 2) ensuring you're making an offer that is fair.

Internal equity comes to mind for me immediately. Save money in your salary budget - yes. I'm a capitalist after all. But, do show this person what they're worth, and do also make an offer that will be consistent with others who already work for the company and are in comparable positions. Because just think about it - what's going to happen if you do low-ball her and she finds out at a later point in time that her colleagues are being paid significantly more than her? Put your employee relations hat on and think about the resentment that may breed. (And we all know that employees do talk about their pay with each other. As much as we hate it, they do...) That doesn't mean you should pay everyone the same - but it does mean that you should be thoughtful and consistent in your decision making and consider all the above factors.

The question presented some additional complexities though that one might not pick up on at the surface. I wonder if you caught that the candidate in question was a she - a female. I would have confidently put money on the gender piece of the question had the writer not included that detail. Why? Because women ask for less. And women negotiate less. And for me, I think this is a piece of the puzzle when it comes to gender pay equality. Yup, really. And that's another reason not to completely low-ball the candidate and make a fair offer that represents what she's worth in the market, so long as it's within reason. Again, yes. Save yourself some money in your salary budget - that's totally awesme. But still, do what's fair. She might not ask for what she's worth because she doesn't know, or because she doesn't know how to ask... and this gal thinks it's partially our responsibility as HR and recruiting pros to not perpetuate a cycle where she's continually low-balled, because it's easy to low-ball her.

And while we're on the topic of the candidate low-balling herself? Besides gender, I do think there are other factors that could have come into play. The economy is an obvious factor - maybe she is unemployed at the moment and is willing to take a pay cut. Maybe she does want to take whatever she can get and doesn't want to lose consideration because her salary requirements are too high. Regardless of the reason that the candidate is low-balling herself, I'd say this is about balance. Save your company some money but give the gal what she's worth because both are the right things to do.

What would your two cents be?

Listen Homeboy, Don't Mean to Bust Your Bubble...

2009-11-19T09:40:00-06:00

But treating relatives of employees like normal candidates ain't nothing but trouble!

Apologies to the Fresh Prince, Will Smith. I watched Hancock last night, so you get what you get...

Employees have relatives. They love their relatives. We love them for that - after all, they're good people. There's just this one little problem - feedback's impossible when it comes to taking a relative out of your hiring process. First up, most organizations struggle with frank, honest feedback to candidates about why they were not selected. Add to the mix a high-performing employee who would love to see the person they love experience the same career Nirvana as them, and.... let's just say you generally end up with a failure to communicate that makes Bill and Hillary Clinton in the months following Lewinsky-gate seem downright chatty.

As for the referring party, it's hard to be objective. No one knows that better than me. Consider the following story from KD's career:

The year is 2002. I'm a VP of HR over about 3,000 employees in my unit of a Fortune 500 company. As a part of this unit, I have big staffing needs for big call centers with lots of entry-level jobs that pay $10-12 an hour. You know the type of environments - the one where you have to roll a new hire class of 20 people through every two weeks..

At the same time, I had a great friend that I'll call Chuck. Chuck was a good friend who I consider to be family, so he fits my definition of a relative. Chuck had the skills - communication and smarts - to be president if he wanted. Unfortunately, his wealthy family (we came from different sides of the tracks, yo) had failed to play hardball with him in his 20's when he floated between jobs - they kept providing income for large intervals where he was unemployed. As a result, Chuck would start a new career, be excited about it, but when the invariable grind of getting it done came, he would quit. Since his family never turned off the money faucet, there were no ramifications to his habit and he floated between jobs.

Enter KD. During one of the periods between jobs, Chuck approached me about working at my company. I thought the job was low risk enough in the call center that I put him in the 4 week training class and made him an employee - the recruiter who worked for me was thrilled with him as a candidate and he blew everyone away in the training class. So far, so good.

Then they got out of training. On the first incoming call on the floor of the call center, Chuck took off his head set, set it down and walked out of the building. The manager called me and said, "KD, Chuck just freaking walked out. It was like the trailer to a movie or something".

Damn. That left a mark. And I wasn't surprised. Double damn.

My point is that the road to allowing relatives (which Chuck was to me for all practical purposes) to be entered into to your hiring process is paved with potholes. I knew Chuck's limitations but still wanted to help. I put him in, just like our employees put their relatives in.

Feedback to KD about Chuck after the walkout? Minimal. That would have been like telling Vader you didn't like the color of the Death Star, right?

Just like feedback to your employees on relatives who aren't selected as part of your process. It's tough. That's OK, the public humiliation for me was enough, thank you very much...

Words from the master:

"but it just goes to show, not trying to bust your bubble,
but relatives as candidates ain't nothing but trouble.
so the next time an employee tries to give you the play,
just remember my rhymes and get the **** away.

**Disclaimer: If you're in as a relative and performing at a high level, good for you. I like that. I'm just sayin' you're the exception...

Surprise! You're An HR Manager...Now What?

2009-11-18T14:00:00-06:00

Read a good article a few weeks ago by the Associated Press business staff, Surprise! You've become a manager. Now what, which explores a couple of concepts with new managers:

1. Assess what you're doing, and does it fit the goals of the organization;

2. Accomplish something everyday (keep the number small - i.e., 3 tasks).

The tendency for new managers, especially HR Managers thrust into a generalist role, is to get buried with tasks. We all know the drill, you get started at the new company, and by day 3 you already have so many projects, improvements, process changes, etc. that need to be made you determine you probably have about 18 months worth of work - and maybe the grass was greener at your last position.

Whether you're a new manager, or seasoned HR Pro, we tend to forget the above concepts from time-to-time and get bogged down in the everyday details within HR Departments. So, for the new HR Managers (and maybe some seasoned vets) I wanted to give you 3 tasks that should be accomplished everyday as a HR Manager - who is strategic and adding value to your organization:

1. Keep Track of the Score,

2. Find Better Talent,

3. Be a Relationship Bridge.

Keeping track of the score, means you must create and track metrics, for your people practices, that have bottom-line impact to your organization. Communicate these constantly and educate your organization on how they can impact these results.

Finding better talent for your organization is really the only reason the HR Department exists. If you did only this all day, every day - your company would be better for it. No, having a better dress code policy isn't going to make you world class. In the end, Talent wins.

The single largest factor to inefficiency isn't bad processes, it's bad, or non-existent, relationships. It is your job to develop your leaders, and part of that is helping them understand the value of each part of the organization and getting them to dance with each other. Being a bridge, and bringing leaders together, with understanding will have the greatest impact on efficiency. Leaders understanding, and actually knowing, each others pain will solve most organizational problems. Why? Because you hire great talent - great talent with good relationships will move mountains and get you to world class. Never underestimate the power of relationships (good and bad).

Show me a leader who claims they can "work around" someone (meaning they don't get along with that person) - and I'll show you a below average leader who needs to leave your organization. New, and seasoned, HR Managers underestimate the leverage they have at helping organizational efficiency through better relationships.

Editor's Note: Tim Sackett, SPHR is the Executive Vice President of HRU Technical Resources in Lansing, MI. Tim loves everything talent acquisition, and believes every corporate recruitment department in America can and must get better. He has 15+ years of human resource leadership experience, across multiple industries, on both the corporate and agency side – so he gets it from both sides of the desk. Want more? Um, OK... He has a Master’s of HR and....well, he was recently voted #5 best assistant little league coach of his son’s five team league.

Don't Get Caught With Your Pants Down - Employee Surveys Gone Bad.

2009-11-18T04:00:00-06:00

So you want to be transparent? Think carefully. Here's a story for you.

You are a VP of Administration for a mid-size organization, with oversight of a collection of internal support departments (Finance, HR, Procurement, etc.). You have about 100 or so folks in your empire. Six months or so ago you conducted the standard annual online employee satisfaction survey, and while the results for your division were decent, the response rate of only 35% was troubling.

So you have an idea, at the next 'all staff' meeting, instead of another boring recitation of the survey results with charts, year over year comparisons, 'Look we are up 8% in 'I have access to all the tools I need to perform my job duties', and your spin that you had months to prepare, you will try something completely new and unusual.

In the (infamous) words of Bill O'Reilly - F%$# it! We'll do it live!

Since just about all of the 100 people in the division will be together, why not re-take the survey, at least some of the most important questions, 'live'; using a cool audience response technology like they used on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?'. Simple really, project each survey question up on the screen, wait for all the employees to register their answers, then show the results in real-time. Guaranteed 100% response rate. And no time for analysis, interpretation, rationalization, or management spin. Totally open and transparent. That is the new corporate buzzword right, transparent? Grade-A idea.

You make sure everyone has a clicker so you can get started, hell, this is going to be fun!

It goes something like this:

First question - 'I have the opportunity to improve my professional knowledge and skills'

'The votes are coming in, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, ok that is everyone I think. Ok, voting is closed, let's see the results'

35% 'Disagree' or 'Strongly Disagree' and 22% 'Neutral'.

'That does not sound good. Hmm. Curious. I am a bit surprised at that. Well, let's move on.'

Second question - 'I have the opportunity to give input on decisions that affect my work environment'

Votes roll in...

41% 'Disagree' or 'Strongly Disagree' and 24% 'Neutral'. '

'Gee, that is quite a bit worse than the results from the survey in January. Well, there are a number of factors that could affect that, new leadership, blah, blah, blah, blah. Let's try one more question and then we can move on to Mary Jane's 20th service anniversary cake.'

Third question - 'My manager encourages and supports my career growth'

Votes come in (much faster for this one)....

42% 'Disagree' or 'Strongly Disagree' and 26% 'Neutral'.

'Wow. Really? Why do so many people feel that way? I really am interested.'

A hand gets raised in the audience.

'What's that? A question from the group? Go ahead Clyde.'

Clyde the Shipping Clerk - 'Don't let the department managers vote, they are skewing the results to make things look better. Let's have a do-over on that one and just have the line staff vote to see what the effects are.'

By this point things have already unraveled to the point that you can't figure a way to put a stop to this and orchestrate a semi-graceful exit. So you agree to the do-over, this time instructing the 10 or so managers in the room to abstain from voting. And guess what?

Yep, the results get about 10% more negative. So Clyde was right, the managers' responses were dramatically more positive relative to the line staff. This is good, actionable data for a leader, but is this the way to find out? In front of a live audience? It takes some time, thought, and interviews with managers and staff to understand why the divergence in opinion. But since you had to go all Captain Transparent, now Clyde the shipping clerk wants to know why the managers rate your leadership so high, and hardly anyone else does. And the answer is you don't know. You can't possibly know because the last time you asked this question, only 35% of the organization answered it, and you did not realize you even had a problem.

So, you stammer around the issue for a minute or so when mercifully, you get the high sign to wrap up the meeting as it is time for Mary Jane's cake.

It was gutsy, if naive, for the VP to get up in front of the entire division and run (part) of an employee satisfaction survey in real-time. And I imagine that many of the staff recognized that and appreciated the effort.

But, by winning points for transparency, the VP traded in a few for credibility, poise, and leadership.

Transparency is good, but be prepared to reveal more than you bargained for at times. And in case your pants fall down, please remember to wear underwear.

Editor's Note - This is a guest post by our buddy Steve Boese, the HR Technology blogger. By day, Steve is an ERP Consultant and part-time instructor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. That's right, he's educating some of HR's future, folks. How's that for shaping the future of HR? Steve can also be found hosting the HR Happy Hour on Fridays... you know, where a bunch of HR pros get together and call in to talk about HR stuff on a Friday evening. Sounds like a real happy time... yep. Okay...

Five Reasons to Get Off Your Butt and Go Listen to Employees

2009-11-17T03:55:00-06:00

There’s a lot of yada yada yada about listening to employees. Companies know it contributes to more effective communication, increased productivity, improved retention, higher engagement. They know it’s the smart thing—the “right thing” to do. Heck, even if they don’t know that, they sure know it’s good optics. Well, I’m not going to scream from the rafters about it anymore. I’m simply going to state my case; you take it from there.

Reason #1: You can’t see everything from that big ol’ desk.

En route to the train station one morning during the Philly SEPTA strike, I asked my taxi driver whether he was busier as a result. Here I was, thinking the strike would be a boon for him. He said yes, busier—but he wasn’t earning more. Turns out, traffic kept him from getting places fast enough to benefit from the increased need.

Perspective. There’s only one from your chair. Maybe more if you swivel.

Reason #2: Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t know it all.

I recently chatted with someone who told me how a new product idea was developed. Turned out, a focus group participant had essentially made a prototype of this company’s eventual award-winning communication.

Who knows better than the person with the problem?

Reason #3: You really think that’s gonna fly?

In a recent trip through a manufacturing facility, I noted the posters the company had created and distributed for an upcoming walking challenge. They were up on the plant walls in various places. +1

I looked around: all men, over 50, various degrees of overweight. The poster? A young, pencil-thin urban chick walking her dog. Sure, she’s cute. But you think her perky self was going to get their feet moving? –5

You can’t create communications that’ll hit their mark without knowing the environment and the people in it. And you can’t get that on a fly-by.

Reason #4: Hey, I got somethin’ to say!

I have kids. You? If you do, or if you’ve had a chance to interact with kids, you know that they demand to be heard. And they won’t budge until they are. In my experience, there’s a simple, effective response. Listen and acknowledge their feelings. Often, that’s all they want.

A lot can be learned from interacting with kids.

Reason #5: Defuse—don’t detonate—a problem.

Some time ago, I was working with a client who was changing their sick day policy. Because the policy had been extraordinarily generous, they were scared silly that employees were going to revolt. By design, we test-drove the proposed changes and communications with representative groups of employees. We pre-surveyed them about their attitudes, walked them through the planned presentation, and post-surveyed them. You know what? They thought the changes were not only fair, but far better than what was coursing through the grapevine. We said thanks and sent them back to their work locations.

And defused a potentially bad situation with our newly made friends.

So, in the words of James Brown, the King of Soul...

Editor's Note - Fran Melmed likes to write everything in lower case letters over on her other blog, free-range communication, because she finds it more aesthetically pleasing... but we took away that freedom from her on FOT because the consistency of capitlization on this blog is more aesthetically pleasing to the editor. Her blog is an offshoot of context communication consulting llc, a communication consulting firm that Fran founded to help organizations communicate better on workforce issues... imagine that. Organizations not doing a good job communicating around workforce issues...

Recruiting Recruiters and Sourcing Sourcers - There's Always a Way.

2009-11-16T03:49:00-06:00

So, last week, Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR fame was trying to hunt me down. I have the honor of moderating a panel at the #SocialRecruiting Summit today in NYC and we had set a time to touch base, but Laurie was on travel and my number was MIA. Long story short, she needed to find me. She did, eventually, due to our mutual network, but it really got me started on how would you source a sourcer? Or even better, how do you source a recruiter who can source? Because in 2010, many HR teams need multi-tasking wunderkinds!

I'd start with professional networks. Any sourcer worth their salt is going to be on these to some varying degree. Just as I'd search for any other professional on LinkedIn, or even better, by XRaying LinkedIn, I'd do the same for finding a sourcer. An easy way to do it? Use LinkedIn's advanced search interface and look for recruiter or sourcer in the job title and tag on additional key words like: "AIRS Certified", AIRS, CIR, CDR, CSSR, etc. Sometimes those terms will be easy to spot, like on Nicole's profile here. Other times, that information will be within the prospective candidate's profile under "education".

Look for groups or fan pages too, like on Facebook, Ning or even within LinkedIn. There are many sourcers and recruiters within alumni training groups, particularly this one. It's a pet project for me to post job openings looking for people with AIRS experience, so for a hiring manager, you'll be in a very targeted arena and can post job openings, too. I'd be completely remiss if I didn't suggest you check out groups like SourceCon, TheRuthieList and JobAngels as you try to find your very own "Sourcing God". And if you're a hiring manager who wants to find a sourcer who will use Web 2.0 to its fullest extent? Then try an XRay like this one of Twitter. It's fairly specific and will draw great results. Tweak it for location, add and drop keywords to find the sourcer you need.

Really want a boatload of results? Then try a search like this on Google - no fancy Boolean required:

(bio OR profile OR "about me") (sourcer OR recruiter OR "talent acquisition") (boolean OR airs OR cir)

Finding sourcers is not the hard part, just like it wasn't hard for Laurie to see my profile on ten different social networking sites when she "googled" me. But my phone number wasn't floating around in a quick search. If I was an active sourcer in a corporate or third party environment, you'd find it on my LinkedIn profile, as well as everywhere else, so candidates could reach me. But my professional focus is different right now, and I'm not on the job hunt, so I don't have my number out there willy nilly.

But there's still a way. There's always a way. Pipl. It rarely fails me. Put a name in there, username, email, whatever....you do get results. And with just two "Kelly Dingee's" in the U.S. - it becomes easy to narrow down who is who!

(PS - See Kelly live as she's moderating a discussion at the #SocialRecruiting Summit today. Tune in at ERE where the entire day will be streamed live - for free! Kelly's discussion starts at 11:15am EST, and at 4:15pm, dial in for FOT Editor, Jessica Lee, who is also presenting at the Summit.)

Editor's Note - Kelly Dingee is a professional stalker Technical Writer/Sourcing Researcher for AIRS, a Company of The RightThing. Prior to joining AIRS, her experience includes sourcing for Thales Communications, Inc., and Internet recruitment for Acterna (now known as JDSU). Follow her on Twitter and get the lowdown on what's going on each day in sourcing - she's a Twitter machine...

How Sesame Street Changed Your Organization...

2009-11-13T08:11:00-06:00

With Sesame Street turning 40 this week, it really got me thinking about the lessons and characters I grew up with watching this iconic show. As I thought about it, I began to connect people in my own organization and how Sesame Street is really just a snap shot of our own professional lives.

So, here’s my Sesame Street view of Corporate America:

CEO = Big Bird - this was actually a tough one to select, because Big Bird isn’t the leader we think of when we think of iconic leaders – but in the end Big Bird is Sesame Street – just like Steve Jobs is Apple.

COO = Bert – He was always the conservative one, who was trying to get things done, while Ernie was trying to have a good time.

CFO = Count von Count - the Count was probably the easiest choice of all!

CPO = Ernie – this was by far the most controversial selection – could have went with Oscar (boy my operation partners would agree with that! But, to me Ernie was the perfect partner for Bert (our COO) – so to make the perfect marriage with Operations and HR – I decided on Ernie. Influence goes a long way with a CPO, and Ernie has tons of influence with Bert.

CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) = Aloysius Snuffleupagus (Snuffy) Think about it - who did Big Bird always go to for advice – Oscar was also a potential for this one.

VP of Sales = Cookie Monster – You need someone who is internally motivated, and my boy Cookie is a self-directed monster when it comes to getting cookies – I’m sure he’ll be the same way in bringing in sales!

Executive Admin to CEO = Oscar the Grouch – I really don’t blame them for being grouchy, they have a tough job. So many people want a piece of the CEO’s time, and it is their job to control the crowd – but they are still grouchy!

Head of Legal = Telly – Ok, for those who can’t remember, Telly the Monster is the one who was always worrying. So this fits.

And it gets tougher – I still have two Iconic Sesame Street Characters to decide on – Elmo and Grover…

CIO = Grover – Shy, but confident – Grover went about doing his business kind of in the background. No need to be noticed, just getting things done – that’s how I like my IT people as well!

Ah, Elmo, what can we do with our little carefree, energetic, naïve red monster?

Head of R&D = Elmo – He is probably the most inquisitive of all the Sesame Street characters and is always trying to learn. So, tickle me silly – Elmo is leading our R&D department (Mr. Noodle was also in the running – but he’s a real person so I passed).

Throughout 40 years, Sesame Street has brought us a ton of characters, so I’m sure I missed a few – send a comment if I missed one of your favorites or got one wrong in your mind.

The Key to Finding A Turnaround Artist For Your Troubled Company - Show Them the Money and the Message....

2009-11-12T08:14:00-06:00

As we get ready to pull out of the economic slump, more and more companies that hit bottom are already asking the obvious question: "Who do we need to lead us out of this thing?" While most articles you see are focused on the top slots (CEO, CFO, etc.), the reality is that same question is being asked across all leadership positions. Here's more from a recent Workforce Recruiting article:

"Bank failures, bailouts and the resulting departures of top executives have left many financial companies struggling to replace failed leaders with rescuers who can set things right.

Although some replacements reach out for these top-level jobs, most have to be found and convinced that the tremendous risks are worth it. Responding to the growing need, executive search firms have developed systematic processes for finding the right candidate to fill executive slots at troubled financial companies."

So your company is in the toliet, and you need pure talent to bring you out, but the talent doesn't want to touch your brand with a ten foot pole. What do you need? It's pretty simple, really. I say you need to do the following three things:

1. Show candidates the money. You're asking leadership people to lend their personal brands to the mission of rebuilding your business which, by the way, might have a certain career-halting stench to it if you're in an industry like financial services. Did anyone really want "Enron" on their resume after all that went down? What about "Healthsouth"? No way. If you want the best talent, you have to show them the money, and I'm not talking about base and bonus, although you need to make those rich as well. No, I'm talking about equity - options, etc., that has the potential to let them buy a beach house. Or three. They're taking a risk, there has to be life-altering reward.

2. The right messaging. Once the candidate has a chance to make their life better via a nice equity chunk, you need to help them get the messaging straight in their minds. You're today's Enron? Fine. They are the guy that helped you rebuild after the bastards took the company down. You have to give the candidate the pitch they can take home to their spouse, their mentors and most importantly, their ego. If you don't help them with messaging in their mind, they're subject to whatever they read off the 10,000 articles on the web about your burning house. Treat it like its own marketing campaign, complete with collateral. It's that important to frame the issue in the candidate's mind.

3. The rubber chicken circuit. You showed them how they're going to retire early for taking this mess on and told them the message. Now, you need your PR people to pitch how you are going to get them out on the speaker's circuit to proactively show that they aren't part of the old guard who burnt the house down - no - they're part of the rebuilding team leading an effort that makes building a strip mall in Baghdad look like child's play.

Do these three things, and you've got a great chance at getting the candidate you want/need. Avoid these things, and you'll end up settling for a lessor talent, and the rebuilding process will be delayed if it happens at all.

Oh yeah, there's one more thing. Here's the real key, beside money, in finding the right turnaround guy/gal from the WF article:

"Weeding out candidates is an essential part of the search. If a candidate is not interested in the challenge, then he or she will constantly ask about areas of risk,” Salveson says. “These kinds of questions are red flags for me.”

Other red flags are questions about work/life balance, travel and working from home. If the situation isn’t right, even a suitable candidate might say no."

Asking about risk isn't a red flag for the candidate the first or second time they ask. If you've done final interviews and the candidate asks about the risk of the plan after you've laid out the equity, message and PR plan for them personally, move on to the next candidate. A focus on risk means that the candidate will never have the chops to do what's required to turn around the train wreck.

It's not show friends, it's show business. Bet on that.

Tune In! A Human Resources Happy Hour on Thursday, 8pm EST!

2009-11-11T13:17:00-06:00

A Human Resources Happy Hour radio show... huh?

I'll admit it. I thought it was kinda nerdy at first. An HR radio show? Really? Get together and talk about HR and recruiting and talent related issues at what would be typically known as a real happy hour time? Like I'd really like to trade in my $4 well drinks with friends to go listen to a radio show about HR? Talk about nerding out. Big time.

And then I listened in on a whim. And then I called in. And then I realized it was kind of fun. And this week, the Fistful of Talent crew is taking over the HR Happy Hour show hosted by HR technology pro and blogger, Steve Boese and his trusty co-host, HR pro, Shauna Moerke. We will be going live on the air on Thursday, November 12 at 8 PM EST and talking about who's next - that is, who's gonna be the next generation of HR pros? We're going to cover what we need out of the nextgen, who's going to be take the reins from the current guard and blow HR out of the water. And that doesn't mean blow HR up and make it go away - because I'm not sure most of us (well, me at least!) think that HR's going anywhere anytime soon. So who's next? Who's going to take things to the next level? If you're out there as an up and coming HR pro or even a student studying HR who wants to become the new guard and part of the next gen who takes things to the next level, then tune in because this show's for you as we explore who's next and what you're going to need to make it.

You can tune in on Thursday at 8pm EST by simply hopping online. (If you're on Twitter during that time, use the hashtag #HRhappyhour to keep the back channel flowing.) And if you're compelled to call in and talk with us - maybe you think we're totally full of crap, or maybe you think we're totally right - the call in number is 646-378-1086.

Microphone check, one-two, one-two. Next caller!

Sex in the Sky: Employment Branding is "Fun" Again!

2009-11-11T07:05:00-06:00

Air New Zealand is at it again! As if the body painting safety briefing, the Bare Essentials of Safety, was not far enough out of the Black Box (note: video IS suitable for all ages) they recently completed their first Matchmaking Flight. That's right; the mile-high club has promoters over at Air New Zealand!

The concept was simple - after a pre-party at the gate, take 100 North American singles from L.A. to Auckland complete with party games, bubbly and chocolate covered strawberries (side question: who thinks c-c-strawberries are romantic? Seriously - you bite into one and have strawberry seeds and pulp in your teeth and chocolate all over your shirt! Very sexy.) and then a big bash upon arriving in New Zealand. Sounds like a fun trip huh, especially since those Kiwis know how to party! The slight cheese factors were the "celebrity" hosts - Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney. What? You don't know these up-and-comer celebrities?!! For shame.

The airline said the matchmaking flight fits with their mission, "to make flying fun again". Hmmm. Texas-based Southwest Airlines (LUV) - don't you know ANZ wants their stock symbol - is all about fun too, but they just let their crew members crack jokes and throw peanuts at you.

OK - so what does all of this have to do with HR? Well, Air New Zealand has just done a ton to reinforce its employment brand. Think about it, where else can you get naked to give a compliance talk AND plan a singles party at 30,000 feet? The other really smart thing they did - promoted it all via social networking. They launched a microsite, www.thematchmakingflight.com, posted party music on Blip.fm, had Twitter Travel Tips and KiWeets, a mobile device site, a game - Flitterwings and a Facebook site called, "Rattle Ya Dags" where you can send Kiwiana gifts to all your new Kiwi friends. The flight has long since landed, yet there is a ton of traffic on these sites.

Not only has this airline continued to "rise above the clutter of airline advertising" but they have also created interest in working for the company - not to mention excitement for the current employees who were selected to take part in the event. Where else would it be considered "work" to learn a preflight dance to Beyonce's Single Ladies?!! A brilliant example of how HR and Marketing should work together for the greater good of an organization.

So, what's your opinion? Was this pure branding (marketing AND employment) genius or simply sex in the sky?

Editors Note- Kathy Rapp is the Managing Director of hrQ in Texas, where she helps progressive companies find groovy HR Talent to drive business results. Prior to joining hrQ, Kathy booked more than 15 years of human resources leadership experience working for such companies as Morgan Stanley and First Data Corporation. A connoisseur of the intersection between pop culture and business, Kathy believes many talent issues can be addressed via the succession planning lessons experienced by Van Halen (David Lee/Sammy and sadly, Gary Cherone).